Creating veterinary “PAs” would provide more care for Colorado pets
Re: “I’m a veterinarian and a lawmaker; don’t let big businesses undermine pet care,” June 13 commentary and “Protecting animals or protectionism? The rhetoric around online vet care,” June 23 commentary
As three veterinarians who have started veterinary hospitals and practiced in Colorado for many years, we would like to express our support for Initiative 145. This November ballot measure would create a new Veterinary Professional Associate (VPA) position in Colorado. Like the Physician’s Assistant (PA) position we have all benefited from for 50 years in human medicine, these individuals would be able to do myriad important tasks for animals in hospitals, clinics and shelter settings, helping to relieve the veterinary shortages that exist now.
It is exciting to think that veterinarians would have the opportunity to hire VPAs to increase the effectiveness of their veterinary teams by conducting routine wellness exams, diagnosing minor conditions, performing procedures, and treating patients, all under the supervision of licensed veterinarians. Colorado State University is preparing such a program, and as graduates of CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, we feel assured that this program will be designed well.
Students would be welcomed as assets by many veterinarians in the state upon graduation from the master’s degree program in veterinary care. This position would also give another choice to students who excel at scientific knowledge yet do not want to obtain a very expensive 4-year doctor of veterinary medicine degree, keeping these individuals in the veterinary profession.
Dr. Paige Garnett, Golden; Dr. Kim Stone, Denver; and Dr. Randa MacMillan, Littleton
Assassination attempt comments: Apologies necessary?
Re: “Assassination attempt: The gamut of wrong responses from some Coloradans,” July 21 commentary
I suppose that Krista Kafer will have to place me in the category of “wrong, wrong, wrong, and also wrong.” I think that state Rep. Steven Woodrow’s comment, “The last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil,” is an astute thought, requiring no apology at all. I’m receptive to a Faustian metaphor, as there may be no precedent in our political history for the level of greed for power and money – not to mention the inveterate mendacity – embodied by Donald Trump. Mephistopheles walks among us.
Wrong, Krista. And history is your weakest suit. It is neither rhetoric nor hyperbole to draw an analogy between MAGA’s playbook and that of traditional fascism. In both, we find the fomentation of mistrust of democratic systems. We find the demonization of a selected group as a threat to racial purity. We find the implementation of the (Joseph Goebbels) doctrine that if a lie is big enough and told often enough, people will eventually believe it.
Of course, both playbooks include the obligatory army of ready-to-mobilize goons. And as in Germany in the thirties, we see many who were once patriots now succumbing to fear and fealty. This observation has been made by more than a few analysts and historians, not just by Trump’s standard critics.
Scott Newell, Denver
“Wrong, wrong, wrong, and also wrong,” begins Krista Kafer’s column in last week’s Perspective pages of The Denver Post. I agree wholeheartedly with her that “violence is immoral and violence directed at elected officials and candidates all the more so because it is an attack on the nation.” I agree and appreciate her comment that “(h)istory shows that mental illness rather than partisan politicking is what drives most political assassins.”
I welcome her research on the mental health statuses of the presidential shooters, although I’m not sure I agree that Lee Harvey Oswald was mentally ill.
I do not agree with her naming of two local offenders or the Denver Post’s editor allowing that naming to occur. We do indeed live in some wild and crazy times, as comic Steve Martin used to say. It’s no laughing matter to publicly shame two people who should have thought before they opened their yaps. It very well could be dangerous, and it does nothing to “lower the temperature.”
David C. Mathews, Highlands Ranch
Krista Kafer’s recent column on various responses to the Trump assassination attempt, and frankly, the Post’s publication of it unfairly targets and shames an individual Jeffco school teacher, whose distasteful social media post was likely intended only for her circle of friends. This public “outing”, which took top billing in Kafer’s lament, may have lent some drama to the column, but it did so in the form of a personal attack, putting the teacher (fully named and identified by employer) at risk to her career and possibly her safety.
If Kafer wants to castigate certain elected officials or analyze their various tweets, that’s fair game, as their social media accounts are considered an extension of their public functions. While I, and the vast majority of Coloradans, don’t condone the school teacher’s social media post, Kafer and The Denver Post have clearly stepped out of bounds here.
