Estes Parkian
Small town politics, what could be more entertaining than small town politics in a resort town, surrounded by the most beautiful country God ever created? All of us Parkians love this valley and we all rely on everyone else loving it too. Thats how we make money in this town, tourists coming here, renting our rooms and purchasing our food and stuff. We are a tourist town and all of us Parkians are tourist farmers, so to speak. When the tourists are here we smile at them, make their beds and bag their purchases, we are clever about it - we have been the sales people on the side of the road that leads to Rocky Mountain National Park, the jewel of all the National Parks, for ninety years or more. But, once the tourists leave the smiles go away, we do not have to be nice any more and the winter political mad house begins our annual winter smack down. This years main event features an elected official (he was kind of elected - actually it was a dead even tie and this fellow won by a coin flip, honestly). It seems this trustee found he had an abundance of character, conviction, and a deep deep deep loathing of anything that mixes God and Government. Mr. Anti God In The Pledge, we will call him, took ten town trustee meetings from May 11, 2004 until September 15, 2004 before he announced to the world that he would not stand up and pledge his allegiance to our flag one nation under God with liberty etc. etc. etc... Parkians found this trustee's actions unacceptable and rallied together to have him removed from office through a recall vote initiative. Mr. Anti God In The Pledge is fighting to the bitter end standing on his constitutional rights. Sounds all fundamental and grass roots but, remember - this is a small town politician who has done quite well for himself renting rooms by the side of the road. There is a lot more to this Godless tale if you peel back the covers of this mans politcal dealings and discover what goes unspoken here in tourist town. First let us look at that date September 15, 2004 (when Mr. Anti God In The Pledge came out of the Anti God Closet) what was important about this date? The Town was prepairing to evict the Chamber of Commerce from the Visitors Information Center after fifty four years of continuous service on September 30, 2004. Hummmm.... Guess who was behind the four year effort to swindle and miss lead the Chamber of Commerce? You guessed it - Mr. Anti God In The Pledge. Hummmm..... His wife, Mrs. Anti God In The Pledge served on the Chamber Board of Directors at the same time Mr. Anti God In The Pledge sat as a trustee of the town. Mrs. Pledge worked closely with town staff to undermine the Chamber Executive Director, "A Coup" is how they referred to it. Now mind you Mr. Anti God In The Pledge was the Chairman of the Advertising Policy Committee of the town and directed the millions of dollars spent on advertising - you will never guess what part of the country and specific demographic was targeted, YOU GUESSED IT, families in the Bible Belt. Hummmmmm...... Now why is it important for Mr. Anti God In The Pledge to rid the town of its Chamber of Commerce you may be asking yourselves? It is simple - as you recall we are all tourist farmers and it is a sad sad fact that fewer and fewer tourists are coming to our beautiful valley and booking rooms. The number of potential customers is declining and the amount of money that could be spent on advertising for more tourists for us to farm, is maxed out. Mr. Anti God In The Pledge developed a movement a few years back that he called "equalization". His position is, if you have a motel in town limits (which he does) you collect a tax for the town and should be entitled to more customers than motels that happen to be outside of town limits. The Chamber of Commerce for fifty four years distributed customers fairly to motels that met the search criteria of the tourist; on the river, takes pets, has a pool..... you get the idea. In town or out of town was never an issue, pleasing the tourist was. Now Mr. Anti God In The Pledge has positioned himself in control of a lot of public tax monies and he is simply using it to control a dwindling resource, potiential room renters. While everyone looked one way Mr. Anti God In The Pledge had two - yes - two zoning laws changed that will put monies in his pocket. Hummmm...... Not to mention the streets resurfaced around his personal property prior to putting it up for sale. Hummmmmmm... Lets go a little deeper under the blanket, how did he purchase open space land to build his rooms for rent motel on the golf course? Hummmmmm.... Who was managing the ski area for the Parks Department and ran it into the ground shutting it down? Hummmmmmm.... After the ski area was shut down it freed up monies to be spent on YOU GUESSED IT, golf courses. Hummmmmm....... Small town politics. I Pledge to Pick your Pocket.
