Growth means
new schools needed
We need to push hard for a school-bond election in the wake of a growing community. There were 591 new students who crossed the thresholds of our local schools on the first day of classes, and more are expected.
In 2004, the school district barely gained ground on fixing up schools and anticipating new students in our community. The district was also very successful in building new schools and sticking to their budget. But more importantly, the district was able to build a bonus school with savings from the 2004 bond project.
Additionally, the Long Range Planning Committee and district have been engaged in discussions about alternative construction methods focused on saving energy. The fact is the district is developing standards for future schools based on energy and design standards used in the construction of the new Chipeta Elementary School.
The bottom line is the district has been able to keep construction costs down, which has allowed for opportunities in innovative design and energy savings initiatives, all while paying less than the voter-approved bond premiums.
There is no question the district will continue to look for ways to spend more dollars in classrooms focused on teaching the kids of tomorrow. But for now, new schools are a much better alternative than crowded classrooms. Luckily, we have a school district with the stewardship to lead this effort and hopefully be ahead of the curve.  Our community needs to push for more schools and vote “Yes” on 3A and 3B.
WADE A. HAERLE
Grand Junction

Get to know candidates before Election Day
As a registered voter residing in Mesa County, I have never been so proud to be registered unaffiliated.
As I read The Daily Sentinel each morning, I look for something positive that one party might say about the other. Instead, it’s win at all costs, including attacks on personal lives and running ads that have no regard for the truth as long as it fits the agenda.
I will vote this year because I feel it’s my privilege and duty as an American citizen, but you can bet I’ll base my vote on my research into the real truth and not on political propaganda put out there by the candidates.
It’s simple to vote straight Republican or Democrat, as so many do, but harder to really research the candidates and consider them for what they’ve accomplished morally and politically and what they can do for this great country in the future.
I encourage everyone to vote, but I challenge you to get to really know your candidate before you make your decision. Take the harder road for a change and look past the party affiliation and look forward to the candidate that will best serve the American people. “We, the people” — isn’t that what it should really be about?
PAM OLDHAM
Grand Junction

Sen. Obama’s list of
accomplishments is short
So Mr. Barack was in town. Now what?
I have nothing against Obama. He is quite charming and knows how to talk a good talk. He is young and he is black. So, this is all in his favor and I am OK with that.
Oops, I forgot to mention his experience. He doesn’t have any.
I have a suggestion for the Obama fans: Divide a blank piece of paper by drawing a line down the middle. On one side, list one or more, if you can find them, of Obama’s achievements in politics and in the 143 days he was in Senate before he campaigned for presidency. List all of McCain’s experiences on the other side of the line. I made my point.
I am a Republican, but I would have no qualms voting for Obama in four or eight years when he has experience under his belt and shows some honest achievements as a politician. Just because I registered as a Republican doesn’t mean I wouldn’t vote for the best man for the job, even if he was a Democrat. The best interest of our country should be put ahead of everything else and personal feelings about a candidate.

So please, vote responsibly. The future is in your hands.
ERIKA FAIL
Grand Junction

Who will care for all
the unwanted babies?
In response to Jerry Nine’s Sept. 8 letter regarding his proposal to reverse Roe v. Wade: It is true, we should talk about birth control and educate our young people in all forms of prevention. That truly is the foremost appropriate start, and one I believe the Democrats support wholeheartedly.
Second, I disagree with the idea that a woman should have no rights regarding her body. Really, if you are against abortion then don’t have one.  It is no one else’s place to make this decision and it is a decision that I am sure women in such desperate circumstances don’t make lightly.
And thirdly, who is going to take care of the thousands of unwanted babies he mentions, and who is going to help the young unwed and wed women who can’t afford these children?
Historically, the Republican Party has not been willing to support community services to aid these people in need.
Maybe Mr. Nine should rethink the reversal of Roe v. Wade, or at least step up to the plate and offer to support the thousands of lives he believes such a reversal would create.
BARB DAVENPORT
Grand Junction
Alternative energy innovation
should start in the United States
Oil profits are helping build the city of Masdar, which will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources with a sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste ecology. Unfortunately, it is being built in the United Arab Emirates. Developers have set a goal of sustaining 55,000 residents and visitors by 2013, with the new city officially opening in 2010.
The Daily Sentinel, when covering the Udall-Schaeffer debate, opined that “the Republicans were all over energy.” Let’s see what Republican leadership in the last eight years means in comparison to some other countries.
U.S. oil imports from the Persian Gulf have increased to more than 2 million barrels per day.  Meanwhile, Japan (with approximately 33 percent of the U.S. population) and Germany (approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population) successfully completed national programs to install more than 100,000 solar roofs, and the latter country pays for solar-generated electricity sold back to the grid by private homeowners.
Japan and Germany have also gained the largest shares of a booming world market in photovoltaic production while the once-leading United States accounts for only 7 percent of world sales. The United States has even been passed by China.
So, why is innovative alternative-energy construction occurring in the Persian Gulf but not here? Even apart from environmental concerns, it does not seem intelligent to use up our remaining oil reserves as quickly as possible so we can then be held hostage to the innovators in alternative technology who, at this juncture, may be Japan, Germany and even countries in the Persian Gulf.
NIC KORTE
Grand Junction

