“It’s nothing personal; nothing against the County Coroner’s office, it’s just that we’re constantly full, and there’s just nowhere else to put them….”
Category: Opinion/Letters
A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW: Hook, Line and Sinker
That experience taught me the way the “drug war” was, and still is, being “fought” is futile — if the objective is reduction of the availability of illicit drugs…
HMPRESENTLY: Getting My Tooth Drilled While Pondering Democracies, Republics, and the Weather
There was, long ago, Vlad the Impaler, for example, and with a name like that, he probably wasn’t an understanding kind of guy…
LETTER: Open Letter to the Westminster City Council
The Equity Washers punch down, not up. Nature, which has no voice other than what you give it, is their favorite punching bag…
EDITORIAL: Is Pagosa Going to Pot? Part Four
“Colorado’s drug overdose rate spiked 50% from May 2019 to May 2021, trending directly with a nationwide increase….”
EDITORIAL: Is Pagosa Going to Pot? Part Three
“And that’s my main concern now. If I were going to put all my eggs in a basket, that’s where they would have to go, because that is a very dangerous drug…”
EDITORIAL: Work Hard
At the bleakest moment in the pandemic, when you felt your most stressed, most scared, least centered, you probably heard some variation of the phrase: “This is really hard…”
LETTER: Zoom Water Conference ‘Dam the Status Quo’ Today, Monday Dec. 13
The online event includes Save the Colorado board member, Daniel P. Beard, a former Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation appointed by President Clinton…
OPINION: Open Letter to Governor Polis Concerning Behavioral Health
Our hope is that the BHA can help streamline our behavioral health system to make it more efficient, transparent, and accountable…
EDITORIAL: Is Pagosa Going to Pot? Part Two
“I don’t know if you’ve had much of a chance to read through the [report] at this point; it’s a long read, so I’ll just summarize why we wanted to get it in front of you guys…”
LETTER: Are We Embarrassed by Lauren Boebert Yet?
According to Colorado Newsline (September 29, 2021), she has failed Coloradans in a number of ways: Her role in the January 6 Capitol attack; has not passed a single bill; voted against cancer patients and military families…
EDITORIAL: Is Pagosa Going to Pot? Part One
Archuleta County is facing some huge social problems as we head into 2022. Some of the problems are already at a crisis level. Is marijuana cultivation one of those?
BIG PIVOTS: Colorado is Now Talking About Closing Its Last Coal Plant
If accepted by the PUC, this likely will be the first time that social cost of carbon has been applied to operation of any fossil fuel plant in the United States…
EDITORIAL: Considering the Growth of Archuleta County… and Its Governments, Part Four
Following the work session, the three commissioners sat down for a lunch of pizza and salad with four other elected County officials…
EDITORIAL: Considering the Growth of Archuleta County… and Its Governments, Part Three
The original budget predicted expenditures of $7.2 million, but the Great Recession had got off to an early start in Archuleta County, and the Town ended up spending only about $5.3 million in 2007…
OPINION: Wild Horses on the Virginia Range… Land of the Walking Dead?
All treated horses will soon vanish from the landscape over a 10-15-year period… slowly dying-off on the landscape beyond the public eye…
EDITORIAL: Considering the Growth of Archuleta County… and Its Governments, Part Two
How did the population growth patterns affect local government growth? Between, say, 2007 and 2020?…
OPINION: Colorado at the Center of Election Denialism?
With MyPillow money, activists are poised to go national with their efforts to dismantle democracy…
EDITORIAL: Considering the Growth of Archuleta County… and Its Governments, Part One
The BOCC didn’t like my idea. They really wanted to spend $20 million, or maybe $25 million, on something totally new. A state-of-the-art “justice center”…