Consumer advocacy, Democracy, Ethics, Fake patriotism, Hunger, politics, Poverty, Public health, Stupid Republicans

Mesa County Blocks Access to Food Assistance Program, Loses Out on Critical Economic Benefits

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Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, who oversees the county's human services and food assistance programs

Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, who oversees the county’s human services and food assistance programs

Half of Mesa County residents who are eligible for food stamps get them, while the other half who apply are routinely turned away.

Rose Pugliese, the Mesa County Commissioner who leads the Department of Human Services (DHS) commission in charge of managing food stamp programs in Mesa County, has picked nasty public fights with county DHS management (video) and follows her predecessor, Janet Rowland, in trying to restrict Mesa County residents from participating in federal food assistance programs.

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Democracy, Elections, politics, Separation of Church and State, Stupid Republicans, Weird Grand Junction Stuff

Republican Kook Runs for Mesa County Commissioner Against Justman

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Mesa County Commissioner District 1 candidate John Davis ran for President of the United States in 2012

Mesa County Commissioner District 1 candidate John Davis in front of his eponymously-painted motorcoach when he ran for President of the United States in 2012

Another doozy of a Republican candidate is running for local office, this time against Mesa County Commissioner District 1 incumbent John Justman.

It’s John Davis.

The local Republican Party just keeps them coming, don’t they?

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Democracy, Diversity, Education, Equal rights, Ethics, Ethnic/Minority, Human rights, LGBT issues, Religious hypocrisy

City of Grand Junction Officially Endorses Gay Pride Week

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The City of Grand Junction's official proclamation endorsing Gay Pride Week in town

The City of Grand Junction’s official proclamation endorsing Gay Pride Week in town

In a landmark action towards welcoming diversity in our community, at its Wednesday, May 4, 2016 meeting, the Grand Junction City Council will officially declare May 2nd through May 8th, 2016 “Grand Junction Pride Fest Week.”

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Food

“Citrus Gypsies” are Back in G.J.!

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The Citrus Gypsies' fruit booth at First Street and Patterson Road

The Citrus Gypsies’ fruit booth at First Street and Patterson Road

They’re BACK!  They’re the Citrus Gypsies, and they have the best citrus fruit around! (When I asked them if they had a name, Ana at the First and Patterson booth told me they don’t really have a name for their business, but that’s what they call themselves informally).

These wonderful itinerant young fruit people come from a ranch in Montana and travel the southwest buying great citrus fruit at the height of the harvest and driving it to other places in the west that don’t have great fruit (at least right now). They have by far the best citrus you can get. It’s fresh-picked and doesn’t have any waxy coatings, stickers or other junk on it. They picked this last batch of navel oranges themselves from an orchard in California’s central valley, near Fresno, so they put a great deal of effort into it. Before coming back here, they took a haul to Salt Lake City and got sold out very quickly after someone posted about them on social media.

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Economics, Marketing

New Group Offers Businesses a Less Costly Networking Alternative

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NetworkNowLocal business owners no longer have to pay the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce’s high membership fees if all they really want is a convenient and inexpensive way to network regularly with other businesses.  Network Now is a new Grand Junction business networking group not affiliated with the troubled G.J. Chamber that meets every other Wednesday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. in the ReMax 4000 meeting room at 120 W. Park Drive, Grand Junction, at Patterson Road and First Street. The next meeting is next Wednesday, April 20, 2016. For more info call Jill at 970. 270.7958

Diane Schwenke, Economics, Equal rights, Grand Junction Chamber, Health care, Human rights, Insurance, Pharmaceutical

G.J. Chamber Opposes Patient Choice in Pharmacies

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No-choiceThe Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce in their Monday, April 11 ad in the Daily Sentinel, announced that it OPPOSES Colorado House Bill HB 16-1361, the “Patient Choice in Pharmacy” bill, which would prohibit health insurance companies from restricting subscribers’ ability to select a pharmacy or pharmacist of their choice. The bill also prohibits insurance companies from imposing extra co-payments, fees or restrictions on subscribers if they choose to use a pharmacy outside the insurance company’s network, as long the pharmacy/pharmacist has a valid CO license and meets some other criteria.

The G.J Chamber opposes citizens’ ability to freely choose where to shop for medications. Without this bill, smaller locally-owned pharmacies that are not in an insurance company’s network will lose businesses to bigger chains stores or mail order pharmacies that insurance companies tell subscribers they have to use.

Once again, the Chamber opposes a measure that would help smaller and locally-owned businesses, and that is beneficial to all citizens and working people.

 

Children, Diversity, Equal rights, Ethics, Extremism, Health, Human rights, Intolerance, LGBT issues, politics, Propaganda, Public health, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Women

Delta County School Board Rips Off Kids

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A slide from Shelly Donahue's "WAIT" program shown at Delta High School

Crucifixes in a slide from Shelly Donahue’s “WAIT” program at Delta High School

The Delta County School Board is violating state and federal laws in order to keep students from getting medically-accurate sex education information, and it seems to be by design.

Last October, the school district hired controversial abstinence-only-before-marriage pontificator Shelly Donahue as a sex education speaker for students. According to students, this was the only “sex education” the Delta County School District provided them, and the school board and district administration apparently consider this an adequate sex education.

Far from it.

For those who aren’t familiar with Shelly Donahue, she is an evangelistic Christian abstinence-only speaker who rakes in government grant funds by giving “WAIT” (“Why Am I Tempted”) training in public schools. Donahue’s website says

“She is passionately committed to Jesus Christ as the ultimate answer to the teen sexual activity problem in America. As a motivational speaker and a leading sex education expert, she is making a significant impact for the Kingdom of God!”

The leading "T" in Donahue's business logo is a crucifix in flames; the logo and cross appear in every slide, regardless if presentations at public schools

The leading “T” in Donahue’s business logo is a flaming crucifix; the logo and cross appeared in every slide in her presentations at Delta schools

In her talks, Donahue dishes out vast amounts of medically inaccurate information to kids and uses broad, simplistic analogies that convey stereotypical images of what boys’ and girls’ personalities are like. She includes liberal doses of religiously-based, guilt-and-shame to frighten students out of having sex before marriage.

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Atheism, Children, Education, Ethics, Ethnic/Minority, Fake Religiosity, Intolerance, Religion, Safety, Security

Delta County School District Has Lots to Answer For

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DDServicesThe Delta County School District is in serious need of help.

The recent exposure of the extent of Christian proselytizing in the Delta County school system has not just raised eyebrows locally, state-wide, nationally and internationally. It has encouraged Delta area residents to come forward with their own personal stories of proselytizing and discrimination in Delta public schools and their workplaces, and how it has affected their lives.

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Democracy, politics

Democrats Growing Faster than Republicans in Mesa County

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Dems

 

The above article from the March 27, 2016 issue of the Grand Junction, CO Daily Sentinel says that the increase in registered Democrats is happening without any kind of organized registration drive being put on by Mesa County Democrats, while at the same time, the Mesa County Republican Party is actively working to register new members and is even meeting their goals. The growth in Democrats is coming from people switching parties, as well as from new registrants.

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