Month: October 2005

Tales of a rat-hunting man

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Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

THERE’S A PACK RAT that’s been hanging around the house lately. And I’ve decided this rodent must go.

I originally took a live-and-let-the-cat-take-care- of-it approach, figuring it was only a matter of time. After all, our cat lives pretty much on the front porch, and is a natural born killer, often preferring “game” much larger than mice. Surely he would see to the matter one evening when he was not busy strangling baby rabbits or torturing gophers.

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Beetle-kill forests could become lynx habitat

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Sidebar by Allen Best

Wildlife – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Reintroduced lynx have more commonly stayed south of Interstate 70. But the epidemic of pine beetles that is now causing large patches of rust-colored trees could become habitat for lynx in another 15 to 20 years.

The question, theorizes Gary Patton, a former wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is whether the areas of devastation are broad enough.

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Lynx Recovery: 3 years of kittens

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Article by Allen Best

Wildlife – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

IN 1999, soon after Canada lynx were released into the San Juan Mountains, wildlife biologists were shocked to discover that four lynx had quickly starved to death.

Public criticism was scornful. Colorado’s lynx recovery effort looked to many people like one giant miscalculation and the architects of the reintroduction like heartless scientists run amok.

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Jon MacManus mixes art and history

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Review by Jayne Mabus

Local Art – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHAT WOULD YOU DO if you sketched a drawing of a mountain, and a co-worker looked at it and blurted, “Man, what you doing here?”

That was a great moment of epiphany for artist Jon MacManus. And the best part is that he didn’t ignore it — he did something about it.

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Not so distant disaster

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Essay by Ed Quillen

Natural Disaster – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

SOME DISTANT DISASTERS strike me harder than others, and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has really hit hard. For several days as August ended and September began, instead of getting any productive work done, I was sneaking off to watch TV. When I didn’t want to be so obvious, my ears were glued to the office radio while I visited Web sites to catch the latest from CNN.

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With taxes

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Column by George Sibley

Government – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

SO IS COLORADO’S REFERENDUM C a tax increase or not? Does TABOR give us “rebates” or “refunds”? A lot seems to ride on definitions in this election–but the truth is, your definitions probably follow from your politics, rather than determining them.

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Just prodding

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Letter from Slim Wolfe

Colorado Central – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

I love Boy Wonder on his rocking horse in South-Ark Funnies. And I’ve got a name for the horse: “Friend of the Devil.”

In your replay to a previous letter in this space you doubt that our region can sustain much more sustainability, and think we ought to be glad most Americans would rather live in towns.

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Becoming part of the art

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Letter from Kenneth Jessen

Christo – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Doris Dembosky’s article (September, 2005, edition) about the “Over the River” project by Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, begs the question what is art? After having completed 55 interviews with Loveland- area artists for my weekly column in the local newspaper, I have learned that the definition of art is as murky as the water in the Arkansas River after a rainstorm.

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In defense of La Veta

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Letter from Ryus Coffee Club

La Veta – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

This letter is in response to the letter from Mr. Daniel G. Jennings, published in the July 2005 edition of Colorado Central. While most of us agree that the average price of residential real estate seems to be spiraling out of the reach of the ordinary citizen, especially in large cities, there seemed to be much in the letter that left us shaking our heads in wonder: in general, the idea that people in the service industry (sales, publishing, banking, artistry) are part of some “hype and speculation” conspiracy and in particular, that Mr. Jennings used our home town of La Veta, Colorado, as a prime example of what he seemed to think was wrong with America.

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How Como got its name

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Sidebar by Gary Minke

Como Mines – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Alpine town of Como on Lake Como about 25 miles north of Milan, Italy, is in a picturesque setting. To the Italian miners who came to dig coal in Park County, their fast-growing railroad town nestled just below the Continental Divide also had its charm.

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The coal mines of South Park

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Article by Gary Minke

History – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

NINETEENTH-CENTURY MINING in Park County naturally kindles thoughts of gold and silver (and of the hard rock tunnels along Buckskin Gulch, and the big hydraulic washing operations which churned the riverbanks near Fairplay and Alma). But coal was also an important product during the exciting years of gold and silver extraction (1867-1893). Unlike Appalachian operations, however, the coal industry in South Park employed only a single generation of miners.