Peter Ehrlich, Denver
Unity is not part of the platform
Re: “President Trump’s resilience under fire is a defining moment for America,” July 21 letter to the editor
First, Donald Trump is not the president. Second, Trump rarely, if ever, demonstrates “civility and public discourse.” “Vitriolic discourse” is about all I’ve heard coming out of Trump’s mouth for the past eight years. The first time I ever heard Trump talk about unity was after being shot. It has been “us against them” for the last eight years. Listen to his inauguration speech; at no point does he talk about unity or bringing the country together.
Gary Bagstad, Denver
Congress: Too lucrative to retire
Re: “Why is Congress filled with old people,” July 21 commentary
I’m surprised the author, a political science professor, missed the most obvious cause and solution for this situation. The cause: money — how much they make in salary and speaking fees while they are in office, as well as how they make money after they leave office – a generous pension, writing books and being lobbyists. If it wasn’t so lucrative, do you really think they would stay in office for so long? The solution: term limits. With a limited time in office, they might be more focused on policy, and it really would not matter how old they are – they would be forced to “retire” when their term limits are up. Seems straightforward to me.
Steve Uretsky, Highlands Ranch
When developers taketh away
Re: “Water didn’t divide Twin Lakes; a developer’s greedy move alienated him,” July 11 editorial
The Denver Post’s editorial opinion regarding the recent drying up of Twin Lakes’ Barn Pond by a developer wanting to “subdivide the land into 18 lots that are marketed online at beginning prices of one million” is spot on.
These words alone describe the incredible greed of developers who are more than willing to disrespect and disregard local cultural and economic norms in their pursuit of the almighty dollar. But, while developers come and go, the economic and environmental damage they might cause remains for cash-strapped rural economies to deal with.
Why don’t these developments enrich local economies? Other than construction costs, part-time residents normally spend very little money in their local communities. These part-time residents do, however, demand expanded electrical grid, fire protection, road maintenance, and law enforcement services.
So, the cost of these expanded services isn’t always supported by the property taxes that luxury homeowners pay. The result is that local property taxes and utility fees continue to climb, even for those locals who are least able to afford it.
In Chaffee County, we still have our board of commissioners to consider the facts of this case. In similar situations, other counties and communities might not be so fortunate.
Gary E. Goms, Buena Vista
Thank you for the editorial regarding Twin Lakes’ Barn Pond. A Texas developer diverted water from this pond to create luxury acreage with private streams and lakes for vacation homesites. The serene pond is a puddle, the wetlands wasted and habitat destroyed. This is one outcome of the Supreme Court’s Sackett vs. EPA decision, which choked wetlands from the Clean Water Act. The Sacketts of Idaho wanted a home exactly over existing wetlands; Clean Water Act be damned. Property rights trump common sense.
Twin Lakes welcomed visitors to the Barn Pond; real estate development swept it away.
Victoria Swearingen, Denver
U.S. Census: Challenging, yet crucial
Re: “Census takers to conduct test runs in the South and West,” July 24 news story
I wholeheartedly support the efforts by the Department of Commerce to improve its Census operations, resulting in better government representation and, ultimately, the distribution of federal funding.
As a census worker in 2019, my job was to go into my assigned areas, locate specific properties, knock on hundreds of doors, and interview owners or occupants to determine structure type and purpose. This information would be used in conducting the actual 2020 census. I felt I was well-trained.
However, in reality, the endeavor necessitated very long hours, many miles driving through mountain or rural areas, and persistent yet polite interactions with many folks who would either not answer their door, questioned my (or the government’s) purpose, refused to speak, sent me on my way, or expected me to take their political views back to my supervisor. In many cases I could not find extremely rural properties or reach homes with gates, etc. Many people just didn’t appreciate or understand the value of this process. One person simply let his dog out to chase me away.
These, I feel, were contributing factors to what I am sure were many inaccuracies in the 2020 census, leading to many areas being under-represented today across the U.S. We live in a different world in the 21st century. Citizens from all walks of life feel undervalued, and in many cases, they are. The Census process may not be perfect, but it is necessary to have a fair government that serves all of us.
Gary Rauchenecker, Golden
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