City Council was right to deny permit

Surprisingly, I agree with part of a Daily Sentinel editorial. It suggested that the city Planning Commission recommend that City Council adopt an ordinance banning nightclubs that include prurient entertainment.

Bars have been given the green light for conditional use permits in many localities. Perhaps the reason for the denial of the most recent request is the type of entertainment.

An underlying principle of the role of government is protection and safety of the citizens. To knowingly allow for an atmosphere of potential harm would be in violation of that mandate. The zoning code states as purposes of establishing zones: “Protect and maintain the integrity and character of established neighborhoods; prevent unduly noisome and/or injurious substances, conditions and operations and promote the public health, safety and welfare.”

Grand Junction has experience with strip clubs, crack houses and misuse of massage parlors and existing bars.

Regarding testimony by a citizen, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was quoted in a court decision: “The traditional power of government to foster good morals, and the acceptability of the traditional judgment that nude public dancing itself is immoral has not been repealed by the First Amendment.” The concerns voiced by the people during the hearings were for safety of the women on both sides of the “pole,” travelers on the roads and overall impact upon the city’s reputation and resources including additional taxpayers expense to control outcomes of uninhibited behavior.

Since the application to the Planning Commission contained both the bar/nightclub and the gentlemen’s club, they were included in the judicial review and decision of the commission under provisions of Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the zoning code and the goals and policies of the city. I believe the commission wisely safeguarded the people of Grand Junction in denying the application.

PAUL DIBBLE
Grand Junction

Dangers of nuclear power must be heeded

The article in The Daily Sentinel Nov. 30 disturbs me a bit. I spent 2003 and 2004 in the Toledo, Ohio area and the amount of autistic babies born there is unbelievable. I grew up in Ohio and we did not have that then.

I do not believe this is a coincidence. It has to be because of the nuclear plants in that area.

I hope that Utah will not allow the plants to come into Green River. Grand Junction is close enough to be affected by it, also.

LINDA PINKERTON
Grand Junction

Will green energy mean jobs for Grand Valley?

I am starting to worry about all the companies that have cut back on planned drilling in the Piceance Basin, including Chevron.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s fees and regulations didn’t provide much incentive to the oil companies and the attempted increase in severance tax was just a way of saying we don’t appreciate your industry. My personal opinion is this is just the beginning of the cutbacks in drilling in Colorado. There are more job losses to come.

Not to worry. Erin Coffman, an environmental associate of Environment Colorado, claims in a letter to the editor that Obama is going to spend $100 billion on renewable energy and within two years create 33,000 jobs in Colorado. The Democratic program is to replace those dirty old carbon jobs with green ones.

A green job is subsidized by taxpayer’s money while those dirty, old, carbon-related jobs were created by private industry. So if you are a taxpayer and you get a green job, it is kind of like being your own grandpa.

I think those 250-foot wind generators with four 80-foot blades on them are eyesores. I will have to admit that they are green eyesores.
What green jobs will be in Grand Junction? I don’t think anyone has a clue but for sure they won’t replace the jobs we are losing. We have a green recession in the Grand Valley and it will get worse. It is like a snowball rolling down the hill, gathering speed and being propelled by naive politicians.

Someone needs to call those Salazar boys and find out what is going on.

BILL MCKNIGHT
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 4:23 pm and is filed under General. 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.