Colorado Central Articles From — November 2006

Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE BLACK COWS arrived as only these cows could, stepping timidly out of the trailer and putting their heads down to the fresh grass. The weathered rancher told me he had kept them penned overnight before delivering them so they would not hit the ground running when we turned them out. Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Politics – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

I DIDN’T KNOW what else to do, so I went out among the aspens and cut some firewood. I cut down a dead-standing aspen, then sat on it, looking around amazed and wishing I belonged to a species that measured up to it all. That’s how I celebrated the recent death of the America I’ve always known, because I didn’t know what else to do. Read the rest of this article

Article by Marcia Darnell

Local Artists – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

SOME LUCKY ACTIVISTS in the West are able to mix their jobs (what we do for money) and their work (what we do for ourselves). Landscape painter David Montgomery blends the hues of his life into a passion for land both in palette and preservation.

Montgomery has been in the San Luis Valley since 1965, when he was a freshman in high school and his father was transferred to Alamosa to run the J.C. Penney store. Montgomery’s studio today is just across Main Street from that store. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Politics – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Let ‘em all vote!

Two years ago the Colorado legislature made it a misdemeanor to recklessly give out false information that would affect either an issue or a candidate. Seems to me that National Security and the alleged War on Terror were made into electoral issues, and therefore anyone from the President down to a local editorialist who misrepresented those issues should be liable to immediate citizen’s arrest. Shall we start at the White House or at the Mountain Mail? And let’s insist that those year-long sentences be served consecutively. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Gary Minke

Environment – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ed,

I appreciated your practical analysis of the global warming problem several months back. As someone who worked in the energy-minerals industry for nearly 30 years I feel somewhat qualified to toss in my comments. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Andy Burns

Community – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Central,:

George Sibley was quoted in High Country News October 2: “I judge the health of a paper and its community by the quantity and quality of the letters it gets….”

I notice lately that Colorado Central has a heck of a lot of letters, many of very high quality. I’m writing this one to add to the quantity. Read the rest of this article

Letter from John Mattingly

Water – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ed,

Enjoyed your October “A Letter From The Editors.”

Several thoughts and questions.

1. RICDs are an in-stream flow right, and must be filed for and administered by the CWCB (Colorado Water Conservation Board). Most in-stream flow rights are in reaches of the river (usually high on the watershed) where priority issues don’t come into play. Others involve exchanges and timed releases worked out with existing water rights holders. The process of acquiring a RICD is elaborate and intimidating. Just read the authorizing legislation, CRS 37-92-102. Do you know the particulars of the Chaffee County application as to the proposed water sources and exchanges? Read the rest of this article

Essay by John Mattingly

Agriculture – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

DRIVE ACROSS the Great Plains and Midwest of the United States in summer, and you’ll notice a vast quilt of wheat, corn, and soybeans, their tidy rows stitching fencerow to fencerow, from eastern Colorado through Ohio. Every thirty miles or so, white silos and gray, steaming feedmills rise up on the horizon like bountiful cathedrals, towering over short Main Streets where cafes with names like Rear O’ The Steer and Fillin’ Station are surrounded by glinting new pickups next to the Supreme Court Motel. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Deric Pamp

Politics – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE EVIDENCE IS MOUNTING that America’s invasion of Iraq was a lousy idea from the start, badly planned and badly executed on a strategic level, and has only gotten worse. More Americans are calling for a halt to this ongoing disaster. The Administration refers to this as the “cut and run” strategy and suggests that dissent to government policy dishonors the brave kids who have died over there. Read the rest of this article

Colorado History – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Roadside History of Colorado
by Candy Moulton
Published in 2006 by Mountain Press
ISBN 0-87842-520-9 Read the rest of this article

History – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Labels, Leadville, and Lore – 1870s -1890s History from a Tin Can
by Douglas H. Rhoades
Published by Rhoades Publishing, 2005
ISBN: 0-615-12816-5 Read the rest of this article

Local Novel – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Cochetopa Dreams
by Carroll E. Allison
Published in 2006 by Western Reflections
ISBN 1-932738-34-7 Read the rest of this article

Article by Kate Booth-doyle

Rio Grande Natural Area – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE RIO GRANDE NATURAL AREA, which was officially designated on October 12 when President George W. Bush signed S. 109-56, winds through an isolated corridor of basalt rock and sand from the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge southern boundary to the Colorado/New Mexico state line. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

ACCORDING TO the national media, this is a great election season for Democrats. A family values Republican resigned after it was revealed he’d been sending erotic e-mails to young male pages. The war in Iraq is going abysmally. Kim Jong Il is celebrating his entrance into the international nuclear family in open defiance to warnings from the Bush administration. New reports claim that terrorism has increased since the War on Terror began. Bob Woodward is out hawking his new book by telling everyone how Bush misled the American people. And a British general has announced that the Brits should get out of Iraq. Read the rest of this article

