Letters: 6/7/18

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Dougherty for DA

The District Attorney’s Office has such a significant impact on our community that we are making an informed endorsement in this race. Several Boulder County Latino leaders have come together to endorse and support Michael Dougherty for District Attorney in the 20th Judicial District.

The District Attorney, in addition to prosecutorial duties, manages a complex array of responsibilities — staffing, budgeting, facilities, interagency cooperation and general operational considerations — and requires someone who has experience managing a large professional staff and taxpayer funds. This office needs a seasoned professional of Michael Dougherty’s caliber. For these reasons, Latinos for Michael Dougherty for District Attorney are making this endorsement.

As residents of Boulder County and leaders in our Latino community, we know, more than most, the importance of electing the most competent candidate in this race as Boulder county’s chief law enforcement officer. We have met with Michael Dougherty, and have determined that he brings a fresh, authentic and experienced perspective to the office. We believe Mr. Dougherty is committed to a transparent, fair, equitable — and a truly diverse and inclusive — DA’s office.

Just as important, Michael Dougherty has the requisite experience to bring all members of the complex criminal justice system together to resolve mutual issues presented in the administration of justice in our county.

We know Mike Foote, the other candidate in this race. We believe that he is a competent assistant DA, and a good Colorado state legislator. However, we also believe he lacks the experience and range of skills necessary for this critical position.

Therefore, we as Latinos who reside throughout Boulder County wholeheartedly endorse Michael Dougherty for District Attorney. Vote for Dougherty in this Primary Election — June 26.

Latinos for Michael Dougherty for District Attorney/via Internet

Voting for Mark Williams

It’s time to back a new direction for politics, where the grassroots and communities guide the process, not dark money.

That’s why I support Mark Williams for Congress in Colorado’s Second District.

Mark Williams, a former fighter pilot in the Gulf War, is a career politician’s worst nightmare.

Mark is a real progressive, who will fight for universal healthcare, living wages and the working people of this district.

But Mark will also be a strong voice for peace.

He knows that corporate-controlled Democrats and Republicans are responsible for 17 years of insane global bloodshed. Our lobbyist-controlled leaders in Congress won’t do anything for the average hard-working Coloradan.

As Mark often says, “The house is on fire.” And it’s time for new leadership in Colorado.

I urge independent and progressive-minded voters to stand together and vote for the only candidate who shares our values.

Why trust the current Democratic Party leadership — or any candidate that takes money from oil and gas law firms?

Mark Williams does not accept PAC money. He’s running to buck the system and put the people of Colorado’s second congressional district above corporate profits.

Kate Flynn/Boulder

Harvesting asparagus

Ahem. John Lehndorff (Re: “Royal Couple,” Nibbles, May 24, 2018): The proper way to harvest asparagus is to bring along a small sharp knife when scavenging the wild stalks. Cut the stalk just below the dirt line. You can then trim off the woody section. The stalk will then produce again. Having grown up with a bed of asparagus in the family garden, this is the preferred method as taught to me by my mother who loved asparagus. As a matter of fact I went asparagus hunting this morning and saw many a snapped stalk. It saddened me.

Gary Shunk/Louisville

Danish wrong on nuclear power

In “The cost of killing nuclear power,” (Re: The Danish Plan, May 24, 2018) Paul Danish complains that “environmental and anti-nuclear activists are as responsible for global warming as any oil company or OPEC member.” Speaking as a supporter of nuclear energy, and who sees it as essential for reducing atmospheric CO2 and combating climate change, I nevertheless think that Danish’s conclusion is both wrong and useless. The single biggest problem for nuclear energy has always been its high cost compared to fossil fuels. If it had ever come close to living up to its supporters’ early promise of being “too cheap to meter,” we’d be running most of our power production with nuclear by now. But that possibility was never really in the cards. Much (not all) of the non-competitiveness is due to the expense of spent fuel disposal. The catch here, which Danish misses, is that for fossil energy we blast the spent fuel out for free. With fossil energy we don’t pay, up-front, for the cost of polluting our air, soil and oceans with exhaust products like CO2 and mercury while warming our own planet to the point that we might end up not living on it. It wasn’t “environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists” who failed. It was politicians and policy-makers who gave fossil fuels a free ride on disposal. So much for Danish being wrong. Where his conclusion is useless is in playing the blame game. Frankly, it’s irrelevant at this point how we’ve steered our own version of the Titanic into an iceberg, or who was on the bridge at the time. The salient fact now is that we are all collectively standing on the same deck of the same sinking ship and we’ve got to take real action, now, if we don’t want ourselves, our descendants, and our entire planet to go under. Paul Danish is a smart guy. Let’s see him write a next column in which he supports, and proposes ways forward, for reducing global CO2. He could lend his commanding voice, for example, to not gutting fuel economy requirements, to immediately reducing use of fossil fuels by all means available, to government funding for increased use of both renewable and nuclear energy, to bio-carbon farming, and to government support for new and better methods for actively reducing atmospheric CO2. Paul, we know you’re that good. We need all hands on deck. Help us out, here, instead of whining.

Frank Sanders/Nederland