Loved ones received a life sentence as well
Two years ago, my husband was killed in a truck crash. The crash was no “accident” and entirely preventable. Lost in the national conversation around the driver’s sentence is any effort to understand the experience of the actual victims. I also received a life-sentence that day. Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos is not a victim, but a responsible party whose decisions caused avoidable deaths and injuries that fateful day.
The unfortunate reality is that the other people and companies responsible for this crash have not been held accountable. Neither this driver nor his company should have been hired to perform any trucking work, especially given the company’s inexperience, lack of qualifications, and poor safety record.
Castellano 03 Trucking carried the DOT minimum required insurance of $750,000. That money was quickly exhausted while victims like me received nothing. The minimum insurance level was set 40 years ago and has never increased, not even for inflation! There is no effective underwriting performed by insurance carriers at this low amount. This enables unsafe and poorly administered motor carriers to thrive, putting all roadway users at risk.
According to DOT statistics, there are nearly 5,000 fatalities and 159,000 severe injuries from truck crashes annually. I urge President Joe Biden and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to raise the commercial motor carrier minimum insurance requirement and make the trucking industry finally start paying its fair share. Increasing the minimum will improve safety and better support the needs of truck crash victims.
Gage Evans, Arvada
Editor’s note: Evans is the widow of William Bailey and a Truck Safety Coalition volunteer.
Better ways to save people from fentanyl
Re: “Stop Colorado’s deadly flow of fentanyl,” Dec. 19 commentary and “Leaders call for stiffer penalties as state breaks overdose records,” Dec. 17 news story
Attorney General Phil Weiser and former U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn recommends more law enforcement efforts (and money) to cure us of the fentanyl “crisis.” This is a misguided and boring blame, blame, blame approach to get rid of yesterday’s problem.
Weiser and Dunn, you will not catch and rid the world of fentanyl with more war on drugs. That approach has not worked out so well for us after more than a century (yes, over 100 years) of targeting cannabis, opium, heroin, cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. It has resulted in nearly 500,000 people imprisoned and more on probation (mostly BIPOC) and more dead than ever before.
Yes, I’m blaming this on the war on drugs. And the fentanyl scene (what it is, who’s making it, how it gets here, how it’s used) has already changed since yesterday. Please, let’s change this narrative and approach to help, help, help — more naloxone like Narcan (an opioid overdose reversal medication) available and education about why literally everyone should have it, educating people about risks of using drugs alone (how about giving supervised consumption centers a try?), make sterile drug use equipment more available (syringes, smoking kits, snorting kits) to further reduce risks when people use drugs. This is called harm reduction. Trying to enforce our way out of this will not work, lets try something different, lets try full-on harm reduction.
A concerned grandparent and pharmacist,
Chris Stock, Denver
While it is good that elected officials and law enforcement recognize how serious the fentanyl problem has become, I am failing to see how any part of their proposed strategy is new. It appears to me that getting tough and cracking down is just more of the same thing that isn’t working, has never worked, and, in fact, can’t work.
All that increasing penalties for dealers will do is fill Colorado state prisons with low-level, mostly survival dealers, at a cost of about $42,000 per year per person, with zero impact on the street, or on clubs or campuses. The federal attorney bragging about locking someone up for 20 years did not mention the million dollar cost of that. And, his enumeration of all their busts just shows how little impact interdiction really has — the Drug Enforcement Administration hasn’t been able to stop it; a story from a day or two ago showed they can’t even keep it out of prisons; despite their best efforts to interrupt the I-25 pipeline, Colorado Springs police are not stopping it. I wonder what their Plan B is for when this effort also fails.
Michael Nerenberg, Pueblo
The U.S. Capitol needed protecting too, lest we forget
Re: “Now Polis wants to protect Colorado’s Capitol building?” Dec. 19 commentary
Dick Wadhams started his commentary by stating, “As my beloved grandmother used to say, ‘Will wonders never cease!’ ” I have been told by many people who influenced me, “Don’t complain if you don’t have a solution.” Wadhams’ commentary had no solutions but plenty of dog whistles.
