Powder pigs praise Pitch’s present
To the editor,
What’s better than standing on the top of a run in a ski area that has two feet of powder on it with not one track in that powder? To be there for free!

That’s what I did at Hesperus on Thurs., Dec. 20. Jim Pitcher and his staff at Ski Hesperus, out of the kindness of their hearts, gave us powder pigs a free afternoon of skiing on opening day! I was in line listening to other pigs saying, “I would have gladly paid for this!”
Jim Pitcher ... we are not worthy!

Here is a little ma and pa area that was barely open last year doing the locals a favor like this. I hope the other areas around our vicinity would learn something from Jim’s lead. This is great PR and a great Christmas present! Best day ever!

– Jerry Weis, Durango

Common sense security for schools
To the editor,
If a home-grown terrorist can penetrate a newly constructed security system in a Connecticut elementary school, it is time to get everyone on board and do whatever it takes to protect our innocent children, despite unsettled gun control issues.

Today gun shops across the nation were able to tack on a few hundred dollars more per assault weapon with the buying frenzy, leaving opportunities still wide open for more horrific events to take place.

  New York Mayor Mario Cuomo suggested that there be a gun-carrying police officer assigned to every school. Why not train the custodian staff, who make far less than our underpaid teachers, to also be gun-carrying security guards with a pay raise. Custodians know every inch of their school terrain. They could work their normal routine and be fully equipped to take on an emergency.

A lot less expensive than hiring a full-time police officer.

What will be expensive, and well worth it, is the lock-down cost of entries. Unfortunately, the substitute teacher that worked in one of the classrooms in Connecticut was not given a door key. This breach4 allowed the gunman to easily enter.

Another way to get instant help would be from the same kind of device older folks wear around their neck. Instead of teachers having to carry a gun, a quick press could bring in the law faster than dialing 911.

The gun laws are not going to change, so common sense security measures in all of our schools need to be in place sooner than later.

– Sally Florence, Durango

The tinkle down effect
To the editor,
I’m tired of being tinkled on. I was making $65 an hour doing massage therapy for many years.  Then the crash came, and I had to find a new line of work. I went into home health, got my certification and opened my private business. I made anywhere from $15-$20 an hour. I could just get by.

 

Then, corporate America moved in with their Home Health agencies. They charge the client $35 an hour and hire people like me for $9 an hour.

 

They ate up my private market and stole my wages.  

When I had money, I had a horse. Now the drought in Texas is forcing farmers to buy hay from Colorado. The farmers here charge Texas $11-$13 a bale, who then charge their farmers $20-$25 a bale. The farmers here have not lowered their prices for locals, so my hay expense has doubled.

 

With my low wages, I can no longer afford to keep my horse of 13 years. I wonder how many people have to find new homes for their hay-eating friends? Hopefully, I can find a loving home for her, with someone who can still afford hay.

Obama Care will raise insurance premiums, which will eat again at my budget.

This is the state of our world right now. Corporate America’s profits are never enough. The “tinkle down” effect just gets worse. Now LPEA needs more profits and is raising rates. How is a below poverty person supposed to keep up? I’m not only being tinkled on, I’m being robbed.

All the fun in life is slowly being drained from us, as we toil in subsistent jobs.

This is the real tinkle down effect. The time for a living wage is over-due. I doubt the masses can handle this trickling down of their wages and rising cost of everything else much longer. I have to say farewell to my furry best friend now and wipe off all this tinkle!

– Heather Snow, Durango

Let it snow
let it snow
let it snow
that we may grow
in many ways
time to slow down, and hibernate
shift gears to low, journey safely home
2 hands on the wheel, signal your intention
or choose to yield
then go within your heart and soul
sleep deep, dream all that snow may fall
pray for snow, then pray for sun
then pray for more snow...
cleansing everyone,
clean water for one, clean water for all
will grow the food, gentle rain will fall
cleansing rain, shining sun
steady snow, we all are one
sustaining one, sustaining all
children voice the rainbow’s call
rainbows here, rainbows there, rainbows, rainbows ... everywhere!!!!
And snow!!!!

– Darcy Olson, Durango

More guns won’t make us safer
To the editor,
Newtown, Conn., and Kenya have something in common. Assault-style semi-automatic weapons recently killed dozens in both places.

Thirty-nine died in Kenya when a group of farmers killed men, women and children of a neighboring herding tribe in the Pokomo and Orma communities. Twenty-six died at Sandy Hook Elementary – victims of a festering illness in a very sick mind.

What do they have in common? Rapid-fire weapons and high capacity magazines.

Wayne LaPierre of the NRA went public with a statement that the only solution for dealing with gun-toting bad guys is the creation of a generous supply of gun-toting good guys. He failed to comprehend and remember that, despite the presence of two armed guards at Columbine, the carnage went on. Mr. LaPierre’s statement was not received well by Americans who are feeling compelled to do something about America’s murder statistics. That “something” demands rationality, and it is no more rational to believe LaPierre’s statement than to endorse the proliferation of more nuclear arms and intercontinental ballistic missiles in anticipation of a new, cold war.

Considering the common maxim that “accidents just happen,” it makes sense that the availability of high-capacity, rapid-firing assault rifles is an accident waiting to happen. I know that hunting is a favorite pastime in our country, but I urge my fellow Americans to support the strengthening of laws relating to nonsporting, military-style firearms. Assault rifles were made for only one thing: killing.  It’s time to make the U.S. a safer place.

– Michael Robinson, Riverton, Utah