Free Every Thursday For 29 Years / www.boulderweekly.com / September 1 - 7, 2022 CHANGE AT 3 MPH, P. 21 TURNING THE RESTAURANT MODEL ON ITS HEAD, P. 32 WEEDING OUT SNAKE OIL CBD, P. 38 The death of a federal wildland firefighter shines a spotlight on a dangerous job. A pay raise could be in store. BY JEZY J. GRAY
WINNERSGallery of2022 Best of Boulder • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • Zoe ma maBest Chinese Restaurant ~ 2010 10th St., Boulder 303.545.6262 • zoemama.com WINNER ’ 22 720.829.7009 • FREERANGEMOVERS.COM FREE RANGE MOVERSBest in C an ~ I ER ’ 22 Gunbarrel liquorBest i u r t re ~ 6566 lookout rd, BOULDER 303.530.0108 • facebook.com/gunbarrelliquorco/ Taylor movingBest in C an ~ 1275 Sherman Dr, Longmont 303.443.5885 • taylormove.com WINNER ’ 22 North boulder dentalBest enta Care 1001 North st., BOULDER 303.447.1042 • boulderdental.com ~ WINNER ’ 22 North DENTALBoulder 7275 VALMONT RD., BOULDER 303.442.2602 • COTTONWOODKENNELS.com COTTONWOOD KENNELSBest et B ar in ~ 2955 BASELINE RD. BOULDER, CO 303.444.8707 • ALTATHERAPIES.COM ALTA PHYSICAL THERAPY & PILATES WINNER ’ 22 Best h si a hera C ini 2855 28th st. BOULDER & 2321 Clover basin Dr 303.449.0350 • boulderpho.eat24hour.com BOULDER PHO WINNER ’ 22 te Best h ~ TRADITIONAL VIETNAMESE PHO HOUSE i e ear inner Best u un ture C ini in B u er WINNER ’ 22 2500 Arapahoe Avenue Suite 290, Boulder 303.665.5515 • WWW.acuboulder.com CALL PRECISION TODAY! 303.516.4750 • precision plumbing.com Precision Plumbing WINNER ’ 22 Best Electrician - HVAC - Plumber
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 3 departments Whennews:students don’t show up, attendance detectives are on the case by Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado 18 news: e death of a Colorado-based federal wildland re ghter in Oregon shines a spotlight on a dangerous, essential job by Jezy J. Gray 2114buzz: rough memoir and critique, Jonathon Stalls examines what it means to be a pedestrian by Ben Berman 7 The Anderson Files: Fake populist GOP promises to attack labor 9 Opinion: Is U.S. labor movement on the rebound? 11 Letters: Your views, signed, sealed, delivered 13 News Briefs: Police Oversight Panel needs recruits, watermilfoil found in Boulder Reservoir 17 Astrology: by Rob Brezsny 25 Overtones: Colorado’s newest jamgrass troubadours 26 Events: What to do when there’s nothing to do 29 Film: Slippery case of deception in ‘My Old School’ 31 Savage Love: Playing 35 Drink: Germinating with the Codys of CMC 37 Cuisine: The Roost’s sizzling shishitos and more32nibbles: A true farm-to-table truck aims to radically change how chefs treat farmers (and dish great food) by John Lehndor weed between the lines: FTC sends a message to snake-oil CBD companies: it’s coming for you, and it means business by Will Brendza 38
Vote online in the annual Best of Boulder TM East County survey August 27 through September 24 800 S. Hover Rd. Suite 30, Longmont, CO 80504 • 303-827-3349 www.thelocoltheatre.com Best LiveGroupTheater and Dance Studio PLEASE VOTE FOR US!FORVOTEUS! • Microbrewery • Beer Selection • Bar • Burger • Place to OutdoorsEat • Food (BurgerTruckNomad) Please VOTE FOR US BEST PHYSICAL THERAPY FOOD NiwotNewMexicanLyonsKid-FriendlyJapaneseItalianIndian/NepaliIceGluten-FreeFoodFineDonutsChineseCateringBusinessBurgerBreakfast/BrunchBBQBakeryBagelAsianAppetizers/TapasFusionLunchRestaurantDiningRestaurantTruckMenuCream/FrozenYogurtRestaurantRestaurantRestaurantRestaurantRestaurantRestaurantRestaurantRestaurant Overall PlacePlacePizzaPancake/WaffleRestauranttoeatoutdoorstogoonafirstdateRestaurantDessertRestaurantServiceSandwichSeafoodSushiRestaurantTake-outThaiRestaurantVeggieBurgerWings DRINKS BeerBar selection CoffeeCoffeeCocktailsCideryHouseRoaster Craft TeahouseMargaritaLatte/MochaHappyDistilleryBreweryHour Wine Selection CANNABIS Bargains at a dispensary MedicalFlowerEdiblesCBDBudtenderProductsMarijuana Dispensary Recreational Marijuana Dispensary Selection at a dispensary Wax HOME & GARDEN Heating,FurnitureFloristElectricianCarpet/FlooringStoreVenting, and Air Conditioning Home Builder/Contractor Home Finishing Home PestPainterNursery/GardenMattressLandscaperKitchenHydroponicImprovementStoreSupplyStoreStoreCenterControl VOTE FOR DICKENS 300 PRIME Best Restaurant , Best Patio & Best dickens300prime.comVenue 728 Main Street • Louisville • www.SingingCookStore.com720.484.6825PLEASEVOTEFORUS AUTHENTIC JAPANESE CUISINE][ lease Vote for Bestus Sushi VOTE FOR LEFT HAND LASER 1446 Hover St, Ste. 207, Longmont, CO 303.551.4701 • lefthandlaserstudio.com 4 I SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 I BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
Vote now atAllEastThereboulderweekly.comisonlyoneBestofBoulder™County-OnlyinBoulderWeekly.ballotsmustbesubmittedonline. LongmontFORVOTEUS! • WestminsterBoulder Tattoos / Piercing / www.tribalrites.comJewelry ForVoteUs Best PiercingTattoo/Studio 565 E. South Boulder Rd. Louisville, CO 720-985-4259 • www.inksmithcolorado.com BEOVOTETBB RoofingPlumberContractor ENTERTAINMENT & CULTURE Art Bank/FinancialGallery Institution SportsPublicPublicPrivatePlacePlacePlaceOpenNon-ProfitMusicMuseumLiveFestival/EventJazzVenueVenueMictoDancetoPlayPooltoWi-FiSchoolSchool(K-8)School(9-12)Bar FITNESS & HEALTH Acupuncture Clinic Barber Climbing/ParkourChiropractorShop Gym Dance Studio Day DentalSpaCare Golf Gym/FitnessCourse Center Hair LasikHospitalSalonServicesMartialArtsMassageMedical Doctor NailYogaOrthodontistSalonPhysicalTherapistPilatesStudioTanningSalonUrgentCareCenterVeterinaryCareStudio RETAIL Auto Dealer - New Auto Dealer - Used Auto ClothingClothingCarBookstoreBicycleService/RepairShopWashStore-Children’sStore-Men’s Clothing Store - Used Clothing Store - Women’s Business Owned/Led by Female CEO Computer Repair Dry ToyTobacco/PipeTireTattoo/PiercingStorageStereo/ElectronicsShoppingShoeRealPetOpticalNewNaturalMusicLiquorJewelryIndependentHotelHardwareGroceryGiftFarmCleanerStoreStoreStoreBusinessStoreStoreStoreFoodsStoreBusinessStoreStoreEstateGroupStoreCenterFacilityParlorShopShopStore VOTE FOR US! 103 Main St, Longmont, CO (303) 772-9599 www.cheeseimporters.com 2770 Arapahoe Rd #112, Lafayette, CO 720-630-8053 • www.eatreelfish.com Vote us B t Seafoo d In Boulder E t County *List of categories subject to change. TRADITIONAL VIETNAMESE PHO HOUSE 2855 28th St, Boulder, CO • Boulderphoco.com 2321 Clover Basin Dr, Longmont, CO • Boulderpholongmont.com VOTE BOULDERFORPHO BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE I SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 I 5
TheAjoyaBud TheGreenGreenFreshExtractEuforaEclipseDabCompleteDepotReleafDispensaryCannabisCompanyLabsBakedDragonDreamGreenSoluton Green MedicineMarquisLivWellKindKaringIgadiHerbalHelpingTheMedicinalsTreeHealthCenterHandHerbalsWellnessKindCastleCannabisMan Natve Zengold’sVerdeTwinpeaksTweedLeafTheTheTerrapinStarbudsSpaceOptonsRootsMedicalCenterStatonCareStatonPeacefulChoiceRepublicDispensaryNaturalLyons Vote For Native Roots Today! SHOPLOCATIONLONGMONT There is only one Best of Boulder East County™ Only in the Weekly. NEW BOULDER LOCATION 5420 Arapahoe Ave. Unit www.denrec.comD VOTE FOR US DAILY FLOWERHIGHEST$120/OZSPECIALSSPECIALAWARDEDINCOLORADO Medical and Recreational Marijuana Dispensaries All ballots must be submitted online. VOTE NOW at boulderweekly.com. Ballot closes at midnight on September 24 6 I SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 I BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
across the Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@boul derweekly.com). Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verifcation. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website. Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn Editor-in-Chief,EDITORIAL Caitlin Rockett News Editor, Will Brendza Arts & Culture Editor, Will Matuska Food Editor, John Lehndorff Intern, Chad Robert Peterson Contributing Writers: Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Angela K. Evans, Mark Fearer, Jezy J. Gray, Dave Kirby, Matt Maenpaa, Adam Perry, Dan Savage, Bart Schaneman, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman, Chris Allred Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar ArtPRODUCTIONDirector,Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer BUSINESS Bookkeeper,OFFICERegina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer Sept. 1, 2022 Volume XXX, number 3 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminat ing 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 boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send que ries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the 690newspaper.SouthLashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f www.boulderweekly.comeditorial@boulderweekly.com303.494.2585 Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2022 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 7 see THE ANDERSON FILES Page 8 Fake populist GOP promises to attack labor by Dave Anderson
Does the media tend to portray Donald Trump as a tribune of ordinary folks and Joe Biden as an estab lishment elitist? at is what political commentator Peter Beinart suspected. He recently performed an experiment: “I searched ‘Donald Trump populist’ and then ‘Joe Biden populist’ on Google to see which garnered more responses. It wasn’t close. Google returned almost three times as many articles about Trump’s populism than Biden’s. en I tried the reverse. I searched ‘Donald Trump elitist’ and ‘Joe Biden elitist.’ e results were even more lopsided, in the opposite direction. Biden’s elitism elicited almost thirty times more references.” is is confusing because populism in this country is a rhetoric used by politicians of all varieties. Beinart argues that the media tends to lump together two di erent populisms: a progressive populism which expresses economic solidarity with the poor and working class and a right wing populism support ing a return to gender and racial norms of the past. Beinart says the media claims Trump and other Re publicans are portrayed as anti-elitist “because they oppose gender-neutral bathrooms and thus create the impression that the GOP opposes tax breaks for hedge fund manag ers. Nothing could be further from the truth.” is is frustrating since Trump’s policies dispropor tionately aided the wealthy and big business while Biden’s economic policies are the most progressive since Franklin Roosevelt. Actually Trump won the votes of the richest Americans by a wide margin while a majority of Biden’s voters were working and middle class.
Unions are experiencing a resurgence
THE ANDERSON FILES from Page 7 country. A Gallup poll found support for labor unions to be at their highest point in the U.S. since 1965. Repub licans have been curiously quiet about this development while they proclaim that the GOP is the party of the working class. At the same time, they are hostile to unions.
“Republicans are heavily fa vored to win back the House in the midterm election—and if they do, cracking down on anything they see as tilting the scales toward organized labor will be one of their rst orders of business.”President Joe Biden has repeated ly said that he intends to be the most pro-labor president in history.
