Rail Recollection

Sidebar by Laird Campbell

Transportation – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

My wife and I were privileged to ride this train when it went beyond Salida. We took it to Glenwood Springs, stayed overnight, and rode the California Zephyr back to Denver.

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GOP candidate will need to pretend Bush never existed

Letter from Laird Campbell

Politics – April 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

The Republican nominee for president in 2008 will have no choice but to pretend that George W. Bush never existed. He will be in the same position as Hubert Humphrey nominated by the Democrats when Lyndon Johnson and his war were equally unpopular. (I use “he” advisedly since there are members of the Republican party who believe that women’s place is in the home and who may still have some reservations about giving them the vote.)

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A growth-control measure

Letter from Laird Campbell

Geography – January 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

The Colorado map shows that Chaffee County has more 14,000-foot mountains than any other county in Colorado and probably more than anywhere else in the United States. From north to south they are: La Plata Peak, Huron Peak, Mt. Belford, Mt. Oxford, Missouri Mt., Mt. Harvard, Mt. Columbia, Mt. Yale, Mt. Princeton, Mt. Antero, Tabeguache Mt. and Mt. Shavano.

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The language of lawyers

Letter from Laird Campbell

Modern Life – August 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Editors:

It is generally known that lawyers have their own specialized vocabulary. For example, if an attorney tells you that he is seeking certiorari, he is asking an upper court to review a decision adverse to his client, not looking for a new kind of pizza.

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Who would determine a fair compensation scale?

Letter from Laird Campbell

Economics – April 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Editors:

Martha’s thought that people ought to be paid according to their value to society has one flaw. Who decides? How would you compare the worth of a professor of English at the University of Colorado with that of a football coach? Would the opinion of the president of the university be the same as that of the head of CU’s athletic booster society?

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Distracted writer?

Letter from Laird Campbell

Railroads – October 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Distracted writer?

Dear Ed:

I think you must have been distracted when you approved the map which appears on page 30 of the September issue. It shows the South Park line to Baldwin on the Rio Grande Route between Gunnison and Crested Butte. Baldwin is on Ohio Creek and I enclose a tracing showing how this portion of the map should have looked.

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