Dear Editor:

I am writing to rebut a recent letter penned by Pam Cocker, wife of entertainer Joe Cocker, who apparently manages her husband's non-profit foundation. Mrs. Cocker chastised Bill Koch, my boss, for failing to donate to her charity.

In a recent phone conversation, I reminded Mrs. Cocker that Oxbow Mining, a company owned by Mr. Koch, had received a letter soliciting donations in 2008 for her husband's charitable concert. We gladly sent her organization a check made out to "Cocker Kids Foundation" for $900 and distributed tickets to our miners. In return for Oxbow's generosity, the Cocker Foundation displayed Oxbow Mining's corporate banner and acknowledged the donation in the concert program. Oxbow repeated this gesture in 2010.

In all, Oxbow Mining donated $1,800 to Mr. Cocker's event. In a recent phone conversation, Mrs. Cocker said our money did not count as a donation because it was not tax deductible. Well, I am not about to argue the intricacies of IRS tax laws. I know our intention was to help the Cocker Kids' Foundation when we sent the two checks and not what we could deduct from our income statement. I will also proudly say that Mr. Koch, Oxbow Mining, Bear Ranch, Gunnison Energy and the 7x Cattle Company, have made more than $300,000 in charitable donations in the North Fork Valley over the past two years. We have helped underwrite the Delta County Memorial Hospital Foundation, paid for fire trucks, baseball fields, school improvements and assisted dozens of other charitable entities that make the North Fork Valley a great place to live. Since Mr. Koch owns these companies, I never quibble about whether they qualify as a donation or not. I simply thank him.

Randy Litwiller

Crawford