Gov. Ritter’s inauguration and appointments
Kudos to the planners of Gov. Bill Ritter’s inauguration for including the Colorado state song, “Where the Columbines Grow,” sung by the Colorado University Chorus, which we seldom hear today. We sang it many times in elementary and high school in Golden, more than 70 years ago. Our music director all those years was Earl Johnson, whom a school and a street in Golden are named after. It was nice to hear it again.
Rosaline Stelley Smith, Lakewood
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Re: “Event sponsors’ motives questioned,” Jan. 5 news story.
Thanks, Bill Ritter, for your decision to fund your inaugural “celebration” through having “sponsors” pay for your party. For their donation, these “sponsors” get, among other goodies, a train trip with you down to Pueblo. And who are these “sponsors”? There’s Xcel, those good old boys who keep raising our utility rates – for our own good, I’m sure. Then there’s Comcast, those kind souls who have their own little monopoly and keep raising our cable bills but refuse to let us have a choice in what channels we can purchase. And, finally, there’s that wonderful monolith Wal-Mart, which is known throughout the country for its generosity to its employees.
I’m just imagining the conversations on the train trip. Let’s see, Xcel will be bending your ear on how they want to lower natural gas prices so the elderly won’t be so cold. Comcast will be trying to convince you to press for new legislation allowing for a new cable company because “competition is good for us all.” I can’t even imagine what Wal-Mart will be saying, but you can rest assured that whatever it is, it will be in the best interest of the “average working man.”
Thanks, Guv, for listening to us commoners so well.
Joel Jezek, Lakewood
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Re: “Ritter names Public Safety, Human Services nominees,” Jan. 4 news brief.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s choice of Karen Beye to head up the state’s health and human services efforts was a smart one. Having served on the Broomfield City Council during the transition to a city and county government, I witnessed the benefits of having this innovative problem-solver at the helm. Few people realize what a godsend Beye really was.
The delivery arm for most of the state and federal social services programs is county government. Beye and her counterparts throughout the state were at the front during the implementation of the Colorado Benefits Management System. She knows what it is like to be stuck with a system that does not work well while trying to assist people in need.
The appointment of Karen Beye gives Colorado a unique opportunity to find collaborative solutions to issues that affect far too many lives in our state.
Clark Griep, Broomfield
The writer is former mayor pro-tem of the city and county of Broomfield.
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Gov. Bill Ritter has wisely decided on change in the Department of Natural Resources. Succinctly stated, some have found Russell George, the current director, soft on oil and gas development protections for surface owners and wildlife habitat protection (e.g., the Roan Plateau). Overzealous and rapid exploitation of our oil and gas resources do not serve us well. Nor does it protect one of Colorado’s remarkable and renewable resources, our wildlife.
Dale Reed, Glenwood Springs
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Re: “Sizing up Bill Owens’ years in office,” Jan. 7 John Andrews column.
Only a monumentally partisan ideologue such as John Andrews would cast back almost 10 years in order to speculate what a gubernatorial candidate would or would not have done had they been elected. Perhaps he can predict the future as well and tell us what Bill Ritter will do during his upcoming term.
Stace Tackaberry, Breckenridge
Idea to sell DPS administrative building
Re: “For sale: DPS offices,” Jan. 9 news story.
Superintendent Michael Bennet, concerned about the unused space in many Denver Public Schools buildings, wants to move district administration from 900 Grant St. to these unused spaces to save money. Will the expected $8 million sale price of 900 Grant cover the expense of retrofitting these old school buildings to administrative specifications? After all, many DPS buildings have no air conditioning, no carpet, and aging equipment. Can we expect DPS administrators to work under the same conditions as teachers?
Superintendent Bennet’s more difficult problem is the empty buildings themselves. Why are these schools empty? Improving educational opportunities for Denver students may return more people to these empty buildings and eliminate the need to sell a downtown property worth more than $8 million. It is a more challenging problem, but one that is being overlooked for an immediate payment.
Nina Barber, Denver
Military policy on gays
Re: “Scrap ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,”‘ Jan. 8 editorial.
In his New York Times opinion piece last week, Gen. John Shalikashvili wrote that he had talked with “gay soldiers and marines … and an openly gay senior sailor” about their acceptance by their peers. I don’t doubt that at all. I’m sure gays and lesbians serve with distinction in the armed forces. I just don’t know who they are, because they don’t serve openly as gays and lesbians. They serve as defenders of freedom. To allow them to serve openly would add a significant distraction to our fighting forces.
We charge them with a particularly challenging mission: fighting and winning our nation’s wars. In combat, distractions are deadly. Do we really want to revisit “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at this critical juncture in our military’s history?
Are we going to launch a social experiment in our armed forces during a time of war? I would hope our senior leaders, grappling with troop-strength surges and strategies for victory in Iraq, would be trying to best support our fighting force, not examining social constructs to make these war fighters more socially “correct.”
Bill Spencer, Colorado Springs
Rights of detainees
Under the guise of combating terrorism, the U.S. government took several steps closer to becoming a police state last year. The Military Commissions Act was approved by the 109th Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush on Oct. 17, 2006. The act undermines the government’s commitment to observing key rights established by our Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, and the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. Both of Colorado’s senators, Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar, voted for this draconian bill.
On Dec. 10, Strength Through Peace sponsored two street-theater performances of “Human Rights Day with George, Dick & Ken,” which dramatizes the impact of the new law. (A video of this short play may be viewed by visiting strengththroughpeace.org.)
The 110th Congress began meeting on Jan. 4. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats for the first time since 1993. Strength Through Peace calls upon readers of The Denver Post to demand that the 110th Congress repeal the profoundly anti-democratic Military Commissions Act.
Kevin Cross, Convener, Strength Through Peace, Fort Collins
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