Give offenders citations

As a pedestrian who enjoys using the Cottonwood Creek trail, I regularly have to evade electric dirt bikes and gas-powered motorcycles blazing down the path. These motorcycles use both the concrete main trail and the secondary dirt paths that allow access to the creek.

Despite clearly marked signage explaining what is and isn’t allowed on the trail, the number of motorcycles accessing the trail is increasing along with the danger they pose to pedestrians. There is simply too much contrast in speed and vulnerability between a mom walking her baby in a stroller down to the park, and a speeding dirt bike out for a “ninja warrior” ride. Some of our neighbors have simply stopped using the trail.

I read in Monday’s Gazette how Douglas County is regulating high-speed motorcycle riding in neighborhoods and public areas. They are going to implement some stiff fines for both the reckless drivers and the parents of drivers who happen to be minors. I think this would be a good idea for the trail networks in Colorado Springs.

As a taxpayer and citizen who is concerned for the safety of pedestrians on the trail, I would like to see a law enforcement presence and I would like to see citations given without extended conversation. The laws are posted clearly. Write the citations so that the greater community may enjoy these wonderful trails.

Benjamin Fromuth Sr.

Colorado Springs

Consider the disabled

My wife and I are both invalids. I am a service-disabled veteran, and we just subscribed to MLB to watch baseball. To our surprise, we could not watch the Dodgers vs the Rockies.

I can understand why you black out the games when they play in Colorado. The reason; you are trying to force Coloradans to go to the stadium to watch the Rockies play the Dodgers. The attendance at Rockies games is dismal at best. I get it. You are desperate. What I can’t comprehend is that you black out the games when the Rockies play the Dodgers in LA. It makes no sense at all.

Please keep in mind my wife and I are both invalids, ergo, we can not go to the Rockies games. I know you will not rescind that contractual agreement, but please consider those of us who are disabled.

Leo Jones

Colorado Springs

Our lovely Californicating legislature

I just got a notice from of my trash company with the subject “Future Recycling- AT NO COST!” Quoting now:

“Good News!
We’re excited to share that Colorado is implementing the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program, which shifts the cost of residential recycling from consumers to the producers of paper and packaging materials sold in Colorado. Under Colorado’s Producer Responsibility for Statewide Recycling Act (HB 22-1355), eligible residential recycling services will be funded through the EPR program rather than paid directly by customers.”

Oh goody! Those big bad corporations are going to pay for my services! And at no cost! How absurd. Another socialist shift. Our lovely Californicating legislature, having bought and taught the socialist lie, has mandated magic, the perfect machine- it does work with no energy requirement, you produce services at no cost. What balderdash! What crap! What candy for simple minds is that? And you know what? Those simple minds who only get their news from TikTok and Facebook and whose mental capacity is the length of their nose will not only eat that up; they will be the ones who keep electing those gods of magic for their bluing of Colorado with a free-money-for-me siren song. We are doomed.

John Bender, PE

Monument

Kudos for the change

Several months ago, I sent an (unpublished) letter to the Gazette Editorial Staff commenting on the publication format of the comics in the Sunday edition of the Gazette.

My observation was that often, the comics were not a separate 4 page pull out; rather they came as 2 pages on one four-page sheet and two more pages on a separate four-page sheet. I noted that when I was a morning paper delivery person in my youth, the Sunday comics were always a 4-page pullout in the Portland, Oregon, Oregonian. Shortly after submitting that letter, I noted that the Gazette was routinely publishing the Sunday comics as a 4-page pull-out and has continued to do so ever since.

My thanks to the Gazette staff for eliminating a minor irritant in my reading of the Sunday Gazette. By the way, the comics are the first thing I read each day, once my copy of the Gazette has been delivered to my home.

Jerry Zoebisch

Colorado Springs

In defense of the post office

As a former United States Postal Service employee, I feel obligated to refute a recent letter to the Gazette by Art Wilmoth

Wilmoth states in his letter that USPS workers steal mail and its contents. If postal employees did that, they would be terminated and subject to criminal prosecution. Postal customers can be sure that their mail is delivered to them securely and accurately.

I resent Wilmoth’s calling the USPS “gang of thieves” and “corrupt”. He shows his ignorance when he says there’s an “epidemic of stealing mail by postal workers.”

The USPS may not be perfect No organization with so many people running the show is. But the service delivers over 360 million letters and nearly 23 million packages a day. What other company provides that level of service volume?

Mr. Wilmoth, the next time you criticize an organization, get your facts straight. You might follow the advice of Thumper. “If ya can’t say nothin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ a-tall”

David J. Baker

Colorado Springs