Letters | Mile-hi is too noisy

0

boulderweekly.com/letters

Mile-Hi is too noisy

Mile-Hi Skydiving Center touts on their website that their center is the best and safest skydiving facility in the area — with the largest planes and the best-trained staff. However, from early morning ’til evening, especially on weekends, the sound of the droning and “audibly obnoxious” Twin Otter planes permeate our lives. I’ve named this the “Mile-Hi Misery Index.” What seems like innocent fun — jumping out of planes and whooshing through the air — impacts all of our lives, from southwest Longmont into Niwot and rural Boulder County.

The “Mile-Hi Misery Index” was at a 10-plus on a recent weekend when they had two planes in operation. What will it be like this weekend? As the Twin Otters take off and circle to jumping altitude, they regurgitate their skydivers and then race back to the airport to pick up the next pod. I’ve heard that the pilots could throttle back on their planes, reducing the noise. But no — Mile-Hi is more interested in getting them up and down as quick as possible. But what about noise abatement rules? Guess what? They’re only voluntary, for take-off and landing. I guess this exempts Mile-Hi, as their planes circle upward to 17,000 feet as quickly as possible. I can hear the plane right now through my closed window (on a Friday morning) and it sounds like a WWII bomber.

Is it true that the City of Longmont recently extended the lease for Mile-Hi Skydiving? Are we in for another 20 years of audible assault on our lives? Is it true that the skydivers are jumping dangerously close to other air traffic, possibly leading to an accident? Between the lease extension, noise and safety, these are questions we all need to ask.

Teresa Foster/Longmont

Danish got it right

(Re: “Biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history? Hogwash!” Danish Plan, Aug. 12.) In a very rare occurrence, I agree with Paul Danish’s recent article about environmental disasters. He declares public highways, metropolitan areas, and large-scale monoagricultural farming as “the biggest environmental disasters in U.S. history” instead of the recent Gulf oil leak. He also says the roads, cities and commercial farming “are things we cannot live without.” If the latter
is true, it indicates that our unsustainably large human population,
with a dominant few living a life of “grinding, all-consuming,
never-ending urbanization” is, indeed, the biggest environmental
disaster in (world) history, which I agree with. And, interestingly
enough, it is that lifestyle that requires the oil drilling that often
leads to, apparently, smaller environmental disasters.

Ronda Lawrence/Boulder

Kagan wrong on abortion

Supreme Court Justice
Elena Kagan was a very bad selection for justice. I base this on the
fact that she claims that abortion is “settled law.” In other words,
don’t expect Justice Kagan to vote against abortion!

Now if a convicted
criminal is serving a life sentence for murder, and new evidence comes
in to show that he is innocent, judges would do all they could to get
that man out of jail, right? When evidence proves innocence, we expect
justice to be served, right? So why then (as Frank Pavone points out)
does Justice Kagan get away with saying that abortion is “settled law”
when new evidence (ultrasound technology) proves that the unborn baby is
a separate, unique human being from the moment of conception?

Is
Justice Kagan aware that 90 percent of those considering or leaning
towards abortion choose life after seeing their unborn baby right before
their very eyes?

Settled-law?
Far from it! “Roe v. Wade” must be reversed due to new, indisputable
evidence proving the humanity of the unborn baby!

Mike Rachiele/Boulder

What is going on?

Since the Boulder D.A. is running for state office, he is arresting sick and disabled people after he said he would not.

I wish more people knew what was going on.

Mark Farris/Boulder

Learn from history

Congress, the Supreme
Court and corporate America’s monopoly on the media are threatening our
democracy. Over the last decade, a push to have only a few people’s
opinions represent all America has greatly damaged our country.
Democracy will die if there is not a neutral ground for Americans to
voice their needs and views in light of world events.

My grandparents where
born in Germany and barely survived WWII. Born in 1950, my mom spent her
elementary and middle school years in Hamburg during the rebuilding,
studying of mistakes and dealing with the guilt of how such a
destructive man came to power. My grandfather’s choice to move the
family to Boulder to be a sociology professor at CU was in large part to
reconcile and educate.

Hitler
was not always a ranting lunatic. In the late 1920s he spent his time
helping to build the economy, especially for a certain few, and creating
a committed work force. He and others were so successful during this
time that Great Britain and most of the world openly congratulated
Germany for rebounding from WWI. At that time, Hitler would also talk
about the importance of a nation being able to defend itself.

In
the 1930s, Hitler began to speak more openly about his racist and
psychotic views. But the enormous wealth of a certain few, and their
influence on their economy and jobs, was too great a rip tide for sane
people of the nation to overcome.

I
believe there are striking similarities between the leaders of Germany
in the 1920s and the leaders in America over the last decade. For me,
the scariest similarity is the governments’ need to control national
voice. I believe in democracy. I believe in listening to multiple
perspectives. I believe in people expressing their truth. I believe in
expressing my truth. And I believe together, we can live, healthy and
happy.