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Email: letters@boulderweekly.com
Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Com mittee, joked that “we will probably be holding two oversight hearings a day.”U.S. labor law has become a sick joke over the decades. ings improve when a Democrat becomes president but not nearly enough. Abruzzo has pleasantly surprised the labor movement with her aggressive actions and plans for the future. Corporate America is Progressivesnervous.should be too. is November, the stakes are high. Dem ocrats’ prospects are improving but complacency isn’t an option. is opinion column does not necessarily re ect the views of Boulder Weekly.
In February, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) introduced the Teamwork for Employees and Managers (TEAM) Act in February with Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana). e bill creates “a pro worker alternative to unions, which are notoriously left-wing and almost always pit workers against management, only worsening the workplace environment,” Rubio said. ese “union alternatives” are toothless. ey can’t engage in collective bargaining and have no legal force.
8 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
A similar bill was passed by Con gress in 1995 but vetoed by President Bill Clinton who said: “… this legislation, rather than promoting genuine teamwork, would undermine the system of collective bargaining that has served this coun try so well for many decades. It would do this by allowing employers to establish company unions where no union currently exists and permitting company-dominated unions where employees are in the process of de termining whether to be represented by a union. Rather than encouraging true workplace cooperation, this bill would abolish protections that ensure independent and democratic repre sentation in the workplace.” is would be a return to the days before the New Deal when many employers established mangage ment-dominated employee organiza tions to thwart workers from forming their own independent unions.
House Republicans are planning to target labor regulators in the Biden administration such as Labor Secre tary Marty Walsh and National La bor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, as well as the NLRB itself and the White House’s new Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. Led by Vice President Kamala Harris and vice chair Labor Secretary Walsh, the task force has issued a report with 70 recommendations to promote orga nizing and collective bargaining.
Recently Politico reported:
n Labor Day, Freedom Foundation prognosticators, and their conservative fellow travelers, will inevitably revel in their tired prediction about the demise of the U.S. union move ment. While there may be a seeming kernel of truth in their negative statistical data—“organized labor only represents 6.4% of the private-sector workforce”—their misplaced reliance on gross numbers is misleading and doesn’t begin to recognize today’s unfolding story of a newly invigorated unionIt’smovement.timethese naysayers changed the channel. Seventeen million Tik Tok viewers have watched a video of a Starbucks manager ring a Starbucks Workers United (SBWorkersUnited) union organizer in a Bu alo store. Every barista in the store left Mocha Cookie Crumbles and Java Chip Frappuccinos on the counters and walkedAfterout.years of decline, labor is ex periencing a resurgence on two fronts. e rst is increasing militancy and resistance among members of existing trade unions. Over the past year, discontent among tens of thousands of working-class Americans crested in a wave of strikes, walk-outs, and protests as union-represented workers exed their muscles, confronting the owning class with ever more militant resistance.•AtKellogg’s, 1,400 union workers struck the company’s cereal plants after working seven days a week, 12 hours a day through COVID, boosting Kel logg’s earnings to record pro ts.
• 1,000 union workers struck Nabisco for 40-days, winning $5,000 bonuses and annual raises.
e new generation of youthful activists are ghting not just for better wages and working conditions but are united in their common struggle for dignity and humane treatment on the job. SBUnited, within the blink of an eye, has organized over 225 stores (since last December), despite a vicious anti-union campaign including some 85 discharges of union organizers. Despite union-busting repression, as of mid-July, workers at over 300 additional the U.S. labor movement on the rebound? new breed of organizers is leading the way by Jon Melrod Novel of by The Bookbag United Kingdom Reviewer Jill Murphy: “Oh, I loved, loved, reading this novel. It’s wild and anarchic. Not a book for the fainthearted, Crosshairs of the Devil is violent, grisly and gruesome but also wonderfully charismatic and utterly compelling.”
O
In The Natural Funeral’s Green Section of the beautiful Lyons Cemetery.
TheNaturalFuneral.cominfo@thenaturalfuneral.comdavid@thenaturalfuneral.com720-515-2344
• 1,100 United Mineworkers have been on strike against Warrior Met Coal in Alabama since April 2021.
• ousands of union healthcare workers nationwide staged strikes over issues from sta ng to unsafe working conditions.
• No Vaults (grave coverings, usually cement or plastic)
• Only biodegradable caskets or shrouds
see OPINION Page 10 Top Ten
• Ritual of hand-lowering
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & Boulder Book Store Go Out Local and Green
2021
Is
• Hundreds of United Auto Workers (UAW) at John Deere struck for a month.
• 60,000 Kaiser Permanente unionized healthcare nurses and workers engaged in a sympathy strike for 2-days to support 700 striking stationary engineers.
• At American Airlines (AA), ight attendants at Piedmont Air lines, an AA regional carrier, unan imously voted to strike over high health premiums and low pay.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 9
• Natural care of the body Contact our Advance Planning Consultant, David Heckel for tea and a chat in our parlor to pre-plan to minimize your nal footprint. Other green options include body composting (natural reduction) and water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis). We also offer flame cremation.
Green burial means:
Yes—A
e second front is a rapid ly spreading movement fueled by youthful activists’ intent on organizing new sectors of the unorganized. e rst nine months of this year saw a 58% increase in petitions for union elections.Bolstering this resurgence is a dramatic shift in public opinion appropriate to celebrate this Labor Day—the most recent Gallup poll found support for labor unions at its highest point since 1965, with 68% support. e surge in organizing, accompanied by bold expressions of class solidarity, is being fueled by a rapidly spreading, youth-driven, viral movement to organize the unorga nized often through social media. Today’s movement is being nour ished by rebellious workers at places like Amazon, Starbucks, IT com panies, REI, Chipotle, Trader Joe’s, Apple, and Dollar General (to name a few), with new organizing e orts popping up with regularity.
In his new book Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War (September 15, 2022 PM Press), Jon Melrod conveys his experiences in a deeply personal, astutely political, and highly entertaining, yet very serious man ner. e book recounts his 13-year journey to harness working-class militancy and jump-start a revolution on the shop oor at American Motors. is opinion column does not necessarily re ect the views of Boulder Weekly.
on all fronts. WHO ARE YOU VOTING FOR THIS YEAR? Vote for your favorite coffee shops, restaurants, hair salons, dispensaries, local celebrity, and so many more! Ballot closes at midnight on September 24 PROPER T Y & L AND in RIE, COLORADO! Office: 303.278.2400 Cell: 720.394.3480 E mail: jesnoon@yahoo.com 908 Washington Ave Golden, CO 80401 3363 Low ell Lane, Erie, CO 80401 jessica noonan 4.75 Pole3,068UpdatedAcres!!2StoryHouse5Bedrooms4BathroomsTotalSq.Feet5CarAttachedGarageMLS#5611543MountainViewsBarn!Storage!AmenitiesGalore $1,489,000 Olde Towne Golden Realty, LLC Unique opportunity to own acreage in Weld County! Plenty of space inside & out with beautiful views all around! There is a wood burning stove & 65 inch TV in the large family room; a balcony off the master bedroom; cherry wood cabinets in the kitchen; laundry on the main floor & a huge pantry in the basement! Outside shelter your equipment, RV & boat in the 1,500 square foot pole barn, grow an organic garden, raise your livestock, create a riding arena on this property! Easy access to 1 25, Boulder, Northern Colorado and Denver. This place has a country feel with all the conveniences of the city. Use your imagination to envision how to enjoy this great estate. PROPER T Y & L AND in ERIE, COLORADO! Office: 303.278.2400 Cell: 720.394.3480 E mail: jesnoon@yahoo.com 908 Washington Ave Golden, CO 80401 3363 Low ell Lane, Erie, CO 80401 jessica noonan • 4.75Acres!! • Updated2StoryHouse • 5Bedrooms • 4Bathrooms • 3,068TotalSq.Feet • 5CarAttachedGarage • MLS#5611543 • MountainViews • PoleBarn!Storage! • AmenitiesGalore $1,489,000 Olde Towne Golden Realty, LLC
10 l AUGUST 25, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
we need to be creative, listen to people’s concerns about their jobs and lives and be willing to take up the struggle to improve
Unique opportunity own acreage
Email: letters@boulderweekly.com
IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF In the 1970s and supportandBlackstrugglesupportedVietnamagainstwecampuseswethemovement.revolutionaryspreadingwithcollegeLeftationidealistanother1980s,young,generofNewactivistsleftcampusesthegoalofourInthousands,leftbehindwherehadfoughttheWar,theforliberation,foughttoworkers’struggles like the United Farmworkers boycott of table grapes and non-union lettuce. Now 72 years old, in the 1960s I was one of those radical student ac tivists who believed that the only way to e ect transformative change to the inequities of the exploitative capitalist system was to build a class-conscious workers’ movement. To pursue that lofty goal meant taking a job where my organizing skills, honed as a student activist, could be marshaled to organize industrial workers. While employed at American Motors for 13 years, I faced termi nation, dodged the FBI, outwitted collaborators in the UAW, and be came a central gure in a multi-year, surreptitiously funded and orchestrat ed defamation lawsuit by American Motors against our rank-and- le shop newsletter Fighting Times. e key lesson for organizers of yesteryear and today is that we need to be creative, listen to peo ple’s onthattoplanetdestructionreversementworkers’class-consciousandwithallconditionsgleupwillingandaboutconcernstheirjobslivesandbetotakethestrugtoimproveonfronts.Onlyapowerfulorganized,movecanwetheoftheandbringbirthasystemisn’tbasedexploitation, but on fairness and justice for all.
OPINION from Page 9 stores in 36 states have led to unionize. Additionally, workers at Starbucks have held over 55 strikes in at least 17 states. Organizers at Starbucks have led well over 285 unfair labor practice com plaints at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
THE KEY LESSONS FOR ORGANIZERS of yesteryear and today is that conditions
to
in Weld County! Plenty of space inside & out with beautiful views all around! There is a wood burning stove & 65 inch TV in the large family room; a balcony off the master bedroom; cherry wood cabinets in the kitchen; laundry on the main floor & a huge pantry in the basement! Outside shelter your equipment, RV & boat in the 1,500 square foot pole barn, grow an organic garden, raise your livestock, create a riding arena on this property! Easy access to 1 25, Boulder, Northern Colorado and Denver. This place has a country feel with all the conveniences of the city. Use your imagination to envision how to enjoy this great estate. PROPER T Y & L AND in ERIE, COLORADO! Office: 303.278.2400 Cell: 720.394.3480 E mail: jesnoon@yahoo.com 908 Washington Ave Golden, CO 80401 3363 Low ell Lane, Erie, CO 80401 jessica noonan • 4.75Acres!! • Updated2StoryHouse • 5Bedrooms • 4Bathrooms • 3,068TotalSq.Feet • 5CarAttachedGarage • MLS#5611543 • MountainViews • PoleBarn!Storage! • AmenitiesGalore $1,489,000 O de Towne Golden Rea ty, LLC Unique opportunity to own acreage in Weld County! Plenty of space inside & out with beautiful views all around! There is a wood burning stove & 65 inch TV in the large family room; a balcony off the master bedroom; cherry wood cabinets in the kitchen; laundry on the main floor & a huge pantry in the basement! Outside shelter your equipment, RV & boat in the 1,500 square foot pole barn, grow an organic garden, raise your livestock, create a riding arena on this property! Easy access to 1 25, Boulder, Northern Colorado and Denver. This place has a country feel with all the conveniences of the city. Use your imagination to envision how to enjoy this great estate.
Keeping renters appraised of their rights is a good preventative measure. (see Unrepentant Tenant, “Resources for Boulder renters” Aug. 25) Eq uity in housing along with the lack of a ordable units to rent are two of the biggest problems. One positive step toward equity was the expanded Child Tax Credit that helped families pay rent AND eat worked quickly make a di erence. It is a great model for a renters’ tax credit that could help renters not pay 50% and more of their income for housing. In the upcoming elections, make sure your candidates support both of these tax credits that make a major di erence for families across America.
