Mr. Tvarkunas: A few points of contention with your letter published Friday:

Mr. Odom was on the clock and has since admitted and apologized that “he had punched in, and everyone in the locker room had seen him, ... he’s since apologized and admitted he was on the clock that day.” (Vail Daily Jan. 9, page A4.)

SharpShooters is “(a) Wheat Ridge-based photography company, which stations photographers at the top of lifts to snap photos” (page A4) and they are the ones who may or may not fire Mr. Odom.

I, myself, having been a liftie on Chair 5 the past year it was voted best chair in Eagle County, can personally attest to the fact that Chair 37 is so easy to run that the lifties were at least somewhat to blame since they have nothing to do but “greet and seat,” and obviously they missed at least part of the tutorial.

I personally have never toilet-seated anyone in five years working as a lift-op in both Vail and northern Michigan, and in 22 years of snow-sliding have never been toilet-seated, either.

We, as a community, need to start taking responsibility for our actions, and what Mr. Odom did was not freedom of the press, unless of course you believe something like Princess Diana was killed in sport. And if that is the case, why don’t you head to Aspen where the community doesn’t care what is in the paper and love when “celebrity” is exposed.

Please feel free to send a rebuttal of any sort as I love to see more people waste time and try to sound symPATHETIC.

David Crambel

Editor's note: Tvarkunas' letter was written and published before Sharpshooters asserted seven days after the incident that they concluded the photographer was on the clock as their employee when he took the picture despite his assertions that he was off duty.

The photographer has not returned our calls ever since then.