The Colorado Independent » Issues

High Gas Prices Force People to Alter Lifestyles

Leslie Robinson — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:42:28 +0000

In the mountains, gas prices are usually 20 to 30 cents higher than in the metro area, and workers commute longer distances between work and home because of high housing prices in resort areas. With gasoline prices nearing $4 a gallon, employees in the Roaring Fork area between Parachute and Aspen are adjusting their driving lifestyles by going to a discount gas station, getting a gas subsidy from an employer or by carpooling.In the Roaring Fork region, 53 percent of the employees commute 20 miles or more to work, compared to 12 miles for the average Denver metro driver. In a vehicle that gets 25 miles to the gallon, an employee living in Rifle and driving to work in Glenwood will spend $8 for a round trip, compared to $3.50 for his Denver counterpart (gas comparison chart below.)

So saving even a couple of cents per gallon of gas can make a big difference on the family budget in the mountains.

How far will one go to find cheaper gas prices? Residents in northern Colorado can hop over to Wyoming and save 50 cents a gallon. In western Colorado, a drive to Grand Junction can save 20 cents or more a gallon. However, in the Roaring Fork Valley, only one station sells gasoline at a discount.

Because it is located between Aspen and Rifle, the Bradley gas station in Glenwood Springs boasts a trade area radius of over 60 miles because it sells gas cheaper than the rest.

“I travel from Aspen to Denver a lot,” said Jennifer, who asked not to use her last name. She was filling up her tank at Bradley on Tuesday. “Now I always stop here before I return to Aspen because prices are already over $4 a gallon.” Sometimes she does have to buy gas in Aspen, where she lives, but “it’s just enough to get me down valley to the Bradley station.”

Scott Richards from Rifle says he’ll drive 30 miles “on fumes” to Glenwood to gas up his family vehicle at Bradley. “Rifle gas is getting almost as expensive as Aspen.” This week gasoline in Rifle was selling at $3.79 a gallon in comparison to Bradley’s price of $3.67. Richards admitted once he ran out of gas on his way to Glenwood. “I joined Triple-A because I’m always pushing on empty.”

To save money, Richards and his wife, Nicole, drive to work in Glenwood together even though their work hours are very different. “I drive a company truck, so essentially we commute for free,” Richards noted. Sometimes he has to wait several hours for his wife to get off her 10-hour shift. “But I’d rather wait than pay for the extra gas to commute separately.”

Nicole Richards said gasoline prices have doubled since they moved to Rifle five years ago, so her husband’s company vehicle benefit has doubled in value, too. “I work with families who have to devote a two-week paycheck a month for traveling expenses. We would consider moving out of the area if we had to pay for both of us to commute to work.”

Rifle residents Jody Mac Gregor and her husband also commute to work together to Glenwood, but their salaries are not keeping up with the cost of driving. “It’s getting to the point where we could earn $2 less per hour in Rifle and end up making more money at the end of the month.”

Rifle Mayor Keith Lambert noted he paid 33 cents less per gallon for gas in Grand Junction than Rifle when he traveled there for a meeting on Tuesday. He calculated it was almost worth driving 60 miles there to shop and fill up than it is to go to Glenwood. “I’ve gotten gas for less on a Navajo Reservation in the middle of nowhere than in Rifle.”

Gasoline prices are also cutting into mountain lifestyles. Rose Bachaus, manager at a Glenwood print shop, said her trip to Moab last week was her last for a while. “I spent $100 for gas – that’s two weeks worth of groceries. I can’t afford to travel anymore.”

Unwanted Horses Dumped on Public, Private Land

Leslie Robinson — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:03:31 +0000

When horse slaughterhouses closed in the U.S. two years ago, it caused a glut of unwanted horses in the marketplace. High feed prices and expenses have forced some horse owners to abandon their animals, not unlike the cats and dogs that fill animal shelters. However, there are few horse adoption shelters, so these animals are either being neglected and starved or left in other people’s pastures and on public land. Some horse lovers on the Western Slope see only one solution: reopen the slaughterhouses.

