PAGE 8 | THE VILLAGER • June 6, 2019
Making a difference CONTRIBUTED BY TIM RICHARDS
Several years ago, I bought a new watch after the band on my old one began falling apart. My new watch came from a discount store and retailed for $9.87. I got it on sale for $4.99. Despite the cheap price, it looked nice, was water resistant to 100 feet and kept perfect time. It even came with a great warranty. Should it prove defective in the first three years, I could return it and the manufacturer promised to replace or repair it free of charge. The only requirement was a shipping and handling fee. That sounded fair until I realized shipping and handling was $5.95. It would have made no sense for me to pay a dollar more for warranty work than I had spent on the watch in the first place and then wait four to six weeks for it to arrive. Shortly after I bought my watch, I was talking with a good friend. In the course of our conversation we both admitted that we sometimes do stupid things. At times bad decisions flow out of our selfishness. However, generally foolish decisions are made because we lose our perspective. We all sometimes lose sight of what counts and treat minor things as if they really matter. We view inconsequential things as important and unimportant
things as essential. We take time to watch television, but don’t make time for a friend who needs encouragement or a child who longs for our attention. The Apostle Paul wrote this in his letter to the Philippians, “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me— everything you heard from me and saw me doing…” (Philippians 4:9, NLT) It is not enough that we know what to do; we must act on what we know. How can we remember to do what we know we should? It’s often not as much about learning what we are to do, as it is about acting on what we know we should. We all struggle to keep our priorities straight. My goal is to remind each of us that we need to invest our lives in the things that matter. We can all become confused about how to find perspective when our lives get overly busy. We need to develop a wise reference point in the midst of life’s pressure and confusion. While none of us will ever achieve perfect balance in this life, we are to be committed to making a difference for God. We do this as we intentionally live out our faith by loving and helping those who most need our care and friendship. Tim Richards is an author, columnist and former pastor.
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For those who care about parental rights, Tom Sullivan must be recalled
CONTRIBUTED BY KRISTI BURTON BROWN Rep. Tom Sullivan (HD 37) is facing a recall. Just over 10,000 signatures must be collected by early July. The reasons to recall Sullivan are many. While he has a tragic personal story that would be any parent’s worst nightmare, no person has the right to be a single-issue legislator. Tom Sullivan was elected in 2018 to represent all the families of HD 37 on all the issues. After just a single session in office, he has shown a willingness to discard parental rights at every turn. Parents from HD 37 showed up to the Capitol to ask Rep. Sullivan and his Democrat colleagues to vote down bills that went against their rights.
Barbwire Bob
Dr. Bronwyn Bateman, right, and Dr. Brad Straatsma, left, at the PAAO Congress in Cancun, Mexico.
by The University of Colorado and the ophthalmology department doctors and staff. The Anschutz family has donated millions of dollars to the expanded campus. Dr. Bateman, a talented pediatric surgeon, performed hundreds of operations at nearby Children’s Hospital before her retirement in 2005, giving up her department chair to Dr. Naresh Mandavi. The Lions still have their name on the front of the building and a gigantic Lion painting greets patients at the front door of the facility. *** Helen Keller called Lions her “Knights of The Blind” at the 1925 International Lions Convention and Lions continue to serve in that role and have added diabetes to the list of service projects. The Denver “Den” celebrated 100 years of service in 2017 and was one of 24 clubs in the United States to start the Lions organization now found in over 200 countries, with 1.5 million members worldwide. Rotary and Lions do medical service work around the world. There are many Lions Clubs in Latin America and Dr. Bateman became the president of this Pan American Congress. She has traveled extensively in Latin America and speaks fluent Spanish. The PAAO organization holds a Congress every two years and the most recent was in Cancun, Mexico where they honored Dr. Bronwyn and Dr. Brad Straatsma with their highest honor, the A. Edward Maumenee Award. Dr. Irene Maumenee, a renowned ophthalmologist herself, lives in New York City, and is on the
They asked him to vote no on a bill that would have exposed their children to sex ed issues in Kindergarten. Tom Sullivan voted to pass the bill anyway. They asked him to vote no on a bill that would allow school counselors access to children without the knowledge of parents – who are best positioned to help a child in danger. Tom Sullivan voted to pass the bill anyway. House District 37 is full of young families. The parents of these families – parents like myself – believe that we are more capable of making good choices for our children than politicians are. We believe that we have the right and the responsibility to determine what is best for our children, and we
do not need a politician in Denver listening to special interests instead of us. We need a representative at the Capitol who listens to our voices instead of shutting them out. We need a representative who does not delete our voicemails and discard our emails. We need a representative who respects our right to raise our children as we see fit – without undue interference from the government. For these reasons and many more, Tom Sullivan needs to be recalled. For more information, and to find out where to sign the recall petition, visit www. RecallColorado.org. Kristi Burton Brown is Vice Chair of the Colorado Republican Party.
