Email letters, June 20, 2012

By Staff
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Pugliese unfairly maligned for being Grand Valley outsider

Recently, I have heard the radio political commercials by a Mesa County resident seeking to get on the June 26 Republican primary ballot as a write-in candidate. This gentleman lost his bid as a candidate at the Republican County assembly by a significant number. He now feels inclined to get on the November ballot through the write-in process. Good for him, and good for the write-in process.

However, I object to the tone of his radio campaign commercials where he refers to the candidate, Rose Pugliese, as an East Coast attorney. He is trying to cast a negative light on people who are not home-grown as possibly untrustworthy. Many people who weren’t born here and who are transplants from other parts of America and the world now call the Grand Valley home. They, like me, are offended by the negative connotations he is making about a person’s origins.

In 1976 my wife and I came here from the East Coast, specifically the New York metropolitan area, to make Grand Junction our home. For the past 36 years we’ve lived, worked, raised a family here and have contributed to the community. We never tried to change it to our previous home state, but rather to fit in and become part of the beautiful and friendly Grand Valley.

My wife and I know all too well what it feels like to be considered outsiders, but the Grand Valley natives that we came to know and love through the years have always made us feel welcomed and appreciated.

It is a shame this write-in candidate can’t feel as others. If he wanted my vote, his bias and prejudicial tone have turned me, and many others I know, off. I find it very offensive for this gentleman to imply that Mrs. Pugliese or anyone not born here are to be considered somewhat lesser persons not worthy to be elected to a political office.

RICHARD A. BACHER
Grand Junction

Money enslaves instead of empowering, expanding mankind

There is much that needs to change in our world. It was once said that humans on planet Earth were the only humans in the universe that leave their own hungry and homeless. This is something to contemplate. Why do we allow this?

First, we realize that money, which should be a tool to allow us easily to exchange goods, has instead been used as a tool to enslave most of us. Money is hoarded by many of the rich and runs the lives of many of us now.

How often is our sole purpose in any situation to get more money? Does this viewpoint really serve us? Could we not instead demand of our government that money be used to uplift us all in new and innovative ways?

Imagine a world where people do what they are passionate about doing? Imagine a world where money expands us rather than limits us? We can create this world for ourselves. Let us remember that there is One Humanity with infinite expressions. We are all in it together.

KIM ST. GERMAIN
Grand Junction

Spehar owes WSCA members, sheriffs, citizens an apology

Jim Spehar should attend a few Western Slope Conservative Alliance meetings. In fact, Jim, send me your email address and I’ll put you on our mailing list.

We have upcoming meetings with Colorado state officials, presenters from The Heritage Foundation and other top-notch national and regional figures. You might learn something about WSCA and the big wide world outside of your home.

Jim Spehar’s portrayal of the Constitutional Sheriff’s round table held last week was woefully misinformed. He did not attend, so was not part of the group of nearly 220 concerned citizens who did.

The attendees are not conspiracy theorists, survivalists or any of the other debasing terms Spehar used to slam his fellow western Coloradans. They are citizens who are concerned about law enforcement, the overreach of the federal government and their precious personal liberties.

Spehar’s snarky column was an insult to the serious and highly professional western Colorado sheriffs who were in attendance, including our own Stan Hilke. These great men have an interest in the concerns of the citizens of their counties. They don’t dismiss the problems posed by too much government and too little enforcement of proper laws designed to protect citizens.

Spehar owes the 1,380 core members of the Western Slope Conservative Alliance, the sheriffs who attended our round table and the citizens of western Colorado an apology.

MARJORIE HAUN
Grand Junction

Follow advice of London mayor, vote for community booster

My husband, Ken Henry, is running for Mesa County Commissioner, District 1.

As his wife of 47 years, I have seen his intensity toward his hometown of Fruita and all of Mesa County. His intent has always been to bring the very best for all the citizens of the area.

I recently was reading an interview in Time Magazine with the mayor of London, Boris Johnson. He was asked if he had any advice to the many mayors across the U.S. whose towns are struggling. His answer was, “Be a booster of your city.”

To me, that describes Ken. He has been and will continue to be honest, fair and willing to listen to all citizens. Most importantly, he’ll be a booster for all of Mesa County.

JAN HENRY
Fruita

Spehar’s take on sheriffs’ meeting was disappointing

I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to read the article submitted by Jim Spehar concerning the meeting with our county sheriffs. What has become of unbiased reporting of facts in our media? To make matters worse, the reporter (I use the term lightly) wasn’t even at the meeting!

What’s going on? Is your liberal reporting so desperate for attention that it will viciously attack Americans asking perfectly legitimate questions of our law enforcement? Are you so afraid someone just might be right about the drones being used in our county or that Obama is after the guns of American civilians?

Has he not been listening to Obama say the Constitution is outdated and needs to make way for a new era? Has he not heard the name calling from the left to America’s Tea Partiers? The TP is common everyday Americans who can still do their own thinking and want others to do the same.

Do we wait until freedoms are gone and we wake up in a European muddle? Many other countries are warning the U.S. to not go there, because they are living it in their lives.

