ANTicipating Tonight's forum

Don't guess, or walk away from the voting booth before you'vegotten throughthe local ballotwith confidence.

Come to the voter's forum tonight on local issues and meet the County Commissioner candidates as well. You will hear how your friends and community leaders view the localballotquestions. You'll leave knowing what you want to do to make your vote count. You will hear a PRO and CON statement in plain English for each issue. You may ask your questions of community leadersand candidates.

Where: Paepcke Auditorium (Aspen Institute Campus)
When: Wednesday, October 22 5:30 p.m.
Who: Paul Menter, Moderator. Community Leaders as speakers and resources-- Bruce Anderson, Patti Clapper, Don Davidson, Jack Hatfield, Ward Hauenstein, Dee Malone, Mike Maple, Paul Menter, George Newman, Kevin Patrick, Rachel Richards, Dan Richardson, Shellie Roy, Katherine Sand, Tim Semrau, Shirley Ritter, Cliff Weiss, Dan Blankenship, and Diana Sirko.
Don't be an ignorANT on issues that affect your life and career in Aspen/Pitkin County.

HelpAnts Defray the Costs of the Forum

Costs for the public event have climbed by having to move to Paepcke, when the Rio Grande room access could not be assured based on the BOCC schedule. We are renting Paepcke and paying for Grassroots taping and rebroadcast. Whether or not you can attend, if you value the concept of an open, balanced, and respectful public forum for local issues, please help support this by your contribution. Any help is welcome. We will list your name in the program.

In the Mayor's Pants Pocket??

When the owner of the newspaper tries to stir things up with misinformation and false accusations, even in good humor, ignoring it is not an option. In this case, Aspen Dailyn News owner Dave Danforth's Sunday column spoof, "Mick Owns The Red Ant", http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/columnist/129975

was a bit arcane, but his inaccurate representation of The Red Ant's position on the newest Council member was plenty clear, "Then they ridiculed the winner, Jackie Kasabach." Not true. This is exactly what we published in Issue #16:

"Welcome New City Council Member!
Jackie Kasabach, retired from the management team at The Gant, was appointed by Aspen City Council to complete the term of the late J.E. DeVilbiss. Jackie is known as thoughtful, personable, a good listener and very dedicated to our community. Those who have served with her in prior civic duties and business projects predict that she will do her own thinking,while studying the issues and listening to a variety of perspectives.

We hear that she is passionate about issues but always respectful and very professional. Everyone has said that she will never join in the bad behavior, name calling, and ill-tempered unprofessional antics we have seen from three of the four current Council members. (Dwayne Romero, known for his professionalism and gentlemanly conduct, is surely pleased to have Jackie's company to help raise the standard of appropriate demeanor toward citizens.) Dawn of a new day? It's possible. The end of immaturity, temper tantrums and irrational deportment in Council meetings? The Ant, relentlessly optimistic, is standing by with great hope."

Our "ridicule" was reserved for the bad boys of the City Council and their ill-mannered ANTics.

But the best line of Mr. Danforth's column, referencing The Red Ant(s), was "Mick's got them in his pocket." But ants in the mayor's pants pocket may not be as comfortable as having the newspaper there!