Proud to serve Rifle

As chief of the Rifle Police Department, I want to thank all parties who have shown support and dedication surrounding our recent incident: To Rifle police officers and all staff members, thank you. Thank you for your dedicated and professional work ethic. You truly make this a great community and a great police department.

Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario and his staff have been instrumental in their support and conduct of a complete and thorough investigation in a professional manner. Other law enforcement agencies in our valley quickly volunteered support and offers of help in any capacity needed. Law enforcement agencies from around the state and country have called to express support. Police Chief Terry Wilson from Glenwood Springs has been of great support to my staff and me.

Rifle Fire Protection District emergency staff again demonstrated incredible skill and professionalism. Their attention to everyone was awesome.

The Garfield County Emergency Communications staff of dedicated professionals assured that accurate and timely information was related, which undoubtedly made our jobs more effective. The 9th Judicial District attorney has an incredible burden to fully assess the case and make decisions for the benefit of the people. Martin Beeson, Jeff Cheney and their staff continue to perform amazing work on behalf of the citizens of our community.

And finally, to the citizens of Rifle, this may not be “Mayberry” anymore, but the support and appreciation shown by the people of Rifle is “Mayberry” in warmth and caring. It makes me so proud to be able to serve you. To everyone else who has assisted in this investigation or offered words of encouragement, thank you.

Daryl Meisner

chief of police, Rifle Police Department

Step it up, Lou

Now that Lou Vallario is re-elected, I wish to request that he and his deputies perform their jobs correctly.

I say this because, in 2006, several of us requested that a warrant be served south of Silt. I was told that the Sheriff's Office did not have time to serve warrants. When I worked for a sheriff's department, that is what our deputies did during their shift. They did not just drive up and down the paved roads and meet up at coffee shops along the way.

If this warrant had been served as we requested, there would have been a “crush of a meth empire” and we would still have a highway patrol officer on active duty. Yes, the gentleman has a job, but he unfortunately is not able to be a state trooper due to injuries received from a meth freak.

Thank you for taking your time to read this.

Elizabeth A. Brooks

Rifle

Untruths in letters

“Deaths in our hospital reach 245 this year from infectious diseases

“245 patients died in our hospital this past year having spent less than 3 nights. The deaths are all related to infectious diseases lurking in our hospital.” True?

Heck no.

So is the ridiculous statement made in this newspaper Nov. 6 in this section that our president's trip to India and Asia will cost us $200 million/per day and more than 10 percent of our naval forces, etc. This is a slanderous untruth which you would know if you paid attention to honest journalism; the Internet and blogs are not the best source. Check it out on “Snopes” or other reliable sources.

These statements are false, false, false. Does the letter editor have no responsibility at all to screen letters that are received for at least some validity?

Stephen G.Kuhn

Glenwood Springs