July 10, 2003

New middle class run by, for big business

Forgive me if, when I waved the flag this Fourth of July, it was with a limp wrist. At 79, I have just been bumped from my HMO. By return mail, after I informed them of a temporary change of address from Denver to Fort Collins, they told me it was over, as of that very day, because of a "federal regulation." Which regulation of which federal agency negotiated by which HMO lobbyist they could not say.

Welcome to the new middle class in the new United States of America run by and for big business. Feisty old lady that I am, my first impulse was to fight to stay in my health plan, one of the few, according to the Rocky Mountain News, that's turning a profit in this state. Then I remembered arriving at the emergency office of this same HMO last year bleeding so profusely from my throat that I was filling up the pan I clutched under my chin. Silly me, I thought I could go directly in to see a medic. Certainly not. I had to wait in line and pay the bill first.

Is this a plan worth fighting to get back into?

How does all this relate to the Fourth of July? In case anyone hasn't noticed, we are heading in the direction of the Third World with its extremes of wealth and poverty, a pattern that has persisted through most of history. Health care, education, social services, police and fire departments, environmental protection - all the things that make us a democratic society run for the benefit of its people - are being degraded. Corporations and the super-rich are buying our government and reframing it in their own interests.

I can only feel lucky, this Fourth of July just past, to have benefited from living my life under a democratic system, one that's a mere blip on the screen of history. It comes with no guarantees. If we want to keep it, it's time for another revolution before a new old order is riveted in place. Thomas Jefferson would have agreed.

Meanwhile, thanks Tom. It was a wonderful ride while it lasted.

Adeline McConnell
Fort Collins

Effective rehab efforts shunned by media

The News' June 26 editorial, "Better policing, tough sentencing still matter," expressed well the need for strong police forces and tough judges. But I question the expertise of the "expert" quoted throughout the piece.

The editorial gave not one mention of the two 'R' words that best describe the current problem of crime in America - rehabilitation and recidivism.

If we had to worry only about first-time offenders, criminality would be a mere annoyance to the community at large. But, the fact is that 85 percent of the people in Colorado's prisons are repeat offenders. And "rehabilitation" has become a sad joke.

Unfortunately, the News failed to carry a June 18 report issued by the University of Pennsylvania showing that effective rehabilitation programs are available to America's jail and prison administrations. The independent university study revealed that Prison Fellowship's InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), an innovative program launched in Houston in 1997, is 92 percent effective in turning men from lives of crime.

The program now operates in Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota. So, why aren't all states and prisons, including Colorado's, jumping on the IFI bandwagon? Because it's Christian-based, and prejudices against anything Christian run deep in certain political circles, as well as in newsrooms. We know, because we have been going into jails and prisons in Colorado for 23 years, and have 82 specific ministries staffed by 200 volunteers, but you never hear about us. Nor does anyone write about us, because success doesn't matter unless it comes from "expert" secular sources. And government support of our work is an "unthinkable" concept within the formal and informal power structures of the state.

Ron Mallett
Volunteer director, Shekinah Christian Ministries

Longmont

Inflammatory words hamper investigation

The barrage of inflammatory public statements has begun in the tragic incident where a black teenager was shot by police.

Before an investigation has published any findings, the News' Bill Johnson has already produced a column emphasizing the suffering of families of those shot by police ("Wails of slain children's mothers a familiar dirge," July 9). The entire column gives the impression that these were black children slain for no reason other than police brutality.

In another article the same day, "Alliance calls for federal inquiry," the Rev. James D. Peters Jr. of New Hope Baptist Church is quoted as saying that Officer James Turney would be "more at home in the white sheets of the Ku Klux Klan" and referred to him as a "vagabond child-killer." The Rev. Reginald Holmes of New Covenant Christian Church said, "It is the height of arrogance . . . to say that the officer was within his rights to kill this child." These irresponsible statements only lead to further hostility and make it more difficult for an investigation to be balanced and impartial.

It is very unfortunate that people with opportunity to be quoted in the media choose to assign blame so quickly and virulently. If they had the experience of facing a person coming at them with a weapon, they might have a better idea of the critical decisions that must be made in split seconds. The fact that a potential killer is physically or mentally impaired certainly does not make him less dangerous.

These public statements from black community leaders are just as racist and bigoted as similar statements would be about a black policeman who shot a white teenager. It works both ways.

