Correction: The Nov. 15 News story, “A return to legacy,” misstated the estimated lode of Bates Hunter Mine. It’s estimated worth is $2 billion. We apologize for any inconvenience.
People still read
newspapers
According to a recent online article in Editor & Publisher, a Nielsen Scarborough study suggested “that in an average month, 169 million adults read a U.S. newspaper. They may be reading it in one or more iterations — in print, on the web, via a mobile app, courtesy of an e-newsletter or through a social media news feed.” Some 58 percent of people ages 16 and older reported they regularly read newspapers. There are not noteworthy differences across communities in the numbers of people who regularly read newspapers. But 57 percent of suburban residents and 56 percent of urban dwellers are more likely to read their newspapers on handheld devices than 45 percent of rural residents, according to a 2012 article by the Pew Research Center. www.pewinternet.org.
“Print isn’t going away. If you are from Cleveland, then you were probably one of the thousands who wanted a print copy of the Plain Dealer that was released the day after the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship… So why in the digital era would people from all over want the print version? Nostalgia. The print newspaper is memorabilia people can keep forever.” www.advance-ohio.com/
“A newspaper is the center of a community, it’s one of the tent poles of the community, and that’s not going to be replaced by Web sites and blogs,” declared Michael Connelly.
And I agree.
Melissa Martin/via internet
Birther, bother?
Well, it appears our fearless leader has gone full circle.
From “birther” to “birth-blessed-by-U.S. Constitution” hater.
Why does Mr. Drumph hate our Constitution?
Enquiring Americans need to know.
Tommy Holeman/Superior
Trolling ghosts of the American soul
A few early mornings ago, trolling (as in fishing from a boat) through the AM Conservative talk radio shows, I paused to listen to a caller to a Cheyenne station, after the usual litany of lost traditional American values, praise D.W. Griffith’s 1915 silent film, Birth of a Nation. My jaw dropped. That anyone could openly today endorse a race war led by the KKK was stunning. I think the radio host was shocked and embarrassed as well and ended the call, but politely and without challenge. As I said, it was stunning that people were still living with the fears and hatred of a century ago. Granted, the modern world is not all peaches and cream, sugar and spice, and mama’s apple pie, but really? Advocating a race war?
Trolling the ghosts
Of the American soul—
Aye, there be monsters there.
Robert Porath/Boulder
Trash tsunami
The fences along I-25 become festooned with plastic sheeting, bags, cardboard, and all manner of airborne trash snagged and left flapping gaily in the breeze. Square miles of surrounding prairie are sowed liberally with the same debris, augmented with plastic bottles, containers, disposable diapers and even used exam gloves. Plastic streamers also attach themselves to passing cars.
Since moving to Erie in May, I’ve observed this surreal scene twice during high-wind storms, even stopping to photograph the colorful, kinetic mess as it disintegrated into ever smaller pieces.
This is littering on a grand scale. It is abject pollution, a veritable trash tsunami. The ostensible source is the Front Range Landfill located on WCR 5 in Erie.
The company’s website declares, “The Front Range Landfill is designed, operated, and monitored to protect the environment and ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.” It goes on to make promises of environmental stewardship by stating “With an eye towards the future, we constantly monitor and evaluate new technologies and programs that can enhance our commitment to the environment.”
Really? Direct observation confirms that our community is being bombarded with loose trash that — once dumped — appears to be improperly contained. It is dubious that ordinances green-light mass releases of trash into sensitive prairie ecosystems.
There are no words to express the heartbreak inflicted by bearing witness to such egregious insults against the environment. This is an abysmal and unacceptable situation. I implore the landfill operators to fulfill their custodial duties, clean up the operation and protect the environment surrounding the site. Please be good neighbors and keep the trash on premise.
Robert Carrier/Erie
On Pittsburgh
I have felt so sad today, I cried. I’m not religious, but I am frustrated that another mass killing was against my people. I felt a connection with the Parkland shooting, especially when I learned that the first two high school victims were buried in the Star of David cemetery where my parents, Nat and Selma, and my aunt and uncle, Bee and Sam, are buried.
I don’t remember the emotions I felt when the Newtown, Connecticut, children and adults were murdered but I think about my granddaughter, Alex who is 5, is just a year younger than the 6-year-olds who were slaughtered.
I feel the frustration and anger towards the perpetrators of these and every killing done in the hatred of others and the elected officials who offer their “thoughts and prayers” but do nothing to prevent the next massacre of innocent people.
I spent the day enjoying and playing with my grandchildren. That gave some relief but I feel so helpless that I can only do a very limited act to vote for people who are not using the Second Amendment to justify the “rights” of people to “bear arms” and the First Amendment to justify the right of free speech to promote hatred.
Our president, whom I despise, and the cowardly Congress who justify his cruelty and stupidity, will give condolences, thoughts and prayers, but do nothing to prevent the next victims of hatred and prejudice, whether in bullying, or individual or mass killings.
I am tired of reading of the killings and the evil people behind them. I want a world in which children will never have to ask why people do these horrible things to other people. I want a world that accepts everyone who he or she is. I want a world that is free of bullying, intimidation and violence.
If there is a God, is that too much to ask?
Ken Singer/via internet
On mass shootings
In response to the recent killing of 11 Jewish worshipers in a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 28, I can recall several similar shooting and even bombing mass murder situations in the recent past. Recently, a sniper in Las Vegas killed 60 innocent people attending an event. The reason for the mass murder is unknown. Also, a young white racist killed nine innocent black parishioners in a church in Charleston in an attempt to start a race a war. Soon after this mass murder, a black person, not liking white people, especially white policemen because they had killed a number of young blacks, killed five white Dallas officers and wounded others. About that time a young Muslim man killed 49 mostly Latin gays in Florida because he did not like the U.S. intervention in Iraq and Syria. Also, a Muslim man drove a truck down a sidewalk in New York City killing eight innocent pedestrians as he shouted repeatedly “God is Great.” In Wisconsin a white supremacist killed six innocent Sikhs just because of their skin color. Sikhs are of the same race as whites, but just a different color. A man shot and almost killed Rep. Scalise and wounded four others at a Republican baseball game. Also, a young student tried to kill Rep. Gabby Giffords, but only partially paralyzed her. He killed also six bystanders. Robert Kennedy, former presidential candidate, was killed by a young Palestinian because of his support for Israel. Martin Luther King’s mother and another parishioner were killed in church by a young black man who stated that he “hated Christians” and black pastors. Do not forget the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 169 persons including 15 children from the building day care center.
Supposedly, this mass murder was the result of federal destruction of the Branch Davidian compound.
A number of mass shootings have taken place in American schools. The mass shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a mentally ill young man killed 20 6-year-olds and six teachers. Another mentally ill student shot and killed 31 students at Virginia Tech. The high school in Columbine, Colorado, had a mass shooting in which 12 students were killed and one teacher. Also, a young white student from the University of Illinois in Urbana, traveled to Northern Illinois University and killed five students in a lecture hall possibly because he failed to take his anti-psychosis medicine. Also, a young student shot and killed nine students at a community college in Oregon. Apparently, he had social and mental problems, which generated the mass murder. This mass killing in Oregon may have possibly been generated in part it is speculated by a mass killing at the University of California, Santa Barbara, when a young man stabbed three men in his apartment and shot three others, possibly because of perceived social and sexual rejection.
Where do these mass killers come from to do their evil deeds? It is apparent that easy access to firearms, especially by persons with hate in their minds and or mental problems, can result in the loss of many lives each time an unstable individual feels the need to use a gun. We must insist in greater firearm controls across the board.
Stewart E. Brekke/via internet
