Curious about license campaign

Having been in an accident caused by a driver with expired plates and no insurance, while driving, I take notice of the plates on vehicles all around me, including in parking lots. That said, I am curious about the results of the recent Colorado State Patrol/El Paso County/Local Police Jurisdictions campaign to ticket/impound vehicles they caught with expired tags.

Have any of the jurisdictions published any data on how many, or even if any, drivers were cited for expired tags during the crackdown? My own observations in the week following the crackdown indicated not much effect. In my daily travels in and around Colorado Springs, I still see long-expired tags. Today, as I was northbound on Marksheffel Road between Constitution and Woodman, I noticed a Greyish SUV with a month 10 of 2024 tab on its tag. Unfortunately, most of the number set was obscured (perhaps on purpose) so I could not read the plate number. Anyhow, just curious.

Jerry Zoebisch

Colorado Springs

Makes a person wonder

I am writing this letter in reference to the Article “French widow deported after overstaying 90-day visa” which I wish I had not read.

First, let me say, I am an 85-year-old Dinosaur who reads the complete Gazette Morning News Paper each morning. However, when I read that an 85-year-old woman was taken into Federal Immigration custody in her nightgown and was unable to take her phone, passport, or any other Identification with her to a Detention Facility in Louisiana from Alabama. I had to read the article twice. It makes a person wonder, who in the United States Government makes decisions like that?

Nathaniel J. Gilmore III

Colorado Springs

Impact on wildlife crossing

Reading your article on Saturday, April 18th, concerning a $5.00 fee added to car registration to help finance additional wildlife crossings — that seems reasonable and good.

Why, then, allow Buc-ees to build their monstrosity so close to the newest and most complex wildlife underpass to date? With constant lights, traffic, and noise, do you really think that wildlife will feel comfortable crossing?

Jeanne Sharpe

Elbert

Desperately need to wake up.

Eric Swalwell, when will we learn? It should be apparent, but obviously not, that what we have in Congress, in far too many numbers, are people who have forgotten or consciously chosen to ignore that they are actually there to serve us. For this, we are responsible.

We continually elect and reelect people to what amounts to a lifetime position of unfettered power. We do it unconsciously. Seldom do we ask who these people really are or what they truly represent; more often than not, only themselves. After they are elected we turn a blind eye to their fraudulent activities, their lack of a moral center, lack of ethical standards and their public arrogance toward us. We watch as they enact laws from which they exempt themselves. We nod to their insistence that they be treated as royalty. They rigidly impose prosecution on people they believe lied to them, but we never get to prosecute them for lying to us. We far too often see middle-level wage earners elected to Congress who suddenly become multi-millionaires while in office and never wonder how. We look at the membership of the Congress and never wonder why there are so few who represented their country as members of the military.

The real question might be, why are there so many of these people in Congress? Is it because we are lazy voters, too inattentive to ever question anything that does not affect us personally? We desperately need to wake up. We need to clear the trash, the fraudsters, the self enriching and the moral deviants out of this institution. Perhaps we need to reflect on Thomas Jefferson’s prescient advice that democracy needs an occasional house cleaning to remain vibrant and effective. Mid-term elections are coming up and we can do some house cleaning by voting reflectively and intelligently.

Kenneth R. REmerson, PhD, Colonel USAF, Ret.

Colorado Springs

What’s next in Colorado?

  When the Colorado legislators are in session, I get giddy every morning when I get out of bed. I can’t wait to see what our elected officials are working on every day. 

   What new legislation are they going to write or enact to help the lawbreakers and the illegals living in our state, or new laws and regulations that make the tax-paying Colorado citizens’ lives more painful and expensive? What we have witnessed in the past legislation has done nothing for the good of the people in Colorado.

    Colorado was the first State to legalize pot. We now see how successful that has been. The tax revenue has shrunk from $3.5 billion to just under $500 million. Not anywhere close to paying for the damage it has caused the taxpayers in human damage and loss.

     Legislators should be proud of how they have enshrined in the State constitution the most liberal abortion laws in the country. You can legally kill a newborn baby after it is born. In Colorado it is easier to kill a baby than adopt a dog!

      How about the new fentanyl possession law changed in 2025 from 1-4 grams of fentanyl to just 1 gram. To understand what that means 1gram=1000 milligrams, 2 milligrams=10-15 grains of salt. Two milligrams is a lethal dose of fentanyl. It’s now a level 4 felony. The fentanyl overdose death rate continues to rise.

      Another first in Colorado is to outlaw colorimetric drug testing in the field. Taking away more tools from the police in the field. Some random study from the University of Pennsylvania stated the test was only 60% right. Colorado is the first State in the Union to outlaw this testing procedure. Oh, yay another first for Colorado. Helping drug dealers and drug users.

       How about taking away the grocery store-supplied bags (FREE) to the store patrons? I am sure that the landfills are less full now. When I travel, I just bring bags home from another state.

       How successful has the reintroduction of the wolves to Colorado been? How much has it cost the taxpayers? Total failure!

       How about the Healthy School Meals for All program? Another successful program. The original estimate was 115 million in 2023-2024; the cost was 166 million. I am sure the program is a success for all the food providers and consumers. Not so much for the taxpayers. Families that can afford to provide their kids with meals don’t. Everyone eats for free! The Colorado taxpayer who funds this program earns over $300,000 a year. They also receive a tax deduction. Seems like a wash, all taxpayers get fleeced again.

     The Colorado taxpayer-funded EV program has cost us (taxpayers) 100s of millions of dollars. Between the New EV rebate and the charger costs which are partly paid by the federal government and the Colorado taxpayers is one of the biggest boondoggles in Colorado history.

      Remember, taxpayers, it can always get worse. Now that the state is broke, Denver is broke, Aurora is broke, you, the taxpayers, are next.  

Trig Travis

Aurora