LETTERS: Keep Colorado colorful; filling the labor shortage

Black, red, green, and classic “Greenie” plates are now available for passenger vehicles in Colorado.

No doubt many of us have noticed the new Colorado black license plates. At first, I thought that they might be some kind of new government designation since they seemed to be along those boring black-and-white types similar to the red-on-white ones that designate commercial use.

As it turns out, the new ones are available to purchase for an extra $25 fee. My niece was the first one to explain to me that they are based on an earlier style that made it retro-cool. Then one of my friends told me that he got one because it matched the color of his new black truck.

I am very disappointed that Colorful Colorado has decided to offer this option. It doesn’t seem to reflect and promote the qualities of our state. The other 50 options at least still portray nice scenery along with their special group message and support.

The black ones support Coloradans with Disabilities but surely, we could have come up with a much nicer looking one for that group. By all means go ahead and support that group with a $25 donation but think twice about choosing the license plate. We should reserve that one for the black POW-MIA designation.

I did notice another one from the state of Iowa, so it appears that other states are offering it also.

Now this will be just fine for those states that really don’t have much to offer scenery-wise but at the same time it will only homogenize all of the states instead of individualizing them. How are we supposed to keep track of different ones during our license plates game on the road?

Ask not what Colorado can do for you but what you can do for Colorado. Keep Colorado colorful!

Christopher A. Jones

Colorado Springs

In response to Monday’s business article “Chip Industry sees labor shortages”, July 31:

If only the hapless trillion dollar chip industry had the foresight and resources to train American workers to alleviate their worker shortages.

Perhaps even more socialistic government subsidies are the answer, but as suggested in the article the obvious near-term solution is to lobby the government to allow cheaper immigrant workers to fill the temporary, but perpetual, gap.

James Jordan

Colorado Springs

The headline reads “After Supreme Court win, Christian Designer Faces Death Threats.” Underneath was “Threats surge against Colorado woman after top court rules that she can’t be compelled to make website for same-sex wedding”. The article was in an edition of the Epoch Times.

The same thing happened to a Colorado bakery owner who would not make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the bakery owner, as well. It is the freedom of a company to decided what service it offers and to whom.

When I read this I thought about the time when I wanted to purchase a pair of shoes. One store didn’t carry the style I wanted. Another store had the style I liked, but not in my size. At the third shoe store, I found the style I liked, in the correct size.

Neither of the first two shoe stores could provided what I wanted. So it was with the website owner and the bakery owner. Each couple could have gone to other bakeries/other website producers. However, they did not. Instead, they chose to harass the respective owners. They were more interested in getting the respective owners in trouble than to find for what they were looking.

To me, this was all political. Each couple wanted to make a statement: They were being discriminated against. There are businesses to meet everyone’s needs. One just has to go out and look for them. The two same-sex couples did more harm than good. In America, each person can live out his/her life has they want, but should do it by not harming fellow Americans.

Erna A. Haring

Colorado Springs

We find our GOP party chair’s position and lack of common sense to be highly concerning. It appears that he is either trying to curry favor with former President Donald Trump in an effort to challenge Rep. Doug Lamborn’s seat in the next election or is simply he is uneducated and full of self-importance.

It is highly unpatriotic to stand in the way of economic progress that will benefit the economy of Colorado and its veterans. This is why we have come out in opposition to Dave Williams’ position because, before we were Republicans, we are Coloradans. As such, no matter what side of the aisle we stand on, we should always put the people of our great state first!

The economic benefit of having a military base in Colorado Springs cannot be overstated. It would generate billions of dollars in economic growth and thousands of jobs while providing a recession-proof economy to the people of El Paso County. Furthermore, the Hyde Amendment (1976) ensures that the Department of Defense can only provide abortions if the mother’s life is at risk, or in the case of incest or rape.

U.S. military hospitals have performed fewer than 100 abortions since 2016, which is significantly lower than the number of abortions conducted in Texas.

It’s also important to note as anything within the borders of a military base is governed by federal law and the hosting state has no jurisdiction. Therefore, it is ludicrous to suggest that a federal entity would choose one location over another solely because of access to abortions.

Our suggestion to the chair is to focus on his duties and raise money for the party (perhaps even pay his staff), attempt to unify the party with a common goal of safeguarding of our constitutional rights and distancing ourselves from the far right.

In closing, the need for Space Force is clear!

Joshua Griffin, Karl Dent, State Central Committee Members

Fountain

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