Dear Editor,
I want to talk about my expiriance of fostering puppies for Mountain Pet Rescue. I also write this letter in hopes to encourage others to at least try fostering. Wouldn’t you like to do something for all of those cats and dogs who need homes?
My family and I fostered 8 puppies who were transferred from Texas by the Pet Pals Program to Granby by airport. In Texas, they were dumped on the side of a highway in a cardboard box in 100 degrees. Mountain Pet Rescue was in dire need of a nearby foster before they could fly them to Colorado. We made a decision. We fostered all eight puppies for 10 days. Then they were sent to another foster in Steamboat. Almost half of the litter were adopted before being sent to the other foster. We all got super attached to the puppies but we knew it was for the best that they were adopted and we knew that Mountain Pet Rescue was going to find good homes for all of them.
Mountain Pet Rescue as of 2017 and 2018 combined, has saved and found homes for over 2,075 animals. If you can help and be a part in this, that would be amazing. Fostering eight puppies isn’t as hard as it seems and you can foster cats or dogs of whatever age. You don’t have to foster eight, you could start off fostering one or two. It was only difficult for a day because we were still getting used to the schedule but after it was fun an almost enjoyable! Just by doing the most simple things could help you as a person and a whole community.

Sincerely,
Emma B

If you are interested in fostering please contact this number. Mountain Pet Rescue needs all the fosters they can get!
Mountain Pet Rescue
970-281-7381 or 970-531-3224

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When Barbara Bush passed away last month, Fresno State professor Randa Jarrar tweeted that Bush was a racist, and that she was “happy the witch is dead”.  As a Fresno State alumni, this really rankled and embarrassed me more that the typical nutty professor tweets that make the headlines. The same tweet dropped an “F” bomb, accused Mrs. Bush of raising a war criminal, and bragged that she can’t be fired because she has tenure. In another tweet, she stated that she’s “happy” former President George W. Bush “is probably really sad right now”. Her tirade is the start of a good argument to abolish tenure, but that isn’t the point I want to make. In a few sentences she demonstrated how society has degraded in the past 20 years.

1-Dignity: To tweet her remarks less than 24 hours after the death of Mrs. Bush shows a complete lack dignity and was completely disrespectful.  Put simply, Ms. Jarrar’s behavior is low class and her words come across as angry, hard-hearted, mean spirited and purposefully divisive.

2-Why do you have to be so mean?  Her words were meant to hurt. Criticize the Bush family of politicians all you want, but she offered no evidence of “racist” remarks by Barbara Bush.  She called them names and then was gleeful in their pain. That behavior reveals her to be an ugly person. She is not alone, and with the rise of social media, teens and adults are bullied on line and now “Twitter-wars” between famous people make the headlines.   It is so easier to be nasty while sitting comfortably in front of your computer or phone. Internet anonymity allows someone to easily and quickly try to hurt someone, most of the time that you don’t know personally and from across the miles. Unfortunately, the behavior is getting worse among all age groups and social demographics.  

3-The Sandpaper effect:  Like sandpaper, there are degrees of coarseness in our societal behavior, such as the ever increasing use of profanity.  Whether in television, late night comedy or social media the use of bad language is pervasive compared to a mere 20 years ago.  We’ve lowered the standards, and language that might have been considered shocking is sadly now the norm. Vulgarity isn’t good for society and goes hand in hand with the ease of tossing insults across cyber space.  Like changing the coarseness of sandpaper, little by little, modern society has accepted rougher behavior. Now, it’s just part of the daily profanity laced rant.. Now, the most overused headline is “Celebrity drops F-bomb”, replacing the headline “Celebrity wears racy outfit in public”.  We are devolving, not evolving.

Her own words make me wonder what Ms. Jarrar is teaching in her creative writing classroom?  I’d bet money that every one of her students knows her political persuasion, which is unfair to her students.  These students should be graded on their work, not whether they write a paper that they know the professor will agree with.  Although Ms. Jarrar has a right to her opinion, consider an old fashioned cliché like “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.  It rings true here. Put that in your classroom curriculum.

John DiGirolamo
Granby, Colorado

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Dear Editor,

 Grand County resident Pastor Paula Steinbacher represented women at the UN in NYC! A leader in our community and a pastor for Church of Eternal Hills went to represent women at the UN conference in New York City at the end of March and beginning of April. The UN Commission on the Status of women is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women and we were lucky to have Paula Steinbacher representing us.
More than 4,300 representatives from more than 600 organizations attended the UN conference . Isn’t it amazing that we have someone representing Grand County at this huge event in New York City? This event is important because women around the world still suffer discrimination. An estimated 15 million girls are getting married before they are married while Figures from UNICEF showed that about 32 million girls of primary school age and 29 million lower secondary school age girls are not getting an education.
Women and girls need rights to an education around the world. I spoke to Paula and she had this to say, “Be thankful for your education and the freedom to choose what you study after high school. In many parts of the world middle school aged girls cannot attend further schooling do to transportation, poverty, and social or cultural norms.” This shows that not all women get the opportunities we get and to be thankful for what you get because some kids don’t get a choice.
Learning about the UN conference about women’s rights made me feel lucky that I get to go to school, choose a career and I will get to vote. Many women around the world do not have the same rights we have in the United states and I am lucky to be a girl growing up in Granby, Colorado.

