Editor:

I think of Cortez, after now being a resident for the past 17 years, as a close-knit community. We agree to disagree often on issues, but generally support each other in making this city a wonderful place to live and raise our children.

It brings pride to see positive recognition of hard work and effort brought to light in The Cortez Journal. We all want to see our youth succeed in athletics and activities that they participate in. Showing off their accomplishments can only make this town better and help us feel united. I learned today that the paper will not cover anything below varsity level.

I called on Oct. 7 and asked for a story to be run, and sent a picture to be used in a feature. I received an email response stating, “The Cortez Journal does not generally cover middle school sports. Reasons for this include limited staff, limited space, and limited community-wide interest. While I am cognizant of the fact that middle school athletes work very hard, I am confident that many of those athletes will one day reach the varsity level and appear in the paper.”

In years past, the paper covered all levels of activities and sports, not just the varsity level. I am sorry The Cortez Journal has recently chosen to not cover all levels of participation. In reality, everyone will not make varsity teams. All levels combine to make winning programs. They are equally important.

On Oct. 5, the Cortez Middle School B team football players, under the coaching of Dylan Ferguson, Scott Conklin, Tim Robinson and Adam Black, beat Pagosa Springs 41-6 to take the league title. The last time this was solely won by CMS was in 1997. These boys will be our Montezuma-Cortez High School football varsity team one day.

It will be fantastic to see them then finally covered in the paper. I will agree to disagree on the issue of sports/activities coverage, but I wanted to share my thoughts as a parent, coach, fan, and citizen of Cortez.

Lisa Baer

Cortez