White: thanks in re-election bid

To the editor,

I am grateful to the many individuals and organizations that contributed to the success of my City Council re-election campaign. 

City Clerk Amy Phillips, with customary cheerfulness and expertise, provided information and managed the details of the election.

Sweetie Marbury, Dave McHenry and Sean Waddell manifested their commitment to the future of

Durango with energy and ideas in a spirited campaign.

The Durango Chamber of Commerce and La Plata Forum, Citizens for Healthy Established Neighborhoods, League of Women Voters, and Young Professionals of Durango organized informative events.

In addition to campaign coverage, the Durango Herald and Durango Telegraph publicly endorsed me to continue serving the community.

Many individuals contributed donations or public endorsements, placed yard signs, knocked on doors, made phone calls, and shared enthusiasm about my campaign with friends and neighbors. 

My campaign team – Frank Lockwood, Carolyn Moller, Amanda Saunders and Werner Heiber – provided wisdom, energy and unfailing attention to detail. Laura Godfrey and Matthew Sheldon contributed additional solid advice; Steve Conklin an effective website; and David Smith an appealing campaign image.

My wife, Faye Schrater, gave ongoing support and willingness to continue allowing public business into our life together.

In addition to friends and neighbors, many total strangers voted to allow me to continue in public service, while everyone who voted contributed to the health of our community. I thank you all and promise to listen carefully to everyone as I strive to make the best possible decisions for the future of our great community.

– Dick White, Durango city councilor

Durango needs sober living homes

To the editor,

As someone who works to provide housing to homeless people with addictions, I was very encouraged with a statement from District Attorney Todd Risberg. The D.A. commented on the need for resources for those with drug and alcohol addictions, and those of us in the community familiar with how addiction and homelessness intersect see the same need.

Durango needs in-patient treatment as well as sober living homes to help provide structure and support for those released from more intensive treatment. Throughout the nation, sober living homes serve people in their recovery from drug and alcohol problems. These homes provide residents with safe and supportive living as they establish long-term sobriety. The residents work on rebuilding their lives while living in their community rather than waiting in jail where the process of reintegration remains impossible.

The sober living home that I administer, Phoenix Fellowship, has regular home meetings that support daily sobriety. Sober living homes help people survive out of jail where they have the chance to contribute. Programs such as ours save La Plata County money, time, manpower and other precious resources while serving the dual purpose of rehabilitation without the need for incarceration. Can our community work together to create more sober living homes?

To learn more, email Hope@RiverRunforOrphans.org

– Gerry Geraghty, Phoenix Fellowship, Durango

Taking a walk in Baltimore’s shoes

To the editor,

More to the point, Dear Sally, and others who share your question: “What’s up with the over-the-top rioting in Baltimore and other communities lately?”

I’m going to presume that you did not grow up in Baltimore or those other communities, and that you have no friends who live and work there. A reasonable answer to your question would be: generations of being pushed to live in impoverished conditions while America touts being the greatest nation on earth. Your long-distance perception would indeed cause “people like you” to believe there are “people like them” who just don’t get the Love and Light.

But zoom in and see what Baltimore newspapers reported on May 15: Baltimore’s governor refused an $11.6 million budget for schools but approved a $30 million budget for a youth jail in the city.  Rebellion anyone? My question, if not, why not? (Yes, I would prefer to see peaceful rebellion, too.  Having said that, anger easily ignites fire, especially in youth, and their actions without foresight are easily understood.)

Consider your worst habits, your deepest conditionings, and place yourself in squalor. Place them where, in order for you to attend high school, you have to ride multiple city buses for nearly two hours each way. Place them where the government slashes funds for libraries, rec centers and schools.  And when you have multiple generations live through an oppression that did not magically turn hunky-dory after slavery was abolished, and kids growing up surrounded by the message that there is no meaningful future for them, sex and pleasures of the body become awfully inviting – and that’s how babies are made. They are kept not only because of the lack of easy access to birth control and sex education, but because the delicious taste of some little thing needing you becomes a joy in an otherwise downtrodden atmosphere.

My suggestion to you, Sally, is to move to Baltimore. Learn first-hand what your fellow citizens are living through, and get some visceral answers for your question that you can then use to help heal the situation. Learn to be the enlightened help that you speak of.

– Emily Reynolds, Bayfield

Helping to stamp out hunger

To the editor,

I would like to personally thank the Durango community for its participation in the 2015 Stamp Out Hunger food drive through the United States Postal Service on May 9.

This year, customers serviced by the Durango and Hesperus post offices pulled together to contribute over 3,100 pounds of food. All of which stayed local, restocking the shelves of the Durango Food Bank. Despite the soggy weather, carriers collected donations at mailboxes in town and around the county. Volunteers sorted and weighed the food before loading it in the truck for the food bank. The food bank was able to make a second pick up the following week thanks to customers who set out food in the nicer weather of Monday and Tuesday.

All in all, it was a successful event thanks to the caring community in which we live. Thank you so much Durango and Hesperus!

– Seana Brandon, letter carrier, Durango Post Office