Canine adventures

Column by Hal Walter

Dogs – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

THIS IS A BIT of a shaggy dog tale. Back in 1983, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I was pretty sure that a full-time “rim rat” on the Pueblo Chieftain copy desk wasn’t it. In the year since my graduation from the University of Colorado journalism school, I’d endured enough late nights, second-hand cigarette smoke and bad syntax to convince me there had to be something better out there.

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Let them eat cake — and have it, too

Column by George Sibley

Economy – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

LIKE EVERYWHERE ELSE IN America, we in the Upper Gunnison part of Central Colorado are concerned about the economy. We talk about the national economy, of course, but we talk about it the same way we talk about the spring weather — like it or not, it’s something we can’t do much about (although our comments and complaints affirm the solidarity of the trickled-upon). We talk about the local economy with more passion and less solidarity, and have at least the illusion that it is somehow “ours.”

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Future cultivation

Column by John Mattingly

Agriculture – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

DATELINE: DENVER, COLORADO MAY 3, 2034

In a joint news conference yesterday, Steady State Bank, Resurrection Mortgage, and Overburtin Industries announced plans to plow under another 160 acre subdivision in Thornton and plant wheat.

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Salida’s Little Shop of Horrors

Article by Jennifer Dempsey

Artists – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

WALKING INTO 132 West First Street in Salida is like walking into the Little Shop of Horrors. Or maybe the prop room at Disneyland. It definitely could be Who-ville.

“We like to think of ourselves as Dr. Suess gone bad,” said Pat Landreth who, with partner Suzanne Montano, is the creative genius behind Bungled Jungle.

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Making Monsters the Modern Way

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Last month, I received a flattering letter:

Editor

Martha Quillen:

I would like to read a short (12 pages or less) editorial detailing exactly how you as President, or the President You Elected, should have responded to 9/11 & the five years following.

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Central Colorado Water Update

Article by John Orr

Water – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

2008 water legislation in review

Water and Stream Flow

In May HB 08-1280 passed both houses by large margins. Although it’s rare, every so often the legislature passes a water bill that almost everyone regards as needed and beneficial. Now, water rights owners who lease water to the Colorado Water Conservation Board to buttress stream flow won’t be risking their water rights.

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Escaping from software

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Modern Life – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Correspondent Ríos from Denver, who instructed us on the function of accents in written Spanish, is refreshingly unique in that there’s no reference to the latest software to which gringos might retreat. As for the rest of you, well, arggh. Think of all those overworked and underpaid civil servants who stretched and massaged our brain muscles — and the brains of our kids — until we knew by heart the difference between insight and incite. All these tax dollars are just money down the drain, all these muscles now atrophied, all you loonies want to do anymore is debate the merits of programs.

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Protecting places

Letter from Becky Donlan

Native American Sites – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

My name is Becky Donlan, and I and my partner, Nick Standing Bear, formed a Colorado non-profit last year “Native American Research and Preservation, Inc.” Our purpose is to educate the public regarding Resource Protection Laws and to preserve and protect the many prehistoric archaeological sites in our area. We began as individuals volunteering as site monitors for the USDA/FS. Close friendships developed with archaeologists and several like-minded individuals. At the encouragement of a Native American archaeologist, Ken Frye, we developed a PowerPoint presentation, “Sacred Stones.” This presentation tells the story of stone structures from South Park to the San Luis Valley, relating their meaning from the Native American standpoint. Our hope is to reach the public through this perspective and thereby encourage people to respect these places.

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Not much left of Amache

Letter from Roger Williams

Internments – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Regarding Ralph Carr, mentioned on pages 32-33 in the May edition, I’ve visited the Amache site of an internment camp. A permit from town wasn’t needed — I drove right in. Not much was left but foundations. I wonder if Japanese in Hawaii were interned. One of my prep school classmates (Form of 1959) was a Japanese-Hawaiian.

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4-way homonyms

Letter from Bill Hays

Language – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ed:

I just read your May-issue mea culpa for mixing up “incite” and “insight,”, including your brief discourse on homonyms.

This caused me to wonder, as a fellow word herder, on whether you’ve played the 4x-homonym game. It can easily be a one-person pastime performed in the shower, while driving, etc. Basically, how many homonyms — or homophones — can you come up with that have four examples? I can think of a few:

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Fire and Rain on Mt. KIA/MIA

Article by Bill Hatcher

Veterans – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

YOU PROBABLY KNOW what it’s like. You walk outside, early on a beautiful summer morning with thoughts and plans happily pulsing through your head, and then you stop. You hastily scan the horizon, nostrils flaring, and sniff. There’s a forest or grass fire somewhere, maybe in the next state, maybe just over the hill.

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Creede Repertory Theatre offers summer of variety

Article by Marcia Darnell

Theatre – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

THERE’S A LOT OF VARIETY in Creede Repertory Theatre’s 43rd season — drama, comedy, and a musical that will involve every member of the company.

That production, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” will open the summer season on June 6. It’s based on the last book by Charles Dickens, who died before he finished it. Set in an English music hall at the turn of the 20th century, the mystery musical requires audience participation to determine the ending. “The Mystery” will be directed by Frank Kuhn and star John Arp, who won the Denver Post award for best actor last year.

