Dear Action Line: Why did the state require bars to stop selling alcohol at 10 p.m.? Is that when COVID comes out and starts attacking drunken people? – Cruisin’ for a Boozin’
Dear Boozin’: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis required bars to close at 10 p.m. to help curtail the spread of COVID-19. Basically, the party is just getting started at 10 p.m., and getting drunk in public spaces is inconsistent with social distancing.
“Anybody who has been drunk just knows this inherently; your best goals around social distancing and your best intents just fall by the wayside,” Polis said at a news conference, according to The Associated Press. “If you’re in a group of 50 or 100 people where folks are inebriated, inhibitions are reduced.”
The governor must not get invited to many parties. Getting drunk, letting go of your best intents and reducing your inhibitions is kind of the point of going to a bar in the first place.
Oh, right. COVID. Polis also has a point. It’s difficult to enforce social distancing when people are getting sloppy on each other – particularly in places like Durango, where people are not exactly known for saying “please” or “thank you” but have been known to riot on Halloween just for kicks.
Dear Action Line: With the national change shortage, is the city of Durango going to keep charging us to park at downtown parking meters? Groceries stores no longer give out change, and my loose change supply has run dry. – Spare some change?
Dear Change: The city will keep the meters turned on because you can still feed them by using a credit card or a prepaid GEM card, said Wade Moore, the city’s parking operations manager.
Plus, you’re doing yourself a favor by prepaying, he said. A study showed that people who use cards typically paid for an hour and a half of parking, which is what they needed, Moore said. People with coins paid for just under an hour.
“That indicates that not only are you limited by the change, but you may be more likely to get a ticket, since you want to stay longer,” he said.
Moore is right about change. It limits you. You think you want change, but you really don’t. You just want to pony up into the system, pay your dues and play it safe. Change is bad.
It’s like Loki said in “The Avengers”: “It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power … .”
(Editor’s note: Hey. It’s just a parking meter. Settle down there, bub.)
Dear Action Line: The headline on Page 2A of the July 17 Herald states “Texas woman crashes ATV, requires rescue.” Boy does that play into our stereotypes about people from Texas and women drivers! Shouldn’t the headline have read: “Recklessly driving ATV crashes, hapless passenger requires rescue?” – The Masked PC Defender
Dear Defender: Shane Benjamin, deputy editor at The Durango Herald, had no idea what you were talking about.
“We are unfamiliar with this stereotype you speak of. Is that a thing? Are people from Texas and women drivers more prone to crashes or something?” he said.
“We’d like to see the data on that. Or at least some anecdotal evidence from someone in law enforcement.”
Benjamin, who sends the reporters into the community to find the stories, said the real answer is the Herald commonly includes general identifiers in headlines, including subjects’ hometown, their gender and their age.
“Take these headlines for example,” he said. “Navajo man travels Four Corners for supply drive. La Plata County resident tests positive for septicemic plague.”
If Action Line was still city editor, those would have been changed to “Person goes somewhere: None of your business why,” and “Mothra, giant rats battle in county.”
Might be why Action Line is no longer city editor. Nah.
Hey! Unless you start sending in questions, Action Line will just make up stuff, and you will have to hear him ramble about meaningless things and generally waste your valuable time. You have been warned. Email questions and suggestions – silly, serious or superfluous – to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301.