Sincerely,
Zandra Walker

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A little Downton Abbey atmosphere was enjoyed by all who attended The Friends of the Grand County Library Afternoon Tea on April 28th.  Guests were treated as royalty with fine service, traditional food, tea and live music. The event raised over $1000 to help fund and enhance programs for children and adults at our five Grand County libraries.  
A big thank you to the generous donors who made this event possible:
Lord of the Valley Lutheran Church-venue, C Lazy U Ranch-catering, High Flutin’/Alpine ClassicDuo-music, B Lazy 2 Ranch-table linens, Trinity Episcopal Church-tables
Town of Grand Lake-tables, City Market-gift card for flowers,  Corner Mall-loan of items for table settings and center pieces.
Our heartfelt thanks also go out to the many volunteers who gave generously of their time and talents including servers, bakers, kitchen staff and table movers.  We couldn’t have done it without you!


With great appreciation,
The Friends of the Grand County Library
And the Afternoon Tea Committee

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One Great program almost vanished


Dear Editor,
I am writing a letter to the editor because a great program was almost shut down.   This program is the National Sports Center for Disabled (NSCD) horseback riding program.  This program is not only beneficial to people with disabilities but also to able bodied people.  Nicole Robinson is the supervisor for the program she organizes everything but volunteers. Nicole doesn’t do everything her two coworkers Rebecka Johnson and Allie Johnson are both instructors and teach the lessons.  One option for able bodied and disabled people is rodeo club an activity for ages five and up. This will be held in June and July. This program is crucial to some peoples life. A Quadriplegic can walk after he rides horses this has not happened with any other treatment but riding horses.  The movement of the horses’ legs moves your hips it a direction nothing else does. This loosens the hips which in turn can help him walk. The program has five lessons a day and in the late season have volunteer rides. Volunteers can’t be under the age of 14. This program is great for both people with disabilities and non disabled people if you would like to contact the NSCD volunteer office use this number you can volunteer or schedule a lesson with this number.
970.726.1546 or volunteer@nscd.org.
Sincerely,
Cassidy Davis

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Letter to Editor

5/15/2018

From:  Melinda McWilliams

             Fraser, Colorado

A recent letter to the editor asked for an explanation for resistance to Trump and recommendations for action.  Since 2015 I have watched, listened to, read about and kept notes about Trump’s beliefs, behaviors, decisions, statements and actions.  (I do not use social media.) To me he is debasing the presidency and harming our country socially, culturally, environmentally, internationally and probably economically.  I have summarized this assessment in a Trump Alphabet:

A = Authoritarian, alienating allies, attacking public lands, anti-science, anti-intellectualism,

      admires dictators, adulterer.

B = Bully, bigot, blamer, believes torture works.

C = Conman, chameleon (political), conceited, creates chaos to deflect criticism of him, calls

      opponents demeaning nicknames, corrupt businessman, condones political violence,

      clueless about international diplomacy.

D = Demagogue, deflector, disrespects women, damaging US agencies and institutions,

      dismantling environmental laws, protections and EPA to benefit polluting industries and

      businesses.

E = Egomaniac, embarrassment.

F = Fear-monger, flip-flopper, fosters tribalism, fuels negative political discourse, filling the

     swamp with his own slime, fosters evangelical supporters’ hypocrisy.

G = Global warming denier, governs as if everything is a real estate deal.

H = Habitual liar, hypocrite.

I = Islamaphobe, intolerant, irrational, impulsive, ignores informed advice, incites and exploits

      extreme populists, nationalists and racists.

J = Jeers, jobbery (public business for private gain).

K = KKK hero.

L = Loose cannon.

M = Morally bankrupt, misinformed, motivated only by personal fame and gain.

N = Narcissist, nepotist.

O = Oligarch, ostentatious, obnoxious, obstinate, only agenda is to undo Obama’s

       accomplishments, obsessed with his TV ratings.

P = Plutocrat, paranoid, petty, panders to public anxiety and prejudices, pulled out of critical

      international agreements (Paris Climate Accord, Iran Nuclear Deal).

Q = Quack.

R = Reckless, reality-TV management style.

S = Shameless, smug, scandalous, silent about injuries, deaths, and property damage from

      extreme weather events.

T = Toxic personality, Twitter tantrums, TV-run State (mainlines FOX News. FOX says it, Trump

      spreads it), third-grade vocabulary.

U = Unapologetic, untrustworthy, uninformed, undermining US standing worldwide, unqualified

      advisors (Ivanka, Jared, Fox & Friends, Sean Hannity).

V = Vindictive, volatile, values personal loyalty to him over the country’s needs.

W = Whiner, warmonger.

X = Xenophobe.

Y = Yammerer.

Z = Zealot.

My recommendation – vote Trump and his elected supporters out of office.  

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