Letter to the editor

02/01/2007 - Dear Editor,

Whoa! Did you see that letter from Grumpy Al? Now, I don’t always agree with Commissioner Price. I think he is a religious bigot (remember the “voodoo ritual” reference regarding the Native American sweat lodges?) and a bully (he bullied testifying community members, many senior-citizen women, at the public hearing on the ball field lights; I was there to see it). But when it comes to this wood-fired boiler/heater, well, I hate to admit it, but I think he’ll be proved right. He may prove to be the only fiscally responsible Commissioner we have. His skepticism is of some value in this regard. And if this thing ends up having the same mechanical problems as the Ned generator, we’ll be stuck with this turkey. The Ned system was a one-off that was put together by a group of people that didn’t have direct experience with wood-fired boilers. I recall seeing in one of the papers that the current contractor for the R&B Building doesn’t have experience with these systems either. In addition, Forrest Whitman must be getting his leg pulled pretty hard. Did you see his claim of 99% efficiency? That high-efficiency natural-gas-fired hot water heater with the plastic exhaust pipe (you may have one if you live in a newer home or just had a new water heater installed) is only 95% efficient! That needs emphasis: plastic exhaust pipe = low heat loss to the outside = 95% of all energy from the burning gas is going into the water. Now, we all know that Forrest is a jolly, personable, agreeable, likeable fellow. But when it comes to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, do we really want someone that gullible making such an expensive decision? It is exactly his agreeable nature that makes him unsuited to make such a decision. Going along with this just to appear to be the nice guy may well cost us in the long-run. Forrest’s claim of 99% efficiency only proves he has had a pretty good sales job pulled on him, like the folks in Ned did. Maybe he should listen to Grumpy, questioning, Al, and go spend a few thousand dollars extra to hire a firm that specializes in engineering heating systems (of a variety of types, from conventional to green) to consult and provide a recommendation of a firm to manage that portion of the project? As for where the wood will come from…well, Al discussed the difficulties of processing the wood but he didn’t mention the way the Commissioners may be thinking of obtaining it. Did you see the mention of Allstate Insurance Company reviewing certain zip codes for wildfire mitigation? Well, our Commissioners are about to force you to cut down your trees around your house, perhaps to placate the big insurance companies. Bet you didn’t know about that one, but it is true and about to be voted on. Did you have your chance for public comment on this issue? Was it ever publicized in a manner that ensured your knowledge of it? Is an evening meeting of the Commissioners scheduled? I bet the answer to all of those questions is no, but wait until you try to pull a Building Permit; better buy a new chainsaw. And if you don’t happen to have a fireplace yourself, well maybe you can make a wood contribution to heat the R&B Building. Think I’m blowing smoke? At 99% efficiency I won’t need an exhaust pipe!

Judd Motchan
Gilpin County