Colorado Central Articles From — November 2000

Column by Hal Walter

Wildlife – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

MY RAW-FISH-EATING but otherwise vegetarian friend Diane from Boulder who has a nose piercing and performs music with a group known as the Mope Corps has called me a “sensitive new-age hunter guy.” I guess that fits, considering that I don’t consider hunting to be a sport but rather a spiritual connection to the land and part of a larger understanding of the circle of life and death. Read the rest of this article

Article by Donna Walstrom

Mountain Live – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN THE PLAY Weed tumbled into Westcliffe, I didn’t know what to expect. Not from a show simply touted as a “one-act play about the modern west.” From the audience reaction to the performance staged at the renovated Jones Theater on September 16, I think lots of other townsfolk were surprised too. One comment during the discussion afterwards was along the lines of: “If I can get my jaw unclenched I’d like to respond to that question.” Read the rest of this article

Essay by Lisa Jones

Mountain Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

BELIEVE ME, THERE’S NOTHING SEXIER. In contrast to their urban brethren, biologists are sinewy, tanned, and wise. They are often bearded. They know their knots. They have all the right books. They think environmental change begins at home. They are right. Read the rest of this article

Letter from K. Wills Donithorne

Western Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Over the Sierras, returning from an artists for peace — Vietnam — demonstration in Los Angeles by way of San Francisco to get home to Boulder in time for fall semester with husband Tom and our still in arms daughter, we picked up the fist single male hitchhiker we encountered to help with running starts. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Ray Schoch

Colorado Central – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Trail frustrations

Ed and Martha:

Once again, nicely done (No. 80, that is).

Like Lou Bendrick, I’ll never be allowed to be an avid birder, though I’ve never provided Lakewood hummingbirds (perhaps an oxymoronic term) with a sugar overdose. Ms. Bendrick’s little piece reminds me, however (and I obviously have no idea how the Quillen pairing works in this regard), that spouses are sometimes among the least forgiving of acquaintances. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Trout Creek Ponderist

Colorado Central – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Hello,

While doing some rare cleaning, organizing, circular file basketball, I came across this overdue check written last July to you for a subscription renewal. With apologies to your efficient staff, I now am submitting a newly dated check. (The July check has been voided.) Along with the sincere apologies for my tardiness is also an expression of thankfulness that you have continued your efforts of building a sense of place through the magazine, Colorado Central. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Modern Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Hi Martha and Ed,

Enjoyed every page, you’re more cohesive but never slick. In your well-written article on the “Indian wars” you hope humanity can rise above the baseness of slaughtering innocents.

May I point out that, a hundred and fifty years later, one essential component of the psyche of massacre remains, as a people we have a high opinion of ourselves which we feed by developing a low opinion of everyone else. This braggardly ego is maintained by a culture of SUV commercials and garage-rock warriors (not to mention politicians), but we seem to have passed over the phase of proving ourselves by murder to the perhaps more sophisticated phase of creating for ourselves a world-wide-womb in which no direct thought or action occurs, rather every movement and idea is a transaction with some sort of support mechanism. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Terry Robertson

Colorado Central – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Central:

Enclosed you will find my renewal payment for your magazine. On the whole I find your magazine excellent, with good writing and in-depth coverage of many items that I am interested in, but only get the highlights of in the Mountain Mail (which I also have delivered to Oklahoma). Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Presidential election – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

IN MY NINTH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, there is finally a serious candidate for whom I can feel real enthusiasm — and all my self-appointed political advisors are telling me it’s irresponsible to vote for him. A vote for Ralph Nader, I am told, amounts to a vote for George Bush; Nader can’t win; all he can do is erode Al Gore’s support; therefore, I must vote again for “the lesser of two evils.” Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha & Ed Quillen