He made sure to mention George Floyd as the reason for the destruction and protests that occurred downtown and around the Capitol. He made sure to mention that Gov. Jared Polis during these riots “was apparently hunkered down in his mansion in Boulder with his Colorado State Patrol security detail.” Of course, only a real man like former Republican Gov. Bill Owens wouldn’t hunker down. A few more dog whistles there? Wadhams is certain that only Republican rule can fix everything.
Wadhams ends his column by stating, “If Colorado voters want to be safe in their homes and communities, they should remember the disgraceful attack on our Capitol …”
I’m not sure which Capitol he means or whose silence he condemns, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t talking about our nation’s Capitol or Republican silence over the death and destruction on Jan. 6th.
Will wonders never cease?
David Moya, Lakewood
George Brauchler and Dick Wadhams continue to write compelling columns in The Denver Post supporting individual conservative policies that most of the state supports regarding crime, taxes, etc.
Unfortunately, they continue to ignore the bigger issue of Trumpism and the assault on truth, integrity, and democratic institutions.
As a former Republican voter, it pains me to vote against policy with which I agree. But when faced with the current reality, most Colorado voters, fortunately, value integrity and decency over policy.
Steve Friedrich, Centennial
What Krista Kafer got right and wrong last Sunday
Re: “Don Coram and a new hope for the future of Congress,” Dec. 19 commentary
Last Sunday’s commentary by Krista Kafer ends with “Both parties are guilty.” This has become a very tiresome phrase frequently used by conservatives.
Both parties are not guilty of insurrection. Both parties are not trying to change election laws to control the outcome of an election. Both parties are not trying to overturn elections. Both parties are not trying to control women’s rights.
And the list goes on.
Get over it. You’re guilty — quit trying to share your shame.
Jim McClung, Lakewood
Thank you for Krista Kafer’s column about state Sen. Don Coram and the damage partisanship is doing to our democracy. Sen. Coram and I served together in the Colorado Legislature for a decade. He became a valued colleague and one of my dearest friends there. We worked on numerous issues together. When he says the R by his name stands for “Rural” he’s not joking. I could always go to him when I wanted to know if we Democrats could get his support. His response was always straightforward — “good for my district, yes; bad for my district, no.” Coloradans would have to look far and wide to find a more admirable and harder working public servant than Don Coram.
Lois Court, Denver
Editor’s note: Court is a former state senator from District 31.
Worthless tests are wasteful
Re: “Colorado Board of Education wants to resume state tests,” Dec. 18 news story
A recent article calling for the resuming of high-stakes “accountability” testing of our school children caught my eye. Having had to administer those inaccurate, poorly developed “tests,” it wasn’t surprising to see students drawing a straight line down the “C” column of the answer sheet, then putting their heads down to sleep.
The point, though, is that every dollar spent on worthless tests is a dollar that doesn’t pay for quality teachers’ salaries, crumbling infrastructure or improved police training. “Accountability” is code from the right to attack teacher’s unions. High-stakes tests serve no purpose.
Vern Turner, Denver
Congress should end the filibuster already
Re: “Hickenlooper urges change to filibuster,” Dec. 16 news story
Sen. John Hickenlooper says, “voter disenfranchisement threatens our entire democracy.”
Well, what a coincidence — the president says the same thing, but neither seems committed to doing away with it.
Of course, they’re referring to the voting public, but there’s something that’s just as surely disenfranchising the votes of our legislators and that’s the filibuster — which negates the whole concept of legislative voting; if the legislator’s vote means nothing, then what’s the point of even voting?
Undoubtedly, if they lose the majority, Democrats would like to retain the filibuster. And you can bet that the Republicans, if they win the majority, will can the filibuster in the blink of an eye.
Too bad we can’t get rid of that anachronism, which was used aggressively to sustain slavery and has kept democracy in bondage.
Richard Kiefer, Englewood
Think about the burden on our health care workers
In the early 1970s I worked with people with developmental disabilities. One program served older adults, and one woman at a young age had been a nurse in 1918 and worked on the wards caring for people affected by the epidemic. It broke her. Completely. Permanently. Her brother wrote a letter asking us to treat her kindly as she had suffered greatly in the past. She was a very sweet woman who just seemed lost at times. I think about her every day now.
We are asking our health care professionals to perform monumental, heroic tasks at great risk to their physical and mental health. Some have died. Others, I’m sure, have been broken, hopefully not beyond repair. Most are holding on and carrying through during this horrible pandemic. In some cases health care professionals may have to ration care as our facilities become overwhelmed, essentially deciding who will live and who will die, a decision no one should have to make.
