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Letters to the editor- June 26, 2008

Dear Editor,

    We all owe Representative Wes McKinley a big thank-you for having the guts to bring the contamination at Pinon Canyon to light.  There have been rumors for years that waste from Rocky Flats was diverted to Pinon Canyon when it was being moved to New Mexico.  Maybe this explains why they’ve only used it about once a year in the thirty years they’ve had it.

    I wonder how many of us knew that some of the weapons our young people train and fight with had uranium in them?  Tom Warren says they have not been used at Pinon Canyon but with this kind of contamination there, I now wonder.  Is that why they need so much more land so they have a “buffer zone” for that kind of thing?

    We all know what the Army’s answer is— we’ve already heard it.  Now we need a completely INDEPENDENT assessment of every acre of Pinon Canyon. We owe the young people who have trained there and the ones who will train there no less than this!  They are our sons and daughters – not guinea pigs.       

    The Army said that fire was caused by lightening striking a tree on June 8th and it smoldered until June 10th when it spread.  If they knew this, why didn’t they put it out when it was one tree, instead of waiting until it was 42,000 acres?  Think of the birds and small animals that died horrible deaths and all the hundred year old pinon and cedar trees that were burned because of neglect.  They think they need more land to do this to- the rest of us really don’t think so.

    Please clip this letter and send it to everyone on your Christmas card list in other states, and ask them to send it to their congress people. Help us put an end to the endless waste of big government taking what it wants at the people’s expense.

        Betty Williams

                                                                                                             

Dear Editor,

    The committee for the Huerfano County Relay for Life would like to thank everyone who came out to make this years relay such a success.  We had 24 teams and raised over $30,000.00.  The community support was overwhelming.  If you missed it, you missed a wonderful time of sharing and bonding.  Thanks to the La Veta School District for allowing us to hold the event at the football field.  A special thanks to Trudy Price for once again giving us the pleasure of listening to her awesome voice, her songs were beautiful and we truly appreciate her.  Thanks to Grandote Golf Club for helping some of our walkers that could not walk, they donated golf carts the entire night.  To Sammie’s Restaurant, for letting us use the back room for the survivor’s dinner and to St. Benedict Episcopal Church and their volunteers, and Charlie’s for wonderful dinner.  Thanks to Sarah Galindo for cutting Gina Schneider’s hair for Locks of Love.  The prisoners at CCA, thanks for your help in setting up and cleaning up, you were a big help.  Without everyone’s support this event would not have been such a success.  Thanks Mark Erwin for once again being our voice of La Veta and emceeing our event, you kept us going all night. Thanks Again!!

    The Huerfano County Relay for Life Committee

Dear Editor:

    We would like to thank our sponsors who donated large sums of money to help cure cancer; Oakdale Gas Processing, La Veta Rotary, La Veta True Value, Phil Warlick, DDS, Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center, The Blue Rooster, Lessar Construction, Chad Lessar Excavation and the Huerfano Journal. 

    We would also like to thank the following individuals and businesses who donated food and silent auction items or prizes. Carl’s Jr., Dakota Dukes, Desert Expressions, Andy’s Smokehouse, Huerfano County Concrete, 1st National Bank of Trinidad, Vince & Diane Koutnik, New Age Beverage Company, Sysco, Pizza Hut, The Pine Needle, Huerfano World, Don & Netta Easter, The Signature, Coca-Cola of Trinidad, Mtn. Valley Quilt Shop, Charlene Mascarenas, Superstition Construction, Sam’s Club, Walmart, BloomingNails, George′s Drive-in, Cowboy Connection, Twin Peaks Fitness, Marge Thomsen, Susan’s Flowers, The Wonderful House, Alpine Rose Café, Los Cuervos Restaurant, Fox Theatre, Lisa Ernewein, Coffee Bean, Petroglyph, Community Banks of Southern Colorado, Ryus Ave. Bakery, Mountain Disposal.  I hope we have not forgotten anyone, as you can see the list is long, so if we did we apologize and to the entire community, thanks again for supporting another worthwhile event in La Veta. 

    The Huerfano County         Relay for Life Committee

To the Editor:

    The Huerfano Chamber of Commerce wishes to thank the following people and businesses for helping make the 12th annual Black Diamond Jubilee such a great success. 