Article by Central Staff

History – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN WE LEFT ZEBULON PIKE at the end of October, 1806, he and 15 men were camped on the bank of the Arkansas River near present Kinsley, Kansas, between Dodge City and Great Bend. The days were growing colder and shorter, with ice in the river. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Art – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Crestone Winterfest, November 24 & 25

Crestone WinterFest is an annual town-wide celebration of the arrival of winter. It’s a time to meet local artists and artisans at four craft shows featuring holiday foods, one-of-a-kind gifts, entertainment, and Santa. This year, it happens on Friday evening, November 24 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday, November 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Read the rest of this article

Cartoon by Jack Chivvis

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

Brief by Allen Best

Small-Town Life – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Trustees in Oak Creek, a coal-mining town about 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs, have taken aim at the sounds and smells of idling cars and trucks. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Wildlife – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Given the promotional talents of the reptile farm near Mosca, just about everybody knows there are alligators in the San Luis Valley. And now a crocodile has been found in the Rio Grande — but nowhere near here. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Regional News – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

School security

School security became a major issue in Central Colorado, and across the United States, after 16-year-old Emily Keyes was shot to death in a classroom on Sept. 27 at Platte Canyon High School along U.S. 285 near Bailey. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Central Clarification

The Salida City Council decided not to consider a resolution against the Iraq war, which was brought by the Central Colorado Coalition on the Iraq War. That had inspired a couple of letter writers (to the Salida Mountain Mail) to say they were tired of “Central Colorado” entities. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Local History – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a town named Cleora about two miles east of Salida. It’s been fading away for more than a century, and the most recent step in the process came in October as Chaffee County prepared to vacate the long unused streets and alleys of Cleora. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Modern Life – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

In the 1970s, Dodge manufactured a car called the Aspen that was designed to be more fuel-efficient. In the wake of the oil embargo of 1973, consumers cared about such things. Whether the car was all that economical is another matter. It didn’t survive long. Now, with gas prices high again, this time backed by growing concerns about green-house emissions, consumers are again concerned about fuel efficiency. And Dodge, is once again issuing a vehicle called the Aspen, this time an eight-passenger SUV. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

To our surprise, only one person entered the contest to identify the location of the natural arch pictured on page 16 of our October edition; the photo came from Grant Collier’s new book Colorado’s Hidden Wonders, and it was taken in Central Colorado. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Local History – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

The bicentennial of the 1806-07 Zebulon Pike expedition is getting plenty of deserved attention, but hard-core history buffs know that Juan Bautista de Anza came to Central Colorado in 1779, well ahead of Pike. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Wildlife – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Some mountain goats will be moving from Central Colorado to the Black Hills of South Dakota this month, as that state tries to restore its herd, which has been shrinking since 2000.

The plan is to capture up to 40 goats from “a wilderness area near Leadville”and transport them to the Black Hills. There, the population has fallen to about 100 animals. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Real-Estate – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Real-estate agents in Summit County are tinkering with a potential disclaimer to be included in sale of property. That disclaimer would advise potential buyers of the risk of wildfires.

There, as in the adjoining Vail and Winter Park areas, forests are in the 10th year of a bark beetle epidemic that foresters say could ultimately destroy 90 percent of lodgepole pine trees. The fear is that the dead trees will potentially become part of a massive, catastrophic fire. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Killer Found

A longtime mystery, the whereabouts of Richard Williams, may be solved. Williams shot and killed his estranged wife, Rhonda, in 1992 and fled. Known to have high “mountain man” skills, Williams was believed to have been in hiding for the past 14 years. Last month, decomposed remains were found south of Platoro, an apparent suicide. DNA confirmation is pending. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Mountain Life – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Coloradans were understandably interested in September when the Harvard University Initiative for Global Health released a study of longevity in the United States, and the seven top counties were all in our mountains. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Alan Kesselheim

Small-Town Life – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

I TOOK A LONG TRIP with my family last summer, six weeks away from home. Well before we left, during the school year, we found some ideal house sitters. A young couple my wife knew who needed a place during that same time and who were eager to trade some yard work and house upkeep. One of those rare win-win situations, a relief to all. Read the rest of this article

COLORADO GOV DEBATE FOCUSES ON WATER

A debate between Colorado gubernatorial candidates Democrat Bill Ritter and Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez in Pueblo was much more spirited and lively than debates around Denver, especially when the debate turned to protecting water quality and storage in southeast Colorado. Denver Post; Oct. 26 <http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_4551473> Read the rest of this article