Please get vaccinated. When you go out, please wear a mask and stay socially distanced from each other. Who knows which of us may need medical help of some kind in the near future? I just hope if we need it, there are people, facilities and supplies available to help us.
So get vaccinated. Mask up. Blow a nurse a psychic kiss. Take care. Stay well.
Bonita Sellstrom, Arvada
With tongue in cheek, and shots in arm
As a great-grandfather now looking back, I remember being forced to take polio and smallpox vaccines, or I wouldn’t be allowed back in school. At the age of 7, I didn’t understand the power of personal freedom. If only all the second-graders in my class had stood up to government overreach (except for those kids in the iron lungs who couldn’t stand up), what a different world this would be!
Bob Box, Buena Vista
Denver patches up nicely
Our neighborhood in southeast Denver was repaved a few months ago. The city crews did a fine job of keeping us informed and doing the work. Three weeks ago either a utility crew or cable crew dug up a 6-foot square section of the intersection just north of us. Their patch of our nice new street was terrible. I stewed a while, then last week then called Denver 311. They got my message to the roads department. Within five days of my call a Denver crew was out, and did another great job.
Deep thanks to our city’s staff and management.
Mark Simmons, Denver
City of Denver should not be promoting Park Hill project
Re: “Summary shows city’s vision for neighborhood,” Dec. 17 news story
Can someone explain how the city can justify spending thousands of dollars to assist Westside Developers with the Park Hill Golf Course? Denver voters have voted to not develop the property, and you would think the city would defend the voters. If anyone is to produce a plan for the property, it should be the developer. The city should be asking the hard questions. Instead we have the head of community planning, Laura Aldrete, saying in a city press release: “We look forward to continuing to engage our communities throughout 2022 to provide more detail on these priorities and ultimately bring a well-thought-out proposal for Denver City Council and Denver voters to consider.” This is not right.
Gary Martyn, Denver
The article states “The city plans to collect fees from the property owners (Andrew R. Klein and Kenneth Ho of Westside Investment Partners) to help fund that work.” That “work” refers to their desire to triple their investment by building on the largest piece of Denver’s vanishing “open space” — think “climate change.” Klein and Ho have commissioned the city of Denver to fund their desire. The people spoke in November to keep the space undeveloped without voter approval. Democracy is tenuous as we see with this latest attempt to subvert the will of the people’s vote.
Stuart Cooper, Denver
Frontline solutions
Re: “Provider failing 10 counties,” Dec. 20 news story
I am grateful that we are finally seriously analyzing mental health care here in Summit County and throughout Colorado.
The suicide statistics in our state, particularly in Summit and other mountain towns, are horrifying. These are community members dying needlessly. And although many professionals are passionately trying, we are not supporting them in the best way possible: together.
Why is no one talking to private practitioners on the front lines? Instead, we are embroiled in debates between failing out-of-town corporations and law enforcement through our local paper. This is exactly why people stop seeking out mental health care: the bureaucratic nonsense that often accompanies it. Those of us who get up every day and provide care to our community need to be included. We all have our fingers in a leaking and cracking dam, trying to stop it from bursting. Why is no one talking to us?
Why aren’t we creating our own mental health agency? A community-run and owned organization where we hire local clinicians, pay them appropriately, handle the billing on both sides, and make it a true one-stop shop for all things mental wellness. We need to be working together to grow and serve our amazing county from within. Combining the community’s financial resources and wealth of knowledge, experience and motivation could vastly improve our mental health — and save lives in our community.
Stacy Smith, Summit County
Adam Schiff is unfit for Congress with all his lies
Previously, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff was caught lying about information he said he had regarding President Donald Trump’s alleged dealings with Russia. A lengthy, expensive, investigation proved his allegations to be false. Now, while pursuing Mark Meadows, he’s been caught red handed deliberately altering documents as part of a congressional hearing — a very serious offense. Why is he still in office? The hypocrisy is astonishing!
John Griggs, Evergreen
We are paying for COVID, one way or another
Re: “Biden pivots to home tests,” Dec. 22 news story
Today, President Joe Biden announced that he will be giving away half a billion “free” COVID-19 tests. Those jabs that millions have received, were also . . . “free.” Isn’t the money coming from somewhere?
