Support for the Roadless Rule

Colorado’s hunting seasons are in full swing, and while many of us are chasing bugles, glassing high basins, or scouting drainages, the work to protect wild places doesn’t stop. Although it’s unusual these days to find damn near universal public support for anything, in this instance we’re talking roadless areas and our great public lands estate.

“The public has spoken and the consensus is overwhelmingly clear,” Outdoor Life News Editor Dac Collins said.

“More than 99% of Americans are opposed to the Donald Trump administration’s plan to ditch the Roadless Rule, which protects some of our most cherished hunting and fishing spots on U.S. National Forest land.”

As hunters know from experience, the Roadless Rule protects the best elk habitat in Colorado and the country.

In addition, these lands were never roaded for a reason. They’re often steep, rocky and have marginal timber values. There’s simply no way to build more roads and make timber sales pencil out for the American taxpayer.

That’s why Taxpayers for Common Sense is one of the biggest supporters of the Roadless Rule. “Repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule risks billions in new taxpayer liabilities from subsidized road construction and money-losing timber sales,” it says.

“In the end, this is not just a fight over land — it’s a fight over meaning,” Frank DeSantis wrote in the Backcountry Journal. “What kind of country do we want to be? One defined by private interest, or by shared inheritance? One in which land is leveraged, or one in which it is cherished?”

As America’s first conservationists, hunters have a century-old tradition of protecting public lands habitat and fighting those driven by myopic greed. The billionaire buzzards have overreached badly and underestimate our resolve. We will not give up or give in.

David Lien

Colorado Springs

Free speech and Kimmel

Re: Free speech and Jimmy Kimmel. Free speech of all kinds, including hate speech, in all venues should never be canceled and isn’t canceled in most cases (The Spew comes to mind).

Charlie Kirk used free speech perfectly in the way our founders intended in his aptly named “Prove Me Wrong” campus tour. He encouraged, supported and garnered free speech on all sides of an issue whereas many of these late night pundits and other venues do not.

The haters just make a remark and it just is out there for people to read or hear and have an opinion on. In this day and age with so much ignorance in our society these one-sided remarks become dangerous and that’s what Kirk was assassinated for, that is, using his right to free speech and sadly for promoting his faith.

Believers are comforted by the fact that the haters will not ‘get away’ with what they say in the eternal and that is the only thing that is important.

Our Savior said “one must die to live.” Kirk did.

Sadly, so many just don’t get it; that is, they don’t get the real Truth.

Thom Hill

Colorado Springs

What has happened?

When I was a kid growing up, my mother always told me that the police were the good guys. If you ever had a problem, find a policeman and he would help you.

Now, our society has vilified the police and kids are told to avoid them. Cities are defunding the police and federal law enforcement police are being threatened and in many cases attacked. They are now the bad guys.

What happened? When I was younger (not by much) I remember when Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David Letterman were actually late night show comedians.

Now Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and others who started as comedians have turned into political commentators, not funny and in fact offensive. What happened?

I can remember when politicians who disagreed with the opposition acted in a civilized manner. Not always but mostly. Now, they have resorted to name calling, demonizing, profanity and violence. Calling our president a fascist, a Nazi, Hitler, and other equally demeaning names. What happened? What has happened to politics in this country?

Maybe Robert Kennedy and the Department of Health and Human Services can develop a vaccine for Trump Derangement Syndrome.

We seem to be destroying ourselves from within. We have met the enemy and it is us. What happened?

Barry S. Oswell

Colorado Springs