Library seats left vacant by county commissioners

For 16 years the Garfield Public Library District selected its own trustees, which the County affirmed through appointment. The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) took over the selection process in 2023, complaining in part that the library was not timely in filling vacancies.

The BOCC was notified of Myrna Fletchall’s resignation as the Rifle trustee on June 23, 2025. Seven weeks later, the BOCC notified the library that it intends to leave the Rifle position vacant until December 2025 and the community without representation for six months. At that time two additional trustee positions will also become vacant.

This is a problem of the county’s own making. The BOCC rejected an intergovernmental agreement proposed by the library last year to allow the library to again run the selection process itself and to permit the reappointment of trustees in good standing for a second term. Now the BOCC will spend three months in an involved process when their time is better spent addressing the county’s financial woes and other pressing issues.

The BOCC is taking a further step — denying representation because it can’t manage its own process. It puts convenience ahead of library governance.

Isn’t it about time to hand trustee selection back to the library district, which is, after all, an independent subdivision of the state, established by the voters, and more than capable of managing its own business?

Jocelyn Durrance, Carbondale

Rescue and restore

Reading John Burg and Gerard VanderBeek’s recent letters, their lack of awareness is staggering. When they say things like “destroy our democracy” it exposes their lack of knowledge. We are a representative republic. Downsizing a government is directly within the executive branch’s authority. You may disagree with it, but it is constitutional. Also, I don’t remember you wringing your hands during the Obama recession when everybody except the government was getting downsized. Or during COVID when Fauci and Biden decided who was and wasn’t essential. Is the private sector a goose and the government a gander?

Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, global warming hoax, the Tea Party, Obamacare, MAGA, Democrat election denying, authoritarianism during COVID, allowing boys in girls’ locker rooms, Russia collusion scam, Democrat weaponization of DOJ, two assassination attempts on Trump. Each one of those is a step on the way to the American people rising up to rescue our country from progressive socialist destruction by the Democrat machine and feckless Republicans. The American people were given a very clear choice in the last election. Trump won in a landslide.

What you fail to understand is this: President Trump didn’t create MAGA. MAGA created the conditions for Trump. Citizens who love this country and the Constitution were tired of being walked on, told our views weren’t welcome, hit again and again for taxes going to causes we don’t believe in, and censored when we spoke up. Then Donald Trump emerged to carry the standard of those forgotten, working-class American citizens.

It is precisely for our children and grandchildren that we rescued our country and are restoring the truth of America that had been under attack for so long. It rings very hollow when the progressive left now says we all need to be open to others’ views and “compromise” when their silence was deafening when they had all the power. Ironically, the America we are rescuing is being restored for their kids and grandkids too.

Pedro Navaja, Glenwood Springs

Support disability funding with new license plate

Next time you buy a new car or renew your existing plates, please consider the new black specialty plate, which supports people with disabilities by raising $12 million a year. Colorado offers retro black license plates with white lettering (a throwback to Colorado’s 1945 license plate design) as a specialty plate option. The $25 annual fee is specifically dedicated to the Colorado Disability Funding Committee, which provides grants that support programs for people with disabilities.

Half of the $12 million raised goes to help people with disabilities access the full range of benefits they may be eligible for like Medicaid, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income. The other half goes to innovation grants to improve people’s quality of life via the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office.

Thank you!

Sara Sims, Glenwood Springs
Maura Masters, Glenwood Springs

Hold Hershey accountable

It is interesting to me to read that former councilor Hershey’s repeatedly unfounded accusations is causing him so much distress. Hershey complains of “ad hominem attacks” against himself by the scary-sounding “powers that be.” Meanwhile, in the two years since he lost re-election, he has filed 17 CORA requests, 24 letters to the editor, two Secretary of State complaints, and one lawsuit against the city. It’s debatable whether he understands what ad hominem means — or hypocrisy, for that matter.

What is not up for debate is his apparent lack of professional and personal conduct as a public servant and member of the Colorado Bar. Consider the following quote from sworn affidavit to the Colorado Secretary of State in response to the recently dismissed investigation he instigated:

“Additionally, he (Hershey) would share privileged and confidential details of cases assigned to him in his role as Assistant District Attorney of the 9th Judicial District. These revelations to councilors involved names of minors, places, events, and methods that were not known to the public. I do not know if this breach of confidence was to curry favor with his fellow councilors to advance political goals, but he grew increasingly frustrated when those pieces of gossip were not rewarded with political favors by his fellow councilors.”

This document is available from both the Secretary’s office and the city. I urge District Attorney Ben Sollars (Mr. Hershey’s elected supervisor) and the citizens of Glenwood to examine the entirety of the sworn testimony critically. While Mr. Hershey positions himself as a crusader for accountability, it is time for our community to demand a bit of accountability from him.

David R. Williams, Glenwood Springs