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Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

Editor’s Note: This letter originally ran on April 14, however several of the phone numbers listed were incorrect.As an avid mountain biker, rock climber, caver, hunter, 4-wheel drive enthusiast, mountain dweller, dog owner and fourth-generation Colorado native, I find the Hidden Gems proposal totally unacceptable.I live in an area surrounded by wilderness, and spend much of my free time on the trails that wind through it. Horses can cause much more damage than mountain bikes. As an example, if you take a hike up North Lost Trail Creek, the trail has turned to basically a ditch full of manure.Many places in the Hidden Gems proposal include historic roads that provide access to real wilderness opportunities as well as being recreational themselves. Some examples are the Flat Tops, Huntsman’s Ridge, Schofield Pass, Taylor Pass, Pearl Pass, Basalt Mountain – just to name a few of the more popular ones.Several local community organizations have tried to get a representative from the Wilderness Workshop regarding this outlandish proposal. Yet they have not even received a phone call. Make no mistake, the Hidden Gems proposal is an attack on our freedom and the freedom of future generations.I have included information that the Wilderness Workshop and Hidden Gems people don’t care to provide – the names and phone numbers of your representatives and senators. Please take the time to call and remind them that they are elected and can be replaced. Voice your opposition to this proposal, or risk being locked out of the places you love.Sen. Michael F. Bennet (202) 224-5852; Sen. Mark Udall (202) 224-5941; Rep. Diana DeGette (303) 225-4431; Rep. Doug Lamborn (719) 520-0055; Rep. Betsy Markey (970) 221-7710; Rep. Ed Perlmutter (303) 274-7994; Rep. Jared Polis (303) 484-9565 or (970) 668-3240; Rep. John Salazar (202) 225-4761, (970) 245-7107 or (719) 543-8200; and Rep. Mike Coffman (720) 283-9772.No to Hidden Gems. We have enough wilderness.Sincerely,Mike YellicoMarble

So who died and made Mark Rinehart spokesperson for Silt? With all due respect, he lost the election. I lost an election two years ago, and believe me, nobody ever asked me for my opinion. Out of 350-plus voters, the reporter couldn’t find one person who supported the board’s actions Monday night? As candidates, Aluise, Taylor and Fleming campaigned openly about their intentions to make staff changes in an effort to balance the budget. Voters overwhelmingly supported those candidates. On April 26, the newly elected trustees fulfilled their campaign promise to immediately address the budget deficit. They did so out in the open, during a public meeting and not behind closed doors. While I support the actions taken, I (and many others) deeply regret that people lost their jobs or got their hours cut. Unfortunately it is the harsh reality of these economic times. Moreover we are living in an age of sore losers both nationally and locally. Elections have consequences. Get over it. Peggy TibbettsSilt

I want to thank Ms. Milton-Baker for her encouragement to join in the National Day of Prayer. Were it not for her letter, I wouldn’t have had a particular song stuck in my head for a time.In her April 27 letter, “Join the National Day of Prayer,” she exhorts her fellow readers thusly; “I urge all those Christians who are following our Lord and Saviour (sic) to unite and go to your local church of worship and spend some time in prayer…” She then goes on to write out the first verse of the hymn, “Onward Christian Soldiers,” along with snippets from verses II, III & V. No wonder I had it stuck in my head for a while – it wasn’t even a correctly quoted reference to the hymn.Ms. Milton-Baker, there really isn’t a need to be so militant in encouraging Americans to pray. A great many of your fellow citizens of all faiths will be with you in spirit, if not in the same building. Atheists and agnostics won’t be picketing outside your House of Worship to keep you from getting to the altar. Those of different faiths aren’t deliberately trying to stop you from worshiping as you please. There also isn’t anybody compelling you not to pray as the hypocrites do, unless you count the words of Jesus himself (Matt 6:1-6).Your freedom to worship as you choose is safe here. In this country, you get to worship as you choose, and nobody can shove their beliefs down your throat. This is America, and that sort of thing is un-Constitutional. In return, you don’t get to shove your beliefs down another’s throat, because this is America, and that sort of thing is un-Constitutional. Becky PennGlenwood Springs



I was appalled and offended at the letter you published in the April 27 paper titled “Stop the gibberish.” Ms. Harris does nothing but spew a blanket statement of vile, racially tinged vitriol towards the entire Latino population in the valley. It’s abhorrent. She denigrates their language, culture and their very presence in just a handful of painfully bigoted sentences. Mr. Shrull, you have the editorial power and right to accept or reject letters for publication. Ms. Harris has the right to say what she feels and thinks, but that does not mean it belongs in print. I seriously question the rationale behind publishing such a hate-filled letter. Had someone written anything like that letter in your comments section of your website, it would have been blocked and/or deleted. Shouldn’t the same standards be applied to the letters you choose to publish?As for you, Ms. Harris, you do not speak for anyone but yourself and maybe a few others. Please don’t lump the vast majority of the valley in with you and your hatred. Spanish is a language, it is not gibberish. Please take a moment and appreciate the irony of your words, because the gibberish you speak, speaks volumes. But not in the way you think. May I suggest you move to Arizona – you might feel a bit more comfortable and in your element down there. Leo McKinneyGlenwood Springs

I recently read an article about a bill that is trying to be passed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called the Dietary Supplement Safety Act. From my understanding this bill will threaten our access to dietary supplements and may eliminate the freedom to have as much of a choice about taking care of our health the way we want to. My source for this is an article in the Vitamin Cottage April 2010 health hotline. The article discusses how the bill will enable the FDA to ban any supplement it sees fit. I am completely for the right to choose what dietary supplements are fit for me in my life, and I don’t know their real reason for doing this. I feel that these senators are getting financial backing from the FDA for less competition, because it seems like targeting the whole industry just to enforce “anti-doping” in sports is very persuasive to many people, and I think that most senators would not spend their precious time fighting or trying to limit dietary supplements if they were not backed financially.I am curious to see what you think about this, and I also want people to know what is happening without warning. I feel that our freedom of choice is being pulled out right from under us. As a concerned citizen and community member I always want to work for what is best for the people. I believe that the one thing that every innocent person deserves is freedom, because that is what has made our country great for such a long time. Vitamin Cottage is obviously reaching many people through their newspaper, but I think that there are also a lot of people who have no clue about this bill, and I ask those people to please show support for the people by not supporting the Dietary Supplement Safety Act. There is a direct link on http://www.naturalgrocers.com that provides a letter that can be e-mailed quickly to our senators to ask to oppose the bill. Sincerely,Drew GremillionGlenwood Springs



We have to win this one. The brave souls who stood in the face of the defiant force of Republicans and the massive cash flow to insurance lobbyists have done their part. The albatross of health care expense has finally been lifted, and Medicare will be safe for at least another nine years. Pre-existing conditions will no longer kill your loved ones because they can’t get the needed care. You will no longer hear that your health care limit has been reached and you will have to pay the rest out of pocket. There is no more limit. Just a small part of the bill that people in this country will begin to see the effects of in the coming years. Yes, your life will change for the better whether you want it to or not, thanks to the brave leaders who risked the wrath of greed and political sacrifice. No more than I would turn my head away from our brave soldiers would I turn my head away from these brave honorable people who stood their ground. They did what was right, and that is what we need to do. So let’s support them and begin the other battle of digging out from under the $11 trillion debt the Bush administration left us with.Jim ChildersNew Castle


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