It is very expensive to own a horse. A stall in the Roaring Fork Valley can cost over $700 a month; pasture around Meeker runs about $100 a month. At $6.50 for a bale of hay, it can cost over $400 to feed one horse over the winter. Add vet bills, training, tack and a horse trailer, and horse ownership can run into the thousands of dollars per year. When an old horse needs to put down, the cost of the vet and disposing of the body is pricey as well — up to $1,000.

Some families and ranchers are finding they cannot afford to keep their horses, nor is there any market to sell their unwanted, old or sick horses. So, for some, the only way to dispose of the animals is to let them loose.

Ed Coryell, the brand inspector in the Meeker area, said dumping unwanted horses on public land is the cruelest thing an owner can do, but he understands why. “People can’t afford to feed them and they can’t afford to kill them.”

“We have wild horse herds running on Bureau of Land Management [BLM] lands around Meeker, but domestic horses aren’t used to that life and will starve to death or get beat up by the wild horses. Owners aren’t doing their animals any favor by letting them loose,” he said.

Coryell noted that a tractor-trailer of 10 or more unwanted horses used to be shipped from Meeker about every three weeks when the slaughterhouses were open. “Now, it’s not worth the gas to ship them to Canada or Mexico for slaughter, so the unwanted horse problem is going to get worse.”

North of Meeker, five horses were recently abandoned on a ranch, so the state brand board took possession and sold them off. “But, you can’t sell horses for what it costs to feed them,” Coryell noted. “If an owner doesn’t want them, there’s not much we can do to force them to take back the horses. So we have to deal with it.”

Kathleen Kelley is a Meeker rancher and high feed prices have forced her family to sell off cattle. “Our break-even point for winter feeding cattle was $80 per ton for hay, but it’s selling at $160 per ton, so we have had to reduce our stock.” She said high feed prices have hit horse owners hard, too. “I noticed there were a lot of skinny animals out in pastures this winter.”

Melissa Kindall works in the White River District of the BLM in Meeker. At the last wild-horse roundup, a couple of domestic horses were caught, but ranchers had already notified her of their loose stock, she said. “Until another gathering this fall is conducted, it’s hard to tell if there are any domestic horses on public land.” However, Kindall said she would not be surprised to find some. “It’s easier to take off the halter and let them go than to pay for feed and keep.”

Coryell said he just heard a report about 11 head of domestic horses that are running on BLM land. He agreed with Kindall: “I think we will find more during this fall’s wild-horse roundup.”

Horses can live into their 30s, but their usefulness can end years earlier. Pat Horowitz, directory of Sopris Therapy, a Roaring Fork non-profit agency that uses horses to rehabilitate disabled people, says they get a call almost every week from someone who wants to donate kind old Suzie to their program. “Unfortunately, it takes a lot of money to take care of an old horse and we are not in a situation to provide nursing-home care for animals for our program,” Horowitz said. “I’ve also heard about people finding strange horses in their pasture around here, too. We are facing a real problem.”

Rangely resident, Mickey Allen, 74, has had horses most of her life. She said when the slaughterhouses closed, she could see the horse trouble brewing. “I was born a horse lover, but there are too many horses. We need slaughterhouses to keep this situation under control.”

She recently wrote a letter to the editor to her local papers that clarified her position on the solution to unwanted horses, reprinted by permission below:

