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Boulder County’s True Independent Voice <FREE> <www.boulderweekly.com> June 24 - 30, 2010

Boulder’s hottest duo gives an exclusive tour of Streets of Gold

Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman are 3OH!3

by David Accomazzo

ALSO INSIDE

Tom Carr, one of Seattle’s most controversial politicians, is Boulder’s new city attorney

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contents boulderweekly.com

news & views Arizona’s immigration law / 6 Why Washington should stay out of the fight by Tamar Jacoby A sobering look at Tom Carr / 14 Seattle’s controversial politician is Boulder’s new city attorney by Dominic Holden

buzz On the cover: Rockin’ out in a cabin / 20 3OH!3 gives Boulder Weekly exclusive tour of Streets of Gold by David Accomazzo Fiction: Longmont’s Leslie Goodwin wins BW’s Flash Fiction Contest / 26 Arts & Culture: REEFER MANIA! is your grandmother on drugs / 27 Overtones: Sonic Bloom Festival celebrates fifth birthday / 28 Panorama: What to do and where to go / 31 Elevation: In the East Rampart Roadless Area, solitude rules / 41 Cuisine: ZisBoomBah delivers nutrition tool for kids / 45 Cuisine review: Sun Deli, Pizza and Liquor / 47 Tidbites: Food happenings around town / 48 Dessert Diva: Chocolate No-Bake Cookies / 49 Screen: Toy Story 3; Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work / 53 Reel 2 Reel: Pick your flick / 54

departments Letters: Don’t forget autistic adults; Here’s what Palin would do / 5 The Highroad: Chevrolet crashes Chevy / 5 News Briefs: Alfalfa’s returns; City seeks public input on Xcel / 10 Police Blotter: Attempted murder; Trailhead knife-wielder / 11 In Case You Missed It: Let him scrub pelicans; What rapists deserve / 13 Boulderganic: Reap what county farms offer / 19 Sophisticated Sex: Sloppy seconds / 39 Classifieds: Your community resource / 57 Free Will Astrology: by Rob Brezsny / 61

staff Publisher,, Stewart Sallo Editor Editor, Pamela White Managing Editor, Jefferson Dodge Arts & Entertainment Editor, David Accomazzo Special Editions/Calendar Editor, Katherine Creel Office Manager/Advertising Assistant, Casey Modrzewski Online Editor, Quibian Salazar-Moreno Editorial Interns, Eli Boonin-Vail, Katelyn Feldhaus, Heather May Koski Contributing Writers, Rob Brezsny, Chris Callaway, April Charmaine, Ben Corbett, Paul Danish, James Dziezynski, Christina Eisert, Clay Fong, Charmaine Ortega Getz, Margaret Grondorf, Jim Hightower, Adrienne Saia Isaac, Gene Ira Katz, David Kirby, P.J. Nutting, Brian Palmer, Adam Perry, Danette Randall, Alan Sculley, Isaac Woods Stokes, Gary Zeidner Production Manager, Dave Kirby Art Director, Susan France Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman Circulation Manager, Cal Winn Inside Sales Manager, David Hasson Associate Director of Sales & Marketing, Dave Grimsland Senior Advertising Executive, Allen Carmichael Account Executives, Rich Blitz, Joe Miller, Francie Swidler Circulation Team, Halka Brunerova, Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, Alan Jones, George LaRoe Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Lowell Schaefer, Karl Schleinig Assistant to the Publisher & Heiress, Julia Sallo 10-Year-Old, Mia Rose Sallo June 24, 2010 Volume XVII, Number 46 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit www.boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper. 690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com

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in case you missed it

Let him scrub pelicans If you’re BP CEO Tony Hayward, life is sweet. Your company can be responsible for 11 people’s deaths and one of the biggest ecological disasters in human history, and there’s still time in your life to watch your 52-foot yacht compete in a ritzy yacht race. Yes, that’s what he did. Fresh off saying he wanted to resolve the oil spill problem so that he could have his life back — that took a lot of gall, considering those 11 dead BP employees will never get their lives back — Hayward took a day off and spent a little miniholiday watching his yacht “Bob” race against other yachts off the south coast of England. “Crass bastard” doesn’t even begin to describe this guy. The man’s behavior is so inexcusably callous that BP has removed him from representing the company when it comes to the oil spill. This probably gives Hayward exactly what he wanted — less time answering annoying questions about the oil spill and more time pursuing the kinds of meaningless activities that are popular with the criminally rich. BP made a lame attempt to stand Boulder Weekly

up for their boss, explaining that this was Hayward’s first day off since the deep-sea rig exploded on April 20. But excuse us if we don’t care. Hayward doesn’t deserve a moment’s rest until he’s spent a few months suited up, scrubbing dying seabirds, cleaning oil off the beach and comforting those who’ve lost income, livelihoods and loved ones.

