2009

Mountain gardening can breed paranoia Life’s most perplexing question comes down to this: Why do deer prefer munching on geraniums and petunias rather than dandelions? Perhaps it’s the dandelions’ pungent odor,…

Repealing TABOR a true act of courage It’s not uncommon to do a double-take and head-scratch and wonder, “Huh?” when listening to arguments, mostly from plutocrats and pundits, defending TABOR. This…

True happiness is created, not obtained What is happiness? Is it a substantive condition or mental state? Or perhaps, is it the ideal, that which is unreachable, like Robert Browning’s heaven—something…

Gays not at liberty to pursue happiness Periodically, we read or hear of cases of modern enslavement, such as that of the Afghan family indicted last fall in Seattle, in which…

Employees Free Choice Act would return dignity to workers First, I’d like to apologize for being absent last Wednesday, which was Earth Day. My column was to be about the cryosphere,…

“Columbine Generation” lost innocence not humanity One of the most vivid snapshots-in-time of my days in the classroom, as it is likely for every teacher, is the event of April 20,…

Glorious sunshine awaits the attentive This past winter was one of discontent, and its harsh winds and lack of snowfall didn’t help. While a few silver linings are appearing behind the…

‘Shovel-ready’ takes on new meaning in Clear Creek In addition to the shovel-ready projects submitted for funding under President Obama’s stimulus package the Courant reported on last week, a number of…

Character may dictate county’s future In my last three columns, I focused on the big challenges, aside from economic development, confronting Clear Creek: transportation, renewable energy, and education, or TREE, as…

Decision on high-speed rail could come by 2010 When I asked CCC Land Use Division Director Jo Ann Sorensen about the latest on the I-70 Corridor, she sent me a 136-page…

Green energy could be a boon to county Peggy Stokstad, President of the Clear Creek Economic Development Corporation, opened a recent symposium on renewable energy the CCEDC jointly sponsored with the…

Schools clinging to outmoded educational model For President Obama, the three driving domestic issues in addition to the economy are energy, health care, and education. In Clear Creek, the trilogy is…

Republicans carping cuts against conclusions If you are what you eat, carp has become the seafood du jour for Republicans. In Colorado up to 2004, Republicans pretty much had their way…

Fertility clinics require stricter ethics My mother, in her younger days, was very Catholic, so gave birth to 13 children. Later in life, she quipped, “If I had it to do…

Preserved sites lack historical integrity An adage says, “History is written by the winners.” An Internet search for the source of the quote is inconclusive with some giving credit to themselves,…