Letting pets ride in the back of pickups
Re: “Perhaps we should move to save dogs from their owners,” Nov. 22 Al Knight column.
A big hooray for Al Knight! His column is right on. Even if the dogs are not injured or killed, they can be severely traumatized from fear.
Those of us who are concerned about their welfare can do something: Anyone noticing a dog loose in the back of a pickup should take the license plate, a description of the vehicle, time and location and report it to the Dumb Friends League or any animal shelter. They have a program to follow up on such reports.
We can also write to our state lawmakers to pass laws to make this practice illegal.
These animals are not only dogs; they are friends, loving companions, indispensable helpers for law enforcement and firefighters and perform services making people’s lifestyles much better. They deserve our protection.
Robert Gyepes, Aurora
Opening of southeast corridor’s light-rail line
Re: “A rail easy commute,” Nov. 21 Page 1 story.
Passenger traffic may have been light on the new southeast light-rail line, but that certainly wasn’t the case on the D train.
I’ve been riding that train twice a day for a full year, and yesterday was the worst I’ve ever seen.
Trains that used to be three cars long with standing room only during rush hour have been reduced to two cars. You can only imagine how tightly packed those two cars were.
We were fortunate that it’s a holiday week, including the fact that Metro State students are on break.
I realize RTD is having trouble procuring additional cars, but I certainly hope they are counting the number of passengers they are loading on to those trains during the “light” traffic and make adjustments accordingly.
Otherwise, I’m afraid they will begin to lose customers on the D line.
Carrie Sullivan, Englewood
…
Re: “Light rail to mall? Bring a compass,” Nov. 21 Diane Carman column.
I have been a successful merchant for the past 35 years and have had the privilege to work with Pam Schenck for the past six.
I find your commentary on Pam both insulting and unwarranted.
First, Pam was an employee of Rouse Company; she was only doing her job. She was not the decision-maker.
If you want to lash out, lash out at the decision-maker, not the messenger.
Saying that she is from outer space is childish.
Secondly, at the time Park Meadows opened, Southglenn Mall’s claim to fame was its low sales tax.
Given the facts that you are a new shopping center trying to establish yourself, why would you handicap yourself and your customers with this additional sales tax?
Park Meadows as a shopping center has an obligation to its owners, merchants and customers to provide a competitive shopping experience.
They do not have an obligation to subsidize the few individuals who choose light rail as their means of transportation to shop.
Mary Staton, President, Silk Tree Ltd., Littleton
Cost of higher ed
Re: “Higher-ed support in Colo. lags,” Nov. 17 news story, and “College fund sets a lofty goal,” Nov. 20 news story.
Thanks for the articles regarding college tuition in Colorado. But I had to laugh. Hank Brown, president of CU, currently appears in ads addressing the problem of drug and alcohol abuse on Colorado’s campuses. Not to worry, CU is already well on the way to solving the problem. Every day fewer and fewer students can afford to attend the university. In no time at all, the problem will solve itself.
Maybe CU should take a look in the mirror. Those students are drinking to forget about their ballooning college debt created by the state’s short-sighted, penny-pinching, Republican fiscal policy!
Joe McGloin, Sheridan
Overdraft penalities
Re: “How to avoid costly overdraft penalties,” Nov. 19 Wall Street Journal Sunday.
The article on avoiding overdraft penalties never once mentioned the things I would suppose to be the basics. No. 1 would be the obvious fact that you need to know how much money is in your account. Come on now, it’s not rocket science. Most of us can manage elementary addition and subtraction. Then, if you don’t have the money, don’t spend it.
I know this is a quaint, old-fashioned idea, but it works – honest!
Gillian Edwards, Denver
Domestic wiretapping
Re: “AG pushes domestic wiretapping,” Nov. 21 news story.
It would appear after reading this story that The Denver Post has no sense of irony, or of humor.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stated the need for “warrentless eavesdropping” to fight terrorism. Yet, following later in the story is that fact that the government cannot monitor calls from the Supermax prison in Florence due to lack of resources. They want to listen to my calls, look at what I check out of the library, but cannot monitor calls between “dangerous people in our prisons.”
Perhaps I missed something, but it is evident that The Post cannot connect the dots when it comes to the “war on terror.”
Richard Fritz, Denver
Ski resorts and global warming
Re: “Go to Code Green; Resorts
reacting to declining snow pack,”
Nov. 19 Perspective story.
We are told that ski resorts are
quaking in their boots over the
now clearly inescapable fact of
manmade Global Warming (since
its a religion, it really should be
capitalized) causing less snowfall
and essentially shutting them
down in the next few years.
They are doing all sorts of things
to fight this scourge.
Steamboat has even gone so far
as to make its new high-speed
chair lift solar- powered.
Take that, Global Warming!
But other headlines this year
have trumpeted some of the earliest
opening dates for Colorado ski
resorts in 20 years.
A few years ago, during the
drought, we were told that thanks
to Global Warming, we d better
just get used to empty reservoirs
and snowless winters.
Then, just as happened in the
late 70s, the drought ended, the
reservoirs refilled, we ve been getting
more snow than anyone
wants, and the ski resorts have
opened earlier than ever before.
I guess all this Global Warming
talk is a bit like the weather in Colorado:
If you don t like what they are
saying right now, just wait an hour
or a year and it will be completely
different.
J.M. Schell, Arvada
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