Top 10 Stories Week of June 17 - June 24 1. Autism 101 Stephanie Rochester’s story, even if she is found innocent, even if her baby didn’t have autism, is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to highlight the need for more support and resources for such developmental disabilities — not just financial, but emotional, and not just for the patient, but for the families. 2. What would Sarah do? 3. Panorama (6/17) 4. Concrete Blonde tours for the fun of it 5. Best of Boulder 2010 6. Astrology (6/17) 7. Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae rock Denver’s Fillmore 8. Backstreet Boys aren’t backing down 9. It’s a piece of history 10. How drunk are you?

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What rapists deserve A South African doctor has devoted 40 years of her life to finding a way to give rapists what they deserve, and finally she’s come up with something: a female condom with “teeth.” Dr. Sonnet Ehlers, who began this quest after caring for a devastated rape victim in the hospital, has developed a tool that provides rapists with instant justice. The device, called Rape-aXe, is a latex condom lined with jagged rows of teeth-like hooks that attach to the rapist’s weapon of choice — his penis — and which cannot be removed without the help of a doctor. If he tries to yank it off, the teeth bite deeper. Oh, the beauty of it! “It hurts,” Ehlers told CNN. “And he cannot pee or walk when it’s on.” Ehlers says she hopes that police will be standing by while the devices are removed, ready to arrest the perpetrators. Not all women’s advocates are excited about Ehlers’ invention. Some say the device makes women a slave to fear, and others say it will leave women subject to additional violence at the hands of their attackers. But South African women — like women in Uganda’s IDP camps, in wartorn Somalia and so many other places — already live their lives in constant fear of rape. South Africa’s rape rate is more than twice that of the United States. The announcement prompted posts on the Internet from folks suggesting that these women should carry guns instead of walking around with armored vaginas. They say that a bullet to the head would provide better justice than a painful Chinese penis puzzle. That’s a nice idea — except that women as desperately poor as these simply don’t have access to firearms. That’s part of what makes them so vulnerable. Ehlers hopes to distribute the devices for about $2 each. She deserves the Nobel Prize. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com

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Spotlight

Life is as cheap as a tweet Last Thursday, Utah’s attorney general, Mark Shurtleff, demonstrated the cheapness of human life when he used his Twitter account, @MarkShurtleff, to announce that he’d decided to go ahead with the execution of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner. Using his iPhone, he summed up his decision like this: “I just gave the go ahead to the Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.” (Quipped NPR’s blog, The TwoWay: “That’s supposed to be @God, isn’t it?”) It’s tempting to think that Shurtleff tweeted about this because having the power to choose life or death for another human being bothered him and he sought redemption through public confession. But that’s unlikely. Still he should remember this: Both he and the state of Utah had the ability to grant Gardner the very mercy that Shurtleff called upon so publicly. It’s sad to see that human life has become so cheap that the decision to execute a man requires only 140 characters these days.

Stories

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June 24, 2010 13

A sobering look at Tom Carr One of Seattle’s most controversial (and unpopular) politicians is about to become Boulder’s city attorney by Dominic Holden

om Carr was hoping for another win last November. Inside a Greek pizzeria, surrounded by supporters wearing pastel button-ups and talking baseball, Carr waited for the election results. This could be his third term as Seattle’s city attorney, a position that commands heavy sway over the city’s approach to policy and crime. The numbers came in at 8:17 p.m.; Carr was losing by 23 points. That chasm would spread to 28 points by the time the election was certified. Nobody could recall a sitting politician in Seattle losing by such a wide margin — nearly two-to-one. “I’m stunned,” said Pete Holmes, Carr’s challenger, who had no background in politics. “I thought this would be a tight race.” Carr chalked up his drubbing to “an antiincumbent year.” He planned to “go skiing for a couple months,” he said, “then go get a job.” A few months passed, and on May 17 the Boulder City Council gave Carr that job — and not far from good skiing. At a meeting that ran until midnight, the council members unanimously appointed Carr as Boulder’s next city attorney, a position with considerable power. Starting July 1, Carr will oversee a staff of 17 people in Boulder who draft laws for the City Council, craft rules on how bars can operate and where pot shops can open, decide when to defend the city from lawsuits and when to settle out of court, and prosecute people who break the law. He will decide which businesses face strict regulations and which don’t. He will decide who gets charged with a crime and who doesn’t. He will make $170,000 a year. “I don’t think someone should be branded for life because he lost an election,” says Boulder Deputy Mayor Ken Wilson, who was particularly impressed by Carr’s ideas to regulate bars and defend the city’s ban on camping. “In the last month we have seen some pretty good incumbents lose at the federal level because people wanted change.” But it’s not simply that Carr lost an election. Nor that it was the first time a sitting city attorney had lost in 30 years. It’s why he lost. Carr had embroiled himself, over eight years in

