1998 August

Killer Fences of the New West

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Column by Hal Walter

Fences – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

AT FIRST it just looked like a rock anchoring the _barbed-wire fence, the same way that rocks anchor ramshackle barbed-wire fences all over the West. But then I thought I saw it move.

There was a band of beef cows and calves milling around, and it occurred to me that a calf might be caught in the wire. As I drew closer it moved again and I saw that it was indeed a calf — a spotted elk calf — hanging by its front leg, twisted in the wire. The moo-cows ran away as I approached, but the elk calf lay still, breathing with great labor.

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Confessions of a Soldier for the Other Side

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Essay by Eldon Ray James

War on Drugs – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

I’M GUILTY. Let’s get that out of the way up front. I’m a convicted felon, who violated the laws of the United States. Every word here is colored by that fact. Currently serving 70 months in federal prison, I pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit acts in support of a racketeer-influenced or corrupt organization, perhaps better known by its RICO acronym. While I did not knowingly participate in the conspiracy, I did commit acts that supported an organization I did not know existed, run by people I did not know.

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George Washington never slept here

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Essay by Ed Quillen

History – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN I WAS A SCHOOLBOY in and around Greeley, up in the north part of this state, I often felt deprived. I wanted to live in a place with a history, and Greeley didn’t seem to have one.

Of course Weld County had a history, and as it developed, that history, in the hands of a talented novelist, was potent enough to become the best-seller Centennial by James Michener.

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Berth and Breakfast at restored railroad station

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Article by Clint Driscoll

Roadside Attractions – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

NINETY YEARS after the Denver, South Park & Pacific narrow-gauge railroad stopped chugging over Trout Creek Pass, it is still possible to reserve a berth in a Victorian Pullman sleeping car or a drover’s caboose and enjoy the hospitality offered in a typical 1880s-era depot. Irene and Juel Kjeldsen own and operate the Trout City Inn Berth and Breakfast on the west side of Trout Creek Pass about six miles east of Buena Vista on U.S. 285/24. There, local railroad history lives.

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It’s not an obscenity, it’s a fact

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Letter by John Rokosz

Commerce – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s not an obscenity, it’s a matter of fact

Editors:

Wal-Mart Sucks!

This is not an obscenity or a slur, it is a fact. Wal-Mart does, indeed, suck. Like an enormous economic vacuum cleaner, it sucks the labor pool dry, it sucks traffic from other shopping areas, and sucks dollars from the local economy.

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Use a plain brown wrapper

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Letter by Clay Warren

July Edition – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Use a plain brown wrapper?

Editors:

Every once in awhile ah git paid lots of money to practice self-abuse. No, no, not that kind of self abuse! Ah’m referin’ to driving long distances on Interstate highways with out either air conditioning nor adequate shock absorbers to combat the sorry state o’ the Nations highways, and then roamin’ around in insect, bar and moose infested forests in a funny git-up once ah git thar.

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Fred Jobe: the Singing Sheriff of Custer County

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Article by Rayna Bailey

Local Artists – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

FRED JOBE gives new meaning to the expression, “Whistle while you work.”

Although the lanky six-foot-four-inch lawman would never be confused with the happy-go-lucky dwarfs who made the tune popular in Disney’s Snow White, when Jobe pins his gold star on his chest and sets off to work as Custer County’s sheriff, he does it with a song in his heart.

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The Best Route to Prosperity

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Essay by Jim Ludwig

The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Steve:

I watched a PBS documentary from the Colorado Historical Society Thursday night in which Duane Smith, the Fort Lewis historian, pointed out, while viewing abandoned homes in ghost towns, “Keep in mind that each shack or shaft represents a dream, often unfulfilled, of some person who helped to make the West what it is today.” The quote may not be exact, but the thought was his, and parallels mine.

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Overpopulation is the biggest problem

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Essay by Steve Voynick

The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Jim:

I contend that the single biggest problem facing this nation today is overpopulation, a problem which is worsening with every passing year. Do you know what the population of this country was when you came to Climax in the early 1950s? About 153 million. And fifty years before that, the national population was about 76 million. Today, less than 50 years after you came to Climax (and this is hardly ancient history because I was starting school then), our population is pushing 270 million. All those people have developed an eating habit, yet there is always less land on which to grow the food that they need.

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Are Greed and Exploitation really the Name of the Game?

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Essay by Jim Ludwig

The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Steve:

Glad to see you made the big time as a guest columnist at The Post, now you are part of “a place where greed, exploitation and profit are the name of the game,” to quote a friend and author.

I can hear you say, “That is not fair, Jim”. But neither is your accusation that the West was developed by and for those reasons. Am I guilty because I’ve taken a rundown forty acres and developed a nursery that supports several families and sells plants for a profit? Would it be better if the elite were to tell me if I were to grow native plants or not? Would the West be better off if the land I’ve exploited for profit, because I’m greedy, had continued as a hay field?