Willie Dickerson/Snohomish, WA
Alzheimer’s disease is impacting more Colorado families than ever before. However, it disproportion ately a ects older Black and His panic Americans versus older whites. Despite this, decades of Alzheimer’s research has not included su cient numbers of Blacks or Hispanics to be representative of the U.S. population. is underrepresentation not only hinders research, but also restricts knowledge of how an approved therapy or diagnostic may a ect the populations most likely to need it. Fortunately, a solution to this problem is pending in Congress—the Equity in Neuroscience and Alz heimer’s Clinical Trials (ENACT) Act. is bipartisan legislation would increase the participation of underrep resented populations in Alzheimer’s and other dementia clinical trials by expanding education and outreach to these populations, encouraging the diversity of clinical trial sta , and reduc ing participation burden, among other initiatives. e ENACT Act would create a path to better Alzheimer’s care for all of us and address shortcomings in the way research and care is currently being delivered to underrepresented communities.IjointheAlzheimer’s Association in thanking U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Congressmen Joe Neguse and Jason Crow for cosponsoring this important legislation already. I hope that Con gressman Perlmutter will join them soon.If your family is struggling with a loved one living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia, we can help! Contact our 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900.
A MODEL FOR RENTERS TAX CREDIT
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l AUGUST 25, 2022 l 11
Ralph Patrick/Boulder SUPPORT FUNDING FOR CULTIVATED-MEAT RESEARCH Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper should support increased funding for cultivat ed-meat research in order to prevent the next pandemic. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, cul tivated meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. Since culti vated meat doesn’t require livestock, the risk of zoonotic diseases making the jump to humans is eliminated. Unfortunately, cultivated meat still faces a number of technical hurdles which prevents its success ful commercialization. These can be resolved with increased public money for development.cellular-agricultureLegislatorswho care about public health and want to avoid repeating the devastation of the last couple of years should support this.
ASKING PERLMUTTER TO SUPPORT THE ENACT ACT
Jon ConnecticutHochschartner/Granby,Email:letters@boulderweekly.com
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If established, the invasive plant can disturb aquatic ecosystems and recreation by Will Matuska by Will Matuska
“I think a lot of the issues in the last few years has been feeling like [the police] aren’t actually here for the commu nity and aren’t actually serving the people,” Amaru says.
MEMBERS OF Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel
e panel meets with Maris Herold, Boulder’s police chief, quarterly through out the year. ese informal public meetings are a space for open dialogue and discussion, where people often disagree with Herold and vice versa. Amaru says that these meetings are constructive and people can talk about di cult topics.
“I grew up in Boulder, and it is a place that I love deeply. But I also think it’s deeply awed,” says Ariel Amaru, one of the panel’s co-chairs.
To start the selection process, the current panel will form a selection com mittee to review the new panel member applications. e selection committee will be made of current panel members, along with two representatives from local nonpro ts. e nonpro ts to join the selection committee will be picked on Sept. 8, and the review of new panel member applications is scheduled for Oct. 17Nov. 11. Final selections for the panel will be made by Nov. 18. Amaru says the panel is important because the community has lost trust in police o cers, particularly in the wake of recent incidences involv ing Black residents. In 2019, BPD drew guns on Zayd Atkinson while he was picking up trash in front of his home. Sammie Lawrence was arrested while lming police confronting another resident that same year. BPD made settlements in both cases.
T he City of Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel is turning to the nonpro t community for help in selecting new members.epanel was created in 2020 to review complaint les and make disciplinary, policy and training recommendations for the Boul der Police Department (BPD). e group is led by volunteers who want to be engaged in police discussion and reform.
COURTESY ARIEL AMARU Boulder Police Oversight Panel seeks new members The panel wants organizationsnonprofittoaidinselectionprocess
Eurasian watermilfoil fragment found in Boulder Reservoir
“ ere’s really no way to know how it got into the reservoir in the rst place,” she says. e extent and location of EWM in the res ervoir is not fully known. At this time of year, it is di cult to nd EWM because the water levels are so high and EWM looks like northern water milfoil, a native species. CPW will return to the reservoir later this fall to conduct a more in-depth study of the area when the water levels are lower. e city will develop next steps based on the ndings of that vegetation survey.
One of the panel’s key goals is to represent diversity in the community and ensure that historically excluded voices are involved in police oversight.
“You have people who have a lot of historical societal wounds from polic ing, engaging directly with a police o cer, and that’s pretty profound,” she says.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 13
To indicate your organization’s interest in participating in the selection commit tee, contact PoliceOversightPanel@bouldercolorado.gov.
Email: wmatuska@boulderweekly.com
e panel’s 2021 Annual Report included four policy and training recom mendations for BPD based on analysis of the year’s investigations, patterns and trends, and BPD’s response to each recommendation.
Email: wmatuska@boulderweekly.com
Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently found a new invasive plant in Boulder Reservoir: Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM). EWM is a highly transmissible invasive aquatic plant that causes disruption to ecosys tems and recreation when established. It spreads easily from waterbody to waterbody, catching rides on shing equipment, boots, paddleboards or boats.“Eursain watermilfoil is the number one priority invasive aquatic plant in the state,” says Kate Dunlap, who works in the City of Boulder’s UtilitiesTwiceDepartment.ayear,Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) takes a look at the Boulder Reservoir for EWM and other invasive species. In the middle of August, a fragment of EWM was found for the rst time. Dunlap says a DNA test was used to con rm that the “ oating fragment” was indeed EWM.But that’s all EWM needs—one fragment—to spread to a new waterbody. If a fragment settles in sediment and grows roots, it forms a new plant colony. EWM also grows through plant runners and seeds, although this is more common when it is already estab lished in a waterbody. CPW found no rooted EWM in Boulder Reservoir. e perennial plant grows early in the season and up to two inches per day, which gives EWM a jump start on native plant growth. By early summer, the mostly-sub merged plant can form dense tangled mats on the surface that impede swimming, boating and shing.EWM can also clog intakes and outlets, causing taste and odor issues with drinking water. Boulder Reservoir Treatment Plant treats water mostly from Carter Lake, but the reservoir is a valuable water supply for the region and a backup water supply for the city of BoulderBoulder.Reservoir has enforced a strict water craft inspection program for the last 13 years to protect the area’s water supply and also the reser voir’s recreational uses, inspecting every incoming watercraft for invasives. Watercraft are decontami nated and/or quarantined if invasives are found. Since the EWM fragment was discovered, the city had begun inspecting watercrafts leaving the reservoirVisitorstoo.are also encouraged to clean shing gear and boots of any plant debris, and draining and drying boats before going to another body of water.Dunlap says it’s hard to stop the spread entirely because of how many di erent ways EWM can travel.
14 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE HOTSHOTS COURTESY GRASSROOTS WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS
AT its most basic, the mission of a federal wildland re ghter is to manage wild re’s essential role in the ecosystem while pro tecting lives and property from destruc tion. at’s what Collin Hagan was doing as the Big Swamp Fire burned near the Willamette National Forest in southwest Oregon last month. e 27-year-old was killed by a falling tree while battling the 120-acre blaze. Assigned to a traveling “hotshot crew” based in Craig, Colorado, Hagan was dispatched from his home base to help local units more than a thousand miles away when the Paci c Northwest wild re kicked into over drive. Like too many others who take on the dangerous job—nearly 500 wildland re ghters died in the line of duty between 1990 and 2016—when Hagan answered the call to serve on the frontlines of the inferno, he didn’t know it would be his last.
“I haven’t actually hauled anybody o the hill, but I’ve been involved in processions and memorials,” Kelly Martin, former chief of re and aviation at Yosemite National Park and president of the nonpro t Grassroots Wildland Fire ghters, says. “It’s nothing short of gut wrenching to think this is actually a part of our job.”
Hagan’s tragic story resonates in communities like Boulder, with the historically destructive Marshall Fire
JEZY
Wildland frefghters have one of the most dangerous and diffcult jobs— and climate change is making fres stronger and unpredictable.more
GRAY COURTESY GRASSROOTS WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS
BY J.
The death of a Colorado-based federal wildland firefighter in Oregon shines a spotlight on a dangerous, essential job. A pay raise could be in store—but is it enough?
“Not only are they paying rent or a mort gage at home, but they also have to pay rent at their remote deployment worksite,” Martin
PHOTOS COURTESY GRASSROOTS WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS
For wildland re ghters, that means containing larger blazes for longer stretches of time. Martin, who spent 35 years as a career wildland re ghter with the U.S. Forest Ser vice and National Park Service, says this new reality is a far cry from the job she signed up for decades ago.
FIREFIGHTERS Page
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 15 still fresh in the community’s memory, along with other cities and towns on the bleeding edge of the climate crisis. As warmer, drier conditions lead to longer re seasons and big ger blazes in our idyllic slice of the growing wildland-urban interface, the misunderstood job of a federal re ghter is poised to become even more essential—and dangerous—in the years“Colorado’sahead.
Left (inset): Kelly Martin, president of the nonproft Grassroots Wildland Firefght ers, at a burn site. Above: More than 10,000 men and women fght fres within the U.S. Forest Service. Most of the work managing fres is done by hand. see 16
forests were once too moist to be able to support really big res,” Michael Kodas, a Boulder-based senior editor at Inside Climate News and author of Mega re: e Race to Extinguish a Deadly Epidemic of Flame, says. “Back then, a 30,000-acre re was a huge event. at’s barely a blip on the radar now.” But for federal workers like Hagan who dedicate their lives to battling the nation’s worsening wildland blazes, compensation hasn’t kept pace with their state, municipal or private counterparts. Last year, the federal government increased base pay for wildland re ghters to $15 per hour, along with tempo rary retroactive payments totaling the lesser of $20,000 or 50% of their annual base salary, as part of the 2021 Representatives5118)ResiliencyResponsepassageJoeInfrastructureBipartisanBill.SpearheadedbyRep.Neguse,lastmonth’softheWildreandDroughtAct(H.R.intheU.S.Houseofattemptsto further address this disparity. In addition to climate resiliency mea sures and mental health leave and hazard pay for federal re ghters, the bill would lift starting wages to approximately $20 per hour—a slight ly higher rate than a McDonald’s employee could expect to earn in Boulder.
‘Our house is on fire.’ Without casting aspersions on those workers in less-dangerous but underpaid sectors of the economy, Martin emphasizes the unique skills and deadly challenges faced by the more than 10,000 men and women of the U.S. Forest Service who ght wild res in all 50 states and internationally. ese include advanced-skill units like “smoke jumpers” who descend by parachute into burn areas and helitack crews who respond via helicop ter, but the lion’s share of the work is done by hand, engine and hotshot crews.
“ is job has changed—and it’s extremely demanding,” Martin says. What was once a solid summer gig for college students has since become a near year-round gauntlet of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, thanks in part to a changing climate. “ ese re ghters are immersed in an emergency situation for sometimes up to nine months out of the year.”
“It’s one of the most intense federal jobs when it comes to danger and di culty. e demanding physical part is the terrain, smoke and toxins these young people are exposed to, pretty much 24/7, while they’re on these sites,” Martin says. “ e fact that our job is compensated equally to service and retail workers is so imbalanced.”
For a sense of how the climate emergency is changing the face of an already dangerous job, look to the snowpack. e white peaks of local formations like Bear Mountain, tow ering over the site of last spring’s 190-acre NCAR Fire, tell a story that worries local wild re experts and signals even tougher work ahead for wildland re ghters.
“What you’re seeing in that snow cap is a little trickle reservoir that is keeping the forest below it moist and less likely to burn. And so if your snow melts o earli er in the year and arrives later in the year, then that forest is available to burn for a much longer portion of the year,” Michael Kodas says. “We see that very strongly throughout the Rockies, but particu larly here in Colorado.”
