LETTERS: Wolves don't belong here; what's the hardship? (2024)

Wolves don’t belong here

Wolves are beautiful...Wolves are dangerous and are not man’s best friend.

I have run a couple to smaller herds of cattle in Wyoming and can relate to most of the problems of depredation the ranchers in northern Colorado have been dealing with for some time now. It was just unfortunate the clueless “peoples” of Boulder and Denver over-rode the votes of the rest of Colorado with the misguided notion that “Wolves belong in Colorado”. If they truly belonged in Colorado then why was it necessary to search out known killer wolves to drag into the state?

Difference of opinion is fine in horse racing, actually necessary. Difference of opinion in this wolf issue is just disastrous to most ranchers/cattlemen.

People should not trivialize the loss these ranchers are suffering by claiming some reimbursem*nt from the government balances the books.

That calf or lamb that has been torn limb from limb while still alive is just the bloody evidence. The fact is that the very presence of these wolves can cause financial damage. The mere scent of a predator like a wolf can cause very light birth weights in any livestock and in some cases prevent conception. Fewer and lighter beef....less income for the rancher, period.

Other less noticeable harm is the sad fact that the livestock become terrified of their own herding dogs. Those working dogs look enough like a predator wolf to trigger the flight instincts of any livestock and they are immediately on the run. Stampeding cattle lose weight fast; frightened livestock do not graze and put on weight as they normally would.

Must we have wolves to keep the elk and deer population in check? What an antiquated concept. The D.O.W. can, with surgical precision, manage game population by year, by area or even by species just by their ability to increase or otherwise adjust the number of big game licences issued to the thousands of hunters willing to pay for a chance to hunt in Colorado. Win-win. DOW takes in more revenue for their mission of game management; the smaller mountain towns that rely on some of the millions of dollars that those hunters bring into the state every hunting season thrive; the harvested game animals are a food source for humans, making much more sense than a ripped up wild game carcass lying out on the prairie.

Burt Alexander

Colorado Springs

What is the hardship?

Mayor Yemi Mobolade, please tell the citizens why you and the police signed off on a “Hardship Noise Variance” for the Ford Amphitheater? What is the hardship?

I attended the City Council Meeting on August 27 hoping to get an answer. Your chief of staff and city attorney were there, but we got no answer. I am not concerned with the noise level inside the venue, only outside the venue.

The city noise ordinance states 50dB for 7 pm to 7 am. I am 1.5 mi north of the venue and routinely register 60 to 70 dB on my factory calibrated instrument. As citizens of COS, we are entitled to enjoy the same limits as the rest of the city. If you want to go to a concert, buy a ticket, go, and enjoy: I am not against the concerts, but I am against the excessive noise that impacts our everyday lives.

Concertgoers choose to go: right now, many nearby residents are forced to hear it, when we would choose to do other activities, or even sleep. Concerts can be held 7 nights a week.

Again, what is the venues hardship? It appear the hardship is on the residents of the nearby neighborhoods.

Janine Sledz

Colorado Springs

Offi

cials should use a calculator

I’ve been amused at the constant budget shortfalls and threats of cutting of services for our schools, emergency services, and other predicaments that our local and state governments predict, unless we continually raise taxes (and fees!). Do these people know how to use a calculator?

Here’s some simple very math:

The Colorado Springs metro area population grew from 540,111 in 2000 to 701,000 in 2024, or approximately 29%. Over the same period, Colorado Springs metro area average home price grew from an average of $158,900 in 2000 to $410,184 in 2024, an increase of about 258%. If Colorado Springs property tax revenues have grown 258%, and the population has only grown 29%, how can we face massive cuts to education and public services?

Statewide, the population grew approximately 35% from 2000 to 2024, while home prices rose approximately 324% over the same period. Colorado’s State Budget for 2000 was $12.16 billion dollars, for 2024 it is $40.5 billion dollars – an increase of 333%, while the statewide population has only grown 35%.

It’s amazing how quickly the governor called a special session of the legislature when faced with the dire consequences of Initiative 50, which would cap property tax increases at 4% a year.

By the way, my Social Security COLA increase was 3.2% last year – the government let me know that that was more than enough to keep up with the cost of inflation.

Maybe our public figures need to learn how a calculator works.

Duane Johnston

Monument

Who is running the country?

Who’s running this country? Nobody, it seems.

The current president (in name only) seems to have vacated the oval office. The current vice president (in name only) is gallivanting around the country at great expense, pretending to be presidential material; giving pep talks to high school students in the same manner she speaks down to the rest of us.

Job #1 for a VP is to take charge when the president is unavailable. Who is currently filling this position?

Our country is extremely vulnerable. What could make it worse? Voting the same administration that got us into this mess back into office.

Cindy Cowlishaw

Falcon