Attend the comprehensive plan meeting

We are writing to urge everyone who is invested in Lyons to attend the second of three meetings on April 14 where residents give opinions and suggestions as to what we want to see adopted into the new comprehensive plan that is being done for our town. The first of the three meetings was Tuesday, March 15, and although we had a respectable turnout (about 50 people) we could have a better one on April 14th. If you want your ideas heard and don’t want someone else to speak for you, then this is the place to see that that happens.
The group that will take our suggestions and compile them into the new comp plan really needs to hear from each of us. The format we followed on the March 15th was one of ranking alternatives and suggestions. It was well conducted and actually very beneficial to be part of a decision-making process that will guide the future of the town. We then broke into groups and addressed various points for the program. Please come and offer your ideas. If you don’t, you can’t complain when the comprehensive plan is completed. The April 14th meeting is at the Lyons High School and if you do not have a ride and want to attend, we will be happy to pick you up: call Anne at 303-823- 5425 or Ellen at 303-823-6364.

Ellen Hine and Anne O’Brien

To the Editor,
Lyons, just like other small towns that have become attractive to folks tired of the big city, is facing growing pains. That’s why people should come to the Planning and Community Development workshops on developing a new comprehensive plan (next one, April 14 at the high school) and express their opinions as to how we should proceed.

Otherwise, the decisions will be in the hands of the few – the town trustees, and the developers with money in their pockets who are anxious to profit from development.

As we decide what to do next, I think it’s important for both ordinary residents and the developers to be civil to one another. In this respect, calling folks “anti-posse,” as John Burke did in a column in the February Redstone Review, is not cool.

I’m not sure what I am, posse or antiposse, for on the one hand I’d favor a change in the liquor license rules, but on the other hand, I dislike the High Street improvements – multitudinous rocks and questionable statuary near Dorothy’s store. But I refrained from calling the creators of this plan aesthetic know-nothings. I heartily disagreed with the proposal that would have placed Lyons’ public library on the second floor of a new municipal building, but fell short of calling the developers anti-intellectuals. I am in favor of a new expansive library that could be a creative center for the whole community.
I hope, seriously, as people stand up and constructively argue the case for Lyons’ future, that they do so without name-calling.
Furthermore, let’s treat all opinions as valuable. We should keep in mind something that the U.S.’s deplorable current financial mess has proven to us all: developers and financiers, Wall Street bankers and CEOs and folks with money to invest are not smarter than blokes who are just making it paycheck to paycheck.

Ann Ripley, Lyons

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To the people and community of Lyons, I would like to encourage all of you to consider a donation for a local young man named Mathew Sims. Mathew, a 2005 graduate of Lyons High School, was born with underdeveloped optic nerves which have made him legally blind.
He has always had a dream to improve his sight, and now that opportunity has presented itself through medical research involving stem cell injections derived from umbilical cords. Beike Biotechnologies (which you can read about online at www.beikebiotech.com) is a company in China that has pioneered this research and has had dramatic success in regenerating the optic nerves. A 16-year-old girl from Ft. Collins had only light perception in one eye and 20/400 vision in the other, received this treatment and has recently received her driver’s license. Because Matt is in excellent health he is a perfect candidate for this procedure.

Although results vary from patient to patient, all who have had this procedure are having vision improvements. The treatment cost varies between $20,000 and $25,000, depending on your treatment plan. The travel costs involved are approximately $6,000. The overall cost will be between $26,000 and $31,000. I think we all would agree that is a small price to pay for someone to see. That is only 31 people donating $1,000, or 62 people giving $500. I would encourage all who are reading this to ask yourself, if this was my child, what would I be willing to do.
A tax-deductible donation can be sent to: Lyons Community Church, United Methodist, Attention Matt’s Vision Quest, P.O. Box 44, Lyons CO, 80540.

Remember: To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

Thank you for your prayers and support,
Bob Schooler

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