Dear Nat,

Since you asked me to explain where my novel Remember Me comes from I’d have to say that though he isn’t alive, isn’t in the book, didn’t read much and wasn’t a writer, my father is as much to blame as anyone. He believed in business, and to prove it he started five legitimate businesses at the same time: the Red Hendrie Swimming Pool Co., The Red Hendrie Sauna Co. the Red Hendrie Hydroponics Greenhouse Co., Red Hendrie French Bidets, and Red Hendrie Bomb Shelters, Inc. But his true calling was gambling. My father was a professional gambler. When I was growing up, he was so good at card-counting he got himself banned from every casino in Las Vegas – which is why, when we needed money, he’d leave home with his hair dyed a different color or wearing a fake beard so the casino owners wouldn’t recognize him. Sometimes they did, and after congratulating him on his disguise, they’d hand him his coat, spin him around and aim him back out the door before he’d even sat down to play. But this never really bothered my father, because as much as he liked bringing home money, he also liked bringing home stories. Big stories. After my mother made him promise to quit gambling, his stories about his card games grew enormous. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor;

San Luis Valley residents continue to stand up against development and intrusion. Current battles against Wolf Creek ski area growth and Crestone gas drilling follow previous campaigns against military training overflights and groundwater exportation/exploitation. More recently, Villa Grove residents blocked a local contractor’s bid to operate a gravel pit near the town. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor,

Regarding John Mattingly’s “Agriculture and War,” Paragraph 3: Naw, John, the bodies just couldn’t have been that deep. Considering that there are 27,878,400 square feet on every mile of the Earth’s surface, and that the average human body contains no more than 2.78 cubic feet of flesh, bones and blood, then you could fit ten million bodies into each square mile. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor:

I saw the rainwater collecting note (August 2009, p. 19); it’s a bit unclear, so I’m offering clarification. I’ve even heard realtors express shock that it’s been illegal all along (damn, sigh…), but you’re right—this is the first time it’s legal, if the process is followed. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor: (and to the editor of the Saguache Crescent)

I served my apprenticeship as a hand compositor from 1965 and progressed a couple of years later to a 1924 Linotype with a gas-heated melting pot (which proved a problem when Scotland converted to natural, or North Sea gas, in 1970). Read the rest of this article

To the Editor:

How often do we stop to consider how our little pleasures and perks can cause inconvenience to our fellow humans? Every time we order up a burger, do we think of the folks who live downwind of the stink of the feedlot and the slaughterhouse? As we drive down the interstate, do we think of the noise and pollution suffered by the ones unlucky enough to live in adjoining houses? For that matter, does the homeowner consider the dust and racket inflicted on the neighborhood when their house was built? I remember well-heeled Vail residents bitching about construction inconvenience when they themselves had been the cause of their own mess of mud and power saws just a few years before. Read the rest of this article

Greetings!

I just got the July issue of Colorado Central and did a quick scan. The photo in your “From the Editor” article caught my eye. Crouse-Hinds (now Cooper Crouse-Hinds) is from Syracuse, NY. For a history of Crouse-Hinds, with lots of old photos, see: www.crouse-hindstrafficsignals.com/history.html Read the rest of this article

To the Editor:

When I landed in Central Colorado at age 30, I hadn’t learned much of anything useful. Oh, I had excelled in high school, but I didn’t want to spend my life in a classroom or an office, employed by a corporation or an institution. I needed to learn to work with my hands, beyond kneading bread and repairing a lamp cord. I started at the bottom, with a pick and a shovel and a membership in the Leadville local of the Laborer’s union. Read the rest of this article

Dear Editor,

I was pleased to read Kenneth Jessen’s article, Executive Order 9066: Misdirected Exercise of War Powers, in your March 2009 issue.

The mass incarceration of over 110,000 people (two-thirds of them U.S. citizens) during WWII, remains one of America’s greatest violations of civil liberties. And although I am happy to learn this lesson is taught at Grenada (Colorado) High School (and required in all California high schools), elsewhere the sad chapter of American history has been mostly forgotten. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor:

This morning as usual I picked up the two newspapers on my doorstep. I opened one of them with a sense of dread—knowing that it was the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News. I don’t know what year I began reading the News, but it was in the early 40s. I know this because I gauge past time, not so much by calendar years, but by the name of the street I was living on when something happened. I remember the house and I remember reading the News when I was a youngster there, some sixty years ago. I don’t miss the house, but I’ll certainly miss the News. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor:

