Design for the new Colorado state quarter
Re: “A quarter’s tale: mountains,” June 1 news story.
The mountain depicted on Colorado’s quarter is Rocky Mountain National Park’s Longs Peak. I have a framed picture of Longs Peak taken by local photographer James Frank. It is the exact picture planned for the coin. One can tell by examining the peak at the right edge (Pagoda), the rock outcroppings called “Keyboard of the Winds,” the distinctive flat top of Longs, and even the little projection to the left, below “The Beaver.” My picture is No. 62 of 500 by Frank.
The drawing could not have been made from “written descriptions.” Descriptions of what? A fictitious mountain?
Credit for this picture should rightly be ascribed to James Frank and to Rocky Mountain National Park with its majestic Longs Peak, not to draftsmen at the Mint.
Tom Nichol, Estes Park
…
While the design chosen by Gov. Bill Owens is indeed attractive, it is in no way a “generic mountain backdrop,” as described in news reports.
It is a modified view of Longs Peak as viewed from Mills Lake within Rocky Mountain National Park. You can plainly see Longs Peak, complete with its distinctive notch on the left. Then you move right to left (west) along the “Keyboard of the Winds” complete with its distinctive spires to Pagoda Mountain on the left.
It’s a shame that some Mint artist had to modify what is naturally a majestic view in its own right. But, to call the quintessential Colorado view “generic” is a disservice to the grandeur that is Longs Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park.
If anyone has any doubts, just Google “Longs Peak from Glacier Gorge,” go to the first result, and look at the fourth photo down. Or, better yet, plan a hike to Mills Lake this summer and see for yourself.
Ron Thomas, Estes Park
Sexually violent predators
Re: “Predator or just an offender?” May 29 news story.
Indeed, sexually violent predators need to be identified. However, the tone of The Post’s article was needlessly terrifying. It is one thing to educate the public; it is another to scare them to the point of fostering an environment that encourages vigilantism.
It is true that there is no “cure” for sex offenders. However, it also true that there is no cure for alcoholism and drug addiction, but people live for decades without having “lapses” once they have participated in treatment. The same is true for sex offenders.
It is a myth that sex offenders have an extremely high recidivism rate. In fact, the opposite is true – sex offenders have one of the lowest rates of recidivism of any crime. Don’t believe me? Maybe a 1994 report from the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which shows sex-offender recidivism to be 5.3 percent, can convince you. Similar studies have also been done in Great Britain, Canada (as low as 1.7 percent) and Michigan (as low as 2.46 percent). For other criminals, the recidivism rate tends to be in the 50 percent to 60 percent range, depending on the crime.
We need to be talking as a nation about the true risks to our families. Most people who are sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone they know – a family member, a teacher, a coach, a minister. The “stranger danger” we all talk about simply is not the biggest threat to our children.
The registered sex offender who lives down the street is most likely the person in the neighborhood you least need to be worried about. Not that I don’t think people need to be cautious and encourage their children to stay away from the home of a sex offender, but focusing only on the registered sex offender gives communities a false sense of security.
We should be focusing on teaching our children about what an inappropriate touch is and about the things sex offenders say or do to lure them and to later convince them to stay quiet. We need to be telling our children, “No matter what anyone says, Mom and Dad will not be in danger if you tell us that someone has hurt you,” and, “It is never your fault.”
The more we all know about sex offenders, the safer all of us will be.
Buffy Nelson, Denver
The writer is chair of the Colorado-CURE Sex Offender Issues Group.
Protecting your PC from viruses and worms
Re: “Attacks on computers,” June 2 Open forum.
Letter-writer Bill Berden, who wrote about attacks on computers running Windows, needs to be careful not to do further disservice to the people who use Windows-based PCs.
Yes, the Linux and Macintosh operating systems are both less affected by viruses than Windows, but any box can be affected if the user does not know how to properly secure it.