    Thanks to Ron and Fred Eccher and Crown Lanes for putting on a great bowling tournament, to John Stroh and his family for the family for the beautiful music and outdoor church service on Sunday morning, to Glenn Lindsey and Victoria Sardello for helping in the kitchen during the pancake breakfast on Sunday, to Edla Hurley for help with the pancake breakfast and her donations for the water bottles sold at the jubilee, to John Carlson for the PA system and music during the miners’ jail and Walsenburg Grand Prix coal cart race, to Larry Patrick for his professional play by play during the coal cart race, and to all the entrants in the race and the pie eating contest after. 

    We also wish to thank Chris Galvan and KSPK, all three of our fine local newspapers, and everyone else who helped promote this event before and during the activities.  Our local media did a wonderful job of informing everyone of upcoming activities and running stories and results of our various events and tournaments.

    Many people and businesses contributed time, money and food for our wonderful pancake breakfast on Sunday morning.  Among them were Charlie’s Market in La Veta (for food and support in all our past Groundhog breakfasts), to Spanish Peaks Hospital for their food donations for this and all our past events, and to Walsenburg Care Center for their generous support as well.

    The celebration would not have been what it was without the sponsorship of Budweiser for the beer garden, and our three signs advertising the event, or without the stage and electrical spider boxes from La Plaza de los Leones.  We also wish to thank Rick Jennings with MBI Manufacturing for the use of their tables for the beer garden.  Jim and Sherry Swope not only furnished the calves for our cow pie Bingo, they brought them to the event and helped make it a fun afternoon.  Jim was also a big part of our Grand Prix coal cart race.

    Without Patty Corsentino and the sheriff’s department, George Birrer as the hanging judge, Ronny Pryor, and all the people who generously posted bail, our miners’ jail would not have been as successful and fun as it was.  Just like last year, this event was a big fund raiser for the chamber members, and quite a few people are already plotting how to get even with the people who had them arrested. 

    We wish to give special thanks to the person and business who have so much that, without them, this weekend would have been far less than it was.  Mr. Wood of San Isabel Electric went above and beyond what could normally be expected of anyone.  It began long before the event, and continued through to the end.  He and his employees gave more money, time and effort than anyone asked of them.  They supported every  event wholeheartedly, and gave to the business community in ways we can never repay.  Thank you Mr. Wood.

    There were many more people who helped, and we would like to thank them also.  They include Amy King,  JB Vallejos, Laura Day, Ann Caffey, Sporleder Feeds, Carol Gumpert, Susan Blake, Chuck Vigil, and all of the chamber of commerce volunteers who helped so much. 

    And in closing, we wish to thank all the people and businesses (NAPA, Carquest, and FOX Theatre who donated prizes, food, money and time who were not already mentioned.  We have been remiss in the past about thanking people for what they did.  For this we are sorry, and we now want to thank all those we missed.  Sorry, and THANK YOU SO MUCH. And, thank you citizens of Huerfano County for your support and participation.

    See you next year!

    The Huerfano Chamber

To the Editor:

    The Signature Newspaper printed a statement I made concerning the Huerfano Chamber of Commerce during a Tourism Board meeting.  Several members of the Chamber have approached County Commissioners with their concerns about the statement.  I would like to have this letter serve as a formal apology  to the Chamber for the remark and to the Commisioners for putting them in a position they should not have to defend.  I have not attended a Chamber meeting for several years and do not know the details of their organization or operation, and have no foundation for the remark.

    John Galusha

    County Administrator

   

Dear Editor,

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Huerfano Journal for its six week special series, “Let’s Talk Dirt” written by gardener Susan Simons.  The master plan was easy to follow with well written simplified weekly instruction for the novice landscaper.  Susan’s recommendations were carefully laid out with just enough “ground to cover” with each lesson.  I also appreciated having the local nurseries in La Veta and Rye, and Duckwalls in Walsenburg for providing healthy plants to start in my flower gardens.    Thanks to all for helping me make my little corner of Walsenburg a prettier, more earth friendly place. 

    And as the luck of the draw would have it, I was able to enjoy a free movie compliments of the Journal, after planting my perennial bed last weekend!  Thanks Brian and Gretchen for a wonderful newspaper- to read and mulch!

    Suellen Levy

Note: letters to the editor are due each Tuesday at noon for publication that week.

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