Some corrections, Mr. Hatfield

Dear Editor:In response to Mr. Hatfield’s letter in the Oct. 19 Daily News, I would like to clarify a few of his allegations while issuing a correction of facts.In his letter, he questioned my assertion that he “usually” votes in lockstep with other commissioners. The sampling of voting records that I referred to was, in fact, the public record made available on the county’s Web site. However, it may have had its limitations in that the minutes for BOCC meetings only go back just under two years. This constitutes the second half of his term as commissioner. Mr. Hatfield also took exception to my absence at the recent Woody Creek Caucus meeting. To set the record straight, the caucus meetings are held the last Wednesday of each month, which was Sept. 29 – a date that Mr. Hatfield, himself, had a conflict in making. Thus it was pushed back a week to Oct. 6. Although I was fully available for the regular meeting date, I had a long-standing conflict with the reschedule date and as a result could not attend. The meeting date could not be changed a second time, nor did I think it was fair to change the date to satisfy anyone’s personal schedule. That is the only reason I did not attend the Woody Creek Caucus meeting and debate. Mr. Hatfield also took exception with the excerpts of articles from The Aspen Times that I used in a recent mailer. He feels they were taken out of context. Anyone is free to look them up in their entirety at http://www.aspentimes.com. That is why I included the dates: 11/12/00, 1/5/01, 2/8/02, 5/29/02 and 10/25/02. The letter to the editor is dated 1/8/04. I could have included the articles in their entirety, but being environmentally conscious, I did not want to waste paper.In closing, Mr. Hatfield stated that candidates should not get their information from news articles or letters to the editor. I’m curious as to where my opponent gets his misinformation on my opinion of the land use code, especially since he and I have never discussed my opinion on the matter. Furthermore, I find it somewhat ironic that my opponent saw fit to launch such a strongly negative attack upon me in the name of condemning negative campaigns. Cheryl KoehneSnowmass Villagecounty commissioner candidate