Letters

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 23, 2008

BLUE LAWS

Liquor store owners

want level playing field

I am a liquor store owner and I am writing in response to the letter from Diana Savage in the Feb. 19 Gazette ("Let free market decide who can sell alcohol"). Savage and probably many others are confusing two very different issues, ones that have little effect on each other.

The first is in regard to the proposed legislation that would allow the sale of liquor on Sundays. I am convinced the majority of owners would like to be open on Sundays. I am not clear as to what the owners in opposition are thinking as there is no requirement that they be open, so the choice is still theirs.

The second issue is the recently failed proposal in regard to the sale of fullstrength beer (and possibly wine) in grocery stores and other retail outlets. This is a far more complicated issue than can be addressed in the limited space here, but suffice to say, there are many more factors than Savage may be aware of as to why liquor stores could or could not compete in this environment.

Real competition can happen only on a genuine level playing field, something that has hardly been evident in any proposed legislation up to this point.

Bill Deckman

Owner, B & B Wine and Spirits

Colorado Springs

Recent proposals hint

at hidden agenda

Irony and hypocrisy are two items that are never in short supply in the news. Americans are wedged into the hard place between the admonition to rest, reflect and reduce our carbon footprint and the never-ending spiral of more, faster, continually.

The Legislature now wants to allow (in a competitive market that means mandate) Sunday liquor store openings. My guess is that this has less about customer choice and convenience and more about megastore influence on representatives. I don't think I've seen one small businessperson ask for this legislation.

For decades courts have wrestled with Sunday closing laws. The courts have been less inclined to support Sunday closing laws for religious purposes than for a general "day of rest." Everyone needs to stop, draw a deep breath and give their lives pause.

A local liquor store owner wisely observed that car dealers feel no such pressure for Sunday openings. Gosh, is liquor a more pressing need than an automobile?

And in a further example of the hypocrisy there's a proposal to raise the tax on alcohol to fund children's health care. Expand hours, favor megastores, increase liquor store volume, more tax revenue -- is there a hidden agenda here? At the same time that government is battling alcohol addiction it's expanding the franchise for its sale and distribution.

Why does our state need to meddle with a system that has worked well since Prohibition?

John A. Cunningham

Colorado Springs

FUNDING EDUCATION

Even good charter schools

drain resources from districts

Douglas Raskin lamented Loren Kramer's recommendation to close the D-12 charter school ("D-12 should do its best to maintain charter school," Letters, Feb 16). Kramer's committee found the charter program to be "a drain on the district's cash."

A new, statewide study by Economics in Education Inc. illustrates how charters drain cash from school districts and confirms D-12's projections. While D-12 declined to participate in this study, there is remarkable consistency among school districts in the financial impact they are experiencing due to charters. This study employed the state's CDE accounting format whose categorical contents are dictated by law which contributed to the consistency of the results and the study included stable, declining and growing districts.

The study's key finding is that school districts lose an average $4,160 in cash funds out of their budget per charter pupil. This means that the minimum cost to tax payers per charter pupil is $10,160: the total of the $6,000, approximately given to the charter and the $4,160 additional cash loss to the district.

Most authoritative studies have concluded that, in achievement, charters are on par with regular district programs, but no better -- and there are exceptions and anecdotes cutting both ways. Charter interests largely concede this fact. Studies also predict that these splendid D-12 charter students would do just as well in regular D- 12 programs.

I have two, simple policy recommendations: 1) Allow local districts to determine if a charter program located in its boundaries is worth the cost it imposes on its district (the cost to the district is similar whether it is a State Charter Institute school or a district-chartered school); 2) Require a cost-benefit analysis for every charter application or extension be presented to the board of education just as they do in business.

Lisa Mieritz

Director, Economics in Education, Inc.

Colorado Springs

BEEF RECALL

Don't use school lunches

as meat dumping ground

The recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef by the U.S. Department of Agriculture should provide a loud and clear wakeup call that federal inspection is not adequate to ensure a safe meat supply.

This largest meat recall in U.S. history was actually brought on by an animal rights organization's undercover video showing California slaughterhouse workers using kicks, electric shock, high- pressure water hoses and a forklift to force sick or injured animals onto the kill floor. USDA regulations prohibit sick animals from entering the food supply, because of the high risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease.