News
Keep Hoy as sheriff
There is a mood sweeping the nation to the effect that if you are an incumbent, you've got to go. I have a lot of sympathy for this view as many, but not all, of our so-called leaders should be embarrassed by their performance and should be replaced.
However, if throwing out good leaders happens as a byproduct of an emotional response to our current state of affairs, we will all lose. This would be the case if Republicans were to choose to replace the incumbent Sheriff Joy Hoy with his challenger, Charles Wolf.
Joe Hoy has been a very effective sheriff for eight years.
He has managed a $10 million budget of our money very well while managing about 90 employees.
In recent years, Sheriff Hoy has done an excellent job of doing more with less. Budget cuts have been mandated by the county commissioners, but Sheriff Hoy has managed them in such a way as to maximize public safety.
Sheriff Hoy is supported by other neighboring sheriffs (he was elected president of the County Sheriffs of Colorado for 2011), which is critical when mutual aid situations arise.
Sheriff Hoy is also supported by the district attorney and many civic and community leaders, and for good reason. He has been providing our county with excellent law enforcement since taking office.
On the other hand, Charles Wolf, his opponent in the primary, has never to my knowledge held a high supervisory position in any of the three agencies where he has worked and, by his own admission, has never managed a budget.
Wolf's main source of support seems to come from his family and a few people who think that we must throw out all the incumbents whether they are any good or not, and I gather that if he is elected, he plans to apply that philosophy to most of the senior deputies within the Sheriff's Office.
Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Re-elect Joe Hoy in the primary, and focus on replacing others in our leadership who are not nearly as competent as Joe Hoy.
Tom Howard
Needless death
Recently a young bear was needlessly killed by a homeowner in Cordillera because he wasn't willing to take the necessary steps to prevent encounters with local wildlife.
The unfortunate bear had been roaming around the upper levels of Cordillera for quite a while and often visited the same areas to browse and graze.
One of these areas was my home, and we saw it regularly when it would stop by and eat our grass and then go about its business. We got to see the coat changes during the transition of spring to summer and watch it grow while never interacting with it.
This homeowner claimed that the bear got into his house (through an open window or door?) and he chased it out. So when it returned on a different day, the homeowner bravely climbed up to the roof of his house and shot it dead.
Perhaps if the homeowner took the precaution of securing his doors and windows, this could have been avoided. Then again, since he had time to climb to his roof, maybe the thrill of the hunt was just what he wanted.
Our lost friend we lovingly named as Yogi will be fondly remembered forever.
Lee Kapel Cordillera
Time for revolution?
At birth, every American child is de facto a distinct individual endowed with the enumerated and inalienable rights of a free man. For these rights to exist and be acknowledged, there must of necessity be unfettered liberty, free of the unreasonable constraints of government.
It is a natural predisposition for a mother and father of this child to have the benefits and prosperity that liberty brings to a society and, above all else, to remain an individual in a society that cultivates that character.
At the birth of this nation, free men gathered in Congress to define and prescribe the liberties that were necessary to recognize, nurture and preserve the American character of an individual, a free man rather than a subject of the crown.
And so it was that the greatest experiment and manifestation of a free society came about, a nation with the Constitution and law to preserve and protect the rights of the individual. This federal charter subsumed these natural rights of man and distinguished them from privileges or licenses that government had the authority to bestow.
I take note and umbrage that the only authority a government can legally hold is that bestowed upon it by righteous and just men through the exercise of their free will.
Where have we come from those humble and forthright beginnings at the birth of this nation? Where are those rights that the individual has by virtue of his birthright? To even question the existence of rights foments the answer that those inalienable rights no longer are recognized by governmental institutions at all levels of American society. The charade of it all is that an individual right exists only in form as a license or privilege bestowed by an omnipotent and self-serving government. This is liberty by license, and that is not freedom!
To exist, survive and prosper in today's society, our federal government alone has exacted unreasonable and confiscatory tribute from us in many ways. Witness the requirement of a Social Security number to work in the marketplace (if there still is one) and a driver's license to have the mobility that is characteristic of an individual or even to be identified as one.
Witness, too, the confiscatory taxation codes that burden the work force and private business sectors in order to bestow undeserved bounty and benefits on those who opt out of liberty for the sake of the cradle-to-grave security that government touts but fails to deliver.
The freedom to assemble requires a parade permit or some other police certification. The right to bear a firearm requires registration or is simply denied altogether in certain jurisdictions (Washington, D.C.; Chicago). The right of free expression is qualified to protect the sensitivities of a certain religion or racial minority. Building permits, zoning laws, and employment regulations all serve to delimit or redefine what rights we once freely enjoyed.
I need not forget that we now have the right of free choice expunged by the latest health care bill emanating out of Congress and the White House. To demand of our young men that they must not only register for a prospective draft but now purchase a certain health care package is the earmark of tyranny.
The patent and expressed rights enumerated and guaranteed under this nation's founding charter are, to say the least, dead and now have been reconstructed and defined as privileges or licenses under the so-called “living Constitution” as propounded by a cadre of governmental elite who set themselves above the common law of the general population.
Query: Does a retiring congressman have to suffer the paltry amount afforded by Social Security? Does he have the same health care that he legislates for the common citizen? Have we not established an aristocracy by governmental edict?
To regain our sovereignty and birthrights, those in government who have abused such rights and ignored the proscriptions of the Constitution must be removed through a lawful and fair electoral process.
If that prospect is no longer possible, we must once again water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots (Jefferson — circa 1776).
Fredric Butler
Thanks, Doc
I would like to write in response to the 20-year celebration being held by Doctors on Call in honor of Dr. Kovacevich. To thank him for his years of providing affordable care to Eagle County and surrounding areas. Dr. Guy has removed splinters from my hands and feet for almost 20 years. Although he may be chuckling on the inside, thinking, “How can she get so many splinters?” he is always gentle and caring and efficient.
I am a wimp when it comes to doctors. The staff at Doctors on Call makes the visit like going to Grandmother's house for cookies. They are the best.
I appreciate people who are honest. If Dr. K feels that you need a specialist, he does not hesitate to recommend another doctor. But rest assured that Dr. K will always follow up to be sure you are getting better. Thank you, Dr. Kovacevich and Doctors on Call.
Marjorie Westermann
Oops, that
Dear Eagle Valley: Being a business owner in Lionshead, I would love to see you and your out-of-town guests come visit our area on any occasion during the daytime this summer.
You could have some lunch, walk around and check out our new buildings, ride the gondola, rent a bike, shop in our stores, check out our hotels for future visits and just enjoy the overall friendliness of all the locals who make up our Lionshead family.
Sorry, wait a minute, I forgot our parking is full every day with construction workers and hospital employees whose structure is being worked on in the middle of summer and not during May or after Labor Day, when school's back in session.
If only you could park on the frontage road if the lot is full or the workers could so you could all enjoy Lionshead in summer. If you can't, at least we have the best bus system and the drivers to go with it to help you over here, too. Thanks. Hope to see you this summer.
Dennis Foley Bart & Yeti's
Why, why, why?
Why is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships on the planet? The two most solid democracies, which have suffered the bloodiest attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn't care.
Why don't we see demonstrations against the Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris and Barcelona?
Why aren't there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection?
Why aren't there demonstrations against the use of children as human bombs?
Why is there never any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel?
Why is there no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism?
Why don't they defend Israel's right to exist?
Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the defense of Palestinian terrorism?
And then the concept of freedom. In every pro-Palestinian European forum, you hear the left yelling, “We want freedom for the people!”
Not true. They are never concerned with freedom for the people of Syria, or Yemen or Iran, or Sudan, or North Korea, or other such nations.
And they are never preoccupied when Hamas destroys freedom for the Palestinians. They are only concerned with using the concept of freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom.
The resulting consequences of these ideological pathologies is the manipulation of the press.
The world press does major damage when reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. On this topic they do not inform — they propagandize.
When reporting about Israel, any act of self-defense becomes a massacre and any confrontation genocide. So many stupid things have been written about Israel that there aren't any accusations left to level against her.
I have a responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel.
To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of Jews — it is the duty of the non-Jews.
Bernie Schwartz
Goose and gander
This is in response to David Le Vine's letter July 26.
I am just amazed that you have the nerve to complain that the Republicans are not happy with President Obama and are bashing him with honest issues.
It was just over 18 months ago that I had to read letters from you to the editor doing the exact same thing. Bashing President Bush!
So what you are trying to tell the American people is that it is OK to bash a Republican president, to write books and make movies on assassinating a Republican president, but no matter what we have to support a Democrat president.
