I think the residents of Pagosa Springs would greatly benefit from your comments. Please know that anything you write to me will be passed on, and I would appreciate your names, so your letters will not appear to be concocted. You can email me at Robbie@pagosarealty.com.

– Thank You Durango, Robbie Pepper

To the Editor,

On Sat., Feb. 25, the League of Women Voters of La Plata County will hold its annual “Legislative Lowdown” in Program Rooms 1&2 of the Durango Public Library, 1900 E 2nd Ave. , from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. State Sen. Ellen Roberts, State Senate District 6, and State Rep.  J. Paul Brown, House District 59, will share the podium as they discuss highlights of the current legislative session, which convened January 11. They will outline bills they are sponsoring, all of which are of special interest to us.

Our legislators hold committee positions in areas 4 relevant to residents of La Plata County. Sen. Roberts serves on several committees: the Senate Local Government Committee; the Health and Human Services Committee; and the Judiciary and Legislative Legal Services Committees. She also currently serves on two interim committees, the Water Resources Review Committee and the Legislative Health Benefit Exchange Implementation Review Committee.

Rep. Brown is a member of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Committee; Capital Development Committee; Health & Environment Committee; and Transportation Committee.

Following their informal presentations, you will have the opportunity to ask questions on topics that impact you.

Please join us for this informative event. As always, snacks will be served.

– Ellen Park, Legislative Chair, League of Women Voters of La Plata County

To the Editor,
Ron Paul promises to accept a presidential salary of $39,336, the median income of the average American, while Barack Obama earns $400,000 annually. Will Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or Obama make this same promise? No. It’s time for the Washington, D.C., aristocracy to end, and for a statesman, not a politician, to be our president.

– Erich G. Lukas, via e-mai

In search of the missing America
To the editor,
Humpty Dumpty isn’t the only thing broken these days, though he might be easier to repair. It’s messy business either way.

I have a “We are the 99%” sign in my yard. I welcome questions on it and am surprised when people honestly don’t know about this slogan. Inequality in America is getting worse and the deck is stacked against the 99%.

The Occupy Movement gives me some hope; I figure the movement must be threatening to the powers that be. Witness the loss of Habeas Corpus, the recent NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act, which declares our country part of the battlefield), pepper spray (UC Davis) and tasers (Occupy DC) used on peaceful demonstrators within their first amendment rights. Really frightening are the recent joint military and LAPD training exercises in Los Angeles, also Boston and Miami, to prepare soldiers for urban warfare. The Iraq War is over, and Afghanistan is soon coming to a close; for which urban environments are these soldiers training?

We are now a country of, by and for corporations – and the 1%. To say that corporations with billions to spend on advertising are no different from human beings with one voice and one vote goes beyond what most are willing to accept.

Recently I read Republic Lost, by Lawrence Lessig (also see his YouTube video). His four recovery solutions, he admits, are all either impossible or improbable. The most optimistic option, a constitutional convention, would be difficult. “But if your son is dying of a fatal illness, you still do everything you can.” We must.

Cultural historian Morris Berman calls the U.S. a failed state and suggests leaving the country as one approach. I have friends who are doing just that: leaving.  Journalist Chris Hedges (Truthdig, Jan. 30, 2012) writes that corporations know no borders (profits, yes) and the Canada of yesterday has been taken over by corporations too. Where to go? What to do?

I am like the mom who has been asked, “Do you know where your children are?” My country, the one I thought I had, appears to be missing.
– Marilyn McCord, Vallecito

Jeff’s antics revelation of ignorance
To the editor,
It’s a lot of money to spend on lies. Warren Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, recently blanketed newspapers with expensive advertising of his newest revelation.

It’s perplexing that the reference to a new member of the Godhead – “Ahman” – is not explained, and that whatever message God conveyed to mankind through Warren, was notably inarticulate and intellectually challenged. It’s my humble opinion that God has at least a second-grade education and would never deliver such a garbled message to the world – especially to a pedophile convicted of multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault.

Has his little flock forgotten the words he spoke when finally apprehended in Las Vegas, dressed as a woman, declaring to his own brother that he was “the greatest of sinners” and was never a prophet of God? The ignorance of small, isolated groups of the human race is punctuated by Jeff’s prophecies and reflects a desperate vacuum of leadership and direction in the FLDS faith.

– Michael Robinson, Riverton, Utah