Matt Kroschel is the mountain news reporter with KCNC-TV (CBS4) in Denver. He grew up in Poncha Springs and is a graduate of Salida High School, class of 2007. CC: At what point in your upbringing did you decide you wanted to go into television journalism? MK: I can’t remember exactly when, but I know …
Xcel Buying Solar From Hooper
Xcel Energy is now purchasing power generated by the 50-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant in Hooper by SunPower Corp.
The power purchase agreement allows Xcel to purchase the energy at cost-competitive rates. It estimates the 320-acre plant is generating enough electricity to power approximately 13,500 average Colorado homes. Xcel is based in Minneapolis and is Colorado’s biggest provider of electricity and natural gas.
Sheriffs’ Deputies win Case
LEADVILLE – Nine current and former Lake County sheriff’s deputies won a pay-dispute lawsuit brought against the county totalling $33,030.
The suit claimed the defendants – the sheriff’s office – the county clerk and the county commissioners, violated federal law by failing to pay wages due and violated the deputies’ constitutional right to due process, according to The Leadville Herald-Democrat. The period in dispute was from October 2007 to November 2010. Deputies claimed they were not paid per hour but as salaried employees and that they were not compensated for extra hours worked. The suit was filed under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
By Christopher Kolomitz
Farewell Campy
SALIDA – Laurence Campton, a well known Salidan, died April 13 at the age of 95. Known as “Campy” throughout the community, Campton moved to the area in 1949 and had just celebrated his 75th wedding anniversary with wife Daisy. He survived imprisonment during World War II, was the 1959 FIBArk down-river race champion and in the early 1950s and ‘60s served as the manager of the Salida Chamber of Commerce, The Mountain Mail reported. He retired from the Chaffee County Road and Bridge Department in 1984 and a few months later began a 21-year stint as the county veteran service officer.
By Christopher Kolomitz
Parolee dies in Chaffee Barn Fire
BUENA VISTA – A parolee sought by Chaffee County authorities was identified through dental records after his body was found March 8 in a burned out barn southwest of Buena Vista. David Butler, 46, of Summit County, was found in the small residential barn following a search for him in the area near Maud Lane, which is just a little north of the Chalk Creek drainage. While conducting the search for Butler, authorities spotted smoke and responded to the barn fire and subsequently found Butler’s body, reported The Mountain Mail. It was unclear whether the death was a suicide or accidental, or what prompted Butler to flee from authorities.
by Patty LaTaille
An Update to the Saguache Solar Saga
SolarReserve, an international alternative energy company, applied for a permit to set up a 200-megawatt solar power-generating facility – consisting of two 100-megawatt, 656-foot tall solar thermal power generating units based on concentrating solar-thermal power technology that uses molten salt. Approximately 4,000 acres of a larger 6,200-acre area of privately owned county land, located north of Center between Saguache County Roads D and G and 53 and 57, are being considered for the location for the facility.
Redistricting Maps Approved
DENVER – Redistricting maps submitted by the Colorado Reapportionment Commission were approved by the Colorado Supreme Court on Dec. 12, which will serve to realign districts for the Colorado House and Senate.
The new Senate District 5 will include Lake, Eagle, Chaffee, Pitkin, Gunnison, Hinsdale and Delta counties. House District 60 will include Park, Custer, and Chaffee counties, and most of western Fremont County. Lake and Summit counties will join Delta, Pitkin and part of Gunnison counties in HD-61. Some state Republican politicians publicly complained the maps were redrawn to benefit the Democratic Party.
Gunnison County Commissioners filed a statement of opposition to a plan that would split the county into two separate House districts, HD-61 and HD-59.
Residents of Fremont County can now log on to a new community website for news, issues, opinions as well as cultural content and other items of interest.
Fremont Connection is the brainchild of Kristina Lins, Bob and Kay Parker, Dan Grenard and Gloria Stultz, who felt the county was not well enough served by the local media and decided to take matters into their own keyboards. The team has been working on the concept since last fall and launched the site in early April. The website is quickly gaining readership as well as contributors and offers a variety of content aimed at, but not exclusively for, Fremont County residents.
