Brief by Martha Quillen
Current events – April 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Not So Peaceful Peace March
On February 15th, more than a million people marched for peace in Rome and Barcelona; ¾ of a million in London; 70,000 in Toronto; and hundreds of thousands gathered in U.S. cities — without incident. At the same time, 3,000 to 4,000 protesters assembled in Colorado Springs — where police resorted to tear gas, rubber bullets and a stun gun.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Luis Velez claims that police warned people to disperse at least 50 times before his officers used gas, but protesters failed to disperse.
According to many demonstrators, however, the crowd had already dispersed when the police resorted to tear gas. And several protesters complained that they were overcome by gas in the parking lot while trying to leave.
Numerous citizens from Chaffee County attended the event and other participants posted their versions of what happened on the web, but most had different tales to tell — depending on where they were when things went wrong. Some demonstrators thought that the rally was dispersed because it was running overtime; others thought it was terminated because a few young people were acting rowdy and disrespectful toward police. Some protesters thought that the police shut the highway to thwart the demonstrators, but police said they stopped traffic due to disturbances at an intersection. Although the majority of peace rally participants felt that tear gas was totally unnecessary, a few blamed disruptive demonstrators rather than police for the mayhem.
The Colorado Springs police have subsequently promised to develop new tactics for handling crowds. Among the suggestions: the rally should not be near such a busy highway, and there should be more police presence and more overt video-taping going on so that law-breakers will realize that they aren’t anonymous.
To War or Not to War
Merle Baranczyk, editor and publisher of the Salida Mountain Mail, supports President Bush’s position on war, and Jim Little, editor and publisher of the Wet Mountain Tribune in Westcliffe, does not. In recent weeks, citizens in Central Colorado have weighed in on both sides, vociferously agreeing and disagreeing with America’s current policy — and their local newspapers.
In Cañon City, people have been writing to The Daily Record to support both war and peace, and Linda Hyatt, the mother of a young man who is in the Middle East, has started a support group for people with loved ones in the military.
[Yard banner: Attack Iraq]
In early March, national polls showed that 65% of Democrats were against the war, and many other citizens were concerned about the President’s willingness to take unilateral action. Although supporters of the administration still hoped to get international approval, with France, Germany and Russia against a war in Iraq, Bush was adamant about America’s right to go it alone — and Merle Baranczyk was only one of many to declare that allowing the U.N. to determine U.S. “security interests” was foolish.
But millions in Europe were just as adamant about why the U.S. shouldn’t go to war with Iraq.
Wet Mountain Tribune columnist Doris Dembosky has been in England where Tony Blair supports U.S. objectives, but hardly anyone else seems to. In a recent London newspaper poll, 47% of Brits agreed that America is a bully seeking to dominate the world, and Dembosky wrote home about London demonstrators marching, carrying placards and singing (to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”):
“If you cannot find Osama, Bomb Iraq/If the markets are a drama/Bomb Iraq. If the terrorists are frisky/ Pakistan is looking shifty, North Korea is too risky, Bomb Iraq.”
In Leadville, the editor of the Herald-Democrat, concluded that the prospect of war in Iraq is dividing Americans (even though that particular paper has printed very few letters about the issue, either pro or con).
In Denver, a DU professor has released a threat analysis which contends that Iraq is not an imminent threat to the U.S. (it’s available at www.prioritypeace.org).
Here, there, and everywhere in the United States, citizens are rebuking anti-war protesters for being unpatriotic, traitorous, and cowardly. Yes, Americans are divided over whether the U.S. should go to war.
[Bumper sticker: Attack Iraq? No]
In Crestone, however, almost everyone seems to agree on peace, and they’ve taken it a step further. Crestone Peaceworkers are currently protesting the U.S. Patriot Act, and trying to restore lost civil rights. (For information about that group check www.crestonepeaceworkers.org or call Dan Bishop at 719-530-1481 or Tom Wallis at 719-256-5061.)
Currently, Bush is pushing for a late March deadline on U.N. negotiations. If Saddam Hussein hasn’t totally co-operated with U.N. inspectors — or resigned — when Bush’s new deadline passes, America goes to war. But as of March 11, not too many countries seemed eager to sign on to accompany the U.S.
And this time around, even war won’t end the protests. National gatherings are already scheduled into April and beyond — regardless of what action the President takes in the meantime — and presuming that war is declared, activists in Salida (and elsewhere) plan to congregate promptly to show their ongoing opposition.
Don’t Let Them Talk You Into Anything
Recent snowstorms have replenished basins in Central Colorado, but not enough, so everybody seems to be talking about water projects. Unfortunately, however, there are no easy fixes, even though promoters can sure make a proposed project look like a dream come true.
Recently, Merle Baranczyk, publisher of the Salida Mountain Mail, wrote an editorial lauding the proposed Union Park project — now called the Central Colorado Project. But Baranczyk failed to mention that the project has already been rejected by a judge who concluded that there wasn’t enough water available to support it; and Baranczyk didn’t say how the hydroplants downstream were supposed to run with less water, either; nor did he mention that the project might threaten wildlife and habitat at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Another popular project, supported by many, is the so-called Big Straw. It would divert water below those federal hydroplants and the Black Canyon, but water quality is expected to be poor, since nitrates, pesticides, mineral salts, and other contaminants will join the river on its long and winding way to the state border.
