Handling the turbulence of life

of the nervous yers I have had sitting next to me.

Winning

With over 2 million miles own, I have experienced a lot of turbulence during those ights. Last month my wife and I were on a ight and for the most part it was a fairly smooth ight. However, during our descent the plane was violently rocked and had we not had our seatbelts on, we would have been tossed from our seats. In all my years of ying that was de nitely the toughest turbulence that I had ever experienced.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to sit next to many captains and pilots. As we would y through the turbulence, they would provide calming assurances that the planes are built to handle the turbulence and the pilots are trained to y us through safely.

at has given me such great comfort over the years, a comfort that I tried passing along to some

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com e plane went through a little more bumpiness before nding smoother air and with each bump and drop of the plane, the children continued to squeal as if they were on an amusement park ride.

On one such ight as we were ying from Denver to Albuquerque, the turbulence was bad the entire ight as the pilot couldn’t nd an altitude where the air was smooth. e woman sitting next to me literally squeezed my forearm the entire ight, and I had never met her before. I didn’t mind and tried to assure her of the safety by sharing the stories pilots have shared with me, but she still held on for dear life.

Just last week I was ying on a Dreamliner, a massive airplane and super comfortable. e ight was full, and as we went through our ascent, the plane hit a pocket of turbulence and gave us a fairly good bounce up and down. ere were a few quick screams and gasps, but there was another sound I heard, children laughing.

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Letter To The Editor

Bradley’s pseudo-Christian values

I support Chad in his ascertaining that state Rep. Brandi Bradley is conducting a hate campaign against other Americans who do not line up with her pseudo-Christian values. She parrots the hate spewed by people who espouse their faith in a nonproductive way. She is claiming that gays are grooming children to be exploited. ere is no basis for these charges except that is resonates with some of her likeminded constituents.

Maybe she should take aim at the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Church. ere is actual proof of both churches turning a blind eye to the pedophiles in their ranks. Christian doctrine according to the Bible is based on two simple concepts. One, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. is is the rst and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Finally, the Constitution gives rights to the people of the United States of America. is includes everyone, not just the white elites. People like Brandi like to ght for their rights, but they turn a blind eye when others are denied their rights under the Constitution. e Constitution starts with “We the People of the United States.” is means that the rights granted by the Constitution apply to everyone. When we reach that point, we will have a true democracy.

Ed Moore Highlands Ranch

Bradley gets history haywire

In her letter to the editor, Republican Brandi Bradley asserts that her values “are in alignment with the Judeo-Christian values that our country was founded on as stated in the Declaration of Independence.” is assertion is false.

e United States was founded by Enlightenment-inspired thinkers who valued reason and skepticism. If the Framers had wanted to establish the United States based on religious principles, they would have said so in the Constitution, the founding document of our nation. Instead, they did the opposite, adopting the rst written constitution in history that is godless and did not claim to be inspired by a divinity, and whose only references to religion are exclusionary. at is why they drafted a Constitution and a First Amendment that e ectively builds “a wall of separation between church and state.”

Ms. Bradley constantly quotes scripture in her duties as an elected o cial, which is a clear violation of the separation of church and state envisioned by our Founding Fathers — who were largely Deists, not speci cally Christian. If she is unable to serve the interests of all of her con- stituents, a large portion of which are atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, and skeptics — without favoritism of her own superstitious beliefs — she should resign. Her constant appeals to supernatural writings are concerning to those of us who live in this century, not in the second century. Her morality is no better than believers in other gods, followers of other religions, or the non-religious.

It’s hard not to notice a continued bias on her part against the LGBT+ community and a bias toward electing others who share her religious worldview — this is the opposite of what our Constitution demands from our elected leaders.

Craig Mason Highlands Ranch Vice president, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Denver Area Chapter

Do better, Castle Rock

Driving the length of Wilcox Street in Castle Rock this week … and it occurred to me that my son (whom we lost in 2013) would no longer recognize this place. It is starting to look and feel like the high-density urban cancer that has taken over lower downtown Denver these last two decades.

I mentioned this observation to a friend, and his response was, “Don’t be one of those people.” “ ose people?” I asked. “You know … like the environmentalist who already owns a cabin in the woods, and now doesn’t want anyone else homesteading in his valley.”

My friend has a point … but that is not my complaint. Douglas County is a great place to live, and I begrudge no one the opportunity to drift in and take root here.

But these new buildings … these industrial cubist designs (just like the rest of the pastel box anthills overwhelming the light rail lines in Denver metro) are neither attractive nor inspiring. At least not in this old man’s opinion. ey remind me of a dreary, windowless concrete school built on the cheap in the seventies!

Seriously … it takes just a little imagination to think you’re looking at something erected during the heady days of oppression in the good old USSR … a resident apparatchik on every oor. “Sorry Comrade … yes, it is cold in the winter, but running hot water would make you week and dependent.” e county and the town of Castle Rock need to start asking these stuck-in-a-rut architects to produce something with a little ambience…a little heritage…and a little humanity. Maybe even something with a western air to honor our heritage and complement the natural beauty that surrounds us.

By the way … who left that rusting old freighter next to the library?

H. Mike Junge Larkspur

PrideFest possibilities

For Ellis Arnold to declare in his July 13 article “County to hold town hall on PrideFest, fairgrounds policy” that “some area residents have expressed concern with last August’s drag show” is such an understatement that he should be given some time o to reassess the world, which is not as woke as he thinks. He might start by speaking with our commissioners who are trying to survive this storm of public reaction.

Yes, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is hosting a town hall on July 26 to clarify fairground regulations. In addition to discussion, what they should also include are actions to take when PrideFest once again violates the regulations.

To determine what we can expect from the BOCC let’s honestly look at commissioner motives. Lora was previously a police o cer who enjoys the pleasure of de ning and enforcing rules and being on the right side against those of us who are wrong. In the July 13 article she wonders out loud whether the county is the “right convener” for the conversation, a conversation she can’t win. Lora’s argument against the majority is that the county will be sued over her decision to put an end to PrideFest by doing the responsible and right thing. Abe on the other hand is leaning toward having a panel decide, but this however is a public issue and the BOCC is elected to represent us, not pigeonhole the issue out of sight. Abe is an attorney who enjoys negotiating more than resolving issues and he’s bathing in the heat from PrideFest. But Abe, you can’t have it both ways, on one

STURDEVANT Helen Lorene (Clevenger) Sturdevant

August 7, 1923 - June 22, 2023

Helen lived life to the fullest for almost 100 years. She passed away peacefully, listening to big band music, after dinner and a movie.

Celebrate Helen’s life at 2:00 p.m., July 29, at New Hope Presbyterian Church, Castle Rock, CO. While we are saddened by her passing, the family requests you join us as Helen lived— with joy.

See http:// ponderosavalleyfunerals.com/ tribute/details/320315/Helen-Sturdevant/ obituary.html#tribute-start selection. ese moments never fail to make her smile.

“It brings me just a ton of joy to see people enjoying it and enjoying the space,” Monson said. “I think it’s also enriched my kids’ love and appreciation for literature because they get so excited about nishing a book and passing it on.”

Monson built her library in 2017 and registered it with Little Free Library, a Minnesota-based nonpro t that aims to increase access to literature by providing blueprints and guides to build community libraries, as well as mapping registered libraries across the country.

Hundreds of little free libraries have popped up across the Denver metro area as their popularity proliferates. Monson said she was inspired to build her library after visiting others with her 11-year-old twins Tommy and Luci, who are avid readers.

“I really believe in the importance of building community and connection for wellness, so I thought it was a great way to build community shortly after we moved to Golden,” she said. “So it was their love of reading and my want to build community that made it happen.”

Since the library is on a bike and walking path, it’s not accessible by car, so Monson took advantage of the unique environment by adding a bench, a slide and fairy gardens around the library to make it an inviting spot for visitors.