It's never a cute story when the end result is a dead bear. When black bears enter cars, homes, and businesses, they are labeled nuisance bears. Nuisance bears are killed. Black bears do not intend to harm humans or pets, although they may do so if confronted. Bears get into trouble when people do not properly contain trash, pet food, use any bird feeders, don't keep grills clean and have other attractants. Bears have a keen sense of smell and can be drawn to property from miles away. Bears are present day and night. Bears naturally fear humans, but they have become comfortable in communities because of human actions. If bears come close to businesses, cars, or homes, make a racket or use other accepted methods to scare them away. If you have bear problems and do not do everything possible to prevent attracting bears, you deserve to suffer the consequences, not the bears. Cute stories evade the truth that bears will be killed.

Johanna Darden

Estes Park

Rains have brought moisture totals close to normal

I measured 1.02 inches of rain from the storm of Sept. 4. That, together lesser amounts on the other days, gives us 1.33 inches so far this month. So we are also likely to exceed my September average of 1.44 inches.This all bodes well from the standpoint of wildfire concerns.

John Gulliksen

National Weather Svc. Coop observer for Estes Park


Preserving the Constitution

In Washington D.C. a whole building is devoted to housing the Constitution of the United States. Our original Constitution is preserved in an air conditioned vault for viewers to look at. We are grateful that it is so well cared for, but as we gaze at it we think, "Is the Constitution really being preserved?"

Do "We the People" really know what it says? Are we keeping watch over its timeless truths? Are we making sure we preserve them?

All persons entering into an office of government must take an oath of allegiance to support and defend the Constitution, whether that office be Federal, State, County, or City and whether that office be an elected office or an appointed office. Likewise our Estes Park police take an oath of allegiance to "solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that they will support the constitution of the United States.----" as they take office.

But, how can we defend, how can we protect something if we don't know what it is that we are defending and protecting? For when is the Constitution taught? As a nation how can we honor and revere something when we don't even know what that "something" is? Is that not what is called, " hypocritical?"

Abraham Lincoln entreated us with these words. "Let every American, every lover of liberty, every wellwisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others.---Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges, let it be written in primers, in spelling books and in almanacs, let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice"

"The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next?" (There are different versions of the wording of this quote of Abraham Lincoln's.) Is not the philosophy of today's government the result of the abandonment of the teaching of the Constitution? Let us once more become people, who mean what we say, and do what we say, as we restore to our nation the wisdom embodied in the Constitution by teaching its precepts.

Sylvia Vrabec

Estes Park

Assisting Estes Park children to read, learn and succeed

Estes Park United desires to focus on and assist the children of poverty to make certain to enter school ready to read and learn, to finish elementary/middle school positively, to move on to high school and college, to obtain profitable jobs, and to lead a productive life. Addressing the needs of the children of our community will help us achieve the goal of seeking to prevent the result of poverty in the future and to maintain Estes Park as an outstanding community.

A family's socioeconomic status truly impacts a child being prepared for school. Children of poverty definitely need our support in several ways. There are several goals we hope to achieve through the donations to Estes Park United. We want to reach critical parents as families can learn to support their children, provide access for reading, and support the ongoing progress of their young children. We want to ensure that each young child who enters school is ready to read and excited to learn. We also want to definitely promote that each child achieves reading proficiency by the end of third grade.

As a former Professor of Education in reading/language arts, I believe that we can help the children of poverty reach these goals through several achievements. The importance of shared language at home with young children can increase their quality of early conversation. Reading aloud to children helps increase future reading proficiency. Children can spontaneously begin to talk about books they are listening to or reading. Children's personal, verbal responses to books actually increase their overall intelligence. Eventual active minds and hearts encourage children to share book characters, inspiring illustrations, and personal experiences related to books. These are our reading goals.

The Town of Estes Park will succeed when young children succeed. As children progress through school readiness and early literacy, we can predict positive futures for their lives. Children of poverty definitely need our support. We invite you to be a part of this future success through donations to Estes Park United. The donations will be given directly to three local nonprofits that help children succeed. These include The Estes Valley Investment in Childhood Success (EVICS), Estes Park Kids Café, and The Estes Park Learning Place. You can donate online at or by mail to

P. O. Box 2651, Estes Park, CO 80517.

Thank you for supporting our community's belief in our children by donating to Estes Park United! As the Town of Estes Park comes together in an effort for the goal of Estes Park United, a positive impact will benefit both the children and the community.


Marjorie Hancock

Estes Park United Committee Member

Pet Owners vs. Pet Keepers

My family used to come to Estes Park every summer. I loved it. We brought our dogs and stayed along Fall River and were always welcomed back each year at the same lodge. It even got to be where they didn't charge us a pet fee because they knew our pets weren't going to tear up anything.

