Unfortunately I believe this is just business as usual. I attended several land use related meetings where I felt the commissioners were just rubber stamping what they had already decided prior to the meetings. I believe it is time for an investigation into all the decisions made by the commission in the past few years. If they did nothing wrong, then that's fine and the cloud around them would be cleared.

Oh great, another layer of government and more taxes. Enough already!

One of the reasons given for closing down the Lefthand Canyon shooting area was because of the fire hazard it poses.
There was a fire there caused by shooters, but there were no structures damaged. Although this doesn't, in any way, excuse the actions of those shooters, let's look at the big picture. The major fires in Boulder County where structures were lost in the recent past were the Black Tiger Fire, Olde Stage 1990 &2009, Overland Fire and the Four Mile Fire. Three of those fires were started by residents of the area and the other two were due to downed lines which supplied power to residences in the area. So I would make that: Structures burned by Residents-260, Shooters-0. Maybe the real problem is the intrusion of houses into the mountains?

Kevin,

Don't you find it a little bit curious that you know a lot more about Sarah Palin than you do about our president?

And guess who was on that Senate committee that McCain had to appear before to prove that he was a natural born citizen. Yep, that would be now President Obama.

I still don't get it. Why are trees suddenly the enemy? Don't they suck in CO2 and emit O2? We are spending billions to combat that now hazardous gas CO2 and yet we are preventing nature from doing it for free. Some want to return the forests to what they were before 1800 when the Native
Americans set fire to the forest to herd game and to open up the area so they could see their enemies coming. Was that "natural"? Maybe it is the houses that need to go, not the trees?

The county taxpayers did not help me with my new septic system. Math says the Eldorado Springs residents are paying about $15,000 each for a septic system. Mine cost $30,000 with no financing as these people got. I'm tired on the County Commission's seemingly unequal preference for certain groups and individuals.

Love the headline "City Moves On Handgun Ban". And the liberal media wonders why they are going out of business. No, Longmont was not trying to enact a ban on handguns, they were trying to enact a ban on OPEN carry in the council chambers. I have a feeling that Mr. Urie didn't write the headline, as his article was fairly accurate. Although I personally would prefer open carry to concealed carry (that way you know who is armed), I really don't have problem with the open carry ban in the chambers. I would agree that it would be somewhat intimidating to those who are not used to being around firearms.The county courthouse has had a sign posted on their door for years prohibiting open carry in the building.

Shooting area:

Unfortunately there are irresponsible shooters, as there are irresponsible drivers, bicycle riders, pedestrians, hikers, skiers, motorcycle riders, etc. etc. etc. But no one should have to put up with being shot at. That is exactly why the USFS is trying to make this location a safer, supervised place to shoot. It is interesting that the sheriff has received more complaints about shooters since this range was closed, than before. Even the person that complained about being shot at has filed many complaints since the closing. Maybe this range was not the problem after all?
I understand that many, mostly those on the left, despise guns and I can respect that view, although I don't share it. But there are a lot of things that I also dislike, that I respect the right for others to do. I would venture to guess that if the USFS wanted to put this range "somewhere in the middle of nowhere" that there would still be complaints of building roads through the forest and how it would disturb the wildlife, etc. etc. Of course, I also believe that those would buy a house at the end of the runway really don't have a right to complain about the airplanes.

Tim Lowney:

As one of the EMT's on scene that night, I would also like to commend the officers for the wonderful way they handled the situation. Although I cannot condone all the actions of the students, I do have to compliment them also. Of the hundred or more young people that I came into contact with that night, almost every one was extremely respectful and thanked us for being there that night. Even though some had too much to drink, you could tell that even under the effect of alcohol they were good kids just trying to have good time.