Poem by Hal Walter
Climate – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Bluebirds back early
in January
bright blue males flitting from
fencepost to fencepost as
I run along the road
Month: May 2000
Surviving Mud Season, Again
Column by Hal Walter
Climate – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
I’M OFTEN ASKED this time of year: “When will it be spring?” The answer — after nine Wet Mountain winters — is “never.”
Oh sure, there’s the soft week in May when the aspens finally leaf out. But a procession of snowstorms alternating with windstorms is pretty much what you’re in for from the Spring Equinox until Ma Nature is good and tired of it. One year the last measurable snowfall of the year came on June 9. The following day was almost hot.
Humans cannot live on information alone
Letter from Wayne Patton
Rothman essay – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dear Mr. Quillen:
I wanted to comment on Hal Rothman’s “Why do We Need the Rural West” essay. I find his comment that “information transfer is more important than the raw materials the West used to export…” to be ludicrous. I do not believe that humans can subsist on information rather then food. I remember at one time someone purported to live on air alone.
For the fortunate few, it’s a great `quality of life’
Letter from Ray Shoch
Colorado Life – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dear Ed and Martha:
Yep, there are a couple of typos, but #74 is still a fine piece of work, and yes, I could have sent this via e-mail, but as I’ve said before, I like to see type on paper. Besides I have this new Macintosh, a 1200 dpi HP printer, and a huge font collection, so I might as well use them all.
Whatever Rothman’s full of, it isn’t information
Letter from Slim Wolfe
Rothman essay – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
Rothman’s a crock.
I recently heard St. Lawrence county (New York, adjoining Canada) is a somewhat lawless place where eccentrics can make themselves at home. That there, I thought, is a fine definition of “Out West.” Back East, contrarily, might be defined as a somewhat conformist place where people spend money on clothing and hairstyles which suit them to positions, generally indoors, requiring little exertion of muscles other than mouth and fingers. Thus a history professor from the University of Nevada might be a Back Easter, whatever state he was born in.
There were safety problems across the river
Letter from DK & Annie Kimmett
Shooting range – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ed and Martha:
We have a bit of a bone to pick with you regarding your article about the Gun Club/City Council mess in your April issue. You stated in the article that “Even without the lease, the gun club continued to use the property with no known safety problems.” WRONG!!!!!
Something in the Soil, by Patricia Nelson Limerick
Review by Ed Quillen
Western History – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Something in the Soil – Legacies and Reckonings in the New West
by Patricia Nelson Limerick
Published in 2000 by W.W. Norton
ISBN 0-393-03788-6
Mine Work, by Jim Davidson
Review by Clint Driscoll
Mining Novel – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Mine Work
by Jim Davidson
Published in 1999
by Utah State University Press
ISBN 0-87421-275-8
Westward the Immigrants, by Andrew Rolle
Review by Martha Quillen
Italian Immigrants – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Westward the Immigrants – Italian Adventurers and Colonists In An Expanding America
by Andrew Rolle
Originally published as The Immigrant Upraised
by the University of Oklahoma Press, 1968
Published in 1999
by the University Press of Colorado
ISBN 0-87081-529-6
Denise Uhleman-Armstrong’s Multi-Media Life in Creede
Article by Marcia Darnell
Local Artists – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
DENISE Uhleman-Armstrong draws no distinctions between her life and her art. As a journalist, wife, graphic designer, grandmother, community activist, photographer, health nut, poet, and painter, her life is as varied and textured as her work.
When Opportunity Knocked on Saguache’s Door
Article by Virginia Simmons
Local History – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
THE WORD AMBITION is defined as “an eager and sometimes inordinate desire for something, as preferment, honor, superiority, power, fame, wealth, etc .,” according to Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary.
Cures that could be worse than the diseases
Essay by Martha Quillen
Modern Life – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
PERSONALLY, I’D LIKE TO BELIEVE that I would have been a great freedom fighter if I’d lived in Nazi Germany — hating every nuance of Nazi policy, hiding people in my attic, sneaking people across borders.
But then I realize that for me to have been like that in those circumstances would have meant endangering my family, my neighbors, and my life. That’s when I face the fact that I might have just been cowering under my bed instead.
Beavers — nature’s landscapers — are making a comeback
Article by Lynda La Rocca
Wildlife – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
ACCORDING TO THE CALENDAR, it’s springtime in Central Colorado — recent whiteouts notwithstanding. The ice on the Arkansas River near our Lake County home is just starting to break up, yet it’s still solid enough to walk on in most places.
