Colorado Central

Fascination with Fungi

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IT’S DIFFICULT TO TURN A CORNER ANYMORE and not see the white and red image of a Fly Agaric mushroom emblazoned on hats, scarves, shirts, earrings and even on the skin as tattoos. The irony is that the Fly Agaric — the red-capped, white-speckled amanita mushroom (Amanita muscaria) of fairy tales, is poisonous. The iconic …

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Restoring and Re-storying the Land We Call Home

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN DEEP RELATIONSHIP with the land on which we live? The 33rd Annual Headwaters Conference, hosted by Western Colorado University in Gunnison in December 2022, aimed to answer that question. The theme of the conference was “Land Back: Indigenous Homecoming in the Headwaters.”  In recent years, the conference focused …

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Keeping Online – Colorado Central Telecom

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By Mike Rosso

It was over a decade into the 21st century and the town of Crestone was struggling to keep up with the modern era. At a time when most of the urban United States, as well as many rural communities were becoming more and more dependent on the internet for work, news, commerce, and entertainment, the small community at the base of the Sangre De Cristo mountains in the San Luis Valley was not getting the needed bandwidth for basic internet service from its sole provider.

Ralph Abrams, then mayor of Crestone, was concerned the lack of workable bandwidth was discouraging newcomers and causing some residents to leave.

“We were getting half a meg at best,” Abrams said.

That’s when local citizens decided to take matters into their own hands. Their biggest challenge was finding the startup capital to take on a project of this magnitude. A grassroots effort was started to raise community funding, as well as help from a Small Business Administration loan arranged through the Collegiate Peaks Bank. Several grants were also helpful in the company’s expansion, including one from the State Broadband Deployment Fund and from Freeport-McMoRan Inc., the owners of the Climax Mine in Leadville.

“We started with 58 local investors, including contributions from our CEO and other staff members. We have since repaid our original investors, though a handful opted to hold onto their stake in the company,” Abrams explained.

He used this capital to start Crestone Telecom, employing a tower to send broadband signals to homes and businesses as a wireless internet service provider in Crestone. Its first customer came online in April 2012.

“Our first tower was located just outside the town limits of Crestone, due east of the Baca [subdivision]. We call it the ‘Aspen’ tower,” said Abrams.

The initial success led the company to expand its coverage area to the northern San Luis Valley and eventually into the Upper Arkansas River Valley with the encouragement of the Chaffee County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) whose board considered broadband its number one priority, according to its director, Wendell Pryor. “The CCEDC was helpful in facilitating and connecting the dots for the young business,” he said.

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From the Editor: About This Issue

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By Mike Rosso

I’d like to start off with a bit of business.

Last month, due to negligence on the part of our new printer, many of you received only a portion of the July issue and in some cases, only the cover. The problem lay with the “stitch and trim” process, the last order of business before the magazines are shipped to us. With apparently little oversight, the printers allowed over 900 copies of the magazine to be shipped with compromised stitching, resulting in many magazines falling apart in transit.

This was disastrous for us as we spent a good portion of the past month repackaging and resending magazines – time we could have spent researching articles, selling advertising, and other day-to-day business. We’re happy with the quality of the actual printing but when the last worker neglects to do their job well, the entire works fail. We’ve been promised this will not happen again and if you are reading this, chances are they’ve corrected the problems. If you were one of the unlucky ones to have not received an intact version of the July issue, please contact us by email at cozinemag@gmail.com or give a call at 719-530-9063 and we’ll make it right.

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About the Cover Artist: Monk Giovanni (DeZorzi)

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Born in San Diego, California in 1943, Father Giovanni has been a monk of the Greek Orthodox Church for over four decades. Since October of 2013, he has been a resident of the monastic Community of Our Lady and Saint Laurence, located on Tallahassee Creek, 32 miles northwest of Cañon City. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served during the Vietnam War.

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A Beautiful Friendship

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By Lynda LaRocca

From the moment I heard about it, I knew it was a grand idea (and by “grand,” I mean “wonderful” and “brilliant”). I also knew that if anyone could pull it off, it was Ed and Martha Quillen.
So when Ed telephoned one afternoon in late 1993 asking for reprints of articles I’d written that had anything to do with the Upper Arkansas River Valley for a regional magazine he and Martha were about to start up, I immediately complied.

