Friday’s edition has four articles worth noting and connecting as threads in a whole fabric of concern. First, Susan Knopf has offered a brilliant summary of a recent meeting (on Friday the 13th, ironically), which I attended and noted that some members of the audience evinced rude and disruptive behavior toward any point of view that did not comport with their own. They apparently came to the meeting for confirmation bias, discounting any suggestion that the information presented was factually distorted and ignoring the ongoing efforts in Summit County to build bridges.

Second, the letter to the editor from Kate Neuschaefer of Breckenridge succinctly encapsulated the factual errors of those who misunderstand and misuse the term critical race theory for political purposes. They resist the teaching of accurate U.S. history to students, especially rejecting the dishonorable treatment of Black, indigenous and people of color in our country over the past 500 years and ongoing.

Third, the disclosure that dishonest QAnon supporter Rep. Lauren Boebert committed legal and ethical breaches by intentionally failing to disclose her husband’s generous income for “consultation” from an oil/gas production company active in her district, thus presenting a serious conflict of interest in her aggressive promotion of fossil fuels.

And finally, I note the breakthrough infection of Sen. John Hickenlooper with COVID-19. Almost certainly, this infection can be traced back to an individual who disdained vaccination and masking with risk to others.

The fabric of concern with threads of dishonesty, distortion, disdain, disruption and disregard for genuine efforts of unifying Summit County’s disparate factions dismays me. We can and must do better to heal the seismic rifts in our local community. Several venues exist for such constructive dialogue, if only our citizens wish that to happen.