office, in several of the most incendiary controversies in Seattle — crusading against bars and nightlife, shielding government records from the public and losing cases that cost the city millions of dollars. Cleve Stockmeyer was one of Carr’s big early supporters, an attorney who sat on Carr’s steering committee when he first ran for office in 2001, but who later became one of Carr’s loudest critics. “He embodied the arrogance of power, something that both liberals and conservatives hate in America,” Stockmeyer says. After several years in office (Carr ran unopposed in 2005), “enough people experienced his bad lawyering and scorched-earth tactics that people got a sense that he wasn’t doing a good job,” he says.

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14 June 24, 2010

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“I think Tom brings some new ideas and a lot of experience, and we’ll just see where he can help us.” —Boulder Deputy Mayor Ken Wilson

Several missteps turned into major news stories. Most notorious was a sting called “Operation Sobering Thought.” In 2007, Carr and the Seattle Police Department claimed that two dozen people either illegally served minors or let undercover officers who didn’t have valid ID into bars. But the campaign was widely considered overzealous and sloppy. Among the follies, police jailed a bar employee for 11 hours, allegedly for serving a drink to a drunk man — which would be considered over-service — but the Seattle Times wrote that the police report says the bartender “poured him a glass of water.” Carr charged the bartenders and doormen with gross misdemeanors, punishable by a year in jail, but not a single case resulted in a conviction. Some cases were tossed out. One jury found a man not guilty in 20 minutes; two cases ended in mistrials. As a deluge of public criticism swelled — the entire sting appeared to be politically timed one week before the Seattle City Council

was set to vote on strict new rules for nightclubs — Carr offered slap-on-the-wrist plea agreements for lesser charges to 17 of the defendants, most of whom had no criminal history. Just before the election last year, Carr faced more cries of political motivation against bars. An assistant attorney at Carr’s office warned bar owners — who had overwhelmingly come out to support Carr’s opponent — that police would approach apparently intoxicated pedestrians, ask them where they’ve been drinking, and try to shut down any bars they name. Carr claimed problems of over-service at bars in the Capitol Hill neighborhood were linked to rising assaults and robberies. But police records showed that robberies and assaults in the neighborhood were actually down. In the arena of open government, Carr refused to provide legal protection to members of a board that oversees the Seattle Police Department’s misconduct investigations, who could have been sued when they issued reports. The result, in effect, was to block the police-misconduct information from going public. The Seattle Times also lambasted Carr for successfully fighting to withhold public documents all the way up to the state’s supreme court, while later saying that the city had to release names of members of a gay group of city employees (to an anti-gay activist who requested them). “When the disclosure law was aimed at the government, Carr defended the government; when it was aimed at city employees in their private concerns, he didn’t defend them,” the paper’s editorial board wrote. And in the arena of the press, Carr subpoenaed three reporters from the Seattle Times to name their confidential sources in court, only backing off after the newspaper insisted journalists have a legal shield from requests for private information. “This isn’t like he did something one time that was a scandal or unpopular; it is that he was an ineffective city attorney,” says David Meinert, an owner of Seattle restaurants and bars and a leader of the Seattle Nightlife and Music Association. “People in Seattle were soundly — I mean overwhelmingly — against his policy when it came to these law-and-order politics.”

