Briefs by Martha Quillen
Regional Roundup – February 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
Weather Woes
A change in Central Colorado’s weather has brought both welcome moisture and additional misery this winter. According to The Mountain Mail, chances for a good spring run-off — and consequently for improved reservoir storage this year — are good.
Last year, a long-term drought had depleted ground water and left reservoirs half-empty, despite better rainfall in 2004 (and the San Luis Valley was still getting inadequate precipitation). Thus recent heavy snows have brought optimism.
“Snowpack up, drought softens,” The Mountain Mail declared on January 14, describing the snowpack in the Arkansas basin as 129 percent of normal at that point, and saying it was 175 percent of average in the Gunnison, Upper Rio Grande, San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan river basins. The snow was also welcome at the ski areas.
But the wet weather brought slippery roads and avalanches, too, including a fairly serious one that buried 200 yards of highway and a vehicle on Monarch Pass on January 10. According to bystanders, however, the driver of the vehicle escaped through a window right before his vehicle became stuck in sliding snow.
In the following days, avalanche danger actually increased as the snow kept coming, and it remains high. By presstime the clouds had cleared (at least temporarily), but outdoor recreationists in both Colorado and Utah were being warned to be extremely cautious.
Good and Bad News for Westcliffe Library Patrons
The Westcliffe public library is being expanded, rewired, recarpeted, repainted, and is getting a new furnace. But removing the west wall would generate dust and might even pose some danger, so the library closed on January 10 — and it may be closed for several months.
In late December, the Wet Mountain Tribune informed would-be patrons that they could return books to the drop box, and that anyone with an urgent need for something inside the building could call Marty Frick, the librarian. But it was unclear whether a severe case of cabin fever would constitute “an urgent need.”
More Good and Bad News
According to a January Denver Post story, foreclosures were up 30% in metro counties in 2004, despite a healthy rise in the number of home resales there. The Post explained that foreclosures are a “lagging economic indicator, often coming several months after homeowners have lost jobs and exhausted means to hold on to their homes.”
On the same page, however, the Post declared that mountain home sales had sizzled. In fact, “Baby boomers fueled the record year for Colorado mountain real estate as many shunned stocks for a more tangible investment.”
Unfortunately, however, that conclusion was based on seven Colorado resort areas: Grand, Summit, Routt, Eagle, Pitkin, and San Miguel counties, and “the Crested Butte region.”
Note how Gunnison County, home of Crested Butte, is the only county not viewed as a whole? Our region is clearly a mixed bag, made up of resort-reliant communities which are not always regarded as resort communities. Although we have some spectacular scenery, we don’t enjoy the prosperity of the leading Colorado resorts.
And that’s a mixed bag, too. It would be nice if our counties could generate higher per capita income, but very few locals want more real estate development.
Bus Blues
An Alpine Express bus headed back to Gunnison from Crested Butte ran off the road and rolled on December 19. Although the roads were dry, the driver apparently swerved off the pavement while trying to adjust the heat, and was subsequently cited for careless driving.
Although there were numerous injuries among the sixteen passengers, none were critical. But two weeks later, the Gunnison Country Times reported that “Bus crash victims struggle to heal.”
As it turned out, fourteen of the crash victims were resort workers who could not speak English, and even though they all had proper authorization to work in the U.S., they didn’t have the means to pay for their treatment.
According to Luke Danielson, an attorney who represented eight of the victims: “They’re hurting. They’re in pain. They can’t work, so they can’t afford to stay. But since they haven’t been able to work they can’t afford to go home, either.”
A member of the Gunnison County Multi-cultural Center, which helped the Spanish-speaking residents with translation, told the Times that it was unclear why the bus company or its insurance provider hadn’t immediately picked up the bills.
But Danielson praised the Gunnison community for being “wonderfully supportive,” in helping the injured workers through tough times.
Costs Keep Climbing
The price of utilities and services just keeps spiraling, but in December The Mountain Mail announced charges from a hitherto benevolent source. The CSU Cooperative Extension offices have long offered free courses and workshops, but the Extension service will now attempt to recoup some of its costs due to state budget limitations. The new user fee program aims to recover “a minimum goal of $150,000 to as much as $300,000 in revenue by July.”
Because of differing needs, fees will be evaluated on a county by county basis. And according to the Mail, state director Milan Rewarts said, “We will not prohibit those who cannot afford to pay for the programs from participating.”
One suspects, however, that a considerable percentage of those who can’t afford all of the escalating prices imposed on them in recent years, won’t ask for discounts. As usual, they’ll either pay the price or do without.
Child’s Play?
On January 8, a 10-year-old Hartsel boy apparently shot his 8-year-old brother in the groin, after fetching a loaded rifle out from under his parents’ bed to play with. The victim was taken to Vail Valley Hospital, where he subsequently underwent surgery.
According to the January 14 Fairplay Flume, Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said the department thought the shooting was an accident, but “he does not understand why the parents failed to call 9-1-1 or why they drove their child to Breckenridge rather than stopping in Fairplay.” At that point, no decisions had been made regarding charges.