Try as I might I can’t seem to find this crisis that everyone seems to be raving about. From the President to the economists to the newscasters, the talk is all about some global recession, as if the sky were falling, but it all looks to me like some higher power finally decided to put the planet on a crash diet to get rid of all the flab that’s been burdening our collective health and well-being. It’s about time we retooled our existence to get along with fewer new car sales, and learned how to live with our obsolescent washing machines and DVD players. Time to quit behaving like a bunch of spoiled brats who require mindless manufacture of non-essential goods, hastening the exhaustion of the world’s diminishing space and resources. Read the rest of this article

Editor:

Two items in the February issue caught my eye. ?The first one was the side bar on county road numbers and the reference to the Fremont County system. ?The other was the article about the Alma, Granby, and Aspen “rampage”. Read the rest of this article

Dear Ed,
I must admit I read the Letter from the Editors in the February issue of Colorado Central with mixed emotions. Initially I was sad that you and Martha wouldn’t be directly involved in the excellent publication. However, after I thought about it for awhile longer I felt glad for the two of you that you’ll be able to pursue the many things you had to let slide. Read the rest of this article

Hi Ed and Martha,

I was surprised to read, way back on page 23 of your February issue, that you are turning Colorado Central over to new management. As a charter subscriber, and one of the people who say “Well, we sure needed the moisture” whenever it snows, I hope that Mike Rosso can keep it interesting. Read the rest of this article

To the Editor:

Just got the mag in today’s mail and saw you and Martha are going to do other things. I wish you all the best, and I hope to contribute again at some point. Read the rest of this article

Ed and Martha,

Congratulations on your 15-year run as owners and publishers of  Colorado Central, one of my favorite periodicals. Each month when it comes in the mail, it is like Christmas morning as a kid. I always look forward to diving in and discovering what new and interesting things I will learn about my neighbors and my home. Read the rest of this article

Ed and Martha,

Gee whiz, I read my new issue today, most of it, and there’s your announcement.
I am really sorry you are done with this, but I sure don’t blame you one bit and I’m happy you have a good guy as new owner. I hope he doesn’t change stuff too extremely, or at least will do in stages so all us readers don’t suffer withdrawal symptoms. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Economy – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors,

I’m always pleased when someone — most recently Simon Halburian of Saguache — takes the trouble to dispute some comments I’ve made in these pages. In this case the objections seem to be well-grounded in the gospel of St. Alan Greenspan. Hopefully Mr. Halburian hasn’t gambled all his holdings on these antediluvian theorems, or he may find himself wiling away many happy hours on line at homeless shelters and soup kitchens — a joy which the Greenspans and other leading thinkers and economists will probably never embrace, themselves. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Dennis Felmlee

Energy – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Our local water conservancy district could lead the nation in the solar production of electricity and hydrogen. A new administration is going to Washington, dedicated to gaining energy independence for the United States. Therefore it is time for the San Luis Valley to consider our own energy independence, and that of the state of Colorado. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Nelson Walker

History – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

I enjoyed the articles by Charles Price in the October and November issues of Colorado Central Magazine about the Espinosa brothers. Recently, I wrote Mr. Price to provide him with additional information about the location of the site near Cañon City where Vivian Espinosa was killed. Mr. Price identified the site as being at Grape Spring, which he based on information contained in the biography, Tom Tobin, Frontiersman, written by James Perkins. In my correspondence with Mr. Price I explained that I disagreed with Mr. Perkins assertion that Vivian was killed at Grape Spring, and I presented information that indicated that Espinosa was not killed at Grape Spring, but rather at a place a considerable distance from there, and possibly at a location known as Nash Spring. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Capitalism – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Remember when foreign money started moving into Colorado? Back in the late ’70s, when I first arrived, it was common to hear locals say “Don’t Californicate Colorado,” or “If God had intended Texans to ski, he would have made bullpoop white.” So imagine what it must feel like, being a “local” in some place like India or Bali, when all that foreign capital starts moving in to fill a vacuum or just to elbow out the previous local economy. The jobs created by the new money are useful, or even necessary, but the whole scheme isn’t really sustainable, since it depends on global money machinations and distant markets, a house of cards which flip and flap according to whatever liquidity crisis or rumors on the world stock exchanges happen to be current. There’s no connection to your basic food and survival chain, gathering nuts or raising livestock or making shoes for your community. You’re a puppet on a chain, jerking around from paycheck to paycheck, serving a class of people of an alien economic stratum and, maybe, alien religion, culture, and ethnic origin, too. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Roger Williams

History – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

DRC Brown, CEO of Aspen Skiing Co., pages 14-15 in the November edition: “Darcy, the junior Brown … attended high school at a boarding school in New Hampshire….” Read the rest of this article

