Colorado Central Articles From — July 2006

Column by Hal Walter

Agriculture – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

WILLIE NELSON HAS SAID that farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our country. I happen to think he’s right.

Last month in this column I discussed the National Animal Identification System, what seems like an absurd blend of George Orwell’s “1984″ and “Animal Farm” in which farms, ranches and livestock will be registered, and some animals will be outfitted with radio frequency identification devices. Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Water – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT’S JULY, and time for my annual “water on the brain” column. As organizer of Western State College’s annual “Colorado Water Workshop” — now in its 31st year — water is about all I have on my mind these days, but water is a pretty interesting and relevant topic as we head into another “subnormal” summer, waterwise, in most of Colorado’s watersheds. Read the rest of this article

Sidebar by Steve Voynick

Mining – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Last Chance Mine is only one of many sights along the Bachelor Historic Tour. When measured in terms of mining history, mountain scenery, and photographic opportunities, this 17-mile-long auto route through Creede’s mining district just might be the best in the West. Read the rest of this article

Article by Steve Voynick

Mining – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

TEN YEARS AGO, time was rapidly running out on the Last Chance Mine. Its glory days as one of Creede’s richest silver mines were long past, and decades of inactivity had left its rutted access road nearly impassable. Perched precariously on a canyon wall high above West Willow Creek, the mine itself was little more than some collapsed portals, a sagging ore bin, a few decrepit cabins, and piles of rock strewn with bleached timbers and rusted cables. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Patty Lataille

Recreation – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

I’M A LITTLE TIRED of being quiet — particularly in regard to my need for silence and tranquility when I’m in the woods. I go to the forest and hike in the mountains when I’m seeking the silence and solace of nature. It calms me. Soothes my jangled nerves. Keeps me sane. It’s why I came to live in Colorado in the first place. New York City/Long Island was just a little too busy. It was too crowded with people and full of non-stop noise. I head for the hills when I need to get away — even from the rural life here in the San Luis Valley. Face it, I didn’t move to a town of 80 people to become a socialite. Read the rest of this article

Article by Central Staff

History – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Have you been wondering what was happening in July, 200 years ago? Probably not, but just in case:

On July 15, 1806, Lt. Zebulon Pike of the U.S. Army left Belle Fontaine (a landing near St. Louis, Mo.) with orders to reach the Arkansas River, ascend to its source, proceed south to the headwaters of the Red River, and descend the Red to its junction with the Mississippi River in Louisiana. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]9780967060446[/amazon-product]Review by Ed Quillen

Recreation – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Wildflower Day Hikes – Chaffee County Colorado
by Ruth Runge-Barnes and Ann Ewing
Published in 2006 by the U.S. Forest Service and the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association
ISBN 978-0-9670604-4-6 Read the rest of this article

Review by Ed Quillen

Christo – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Rags Over the Arkansas River
Just say no to Christo
30-minute DVD produced by ROAR

No ISBN Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0870819054[/amazon-product]Review by Virginia McConnell Simmons

History – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

White Man’s Paper Trail: Grand Councils and Treaty-Making on the Central Plains
By Stan Hoig
Published in 2006 by University Press of Colorado
ISBN 0870819054 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]1565795318[/amazon-product]Review by Ed Quillen

Ranching – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

A Passion for Ranching – Colorado’s Wet Mountain Valley Heritage
Text and photography by Bill Gillette Foreword by Ed Marston
Sponsored by the West Custer County Library District
Published in 2006 by Westcliffe Publishers
ISBN 1-56579-531-8 Read the rest of this article

Article by Ray James

Christo – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Don’t call them ephemeral.

Sure the major art works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude last only a few weeks but it takes years, sometimes decades, of designing, planning, gaining permission, and constructing to implement their artistic visions. Just such a vision is the “Over the River Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado,” the working title for a project that — if it happens — would fling sheets of fabric along stretches of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City. There’s substance, too, in the millions of dollars the project has cost already and the millions more it will cost if it’s to become a reality. Read the rest of this article

Essay by John Mattingly

Agriculture – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

John Mattingly wants you to pay more for food,

and he thinks you should want that, too.

THOUGH FARMERS GET PUBLICITY ranging from hard-working yeomen to subsidy-sucking parasites, the fact is, no one but farmers want farmers to be price makers. The structure of the current U.S. economy boxes the farmer into being a price taker. Consumers like it. They spend only about 10% of their income on food (the lowest percentage in the world), and that enables robust retail consumerism. Read the rest of this article

Essay by John Mattingly

Agriculture – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

I’VE BEEN TRYING To quit farming for almost 40 years. This year I succeeded. The problem with quitting has never been desire. All 40 years I’ve nursed a lurking urge to get on with my life and get into a decent profession — something with regular hours, good health care, and a pension. The problem has been timing. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

