The Durango Herald

A random selection of letters to the editor are available online daily. To read more letters, log on to the E-Herald or pick up a copy of our print edition.

Letters to the Editor

• Columns’ similarities wholly unintentional

All writers – yes, every single one, from T.S. Eliot to Martin Luther King to H.G. Wells to myself – take some of their inspiration from the work of others. Every so often though, unfortunately, the source of that inspiration ends up being a bit too apparent.

As was the case with my own column published in The Durango...

• Time to drown Postal Service in a bathtub

Day after day, I waited for my car keys to arrive. The U.S. Postal Service claims to deliver Priority Mail within two to three days, but more than a week had passed since they were mailed from Phoenix.

I had to assume they were lost for good. So I paid a locksmith to break into my car.

What was my crime? Trusting the USPS to...

• Support students with loan interest rate bill

Student loan debt is quickly becoming one of the worst slowers of economic growth in America. Already, total student loan debt has overtaken credit-card debt in terms of total outstanding balance. American students owe more than $1 trillion, collectively. According to May 10 story in The New York Times, this debt is keeping our youngest generation...

• Today’s scandal standard is perplexing

Our younger generation are masters of technology and are truly color blind. Young Americans are also blind to sexual orientation as well.

Boomers can take some credit for helping to advance civil rights. So where is the outrage and media uproar regarding Sen. John McCain’s off-the-cuff remarks last week? McCain said, “I met...

• Details on death did not belong in paper

I am disgusted at the personal details of an individual’s death that the Herald published (“Official: Durango man’s death was an accident,” Herald, May 14.)

The Herald should be ashamed that it allowed disrespectful details that where not needed to be included in the report on Taylor Folmar’s autopsy...

• Write letters to support veteran care

We are fifth-grade students at Needham Elementary School. We are doing a big project called exhibition. Our subject is the military and how people treat veterans. We interviewed five veterans, and three out of the five said they need a good local hospital. My grandfather has to drive three hours to get to a hospital.

We are writing to...

• Bag ban spurs cost-effective stockpile plan

As a concerned resident of Durango – concerned about my wallet and my freedom of choice, that is – I have made my decision regarding the coming bag ban. On my next trip to Farmington, I will buy several 1,000-count boxes of plastic bags. I can buy them for only $13.47, and I can bring them to the store with me when I shop in Durango.

• District 9-R wrong to end key programs

We are two Durango High School students who have worked in the Kids-2-Kids program and Life Class for the last three years, getting to know and love each “Life Student.” During the last three years, we have witnessed the strengths and weaknesses of each student, how well the program runs, and the great environment that has been...

• Council deserves praise for bag efforts

When I shop at the local grocery store, I am amazed that the checkers are still prompted to ask, “Is plastic OK?” We all know that plastic is not OK! You can use those bags only once or twice before they need to be discarded. They end up in landfills, trees or the ocean, and cannot be recycled in our new single-stream recycling...

• City should focus on issues other than bags

I have been reading about the city of Durango’s discussion about banning plastic bags in grocery stores. I find this to be ridiculous. Bags are recycled in many ways: pet litter pickup, leftovers sent home, lining garbage cans, lunch sacks, etc. This is a thinly disguised tax on all residents of the community. The cost of the bag has...

• Act now or kiss East, West coasts goodbye

I am a resident of Ignacio and also a Southern Ute tribal member. I recently read an article on Yahoo news and have been gaining much insight from my geology class at Pueblo Community College this semester on just how close we are to losing each of our coasts here in the United States.

As many are aware, we have created a greenhouse...

• City fine for speeding ticket is exorbitant

Several weeks ago, I was pulled over and ticketed for driving 10 mph over the speed limit on Roosa Avenue in Durango at 1 p.m. The police officer advised me that I could go to court or pay the ticket outright. He then showed me on the ticket that the fine was $140. Initially, I could not believe a ticket for exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph...

• Common sense and gun rights can coexist

The Second Amendment was put into the Constitution specifically to allow states to maintain armed militias. For more than 200 years, the Supreme Court upheld this interpretation.

In the 2008 Heller decision, the court ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment applied to an individual’s right to bear arms. However, even...

• Stop harming the Earth for convenience

I support the proposed plastic bag regulations. A couple of personal anecdotes underline the importance of the issue to us.

We were in Oahu several weeks ago, quite a distance off the coast doing the archetypical “dolphin swim” (lots of fun). My little boy pointed out a sea turtle and said “Look, it’s eating,...