Letter from Simon Halburian

Economy – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

In his “presidential platform” letter in the December issue, Slim Wolfe says “No more war, no more NATO, overseas bases, aggression, or aid, no Pentagon, no space program, no paranoid bullying. I ain’t afraid.” Read the rest of this article

Letter from Pat Williams

Mountain Life – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed and Martha,

Why doesn’t the Colorado Central calendar have an entry for “The Day the Flatlanders Go Home” ? Read the rest of this article

Letter from Deric Pamp

Salida – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Friends:

We are leaving Salida. Barb has been working part- and then full-time in Colorado Springs for a year — our judicial district dangled a job for her twice but each time decided to spend the money elsewhere, never mind that tape recording is inferior. We need the medical insurance her job permits, but we are really tired of living apart so much. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Carol Hill

Economy – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editor:

Regarding our current financial crisis, I would like to share a couple of excerpts from one of my favorite books: Read the rest of this article

Letter from Steve Hart

Christo – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

To the editor:

That the long article on page 16E of the October 5 Sunday Denver Post on Christo’s “Over the River” project was by a young reporter for the Associated Press and not a Denver Post reporter or columnist was interesting. It was also interesting that the article included discussion of an exhibit to celebrate the project called “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Over the River, a Work in Progress” to be held at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. It appears that there is more interest outside Colorado in covering six miles of the Arkansas River between Salida and Canon City with fabric than there is in Colorado. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Politics – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

It must be terribly limiting to be a candidate for high office. You’ve got to stick to the same old litany of: I’m for change, the other guys are gonna ruin us, and on and on. You never get to talk about cargo pants, dormer windows, Cadillac tailfins, or all the other little things which add up to wasteful spending of the earth’s resources. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Kenneth Jessen

Transportation – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Politicians are promising something they cannot possibly deliver. The price of oil, thus the price of gasoline, is not controlled by the United States. Oil is an international commodity, and 79% is owned by foreign countries, many of which are not friendly to the United States. It seems that politicians want to beat up on “Big Oil,” but this is not the problem. Oil is become increasing scarce -it is not renewable. The increase in price during the last year is due in part to the steady decline in the value of the U.S. dollar. Recent strengthening of the dollar has resulted in a temporary reprieve in the price at the pump -but it will not last. Another even larger factor is demand, especially in India and China. These countries add millions of new cars each year. The oil futures market and speculators add to the problem. Production quotas, set by cartels such as OPEC, also control the supply and thus the price of oil. All of these factors conspire to drive up the cost of gasoline, but conservation is something under our control. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Orville Wright

History – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Thanks for the memories [about presidents visiting Salida in the September edition].

Can’t remember Darlene Donahoo meeting Harry S. Truman in 1952, but definitely recall his visit — I was there, too. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Peter Bulkeley

Transportation – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Keith Baker’s letter in the September edition brought up a subject that has been sticking in my craw for a considerable time. What is the matter with the citizens of Colorado and their lack of support for rail transportation? New Mexico, a state with a substantially lower median annual income than Colorado and much smaller population, purchased the former Santa Fe Railroad right of way from Belen, south of Albuquerque, to Santa Fé and installed commuter rail (Rail Runner). The connection into Santa Fé, which required some track rerouting and bridges on a former spur, is scheduled to be put in service in mid-December. The rest is already in operation. There is also talk of purchasing the track the rest of the way to Raton Pass. Oh yes, this is the same state which kept up its financial support of the Cumbres & Toltec during hard times while Colorado didn’t. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Geography – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill….

Plainly, the mountain doesn’t give a hoot what you call it or who gets the credit, nor do dead soldiers seem likely to take offense, however, the backers of this presumptuous KIAMIA notion have got some more free publicity out of the squabble in your letters column. Seems to me they ought to call off the whole affair for lack of interest and leave the mountain in peace. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Politics – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Is health care a right? Or is it just plain ridiculous to debate the topic while the bulk of the nation wallows in a toxic sludge of junk foods and drinks, cigarettes that taste like ether or formaldehyde, carpets and building materials that exude nasty gasses, and sedentary lifestyles? Is there any hope of mental health for a population bombarded by commercials and sleaze TV? Should taxpayers carry the burden of health care while free enterprise is free to foist degeneration on the body public? Read the rest of this article

Letter from Dorothy O’Brien

Melancholy Green Giants – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Mr. Quillen,

Having read your review of John Mattingly’s Melancholy Green Giants, I came away perplexed. What does “chick lit” have to do with anything? I asked myself.

