Herald
ENGLEWOOD 3/14/13
Englewood
March 15, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourenglewoodnews.com
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 93, Issue 4
Fire chief prepares to retire Interim leader being appointed as Pattarozzi uses up leave time By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com
Artist Kyle Banister letters a specialty golf cart for the Birmingham (Ala.) Barons minor-league baseball team. He paints a variety of subjects, but any aspect of baseball is his favorite. The artist grew up playing youth baseball at Englewood City Park, which was replaced by the old Cinderalla City mall. Photos by Tom Munds
Sports artist is on the ball Works include portraits, golf carts, drawings By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com Kyle Banister is a full-time artist with many talents and many interests. “I don’t have a favorite medium. I like them all,” he said with a smile. “As for subjects, I like to draw everything I see and I will do artwork on just about anything that stands still long enough for me to get to work.” He uses a variety of mediums including markers, acrylics and enamels and his subjects vary from a painting of a woman done on wood to his artwork on golf carts created for the Birmingham Barons baseball team. But he’ll tell you his favorite subject is baseball. His said his works are where baseball meets art. “I think baseball is the greatest game there is,” he said with a smile. “It’s simply a great metaphor for life. My grandfathers both loved baseball and encouraged me to play even though I was too small to really play the game.” He played youth baseball on the old fields at Englewood City Park, was sold in the 1960s for development of Cinderella City Shopping Mall. That early exposure, he said, planted the seeds of his love for baseball, and he likes to tell stories through his artwork centered on baseball. He said it isn’t just the players, but it also is about art about the inner workings of the game. He said he set out to try to make a living doing baseball art even though there wasn’t a big market for sports art in the Denver area. He said he was fortunate to make good connections doing art focused
Englewood Fire Chief Mike Pattarozzi closed out his office March 8 so he could use up his accumulated leave before he officially retires on July 5. “I have spent all 35 years as a full-time firefighter in Englewood,” he said as he talked about his coming retirement. “It has been a great career that provided the opportunity to work with outstanding people in the department and in the city.” Deputy Chief Dick Petau will serve as interim chief until a permanent leader is named. Pattarozzi said he didn’t imagine a career as a firefighter when he was growing up in Texas. After high school, he earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Trinity University and then went on to earn his master’s in the same field from the University of Texas at Austin. “After graduate school, I took a job with Xcel Energy and was assigned to a post in Louviers,” he said. “That is a great community. Everyone welcomed me and, when I found out just about everyone was part of the volunteer fire department, I felt, as a member of the community, it was the right thing to join the department too.” He said he discovered he liked being a firefighter, and that led to the decision to seek a career change. So he applied and tested to be a full-time firefighter with the Englewood department. He was hired Feb. 16, 1978, and has been with the department ever since. Chief continues on Page 9
The work for local artist Kyle Banister is almost done on one of the two customized golf carts being created for the Birmingham Barons baseball team. on baseball. He also branches out to other sports including wrestling, football and, most recently, hockey. He does some artwork for Root Sports, and a drawing he did for Root Sports of a portrait of Todd Helton done against a background of a baseball scorebook won an Emmy Award. He has a big date on opening day for the Rockies when, for the second year, he will be doing chalk art outside Coors Field. He said it was a hit last year on opening day and he was pleased to be invited back. He said he likes different media and doesn’t have a favorite, and he also is looking for new fields he can explore with his art, which now includes doing body art. Banister said he had the bug to do art since he was a kid but everyone discour-
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aged him, telling him his artistic talents were fine but he couldn’t earn a living as an artist. “I believed them so I never took an art class in high school,” he said. “Instead I took all those classes like algebra that I thought would help me get a steady job.” The former Englewood resident said he never gave up “playing with art” in every job he had, including painting designs on vehicles when he was in the motor pool in the Army. He lettered race cars and, while working for Burt Subaru, painted national ski team designs on their vehicles. He went on to start a sign company, and he said he called himself a graphic designer and not an artist during those years. He said life changed in 2001 when he took some classes and a couple instructors told him he was a good artist. They got behind him and encouraged him to make use of his talents to pursue his desire to be an artist “I followed their advice, entered a couple art shows that led to my first solo art show and kicked off my career as a full-time working artist,” he said. “It was an emotional time and, while it would seem it would be a difficult decision to make such a major career change, it really wasn’t. It was so easy Artist continues on Page 9
Civil unions gain approval Hickenlooper expected to sign landmark bill By Vic Vela
vvela@ourcoloradonews.com For gay couples in Colorado, the third time turned out to be the charm. Legislation that legalizes civil unions has now cleared the state General Assembly, following passage through the House of Representatives on March 12. The passage follows two unReport successful attempts at getting the bill through prior legislative sessions. The measure now goes to Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is expected to sign it. “We are fulfilling a promise we made at the end of the last session, and we made to the people of Colorado, that we would get this done,” said House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver. “And now, it’s headed to the governor’s desk.” Senate Bill 11, which would allow gay couples to enter into commitments that are similar to marriage, passed the House on a
Capitol
Bill continues on Page 9