History of Valentine’s Day continued from page 1...

Who Is Cupid?

Cupid is often portrayed on Valentine’s Day cards as a naked cherub launching arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers. But the Roman God Cupid has his roots in Greek mythology as the Greek god of love, Eros. Accounts of his birth vary; some say he is the son of Nyx and Erebus; others, of Aphrodite and Ares; still others suggest he is the son of Iris and Zephyrus or even Aphrodite and Zeus (who would have been both his father and grandfather).

According to the Greek Archaic poets, Eros was a handsome immortal played with the emotions of Gods and men, using golden arrows to incite love and leaden ones to sow aversion. It wasn’t until the Hellenistic period that he began to be portrayed as the mischievous, chubby child he’d become on Valentine’s Day cards.

Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings and Gifts

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century.

By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year (more cards are sent at Christmas).

Discover Destiny Church

by Anne Evans

Freshman Republican Signs on with Democrats for ‘Right To Repair’ Farm Equipment Bill continued from page 2...

The repair facility is afforded access to parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or other resources to repair the goods in exchange for financial consideration and promises to keep all such technology and other manufacturing trade secrets private.

Right to repair’s rocky road

Titone has a history of sponsoring bills that force manufacturers into giving up their proprietary information. She attempted a similar bill in 2021 that had nearly identical wording except it applied to electronics, such as cell phones. The bill never made it to committee despite Democrats being in charge of both chambers of the state legislature.

Titone did not have any Republicans on the bill that year.

She brought the idea back again in 2022, but applied it to wheelchairs. That bill got support from former Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, eventually it passed and was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.

So far this year, Titone has been unable to get a Republican in the Senate to support her latest attempt.

Freshman Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling said he just can’t get behind it. Pelton, who replaced former Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg is a former Logan County Commissioner in a district that is very agriculture heavy.

Pelton said although he likes the idea in theory, he worries about his producers and the long-term effects of the bill, including forcing manufacturers to give up their tech secrets. He said one of the basic beliefs of conservatives is a belief in property rights, including intellectual property.

“I’m also concerned about the cost of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts,” Pelton said. “It’s a good concept, but I’m just concerned about the increased cost to my producers.”

Pelton’s concerns stem from the idea that if a manufacturer has to give up its technology, it will make the money back through increased cost of parts. In many cases, parts for specific farm equipment must come through the original manufacturer.

Some agriculture interests onboard

According to the Secretary of State’s website, lobbyists for the Colorado Farm Bureau, which represents both farmers/ranchers and manufacturers, are currently monitoring the bill, while lobbyists representing six out of 15 entities that have registered interest in the bill are currently supporting it, including the Colorado Cattleman’s Association, the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, and the Colorado Corn Growers Association, among others.

Under the bill, agricultural equipment means a tractor, trailer, combine, sprayer, baler, and other equipment used to plant, cultivate, irrigate or harvest agricultural products or to ranch, as well as any attachments to and repair parts for the equipment listed.

Documentation includes manuals, diagrams, reporting output, service code description, security codes or passwords that are given to an authorized repair provider for purposes of performing the services.

The service code descriptions are a lot of what Weinberg said convinced him to get behind the bill.

So much of our lives we spend pursuing food, shelter, physical health, and those are things we need. Too often though, we neglect the spiritual reality all around us. God created us as spiritual beings as well as physical. This month Destiny Church has been going through a sermon series about how to pursue God.

Jesus died for each of us individually, but we are called as the body of Christ to pursue Him in community. Destiny Church has that community, and in their fellowship, they learn how to draw close to God and are inspired to dive deep into His Word to learn more about His character and His good and perfect plans for those who follow Him. Located in Fort Lupton, Destiny Church is a spirit-filled, charismatic body of believers.

Crystal Martinez has been going to Destiny for over two decades, and her husband Gilbert was raised in the church. Crystal said, “Destiny Church has been a crucial part of my spiritual growth. Our circle of fellowship at Destiny is an extended part of our family. Destiny is one of the most welcoming and accepting churches I have ever walked into. You can come as you are and let God do the rest.”