Boulder Weekly

In cases where the city had been sued, some say Carr was notorious for going too far. Balloon artist “Magic Mike” Berger sued the city in 2002, claiming that officials at the Seattle Center (a 74-acre park in the middle of the city with several performance venues) had infringed on his constitutional rights when they required him to buy a permit and stand in one spot to blow balloons. Berger lost his case at first but challenged the ruling. Carr’s office fought Berger all the way into federal court — losing when a panel of judges ruled that parks are locations “where a speaker’s First Amendment protections reach their zenith.” After losing, Carr’s office said it was considering appealing the case up to the U.S. Supreme Court. “He took not only unpopular positions, but he took positions that crossed constitutional lines, which triggered lawsuits that cost the city millions of dollars,” says Meinert. Carr defended the city’s decision to impound vehicles driven by people with a suspended license (such as drivers who failed to pay traffic tickets). The state supreme court tossed out the law — which essentially skipped due process by seizing people’s property on the spot — and a judge later decided against the city, ruling it had to pay up to $1.3 million in settlements. In another instance, last year Carr refused to settle out of court in the case of an out-of town firefighter who, in the dark of night, fell down a 15-foot pole hole that lacked a barrier. The firefighter, who suffered permanently debilitating bone and brain damage, and his attorney offered to accept $8 million in exchange for dropping the case. Carr didn’t budge. And a jury — in what was widely seen as a penalty against the city — awarded the man $12.75 million. Even then, Carr’s office issued a statement saying it was “reviewing options for appeal.” The city spent $526,000 on the case in attorney fees. During Carr’s time in office, the city spent an estimated $32.5 million on outside attorney fees and $63 million on judgments and settlements. “He would take a loss before he would compromise on a case and had done so on several occasions,” says David Osgood, an attorney who defended several cases against Carr. Seattle City Council Member Nick Licata (one of several local incumbents who held their seats by a wide margin last November in the socalled “anti-incumbent year”), says, “Substance was an issue for sure, but style played a major role.” He says Carr was “just too used to seeing things his way, and he thought his way was the right way.” The question is: What will Carr do in Boulder? * * * “We have a lot of bars near the university and a lot of rental properties that become party houses,” says Wilson, who as deputy mayor serves on Boulder Weekly

City Council. “It has been a long struggle.” Alcohol consumption near the University of Colorado campus — over-service, underage drinking, binge drinking, riots — has been a notoriously contentious issue in Boulder’s University Hill neighborhood over the years. “I actually live on the Hill,” adds Wilson. “I’m an expert on the subject.” The City Council asked the three finalist candidates — including acting Boulder City Attorney David Gehr and the current city attorney of Springfield, Mo., Daniel Wichmer — about their strategies for addressing the problem, Wilson says. “I felt that Tom Carr had a good, progressive attitude about holding the bars accountable for being good establishments, not over-serving and holding them to the law.” Wilson added that Carr talked about “good neighbor agreements,” which are contracts with bar owners required for the city to give its approval for liquor licenses, “and we have tried to use those also, so I think he can help us with that.” Was the council concerned about Carr’s history with nightlife in Seattle? “I looked briefly at some of the reporting on that, and it sounded like he had a pretty strong stance, and some bar owners didn’t like that and organized against him,” Wilson says. “We saw his career as a whole and saw it as being positive.” Carr also impressed the council with his take on dealing with the city’s estimated 150 to 200 homeless people. Boulder prohibits people from sleeping in parks or any public space — a crime punishable by a citation. “Some of the homeless people are saying it is against the Constitution to prevent people from sleeping in parks,” Wilson says, “and there have been threats of lawsuits from the ACLU.” Each candidate had a chance to make a 15-minute presentation to the council on any one of a variety of topics. “Tom picked homeless camping issues,” says Wilson. “He was confident that the city camping law was legal and defensible.” “You can get into the national forest in six miles or less,” Wilson adds, noting that buses get very close to the woods. So if you don’t have a place to sleep, you have to leave town and take your chances in the wilderness? “That’s the law,” says Wilson. Carr has been picked, in part, because he intends to defend that law and hold bars accountable with his signature good neighbor agreements. Lisa Morzel, a progressive member of the City Council, says she didn’t know about Carr’s trouble in Seattle. Morzel says Carr gave her the impression that “he would try to find a resolution before going to litigation,” she says. “I just thought he sounded very experienced. He had a

lot of background and seemed like he would be a really good candidate.” * * * Morzel is right: Carr, 53, has an impressive background. Born and raised in New York City, Carr was an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, where he handled civil cases. In Seattle, he was a partner at the Seattle law firm Barrett Gilman & Ziker. And, earning his environmental cred, he chaired the development authority in charge of building a lengthy Seattle monorail line (which was never built due to financial complications). After winning office as the city attorney in 2001, Carr was light-footed at first. Among his accomplishments: He helped start a community court that connects offenders with services, keeping them out of jail and reducing recidivism; he negotiated an agreement to allow Tent City 3, a nomadic group of homeless campers, to set down temporary stakes while still within the bounds of Seattle law; he worked on a drug-market program to get dealers off the streets and into services; and he took a hard line on drunk drivers and men engaging in domestic abuse. Carr has said that in controversial cases he was in a difficult position, forced to defend the city regardless of how unpopular it may be. “There is an ethical obligation to defend your clients,” Carr said last summer. “My view is that the role of the city attorney is to work with the policymakers.” In April, he told the Daily Camera that much of the election coverage was “blown out of proportion,” and, “There was a lot of rhetoric that went around.” Even Carr’s critics universally recognize that Carr is quite brilliant. Licata calls him “hardworking.” Another Seattle City Council member, Tom Rasmussen, endorsed Carr in his re-election bid, citing his outstanding advocacy for victims of domestic violence and violent crimes. But shortly after giving an endorsement speech last summer, Rasmussen also commented on the behavior of Carr on a panel that oversaw marijuana enforcement. He said Carr was “shocking,” “inappropriate” and “very rude.” And Osgood, the attorney representing defendants charged by Carr, echoes, “He’s been very thinskinned and quick to anger. He carries a grudge.” Carr’s biggest supporters wouldn’t comment on his accomplishments for this story. The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, which stumped hard for Carr and against his opponent last fall, didn’t return e-mails. Carr’s number-one ally on the city council, Tim Burgess, a former cop and chair of the public safety committee, refused to comment because he didn’t want to meddle in Boulder’s politics, he says. Carr didn’t respond to requests for comment either. * * * Carr’s responsibilities in Boulder will be June 24, 2010 15