Dear Editor,
Thanks to the animal rights movement and many well-meaning but misinformed animal lovers, the slaughter of unwanted horses is now essentially banned in all 50 states. Unwanted horses are now being shipped, often for a great many miles, to be slaughtered humanely in Canada or not-so-humanely in Mexico. Senate Bill 311 will ban the transport of horses for human consumption within the U.S. and across borders to Canada and Mexico.
At the same time, the price of hay and grain has skyrocketed. Have you noticed the low-priced horses in the want ads? This past winter there have been two instances in Colorado of dead and starving horses found in “horse rescue” operations, where it appears well-meaning people “saved” horses but didn’t realize you have to feed them.
I was born horse-crazy and always owned at least one from the age of 14 until I was 72 and the last resident of our little equine nursing home died of old age. We have a lot more money since she died. I believe I would rather have my toenails pulled out than be forced to watch a horse killed and butchered, but if we still had horses and found ourselves unable to care for them, and could not find a good, safe home for them, I would far rather see them go to slaughter than to starve to death.
Until we can figure out a way to get our horse overpopulation under control, I think we need not less, but more slaughter facilities in the U.S. I would like to see close regulation of both the slaughter and the transportation, to keep the whole process as humane as possible. SB 311 is under referral in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Googling it will give you a list of the members of the committee. I suggest that those who agree with the need for humane horse slaughter contact the members of the committee and make their feelings known.
We consider ourselves environmentalists. Always remember that the animal rights movement is to environmentalism as astrology is to astronomy.
Mickey Allen
Rangely, CO

For more stories about unwanted horses covered by Colorado Confidential go here:

Horses in the stable or on the table

Colorado’s wild horses: Too many and too few places to go, Part I and Part II

Wild horses and politics of the West

Horse auction aims for happy ending

Top photo by BLM. Second and third photos of wild horses waiting to be adopted by Leslie Robinson

Face the Drinks

admin — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:11:17 +0000

Drinking Liberally’s conservative counterpart is establishing roots in Denver. American’s Future Foundation, the self-proclaimed “network of America’s next generation of classical liberal leaders,” plans to host a second installment of conservative-themed discourse over drinks May 8 at Denver’s Irish Snug.
“This will be a laid-back and fun way to meet other Denver-area limited-government types,” according to an e-mail from event organizers Kelly Maher and Brad Jones, editor of the right-leaning Colorado political blog Face the State.
Jones announced his intention to kick off a regular series of conservative get-togethers at Denver pubs in March when AFF hosted a discussion entitled “How the West will Be Lost.” The event featured an upbeat crowd that heard many of the conservative and libertarian speakers deliver gloomy predictions for the future of the Republican Party in western states.
AFF already hosts a monthly happy-hour discussion in Washington, D.C., according to its Web site.

European-style Ski Trains Eyed as Option for Easing I-70 Gridlock

David O. Williams — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:02:16 +0000

