Colorado Central Articles From — August 2007

Column by Hal Walter

Agriculture – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

I’D NEVER BOUGHT A BULL, but there I was, standing in a pen of 11 yearling Red Angus at Smith Land and Cattle near Fort Garland, trying to choose one out of the crowd.

After looking over all the red bulls carefully, three of them stood out. They wore eartags 3R, 34R and 51R. Read the rest of this article

Column by John Mattingly

Water – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

WATER! WATER!

IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY, yelling WATER! is almost like yelling FIRE! in a crowded theater. Valley people have a history of getting excited when there is talk of exporting Valley water to Colorado’s Front Range, or worse, to Las Vegas and California. Read the rest of this article

Article by Jennifer Dempsey

Recreation – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN I DROPPED OUT of Queen’s University to join the Belfast Community Circus, I wasn’t being rebellious, I was accepting a different assignment. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Colorado Central – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

It’s time for a shot across George Sibley’s bow: Give us some grounds for your insinuation that Europeans are lacking in creativity, sir, or retract your slander. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Asa Watcher

Wildlife – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Saguache Mosquito Hunt may be reinstated by DOW since numbers are up in ’07

Dear Ed;

With an almost back-to-normal amount of rain up here on the Saguache this spring, the Division of Wildlife is reconsidering its ban on mosquito hunting this coming winter. Get ready, guys, it might be time to make a place over the mantel for that big mosquito buck mount I know you’ve been wanting this for too long now. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Kenneth Jessen

Transportation – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

I was fascinated by the July edition covering the history of railroads in south-central Colorado. Otto Perry’s 1952 photograph taken of a Rio Grande passenger train clearly shows the dual gauge used in the Salida yards to accommodate both standard and narrow gauge trains. Colorado was lucky in that it had to contend with only two gauges. Granted, there was an extensive two-foot tram system in the Central City-Black Hawk area, but it did not complicate matters in other parts of the state. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Roger Williams

Transportation – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Not only has the “Ark Valley” lost all its trains, it has also lost its bus service. When I first visited it in 1973, passenger trains were long gone; but Continental Trailways still served the Valley, from Leadville to Buena Vista. With no car and I didn’t drive, I made the most of it, to bag 14ers and even, later, make a memorable hike from Buena Vista over the mountains to Aspen via Trailways to Buena Vista, then a van or hitch from Aspen to Glenwood Springs and the then Rio Grande Zephyr back to Denver. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Ted Foureagles

Horse Slaughter – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

The essay in your June edition “They shoot horses don’t they? No, they don’t” by Sharon O’Toole is a welcome eye-opener, with perhaps some points unaddressed. Read the rest of this article

Letter from George Chandler

Horse Slaughter – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

In her article about horse slaughter [June 2007] Sharon O’Toole has some very valid points about the waste of valuable horse meat and the existing regulations about humane handling of the horses at the slaughter house. Read the rest of this article

Guidebook – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Trails – South-Central Region
by Peter Massey and Jeanne Wilson
Published in 2006 by Adler Publishing
ISBN: 1930193297 Read the rest of this article

Guidebooks – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Timber, Talus, and Tundra
by Mary Anne Tarr
Second Edition
Published in 2007 by Uncompahgre Books
ISBN 0-965-0-84213 Read the rest of this article

Poetry – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Open Range – Poetry of the Reimagined West
Edited by Laurie Wagner Buyer & W.C. Jameson
Published in 2007 by Ghost Road Press
ISBN 0-9789456-6-2 Read the rest of this article

Column by George Sibley

Medicine – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL HOT DAY here — what some would call droughty — as I try to weed around a few semi-coherent thoughts that seem to be growing like the stuff in the garden these days. Read the rest of this article

Article by John Orr

Water – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Arkansas River Basin Roundtable

The July meeting of the Arkansas River Basin Roundtable was held in Poncha Springs. The meeting, normally held in Pueblo, was moved to increase attendance from and better represent the upper basin. The Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act set up roundtables for each of the major river basins in Colorado (with one extra for the Metro Denver area). Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Modern Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

PEOPLE ARE MAD, and they don’t want to take it any more. So they’re fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur; saber-rattling in Iran, Korea and Pakistan; marching against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; demanding justice in Indonesia; taking back the West Bank; and arguing about religion world-wide. Read the rest of this article