Domestic oil drilling can help
us become energy independent
Some people, such as Bill Ramsay in a recent letter to the editor, say it is useless to drill for domestic oil. We will just have to buy back what was once our own oil.
Oil on federal lands does belong to us and our government does get paid for the oil as it is removed. Yes, we citizens do have to buy it back at world market prices. But drilling here does have advantages. Five million, extra domestic barrels a day, at $100 each, means that the balance of trade swings in our favor by a half-billion dollars a day. In addition, oil-company expenses would be spent at home, where the jobs would go, rather than elsewhere. On top of this, oil prices would be somewhat lower. Energy independence would be one step closer.
As for speculators, no one is buying oil and hoarding it away in order to force up the price. Commodity traders perform a service. They put up their own money in hopes of making a profit and they establish a “future” oil price for those businesses that must purchase oil. Thus the business can plan production schedules having a better grip on the price they themselves must charge to make a profit. Speculators help transportation, petrochemical and other industries become more efficient. The result is lower prices for consumers. Otherwise, the free market would eliminate the speculator.
Finding someone to demonize is no solution for any problem. Those who we blame are never like us. They are rich or they are Jewish or whatever. It is not only foolish, but it becomes dangerous to point fingers at a middle man who is performing a real service in a free market.
BRUCE TAYLOR
Grand Junction

Delta County Commissioners can’t help struggling farmers
In response to the letter from Steven and Susan Spinder regarding the Delta County Commissioners’ election, I have a question for them. Just what have the county commissioners done or not done that has made them struggling third-generation farmers? After more than 40 years of close observation, I have not seen anything that they have done or could do to eliminate the struggles that face agriculture.
However, I do sense that perhaps they feel uncontrolled and anything-goes subdividing is an agriculture function.
It is also disappointing to see Glenn Corrigan, who petitioned onto the ballot as an Independent candidate, accept the support and apparent endorsement of the strangest political marriage I have ever seen. I doubt there has ever been anything quite like the Libertarian marriage to the Conservative Caucus of the local Republican Party here in Delta County. This unlikely alliance seems to have only one thing in common, the solution to “saving ag” is rampant, unregulated subdividing.
THOMAS H. HUERKAMP
Orchard City

Dave Buchanan should go on
opinion page, not the sports page
The changes to The Daily Sentinel format present a great opportunity for the editors. Now they can print any article written by Dave Buchanan on the editorial page where it  belongs!
Buchanan’s left-wing political agenda has no business being in the sports section. The sports section should present factual data and information, not his political opinion.

JIM BROWN
Grand Junction

Obama should just apologize for comment about lipstick on a pig
Sen. Obama is either Machiavellian and knew what he was doing with the “pig” comment or is just plain extremely insensitive.
He is allegedly quite intelligent. When I heard there was a “lipstick on a pig” comment, I knew exactly what context he put it in. However, I have to wonder why, in light of the Sarah Palin comment on pit bulls and lipstick, he did not actually think of what he was saying. If he is that insensitive then he can quit whining about an attack being taken out of context (which he does regularly in ads about Sen. McCain) and just apologize.
CREIGHTON BRICKER
Grand Junction

City, county, museum staff made Obama’s visit pleasurable
Thank you so much for the fabulous coverage of Barack Obama’s visit to Grand Junction Sept. 15.
However, if The Daily Sentinel wasn’t able to endorse his message, I was at least hoping for an editorial recounting all the exceptional efforts from the employees of the city, county and the museum staff, in particular, that showcased our spectacular community to the outside world while providing a safe, orderly and most pleasurable event for all in attendance.
LIZ ELAM
Grand Junction

Senate Democrats acted against reforming Freddie and Fannie
The recent financial crisis was precipitated by the collapse of mortgage lending giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (S 900) would have reformed Freddie and Fannie’s lending practices by reforming the worst abuses of the 1977 CRA (Community Reinvestment Act), which required banks to make uneconomic investments in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Democrats, led by Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd, have repeatedly fought these reforms. No wonder Chris Dodd is the No. 1 recipient of Freddie and Fannie’s PAC money, a cool $165,400. Number two on list of pigs at the public trough ($126,349) is none other than Sen. Barack Obama. Obama had joined Dodd, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry in fighting legislative reforms might have saved the two mortgage giants. Wow, and Obama is accusing John McCain of being tied to Washington lobbyists.
Now, we have a Page One story, a political ad masquerading as news in The Daily Sentinel, with the headline: “Obama attacks McCain’s economics as out of touch.” This is too much.
Obama and his fellow Democrats took actions as legislators that contributed directly to the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Then he comes to Grand Junction, accusing McCain and President Bush of being out of touch with economic reality. He causes the collapse, then tries to gain a political advantage from the disaster he has created by blaming someone else. Is this a great country or what?
BILL WEIDNER
Grand Junction

Local couple thanks
those who provided support
We want to thank all our friends and family who sent cards, prayers and contributions to us during such a trying time. All were received with gratitude and thankfulness. We have been very blessed to come this far with the emotional, spiritual and financial support of friends and family.
DAVID LARSEN
KATHY LARSEN
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 6:53 am and is filed under Printed letters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.