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essentially the same responsibilities that he had in Seattle. This breaks down, roughly speaking, into three categories: defending the city in civil litigation if someone sues and representing the city when, say, someone reneges on a contract; drafting contracts and writing legislation at the request of the council (including SmartRegs, which requires landlords to meet efficiency standards by insulating attics, filling cracks in the walls, etc.); and prosecuting defendants in Boulder’s municipal court, which handles citations against homeless people who fall asleep on city property, people arrested for assault, minors caught drinking booze and other low-level offenders. Since his legacy in Seattle is tethered to his handling of nightlife, and because Wilson cited Carr’s thoughts on dealing with bars — particularly “good neighbor agreements” — as a reason for appointing Carr, that issue warrants further examination. “Probably 90 percent of our police calls are alcohol-related,” says Wilson, citing problems with sexual assaults and fights. Bars have clashed with the city’s attempts to regulate them in the past, including Thunderbird Burger and BBQ, which successfully sued about three years ago when the city tried to restrict hours of service at a new location. But officials are still debating the implication of that ruling. Wilson believes the city may have influence over bars by changing land-use rules. “We are looking at closing times and zoning rules and where you can put bars,” Wilson says. “That is very much up in the air. “I think Tom brings some new ideas and a lot of experience, and we’ll just see where he can help us,” Wilson continues. “I’d be interested in hearing what was tried in Seattle in the past. There are big differences in the law, I’m sure, but I’m sure he can tell us what the differences are and have some solutions for us to think about.” Epitomizing Carr’s approach to dealing with bars and nightlife — aside from his work with cops on bar stings and prosecuting violators — was his zeal for so-called “good neighbor agreements,” essentially contracts that a restaurant or bar owner must sign before the city gives the green light for the state to issue a liquor permit. Most egregious, according to nightlife advocates, was one he drafted for a bar called Twist. That agreement mandated — among 54 specific regulations — that no doors or windows could ever be open, no dancing was allowed, and that staff had to wear “finely tailored black suits.” And the Blue Moon, a bar

where officers had made undercover busts for a total of less than one ounce of marijuana, was pressured to sign an agreement that required the owner to pay for any security employed by a neighborhood association, and that bar security had to carry “a high-beam flashlight.” The Blue Moon’s owner refused to sign the agreement. Some agreements didn’t work. “Even though he has imposed these over-the-top top good neighbor agreements on all sorts of nightclubs, the neighbors weren’t happier. They didn’t solve the problems,” says Meinert, citing a growing sense of street disorder in Seattle’s club district of Belltown. “He not only goes too far, but his solutions are ineffective.” “I’d have to say it’s the city attorney’s personal vendetta,” state Rep. Ken Jacobsen told the Seattle Weekly in 2006, when asked about the Blue Moon contract. If you’re looking for insight into his hard-nosed perspective on alcohol, Carr shed some light when he was addressing an organization of women voters last fall. Carr said that his father, an alcoholic, died of an alcohol-related accident falling down a flight of stairs when Carr was 14 years old. “I don’t talk about this much,” he said. “When I was a kid, police would come to my house a lot. Back then, police would show up and just tell my dad to quiet down.” Chris Emma, a leader of the Boulder-based Responsible Hospitality Group, a coalition of about 45 restaurants of the city’s 270 licensed establishments, says, “We know what hurts our business in terms of overregulation. I guess if any new city attorney were to come to town and come out of the box wielding a sword and try to assert his authority, he would be met with a little more organized group of operators.” Emma adds, “I think we would want to approach someone who took a heavy-handed approach to get them at the table and start talking. He would probably want to listen to what we have to say because we have a pretty big stake in the economy.” However, Carr hasn’t always taken kindly to dealing with bar operators. In October 2007, a group of bar owners was trying to negotiate less restrictive terms on a nightlife license. An e-mail reportedly sent by Carr to city staff said, “Abandon all attempts to collaborate with the nightlife industry. Any negotiations at this point would come only from a position of weakness.” Carr, according to the e-mail, then called on them to “increase regulatory enforcement.” Carr did not respond to a request Boulder Weekly

