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Letters to the editor

editor@vaildaily.com

Great service

I absolutely must recognize the incredible customer service I recieved at the Avon Post Office. Especially since I imagine one frazzled Mom with one very energetic 4 year old is not any clerk’s dream at closing time.

Larry helped the two of us send off a crucial package, and I was touched by the courtesy he extended my little girl. (Not just anyone knows the exact stamps to pick out for a preschooler.)



It’s a pleasure to see customer service extended to the entire family!

Alice McElhinney

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Cheyenne, Wyo.

The best

I particularly enjoyed Christine Casillas’ story “Canine Conundrum.” In 1948, three of my classmates from Michigan Tech, named the “Huskies,” and I took a 440-mile canoe trip up the Albany river in Canada to Fort Albany.

The trip is another story, as I was three weeks late trying to get back to school. We left June 20 and returned Sept. 23. As engineering students we forgot the Albany flows north and we had to canoe back. While at Fort Albany, which had a mounty police station with one mounty and a one-car garage general store run by the mounty’s wife, we found a large summering place for Eskimos, approximately 80 families.

The women did all of the work and the men rested, because in the winter the men did all of the trapping, cooking, etc., as the women had their babies. The Eskimos lived because of their sled dogs. When a female sled dog got in heat, the Eskimos would tie the dog out in the woods and hope a wolf would mate with her. As a result it was difficult to say what percentage wolf each dog was.

When we arrived, most of the puppies were 2-6 weeks old. What great mascots, we thought. We tried to barter, but to no avail. They did not want our rifles or anything else. The mounty came to our rescue.

By law the Eskimos could not have liquor. The mounty sold us two bottles of wine for 70 cents each. We went into the village and got mobbed. We could have any dog we wanted. We picked two pups, guess they were 4-6 weeks old. One male, King, and the female, Queen.

A couple days latter we started to canoe back to Highway 11, barely a two-lane dirt road. As I stated, we took over eight weeks to get back. The two dogs learned to fend for themselves. We had little food, only the fish we could catch. The little pups would catch frogs, root for grubs and seemed to be growing bigger and stronger while we were losing weight.

By the time we reached civilization they were 20 some pounds and doing very well. My mother took King, as I quickly left for school. Under her care he grew to 90 pounds by spring. He spent one year at school with me and then back to Mom’s.

I got married when he was 3 and my wife inherited him. When we saw your article, my wife said, “There is King.” Shanti looks exactly like King did. He was a great animal; obviously he lived outdoors. We would bring him in on occasion. King never could bark, he could only howl. He had webbed feet, and when he drank water out of a pail, he would bury his muzzle into the water to drink. He would not lap water as most dogs do. I learned that these dogs would drink out of scummy ponds so they buried their muzzles rather than lap the surface water.

He had one other interesting trait. I could never get him on his back. We would bring him in the house in the evening and my children and I would lie on the floor watching TV. We would pet King and he would get relaxed and sleepy. I would then try to turn him on his back; it was impossible. He then thought we wanted to play, which he really enjoyed.

He never growled or snapped at a person in his 13 years. His only drawback, he hated dogs. Because of this, I kept him harnessed on a 12 foot log chain that gave him a 24 foot circle he could go in. His dog house was on one end. We had a cat, Tiger, a big tom. King was very tolerant of Tiger and even withstood a swat at his nose that bled without retaliating.

How King knew Tiger was our family cat, I really don’t know. One day we heard a neighbor screaming, “Your dog has my cat.” I went running out and saw King standing in front of his dog house. The women hollered he is in the dog house. I reached in and there was the cat unharmed, King apparently put him in the dog house.

This has got way too long, as I have several other amusing stories of King, but I would like to say we had several other dogs in the family and King was the best animal we ever had.

Actually I wrote this for Shanti and his friend, Kathy Muller. I would appreciate it if you would give her this letter as I do not know how to contact her.

Paul Goode

Signs would help

Just a quick note to let you know that it took 2 trips to Vail, Colorado, from Canada, and three bus drivers before I finally found the bookstore Verbatim again.

Why are the businesses that are located behind other businesses not given proper sign variances so that we can find these shops easily?

Verbatim Booksellers hit the nail on the head when it came up with the slogan “Hard to Find, Easy to Enjoy!”

One can only wonder if there are other businesses that would like to use the same slogan, as well.

Martha Luciani

Whiners

The letters to the editor of late are disturbing to me. Do the Democrats or Republicans really think that long-winded tirades are going to sway the opposing parties? I think not.

Most disturbing are the amount of whiners being published. I’m not trying to surpress free speech. I would just like to see more letters from people who enjoy our valley.

I know they are out there. I meet them every day. I guess they just don’t write letters. There have been some, but nowhere near the amount from the whiner crowd.

I spoke to a visitor over Presidents Weekend who told me the skiing in Vail was so great that the wait in lift lines was worth it. A few days later I read the letter from the whiner about the passes and horrible lift lines. Wah, wah, I want my own mountain. Wah, wah. See what I mean?

Since buying a place here in 1980, I have seen many changes. I do not agree with all of them. However, for me the Vail Valley was, is and always will be a place way ahead of whatever is in second place! Come on people, write letters about things you like!

Ron Herbinger

Vail

Such a deal

With the Bair Ranch conservation easement getting to an important stage, I have a question to ask those proponents.

If I were riding my mountain bike through Glenwood Canyon and turned south through the Bair Ranch and proceeded to Cottonwood Road, would that be doable?

If the answer is no, why would a taxpayer want all that money spent on something he or she cannot enjoy? I’ll bet the Bair brothers just love this deal.

Rich Mahoney

Avon


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