Correction: Last week’s cover suggested the group Protect Our GarCo Libraries organized the gathering at Centennial Park and the march to the county administration building. In fact, it was the Garfield County Public Library District (GCPLD) that spearheaded the entire event. GCPLD organized this event as part of the American’s Library Association’s Unite Against Book Ban’s initiative, and their call for a Freedom to Read national day of action for on October 19.
Re: Prop 123
Congratulations to the residents of 3-Mile Mobile Home Park who convinced the Garfield County commissioners to opt in to Colorado’s Proposition 123 Affordable Housing Fund — just days before we missed the Nov. 1 deadline for 2025/2026 participation.
Now, 3-Mile residents can apply for Prop 123 funds to help them purchase their mobile home park. As a longtime 3-Mile resident told the commissioners, projects like this are essential to keeping workers in the Valley and preserving our diversity.
We all pay into the Prop 123 fund through our state income taxes. All six municipalities in the county had already opted in. Why did it take the commissioners almost two years before opting in?
Listen to their Oct. 21 meeting to hear how begrudgingly the commissioners agree to opt in to apply for these free funds for affordable housing.
Mike Samson has sat on the board for 16 years already. Over and over we’ve seen him drop the ball on opportunities to engage with others and tackle issues from affordable housing to traffic to wildfire safety.
Isn’t it time to elect commissioners who will roll up their sleeves and actively seek out opportunities, rather than let them slip by?
Steven Arauza and Caitlin Carey have the energy and the passion to tackle the challenges we’re grappling with here in Garfield County and get things done for all of us. Please vote.
Marc Bruell
Carbondale
Re: Re: Peace
I was disturbed by Patrick Hunter’s unfair criticism of the communication sessions between members of the local Jewish community and Ceasefire Now. In Patrick’s “thought experiment” the two sides start from widely disparate power bases, and he reverses the power of Israel and desperate Gazans. Why? There wasn’t a Gazan or an Israeli in the room, nor were participants trying to resolve political differences. The intention was for passionate Americans with roughly equal power but opposing political views to appreciate one another on a human level. Everyone there (except maybe Patrick) was struggling, in good conscience, to understand justice in a world where it is rarely clear.
As the only child of holocaust survivors who literally lost 95% of their family, Patrick’s inappropriate thought experiment is no experiment to me. It’s a vivid reminder. I appreciate what Gazans are suffering. Personally, I’m increasingly horrified and disgusted by Israel’s current behavior. The Netanyahu government is, in my opinion, destroying the beautiful Israeli dream, flawed as it was. The major difference between Patrick and myself is that I don’t think this topic belongs on a Carbondale Board of Trustees agenda. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be locally discussed. It should be, and it was, in the three sessions Patrick referenced.
Then Patrick lectured us that most Americans don’t know that the 1947 U.N. resolution created a very small Jewish state that has grown considerably over the years. I don’t know why he assumes that. Does Patrick know that when Resolution 181 passed Israel accepted it, but NO Arab entity did? Rather, Israel was immediately attacked from within and attacked from without by five Arab countries on the day it went into effect. For the next two years or so, Israel successfully fought a series of defensive wars, creating a somewhat larger State with more easily defensible borders. Atrocities were committed by both sides but there is no doubt that Israel was fighting for its existence in the post-holocaust world. Discussing whether the U.N. had a right to carve out that small land for a long-persecuted people exceeds the scope of a letter to the editor, but those years were certainly an existential crisis for both sides.
In 1956, Israel colluded with fading powers France and England in what was clearly a war of colonial aggression. Israel was no longer simply defending itself. It was now attempting to expand through conquest and, to varying degrees, Israel has been doing that ever since.
So, you see Patrick, this American knows the history and so do many others. Please dismount from your rather tall horse and help us as we struggle to understand justice and one another.
Ron Kokish
Carbondale
Internal threat
An FYI for undecided voters: Immigrants aren’t the biggest threat to America, Trump is.
Vote Harris/Walz and a straight blue ticket.
JM Jesse
Glenwood Springs
Uinta Basin Railway
We the concerned citizens of Garfield County are stating to the readers of all newspapers, listeners of radio stations and thinking adults that UTAH shouldn’t decide what will happen here in our backyard.
