Let’s be honest about the library debate

I take issue with the letter by May Grae about the library board. As is usual by the apologists for the far-left agenda of the present board, there is much maligning of facts and a concerted effort to avoid logic.

First, the commissioners did not all of a sudden “take over” the library board — they were merely doing what they had done for decades, despite not being as active when the board was less partisan and not presenting visual porn to children. The hypocrisy of the line where she says someone held up a visual in a book in question — that that was inappropriate because there were children present — is a perfect example. So it wasn’t OK for her to hold it up in a room where the only child I saw was a teenager on the board, yet the book is available for any child of any age to look at and check out in the library. Oh, the irony.

Also, what lawyers have said that putting said books in an adult section in the library is against First Amendment rights? You know — like evidence. That is an untruth and dishonest. Libraries have never allowed pornographic materials. Please see the Supreme Court definition.

There is no benefit to having sexually explicit pictures available to the very youngest library patrons. I support — and believe a majority would agree — when they understand what the patriot group is asking for. Not the Orwellian use of ideas such as liberty, freedom to read, against censorship (so-called) First Amendment virtue signalers are trying to imply.

“Prison School,” “Gender Queer” and a few other graphic novels that group is asking to be put in an adult section are not any comparison to novels such as “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Catcher in the Rye,” “Huckleberry Finn” or even “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” I decry those who try to mislead the public as to the aims of people who believe parents should be the ones to choose what adult material their children are exposed to, inadvertently in displays or directly in sections for children or YA — a misnomer that denotes largely preteen reading material. Find out — research — for yourself.

Sky Quarto, Carbondale

One bad idea on top of another

You’ve heard of the Uintah Basin Railroad, the proposed 88-mile stretch of tracks that’ll connect the oil fields of the Uintah Basin with the Union Pacific line so they can ship waxy crude all the way across Colorado and down to Cancer Alley on the Gulf Coast.

Well, that’ll take years, especially if an Environmental Impact Statement is involved, so a group called Coal Energy Group 2 is looking at a quicker fix. They propose to expand the capacity of the Wildcat Loadout near Helper, Utah, so it can pump oil from trucks to rail cars at an increase of 70,000 barrels per day.

This potentially highly destructive project was approved by the Bureau of Land Management in just 14 days. No EIS, no public comment — all in the name of President Trump’s nonexistent “national energy emergency.” Last year, we produced more oil than any country in history. Where’s the fire?

As for derailments, it’s not a matter of if, but when. There are over a thousand railroad wrecks in this country per year. A derailment that spilled oil into the Colorado River could pollute the drinking water for 40 million people. Sparks from the wheels of rail cars could start wildfires.

The Wildcat Loadout doesn’t exactly have an environmentally friendly reputation. They’ve been out of compliance with air quality control requirements for the last six years. Three years ago, an inspection found the Wildcat Loadout’s air pollution control equipment and volatile organic compound controls to be absent or faulty. They emit 40 tons of VOCs per year. No fines were levied and no fixes implemented.

Fifteen state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for violating the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act with their phony emergency. Contact Colorado AG Phil Weiser and demand he file an amicus brief on the suit’s behalf.

Fred Malo Jr., Carbondale

Phone use on bikes is dangerous and selfish

There are more and more idiots (I just can’t think of a more appropriate word) riding bikes on the Rio Grande Trail who use their phones while riding. Just this week, I encountered two super-idiots who had both hands on the phone and none on the handlebars, riding wide open. It would be fine if they crashed, broke both arms, and had to have someone wipe their bottom for six weeks, but there are worse scenarios.

I never ride the trail without seeing rabbits, prairie dogs or squirrels crossing the path. If one of these people hit an animal or a rock, chances are they’re going down. Imagine hitting a person pushing a baby stroller, a small child or an adult going 15 mph. Imagine hitting an oncoming cyclist going 15 mph, resulting in a 30 mph head-on crash. We’re talking serious injuries and possible death. Just so you can read a text?

Did these people not have mothers? Are they just that self-absorbed?

It seems the trail is completely unmonitored by law enforcement, so what do we sane folks do? We can yell at them to get their hands on the bars, which I do, but that can end up in an altercation because stupid people always think they’re right. Any suggestions?

Cadden Don, Glenwood Springs

Western Slope job market is dismal

I couldn’t help but laugh reading about a labor shortage on the Western Slope. In my experience, the job market is pathetic right now.

I’m a fourth-generation native of the area, and my job search is reminiscent of the early ’90s — when you couldn’t buy a good job around here.

When I left my last employer several months ago, I didn’t believe finding another good-paying job would be so challenging.

I’ve applied at places I swore I’d never work at again. Nothing. Places that had their postings wrong, or wanted someone to only work in Aspen.

Many posted jobs on Indeed have ridiculously low pay. For a highly experienced hazmat CDL driver with winter mountain experience — $26 per hour?

No overtime until 50 hours? Or companies that don’t offer health benefits and are mostly seasonal?

Diesel mechanic jobs that only advertise $32 an hour? I made that driving a fuel tanker.

Yet I see many new cars and trucks on the road and at the grocery store, and wonder — what is everyone doing?

It takes a salary of $105,000 in Colorado to get by. Yet employers can only afford to pay $70,000 per year for skilled help.

A lifelong friend of mine that moved away 30 years ago was right. If you want to make something of yourself, you need to move away. I’m in the twilight of my career now, so it’s too late.

That’s the lesson, young people — don’t stay here.

George Kuersten, Silt

Storm King memorials serve as lasting reminders

Thank you for your article of July 8 memorializing the 14 firefighters who died fighting the wildfire on Storm King Mountain in July of 1994. That supplements the memorial trail that starts just west of South Canyon on the north side of Interstate 70. I have hiked it several times and found the memorials along it to be very informative and moving.

Thankfully, the family and friends of those heroes should be consoled by the fact that the incident generated a national appreciation of the futility of risking human lives in an effort to contain wildfires on mountainous terrain inaccessible to heavy firefighting equipment. I observed this enlightenment in the way that firefighting efforts were concentrated on residential areas of Basalt in the wildfire on Basalt Mountain that occurred in July of 2018. The fire was properly allowed to burn itself out on the uninhabited mountainside above those areas.

I had a career in civil engineering and am particularly knowledgeable about the threats to people and property from flooding, erosion and debris flows from extreme rainstorms. I would hope that the recent flood disasters in North Carolina and Texas would spark a similar commitment from people and their elected representatives to preventing residential development in flood hazard areas, or at least to provide systems for quickly evacuating people from them.

I am not optimistic, however, because such disasters have been occurring long before climate warming has apparently made them somewhat even worse. Too many people in areas subject to them — including Western Colorado — have a time horizon of only a few years and regard such events as being unlikely to harm them. They should appreciate the principle that over time, the improbable becomes the inevitable.

Carl Ted Stude, Carbondale