“When I stepped out as a newly minted re ghter, it was not physically overly taxing. I wasn’t immersed in re ghting day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year,” she says. “But now we have warm er, drier summers and massive droughts, like what we’re seeing with the Colorado River. Our house is on re.”
On top of those increased demands spurred in part by climate change, the job also leaves many overworked employees chasing overtime to o set low wages and the compounding expenses of the job. When dispatched, for example, many wildland re ghters pay to live in close quarters with their fellow crew members.
KELLY MARTIN
16 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
Accord ing to analysis from Grassroots Wildland Fire ghters, “po tentially millions of dollars in additional earnings” could be the di erence between the pension of a handcrew captain employed by the Colorado Division of Fire and Prevention (CDFP) versus one working for the federal government.
FIREFIGHTERS from Page 15 says. “So it’s com pounding in a way that a lot of people really don’t under stand.”And when it comes to bene ts, these federal em ployees face similar challenges.
Email: letters@boulderweekly.com
Top: Start of the Four Corners Fire, Payette National Forest, Cascade, Idaho, August 2022. Right (bottom): A “burn boss” directs other frelighters where and when to apply more fre to meet objectives in a prescribed burn.
“It was just a couple years ago that they forced through legislation to give health care to seasonal wildland re ghters,” Kodas says. “Which is kind of shocking when you consid er the dangers of the job and the long-term health impacts that are increasingly associated withConsideringit.” those health risks, com pounding expenses and the changing nature of the job, advocates like Martin say the modest entry-level pay raise legislated by H.R. 5118 is a crucial rst step, but it’s still not enough to address ongoing sta ng shortages.
“If you’re really looking at recruitment, retention and promotion of a highly trained and responsive national network of wildland re ghters, this doesn’t get us there,” she says. But even this incremental improvement to working conditions for en try-level wildland re ghters faces a tough challenge on its way to becoming the law of the land. Whether these new bene ts actually make it to the workers putting their lives on the line depends on a universe of factors within the un predictable machinations of the federal government.
“Will they actually get it assigned to a committee? Will the Senate actually hear it? Will they vote on it? en it needs to get passed to the President’s desk to be enacted,” Martin says. “ at’s the uncertainty we’re dealing with right now.”
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JULYLEO 23-AUG. 22: “What good is it if you read Plato but never clean your toilet?” writes author Alice Munro. To which I add, “What good is it if you have brilliant breakthroughs and intrigu ing insights but never translate them into practical changes in your daily rhythm?” I’m not saying you are guilty of these sins, Leo. But I want to ensure that you won’t be guilty of these sins in the coming weeks. It’s crucial to your long-term future that you devote quality time to being earthy and grounded and pragmatic. Be as effective as you are smart.
JAN.AQUARIUS20-FEB.18: The coming weeks will be a favorable time to dream up creative solutions to problems that haven’t fully materialized yet. Then you can apply your discoveries as you address problems that already exist. In other words, dear Aquarius, I’m telling you that your uncanny facility for glimpsing the future can be useful in enhancing your life in the present. Your almost psychic capacity to foretell the coming trends will be instrumental as you fix glitches in the here and now.
DEC.CAPRICORN22-JAN.19:
VALET Join a CustomerBusinessFamily-OwnedServiceValet FT and PT Positions –Greeting our Service customers on our service drives. Fun and active position. Must like people and like working with the public. Have a Monappearance,professionalneat,alsogreatforretirees.–Fridayw/rotatingSaturdays.CallHarrySnyder@303-998-6323forquestions&tosetaninterview. Specializing in emotional & mental Wellbeing 2749 Iris Ave. Boulder • moonlightgardenacupuncture.com720-829-3632 Modalities of Oriental Medicine including Traditional Chinese Medicine Traditional Japanese Medicine Migun Therapy Table Electrical stimulation, cupping therapy, gua sha, moxa and Chinese herbs I follow a functional medicine approach but most important is to hear what level of health you would like to achieve in order to live your best quality of life. - Rachael Elrod CONNECTEDKEEP facebook.com/theboulderweeklyboulderweekly.comtwitter.com/boulderweeklyinstagram.com/boulderweekly
AUG.VIRGO23-SEPT.
NOV.SAGITTARIUS22-DEC.21:
MAYGEMINI21-JUNE 20: When you Geminis are at your best, you don’t merely tolerate dualities. You enjoy and embrace them. You work with them eagerly. While many non-Geminis regard oppositions and paradoxes as at best inconvenient and at worst obstructive, you often find how the apparent polarities are woven together and complementary. That’s why so many of you are connoisseurs of love that’s both tough and tender. You can be effective in seemingly contradictory situations that confuse and immobilize others. All these skills of yours should come in handy during the coming weeks. Use them to the hilt.
MARCHARIES21-APRIL
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 17
SEPT.LIBRA23-OCT.
19: Aries-born Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of the greatest basketball players ever. He excelled at most aspects of the game. Some experts say his rebounding was only average for a player his size—seven feet, two inches. But he is still the third-best rebounder in National Basketball Association history. And he played for 20 years, until age 40. What tips might Abdul-Jabbar have for you now? Here’s a suggestion from him that aligns with your current astrological omens: “Work on those parts of your game that are fundamen tally weak.” The implication is that you have a lot of strengths, and now it’s time to raise up the rest of your skill set.
21: : There are blessings in every abyss. You, of all the signs in the zodiac, have the greatest capacity to find those blessings and make them yours. Likewise, there is an abyss in each blessing. You, of all the signs, have the most power to make sure your experiences in the abyss don’t detract from but enhance the blessing. In the coming weeks, dear Scorpio, take maximum advantage of these superpow ers of yours. Be a master of zeroing in on the opportunities seeded in the dilemmas. Show everyone how to home in on and enjoy the delights in the darkness. Be an inspirational role model as you extract redemption from the messes.
One of my favorite Sagittarians is prac tical mystic Caroline Myss, who was born with sun and Mercury and ascendant in Sagittarius. In accordance with current astrological omens, I’ve gathered six of her quotes to serve your current needs. 1. There isn’t anything in your life that cannot be changed. 2. When you do not seek or need approval, you are at your most powerful. 3. Healing comes from gathering wisdom from past actions and letting go of the pain that the education cost you. 4. The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. 5. What serves your spirit enhances your body. What diminishes your spirit diminishes your body. 6. What is in you is stronger than what is out there to defeat you.
22: “To love oneself is hard work,” declares Virgo author Hanif Abdurraqib. He adds, “But I think it becomes harder when you realize that you’re actually required to love multiple versions of yourself that show up without warn ing throughout a day, throughout a week, throughout a month, throughout a life.” Let’s make that your inspirational strategy, Virgo. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to refine, deepen, and invigorate your love for all your selves. It may be hard work, but I bet it will also be fun and exhilarating.
by Rob Brezsny
20: As a Taurus, you are always wise to be reverent toward your five senses. They are your glorious trea sures, your marvelous superpowers, your sublime assets. In the coming weeks, they will serve you even better than usual. As you deploy them with all your amazement and appreciation unfurled, they will boost your intelligence. They will heighten your intuition in ways that guide you to good decisions. You will tune into interesting truths that had previously been hidden from you. I suspect your sensory apparatus will be so sharp and clear that it will work almost as extrasensory powers.
22: How to be the best Libra you can be in the next three weeks: 1. Make sure your cool attention to detail never gets chilly. Warm it up now and then. Invite your heart to add its counsel to your head’s observations. Tenderize your objectivity. 2. Always be willing to be puzzled. Always be entertained and educated by your puzzlement. Proceed on the theory that nothing ever changes unless somebody is puzzled. 3. Practice, practice, practice the art of moderation. Do so with the intention of using it as a flexible skill rather than an unthinking habit. 4. Applying the Goldilocks principle will be essential. Everything must be just right: neither too much nor too little; neither overly grand nor overly modest.
OCT.SCORPIO23-NOV.
APRILTAURUS20-MAY
JUNECANCER21-JULY 22: Author Jean Frémon says Cancerian natu ralist Henry David Thoreau “always had two notebooks—one for facts, and the other for poetry. But Thoreau had a hard time keeping them apart, as he often found facts more poetic than his poems.” Judging from your current astrological omens, Cancerian, I suspect you are entering a time when facts will be even more poetic than usual. If you open yourself to the magic of reality, the mundane details of everyday life will delight you and appeal to your sense of wonder. Routine events will veer toward the marvelous. Can you bear to experience so much lyrical grace? I think so.
I have always felt you Capricorns are wise to commune with rocks, dirt, mud, sand, and clay. I think you should regularly touch the actual earth with your hands and bare feet. If I’m out hiking with a Capricorn friend, I might urge them to sniff blooming mushrooms and lean down to kiss the exposed roots of trees. Direct encounters with natural wonders are like magic potions and miracle medicine for you. Moreover, you flourish when you nurture close personal relationships with anything that might be described as foundational. This is always true, but will be extra true for you in the coming weeks. Your words of power are kernel, core, gist, marrow, and keystone.
FEB.PISCES19-MARCH 20: In the coming weeks, logic may be of only partial use to you. Information acquired through your senses might prove less than fully adequate, as well. On the other hand, your talents for feeling deeply and tapping into your intu ition can provide you with highly accurate intelligence. Here’s a further tip to help you maximize your ability to understand reality: Visit a river or creek or lake. Converse with the fish and frogs and turtles and beavers. Study the ways of the crabs and crayfish and eels. Sing songs to the dragonflies and whirli gig beetles and lacewings.
Students have to be in class to learn. e Greeley-Evans district in northern Colorado is one of many districts nationwide using federal COVID dollars to fund atten dance-boosting e orts. e 22,000-student district is in the second year of a three-year, $644,000 contract with the Denver-based consulting company Zero Dropouts to track down missing high schoolers and help them catch up on coursework or credits.
Before the pandemic, 35% of Greeley-Evans students were chronically ab sent, meaning they missed 10% or more of school days. at number rose to 40% during 2020-21, well above the state rate of 26%.
Castillo, the Northridge cheer coach, and Madera, a former secretary at the school, are among 14 Zero Dropouts employees, also known as attendance advocates, embedded in the district’s ve high schools this year. ey have a host of responsibilities, from helping out in classes and monitor ing hallways to calling and visiting the homes of absent students. e job is part detective work, part social work and part paperwork.
No falling through the cracks
ANNSCHIMKE
Castillo and Madera are on the front lines of a push to get kids back in school after a pandemic that compounded many of the problems that contribute to chronic absenteeism, including student disengagement, academic struggle, and nancial insecurity. e rationale is simple:
e four attendance advocates at Northridge High use a small room connect ed to the main o ce as their home base. It’s rimmed with computer workstations that often display color-coded spreadsheets showing period-by-period absences and other metrics that help them ag kids in danger of slipping away.
is story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters
T
he front door of the house was ajar when Domanic Castillo and Julia Madera approached. ey were looking for a teenager named Jason who’d missed the rst ve days of school at Northridge High in Greeley. e boy wasn’t there, but his father was—dusty from working on reno vations inside.
When students don’t show up, attendance detectives are on the case by Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado
The bringthemDropoutsnizatoinspartneredSomestudentutingproblemscompoundedpandemicmanycontribtochronicabsence.districtshavewithorgalikeZerototrackdownandthemback.
“Attendance and course recovery are probably your two biggest challenges at a high school,” said Hass, who formerly served as a high school principal in nearby Loveland.“echallenges are the same pre- post- and during the pandemic,” he said. “ ey’re just more pronounced now.”
Lanny Hass, special projects manager at Zero Dropouts, said advocates help intervene quickly when warning signs pop up: an increase in absences, a grade that’s fallen to a D or F, or problematic behavior. e team works in tandem with counselors, mental health specialists and other school sta .