Berden’s suggestion about using a Web browser besides Internet Explorer and an e-mail client besides Outlook Express is a good suggestion. Furthermore, get a good virus scanner and firewall. Also, download and install an anti-spyware program. I recommend Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy. Finally, the best defense against the numerous nasties out there is Windows XP Service Pack 2. This version of Windows can stop some viruses all by itself, and it can run Microsoft’s anti-spyware program, argueably one of the best available, whereas Windows 98 cannot.
For the person who uses his computer to take work home and communicate with his family and co-workers, Microsoft’s Windows is the best platform. Linux is only an option if you are willing to learn something different than what you use at work, and Mac has its own quirks.
Jeremy Hymes-Balsley, Denver
U.S. response to Uzbekistan
Re: “U.S. shows true colors with Uzbekistan response,” May 29 Perspective article.
Christof Stefes concludes that recent events in Uzbekistan mean that “The U.S. is not really the democratic force in the world that some want us to believe … move beyond naked power politics.”
Stefes uses the non-sequitur that inconsistency proves insincerity, instead of strategic choice and necessity. Hence, his disingenuous conclusion.
In reality, not all battles are won immediately or soon, and no nation, not even the sole remaining superpower, has infinite resources. Thus, George W. Bush is the first U.S. president to confront Saudi Arabia with criticism crying for reform of its tyrannical ways. And according to State Department figures for 2003, Uzbekistan received about $50 million in economic and humanitarian assistance, and aid fostering the instruments of democracy. That’s insincerity?
Picking battles carefully does not mean betrayal of an ideal – merely that Stefes’ voice is a wholly impractical one in a pragmatic world. Athens wasn’t built in a day.
T.J. Olson, Boulder
Use of medical marijuana
Re: “Medical pot users’ future in hands of top court,” May 29 news story.
Your article quotes Drug Enforcement Agency supervisor Bill Weinman misinforming the public when he says, “You don’t smoke your medicine.”
We know that President George Washington did precisely that, smoke his medicine, when troubled by his nearly unconquerable jaw pain.
The late Peter McWilliams also smoked his medicine. When in 2000 a federal judge, at the prompting of the DEA, ordered him to stop, McWilliams did so. A few weeks later, he choked to death on his vomit from the chemotherapy he could no longer stomach. (See www.petermcwilliams.org.)
Let’s hope the Supreme Court sees through the DEA smokescreen.
Jack J. Woehr, Golden
Is No Child Left Behind Act doing its job?
Re: “Beyond the promise,” May 29 Perspective article.
Public school educrat Jana Caldwell contends that the mission of public schools has changed since the 2002 Federal No Child Left Behind act. In its introduction to Caldwell’s article, The Post reports that the legislation is “shaking up public education nationwide.”
I challenge Caldwell’s contention that the mission of public school has changed. There was a time in the public schools when grades, grade advancement and graduation was actually a meaningful measuring stick in K-12 public education. The mission has always been to see to it that all students mastered the material before they were advanced in their studies and grade levels. Ultimately, graduation was a measurement of the success of that mission. Problem was and is, students were being passed in coursework and grades without really mastering the material, simply because there was no accountability prior to NCLB. In days past, students flunked if they didn’t show proficiency in the various basic disciplines. They were held back.
The mission never changed, but the qualify of education and attendant accountability did. This federal legislation recognized the disconnect between the public school system prior to NCLB and the level of literacy resulting from the public school system in the absence of some accountability.
Dennis Hammond, Lakewood
The battle over judicial nominations
Re: “Anti-judicial rhetoric scary,” May 29 Andrew Cohen column.
Andrew Cohen uses the Old Testament’s Book of Judges as a backdrop for his commentary. Cohen is right when he says that this was a period of apostasy. It is actually a time when everyone did what was right in his own eyes, which is a good description of our own age.
Cohen cites several examples that he thinks builds his case for the separation of powers. His most telling story is about Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, who Cohen describes as “the author of the state’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.” Does Cohen see the irony here? Judges are now “authoring” laws from the bench rather than the legislature doing so. Where is the separation of powers when the courts are usurping the duties of the legislature?
