Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, Your readers are probably drowning you in Marston tributes, as they should. Here’s mine: Ed and Betsy: Thanks for coming West, And caring so much, and working so hard, on behalf of the paper and the region. You cared about the people here, and about all our prickly Western dilemmas. And you loved […]

Dear HCN, Freedom of the press is eroding before our very eyes. So speaks Stephen Lyons, citing as authority, Robert Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times (HCN, 11/11/02: Freedom of the press is eroding before our eyes). Couldn’t he have found a better example? Blethen’s idea of independence is to run full-page ads in his […]

Dear HCN,Bigotry is an easy label to apply to Ray Ring’s piece on the Martin’s Cove land exchange (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell), but most Mormons don’t recognize a lot of their own history. Of course, the violence against them in their years in Illinois was terrible. One of […]

Dear HCN,I found the latest cover story about gated communities (HCN, 11/11/02: Behind the gate), both amusing and sad. Bob Arrigoni and the other “simple, low-key” Stock Farm residents like him exist in a different reality, and it reinforces my theory that in most cases, the more money people have, the less practical they become. […]

Dear HCN, Normally, when you read the paper, you should have the feeling of becoming informed on issues which affect us all. After reading the last few papers, concerning the issues of the LDS church purchase and the gated communities, I have to say these are not issues, but agenda items of your reporters. As […]

Dear HCN, The wording of your accolade to the late Galen Rowell (HCN, 9/2/02: Farewell to a great mountain photographer) was misleading. In recent years, his “transcendental approach to capturing the natural world” meant descending from fine art downward, past popular art into the dubious world of kitsch. His Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop, Calif., […]

Dear HCN, Susan Zakin’s article, “Delta Blues” (HCN, 9/30/02: Delta blues), is perhaps the best and clearest explanation of the complex issues involved in California’s attempt to be all things to all people when it comes to demands for water. She mentions that the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta region is “virtually invisible to most people […]

Dear HCN, I have studied the Fee Demo program thoroughly as well as kept myself well-informed since its inception (HCN, 9/10/01: Congress may agree on fees). I am president of Seniors Outdoors!, a very active club of 430 members; we use the trails and parks for recreation at least three times a week year round […]

Dear HCN, I have seen several articles in your paper regarding problems with water on the Klamath River (HCN, 10/28/02: The mesasge of 30,000 dead salmon). All of the articles fail to mention just how much water is running into the lake behind the dam. The dam was built to store excess water for human […]

Dear HCN, I’m pleased to enclose my first-year renewal card; however, I do so with a note of caution, prompted by the current issue in front of me. Be careful. One might get the impression, from headlines like “Democrats kick back” (HCN, 10/14/02: The politics of growth) to some of the election coverage inside, that […]

Dear HCN, The “Backlash” article (HCN, 9/2/02: Backlash) was one of the best I have read yet concerning CBM development in the West. I have served as commissioner on the Colorado oil and Gas Conservation Commission, La Plata County Oil & Gas technical advisor and consulting environmental geologist to the gas industry and property owners […]

Dear HCN, l was startled to see one of our Idaho senatorial candidates characterized in HCN as a “Jewish Wall Street refugee” (HCN, 10/14/02: The politics of growth). “Wall Street” is relevant; “Jewish” is not. Mr. Blinken is not running as a Zionist, and how he prays has not been an issue here. In fact, […]

Dear HCN, I want to thank HCN for its cover story (HCN, 10/28/02: Shawdow creatures) about nonhumans in Seattle and elsewhere. I work near the University of Washington, and I feel grateful every day that some nonhumans consent to be there at all, much less to thrive on our wastes, in our hedgerows and backyards. […]

Dear HCN, Kudos to Ray Ring for his story, “The Politics of Growth,” in your Oct. 14 issue. But the article omitted the most crucial part of the “politics of growth.” His article and so many others you publish that describe all the symptoms of continued population growth, should end with the following sentence: “We […]

Dear HCN, Until I read your October article on Arizona politics, I felt secure in the assumption that Florida had long since outdistanced Texas in having the stupidest, most corruptible voting population in the nation. I now find that I can hold onto that belief only by assuming that the entire electorate of Arizona is […]

Dear HCN, The rationale presented by Ray Ring that a proposed BLM to LDS Church land exchange should not take place (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell) is based almost entirely on bigotry rather than on any real merit. The primary reason Mr. Ring gives for not supporting the land […]

Dear HCN, I just finished reading Rocky Barker’s swell piece on the transformation of Idaho into a hate-free zone (HCN, 9/30/02: Idaho seeks a reputation – and a reality – free of hate). Before any comments … time for a pop quiz: Two months ago I was thrown out of a motel (the only one […]

Dear HCN, I was dismayed to learn of the plight of cattle growers who are forced to pay “checkoff” fees of a dollar a head. In the simple interest of fairness to cattle farmers and the American public, we should call for the immediate elimination of both checkoff fees and subsidized grazing privileges on public […]

Dear HCN, I am writing to express the Public Lands Foundation’s (PLF) opposition to the transfer of 1,640 acres of public land to the LDS Church (HCN, 9/30/02). The Public Lands Foundation is a nonprofit national conservation organization whose members are from the general public and retired BLM employees, all who are interested in the […]

Dear HCN, Following the lead of our Illustrious and Infallible Leader, Emperor Bush the Second, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez has declared war on the endangered silvery minnow. Chavez has promised to appeal the decision of Judge James Parker, Chief Justice of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court (HCN, 10/14/02: Albuquerque is dragged into Rio Grande fight). […]