I literally shed tears reading this article. I could not possibly, no matter how I tried, more accurately summarize my thoughts and feelings about what is happening in Longmont.

(Re: “Frack tracks,” cover story, July 19.) There is an elephant in the room. Show any photos of natural gas fields before and after and see the total devastation of the surface for decades to come.

What a misleading title on your cover: “Frack tracks? Activists: Mysterious land scars may be caused by oil/gas waste” ( July 19). The body of the story concludes otherwise, that the linear patterns on the ground are “simply areas where livestock feed was deposited.”

Thanks to Dodge and Dyer for their excellent story on the misconduct of certain individuals at the top of the city’s food chain. (“Foxes in the henhouse,” cover story, July 12.) This latest impropriety over employee evaluations is indicative of a systemic problem within Boulder City government.

Ambrose “Bitter” Bierce, one of America’s most popular humorists, authored the justly famous Devil’s Dictionary. In it he defined patriotism (noun) as: “Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. [Samuel] Johnson’s famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel.

I was impressed with Paul Danish’s June 28 column “Oil wells vs. subdivisions” (Danish Plan). Where many pundits must resort to comparisons of apples to oranges to sidle up to their point, Mr. Danish attacks straightaway in a frontal assault of massive logic.

Ms. White raised the point that it is difficult to find a relocation site for captured prairie dogs. This is likely true, that adjoining counties restrict the dumping of prairie dogs. Where are they taken? I wonder this as I see more prairie dogs now in colonies on open space lands of Estes Park.

The article “Fracking Lessons” by Joel Dyer (cover story, May 31) is a painful, tragic warning for us all. It shows vividly how the theoretical knowledge we call “capitalistic economics” is fatally flawed.

Missing link (Re: “Watching (local) sausage being made,” Cuisine, May 31.) [Michael] Callahan’s article about Don’s and Boulder Sausage had a huge hole in it.

I had my house on the market, but after one buyer backed out of a full-offer contract, and with two more with two other houses in my neighborhood backing out of contracts, I realized we need to stand our ground and make people aware of what’s coming. We are willing to stay and fight this monster at our doorsteps.