Just another scheme

In the Gazette articles on the Energy Wise Rates to be implemented by the Colorado Springs Utilities, the motivation for shifting use to off-peak hours and raising the rates during the peak hours of 5 pm to 9 pm was that it can help reduce high demand and the need to build additional sources for electric generation, such as power plants. Everyone should be suspicious that this is just another scheme of the climate change extremists to get rid of all fossil-fuel power plants. In the case of CS Utilities, they have built six natural gas units (yes, that is a fossil fuel) that are easier to shift on or off as the energy needs fluctuate during the day. For example, solar is only available during the day, and wind energy varies depending on the weather. The Gazette articles do not explain how CS Utilities can really afford to reduce the energy costs during the night off-peak hours. With the flexibility of six natural gas units, why should CS Utilities raise the price during 5 pm to 9 pm? The cost of natural gas is the same during the peak hours as during the off-peak hours.

I can understand why the private Xcel company asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (who of course agreed) to charge nearly three times higher during the peak hours—they wanted to make more profits! I do not understand why the City Council members who serve as the governing Board for non-profit, public CS Utilities would ever approve the Energy Wise Rates for we the people of Colorado Springs. I recall that CS Utilities removed the Energy Wise Rates for commercial customers who can not shift their energy usage to non-peak hours. Now the City Council members acting as the Utility Board must stop the Energy Wise Rates for everyone.

Russell L Elsberry

Colorado Springs

Contempt for soldiers

I want to comment on the stories by Stephanie Earls in The Gazette (May 4 and Aug 11, 2025). A letter by

John Wear, on Aug 15, said it was “a wonderful story to share with your readers.”

I agree. For me, they honor a patriot, Lt Col Ben Pollard, who served his country, kept his oath, and endured six years of captivity that only the tiniest fraction of Americans could even begin to understand or imagine!

However, I need to take strong issue with Dan Rector’s statement that “The myth is that Americans had contempt for the soldier. The fact is that they very much admired the soldiers. They had contempt for the war.”

The first two sentences are, at best, a gross exaggeration.

I was in uniform during that time and here are some of the reasons why I object. Widows of service members killed in Vietnam received hate phone calls from people opposed to the war. Others, of the same ilk, made bombs, exploded them, and killed their fellow citizens here in America. ROTC students on campus would go to great lengths to avoid wearing their uniforms in public to avoid verbal and/or physical harassment. Soldiers, sailors,

and airmen while traveling would wear civilian clothes or change into their uniforms at the last possible moment for the same reason.

I would ask Rector if he attended the Air Force Academy/CU football game at Boulder in October 1973 where academy staff and cadets were pelted with unopened beer cans. It was so severe that the series was halted for almost five decades.

If all these actions do not add up to contempt, then what were they? Certainly not admiration!

I respect Rector’s right to his beliefs and views and also appreciate his wearing and returning Lt Col. Pollard’s bracelet to his family after decades. But his statements about contempt are like a cold, hard slap to the face. I can only speak for myself but believe there are thousands of Vietnam-era veterans who would agree with me. People who were not around at that time need to understand that. It wasn’t like the Gulf War

where members came home to airport celebrations or a ticker tape parade in Manhattan.

For the record, I decided to initially not write this letter in August in the interests of peace, healing and letting bygones be bygones. That changed after Jimmy Kimmel’s ridiculous assertion that Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA member! The truth still matters to some of us.

Wayne Gray

Colorado Springs

Purpose of HB24-1032

The judicial example used in a recent editorial perhaps needs closer examination. Instead of attacking HB24-1032 perhaps you need to either clarify your statement that the defendant was deemed “incompetent to proceed” because said defendant lacked education, did not understand the justice system and came from a foreign country or examine why the presiding judge (whom you conveniently failed to name) decided charges should be dropped.

Reading HB24-1032 it is clear (even to a layman) that “incompetent” refers to a person’s mental condition not education, not judicial or language proficiency, not country of origin. Was a psychiatric evaluation conducted? HB24-1032 clearly states that the defendant can be held pending psychiatric evaluation. Perhaps the presiding judge failed to do their job? If “the judge agreed” was the basis for release then perhaps that fact needs to be examined. Once again, it appears that the Colorado Springs Kazoo high-grades information in order to pimp their political agenda, or they clearly do not understand the purpose of HB24-1032.

Brett Liggett

Colorado Springs