Heroin in Boulder
Illegal “recreational” drugs such as marijuana, psychodelics and cocaine have been readily available in Boulder since at least the mid-’60s [Re: “Hightide,” News, Feb. 26]. The state legalization of marijuana has added narco-tourism to Colorado’s many attractions as well as a seemingly growing population of disaffected, homeless youth. It has also altered the focus of black market dealers into offering, at bargain basement prices, the more dangerous and addictive speed, crack cocaine and heroin. A growing number of drug overdose deaths has been the result. A story told is that when heroin first began appearing here at the end of the hippie era, the local dealers, apparently a more effective force than either the police or the DEA, managed to drive the hard drug dealers out of town. One has to wonder what agencies might have equal success today.
Robert Porath/Boulder
An Obama let-down
Barack Obama has sincerely attempted to seriously implement some excellent political and social changes in policy for the average and below average person in this country. Ergo it is absolutely beyond me and seemingly a great contradiction to see his support for the TPP or Trans Pacific Partnership. According to some of the most prominent progressive spokespersons and media outlets and from all I’ve been able to gather in reading and researching this, it is a bad idea for labor and the American worker. Yes it is simply beyond me how in the world he can try to justify this “NAFTA on steroids” idea. One good thing is that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and in the country at large are putting up a strong resistance to it. One can only hope. And at a minimum write the papers and their congressmen and women.
Grant D. Cyrus/Boulder
Republicans double down as traitors
The March 9, 2015, letter addressed to the Islamic Republic of Iran, signed by 47 Republicans was a treasonous attempt to sabotage a nuclear nonproliferation treaty between Iran and the U.S., Britain, China, Germany and France. Still smarting from the beat down in the last two presidential elections, Republicans have pulled out all the stops in a pathetic and un-American attempt to discredit President Obama and Democrats in advance of the 2016 presidential election.
In recent weeks, Republicans have embarked upon a desperate campaign of character assassination of President Obama: a senile Rudy Giuliani said President Obama did not love America; Republicans invited Netanyahu to speak before Congress and in the latest affront, Republicans have sent a treasonous letter to Iran. Republicans are un-American traitors that couldn’t care less about what is in the best interests of the U.S.
Andrew J. O’Connor/Lafayette
Excellent and thorough job
Thank you for saying what needs to be said. I’m amazed I haven’t been able to find more pieces out there on the subject other than the rampant and deserved grumbling on discussion threads [Re: “Ladies and gentlemen, not the Grateful Dead,” Stew’s Views, March 5]. Like countless tens of thousands of other Grateful Dead fans, I’ve been completely dismayed, disgusted and insulted by the Fare Thee Well ticketing process. I used to mail order in the ’80s and was always overjoyed when those tiny glitter tickets showed up in my mailbox.
This time around… I spent a couple hours on my envelope, two more (and a pint of blood) dealing with the post office and tracking down a 3×5 index card and sent off $462 for two general tickets each to the July 4 and 5 shows. After hearing that the GDTS phone order had been cancelled and the TicketBastard sale pushed out two weeks, I and many others assumed this was to allow GDTS to process all the mail orders and give the leftovers to those who didn’t put in so much effort and spirit. Wrong. After fruitlessly checking my mailbox every day, hearing nothing until over a month later (“We’re working on it…”), sitting at my computer on a Saturday morning along with 500,000 others to needlessly watch a fraudulent “12-minutes queue” notice for an hour because I had no idea if I’d gotten tickets or not despite the twoweek pushback, I realized that either I was witnessing an unbelievable level of incompetence in the age of advanced communications options or simply and more darkly, that I’d been had. I closed my laptop and made pancakes.
Having learned of the almostimpossible-to-believe preference given to Chicago Bears season ticket holders (WTF???) and the unknown allotments to the cheesy corporate package company and Ticketmaster and who-knowswhat-others, I realized, as I’d suspected, that The Dead (NOT The Grateful Dead, as listed on Ticketmaster’s site — no shame, whatsoever, I guess) knew the after-market prices would skyrocket and sought to keep their hand in the markup.
I have no problem with a cash grab; that’s their right. What I do take issue with are the hollow words weakly set forth on the Fare Thee Well website and published ticket prices far, far below what the market would obviously establish.
If they were serious and honest, they could have done either of two things:
1. Charge whatever they want, but at least do it up front and be prepared to answer to the court of public and Deadhead opinion.
2. Sell all tickets through their own online service and require purchasers to supply separate names for each ticket which would then be printed on the ticket and the ticketholder would present ID the gate.
Tickets could be exchanged/sold to others leading up to the shows at no markup for a fee through GDTS’s own online ticketing operation to cover their costs.
Instead, they seem to have chosen the veiled and murky path of backroom corporate dealing and dip their unseen ladle in the markup stew. Yuck.
I crossed paths with Phil maybe 15 years ago and had a chance to thank him for many years of a lot of fun. He said, “Well, Peter, we did it for people like you.” Now I’m not so sure.
My money orders came back yesterday with a paltry and pathetic flyer thanking me for “keeping Grateful Dead Spirit alive” and exhorting me to check dead50.net for additional ticketing options (read, our corporate packages). Shouldn’t it be “The Grateful Dead spirit?” Might be nice to have someone who can write handle the job of letting down 50,000 people. I’m really looking forward to spending another hour returning my money orders to the post office.
Thanks again for the great piece and good work. Sad that it bashes an institution we’ve all held dear for many years. Sometimes you don’t have to kill your idols; they’ll happily do it for you.
Peter Pagnucco/Oakland, Calif.
Republicans committed treason
With the recent attempted coupvia-appeasement and/or treasonous usurpation of presidential foreign policy negotiations, the conservative Senators who participated should be reminded that executive powers also include rounding up suspected terrorists, traitors and other wrongdoers and, thanks to the previous administration, sending them to Guantanamo to reflect upon their deeds, duration TBD and given “enhanced” reminders of their suspected transgressions.
As a patriotic American who is tired of the endless harassment of a sitting president, I would love to see President Obama order the public shackling/dragging out those 47 and immediately shipping them off to their torture resort-o’-the-Caribbean of which they are obviously so fond, (The closure of Gitmo has been blocked by many of the self-same appeasers/traitors.)
Many would call that poetic justice. Even more would call that respect for the Office of The President of the United States of America.
Tommy Holeman/Niwot
Boulder needs Danish, even when he’s wrong
Thank you so much for continuing to publish Paul Danish’s column. It’s the first thing I read, even though I disagree with him more often than not. His writing is creative, well-researched, thought-provoking, and frequently hilarious — a bracing antidote to Boulder’s liberal mind meld. We need that!
Jennifer Peters Johnson/Boulder
Best non-sequitor letter of the week
I am Mr. Jerry Smith and I would like to order Fish Lure from you and would like to know if you have some in stock as well as the prices and payment options. Thank you and waiting to hear from you as soon as possible. Regards!
Jerry/somewhere near water
