YOUR AD HERE »

Letters to the Editor

Compiled by Daily staff

No help for Red CliffThere was some inaccurate statements that were included in the article regarding Red Cliff’s grant to replace our wastewater plant. In the article you interviewed a former board member regarding how to best finance the wastewater plant. He unfortunately provided some inaccurate information regarding the town having received offers from “Eagle County and the Ginn Company.”Neither Eagle County nor the Ginn Company has offered a single penny toward replacing our wastewater plant. Neither entity has made any type of offer financially or otherwise toward assisting Red Cliff with this pressing need since I’ve been on the board or as mayor! So the statement “We can’t ignore other offers” is not based on any kind of factual information.Eagle County has been solicited, and from that board we were turned down (through their capital improvement project planning process). The Ginn Company has not made any offer to assist with replacing the plant. They have partially funded an attorney for the town to assess our resources from an engineering aspect, but nothing toward replacing our wastewater plant. We have been continually told that the annexation process needs to proceed through Minturn before they are in position to work with Red Cliff.I believe an appropriate strategy would have been to have asked either entity to corroborate the statements that were made. That would have provided a more accurate story. The story makes it appear as though we have or would turn down any offers of assistance to replace the plant, and to me that is ridiculous!Ramon V. MontoyaMayor, Town of Red CliffEditor’s note: The former board member did not say anyone had made finanancial offers. He did say that Red Cliff should listen to any that come along. Willfully ignorantRegarding “Everybody respects the troops”: Matt Zalaznick, I admire your tenacity in trying to convey some sense of logic to the 30 percent of Americans who miraculously choose to remain willfully ignorant, blissfully enjoying the emperor’s new clothes. It takes courage to constantly deflect knee-jerk neo-con wordspeak from those who receive their weary sound bites from Fox “News” and right-wing talk show hosts, such as the drug-addled mind of Limbaugh. I suppose we shouldn’t be shocked at some of the outright falsehoods and talking points babbling out of the mouths of those who would mistake “my country right or wrong” for patriotism; Saddam Hussein for Bin Laden; “support our troops” for let them stay in harm’s way regardless of whether they are suitably equipped or whether there is a plan to accomplish their mission or if there is even a mission at all. These people will still try to find a way to blame Clinton for the escalating problems in this country, nearly six years after he has left office.Perhaps it is time to stop Bush bashing. These people just won’t change. They’re here for the duration of the Bush fiasco. Don’t ask them to look at the facts. They believe in a president who said, on Sept. 21, 2003, “I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who probably read the news themselves.” Any wonder why the presidential daily briefing of Aug. 6, 2001, “Bin Laden determined to attack U.S.” was completely ignored? Perhaps we can learn from one of the more hideous figures of the recent past, Hermann Goering, Hitler’s chief deputy and head of the German armed forces, speaking at the Nuremberg trials after World War II: “Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.” Randy PeltonAmong the bestI have known Karen Sheaffer professionally in her job as Eagle County treasurer for many years. I have found Karen to be very knowledgeable and dependable in every way. Karen was a particularly valuable resource to me when I became treasurer of Teller County. She has always made her wealth of experience available to other treasurers in the state. I believe that the voters of Eagle County will always be able to count on Karen to look out for the best interests of the county.Connie JoinerTeller County Treasurer/Public TrusteeVail, Colorado


Support Local Journalism