Email letters, July 20, 2012

By Staff
Friday, July 20, 2012

County fair illustrates agriculture’s importance to Grand Valley

Congratulations to all the people responsible for making the 125th Mesa County Fair one of the best ever. It brought back memories.

Wandering the fairgrounds last evening, I recalled the steer I raised from a calf as a youngster in the 4H Club. His name was Sir Humphrey. I remember that I was very proud – and a little sad – when he brought a good price at auction to raise money for charity. It was a formative experience for me.

The roots of agriculture go deep in the Grand Valley. Along with mining and the railroad, agriculture first put Grand Junction on the map. Not only are farming and ranching still important to the Western Slope economy, but our quality of life and many of our most important shared values also grew from our agricultural heritage. Agriculture is a big part of who we are.

As we plan for our future, we must never forget that farming and ranching matter to all of us here in the valley. Agriculture may not have the army of lawyers and lobbyists in Denver that some other industries do, but, for everyone’s sake, government policies must take seriously into account the needs of farmers and ranchers.

In particular, as competition for limited water supplies increases, we must act to ensure agriculture will continue to have access to the water it needs to be viable in the future.

DAN ROBINSON
Candidate, Colo. House of Representatives
District 55
Grand Junction

Lock car doors, strap in purses to thwart perps

As I was watching the video of the assault on a young woman at Barnes Electric, the one thing that caught my eye was the perpetrator opened the passenger side, got in and proceeded to assault the victim.  I would like to recommend two precautions individuals can take that will greatly impede attacks like this, as well as purse snatching, carjacking and the like.

Whenever you are in your car, whether driving or just parking, LOCK all your doors as soon as you get in or get out of your vehicle. This also applies to waiting at stoplights where one can easily be carjacked.

Another suggestion is particularly for women when you go shopping: Attach the straps in the cart to your purse. That way, if anyone grabs for your purse that person will end up taking the cart and all, causing a major commotion.

These are very simple ways we can protect ourselves in this world of those who want what is not theirs to take.

BEVERLY DUZENACK
Mesa

Counseling for Latino students only was unfair, un-American

Did you know that School District 51 was spending $200,00 to $300,000 per year from 1997 to 2009 to counsel only Latino students in the nonacademic Latino Education Achievement to Graduation program?

Only Latinos with a GPA lower than 2.4 could get the free counseling. For 12 years the district served about 600-800 Latino students per year. In 2010 someone must have questioned the un-American program, and the name was quietly changed to “Leadership in Education, Achievement and Graduation.”“

In 2011, 390 non-Latino students and 800 Latino students received free counseling from the LEAG program. In 2012 the LEAG program was cancelled.

My guess is thousands of non-Latino students missed out on this free counseling from 1997 to 2009.  I feel this is un-American, and I’m very disappointed in our school district and our media for not reporting these actions.

BRANDON SIEGFRIED
Grand Junction

Immigrants find ways to increase their influence in America

How do you take over a country? You can go the traditional route through war and violence, or you can do it slowly and methodically.

You move into the country of choice in droves and make use of the greedy capitalistic philosophy that pledges allegiance to the bottom line to undermine the unions that are trying to bleed the businesses dry, by providing cheap labor.

You build your forces until there is such a significant number that the country must recognize your language and start providing goods and services in your native tongue. Then, you take full advantage of those that sympathize with “those poor people” by fully utilizing the public school and health care systems, while placing undue burden on taxpayers.

Meanwhile, your controlling criminal element recruits some of your younger generation and allows them to utilize their extensive tunnel smuggling network to infiltrate major cities and form new gangs or control existing ones, ensuring a near monopoly on your product.

Then you promote the political party that is sympathetic to your “cause” but has its own agenda by ignoring voting laws. (Twenty states, and five provinces that have voting rights have NO voter ID requirements whatsoever, and another 16 states have a “non-photo” requirement that in most, is simply a utility bill with a name and address so they can verify the district. Colorado is one of these).

You proclaim tyranny and injustice to a school that would allow a student to wear a T-shirt with that country’s flag on it while demanding that your country’s flag be saluted on your native holidays. It’s easy; if you can find the right country, then it’s only a matter of time.

In the words of Pink Floyd, “Hello, is there anybody out there?” Do we really not see what is going on, do we just pretend that it is not a problem, or do we encourage it to promote an agenda?

GLENN MENARD
Grand Junction

Environmentalists deprive others of much-needed jobs that Roan drilling would provide

After reading the op-ed by Michael Freeman of the Earthjustice League, I can see he has no idea what drives the economy of the Western Slope.

When he looks north, he sees wilderness with people hunting and fishing. This will bolster the economy of the Western Slope? We already know the results. Tourism on the Western Slope, while important to the economy, has not been sufficient to pull us out of the economic spiral that was caused by the changes in drilling rules in 2007.

When I look north, I see 4,000 new jobs. Let’s ask the questions. What would 4,000 high-paying jobs mean to the economy of Grand Junction and the Western Slope? What would they mean to real estate sales? What would they do to bolster the sales of local restaurants, stores and other small businesses?

What would they mean for property values? What would those additional sales tax and property tax funds mean to the budget of Mesa County and School District 51? How many additional jobs would be created as our economy begins to pick up speed?

The simple fact is that these environmental groups and their activists don’t care about the Western Slope, as long as they can push their extreme agenda. It is this exact agenda that continues to drag down the economy of the Western Slope.

The BLM should stick to the original plan, which was enacted after several years of intense research and was completely balanced, and open the Roan to drilling.

Michael Freeman was completely wrong. This is an issue of jobs – 4,000 jobs versus the status quo of economic ruin brought about by the environmental special interests.

I know which side the majority of Western Slope residents would vote for.

KEVIN MCCARNEY
Clifton