As my wallet is becoming thinner by the week, I’m starting to believe, that what happened to that dumb mouse, who was told: “That cheese on that mouse trap is ‘free,’ ” is now happening to us taxpayers.
John P. Cardie, Westminster
Speeders won’t slow unless the limits are enforced
Re: “Denver sets 20 mph default speed limit,” Dec. 21 news story
It certainly makes one wonder what drives Denver City Council these days. It seems our local government is planning to spend over $1 million to replace street signs on local streets, lowering the speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph.
When we first moved to the Congress Park neighborhood, it was a regular occurrence to see police patrol 7th Avenue. However in recent years, there we have literally seen no police in the area attempting to ticket speeders and drivers that ignore stop signs; the result being that more drivers are not stopping for stop signs at intersections and cars regularly exceeding the 25 mph posted limit.
In recent years there have been numerous accidents and car accident related deaths in Congress Park, a neighborhood once considered a safe quiet residential area. Does City Council seriously believe that lowering the speed limit will do anything to deter drivers from breaking the law? They must be dreaming!
Certainly seems like there are a myriad of more pressing needs for which the expenditure of $1 million could actually make an improvement. Why not just try reassigning police patrols to catch drivers breaking the law?
Joseph Crystal, Denver
Thank you for remembering those who served
Re: “Remember Battle of the Bulge,” Dec. 16 letter to the editor
Thank you to the letter writer for his words of remembrance for those U.S. servicemen who perished in the Battle of the Bulge. My uncle was one of the soldiers who gave his life in that horrific battle. He is buried in the Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in France. His loss and those of his “brothers in arms” was felt by my family for many years.
Mark Boyko, Parker
What’s $40M here and there?
Re: “Denver International Airport — New chapter in long saga,” Dec. 19 news story
In DIA world, I suppose $40 million is comparable to one of those “leave a penny, take a penny” bowls you see at restaurant cash registers. After all, this is the outfit that thought it was entirely appropriate to spend $14.5 million on a lighted sign. But even at that, do we need to spend $40 million on a “Center of Excellence and Equity in Aviation” to recruit more young people into the aviation industry?
Isn’t that the job of the airline industry? And how will this money — added to the bloated Great Hall construction budget — contribute to an expenditure that a DIA spokesperson said is “…all about efficiency and creating a better experience”? Moreover, who’s to say that a year from now, that $40 million will turn into $80 million? Given DIA’s track record, I’m pretty sure you could count on it.
Dan Danbom, Denver
Nothing I have read or heard has offered a clue as to why it would be meritorious for the airport, Denver, Colorado or the nation to create such a center. However, for argument’s sake, let’s accept that significant merit is demonstrable. Am I the only one who wants to know why the center cannot successfully deliver its message for less than $40 million? Sadly, my guess is that when the cost for additional expenditures at DIA is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, who will fret over another 40.
Vic Reichman, Denver
Don’t feed the fire
Many consumers are buying bundles of firewood, but they may not realize when this wood is burned, it puts carbon dioxide right back into the atmosphere where earlier the trees had pulled this same carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere when they were growing.
All trees and plants consume carbon dioxide when growing and the carbon goes into the plant and soil and the plant emits oxygen. Planting millions more acres of trees is actually one of the solutions discussed in slowing climate warming.
And burning natural gas in a fireplace in place of wood is not a solution since natural gas is mostly methane. The incomplete combustion of natural gas results in methane products, not only from fireplaces, but from all burning of natural gas.
The big reductions in CO2 production will come from: The slow conversion to all-electric cars and trucks; power plants converting to solar, wind and other non-CO2 emitting sources; reduction of emissions from oil and gas operations, and the conversion of uses of natural gas to electricity.
Stopping the use of fireplaces burning wood and natural gas is not the “big solution,” but it is something an individual can do to help a little.
Richard Plastino, Lakewood
Lawns have their benefits
Re: “Cut the grass,” Dec. 6 letter to the editor
According to the website of grass seed company Pennington:
“Lawns aren’t usually thought of as collections of thousands of oxygen-producing plants, but that’s exactly what they are. Like all plants, grass plants in your lawn take in carbon dioxide from the air. Then, as part of the process of photosynthesis, those grasses help produce the oxygen you breathe.”