2000 election – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

PRESIDENT

Ed: I haven’t totally made up my mind yet, but I’m sure leaning toward Ralph Nader. For one thing, he actually ventured into the interior of Colorado. He seems intelligent, thoughtful, and fair-minded, all things you’d like in a president, and he raises issues that the other candidates would like to sweep under the rug. Plus, no one could doubt his integrity or courage; he’s certainly not for sale, and anybody who’d take on General Motors in 1966 must have cojones grande. Read the rest of this article

Article by Ed Quillen

Local Artists – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

REGULAR READERS of this magazine are doubtless familiar with the name Slim Wolfe, since most editions contain some of his correspondence. If you’ve read Wolfe’s letters, you know he’s pretty skeptical about government, technology, and modern life in general. But the letters are just one facet of his life.

Wolfe’s house south of Villa Grove, which he built himself, is a lifestyle in itself. He’s a jack of many trades — carpentry, masonry, fabrics — and he builds and plays hammer dulcimers. Read the rest of this article

Article by Drew Sakson

Congressional Election – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

I am running because the rights and the values of the people in my district are not being represented in Washington. We in Colorado, and especially on the Western Slope, understand the concept of being left alone to pursue our own goals and happiness so long as we don’t interfere with the right of others to do the same. Read the rest of this article

Article by Victor Good

Congressional Election – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Nomination acceptance speech by Victor Good, Reform Party candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, Colorado District Three.

The two biggest problems facing America today are, number one: the corruption of our election process by special interest, PAC, corporate and large personal campaign contributions and number two: the rising tide of intolerance in America. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Congressional Election – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Besides the Republican incumbent, Scott McInnis of Grand Junction, and the Democratic nominee, Curtis Imrie of Buena Vista, there are two other candidates actively campaigning to represent the people of Colorado’s third congressional district.

They are Drew Sakson, the Libertarian Party nominee, and Victor Good, the Reform Party candidate. Read the rest of this article

Article by Central Staff

Congressional Election – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Action 22, Pueblo Convention Center, September 16, 2000 Candidate Debate: For U.S. Congress, Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District After introductions by moderator Louis Entz:

Rep. Scott McInnis, Incumbent, Grand Junction, Greets and welcomes the audience.

Our district, the 3rd Congressional District — some of you in the room here are not in the 3rd Congressional District, but a lot of you are — the 3rd Congressional District is probably the largest congressional district in the United States outside of a district that’s an entire state, like Alaska or Montana. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0380726904[/amazon-product]Review by Jeanne Englert

Utes – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Shaman Laughs
by James D. Doss
Published in 1995 by Avon Books
ISBN: 0-380-72690-4 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0939101122[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Local Book – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

How Ricky Saved Christmas
by Eleanor Perry with illustrations by Fay Golson
Published in 2000 by Rember Publishing, Buena Vista
ISBN 0-939101-12-2 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0870815776[/amazon-product]Review by Allen Best

Wildlife – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ecology and Conservation of Lynx in the United States
Leonard F. Ruggiero, et ali
Published in 2000 by University Press of Colorado and the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station
480 pages
ISBN: 0-87081-577-6 Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Rural Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

1. One-fourth of U.S. schoolchildren go to schools in rural areas or small towns of less than 25,000 in population. Fourteen percent go to school in even less populated places with fewer than 2,500 people.

2. Rural people are so widely dispersed that they are politically invisible. They are a demographic and political majority in only five states — Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia — and a handful of congressional districts. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Arts – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Colorado Council on the Arts has given 169 awards, with a total value of $1.28 million, to artists and art organizations in 49 communities around the state.

The money comes from an appropriation by the Colorado General Assembly and from federal funds dispersed by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Recipients were announced in September, and the money will be disbursed after Jan. 1. Those getting grants in this area include: Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

State Land Board – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

The lawsuit to prevent the exchange of the Little Cochetopa School Section will continue.

The issue then will be a permanent injunction forbidding the Colorado State Land Board from making a land trade with Thomas and Majorie Smith of Kansas City.