Where does Jim spend his time? If he doesn’t have time to attend and report as a professional should, I have suggested the job of dogcatcher might be more up his alley and he can declare there’s no such things as fleas without adding to the decline of America! I suggest others take a second look at your paper as a source of fair information.

By the way, we do have a drone in our valley. I guarantee it. It can be used for good or bad, depends on who controls it. That may be something to consider in the next sheriff election.

JOYCE SHAFFER
Loma

Pugliese well qualified for county commissioner position

Mesa County is fortunate to have Rose Pugliese as our likely next commissioner for District 3.

Rose Pugliese is an intelligent, capable and successful business owner with years of experience in standing up for Mesa County and fighting liberal organizations and policies. She has held leadership positions in several local and national organizations and has earned a reputation of leaving every organization she is involved with better than she found it.

She relies on well thought out, and deeply held, conservative principles rather than the mudslinging and finger pointing that characterize the Obama Democrats and her opponents. She believes in freedom and in the ability and entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Mesa County to solve problems and rebuild our economy, rather than in government and bureaucracy.

It is no wonder that the local left is so frightened of this eminently qualified and honorable candidate and is already trying to smear her. Rose Pugliese poses as much of a threat to big government, big unions, tax-borrow-and-spend attitudes and the entitlement mindset here at home, as Scott Walker does in Wisconsin.

Thank you.

GARY WORTHEN
Grand Junction

Clemens cleared of lying to liars

Roger Clemens was found not guilty.

Let me see if I got this straight. He was charged with lying to Congress, soooooo ... the government sought a conviction of lying to the best bunch of liars in the nation?

O, the humanity!

RICHARD MOHLER
Grand Junction

Sheriffs’ forum shed light on fear of feds’ law enforcement

On the afternoon of June 19 I received an email from the Western Slope Conservative Alliance indicating that the Sentinel was remiss in its reporting concerning WSCA’s sponsored activity presenting four area county sheriffs.

In one sense I would agree that the article wasn’t in the least representative of the discussion at that presentation, but I would have to consider the questions represented in the article did in some manner indicate a strange paranoia concerning federal law enforcement activities. I sometimes think the less we know about these paranoid concerns the better off we are, but we still need to have responsible moderate to right groups disavow these concerns.

Jim Spehar did an excellent job in his June 19 op-ed column in taking some of these items to an uncomfortable account according to WSCA. When they are uncomfortable, we need to examine that carefully.

Perhaps someone can speak to this. I believe in my fifth decade, when I was farming full time in the Midwest, there was strong effort to encourage the development of the county sheriff as the leading governance having to do with Posse Comitatus, and as I understood it, little or no responsibility to central government.

As a matter of fact, there was a very financially secure farmer acquaintance in my county very active in that movement. Now in my eighth decade, I had fondly hoped that silliness would have dissipated. Is there some effort of this nature going on at the present?

I had hoped that by this time in the 21st century we would have understood that it’s possible to have a detrimental effect resulting in fearful, suspicious, dominant personalities by having a severe sphincter control training regime. Evidently we didn’t start soon enough.

WAYNE WESTERSON
Grand Junction

Mudslinging in some political ads just means losing ground

Concerning negative political advertising, “When you throw mud you are losing ground!”

In political advertising I would much rather hear what someone stands for or is going to attempt to accomplish than to hear where the opponent was born or some supposed dirt on the person.

BRADLEY BARKER
Grand Junction

Mankind must replace coal with more ‘benign’ energy sources

Current science supports the fact that coal is the dirtiest energy source. The data presented in Ms. Schaaf’s letter (The Daily Sentinel, June 19) is a temporary distraction and possibly a comfort to those who do not understand the worldwide implications of the continuous infusion of CO2 and other gases and chemicals into the atmosphere.

Burning coal, oil, gas and other petroleum products worldwide by a geometrically increasing world population is currently leading to runaway heating of the planet.  Do those who deny the science behind climate change not breathe oxygen to live but feel they can be quite comfortable under a suffocating blanket of carbon dioxide?

Is the risk to maintain our comfort level, by burning cheap and abundant energy at an increasing rate, worth it even though it will lead to our extinction as a species?  Would we not be smart to develop more benign sources of energy using the technology available to us today while at the same time phasing out deadly carbon?

ROBERT A. TALLARICO
Grand Junction

Obama wrong on immigration, energy, healthcare

So far in the last three weeks, President Obama has used his executive power to pass immigration issues for political reasons even his Democratic-controlled Congress would not touch when he had control for more than two years. Today it is executive privilege to cover up the fast and furious.

He has stretched the truth about drilling being increased; the only increase was on private land he could not control. He is trying to shove health care down our throats.

Sure the stars, liberals and environmentalists will do everything to stop any energy but what they choose. Have they thought of the impact on wildlife and the environment with solar panels and windmills all over the forests and land?

They complain about nuclear plants or coal powered power plants at least 60 miles from any town. Big suggestion for such places as Telluride and Ophir: Let’s turn all your power off that is supplied by coal in the middle of the winter. Then maybe the towns would go back to what they were intended for.

God help us if we have the same stuff for four more years or will we end up with our version of Hugo Chavez for the rest of his life?

LORIE CULLUM
Grand Junction