So, the writer of the letter disrespecting lawns is likely incorrect.
Donna Jorgenson Farrell, Broomfield
Manchin, hero or DINO?
Re: “Sen. won’t back plan,” Dec. 20 news story
Sen. Joe Manchin should be praised and lauded for being the only moderate Democrat left to stand on his principles and not follow the radical far leftists over the precipice of economic disaster with the estimated $2 trillion to $2.4 trillion Build Back Better bill. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that if the provisions were made permanent by a future Congress the cost would be $4.8 trillion.
Manchin has tried desperately to negotiate with Sen. Chuck Schumer and President Joe Biden for reason to no avail. He has been vilified by the far left radical, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wing of the party. In a high inflation economy, every sensible economist, including liberal former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, warned how badly this proposed bill will “add fuel to the fire of inflation.” But the leftists, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi keep pushing for it. Their ideology trumps economic sanity and what’s best for the nation.
Manchin in his blocking will be a national hero and might save the Democratic Party and the nation. He has earned my respect.
Pete Bruno, Arvada
Perhaps it’s time to borrow from the lexicon of right-wing Republicans with respect to their detractors within the party and label Joe Manchin as a Democrat in Name Only, or DINO – double entendre intended.
Vic Viola, Golden
Turns out masks are optional at Paramount Theatre
Recently I attended a concert at Paramount Theatre. Vaccination cards were checked before entering, and masks given out at the door. Once seated, however, nearly everyone around me in every direction, was maskless, as far as the eye could see. I sought help from the staff, who reseated me up front, but the situation was the same; everyone around me was unmasked and sitting close together.
I went to the lobby and stood there till intermission. After that I was seated in the ADA portion of the theater, with a wall to my back and no one in front for quite a few feet. Not ideal, but far better than being in the main audience.
The second time I asked the staff if an announcement could be made requesting people put on their masks, but was told the owner had refused to do this for their concerts, and their hands were tied. I don’t fault the staff. They were as helpful and kind as they could be in the circumstances. I fault the owner, and the audience, who, in their 30’s 40’s and 50’s were old enough to know better.
Basically this was a super-spreader event, with hundreds of people sitting indoors, unmasked and in close contact with one another.
To future concert goers: if you are hesitant to sit indoors, with thousands of unmasked people in close proximity to you , then don’t go to a Paramount Theatre concert.
Jeffrey Hersch, Denver
Did the truck driver’s crime match the punishment?
Re: “Commute part of the 110-year sentence for Aguilera-Mederos,” Dec. 15 editorial
I am astonished at how little value you give to the trucker’s victims. Your sympathy seems to be entirely with the killer and not his victims. The trucker made conscious decisions that resulted in the loss of life of four people and preservation of his own. He can look forward to life and necessities provided plus companionship and hope. His victims are damaged or have lost everything. During time served the trucker may earn a reduction of sentence. In the meantime his actions and attitude say he deserved what he got.
Gary O. Hall, Denver
So, cop murders a guy in cold blood on the streets of Minneapolis, gets 22.5 years, can appeal for a reduced sentence and even if that appeal fails, he will serve about half of the sentence before he gets out for “good behavior.”
Today, I learn that Derek Chauvin has admitted to violating George Floyd’s civil rights. I guess strangling a handcuffed and acquiescent suspect could be considered a violation of someone’s civil rights, if civil rights are defined broadly enough.
Dumb kid, improperly trained, inexperienced and driving a truck with bad brakes experiences a tragic accident and receives 110 years.
And The Denver Post runs an editorial saying that justice is delivered unequally?
Duh.
It would appear that deliberately murdering someone is better than being in an accident that results in loss of life.
John DeBiase, Westminster
Where is any information or guilt for the company which put this driver on the road without proper skills? Why haven’t the authorities or the terribly affected survivors gone after them? At least the families could perhaps receive some monetary judgement for their pain and suffering. And for those of you who would call themselves Christians, remember from Paul:Romans 12:19 “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord.”
D. Noone, Thornton
Living and dying with COVID-19
Shared headlines in The Denver Post announcing “State Surpasses 10,000 deaths” while also reporting “Arapahoe County announces departure from health agency” finally pushed my button!
