Howling in gratitude

To the editor,

Mere words hardly seem sufficient to express our appreciation for the support Wolfwood Refuge received for our 4th annual Art Auction and during our summer community events. 

We are impressed and truly honored by the response we received: Everyone we asked for help, said yes. People that weren’t asked, approached us at the events and offered their help next year. 

We raised more funds than in the past and find comfort knowing our 60-plus animals will have the resources they need for the rest of the year.

The animals are very happy living at the refuge, and we only take some out for events during a brief window of time.  However, we do host tours year round and encourage interested people to visit our website for the dates: www.wolfwoodrefuge.org

An extra heartfelt thank you to all the local businesses that made our events a reality.

– Darla Lange, Wolfwood Refuge

Airport expansion pie in the sky

To the editor,

Airport expansion justifications are now in the theatre of the absurd. We read that the “fast pace of growth for our airport will likely continue” immediately before reading about the 2.4 percent decline in passengers this year. The airport commissioners then wondered aloud why half of all the people in this region drive to Denver or Albuquerque, with commissioner Gary Derck stating that they “really don’t understand the root causes.”

Really? Round trip tickets cost over $700 from Durango to Denver. Maybe the commissioners should actually ask the traveling public why they want to save hundreds of dollars by flying from a different airport. Their solution is to ask for $60K in order to fund a study of this mysterious phenomenon and to market their plans for expansion to the poorly misunderstood public.

Commissioner Tom Greenhut’s master mind suggestion to boost passenger numbers is to add the word “regional” to our airport name as if that somehow will aoffset the ridiculously high prices charged for flying direct from our wonderful little airport. The ultimate solution they have come up with is to build a $150 million behemoth terminal that will actually increase prices even further as we are taxed into supporting it and paying additional parking and ticket fees. Again, I ask really?

More to come as the announcements and deceptions continue to mount regarding Kip Turner’s grand Taj Mahal Terminal plans and the propaganda machine dedicated to convincing us all this is just a super idea grinds on, regardless of the facts. I mean really, don’t we all secretly want to be  southwest or Albuquerque north, and we just need a bit more coercion … whoops, I meant convincing?

– Steven Thibodeaux, Durango

Cut meat consumption, cut cancer

To the editor,

Thank you to the World Health Organization for having the courage to speak truth to power:  meat, like cigarettes and asbestos, does cause cancer! No  health agency would ever say this for fear of losing Congressional funding.

The World Cancer Research Fund and a number of other international health agencies have been advising for years that meat consumption raises the risk of colon and other forms of cancer, but the WHO panel was actually able to determine a causal effect.

The 630-page report was drafted by a panel of 22 experts from 10 countries who reviewed 800 studies of the link between meat and cancer. These included animal experiments, studies of human diet and health, and research into cellular processes that cause cancer.

The panel’s conclusions evoked strong responses, with obvious resistance from the meat industry and calls for warning labels, akin to those mandated for cigarettes, from environmental groups.

Cancer of the colon is expected to kill nearly 50,000 Americans this year, mostly through a self-inflicted diet. Fortunately, annual per capita  meat consumption has dropped by 15 percent from a high of 121 pounds in 2002, as consumers switch to healthier, more convenient and tastier plant-based alternatives.

– Diego Horvath, Durango

Mixing little kids, violent vids

Dear readers,

My 1-year-old daughter and I went to the kids section of the Durango Public Library the other day at about 3:30 p.m. As she played on the train set, there were many kids on the gaming computers mere steps away from us. As we got up to leave, I noticed a boy of about 10 years of age sitting at one of the computers. He was choosing which gun he was going to use as he crept through an abandoned building (pistol, semi-automatic, etc., all with laser sights).

This was strictly my observation. I’m not putting forth an opinion on the matter of kids and violent video games as I am not an expert in the subject (quite a bit of research has been done on this subject with mixed results). However, I believe a dialogue needs to take place about the heavy computer use by older kids in such a mixed-age zone. I feel conflicted when my kids are playing on the little kid’s train set, with puppets, and sitting at the small kid’s table so close to all those computer screens. What do other parents think about this potential issue at the library?

– Nicholas Foster, Durango

Getting progressively worse

Dear Ed,

Thanks for printing Tim Thomas’ letter, although I wonder if he really read my letter printed in the Oct. 15 edition of the Telegraph. It proves my point that progressives can’t deal with common sense. The point of my letter was very simply that more laws will not stop a mentally ill person from committing a horrible crime, whether it be with a rifle, pistol or even a knife. Instead, I proposed a tax on ammunition with all proceeds going to mental-health services. I proposed a nickel-a-box tax.  Several of my gun-owning friends said I should have called for a 25 cent-per-box tax. It’s obvious that progressives have difficulty with their reading comprehension skills.

– Dennis Pierce, Durango

Restrict immigration to the West

To the editor,

Syrians and Iraqis are currently flooding Europe seeking a new life. European countries previously allowed 20 million people from the Middle East and North Africa to enter after WWII. They now number 50 million, and they refuse to integrate into Western societies. Most of the areas settled by these immigrants are depressed and lawless, and the immigrants want to implement Sharia law.

Some European countries are passing immigration laws which allow entry only to Syrian Christians, and Yazidis who are an oppressed minority in Syria.

The United States, a country founded on Christian principles, could increase its quotas for Syrians, Iraqis and other Middle East minorities, but we should limit the quotas to the persecuted Christians and small numbers of oppressed minorities such as Yazidis, Kurds, Druze and Bedouins. We have to ensure that any immigrants are not potential radical Islamic terrorists or sympathizers, and they have to be directly encouraged to assimilate into U.S. society. Serious threats to the security of the U.S. and the Western world are increased due to infiltration of countries and attacks by radical Islamic terrorists.

–  Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, NH