From the Greeley Tribune:

The Colorado Farm Bureau and a Weld County man representing disabled gun owners are among several plaintiffs who joined 54 Colorado county sheriffs on Friday in filing a federal civil rights lawsuit in an effort to block state gun laws.

The county sheriffs signed as plaintiffs along with 21 companies, groups and individuals. The civil suit filed in U.S. District Court on Friday morning names Gov. John Hickenlooper as the defendant. The lawsuit alleges that laws limiting magazine capacity to 15 rounds and requiring background checks for sales and transfers of firearms violate constitutional rights.

David Kopel, research director for the Independence Institute and the attorney filing the lawsuit, said at a news conference announcing the case that the lawsuit could go on for years. In the meantime, the plaintiffs are considering asking for an emergency injunction against the laws, which would put them on hold until a ruling is made in the case.

Conspicuously absent from the list is our own Chaffee County Sheriff Pete Palmer.

On January 31st this year, Sheriff Palmer In an opinion piece in the Mountain Mail stated:

“El Paso County commissioners recently passed a resolution pledging to oppose any efforts to enforce laws that, in their view, restrict their citizens’ rights under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. Weld County commissioners are considering a similar move. At least three Colorado county sheriffs have made public statements vowing to oppose any law or order that, again in their estimation, violates the US or Colorado constitutions. In response, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has said ‘they (county officials) don’t get to decide. The Supreme Court gets to decide the parameters of Second Amendment rights.’”

“I’m siding with our attorney general on this point, as have most of Colorado’s county sheriffs and elected officials. Our system of government, with checks and balances assured through separation of powers, has prevailed for more than two hundred years. An official has three options when faced with the prospect of enforcing any law that the official finds onerous: carry out the law as it stands, challenge it in court, or resign from his or her position.”

Based on this statement, we need to ask which of the three options has our Sheriff decided on? We know he has not joined the fifty-four (54) other Colorado Sheriffs challenging the law, he has not resigned, that only leaves him the option of carrying out the law as it stands.

Lifelong Delta county Resident and Orchard City Mayor Don Suppes formally announced his candidacy for Colorado State Senate Dist. 5 at the Delta County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday April 27th.

Suppes attended the Dinner with his wife Beth and his 3 year old twin boys stating that they were the reason he was seeking this seat, “I want my kids to have the same opportunities in Colorado that I have had and if things don’t change that will never happen”.

Suppes also stated that he had seen firsthand the chaos at the State Capitol this legislative session and that the Democrats are destroying Colorado with their liberal socialist agenda.

Colorado’s Senate District 5 consists of seven mountain counties, Chaffee, Delta, Eagle, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Lake and Pitkin Counties.  Suppes let the attendees know that this seat can and should be held by a Republican and is a winnable seat considering the District numbers from the last midterm election in which both the Republican State Treasurer and Secretary of State won by 4%. Suppes served as Delta County Republican Party Chairman from 2007 to 2013.

Don Suppes can be reached for comment by phone or email.  970-234-3843, suppes@tds.net

The unofficial results were reported last night around 9:15pm. The election judges had counted 379 “NO” votes (66%) and 191 “YES” votes (34%).

This article was written by me and published at www.salidadailypost.com. You can go there to see the full article and a few pictures taken by the Editor, Bill Hudson. We should be following the Salida Daily Post as they are reporting and commenting on local issues in a strong and objective manner.

Judging by the results of yesterday’s May 7 election, the citizens in the Arkansas Valley think that term limits are a good idea.

The electors in the Salida Hospital District were asked the following question:

“So that the voters of the Salida Hospital District may decide who will best serve them on the Board of Directors, shall the term limits imposed by Article XVIII, Section II, of the Colorado Constitution, be eliminated for the directors of the Salida Hospital District?”

Constitutional term limits allow a hospital director to serve two consecutive four-year terms (eight years); the hospital district board was asking voters to eliminate those term limits.

By the end of voting yesterday, approximately 570 district electors had submitted their ballots, either via mail or at one of two local polling locations — one in Salida and one in Buena Vista. The unofficial results were reported last night around 9:15pm. The election judges had counted 379 “NO” votes (66%) and 191 “YES” votes (34%).

The electors in the hospital district voted a resounding “NO” to the elimination the term limits, thus leaving current hospital board term limits in place.

Citizens were allowed to vote if they were registered and lived within the Salida Hospital District (Chaffee County and parts of Fremont and Saguache counties) or if they (or their spouse) owned property within the district and were registered to vote anywhere in Colorado.

Walk-in voting on Tuesday was heaviest at the polling place at Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (HRRMC) in Salida where 288 ballots were cast. 78 ballots were cast at the Buena Vista polling station at the American Legion, and 208 ballots were voted via mail-in ballots. One can’t necessarily infer from this that interest was higher in Salida than in Buena Vista because electors could vote at either polling location or by mail-in ballot: the locations where the ballots were cast was not necessarily determined by where you lived. I voted in Buena Vista, for example, even though I am a resident in Salida. I just happened to be in Buena Vista and found it convenient to vote there.

