Email Letters, May 8, 2012

By Bob Silbernagel
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Zero tolerance rears
its ugly head again

Last week the media reported a story which I believe sends a disturbing message. That is, it’s possible today for absurdity to triumph over common sense. For example, the story was about a 6-year-old first grader who was overheard uttering a line from a song,in the presence of a fellow female
student. Consequently,he was suspended from school and charged with “sexual
harassment”.

My question is…“What adult heard him and decided that what he said was sexual harassment?”

In my mind the decision to bring charges demonstrates a lack of common sense and may result in psychological damage to the child. Who should be responsible for that, and how much wasted time will be required to deal with school reinstatement and police record expungement?

Acting on extreme “zero tolerance” policies such as this are not the sort of example adults should set for kids. It makes an entertaining story perhaps, slapstick humor to be sure, but sophmoric and foolish looking.
ALAN CARLEY
Grand Junction

Sentinel’s business plan
has a major flaw

Serving customers is a basic rule for any company wishing to achieve financial success in business. But today’s Sentinel is now exhibiting a significant blind spot in that regard. Here’s an example.

Last week, a friend told me that there would be a conservative political rally in Lincoln Park on Friday afternoon. So I browsed my Sentinel on Friday morning for an article about the rally, but found none even though I searched the entire paper.

I went to the park anyway, and quite easily located the rally site. I discovered that it was a major affair with booths, singers, two national-level speakers, and a large audience. The next morning I referred
to my Sentinel for their coverage of the rally, but, to my great surprise, I found no mention of it even though I again searched in detail.

Then I grew concerned. Why was this event not covered? After all, the Sentinel is Grand Junction’s primary source for reporting on significant local events, Mesa County is predominantly conservative with the highest percentage of conservative voters in Colorado, and these people constitute the major part of the Sentinel’s customer base. So I must conclude that the Sentinel is pursuing a fundamentally flawed business plan since it is ignoring its major customer base.

And then, I ask myself: Why would a company violate the basic principle for financial success? Could it possibly be that they are sacrificing their business to serve as a propaganda instrument for the Obama
Administration during this critical election period?

Last Wednesday the Sentinel published a comprehensive article summarizing the previous day’s Occupy Mayday Celebration in Lincoln Park.
Kent Carson, CO
Grand Junction

North Fork drilling could
cause major water issues

With all the many factors that make farming in the West difficult, having to deal with the uncertainty around water is probably the most challenging. That’s why a sigh of great relief went up throughout the North Fork Valley when the BLM decided to withdraw 22 parcels from the August gas leasing auction.

As more and more input flowed into the BLM’s office from the community regarding those potential leases, it became apparent that there was woefully insufficient hydrological data for the BLM to base its decision on. I commend BLM for withdrawing the parcels and for its commitment to conduct more hydrologic and socio-economic impact studies.

The rural areas of the West especially need their representatives to pay attention to the voices of small communities as the energy boom (which we know will bust) plays itself out over the coming years.

Hat’s off to state Rep. Sal Pace, who heard those voices and took the important step of contacting Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s office and asking for the leases to be deferred. Pace, who is running against Congressman Scott Tipton for Congress, showed he has his priorities straight in defending the
rights of small-town America to the due process they deserve as decisions that affect their homes, their health, and their livelihoods are made.

Thanks also go out to state Sen. Gail Schwartz and to the offices of Sens. Bennet and Udall, whose staff visited the valley, met with the locals and listened to their concerns.
For those who think that without energy development this area would be a ghost town, I suggest a visit to the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. It goes without saying that there is no life, here or anywhere else without adequate clean water.
Dea Jacobson
Cedaredge

McNulty had good reason
to prevent civil union vote

“Make legislators take stand on civil unions,” reads the headline to your editorial May 8. You claim you see no valid reason for Speaker Frank McNulty to prevent a vote on SB2 .

Do you not remember the ballots back when we, the people of Colorado, voted to amend our Constitution to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman, as state law had declared for years?

Do you not remember how we, the people of Colorado, voted on that very ballot “No” to Referendum I to allow civil unions? When we the people voted “Yes” to Amendment 2, and our two-faced Gov.Roy Romer marched with the reprobates under the gay banner of “undo Amendment 2 ?” Gov.Romer used the connections and power of his office to support efforts to nullify the vote of the people.
Now the Colorado Legislature is once again sticking its finger in the eye of the people who voted “no” to civil unions. Let the people be respected by our fovernment. I am tired of mere politicians claiming they want or can represent me — only to be seduced by the reprobates in Sodom (Denver). That the state government is seeking to advance immorality and fornication, insisting on the fraud that it’s not “marriage” and this act does not affect the vote of a few years ago is reason enough to not allow a
vote on SB 2.
Robert Burkholder
Fruita