Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, I have studied the Fee Demo program thoroughly as well as kept myself well-informed since its inception (HCN, 9/10/01: Congress may agree on fees). I am president of Seniors Outdoors!, a very active club of 430 members; we use the trails and parks for recreation at least three times a week year round […]

Dear HCN, l was startled to see one of our Idaho senatorial candidates characterized in HCN as a “Jewish Wall Street refugee” (HCN, 10/14/02: The politics of growth). “Wall Street” is relevant; “Jewish” is not. Mr. Blinken is not running as a Zionist, and how he prays has not been an issue here. In fact, […]

Dear HCN, I want to thank HCN for its cover story (HCN, 10/28/02: Shawdow creatures) about nonhumans in Seattle and elsewhere. I work near the University of Washington, and I feel grateful every day that some nonhumans consent to be there at all, much less to thrive on our wastes, in our hedgerows and backyards. […]

Dear HCN, Kudos to Ray Ring for his story, “The Politics of Growth,” in your Oct. 14 issue. But the article omitted the most crucial part of the “politics of growth.” His article and so many others you publish that describe all the symptoms of continued population growth, should end with the following sentence: “We […]

Dear HCN, Until I read your October article on Arizona politics, I felt secure in the assumption that Florida had long since outdistanced Texas in having the stupidest, most corruptible voting population in the nation. I now find that I can hold onto that belief only by assuming that the entire electorate of Arizona is […]

Dear HCN, The rationale presented by Ray Ring that a proposed BLM to LDS Church land exchange should not take place (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell) is based almost entirely on bigotry rather than on any real merit. The primary reason Mr. Ring gives for not supporting the land […]

Dear HCN, I just finished reading Rocky Barker’s swell piece on the transformation of Idaho into a hate-free zone (HCN, 9/30/02: Idaho seeks a reputation – and a reality – free of hate). Before any comments … time for a pop quiz: Two months ago I was thrown out of a motel (the only one […]

Dear HCN, I was dismayed to learn of the plight of cattle growers who are forced to pay “checkoff” fees of a dollar a head. In the simple interest of fairness to cattle farmers and the American public, we should call for the immediate elimination of both checkoff fees and subsidized grazing privileges on public […]

Dear HCN, Allow me to correct some statements made by Susan Zakin in her article about the central California river delta (HCN, 9/3/02: Delta Blues). California is said to employ “profligate use of water.” According to the Los Angeles Times, Southern Californians consume considerably less water, per capita, than people in nearby states (and a […]

Dear HCN, I am writing this letter to let you know how disappointed I was to read the article, “This land holds a story the church won’t tell” (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell). I might expect such a poorly written article to be found in a scam paper, such […]

Dear HCN, I am writing to express the Public Lands Foundation’s (PLF) opposition to the transfer of 1,640 acres of public land to the LDS Church (HCN, 9/30/02). The Public Lands Foundation is a nonprofit national conservation organization whose members are from the general public and retired BLM employees, all who are interested in the […]

Dear HCN, Following the lead of our Illustrious and Infallible Leader, Emperor Bush the Second, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez has declared war on the endangered silvery minnow. Chavez has promised to appeal the decision of Judge James Parker, Chief Justice of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court (HCN, 10/14/02: Albuquerque is dragged into Rio Grande fight). […]

Dear HCN, I think you missed the point when you spoke of only one side of the Martin’s Cove story being told on a Mormon-owned site (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell). The issue of a “holier-than-thou” attitude that led to movement from New York to Ohio to Missouri to […]

Greetings, HCN, Readers of Scott Bridges’s letter (HCN, 9/30/02: This land holds a story the church won’t tell) may be interested in knowing that Ed Abbey most likely artistically pilfered and altered Bishop Love’s carnotite-eating from a true red, white and blue American specimen of idiotic boosterism. In 1984, Edgemont, S.D., former Mayor Matt Brown […]

Dear HCN, Thank you for your open and honest article by Ray Ring regarding Montana’s governor as a poor choice to lead the West (HCN, 8/5/02). Whatever could the Western Governors’ Association be thinking of to select Gov. Martz as their leader? Ray has written a timely, straightforward commentary that should be a wake-up call […]

Dear HCN, Jeff Golden’s “Modest forest proposal for President Bush” (HCN, 9/16/02: A modest forest proposal), while sound in its reasoning, has one fatal flaw: People like George Bush could care less about common sense in regard to public-lands management, Forest Service fire suppression, and forest health policies and practices. The only thing people like […]

Dear HCN, In “This land holds a story the church won’t tell,” (HCN, 9/30/02: The Royal Squeeze) your editor, Ray Ring, writes that “historic preservation advocates and environmental groups … fear the giveaway (that is, the sale of 940 publicly owned acres of the Mormon Trail to the Mormon Church) would set a precedent for […]

Dear HCN, The article on water problems in the Imperial Valley (HCN, 9/16/02: The Royal Squeeze) was interesting, informative, and in my view, a good example of HCN‘s dedication to balanced reporting, which is especially difficult with hot-button issues like water, salmon and prairie dogs. I was struck by one of the figures stated in […]

Dear HCN, As I read the latest issue (HCN, 9/02/02: EPA puts cleanup in local hands), I was fascinated by the article relating the drinking of untreated lake water by Christine Whitman and others. I was struck not only by the ignorance of doing such a thing, but by the ironic similarity to an incident […]

Dear HCN, I appreciated your coverage of the coalbed methane controversy in your latest issue (HCN, 9/2/02: Backlash). However, despite your usual dose of comprehensive analysis, I noticed one glaring absence * where is Colorado Rep. Scott McInnis in all this? Given Mr. McInnis’ tireless advocacy for local control (when it comes to forest policy), […]