Opinion Columns – The Durango Herald

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‘Beauty lies with people’s capacity to understand need for reform’

“A night in jail should straighten you out. A few nights.” This was the last comment I heard while being placed into the back of a police cruiser, blood dripping from just below my left eye,...

DATE: Jun 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Let’s agree on ‘one rule, learned on the playground’

Since you’re reading this in a newspaper, you don’t need to be reminded that we are living in a particularly polarized time in our nation. Not that long ago, Republicans and Democrats would ...

DATE: Jun 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

BLM’s Public Lands Rule protects ‘quality of life, wildlife, the future’

As an owner of an outdoor small business and a dad who spends as much time as I can with my family outdoors, I know how important our public lands are and how important it is that we do all ...

DATE: Jun 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Let’s agree on ‘one rule learned on the playground’

Since you’re reading this in a newspaper, you don’t need to be reminded that we are living in a particularly polarized time in our nation. Not that long ago, Republicans and Democrats would ...

DATE: Jun 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Always at the mercy of prejudice and bigotry’

Unhoused, transient, vagrant or bum. Pick whichever term feels best for you. It makes no difference, our health and hardships aren’t in question. How we got there and how we’re doing are of ...

DATE: Jun 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘No intention of raging against my aging’

As Evelyn Couch said to Ninny Threadgoode in Fannie Flagg’s “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe”: “I’m too young to be old and too old to be young. I just don’t fit anywhere.” I t...

DATE: Jun 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘More difficult to be Jewish than ever before’

My friends in Durango ask me what it’s like to be Jewish. I explain about growing up in Kansas City, where I didn’t think I was different In kindergarten, a classmate called me a dirty Jew, ...

DATE: Jun 2, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Citizenship Act’s most important aspect – right to vote’ for Native Americans

In 1948, after serving in World War II, Miguel Trujillo from Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico entered the Valencia County Courthouse to register to vote. He was turned down even though he had ser...

DATE: Jun 2, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Wildlife not private property of lion, bobcat trophy hunters’

Andrew Carpenter (“Hunting, a valuable tool in managing lions” on May 14) believes Coloradans aren’t smart enough to have an opinion about recreational killing of mountain lions or bobcats i...

DATE: May 31, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘When we take the “I” out of legislating, using “we” instead, we proved we can get a lot done’

We. We accomplished a lot this year – our bipartisan success happened because we communicated, compromised and collectively decided how to best address our problems. Affordable and attainabl...

DATE: May 28, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Column: DHS track and field is in good hands with underclassmen

Upperclassmen showed them the way

DATE: May 28, 2024 | CATEGORY: Sports

Sovereignty or profit, it’s ‘complicated’

This past February I went to the Southern Ute reservation to attend a joint staff meeting. I had been Durango’s attorney for nine months. The tribe’s attorney sitting across from me stayed l...

DATE: May 26, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Photos: ‘Mini Takes the States’ tour stops in DurangoHundreds of Mini Cooper vehicles occupy Fort Lewis College on Sunday; Participants began the journey in Albuquerque and will finish in Seattle

Hundreds of Mini Cooper vehicles occupy Fort Lewis College on Sunday; Participants began the journey in Albuquerque and will finish in Seattle

Photos: Boxing returns to DurangoAnimus on the Animas: 1st Annual Durango Boxing Classic at the Durango Main Mall on Saturday

Animus on the Animas: 1st Annual Durango Boxing Classic at the Durango Main Mall on Saturday

Photos and video: Going for the gold by devouring piesContestants try their best to win the Oscar’s Pie Eating Contest on Friday in Durango

Contestants try their best to win the Oscar’s Pie Eating Contest on Friday in Durango

Photo: Fireworks light the sky in DurangoDurango celebrates Independence Day on Thursday night

Durango celebrates Independence Day on Thursday night

Photos: Working with woodLocal craftsman uses wood joinery, rather than nails or screws to construct homes and other structures

Local craftsman uses wood joinery, rather than nails or screws to construct homes and other structures

2024 Fourth of July Parade draws crowd Thursday in downtown Durango

Photos: Downtown Durango hosts Fourth of July ParadeDowntown sidewalks were full for Thursday’s celebration

Downtown sidewalks were full for Thursday’s celebration

Durango Rotary Club, Parks and Recreation department host Independence Day events

Law enforcement conducts active threat training at Park Elementary SchoolResidents may see and hear police activity Thursday and Friday

Law enforcement agencies across Southwest Colorado sent officers to participate in active threat training this week at Park Elementary School in Durango. Those in the neighborhood can expect police vehicles parked on the premises, officers in tactical gear conducting exercises inside and outside the school, and signs advising that training is in progress. The sounds of shouting, airsoft weapons and the popping of a starter pistol will also be audible near the school, said Karla Sluis, spokeswoman for Durango School District 9-R.Sluis said that members of the school district’s safety department have gone door-to-door with flyers notifying residents around Park Elementary School about the training.

Hosted by the Durango Police Department and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, this week’s voluntary training invited officers from law enforcement agencies across a five-county region of Southwest Colorado encompassing La Plata, Archuleta, San Juan, Montezuma and Dolores counties.

La Plata County Sheriff’s Office deputy Mike Latham, lead instructor for this week's training, said Wednesday and the first half of Thursday were mostly preparatory, teaching officers the school’s layout and devising scenarios, whereas the latter half of Thursday and Friday residents should anticipate some noise as active threat scenarios play out.

Latham said active threat training teaches officers proper protocol during active threat scenarios, especially in densely populated areas where they have become increasingly common.Park Elementary School is not the only Durango School District facility law enforcement has conducted active threat training. Latham said schools lend themselves well to this sort of training because, “It gives us all kinds of doors to work on, different rooms, different scenarios we can run. We can pretend it’s a mall with nice big corridors, we can even pretend it’s an outdoor area in the gymnasium.”Latham has participated in active threat training multiple times in the past and described the drills as exhilarating and nerve-wracking. He said one of the training’s main goals is teaching officers how to manage stress and remain calm with lives on the line.

“I take a pulse oximeter in the morning and get a baseline on their heart rates,” Latham said. “And sometimes, just before they’re about to engage a threat, I say ‘Timeout.’ Put it (the oximeter) on there, and their heart rate’s skyrocketed to 140, 150, 160 just in training.”

Latham said throughout his career active threat training has evolved to become safer for officers and fall in line with increasingly professional police standards.“When I first started we were just running into halls and rooms hoping for the best,” Latham said. “Now the tactic is still to get there, still stop the taking of lives, but tactics are much better than they were 20 years ago.”

Residents may see and hear police activity Thursday and Friday

Photos: Flower powerDurango Botanic Gardens holds 11th annual ‘Gardens on Tour’ on Saturday

Durango Botanic Gardens holds 11th annual ‘Gardens on Tour’ on Saturday

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‘Beauty lies with people’s capacity to understand need for reform’

Let’s agree on ‘one rule, learned on the playground’

BLM’s Public Lands Rule protects ‘quality of life, wildlife, the future’

Let’s agree on ‘one rule learned on the playground’

‘Always at the mercy of prejudice and bigotry’

‘No intention of raging against my aging’

‘More difficult to be Jewish than ever before’

‘Citizenship Act’s most important aspect – right to vote’ for Native Americans

‘Wildlife not private property of lion, bobcat trophy hunters’

‘When we take the “I” out of legislating, using “we” instead, we proved we can get a lot done’

Column: DHS track and field is in good hands with underclassmen

Sovereignty or profit, it’s ‘complicated’

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