Ludwig Kurz, former Vail mayor and current director of community relations for nearby Beaver Creek resort, would like to see people in ski boots and goggles wandering the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver.As someone who grew up in Salzburg, Austria, Kurz is not looking to outfit Denver’s homeless in ski gear as a winter fashion statement, nor does he want to put in snowmaking on the mall to keep Front Range snow riders down in the city. Rather, Kurz wants them queuing up for some sort of mountain-bound ski train along the Interstate 70 corridor.
“It’s funny to walk along the streets in Innsbruck any day of the winter and see people with ski boots on and skis over their shoulders, and you think, ‘Where the heck are they going?’” Kurz said of the city of about 120,000 in western Austria. “It would be like walking down the 16th Street Mall and seeing someone with goggles on and fully ready to ski. In Europe you would think, ‘Of course, he’s going skiing.’”
Congestion on I-70 and soaring fuel costs have conspired to give renewed impetus for some sort of mass transit system along the corridor that connects Denver and the entire Front Range to Colorado’s most popular mountain resorts. Previous efforts to pursue mountain rail in the state have been shot down by voters.
But on a continent where gas costs more than $7 a gallon in some places — and up to 70 percent of that goes to taxes that in many cases are then pumped into mass transit — driving to the slopes in Europe is increasingly a luxury that many can’t afford, or prefer, Kurz said.
“In Europe, the upper crust of the resorts like Lech [Austria] and St. Moritz [Switzerland] draw the clientele that is used to the Mercedes and the BMW and that’s how they arrive, and some of the younger, more vibrant resorts you get more people coming by train.”
And in Europe, train service to major mountain resorts is more than merely an option. It’s marketed as a greener, more efficient, more relaxing way than flying to get from major metropolitan areas to world-famous ski resorts such as St. Anton, Austria; Courchevel, France; and Davos, Switzlerland.
Rail Europe even offers its Eurostar ski train between London and France starting as low as 55 pounds (about $108 roundtrip). Using the Chunnel, a trip that used to take eight hours by boat and train has been sliced to a little over three hours, and the Eurostar also offers sleeper cars.
“In Europe, a lot of the people who arrive by train are used to having a beer or two or six and they can keep their [driver's] license that way,” Kurz said.
He added that there is a major cultural impediment to train travel in the United States.
“The major difference between Europe and here is that that Europeans have grown up with trains and we haven’t necessarily grown up with trains here. Beyond that, it obviously works very well in Europe,” Kurz said.
He said he hopes there is more political will for a rail solution in Colorado than the last time the question was put to voters in 2001.
“If you look at what has happened in the last seven or eight years, such as the obvious congestion on I-70 — although it’s not all skier traffic — the oil prices, the cost of getting up here, the congestion and the aggravation alone that is caused by some of these long rides, we will have more and more people say there has to be a solution, and it looks like it would have to be in mass transit,” Kurz said.
The Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, a coalition of public and private stakeholders along the I-70 corridor, is in the process of launching a study to look at the type of trains, costs, possible funding mechanisms and potential ridership for high-speed rail along I-70 and I-25. And a recent verbal agreement between the Colorado Department of Transportation and key stakeholders put a rail solution back on the front burner.
Jim Merlino, a political strategist for Struble Eichenbaum Media Consultants, worked on the unsuccessful 2001 ballot initiative that asked state voters to approve $50 million for a pilot project in Pueblo to test high-speed train technology for a mountain monorail. He said times have definitely changed.
“With what’s happening to diesel and gas prices, people are reframing how they think about transportation, and I-70 is going to fall into that new framework,” Merlino said. “The technology is changing all the time. Things that were wildly expensive in 2001 are getting less expensive all the time, and the cost factor of doing nothing keeps rising as well because of the cost of fuel.”
Merlino said that 2001 effort failed because it was difficult to convince voters in other parts of the state to back something that didn’t impact them on a daily basis, but now he thinks voters might take a broader view of the potential negative economic impacts of gridlock along the state’s main east-west interstate.
“There are leaders in both parties that are looking for a solution,” Merlino said of the current political environment. “There’s a chance for some very creative solutions on a bipartisan basis. The old coalitions are sort of reforming, and all of that is connected to this broad rise in energy costs.”
For local jurisdictions along the corridor, the do-nothing plan for I-70 — or keeping it four lanes in order to limit growth in the mountains, as some critics have advocated – is simply not viable.
“What’s the option to ‘bringing more growth and visitors’? Closing I-70? I didn’t know that was an option,” said Avon Town Councilwoman Tamra Underwood. “The point is, do we want the same people [who are already coming], and new, transient people — none of whom are riff-raff — continually running around the valley on obsolete, individualized, rubber-tired, fossil-fuel-guzzling, carbon-footprint-growing vehicles, or mass transit?”
Underwood’s council has pushed through a new pedestrian mall in downtown Avon, at the base of Beaver Creek ski area, that connects to a new public transit center currently served only by buses, vans and a new gondola that travels on up the mountain to the ski area.
The land for the transit center was donated by the nearby Westin Hotel, and is purposefully situated along the dormant Union Pacific train tracks in the hopes that mass transit will someday run to the Eagle County Airport.
“Whatever [rail] technology is chosen in the future, and there should be quite a few options when we really look, clearly the right-of-way for that technology needs to be set aside now,” Underwood said. “The congested I-70 corridor needs a sustainable solution.”