After Castillo explained that they hadn’t seen Jason at school yet, the man quickly dialed the boy’s mother and handed over his cell phone. Madera took the call and, speaking in Spanish, learned that the family planned to send him to one of the district’s alternative schools.
18 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
“She said she meant to call,” Madera said as she and Castillo returned to her SUV, ready for the next stop on their home visit list.
Sometimes, the moments that mean the most aren’t what attendance advocates expect. When a girl named LaWren, a senior cheerleader, recently stopped by, she mentioned how surprised she was when Eckenrode pronounced her name right on the rst try during an advisory class. “Wow, you remembered that?” Eckenrode asked. “ at was like a life-changing moment,” LaWren said. “ at’s the rst time someone’s gotten my name right in my whole life, my whole 17 years.”
On a recent morning, Erin Eckenrode, an advocate who previously worked as a juvenile probation o cer, made phone calls looking for 54 students on that day’s no-show list. She talked to some parents, left messages for others, and sometimes hit dead ends. She did solve a few mysteries. She found that two families had moved out of the district—one, refugees from Ukraine, had relocated to California, and another had moved to a nearby district.
Connecting with kids in a non-teaching role creates a di erent relationship, said Lopez. “It’s di erent work. We’re their friends. We’re here for them,” she said. “I always tell them I’m going to do what ever it takes to help you succeed.”
BS, the world’s largest meat processing company, oper ates a plant in AttendanceGreeley.advocates say the pandemic has also erod ed students’ social and self-advocacy skills. Teens are dialed into the digital world, but can be muted when it comes to real-lifeCastillo,interactions.whohelps monitor a class where students work online to catch up, said he’s seen students stare at a locked computer screen rather than raising their hands to ask for help. “I just stopped going.”
“We’ll just have a good conversation about my day or her day,” he said. “She’s nice to me, so I really like her.”
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, cover ing early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.Chalkbeat(chalkbeat.org) is a nonpro t news organization
Along the wall is a cardboard box of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie packs. Students zip into the room occasionally to grab a snack from the box.
When calls and visits fail
Even when attendance advocates track students down, it can be di cult to get them back in class. Madera re called one student she worked with last year who stopped coming to school completely after a couple months, his absences a long red stripe on his attendance chart.
e 10th grader didn’t seem to want to go to Northridge or anywhere else. When she dropped o an application for an online program, he threw the papers on the oor. She ended up calling the family more than 20 times, visiting their home four times and texting the boy’s mother a few times. Nothing changed until she referred the teen to truancy court.“I didn’t want it to be like that,” said Madera. But the move worked, and the teen returned to Northridge last April—at rst shy, with his hood pulled over his head. He attended consistently for the last two months and made up some of his missed work. is year, Madera spotted him on the rst day of school, Aug. 11.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 19
Last year, Angel, now a 10th grader at Northridge, missed lots of school—more than 300 class periods last time he Somechecked.ofhisfriends had already dropped out, joining their fathers on construction jobs. “I started ditching a lot towards the end,” he said. “Some times, I just feel school ain’t for me so I just stopped going.”
Prior to 26%.the40%—wellnumberPost-pandemicchronicallystudentsschoolofpandemic,the35%Greely-Evansdistrict’swereabsent.thatrosetoabovestaterateof
But Angel eventually came back, and he counts Shena Lopez, one of the school’s attendance advocates, as some one he can relate to at Northridge. Often, he’ll stop by to see her three times a day.
Like high schoolers everywhere, Northridge students struggle for many reasons. ey may nd their classes bor ing, face chaotic home lives, or hold jobs that leave them too exhausted for school. About two-thirds of the school’s 1,200 students are eligible for federally subsidized meals, a measure of poverty.
“Oh my God, he’s here,” she thought.
20 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE JUST ANNOUNCED OCT 16 ROLE MODEL OCT 28 THE FLOOZIES NOV 10 12 WARREN MILLER’S DAYMAKER THU. SEP 1 ROOSTER & TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT VISTA KICKS DANTE ELEPHANTE, HAIL MARIES FRI. SEP 2 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS JAMESTOWN REVIVAL ROBERT ELLIS SAT. SEP 3 22 & GOOD 4 U TAYLOR SWIFT VS. OLIVIA RODRIGO NIGHT SUN. SEP 4 COLE SCHEIFELE SOUND OF HONEY, DIREVILLE THU. SEP 8 ROOSTER CHARLIEOGMINDCHATTERPRESENTSHARVE,SOMELIERSAT.SEP10GARAGEATROIS:HUNTER,SKERIK&STANTONMOORE 1135WWW.FOXTHEATRE.COM13THSTREETBOULDER720.645.2467 WWW.BOULDERTHEATER.COM203214THSTREETBOULDER303.786.7030 THU. SEP 1 PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS DISCO LINES THATZ HOT, EVELATION B2B SAMI G SAT. SEP 17 ROOSTER & PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENT WAX TERRAPINTUE.BRKLYN,MOTIFGANOSEP20CARESTATIONPRESENTSCLERKSIII: THE CONVENIENCE TOUR WED. SEP 21 AEG PRESENTS: GWINGLE GWONGLE TOUR REMI COMEDYTHU.JELANIWOLFARYEHSEP2WORKSPRESENTS MARC MARON: THIS MAY BE THE LAST TIME SAT. SEP 24 ROOSTER PRESENTS: FALL TOUR 2022 TWOBROTHELFEET
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 21
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see PEDESTRIAN Page 22 HEFFRONART
Through memoir and critique, Denverite Jonathon Stalls examines what it means to be a pedestrian
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“It’s about being a moving participant the way you’re made to be,” Stalls says. Much of the book focuses on a cross-country journey Stalls took in 2010. “It was totally out of the blue. I had never had a multi-day hiking experience before. I wanted an experience that would re-orient and re-calibrate everything in my life,” Stalls admits. He was 26 years old, coming to terms with his queerness, and searching for belonging. “There was a lot of chaos that I suppressed and buried.”
ou could say Jonathon Stalls is a full-time pedestrian. You could probably glean that from his toe shoes, wellworn walking stick and routine propensity to trek more than a dozen miles a day. As we circle Ferril Lake in Denver’s City Park, Stalls fddles with a leaf he found, greets a passing jogger and jumps back to conversation about his gripes with Denver’s pedestrian infrastructure.There’sperhaps no greater summation of Stalls’s passion for pedestrianism than his newest publication, WALK: Slow Down, Wake Up, and Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour, released on Aug. 16 (North Atlantic Books). Through the philosophical collection of short essays, recollections and memoirs, it’s evident that walking is to Stalls what painting was to Bob Ross: a way to engage with the world at a slower pace while learning about yourself.
“I wanted to learn from the natural landscape, the mountains and desert, small towns and cities. I wanted to be with the things that were hard on the inside. I was transformed by the experience. I learned
“This might actually ft me a lot better than any other social media app, because it's quick. It can be more conscious thoughts and not overly planned,” Stalls muses. “I just started it as an experiment. It took off, and it was so affrming. It's a tool that's more natural for the way I'm wired.”
Stalls developed a brand new framework he calls “pedestrian dignity.”
PEDESTRIAN from Page 21 from people—from strangers—at an unhurried pace.”
22 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
Eight months later, Stalls and his blue-heeler husky breached the Pacifc Coast, and Stalls found his mindset anew. He came to realize how easily he could focus his thoughts and manage his emotions while he walked.
Stalls regularly shares point-of-view videos of his treks through Denver, aiming to enlighten people on the lived experience of pedestrians as he expounds on poor infra structure conditions and anything else that crosses his mind in less than 60 seconds.
“Our bodies are made—whether you’re on foot or in a wheelchair—to be in movement, to have your body literally mirroring a moving world,” Stalls says, gesturing to the sway ing trees around us as we continue our second, third lap of the lake. If our cells’ natural instinct when faced with stimulus or adversity is to keep moving, Stalls wonders, shouldn’t it be ours as well? His newfound perspective made him uniquely attuned to “the reality of being a pedestrian in everyday places and spaces.”
That framework provided the namesake of Stalls’s TikTok account, a platform for sharing the empathy, healing and activism he discovered on that cross-country walk.
Though it’s likely the widest audience that Stalls currently reaches—his videos regularly get viewed and shared by an audience of more than 100,000 and growing— he has other platforms that predate both TikTok and his writings.
Stalls' endeavors mainly revolve around Intrinsic Paths, an organization focused on art, community events and, most importantly, walking. Stalls regularly hosts meet-up walks, inviting people to embark on a multi-pronged ftness-, spiritual- and activism-ori ented journey across the trails and sidewalks of Denver.
“I was flled with information related to how unsafe and harmful it was for hundreds of people I would interact with at intersections,” Stalls says. “They were under bridge overpasses, darting and surviving. So much chaos.”
“People join me for a day, or just an hour,” Stalls says. “I see how people get out of their car, experience their neighborhood or community for the frst time on foot. They’re
COURTESY JONATHON STALLS AUTHOR TALK: Jonathon Stalls— ‘WALK.’ 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St., Tickets:Boulder. boulderbookstore.net$5,
“I wish that wasn’t the case. I wish all the lights would just turn on. It can be over whelming,” Stalls admits. “It’s been helpful to just focus on the specifc container of a human body. That’s kind of been my anchoring ground. My framework is: How are we centering the lived experience of human bodies moving the way they’re meant to?”
At the heart of Stalls' book are practical solutions for pedestrian anxieties, barriers or unfamiliarities.
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 23
Email: letters@boulderweekly.com
A major focus of his book seeks to bridge that gap. Stalls hopes that society at large will realize the positive benefts of incorporating walking into everyday life rather than confning it to a recreational exception, novelty or luxury, or worse, ignoring the inequities that arise when cities make walking an uncomfortable experience.
“It’s a more utilitarian pedestrian framework. Like, this is my home, offce, commute life. And then there’s the escape to the trail,” he says.
For Stalls, there is no walk purely for pleasure, or a walk oriented toward content creation.“(Walking) seems really simple and basic,” Stalls says. “But when we think about complex social, political or relational realities, it’s always between two human bodies. Your experience moves with mine. It’s an actual tool for teams, campaigns, relation ships, peers, neighbors, whoever you’re in tension with.”
“Live it,” Stalls advises. “Replace some of your car trips and experience what it’s like to walk to the grocery store. Just be open and available. Connect to why it’s import ant for us to be doing this more.”
Even in an outdoorsy state like Colorado, Stalls is dismayed with the way walking is relegated to recreation.
like, ‘Wow, I had no idea this amazing park was here, or I had no idea how unsafe it is right across from where my mother goes to an assisted living facility.’”
Stalls admits that reframing U.S. cities around pedestrians is a long, arduous and frustrating process often hampered by zoning laws, car-centric culture and thousands of miles lacking sidewalks. (Denver has an estimated 520 miles with no sidewalks.) That’s not even mentioning issues like cracks in the sidewalk hampering those in wheelchairs, or crosswalks changing too fast or not existing at all. Dismantling these barriers through law could take years.
For Stalls, that means spreading the word through his videos, writings and conver sations with everyday residents on his walks, hoping to change hearts and minds at 3 mph.“I want to trust that you, city council members, are working to do some disruption around the defaults within the system. And you can trust that I’m working outside to do some disrupting in the public sphere. Then we’ve got a good thing going.”
24 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE An off-roadeclecticexperience3distances165 I 99 I 38 TRINIDAD, COLORADO
Boulder Weekly: What’s the history of the band’s name?
A Q&A
J
BW: I’m guessing you took in a few bluegrass festivals living down in Telluride?
AG: It kind of ended up being that way, but that wasn’t necessarily what I was thinking at its inception. I wrote the song that’s the title track before the pandemic. And then it kind of took on new meaning from everything that happened during the pandemic.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 25
Andy Gallen: Choosing a band name is always hard, but I had a huge list of names that we were considering. High Country Hustle just happened to be one of them. We play fast bluegrass from the high country.
