Letters - Tuesday

MOTORCYCLE PARK

County plans would disturb rugged canyon

How would you like to wake up and be informed by a blaring headline in The Gazette that you are soon to be an adjacent neighbor to a noisy 800-acre motorcycle “park” stealthfully planned by El Paso County without notice to your family (“Motorcycle park plan stirs debate,” Metro and State, Dec. 6)?

And then, adding insult to injury, to have the rugged, canyon Corral Bluffs land that your family loves and holds sacred described by El Paso County Commissioner and motorcycle enthusiast Jim Bensberg as “dry prairie dominated by landfills and auto salvage yards.”

A short distance beyond the admittedly disturbed Highway 94 area the character of the land changes to undisturbed scenic bluffs and arroyos worthy of a regional nonmotorized open

space.

Bensberg added that: “We fully intend to go forward with this,” apparently regardless of the wishes of the neighbors and without due public notice.

My family along with other neighbors have formed a group called the Corral Bluffs Improvement and Preservation Association to take the political and legal action needed to derail this misguided proposal. Surely, the county can find better ways to spend $275,000 of Conservation Trust Fund money and $275,000 of park fee money from developers.

What park opportunities are being given up by the general public to benefit a private fee charging motorcycle raceway?

Norman Bishop

Colorado Springs

Park another example of county wasting funds

I have mailed off the form letter opposing the proposed off-highway vehicle park.

I am opposed to this “project” because it is a complete waste of public funds. In my opinion, it is a classic case of government intrusion into a neighborhood using funds that could be used instead for maintaining existing parks which suffer from neglect.

The Board of County Commissioners (excluding Commissioner Bruce) claims to have a budget crisis, and yet here is another case of wasteful spending for an unneeded and unwanted pork project.

Commissioner Bensberg admits the likely environmental damage that the proposed use will cause and plans to have the county hire a consultant (at more expenditure of public funds) to design the trails to minimize environmental impact. Here’s how to guarantee that the OHV park will have no environmental impact: Don’t build it.

My understanding is that this park would primarily benefit the current owners of the property, the Case family. The use of public funds for the enrichment of private interests is simply an example of corporatism in practice.

By the way, I am a general partner in two partnerships which own property in the affected area.

Frederic Herman

Colorado Springs

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Time to start thinking about eating vegetarian

This has indeed been the year of eating dangerously.

Consumer Reports got things rolling by reporting that 83 percent of all raw chickens harbor campylobacter or salmonella, leading causes of foodborne disease. Spring and summer brought 20 recalls of 30 million pounds of ground beef contaminated with lethal E. coli.

All through the year, two dozen scientific reports, including a mammoth one by the World Cancer Research Fund, linked meat and dairy consumption with elevated risk of colon, stomach, pancreatic, prostate, breast, uterine and ovarian cancers.

A dozen more reports linked meat and dairy with obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. A survey of 30,000 children by the National Center for Health Statistics indicated an alarming rise in high blood pressure, a precursor to heart attack and stroke.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The 11th Hour” reminded us that, according to the United Nations, animal agriculture accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions — more than automobiles.

The national uproar over Michael Vick’s brutal dog fighting operation made us wonder why we tolerate the brutal treatment and slaughter of billions of cows, pigs and other innocent, sentient animals for our dinner table.

The dawn of the new year is a great time to explore the rich variety of veggie burgers, dogs, deli slices, heat-and-eat dinners and soybased milk, cheese and ice cream in our local supermarket, as well as the traditional vegetables, nuts, grains and fruits. It’s the one New Year’s resolution that’s easy and fun to keep.

Cal Gelroy

Colorado Springs