YEAR IN REVIEW
EDITION VOL. 142. NO. 52 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2023 | $1.00
GVH staff stress eases in 2023 Over $1 million less spent on travelers Abby Harrison Times Staff Writer
Despite another long year of persistent staffing shortages, Gunnison Valley Health has received its best employee engagement score in recent LIGHT UP THE NIGHT: Members of the Resiliency Project arranged a labyrinth of luminaria at IOOF Park on Dec. 21 to celebrate the winter solstice. Community members were invited to help light them. (Photo by Mariel Wiley)
GVH staff A6
Gunnison Arts Center phase four TODAY renovations on schedule INSIDE
A look back at the top stories and photos of 2023
NEWS: Blue Mesa’s miracle recovery, A14
Construction surprises add nearly $400,000 to project cost Abby Harrison Times Staff Writer
COMMUNITY: A new era for Parker Pastures, A9
Behind the boarded up windows of the Gunnison Arts Center, demolition on the historic building’s ground level has been underway through the fall
and into the winter season. Crews completed demolition before the ground froze and will work through the winter to have all major construction done by July, with all work completed by 2025. The project is currently in its fourth and final phase of construction, the renovation of the Black Box Theater and Main Gallery. Intervening walls were taken down, revealing stone walls and foundations that are more than 100 years old. But complications arose GAC A7
The Gunnison Arts Center renovation has exposed original stone walls and flooring that are over 100 years old. (Photo by Abby Harrison)
Western attempts to repatriate Native American remains held in museum SPORTS: A year in photos, B1
OBITUARIES A2, A3 OPINION A4 CLASSIFIEDS A16-A18 SPORTS B4 ONLINE GUNNISONTIMES.COM
State grant aims to help return ancestors for proper burial
Abby Harrison Times Staff Writer
In 1946, the partial remains of 25 Native American people arrived at Western Colorado University wrapped in newspaper and bundled in cardboard produce boxes. It’s a story that mirrors thousands of others around the country. One where looters unearthed and stole the bones of Native American
people for show. Tens of thousands of remains were sold at yard sales or kept in private collections for decades until the federal government mandated they be returned. At Western, those skulls were kept in the basement of the CT Hurst Museum for 90 years. In 2019, a teacher and graduate student opened the heavy door leading to the museum’s inventory and realized just what it was holding. After an unsuc-
cessful attempt to comply with the law in the mid-90s, Western is once again preparing to return those individuals home. In August of this year, the university received a $81,000 grant from Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) that will allow faculty to start consulting with tribal representatives. “We’re trying to do the ethical thing,” said anthropology Western A6