The Uinta Oil Basin Train story is simple:
Uinta Basin and the Seven County Coalition want to ship heavy waxy crude that cannot be economically sent by truck. So they want to create a rail solution that requires a two-mile long train.
The 88-mile stretch that would bring the crude from the Uinta Basin to the Union Pacific line would run through roadless areas in the Ashley National Forest. Recently, there have been forest fires there and the smoke billowed into Colorado.
The case has been scrutinized by the Office of Environmental Analysis which calculated 9.5 additional trains per day on the Union Pacific train line.
With this additional train traffic, the predicted accidents per year would occur slightly less than once a year; 26% of these accidents would involve 30,000 gallons of oil.
The Environmental Impact Statement/OEA only considered the water resource area adjacent to the new railway in Utah.
The D.C. Circuit court of appeals concluded that there were errors in assessing the railway’s downline impacts.
The Seven County Coalition in Utah are asking the Supreme Court to intervene and to ignore the specific case studies and facts.
The many environmental groups in Colorado and Utah specifically are strongly in agreement that this case could hurt all future decisions to protect our rivers as stated in the National Environmental Policy Act and damage environmentally sensitive areas permanently.
Please contact the SCOTUS at pio@supremecourt.gov or send a letter to: 1 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20543 and ask them to protect our Colorado River Valley.
Fred Malo Jr.
350 Roaring Fork
Glenwood housing
The Glenwood Springs Post Independent just ran a story on the purchase of existing apartments by Habitat for Humanity. I believe this is the correct approach to providing less expensive accommodations. This is not a new approach. Business owners have been making purchases in the market for their employees for many years. It is encouraging to see that the necessary funds came from a variety of local organizations. I would differ on one point.
I suggest that some or all of these 88 units remain rentals. The current residents of this building are already working in the community. Perfect. The purchase of this complex permits the maintenance of below market rents. Lower rents could allow these residents to make savings for future purchases. Their rent money pays for maintenance and restocks the financing. Also, not all of these people are planning on being long-term residents.
More importantly, and controversially, this community should not want to encourage them to stay. There is a central flaw in building new affordable housing. It generates growth. New growth leads to more housing shortage. As they say, “you can’t build your way out of a housing shortage”
More growth in housing and in the business sector means more residents. More residents means more infrastructure must be built and maintained. One example is the half cent sales tax that Glenwood is asking for to maintain roads and utilities. Sales tax is regressive in that it punishes low-income people. There are more than enough people living in our Valley. Growth is not inevitable.
Patrick Hunter
Carbondale
Vote
Where there is a WILL, there is a way. VOTE Perry WILL for Garfield County Commissioner!
Patti Clapper
Aspen
CAFCI endorsements
Local elections matter. That’s why the Carbondale Age Friendly Community Initiative, a 501(c)(4), is offering recommendations on local races; endorsing candidates that share the values of our organization. CAFCI has actively worked to pursue strategies to improve living conditions for people of all ages in Carbondale.
We believe that Caitlin Carey and Steve Arauza, both running for Garfield County commissioner seats, deserve our endorsement. Their support for affordable housing is a need that is widely recognized. And their commitment to clean water, clean air and sustainable land is critical to preserving the quality of life that we value. Both Steve and Caitlin support our youth, our seniors and our libraries. They share our belief that we must continue to work to further build respect and support for all community members.
CAFCI also urges you to consider re-electing State Representative Elizabeth Velasco. Representative Velasco has been at the forefront of issues that matter most to this community: environmental protections, affordable housing and inclusion of all citizens in community life. Her first term was impressive, increasing funding for rural education and furthering water conservation, improving emergency response systems and wildfire mitigation.
CAFCI hopes that you will join us in supporting these three candidates who are committed to protecting and improving our community for all residents.
Kathy Sgambati,
Chair, CAFCI
Trump lies
Mark Twain famously observed that “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
Former president Trump tells some stretchers — President Obama was born in Kenya, Trump won the popular vote in 2016, the 2020 election was stolen, etc. None of these accusations are backed up by a shred of evidence. But this doesn’t seem to bother his supporters, many of whom are Evangelical Christians and must surely be familiar with God’s position on bearing false witness.
Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance as much as conceded that Trump’s and his accusations that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio were eating their neighbors’ pets was made up. He said he needed “to create stories so that the American media pays attention.”
