Letters to the Editor

Are high-energy drinks partly to blame?
Letters to the Editor

Are high-energy drinks partly to blame?

December 30, 2017

Some of the chemicals in the drinks affect the neurotransmitters to the brain. The effect can result in depression and even dissociative thinking. Since young people are the largest consumers…

Trump puts our own humanity in danger
Letters to the Editor

Trump puts our own humanity in danger

December 30, 2017

Twenty first-grade students and 6 adults were murdered in their classrooms by Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old, severely mentally ill man who murdered his mother before embarking on his murderous rampage.…

Tell Sen. Gardner to protect arctic refuge
Letters to the Editor

Tell Sen. Gardner to protect arctic refuge

December 29, 2017

By that logic, Coloradans could choose to extract resources in Rocky Mountain National Park; Arizonans could choose to mine uranium in the Grand Canyon. The senator doesn’t understand that “national”…

Berry and Palmer: Tragic circumstance in a difficult time
Letters to the Editor

Berry and Palmer: Tragic circumstance in a difficult time

December 29, 2017

Apparently politically motivated, Mr. Petit left a particularly abusive anonymous note on our windshield at the Community Recreation Center. The Durango Police Department identified him from the reconnaissance videos. Given…

Joffe: Tax plan is false, deceptive and benefits few
Letters to the Editor

Joffe: Tax plan is false, deceptive and benefits few

December 27, 2017

I don’t mind paying taxes for government services like schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, health and safety inspectors, environmental protection and astronauts. But I am taxed more than should be because…

Katz: Bears Ears debate and limits of rhetoric
Letters to the Editor

Katz: Bears Ears debate and limits of rhetoric

December 27, 2017

The recreation addicts, nature lovers, and Native American tribes see every juniper tree and jackrabbit as part of a holistic, spiritual, environmentally rich landscape. This is evident in Patagonia’s homepage…

Edwards: Trump’s actions on public lands defy public opinion
Letters to the Editor

Edwards: Trump’s actions on public lands defy public opinion

December 26, 2017

The president’s action will ravage pristine places, put wildlife in danger and jeopardize scientific and archaeological history, including sacred Native American sites. Not only is this decision environmentally irresponsible, it…

Cochran: Veteran comments on free speech
Letters to the Editor

Cochran: Veteran comments on free speech

December 25, 2017

While I am opposed to their lamentable, despicable opinions of the United States, I am happy to have fought for, and I devoutly support, their right to exhibit those opinions…

Universal health care makes fiscal sense
Letters to the Editor

Universal health care makes fiscal sense

December 23, 2017

I learned that going to universal health care – where everyone is covered – with “single party payer” (the government paying the bills, from our taxes, but no regulating doctors)…

A big Christmas present for the wealthy
Letters to the Editor

A big Christmas present for the wealthy

December 23, 2017

During the Eisenhower presidency, a Republican president, the highest tax rate approached 90 percent. Then, we had the needed funds for education (like the veteran’s GI bill), research and technology,…

County land plan is a socialist’s dream
Letters to the Editor

County land plan is a socialist’s dream

December 23, 2017

With that in mind, I can only conclude that the La Plata County Land Plan must have been written by socialists. The whole document smacks of a “taking” and a…

Flashing yellow lights are a big problem
Letters to the Editor

Flashing yellow lights are a big problem

December 23, 2017

These accidents occur because drivers try to “beat” the traffic when the yellow light is flashing. Why not change the lights to a green arrow at this busy intersection, like…

The problem is not Twitter; it’s Trump
Letters to the Editor

The problem is not Twitter; it’s Trump

December 23, 2017

It seems to me that her interpretation of the criticism is misguided: Twitter is an excellent channel for communication. The criticism for the president’s use of it is not that…

Last tax cut led to the Great Recession
Letters to the Editor

Last tax cut led to the Great Recession

December 23, 2017

The tax cut didn’t bring jobs. It didn’t help the economy. It led to the Great Recession of 2007. Ask any CEO today and he or she will tell you…

Attend meetings to learn about new code
Letters to the Editor

Attend meetings to learn about new code

December 23, 2017

The county is pursuing zoning of a sort that can have large impacts as to types of uses, density and other restrictions. If you have not attended a public meeting…

FLC’s problems run deeper than name
Letters to the Editor

FLC’s problems run deeper than name

December 23, 2017

Harvard on the Animas? Stanford La Plata? Perhaps, as well, if the deck chairs on the Titanic had been rearranged, that disaster might not have occurred. To torture the metaphor…

Thanks to owner for efforts at Purgatory
Letters to the Editor

Thanks to owner for efforts at Purgatory

December 23, 2017

The ribbon of snow I skied did not just appear from nowhere. It takes a lot of money for electricity to run for the pumps to push the millions of…

News on airport funding possibilities
Letters to the Editor

News on airport funding possibilities

December 23, 2017

Higher facility fee income to airports won’t be enough to fully pay for airport upgrades but it will help. Have any of our county officials looked for other ways to…

The astonishing Sen. Cory Gardner
Letters to the Editor

The astonishing Sen. Cory Gardner

December 23, 2017

“Tonight’s results are clear – the people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate. I hope Senator-elect Doug Jones will do the right thing and…

Learn about the reason for the season
Letters to the Editor

Learn about the reason for the season

December 23, 2017

If you have ever wondered if all the talk about Christianity is true – or wondered why, after 2,000 years, people are still willing to die rather than renounce the…

Health care for all is not a pipe dream
Letters to the Editor

Health care for all is not a pipe dream

December 23, 2017

A pipe dream? It doesn’t have to be. According to T.R. Reid in The Healing of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Switzerland and Germany are among the many…

Mumaw: Our new normal endangers the republic
Letters to the Editor

Mumaw: Our new normal endangers the republic

December 23, 2017

While I strongly agree with your view that brute-strength partisanship is no way to govern our nation, I can’t help but wonder where your collective editorial voice was when the…

There is something wrong with the right
Letters to the Editor

There is something wrong with the right

December 22, 2017

Pulling for Roy Moore, whitewashing the president’s nonsense, defending the confederacy… seriously? You are killin’ it, big guy! Hitting it right out of the park! This isn’t hypocrisy. I’ll give…

Olson: We live in a chemical world not safe for kids
Letters to the Editor

Olson: We live in a chemical world not safe for kids

December 22, 2017

On Nov. 10, during a Friday-afternoon walk south on historic Main Avenue in Durango, I encountered four aftershave cologne clouds. One guy’s “man perfume” I could actually taste. Time to…

Hess: Look to history for ways to pay for parks
Letters to the Editor

Hess: Look to history for ways to pay for parks

December 21, 2017

I have made an effort to learn about the place I call “home” – the State of Colorado – which includes reading state history and learning how issues have been…

Durango is not the town it used to be
Letters to the Editor

Durango is not the town it used to be

December 20, 2017

But what I could not believe was the part about a lawsuit against a store by a person who tripped over a little water dish in the store. The person…

Ending sexual harassment is up to all of us
Letters to the Editor

Ending sexual harassment is up to all of us

December 19, 2017

Resignation is the least you can do. Prosecution is the best we can do … and we will. What did you expect to gain from making sexual advances on a…