This is Buc-ee’s

El Paso County’s statement that no Buc-ee’s application has been filed misses the point entirely.

What is before the county is a Boundary Line Adjustment (BLA, File No. EXBL261) — a property line change the applicant is seeking to push through as a quiet administrative action, no public hearing required. Its purpose is to transfer water rights to the development site. If approved administratively, it allows Buc-ee’s to bypass El Paso County’s 300-year water rule and instead operate under the far more permissive state 100-year rule — dramatically increasing their draw from our non-renewable Denver Basin aquifer.

This is not unrelated to Buc-ee’s. This is Buc-ee’s.

Integrity Matters’ February 20th filing documents that Monument Ridge West filed commercial production well applications on December 17, 2025. One month later, their consultant Vertex Consulting certified to the county: no wells, no water rights, no change in water supply. That is a documented material misrepresentation — and under the county’s own Land Development Code, grounds for immediate denial.

The connections demand scrutiny. Vertex Consulting is led by Craig Dossey, a former El Paso County Commissioner who played a role in shaping the 2021 Your El Paso County Master Plan. Mark Waller, also a former Commissioner, is a paid Buc-ee’s consultant. Current El Paso County Planning Commissioner Sarah Jack was a paid consultant for pro-Buc-ee’s forces during Palmer Lake’s special election — as reported in this newspaper on September 8, 2025.

This project sits at the extreme northern edge of El Paso County — the gateway to our community. The county must choose its constituents over a developer’s agenda.

Deny the BLA. Halt the drilling. Demand accountability.

Laurel Schow 

Monument

Decriminalizing prostitution

You have to question whether the Colorado Legislature has given thought or consideration to final outcome of their progressive agenda. The ills of their most recent bill to decriminalize prostitution, which include human trafficking, increased violence, and increased sexually transmitted diseases, have been clearly presented by those in law enforcement and by district attorneys. In a misguided effort to protect women, it certainly will have the opposite results. When women in that situation are abused, as they current are and will continue to be, now the perpetrators will claim in defense that the treatment was consensual.

To a degree current legislation immunizes a person from arrest for prostitution when reporting abuse and seeking help. That provision could be expanded to remove any criminal prosecution rather that opening the door more abuse.

The damage to society will be devastating, destroying some families and many individual lives both for the women and their accomplices. Do you think any young women wants that as a life-choice? Do we just support a life style that leads to irreversible psychological and physical damage claiming it as legitimate life-choice. Interview women caught in the web of prostitution and see if they lead happy and contented lives. Could the legislature’s resources and efforts be focused on a safer and more fulfilling option for those caught in a dead-end lifestyle?

The same party that is supporting this bill has, in the name of criminal rehabilitation, reduced criminal penalties for human trafficking, for drug dealers, for car theft, and host of other criminal behaviors. Consider Mexico’s recent events showing what happens when a government tries to coexist and appease evil rather than confronting it.

Our children have too many minefields to sidestep. Why legitimize another life-destroying hazard?

Jack Hood

Colorado Springs

Find another solution

I find it unfathomable that the city of Colorado Springs parks department is considering turning off the iconic Julie Penrose fountain at America the Beautiful Park this summer.

When it is running on warm summer days, this magnificent sculpture and the happy people cooling off in its spray are a sight to behold.
Turning it off because the parks department wants to save $50,000? Incredible.

In a city that prides itself as being all-American and Olympic City USA, why can’t the parks department find at least one civic-minded company or organization willing to chip in to fund the operation of the fountain at one of the country’s most scenic and historic parks?

My guess is that the parks department hasn’t tried at all to find any corporate sponsorship. It appears easier just to turn off fountains and close restrooms than work to find a solution.

Ben Miller

Colorado Springs

Carbon-free renewable energy

Events of the past few weeks have served to further emphasize the imperative that we Springs-area residents take control of our own destiny now, regarding affordable, reliable electricity, clean air, the health of our people and of our environment. In one fell swoop, we can take a huge step toward all of the above by demanding our city-owned Colorado Springs Utilities, and its CEO Travis Deal, make good on their commitment to close the city’s last coal-fired power plant in 2029, eliminating a major source of local pollution and its contribution to climate change. The Utilities is trying to renege on that obligation. We must be vocal in our opposition to our state legislative delegation, who has introduced a measure in Denver to allow the Utilities to keep the coal-fired Ray Nixon Power Plant open and spewing greenhouse gases and other pollutantswell into the next decade.

Meanwhile, carbon-free renewable energy – primarily solar and wind with grid-scale battery storage – has never been more attractive or feasible as a replacement to the dirtiest form of energy – coal. With advancements in technology and manufacturing scale, the costs of building out renewables has plummeted in the past 24 months alone. Solar is now the lowest-cost source of power generation, accounting for over 90% of all new electricity-generating capacity in the US last year. Advances in battery storage mean wind and solar are no longer less reliable than fossil fuels. Virtual Power Plant tools – software that manages and smooths the peaks and valleys of daily electricity demand – offer power companies a level of intelligence, flexibility and control of their systems that was unheard of just a couple of years ago. Incentivizing eager homeowners to install rooftop solar is part of the solution. The Colorado Springs Utilities has nearly four years to figure this out – not a lot of time. But it is enough.  

Adding to the urgency of closing the Ray Nixon Power Plant is that, at the same time we’re walking around the Springs in shorts and T-shirts in mid-February, the EPA’s  “endangerment findings” was rescinded, meaning the federal government has no interest nor legal authority to regulate or even consider greenhouse gas emissions – the driver of climate change. You and I are the last line of defense. Closing the Springs’ sole remaining coal-fired power plant is where we can step up and make a real difference.

Damon Cox

Palmer Lake

The value of tatoos

Have you ever gone through something so hard, a life event that shakes up your entire world view, that you feel the need to just change something? Perhaps it was not just one big thing, but a consistent flow of smaller events that leave you feeling less yourself after a time. In times like these when confidence is running low, it is especially important for one to invest time and care in themselves, and I believe one of the very best ways to do this is through, essentially, decorating oneself!

Tattoos in particular have a long and studied history of tangible positive psychological effects for those who receive them.

As someone who has gone from losing a dad to struggling with being able to feel real in the world, tattoos have changed my life as I know they have many others. While by no means being a “fix” to any situation, expressing oneself, especially artistically, has been shown to boost everything from social confidence to one’s feeling of identity.

Recent studies have determined a strong positive correlation between getting tattooed and self-esteem, with participants reporting “a lasting effect of reduced anxiety and greater satisfaction with their appearance after getting a tattoo” (Silverstein & Santibañez, 2024). On a longer timeline, those with tattoos generally scored lower on depression scales as well.

While having well recorded benefits, tattoos are still considered to be somewhat taboo by some for a variety of reasons, from religion to their parents opinion on them. Getting a tattoo is certainly not a decision to be taken lightly, and should be weighed less like a quick anxiety medication and more like getting an extension of your own body. In this same vein, tattooed individuals often undergo them for “maintaining autonomy over [their] body, aesthetic alignment, memorialization, pleasure, and gender affirmation” (Silverstein & Santibañez, 2024).

Skylar Bird

Ft.Collins