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.
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.
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.
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”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Letter from Allen F. Chew
Modern life – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
More reasons for pessimism
… and some optimism
Dear Martha,
Your analysis of the decline of our (mythical) middle class (“Divided and Conquered,” September issue) was excellent. However, it omitted a few additional reasons for pessimism:
Letter from Orville Wright
Modern Life – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Somehow they survived
Editors:
Got November’s issue of Colorado Central on Monday, and noted the thought-provoking piece.
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);
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.
Review by Ed Quillen
Political Biography – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Pat Schroeder: A woman of the House
by Joan A. Lowy
Published in 2003 by University of New Mexico Press
ISBN 0-8263-3098-3
Review by Steve Schechter
Alternative energy – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Power with Nature – Solar and Wind Energy Demystified
By Rex A. Ewing
Published 2003 by PixyJack Press. LLC
ISBN 0-9658098-5-4
Review by Abby Quillen
Colorado history – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Mineral Palace
by Heidi Julavits
Published in 2000 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Republished in paperback in 2003
ISBN 0-399-14622-9
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Comic Strip written and drawn by Clint Driscoll
Mountain Life – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Essay by Jeff Milchen
Civil Rights – December 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
A quick opinion poll: The mass murders of Sept.11, 2001, were allowed to occur because:
A. Letting airline passengers carry potentially deadly weapons such as box-cutters was a bad idea.
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>
