Misquoted in the other paper

To the Editors,

I'd like to draw attention to a poorly written article, "Lift woes plague DMR," in the Durango Herald on Mon., Jan. 3, 2005, in which I was blatantly misquoted.

The reporter, Dominic Weilminster, asked me if I had heard any of my customers at Pine Needle Mountaineering complaining about lift problems at Durango Mountain Resort. He apparently asked the same question of Andy Langefels, manager of Hassle Free Sports.

Both Langefels and I responded that yes, we'd heard customers complaining, and passed along what we'd heard.

In an apparent attempt to lend substance and credibility to what was otherwise an extremely weak article based mainly on hearsay, the reporter took my quote out of context to make it seem like my personal opinion, instead of an account of what I'd heard from customers in my shop. The quote from Langefels was attributed correctly, which only compounded the damage.

I would like the opportunity to clarify that I was not asked for my opinion, and at no time did I offer it. Pine Needle and DMR have a valuable and longstanding business relationship, and it's unfortunate that the Herald is willing to allow sloppy reporting and editing to jeopardize it.

This is a small, tourist-dependent town in which it is critical for the community to work together. The Durango Herald has done nothing but stir up controversy within the ski community the last couple of weeks by sensationalizing what were actually minor problems at DMR.

We're all here for the same reason. Let's stick together. Let's ski together.

Think powder!

- Jeremy Dakan,

manager, Pine Needle Mountaineering

What's next?

What's next?

"Not one damn dime" got my attention last Thursday. For the second time in about a month the Telegraph gives press to a consumer boycott of everything. For the second time, the coverage sounded more like editorial comment than news. What's next, another dopey Shan Wells cartoon telling us not to buy anything to spite that bad government of ours?

I was wondering if you would be distributing the Telegraph on the 20th of January in support of the boycott or maybe at least you could give back a day's advertising proceeds to your advertisers.

- Jim Sims

In praise of capitalism

Dear Editors,

It has been asserted that practices such as the employment of human bondage, the expropriation of land, environmental degradation, exploitation of market labor and the existence of natural resources was what made America's success, not capitalism. The inference then, from that formula, would be that the Soviet Union, Iron-Curtain Eastern Europe, China, India, Communist Northeast & Southwest Asia and most of pre & post colonial Africa would be the freest, cleanest, most prosperous workers' paradises on the planet!

Perhaps reality's disagreement with the hypothesis that slander capitalism points in another direction? One that illuminates that those practices listed above is instead inherent, universal tendencies of human nature and its organizations. And that collective, utopian-based ideologies, while promising to prevent or undo those declivities, only enhance them in application. Capitalism, the only mechanism that puts them in check, if not out of commission, does so, in time, in correlation to the degree its true form is applied. Capitalism is the ingredient which made America the exception to the historical norm of a Hobbesian-like world.

- Kim Rogalin, via e-mail

Off limits at Chipmunk Hill

To the Editors,

Regarding your article about Chipmunk Hill in the Dec. 16, 2004, issue of the Telegraph, you should also inform the public that this is private property, posted, no trespassing.

Thank you for your cooperation.

- Robert Lechner,

via e-mail

Heartfelt thanks from the HDs

To the Editors,

San Juan Citizens Alliance offers a heartfelt thanks to Keith Roush, Pine Needle Mountaineering and Patagonia for a recent $1,500 contribution toward our efforts to protect the HD Mountains and other wild areas across the San Juan Mountains. Patagonia donates 10 percent of its sales toward environmental activism dedicated to protecting wilderness, biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Since 1985, Patagonia has contributed more than $20 million to 1,000 organizations. As a major regional retailer of Patagonia products, Pine Needle Mountaineering partners with Patagonia in directing environmental grants to organizations aligned with their shared goals of wilderness and habitat protection. We are honored at San Juan Citizens Alliance as recipients of this generosity and look forward to applying it successfully to keep the San Juan Mountains wild and thriving.

- Mark Pearson,

executive director, San Juan Citizens Alliance