I applaud Editor Mike Scharnow’s column on letters-to-the-editor policy. My hope is that a few changes to that policy will make a great local newspaper even better.

Regular readers of The Times have no doubt noticed that the tenor of some letters reflects badly on the newspaper and the community. If you were considering moving to Fountain Hills and happened to pick up a copy of the paper and read the letters to the editor, might you wonder about the makeup of this community? I would. To the extent this potentially discourages people from moving here hurts all our property values.

Change to current policy does not need to be a complete overhaul. Rather, I believe a few tweaks are all that is needed.

First, I would suggest limiting submissions to one per month. This would do three things. It would prevent husband/wife teams from submitting a letter virtually every week. It would encourage people to more judiciously use the privilege of submitting a letter. Lastly, it would diminish the back and forth debates. There’s nothing wrong with a little cooling off period before writing another letter.

Second, many newspapers have a much more restrictive policy for letters to the editor. I believe The Times should exercise its right to not print hate-filled letters that disparage an entire group or religion and letters that are obviously nothing more than a litany of unfounded facts, paranoiac conspiracy theories and fringe conclusions taken from any of a number of extreme websites.

I appreciate this issue being raised by The Times. In my view, it’s an important one to address.