last fall to confirm whether he wrote the e-mail. Some bars struggled to stay afloat. The owner of the Blue Moon sold his business. “If they want to kill nightlife in Boulder — make bars go away, make music venues go away — Tom Carr is your guy,” Meinert says. While he may be directed by the City Council to require “good neighbor agreements,” Carr won’t have direct authority over issuing liquor licenses (a city licensing authority does that). However, “When you apply for your liquor license, anyone in the community could oppose a liquor license for whatever reason,” says Boulder city spokesman Patrick von Keyserling. “Then the state liquor authority decides if would be granted.” (Carr has objected to liquor licenses in Seattle.) Carr’s authority over liquor would come largely, von Keyserling says, from “zoning that [bars] would have to comply with, and they would have to go through the city beverage licensing authority to determine if a license would be granted.” In Seattle, Carr “was going in and telling restaurants that they were not restaurants and they were improperly zoned,” says Osgood. In the case of the Mexican restaurant El Chupacabra, one of Carr’s assistant attorneys announced one day that it needed a different sort of license, says Osgood, who served as the restaurant’s attorney. He adds that under those sorts of pressures, “you have no certainty of your status of your ability to do business.” Hillary Griffith, who sits on the University Hill Commercial Area Management Commission, says that alcohol is a valuable way for restaurants to stay in business. “It is hard for them to economically survive if alcohol is not partly a component. Bands cost a lot of money, and you have got to find a way to fund that,” she says. But the Hill neighborhood residents are well-organized and fed up with the ravages of binge-drinking. “As a commissioner, I am hearing from people outside the area and neighborhood who think that people have cracked down too hard, businesses who think they have cracked down too hard, and students who say they have cracked down too hard,” she says. On the other hand, she notes, “neighborhood people are saying that the well-being and safety have been dramatically improved by some of the toughness around how some businesses operate.” Carr will also have to sort through Boulder Weekly

new rules for medical-marijuana dispensaries, largely based on land use. Wilson said he wasn’t familiar with Carr’s take on marijuana laws, but says, “I’m sure he tries to define and help with the law.” But Carr apparently didn’t take kindly to rules that tolerate pot in Seattle. Carr took a hard opposition to a 2003 voter initiative to make marijuana possession the city’s lowest lawenforcement priority, and after it passed he believed that he should continue to prosecute marijuana possession cases. [Editor’s note: In the interest of full disclosure, Holden, the writer, ran the campaign for the initiative and sat with Carr on a panel that oversaw the measure’s implementation.] Pot prosecutions did drop — thanks to Seattle police making fewer arrests — but Carr prosecuted a higher percentage of pot cases referred to his office. “We don’t want Tom Carr to import his backward thinking on marijuana,” says Mason Tvert, the director of a Colorado-based marijuana-legalization group called SAFER. (Carr won’t prosecute marijuana cases because the district attorney handles those.) “We hope Tom Carr will respect the fact that the majority of the citizens of Boulder think marijuana should be legal.” * * * There is one major difference between Seattle and Boulder — Boulder’s city attorney is appointed, not elected. “The city attorney serves at the pleasure of the council,” Wilson says. “Tom is a very bright man, and I am sure he will adapt to the situation.” And a city attorney has great leeway; Carr has the discretion to interpret his job quite differently in Boulder. After all, his Seattle successor Holmes has stopped marijuana prosecutions completely, has been supportive of nightlife and even pushed for discussion to extend bar operating hours, and has been a staunch advocate of transparency — all while remaining within the bounds of the law. Carr could take a more measured approach in Boulder, too. “I would be very careful about the length of the leash you give him,” says Osgood, “or you are going to see a lot less nightlife, and you will probably see a backlash against the people who hired him.” Dominic Holden is news editor of The Stranger, a weekly Seattle newspaper. Holden voted for Carr in 2001 and 2005. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com June 24, 2010 17

A Neighborhood Gathering Place in Downtown Louisville

UPCOMING SHOWS

Beginning 9:30 Nightly Acoustic Thurs. Open Mic June 24th hosted by Tony Soto

Friday, June 25th

Nick O'Connor Band Wed. June 30th

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Saturday, June 26th

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2740 Canyon Blvd. Boulder CandyShopHydro.com 303-444-3355 18 June 24, 2010