In the
spirit of Hans and Ilse Wangler, I do not want the FCC to infringe on
the need for neutrality in national conversation. I urge you to contact
your representatives. Tell them corporate voice must not be allowed to
control or significantly influence individual voice and perception.

Curtis Griffin/Boulder

Disappointing ‘Measure’

As a regular
attendee at productions done by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, we
brought some out of town guests to see “Measure For Measure” on a recent
Saturday night. It was less than enjoyable, disappointing, and we were
somewhat embarrassed for them.

In attempting to
accommodate a “theatre in the round,” we were frustrated and heard
others complain about the inability to understand the actors. It seems
in their attempts to project in both directions, the actors were unable
to project and articulate the dialogue to the main audience. Much of it
was unintelligible.

Add
to that the fact that the theatre was uncomfortably warm and stuffy,
and we probably will not be attending again, nor recommending your
producseetions, nor (certainly) taking any guests.

Alan Castrodale/Boulder

Palestinians are aggressors

Now is the time to
demand that Congress and the White House stop sending U.S. tax dollars
to the Palestinian Authority, which continues to demonize Israel and
incite hatred and continued violence. Most “humanitarian aid” is used
for military purposes against Israel. Now is the time to for
Palestinians and their leaders to truly recognize Israel and raise their
children to have jobs — and not Jihad.

Ignoring the American
request, the PA continues to glorify terror by honoring terrorists. In
addition, PA leaders continue to praise and defend the right to armed
struggle while describing the present talks and negotiations as a
temporary tactical measure. The PA believes that they have the right to
protect themselves, even though they are occupying Israeli territory. Israel is always pictured as the aggressor when, in fact, the PA is the aggressor.

Denying
Israel’s more than 3,000 years of history and connection to the land of
Israel — especially Jerusalem — is a cornerstone of PA ideology, and
cited regularly as a basis for the denial of Israel’s right to exist.
The rejection of Israel’s basic history continues to be expressed by
Palestinian religious, political and academic leaders. All history
proves that this land is Israel’s, but there is no historical basis for
it being the Palestinians’. President Obama has said the use of maps
that present a world without Israel are a security threat to Israel. Yet
all of the official Palestinian Authority’s maps — in its offices,
websites, schoolbooks and by those appearing on official PA TV since the
start of the proximity talks — continue the PA policy of defining all
of Israel as “Palestine.”

Official
PA TV continues to use educational programming that teaches
Palestinians to envision a world in which Israel does not exist and that
all of Israel is part of “Palestine.”

Contrary
to the Palestinian Authority’s moderate statements in English to the
West, its statements in Arabic to the Palestinian population continue to
delegitimize Israel’s existence, define the conflict with Israel as a
religious war and glorify terror and violence. They speak out of both
sides of their mouths and are historically wrong on all accounts.

Finally,
the Palestinian Authority may agree to face-to-face talks with Israel.
But they will never keep any part of their agreement. They never have.
Gaza was given for peace and all they have done is used the land for
launching rockets into Israel.

Israel’s
Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to a two-state solution. It is
time to move forward, not backward. The Palestinian Authority must start
educating its people for peace.

Roger Anghis/Littleton

We need fair, honest press

Dan Maes won the
majority of delegates in the State Assembly for the Republican Party.
That assembly consisted of more delegates and more new delegates that
had never participated in politics before than any other State Assembly.
The news media overall has belittled Mr. Maes and, as a non-politician
himself, he and his staff have made some small paperwork errors, totally
free of any intent or for selfish gain.

I, like most
Coloradans, have accepted that the national media has an
anti-conservative agenda, but with local media I believe we all expect
higher and fairer standards in covering our issues and news. Coloradans
can decide for themselves what is right and wrong, what is better,
socialism or capitalism, and we do not want the media involved in the
decision, only the facts. We want both parties covered equally, and
fairly. The candidates may be too numerous at times, but after the
caucus and State Assemblies they are thinned down to a reasonable number
and people want and need fair, impartial information about the
candidates.

The
free press, a right granted by God, not government, has a responsibility
to the people for that right. I am not a journalist and I have a bias,
just like every American. Convince me of alternatives with fair facts,
not untruths, omissions and only part of the truth being misrepresented
as the whole truth. The press owes nothing to government, political
parties or unions.

You
provide both facts and points of views to the public. Just make sure to
separate the two when they are printed. When news is being biased, the
reader doesn’t always know that important facts were left out,
incomplete truths were included, and the writer has a known or unknown
bias.

We The People
have been too lazy to search out the truth at times, and too trusting
in our news sources as being truthful and honest, but locally we expect
our neighbors to be a little more honest.

Daniel Davis/La Junta

Boulder Weekly
welcomes your e-mail correspondence. Letters must not exceed 400 words
and should include your name, address and telephone number for
verification. Addresses will not be published. We do not publish
anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the
property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website. Send
letters to: letters@boulderweekly.com. Look for Boulder Weekly on the World Wide Web at: www.boulderweekly.com.