Portrait of the Western Slope: Man’s Mosiac Life Filled With Lost Causes

Leslie Robinson — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:54:02 +0000

John Scalzo: Rifle’s Contrary Visionary
The Western Slope is changing faster than spring weather these days, and small rural towns like Rifle are losing their original character. Time is marching on, too, for many of the old-timers who shaped Rifle’s colorful past, and they are passing away unnoticed in the hurricane of growth.
One of Rifle’s city fathers is 84-year-old Rifle native John Scalzo. He has spent a lifetime trying to make Rifle “the best little town in the West,” and in that pursuit, he found he has championed many dead-end causes — like the time he promoted building the world’s largest working gun to aim at Glenwood Springs, Rifle’s economic rival. Although he has had many frustrations in his life, Scalzo claims he is not an angry man.During the Great Depression in the 1930s, John Scalzo grew up in Rifle, which at the time was a livestock rail-shipping hub for northwest Colorado. The town had only 1,000 residents. “I knew everyone, where they lived, and what cars they owned,” he recollected. He dropped out of high school to go into the Merchant Marine and then served in the Army during the Korean War. After that stint, he moved back to Rifle to marry his school sweetheart, Mary. Their marriage lasted over 50 years, until her death last year.
Scalzo had a checkered career path. “I worked in insurance for several years but got mad at the district manager and quit. Then I sold liquor from Steamboat to Delta but got mad when the company cut my route, so I quit. Then, I managed the Elks Club for a while but left over a dispute about cleaning the men’s restroom after drunkard midnight poker games,” Scalzo said.
A history of disagreeing with management had nothing to do with anger, Scalzo insisted. “I had good reasons to quit.” When he thought he was unfairly treated, he moved on. He eventually owned a liquor store and a car wash, but he added that it was fortunate his wife had a good job with the phone company.
Scalzo can’t remember all the activities and boards he served on, but some of them included stints as Rifle mayor and council member; Exulted Ruler at the local Elks Club; volunteer firefighter; and president of the Chamber of Commerce board. His volunteer record looks a lot like his work history.
Scalzo’s long association with the local chamber of commerce ended over a conflict with the chamber manager. “I think I’m the only volunteer who’s ever gotten fired,” he said. Scalzo also became disgruntled with the fire department after 20 years and left that abruptly, too.
“John’s not what I would describe as an angry man,” said Scalzo’s long-time friend Gil Frontella. “Well, OK, he does get angry — it’s usually because no one will listen to his suggestions. He wants to make things better for Rifle. After 50 years, yeah, John’s disappointed that his ideas haven’t gained much traction,” Frontella said. “But I don’t think he’s mad at the world for his failures.”
“I get frustrated with authority,” Scalzo admitted. “But instead of getting too worked up about things, I just go on to other causes or committees.”
One of Scalzo’s long-term crusades has been against elm trees. Scalzo wants them exterminated from Rifle. “They are trash trees, messy, diseased and destructive, and it costs our citizens a lot of money when tree roots grow into sewer lines,” Scalzo noted. Yet, despite countless pleas to the city councils over the years, Scalzo has been unsuccessful garnering much support in his fight. “Everytime the city has to clean tree roots out of the main sewer lines in my neighborhood, I call to remind them about my elm tree eradication plan.”
Former Rifle high school teacher Harriet Slagowski, 90, has known Scalzo for over 50 years. She characterized him as a person who had to be in the middle of everything happening in Rifle. “And he always had a bone to chew.”
Slagowski was quick to add that she likes Scalzo and they chat occasionally at the senior facility where she lives. Did she recall his elm tree war? “Oh, yes. That’s a good example about the crazy ideas John has backed,” Slawgoski said.
Another one of Scalzo’s lost causes was building the world’s biggest rifle as a tourist attraction for Rifle. It was during the oil shale bust of the 1980s and Rifle was scrambling to survive. Rifle citizens were amused over the idea of having a huge rifle at the entryway into town, but because of difficult economic times, the gun committee Scalzo headed couldn’t raise the thousands of dollars to build it. In addition, there was the added expense of making it a functional firearm.
“We proposed to shoot it off at noon everyday in the direction of Glenwood Springs,” Scalzo said. “Unfortunately, the project never got off the ground.”
When the county proposed to build a new jail a few years ago, Scalzo petitioned the commissioners to build it in Rifle. “Since it’s warmer here than Glenwood Springs, it would have saved the county money in heating bills,” Scalzo insisted. That idea didn’t fly either.
Through Scalzo’s efforts about 20 years ago, a Rifle city council term-limitation resolution (pre-Tabor days) and a unique ordinance that forced the city manager to run for election after his fifth year in employ were passed.
“At the next election, I happened to be in the hospital, so some people campaigned and got those rules reversed,” Scalzo said. “That was pretty sneaky to wait until I wasn’t around to fight them.”
Scalzo does not dwell much on state or national issues. He thinks immigrants should be given a fair shake to make a living and that Gov. Bill Ritter should seed clouds to make more water and build more dams to hold it, but that’s the extent of his interest outside of Rifle.
“I’ve been a life-long Democrat; I’m pragmatic when it comes to keeping government costs down, yet I’m sympathetic to those who need an extra hand to get back on their feet,” Scalzo noted.
Slagowski was surprised to learn that Scalzo was a Democrat. She had been active in the local Democratic Party for years and said she never remembered him at a political event. “The way he talked, I always thought he was a Republican.”
Scalzo keeps an ornate box with his wife’s ashes on the coffee table in his living room. “My wife wanted her ashes in her rose garden by the house, but I asked her, ‘How about if the next owner wants to put in rocks?’ So, instead she will be buried with me.”
Scalzo complained a little about the price of the cemetery plot in Rifle these days as well as the location his wife chose for them before she passed away. The plot lies under an elm tree.
Photos: John Scalzo. Second photo: Scalzo points to the elm trees that dot Rifle’s landscape. By Leslie Robinson