Boulder Weekly

boulderganic boulderganic.com

Reap what county farms offer by Charmaine Ortega Getz

Charmaine Ortega Getz

hink you’ve seen everything Boulder County farms offer at your favorite grocery store or farmers’ market? As you read this, boxes of fresh, local farm products are being picked up or delivered to people who have memberships in a community supported agriculture program. Frog Belly Farm Generally, in exchange for an advance fee, a farm will provide a season’s worth of “shares,” usually a certain number fits will be worth the gamble. of boxes of fresh produce that are It must be working; Boulder supposed to be enough to feed from County’s EAT LOCAL! Online two to four people. Shares could also resource guide and directory says that be honey, eggs, meat, flowers, herbs, CSA shares have increased exponenbaked goods or whatever else the tially since its campaign to raise pubfarm produces, in season. lic awareness for eating locally proNot all of the farms are certified duced food was launched in 2007. organic, but the emphasis is on susFarm dinners, restaurant-quality tainable and responsible farming. meals chock full of the freshest ingreEach farm has a finite number of dients, are another way of enjoying shares available; some offer halfthe harvest with less commitment. shares or other arrangements such as From casual to upscale, the dinners including volunteer work as payment. are sometimes created by chefs from Some CSA programs offer custom the very restaurants these farms are shares, with members able to choose providing with their regular fixin’s. what to take, others are a take-it-orNot just food, by the way, these leave-it proposition. events provide tours, talks, sometimes Bad weather, pests, or sometimes live music and wine. They can be as just plain bad luck could mean a limrelatively modest as Frog Belly Farm’s ited or skipped share, which is part of upcoming four-course meal for 40 the risk of “sharing” a farm’s fortunes. guests at $75 each on June 26 (seats The idea is that the long-term benestill available) to the lavish Munson

Boulder Weekly

Farms banquet now in its third year of serving 200 diners at $210 a pop. (Tickets for the July 25 event, arranged by the national farm dinner sponsor Outstanding in the Field, are already sold out.) Another fresh innovation offered by some farms today is summer camp for kids. No sleep-away accommodations, and few of the things you might otherwise associate with traditional summer camp, this is more about introducing children to the basics of farming, animal care and an appreciation for growing food. And that’s not all — some farms in Boulder County are also offering tours, workshops, festivals, even concerts. It’s definitely worth a little digging to reap the benefits of today’s farms. But even if all you’re looking for is an old-fashioned farm stand, know that this tradition still thrives. Stands are now open or soon will be, so it’s worth the drive to check ’em out frequently, or scan their websites for schedules, product lists and news. For farms, dairies and ranches offering these goodies to the public, see Boulder County’s EAT LOCAL! website directory at www.eatlocalguide.com/bouldercounty/the-10year-eat-local-campaign. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com

[events] Upcoming

Thursday, June 24

Climate Change Panel — Presented by KGNU and the BBC. 7 p.m. Unity of Boulder, 2455 Folsom St., Boulder, 303825-5468.

Friday, June 25

IEC: NABCEP Solar PV Entry Level Certification Training (3 days). 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 480 E. 76th Ave., Unit A/B, Denver, 303-8534886.

Saturday, June 26

Boulder Farmers’ Market. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 13th Street between Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard, Boulder, 303-910-2236.

Tuesday, June 29 BOSS: Building On-Site Seminar Series. 5:30 p.m. Flatirons Bank, 1095 Canyon Blvd., Ste. 100, Boulder, http:// bgbg.org/BOSSFlatirons. BuildSmart Training: Recycling for Asphalt Tear Off Shingles. 11 a.m. Boulder County Courthouse Annex Building, 2045 13th St., Boulder, www. resourceyard.org. Green Construction Apprenticeship: What Women Need to Know. 5:30 p.m. 1291 E. 54th St., Denver, 303-405-6795. Public Input on Xcel Franchise. 6 p.m. East Boulder Senior Center, 5660 Sioux Dr., Boulder, 303-441-1915.

Wednesday, June 30

Boulder Farmers’ Market. 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. 13th Street between Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard, Boulder, 303-910-2236.

To list your event, send information to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. attn:“Boulderganic.”

June 24, 2010 19

buzz boulderweekly.com/buzz

inside

Page 28 / Overtones: Sonic Bloom Festival

Page 39 / Sophisticated Sex: Sloppy seconds

Page 41 / Elevation:

[cuts] East Rampart Roadless Area

buzz

inside

Can’t-miss events for the upcoming week

y the time 3OH!3’s Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte decided it was time to make the follow-up to their breakout 2008 record Want, they had spent a lot of time away from home and hadn’t really hunkered down into songwriting mode for awhile. So when it came time to woodshed the songs on their latest album, Streets of Gold, dropping June 29, they returned to Colorado and shut themselves and a bunch of recording gear into a cabin in Breckenridge for two weeks. see 3OH!3 Page 22

New Moon plays at the St. Julien Hotel on Sunday.

