Owens’ veto of bill to create drug-buying pool
Re: “Governor wields veto pen on prescription-drug bills,” June 2 news story.
Kudos to Gov. Bill Owens for the veto of Senate Bill 102, which called for Colorado to join a multistate purchasing pool to buy prescription drugs at a discount for patients enrolled in Medicaid.
I am a Medicaid consumer and, as a lifetime Democrat, I am dismayed that some of our state Senate leaders put their hatred of pharmaceutical companies ahead of common sense and protection of the poor and people with disabilities. Senate Bill 102 was a misguided attempt to punish drug companies. It was not about saving the state money. Federal law already gives Medicaid the best price on any drug. SB 102 would have simply shifted costs, from pharmaceuticals to hospitalizations. Yes, we have a health care crisis in Colorado. SB 102 would have done nothing to alleviate that crisis.
People with disabilities who live within the Medicaid system have many great ideas that really will save money and will do so without hurting anyone. Unfortunately, many in the legislature have ignored our ideas.
Carrie Ann Lucas, Denver
—————————————-
Design for Colorado’s new state quarter
Re: “A quarter’s tale: mountains,” June 1 news story.
I like the choice on the new state quarter. Now can we do something about the awful “Welcome to Colorado” signs that visitors see as they enter our state? The white-lettered “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” on dull brown boards looks like something I might have done in my garage and hardly represents our beautiful and colorful state. Like the governor, I would like visitors “to think of the colors that make Colorado so special.” Let’s use some on our welcome signs.
Jerry Paul, Greenwood Village
—————————————-
Rights of landowners
I find it ironic that The Post applauds efforts to expand property owners’ subsurface rights (“Oil, gas developments stir up rights issues,” May 31 editorial) while espousing the stripping of landowners’ surface rights (“Rivers run free and so should rafters,” May 29 editorial).
The idea that a landowner who happens to have water flowing over his property must accede to use of his property is contrary to any reasonable examination of the rights of property owners. Anyone who argues for such a right for non-landowners must agree that their property may be used in such a fashion as well. This reasoning means that I should be allowed to park my car in front of their home, throw beer cans on their porch and urinate on their lawn, as rafters and fishermen do on my property.
Federal law was designed to allow the use of waterways for the transportation of goods at a time when there was no alternative. The law was not written to allow recreational appropriation of landowner property values.
Michael K. Stahl, Carbondale
—————————————-
Re: “Lack of females profs a stubborn statistic,” June 2 news story.
The Post’s article decried the low numbers of women on the science faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The article raised some good issues, but the numbers for astrophysics and planetary science came from 2004, before the arrival of two female full-time faculty members. Our department now has 15 percent female faculty (three of 20), not 7 percent, as stated for 2004. Our percentage is well above the 10 percent average for the top 20 U.S. astronomy departments, but still lags behind the current production rate of women Ph.D.s in astrophysics (20 percent to 25 percent).
Faculty demographics cannot change overnight, especially with budgetary limits on new hiring.
I remain frustrated at our national obsession with identity percentages. We sorely need an academic feeder system that encourages bright young students to enter scientific professions. Access to high-quality education and rewarding careers should be our societal goal, rather than bean counting.
Mike Shull, Boulder
The writer is a professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at CU-Boulder.
TO REACH OPINION EDITORS
Phone: 303-820-1331
Fax: 303-820-1502
E-mail: openforum@denverpost.com (only straight text, not attachments)
Mail: The Open Forum, The Denver Post, 1560 Broadway, Denver, 80202
Letters guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 200 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.