Tri-County Health was the agency that showed courage, insight and leadership while our local city and county officials and school boards cowered as people died from COVID-19. Now the naysayers who object so strongly to the mask mandate have succeeded in out-shouting the majority of people who support mask mandates and vaccines.
Are the county commissioners really so tone-deaf as to believe the public is made up of these people? The Post describes Arapahoe County as “the conservative county”, but recent elections in Littleton and elsewhere suggest support for more progressive leaders. Let Douglas County shut it’s eyes to the pandemic, but north of the county line we still believe in science and protecting our fellow man.
Betty McCarty, Littleton
It is ironic that on the anniversary of the COVID vaccine, we are informed that over 10,000 Coloradans have died as a result of COVID. Accompanying this news is information that our Arapahoe County Commission has decided to leave a successful 75 year relationship with Tri-County Health.
From the article it appears that our commissioners caved to a few strident anti-maskers instead of basing their decisions on a scientific and a business rationale. This decision was made despite the high praise given by Commissioner Nancy Jackson of Tri-County Health Department, “They are a first-rate example of how public health services should be modeled.”
Huh? You are doing an excellent job therefor we need to “fire” you. As a long term resident of Arapahoe County and one who has served twelve years as a volunteer on the Community Corrections Board, I am not surprised. This is another example of politicians serving a few rather that acting in the interest of electorate.
Philip Arreola, Denver
I am writing as a member of the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians, which represents over 2,600 physicians, residents, and medical students in every county in Colorado. As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 poses new challenges for our health care system, we need to take a common-sense approach.
I saw with dismay that the Douglas County School Board rolled back rules for children to wear masks at schools. This decision places too many people at risk, from children who are more likely to become infected by new variants, to teachers and staff in the district, and to families at home who may have compromised immune systems or lack access to care.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has tracked higher rates of COVID-19 infections at schools where children aren’t sufficiently vaccinated or attentive to wearing masks. Our clinics and hospitals are operating near capacity and we cannot afford another surge.
There is overwhelming evidence that masks dramatically reduce the spread of COVID-19. I, along with the family physicians of Colorado, urge the county health department and school district to adopt a policy requiring mask use in schools.
Corey Lyon, Aurora
Editor’s note: Lyon is the associate vice-chair for Clinical Affairs at the Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado.
Yes, let’s talk about those crime statistics
Re: “How crime got so bad in Colorado,” Dec. 12 commentary
George Brauchler’s column begged the question he posed at the end: causation or correlation. For somebody in the legal business, his “brief” sunk rather than swum — there was lots of correlation and next to zero causation addressed.
Consider a graphic from the World Book Encyclopedia “Yearbook 1972” that showed FBI stats of property crime rates in the U.S. in the 1960s — clearly all going the wrong direction, as we are today. So what can be learned from periods like this for today? What worked and didn’t work to address such trends? With his expertise, Brauchler owes people critical thinking, not just “Mayday Mayday” shouts.
And if/when he gets honest enough to address the real causes, he needs to fess up to the anti-government feeling/rhetoric of the Republicans since the 1980s — aptly called “enemy politics” by David Brock who was enmeshed in it until he opened his eyes — that helped reduce people’s faith in government and their willingness to abide by government rules, like stopping for red lights,
paying one’s fair share of taxes, and
sadly respecting the outcome of elections.
And yes, I’ve been a crime victim myself this past year as my car was stolen from my step mother’s driveway in broad daylight, and recovered in a “totaled” state from a rollover accident with drug paraphernalia inside three days later. Do I want the people responsible locked up for a long time? You bet! But a blather of correlations, as per Brauchler, rather than whole system approaches based on causation, will win progress, whereas Brauchler would lose his case in court with the thinking he offered in his column.
Christopher Juniper, Denver
Brauchler’s column epitomizes the points made in two seminal works: “How to Lie With Statistics” and “Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics,” and illustrates how misleading statistics can be without providing a baseline for comparison.
For example, if one person received a ticket for jaywalking in 2019, and five people received tickets in 2020, that’s really not a big deal. However, if all you are told is that there was a 400% increase in jaywalking between 2019 and 2020 without any other information, it looks like our city is filled with reckless walkers with a death wish.