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Down on the Ground with Colorado Central

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By George Sibley

Mike’s reminder that this issue marks the end of the 20th anniversary of Colorado Central sent me to a couple closets here in Gunnison, to look for my copy of the first issue, to remind me why Ed and Martha Quillen, who had already done enough time in the media world to know better, decided to start this publication.
To my consternation and frustration, I couldn’t find it. I found a couple beer boxes with issues number 91 up to the present, but my first 92 Colorado Centrals are stuck away somewhere else. I’ll undoubtedly come across them when I’m looking for something else I can’t find when I want it, but not today.

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About the Cover Artist: Michael Haynes

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Michael Haynes’ studio is near the base of Mount Shavano just outside Salida. He majored in art at Auburn University and completed his training there in 1977. His paintings have won numerous awards including the Addys, the Communications Arts Show in Los Angeles and The Society of Illustrators Show in New York.

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About the Cover Artist: Randy Pijoan

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Artist Randy Pijoan of Amalia, New Mexico is the founder of Ventero Open Press, an arts-based nonprofit located in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Ventero is dedicated to the social and artistic development of the next generation of artists, with a focus on providing for youth who have little or no access to art materials, training or resources. Over the past six and a half years, Ventero Open Press has provided local students (grades K-12) with art supplies, artistic instruction and personal mentorship, filling a gap where traditional schooling is increasingly failing. 

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Somewhere on the Rainbow

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The Central Colorado region is fat with backcountry trails. From the Collegiate Range, the Sawatch, the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness Area, White River National Forest, the West Elks and much more, there is no lack of recreational opportunities for hikers, cyclists and horseback riders.

So why this month are we featuring the Rainbow Trail? Well, for one, it’s historic, having been around for over a century. It spans a large part of our coverage area, second only to the Colorado Trail. In parts, it is mostly accessible to a large percentage of the population and sees thousands of visitors each year. The Rainbow is also the closest national forest trail to my home here in Salida.

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About the Cover Artist: Alan Cammack

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When I was about eight years old, my mother put an old Pentax K1000 fully manual camera in my hand. We were on a trip to New York City for a opening of her artwork at a gallery there, and to this day the thing I remember the most about the trip was taking those first photos out the back window of a speeding cab. I remember how that simple act of encouragement changed my life. I realized that there is something new and interesting to see everywhere.

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Regional News

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 By Christopher Kolomitz

600 Jurors Called for Gunnison Murder Trial

First degree murder charges have been dropped against Frederic Mueller, the Texas man who was accused of killing his wife in Lake City back in 2008. A Gunnison trial earlier this winter resulted in a hung jury. However, Mueller still faces another trial on second degree murder charges in Gunnison starting May 20. More than 600 potential jurors have been summoned, reports the Gunnison Country Times.

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Q & A with Colorado author Kent Haruf

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A Colorado native, Kent Haruf is the award-winning author of five novels including “Plainsong,” published in 1999, which became a national bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award, The Los Angeles Times Book Award and The New Yorker Book Award; it won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award, The Midland Authors Award, The Salon.com Award and the Alex Award from the American Library Association.

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About the Cover Artist: Susan Mayfield

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Susan Mayfield is an artist known for her color- and light-filled pastel and oil paintings of the landscape of the Southeast and Southwest. She is a native of South Carolina and spent most of her life in the Charleston area until 2008, when she and her husband, Lee Hunnicutt, moved to Salida, where she paints in a studio with a view of the Collegiate Peaks towering over the Arkansas River Valley.

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About the Cover Artist: Tiffany Hodges Smith

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Tiffany Hodges Smith took this month’s cover photograph during Colorado Fly Week, held this past July at her home near Villa Grove, Co. The event, celebrating hang gliding and paragliding in the U.S., was the result of more than a year’s planning and preparation on the part of Tiffany her hang-glider husband, Larry Smith. 

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The Problem with Remembering History is that it Never Ends in the Same Place

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By Martha Quillen

In April, Ed spoke to the Chaffee County League of Women Voters about the history of journalism in Chaffee County and included mention of Colorado Central Magazine, which made me realize that C.C. is eighteen years old now, which should make it old enough to vote. But despite the Supreme Court’s assumption that corporations have first amendment rights, they still can’t vote. Instead, they can merely buy elections.

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Farewell and best wishes

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Essay by Martha And Ed Quillen

Colorado Central – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

AFTER 15 YEARS AND 180 editions, it’s time for Martha and me to bid something of a farewell to Colorado Central. We founded it in 1994, and we’ve run it ever since. Now it’s getting a new owner and publisher, Mike Rosso of Salida.

