Carey: Grateful for support and looking forward to still serving regardless of election loss

To those in my adopted and cherished home,

Last week was, to say the very least, disappointing. While my heart is broken, after all, I was so excited to have the opportunity to serve this place and the people I so love on an expanded level, I will continue to serve my hometown of New Castle, with passion, persistence, and determination. 

I have spoken with Mr. Will and we have had a good discussion including talking about accountability and how we both believe it is imperative that we hold our leaders accountable. To that end, I told him if I saw him making decisions I needed him to hear about, I will come bang on his door. His response was “I expect you to.”

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This is constructive. This is what it should be. 

For now, meeting so many of you and getting to know you has been an utter joy these last many, many months. You have enriched my life to say the very least. You have challenged me, encouraged me, and helped me see things in different ways. You truly are my why.

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One of my Council colleagues texted me last week to check in on me, see how I was doing. He reminded me to be proud of my efforts and to get ready, because we still have work to do. Yes, we do. The silver lining to this is that I get to continue serving alongside 6 of the most wonderful people on Town Council and with a staff that I truly enjoy. 

Thank you Garfield County for sharing your heart, your energies, and your time with me. 

Gratefully,

Caitlin Carey, New Castle

It’s a mystery

Among the many confounding results of the recent election is that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris carried Garfield County, yet Democratic county commissioner contenders Caitlin Carey and Steven Arauza lost. Do Garco voters accept a black female over an old white guy for commander in chief and reject a white woman and a Latin man for two other old white guys for the BOCC?

Fred Malo, Jr., Carbondale

‘No country will take them’

I had a nightmare. I saw thousands of people trying to come in the southern border. They all looked the same. Overweight, orange in the face, and with a giant comb over. They had attacked women, cheated on their taxes, stiffed the people who had worked for them, and swiped thousands of state secrets. It is an invasion. They have to be deported. But no country will take them. 

Patrick Hunter, Carbondale

From ‘We will not forget’ to ‘We have forgotten’

On this Veterans Day, as I think of my father who was stationed in England for most of World War 2 in the army air corps, I know how stunned he would be by the election of Donald Trump. Entire plane crews were lost routinely on bombing raids, these in battle to defeat the fascist regime of Germany. We have just elected a leader with the same beliefs in power, cruelty and national white purity as the then leader of Germany. I learned the facts and realities of this war both at home and in the classroom.

I wonder if the majority of the current electorate have had any history classes that made clear what WW2 and fascism was all about: the loss of life, how brutal and disruptive it was, the actual characteristics of fascism and how it was tolerated in Germany; the horror of extermination of children, women and men.

This Veteran’s Day is especially somber. “We will not Forget” has become “we have forgotten.”

Barb Coddington, Glenwood Springs

Thank-you from a veteran to Two Rivers Community School

To The Staff and Children of Two Rivers Community School. As a Veteran of our US Armed Forces I thank you for the invitation, delicious breakfast, choir production singing the songs of all the branches of the services and finally a wonderful and loving parade through the hallways of your beautiful school. Fortunately for me my Grandson attends this TRCS so he got to accompany me as I walked the hallways where so many of the students thanked me for my service.

TRCS is such a special place to educate our kids and all thanks to the amazing group of selfless staff and teachers. You need only visit this school to see the genuineness of everyone there dedicated to our kids. In these times of uncertainty it’s refreshing to witness a place where kids are cared for and are receiving a fantastic education. Thank you Teachers and Staff of Two Rivers Community School for all you do to help raise and nurture our future leaders.

Michael Bodrogi, Carbondale