I MISSED RICHARD LAMM’S recent presentation in Buena Vista (which was generously provided for free by the Collegiate Peaks Forum Lecture Series, which introduces many significant speakers to our region). But I didn’t miss Lamm’s book, Two Wands, One Nation, an Essay on Race and Community in America. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Society – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Once again George Sibley’s column (June Colorado Central) touches on that mother of all topics, the social contract. Though I’ve taken the direction of independence (and near isolation) here in Central Colorado for the best part of thirty years, I grew up in New York City in the nineteen-fifties in a world full of social contract. Parks, schools, recreation facilities, health care, transportation, housing, in short, almost every aspect of life was the taken-for-granted right of every citizen rich or poor. I didn’t have much concept of the private sector except when shopping, and there wasn’t a lot of money for that at all. But it was good: apart from the noise and the crowds there was nothing wrong with life under the social contract. There were lots of options, too, because it was a large and well-developed system. Call it the workers paradise or call it the welfare state, it was the brainchild of progressive thinkers like Jacob Riis who saw the need to help immigrants and poor people keep their heads above water, for the good of the whole world. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Roger Williams

Transportation – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

How appropriate: that engine on the track in your latest issue is a 4-8-2 Mountain type, with no tender (it wouldn’t go very far), on p. 12. (the engine on the cover is a tenderless 4-4-0 American). Some issues back, the tracks across the top led to a small SUV just like my Suzuki jeep, a 1990 Samurai. It’s been all over the West, and part of the Midwest too. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Leon Moyer

Social Security – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

George,

Your June Article about Growing up in America succinctly stated your personal understanding of the social contract about the social security program. Your view that people who paid into S.S. in its infancy believed that what they were paying in would be paid right back out to recipients over age 65, and that they would in turn be helped in their old age by the next generation, is a view no doubt held by many S.S. participants. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Marianne Katte

Colorado Central – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed,

I really enjoyed the piece by David Feela in the June edition about the trailers.

Owning a 1975 museum piece myself, they certainly have charm and when kept up, look Read the rest of this article

Letter from Marianne Dugan

Immigration – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors,

Calling immigrants from south of the border “illegal aliens” is too Roswellian for me. How about using a more descriptive term, like economic refugees. This might serve to remind the more mean-spirited among us that refugees have other, more pressing concerns than regional borders. Read the rest of this article

Cartoon by Jack Chivvis

Modern Life – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Forests – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Rainbow Family of Living Light has selected a Colorado site for its summer gathering. It won’t be in South Park or Saguache County, but in Routt County in the northwest part of the state.

The Steamboat Pilot describes the festival as the “largest gathering of hippies in North America.” But what does it take to be a member? “A belly button,” says the newspaper, after interviewing one of the advance scouts and organizers for the U.S. gathering that will be held during the first week of July somewhere near Steamboat Springs. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Local News – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Return of Elephant Rock?

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Colorado Springs water department proposed building a dam across the Arkansas River north of Buena Vista, and the resulting impoundment would be Elephant Rock Reservoir, named for a monolith near the river popular with rock climbers. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Preservation – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Hooper Town Hall has been named to the National Register of Historic Places. It was originally built in 1891 for the Garrison & Howard General Merchandise Store, and is known as the Howard Store building. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Communications – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Much of Central Colorado and the San Luis Valley were disconnected from the rest of the world for five hours on the afternoon of May 31.

According to Qwest Communications, a construction worker cut a fiber-optic cable between Pueblo and Walsenburg. Long-distance and Internet service were lost in Salida and Buena Vista, and many areas in the San Luis Valley lost 911 emergency service as well. Most cellphones lost their long-distance connections, too, although service not related to Qwest or Verizon was not affected. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Christo – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “Over the River” project may be delayed, revised, or even denied, as the artists pursue a more thorough environmental review of their proposal to stretch draped cables across the Arkansas River between Salida and Canon City. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Lasting Lesson

A teacher’s gift keeps giving, even after she’s gone. Joyce Stegman, who died in December, is still passing on education to her students. Her memorial fund made it possible for 18 Alamosa students (with adult chaperons) to travel to Colorado Springs to visit museums and absorb some culture. One of the lucky student heirs was Stegman’s grandson, third-grader Landon Nye. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Mountain Life – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Where do you find the highest number of positive results when you test potential employees for marijuana use?

The mountains of Colorado, according to a report released in May by the White House Office of Drug Control Policy. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Energy – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Cotter uranium mill in Cañon City and its feeder mines on the Western Slope have been on standby for most of this year. Citing high fuel costs and low ore quality, the company laid off nearly 50 miners and about 80 people who worked at the mill.

Now the company is in negotiations to supply reactor fuel for Japanese utilities, and if it receives an export license from the federal government, it could resume production in the near future. Read the rest of this article

Essay by John Krist

Recreation – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

AS A RULE, it is not a good idea to smack a fellow river rafter with a paddle or to push him out of the boat in the middle of a rapid.

Not only do such actions constitute a breach of wilderness etiquette, they can cause hard feelings which might result in unpleasantness later in camp. And there’s also the possibility of drowning, which would no doubt lead to complications involving the authorities. But there were times during a recent trip down the Selway River in Idaho when I was tempted to bludgeon one of my fellow rafters. Read the rest of this article

HIGH COURT’S WETLANDS DECISION PUTS JUSTICES ON OPPOSITE SHORES

The upshot of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision that sent two Michigan cases back to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is that that court gets another shot at deciding what constitutes wetlands, but the high court’s decision did not include a clear definition of what standard the appeals court should use. New York Times; June 20 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/washington/20wetlands.html?_r=3D2&oref=3Ds=> login&oref=3Dslogin Background: <http://www.bcwaternews.com/Original_Content/2006/cwa/cwa.htm> Read the rest of this article