EDITOR’S DESK: On cowboys and elections

       Chet Hardin was back in town this week. It was a surprise for me. I first met that tough 'ol cowboy 16 years ago in a near-blizzard in Manitou Springs, scarcely believing my eyes to see a man on a horse materialize along Manitou Avenue. His snow-blown picture wound up on Page 1 that week (in the dearly departed Pikes Peak Journal), but for all I knew of his whereabouts at the time, he could've disappeared back into that same storm. Then I got a call this week that a horseman was in Bancroft Park. Cruising over to introduce myself, I was surprised to see a flash of recognition cross his weatherbeaten face. Chet recalled that day in Manitou, and when he did, so did I. So here he is, back on another Page 1 this week, and I hope, if he's still around looking for work, that someone finds something for him. I'll vouch for him. How could anyone not respect someone with the courage to still live the cowboy way, here in this ever-so-technological 21st century?
       Oh yes, the election Nov. 1. I'm never really comfortable advising people how to vote, but I've got to admit finding myself wondering how big a committee it took to write up Referenda C and D. The article starting on Page 3 reflects that sort of loopiness. The Cimarron interchange will be funded by D - as long as you know that when D refers to "strategic transportation projects" you should be looking at an appendix (not referenced in the ballot question's text), and that where the appendix says "reconstruction of interchanges" for El Paso County, the intent is to include the Cimarron interchange as one of them. Why couldn't the Committee That Writes Such Things have just made up a point-blank list of needed projects or programs - for roads, schools, health care, what have you, like District 11 did for ballot item 3B - and tried to sell that? Or are other politics at work? Modern life can get so confusing and... Hey, Chet, you got another horse?

- K.J.