Women in sports: Being a girl should never hold you back (Letters)
Being a girl should never hold you back
Re: “Denver set to crush women’s sports record next month – and the team’s not done peaking,” Feb. 4 sports commentary
In a recent column by Sean Keeler, the excitement surrounding Denver Summit FC highlights how powerful women’s sports can be when they’re given real opportunities.
As a girl who plays highly competitive soccer, I know firsthand what it’s like to crave the same opportunities and treatment that men receive in team sports. The hard work, the bond with teammates, and the highs and lows of competition create an experience like no other, and both girls and boys deserve that because both are fully capable of competing.
This matters because when women compete in sports, they show little girls everywhere that they can pursue any sport or passion they choose, and that being a girl should never hold them back, despite what some may say. Overall, women who compete in team sports are strong and embody everything women can achieve. I hope to see more accomplishments like Denver Summit FC’s for women across the world in every type of sport.
Josie Sima, Castle Pines
Editor’s note: Sima is a player for ECNL Real Colorado
The idea of ICE running massive detention centers
Re: “ICE’s purchases marked by secrecy, frustrate towns,” Feb. 22 news story
The article about Immigration and Customs Enforcement buying warehouses to hold detainees is a good start in shedding light on the issues surrounding these purchases, but more needs to be illuminated.
Of course, we must first and foremost never forget the immorality of human beings being literally warehoused in private prisons where owners have a profit motive to keep conditions in a cheap, inhumane status. Most ICE detention facilities are run by private prison companies.
The Department of Homeland Security is trying to build facilities that will hold anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 humans. For perspective, the Louisiana State Penitentiary holds about 6,300 prisoners and employs about 1,800 staff. This prison is notorious for having often been sued for inhumane and brutal conditions.
For ICE to run its proposed 5,000 to 10,000 prisoner warehouses, it will likely need 1,500 to 3,000 trained staff at each of the dozen or more facilities. In a time of well-documented shortages of corrections officers throughout the country, including Colorado, how is ICE going to find staff in those numbers of good character and background? And can we count on ICE to give them adequate training on the rights and treatment of humans in their custody? ICE certainly hasn’t done such a great job with its street officers’ training and recruitment.
Will these facilities and the other ICE abuses become visible and concrete warning signs of what our great nation could become?
Ethan Feldman, Littleton
Reclaimed sewage water shouldn’t be used on Colorado’s ski slopes
Re: “Endangered snowpack,” Denver Post three-part series on climate and ski industry, Feb. 15-17
The Denver Post series on the future of Colorado skiing and on the economic health of mountain communities correctly blames the impacts of climate change. Winter temperatures are rising, precipitation patterns are changing, and annual snowpacks are declining.
Without optimal below-freezing temperatures, the solution is not simply transporting more water uphill to do snowmaking, a process that will disturb mountain habitats and require substantial energy.
Of additional concern, the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission will consider in April allowing the use of treated sewage water for snowmaking. Unfortunately, many Colorado wastewater treatment facilities are outdated and unable to meet discharge standards for contaminants. Some are operating on expired permits.
Reclaimed water could contain residuals not removed during ordinary wastewater treatment processes, such as pathogens, medicines, personal care products, pesticides, heavy metals, radioactive materials, de-icing salts, PFAs (“forever chemicals”) and other toxins.
Little is known about the impacts of these pollutants on fragile high-altitude soils and pristine mountain streams. Until there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate the safety of using treated wastewater for snowmaking, every precaution should be taken to protect public health and the environment.
Surely skiers, especially children, deserve more than signage warning to avoid eating the snow.
Kirkwood M. Cunningham, Boulder
Editor’s note: Cunningham is the Water Quality Committee Chair for the Sierra Club Colorado Chapter.
Get to know the science on climate change
Re: “Reduced snowpack – is it a sign of things to come, or a temporary weather pattern?” Feb. 22 letters to the editor
I want to thank The Denver Post for publishing the two letters responding to the three-part series on the effects of climate change on the ski industry. This shows there is no “confirmation bias” of The Denver Post.
Both letters were perfect examples of the climate-denial mentality and lack of a basic understanding of the science behind the story. The extreme weather on the East Coast and the freezing over of Lake Erie and Lake Champlain are examples of weather variability caused by global climate change.
The changes to the climate cycle did not happen overnight. It has been a gradual and cumulative process caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and is accelerating as we continue to reach “tipping points” in CO2 levels in the atmosphere. The science is supported by facts and data collected and analyzed by the dedicated professionals at NCAR, which is now the political punching bag of the current climate-denying president and his administration, and is facing being dismantled. The lack of past snowfall graphs in the story does not discredit the science and the look to the future and the impact on the ski industry.
Jim McKeeman, Aurora
The letter mentions “The Colorado ski industry uses a tremendous amount of Colorado River water to make snow.” True enough. However, that water is more correctly stored on the slopes. Some is beneficially absorbed into the soil, and the majority melts. Where exactly does this meltwater go, if not back into the river?
This ski season validates the important need for machine-made snow to help our economically critical ski industry. Think snow!
Dave Montanari, Fort Collins
Bennet plays politics — well or to his downfall?
Re: “Sen. Bennet should not get to pick his replacement,” and “Legal prostitution in Colorado more liberal than Nevada’s rural brothels?” Feb. 22 commentaries
Both Kent Thiry and Krista Kafer had great columns last Sunday. I would like to add a little commentary to each of them.
First Thiry brings up the “Bennet” problem. Sen. Michael Bennet refuses to resign from the Senate while he runs for governor. Bennet has been feeding at the political trough for many years. His first term as a U.S. senator had him running for president. Unfortunately for his ambitions, Iowans only gave him some 190 votes in their primary. Sen. Bennet should give up his Senate seat to run for governor, but wouldn’t. His fear is that there would be a chance of him losing and not having a taxpayer job.
Professional politicians are the bane of our society.
Kafer’s column was right on. I worked in law enforcement in the 1970s. Prostitution on East Colfax was crazy. Hookers would solicit near businesses for customers, and the businesses suffered greatly. Prostitution affects the quality of neighborhoods greatly. Kids going to school while prostitutes and their customers prowl in the area degrades the whole neighborhood. And yes, drugs were a big part of the whole enterprise.
Michael Scanlan, Arvada
Kent Thiry’s premise, should Sen. Michael Bennet become Colorado’s next governor, is laughable. Essentially, he feels the replacement should be chosen by the people, via an election.
A little civics lesson here: Each state has their own rules for how replacements are handled. Most leave it to the governor to appoint someone to finish the current term. Then an election occurs. Basically, this is an indirect way of using the people’s voice. It shortens the process and immediately puts someone in Washington to represent this state. Historically, the majority of the time, the replacement has been of the same party as the void that was created.
In Colorado, should Sen. Bennet become Gov. Bennet, it really doesn’t matter if Gov. Jared Polis fills the seat or it waits until the new governor takes office. Both are Democrats and odds are the senator’s seat will be filled with a Democrat, which is actually enacting the people’s choice since it was the people who put a Democrat into that senatorial seat.
Demanding that person be named now is a shallow attempt at saying Thiry wants to be able to vote for both governor and whoever the replacement may or may not be. It doesn’t work that way. Any candidate who plays into Thiry’s hands would be naive to do so (let’s not forget that we have not even determined yet who will actually be our gubernatorial candidates).
Krista Igoe, Littleton
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