Correction: The May 10 cover story, “Different recipe, same great
taste,” misidentified a member of Leftover Salmon, at one point swapping
the name Billy Nershi for Vince Herman.
Garden wars
(Re: “Garden wars,” cover story, May 3.) I believe that dogs in the community gardens is a violation of state law, for the same reason that dogs are not allowed in places selling food.
Fecal contamination of food is a public safety issue. Any activity endangering the health and safety of others is prohibited in Boulder county open space as well.
Dogs walk in areas contaminated with feces, and dangerous pathogens can stick to their feet. No sane person wants their food contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria or wants to be infected by hook worms, tape worms or round worms.
The rights of a person end when their activity endangers the safety of another. Many dog owners are really no different than rapists, child molesters or drunk drivers. When it comes to dog waste they don’t care who gets hurt by it if they get the pleasure of owning a dog.
Jay Parks/Boulder
Constructive criticism
(“From grades to the Gothic,” Overtones, May 3.) Fantastic article, it is good to see ska being talked about. I noticed two things:
1. The band “Synthetic Element” is actually spelled as Synthetic Elements.
2. The band “Streetlight Manifesto” is a very well-known ska band, one of the best. It is listed as non-ska in the article.
Otherwise, I enjoy the Boulder Weekly a lot! Please don’t take this as criticism but as a loyal reader’s input!
Thanks and great work, John Marinera/Boulder
Bailey on loan
(Re: “A high-powered mom,” Boulderganic, May 10.) I recently became aware that Boulder has hired Heather Bailey to assess the possibility of municipalizing its electric utility.
I have had the privilege of working on and off with Heather for the past 20 years. She may well be the smartest person I know, and her tenacity and work ethic is legendary in her home state. Boulder could not have picked a better individual for the job.
By the way … we want her back in two years.
Call us and we will come pick her up.
Marcus Pridgeon, Commercial Metals Company/via Internet
Supremacist court?
As the Supreme Court, the unelected decider of elections and politically charged issues, ponders the fate of the affordable care act/ Obamacare, as to whether, in their almighty power, they will allow Americans to have the health coverage we elected our Congress to allow us to buy, the question of whether we can constitutionally require a person to buy something he or she does not want to buy seems to be the main sticking point and current GOP wedge issue.
To that, I say the bill does not force anybody to buy anything. It just requires them to pay a small price for something they already have. Case in point, and there are numerous cases, a healthy young man does not buy health insurance and breaks his neck
Arresting obesity
The number of Americans considered obese is expected to rise from the current 34 percent to 42 percent by the year 2030, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and discussed at the recent “Weight of the Nation” conference in Washington.
Diabetes, kidney failure, heart disease, and other obesity-related ailments account for countless premature deaths and as much as 18 percent of the $2.6 trillion national cost of medical care (wapo.st/obesestudy).
The leading causes of obesity are consumption of fat-laden meat and dairy products and lack of exercise. This is particularly critical during childhood years, when lifestyle habits become lifelong addictions.
A five-year Oxford University study of 22,000 people, published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2006, found that those on a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least weight. A review of 87 studies in Nutrition Reviews concluded that a vegetarian diet is highly effective for weight loss.
The time has come to replace meat and dairy products in our diet with wholesome grains, vegetables, and fruits and to undertake a regular exercise program. Parents should insist on healthy school lunch choices and set a good example at their own dinner table.
Rudolph Helman/Boulder
Returninger higher with bring ling on a trampoline, requiring $150,000 in surgical and rehabilitation costs. As a humanitarian nation we will provide him with his care rather than let him die.
The cost will be absorbed by higher hospital rates that are paid by higher premiums from those of us with health insurance.
Obamacare will, for the first time, bring a level of fairness while controlling the cost of health insurance.
Returning to unregulated for-profit health insurance will, and has allowed, people to die who can’t afford the premiums or have pre-existing conditions.
The insurance oligopoly (businesses that conspire together to set prices) is also hobbling our manufacturing industries that must bear the burden of 18 percent health insurance rates, the highest in the industrialized world.
If not even one of the ideologically right-wing Supreme Court judges are able or willing to allow our Congress to make decisions in the best interest of the people, this nation will continue to suffer from skyrocketing insurance premiums and Wall Street death panels that only care about increasing profits.
Consequently, the 75 percent of people who now do not respect the judgment of the court will increase as we continue on the path of predator economics.
Tom Lopez/Longmont