We can never say anything against him or we are racists?
Why is there such a double standard for you and your party?
Stephanie Ratkowski Gypsum
How much?
Attendance at a recent night's concert by the New York Philharmonic made me wonder about the logistics of moving the orchestra to Vail: personnel, instruments, support personnel, etc., including the housing, transportation, feeding, entertaining, etc., of all while in Vail.
I believe it would make a great
story!
Helmuth Froeschle Lakewood
Re-elect Hoy
I am recommending that everyone vote to re-elect Joe Hoy for Eagle County sheriff.
I did not know Joe before he was elected as our sheriff, but over the years I had come to consider him a friend.
I have had several times when I have had questions and concerns and have called Joe at his office. If he was not there at the time, he always personally returned my calls.
I have watched Joe develop an on-line child-predator department, which has taken some of these creeps off the streets and away from our children and grandchildren.
When we had a sexual predator living in his car in the Burns area, Joe's deputies were on top of it. When we found out where he had moved his camp, it took one call to Joe and the guy was picked up and in jail.
I have heard Joe's opponent in this primary speak, and I can't say that I was impressed.
I have read some of his letters in the paper, and I am not impressed.
I heard a very uninformed and uneducated person spout off with inaccuracies. I heard him blame Joe for the amount that the Justice Center has cost the taxpayers of Eagle County. Remember that it was the county commissioners who made that decision, not Joe Hoy.
When I read that Deputy Wolf does not like or agree with the medical marijuana law, I said “So what!” It is the job of the sheriff to enforce the laws whether he agrees with them or not.
There is a lot to running any office, let alone one as large as the Sheriff's Office.
I know from experience how hard it is on the people who work in the office to do the right thing and keep things going when they have someone incompetent in charge.
I think Deputy Wolf is probably a fine deputy, but a manager and a leader? I don't think he is ready to step into those shoes.
Don't vote for inexperience when the safety of your family and friends hangs in the balance! Vote for a man who cares about Eagle County and its residents and has proven he is a man of integrity and has the ability to do the job. Vote for Joe Hoy for sheriff!
Sandy Skiles Burns
There is a mood sweeping the nation to the effect that if you are an incumbent, you've got to go. I have a lot of sympathy for this view as many, but not all, of our so-called leaders should be embarrassed by their performance and should be replaced.
However, if throwing out good leaders happens as a byproduct of an emotional response to our current state of affairs, we will all lose. This would be the case if Republicans were to choose to replace the incumbent Sheriff Joy Hoy with his challenger, Charles Wolf.
Joe Hoy has been a very effective sheriff for eight years.
He has managed a $10 million budget of our money very well while managing about 90 employees.
In recent years, Sheriff Hoy has done an excellent job of doing more with less. Budget cuts have been mandated by the county commissioners, but Sheriff Hoy has managed them in such a way as to maximize public safety.
Sheriff Hoy is supported by other neighboring sheriffs (he was elected president of the County Sheriffs of Colorado for 2011), which is critical when mutual aid situations arise.
Sheriff Hoy is also supported by the district attorney and many civic and community leaders, and for good reason. He has been providing our county with excellent law enforcement since taking office.
On the other hand, Charles Wolf, his opponent in the primary, has never to my knowledge held a high supervisory position in any of the three agencies where he has worked and, by his own admission, has never managed a budget.
Wolf's main source of support seems to come from his family and a few people who think that we must throw out all the incumbents whether they are any good or not, and I gather that if he is elected, he plans to apply that philosophy to most of the senior deputies within the Sheriff's Office.
Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Re-elect Joe Hoy in the primary, and focus on replacing others in our leadership who are not nearly as competent as Joe Hoy.
Tom Howard
Needless death
Recently a young bear was needlessly killed by a homeowner in Cordillera because he wasn't willing to take the necessary steps to prevent encounters with local wildlife.
The unfortunate bear had been roaming around the upper levels of Cordillera for quite a while and often visited the same areas to browse and graze.
One of these areas was my home, and we saw it regularly when it would stop by and eat our grass and then go about its business. We got to see the coat changes during the transition of spring to summer and watch it grow while never interacting with it.
This homeowner claimed that the bear got into his house (through an open window or door?) and he chased it out. So when it returned on a different day, the homeowner bravely climbed up to the roof of his house and shot it dead.
