A sampling of recent editorials from Colorado newspapers:
NATIONAL:
The Daily Sentinel, July 13, on the football program at Penn State:
A few weeks ago, during the trial in which Jerry Sandusky was convicted for sexually assaulting young boys at Penn State University, it was hard to imagine anything more reprehensible than Sandusky’s actions.
But what’s described in last week’s report from former FBI Director Louis Freeh comes close. The report makes clear that top officials at Penn State—including the late, sainted Coach Joe Paterno—didn’t just ignore Sandusky’s attacks on youngsters. They actively sought to keep news of the attacks hidden to protect the almighty football program.
That’s reason enough for the NCAA to impose the death penalty—a ban on football at Penn State for at least five years.
Key individuals involved in the Penn State cover-up are already facing criminal charges. And Penn State will likely pay out millions to Sandusky’s victims through civil actions. Those are appropriate judicial responses to these crimes.
Paterno, who died in January, is beyond any judicial measures. But his once-golden reputation is now beyond tarnished. It’s in the sewer.
The NCAA has different responsibilities than the courts. It must ensure that member schools abide by its rules, its code of ethics and its standards with respect to athletic programs.
Freeh’s report makes it clear that the Penn State cover up served one primary purpose—to protect the football program. Thus it is definitely an athletic issue.
And, while Freeh’s most blistering criticism was for Paterno and three other top officials, he also took aim at the Penn State trustees for not pressing for more information when reports of Sandusky’s actions began to come to light.
One reason they didn’t likely involves Paterno’s status as a near deity on the Penn State campus. Few people, even university trustees, were willing to challenge him.
That’s a large part of the reason it’s so important for the NCAA to impose the most severe sanctions against Penn State. It needs to make clear to other universities that top athletic programs—even those run by seemingly unimpeachable coaches—cannot be the tail that wags the dog. They need institutional oversight. And coaches must understand that protecting their programs doesn’t justify despicable actions.
We realize imposing the death sentence will affect current football players who had nothing to do with the Sandusky case or its cover up, and that’s unfortunate. One possible alternative to avoid that would be for the NCAA to offer Penn State a choice: Allow the football program to continue—without bowl eligibility, of course. But require that all of the money the program makes for the next decade or more go to a fund for young sex assault victims. The football program would essentially become a nonprofit charity instead of a huge revenue generator for the university.
If that’s not acceptable to Penn State, implement the death penalty.
Editorial:
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Pueblo Chieftain, July 16, on Bush era tax rates:
Political posturing was in full bloom in the Senate on Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans refused to vote on President Obama’s proposal to extend Bush-era tax rates but to allow them to rise on families earning $250,000 or more.
The president’s position is clearly a populist attempt to shore up his base on the left heading into the November election.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed the Senate would vote on the plan before the August recess. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., replied that he would agree to arrange for votes “just as soon as the majority leader produces a bill to show us what tax increases they have in mind.”
There also are indications that the president wants more increases than the one for higher earners.
A large proportion of the taxpayers falling into the above-$250,000 category are owners of small businesses, many of whom file as individuals or as Subchapter S payers. But small business is historically the largest creator of new jobs, and the June jobs report shows this economy continues to fall behind on new employment.
Moreover, pre-Bush tax rates on those “millionaires and billionaires” the president excoriates would be only enough to fund current federal spending for eight days. They would not pay down the national debt.
What’s needed in Congress is a rational rewrite of the federal tax code that would get rid of many write-offs in exchange for a broader base of taxation, something the president’s Simpson-Bowles Commission recommended and which the president immediately sent to the round file.
Tax policy is important, and one that encourages investment and innovation is what this economy needs to get out of its funk.
Editorial:
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STATE:
The Denver Post, July 14, on the cantaloupe industry in Colorado:
One of the simplest and sweetest summertime joys in Colorado is slicing open and tasting a juicy Rocky Ford cantaloupe.
As the melons begin arriving in stores this week, farmers with a century-long history of providing safe—and delicious—food to Coloradans and others need our help.
Providing that help is as simple as buying and enjoying Rocky Ford melons—and understanding that a deadly listeria outbreak last fall was limited to a single farm that isn’t even in the southern Colorado community that bills itself as the Melon Capital.
The state’s cantaloupe industry is reeling in the wake of a listeria episode last fall in which tainted melons from Jensen Farms in Holly resulted in the deaths of 30 people and sickened at least 146 others in 28 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cantaloupe sales plummeted—though, as The Associated Press reports, nearly all of the Colorado melons had already been packaged and sold by that time, so this month marks the first market response for Rock Ford melons.
Production is reportedly down by as much as 75 percent, as many farmers opted not to grow melons for fear that consumer demand wouldn’t be there.
In our view, consumers have little reason for concern.
Even though the tainted melons weren’t from Rocky Ford, growers in that area have gone to great lengths to improve the safety of their product.
Rocky Ford cantaloupe arriving in stores this year will feature a sticker from the Rocky Ford Growers Association.
Membership in the association means the grower has agreed to twice-per-year inspections from the state agriculture department (one of which is unannounced during packing season), as opposed to controversial private audits.
It also adheres to strict standards on cleaning and cooling during the packing process.
The association has hired a full-time safety manager to monitor everything from planting to picking. And it invested more than $800,000 in a state-of-the-art electronic tracking system should any safety issues crop up.
All of this from farmers whose produce was not the problem.
“I wouldn’t feed you anything that I wouldn’t feed my family,” grower Michael Hirakata told Fox 31 reporter Hendrik Sybrandy. “It’s a local product grown by Coloradans, for Coloradans,” he said.
Hirakata and other farmers are doing their part. Now it’s up to the rest of us to do ours.
Editorial:
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The Coloradoan, July 14, on the state burn ban:
We supported Gov. John Hickenlooper’s move to declare a statewide burn ban on June 14. The ban was a bold move that hadn’t been used since 2006 and put a damper on many of our Fourth of July festivities, but it was the right call.
We equally back his move made at the beginning of this week to cancel the ban and return matters to local control.
It’s all in the timing.
With the one holiday barreling down on us where we cheer lighting things on fire, it seemed a safe measure to curb careless sparks and errant bottle rockets throughout the state. In addition, taking a laissez-faire attitude toward fireworks and open burning seemed a slap in the face to those still displaced by the High Park Fire.
It would have been easy for Hickenlooper to keep the statewide ban in place—although fire risk has decreased to “moderate” or “low” in many counties since the ban was enacted, it’s still a dreadfully dry year. As one reader on our Facebook page pointed out, just because one town gets some rain, it doesn’t mean that everything’s fine around the state.
And that sentiment is why we appreciate the return to local authority. There’s a time for uniform safety, but one size doesn’t always fit all, and the varied approaches to fire protection in our region are as diverse as the terrain.
In Fort Collins proper, where fire remediation resources have been largely returned to their pre-High Park Fire state, the burn ban has been lifted—although some restrictions are still in place.
Larimer County, on the other hand, consists of huge tracts of tinder-dry forest. It’s important to remember that the next High Park Fire is a lightning strike or tossed cigarette butt away. The restrictions are more intense in this part of our community, and for good reason.
In Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, the severity of the burn ban was reduced on Thursday—but open range campfires and smoking in the wilderness still are off limits. Rocky Mountain National Park has taken a similar approach.
With the largest of the fires all but extinguished, the return to local control highlights what government does when it’s functioning as it should: intervene for greater public safety, but quickly return those rights back to the people to decide how to best keep things safe on a local level.
Editorial:
