Wolves belong in Colorado
Subject: Tribal leaders say no to Colorado wolf fiasco.
I was disappointed to read the August 13 editorial opposing Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program. As a resident of Teller County, I welcome wolves to our state and am deeply concerned about the misinformation this editorial spreads.
First, wolf attacks on livestock are rare. In the northern Rocky Mountains, where wolves were reintroduced decades ago, wolf attacks account for only about 1% of livestock losses. That’s nothing compared to livestock losses due to disease and other ailments.
The ranching industry needs to be honest with Colorado residents. Too many are demanding dead wolves but refusing to properly implement proven strategies for avoiding conflict with wolves. These strategies range from basic sanitation measures like removing animal carcasses before they attract predators to classic cowboy techniques like using range riders.
Wolves could be an economic boon to Colorado if we give them the chance. The wolves in Yellowstone are a major attraction for the 4 million park visitors each year. This tourism supports local businesses and strengthens the local economy. Seeing a wolf in the wild is an unforgettable experience in Yellowstone and will be in Colorado too.
Wolves benefit the areas in which they live, helping to keep deer and elk populations healthy, in part by preventing the spread of chronic wasting disease. In fact, there are more elk in the northern Rockies today than there were before wolves were reintroduced.
Wolves belong in Colorado. I applaud the work of Colorado Parks and Wildlife to bring them back home.
Darlene Kobobel
Split
Reduce the volume
I agree with JW Roth that “people have yards because they like to sit outside.” We enjoyed our back patio and admired the mountains for 20 years. Sunday evenings were not like that.
The incessant thumping of bass notes and occasional yelling into a loud microphone from the Ford Amphitheater made it impossible to enjoy our (unfenced) backyard. Turn the volume down, JW!
Joe Dixon
Colorado Springs
Nation not in good shape
Despite the recent editorial praising U.S. athletes for their recent Olympic medal wins in France, our nation is not in good shape.
We have $7 eggs, $4 gasoline, up to 50 percent more electricity, free crack pipes, a fentanyl crisis, open borders, toxic leaks, and a looming Third World War.
Perhaps the editorial writer who disagrees is following the example of the unrealistic ancient Romans shortly before the fall of their empire.
John Wear
Black Forest
It is time to reduce national debt
As we approach the 2024 election, you don’t hear much about one of the country’s biggest problems: our exploding national debt. Even though it just passed the grim $35 trillion mark, neither presidential campaign will discuss the urgent need to confront this growing financial disaster. But 2025 will present candidates and our representatives with a series of chances to make a decision: keep digging that hole or start filling it in.
For example, the Donald Trump-era tax cuts expire next year. Extending them will add trillions of dollars in new unaccounted costs. Regardless of whether and to what extent they are extended, we should insist that this new spending be financed in a way that does not increase the debt. And Social Security and Medicare are well on their way to insolvency.
If we cannot curb our penchant for spending far more than we earn, we will soon be faced with interest payments that exceed every other item in the federal budget, weakening our nation’s strength and security at home and abroad by diverting funds from these priorities. Already, the price we pay to service our debt ($892 billion this year) exceeds everything except Social Security, at $6,800 per American household.
It is up to voters to make it clear that they will no longer tolerate this issue being put on the back burner. It is time to take a stand and pay down the debt.
Sandra Mattingly
Colorado Springs
No concept of honor
Here we go again. I have already written about Donald Trump’s words dishonoring the service of our military members. Although he vehemently denies it, they were recorded and witnessed by his staff. If you doubt his story, please read his words spoken a few days ago.
He described the Presidential Medal of Freedom as “the highest award you can receive as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. But the civilian version is actually much better, because everyone who receives the Congressional Medal of Honor is a soldier. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit by bullets so many times, or they’re dead.”
He can grope the American flag and proclaim his patriotism, but judge him by his words. As a retired veteran who saw combat and knew the true patriots who died in battle, I am deeply offended.
Trump has tarnished the memory of many, including Lt. Lance Sijan, an Air Force Academy graduate who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was a prisoner of war and was severely beaten and tortured by his captors in North Vietnam. He was an incredible example to his fellow prisoners and sadly died in captivity. How can a civilian award compare to the Medal of Honor?
Only a man who has neither honor nor any idea of serving his country can compare that. And this man wants to be Commander-in-Chief again. I say: “Not while I am in office.” What do you say?
Peter Knepell
Colorado Springs