Perhaps if the homeowner took the precaution of securing his doors and windows, this could have been avoided. Then again, since he had time to climb to his roof, maybe the thrill of the hunt was just what he wanted.
Our lost friend we lovingly named as Yogi will be fondly remembered forever.
Lee Kapel Cordillera
Time for revolution?
At birth, every American child is de facto a distinct individual endowed with the enumerated and inalienable rights of a free man. For these rights to exist and be acknowledged, there must of necessity be unfettered liberty, free of the unreasonable constraints of government.
It is a natural predisposition for a mother and father of this child to have the benefits and prosperity that liberty brings to a society and, above all else, to remain an individual in a society that cultivates that character.
At the birth of this nation, free men gathered in Congress to define and prescribe the liberties that were necessary to recognize, nurture and preserve the American character of an individual, a free man rather than a subject of the crown.
And so it was that the greatest experiment and manifestation of a free society came about, a nation with the Constitution and law to preserve and protect the rights of the individual. This federal charter subsumed these natural rights of man and distinguished them from privileges or licenses that government had the authority to bestow.
I take note and umbrage that the only authority a government can legally hold is that bestowed upon it by righteous and just men through the exercise of their free will.
Where have we come from those humble and forthright beginnings at the birth of this nation? Where are those rights that the individual has by virtue of his birthright? To even question the existence of rights foments the answer that those inalienable rights no longer are recognized by governmental institutions at all levels of American society. The charade of it all is that an individual right exists only in form as a license or privilege bestowed by an omnipotent and self-serving government. This is liberty by license, and that is not freedom!
To exist, survive and prosper in today's society, our federal government alone has exacted unreasonable and confiscatory tribute from us in many ways. Witness the requirement of a Social Security number to work in the marketplace (if there still is one) and a driver's license to have the mobility that is characteristic of an individual or even to be identified as one.
Witness, too, the confiscatory taxation codes that burden the work force and private business sectors in order to bestow undeserved bounty and benefits on those who opt out of liberty for the sake of the cradle-to-grave security that government touts but fails to deliver.
The freedom to assemble requires a parade permit or some other police certification. The right to bear a firearm requires registration or is simply denied altogether in certain jurisdictions (Washington, D.C.; Chicago). The right of free expression is qualified to protect the sensitivities of a certain religion or racial minority. Building permits, zoning laws, and employment regulations all serve to delimit or redefine what rights we once freely enjoyed.
I need not forget that we now have the right of free choice expunged by the latest health care bill emanating out of Congress and the White House. To demand of our young men that they must not only register for a prospective draft but now purchase a certain health care package is the earmark of tyranny.
The patent and expressed rights enumerated and guaranteed under this nation's founding charter are, to say the least, dead and now have been reconstructed and defined as privileges or licenses under the so-called “living Constitution” as propounded by a cadre of governmental elite who set themselves above the common law of the general population.
Query: Does a retiring congressman have to suffer the paltry amount afforded by Social Security? Does he have the same health care that he legislates for the common citizen? Have we not established an aristocracy by governmental edict?
To regain our sovereignty and birthrights, those in government who have abused such rights and ignored the proscriptions of the Constitution must be removed through a lawful and fair electoral process.
If that prospect is no longer possible, we must once again water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots (Jefferson — circa 1776).
Fredric Butler
Thanks, Doc
I would like to write in response to the 20-year celebration being held by Doctors on Call in honor of Dr. Kovacevich. To thank him for his years of providing affordable care to Eagle County and surrounding areas. Dr. Guy has removed splinters from my hands and feet for almost 20 years. Although he may be chuckling on the inside, thinking, “How can she get so many splinters?” he is always gentle and caring and efficient.
I am a wimp when it comes to doctors. The staff at Doctors on Call makes the visit like going to Grandmother's house for cookies. They are the best.
I appreciate people who are honest. If Dr. K feels that you need a specialist, he does not hesitate to recommend another doctor. But rest assured that Dr. K will always follow up to be sure you are getting better. Thank you, Dr. Kovacevich and Doctors on Call.
Marjorie Westermann
Oops, that
Dear Eagle Valley: Being a business owner in Lionshead, I would love to see you and your out-of-town guests come visit our area on any occasion during the daytime this summer.
