New VA Tele-Clinic Opens in Salida
SALIDA – The Veteran’s Administration (VA) has opened a new clinic in Salida, which will allow veterans to use special videoconferencing equipment to communicate with doctors at a VA outpatient clinic in Pueblo. There will also be medical personnel on hand to assist veterans at the clinic.
The clinic, one of 10 tele-health clinics the VA plans to open in Colorado, is located the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center campus. Clinic hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. It can be reached at 719-539-8666.
Buena Vista Asks to Share Easement
BUENA VISTA – The town of Buena Vista is hoping to share the Nestlé water line easement across the Arkansas River to provide water to and/or receive water from the east side of the river at some time in the future.
BV Trustees have requested conduit lines be laid in and under the river to accommodate a water line, according to The Mountain Mail.
Nestlé appears to be agreeable to the arrangement but wants the construction to be completed by the end of February. The have submitted a permit to the Army Corps of Engineers for a technical revision to accommodate the request.
Leadville, Aspen to Put Pot on Ballot
LEADVILLE – The cities of Leadville and Aspen will put the question of decriminalizing marijuana on the ballot this coming November.
A “yes” vote would eliminate fines for possession of less than one ounce of the substance by adults under the age of 21 and allowing for its home use.
Voters in the town of Breckenridge voted three to one in favor of decriminalization in November 2009.
Prescription Cards Available
LEADVILLE – Speaking of drugs in Leadville, the city has signed on to a program that offers free prescription drug discount cards to all of its residents through the National League of Cities, according to the Leadville Herald-Democrat.
The cards will offer residents an average savings of 20 percent off the retail price of common prescription drugs and there is no enrollment form or membership fee required in order to obtain a card.
WSC Art Professor Dies
GUNNISON – A popular painter and former Western State art professor has died.
Lud Stromayer passed away on Jan. 8 at the age of 72, according to The Gunnison Country Times. He joined the faculty at WSC in 1972 and taught introduction to art and painting classes.
His work is in collections around the state of Colorado and a permanent collection of his work is held at San Jose State University in California where he once taught.
Car Crashes Into ER
WESTCLIFFE – The entrance to the emergency room at the Custer County Medical Center was pummeled by a hit and run driver sometime between Dec. 26 and Dec. 27.
Damage to the trim and brickwork was reported. The Sheriff’s department was investigating but had no leads, according to the Wet Mountain Tribune.
Foreclosures High in Region
Foreclosure rates reached a record high in Gunnison County in 2009, and in Chaffee County foreclosure rates topped the previous high in 2007.
Gunnison County saw 183 foreclosure starts in 2009, an number larger than any year on record since the early 1980s, according to an article in the Gunnison Country Times.
There were 78 foreclosure filings in Chaffee County in 2009.
Baca Mineral Rights May Be Sold
CRESTONE – An effort to purchase the mineral rights for the Baca Ranch near Crestone from the Canadian firm Lexam is underway.
Residents near the proposed drilling area have been fighting efforts by the company to do exploratory drilling in the area. The price of the mineral rights may be around $10 million and opposition groups hope the federal government will pony up the money as well as bridge funds from individuals.
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction last fall, preventing Lexam from drilling and allow the parties time to work out their differences. Negotiations over the dollar figure for the mineral rights are currently under way.
Former Times Publisher Dies
GUNNISON – Perkins Daugherty Sams, former owner and publisher of the Gunnison Country Times, died on Jan. 3 at the age of 82.
In 1975 Sams and his late wife, Elizabeth Bradley Sams, bought all three newspapers that existed in Gunnison at that time and merged them to form the Gunnison Country Times. He sold the paper in 1990.
Holding Company of Denver Post Files for Bankruptcy
DENVER – Affiliated Media Inc., the holding company for MediaNews Group newspapers which includes The Denver Post, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said it was to file a “prepackaged” plan to help it emerge from bankruptcy.
MediaNews Group, Inc. also publishes the Oakland Tribune (Ca), The San Jose Mercury News (Ca), as well as Prairie Mountain Publishing newspapers including the Boulder Daily Camera and the Estes Park Trail-Gazette, among others.
In the past 13 months at least 13 U.S. newspaper publishers have filed for bankruptcy.
And Then There Were Three
ASPEN – Another candidate has thrown his hat into the ring for the state Senate District 5 seat currently held by Gail Schwartz.
Republican Bob Rankin, an Aspen businessman, has announced he’s running for the seat in November.
Delta County Republican Wayne Wolf has also announced his intention to run.
Hickenlooper’s In
DENVER – Speaking of announcements, Denver mayor and businessman John Hickenlooper has announced his intention to run for the governor’s seat after current Gov. Bill Ritter announced he wouldn’t be seeking a second term.
Democrats initially tried to enlist current Interior Secretary and former Colorado U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, but he declined the offer. Former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who had considered a run for the seat, threw his support behind Hickenlooper. The likely GOP gubernatorial nominee is former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis.
Native Tuition Bill Pulled
DURANGO – A controversial bill which would have impacted American Indian student tuitions at Fort Lewis College in Durango is likely to be killed and its sponsor, Rep. Karen Middleton, D-Aurora, apologized for the way the bill had been presented.
American Indian students attend the college tuition-free as part of FLC’s founding charter. The bill, House Bill 10-1067, would have would reduced the state’s tuition-waiver reimbursements to the school by $3,000 per American Indian student, creating a $1.8 million gap in FLC’s budget.
Isn’t Playing One in Public Also Illegal?
ASPEN – A Denver man who is accused of assaulting another man with a banjo at an Aspen bus stop on New Year’s Eve was given permission to tour while awaiting his next court date Feb. 6.
33-year-old Joseph Stancato allegedly got into a fight with another man and hit him on the head with his instrument. A banjo is considered a “deadly weapon” under Colorado law and Stancato could face prison time.
So This Meteor Crashes Into a Bar …
COLORADO SPRINGS – Patrons at a bar in Colorado Springs were startled after hearing a loud boom around 11:30 p.m., Dec. 30.
They then noticed a four-inch hole in the roof of the Red Rock Lounge and became convinced it was caused by a meteorite, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette.
After five days of investigation, the bar’s owner and local firefighters could not find any evidence to back up the theory. A research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science doubts it was a meteor. “Meteors travel faster than sound, but they become subsonic while still many miles high,” wrote Chris Peterson to the Gazette.
He went on to explain that any sonic boom would have been heard long before the impact, ruling out the possibility that the patrons heard the boom.
Notable Quotes:
“I don’t want to be the town that says, ‘whoops, we made a mistake.’” – Leadville Council Member Lue Ellen Brownlee, an opponent to efforts to decriminalize marijuana in that city. Leadville Herald-Democrat, January 21, 2010.
“No one is putting a muzzle on me. I can go to the microphone. I can talk to folks. And I still have my vote.” — State Rep. Kathleen Curry on her party switch from Democrat to Independent. Gunnison Country Times, Jan. 7, 2010.