Expanded Motorized Routes Challenged
DENVER – Five environmental group are suing the U.S. Forest Service alleging that by approving expanded motor vehicle routes in the forest, it violated several federal laws.
The group would like to remove 500 miles of expanded motor vehicle routes in the Pike and San Isabel National Forests.
The expanded routes are being challenged as “unauthorized and unanalyzed” by the Center for Native Ecosystems of Denver, the Wildlands CPR of Montana, the Wilderness Society, the Quiet Use Coalition and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, according to a Mountain Mail article.
According to the lawsuit, the expansion allows for “motor vehicle travel on approximately 500 miles of routes that have never been designated” in previous travel management plans. The groups are seeking an injunction to halt the forest service from initiating the expansion on routes that have not been analyzed under the Environmental Policy Act.
A courtroom proceeding and conference on the lawsuit are scheduled for May 4.
Leadville Women Murdered by Stalker
LEADVILLE -A Leadville woman was shot to death in front of her home by a man against whom she had a restraining order.
Yvonne Flores, 58, who worked as a teaching assistant in Leadville, was shot twice on July 7 by Anthony Medina, 58, who then took his own life, according to the Herald-Democrat.
Unfair Hunting Practices
Someone poached five deer on the Adams State College campus April 22. The three mule deer and two fawns were shot and stabbed at the south end of campus. The college has offered $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the poacher(s), matching the reward offered by the Humane Society.
by Marcia Darnell
Back to Work
The lockout at Harborlite Corp. is over, and 29 union workers are back on the job. The lockout began Oct. 8 when negotiations between the plant owners and the Teamsters broke down. Both sides say issues remain, but resolution is closer. Harborlite operates a perlite mine 20 miles southeast of Antonito and a mill in the town.
Eco News
December storms that ravaged the rest of the country were kind to the mid Valley: lotsa cold, little snow on the ground, but good snowpack. According to the Division of Water Resources, the Rio Grande Basin went from below normal to above normal snowpack in about a week.
Despite Approval by Town Council, A Question Mark Still Hangs over The Meadows
By Sterling Quinton
Buena Vista has come to represent a kind of stage upon which the tensions of small-town politics and development pressures now tangle in the increasingly murky waters of a vast economic slump.
Standing front and center in the most recent controversy is the annexation of a Planned Urban Development (PUD) known as The Meadows. The Meadows, projected to encompass 277 acres, currently lies just outside of Buena Vista’s northwest limits. Its owner, and aspiring developer is John Cogswell, who came to the development game late after his career as a trial attorney, which spanned several decades.
By Marcia Darnell
Enviro News
The proposed super-power line over La Veta Pass is garnering protest from residents on both sides of the mountain range. Opponents say the Valley doesn’t need more power and that the project is an eyesore and a threat to wildlife habitat. According to federal standards, the project will require an environmental impact statement, so public comment will be heard.
by Marcia Darnell
Election First
Alamosa will have its first woman mayor, following Kathy Rogers’ election Nov. 3. Alamosa voters also voted no on a new aquatic center, raises for city council members, and opening city boards to non-residents.
Saguache County voters voted to take on more debt to get a BEST grant for the Crestone Charter School, while Mineral County said no to a tax increase for its community center.
In Monte Vista, Art Medina will be the new mayor, while Conejos County voted down increased funds for its hospital.
Mine Drainage Act Passes
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On September 29, the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Remediation Act of 2009 (H.R. 3123) passed in the U.S. House.
The bill had been introduced by 5th Dist. Congressman Lamborn along with a companion bill by Senator Mark Udall.
The bill assigns responsibility for the problematic tunnel to the Bureau of Reclamation who will be in charge of fixing and maintaining the tunnel which has deteriorated over the past 50 years, and caused much alarm in Leadville in 2008 when it began to leak, prompting the Lake County Commissioners to declare a state of emergency.
Solar Farm on tap for 2010
ALAMOSA – A new solar farm is scheduled to be installed across from the current Sun Edison solar farm near Mosca on Hwy 17. The 200-acre project, to be built in 2010, is projected to produce 17 megawatts of sun-generated power and 48,000 megawatt hours by 2011.
Sun Power hopes to create 50 local jobs during the construction phase with several longer-term positions after completion.