BW: You all recently released an album called Weather the Storm. Did the title have anything to do with the pandemic and all that went along with it?
AG: I got a degree in graphic design. Our bass player also got a degree in graphic design. Our mandolin player is a geologist and our fddle player is a middle school orchestra teacher.
AG: Our fddle player had taken some lessons from Jake in the past and we were lucky enough to have him jump on board as a producer on the album. He really helped take it to another level. We recorded some of the songs on the album in Fort Collins at Swing Fingers Studio and then we fnished it up down in Durango.
BW: How’d you guys come to know Jake Simpson from the Lil Smokies? I saw that he produced your album.
BW: You and your bandmates all recently graduated from Fort Lewis College?
BW: What did you major in at Fort Lewis College?
AG: Yeah, we all went to Fort Lewis and that’s where we met. Three of us are (from Colorado), but our mandolin player, Seth Yokel, is from South Carolina. Our fddle player, Dennon Jones, is from Nederland. Our bass player, Charlie Henry, is from Littleton, and I grew up in Telluride.
BW: Will you get back to the Front Range soon?
ON THE BILL: High Country Hustle with People We Know. 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, Animas City Theater, 128 E. College Drive, Durango. Tickets are $15.
AG: Yeah, we play most of our gigs up on the Front Range unless we’re going out of state, but we like playing down in the Durango area too. It’s a lot of driving to get to gigs, but we like living down in the Four Corners area. It’s nice to be down in Southwest Colorado. We’ve talked about moving up closer to the Denver area, but for now we’re enjoying living down here and bringing the music up there. We like to camp and get out on the river when we can. We like the outdoors a lot. So far it’s been a good run. We just turned fve this year. We made it through the pandemic, raised a bunch of money on Kickstarter for our latest album and had a great sum mer. We’re chugging away. It’s been great. We’ll be back up on the Front Range in a few months. with Colorado’s newest jamgrass troubadours
AG: Defnitely. I’ve been to like 20-plus. I haven’t missed one in 16 years. I hit my frst Telluride Bluegrass Festival sometime in the early ’90s when I was a little kid.
byinHustlingtheHighCountryNickHutchinson
SAMANTHA SANDERS
amgrass is often associated with the state of Colorado, which has given birth to many of the genre’s well-acclaimed groups, including Leftover Salm on, the String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String Band. As time marches on, the tradition of pushing the boundaries of bluegrass continues with younger players happily joining the party and adding fresh spins to the sound. One of the latest groups to gather momentum in the Centennial State is High Country Hustle, a quartet out of the Durango area that won the WinterWonderGrass band competition in 2020 and is rapidly ascending the peaks of acoustic twang while pleasing its listeners. Boulder Weekly had the pleasure of chatting with the band’s guitarist and vocalist, Andy Gallen, who also works as a graphic designer when he’s not playing a high and lonesome tune. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
4 p.m. Saturday Sept. 3, Whistlestop Park, Murray Street and First Avenue, Niwot. Tickets: Adults $95, Kids $35, available at Eventbrite Tuck into potatoes, corn, baked beans, rolls, cookies, ice cream and, of course, lobster at Niwot Lobsterfest. Adults get a welcome cocktail, and kids get a toy with their lobster mac and cheese. Cut a rug with music from the House Blend Band and Tim Stiles, and place bids in a silent auction. Proceeds will go toward individuals affected by the Marshall Fire.
6:45 sanssoucifestival.orgTickets:Broadway,ofSept.Friday-Sunday,p.m.2-4,MuseumBoulder,2205Boulder.$30, Join members of the community for the 19th Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema premier on the rooftop at the Museum of Boulder. Enjoy a beer or a glass of wine while viewing live dance presentations and video installations throughout the museum before heading into the screening of a few select flms offering the best of dance and cinema.
n 2022 Niwot Lobsterfest
n 19th Annual Sans FestivalSouciPremier
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2, and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, Dairy Arts Center, Gordon Gamm Theater, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $25$35, circusfoundry.com Experience an evening of mesmerizing acrobatics, aerial arts, juggling, and dance in Smoke and Mirrors, presented by Circus Foundry. Smoke and Mirrors is made up of performers from Cirque du Soleil, Royal Caribbean, Marvel and So You Think You Can Dance.
Circus Foundry Presents: Smoke and Mirrors
COURTESYSANSSOUCI
26 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE EVENTSEVENTSIfyour organization is planning an event, please email the arts & culture editor at wmatuska@ boulderweekly.com For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events
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Author Talk: Vicki Ash Hunter— ‘Running and Returning’ 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: $5, boulderbookstore.net Vicki Ash Hunter qualifed for the mar athon Olympic Trials in 1988 and became a trusted coach to others. Even after moth erhood and a life-altering injury, nothing could keep Hunter from the roads and trails around Boulder. But in this memoir, Hunter explores the darker side of her need to run, looking at generational trauma and her own overzealousness with exercise. Listen to Hunter refect on her life with running at this author talk at Boulder Book Store.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 27 see CONCERTS Page 28
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H Sept.Friday,2 Conley.withandiDKHOWJoywaveSavannah 7 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver Hazel Miller and The Collective. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette Jamestown Revival with Robert Ellis. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder Shady Oaks with Dayshaper. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder Gasoline Lollipops. 8 :30 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder H Saturday, Sept. 3 Courtney Barnett & Japanese Breakfast with Arooj Aftab, Bedouine. 5 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver Mom Jeans with Free Throw, Just Friends. 7 p.m. Ogden The atre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver Pete Olstad Quartet. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette Rolling Harvest—A Tribute to Neil Young and Bob Dylan. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette Rising Appalachia with Birds of Play. 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder 22 & Good 4 U—A Dance Party for Lovers of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder Ryan Dart Duo. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder H Sunday, Sept. 4 Laurie Dameron Duo. 5 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder
HOTO BY JACKIE LEE
Altona School Open House 11 a.m-2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, Altona Schoolhouse at Heil Valley Ranch Open Space Drop by anytime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to go inside the historic schoolhouse where students studied and played from 1880 to the World War II era. Volunteers will be on hand to share the school’s history and restoration with visitors. If time allows, you can take part in a game or spelling bee. Park at the Corral Trailhead at Heil Valley Ranch and walk approximately 10 minutes on School house Loop to the Altona School.
EVENTSEVENTSCONCERTSEVENTS
Bourbon, Blues, & Grooves King Cake Blues. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette H Thursday, Sept. 8 Bruce Foreman. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette NoCo LoCo Rocks. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette Jessie James Decker. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver
Bonnie and Taylor Sims Band. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder
28 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events CONCERTS from Page 27 CONCERTSEVENTS RISING APPALACHIA, COURTESY IVPR dogtopia.com/lafayette Meet our Dog of the NATASHAWeek! Call today to sign up for a Wellness Plan!720-263-4583 300 W South Boulder Rd. Lafayette, CO 80026 live entertainment, special events, great foo d and drinks UPCOMING CONCERTS and EVENTS at Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center LOCATIONNEW 1455 Coal Creek Drive Unit T • Lafayette Get your tickets @ www.nissis.com THUR SEPT 1 &GLOTZERSTEVEFRIENDS “VARIETY ROCK” FREE ADMISSION FRI SEPT MILLERHAZEL2ANDTHECOLLECTIVE SAT SEPT HARVESTROLLING3 A SUPERGROUP TRIBUTE TO NEIL YOUNG AND BOB DYLAN WED SEPT 7 BOURBON, BLUES, & GROOVES CAKEKING FREE ADMISSION FRI SEPT ANTONIOFOXFEATHER9LOPEZBANDLUCASWOLF SAT SEPT UNDERGROUNDSOMETHING10
H Monday, Sept 5 Jazz Jam Session with Host Brad Goode. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette Flume with Prospa, Quiet Bison. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver
A’Bear Duo. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder
Silverstein & The Amity Affiction with Holding Absence, UnityTX. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver Cole Scheifele with Sound of Honey, Direvile. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder Echo & The Bunnymen. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver
Oh Snap. 7:30 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette An Evening with Peter Hook & The Light—Joy Division: A Celebration. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver H Tuesday, Sept. 6
Lauv with Special Guest Hayley Kiyoko, David Kushner. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver
The Collection with Jamie Drake. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder
H Wednesday, Sept 7
Mindchatter with HARVE, Somelier. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 29 ON THE BILL: My Old School, Sept. 1-4, Dairy Arts Cen ter, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder Stories we tell A slippery case of deception in ‘My Old School’ by
Casey
Cumming.eyesthethearewordsofsynchCummingsotoview.on-camerawantinnon?—doesn’tisBrandonbecauseLee—oritBrianMacktositforaninter-Leeagreedanaudioone,McLeodcalledtolip-Lee’ssidethestory.TheyouhearfromLee,butfacialticsandmesmerizingarecourtesyItfeels
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like faint praise to say this might be one of Cumming’s best performances, but it is. My Old School is all about performances. I’m dancing here, mainly because I don’t want to give anything away. Neither the story nor the players. And certainly not why McLeod wants to tell it. Cumming isn’t the only thing flling in McLeod’s missing pieces. When one of the dozen interviewees recounts a story, McLeod and Rory Lowe use animation to illustrate the past tense. The animation design exists somewhere between Archie comics and the MTV show Daria—period-ap propriate references both. Here’s what I will say: My Old School is a documentary by way of investigation. The main character, Lee, arrives at the Bearsden Academy in the posh part of Glasgow, Scotland, in the middle of the term. He doesn’t immediately make friends, but he does integrate himself into the school, frst as a friend, then as a brainiac, fnally as the lead performer in the school’s production of South Pacifc. Everyone seems to like Lee, particularly a couple of the outcasts. One, Brian, because he has terrible taste in music; the other, Stefan, because he’s Black in a predominantly white school. Their interviews kind of break your heart once you learn what’s really going on. The others, particularly one of Lee’s teachers and the girl who starred opposite him in South Pacifc, raise a slew of ethical questions. It’s those questions that make Lee’s story so damn fascinating. So much so that it was a major news story in the mid-’90s. A movie—titled Younger Than Springtime—was even set to flm. And who was cast to play Lee in this fctitious retelling of a phenomenal fact? Why Alan Cumming, of course. That movie never came to be, but My Old School did. I can’t imagine this story told any better than the way McLeod does. Some things you gotta see to believe—especial ly when they’re true. For more, tune into After Image Fridays at 3 p.m., on KGNU: 88.5 FM and online at kgnu.org. Email questions or comments to editorial@boulderweekly.com. Michael J.
ou know something’s amiss from the start. There’s something benign about the secondary school classroom setting, something pedestrian about the partici pants that makes your antenna immediately go up. The presence of the actor Alan Cumming is the second indication. Every one else sitting before the camera looks like a normal human being—an aver age Joe capable of playing no one other than themself. Cumming, on the other hand, has a presence. There’s a way actors can look directly into the camera that can make you look past the obvious. And My Old School is all about looking past the obvious. Cumming isn’t the only actor in My Old School, the new documentary from Jono McLeod, but he might be the only one you recognize. Cumming is here
30 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE September 9 - 11, 2022 800 S. Hover Rd. Suite 30, Longmont, CO 80504 • 303-827-3349 www.thelocoltheatre.com A Theatre company focused on local talent. An educational theatre to train and encourage kids in the gifts of acting and dance. A place for families to enjoy the family friendly productions. Scan Here to View Our Video Walk Through of the Theatre!
P.S. Congrats on your sobriety—and while I hope your parents apologized to you at some point, I’m guess ing they haven’t, seeing as they aren’t just evangelicals, but narcissists to boot.