Thursday, June 24

Climate Change Panel — Presented by KGNU and the BBC. 7 p.m. Unity of Boulder, 2455 Folsom St., Boulder, 303-825-5468.

Friday, June 25

Salsa Dancing — The spiciest dance of them all. 10:30 p.m. Trattoria on Pearl, 1430 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-544-0008.

Saturday, June 26

Burning Can: Canned Craft Beer Festival — Oskar Blues started the trend of canning beer, so it’s fitting that they’d host the festival. 1-4 p.m. Oskar Blues Grill & Brew, 303 Main St., Lyons, 303-823-6685.

Sunday, June 27

Twilight Saga: New Moon — Yup. It’s really happening. 8:30 p.m. St. Julien Hotel, 900 Walnut St., Boulder, 720-406-9696.

Monday, June 28

“So, You’re a Poet” — Open mic poetry. Bust out the black T-shirt, beret and unearned pretension. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat Coffeehouse, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-440-4628.

Tuesday, June 29

Public Input on Xcel Franchise — A potentially very important meeting about what could be a sleeper issue in the election. 6 p.m. East Boulder Senior Center, 5660 Sioux Dr., Boulder, 303-4411915.

Wednesday, June 30

South of the Equator White Wine Tasting — See how they do it down south. 7 p.m. The Blending Cellar, 946 Pearl St., Boulder, 303447-0475.

20 June 24, 2010

Boulder Weekly

Colorado Daily & KGNU

KORT MCCUMBER & THE HIGH ROAD CD Release Show!

Saving the World

TODD ADELMAN AND THE LOVEHANDLES THUNK ACOUSTIC 8:30

Fri. July 9

one Thursday at a time

B oulder Weekly and Radio 1190

WWW.FOXTHEATRE.COM

1135 13TH ST-BOULDER, CO-(303) 443 3399

J U S T A N N O U N C E D 11:11 Wellness

The Troubadours Collective

A RADIOHEAD & JEFF BUCKLEY TRIBUTE FEAT. THE JEFFERY HYDE THOMPSON BAND

VARLET feat. LILLY SCOTT (2010 American Idol – Top 15) DECHEN HAWK Sat. July 10

9:00

B oulder Weekly

THE BLACK SEEDS TWO FRESH & KATCHAFIRE

Fri. July 16

ON SALE TOMORROW

9:00

Sat. July 24

ON SALE TOMORROW

9:00

Rakim KGNU

Thurs. July 15

Performing "Paid in Full" in it's Entirety

Wed. Aug 25

ON SALE TOMORROW

9:00

FT. Eric Kalb and Michael Williams O N S A L E J U LY 2

8:00

ON SALE TOMORROW

9:00

Communikey, B oulder Weekly & KGNU

JFLASH

Thurs. Aug 26

Ta t a n k a

CHARLIE HUNTER

JUANA MOLINA VIA (Daralee Fallin) CMKY DJ Brandon Brown

Sat. July 17

9:00

CHRIS BERRY TRIO THE WALKMEN

Thurs. Sept 9

JAPANDROIDS

Mon. Oct 18

9:00

ON SALE TOMORROW

97.3 KB CO & B oulder Weekly

K A RL D ENS O N’ S T I NY U NI V ER S E FOX STREET ALL STARS

Thurs. June 24

9:00

B oulder Weekly

B O U L D ER A C O U S T I C S O C I ET Y

THE WIDOW'S BANE . RADICAL KNITTING CIRCLE 9:00 Fri. June 25

B oulder Weekly & KGNU

THE MEDITATIONS Sat. June 26

QUILOMBO

EUFORQUESTRA & OCOTE SOUL SOUNDS BY ALL MEANS BAND

Part of the NATIONWIDE BENEFIT CONCERT SERIES For the Fishermen & Wildlife Affected by the Gulf Coast Oil Spill

9:00

HOT SOUP Colorado Daily

JET EDISON and SMACK THOMPSON

Fri. July 2

9:00

iMakeupideas.com

DISCO INFERNO

CLASSIC DISCO AND BEST 80s-90s DANCE With a Midnight Memorial Tribute to Michael Jackson Featuring an Hour of His Best Dance Classics Sat. July 3 9:00

Marquee Magazine and Twist & Shout

THE WHITE BUFFALO THE MISSING PARTS

Thurs. July 8

Thurs. July 22