<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\u201cTiger King\u201d subject Carole Baskin weighs in on big cat hunting in Colorado\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n
State game and fish departments were intentionally established to be extra-governmental to prevent them from being manipulated by legislative and executive arms of state government. As a result, they become entrenched bureaucracies that are, in fact, largely answerable to no one. In addition, since most of the wildlife management budget comes from hunting and fishing licenses, the agencies\u2019 constituents (i.e., hunters and anglers) have a disproportionate influence.<\/p>\n
If, as Kafer somewhat naively suggested, there were some realistic accountability for wildlife managers, I might be more willing to agree fully with her assertions.<\/p>\n
And, for the record, I believe gray wolves could be an important component of the ecosystem. Nevertheless, I voted against wolf reintroduction because the animals will simply become hapless pawns that ultimately are going to be shot, poached, or endlessly harassed on the Western Slope.<\/p>\n
David J. Robertson, Fort Collins<\/em><\/p>\nAlthough I often disagree with Krista Kafer, I am 100% in agreement with her about the damage government by initiative has done, and can continue to do, to our state. As she points out, James Madison was an avid believer in representative government, not direct voting by all the people.<\/p>\n
The simple fact is that when we elect those who make our laws, we can hold them accountable at the next election. If we pass a law by ballot initiative, we have no one accountable if the idea goes awry. Colorado\u2019s Constitution and statutes are jammed full of citizen-passed ideas, many of which run into buzzsaws that the legislature needs to try to make sense of. And all too often, the wording in a ballot issue makes implementation extremely difficult. Please, Coloradans, pay attention to the Blue Book and educate yourselves about ballot issues before you vote.<\/p>\n
And don\u2019t forget to pay close attention to which proposals are referred by the legislature and which are on the ballot through citizen initiatives. Again, your Blue Book is an excellent source of information.<\/p>\n
Lois Court, Denver<\/em><\/p>\nEditor\u2019s note: Court is a former state senator from District 31.<\/em><\/p>\nKrista Kafer is right; ballot initiatives are a terrible way to govern. Ironic, though, that she touts the collective expertise of biologists, career wildlife consultants and bureaucrats. Just what we have been saying about the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the consumer protection agencies and economic policy agencies. But if it is an issue the conservatives like (hunting, guns), now the experts are valid.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Urquhart, Estes Park<\/em><\/p>\nCarole Baskin is off the mark<\/h4>\n
Re: \u201cBig cat hunting in Colorado is not for meat,\u201d Oct. 8 letter to the editor<\/p>\n
I find it abhorrent that any publisher would publish a letter to the editor with such blatant lies, falsehoods and misinformation. Carole Baskin knows nothing about hunting or game meat, and her way-off-base assumptions are dangerous to the public and to mountain lions.<\/p>\n
Selling wild game meat is illegal, hence why it is not inspected by the USDA. Game meat is far safer to eat than any commercially processed meat; just search some headlines about chicken and salmonella and mad cow disease.<\/p>\n
Hunters do eat mountain lion and bobcat meat. I have and it\u2019s delicious.
\nWasting any big game meat is illegal, so hunters eat and share with their friends.<\/p>\n
Managing wildlife populations, such as predators, is key in ethical standards and values of the lives of wildlife and humans. Allowing mountain lion populations to grow unchecked would decimate deer herds and force them into your neighborhoods to hunt your pets.<\/p>\n
By the way, these deer and your pets would suffer a grisly death by having their flesh torn from their bones while they are still alive.<\/p>\n
Oh, and hunters spend hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, every year to hunt.<\/p>\n
Where you get the idea that we hunt for profit is a complete fabrication.<\/p>\n
Kara Jensen, Phoenix<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cThe embrace of autocracy\u201d<\/h4>\n
Re: \u201cHow to save CU\u2019s conservative scholar position from the Eastman-effect,\u201d Oct. 1 commentary<\/p>\n
In a recent opinion piece, John Brackney made a point that needs to be repeated and heeded by Republican Conservatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI predict there will be more (Conservatives and Constitutionalists) in the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. Every label and policy has been changing before our eyes. Have you been paying attention?\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado Republicans and all conservatives need to pay attention to the embrace of autocracy, which is dangerously being presented by many of the modern MAGA\/GOP. Maybe you always voted Republican \u2026 until now? Pay attention!<\/p>\n
Elroy Quenroe, Thornton<\/em><\/p>\nLocals getting priced out of state<\/h4>\n
Re: \u201d \u2018It\u2019s never been this bad\u2019\u00a0Denver sheriff\u2019s staffing shortage worsens; overtime soars,\u201d Oct. 8 news story<\/p>\n
Shelly Bradbury\u2019s story recites a familiar refrain: short staffing, lots of overtime, and struggling to get all the work done. But, while the story is about the Denver Police Department, the same can be said of many public agencies and small businesses throughout Colorado.<\/p>\n
Why so? Let\u2019s take a brief look at how our high-priced real estate marketing is making Colorado an increasingly unaffordable place to live.
\nOne reason Colorado real estate is becoming unaffordable for a growing number of workforce professionals is that a huge influx of affluent people are willing to pay premium prices for what used to be workforce housing.
\nAnother reason is that much of this outside money is being invested not to solve our workforce housing shortage but to produce profits for developers and corporate shareholders.<\/p>\n
So, instead of us managing our future growth, our future growth is now managing us. And the only way we can respond is to move to another state.<\/p>\n
This said, higher property and sales taxes will inevitably be required to support the public infrastructure, which will further add to the exodus of skilled professionals needed to staff our public agencies and private-sector businesses.<\/p>\n
Gary E. Goms, Buena Vista<\/em><\/p>\nSign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns, editorials and more. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\nTo send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online<\/a> or check out our guidelines<\/a> for how to submit by email or mail.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prop HH is a money grab Re: \u201cNovember\u2019s ballot showdown,\u201d Oct. 8 Pro and Con guest commentaries on Prop. HH Don\u2019t be fooled: Proposition HH … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":477,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}