Tipton votes for oil and gas, not constituents
Third District Congressman Scott Tipton just got a very angry phone call from me. If there was any doubt the Cortez Republican served the oil and gas industry ahead of his constituents, it was removed when Tipton announced he would vote against the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Act that’d give permanent protection from the ravages of oil and gas development to the Thompson Divide and hundreds of thousands of acres of other pristine wilderness in Colorado.
Don’t be fooled by Tipton’s explanation his opposition is based on procedural issues and the lack of input from local governments. Every county and municipality in the 3rd District except Garfield County support permanent protection for the divide, and Garfield County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky was swayed when CORE Act cosponsors Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse acceded to allowing methane capturing in abandoned coal mines.
There’s nothing wrong with the way Bennet and Neguse moved the CORE Act through the House. It’s just another example of how Tipton pays homage to his industry patrons and ignores the will of his constituents whom he’s supposed to work for.
Fred Malo Jr.
Carbondale
Ramirez is deeply knowledgeable about current issues in education
I’m voting for Jasmin Ramirez for RFSD School Board, and I hope you will join me in supporting her.
This is an opportunity for our community to make history. After sitting down with Jasmin one to one, I believe she is extremely qualified and driven. She’s an advocate for her son, and will do the same for all students; she has an extensive history of involvement in the schools, and she’s deeply knowledgeable about current issues in education. Jasmin will also be the first Latina ever to sit on the school board. The students of Re-1 school district are over 50% Latinx, and yet the board is currently 100% white. I believe that this community values democracy and equality; I believe that many of us care deeply about ending racialized oppression.
Supporting the leadership and representation of people of color is one crucially important way to put those values into action in our institutions. Students deserve to have a voice on the board that represents them, as do the families in this district who make up the majority and yet are currently without a seat at the table of decisions that impact their lives directly. This race isn’t about Shane vs. Jasmin; it’s about what our community needs on the long path toward true equality and democracy – beginning with this step.
Sophia Clark
Carbondale
Trump is normal?
The beginning of the awareness of “normalization of deviance” began Jan. 28, 1986, with the Challenger Disaster and the low ambient air temperature launch. Other examples include ignoring the condition of the levees prior to Katrina, ignoring the condition of the oil rig in the gulf prior to the BP explosion as noted in the movie “Deepwater Horizon,” 2008 financial failure as noted in the movie “The Big Short.” And so it goes. This also includes the Challenger Disaster concerning missing protective tiles.
Dianne Vaughan from Columbia on reviewing these and similar incidents came up with the term “normalization of deviance” with this meaning:
“Social normalization of deviance means that people within the organization become so much accustomed to a deviant behavior that they don’t consider it as deviant, despite the fact that they far exceed their own rules for the elementary safety.”
People grow more accustomed to the deviant behavior the more it occurs.
To people outside of the organization, the activities seem deviant; however, people within the organization do not recognize the deviance because it is seen as a normal occurrence. In hindsight, people within the organization realize that their seemingly normal behavior was deviant.”
It is the elephant in the room today concerning the political temperature. We are in a metaphorical global warming political climate. Both sides cater to deviant normalization. In the past warning signs were ignored. High-profile players exist on both sides. Sadly, each side is guilty. The irony is that Trump is normal.
Fred Stewart
Grand Junction
Rifle Thrift Shop supplies clothing, household items to anyone in need
In response to Cory Han’s recent letter in the Post Independent on Oct. 28: The Rifle Thrift Shop, located at 102 East Avenue has always had a policy of offering inexpensive clothing and household items to the community. In addition, we have an agreement with Social Services that anyone in need may bring us a letter from them and we will supply free clothing and household needs.
The Rifle Thrift Shop
