Trinidad Business owner anti-community

The letter below from the Trinidad McDonald's franchise owner Phelan in a recent letter to the editor in the Trinidad Times Independent.

PCEOC: Maybe they should have thought all of this through before they promised OUR LAND AND OUR LIVES for their GROWTH IN THE SPRINGS. The hierarchy pushing the expansion is not thinking about training - their thinking about dollars in their pockets. Other comments by PCEOC are also in blue and inserted in the opinion letter


'Cause and effect' in economy

Editor:

Could you imagine the results if the U.S. Olympic Team stationed in Colorado Springs had to go to Texas to conduct their specialty training; or if the County Commissioners had to travel the small distance to Denver - each time they needed to conduct a meeting. [Neither the US Olympic Team nor the County Commissioners have 25,000,000 acres to select from - Apples and oranges Mr. Phelan]

If you said disastrous, you'd be correct. [disastrous to whom - Colorado Springs? what about the rest of Colorado if an expansion is allowed - catastrophic is the word for that one]

So, if the Army can't train locally near its post, and has to train in remote locations, how prepared are they going to be? [train as they fight also means travel as they would in war time - or are we going to be sure that the next war is brought closer to Fort Carson to make it more convenient?]

Therefore, it would be my expectation that neither of these organizations would remain in their current location; opting to relocate closer to where they can conduct their training. [Fort Carson troops are getting the training they need now (and 99% of it is NOT at PCMS) and BRAC says they have room at Fort Carson EXCLUDING PINON CANYON for the two more BCTs BRAC called for - Fort Carson is not going anywhere and they're trying to use fear tactics to say otherwise]

Hence, the reason why Fort Carson has already lost one of its allocations for an additional combat brigade - [they never lost anything because it NEVER EXISTED - the PLAN FOR ANOTHER BCT will not be followed through on because Gates said it was too much and they don't have the manpower to staff them] and I would also predict it will lose future troops to a post more accommodating to their needs. This will be at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the Colorado economy. The Army isn't going to pay to travel to Texas each time it needs to conduct training, which is nearly every day. It will begin to relocate its divisions. [again, you can't lose what you don't have to begin with - BRAC indicated the number of additional brigades that could be handled in Colorado and Fort Carson is trying to exceed that by two or three times - if you bite off more than you can chew you'll choke - They are overstepping their bounds and unless they quickly end the folly they WILL CHOKE and it won't be because we didn't tell them 'told you so']

As you know, the Colorado economy is already at the brink of disaster. Colorado has shut down the oil and gas producers, it's kicking out its military - soon all that's left to pay the bills is its citizens. Today, the State of Colorado is so desperate for funds that it charges an additional $100 fine for registering your car late. [it's important to realize that total dependence on the feds and the military is not a 'well rounded' economy but the surge in alternative energy production and plants making such things as wind generators and solar components are examples of many other completely new opportunities available to Colorado. Southeast Colorado is a prime area for such 'economic boosts' as the wind and sun are readily available and it's a compatible use with the present economic structure. It won't take away the base economy as an expansion would but compliment it instead]

Can you begin to imagine the cost its citizens will bear in the near future? [Can you imagine an economy totally dependent on the Feds and the military? Even Colorado Springs is saying they need to diversify and get other forms of business and more stability in their economy - hmmmmm writing on the wall if you elect to read it]

I am just educating you of the issue of "Cause and Effect" - that every cause has an effect.

Let's just hope we all can afford the effect of the new liberal Colorado causes. [spoken like a true Springs conservative - (a Springs conservative/Republican, unlike the rest of the state, is one that preaches federalization and dependence on the government to provide a segment of the economy that won't pay taxes or support local needs) - the majority of the State of Colorado's Republicans and Democrats alike are NOT supporting federalization of our state in the form of an expansion of PCMS and the resultant loss of private property rights & ag production - PCEOC ]

D. Lee Phelan Sr.

Trinidad