GJ Protest: Not All About Cheney, It’s About Profit from War

Leslie Robinson — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:55:19 +0000

When Vice President Dick Cheney flew into Grand Junction on Friday for a fund-raiser for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, anti-war and pro-impeachment protesters organized along two different routes Cheney’s entourage was expected to take to the event.
Joseph Hayes, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War and now an activist with Veterans for Peace, staked out the corner of 26th and G roads.Hayes was arrested last September in Washington, D.C., at an anti-war die-in. But today would be different. Cheney’s motorcade took H Road instead, and Hayes (middle person in the photo) and the other protesters had to be content with local traffic.
“People need to know the cost of war and question government about going to war,” Hayes said. His sign read: No one should profit from war. “I think we were sold the Iraq War for bogus reasons. It’s about making money.”
Hayes’ service job during the Vietnam War was to identify the bodies of U.S. Air Force men killed in action. He said that was the reason why he became active in the anti-war movement concerning Iraq and joined Veterans for Peace.
The demonstration during Cheney’s visit wasn’t an anomaly for Hayes and the other protesters, members of the local Grand Junction peace group, Voice of Reason. They often stand out on busy corners to hold up anti-war signs during rush-hour times.
“I sometimes take my lunch break to hold anti-war signs on North Avenue,” Hayes said. North Avenue is a main artery through Grand Junction. “And more and more people are showing support,” Hayes added.
Hayes recalled one man in a van with his family stopped to ask him, “Do you know how many soldiers died so you could stand out here and protest?”
“He was very agitated,” Hayes recalled. “I told him, ‘Yes, sir, I do know about soldiers dying,’ and told him about my service in Vietnam.” Hayes noted, “He was apologetic after he heard my story.”
At the Cheney demonstration on 26 and G roads across from Hayes, Eric Rechel and Bill Conrod held up their protest signs to passing motorists. Many honked and waved in support; some stuck out their middle finger; some shook their heads or voiced disapproval.
“In all, we have a 20-to-1 average of people who support our anti-war protests. A lot of people want change,” observed Rechel, a member of the Voice of Reason. “This protest today isn’t just about Cheney. We wanted to remind people over 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died, and we are $3 trillion in debt.”
Conrod has been a Grand Junction resident for only four months. When he read about the Cheney visit protests in the paper, he decided to get involved. “For people to stand by and do nothing about our current administration is like what the Germans did with Hitler in the 1930s.”
Under the watchful eye of a nearby patrol car, the group decided to wrap up its protests at the corner and move on to Cheney’s departing route on H Road. Police had arrested a couple of protesters there earlier.
Suddenly an SUV stopped in front of the group, and a woman rolled down her window to call the demonstrators traitors. “How dare you say those things about our leaders,” she said, pointing to their signs. “You are traitors to our country and our soldiers.”
“Thank you for your comment,” Rechel said. The SUV drove off. “It’s easier to acknowledge people’s opinions than to argue against them,” he said, shrugging.
Hayes gathered his signs, too, and started to walk to his truck. A high-school-aged student in a new sports model Nissan yelled out, “Screw you,” to Hayes. This student was lucky — he didn’t have to face a military draft like students his age during the Vietnam War.
“If the kid only knew what war was about,” Hayes said, shaking his head. “If he only knew.”
Top photo: Protestors at 26 and G roads hoped Cheney would drive by. The motorcade took H Road instead from the airport to the fund-raisier. Second photo: Joseph Hayes. Third photo: Eric Rechel and Bill Conrod wave signs to passing motorists. Fourth photo: Cheney’s plane awaits take-off. Photos by Leslie Robinson