The election judges and officers performed admirably, in my opinion. There were interested parties and media observers watching at the polling locations. I was one of the “watchers” and we were well received and had reasonable access to the polling places to observe voting processes and vote counting.

The voters are to be commended for paying attention and voting. The reasons for eliminating the term limits, offered by the hospital board and its supporters, were arguments I hear on a recurring basis: that the citizens are not interested in their governments, and that suitable candidates cannot be found. Judging from the 570 votes cast in this special election — held in the springtime, six months before our normal election season — it appears that at least some voters are interested, and believe suitable candidates for the hospital board can be found.

I had advocated a “NO” vote. Now that the election is over and the results are in, the citizens — particularly those of us who wanted to keep term limits in place — should be exploring among ourselves who we’d like to see on the hospital board, going forward.

The Salida Hospital District will continue to conduct board elections every two years in accordance with statute 32-1-805, “Time for Holding Elections”, which states, “Regular special district elections shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of May in every even-numbered year.” Therefore, the hospital district’s next board election will take place in May of 2014.

I’m grateful to the current board members for their years of service, and I look forward to seeing a healthy slate of candidates on the Salida Hospital District ballot next May.

Billy Carlisle, Salida Citizen

Democratic legislators are wrong to push for same-day registration in Colorado as soon as this year.

There’s a lot to like about an election reform bill introduced earlier this month by Colorado Democrats and county clerks.

It would institute a statewide mail ballot system, augmented by county-based vote centers that still allow people to cast ballots in person. It cleans up problems that stem from inconsistency.

We have concerns, however, about the bill’s move to same-day voter registration. We worry the bill mandates a timeline that is too aggressive, particularly since it relies on technology that hasn’t been tested.

It’s a chicken-and-egg argument: Without the bill, there would be no imperative to create the real-time, Web-based access to the state’s SCORE voter registration database. But you can’t test what doesn’t exist.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler,who opposes the bill, makes persuasive arguments about the cost and difficulty of creating such a program on a fast-track basis. They must devise specifications, write the software and test it before the fall elections.

Read more:What’s the rush on same-day voter registration in Colorado? – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_23047441/whats-rush-same-day-voter-registration-colorado#ixzz2RDQh13TP

Follow us:@Denverpost on Twitter|Denverpost on Facebook

Are you interested in learning about a federally funded school curriculum
called “Common Core”? Learn how it affects public schools, private schools
and home schoolers in our local school districts. Come to Casa Del Rio
Park Club House, at 27665 County Road 313 on Friday evening, April 5, 2013
at 7:00pm. This discussion is sponsored by the Collegiate Peaks Republican
Women’s Forum. For more information call, Maryanne at 395-3588.

My Sincere Thanks,
Maryanne Freed
1st V.P. CPRWF
mafreed@realwest.com
395-3588

Governor Hickenlooper’s free ride of last two and a half years is over.  His golly gee why can’t we all get along over a beer position has been disrupted by, ironically, eastern liberals and special interest groups.  He can’t hide behind the businessman i.d. and pretend not be be liberal anymore.  As long as he had nothing but bike races and business to talk about he was safe with even the conservative Denver business community.  After all, many do not concern themselves with party as much as they do access.  But alas, I digress.

Let’s get to the point clearly and concisely for what will be one of my shorter but possibly most important messages of the last few months.  In the debate between then Mayor Hickenlooper, myself, and he whose name shall not be spoken at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Colorado Springs, the subject of gun rights was discussed.  Oddly enough, in many other debates the subject never came up but in this one it did.  When we were asked about our position on gun rights in Colorado one could almost here to bottle top pop as the mayor shared a warm and fuzzy story about using a gun as a boy, maybe even hunting, and that he supported gun rights.  I was on a roll that day in what the local media declared a clear Maes victory upon completion, when I challenged the mayor with the fact that his story was certainly warm and fuzzy but where did he really stand on gun rights?   Was he going to protect our gun rights in Colorado?  His answer was clear, he would only act to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and that he would take no other action.  There you have it.

Governor, remember these words?  Do you remember your commitment to not infringe on our gun rights except in the context of the mentally ill?  I am confident you do now.  My friend, this is Colorado not New York or Washington, DC.  Tragedies happen at the hands of evil people.  I can not imagine the pain that still possesses those who were victimized in New Town and Aurora.  I still remember driving to Aurora the morning after to simply be near the theater and pray.  If we spent more time in prayer, education, accountability, and care for the mentally ill  in our state and less time intruding into the lives of honest, law abiding Coloradans  we would all be better off.  Please do not participate  in some misguided need to do something to treat a symptom rather than the disease and do the right thing and honor your campaign commitment rather than react to short lived special interests.  That is leadership.

