Editor:
I guess I forgot why we have law enforcement in Cortez, when the victim becomes the criminal and is threatened to be arrested for becoming disruptive for the fact that two officers and a supervisor could not do anything to the neighbors who had a fire blazing in their backyard, on the evening of March 16. The concern was the fact that the houses are so close together in town that if a spark flew from the fire it might catch my parents' home on fire. After no help from our local law enforcement, I then put a call in to the chief of police, also to no avail (no return phone call). These people don't want to talk to taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. If they even decide to show up when you call, it is a hassle and you get threatened to get arrested, for protecting your family and property.
I then called the Cortez fire chief (thank you for returning my call) to then find out that you are not supposed to have a fire in town, unless you have a permit to burn, so apparently our local law enforcement doesn't know the city ordinance for fires. Maybe you better brush up on the city ordinances before you get in an argument with someone, who does know the laws. This makes my blood boil that you almost give my elderly father a heart attack for protecting his property and not helping him at all. If it was your property, you can bet you would have told the "fire bug" neighbors to put out the large fire! Just because we are not personal friends of the Cortez law enforcement and do not live in a rich neighborhood does not mean we are not important! So again, whom do you protect and serve? Oh yeah, I know now it's not the law-abiding citizens of Cortez!!
Is it okay for an officer to drive his cruiser through the park, instead of getting out and walking to confront someone? Isn't this a risk to public safety?
Gerlyn Cunnius
Mancos