Article by Allen Best

Wildlife – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

FOR DRIVERS with eyes peeled wide open, the canyon of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City usually has bighorn sheep. They’re not like the sheep along Interstate 70 near Georgetown, which at times graze nearly to pavement’s edge. But the sheep are there, little patches of white against the morning sun, coming down amid the rocks to the river to drink. Read the rest of this article

Cartoon by Jack Chivvis

Modern Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Forests – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Aspen’s namesake tree is being threatened by a parasite called willow scale. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Second Homes – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

A simpler phrase has long been needed. They have been called second-home owners and, more commonly if ungrammatically, second homeowners.

In some places they are weekenders, in other places part-timers. For those with residencies fully divided, they can be called splitters. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Wildlife – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

If Vail’s new wildlife law isn’t a threat to human life, it’s at least a threat to limbs. So says one of the town’s councilmen, Farrow Hitt.

Earlier this year, Hitt voted for the law that mandates bear-proof Dumpsters and other trash containers. But in his duties as the manager of a condominium complex, he sees significant problems. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Ed Quillen

Local News – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Strange Winds

We get plenty of wind in Central Colorado, but seldom a tornado. However, a funnel cloud was spotted in Custer County on June 29, and it touched down briefly at 3:55 p.m. without causing any damage. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Recreation – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Deadly summer on the river

Did the Grim Reaper hire on as a guide on the Arkansas River this summer? The statistics point that way, with a record number of fatalities well before the main rafting season ends on Aug. 15. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Historic Preservation – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

The old Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad depot in Buena Vista, now placed in McPhelemy Park, will be restored thanks to grants and donations from the State Historical Fund, the DSP&P Historical Society, Collegiate Peaks Bank, and the town and county. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Salida – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Mike Rosso, an occasional contributor to these pages, was excited: “I finally got a photo on the cover of a national magazine.”

It was a picture of a golfer to accompany an article in the June 11 edition of U.S. News & World Report about the 10 most affordable retirement towns in the United States. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Allen Best

Mountain Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s been more than three years since Marvin Heemeyer drove a bulldozer from the muffler shop he owned, the driver’s seat concealed in a fortress of concrete and steel, guns protruding, and proceeded to terrorize Granby for the better part of an afternoon. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Wildlife – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

The security system at Central World Headquarters — that is, a mutt named Bodie — was bit by a rattlesnake on July 11 near Cleora. He’d been vaccinated with snakebite anti-venom, and he got to the vet quickly, so he was soon good as new. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Emu or Albatross?

Alamosa County is feeling a big nip, having to foot the bill to feed a flock of emus. The big birds, more than 50 of them, were abandoned when their owner was evicted, and are now wards of the state. Currently residing at the alligator farm on Colorado 17, the avian critters are munching $900 worth of chow per month. If their owner doesn’t return for them soon, they may be auctioned. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Central Staff

Local History – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Anza Day, set for Friday, August 24 in Poncha Springs, commemorates the first written account of our part of the world. It is named for Juan Bautista de Anza, governor of the Spanish province of New Mexico, who in late August of 1779 camped at the present site of Poncha Springs with an army of 800 men and 2,400 horses. They were after the Jupe Comanche, who had been raiding the Taos area, and the soldiers were taking a roundabout route to keep the Comanche from fleeing before a battle could be fought. Read the rest of this article

Comic Strip written and drawn by Monika Griesenbeck

Mountain Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine Read the rest of this article

Essay by Patrick Hannigan

Tourism – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

“How far is it to Harts Pass?” a tourist couple once asked me. I told them it was about 20 miles. “How far is it back?” they asked.

That natural selection has not rendered tourists extinct seems a mystery that defies evolution. And if you believe God created tourists, you’ve probably wondered, “What was He or She thinking?” Read the rest of this article

PARTIAL ACCORD REACHED ON BLACK CANYON RIGHTS

After four months of contentious negotiation, Gunnison Basin water users, a slate of environmental groups and the state have reached an agreement in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park water rights case. The agreement, which defines who must yield water rights to Black Canyon National Park, is the next step in resolving a larger case quantifying the park’s 1933 water right. This will allow most of the 350 objectors to withdraw from the quantification case. link Read the rest of this article