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Barger brings biz sense to LPEA

To the editor,

I am Karen Barger, owner of Seasons Rotisserie & Grill. We are actively involved in the community and as a business owner, I support local farmers and ranchers and back agriculture, sustainability and economics. I am officially running for the La Plata Electric Association Board of Directors – District 4. 

LPEA is a business, and I know how to run a successful business. After a tragic fire in 2008, Seasons, under my direction, was restored to vitality. With planning and perspective, I was able to keep all 36 employees working and paid for a minimum of 90 days. I kept key staff members employed for the entire year during construction. All decisions made allowed Seasons to re-open the business on time and within budget. Seasons currently employs a staff of 34, including many who have been with the company since 1995, right after Seasons opened. Training and trust are my philosophies to holding onto good people. LPEA is facing something of a transition or crisis of employment, as long-time employees are retiring or leaving because of evolving management/board policies.

I also have extensive board experience including nine years on the Business Improvement District Board – the first woman ever appointed, and I served most recently as chair. Additional board experience includes the Colorado Restaurant Association at the state and national level; Durango Wine Experience as founder and board president; plus involvement in numerous youth organizations and support of the Blue Star Mothers.

I believe I have a unique perspective that will benefit all members of LPEA as I am a 20-year resident of La Plata County, live in the Animas Valley, and own and operate a business in Downtown Durango. As a wife, mother and grandmother, in addition to business owner, each and every decision I make looks to sustainability as well as good business for the future. All this has prepared me to serve, and I hope you can support me as the best choice for the board position of Director, District 4, for La Plata Electric Association.

– Karen Barger, Durango

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A charitable idea for road bikers

To the editor,

Tired of getting your tail kicked by the wind? Do you feel pains in your groin when pedaling uphill? Maybe it’s time to get rid of your road bike. Before you get passed by a transvestite on a recumbent. Road cycling is not only a waste of calories, but space too. I frequently see packs of riders riding three abreast and endangering everyone else on the road. Nobody wants to see you guys in skin-tight clothing either. Wasting valuable materials with antiquated aerodynamic design keeps your sport boring. Also, what message are you sending to kids with all the cheating that goes on in the world of professional cycling?

Do yourself a favor and donate your road bike to charity; to someone who actually needs it in Africa or Texas. Write the purchase price off your taxes and get a real machine, a mountain bike or even a longboard (or a brake board if you want to go the legal route). Hike between switchbacks instead of pedaling up them, quit riding your brakes downhill.

– Max Murchison, Durango

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More freedoms in health care

To the editor,

Health care costs continue to be one of the most important and controversial issues facing Colorado today. A bipartisan bill is working its way through the Colorado Legislature and to the Governor’s desk that will require an intensive audit of the Colorado Health Exchange. Misuse of federal subsidies is probably the biggest issue. Additionally, Colorado has changed the eligibility requirements for Medicaid allowing hundreds of thousands more folks to be covered. The supplemental appropriation for Medicaid, just for the present year, is close to $250,000. The estimated cost to the State in 2017, even with the federal government picking up 90 percent of the cost, will be $2.7 billion. That is almost one third of Colorado’s total General Fund budget. This is simply not sustainable.

By most accounts, health care costs continue to rise. Nationalized health care is not delivering the product that we were promised. We were promised that we could keep our health insurance plans and that it would not cost each of us more. For many that is the case, for which I am thankful, but for hundreds of thousands of policy holders, including Debbie and me, that has not been the case. Last year Debbie and I knew that we were going to lose our health insurance on the 1st of July, so we were trying to get covered by the deadline of March 30. We called several of the insurance companies and were told that we must buy our insurance through Colorado’s Health Exchange. To make a long story short, we were quoted a price that increased our premium from $900 per month to $1,200 per month and our deductible was raised from $2,000 for both of us to $10,000 for both of us. This is the case for lots of folks. Government programs seldom save the consumer money in the long run.

Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, is more about health insurance and not about reducing health care costs. The problem has been too much government intervention through regulatory mandates on the health care industry. Just ask the office staff of any health care facility about the mountains of state and federal mandated paper work that they must submit, much of which is duplicative. The time spent to do this is costly and adds to the cost of our health care. The federal government mandates that hospital emergency rooms be required to treat anyone that comes through the door. No questions asked. In addition there are a lot of patients who either cannot or will not pay for other health care services. This really puts a financial hardship on all of the health care industry.  To pay for those who don’t pay for services, costs are added to the bills of paying patients which in turn results is higher health insurance premiums.

The health care issue is complicated, and there are no easy answers; but I might start with reduced government involvement and more freedom in all aspects of health care.

– Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio

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The Great Crime

 

In closing his window shades

He took a great deal of time

Fearful that someone would see him

Commit a great crime

 

He double locked the door

So no one could creep

Into his bedroom

And secretly peep

 

He carefully checked

To make sure it was a fact

That no hidden camera

caught him in his next act

 

His mind very fearful

He checked for two-way mirrors

Then cut the tag from his mattress

With a vicious cut of his scissors

–Chester Salkind, chestersalkind.blogspot.com