Colorado may have an increasing crime problem, but without more data, we really don’t know the true extent — and won’t without sufficient and accurate data with which to form a comparison.
Marie Valenzuela, Westminster
Reduce traffic fatalities where they actually are happening
Re: “20 is plenty? Try 20 mph on your neighborhood streets — it’s unnecessarily slow in some places,” Dec. 12 commentary
Vincent Carroll’s column was excellent: “Twenty is Plenty?” He points out that this silly proposition is a solution in search of an essentially non-existent problem. Apparently unthoughtful councilors have no data to justify this large change to Denver residents.
Reducing pedestrian fatalities: great goal! But as Carroll points out, “residential streets accounted for 7% of fatal accidents.” And, “most additional pedestrian deaths occurred on urban arterials, with 84% on roads with speeds above 30 mph . . .”
So somebody says, let’s change things where a minimal amount of accidents occur with no data indicating that legal speeds are a problem? Without addressing where 93% of the deaths occur? That is nonsense!
Nobody said you have to be smart to get elected; you just have to get votes!
Rich Urbanowski, Lakewood
Break the glass ceiling to help teachers and nurses with low pay
Re: “Substitute teacher shortage,” Dec. 10 news story
In The Denver Post and on TV, I recently have experienced articles about nurses and teachers (K-12) being undervalued, overwhelmed, overworked and underpaid. Those vocations are the only two, in the United States where women are a majority of the workforce.
But when we get to the college and university level of teaching, men are the majority and are well-compensated. The glass ceiling is not being challenged. Saying “pick a career you enjoy and you won’t work a day in your life” does not apply to teaching and nursing.
Mark Rawlins, Westminster
Appreciate Brooks’ developing opinion of abortion
Re: “Abortion: voice of the ambivalent,” Dec. 4 commentary
I appreciated David Brooks’ column, which included the ways his thoughts on abortion have changed over the years. He shared that as a young progressive, he was surprised when a female college friend suffered postabortion anguish. Later, he witnessed sonograms that offered a window to the thumb-sucking, heart-beating, eye-moving human development that can be witnessed halfway through a pregnancy. (Note an update to that observation: U.S. News recently reported that the most premature baby currently known to survive was born in Alabama in July 2020 at 21 weeks and 1 day. Young Curtis is now a healthy, 16-month old child.)
Without suggesting that anything about abortion is an easy topic, Brooks also had the courage to share his shock upon hearing abortion referred to simply “as health care, … as if it couldn’t be a termination of a human life.”
As The Denver Post looks to include a more balanced look at this difficult topic, perhaps next steps could include alternatives to abortion in the form of support resources (emotional, physical, financial) for pregnant women in challenging circumstances. In the Denver area, there are many.
Mary M. Bartek, Centennial
Wild horses and burros need our protection
The treatment of wild horses and burros during this year’s roundups, while devastating, offers a telling perspective on the way that human “management” of animals always prioritizes human interests.
For years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has taken healthy wild horses and burros from their legally protected lands in the American West at the expense of taxpayers in part to prioritize grazing space for cattle and other livestock.
These roundups are driven by herd growth rates based on BLM statistics, which have been shown to be scientifically impossible.
The Wild Horse Freedom Federation chronicled these statistics in its 2017 white paper.
Moreover, with public land grazing fees far below national rates, the BLM is losing more than $100 million per year on its wild horse and burro “roundup and warehouse policy.”
Specifically the current livestock grazing fee sits well below market value at $1.35 per AUM, yet ranchers charge taxpayers $60 per AUM to house wild horses and burros on their pastures. All this for a program that contributes only 1.9% of the nation’s beef.
Ultimately the BLM’s roundups are nothing more than a grazing program ancillary, designed to give ranchers unfettered and cheap access to America’s public lands. These programs harm not only our nation’s horses and burros but the bank accounts of Colorado taxpayers, too. What we need is more oversight of the ranching industry, not more oversight of the (supposedly) federally protected wild horses.
As a native Coloradan and citizen caring about justice, I ask that you consider further, more in-depth coverage (or even a continued series) on the wild horse scapegoating fomented by ranchers in Colorado at the expense of the American taxpayer.
Rick Karcich, Centennial
Slow population growth to combat climate change
Re: “Attack drought at its root cause and put a price on carbon,” Dec. 14 letter to the editor
A letter published Tuesday urged us to “attack drought at its root cause and put a tax on carbon.”
Looking further than climate change, the root cause of drought is the number of people and their behavior, unless you are a hunter-gatherer.
Have a large family? Even if you can support them, every person is a drain on a finite number of resources,
which includes water.
Rather than encourage our senators to support a carbon tax, it would be more ingenuous and productive to contribute to Planned Parenthood and other population control organizations and educate people on their individual impact.
C. Greenman, Lakewood
Remember Battle of the Bulge
Yearly on Dec. 7, city newspapers run memorial stories recalling the attack on Pearl Harbor — “ a date which will live in infamy,” as President Roosevelt said in his 1941 address to Congress and the nation.
These news stories tend to profile survivors — elders of the “greatest generation,” many of whom are now centenarians. And while it is important to note such a significant day in the course of World War II, we should perhaps take similar note of Dec. 16, which in 1944, marked the Nazi attack that started what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
For nearly six weeks, this battle involved over a million troops (over 600,000 Allied forces). The outcome, an Allied victory, broke the back of the German military, which had deployed more than 1,500 armored tanks, 1,000 combat aircraft and nearly a half-million troops in alpine mid-winter combat conditions.
American forces suffered almost 90,000 casualties, with more than 19,000 dead. By large numbers, this battle was the costliest in terms of American casualties during the war. A great debt is owed to those who supplied or served in America’s military in any capacity in World War II.
Peter Ehrlich, Denver
Real Christian values
This morning, I received an email from a friend who was sharing U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s latest public relations stunt. It is a Christmas card — a photo of Boebert and her four sons, each holding a gun, standing in front of a Christmas tree. I assume one is her trademark “Glock.” The words above the photo were “Merry Christmas from the Boebert’s — Your Representative of Good Christian Values.”
Hmmm.
Well, to set the record straight, I am not convinced that Christians have any monopoly on values, and I do not see how the glorification of violence fits in with any tradition of faith.
I would like to share a few of the Christian values that I will practice over the next few days. For starters I will go down and shovel the walkway for my elder neighbor, as I often do when it snows in the mountains. And on Saturday, I will ring the Salvation Army bell for two hours with a friend.
I do not have hopes that I will alter Boebert’s attitude. However, perhaps this note will inspire others to go out and practice some real Christian values.
Pamela Gibbs, Avon
Invest in electric buses
Every day, my child gets on a diesel-powered school bus to travel to and from school. As I am sure many of us can remember from childhood, riding the bus to school comes with a strong smell of exhaust and plumes of smoke. This is concerning because children are especially vulnerable to poor air quality, as their brains and respiratory systems are still developing.
As a lung cancer survivor, I think a lot about the air that my kids and I breathe. That’s why I’m eager to see funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law get rolled out. The funding will make it possible for school districts to begin transitioning to zero-emission electric school buses and retire their dirty diesel fleets. The technology is here — it’s time to make the switch.
The funding for electric school buses included in the bipartisan infrastructure law is an incredible opportunity for my children in Douglas County and all kids across Colorado to have healthier air to breathe to and from school every day. Electrification of our school bus fleet will improve the air for our kids and millions of other children nationwide. I hope that local school officials across our state will take advantage of this important opportunity.
Jamie Rippy, Castle Rock
Bah humbug, Mr. Kroenke
Dear Mr Scrooge, I mean Mr. Kroenke, Could you give a little Christmas to the Nuggets fans? How about a deal with Comcast and DirectTV? It’s been a few years, and all we’ve gotten is coal. I’m not sure what happened in your Christmas Past, but from my vantage it seems not so bad.
Your Christmas Present is a country living with COVID-19, the stresses of the day, some of us looking for a little “Nugget” of joy. A wish you could make come true. Doesn’t Denver deserves it?
What is your Christmas future Mr. Kroenke?
Maybe a lesson from Mr. Scrooge, “where he desperately implores the spirit to alter his fate, promising to renounce his insensitive, avaricious ways and to honor Christmas with all his heart.” Merry Holidays from a desperate Nuggets fan!
Susan Johnson, Denver
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