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How prison changed my life

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Essay by Ray James

Prisons – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN U.S. District Judge Richard Nottingham sentenced me to 70 months in prison on June 27, 1997, I did not realize that his tough, but fair decision–his words, not mine–represented a pivotal, perhaps even life-saving, action. My court-appointed attorney, Terri Harrington, asked the judge to allow 15 days before I surrendered to the U.S. Marshals to begin serving the sentence.

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Old newspapers go on-line

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Brief by Central Staff

History – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

The historian’s (or genealogist’s) task of poring through old newspapers can be easier now, thanks to the Colorado Digitization Project and its partners, the Colorado State Library and the Colorado Historical Society.

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Regional Round-up

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Brief by Central Staff

Regional News – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Katrina Assistance

For the fortnight before our deadline, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath dominated the national news. On the local front, Central Colorado has been generous, with a few refugees moving here — our high and dry climate, not to mention autumn coolness, must be quite a change from the low, humid, and hot Gulf Coast.

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Department of strange coincidences

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Brief by Central Staff

George Sibley – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

When we saw the movie Babe about 10 years ago, we were struck by how much one of its main characters, farmer Arthur Hoggett, resembled George Sibley of Gunnison who, among other things, writes a regular column for our magazine. In fact, we even told George about the resemblance.

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Metro thirst looks to the mountains

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Brief by Allen Best

Water – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

One of the interior dramas of Colorado facing mountain towns is how Denver’s burgeoning southern suburbs will find more sustainable water supplies.

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FEMA looks at fake quake in Colorado

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Brief by Allen Best

Natural Disaster – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

In our April edition, we looked at the possibility for earthquakes in Central Colorado — and concluded that it’s probably more prudent to worry about wildfires, flash floods, avalanches, blizzards and bears. Despite all its mountains and faults, Colorado is a fairly stable place — in a geological sense anyway.

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Can wayward, callow bears ever go straight?

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Brief by Allen Best

Wildlife – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Once a black bear goes bad, can it ever embrace the straight and narrow again? That’s the fundamental question being asked in a new study in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley, which one wildlife official describes as “bear central” in Colorado during recent years.

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Ban on spring bear hunt doesn’t cause problems

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Brief by Allen Best

Wildlife – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

In 1992, Colorado voters banned the hunting of bears during spring, primarily because sows are giving birth to cubs in that season. Since then, however, interactions with people have been rising, with bears breaking into homes in the Aspen area almost daily last summer. Sounds like an easy case of cause and effect, right?

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Briefs from the San Luis Valley

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Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Game

It was an undercover (er, under sleeping bag) operation for two DOW officers posing as hunters. The sting involved cryptic radio messages, camping gear and video cameras. The prize: poachers. The bad guys, said to be from Kansas, had thought no game wardens would catch them in the high country. Their smugness earned them a $45,000 fine.

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10 years of local internet service

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Brief by Central Staff

Communications – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

This month marks the 10th anniversary of local Internet service in Salida, Buena Vista, and Leadville. Before October of 1995, there were no local Internet Service Providers (ISPs, in the jargon). Then Rocky Mountain Internet, based in Colorado Springs, partnered with Ken Swinehart (who now runs Amigo.Net), to provide local access.

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Social glue in a brown truck

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Essay by John Clayton

Rural Life – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine –

OUR SMALL TOWN has just suffered a profound loss: the departure of our treasured UPS deliveryman.

Like Santa Claus, Tony always brought us treasures. The regular mail might bring bills or junk, but Tony’s brown truck always meant a package. Along with telephone, television and Internet, Tony was our link to the outside world. But while most such links are technological, Tony was the link with the human face. He was the smiling personification of a global economy. That made him someone important in town, a guy that everybody knew, a shared currency even more ubiquitous than Paris Hilton.

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Western Water Report: October 3, 2005

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CONSERVATION EFFORTS BUOY NEED FOR DENVER WATER’S RATE INCREASE

Denver Water officials were surprised by the 20 percent reduction in water use that created a $12 million budget shortfall, and company officials will decide today if they’ll raise rates by 8 percent and tweak the rate structure to make large users pay more. Denver Post; Sept. 14 <http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3027111>

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