We’re paying for lawsuits
Re: “,” Oct. 22 news story
Every time I see someone winning a lawsuit against the Denver police or Denver fire department, I have to think, why can’t they take the money out of their budgets instead of taxpayers having to pay for a settlement? I bet you the incidents will go down.
Leroy M. Martinez, Denver
Thatap not thievery at the library
Re: “,” Oct. 24 letter to the editor
I read the letters to the editor daily in an attempt to open my mind up to another person’s point of view (which I might not agree with). Every day, I swear that I will stop reading the letters because there is usually a letter writer whose position is so untenable to me, I am either appalled or amazed at the writer’s lack of insight.
I believe that a letter today may be one of the most ridiculous I’ve ever read. One reader writes, “Anyone who downloads library books for free is stealing from authors and publishers, period. Thus the word thief comes into play.”
I wonder what Amy Tan, Jerry Pinkney, Barbara Kingsolver, Curtis Sittenfeld, Annie Proulx and Neil Gaiman, to name just a few authors, would make of that sentiment since they are on public record in support of public libraries.
In a nod to history, Benjamin Franklin established the first lending library in the nascent United States, the Library Company, in Philadelphia in 1731. While the Library Company was a subscription library, the money collected from member subscriptions was used to purchase new books. Public libraries do not offer free books to patrons. They use tax dollars to hire professional librarians, clerks, pages, cataloguers, etc., to provide services to anyone who enters the library and to purchase new materials. If materials are damaged or not returned, patrons are charged appropriate fees.
I truly believe that Ben Franklin would be so proud of the American public library system (thank you American Library Association), because each and every library in this country has staff who work their hardest to meet the needs of their diverse patron base and provide as many materials, in all formats, as they can afford to purchase.
Proud Librarian for 34 years,
Marilyn Jones, Littleton
Just a political stunt
Twenty white guys invade a closed-door hearing where Democrats were conducting a deposition involving national security and an impeachment query concerning the president. They appeared bored and unhappy, descending a staircase en masse, attending a prom without dates, just to see what might happen.
They were Republican congressmen, in the minority, who don’t want to have to follow House rules when they don’t have the power to change them. They took selfies and ordered pizza. Any excuse to order pizza is apparently a go.
Never mind the wasted tax dollars to pull such a stunt. Never mind they don’t have the guts to storm the White House to ask the same question: Whatap going on? President Trump likes stunts, but this was a dud.
Never have the Republicans looked so dumb. But the same day, the president said he was building a beautiful border wall in Colorado. Apparently, New Mexico is going to pay for it.
Susan Altenhofen, Fort Collins