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medical faculty of Columbia University. She hosted an elaborate dinner for 50 of the Congress members and friends of the award recipients. Because of my long-standing support of the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Institute and the hiring of Dr. Bateman, she invited me to attend the PAAO award Congress ceremony in Cancun attended by 4,400 ophthalmologists and eye researchers from Mexico, Latin America, Europe and the United States. I flew out of Denver last Friday, with thousands of Memorial Day travelers, non-stop to Cancun on United Airlines. Outside of massive airport crowds, it was an easy trip considering Memorial Day travel. Cancun has grown to over one million in population in only 40 years. We will have a further story on the Congress awards and the developments in eye genetics and progress in eliminating blindness. It was such an honor to be present and visit with so many doctors doing such eye saving work for humanity where now, more than ever, we depend upon our eye sight in the world of computers. Never have eyes had to work so hard for young and old. *** It was a short week with the newspaper closed on Monday, but everyone met deadlines and the paper was right on schedule going to the printers Tuesday night, mailed every Wed. afternoon. We print at The Denver Post press facility in Berthoud where they do a marvelous job in the registration and color of our advertising. The Post gained the printing plant when they purchased the Boulder, Longmont, and Loveland newspapers ten years ago. *** Thursday morning attended a Metro Club meeting at Arlene Johnson’s Cherry Hills residence, where she is always the best hostess. Scottie Iverson ramrodding the organization towards a successful club membership status with monthly events. A prospective building facility will have to wait until a larger group of supporters join the present social club status. *** Friday noon brought back some long-standing memories as a
Steve Tucker
guest of Steve Tucker at the Castle Pines Country Club. Steve is one of the reasons that this newspaper exists. Back in 1982, he attempted to develop 110 acres of the Cherry Hills Buell property into a Biltmore Hotel and 18-hole golf course, only to have the city council oppose the project, and voters turning the project down. Steve is still his jovial self and we reminisced about Tempe Buell and the history of his life and the land progression. I thought that he was being treated unfairly by the city council at that time when in the monthly newsletter they only printed one side of the story. Wanting fairness in government reporting, we decided to start The Villager and have been doing so for the past 38 years, never missing an issue thanks to the hard work and dedication of Publisher Gerri Sweeney. Steve is working on a new tourist vacation project that sounds exciting and inviting exclusive travel memberships worldwide. More to come from Mr. Tucker. It was a great lunch on the patio overlooking the vast front range, Pike’s Peak to Mt. Evans and Long’s Peak, still laden with snow. He told me some great stories about Mr. Buell. *** If you’ve managed to read this far, note that in Colorado’s oldest newspaper The Central City Register-Call, reported last week in Looking Back on May 28, 1869 they had fifteen inches of snow in that community. History has repeated itself 151 years later in the recent snowfalls and now prepare for some historic flooding especially in Southwest Colorado where the San Juan’s will unload on Durango. *** Rockies coming to life and it’s fun to watch their awakening.