Letters - Tuesday

‘Cash cow' milked by many

Barry Noreen called Pikes Peak a "cash cow" in his column Wednesday and stated that the city of Colorado Springs had "milked" tourists for decades by charging for using the Pikes Peak Highway ("Manitou has learned all too well from Colorado Springs"). He implied bad things happened when the city was raking in (his words) money from tourists. Here's my "beef" with that idea.

Forty-five years ago I accepted a teaching job here. To supplement a very meager starting salary, I worked for a sight-seeing company by driving visitors to various attractions, especially up Pikes Peak. Most visitors were not familiar with mountain driving and thus benefited from having an experienced guide that could tell them the history and point out other interesting facts.

Part of the job included persuading the patrons to take other tours with the company and extending their stay for another day or two. This meant more income for the company and its employees as well as the motel or hotel, the restaurants, gas stations, curio shops, etc. This money stayed mostly in the community, providing jobs for many people.

Perhaps the Sierra Club's lawsuit did force the city to become a better steward of the mountain and raise awareness of the ecological impact all of us have on the environment.

These are good things.

I would just like to point out to Noreen that Pikes Peak has provided a base for many related jobs and industries. Perhaps it has helped keep taxes in the area lower than many other cities of equal size.

We have all fed from this "cow" directly or indirectly.

Ted Spaid, Colorado Springs

Palin doesn't fit liberal mold

It appears the Democrats are still taking pot shots at Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin. The remark Dave Letterman made on his show was over the line and totally out of order. But, it proves the liberals fear this lady.

By their standard I guess she is weird. She is in charge of the largest state in the union and she manages it very effectively. She loves her family, her God and her country.

She can kill and field dress a moose, cook the meat and feed her family. She believes in living within her means and she opposes abortion. So I guess (by the liberals' standards) she is weird.

If we only had a lot more weird people like her in this nation, we would not be in the mess we are faced with today.

Jerry Proctor, Colorado Springs

City's numbers don't add up

I read with incredulity that our feckless City Council will consider expanding health benefits for city workers ("Push for same-sex benefits revived," The Gazette, June 6).

Proponents claim they're "fairly confident" the benefit would not cost the city any money. Who in their right mind would believe this?

Now we find out that the city's contribution to existing employee medical plans is increasing by $3 million next year and that the plans ran a loss of $3.7 million last year (City set to raise employees' health insurance premiums," The Gazette June 10). How are we paying for all this?

City Council members carp about minimal premium raises for well-paid city workers. The 8.5 percent of our neighbors who are now unemployed would undoubtedly love to have these jobs even with no health benefits at all. And I'd be willing to bet no one will quit their city job if plus-one is not enacted.

Seriously, how can we believe this City Council can be trusted to come up with a plan that would be "revenue-neutral" yet cover even more medical claimants? This is the same City Council that has repeatedly fumbled the ball when entrusted with tax dollars, whether it's an inability to sell assets (hospitals, garages, golf courses, etc.) to pay the bills, or letting the grass in playing fields wither and die because of a lack of foresight and funds. This this the same City Council that brokered the USOC debacle and made us a national laughing stock. Extra benefits are great when we have the money to pay for them, but when times are tough, tough choices have to be made. Now is not the time to expand benefits to anyone.

Judith Bennett, Colorado Springs

Hold it; Gore not a lawyer

Concerning Robert Schaller's letter about global warming, he had one error: Al Gore is not a lawyer ("Warning about Hollywood science," The Gazette, June 8).

But I thought the letter was excellent.

John P. Jones, Monument