SEEN, HEARD & DONE
CHEERS&JEERS
THE WEEKLY CONVERSATION
edited by RYAN SLABAUGH
Megan Monahan, visiting from Missoula, Mont., gets her gear together prior to hiking up near the closed Collins lift at Wildcat Base at Alta Ski Resort in Utah. Utah received more than 40 inches of snow, while Colorado got a little less.
FIVE THINGS TOP 5 REASONS TO GET A HELMET CAM Because, well, you’re that cool Good for all photography, like that wedding after-party The public is dying to see you fall on skis Not enough equipment to deal with in the first place
CHEERS | To the recent snow that blanketed the region, giving the World Cup snowmakers a bit of a base to build on before the Nov. 22 start of this year’s event. Now, let it snow some more … JEERS | To dog owners who do not pick up after their pets. The recent snow, we’ve noticed, covered up a lot of the grossness. Yet that’s no reason for us to be walking through it on our way to work.
CHEERS | To the Basalt Middle School for its first-ever Lego robotics competition. Now, the team is going to Denver for the state championship. Best idea ever? JEERS | To the naysayers who are fighting the legalization of marijuana. Voters passed it, and last time we checked, voters run the country — not nervous politicians who don’t know what they are talking about.
BUZZ WORTHY B A S A LT
TOWN WON’T LOSE LARGEST EMPLOYER
Basalt’s largest private-sector employer has no intention of moving out of town despite some recent firings and restructuring, according to the company founder and chairman of the board of directors. Total Merchant Service continues to employ close to 200 workers in Basalt and leases about 24,000 square feet of space in the Riverside Plaza building, said Ed Freedman, who founded the company in Philadelphia in 1996 with his brother Matt. They relocated the business to Basalt in 1997 and have been in “constant expansion,” Freedman said. The company supplies the infrastructure and customer-service expertise that
businesses need to process creditcard purchases. Total Merchant Services first rented a 600-square-foot space in Elk Run and then grew into 10,000 square feet in the Riverside Plaza building in 2002. It added 4,000 square feet a year later and then paid an insurance company to leave 6,000 square feet of adjacent space in 2005. Total Merchant Services snagged another 4,000 square feet in the fall of 2007, tapping its expansion possibilities in Basalt. — Scott Condon
CA R B O N D A L E
BUS SYSTEM APPROVES $48.7 MILLION BUDGET
Bus drivers, mechanics and other employees of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority will be
A S P E N T I M E S W E E K LY
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POST US YOUR TOP FIVE THINGS rslabaugh@aspentimes.com
STAY IN THE KNOW — CATCH UP ON RECENT NEWS & LOCAL EVENTS eligible for merit raises of as much as 3 percent next year, according to a budget by the agency passed Thursday. RFTA workers also had the opportunity for 3-percent merit raises this year. The agency had a wage freeze in 2010 and 2011. RFTA’s board of directors, meeting in Carbondale, approved a 48.70 million budget. Fares won’t be raised, but the agency expects fare revenues to increase by 2 percent. A modest increase in sales tax revenues also is expected. Health care premiums will increase by 9 percent. RFTA will maintain current employee contribution amounts. The bus agency’s expansion of service through its bus-rapid-transit project is expected to add 680,000 in operating costs when it starts in September. For a full year, starting in
“THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION NOW SAYS YOU CAN POSSESS AND GROW MARIJUANA FOR YOUR OWN USE, AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THAT.”
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What else could your helmet possibly be for?
2014, the extra operating expense is expected to be 2 million. ASPEN
CEREMONY RECOGNIZES ASPEN VETERANS
More than 70 people ignored bitterly cold weather and an 11 a.m. Denver Broncos start to stand for a Veterans Day ceremony at the Roaring Fork Veterans Memorial near the Pitkin County Courthouse on Nov. 11. They showed up to recognize former members of the nation’s armed forces who fought for the freedoms Americans enjoy today. Aspen veterans from the World War I era all the way up to recent conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan were honored. — Andre Salvail
BRIAN VINCENTE, ATTORNEY FOR POT ADVOCATES, AFTER THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA
AP PHOTO