There was an op-ed by High Country News intern Kindra McQuillan (Journal, June 2) regarding the American Lands Council or ALC. Our county commissioners have sent $1,000 of taxpayer money to this group. I very much appreciate McQuillian’s investigative journalism. In my opinion this is what a local newspaper should be doing, informing the public in depth on the actions of their public officials.
Too often public officials give murky explanations of their actions due to being either ill informed themselves or in obvious attempts at obfuscation. McQuillans’ article is a fact-based attempt at educating the public on an issue of much public debate. Thank you.
As a result of this well-researched article I call on our Commissioners to distance themselves from this self serving group and to not spend either another penny of my tax money or a minute of their time related to its agenda. As a result of another letter to the editor (Journal, June 5) it seems that the commissioners may be more confused on this issue than they purport to be. The commissioners (to whom I sent a copy of this letter), should do their homework before getting our county involved in yet another controversy – and not be mis-informed by folks hoping to get rich on our tax dollars.
Journal staff, please keep the investigative end of journalism flowing.
Jim Skvorc
Dolores