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Re-enactors bring past alive

Sidebar by Virginia McConnell Simmons

Fort Garland – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

During the 150th anniversary celebration at Fort Garland, re-enactors will take part in many events. Representing cavalry, infantry, and artillery units, men will recreate drills and other daily routines of life in a frontier fort. Ladies also will be present in period dress for the social activities that included wives and local women and to demonstrate the domestic chores performed by servants and laundresses.

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Kit Carson (and others) slept here

Article by Virginia McConnell Simmons

Fort Garland – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE MOST CELEBRATED NAME associated with Fort Garland is Kit Carson: trapper, scout, Indian agent, Indian fighter, and Civil War officer. But, in the fort’s quarter-century as a U.S. Army installation, many individuals took part in the life of the old adobe stronghold in the San Luis Valley.

Now, year ’round, the public can visualize military life in territorial days and the early years of Colorado statehood at Fort Garland, the oldest existing military fort in what is now Colorado.

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Regional Roundup

Brief by Ed Quillen

Local News – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

New neighbors

For starters, let’s be clear here. There’s the regular Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, based in Salt Lake City and popularly known as the Mormon Church. It forbade polygamy in 1890, and it is grounds for excommunication from the church.

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Clean air hard to find

Brief by Allen Best

Environment – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

People want to move to rural areas, because the air quality is good. But a tide of news stories suggests that air quality, because of natural gas wells and gold mines, can be bad even in rural areas.

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Colorado Trail will get some work this summer

Brief by Central Staff

Recreation – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Colorado Trail, which extends for more than 450 miles from the Denver suburbs to Durango, is looking for volunteers to work on trail crews this summer.

The Colorado Trail Foundation, based in Golden, schedules the work sessions, which can be an entire week or just a weekend. The trail is open for foot and horseback travel, as well as pack stock like burros and llamas, and some segments are also open to cyclists.

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Plastic shopping bag bans discussed in mountains

Brief by Allen Best

Environment – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

The call for a ban on plastic shopping bags is sweeping the Rockies, from Alberta to New Mexico.

Taos is among those communities now considering a ban, both within the town and in the broader Taos County. The Taos News says one store, Cid’s Food Market, has ceased to give out plastic bags and has instead persuaded many Taoseños to use cloth bags.

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Will CIA be in Gypsum?

Brief by Allen Best

Nomenclature – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Vail’s Airport may get a major name change

So much depends upon what you call it. “It,” in this case, is the airport located in the town of Gypsum, 37 miles west of Vail.

“It” was formally proclaimed the Eagle County Regional Airport in the late 1980s, when it was expanded to accommodate major jets, which now routinely deliver passengers for Vail, Beaver Creek and, to a lesser extent, Aspen and Snowmass -but also to the oil and gas industry that is now feverishly at work to the west.

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Steam Plant? Steamplant? Officially, it’s SteamPlant

Brief by Central Staff

Nomeclature – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

We’ve never been quite sure of the nomenclature for the performing arts center in Salida, which has recently been remodeled and expanded. Is it the Steam Plant or Steamplant?

In the past, both spellings have appeared in their literature. But the official word now is that it’s the SteamPlant (a formation that is guaranteed to perturb proof-readers and spell-checking software, too).

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Leadville for adventure, Salida for Western lifestyle

Brief by Central Staff

Towns – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

We note that Leadville, America’s highest incorporated city, has been honored by Men’s Journal magazine as the “Best Adventure Mecca.” The magazine’s website says:

“You’re tired of your soft life. Your roof rack has been collecting dust in the corner of the garage for too long. You’ve had enough fancy dinners, movie nights, and PTA meetings for one lifetime. You want rock, sky, rapids, altitude, dirt, snow, and great coffee. Don’t look down, just jump. Move to Leadville.”

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Briefs from the San Luis Valley

Brief by Marcia Darnell

San Luis Valley – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Crisis Continues

The fallout from Alamosa’s salmonella contamination goes on. The final cost, estimated at $600,000, is being alleviated by funding from several sources. The state Dept. of Local Affairs is kicking in a $50,000 grant and the Colorado Health Foundation is giving $50,000 to the county nursing service. However, the crisis uncovered other problems — and expenses. Many of the city’s water pipes are of the ancient iron variety, and will need to be replaced. In addition, Alamosa needs a new water storage tank. The state is giving the city $1 million for it, but the total cost will be about $2.5 million. State Sen. Gail Schwartz and the Salazar brothers all say they’re trying to get more money for Alamosa.

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No reason to help Nestlé

Brief by Central Staff

Water – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

There are frequently proposals to take water out of Central Colorado. Usually, though, the scheme involves a complex array of trnsfers of points of diversion, estimates of the consumptive use involved, more estimates involving transport losses, and other considerations that keep water lawyers and engineers gainfully employed.

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These are the West’s good old days

Essay by Steven Albert

Western Heritage – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, I was sure I’d been born into the wrong century. Everything I read about America in the 1800s made me wish I’d lived along that expanding Western frontier where people lived adventurous lives. My life seemed stale and predictable in comparison, with all the excitement sapped out of the West, buried under shopping centers and Interstates. As I traveled, I used my dog-eared copy of The Journals of Lewis and Clark as part road atlas, part travelogue of that earlier West.

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