Please do not disregard the value of Iris Fields

Boulder County Commissioners, congratulations on celebrating 50 years of protecting Boulder County’s parks and open spaces. With such an auspicious anniversary, I implore the commissioners to remember that the Iris Fields baseball fields have been in existence for close to 70 years. The historical significance of these fields should be top of mind before the land at Iris and Broadway is sold. (And I understand the sale isn’t happening this year.) On the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, the fields are colored green and indicate they are either open space or a park. For 70 years, they have been treated as such. To disregard their use would be to go against the mission of Boulder County Parks and Open Space — and, for that matter, the City’s own Parks and Open Space program. If the fields are not protected before the county’s plot of land is sold, we all know they will disappear.

I thank the two Boulder City council members for coming to the North Boulder Little League opening night festivities. Hundreds of families of all ages gathered. Food trucks were selling food, I bought a drink at the NBLL snack shack for one dollar. Kids were having their picture taken next to the bronze statue of a kid swinging a bat. The sculpture was made by an NBLL parent about 20 years ago. The rock it sits on was donated by Tribble Stone, a business that has been in Boulder County for longer than 70 years. Are you telling me that selling that piece of land is worth nothing in historic value to the county commissioners?

Please do not disregard the value of Iris Fields to the community. Keep Iris Fields intact. Then sell the rest of the land.

— Amy C. Westfeldt, Boulder

The U.S. can’t control the leader of the free world

In WW2, it took Russia joining the Allies to defeat Germany and save the world from fascist Hitler. How is it any different now that the roles are reversed and Israel has taken on a fascist role with Palestine?

In Ukraine, the Azov Battalion and Neo-Nazishave threatened the very life of comic Zelensky, if he doesn’t do their bidding. With Russia on our side, we could broker a settlement with Palestine to return the Israeli hostages.

Trump’s attempt at a coup on Jan. 6, 2021, was successful. It just came 4 years later. If the U.S. can’t control the leader of the free world, maybe Russia can.

— Lynn Segal, Boulder

Spread awareness about teen substance abuse

It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world. I was a 14-year-old in high school when the lockdown started, and I’m now a 19-year-old at CU. Half a decade has passed, yet the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown is still felt heavily in my generation. Millions of young adults and adolescents are still experiencing mental illness and substance abuse issues that arose during the pandemic, and I wanted to know why the scars from the COVID-19 lockdown on my generation still haven’t healed.

Throughout their time in high school, many adolescents experiment with and even slip into struggles with marijuana, alcohol, nicotine and other substances. This has become a growing concern for many parents, educators, and officials across the country and world, especially with the rise of the Fentanyl epidemic.

In my short time at the University of Colorado, multiple students have passed away from mental health-related issues. Multiple students have died due to drugs laced with Fentanyl since 2021, and this issue is a focus of the CU community. Multiple student organizations exist to spread awareness and resources such as fentanyl test strips and Narcan. CU offers mental health, substance use, and counseling services to its students, as well as the CeDAR rehabilitation center for adults 18 and older. However, this is not enough, and we must continue to spread awareness and information on this issue while improving the resources available to the young adults in our community.

— Ryan Martin, CU Boulder