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Summit Daily letters: A low blow from Vail Resorts

A low blow from Vail Resorts

Really Vail Resorts? As a loyal Vail Resorts season pass holder and Breckenridge homeowner, I experience the impact firsthand of swelling skier numbers, especially pronounced on holiday weekends with epic snowfall, this isn’t my first rodeo and it’s a regular occurrence for a number of years now. This growth has obviously benefited Vail greatly financially (as it should!). I know we need a parking solution, and if you poll any skier they would tell you they want it by the gondola because that is where they all start their day. What we don’t need is a garage that further exacerbates the congestion. From what I’ve read, experts who know traffic patterns say building a garage on F-Lot would do the latter and jives with what I see. But really, Vail, using your EPIC pass email list to blame the recent holiday weekend, EPIC snow, EPIC pass holder traffic on the town not building a garage on F-Lot. Making it sound like the town is robbing people of tax dollars, that was a low blow. I expected more from Vail Resorts. Hopefully you won’t now turn to Twitter.

Ellen Brown



Breckenridge

Big Money in Colorado



RE: Jonathan and Susan Knopf’s guest column piece, “Big Money Wins Big in Colorado,” Summit Daily News, Jan. 16.

I concur with the conclusions the writers reach in this piece about Big Tobacco, Big Oil and Big Pharma being big winners in Colorado on Election Day. These big industries are winners, not just as a result of voters affirming it through their votes on referendums, but also because of actions of some of our own elected officials here in Colorado. Readers can remind themselves of who led the charge and support of Big Oil and Amendment 71. I will provide a footnote to the support of Big Pharma in Colorado.

In a Senate session last Wednesday night, Feb.11, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont proposed an amendment to a concurrent budget resolution for the fiscal year of 2017 that would have allowed pharmacists to import drugs from Canada, often at a fraction of the cost paid in the U.S. Amazingly, 12 Republicans supported the amendment. But it failed because 13 Democrats voted no on it. Included in this “no” group were Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), fresh from eloquently testifying against Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, and 12 other Democrats, including our own Senator Michael Bennet. The rationale given by Cory Booker and others for the “no” vote was the concern for the imported drugs being “safe.” Bernie Sanders agreed that the medicines should be safe but fired back at these Democrats with this: “If we can import vegetables and fish and poultry and beef from all corners of the Earth, please don’t tell me that we cannot bring in, from Canada and other major countries, name brand prescription drugs of some of the largest corporations in the world. That’s a laughable statement.”

Are you surprised that this select group of “no” voting Democrat Senators contains some of the top Senate recipients funded by pharmaceutical companies? Sadly, once again Colorado Senator Michael Bennet makes the cut. According to OpenSecrets, between 2013 and 2016 Bennet received $652,417 from Big Pharma.

Mary Parrott

Keystone

A beneficial bonfire

Once again Breckenridge has paid homage to the Great Ullr with the parade and Ullr bonfire. Our company, Ceres Landcare, has put on the fire for the past five years. Our family has become personally involved helping out dad and husband Rick Herwehe as the main fire builder. But, this event would not be possible without the guidance of Sandy Metzger of BTO who was instrumental in resurrecting our beloved bonfire from years past.

The Ullr bonfire was a mainstay from the late-’70s to early ’90s. Fun debauchery was had by all back in the day but over time it went too far with the burning of skis and other unfriendly items (sorry Mother Nature!), etc., which shut it down for over 15 years. Sandy and the town were able to bring it back but with guidelines of Christmas trees only. Being on the ‘other side of the fence,’ literally, from our fun-loving crowd, this was hard for them to understand what couldn’t be tossed in. But it was still a great time!

Here’s a public shout-out for Sandy’s hard work and professionalism and Gaven Dalgliesh who assisted throughout the day helping Rick. They and their crew also worked with all of us in the clean-up of mountains of trash left behind. Thank you James, the skidsteer driver, for your expert skills and our town employees who delivered the trees and worked most likely well into the morning hours restoring it back to a parking lot.

In light of our contentious times, the Ullr events provide us all with a well-deserved break to blow off steam and enjoy our fun town. Some floats held more people than the population of Breck when we moved here (excluding those regulars at Quarter Beer nights at the Mogul!). For those of you new to our town or visiting us, we hope you had a fun and safe Ullr and with your help, allow us to have this tradition continue on!

Martha Herwehe

Breckenridge

The pending disaster

Please join me in mourning for the loss of civil discourse at a presidential level ending this Friday. And toast Morgan Liddick and his minions as they stand on the cusp of eliminating health care for over 20 million souls with the prospect of eliminating any benefits for the rest of us 40 plus million who voted for Hillary. They are no doubt standing in line drooling to reap the benefits of foreclosures and financial collapse of those who will have to choose between health insurance paying the mortgage and eating.