More Childs’ Play
The January 6 Leadville Herald Democrat police blotter contained a trio of stories which featured youngsters.
“Charges are pending in an incident where a woman reported her daughter, 15, as a runaway, although apparently the mother knew that the daughter hadn’t run away,” the Herald reported. “The girl returned to the house the next day and was allowed to pack a bag and leave again. Apparently the mother told the girl she’d have to pay rent if she stayed.” Then when the police asked the mother to pick the girl up, the woman said she didn’t want her daughter and refused.
According to another police blotter entry in the same paper, a Leadville mother called the police to report a 13-year-old runaway on December 31, but the boy called his home soon after officers arrived there. The juvenile wouldn’t say where he was, but caller ID supplied that information, so the police called the number. The mother of a 15-year-old friend answered and said she’d told her daughter to drive the boy home.
En route, however, the boy and his friend jumped out. Officer Tony Lobato located them again, but both boys appeared to be intoxicated, and were not co-operative. One boy struck Lobato, but the officer got him pinned against the car, whereupon the other boy attacked from behind and hit Lobato three times. Two more officers arrived to assist, and the two boys were taken to jail, where they threatened the jailers and others, “cursing at them,” and telling Sheriff Ed Holte they were going to shoot him.
Then the Herald Democrat continued: “One boy exposed himself and began urinating on the floor. Another spit at the booking officer, and was subsequently fitted with a spitting guard.
“Both boys’ mothers were called and the decision was made to transport both boys to Mountain View [a detention facility].”
“… There was also damage to the patrol car during the arrest,” the newspaper report concluded.
But that wasn’t the end of the juvenile news in the January 6th police blotter. A December 14th incident report read:
“Officer Calvin Dawe was called to the middle school on a report that a girl had brought marijuana to school.
“It turned out the girl had taken her mother’s marijuana because she didn’t want her mother smoking it. In a meeting between the girl, 12, and her mother, the girl agreed to stop smoking regular cigarettes and her mother agreed to stop smoking pot….”
And people say Hollywood is decadent.
It’s enough to make one wonder whether Leadville really belongs in our backwater region after all.
Pestilence
The good news is: Chronic Wasting Disease was not found in any new areas this hunting season. (Although the number of deer and elk submitted for testing was down this year — due primarily to the end of mandatory testing.)
The bad news is: A 62-year-old hunter died on December 8th, after contracting the plague in Park County. The man took four rabbits he’d shot in Park County to a testing facility in Pueblo, and two tested positive for plague, which was later determined to be the cause of the hunter’s death. The December 17 Fairplay Flume warned that anyone experiencing possible symptoms of plague should seek medical help immediately, because the disease is curable if caught soon enough.
Then the December 24 Flume followed up with a story of a cat with the plague. Apparently, in November a mostly indoor cat was treated at the Lone Rock Veterinary Hospital for plague, after he developed a high fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, and a swollen lymph node on one side of his neck.
Upon examination, the vet found an unusual lesion in the cat’s mouth, and subsequently sent blood samples out for testing. According to Dr. Lori Johnson, the veterinarian, the owners were in no real danger from their pet, since the plague occurs from flea bites or contact with bodily fluids, and the owners were not in contact with their pet’s bodily fluids or the flea-ridden rodent that infected the cat.
Dr. Johnson encouraged people to seek immediate medical care if their cats showed any plague symptoms, and also urged people to deal with rodent infestations. But then she warned that Decon can also be deadly to pets….
And, of course, even though the Flume didn’t say so, handling dead rodents can be risky, too….
And the Flume also warned that “Pulmonic Plague, a highly contagious form in which animals die rapidly … represents a real threat to human beings.”
Whitewater Rights
In December, the Chaffee County Commissioners agreed to file for a 2004 recreational in-channel diversion water right. Such water rights are granted to protect boating parks and recreational investments. The Mountain Mail reported that most people at the meeting favored the action, but some thought it might prove too costly.
Of course, eventually losing the water would prove costly, too…. So the City of Salida and the Town of Buena Vista both approved resolutions supporting the county filing.
Also in December, Gunnison’s Recreation In-Channel Diversion was being discussed before the Colorado Supreme Court. According to the December 16 Gunnison Country Times, the case will decide whether the right ensures heavy flows or merely a minimal guarantee of water.
The District Water Court granted a right with a seasonal flow that included up to 1,500 cubic feet per second in June. But the Colorado Conservation Board (CWCB) recommended a flat water right of 250 cfs from May through September. The CWCB appealed the District Court ruling, claiming that such a large water right could jeopardize future “in-basin and transbasin” water uses.
More Water Sports
South Park’s new Rec Center opened in December with a VIP tour and celebration, followed by a series of public tours, as the building awaited its certificate of occupancy. The 10,000 square-foot facility includes a pool, open exercise area, changing rooms, showers, lockers, and a community room for area events. The grand, grand opening was scheduled for January.
