My big pet peeve: Those who do not send thank you notes and/or return phone calls or emails.
When I was a child, my mom always insisted that my sister and I send thank you notes so I learned that tidbit of etiquette early on in life. When I became a mom, I followed in my mom’s footsteps, and I hope my grandchildren are receiving the same advice.
Returning phone calls, responding to messages was something I acquired as I grew up. I didn’t like it when someone didn’t call me back so I made sure I returned calls. Even if you don’t have time to talk, you can always pick up the phone, dial the number and acknowledge the person who called you.
When it comes to the workforce, I am a big believer that someone who doesn’t return a call needs to be held accountable. I know there are exceptions (such as a stalker or a rude repeat caller) but not that often. I’ve written about this before in this column, but I am frustrated and disappointed.
Over the last few weeks, one of our writers and our editor (who calls as a last resort thinking that someone will certainly call the editor back) have tried to call the public information team at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. We were seeking a simple story about the county sheriff’s new volunteer posse program. We had called the person in charge of the program, and she was excited about interviewing with us. However, she later told us we had to first contact the public information office (a practice that is customary). So we did — numerous times. We did have at least one name that I won’t reveal here, and she never returned an email or numerous calls. One of our writers said, “If we were the Denver Post, they would call us back.” I’m not so sure about that. Too often today, news reporters state, “We tried to contact “so and so” and they did not return our calls.
So, if you are interested in learning more about the sheriff’s posse program, here is the number listed on the sheriff’s website for the public information office: 719-520-7141. Maybe you will have better luck. Let us know.
Moving on, I’m sad to say that our Wildlife Matters column is going away, starting next month. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has decided to communicate through public forums such as a town hall meeting. I feel like they reach more people by publishing a column in a newspaper, especially when it’s not easy for people to get to meetings, whether it’s in the evening or morning. I wish them all the best, and we will let you know when they schedule the meetings. I do want to thank Aaron Berscheid, the district wildlife manager for our area, for writing an informative and fun column the past few years.
It’s only September but everywhere you look there are Halloween (I can see that) decorations and Thanksgiving (a little early) decorations. Someone told me she saw some Christmas decorations in a retail store the other day. The holiday retail craze is getting earlier each year.
The aspen trees are turning golden a little earlier this year because of the drought and the poor snowpack last winter. Check below for a list of best dates and places to view the aspens.
Have a great September!
See you in October
Michelle
Corrections:
In July, the NFH published an article on the Sun Mountain Farm Club. We need to clarify one paragraph in the article.
Farm Club is working toward a cooperative labor model that provides fair wage to workers but at a lower cost to small local farms. The current goal is to pay workers $20 an hour, based on a $30 an hour rate. According to Noyes, this model is based on the idea of “contributions” which involves dividing the financial burden of sustaining farm crews equally among farmers, farm crew and community with each group contributing one-third of what it takes to sustain the farm crew members. This year, the farmers are providing $10 an hour while the group is still working to raise donations from the local community.
Also, in one of the captions, we misspelled Gianna King’s name — the correct spelling is Geonna King. Were are sorry for the mistake.
In August, we wrote about a 4-H trip to Italy, “Colorado 4-H members tour Italy and France.” In that article, we stated that Cami Kranz, a 4-H member who went to Italy, was a sophomore at Falcon High School. Cami is a sophomore at Peyton High School.
We apologize for the mistake.