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Museum takes issue with article

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Letter from Dorothy M. Brandt

Colorado Central – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

If the article entitled “Misnomer in Stucco” in the July 2008 issue, by Marcia Darnell, is to be construed as investigative or interpretive journalism, it leaves much to be desired. The title alone is incorrect since the word “history” has not appeared on the building nor in the museum identification for many years. The name of the museum is the San Luis Valley Museum. However, since apparently she obtained much of her information from a museum clerk, it is perhaps understandable, but inexcusable, for an article so distorted to be printed in a magazine such as yours.

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Owning and Renting

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Letter from Bill Wahl

Colorado Central – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed & Martha;

Let me caution you not to have John Mattingly do your taxes. In his article, “A Farmer Far Afield” in the May issue, he makes a mathematical case for renting being more cost-effective than owning a home. I found a few problems with his analysis.

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Hal keeps getting better

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Letter from Paul Brown

Colorado Central – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors,

I’ve known Hal Walter for years as a very good athlete and a pretty good writer. As he ages, his athletic achievements are somewhat diminished but his writing skills have soared. I don’t know if it’s the maturity of fatherhood or the constant polishing of his trade, but he has somehow found an improved technique. His description of the tiny details of life gives him a style reminiscent of our more accomplished authors. I hope you’ll continue to give him that favored spot at the back of the magazine. Yours is the only magazine I receive that I begin at the back instead of the front.

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Some kind words

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Letter from Bill Eichelberger

Colorado Central – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Hi Ed & Martha–

You may be “too big for a hobby, too small for a full-time business” but I am glad you are still printing Colorado Central. The March issue is the first place I have heard of the idiotic closing of the Dam Road, which we enjoy partly because we have placed a geocache named “Old Dillon Reservoir” on the hill north of that road. I hope the trailhead is still accessible from the west. Go to www.geocaching.com to find where this cache is and to learn more about geocaching.

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Comments on February

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Letter from Bill Hatcher

Colorado Central – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Cozine,

I enjoy your coverage of Colorado issues and events. Thanks. Keep it up.

Here are some opinions/comments on the Feb ’08 mag that I’d like to share:

1. The plumber/lion account on page 7.

First, I’m glad that plumber got out from underneath that house with nary a scratch. Second, I’m saddened that the lion was killed merely for being a persistently resourceful cat. If I was a mountain lion, I too would be looking for just such a cozy, defensible spot like a crawl space. And anyone rooting around in such places in rural Colorado should expect as much. How to deal? Tranquilize.

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Wolves and wayword words

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Letter from Roger Kirkpatrick

Colorado Central – November 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Wolves and wayward words

Howdy Editors,

I have a small bone to pick with Bryce Andrews concerning his wolves and cattle essay on page 2 of the October issue. He sets the stage for the story as “a ranch” but the main topic occurred on public land not a ranch. This is land that is temporarily rented by the rancher from all of us.

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Deadened senses

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Letter from Slim Wolfe

Colorado Central – October 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Central:

Do Colorado Central’s paid writers think twice knowing that Slim is parked to the side and over the next little rise with his nonsense detector aimed at oncoming verbiage?

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We should use our skills

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Letter from Slim Wolfe

Colorado Central – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

It’s time for a shot across George Sibley’s bow: Give us some grounds for your insinuation that Europeans are lacking in creativity, sir, or retract your slander.

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Problems with Pfeiffer

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Letter from Virginia McConnell Simmons

Colorado Central – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Editors:

The short article “Colonel Pfeiffer’s Grave” by Marcia Darnell, who is ordinarily a responsible writer, has rendered me amazed but not speechless. The header, “Not Exactly a Roadside Attraction” should have been “Not Exactly an Accurate Article.” I respond herewith, not to honor Pfeiffer but to bury the article along with its errors. Most but not all of these are trifles when compared to weightier matters in today’s world, but I value the writing of history as a discipline requiring accuracy and honesty to the best of one’s ability.

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Now for some beefs

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Letter from Paul Brown

Colorado Central – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed and Martha,

Columnist Hal Walter’s spat with reader, Dennis Sprecher gives me an opportunity to weigh in on two beefs that occasionally irritate me when reading your fine magazine.

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Comments on May

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Letter from Roger Williams

Colorado Central – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

I just finished the latest issue I have, May 2007, N° 159. If a later one is out, I must have left it at McDonald’s across the street where I have McBreakfast in a “senior moment.” A few comments are in order:

Page 8, a steam unit: I’ve ridden the Cumbres & Toltec, Durango & Silverton and others like the Cripple Creek & Victor or Georgetown Loop, Ski Train etc. several times. Hope to ride the new train over La Veta Pass this summer. Appreciate the details.

