Thanks to city staff
Editor:
I would like to thank all of our city’s employees for their continued and dedicated service.
This goes out to all our Police Department staff, the Public Works Department, the Water Works Department, the parks staff and the city administrative staff.
I have personally been to these offices and have had the pleasure of speaking with most of these great people. They are friendly, remarkable, hard-working people who love our city.
If we could smile, wave, or better yet, thank these individuals personally when we come across them in our daily activities, they would take great pleasure in being recognized as valued members of our community!
I wish to say thank you again to all the city’s staff for all their hard work and to their continued dedication!
Kate Collier
Public confidence in government
needs restoration
Editor:
The government still has not addressed the cause of the biggest problem, that being the restoration of the people’s confidence in those elected to protect us from those that would do us harm.
It’s NOT a money issue. That was the result, NOT the cause!
We spend billions on defense, yet we were successfully attacked from the inside by our own treasonous leadership on a scale so large it was impossible not to see it coming long before it occurred.
Regulators and politicians assisted the greedy with bills, rules, laws and “looking the other way” in stealing our confidence in the system to protect us.
There is NO way it was not known. The massive scales are illustrated by people like Madoff. Wall Street and our government have formed bonds that transcend those of government and America.
Government has failed us on the grandest of scales … ones far larger than the trillions of dollars they are wasting trying to buy it back.
The last thing the people want is an even larger and more intrusive government, one that is punishing the American people for the sins of its business and governmental leadership.
Mark Kline
Idaho Springs
Cats available for adoption
at Charlie’s Place
Editor:
Behr is a Siberian forest cat, and he is our four-legged, furry greeter at Charlie’s Place, the Clear Creek/Gilpin County Animal Shelter. Last year, Behr ran into someone’s home in Gilpin County. He was completely feral. When the homeowner tried to catch him, the result was not pretty. She was scratched, and Behr went running through the home, knocking over cans of white paint and getting a lot on himself. The brand name of the paint? — Behr. That is why his name is not Bear, but Behr.
With the patience, affection and skill of the staff at Charlie’s Place, Behr became a loving, friendly addition to that same staff. Visitors are charmed by his playfulness, his conversational manner and his loving nature.
The shelter is currently overpopulated with cats. There are two mother cats with newborn litters who will be adoptable in a few weeks. The shelter also has two older kittens who are ready to be in there new homes. There is a large population of adult cats, young and old, who are in need of a caring person or family who will share their home with one or more of them and have their lives enriched by the joy that these cats will bring to them.
So please come to Charlie’s Place, open from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, and meet Behr and all of the adoptable cats who can make your life better while you make theirs better in a home. It costs $60 to adopt a cat, and for a limited time you can adopt two cats for the price of one.
Marty Gitlin
Chief Animal Control Officer
Wetlands restoration project completed
Editor:
A huge effort to restore a unique wetland community was finished last weekend when 80 volunteers completed a project in the Geneva Basin Iron Fens.
The project involved obliterating and revegetating undesignated roads to try to restore this area to its natural state. A backhoe was able to move rocks and prepare the soil for the planting of native vegetation. The revegetation effort used seeds collected from the Iron Fens the week before. Volunteers created a native seed mix, which was then mixed with fertilized soil and broadcast over the sites designated in the plans.
There are only 11 areas like this in the world with 10 in Colorado. Rock terraces are formed from iron and other minerals precipitating on plant material producing limonite. The area had been mined for the iron, but now we have more efficient ways to get this mineral.
Five different organizations participated in this project. Colorado Natural Areas Program wrote the grant that purchased the materials for reclamation, Mile High Jeep Club built the post and cable fences at five access points, the National Forest Service provided a backhoe machine with a contracted, experienced operator, and Wildlands Restoration Volunteers organized the volunteer labor that completed all the construction, seeding and erosion work.
Activity was focused on lands managed by Clear Creek County Open Space and the National Forest Service. This project involved over 125 volunteers from all five organizations working over 1,600 volunteer hours. Over one mile of road and 66,000 square feet were restored.
Marion Jennings