March 2015 - Colorado Central Magazine

We Can’t Have Earthquakes in Central Colorado, Can We?

March 18, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

By Vince Matthews

Not only can we have earthquakes here, but the 20th century witnessed two felt earthquakes in the Arkansas River Valley. And the scientific data shows us that we will have large earthquakes in the San Luis and Arkansas River Valleys in the future. What we don’t know is exactly where, or when.

Past earthquakes

At the turn of the last century, the following newspaper account on Nov. 15, 1901 described an earthquake felt in Buena Vista.

“At 3 o’clock this morning this city experienced an earthquake shock that lasted for about 6 seconds. Many people rushed from their residences in night attire, fearing their homes would be demolished. The large plate glass in one of the saloons collapsed and was crushed. The windows and the brick buildings were badly shaken. It is reported here that the waters of Cottonwood Lake rose considerably. Many large boulders on Mount Princeton and Mount Harvard rolled down the side of the mountain. The trembling seemed to travel from the southwest to the northeast. This is the first earthquake felt in Buena Vista and this morning is the general topic of conversation.”

Places: The Crestone Stupas

June 27, 2020March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

By Ericka Kastner

Passing through the San Luis Valley, travelers looking east toward the Sangre De Cristo Range may find it impossible to discern the two great stupas hidden among the trees, yet towering above the landscape in the mountain foothills just outside Crestone. The stupas are woven into the rich spiritual history of Crestone, a community with more than 20 diverse spiritual centers reflecting nearly all the world’s major religions.

Stupas, traditionally monumental piles of earth formed to honor the spiritual teachers buried inside of them, eventually came to be erected in a more skyward fashion. They symbolize the Buddha’s body and mind, pointing the way to enlightenment and the path to realization. It is believed that stupas bring blessings to the builder, the landscape upon which they are built and to all who visit them.

From the Editor–Just Our Type

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Mike Rosso When we approached Buena Vista artist Brynn Ronning about featuring her artwork on our April cover, she offered us quite a few suitable “springtime” options. But there was something about that typewriter, maybe a bit of nostalgia – the clacking of keys versus the sterile sound of today’s computer keyboards. Perhaps it …

A Farmer Far Afield–American Schnitzel: The War on Peace

May 15, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by John Mattingly Note: this is the first in a three-part series that looks at the current cultural sausage being made by our U.S. military, starting with the curious case of the American Sniper, followed by the troubling question of military honor and why our high-powered, big-dollar U.S. military keeps losing wars. The final piece …

Quillen’s Corner–Listen, That May Be a Solution Calling Out to Us

May 15, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Martha Quillen I’m really concerned about American politics. Our public discourse has been divisive and immoderate for decades, but the citizenry never seemed as burned out, fed up and over it as some of my friends and acquaintances do now. People tell me that our political process is broken and bankrupt, that it’s been …

On the Ground–Down on the Ground with the Anti-Death Vaccine

May 15, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by George Sibley I’ve been following the recent vaccination debate – if that’s the right word – with some growing confusion. I’m a believer in vaccinations if I don’t think about it too much. But, of course, I think about it too much, and I find myself wandering off into the swamps of ambiguity that …

The Real Deal Music Review

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Brian Rill ELM – Darkness Made Light Known 2014 elmtunes.com In the damp, waterlogged hills of rural Scotland sits an old house in autumn. Vines ascend its austere stone walls, escaping an abundant landscape. Over dozens of miles a proud and majestic river known by the name of Orchy weaves under a verdant green …

Book Review–The Kid’s Guide to Denver, Boulder & Colorado’s Ski Country

September 30, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

The Kid’s Guide to Denver, Boulder & Colorado’s Ski Country By Eileen Ogintz Globe Pequot Press; December 2014 168 pages; ISBN 9781493016938 Reviewed by Ericka Kastner Leading family travel expert Eileen Ogintz has once again written a guidebook geared toward kids, only this time she’s guiding them through Colorado, or so she claims. Colorful and …

Book Review–Desert Rims to Mountains High

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

Desert Rims to Mountains High By Richard F. Fleck 224 pages, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company 2013 ISBN-13: 9780871089687 Reviewed by Jane Koerner Richard Francis Fleck’s Breaking Through the Clouds, published in 2004 by Pruett, covered a lifetime of outdoor exploration on two continents. In his recently published, renamed revision, Desert Rims to Mountains High, …

The Crowded Acre: Technology on the Farm

March 18, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

By Jennifer Welch

Although sometimes I hate to admit it, I belong to Gen Y, the Millennials, Generation Next. I do not have a college degree, despite the years I spent in college. I spent a period of time cohabitating prior to getting married. I have had access to the Internet since I was in high school. I feel that information should be free and, yes, I do believe that I can accomplish anything I put my keyboard to. All of these things tell me that I belong in this generation, even though my birth date is on the edge of inclusion. But I try not to let it get to me too much, especially given that for as much as I identify with my generation, I equally dissociate with it.

Three Governors in One Day

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Kenneth Jessen Most politics today are comprised of attack ads, but in the past, politics were downright dirty. Leave it to Colorado to raise the bar and do something unprecedented in United States history by having three different governors in one single day! The November 1904 election was so intense that few Coloradans paid …

News from the San Luis Valley

May 15, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Gena Akers From Crop Circles to Baseball Diamonds Geoff West, a former baseball coach, professional scout and owner of the Pilot Baseball Academy, has hopes of building a 24-field park east of Alamosa. During a presentation at the annual SLV Tourism Conference, West said the complex could bring up to 2,000 little league players …

Regional News Roundup

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

Browns Canyon Declared a National Monument Employing the Antiquities Act, President Obama named Browns Canyon a national monument on Feb. 19. The designation provides new layers of federal protection to the nearly 21,000 acres east of the Arkansas River in Chaffee County. Legislative attempts to preserve the area failed to advance through Congress, and Obama …

A Community at a Crossroads

March 18, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

By Hal Walter

As I write, Custer County School is under the watch of armed sheriff’s deputies. This follows the suicide of a 15-year-old boy last week – the second such tragedy in about a year’s time – and then a bizarre false rumor this week of a planned school shooting.

This rumor apparently had its basis in a drill for such a scenario conducted last week and was addressed in two robocalls from the school superintendent. I noticed when I dropped off my son Harrison at school this morning that only about half his classmates were lined up for the Pledge of Allegiance, and officials say overall attendance was only 50-55 percent.

Q & A with Photographer Bill Ellzey

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

Crestone resident Bill Ellzey has travelled the planet as a photographer and teacher. His works from India, China, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Alaska, Egypt, Ireland, Bhutan, Zambia, Chilean Patagonia and the American West have been published in the U.S. and abroad. Ellzey’s images can be found in magazines, books, calendars, newspapers, catalogs, annual reports, galleries and …

Old Mose: A Larger-Than-Life Colorado Legend

June 16, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Daniel Smith There are many Colorado wildlife legends, myths and stories, but none can match the fabled chronicles of Old Mose, the giant grizzly who “terrorized” settlers in Park and Fremont counties more than 110 years ago. He was the badass of all the big bears presenting major challenges to ranchers and homesteaders in …

From the Editor

April 8, 2015March 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Mike Rosso We’re back, and just in time for the big news about the new national monument designation for the Browns Canyon Wilderness Study Area. At the urging of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. John Hickenlooper, President Obama signed a proclamation on Feb. 19 designating 21,000 acres of remote wilderness in central Chaffee …