Kleenex, X Games and bounced checks

The Aspen Times’ coverage of a meeting on how to handle Winter X Games crowds and the Aspen Skiing Co.’s decision to ban products made by Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex and other paper products, inspired some online readers to give their feedback last week. Said one reader regarding the ban by Skico, which said it was reacting to Kimberly-Clark’s questionable environmental practices:I think the ski company is incredibly hypocritical. Give me a break! How much energy is being used to make snow, run those lifts, and cater to the rich and famous? How much forest was destroyed to create the ski resorts? Please get real and clean up your own house.Said another:More problematic are the plastic attachments used to fasten ski tickets to skiers’ jackets. Not only are they non-degradable, they are made from petroleum, and so they increase our reliance on imported oil. Like shopping bags, there should be re-usable devices for attaching the lift ticket -and if there are none available, Aspen Skiing Corp. should announce that it will purchase its supply from whoever comes up with a viable product.Meanwhile, the story entitled “X Games: disaster … on a schedule,” reported about a meeting among Aspen City Council members, Pitkin County commissioners and transportation and law-enforcement officials, who agreed to implement an “incident command system” next year to handle the swelling attendance. The most recent X Games attracted more than 75,000 people.Said one reader of aspentimes.com:Excuse me but are you complaining that ESPN’s X Games are bringing 75,000 customers and skiers, as well as millions of viewers around the world, to Aspen? So what if there is a bit of traffic and a few kids get drunk … have you ever been to Aspen on Fourth of July? There is terrible traffic and all the adults are drunk! PS – Cops do a great job. Don’t change a thing :)Another reader weighed in:What about down valley agencies that have to deal with all the people who leave Aspen?Which prompted the following response:Down valley organizations were invited to be a part of the ‘MAC’ debriefing – they just chose not to be involved.California transplant Peter Frommer, who faces a string of felony charges for allegedly writing bad checks, couldn’t stay out of the news last week. He did, however, stay out of court, which was why a small claims judge awarded default judgments to two baby sitters who sued him for allegedly writing them bogus checks.One reader applauded the plaintiffs, the judge, and even the Times reporter who covered Frommer’s no-show. You go, girls! Thank you Judge Ely too. And Mr. (Charles) Agar – what can we do but thank you for speaking loudly for all of the victims left in a long and twisted trail of deceit and destruction of the Frommers? You have been a wonderful light in this horrible experience. Thank you for keeping us all informed.Aspen High School’s production of “Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” got big play in Thursday’s newspapers, and was accompanied by a sidebar about the censoring of some unwanted language from the script. Among the school’s changes were replacement of the word “virgin” with “maiden” and striking the word “eunuch” from the script. The word “eunuch” has ancient origins, and originally described a castrated male who served as a guard for royal brass.One reader offered a rather succinct statement:What a bunch of PC BS. Pathetic.And in closing, Monday’s story entitled “A ‘tough cowgirl’ perseveres,” about a 4-year-old Snowmass girl who has already endured two brain surgeries, appeared to inspire many readers. One of them offered:She is a tough little girl. Just ask her little brother who loves her so much. I printed it out and everyone at my work is reading the story. Maybe if I can figure it out I am going to put a copy on myspace web page.Readers may weigh in on any article at aspentimes.com, anonymously if they wish, by clicking on “Comments” at the top of the article. Comments reprinted here appear as they were printed, wthout editing or correction.