Ohio Republican governor Mike DeWine called the Haitian accusations “a piece of garbage.”
Now Trump tells hurricane survivors in North Carolina that Vice President Harris raided the FEMA disaster relief fund to house illegal immigrants.
These fabrications have real-world consequences. In Springfield, schools hunker down as law enforcement deploys dogs and state troopers in response to bomb threats.
And desperate and confused hurricane victims don’t apply for benefits to which they’re entitled, because Trump told them Kamala gave all the money away.
So that’s the way it is. I don’t get it. Do you? Please explain to me how this can possibly be OK.
What happened to this country that half the voters will vote to re-elect a modern-day Nero, a vengeful, profane, crotch-grabbing, Putin-loving, convicted felon? In this greatest of all great nations! I must be dreaming.
We reap what we sow. When the election dust settles, you and I might not be pleased. But I’m confident America will get exactly what she deserves.
Ed Colby
New Castle
GCPLD
I have served one full term as vice chair of the Garfield County Public Library District (GCPLD) board. In that time I have seen Garfield County libraries go from a decimated staff following the oil and gas bust of 2019 to the award-winning and more stable district of today. All of that is due to broad community support and a deep belief in the value of our services.
I was a practicing librarian in both special and public libraries for 35 years. I’ve learned that governance is not the same as operations. It takes time to learn the intricacies of public finance and the interplay of policy and public controversy.
At our annual retreat we evaluate our own performance as individual board members and as a body. We review statewide standards for library performance, striving always for excellence. Good people can disagree with each other but I am proud of the ability of our board to thoughtfully consider other viewpoints and to hold to our fundamental mission and purpose: to serve everybody in our community.
I’ve enjoyed my first term and eagerly look forward to fulfilling a second one. Please feel free to contact me for further information about my views and background. Thank you for your interest and support. jdurrance@gcpld.org (representing Carbondale).
Jocelyn Durrance
Carbondale
Board of Education
My name is Ellen Angeles, and I am running for CD3 State Board of Education. As a recently retired teacher with over 20 years of experience, a parent, and a long-time advocate for public education, I have dedicated my life to serving my community. Throughout my career, I’ve worked in education, banking, sales, and fundraising, which has given me a broad understanding of how to manage budgets, engage with people, and build strong relationships. My experience as a community organizer has also deepened my knowledge of the needs of our district, and I’ve been actively involved in improving our school district, recreation center, and public library.
I am running because I believe our district needs a representative committed to improving public education, increasing transparency, and ensuring financial responsibility.
Education is the foundation of a thriving society, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that our schools are fully funded and that all students have equitable access to opportunities. I will advocate for highly qualified educators who are well-compensated because I know firsthand how crucial they are in shaping the future of our children.
My goal is to foster stronger community engagement. I want to hear from the people I serve and ensure their voices are heard. I believe in working collaboratively with community members to find solutions that work for everyone, and I will prioritize transparency in all decision-making processes to build trust and accountability.
People should vote for me because I have the experience, dedication, and passion necessary to bring positive change to our district. I understand the importance of fiscal responsibility and will work to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and efficiently. My background in education, community service, and finance has prepared me to navigate the complexities of the position.
I am committed to being an accessible and responsive representative, someone who listens and takes action on the issues that matter most to our community. I believe that with the right leadership, we can create a stronger, more equitable future for everyone. Please visit my website to learn more about me and see my endorsements at www.EllenforColorado.com
That is why I am asking for your support and your vote. Together, we can make a difference.
Ellen Angeles
Montrose
Democracy
I believe our true enemy is totalitarianism, regardless whether it is “leftist” or a “rightist.” In that sense, our political spectrum is circular rather than linear. At one side of the circle are those who believe in our democratic institutions, and at the other side are totalitarians, be they “right” or “left.” Donald Trump’s demonstrated willingness to lie and cheat his way into power, and his recent threat about maintaining control by force (aired by Fox News) should be deeply disturbing to all Americans. While Republicans and Democrats generally disagree about funding levels for government and for its various programs, we have all been united by our agreement that those decisions should be democratically decided. Given Donald Trump’s disdain for democratic process, this election is about something more ominous and fundamental. After helping to ratify our Constitution, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” His response, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Vote for democracy.
Dale Will
Carbondale