Gilbert and Crystal have two, now grown, kids who they raised at Destiny. They said Destiny was a place their kids loved to go and a place they found healthy friendships during their teenage years.

“Youth group gave our kids awesome connections to grow in their faith and hang out with kids with the same values,” Crystal said. Work and life bring their stressors, but at Destiny Church, the Martinez family said, they encounter a God who loves them and is there for them in all the struggles of life.

If you want to grow in your knowledge of Jesus or perhaps encounter Him for the first time, please join Destiny Church Sundays at 10 a.m. at 307 S Fulton Avenue, Fort Lupton, CO. D-Kids meets downstairs for worship and a Bible lesson (ages 4-11). Nursery provided (ages 0–3). At Destiny Church, they believe in the power of prayer, and they’d be happy to pray for you as well.

Destiny also has Wednesday night D-Groups at 7 p.m. Kids Club (up to 6th grade) meets for a video lesson downstairs while the teens meet for youth group. Life groups meet once a month on Mondays at locations in Fort Lupton and Firestone. Learn more at yourdestinychurch.org.

What to expect on Sunday morning: Destiny is a warm church who loves Jesus and their neighbors. There’s coffee and donuts in the foyer, children’s ministry and nursery downstairs, and then a vibrant time of worship and a Bible-based sermon that is deeply rooted in God’s word from both the Old and New Testaments. All together their service lasts an hour and half from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

“Sure enough, I’m coming to find out that the farmers are smoking mad about how they get these warranties but there is no one to service the parts,” Weinberg said. “The device gets plugged in, and it reads out the error message of what’s wrong with it. But the dealerships — from what the farmers are telling me — there is a complete backlog. They are losing tens or thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars a day every time they have to put this $500,000 tractor onto a trailer and take that trailer to a service center.”

Weinberg said many of the farmers he talked to in Weld and Larimer counties got fed up with it and began buying third-party software that can tell them what’s wrong with their equipment. But the software, which is imported from Russia and the Ukraine, Weinberg said, is illegal and voids their warranty.

“So, it’s very frustrating for these farmers that they can fix this problem in a day or two, but if they put this thing on a trailer and haul it out to a John Deere location, they get (ripped off),” Weinberg said. “Not one farmer that I’ve spoken to, are not madder than heck, and I’ve spoken to quite a bit many.”

Weinberg, who immigrated to the United States with his family in 2002 from South Africa, said there is a simple answer to those who think it violates the free market and are worried about OEM costs rising.

“At what point in time are Americans going to adopt the reason we’re Americans — self responsibility,” he said. “If somebody wants to (fix their own equipment), they should be given the freedom and option to do it. They have to pay the consequences because that’s a heck of a lot of money to void a warranty. I am all about freedom.”

Weinberg added if the equipment was getting fixed, he wouldn’t even think about sponsoring this bill.

“But guess what? We have a problem, and it needs a solution,” he said. “And our agriculture community is being affected. And that is not freedom to me. The (corporations) have done this to themselves. And this is what happens when people get mad and require a legislator to do something that helps them.”

He also said he also understands some concerns that this will just snowball into more bills taking away more proprietary rights. He said he’ll approach each bill individually.

“That’s with everything,” he said about the possibility of a snowball. “You can’t avoid that. I always worry about that. But this is an immediate issue, and Colorado is desperate to find a solution. If the next one is something that is wrong, I can guarantee I will fight it until it dies.”

The bill does not have a safety clause on it, meaning if it passes, any Colorado resident could challenge the bill and force it to go to the voters, so long as a petition is filed within 90 days after the final day of the 2023 legislative session. Those wishing to repeal the bill would need to gather 124,238 signatures from registered voters in 60 days to force it to a vote. It would appear on the 2024 ballot.

The bill will be heard in the Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources committee, at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 in HCR 0107.