The letters to the editor in the Nevada Appeal are just starting to get weird now.

As a new resident to Carson City, I thought I was in the middle of a citywide contest to learn who could grow the most luxurious facial hair as numerous men seem to have the current, unstylish habit of unshaven faces. Apparently the contest isn't relegated to wannabe cowboys. Most political employees and TV personalities sport this ugly hirsute appearance. When did it begin? Not since the jurists who sat at the trial of Wilkes Booth have so many men suddenly rediscovered the temporary allure of walrus faces. Incidentally, President Lincoln was the first president to grow a beard.

Personally, I hope this is a fad to be dismissed when men discover razors and shaving cream and eliminate the al-Qaida-reject appearances and return to the sanity of civilized, clean shaven faces.

E. ZIMBELMAN