Column by Hal Walter
Rural Life – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
People who heat their homes with woodstoves have different perspectives on things. For instance, I take a certain amount of comfort in the tops of juniper fence posts. I’ve also eyed my wife’s oak rocking chair, a gift from her sister, with ill intent. I have often wanted to burn this torture rack, usually after stubbing my toes on its runners. Hardwoods, after all, make coals that glow for a good, long time.
Sidebar by Ed Quillen
Prisons – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Use Tax Could Work Against Local Merchants
Chaffee County plans to pay for building a new jail with a use tax on automobiles and construction materials.
In essence, a use tax is a way to make sure that a sales tax is paid.
Sidebar by Ed Quillen
Prisons – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Chaffee County’s old and crowded jail is hardly a unique problem.
Lake County Sheriff David Duarte runs a jail built with the Leadville courthouse in 1958. In 1995, he averaged 14.9 inmates per day; that rose to 20 in 1996, “and fourteen is overcrowding this jail.” He’s had to house inmates in Clear Creek County, and “we’ve got a committee looking into a new jail.”
Article by Ed Quillen
Prisons – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
In this election in Chaffee County, we get to decide about building a new jail.
For starters, there’s little argument that the county needs one. The current slammer, in the bowels of the west wing of the courthouse, was built thirty years ago to accommodate a dozen prisoners. Now it often holds twice that many, or more.
Review by Ed Quillen
Local brews – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Discovering Colorado’s Brewpubs – Your Comprehensive Guide to Finding and Enjoying the Brewpubs of the Rocky Mountain State
by Tony Todd and Craig Jones
Published in 1997 by Peak Publishing Co.
ISBN 0-9657656-0-1
Review by Martha Quillen
Western Women’s Writing – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Leaning Into the Wind – Women Write From The Heart Of The West
edited by Linda Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier & Nancy Curtis
published in 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN 0-395-83738-3
Review by Ed Quillen
Colorado history – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Menace in the West – Colorado and the American Experience with Drugs, 1873-1963
by Henry O. Whiteside
Published in 1997 by the Colorado Historical Society
ISBN 0-942576-38-1
Article by Ed Quillen
Local Artist – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
by Ed Quillen
Within recent memory, Salida was pretty much a lunch-bucket town. When the blue-collar jobs faded with the closure of nearby quarries and mines, so did a goodly part of downtown, with empty storefronts spread along First Street.
But Salida’s downtown now thrives with studios and galleries, among them Soho — the name of a London bohemian district, the arty South of Houston area in New York City, and since this June, one place to find work by Marcy Miata.
Essay by Columbine Quillen
Tourism – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Although I had been surrounded by it for most of my life, last summer I finally got a taste of the whitewater rafting business. That’s when I worked for Colorado Whitewater Photography — where my job involved going to various rafting companies to sell their clients pictures of their once-in-a-lifetime whitewater adventure.
Essay by Shelley Jacobs
Tourism – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
This portion of Central Colorado seems to have four seasons: Rafting Season, Hunting Season, Ski Season, and Mud Season. Now that the Rafting Season (subheading: Mountain biking, Hiking, Fishing, Doing-the-rustic-backwoods- mountain-thing Season) is over, and now that most of those generous vacationers have returned to their own communities to work hard so that they can make enough money for their next vacation, we can talk frankly about them.
Letter by Jerry Mosier
Prisons – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Prisons don’t work, so let’s build more of ’em
Editor:
I turned 22 in prison, a member of the first group of guards hired in 1961 under Kansas Civil Service; prior hirings had been a tradition of political patronage.
And, until I typed this, I had not taken into account that I was there at the beginning of the trend toward bureaucracy, professionalism, and protectionism that has seen salaries of correctional officers increase tenfold from the $267 per month that I received before taxes for six-day weeks.
Letter by Eric Rasmussen
Hospitality industry – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
B&B industry applauds when dilettantes get out
Editor:
I happened upon a copy of your magazine [October, 1997, edition] and noted the feature article, “Tales from the Yellow House.”
Letter by John Esty
Transportation – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
C-DOT never consulted about rail abandonment
To The Editor:
Governor Roy Romer, along with his Office of Economic Development, has made a serious error in allowing the abandonment of the Tennessee Pass line to occur.
Though transportation of people and freight across the state is the responsibility of the Colorado Department of Transportation (C-DOT), C-DOT staff were never consulted as to the viability of the “rails to trails” plan. In fact, numerous phone calls by C-DOT staff asking for input were never returned and once the decision was made, C-DOT staff was asked not to comment. Had the Governor and his Office of Economic Development staff talked with C-DOT, they would have found out that:
Letter by Dave Mccollough
Transportation – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
UP rail merger made a mess, as predicted
Dear Ed:
I’ve followed the fate of the Southern Pacific rail line since Governor Roy Romer made the insincere deal with the people of Colorado and the officials of the Union Pacific Railroad. Well, now that the real truth is known, another ploy of the industrial giants has slid through the cracks and only one railroad will serve the east-west corridor through Colorado.
Brief by Central Staff
Demographics – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Deadly Mountains
Some people see beauty in the Rocky Mountains, some see real estate to sell, and others apparently see their own tombstones.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, states in the Mountain West have the highest suicide rate. In 1995, Nevada topped the nation with 25.8 suicides per 100,000 population. After it came Montana, 23.1; Arizona, 19.1; New Mexico, 17.8; Colorado, 17.5; and Wyoming, 17.1.
Brief by Central Staff
Crestone – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
A Strong cover story
The Sept. 1 edition of National Review, a conservative journal, featured Canadian oilman Maurice Strong on its cover, and devoted six pages inside to an article about him.
Central Colorado got brief mention: “…he ended up owning the 200,000-acre Baca Ranch in Colorado, now a `New Age’ center run by his wife, Hanne. (Among the seekers at Baca are Zen and Tibetan Buddhist monks, a breakaway order of Carmelite nuns, and followers of a Hindu guru called Ba ba ji.)”
Brief by Anonymous
Humor – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Monitor: Keep an eye on the wood stove.
Download: Getting the firewood off the pickup.
Mega Hertz: When you’re not careful downloading (watch the toes).
Essay by John Walker
The New West – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dictionary for a New West
by John Walker
califor-ni-an (kal’u forn’yun) n. 1. resident of the state of California. 2. imprudent spender single-handedly responsible for inflated values of real property. [earlier form Texan]
en-dan-gered spe-cies (en dan’grd spe’ sez) n. 1. every group that has had a representative address a public hearing in the West: “Ranchers, miners, etc.: We’re the endangered species.” 2. a species of plants or animals facing imminent extinction. [Obsolete]
Brief by Central Staff
Transportation – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Take the Last Train
Last trains come in many forms, so there are several answers to this question: When did the last train roll on the old D&RGW line through the Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass?
The last passenger excursion, along with the last steam locomotive, was on June 22. The last regular passenger service was in 1966.