You could have some lunch, walk around and check out our new buildings, ride the gondola, rent a bike, shop in our stores, check out our hotels for future visits and just enjoy the overall friendliness of all the locals who make up our Lionshead family.
Sorry, wait a minute, I forgot our parking is full every day with construction workers and hospital employees whose structure is being worked on in the middle of summer and not during May or after Labor Day, when school's back in session.
If only you could park on the frontage road if the lot is full or the workers could so you could all enjoy Lionshead in summer. If you can't, at least we have the best bus system and the drivers to go with it to help you over here, too. Thanks. Hope to see you this summer.
Dennis Foley Bart & Yeti's
Why, why, why?
Why is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships on the planet? The two most solid democracies, which have suffered the bloodiest attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn't care.
Why don't we see demonstrations against the Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris and Barcelona?
Why aren't there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection?
Why aren't there demonstrations against the use of children as human bombs?
Why is there never any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel?
Why is there no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism?
Why don't they defend Israel's right to exist?
Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the defense of Palestinian terrorism?
And then the concept of freedom. In every pro-Palestinian European forum, you hear the left yelling, “We want freedom for the people!”
Not true. They are never concerned with freedom for the people of Syria, or Yemen or Iran, or Sudan, or North Korea, or other such nations.
And they are never preoccupied when Hamas destroys freedom for the Palestinians. They are only concerned with using the concept of freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom.
The resulting consequences of these ideological pathologies is the manipulation of the press.
The world press does major damage when reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. On this topic they do not inform — they propagandize.
When reporting about Israel, any act of self-defense becomes a massacre and any confrontation genocide. So many stupid things have been written about Israel that there aren't any accusations left to level against her.
I have a responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel.
To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of Jews — it is the duty of the non-Jews.
Bernie Schwartz
Goose and gander
This is in response to David Le Vine's letter July 26.
I am just amazed that you have the nerve to complain that the Republicans are not happy with President Obama and are bashing him with honest issues.
It was just over 18 months ago that I had to read letters from you to the editor doing the exact same thing. Bashing President Bush!
So what you are trying to tell the American people is that it is OK to bash a Republican president, to write books and make movies on assassinating a Republican president, but no matter what we have to support a Democrat president.
We can never say anything against him or we are racists?
Why is there such a double standard for you and your party?
Stephanie Ratkowski Gypsum
How much?
Attendance at a recent night's concert by the New York Philharmonic made me wonder about the logistics of moving the orchestra to Vail: personnel, instruments, support personnel, etc., including the housing, transportation, feeding, entertaining, etc., of all while in Vail.
I believe it would make a great
story!
Helmuth Froeschle Lakewood
Re-elect Hoy
I am recommending that everyone vote to re-elect Joe Hoy for Eagle County sheriff.
I did not know Joe before he was elected as our sheriff, but over the years I had come to consider him a friend.
I have had several times when I have had questions and concerns and have called Joe at his office. If he was not there at the time, he always personally returned my calls.
I have watched Joe develop an on-line child-predator department, which has taken some of these creeps off the streets and away from our children and grandchildren.
When we had a sexual predator living in his car in the Burns area, Joe's deputies were on top of it. When we found out where he had moved his camp, it took one call to Joe and the guy was picked up and in jail.
I have heard Joe's opponent in this primary speak, and I can't say that I was impressed.
I have read some of his letters in the paper, and I am not impressed.
I heard a very uninformed and uneducated person spout off with inaccuracies. I heard him blame Joe for the amount that the Justice Center has cost the taxpayers of Eagle County. Remember that it was the county commissioners who made that decision, not Joe Hoy.
When I read that Deputy Wolf does not like or agree with the medical marijuana law, I said “So what!” It is the job of the sheriff to enforce the laws whether he agrees with them or not.
There is a lot to running any office, let alone one as large as the Sheriff's Office.
I know from experience how hard it is on the people who work in the office to do the right thing and keep things going when they have someone incompetent in charge.
I think Deputy Wolf is probably a fine deputy, but a manager and a leader? I don't think he is ready to step into those shoes.
Don't vote for inexperience when the safety of your family and friends hangs in the balance! Vote for a man who cares about Eagle County and its residents and has proven he is a man of integrity and has the ability to do the job. Vote for Joe Hoy for sheriff!
Sandy Skiles Burns
