Joe Marshall’s Oct. 7 column in the Collegian, “Rental licensing

a good idea,” accurately characterizes off-campus student housing

in Fort Collins.

Most homeowners are not prejudiced against responsible students.

We have some great students as neighbors, and a few who are not so

great. The latter adversely impact the lives of many neighbors, and

they undeservedly give students a bad reputation. Tolerance is

wearing thin for blatant violations of municipal law and students’

code of conduct. It should be no surprise when Fort Collins

families become vocal when confronted with these behaviors

Marshall is correct: Rental licensing is not primarily intended

to address behavioral problems. Rather, it is intended to better

enforce long-standing laws dealing with residential safety,

habitability, upkeep and yes, the three-unrelated ordinance.

I believe that truly enforcing the three-unrelated ordinance is

critically important to preserving low- to middle-income,

single-family neighborhoods in Fort Collins. This benefits the

university by offering students, faculty and staff convenient and

high-quality neighborhoods to raise their families and invest in

their future.

Fort Collins City Council recently expressed interest in an

“overlay” land use concept. Details are sketchy, but portions of

the city might be eligible for a rental license that allows four or

more unrelated adults to legally share a single-family residence.

Inspections would assure minimum standards for safety and

habitability. This overlay concept makes sense if the public is

truly part of the decision-making process used to delineate the

overlay. And CSU students are an important public in Fort

Collins.

Raymond L. Czaplewski

Fort Collins resident

In response to Joe Marshall’s article “Puppet Government: Was

Bush wired, coached through first debate?” I would like to thank

him for using his article to focus on what really matters this

presidential election: a bulge on President Bush’s back. It saddens

me to think that this is how some people want to sway votes one way

or another. For someone with the ability to express opinions more

publicly than others, I think that we deserve some responsible

publishing. I thought that we talk about the debates in regards to

political issues that affect you and me, and the stances each

candidate gave toward those issues. Conspiracy theorists should

keep their theories out of a paper that has an impact on how people

view political candidates and their issues and publish them in the

conspiracy theorist Web sites inundating the Internet. As for me, I

will be voting on issues such as taxes and education, not a shape

on the back of a candidate’s suit. Thank you for your addition to

the political process and a point of reference for my theory that

Sen. John Kerry is an alien.

James Jung

Junior sociology major