Kansas hiker charged $5,000 for rescue
I am embarrassed that a Kansas man who was rescued after injuring himself while hiking in the mountains will be charged for his rescue, despite the fact that he and his companions did nothing wrong.
Last week, I read that Denver spent $4 million last year to market to tourists. The bad publicity created by charging the Kansas man for his rescue will negate thousands of dollars spent on marketing.
This is lunacy, not to mention very embarrassing for the residents and business people of Colorado who welcome tourists. It will also discourage hikers from calling emergency services when needed, creating unnecessary danger in our backcountry.
All of this begs the question of why one of our volunteer rescue organizations was not called upon to perform the rescue. They are highly skilled and do not charge for their services.
Linda Brown, Denver
Why electric hybrids failed the first time
Re: “Electric hybrids at starting line,” June 19 business news story.
Your article stated that electric vehicles were “discontinued because of a lack of demand” 15 years ago. Lack of demand? I don’t think so. Electric vehicles were eliminated by the car manufacturers because they were a threat to the way they were doing business.
Car and oil companies depend on vehicles that have internal combustion engines that run on oil. Electric vehicles threatened to completely revolutionize the auto industry, so the industry did not promote the cars and did not give the American public the chance to buy them.
In the mid-’90s, I worked for a market research firm that had General Motors as a client. We conducted an extensive research study and talked to more than 50,000 people at the General Motors exhibit at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 about the new EV-1 electric car. The response to the survey was overwhelmingly positive about the car, with a huge majority of people wanting the opportunity to test drive and possibly buy it.
So any comment that electric vehicles were “discontinued because of a lack of demand” is just inaccurate. There was a demand. The car manufacturers just refused to make these cars!
Steve Zielonka, Denver
Health care and social responsibility
Re: “‘Universal’ health care,” June 19 letter to the editor.
Letter-writer Brian T. Schwartz asserts that health care is a personal responsibility and the only way to ensure this is to continue with our system of market-driven medicine. I am sorry, but this personal responsibility argument is worn out. Our society does not need more personal responsibility, but rather social responsibility. How is a single mother working two part-time jobs at minimum wage supposed to get the care she may need for her kids or herself if something drastic happens? I am sure she has plenty of money in her Health Savings Account to afford the astronomical medical costs after she’s finished paying rent and buying gas, groceries and other necessities. Yeah, right, she’s more worried about the immediate future and putting food on the table, as most of us are.
The personal responsibility argument here is just another sad example of the blame-the-victim public policy and discourse in the United States. It is time to change the focus to social responsibility. We have the moral and social obligation to ensure every American, rich or poor, gets the care they need without the threat of lifelong debt.
Will Pirkey, Evergreen
Free-lunch program for poor kids in Aurora
Re: “No such thing as free,” June 14 letter to the editor.
Letter-writer John Rector wants to make sure that the children who are part of the free-lunch program in Aurora are aware that those lunches are in fact not free. And the point of that would be for what? To make a child feel guilty for receiving the free school lunch? Or perhaps to make the child feel grateful that our tax dollars are paying for that lunch?
You’d think from the tone of Mr. Rector’s letter that our tax dollars are paying for these kids to eat catered lunches from Barolo Grill.
The children who receive free lunches will have plenty of time to understand the lesson that there’s “no such thing as free.” In the meantime, I don’t think we need to rub it in their faces.
Gayle Pikna, Aurora
Summer enrichment camps teach fourth R
Re: “Wise to spell summer with 3 R’s,” June 15 news story.
The strength of summer camp programs rests with the infusion of the fourth R, reasoning, into student learning experiences. By design, these enrichment programs encourage creative thinking and provide students with embedded opportunities where they can apply higher-order thinking skills with integrated Science, Math, Art, Reading and Technology activities. As the acronym implies, it’s SMART to apply a “best practices” approach that engages students in both minds-on and hands-on learning. Indeed, if we are to fulfill the hopeful promise of education in fostering a passion for lifelong learning, we must find the means to provide all children with dynamic learning opportunities that deepen their conceptual knowledge base while honing their process, critical thinking and reasoning skills throughout the year in school and after school.
Tami R. Ellison, Denver
News industry blues
I love newspapers. I love having something tangible to hold onto as I read about the day, or what might be happening tomorrow; I love writing that helps us understand the people we live around and the world we’re shaping; I even love getting black ink smeared all over my fingers by the time I’m done scanning the pages.
I guess that’s why I became a news writer.
But now the industry is faced with serious challenges. Some of the largest newspapers across the country, including The Denver Post, continue to offer buyouts and make “involuntary separations” with quality staffers amid budget shortfalls and declining revenues.
The reality certainly exists that many news companies are ultimately accountable to their stockholders. Even private news vendors have a bottom line to look after. But as I see it, it is the newspaper industry itself that’s to blame for its own downturn. As a whole, we do not yet understand how to make money selling to online readers; we no longer offer a diversity of news coverage, because we’ve fired writers who do it with excellence; and we don’t remember what a newspaper is supposed to be all about: offering our readers quality, complete coverage each day.
Relaying the news is a profession we should feel privileged to be a part of. Let’s make readers feel the same way.
Heath Urie, Thornton
The writer is a reporter for Evergreen Newspapers.
…
Dick Kreck’s retirement leaves a big hole in the hearts of Denver Post readers and beer lovers. Sure, Kreck’s wit, refreshing candor and seasoned voice of experience will be greatly missed. But so will his coverage of great beer.
One of the lures that helped bring me to Denver 12 years ago was that The Post had a staffer who covered craft beer on a regular basis. Long before it was cool to do so, Dick Kreck was touting the creations of the state’s small-batch beer artisans. His coverage of craft beer and its culture has brought huge numbers of people into the microbrew family.
Kreck’s beer writings at The Denver Post make him one of the state’s most influential beer heroes, and he is a key reason for the continued success and growth of Colorado’s craft beer trade. The state’s consumers, promoters and brewers of great beer owe Mr. Kreck many gallons of gratitude for all he has done for us.
We raise a bittersweet “Cheers!” to him, and wish him a wonderful and beer-blessed retirement.
Marty Jones, Denver
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