Barbara Meyers
Littleton

Childs case questions

I totally agree with the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver district attorney regarding the investigation of the Paul Childs police shooting incident ("Keep Childs probe with Denver DA," July 8).

Two questions I haven't seen addressed are: Just who called who in the first place? Someone at the Childs residence called 911, right? The 911 center didn't call their house and ask if they wanted help. Second, why did that someone make that call? 911 is for emergency aid, not for a nursemaid, a counselor, a baby sitter or a psychiatrist! What do people expect when they call 911?

M.L. Doyle
Castle Rock

Lookout Mountain tower plan is best

Over the last several months, metro area media have made mention of the Lookout Mountain radio and television tower proposal and other alternatives to the "antenna farm" up there ("Jeffco planning panel backs proposed tower," May 15, and "780 minutes of hearings on 730-foot TV tower," July 2). Squaw Mountain has been mentioned, as has Mount Morrison. However, on the basis of all information the media has published, and what I gather from other sources, it seems the Lake Cedar Group has the best plan. Also, keeping broadcast towers on Lookout Mountain seems to be the best technical solution to broadcasting needs of both radio and TV stations.

But the most important consideration is the health and safety aspect of it all. The area residents, and employees who work at the facilities, do not have to worry about excess radio frequency power and radiation. Lake Cedar Group and its member stations are "going the extra mile" to see that all federal and local standards (which are quite strict) are being met, or even improved upon. They even propose to fund an ongoing independent monitoring of radio frequency emissions to ensure they stay at a safe level. And, their new construction would improve the visual aspects of the "antenna farm," too.

I strongly urge the Jefferson County commissioners to unanimously approve the proposal by Lake Cedar Group for Lookout Mountain. It is the best of all alternatives.

Gordon R. Spendlove
Lakewood

Broadcast tower issue is all about money

The fact is that the broadcast tower dispute in Jefferson County is about money ("780 minutes of hearings on 730-foot TV tower," July 2).

Urban area broadcast towers throughout the United States are on top of tall buildings. Broadcasters pay for the use of the existing structures. In Denver, they obviously do not wish to negotiate with the owners of downtown office buildings. Virtually all of the existing broadcast transmitters on Lookout Mountain now are in violation of zoning regulations and the Jefferson County commissioners have shown no stomach for enforcing their own rules.

Why on earth would any government agency grant a further variance to those who already disregard the rules? If Squaw Mountain is not adequate, then the broadcasters might have to bear the expense of using repeaters to reach additional viewers. As I said, it is all about money. My opposition also is about money. I don't care to have my property values degraded so the broadcast industry can save a few bucks.

Lawrence H. Kaufman
Golden

Littwin mistaken; ruling isn't 'progress'

In his column of June 28, "Critics quiet on sodomy ruling," Mike Littwin closes with this sentence: "Now, if you listen closely, you'll hear the six justices calling their ruling a sign of progress."

However, one could use a much better word than "progress" to describe what the court did: "progression."

"Progress" would seem to indicate a movement to something better and more appropriate.

But to millions of us who hold that a superior wisdom is still at play in this old world, this decision was certainly not a movement to something better and more appropriate.

No, it merely follows the line of social "progression" that includes acceptance of homosexuality (though a perversion of nature); deterioration of the meaning of "marriage"; abortion (including the killing of viable life as in partial-birth procedures); jury nullification; acceptance of the breach of law by illegal immigrants; tasteless entertainment fare, including slick TV preachers who enrich themselves on false teaching; etc.

And, stand by, social "progress" is just getting under way. As one might say, "Cheer up, the worst is yet to come."

Boyce Ruegsegger
Lakewood

Hinson's faux pas

In the June 20 edition of the Rocky Mountain News, Dick Hinson, vice president of the Aurora Economic Development Council, endorses Mel's Bar & Grill and Chinook Tavern as power meal venues.

Plugging eateries in Denver's Cherry Creek seems like an odd activity for someone who presumably makes a living encouraging people to do business in Aurora. Hinson's public relations counselor should have recommended that he say something nice about at least one restaurant within the Aurora city limits, say La Cueva, one of my favorites.

Jack Farrar
Denver

Cryptic allusions

Why has the R---- M------- News resorted to cryptic allusions to get crude language? I'm referring to "On-air slur turns poker face red" (July 8). I fail to see the news value of the whole incident, and of course no one will misread your dot-dot-dot typography. Are you o-- o- y--- minds?

Murry Unell
Centennial

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