Not the place for Buc-ee’s

Buc-ee’s is trying to build a travel center at County Line and I-25, near Monument and Palmer Lake.

Imagine, if you will, the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur. No, not the festival itself. Imagine hopping on the freeway and not being able to drive to Denver on the weekends during the summer. Why? Traffic.

Dead-stop traffic on I-25.

Now imagine this level of I-25 traffic DAILY. NIGHTLY. Every day and every night. I-25 a parking lot.

This is not the place for Buc-ee’s. Unlike Johnstown, which sits at 4,852 feet above sea level, the land in question today sits at 7,352 feet. It’s one of the most dangerous passes in Colorado. When townspeople asked the Buc-ee’s representatives what they would do when it snows, they said “we’d hire more snowplows”. They lied, saying their plan was in keeping with the town’s master plan. (It isn’t. The master plan documents list something that serves the local community, such as a feed store or restaurant.)

But the thing about life on the Palmer Divide is… you know you can’t just hire more snowplows. ALL the snowplows are out plowing the road for emergency vehicles when we get notable snow. It just goes to highlight how willfully ignorant these Buc-ee’s people are. They don’t care about safety. They don’t care about the towns. They only care about their money.

Don’t let someone else’s greed effectively cut the state in half. Traffic between Colorado Springs and Denver would be choked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Please say no to this proposed travel stop. Protect the residents of El Paso County. Enforce our zoning laws and master plans. Protect our wildlife, protect our dark skies, and protect our water supply.

Jennifer Wagner

Colorado Springs

Making an immeasurable mark

I’m writing to thank you for celebrating Julie Foster in The Gazette.

Julie was my longtime neighbor in Patty Jewett. She was involved in everything – delivered flyers for Patty Jewett Porchfest, provided lemonade for the Peppermint Patties kids group, shared her voice and ideas at Patty Jewett Neighborhood Association meetings, was a major investor in the Patty Jewett Junction playground project and more.

She and her husband Phil owned the commercial property on the corner of Corona and Columbia in Patty Jewett. When selecting tenants for the building, they curated and signed those who celebrated “community” thus the opening of Dogtooth Coffee which is now Good Neighbors Meeting House – a gathering place for neighbors and friends in the center of Patty Jewett.

Her mark on mental health is immeasurable. Her son, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, drove her to find others who could understand and find community and belonging for their children. NAMI is a gift to the Pikes Peak region, and we have her to thank for its early beginnings.

But I will remember her for delivering on what it meant to be a good neighbor, to live outside the walls of your own home for the betterment of others and one’s own community.

If Mr. Rogers had made a cameo in Patty Jewett, Julie would have been one of the “people in the neighborhood” that you visited. She was a touchstone for intown neighbors and a light in our city and world.

Amy Triandiflou

Colorado Springs

There is much to regret

Writers Glenys Echavarri and Holly Norton are very kind, warning us that tragic events in our “collective history” might be upsetting. This is the type of opening salvo that prompts irritation and eye rolls.

The measure of regrettable European/Native conflicts is one of scale, not of type. We forget Natives are humans too, and it might be upsetting learning that slavery, murder, war, and rape (female kidnapping) were normal between Native tribes before Europeans arrived. Further, Natives sought European horses and weapons subsequently used on Indigenous enemies. This tragedy is not so much an American/Native failing but humanity’s tragic and collective human story.

There is much to regret in Native loss (deaths and culture) but there were many of both groups seeking to live in peace, many killed despite their best attempts. Even with regards to slavery and Natives, many White Americans were against the unjust treatment of both groups yet this history is ignored as it doesn’t fit the “woke” bias requiring only European-Americans be racist and America is irredeemably flawed. I hope this regrettable truth doesn’t upset our writers by showcasing human relations going back to when our first scavenger-ancestors dropped from the trees.

Historians must understand how all the parts fit into the whole, and be humble while studying history, realizing our brains are not so different from our predecessors – categorizing “us” and “them” – leading to regrettable acts on all sides. The challenge persists today. In this light, how far we’ve come should inspire affirmation we are evolving.

E. W. MacEnulty II, Ph.D.

Colorado Springs