In a year marked by national division – during a season that is now leaning toward the light – we want to pause and thank the readers without whom there would be no paper, and the writers without whom there would be no lively opinion page. Before turning the page to a new year, it feels right to revisit some of the lighter, more human moments that also captured your attention in 2025.
Between Jan. 2 and Dec. 28, the Herald published 766 letters to the editor. From those, we selected 11 republished here – written by locals, former locals and visitors alike – as a reminder that alongside letters expressing strong feeling and opinion, there were also letters of humor, joy and beauty. For those, we thank you.
Over the course of the year, these 11 letters traced a distinctly Durango arc, beginning in spring with curiosity and introspection: a reader puzzling over a mysterious 1970s barroom organ (Herald, Mar. 19), which generated 25 responses, and a Durango poet confessing good intentions undone by procrastination (Herald, Apr. 6).
Summer brought sharper edges as national politics intruded – including a Florida reader threatening a boycott over the No Kings march (Herald, Jun. 20), followed by a wry local rebuttal (Herald, Jun. 27) – alongside familiar civic irritations about murals (Herald, Aug. 10), inaccurate weather forecasts (Herald, Aug. 24), and who gets fair access to public spaces – from 80-year-old golfers (Herald, Sept. 28) to an 8-year-old diver (Herald, Nov. 30). Other local concerns included more mundane frustrations, such as a junkyard across from a country church (Herald, Oct. 12).
By late fall, the tone softened into reflection and gratitude, with a belated Veterans Day thank-you resonating far beyond Applebee’s (Herald, Nov. 16). The year closed with the familiar mix of civic friction and community engagement, as a resident pushed back against the city’s crackdown on a Christmas craft fair (Herald, Dec. 14), emphasizing that these gatherings foster creativity, human connection, and purpose at a season when loneliness can be especially strong.
Taken together, the letters from 2025 reveal a community deeply engaged with both national flashpoints and intensely local questions of identity and governance, with outrage over the detention of five men at Rock Solid Granite (Herald, May 25) and building through the year. Immigration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement came to dominate the conversation, capturing youth voices (Herald, Oct. 31, Nov. 7) after October raids that detained a father and two young children and ignited fierce debate over protest, policing and the rule of law.
Local politics were a constant through-line, with writers weighing in on Durango School Board elections and policies around LGBTQ+ inclusion, classroom flags and DEI; La Plata County’s proposed 1% sales tax increase (Measure 1A) to fund county services; free speech controversies at Fort Lewis College, including the Turning Point USA chapter and the canceled Jackson Clark lecture; and the role and funding of public radio.
The Trump administration remained a persistent fault line, as did energy and environmental debates such as LPEA’s exit from Tri-State and climate action. Public safety concerns – especially Animas River Trail safety, alongside gun violence and surveillance cameras – shared space with anxieties about housing, tourism, growth, and the preservation of Durango’s small-town character. Even global conflicts, particularly Israel and Gaza, found their way into local pages. Residents were also fierce advocates for the preservation of public lands, saying NO to any proposal to sell them and emphasizing the ongoing balance between development and conservation in the region.
We are fortunate to live in an engaged community that shows up, speaks out and keeps writing. Keep the letters coming in 2026. With a midterm election ahead, it promises to be another lively year.