May God Bless You and Colorado,Dan Maes

Republican Nominee for Governor 2010-Colorado

Collegiate Peaks Republican Women’s Forum April Meeting

CPRWF next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 11:30am for social time and gravel comes down at noon. Our guest speaker will be Mr. Neil Schuerer, District Director from Congressman Lamborn’s office. He will address concerns of the citizens of
Chaffee County. Come and join us!

South Chaffee County Women’s Satellite Group

South Chaffee County Republican Women are you interested in participating in a Satellite Group, which can do get togethers with no need of officers? We can help you do this! Collegiate Peaks Republican Women’s Forum is meeting at the Country Bounty, on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 starting at 6:00pm. You’ll have time to eat before the meeting begins. We will have a guest speaker and be finished around 8:00pm. This is an opportunity to express your concerns about current issues. Let us hear from you.
Our Sincere Thanks,

Maryanne Freed
1st V.P. CPRWF
mafreed@realwest.com
395-3588

  …A Calendar And Commentary From The Golden Dome

From: Representative Jim Wilson – HD 60

Storms in the mountains may be few and far between this winter, but storms are raging regularly under the Golden Dome!  The final vote in the House on the Gun Bills took place on 2/18.  Those bills now move on to the Senate and will probably be heard next week.  Just as the sun set on Monday on the Gun Bills, the sun rose on Tuesday with a new floor battle over “Comprehensive K-12 Human Sexuality Education”.  Evidently the bill sponsors felt the Colorado State Department of Education Standards dealing with Human Sexuality were not inclusive enough.  HB13-1081 incorporates the philosophy of Planned Parenthood into its definitions of “comprehensive human sexuality education and culturally sensitive”.   

Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education is defined in the bill as “medically accurate information about all methods to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and infections, including HIV and AIDS, Hepatitus C, and the link between Human Papilloma Virus and Cancer.  Methods must include information about the correct and consistent use of abstinence, contraception, condoms, and other barrier methods”. 

In the bill, “Culturally Sensitive includes resources, references, and information that is meaningful to the experiences and needs of communities of color; immigrant communities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities; people with disabilities; and others whose experiences have traditionally been left out of sexual health education, programs and policies.”  The bill passed 2^nd reading on a strict party line vote.  The opponents had many objections (nearly 50 amendments) but one of the biggest objections was leaving “Different Religious Communities” out of the “Culturally Sensitive” section.  If you want to review the sexually explicit nature of this type of sex education, go to: Heritage Foundation study of the Comprehensive vs. Abstinence curricula — chapter 5 discusses the explicit content in most of the most highly promoted “comprehensive curricula”.  

My latest bill, HB-1165: Creation Of A Manufacturing Career Pathway, passed the Education Committee on 2/18 on an 8-4 vote.  It will now have to be scheduled to be heard by the Appropriations Committee.

If you have any questions or concerns during the Legislative session, please feel free to call me at 303-866-2747 or e-mail me at either wilsonforhd60@gmail.com or james.wilson.house@state.co.us.

Yours for HD 60,

Representative Jim Wilson

COLORADO
STATE SENATE
STATE CAPITOL
DENVER
80203

 Denver-Today, Senate Democrats in the State Affairs Committee abandoned their “jobs, jobs, jobs” mantra when they decided to shoot down Senator Kevin Grantham’s (R-Cañon City) bill to classify the Waste-to-Energy process as a renewable energy. Currently 26 states, the federal government and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado consider this technology a renewable energy.

Creative Energy Systems, a Colorado energy company, had planned to create fifty jobs as well as make a $40 million dollar investment in La Junta, Colorado, if this legislation had passed.

Ron Davis, Director of Economic Development for the City of La Junta testified that, “This was about jobs in Colorado, not just for La Junta, but for the entire state.”

Bryan Bryant, Otero County Economic Development Coordinator added, “This was a shovel ready project. This would create jobs now for people in Otero County.”

Colorado State Representative Clarice Navarro (R-Pueblo), the House sponsor, stated “Rural Coloradans lost a huge economic driver today. It is a travesty that the Democrats in the Colorado Senate are more concerned about supporting the Denver-Boulder environmental movement than creating jobs in Southeastern Colorado.”

Senator Grantham added, “It is highly disappointing that Senator Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) and her Democrat committee members take their marching orders from people who know little to nothing about the people of Pueblo and southeastern Colorado. Democrat special interests are the only winners today.”

Senate Bill 63 died on a 2-3 party line vote, with Senator Larry Crowder (R-Alamosa) and Senator Ted Harvey (R-Highlands Ranch) standing up and supporting jobs in southeastern Colorado.