Protesters Plan ‘Unwelcoming Party’ for Cheney’s Grand Junction Visit

Leslie Robinson — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:32:18 +0000

Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Grand Junction Friday morning for a private fund-raiser for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer. Cheney can expect more than a friendly response from local Republicans – anti-war groups also plan a demonstration along his route to the fund-raiser, a Cheney “unwelcoming party.”
Members from the local peace groups such as The Voice of Reason in Grand Junction, the Roaring Fork Peace Coalition and ProgressNow are mounting a protest rally for Cheney’s visit from 10:30 am to 1 p.m. Friday at an intersection of G Road and 26 Road in Grand Junction.
“We’ll have signs, but bring more signs if you want and noisemakers like pots and pans, drums, radios, etc.” said Mackenzie Earachel from The Voice of Reason, a Grand Junction anti-war activist group. “We’d like to have as many people as possible wearing black for color coordination and to represent the mood. It’ll be a peaceful event, of course.” She described the protest as a Cheney “unwelcoming party.”
Peace protesters can call 970-245-3720 for more info or e-mail junctiondvdproject@yahoo.com.

Gamers Set to Fight for Net Neutrality. Battle Axes, Plasma Guns Optional

Wendy Norris — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:23:26 +0000

Warlocks, cybernetic super-soldiers and card sharks are forming an unlikely alliance against a formidable enemy — Internet service providers that want to charge certain customers higher monthly fees for online access. “I haven’t heard about this before,” said a 21-year-old girl gamer better known as “Popsicles.” Her character — a chubby, redheaded dwarf with a thick Irish brogue — may be at the center of the World of Warcraft, but she’s not alone among the estimated 10 million global subscribers of this wildly popular sci-fi fantasy game.
A coalition of online game consumer advocates are organizing “Popsicles” and her pale-skinned, pizza-laden enthusiasts to join their “meat world” (otherwise known as the real world) counterparts fighting telecoms, like Comcast, from potentially charging more for home Internet users that frequent graphics- and audio-heavy sites that require a lot of bandwidth.
Gamers for Net Neutrality launched on April 1 with backgrounders on Internet freedom, action alerts and a computer-generated 3-D animation (click on the image at right) to explain the issue. The initiative is a joint project of the Entertainment Consumers Association, Gamers for Choice and Save the Internet to engage “Popsicles” and friends who spend upward of $10 billion annually on video games.
Some net neutrality advocates worry that Internet service providers may also attempt to limit access based on Web site content — well beyond the argument that the “pipes” that carry fiber optic transmissions are clogged with large music and video file downloads.
Those concerns are well-placed. In 2005 the Federal Communications Commission abandoned longtime regulations that prevented telecoms from discriminating against certain Web sites over others. As Colorado Confidential reported in January:

Some of the owners of “the pipes” have been pretty straightforward about wanting to control their networks and make more money from them. AT&T’s Ed Whitacre was quoted in BusinessWeek:
“Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there’s going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they’re using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?”