I always thought Estes Park was a fairy tale town. The mountains, the wildlife, bring your pets - stores that allowed them in! Heaven on Earth!

Now that I am older and am a full time resident - I see that while Estes is a little bit of Paradise - it is not so much if you are renting and have pets.

As the daughter of a professional dog handler and vet tech, I grew up with, and still have, well behaved pets. I pride myself on the fact that people that come into my house don't know I have pets unless they see the 2 cats and 2 dogs. And I realize now how lucky I was to find the great landlord and the rental that I did.

Said landlord is selling the property and I have been searching for a new residence along with a lot of other people. The sad thing is that 99% of the ads I see in the paper say N/P.

I am sure that many of these rental owners have been burned by what they thought were pet owners but are really pet keepers. Don't know the difference? Here let me explain.

There are 7 main ways to tell Pet Owners from Pet Keepers (for a rental situation).

1)Spayed/Neutered animals - Pet Owners, unless they have show ring dogs or cats, will have their pets Spayed or Neutered and in the case of cats - sometimes have the fronts and/or all feet declawed.

Pet Keepers wont spay or neuter as this might take away their "manhood/womanhood" of their pet and make them less of a great hunter, herder, etc. Honestly folks - your pets don't care.

2)Training- Pet Owners will have their dogs obedience trained and some will go as far as to have CGC's on their dogs (Canine Good Citizens) -

Pet Keepers don't bother because they don't need someone to tell them how to handle their pet.

3)Walking/Socialization - This kind of goes hand in hand with training, but deserves its own number. Pet Owners - because they have had their dogs trained - use 4-6 foot leather or nylon leashes, keep their pets in check in crowds or just walking, and never have to raise their voices to their pet for attention. Their pets are also well socialized so as not to be a nuisance in public.

Pet Keepers - well you have seen them - the people with the huge dogs on the flexi-lead that was made for a Chihuahua that are jumping up at everyone who passes, stealing ice cream, peeing on everyone and everything, and knocking people over. And the Pet Keepers favorite things to say are: "OH He's a rescue" "Now stop that Buddy, behave now!" "Stop that, be good." "Oh he just loves you so much!" "What did you do to my dog?" "I don't understand; he's so perfect at home!"

4)Cleaning - Cleaning covers several areas from the living space to the neighborhood. Pet Owners keep their animals, as well as their homes, clean. They usually not only have a vacuum, but either a shampooer or a steam cleaner or both for those accidents that need deep attention. Pet Owners own pooper scoopers, doggie waste bags or the like and carry them EVERYWHERE they go. In the case of cat owners, they have floor covers then covered litter boxes or litter box houses (that look like a small table and hides the litter box inside) and clean it often.

Pet Keepers - well they are the ones that give the rest of us bad names. They allow their pets to tear up living areas (mess on furniture and carpeting without cleaning it) and when walking their pet along Riverside Park or anywhere else, allow them to poop in the middle of the sidewalk and just keep going or on the grass by the kids play equipment or in town by the flower beds without bothering to clean it up.

5)Health/Hygiene - Pet Owners keep their pets clean, get them vet checked regularly and keep shot records close at hand.

Pet Keepers - well most groomers can tell you - these folks let their dogs get huge mattes, buy cheap flea and tick collars that scar their skin and whine at having to take their pets to get shots or groomed because vets and groomers "Charge too damn much."

6)Noise Control - Pet Owners make a point to talk with their neighbors to see if their pets are behaving neighborly while they are away at work or social events. They ask about noise (is dog barking, etc) and what they can do to help make their pets better neighbors.

Pet Keepers - allow their dogs to howl and bark at all hours. When approached by neighbors about noise say "Why don't you move" or something similar. And encourage the bad behavior.

7)Family - Pet Owners will tell you their pets are family. They are four-legged children. Pet Owners will not move someplace that won't allow them their pet. They will offer references and pay pet fees to rent places to keep their pets with them.

Pet Keepers - dump their pets off at the shelter or even worse, leave them behind, either locked in an empty house or dumped on the street to fend for themselves. They think that pets are replaceable and that someone else can deal with it.

It is my hope that folks in Estes Park will understand that not all of us that have pets are Pet Keepers but are actually Pet OWNERS. I hope in future ads to see PN= pet negotiable, POC=pet owners considered or NPK=no pet keepers instead of N/P. And maybe those of us that are pet owners can show you what good, responsible people we are so you don't get ruined by the pet keepers.

Missy Ray

Estes Park