Driving a political statement
Essay by Ed Quillen
Mountain Life – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
YOU’D THINK I was showing off the blueprints for a 6,000-square-foot trophy house constructed from old-growth redwood and built on a ridge-line wilderness in-holding parcel that I’d bought with money made from clear-cutting a tropical rain forest.
Maybe they stretched the sign
Brief by Central Staff
Transportation – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
After the Colorado Department of Transportation overhauled the intersection of U.S. 285 and Colo. 291 north of Salida last year, a new sign went up pronouncing LEADVILLE 56.
An E-tax for E-tailers could provide virtual E-services?
Brief by Anonymous
Local government – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
In response to the overwhelming clamor from Congress to forego taxing e-commerce, America’s municipalities are announcing a new initiative, E-tax for E-Tailers. Yes, cities and towns from around the U.S. are listening and have responded in a way that provides fairness and equity to all.
Going native isn’t necessarily the easiest way
Brief by Central Staff
Gardening – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Things are starting to turn green, which inspires thoughts of planting seeds to produce more greenery.
But that also means spading, raking, hoeing, weeding, and watering, which leads to backaches, sunburn, and expense.
So the thought arises: Why not seed some native plants? Since they grow here anyway, they should thrive without much attention, and still produce some blooms and greenery.
1,500 sows in Silver Cliff?
Brief by Central Staff
Agriculture – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Those big corporate hog farms have been a major issue out on the plains, and in 1998 Colorado voters passed an initiative to regulate their emissions.
Now the pigs might be invading the mountains. At its March meeting, the Silver Cliff town board heard from Trustee Don Bishop, who said that a hog farmer from Nebraska had contacted him about opening a hog farm in Silver Cliff.
“Grandby hires Tom Hale”
Brief by Central Staff
Geographic Nomenclature – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
The town in Middle Park is Granby, not Grandby, as the Chaffee County Times of Buena Vista had it on March 16. It is a common mistake, one that we often noticed when we lived in nearby Kremmling.
Of course it’s connected to wild life and recreation
Brief by Central Staff
Fireworks – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
One long-standing holiday tradition — celebrating Independence Day with fireworks over Lake DeWeese near Westcliffe — may not return this year.
The lake is managed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the fireworks come from donations to the Custer County Merchants and Chamber of Commerce.
Briefs from the San Luis Valley
Brief by Marcia Darnell
San Luis Valley – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Water Win-Win
Valley farmers and ranchers have reached an accord with national forests over water. Disputes began in 1976, when Congress required federal agencies to file claims for the water flowing through public lands. This agreement, brokered by Valley native Attorney General Ken Salazar, ends years of lawsuits, protects watersheds and wildlife habitats, and preserves existing water rights.
If it’s natural, it must be good for you …
Brief by Central Staff
Herbal healing – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Hot tea may be good for you, but not so good that it cures cancer.
So said the Federal Trade Commission on April 5, when it ordered Michael D. Miller of Crestone, who was doing business as Natural Heritage Enterprises, to make some changes on his website and to refund $7,500 to his customers.
A little more about that grave next to a highway
Brief by Central Staff
Mysterious grave – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Back in July of 1997, we wondered if anyone knew more about a fenced grave that sits a few yards south of the road between mileposts 44 and 45 on Colo. 114 west of Saguache. The tombstone reads:
ARTHUR LLOYD MONK
MAJOR TO HM 22 FOOT
DIED APRIL 19, 1883
AGED 51 Yrs 7 Ms 18 Dys
And the burden laid upon him
was more than he could bear
On Mountain Time 73-75
Comic Strip by Clint Driscoll and Laura Ravenwood
Mountain Life – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Why my ugly town is beautiful
Essay by Paul Larmer
Small town life – May 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
EVER SINCE I MOVED to this small town on the edge of the Rocky Mountains seven years ago, a “For Sale” sign has marked the vacant lot next to the railroad tracks on 2nd Street.
It isn’t much of a lot, just a triangle of gravel-covered, weed-infested land squeezed by an alley and the tracks. Often, I have stood next to it, waiting for a 100-car train to rumble past with a load of coal from the mountains. The ground shakes. The air shatters with the sharp blasts of the train’s horn.
Western Water Report: 28 April 2000
Western Water Report: 28 April 2000
WEATHER FORECAST
At the tri-annual Aspinall Operations meeting on 4/20, the National Weather Service forecast called for a dry June and then, beginning in July, monsoonal conditions through the rest of the summer similar to last summer’s conditions.
