Letters

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

People need to let officials know how they feel

Reading the Letters section in the Nov. 21 Gazette did my heart good. People are speaking out against the farce going in Florida, conducted by the Gore campaign. Count, stall, sue, recount, sue, recount, change the rules, sue, until the desired results are found.

As I said, the letters did my heart good, but we need to do more. We need to write to our representatives, Republican and Democrat. This disgrace has to stop. We need to log on to the news sites and send opinions about what is going on. We need to send e-mail to all the Supreme Court justices in Florida at supremecourt@flcourts.org. And we need to do this now.

What is happening in Florida is not how a president is chosen in the United States of America. If we don't speak out, no one will know we care.

Roger Richards, Elbert

Clinton could have had bigger effect on election

If President Clinton had resigned or had been removed from office, Al Gore, as the incumbent president, would have easily won this election. Also, it is likely that the Democrats would have gained control of one, if not both, houses of Congress, thereby achieving an excellent opportunity to pass their legislative proposals.

Joe Henry, Colorado Springs

Where were bias claims after Hillary photos?

Isn't it a puzzlement that those readers who are taking The Gazette to task over an unflattering photo of Katherine Harris never uttered a peep when equally bad and worse pictures of Hillary Rodham Clinton and family were shown. I guess it goes back to one's perspective.

Georgia Maguire, Colorado Springs

Why do we put up with Gore and company?

I have watched for eight years the Clinton-Gore administration flout our Constitution and laws. From a president who promised to have the "most honest administration ever" we got the most corrupt administration ever, and a president who got away with felony perjury.

Now, Al Gore subverts our laws and Constitution right before our eyes. Fifty years ago this man would have been branded a traitor, black marked and thrown out of office. Gore is no different than an organized crime boss who operates outside of the law.

Have we grown so fat on the goodness of prosperity, that we are apathetic to those that threaten our very freedom? If we allow Gore to steal this election, what do you think he'll do once he's in power?

Randy Shepherd, Colorado Springs

Will Democrats remove God from our country?

Once in America, schools allowed God into classrooms. Soon, a tragedy came. God and the Bible were kicked out of class. Even in the school yard, God is kicked out. But why? Maybe, soon, Christianity will be kicked out of America. By whom?

George W. Bush and Al Gore are waiting for election results. President Clinton is by far not doing well. The United States is waiting for a new president. One by one, the states voted and their votes were counted. Finally, it came down to Florida. Today they are counting the votes still.

If Bush or Gore wins, what will happen? If Bush wins, will he say truth or lies? Will he put God back in schools? If Gore wins, will God be taken from America? Will homeschooling stop in America as well? Will he lie more? Only God knows the answer.

The people in the country are counting on their president, whoever he is. I desire that God should be president, not man. But God works in mysterious ways, even through man.

Daniel Selk, Colorado Springs

Antics show Gore is not fit to lead nation

If Al Gore and his henchmen had just one thread of character, they would have admitted to defeat on election night. The maneuvering used by his legal team shows only how obsessed he is to become president.

By doing all of this, he shows the world how unfit he is for the highest office in the land. His actions show how qualified he is to be a first-class dictator.

Ann Breitstein, Colorado Springs

Democrats steal vote from service members

I guess it's not enough for the Democrats to steal our national heritage, freedom of religion, right to bear arms, personal property rights and tax dollars. Now the liberal Democrats and their pack of jackal lawyers have to steal the franchise from the very military personnel they have exiled overseas to the frontiers of their new American empire.

And by doing so they probably have managed to steal the election, too. All hail Al Gore, the new commander in thief.

Jack Savage, Woodland Park

GLOBAL WARMING

Melting polar cap could set off ice age

This in response to the wire service story, "Protesters 'flood' conference," in the Nov. 19 Gazette. Aside from the fact that it has yet to be proven that global warming is actually occurring, there is serious question as to whether an increase in average temperature would result in a significant rise in sea level.

Melting caused by any rise in temperature would begin on the sea ice over the Arctic Ocean. Removal of this thin layer of ice would result in a vast open-water source for evaporation. The result of this would be greatly increased precipitation (snow) in what are now the frozen deserts of northern Canada and Siberia. This snow would accumulate quickly, never fully disappearing during the cool Arctic summers. The result would be a rapid amassing of ice on the land surfaces, resulting in another ice age.

We cannot hope to win respect in the battle for the environment through the use of questionable emotionally-based rhetoric.

Mark Wertheimer, Colorado Springs

LOCAL ROADWAYS

Sales tax windfall should pay for traffic sensors

Let's see if anyone else can remember just eight weeks ago, before the election rhetoric took over the news.

A problem which negatively affects the quality of life for 500,000 citizens is the lack of timing at our hundreds traffic lights. It causes driver frustration, anger at the establishment, wastes untold millions in fuel and time burned needlessly. And the problem has been augmented by the unbridled development which is leaving our infrastructure far behind.

This is a problem which City Manager Jim Mullen reflected would cost about $3.6 million to fix to install sensors at each intersection. Once the sensors are in, there is no more cost to fixing the problem. Lets see, in September the city announced a windfall in August sales tax revenues of $16 million - unbudgeted extra money. Then, Mullen immediately suggested that the money be wasted (excuse me, spent) on pay increases for city employees, a permanent, ever-increasing expense.

Is the city going to fix a long standing problem in our community which affects 500,000 people daily, or are we going to hear a line of rhetoric on ridiculous pay increases again to serve special interests?

The next time I am a victim of whacked-out traffic light timing (which is a daily occurrence), I will proudly give a Bronx cheer to the arrogant powers that be. After all, it's just city living, isn't it?

Rick Laurenzi, Manitou Springs

CLINTONS IN VIETNAM

Women did what they had to for their country

Once again, hatred and prejudice are presented on the pages of The Gazette as opinion. Robert Hunt's letter indiscriminately damning the women of Vietnam was simply another tasteless display of Hillary- bashing which served no good purpose of informing or enlightening readers ("First lady honors women who killed Americans," Letters, Nov. 22). I would remind Hunt that we were fighting our ideological war in Vietnam, not our own back yard. The women of Vietnam did not want that war any more than the American mothers who sent their sons off to fight and die.

The war in Vietnam was confusing to the Vietnamese people. They did their best to fight for what they believed to be right for them and their families. What the Vietnamese women did was what all women are expected to do in times of conflict - support their men and soldiers any way they can.

Lest you pass me off as an anti-military bleeding-heart, I am a Vietnam-era veteran who has supported her country both in an Air Force uniform and a civilian suit. My life has been devoted to supporting my country's defense and our soldiers.

The Vietnam War is over. Don't forget its lessons, but let it go. Hatred does not build bonds between people. It only serves to widen the gap between us.

SuZett Estell, Colorado Springs

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