The Smiths own a 3,080-acre ranch near La Jara Reservoir in Conejos County, and wanted to trade it for 640 acres of state land along Little Cochetopa Creek on County Road 210 in Chaffee County. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Colorado laws – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Do you know of a really stupid law in your town or county, perhaps something as dumb as, or even dumber than, the repealed Salida loitering ordinance?

If you do, the Independence Institute, a think tank in Golden, would like to hear from you; it’s sponsoring a contest to find “the stupidest law in Colorado.” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Transportation – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Trains have been absent on the Tennessee Pass route only three years. So when a work train eased through Red Cliff on October 9, the reaction it provoked couldn’t properly be called nostalgic. Nor, could the reaction be called excited. Even to those undisturbed by the noise, the history of chemicals spilled by derailed trains in this region make their return unwelcome. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Movies – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Get Goosed, a movie about a talented waterfowl being filmed in and around Salida last summer, is on hold until next spring.

The main reason for the hiatus is that actor John Pahe, who had the lead role, suffered a serious stroke in late September and was hospitalized in California.

Charles Newcomb of Salida, who wrote the script and is directing the movie, said Pahe is now out of the hospital and appears to be on his way to a full recovery. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Local Politics – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Chaffee County Sheriff Ron Bergmann has pleaded guilty to one charge of second-degree official misconduct. Since that’s only a petty offense, not a felony, he can stay in office, but he was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and to donate $3,000 to charity.

The case began in 1999, when Dean Schumacher of Buena Vista was sentenced to six months in the county jail for driving while ability impaired, and three months for driving with a suspended license. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Anza Day – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

We should have done this earlier, but better late than never — we want to thank those who helped make possible this year’s Anza Day, on Aug. 26 in Poncha Springs with speaker Celinda Reynolds Kaelin of Florrisant.

So, our gratitude goes to Mayor Mark Thonhoff and the Town of Poncha Springs, Kirby Perschbacher & Associates, High Country Bank, Catspaw Software, Poncha Lumber, and ICE Computing, all of whom contributed to help cover expenses. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Communications – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

There was a time, not much more than a dozen years ago, when FM radio in Salida, and much of Central Colorado as well, began and ended with KVRH (now 92.3 mhz, but it was 92.1 back then). In fact, we can remember when it began broadcasting in stereo, sometime around 1980.

That’s the oldest signal hereabouts. The newest will likely appear sometime soon, depending on fund-raising and the weather. It will be a translator at 89.5 for KCME, a non-commercial classical-music station in Colorado Springs. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

In the essay about the Little Cochetopa School Section in our September edition, we had it that sections 18 and 36 of most 36-square-mile townships were given to the western states for the support of public schools.

As subscriber Charlie Spielman of Cimarron points out, it was actually sections 16 and 36, not 18 and 36, that were normally dedicated to education. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine -

CS-You?

A legislative committee recommends that Adams State College become an outpost of Colorado State University. The ensuing debate covers changes to funding, enrollment, and curricula. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Local history – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

In recent years, much has been made about living history exhibits. At Camp Hale, the 10th Mountain Division training site north of Leadville which was put on the National Historic Register in 1992, the history is still uncomfortably live. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip by Clint Driscoll and Laura Ravenwood

Mountain Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Stephen Lyons

Modern Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Just before the neighbors’ air conditioning kicked on, I was dreaming about snow-covered mountains in Idaho. Not the verticality, the pine scent, or alpenglow, but the dry coolness of elevated spaces. Instead, I awoke in my soggy underwear in a hot bed near sea level, my eyebrows and scalp sweating for the first time in my life. Read the rest of this article

HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS

October had an above-average amount of precipitation and snowpack (around 140%). But, due to dry soil moisture content, little runoff from this is projected. The just-completed water year had an unregulated inflow to the Colorado River Basin of 62% of average, with reservoir storage at 83% of average. Read the rest of this article