Instead we will now have 4 years of gloating, insulting, bragging, pomposity, bloviating ,chaos, never knowing the truth and exaggeration. The child like petulant president and his love for everything Putin will disgust us, anger and disillusion us to no end. Sure millions of his throng adore him as history has shown the same adoration for the likes of Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini et al. And as they say those who have forgotten history will one day relearn the lesson of such ignorance, of the adoring and idolizing of those who promised everything. Didn’t turn out well did it?

I wonder if the state of the union will be tweeted at 3 a.m. in the morning and what insults he will have for those who do not posses his knowledge of everything. And how close we will come to WW3?

As the 4th Reich begins it’s regime, I wonder just how all those billionaires will bend over to help us pitiful underlings and how their love of the dollar will somehow make our lives better.

To say the least the next 4 years, should we not be saved by an impeachment, will be a test of survival for those with a heart, brain and sense of compassion. And I wonder what hold Putin may have on our president elect, from what I am hearing disgust is too good a word for it.

As for me fortunately I have UNION insurance that has served me well from my younger days which will no doubt be done away with but hopefully by then I will know how much of my retirement will be eliminated so I can choose the right course of ex pat to a place who puts humanity before the almighty dollar.

Good luck to all.

W. Gerald Bird Jr.

Dillon

Return to basic truths

We are approaching January 22, one of the most tragic dates in American history. It comes almost six months after we celebrate the greatest and most miraculous document in the annuals of human governance — the Declaration of Independence. Our nation’s first and most important declaration of truth which proclaimed that we as Americans “Hold these truths to be self-evident that all men [and women] are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The freedom and protection of our human lives as Americans has been an envy of the world since then. What a wonderful way to start our nation.

Over 200 years later, since January 1973 and the infamous ruling by the Supreme Court known as Roe versus Wade, over 50 million unborn children have had their lives ended by their own parents in the horrendous act of legal abortion in America. Norma McCorvey, the women called Roe in Roe vs Wade, later admitted to lying about being raped trying to get an abortion legally. The legal process took so long she actually had the child. Unknown to most, Ms. McCorvey became a stanch pro-life supporter for an even greater irony.

The culture of death has run rampant in the past two centuries. Death is the solution to so many of the great problems of human existence. The various forms of media assign euphemisms (terrible realities that sound good) and some Americans will blindly accept the culture of death with its bad law, bad science and bad medical care. Labels like “women’s health issues” for death through abortion and “dignity in death” for physician-assisted suicide dilutes and destroys the truth that is our human life and allows some Americans to persist in a form of invincible ignorance.

Euphemisms cover up so much of the reality of who we are as humans that we can not believe and trust even the most important and sincere of public servants. Much of all media — public or social — and news sources are full of double meaning, half-truths, fake news and outright lies. Can we overcome the present iteration of the culture of death by returning to the Judeo Christian principles and truth of God’s great love and His gifts of faith and hope and peace that made us the greatest nation the world has ever known?

The present time can be an age of love, hope and peace not only for America but for the world by repealing the bad law of the culture of death and then creating the good law of the culture of life by protecting human life in all ages and in all conditions with the strength and courage and wisdom that can be America’s gift to the world.

Don Chisholm MD

Dillon

A beneficial bonfire

Once again Breckenridge has paid homage to the Great Ullr with the parade and Ullr bonfire. Our company, Ceres Landcare, has put on the fire for the past 5 years. Our family has become personally involved helping out dad and husband Rick Herwehe as the main fire builder. But, this event would not be possible without the guidance of Sandy Metzger of BTO who was instrumental in resurrecting our beloved bonfire from years past.

The Ullr bonfire was a mainstay through the late ‘70s- early 90s. Fun debauchery was had by all back in the day but over time it went too far with the burning of skis and other unfriendly items (sorry Mother Nature!), etc. which shut it down for over 15 years. Sandy and the town were able to bring it back but with guidelines of Christmas trees only. Being on the ‘other side of the fence’, literally, from our fun loving crowd, this was hard for them to understand what couldn’t be tossed in. But it was still a great time!

Here’s a public shout out for Sandy’s hard work and professionalism and Gaven Dalgliesh who assisted throughout the day helping Rick. They and their crew also worked with all of us in the clean up of mountains of trash left behind. Thank you James, the skidsteer driver, for your expert skills and our town employees who delivered the trees and worked most likely well into the morning hours restoring it back to a parking lot.

In light of our contentious times, the Ullr events provide us all with a well deserved break to blow off steam and enjoy our fun town. Some floats held more people than the population of Breck when we moved here (excluding those regulars at Quarter Beer nights at the Mogul!). For those of you new to our town or visiting us, we hope you had a fun and safe Ullr and with your help, allow us to have this tradition continue on!

Martha Herwehe

Breckenridge


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