Speaking of putting country first …
Re: “Former Clerk Peters gets nine years,” Oct. 4 news story
I am one of thousands of Colorado volunteers who are the workforce that performs our election duties and preserves our election integrity. Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliateds work side-by-side to pick up ballot envelopes in the collection boxes every evening, ensure traffic flows at clogged collection points each election day, prepare envelopes for automated processing and address signature anomalies for follow-up curing.
We all believe being part of the solution is more American than being a proliferator of sore-loser lying. Praise God there are far more humble servants who believe, and act, in the knowledge that a community thrives when we seek our commonalities than the noisy minority who believe personal gain at the expense of others is “patriotic.”
Norm Davey, Centennial
FEMA lies “dangerous,” “disingenuous and disgraceful”
Re: FEMA chief condemns false claims about Helene response disaster relief,” Oct. 7 news story
Most politicians, at some point, will shade the truth, exaggerate and tell us something different than what data shows.
But for Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Elon Musk, they insist First Amendment protections of freedom of speech must include the right to repeat allegations/conspiracies that are verifiably false and that they should be 100% shielded from fact-checking.
That is different and it’s dangerous. The latest example is all the untruths being spread by Trump and supporters as to the federal (FEMA) response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. Even news outlets that claim to be fair and balanced spread these false stories without doing any fact-checking.
This is a very dangerous road we are going down. There is no such thing as alternative facts. Most of us can handle the actual truth.
John W. Thomas, Fort Collins
As a volunteer for FEMA during the COVID crisis in 2021, I was never asked with which political party I was associated. FEMA’s sole purpose is to come to our aid during national emergencies. There are thousands of incredibly dedicated volunteers whose sole purpose is to come to the aid of our people in times of national disasters, with more to come. I was and am proud to be part of this organization. To politicize and spew lies about this organization by the current Republican presidential candidate is both disingenuous and disgraceful.
Allen Vean, Denver
Footing the bill for TV advertising
Re: “Mahomes? Cut advertising costs for sake of customers,” Oct. 2 letter to the editor
A recent letter lamented the excessive expense of advertising things such as insurance and pharmaceuticals, and what that may do to the final price of those commodities. I am a customer of State Farm and have also wondered how much of my ever-increasing premium dollars are spent to keep Jake and Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce loaded with filthy lucre.
Another item I’ve always wondered about is what advertising costs do to the final price of cars, trucks and SUVs. The commercials are endless, seem to be everywhere, and must cost a fortune. I’ve tried to research this and I even went so far as to suggest to General Motors that if they believe in the quality of their vehicles so much, they should buy one or two ads during the Super Bowl, telling us all that their cars are so good, and they could pass on the savings to the consumer. GM replied that they have their own advertisers and didn’t need my suggestion.
Please do us all a favor, corporate America: Cut out the hard sell and pass on the savings to your customers. You may find, if your product is worthy, “word of mouth” is a far more effective sales tool.
Mark Geyer, Denver
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