Even the American Civil Liberties Union has gotten into the act with a statement on the GfNN Web site urging gamers to get informed.

Without net neutrality, fan sites, mod communities, and mutliplayer online role-playing games might find their online gaming shut off. Network will be able to charge gamers tolls to access their favorite games, in addition to the broadband connection fee that most users already pay.

“Net Neutrality is the single biggest public policy issue facing our communities today — as educators, non-profits, small businesses and the arts, we all deserve open and equal access to the internet,” says Suzanne Seggerman, president and co-founder of Games for Change. “Why let the telecom giants dictate what speed we play our games, view our video, or listen to music? Gamers, as one of the largest audiences on the internet, need to act now — before it’s too late.”
But the risk of stifling her ability to do battle with monsters in a fantasy world of wizards, warriors and rogues hasn’t quite convinced “Popsicles” to get politically involved, yet. “I think gamers would just pay up for their Internet service,” she says. What else are we going to do? This is our pastime.”
Read Colorado Confidential’s continuing coverage on net neutrality here.

New Man Camp Regs May Test Private Property Rights

Leslie Robinson — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:32:29 +0000

Will oil and gas companies be allowed to set up small temporary man camps on private land without the landowner’s permission or county review? Three Garfield County commissioners will be determining that proposal today. To relieve a housing shortage for its workers, Garfield County has allowed oil and gas companies to construct temporary housing facilities, commonly called man camps, at natural gas drilling sites.
The permitting process is time-consuming and includes a special hearing before the county commissioners for every unit. Energy companies have requested the commissioners to streamline this process, which would include building man camps for up to six workers on private property — and without necessarily needing the landowner’s permission.
The county has approved about 10 sites with approximately 45 units since 2007.
Commissioners are also considering the use of recreational vehicles for shelter.
A community activist group, the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, is opposing surface landowners already impacted by drilling over whether the proposed regulations constitute an attack on private property rights, according to a prepared statement by the alliance. The group also suggests that if oil and gas companies can build man camps on private property, other businesses may ask for that right.
The commissioners’ hearing on the new proposed man camp permitting process is to start at 1 p.m. at the Court House Annex in Glenwood Springs.

Liberal Gun Club Gathers To Celebrate Second Amendment

Erin Rosa — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:39:00 +0000

It was the first meeting of Colorado’s Shooting Liberally, a new social club created to foster an appreciation of firearms from the left of the political spectrum, and attendees were anxious to fire off a few rounds – even if it was their first time doing so.On Tuesday evening, approximately 20 self-described liberals gathered at an indoor shooting range in Aurora to refute the political stereotype that only conservatives support the Second Amendment.
Event organizers say they wanted to create an alternative to the National Rifle Association, a long-standing organization and major supporter of Republican candidates.
“While we’re mostly about bringing liberals together for a good time, Shooting Liberally is a great opportunity to stick the NRA in the eye. Their extreme views only seem to represent the gun industry at the expense of most of Americans,” said John Erhardt, an organizer of the group who is planning future gatherings to be held every few months.
“We’d also like our hunting and gun enthusiast friends to know that there are responsible liberal gun owners who also care about the environment,” he said.
While a good number of attendees were full-fledged gun owners, others had never fired a weapon before the event.
Corrine McDermid, a video journalist, said she was so focused on “firing the shots ” for the first time that she forgot her plan to film the historic meeting.
This reporter brought a simple .22 open-sight rifle to research the event, emptying a few magazines at approximately 30 feet (see image) before trying a .44 magnum revolver in the next stall.
Larry Beer, an Aurora City Council member, also attended the meeting, noting that the shooting center was located in his district.
Additional Shooting Liberally gatherings took place in New York and South Carolina on Tuesday. The group is the newest brainchild of Living Liberally, a national organization that works to create social events centered on progressive principles.