Non-Texans to Perry: Please secede

DALLAS, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- While the idea of Texas seceding from the United States has sparked a debate in the state, many elsewhere are saying "good riddance," letters indicate.

E-mails and letters from across the United States sent to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office and obtained by The Dallas Morning News overwhelmingly endorse the idea of saying goodbye to the Lone Star State.

A sampling of the correspondence published by the newspaper Wednesday indicated few qualms at the notion of Texas leaving the United States. The issue was raised when Perry addressed an anti-tax "tea party" protest whose attendees shouted "Secede!" as he said, "If Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that."

"Don't let the door hit you in the you-know-what on the way out!" wrote Summer Lovelace of Fergus Falls, Minn., while Paul Bernard of Laguna Beach, Calif., wrote, "Secede -- good riddance."

"Please go away soon," added Californian Eileen Flanagan, who added she would volunteer to build a fence to separate Texas from the United States, while Robert Jordan of Los Gatos, Calif., wrote to Perry: "There's lunacy afoot in your state."