—Behaves Like A Boyfriend But Excludes Romantic Stamp Dear BLABBERS: Telling someone to disengage romantically is easy, BLABBERS. Actually disengaging romantically is hard. I’ve heard from so many people over the years who were struggling to smother romantic feelings for lovers who did them wrong. People pining away for exes who fucked their best friends, emptied their check ing accounts and refused to respond to their texts. So, while I could tell you to adjust your romantic expec tations downward while you keep fucking this boy, the odds of you being able to keep your romantic feelings in check—much less smoth er them—while he’s hosting birthday parties for you and sucking your dick are close to zero. If you keep seeing this guy, the emotional hits (“I don’t want a relationship,” “I feel no spark”) will keep coming.
Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.
Dear Dan: I’m a 29-yearold gay man just shy of fve years sober. I’ve had to do a lot of work on myself in recovery to accept and love myself after being dragged to conversion therapy when I was a teenager by my narcissistic evangelical parents. I met a guy in AA in May who at the time was nine months sober. His sobriety coincided with him coming out. He’s 27 years old and still unpacking a lot. He broke up with a girlfriend a few months before we met and I’m the frst guy he’s ever dated. I was initially hesitant about getting involved with him, given these parameters, but I went for it anyway. The frst two months were great. We had great chemistry and great sex, we went on dates, etc. A month ago he hit me with, “I don’t want to be in a relationship as I’m exploring my sexuality.” My initial reaction was to step back and assume this was the end. However, nothing changed. He continued to initiate affection and even threw me a birthday party at his home with decorations he bought. A week later he hits me with, “I’ve lost the romantic spark but I still want to hang out, have sex, and go on dates.” I’m mainly just thrown by the lack of alignment between his words and actions. Should I just accept this relationship for whatever it is and date other people? The sex is great, but I feel very romantically involved—four months in—and I’m not sure it’s wise to get more involved.
So, what’s up with this guy? If he acts like a boy friend and fucks like a boyfriend, why doesn’t he want to be aMaybeboyfriend?he’s still exploring his sexuality—maybe it’s just what he told you—and he worries that labeling the relationship, e.g., becoming boyfriend offcial, is going to limit him. He is a recent refugee from Straightland, after all, and most residents of Straightland have no concept of romantic relationships that aren’t sexually exclusive (except for straight people who read my column and listen to the Lovecast!). Just because he’s out doesn’t mean he’s up to speed. Or maybe he’s not gay. You say he just came out, BLABBER, but you don’t say what he came out as. You also say the sex has been great, and I believe you. Guys sometimes discover they like having sex with men and then assume they must be gay; they see enjoying sex with other men as disquali fying where straightness is concerned. And so it is. But it’s not disqualifying where bisexuality is concerned. So, if this guy came out as gay because he thought he had to be gay because otherwise he wouldn’t enjoy your dick so much, his lack of romantic feelings for you—if coupled with ongoing romantic and/or sexual attractions to women—could mean he’s bisexual and heteroroman tic (BAH). It’s a thing. BAH guys can confuse gay men; while some BAH guys don’t want anything to do with their male sex partners before or after sex, other BAH guys are open to being “buds.” These BAH guys—BAH guys who wanna hang out, go on dates, host your birth day party—not only confuse gay dudes, they sometimes break our hearts. Or maybe this guy knows you could be boyfriends without being exclusive (maybe you explained that to him) or maybe he’s gay and not into you the same way you’re into him (also a thing, and a sad one). But whatever his issues might be, BLABBERS, you should see other people while he explores/sucks/ fucks his way through those issues. And if hanging out with him right now is too painful—if seeing him hurts too much—don’t hang out with him, don’t socialize with him, don’t take turns sitting on dicks with him. He was honest and direct with you, BLABBERS, and you should be just as honest and direct with him. Getting the boyfriend treatment from a guy who not only insists he isn’t your boyfriend but also doesn’t have any romantic feelings for you—the gap you perceive between his actions and his words—is going to make you miserable if you can’t disengage romantically, BLABBERS, which you most likely can’t. Tell him you’re not angry, you don’t hate him, and you still like him very much. And that’s the problem: you like him way more than he likes you. As much as you enjoy his company, as much as you enjoy his dick, continuing to date or fuck him means feeding your self-esteem into an emotional shredder.
Dear Dan: I’m a gay boy in the big city. I had a threesome with two married guys and it didn’t go well, to put it mildly… Go to Savage.Love to read the rest.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 31 ROMAN ROBINSON BY DAN SAVAGE 1085 S Public Rd. Lafayette (303) Tues-Sun:Hours:665-066611a-8:30pClosedMonday Thank You for Voting us Best Asian Fusion Restaurant for 7 years! Best Asian Fusion DINE-IN OR ORDER ON-LINE FOR phocafelafayette.comTAKE-OUT
“I have no system. I have no structure. There are no recipes and there’s no menu. Some people have meltdowns and can’t deal with it,” Merten says, adding by John Lehndor ff
A true farm-to-table truck aims to radi cally change how chefs treat farmers (and dish great food)
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32 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
f it were up to Donna Merten, you would never see a menu until you arrive at a restaurant and the dishes would feature ingredients that we now throw away.
“Whatever it is, I want it.”
“And this is just today. It’s like this every day,” she says, sharing a sample from a fat of very ripe yellow cherry tomatoes. “I think the favor profle is better for produce (that has been) out in the feld longer.”
With perfect timing, our chat is quashed as huge bags, crates and boxes of carrots, peppers and greens arrive unexpectedly from Speedwell Farm. “It’s like Christmas!” Merten says with an ear-to-ear grin.
JOHNLEHNDORFF
Take the Organ Burger, a dish occasionally featured at her FED food trailer at Lyons’ new Rock Garden beer garden.“There’s plenty of organs out there that nobody buys,” she says. “We get the trifecta of kidneys, hearts and livers from the farmers, combine them with mush rooms and grill it. You’d be amazed how many custom ers love them and get disappointed when they aren’t on the menu.”Evenpopular dishes don’t stay on her menu long because she never knows which ingredients her crew will have to cook with. FED runs an unusual restaurant CSA for local farmers. “I guarantee them a certain amount of dollars every week and they can bring me whatever they want. They sometimes ask, but I say: ‘You guys know I’ll take whatever you couldn’t sell to everybody else: restau rants, stores, CSAs and farmers markets. I honestly do not care,” Merten insists.
Among the dozen farms that show up with ingredi ents are Lazy J Farm (pork), Longmont’s Caribou Ranch (beef) and Buckner Ranch (lamb). The menu this sunny weekday includes a juicy freerange beef burger topped with grilled peaches, grilled ground lamb with house-made yogurt sauce and roasted zucchini “pasta” with caramelized onions and peaches. Accompaniments are salads with sprouted grains, crunchy fermented veggies, along with sauteed peppers, onions and squash. That’s the menu … today, at least. “When all the stuff comes in, we look at it and agree on how we’re going to use it and then we start process ing it,” Merten says. Needless to say, FED requires cooks with a certain joie de vivre
FEDwell
“We have to turn the whole restaurant mod el on its head,” says Merten, owner of FED, short for Farm Eats Direct, a 2-year-old catering company. “We shouldn’t be ordering industrial ingredients. We should be thinking: ‘What’s best for the local farms?’”
That includes what little that she doesn’t make edible.
John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU (news.kgnu.org/category/radio-nib bles). Email him at nibbles@boulderweekly.com.
Opening a large new catering kitchen in Loveland will allow her to feed her rapidly growing business and pro duce seasonal products to be sold in local markets.
“I feel it’s critical to grow. The more we can grow, the more food we can buy from the farmers and help the local food economy,” Merten says. “Last year we saved over 40,000 pounds of food and we will at least double that this year.”
is serious about using everything. “Farms bring us a lot of bones we turn into stock. The pig skin we fry into chicharron.” Then there are the pig heads. “We boil them in big pots,” she says. “I love the delicate pig cheek meat.” Farms mostly dispose of aging roosters and hens that stop laying. Merten wanted those tough old birds: “I have a family recipe. You slow braise them for 16 hours and the meat gets so tender.”
Local Food News: Brasserie Renaissance Bova’s Market & Grill has reopened at 1100 28th St. Frontage Road. … After being closed since 2020, Brasserie Ten Ten has re opened at 1011 Walnut St. The eatery’s original chef, Tony Hessel, will head up the kitchen. …
“We’ve even fgured out how to deal with all the surplus eggs. We freeze the whites, pickle hard boiled eggs and make salt-cured duck egg yolks,” Merten says. “We’re like squirrels trying to plan for the winter. It’s also giving money back to farmers for food that would have been a fnancial loss.”
The FED trailer in Lyons will be open year-round, weather permitting. Merten’s mo bile food truck offers food plans for families, and caters events. “We don’t have advance menus for them, either,” she says.
“Anything leftover goes back to the farms,” she says. “It’s full circle. You feed organ ic produce to the animals, which produce healthier meat.”
The kitchen also crafts vinegars and kombucha, sprouts organic seeds and beans, and generally upgrades the nutritional profle of everything, but FED doesn’t preach to the customers. “Luring is better than lecturing,” Merten says. “Once people try our food they trust us and appreciate the way we do things.”
The Stone Cup in Lyons is closing on Sept. 5 After 18 years in business.
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Merten had already enjoyed a 20-year career as an architect and real estate devel oper when her drive to change the food system sent her to the University of Colorado for a graduate degree in food systems. She pitched her idea for the FED truck and won a venture business challenge. She launched FED after her 2020 graduation. However, FED’s real origin story starts in Indiana. Merten enjoyed time with her grandmother, a private chef with a 100-acre working farm. “She taught me how to cook. That’s where I learned these old school farmhouse practices. You just didn’t waste anything,” Merten says.
Words to Chew On “The farmers suffer a lot to get restaurants perfect produce. Statistically, 40% of what is grown in the U.S. stays on the feld. How do we, as chefs, capture that food and keep it from being wasted?” —Donna Merten.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 33
that culinary school students have to unlearn everything they were told about farm-totableMertenfood.
That bag of carrots she just hauled to the cooler will be chopped and fermented or pickled. The carrot greens will become chimichurri sauce. Merten also fries the fronds as a crispy topping on dishes. She loves herb and kale stems that stay crunchy when fermented.
34 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE 303.604.6351 | 1377 FOREST PARK CIRCLE, LAFAYETTE New Hours: Open 7 days a week: 7:30am - 3:00pm daily Voted County’sEastBESTGlutenFreeMenu Order Online at morningglorylafayette.com Taste The Difference Try Eldorado Natural Spring Water Today! www.EldoradoSprings.com • 303.604.300 0 Enter code at checkoutBW21 Think all water tastes the same? See why Eldorado Natural Spring Water keeps winning awards for taste. Water for a MonthFree Summer is here and our three patios are the perfect place to immerse yourself in everything Pearl Street has to o er. Prefer the great indoors? Take a seat at one of our lively bars, feast alongside the jellyfish or sink into a comfy lounge. If a sushi picnic more your style, all of your favorites are available for curbside pickup too. No matter how you choose to dine don’t miss our ever-evolving specials, delicious seasonal cocktails, and latest rare whiskey! A taste of modern Japan in the heart of Boulder Sun-Thur 11am to 10pm | Fri-Sat 11am to 11pm BoulderJapango.com | 303.938.0330 | 1136 Pearl JapangoRestaurant JapangoBoulder
Ingenuity and effciency are necessary for both the farm and the brewery, the brothers explain. Making beer is a very water-intensive process, while the San Luis Val ley has some of the lowest precipitation in the state. Josh worked with the state of Colorado to develop a recycling program for the brewery’s wastewater, minimizing the impact on water usage as much as possible.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 35 A family malt and a farm brew Germinating with the Codys of Colorado Malting Company by Matt Maenpaa DETAILS: Colorado Farm Brewery, 2070 County Road 12 South, company.comcoloradomaltingAlamosa, LONGMONT’S NEWEST STEAKHOUSE featuring NoCo’s Best Beef and Freshest Seafood in town NEW HOURS: Tuesday - Thursday 3pm - 9pm • Friday 3pm - 10pm • Saturday 9am - 10pm • Sunday 9am - 8pm • Closed Monday’s 300 Main St. Longmont, CO • (303) 834-9384 • dickens300prime.com Under New Management • New Menu HAPPY HOUR DAILY - 3pm-6pm Live Music on the Patio Friday and Saturday $3 Wells, $3 16oz drafts Bud and Coors Light. $4 House Wine, $4 pints of Modelo and Blue Moon, $5 House Margaritas. Dragon Berry Lemonade, Elevated Seltzers, Breckenridge Brewery. Half o select Appetizers Coming soon to Pearl Street in Boulder
Email: mattmaenpaa@gmail.com
The Codys grow a hundredfewacres of grain on their fam ily farm, including varieties of barley, wheat, rye and millet. Everything is malted on land that’s been homesteaded for 90Theyears.Codys were growing felds of barley for Coors became the farm’s primary source of income. By 2004, the farm was strug gling with debt and the Codys were considering selling. But their grandmother suggested converting to a malting business ahead of the surge in craft breweries. Malting equipment at the time was designed for massive oper ations, scaled to meet the demands of companies like Coors or Budweiser, so the Codys had to develop their own. “It was born out of necessity,” Josh says. “We engineered a lot of technology that other maltsters now use around the country.” When CMC started, the craft malt world was just a handful of companies. Now it numbers in the hundreds, with competition like Proximity Malt setting up shop not far from the Codys’ farm. With business changing and the market evolving, Jason said they’ve shifted more to malting grains for distilleries than breweries in the past half dozen years.
