I would like to clarify some of the issues surrounding the April 24 Daily Sentinel story, “Libertarians attack Wolf on zoning reform.”

The reason Libertarians from both Colorado and Delta County are “attacking” Republican congressional candidate Wayne Wolf is that our current draft of subdivision regulations revisions is attempting to incorporate elements of building codes, zoning and “cottage industry” home business regulations into a document where they do not belong. In fact, the “cottage industry” regulations are laid out in the definitions section of the document, rather than any regulatory sections.

Delta is a statutory county, and state law requires different processes for each of these types of ordinances. But as usual, the Delta Board of County Commissioners has total disregard for state law and the processes required by them.

The biggest complaint of the Libertarians, as well as many, many other citizens in Delta County, is that we, the people, have been forbidden access to this draft, thus they have not had any input (or even knowledge) at all on regulations that will affect our lives in every aspect. Yet parts of this draft are already being enforced against citizens when it is, even in Wolf’s admission, only a draft.

While Wayne Wolf may find this to be “one of the best things we could do for the county,” I and others find his disregard for law and citizen input, and acceptance of illegal backdoor methods scary, especially in light of his candidacy for the 3rd Congressional District.

DEBBIE SCHUM, Chair
Libertarian Party of Delta County
Cedaredge

Two letters to the editor April 16 inferred that gathering publicly to show opposition to the war in Iraq was somehow unpatriotic and divisive.

The rights of free speech and peaceable assembly were considered important enough to be guaranteed in Article 1 of the bill of Right. The suggestion that those who act on these rights go where they will be imprisoned or killed is an ugly mockery of our freedoms.

When peach arrives, Messers Windscheffel and Tallarico may opt to exercise these same rights and assemble peaceably to advocated war.

PAT KELLY
Grand Junction

In the April 23 edition of The Daily Sentinel, Joe Aaeng calls for a debate on the role of human activities in global warming and suggests that S. Fred Singer, a denier of this role, would add credibility to the arguments on that side of the issue.

Although there are a tiny handful of legitimate scientists who argue against the conclusions of the overwhelming majority, Singer is not among the group who have any credibility. Source Watch and many other sources on the Internet describe Singer’s activities in fascinating detail.

In the past, he has represented several tobacco companies since he also denies that secondhand smoke has harmful effects (despite the evidence to the contrary). He has also been supported for many years by the oil and gas industry and represented their viewpoints in sworn testimony.

If one looks at his publications, glaringly notable by their absence are any original scientific papers on climate research in peer reviewed scientific journals. Instead he publishes articles in trade journals attacking the conclusions of climate scientists. Singer has no training or experience in any of the sciences of climatology but sells himself to the highest bidders looking for someone with a Ph.D. to act as a shill for their views.

By contrast, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change represents the consensus view of thousands of research scientists who have stated unequivocally that human activities are modifying the concentration of greenhouse gases causing most of the observed warming over the last 50 years. The U.S. National Academy of Science in its report on climate change comes to exactly the same conclusion. The American Meteorological Society, The American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have all issued statements in recent years concluding that the evidence for human modification of climate is compelling.

Indeed all major scientific bodies in the United States whose members’ expertise bears directly on the matter have issued similar statements. Mr. Aaeng apparently prefers to rely on the oil companies to give us the truth on this matter.

J. EUGENE FOX
Grand Junction

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