Your Letters

Yes, Lou can

When did it become “Hitlerian” for law enforcement officers to ask a person for I.D. or “papers” as one voice named them?

Some immigrants or foreign visitors may have “papers” but most citizens have a driver's license or other picture I.D.

First, there are strict guidelines for officers that are designed to prevent accusations of profiling or citizen harassment. However, officers are still legally able to do checks which allow them to do their job of law enforcement and public safety.

Two anti-Garfield County Sheriff letters in Voices in one week strongly suggest a smear campaign to oust the sheriff.

If they are successful, the county will lose a dedicated administrator and public servant, Lou Vallario.

Yes, Lou can, and I hope will, speak for himself and staff but sometimes he has a “can do no right”, thankless job. If you agree, tell Lou or one of his staff. If you disagree, tell me.

Jack E. Blankenship

Battlement Mesa

I'll pass judgment when I see the final bill

In response to Bob Anderson's letter to the editor regarding Health Care Reform. The Senate finance committee's bill is not the final bill. There are currently several bills before congress and the Senate and I will wait to pass judgment until I see the final bill.

The 10-12 trillion dollar national debt that he talks about over 10 years means our National debt is expected to stay approximately the same and maybe even decrease somewhat over the next ten years. The national debt is currently 90 percent of the U.S. GDP and approximately 20 percent of the world GDP. It has been worse, but obviously needs to be dealt with.

Health care is not sustainable in its present form at 16 percent of GDP and growing. There are many things that the health care field could do to cut costs and health care expenses should not exceed 10 percent of GDP. All other industrialized nations realized awhile ago that a complete for profit health care system was not sustainable. I have given my proposals on this subject to the President and will see what happens with it.

The government take over of the banks and auto industry they say was necessary to prevent a depression and if they wanted to avoid this whole situation they could've done so 30 years ago which means the Government did not step in until there was an extreme crisis. I, too, am for a limited Government, but this only seems possible in a small business world. Although, I have not done any research on this subject, I would bet that 70-80 percent of our laws, government departments and oversight are because of the corporate world.

The U.S. post office is running a deficit due to e-mailing, Fed-Ex, UPS, faxing, online bill paying, etc, but was run efficiently, effectively and cheaply for many years. I don't think many of our representatives know how to run a non-profit organization effectively, at least from a financial standpoint, particularly one as large as the U.S. Government. However, there are many programs that have benefited us as well.

Sincerely Yours,

Gregory Johnson

Rifle

Not a fan of the sheriff

Our Sheriff is an ass, with his own armored six-wheel Porta-Potti, but at least he hands out his own wipes. Thirty-nine pages of them, and he apparently expects volunteer Search & Rescue to use them for his benefit.

Remember this damning debacle while you're walking in the back country, or at the next election.

D.J. Gulliford

Silt

We are losing our great country

Working class voters. We have seen our Christian faith purged from schools our taxes paid for.

We have seen our factories shuttered in the thousands, our jobs outsourced in the millions to Mexico and China.

We have seen trillions of tax dollars go for Great Society programs, but have seen no Great Society, only rising crime, illegitimacy, drug use and dropout rates.

We watch as illegal aliens walk into our country, are rewarded with free education and health care and take jobs at lower pay than American families can live on, then carry Mexican flags in American cities and demand U.S. citizenship.

We see Wall Street banks bailed out as we sweat our next paycheck. We see a government in Washington that cannot balance its books, win our wars or protect our borders.

The government shovels out trillions to fortune 500 corporations and banks to rescue the country from a crisis created by the government and Fortune 500 corporations and banks.

America was once our country. We sense we are losing it. And we are right!

Nell Conklin

Parachute

Living Arts Foundation needs your help

The Living Arts Foundation is currently in possession of 35 acres of wild land in the Roaring Fork Valley. Their stewardship of this land for the past 12 years is to be commended. But they may not be in possession of this wonderful place much longer.

A court-ordered sale has been extended but the scheduled date of Nov. 2 is fast approaching. They still need $19,889 to bring their loan current and save their land for which over $200,000 has been raised in the last 12 years. Donations to keep this land in their ownership must arrive by Oct. 28.

The Living Arts Foundation has existed for the past 24 years in the Roaring Fork Valley and has been instrumental in many ecological projects. They have produced an original 1988 holiday play about pollution at the Community School and helped establish the Recycling Center and Art Park where the theater tent is now. From 1993-97 they held two-day environmental leadership sessions in July at ACES. I attended some of those sessions. The land has been used to take small retreat groups and respectfully interact with nature. Aside form these treats helping influence our community, they have had far-reaching effects such as the group that went to help in NYC after Sept. 11, 2001. A retreat planned for July of 2010 will help community leaders and students work for a better future.

As you can see this land holds more than just the equity of a nonprofit, the Living Arts Foundation, it holds the future for kids connecting with nature.

Thank you,

Bill Kight

American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow

The fire department will be a safer and faster service

Just had to comment on the article about Susie Taylor quitting the ambulance with no notice.

I am happy to see Silt is taking back power from the “Taylor” clan. The fire department will be a safer and faster service for our community.

Chamaigne Wade

Rifle