Beware of the Highway 82 speed camera

Beware of the camera on Highway 82 leaving Glenwood Springs going toward Carbondale. I thought the idea was to keep people from speeding in Glenwood, but the camera also gets you if you accelerate before you get to the 55 mph speed limit sign. I was caught the day we left the hospital with my husband after being told to contact hospice.

I believe cameras should be outlawed. Invasive! Let the police do their job.

Ida Burnaman, Carbondale

Runway to Adventure opens doors for students

On Sept. 11, I had the privilege of watching something remarkable happen at Rifle Garfield County Airport.

Through Runway to Adventure, presented by Rocky Mountain Aero Group and hosted by Rifle Garfield County Airport, 70 students from across the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys spent the day experiencing aviation firsthand.

Nine volunteer pilots completed 56 flights and provided 95 passenger rides in just five hours. Kids met pilots and aviation professionals, explored aircraft, experienced flight simulation and learned about the many careers available throughout aviation and aerospace.

But those numbers aren’t what I will remember most.

I’ll remember the smiles.

I watched kids climb out of airplanes, absolutely buzzing, proudly carrying logbooks signed by their pilots and rushing to tell their families what they had seen. Those moments reinforced something I deeply believe: A kid cannot dream about an opportunity they don’t know exists.

That’s why Rocky Mountain Aero Group’s philosophy is “Exposure Leads to Opportunities.”

This day was possible because an extraordinary community came together around our kids. Rifle Garfield County Airport led the way as our host, with tremendous support from Atlantic Aviation, volunteer pilots, aviation and educational partners, community organizations, volunteers and local leaders. Some donated aircraft and fuel. Others provided facilities, educational experiences, manpower, meals or simply their time.

Every contribution mattered.

Runway to Adventure demonstrated what can happen when our aviation community works together to open doors for the next generation.

Seventy students. Nine pilots. Fifty-six flights. Ninety-five passenger rides.

But the best measure of success was much simpler: Kids went home excited about what might be possible.

To everyone who made that possible, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Ebenezer Henry, founder and managing member, Rocky Mountain Aero Group, Rifle

Growth numbers deserve a closer look

Lately, it seems like everyone in our community is talking about growth. People look at the new traffic, the rising cost of housing and the changing landscape, and they feel a lot of anxiety. It is completely fair to worry about how fast things are changing around us. However, if we want to manage this growth properly, we have to look at the real numbers instead of just guessing.

When we look back at the last 10 years, Garfield County’s population grew by roughly 10%. Many people automatically assume that this growth is entirely caused by a massive wave of people packing up their cars and moving here from out of state. But the official data tells a much more interesting, balanced story. Our population increase actually comes from two completely different buckets.

The first bucket is organic growth. This is simply the number of babies born in our county minus the number of people who pass away. For the last decade, our organic growth has been incredibly steady. Every single year, Garfield County records about 330 more births than deaths. This means that a huge portion of our growth isn’t from outsiders at all. It is just our own local friends, neighbors and families growing larger and raising children right here on the Western Slope.

The second bucket is migration, which tracks people moving into the county versus those who leave. This number changes a lot based on the economy. Back in 2015, we actually had negative migration, meaning more people left the county than arrived. That flipped after the pandemic, when we saw a spike of 400 to 600 new residents per year coming from out of state for jobs and housing.

Between 2024 and 2025, the county saw its overall population shrink by 346 residents.

The estimate of new homes needed is correct based on organic growth alone. Our families will need homes, and the preference would be homes to buy and not homes to rent.

Douglas Brown, New Castle