NEW YORK Last week, at least seven daily newspapers around the country announced that they had decide to drop Ann Coulter’s column in the wake of her latest offensive comment, a reference to former Sen. John Edwards in which she used the term “faggot.” An eighth paper has now cut the column: The Herald and Review in Decatur, Ill.

Another paper, The State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill., is weighing that move and is asking readers to weigh in — and has been swamped with pro and con responses.

Coulter’s syndicate, Universal, has said it has no plans to drop her.

One of the first to announce its move was the Mountain Press in Sevierville, Tenn. In a column today, its editor, Stan Voit, explains, “I’ve been a newspaperman for most of the last 35 years. But I admit I have never encountered anything like the reaction to this paper dropping Ann Coulter’s column. You’d have thought we came out against Christmas or SEC football.”

In all, the piece announcing the paper’s decision drew over 250 comments, with most of them coming from outside the area. The first posted comment on Voit’s piece today, however, was positive.

Excerpts from Voit’s column today follows.
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From the start I began hearing it from Democrats and Republicans who object to her style and tone. I defended her and our decision to carry her column in the face of a lot of heat generated by those in both parties locally who didn’t want her column in their hometown paper.

As I read her column each week to get it formatted for publication, I became more and more bothered by her incendiary one-liners, the lack of depth in her commentary. Her column seemed more about getting cheap laughs than offering analysis. And it was mean’spirited, not insightful. In short, I was becoming troubled about her column. I also knew about her history of nasty one-liners directed at World Trade Center widows, Muslims and even the city of Boston.

When she used the term “faggot” in making a joke about John Edwards, that was the proverbial last straw for me. I made the decision to cancel her column. My boss and publisher, Jana Thomasson, agreed….

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