Cohen could also use another Old Testament story. Absalom was King David’s rebellious son. He was handsome and won the people’s hearts by standing at the city gates and saying, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me and I would give him justice.” His goal was not justice, but to ingratiate himself with the people so he could overthrow his father’s reign. The Democrats have lost in elections, but want to impose their will on the land with judges who will use world opinion plus their own ideas of right and wrong, not the U.S. Constitution, as the basis for their rulings. That is why Democrats are so opposed to judicial nominees who will abide by the Constitution rather than doing what is right in the judge’s own eyes.
J.D. Moyers, Centennial
Senior citizens’ rates for parks passes
Re: “Preserving our parks, our heritage,” May 29 Perspective article.
Any of us who use the national parks know that funds are needed for the Park Service to renovate structures, repair trails, hire more rangers, etc. The effort of this bipartisan group of congressmen and women to enhance funds by a checkoff on tax returns – as described in this article – is admirable.
We have another suggestion. We see no reason why seniors should be able to show a Golden Age Passport and have free passage into any national park. We paid $10 for one of these several years ago and feel guilty every time we use it. We would rather be paying a senior fee for the privilege of visiting these gorgeous parks.
It is our observation that a very high percentage of the users of the national parks are seniors, and the campgrounds are full of their elaborate motorhomes. Most senior citizens who go to these parks have enough money to pay fees to get into them. Impoverished or low-income seniors are not the ones visiting national parks.
We also observe that states generally charge seniors to use their state parks a reduced fee, but still, that’s income the state parks can use to keep up their facilities and staff.
We are not high-income retirees, but we are willing to pay a senior fee for the wonderful experiences we enjoy at our national parks. It will be a shame if they continue to deteriorate for the lack of money for maintenance and staff.
Irma and Dick Munz, Denver
Remembering Marines killed in Beirut in 1983
Re: “Fallen soldiers fought to ensure our liberty,” May 29 editorial.
I commend The Post’s editorial calling on all Coloradans to honor the men and women of our armed forces who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, I must take issue with your statement that “For the last quarter of a century, Americans knew mostly peace. … That peace was shattered on September 11, 2001.”
On Oct. 23, 1983, 241 United States Marines were killed by a terrorist truck bomb while in their quarters at the Beirut airport. This was, and mercifully remains, the largest number of casualties suffered by American forces in one day since World War II. The loss of these U.S. Marines, as well as the deaths of 58 French troops sent by their government to support the U.S. deployment, who also were killed that same day in Beirut by a separate terrorist truck bomb, should be recalled whenever we honor the service and sacrifice of American and allied soldiers in the fight against terrorists.
In his memoir, “My American Journey,” Colin Powell wrote that the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut was central to the formulation of the doctrine articulated in 1984 by then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger – and in a later variation referred to as the “Powell Doctrine” – that the United States must never commit our armed forces to combat overseas without a clearly defined mission, and only as a last resort when our “vital interests” are at stake, and only with a force and materiel sufficient to accomplish the mission and only with the support of the American people. Notwithstanding that our political leadership discarded all elements of the Weinberger-Powell doctrine in their decisionmaking on Iraq, the sacrifice of the 241 U.S. Marines who were killed in Beirut must never be forgotten.
Frank Schuchat, Denver
TO THE POINT: Short takes from readers
If one rotates the image of the new Colorado quarter 90 degrees, a cartoon image of Charles de Gaulle appears. Way to go, Gov. Owens.
Keith Bond, Dillon
Someone should tell Focus on the Family to focus on their own families, not everyone else’s.
Raishel Wasserman, Englewood
Illegal aliens skipping to the front of the immigration line are no different than motorists passing in the shoulder to get ahead of the cars patiently waiting for their rightful turn. A game of red light, green light, do not pass Go.
Marty Lich, Gypsum
House majority leader Tom DeLay equates embryonic stem-cell research with killing human beings. Following his line of reasoning, an embryo equals a human being. Therefore, every pregnant woman should be able to take a tax deduction the year she conceives as well as the year she delivers.
Debby McGlathery, Arvada
An “activist judge” is one who makes laws whose decisions differ from my opinions.
Frederick C. Sage, Boulder
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