“Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.” – Keith EllisonI guess I never thought last spring that we would still be dealing with this pandemic in October. Maybe I naively thought it would be gone by the end of the summer. However, it looks like until we get a vaccine for the coronavirus, we will be dealing with this for a long time.More than 200,000 people in this country have died from this virus ó young and old alike. And most of them have died alone, without their loved ones by their side. It makes me sad.It also makes me grateful for my family and their good health.In this issue, Mark Stoller provides a good look at how COVID-19 has affected our particular area.Among other issues, COVID-19 has exacerbated a hostile political climate in this country. I have never seen such division. It makes me sad, too. Will voting make a difference?At stake in November is our ability to come together for the good of democracy. At stake is our legacy. At stake is hope. And that is why it is so important that you vote.We wonít be on the stands with our November issue until Nov. 7 so weíve tried to focus some on voting in this issue. Stephanie Mason has done a good job providing specific voting information. Stephanie also did a Q&A with the two candidates for District 2 county commissioner. Ava Stoller wrote an interesting article on the history of voting, and it highlights the past obstacles to voting, which made me realize that we owe it to our ancestors to vote. They fought hard so all of us could vote.Also, in this issue: Be sure to read the Building and Real Estate column for updates on King Soopers and Falcon Marketplace. Our targeted development for this month is the retreat at TimberRidge by Pete Gawda.Stephanie and Leslie Sheley also followed up with our area school districts to see how they are handling the ìnew normalî after two months into the school year.Halloween is going to be different this year. I didnít find any new rules for El Paso County related to the coronavirus, but I did find some Centers for Disease Control guidelines, and I listed the ìmoderateî and ìhigh riskî recommendations below.Itís fall and itís fresh. And itís only another three months until we ring in 2021. I overheard someone the other day talk about a T-shirt they saw, and it said, ìHindsight 2020.î Ainít that the truth!Have a great October; please vote.See you in November,– Michelle