Mr. Quillen’s review seemed as ambivalent as his reading. Did he like the book or not? Was he recommending it or not? Allow me to help you with that. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Clarice Still

Mt. Kia/Mia – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Editor,

I just finished reading the story on Mt. KIA/MIA by Bill Hatcher [in the June edition]. The man who was interviewed, Bradly Hight, gives the distinct impression that he and the committee are responsible for having the mountain named, when he/they did not do any such thing. He jumped in at the end after all the hard work was done by an honorable man( veteran), Bruce Salisbury, and his wife Dottie. I find the article to be a horrible disservice to them. Here, is an original article written when the mountain was in the process of being named, and finally assigned after five long years. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Daniel R. Murdock

Mt. Kia/Mia – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Mr. Quillen,

How can you or your publication support any dedication ceremony [in the June edition] that has completely ignored the individual that was solely responsible for getting the Mountain [KIA/MIA] renamed? Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Mountain Life – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Now entering my 17th year as a Desolation Row desperado, I find myself debating the next moves on the old chessboard of existence. I’m pretty comfortable here despite being too close to the highway and not having a wooded spot to enjoy. But I’ve got a strenuous sort of existence with not much hope of letting up, and now I’m past sixty I wonder when I’ll find the time and energy to keep things rolling along. I’ve also realized that I’m not immune to little annoying injuries which can slow me down just when I need to maintain the pace. Nor do I have a handy son or daughter to bring by an amplified phone, for example, should I suddenly lose most of my hearing — as happened to a friend this month. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Bill Wahl

Colorado Central – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed & Martha;

Let me caution you not to have John Mattingly do your taxes. In his article, “A Farmer Far Afield” in the May issue, he makes a mathematical case for renting being more cost-effective than owning a home. I found a few problems with his analysis. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Charlie Green

Nomenclature – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ed,

While technically your assessment of the misuse of “steam plant” is correct [in the June edition], the electrical power industry evolved in a different direction. I learned this in my career with Colorado Springs Utilities. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Modern Life – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Correspondent Ríos from Denver, who instructed us on the function of accents in written Spanish, is refreshingly unique in that there’s no reference to the latest software to which gringos might retreat. As for the rest of you, well, arggh. Think of all those overworked and underpaid civil servants who stretched and massaged our brain muscles — and the brains of our kids — until we knew by heart the difference between insight and incite. All these tax dollars are just money down the drain, all these muscles now atrophied, all you loonies want to do anymore is debate the merits of programs. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Becky Donlan

Native American Sites – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

My name is Becky Donlan, and I and my partner, Nick Standing Bear, formed a Colorado non-profit last year “Native American Research and Preservation, Inc.” Our purpose is to educate the public regarding Resource Protection Laws and to preserve and protect the many prehistoric archaeological sites in our area. We began as individuals volunteering as site monitors for the USDA/FS. Close friendships developed with archaeologists and several like-minded individuals. At the encouragement of a Native American archaeologist, Ken Frye, we developed a PowerPoint presentation, “Sacred Stones.” This presentation tells the story of stone structures from South Park to the San Luis Valley, relating their meaning from the Native American standpoint. Our hope is to reach the public through this perspective and thereby encourage people to respect these places. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Roger Williams

Internments – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Regarding Ralph Carr, mentioned on pages 32-33 in the May edition, I’ve visited the Amache site of an internment camp. A permit from town wasn’t needed — I drove right in. Not much was left but foundations. I wonder if Japanese in Hawaii were interned. One of my prep school classmates (Form of 1959) was a Japanese-Hawaiian. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Road Trip – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Cheez Louise, Ed,

If anybody ever doubted your proletarian credentials you have at least proved yourself to be a glutton for punishment by giving in to those two quagmires, the caucuses and the motherboards. We’ll take your word that there’s a meaningful relationship to democracy and progress, and hope those mothers don’t nail you for child support. Wouldn’t you rather have a staff of unreliable humans to raid your fridge, do substances in your backyard, trample your flowers, and whine about paychecks? Read the rest of this article

Letter from Roger Williams

Security – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Regarding your usual interesting issue [March, 2008]: P. 7, “War on terrorism…”: I’ve seen cars driving over Dillon Dam, but I’ve never been over it myself; I didn’t know it was closed. Read the rest of this article

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Politics – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

I enjoyed Lynda LaRocca’s story about woodstove cooking. The intrepid chef can manage stovetop items on most any flat-topped range, potatoes can be steam-baked in a lidded casserole in a half-inch of water, or use a dutch oven. If I had my druthers — for baking — I’d rather use a Canadian farm-kitchen range with a self-stoking gravity-feed wood chamber large enough to handle four or five big chunks of wood, since the typically small fireboxes on the stoves we see around here need frequent attention, especially to keep the oven heat up. Seems a shame that so many stoves were made with that built-in inconvenience. Read the rest of this article