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Old West, New West, Same West

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Essay by Steve Voynick

The West – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

ALTHOUGH VAIL AND LEADVILLE are just 28 miles apart as the ravens fly, they seem to stand at opposite ends of the West.

Vail represents the New West, a place of contemporary chic, luxurious living, trophy homes and money, all revolving around a vibrant economy based on tourism, recreation, and land. Leadville is the Old West, where century-old memories and lonely shaft houses watch over mine-scarred hills. Leadville’s economy is sluggish at best, and many residents commute to low-paying service jobs in Vail and resorts in Summit and Eagle counties.

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The Day I almost settled in Ingomar

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Essay by Mark Matthews

Settlement – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

The day I almost settled in Ingomar

by Mark Matthews

Highway 12 through south central Montana ran straight, but the mixed grass prairie gently undulated so I couldn’t see forever like I could across much of North Dakota.

My four-cylinder pickup had bucked a headwind all afternoon, straining to pull the trailer that contained my worldly possessions. Ten years ago, it seemed a long way to come to find a home.

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Ode to sheetrock

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Essay by Matt Gaylen

Remodeling – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ode to sheetrock

A reflection inspired by Juan de Oñate’s quest up the Rio Grande

by Matt Gaylen

Although there are many types of tools, I classify them into two major categories; tools that do work and tools that do more work. For example, a run-of-the-mill screwdriver will push a threaded shaft of metal through a piece of sheetrock into a wooden stud — in time — while a screwgun will pop that baby right in.

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Which West does Sunset live in

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Brief by Central Staff

Geography – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Which West does Sunset live in?

Sunset, “the magazine of Western Living,” published with an article in its July edition about “one of the high-country Southwest’s all-time best road trips” which “doesn’t run through deserts.”

Both Salida and the San Luis Valley are on the “doesn’t run through deserts” itinerary presented by author John Villani. Salida’s average annual precipitation is 11.57 inches; Alamosa’s is 6.47, and Saguache gets 8.49. By the standards of most climatologists, we’re in a desert.

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Another Royal Gorge War could be coming soon

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Brief by Central Staff

Transportation – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

FOR AN AREA that America’s largest railroad wants to abandon, Central Colorado has sure seen plenty of rail-related activity lately.

The Union Pacific Railroad has now sold the 11 miles of Royal Gorge track, from Cañon City to Parkdale.

The buyers are the same people who operate the Georgetown Loop tourist line, and with some restored diesel equipment, they plan to start running passenger excursions on August 14. (Adult fare is $24.50, and you can make reservations or get particulars by calling 800-691-4386, or at their website: royalgorgeroute.com.)

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Courting Salida’s noise ordinance

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Brief by Central Staff

Politics – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Courting the City’s Noise Ordinance

A band on the patio can annoy the neighbors, and that’s pretty much what happened in downtown Salida on Independence Day weekend.

The band was playing at the Flour of Life, a bakery and bistro, on North F Street, and the neighbors were nearby residents of apartments over storefronts.

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Heard Around the West

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Brief by Betsy Marston

Miscellany – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Desert Developments

What if you added a street to your city but couldn’t figure out what to name it? Booming Las Vegas faces that problem as it scrambles to keep up with explosive growth, reports the Las Vegas Sun. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of new streets expand the city each month. Some towns resort to numbers and letters; but the gambling mecca has borrowed everything from liquor brands to songs since it long ago ran out of dead presidents and trees.

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Briefs from the San Luis Valley

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Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Safeway or No Way

Safeway is buying the old Ortega Middle School in Alamosa, across the street from its current store location. The company has announced plans to build a new 43,000-square-foot store on the site of the deteriorating school.

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Another kind of county

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Brief by Central Staff

Tax Breaks – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Another kind of county

The easiest answer to “what kind of county do you live in?” might be “an economically depressed one where the state offers special tax breaks to create jobs.”

This is true whether you’re in Saguache County, one of the poorest in the state, or in Custer County, fourth-fastest growing county in the nation.

Back in the depressed ’80s, the state set up “enterprise zones” with special tax breaks to encourage investment.

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3 kinds of counties in the Mountain West

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Brief by Central Staff

Geography – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

3 Kinds of Counties in the Mountain West

The Mountain West has been through booms and busts since the days of the fur trade, if not the Anasazi (some “bust” might explain why they departed Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon). What’s driving the boom this time around?

J. Matthew Shumway, a geography professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, examined current trends and wrote about them last fall in Small Town, a bimonthly magazine published by the Small Towns Institute and aimed at public officials.

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Cracking the contractor code

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Essay by Marty Jones

Remodeling – August 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Cracking the contractor’s code

by Marty Jones

They call it the “dream of home ownership.” But for my wife and me, buying our first house here in Colorado was more of a nightmare. Thanks to a long list of pseudo contractors and wannabe builders, our home purchase was a grueling saga of delays, shabby work, and tears. Instead of the happy moment we saw in real estate commercials, crossing the threshold in our first home was a dark event filled with dread and questions.

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