West Elk publicity thanks

On behalf of the West Elk Trails Inc Board of Directors, I thank the Post Independent for their recent coverage of the West Elk trails on Jan. 26 and 28.

Our board members, Art Dahl, Mary and Marty Gervais, Bruce Kime, Todd Kupka, Tod Tibbetts and I (Peggy Tibbetts) share a commitment to providing outdoor winter recreation in western Garfield County.

---

---

We thank Garfield County, Alpine Bank, Holy Cross Roundup Foundation, the city of Rifle, the town of New Castle and town of Silt for their continued financial support that helps make our jobs easier.

Most importantly, we thank the hundreds of trail users who show their love with their contributions as well as their respect for these gorgeous groomed backcountry trails.

---

---

Peggy Tibbetts

Silt

Vaccine for ignorance?

So, reading the Glenwood newspaper, I notice there are still some people in the Roaring Fork Valley who have not bought into the idea that we all must work together to stop this COVID-19 pandemic — as a group, as a whole, all on the same page, proactive, together.

Two people who wrote in today (Wednesday) are still talking about their “liberties” and their precious “freedoms.”

Times like this I say to myself, “Whaaaat?”

Did those poor innocent, misguided people who have died from COVID so far not have rights? The basic right to life, to live out their lives, be with their families, work if they chose to, go to school, applies to those 890,000 Americans who have died so far.

Right now, America at this pace is heading towards 1.2 million COVID deaths by this coming May 1.

What about them?

Who cares if you are asked to wear a mask in school? Why does that matter more than potentially infecting another person with the virus that is causing the worldwide pandemic?

School principals and teachers want your children to alive and not infect another child. Why is that so hard to grasp?

Which reminds me that when we send our children to elementary schools for the first time, what is mandatory? Six vaccinations: mumps, rubella, chicken pox, measles, Whooping cough, HPV and meningitis; all of which could kill a child unless their parents had them vaccinated.

And nobody complained about their freedoms or liberties did they?

In the last year, I have read so much nonsense about COVID, I hate to read the news anymore.

First, it was Hydroxychloroquine, a drug to treat malaria that is caused by a parasite not a virus. Then, Ivermectin, a dewormer used to kill roundworm larvae.

Maybe soon there will be a vaccine for ignorance? We can hope.

Liberties and freedoms? Give it a rest. Go get a shot.

Steven Gluckman

Glenwood Springs

Teach your children well

As we approach two years of public hysteria, political hypocrisy and “expert” contradictions, it is our duty to make certain that our children do not forget who fought for them and who advocated against them. The damage is largely already done to these innocent souls, so parents need to now make sure they are transparent in the years to come explaining who the “leaders” were during this critical phase of life. Data has been readily available on the ineffectiveness of masks (unless they are surgical grade N95), how mentally/emotionally damaging masks and lockdowns have been on children (see recent Johns Hopkins study) and how minimal the impact of the actual disease is on 99.97% of the population.

None of this matters. Data and stats won’t sway politicians, bureaucrats and school boards because they lack the intellectual and political courage to look at data with an objective lens. Everything must be viewed through a “CYA” political lens or whatever the narrative du jour is being served up by the puppets in the press.

We don’t have leaders in either political party. We have grifters in positions of power who are guided by legal advice rather than objective truth. While Denmark, Sweden, England and many other countries rapidly move to remove all mandates, the U.S. and our local “leaders” want to prolong this as long as possible.

Fortunately, children are intuitive and resilient. They will not forget who fought for them, who was complacent and who was complicit in destroying their childhood. As more truth comes out, don’t let those who spent two years pushing these insane policies off the hook. Remind your children who was, and still are, enforcing these ad hoc, ineffective mandates and who have been cheering along this charade mindlessly parroting, “It’s just a mask” or “Trust the science.”

Teach them who stole their precious childhood and stunted their development for something that was statistically not a threat to them while forcing them to shoulder most of the long term damage.

Chase McWhorter

Carbondale