“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count; it’s the life in your years.”~ Unknown (often incorrectly attributed to Abraham Lincoln) Sometimes being an only child is great. This is not one of those times. I’m writing this from my mom’s hospital room in Rifle.[Read More…]
Editor’s Column
EDITOR’S COLUMN – April 16th, 2026
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you insane your whole life.” ~ Anne Lamott I’ve long told myself that the week we have a “perfect” paper will be the week I quit, and just about every week I think I’ve nailed[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – April 9th, 2026
“It takes a village to convince one person to prepare their property for fire season — and sometimes that one person is all it takes to put the whole village at risk.” ~ The Hotshot Wake Up Back when the evening news was the news, I remember watching stories about[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN: Motive tells its own tale
Do you ever look at someone and just think, “Why?” Why did they make that decision? Why are they acting that way? There’s a reason we ask those questions. Motive matters. Motive, by definition, is “a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.” In murder[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – On taxes
“Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.”~ Herman Wouk I can’t think of a single positive statement I’ve ever heard about taxes. It doesn’t matter if it’s sales taxes or income taxes or property taxes, the consensus has always been that taxes suck and we collectively[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – It’s Sunshine Week, our annual reminder that freedom of information is essential to a free country
Laws governing public meetings, public records and open government emerged in the 1970s after the exposure of vast amounts of concealed government information and corruption — think Watergate and the Pentagon Papers. The idea was simple: government works better when the public can see how decisions are made. You would[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – ‘Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?’
A cartoonish poster with that phrase hung in my childhood home. The line comes from a movie made the year I was born — a film I’ve never actually seen — but the title stuck with me. I was in Lamaze class the night the first Gulf War started. Someone[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – The Pedestal Problem
“Hero-worship is innate to human nature, and it is founded on some of our noblest feelings… but which, like all other feelings, when uncontrolled by principle and reason, may easily degenerate into the wildest exaggerations.” ~ John Calvin One of my granddaughters is currently obsessed with Spider-Man. She wears her[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – Won’t you be a neighbor?
“Borrow trouble for yourself, if that’s your nature, but don’t lend it to your neighbors.” ~ Rudyard Kipling From Mr. Rogers to Veggie Tales to Sesame Street, a significant chunk of children’s programming for the last 50 years has been dedicated to educating our little ones about how to identify[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – Happy Lunar New Year!
“This New Year, do not live in the past for it may make you depressed; do not live for the future for it shall only make you anxious. Live only in the present, for that alone will bring you peace.” ~ Unknown You know, it’s not a bad idea to[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – Pinocchio Syndrome
“Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday you will be a real boy.” ~ The Blue Fairy I’ve been thinking about Pinocchio a lot lately. Not just the lie detecting growing nose part of the story, although I can’t help thinking how handy it would be if the deceitful[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – Sunshine Law compliance builds public trust, and violations tarnish it
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchers?)” ~ Juvenal, Satire VI It must be that time of year again. Sunshine Week — the annual reminder of why open government matters — isn’t officially on the calendar until March, but sometimes the reminder needs to be made a wee bit[Read More…]
