Re: Nearly homeless
Very interesting article about the “nearly homeless” situation.
There are differing numbers as far as reported income levels. The Sopris Sun article claimed average Carbondale income in the 2022 census was just over $40,000.
It may be important to note that was at the end of COVID, so some folks would not have been working full-time — or at all.
Updated numbers are being reported by Colorado Mesa University economics professor Dr. Nathan Perry. “Garfield County’s median household income rose from $57,364 in 2013 to $86,566 in 2022 and $94,696 in 2023,” according to a Feb. 14 Post Independent article. Please note that is median income, not average income. Garfield County per capita income (total income divided by total population) has consistently increased from 2016 ($52,232) to 2023 ($71,629), according to the Post Independent article.
Chris McG
Garfield County
Editor’s note: The Sopris Sun reference in the Feb. 20th article was based on individual income rather than household income.

A portend of the future?
Saturday night, I saw the film “I’m Still Here” at the Crystal. It’s a true story about the suffering of a very loving family after the establishment of a military junta in Brazil in 1969. Before the show, I was reading about Trump’s purge of the military in this country. The film scared the hell out of me.
On Friday, Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the vice chairman of the Air Force, the chief of Naval Operations and all of the top judge advocate generals after previously dismissing the Coast Guard commandant. They’ll all, no doubt, be replaced by acolytes who’ll swear allegiance to Trump rather than the Constitution.
The chairman was Black, and the naval operations chief and the Coast Guard commandant were women. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth referred to at least one of these military leaders as DEI hires.
After the movie, I went home, jumped in bed and couldn’t sleep. I kept imagining there were armed men in uniform at my door waving copies of my letters to the editor.
Fred Malo Jr.
Carbondale

Reliable news
Putin’s orange minion has become a fire hydrant of mis-, dis- and DE-information. We can believe exactly nothing of the official proclamations coming from Washington. Fortunately, National Public Radio (NPR) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are reliable sources of fact-checked information and corrections to the official U.S. word.
They reliably dispense U.S. and world news. We are lucky to have Aspen Public radio faithfully putting forth their accurate information. It is noticeable that by the time one goes into West Glenwood, and farther west, that a news desert is evident. Don’t be a fool to this administration, seek out the truth — www.aspenpublicradio.org lets you stream good fact-checked NPR and BBC information when you are out of KAJX’s (88.9 FM) broadcast range.
John Hoffmann
Carbondale

Fighting extremism
My father, John Lawyer, was in Naval Intelligence in World War II in Brazil. What was the U.S. Navy doing in Brazil when the war was in Europe and Asia? Food grown in South America was shipped out of Santos, Brazil, the continent’s largest Atlantic port, to our troops in Europe.
Our troops were fighting the Nazis. German submarines were sinking the American supply ships. How did the submarines know what ships carried food for American troops? Naval Intelligence discovered a radio operator was in the bell tower of a Catholic church that was on the street parallelling the oceanfront, and from there received a clear view of every ship leaving port as well as radio signals about which ships carried food for our troops. Our Navy stopped that and saved the food, and the soldiers it fed.
My father became a lawyer after the war and also a Carbondale Judge. He taught me to follow the law, always.
How can Vice President Vance criticize Europe for banning pro-Nazi hate speech? How can an American Vice President lend his official support, on behalf of all of us, to the far-right German AfD (Alternative for Germany) party (members of which have been accused of being neo-Nazi sympathisers)?
How can Trump send Musk to Europe to represent the U.S. and have this “representative” do a video conference with the AfD?
After World War II, many of the young men who fought with the 10th Mountain Division to liberate Italy from Mussolini’s Italian Fascism came to our valley to live along with Jewish refugees and members of the French Resistance who risked their lives skiing over Europe’s mountains to deliver information to the Allies. They developed the ski industry here. These people liberated Europe from Nazi hatred and oppression.
Read what the American Bar Association said about Trump’s actions and their illegality at www.tinyurl.com/LawyersTrump
Illene Pevec
Carbondale

Letters policy: The Sopris Sun welcomes local letters to the editor. Shorter letters stand a better chance of being printed. Letters exclusive to The Sopris Sun (not appearing in other papers) are particularly welcome. Please, no smearing, cite your facts and include your name and place of residence or association. Letters are due to news@soprissun.com by noon on the Monday before we go to print.