Opinion
Muftic: Wildfires heat up partisan politics and the global warming debate
August 14, 2018 — Here I am sitting in my living room above Fraser with my view of Byers Peak some 10 miles away across the Fraser River Valley disappearing in a smoky haze and watching television reports of the devastating record breaking Carr/Mendocino Complex fire in northern California.
Letter: Colorado’s Public Lands sold to the highest bidder
August 8, 2018 — Last week, at the first forum of the general election, GOP gubernatorial candidate, Walker Stapleton said that the federal government should not be making determinations regarding federal lands, but refused to say whether he would stand up to Trump if Trump attempted to take away
Letter: Confusing socialism
August 8, 2018 — Bill Hamilton, like many people, confuse socialism/communism with the type of social democracy we see in Europe and was laid out by FDR in his Second Bill of Rights 1941. Google it. These economic policies created the longest period of economic growth in modern times.
Muftic: Playing fair with the American people
August 7, 2018 — The other day my son asked, "I know the Democrats are against Trump, but what are the Democrats for? I can run off Trump's campaign slogans by heart, but I can't think of one for the Democrats." My first response, I can't either. So, I
Hamilton: September: ‘Please do not come so soon.’
August 7, 2018 — Here beside the lake, it has been a cool and rainy summer. Maybe too cool and the cold weather must have fooled the nearby Aspen Clone. Clone? Yes, each Aspen tree is a genetic twin of its neighbors, all of them connected underground to each
Letter: Rightly raised alarms over water conservation
August 6, 2018 — Last Wednesday's article in Sky-Hi News rightly raised alarms about the impacts of low flows in the Colorado River this year on the fish populations. As a result, anglers have been asked to voluntarily cease fishing by noon to reduce further stress to the fish.
Hamilton: The Socialist impulse: Could it work here?
July 31, 2018 — We hear a lot about Socialism these days. Apparently, Socialism is taking over the Left wing of the Democratic Party with Vermont's U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and New York congressional wannabe, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as the party's leading Socialist spokespersons. But what is Socialism? The Encyclopedia
Muftic: Why I am worried about American democracy’s future
July 31, 2018 — Thirteen years after World War II ended I spent my university junior year abroad in Berlin. It was a heady time for a United States political science major wondering why what had happened. The wall had not yet been built. I had conversations with survivors
Letter: Thank you for support of preservation
July 27, 2018 — I write to thank all of the supporters of the preservation and stewardship of open lands in the headwaters of the Colorado River for attending and contribution to the Colorado Headwaters land Trust's annual event, Land, Lunch and Lager, on July 15th. We owe special
Our view: Short-term rentals need fair regulation
July 27, 2018 — There is no great solution that will appease both sides of the short-term rental argument. It's a debate across countless areas of the world, especially in popular resort destination markets like Grand County. Across the Rockies, each town deals with short-term rentals in their own
Muftic: Trump dances to the Russian tune on Montenegro
July 25, 2018 — President Trump dances to the Russian foreign policy tune one again, this time immediately after the Helsinki one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin. In a July 17 interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Trump said that NATO member Montenegro is an "aggressive" nation and he
Hamilton: Ends versus means: The crux of creeping corruption
July 25, 2018 — The financier, Simon Cameron, (1799-1889) famously said, "An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." While that may be true of some of today's elected officials, Americans should not expect such loathsome behavior on the part of FBI agents or
Muftic: Trump’s NATO policy in 2016 has Grand County impact in 2018
July 17, 2018 — It is rare that I repeat a column, but in the wake of Donald Trump's attempt to wreck NATO, leaving open the question of whether the United States would come to the aid of a country attacked by Russia, and his attempt to blame Obama
Hamilton: Can NATO, history’s greatest alliance, rise again?
July 17, 2018 — Recently, a military colleague asked if this writer spent much time under NATO command. The answer: Eight fascinating years, to include being in nominal command of the Allied Command, Europe, Mobile Land Force. A five-company composite battalion of units from the five strongest NATO nations.
Letter: Short-term rental impact substantial and negative
July 17, 2018 — I have been a residence owner in the Sunnyshore Park Subdivision for 24 years, the last eight a full-time registered voter in Grand County. Until last year when short-term rentals moved in, this legacy community was a congenial, family oriented, quiet, safe and peaceful place
Letter: Blown away by authentic forest husbandry
July 17, 2018 — In response to the Sugarloaf Fire, U.S. Forest Service fire fighters placed pumps, sprinklers and fire hoses around the Ute Park Ranch on the Williams Fork, giving me and my family the wherewithal to withstand all but the worst blows the Sugarloaf Fire might throw
Letter: Thank you for support during Golf Course Fire
July 11, 2018 — To all the responders and the community of Grand Lake who participated in or were impacted by the Golf Course Fire which started on June 28, 2018. I'd like to make a very public thank you to all the emergency responders (numbering in excess of
Muftic: The power of the unaffiliated is working for Democrats in 2018
July 11, 2018 — Colorado just had its first "open primary," permitting unaffiliated to vote in a party primary of their choice. It benefited the Democratic Party turnout and gives a preview of the November 2018 outcome when all House of Representative and numerous statehouse legislative seats, some state
Hamilton: Short-term rentals: Invasion of the property snatchers
July 11, 2018 — The advent of Airbnb-type short-terms rentals (STRs) is disrupting the national housing market like a bulldozer on steroids. So, what's so alarming about a scheme that uses an on-line, peer-to-peer, computer lodging platform to encourage homeowners to rent their second homes to total strangers? Apparently,
