Denied

By Patty LaTaille

1990. Heidelberg, Germany. Schiller International University. College student – me – accepted from State University of New York, Cortland. Germany in a historic tumultuous transitional time. Took a sledgehammer to Berlin Wall – fell two months previous. Willkommen in Deutschland. Treated with kindness, curiosity, consideration and respect. My knowledge and practice of the language encouraged and enhanced. Gained 17 pounds in six months; beer, bread and chocolate – food tastes so much better over there. Life-threatening illness after trip to Greece. Saved within 24 hours of “expiration” by German physician and five-day stay in hospital with excellent care – $300. Returned to U.S. as an ambassador of all things German. “Ich liebe Deutschland!”

Fast forward to 2017: eight young recent graduates of Waldorf school in Stuttgart – excited to participate in the Rocky Mountains Language Adventure (RMLA). A vacation/language program. Eager 18-year-old Germans in Salida for one month. Ready to being welcomed into host family homes – presented with opportunities to practice English – and play in mountains of Colorado.

Looking forward to this:

“… participants yearly have had an unforgettable experience, fallen in love with Salida and were praised highly by all who got to know them for their respectful friendliness and great enthusiasm.” – RMLA Program Description.

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From the Editor: Deported

By Mike Rosso

The big news in Salida this past month was not the local restaurateur who got into a wrestling match with a county sheriff’s deputy. Instead it was the eight German students whose visas were denied by ICE at the Denver International Airport and were sent back to their home country, but only after getting a taste of the American prison system.

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DIA: The Story behind the Tents

By Mike Rosso

It wasn’t quite a napkin, but a few quick strokes on the backside of an appointment card led to the design of one of the most recognizable airport terminals in the world.

Retired architect Jim Bradburn, who currently lives outside Westcliffe, Colorado, recounts how those scribbles were eventually transformed into the tent-like structure known to most Coloradans as the Jeppesen Terminal at Denver International Airport (DIA).

Bradburn, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, first came to Colorado in 1976 to oversee the construction of the Helen Bonfils Theater Complex for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. At the time, he was working for the architectural firm of Roche Dinkeloo and Associates of Hamden, Connecticut.

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