Vox

Growth vs. historic preservation
Editor:
There really isn’t a war between the ideas of historic preservation and growth, even though Mr. Fabyanic seems hell bent on trying to start one.
Firstly, these opinion surveys are unreliable and changeable from week to week, and it isn’t helpful when we try to manipulate the findings to suit our personal bias. We don’t need to choose between growth or economic well being and historic preservation, and I doubt if that was the intent of the survey. 
Very many people visit our county because of the commitment to historic preservation as well as other reasons. The one number that stands out is that 83 percent agree that this is an excellent or good place to live. Everything else seems to be open to interpretation.
Ernie Dunn
Georgetown

Surveys can be skewed
Editor:
Survey? What survey?
When is a survey not a survey? When it’s propaganda.
(Much like the political questionnaires one receives that include requests for money. Complimenting and pretending to empower the reader by asking their opinion first gets more donations.)  
I was there to watch an uncomfortable representative of the survey company go through the answers to the commissioners who had hired his firm. He knew there was a big problem with it, and he struggled to explain his concern.  A questionnaire can be easily used as a propaganda tool. Few will catch it.
Questions like this do not qualify as real queries, but rather act as guidance to conclusions that when answered as obviously desired, can be politically pointed to as the will of the people.
Which would you choose?
1. Be beaten with a bat.  
2. Be starved.  
3. Get a steak dinner
The “survey” was clearly yet another of a long line of expensive attempts, which include scare tactics, to pound development down the throats of CCC citizens, and that representative saw through it. Silence followed by a red-faced and agitated Commissioner O’Malley resulted in a spirited back and forth dialog.  
Commissioner Dale just sat there quietly fuming. He got it. It wasn’t a survey, Jerry. Don’t “count” on it. And there is no “war”... just a few locals with some money, some influence and little to no experience who want to experiment at the county’s risk, who have so far used a lot of local and federal tax dollars in doing so. Surveys and studies are expensive... and have all been paid for by us.
CCC is not at the edge of collapse nor in any kind of concept war. And could we ease up on the “sustainability” rhetoric? That’s starting to sound like “man” and “psychedelic” and “way.” In fact, it’s more the banner for sustainable profits of big firms.  
If people just woke up and did a few simple things themselves, more savings would occur than all the “sustainable” projects combined.
What CCC is is a resting place for the socially weary. Just by the fact they live here by choice counters any such “survey” results. I mean, jeeez. Look around. How the heck could a sane person live here and at the same time whine about the lack of job opportunities? Does that even make sense?  
Arguing for sustainable commerce on this county is like arguing for a cattle ranch in the middle of Denver. The argument’s statistics are there, but is the logic? Of course, we could go the gambling route and solve all those concerns including the obvious lack of cement on the sides of our mountains, menacing unobstructed views and our lack of fights over money.  
No, Jerry, the problem you’re having is that the “survey” statistics don’t match the actual situation. Enough folks up here have been effectively brainwashed by the propaganda machine that we are really not what we really are: a place to get away from all this crap.  This is a bad place for getting employment for a reason. It’s that way by design. To notably change that, if it were even possible, will create a very destructive dependency. Of course, as a stop gap, we could always increase the number of “medical” pot outlets. I hear it’s been improving commerce across the whole county!
Mark Kline
Fall River Road

Thanks for concert participation
Editor:
I would like to thank all who participated and attended the recent Pops Concert at First Presbyterian Church in Georgetown. Your contributions both musically and financially will help continue to keep our church musical instruments in good working order.
Ronald D. Graham

Get used to losing our freedoms
Editor:
The extent to which America has lost its way never ceases to amaze. Case in point: airport security measures.
Americans far and wide, young and old, and black and white have declared their right to privacy in defiance of invasive, “grope my junk” searches. They decry the procedures, proclaiming them to be in violation of constitutional freedoms.
Ain’t nothin’ like bein’ a day late and a dollar short, comrades. Where were all these nay-sayers when the Reagan administration received approval for wide-scale, invasive drug testing of job applicants? How come there was no response to police randomly checking motel registries throughout the fruited plain? Why the silence when surveillance cameras were mounted on virtually every street corner in the good ole USA?
Please remind me of what happened when the federal government began data-mining every cell phone call placed in the United States. Have you ever encountered a drunk-driving checkpoint that you didn’t love?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures is an illusion in current-day America. Virtually everything we do or say is monitored and recorded, all in the name of security. The loss of these rights began with Reagan’s War on Drugs, and they died along with the falling of the Twin Towers.
Recently our Subway Sandwich Shop in Idaho Springs advertised for part-time “Sandwich Artists.” Drug-testing required. I feel much more secure knowing my 6-inch Spicy Italian will not be tainted with any performance-enhancing pickles.
David Stahl
Idaho Springs