Our Town One Table
Our Town One Table is a gift that Carbondale gives itself. How lucky can we be, living in a town that sets apart a special time when we can all just be together, enjoying a cool evening and the friendship of our family, friends and neighbors? Thanks to the Town for the tables set up, too!
Linda Romero Criswell
Carbondale
TRTC win
Every year the Colorado Theatre Guild gives out awards in various categories of live theater production to honor the talent displayed by its members. These awards, called “Henrys” are Colorado’s equivalents to “Tonys,” which are awarded to plays and musicals on Broadway.
Thunder River Theatre Company (TRTC) was nominated for five Henrys and its production of the play “Endgame” won the Henry for Outstanding Play. This is quite an honor, as it was chosen over all the other nominees — including three from the Denver metro area!
If you have never seen a play at TRTC in Carbondale, I urge you to look at their upcoming season, which has just been released. We are so lucky to have award-winning talent in our valley, and they deserve to be supported.
Dori Libson
Carbondale
Ethical energy
As the country and the rest of the world experience another year of scorching heat waves, private for-profit utility companies — which we rely upon for our basic necessities like heating, cooling and electricity — are keeping us reliant on climate-wrecking fossil fuels while reporting record profits.
When they work well, utilities exist in the background of our lives. They power our homes, cool us down when it’s hot and give us heat when it’s cold. But too often, they are sources of aggravation. The power goes off when it’s dangerously hot or cold out, our bills skyrocket and these for-profit companies threaten to shut off services when we’re unable to pay.
We know that climate change raises those stakes even higher, and utility companies themselves play a massive role in exacerbating the climate crisis. Eighty percent of electric utilities in the U.S. run on fossil fuels.
Shifting utilities to clean energy is integral to working toward a safer climate, but these private, for-profit companies would rather maintain the status quo and keep the public in the dark. Utility companies are charging us more while they get paid off by the fossil fuel industry to block the transition to renewable energy.
Utility companies have gotten away with profiting at the expense of people and our planet for too long. It’s time we hold them accountable and demand they stop using our money to burn our future while individuals and families struggle. We deserve an energy system that allows everyone to have access to clean and affordable energy.
Ray John
Glenwood Springs
Protect the cats
We should be very proud as Coloradans that the CATS [Cats Aren’t Trophies] ballot initiative to ban trophy hunting of wild cats in Colorado has collected the requisite signatures to make it on the ballot in November.
Mountain lions play a crucial role in our ecosystems, and research indicates that they can reduce the incidence of chronic wasting disease, a major threat to our deer and elk herds. Lions target neurologically compromised deer and elk, reducing disease prevalence and protecting these healthy herds for hunters and wildlife watchers alike. In this way, lions are protectors of long-term deer and elk hunting in Colorado.
Mountain lion populations are self-regulating, but hunting disrupts stable territorial hierarchies — which can lead to more conflict with humans. These hunts can include cruel methods, from chasing mountain lions down with dogs and shooting them once cornered, often violating “fair chase standards” that we apply to other types of hunting. Mountain lion kittens are dependent on their mothers for up to two years. Nearly half of the lions shot by trophy hunters are female, and when mothers are killed the kittens are doomed to also die of starvation, dehydration or exposure.
Mountain lion attacks are incredibly rare (you have a better chance of being struck by lightning on your birthday than being attacked by a mountain lion) and hunting wild cats doesn’t reduce conflict with humans. California hasn’t allowed hunting of mountain lions since 1972, but doesn’t experience an elevated rate of attacks. In fact, a study compared 10 western states with cougars and California had the third lowest rate of per-capita attacks on people.
It is essential for all citizens to exercise our democratic rights to ensure that our wildlife policies reflect our values.
Delaney Rudy
Western Watersheds Project
Biden’s Vietnam
The destruction of Palestinian people is to Biden what Vietnam was to LBJ. They were one term presidents who accomplished a lot but had to leave. Fifty-eight-thousand Americans eventually died in Vietnam. At least that many more have died since, of wounds and suicide. The death toll in Gaza is now 40,000 but will be far higher come January. Vietnam generated a very large protest movement. Many Democratic primary voters were “uncommitted” in opposition to the continued supply of weapons to Israel. The students are coming back to the colleges. More protests are likely.
LBJ’s legacy was tarnished, and Biden’s will also be. It remains to be seen what Harris will do. Thanks in part to more assassinations by Israel and their refusal to stop killing Palestinians, we could see a war break out. A few other countries have said they have had enough. Failure of other countries to step in to stop the genocide is undercutting the rule of international law.
Patrick Hunter
Carbondale
So long, Seldin
A tiny newspaper article indicated that Pitkin County-based Judge Chris Seldin is resigning from the bench after only nine years, and leaving Aspen and the Valley for Boulder …? After he approved the government lawfare to controversially evict an 87-year-old widow from the house her family built, Seldin set restrictions relevant to America’s unalienable right to free speech and freedom of assembly on public lands (leased by billionaire Lester Crown’s Aspen SkiCo) as punishment for her son’s distribution of a union flier advocating a living wage on public lands. Now there’s a story for a brave journalist not afraid of repercussions from power.
Lee Mulcahy
Basalt