The Big Straw relies on all of that “extra water” which project proponents say we’re letting Utah and Arizona have — even though we’re entitled to it. But before supporting this costly project, citizens should note that during drought years there isn’t nearly as much “extra” water as project figures usually imply. All in all, the Big Straw may be feasible, but it will be monumentally expensive, and may not be worth pursuing; that’s why Colorado’s congress wanted a study to look into it.
And of course, there are numerous proposed reservoirs, too. Which brings us to our biggest problem in Colorado. Diversions, Big Straws, and reservoirs won’t serve us well during drought years, because there isn’t enough water to divert if there isn’t enough snow and rain to replenish supplies.
But since we’re all thinking about water these days — and hoping for simple solutions — promoters are out in full force trying to talk us into building projects which will serve their limited purposes.
And what are those purposes? It depends upon the project. Most of the proposed diversions would serve front range cities, allowing them to grow — which may be a very bad idea if this drought continues or worsens.
And several of the reservoirs that have been proposed in recent years will primarily serve developers, making it easier to sell more land and water.
So remember: snow and rain bring water; reservoirs merely store it and diversions simply move it. During persistent droughts there often isn’t enough water to store or divert. But that doesn’t stop promoters from trying to exploit our water worries and get us to agree to projects that will line their pockets.
Isn’t War, Drought, and Pestilence Enough?
In a recent Mountain Mail feature, Tom Sobal, a snowshoe racer, bicyclist, and burro racer, said that he wanted to go to career fairs to tell kids: “I’m a professional athlete. Don’t do it.”
Sobal went on to explain that professional athletes don’t make much unless they’re in high profile sports. But at least Sobal’s not alone. Most people in Central Colorado don’t make much money.
In fact, Wet Mountain Tribune editor, Jim Little, recently wrote an editorial about poverty in Custer County. “It’s inevitable that some families live in need,” he wrote. “But when more than one household in 10 is categorized as impoverished something is clearly wrong.”
With the recession worsening, Central Coloradans are worried about local economics, and well they should. Recently both Excel and Atmos Energy asked the Public Utilities Commission to approve rate hikes; the city of Salida asked for higher sewer rates and tap fees; the state of Colorado has slashed the Colorado Council on the Arts budget by almost a million dollars; school and library budgets throughout our state have been trimmed; gas prices are sky-rocketing; tourism is at a seasonal low; and now everyone seems worried that this shoulder season may turn into a permanent slump.
But let’s look at the bright side. After all, it’s April and President Bush is a tax-friendly leader, always looking to cut our taxes. So even if you haven’t made enough to get a refund this year, maybe next year….
According to an article in the New York Review of Books by Joseph Stiglitz, Professor of Economics and Finance at Columbia, and former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank, if Bush’s latest tax proposal had been applied to 2001 incomes, the average American would have gotten nearly $100 back; whereas Bush would have gotten $44,500; Cheney would have saved $326,555; and John Snow (Bush’s secretary of the Treasury) would have received $600,000.
So all the average Central Coloradan has to do is hang in there for a few years, and maybe someday he’ll earn enough to get some money back — presuming there’s any left in the U.S. Treasury by then.
Unhealthy Health Care
According to a Denver Post feature as many as one million Coloradans may be uninsured. And who are the uninsured? They tend to be people working for small companies; forty-five percent of them work full time all year, 17% work full time part of the year, and about 18% work part time; more than 50% are 25 to 54 years old; and they typically make too much to qualify for government assistance, but not enough to shell out $300 to $500 a month for insurance.
At the same time for those who have insurance, plans have become more threadbare and costly; waits to see a doctor are longer; and hospitals are more expensive.
According to one doctor, those in the trenches are wary about overusing the word ‘crisis.’ “But there really in no other way to say it.”
Cotter Corp Stores Containers
In early March, Florence residents found out that the Cotter Corporation was storing low-level radioactive ore in 30 one-ton containers inside their city limits. According to Cotter, the company was merely storing the ore in the yard of a trucking company until the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment gave them permission to use it in a pilot processing program.
A Cotter representative claims that the ore — “a combination of zirconium, .04 percent uranium and 2 percent thorium” — is so low in radioactivity that warning placards aren’t required. But Sharyn Cunningham of Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste says the company’s “characterization of the ore as harmless is false.” According to her the uranium is at a low level, but not the thorium.
After Florence citizens complained, the state gave Cotter permission to move the ore to its mill near Cañon City. But residents of Lincoln Park, a suburb of Cañon City, are already concerned about their safety in living near Cotter’s mill.
California Here They Come
In December of 1995, we ran a poignant feature by Richard Harris, about why he had to give up his little corner drugstore in Salida and take a job as a pharmacist at the local Safeway. For several years thereafter, Richard furnished friendly service at Safeway, and his wife Debby managed the Made in Colorado Shop. But now they’re bound for San Diego; they’ll be missed.
Over the River, and Through the Park
Christo and Jean-Claude’s plans to drape a stretch of the Arkansas River have been put on hold while they complete “The Gates” in Central Park, in which twenty-three miles of walkways will be draped in translucent fabric. “The Gates” was originally proposed in 1979, and is scheduled to go on display in 2005.
The artists’ “Over the River” project was originally scheduled to go on display in 2003, then 2004, but is currently suspended. Despite delays, however, the artists are still actively pursuing environmental assessments and permits for their proposed Colorado project.
Springtime in the Rockies
As February waned into March, avalanches claimed three lives in three weeks in Chaffee County. In response, experts urged that everyone employ extreme caution in the high country, and they warned against relying too heavily on high-tech locaters and equipment — for even with the best equipment on hand, getting buried alive can be deadly.