“We’re at our maximum production capacity right now, bar none,” Jason says. “Not all of it, but most of it goes to distilleries.” The maltsters haven’t given up their beer-soaked roots though, he says. Most malting companies keep a brewing system on hand to test their malts, the Codys just take it one step further. Five years ago the Codys launched Colorado Farm Brewery, where they “pioneer new malts” from their felds.
T here is a sort of alchemy that goes into brewing water,distilling—grain,andyeastand time yield something beautiful and delicious.Down in Alamosa, brothers Josh and Jason Cody of Colo rado Malting Company (CMC) have spent the last decade helping Colorado brewers and distillers attain ideal alcoholic alchemies with farm-grown grains and hand-tended malts. Colorado staples like Spirit Hound Distillers, A.D. Laws, Coors and New Belgium have harnessed CMC malts to produce libations past and present. Malting is at the center of brewing and distilling. Fermentation occurs when yeast consumes sugars, converting to both carbon dioxide and alcohol. Malting harnesses the natural enzymes in grains to help that process.Cereal grains are packed with starch, which the seed uses as fuel to sprout and grow. When the outer layer of the grain is exposed to water, a chemical process kicks off that feeds the dormant embryo, giving the plant what it needs to grow past the top layer of soil. Malting is a way to harness that natural process, soaking the seeds and dehydrating through heat to trap those enzymes in a dormant state, Josh explains. “Those enzymes are ready to go back to work and then you have a very durable product that can be shipped and stored,” he adds.
“A lot of our smoked malt catalog came about after tasting the beers Josh made with it,” Jason says. “It’s cool to be able to taste our favors real time instead of depending on our customers for feedback.”
“We need irrigation water all the time,” Jason says. “To be able to take the grain out of the feld, make a beer with it, then put the wastewater back on the crops is prettyTherad.”Codys know that both CMC and the brewery will need to expand to meet demands from customers, but Jason insists they want to keep the family feel and continue to stay away from normal commercial growth models.“We want our business to be in harmony here,” he says. “We’ll grow with the companies we work with, but we don’t want to turn this into the next thing available in every liquor store. We want people to have to seek us out, come fnd us and experience what we are.”
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1/2 teaspoon salt Cut chicken in small pieces (or buy chicken wings, breast, thighs, etc.) put in a deep saucepan, cook onion and bacon in butter, stirring over medium heat for a few minutes. Add chicken, salt and paprika. Brown the chick en, turning pieces occasionally for about 10 minutes. Add broth, cover pan, lower heat to simmer and cook for about 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pan when tender and set aside. Sprinkle four in pan liquid and combine before stirring in sour cream. Add chicken and simmer fve minutes. Serve with egg noodles or bread dumplings.Optional:
The Lafayette Brew Fest is Sept. 10, pouring beverages from Cellar West, Liquid Mechanics, Mother Tucker, Westbound & Down, Odd13, Front Range Brewing and others (lafayettecolorado. com) … Sunbeam Farm on Cherryvale Road hosts farm dinners Sept. 10 and 24 with chef Juliette Wells (info@sunbeam farm.com) … Longmont Restaurant Week (Oct. 7-16) kicks off Sept. 29 with a farm-to-table dinner at Boulder County Fairgrounds (longmontrestaurantweek. com).
I smiled over the freshness of the whole boneless walleye fried in a light ale batter and dished with malt vinegar, tartar sauce and lemon. Center Stage also offers pizzas, steaks, a legit Caesar salad and a juicy prime rib French dip hoagie dished with Provolone, horseradish cream and au jus. It’s worth the drive just for the house tots, a true favor bomb. Crowning crispy hot spud-lets are house-smoked pulled pork, sriracha aioli, cotija cheese and chimichurri sauce.
After writing about golf food for several years I’ve learned two things. Most golfers admit that the food served at many Colorado clubs, public and private, tends to be sub-par. There are also notable exceptions that aren’t at sionalprofesatlongestboastsinPGAColorado.asplacesbers-onlymemsuchTPCThecourseBerthoudtheholeanyU.S.golfcourse:
Another Roadfood Attraction: Good Golf Fare
1/4 Cup butter
MAENPAA BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l 37 by John Lehndorff
The Roost’s sizzling shishitos and bangin’ caulifower make happy hour even happier Boulder Recipe Flashback: Marie’s Famous Chicken
1/2 tablespoon Hungarian paprika 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons four 3/4 cup sour cream
1 chicken in pieces (3 to 4 pounds) 1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped 1/2 cup chopped bacon
Add a cup of roasted green chilies, chopped or pureed, right after the sour cream. Imight be in a better mood if I went out for happy hour more often. That’s my big fnding from some recent research in Longmont. Like a lot of folks, I forgot about happy hour when the pandemic arrived and hadn’t beenWhenback.I joined Boulder Weekly drink columnist Matt Maenpaa for mid-week happy hour at The Roost, I remembered why I loved it: affordable drinks and big-favored small plates. We split crispy polenta bites with chevre, smoked tomato puree and Balsamic syrup. The ahi poke bowl was good, but the “a-ha” tastes were two near-perfect and very simple appetizers. Bangin’ caulifower cloaks fried forets in a thin, crispy coating that holds the temperature and serves as a vehicle for a spicy dipping sauce. Best of all were the blistered shishitos. Flash-fried and simply dished with salt and lime juice, the mildly hot chilies made me want to have another cocktail.
Culinary calendar: Fall Food Fun
The 773-yard, par-5 13th hole. Its huge clubhouse features a lounge and three eateries open to the public. There’s 473, a high-end steak house, plus a takeout cafe and the casual Center Stage restaurant where I grabbed lunch recently. Every seat has a sweeping view of the course and the foothills, and the fare is quite good and fairly reason ably priced for golf club fare.
Marie’s Cafe in North Boulder dished homestyle breakfast and lunch for 34 years and was known for its Czech kolacek pastries and crispy schnitzel. This recipe was published in a spiral-bound community cookbook, The Best of Boulder II, compiled in 1979 by the Boulder Community Hospital Auxiliary. Marie’s Cafe Chicken Paprikash
Email: nibbles@boulderweekly.com
Weeding out deceit
38 l SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 l BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
The seventh and most recent target is Arizona-based Kushly and its owner Cody Alt. It’s not technically part of Operation CBDeciet, but it is being similarly challenged for its misleading advertising. The biggest difference with this most recent case is that the FTC is actually reim bursing 576 customers who bought Kushly’s products under the false pretense that it could cure their acne, psoriasis, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other health ailments.TheFTC is sending a total of $21,000 to duped customers—equating to roughly $36 per person.
Reef Industries’ ads claimed, “CBD hemp oil has a huge range of potential health benefts and uses, includ ing . . . fghting cancer, . . . eliminating depression, [and] preventing infammatory ar thritis.”
HempmeCBD made up its own fake study (or at least dramatically twisted and infated existing conclusions), claiming, “[I]n a recent study, Israeli research has shown an 80% success rate in reducing problematic behavior in children with Autism using CBD.” CBD Meds Inc. went a step further, not only making a study up, but claiming that the research was done by the “United States Federal Government” itself. The fake federal study allegedly found, “CBD may make chemo therapy more effective and increase cancer cell death without harming normal cells.”
Email: will.brendza@gmail.com
FTC sends a message to snake-oil CBD companies: it’s coming for you, and it means business by Will Brendza
There is a fne line to walk in the CBD industry, between marketing the potential health benefts of a product and overselling it with disingenuous claims. Many companies make honest efforts to accurately promote the effects and uses of their products, using reliable scientifc evidence to support any health-related claims they make—companies like Mary’s Medicinals, Leaf Remedys and Colorado Botanicals. Then there are companies that are taking advantage of the new and largely unregulated nature of the industry. They use words like “proven” and “cure” and claim that their products are an outright antidote to cancer, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, acne, COVID-19 and more. These companies know they’re making claims that aren’t backed up by science. Even if it’s an objectively good product, the adver tising is disingenuous. They’re scamming people. And in some cases, they’re even selling products that don’t have any CBD in them at all, or worse, products that contain dangerous contaminants (see Weed Between the Lines, “Gray market problems,” Aug. 11, 2022). That’s why, in December of 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched “Operation CBDeciet’’ in an effort to send a message to the Wild West CBD industry. The FTC identifed six cannabis companies, making “deceptive” claims about their products, proposing settlements with each business—fve of which required fnancial remedy, and all of which re quired respondents to have “methodologically sound human clinical testing before they can make a wide variety of disease-related claims in theThefuture.”FTC recently fagged a seventh business, prompting an unprecedented and unexpected action from the feds: customer reimbursement.
The six companies originally identifed in Operation CBDeciet were Utah-based Bionatrol Health LLC and Epichouse LLC, California-based CBD Meds Inc. and Reef Industries, Boca Raton-based Hemp meCBD, and Colorado-based Steve’s Distribut ing LLC. According to the FTC, many of these companies made inaccurate claims; that their products were effective alterna tives to prescription medications and/or were effective at treating diseases like multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), osteoporosis, Alzhei mer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and cancer.
Another ad contend ed, “If you or someone you love suffers from diabetes, try using CBD oil to treat it. Not only is it safer than the most common diabetes medications, but it’s also more effective.”’
“This is the seventh case we’ve brought against CBD sellers who should know better than to make unsupported health claims for their products,” said Daniel Kaufman, acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a press release. “There may be some benefits of CBD, but there’s no proof that it can treat the serious health conditions in Kushly’s advertising, such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis or Kaufman’scancer.”righton both accounts: CBD isn’t a cure-all for neurodegenerative diseases, or an antidote to cancer, but it can help reduce anxiety, help treat sleeplessness, help control pain and infammation, and it can help lower cravings for addictive substances. There is scientifc research to back all of those effects up, according to Harvard Medical School. Operation CBDeciet and the subsequent case of Kushly won’t just take a few falsely advertised products off the shelves. These actions send a message to all CBD producers and businesses out there: The FTC means business. It isn’t going to allow people to continue making snake-oil sales of CBD just because the industry is in its infancy. According to Vantage Market Research, the CBD industry is projected to be worth $47.22 billion by 2028. That’s serious money. Which will undoubtedly elicit more serious regulation as the industry matures and proliferates.
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