Shake it off and head on out

Column by Hal Walter

Mountain Life – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

THERE WAS AN INITIAL quiet thump, and then another, and by the time I looked up from the kitchen, the old spaniel dog was in a full head-over-heels tumble from the stairs that lead up to my office. It appeared to be slow motion, but in fact was happening so fast that I could not react.

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About those Sears houses

Sidebar by Wynelle Catlin

Local History – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

My interest in Sears-Bilt homes was sparked by my sister, Shirley Patterson, of Henrietta, Texas, who presented a paper on the subject at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock. She said there was one in my area — the Ferris home.

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A mail-order house and a lot of local history

Article by Wynelle Catlin

Local History – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

ROB AND KATIE FERRIS are the proud owners of a Sears Honor Bilt Home which is their Tumble Creek Ranch residence in north Chaffee County.

For 75 years, the sturdy well-constructed house has stood, surrounded by a white picket fence, on the gently sloping base of Buffalo Peaks, a few miles north of Buena Vista.

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Ben Strawn

Article by Sue Snively

Local Artist – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

“As an artist, I rely on intuition, spontaneity, movement, immediacy and serendipity. What is important is to be engaging with the media at an intuitive or felt level. My work becomes a record of that process. I want my art to surprise me — to reveal to me what art is and can be, to express my humanity in ways my intellect alone is unable to conceive”

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Giving away the commons

Column by George Sibley

Economics – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

LAST MONTH I was mucking about in the morass where private property and the public interest intersect. A fairly messy intersection in this society that doesn’t like to think about the balance between personal freedom and public responsibility.

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What is SWSI?

Sidebar by Marcia Darnell

water – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

What is SWSI?

The Statewide Water Supply Initiative is a series of forums run by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. The CWCB gathers people in each basin in the state — ranchers, environmental activists, wildlife biologists, farmers, politicians, and just plain folks — to discuss current water-supply problems and possible solutions.

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SWSI looks at future of San Luis Valley water

Article by Marcia Darnell

water – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

WATER MAY BE THE LIFEBLOOD of the San Luis Valley, but unity is its heart.

The Statewide Water Supply Initiative invited a score of water users to a roundtable discussion on October 16 to decide what’s important when it comes to water in the Rio Grande Basin. The panel represented environmental groups, recreational users, ranchers, farmers, and government, with public input sought in an evening session.

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Missing spontaneity

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Modern life – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Missing spontaneity

Editors:

Amidst all the spectacular tragedies filling the news there’s a less-noticed event which may be the ugliest hallmark of the new millennium: the rapid strangulation of human spontaneity. I’m guessing that’s an old Greek word and if I listen to the sound, it evokes a splatter of paint from a wet brush — which is not too far from the meaning.

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Forums, Forae, and Grouchy Old Men

Essay by Marcia Darnell

Public meetings – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Last month, I attended three forums in four days. Three forums in four days. Try saying that five times fast.

Forums (forae?) are a unique aspect of democracy. People — government entities, concerned citizens, coalitions, contingents, and groups — come together to discuss problems and try to find solutions. The discussions can be boring, fascinating, mundane, brilliant, or argumentative, but they provide a glimpse into what’s going on in the minds of those with the dedication to make it to the meetings.

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Principled spelling

Letter from Dick Bulinski

Orthography – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Principled spelling

Martha,

In the November issue, the Spellchecker let you down. I don’t know how you do this, but it needs to be told that:

princiPALS are either friendly people or money (too many people seem to think that money is your best friend);

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Some Personal Favorites from 2003

Review by Lynda La Rocca

Favorite Books – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

I’ve always been fascinated by the way a seemingly inconsequential act can generate unimaginably far-reaching — and unforeseen — consequences.

In House of Sand and Fog, a clerical error sparks a crisis that engulfs the novel’s protagonists and culminates in a tragedy that, while almost preordained, is nevertheless profoundly shocking.

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Building storage cheaply

Essay by Ralph “butch” Clark

Water – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

MUCH TOO OFTEN GRAND SOLUTIONS go in search of problems. Such was the case with Referendum A on Colorado’s ballot. We were simply told that Colorado must store more water or lose it to downstream states.

