Re: “Public hunt in park a bad idea,” Feb. 13 editorial.
As noted in your editorial, overpopulated elk in Rocky Mountain National Park are harming park resources. As you also noted, the National Park Service’s preferred option is to hire sharpshooters. My proposal (House Resolution 1179) would make it clear they could utilize the services of licensed Colorado sportsmen and women and who meet any other Park Service criteria. The bill would not allow people to go off on their own to shoot elk in the park without concern for public safety or visitor experiences.
There likely are Colorado sportsmen and sportswomen with the same qualifications as sharpshooters who would be willing to cull the herd under the same terms and conditions – and for less money than the Park Service is planning to pay the sharpshooters.
Hunting has a long and valued tradition in Colorado. Sportsmen and sportswomen respect the land and the game they pursue. They are allowed on most public lands and for decades have hunted in areas also used by other people. If the Park Service decides to use lethal methods to reduce the herd, it should consult the Colorado Division of Wildlife and consider using hunters’ experience – and possibly save the taxpayers millions of dollars.
U.S. Rep. Mark E. Udall, Eldorado Springs
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Re: “Moving targets,” March 7 news story (part of The Denver Post’s four-day series on immigration and border control, “Fortress America”).
Michael Riley’s article on border smuggling demonstrates the illogical nature of an enforcement-only approach to the immigration issue. This country needs to pass humane and comprehensive immigration reform that recognizes the reality of the 12 million-plus undocumented immigrants living and working in our communities, and creates a path to citizenship with full worker- and human-rights protections.
The majority of modern immigration to the U.S. is rooted in economics. Ultimately, immigration issues will not be adequately addressed until U.S. trade policies and military aggression cease to serve an unquenchable corporate thirst for exploitable workers and resources. Current trade policies use debt to subjugate entire nations to U.S.-dominated international lending cartels and privatization schemes that reduce or eliminate environmental protections, worker rights and social spending for the benefit of foreign investors. When control via trade policies fails, military action often begins. In either case, the resulting erosion of living and working standards triggers immigration to the U.S., where employers continue their attack on workers through fear, intimidation, threats of deportation and pit worker against worker in order roll back hard-won standards.
Blake Pendergrass, Denver
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Re: “Immigrant kids chase dream; Congress weighs helping students into college, military,” March 8 news story.
Colorado has many excellent students, but some of these students are not given the opportunities to achieve the higher education they deserve. This is why Congress needs to pass the Dream Act. Many immigrant children came with their parents to the U.S. at a very young age. They have grown up as part of our communities and many have excelled in our schools. These kids deserve the same chance at success as any other child. The Dream Act would allow many outstanding immigrant students to go to college and make a positive contribution to our society.
Donna Bonetti, Boulder
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Re: “Panel: Bolster online schools,” March 9 news story.
Can the State Board of Education’s task force on “virtual” schools be serious? I was appalled to hear of the misuses of taxpayer dollars . I thought surely the legislature would read the report and shut off the spigot. But the task force believes the answer is to expand the program?
There aren’t enough monitoring systems in the world to cover all the different ways to circumvent this scam, nor do I believe that any “virtual” education justifies the same kind of per-pupil expenditure as a real, live, quality public school.
Committee members complained that the low level of funding creates no incentives for school districts to create online programs. Let’s get real. Smaller class sizes, with better access to quality professional development for teachers – together with higher salaries – and high and consistent standards for students, teachers and schools are the only education reforms proven by research. Everything else is just playing politics.
Michael Pons, Lakewood
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Family entertainment
I would like to congratulate and thank Colorado Christian University for an amazing production of “Annie Get Your Gun” over the past weekend. I agree with recent editorial writers who’ve had to search far and wide for some entertainment not saturated in sex and/or violence, so it was very refreshing to attend a high-quality, completely family-friendly show, and to share the fun with an audience that was roaring with laughter every minute or two.
Karen Eychaner, Lakewood
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The death penalty and
state cold-case funding
I’m writing this letter supporting funding of cold-case squads by using money saved by eliminating the death penalty in Colorado. My wife and I are victims of the lack of funding for cold-case investigations. Twenty-seven years ago, we woke up on Thanksgiving morning to find our 16-year-old daughter Marie missing.
There are more than 1,200 unsolved cases in Colorado alone. Funding is necessary for cold-case squads all over Colorado.
The death penalty is a tool that costs more than it is worth. It is reported that there are two people on death row. Why are we spending thousands of dollars to mollycoddle these people? All they know is appeal, appeal, appeal.
I believe it is time for Colorado to update its laws and get some funding for cold-case squads by eliminating the death penalty. Please urge your state representative to vote in favor of House Bill 1094 when this legislation comes up for a vote.
Paul Blee, Grand Junction
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Politics in movie review
I’d like to ask Denver Post film critic Lisa Kennedy to keep her own political thoughts about war to herself. Several times she commented in her March 9 review of “300” about how much she dislikes war. Well, so what? We are reading movie reviews to see how the film is. Must reporters drag their feelings about politics into everything they write about? Just review the film on its own merits. This isn’t about the reviewer, it’s about the film.
George M. Knochel, Centennial
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Re: “Lafayette murder a chapter on MySpace,” March 9 editorial; and “Middle-school kids forwarded girls’ nude pics,” March 9 news story.
How very, very, very tragic, sad, unbelievable and disconcerting the events discussed in each of these articles are. As we “cyber” everything, and I mean everything, the Orwellian story of years ago seems to be turning into reality. I feel terribly concerned for the parents of our “connected generation” as they hurtle forward into an over-connected universe. The old TV show “Little House On the Prairie” should be a mandatory viewing for these “connected” kids.
David Nilges, Centennial