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Why rates must rise

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Essay by Martha and Ed Quillen

Colorado Central – July 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

SINCE WE STARTED PUBLISHING Colorado Central in 1994, we’ve seen postal rates increase several times, usually less than 10%. On May 14, 2007, new rates were issued. Our category, “automation flats,” went up by 40%.

Thus we have little choice but to raise subscription and advertising rates, effective July 1, 2007.

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Keeping it simple

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Letter from John Sturtz

Colorado Central – June 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ed and Martha,

An excellent Letter from the Editors in your May 2007 edition.

Salida retains its small town simplicity because it is still somewhat isolated from the cities of Colorado Springs and Denver.

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Can’t let it slide

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Letter from Hal Walter

Colorado Central – June 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Quillen,

This is to inform you that I have consulted my team of legal experts regarding potentially libelous statements published in the “Correspondence” section ofColorado Central Magazine in the May 2007 issue. Dennis Sprecher of Centennial “Ranch” made defamatory and false accusations and assertions in his letter that we simply cannot let slide.

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Honored contributors

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Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – March 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Honored Poet

Lynda La Rocca of Twin Lakes, a frequent contributor to these pages, has won a couple of prizes for her poetry. Her poem “Runs with Scissors” won the third-place prize in the Wyoming state poetry contest, and her “Christmas Eve” received second honorable mention. She also won second place in the Pennsylvania contest for environmental poems with “In the Everywhere.”

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Thirteen candles

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Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – March 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Central is now a teenager; the first edition came out 13 years ago, and was dated March 1994.

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Is diplomacy effective?

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Letter from John T. Sturtz

Colorado Central – February 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Regarding Martha Quillen’s “Letter from the Editors” in the January edition:

You mentioned wars you opposed: Viet Nam, Iraq, Gulf War I, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and your ambivalence about Somalia and possible intervention in Darfur and Rwanda.

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Cartoon was a cheap shot

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Letter from Kathy Mccoy

Colorado Central – February 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Cactus Jack,

Your January cartoon in Colorado Central is really disappointing, with its apparent reference to the Ward Churchill disaster at University of Colorado. Every profession has an occasional opportunistic impostor, and it’s a cheap shot to accuse the university c

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Colorado Central will miss Jeanne Englert

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Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – December 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Jeanne Willoughby Englert, 62, a long-time occasional contributor to Colorado Central, died of a heart attack on Oct. 25 at her home in Lafayette, Colo.

She was born March 1, 1944, in Denver, and grew up in Aspen, where she married Timothy Englert in 1966. They had a son, John, and a grandson.

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Central clarification

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Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Central Clarification

The Salida City Council decided not to consider a resolution against the Iraq war, which was brought by the Central Colorado Coalition on the Iraq War. That had inspired a couple of letter writers (to the Salida Mountain Mail) to say they were tired of “Central Colorado” entities.

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Natural arch winner

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Brief by Central Staff

Colorado Central – November 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

To our surprise, only one person entered the contest to identify the location of the natural arch pictured on page 16 of our October edition; the photo came from Grant Collier’s new book Colorado’s Hidden Wonders, and it was taken in Central Colorado.

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A note of thanks

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Letter from Jan Klump

Colorado Central – August 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Martha and Ed Quillen,

This is just a thank you note. I happened on your website after Google found me the article from your January 1998 edition, “From Turret to Salt Lake City” by Dick Dixon.

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Enjoyed trailer piece

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Letter from Marianne Katte

Colorado Central – July 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Dear Ed,

I really enjoyed the piece by David Feela in the June edition about the trailers.

Owning a 1975 museum piece myself, they certainly have charm and when kept up, look

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Just toss ’em

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Letter from Slim Wolfe

Colorado Central – April 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ed and Martha:

Talk about gratuitous rudeness!

Why do readers grouse about alleged errors in Colorado Central? Were I the editor I’d just toss these complaints without apology. One might as well get angry at Count Basie and Jerry Garcia for failing to follow the rules of four- part harmony. We cut ourselves a bit of slack because it makes life more interesting, and I’m willing to overlook missed apostrophes and dropped prepositions so long as there’s good content. Bode- a- ejucation speakin, up- with- which- I- will- not- put, and go read the Monte Vista Valley Courier if you want to look for nits to pick!

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