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Celebrating the defeat of Referendum A

Essay by Ed Quillen

Water – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

EVERY SO OFTEN, some political issue becomes an obsession, and Referendum A captured me this year.

It’s rare for me to feel good on the day after an election, but this Wednesday after the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November had me almost ecstatic: Referendum A had lost, and it wasn’t even close. Statewide, the margin was an overwhelming 2-1 against, and it did not pass in a single one of Colorado’s 64 counties.

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Those were different times

Article by Orville Wright

Local lore – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

BEING TIED UP (down) by three surgeries this summer has left me with too much time on my hands. I still can’t exercise and I’m getting fed up with sitting in a lounger reading books and watching the idiot lantern. As a result, my mind is working overtime and the word processor is really catching it.

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About those saints

Brief by Ed Quillen

Salida Yards – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine –

The irreverent may call them “bathtub Marys,” and many others wonder why they adorn yards — not just in Salida, but throughout the world.

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Hospital statues

Brief by Central Staff

Salida Yards – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

The two statues above are on the grounds of the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (although they are indoors by now, since they go inside for the winter.)

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About those bombs

Brief by Mike R0sso

Salida Yards – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s hard to miss the lawn ornament on the 400 block of 4th Street in Salida.These weapons of mass destruction aren’t the product of some politician’s imagination. The late John Ribal of Salida, who served in the U.S. Navy, created the bomb memorial as a tribute to his brother Chris who had served in the Vietnam War in the 1960s. John’s daughter Janet, a Pueblo resident, believes that it was done in the same spirit as the yellow ribbons that have become a common way to show support for members of the military serving over seas.

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Restoring the Alamosa River

Article by Hal Clifford

Environment – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE SAN LUIS VALLEY is a high desert with table-flat farmland surrounded by mountains. It’s a slice of Colorado that feels like New Mexico.

Just over a decade ago, the Valley made national headlines when cyanide holding ponds at the Summitville gold mine failed spectacularly and poisoned the Alamosa River, which runs through the village of Capulin. The 1990 spill killed everything living in a 17-mile stretch of the river — and turned a national media spotlight on the dangers of modern mining.

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Regional roundup

Brief by Martha Quillen

Regional news – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Campaign 2003

There were so many different local initiatives this year, that we decided to report election results in a separate story.

But there’s one result worth double coverage. As the Leadville Herald Democrat put it: “For the first time in 31 years, a school bond issue passed in Lake County.”

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Mancos, Mosca, what’s the difference?

Brief by Central Staff

Media – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

If you feel charitable, send a Colorado map to the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. They could use one.

The Oct. 25 edition had an article about off-beat attractions in Colorado. Among them was the Alligator Farm on Colo. 17 in the San Luis Valley.

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Blaurock and Ervin now official names

Brief by Allen Best

Geography – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

It’s now official. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names has named two hitherto unnamed summits near Granite after Carl Blaurock and Bill Ervin, who were the first and second mountaineers to bag all the peaks then considered fourteeners.

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Westcliffe working on a radio station

Brief by Central Staff

Media – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Low-power community radio arrived in Salida earlier this year with KHEN, and by next spring, Westcliffe and the Wet Mountain Valley should have their own station: KWMV at 95.9 mHz.

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Briefs from the San Luis Valley

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Gateway to Open

Alamosa Voters approved a new lodging tax to fund the building of a Gateway Center, slated to house a cultural center, visitors center, and museum. The city also passed a sales tax to fund water treatment for arsenic. In Monte Vista, businessman Don Schall was elected to the city council. Schall, a member of the committee to resurrect the city’s finances, is seen as the town’s best hope to recover after years of money mishaps.

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Mostly, it was Just Say No on November 4

Brief by Central Staff

Politics – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

In this off-year election, Central Colorado voters mirrored the rest of the state.

There were three statewide issues on the ballot. All were defeated, and none came anywhere close to passing up here. The major difference between us and the rest of the state was the margin of the no vote — we were more emphatic.

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Western Water Report: December 2, 2003

COLORADO VOTERS REJECT WATER INITIATIVE

Colorado voters turned down ballot measures to provide as much as $2 billion for new water projects. Denver Post; Nov. 5 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11860> <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/election/article/0,1299,DRMN_36_2403413,00.html>

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