Dear Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen

Indeed, there is political theater coming out of Washington, most of it from the administration. But one should not be surprised when commentators, political hacks, and media hounds are put in charge of our government agencies.

I am a proud conservative believing that competency should be rewarded, our higher education system should be highly regarded, patriotism means living by the rule of law, truth is revered and conspiracy theories, bombastic hype, and disinformation is confronted, bullies lose, science is respected, immigrants are treated with compassion, world leadership means forging coalitions and partnerships instead of sticking our thumbs in eyes of our friends, and that ends do not justify the means. These are some of my conservative values.

Some issues deserve moral critique. Most all of us prefer low taxes and secure borders. But does it have to cost us our moral compass? Is any means acceptable? I find it reprehensible to justify cutting lifesaving healthcare and public health research to lower taxes. I experience deep moral dissonance when intact families are ripped apart often flaunting due process, to detain a non-criminal immigrant, even if it means securer borders.

The same is true with the wholesale rounding up of immigrants to find a few immigrant criminals. Can’t we do better police work than that? These seem like Faustian bargains at best. There must be a better way. I applaud Representative Pettersen for speaking to moral issues. Otherwise, there is no countervailing higher ground to consider.

Sam Gould, Divide

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A smidge of research

In response to the article regarding the new $200 million ballroom article being built at the White House, being an “odd way to cut government spending” rather than “feed children who are literally starving to death” by writer Mrs. Lovato.

Had you’d done just a smidge of research, you can easily find news articles, from multiple sources stating that the new ballroom is to be “funded by Donald Trump and other private donors.” Whether you agree with the ballroom or not, facts are important! In regard to “feeding children who are literally starving to death,” I challenge you to find examples of this extremely broad, exaggerated, hyper-emotional statement. Specifically, here, in the great United States!

Brett Roth, Divide

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Puppet master revealed

At the August 13 school board meeting, the corrupt board listed a last-minute agenda item to ramrod their secret, 30-year contract with Merit Academy that had never appeared before for public discussion. Merit was complicit with this shady deal, having kept their “application” hidden from taxpayer knowledge since May 27, just like when the board surprised everyone with their intent to rush the sale of the middle school building to Merit only a day after City Council had restored their tax funding.

No wonder City Council doesn’t trust this board and repealed the tax! But what made this meeting despicable was how school lawyer Brad Miller, who’s NOT a board member, dominated discussions to hoodwink the public into propelling this outrageous 30-year term idea forward. Average charter contracts in Colorado are 5 YEARS. And Merit’s contract still has 2 years left! Why the rush? Yet never did Miller, Merit, or the board provide evidence with actual numbers, graphs, statistics, estimates, or bids to support their claims that Merit’s contract should be 6 times longer than normal.

Who’s REALLY running WPSD? It’s abundantly clear. Not even astute Keegan Barkley could stop Brad Miller from force feeding this unethical agenda onto our public schools (see video time stamp 2:00:40, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcGKdOuQzGM&t=7382s). It’s time to cut Brad Miller’s puppet strings of fake authority and stop electing board members who kowtow to his manipulations

Suzanne McDonough, Woodland Park

Keegan Barkley, you’re not alone

Last week’s school board meeting left me with more questions than answers after their impromptu “discussion”. Extending Merit Academy’s contract was just buzz feed. Merit has guaranteed contract renewals unless they fail on one of five stipulations set forth by the CDE. Whether it’s every five years or thirty, doesn’t matter.

What caught my attention was Miller saying the extension of time was needed for them to receive financing from a lender. The only collateral the lender could use is PPR (per pupil revenue) and the extension would guarantee the lender is repaid plus interest. If Merit is open, it comes out of their funding. But if they aren’t, it will come out of the greater WPSD funds regardless of where those students end up.

Or when Barkley pointed out that more time was needed to review the 40 page contract unlike previously when the board approved Witt’s contract without review and Patterson chimed in with “I’d do it again”. That’s quite alarming considering the condition he left our schools and community in. Do we need more vitriolic fueled actions?

Also, Brad Miller, the hired WPSD attorney whose law firm represented Merit during their placement in WPSD, repeatedly advised the school board to approve the unreviewed contract without delays. He was concerned about the costs associated with waiting a week? Which brings us to the audit. Why aren’t we rushing that? Shouldn’t the DISTRICT know finances before taking on more?

This November, it’s IMPERATIVE to vote for common sense candidates.

Bridget Curran, Florissant

LETTERS POLICY: Letters are published on a space-available basis. Letters must be 250 words or less. Guest columns will be published, space allowing, with a firm limit of 500 words. Both must be received by noon Friday for publication the following Wednesday. Please email your submissions to Courier Editor Doug Fitzgerald at doug.fitzgerald@pikespeaknewspapers.com. The Courier reserves the right to edit or reject submissions, which should have the author’s name, address and phone number, for verification purposes.