Discover more at your Clear Creek County library

e Clear Creek County Library District empowers our community through literacy, human connection and equal access to resources. Connect with a librarian today to learn more.

PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

Library programs are always free!

Summer Reading 2023 - A note from Headmistress Honeybun ank you to everyone who participated in Magic in the Library, our 2023 Summer Reading program! We loved sharing stories, crafts, and fun with you.

Exciting announcements:

Between June 19 and July 20, our Summer Readers aged 0 - 17 read a combined total of 79,331 minutes – a total of over 1,322 hours! Well done, all!

Congratulations to our Summer Reading winners!

•TOP SUMMER READER - Reina Clark

• Pippinhoot First Place - Sterling Myers

• Pippinhoot Second Place - Raphael Clark

• Pippinhoot ird Place - a great Summer Reader

• Featherfayre First Place - a great Summer Reader

• Featherfayre Second Place - Sally Manwarren

• Featherfayre ird Place - Miriam Manwarren

• Emberclaw First Place - a great Summer Reader

• Emberclaw Second Place -a great Summer Reader

• Emberclaw ird Place - Audrey Amann

At the beginning of Summer Reading, CCCLD challenged our young patrons at both library branches to read toward a common goal. For every 20 minutes they read, Headmistress Honeybun would put a gold coin into their home library’s glass cauldron. If the cauldron was full by the end of Summer Reading, that library would adopt an owl! We are delighted to announce that the Summer Readers at BOTH libraries exceeded the goal. CONGRATULATIONS! We have adopted two owls at Birds of Prey Foundation, a Broomeld, Colorado, nonpro t organi-

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com zation dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of raptors. Idaho Springs Public Library adopted a great horned owl, and John Tomay Memorial Library adopted a northern saw-whet owl. We’ll have special owl information stations at both branches in the near future — check them out on your next visit! ank you to our generous Summer Reading donors – you bring magic to our community. ( Phyliss Adams, Beau Jo’s, Emma’s Embellishments, End of the Line, Evergreen National Bank, Friends of the Georgetown Library, Friends of the Idaho Springs Library, Gateway Visitor Center, Georgetown Outdoor Discovery, e Gilded Fox, Hotel de Paris, Kenneth and Cheryl Hager, Kevin Kuharic, Kneisel Anderson, Scott Pennell, Shoppe International, Sit N Chill, and Tommyknocker Brewery)

Back-to-school

As we head into a new school year, nd awesome, FREE learning resources at your Clear Creek County libraries! Support learning throughout the week with books, storytimes,

RUTH DANIELS Advertising & Sales rdaniels@coloradocommunitymedia.com

KRISTEN FIORE West Metro Editor kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

STEAM kits, tech devices, and online e-books, apps, tools, and databases. Need help getting started? Connect with your friendly Clear Creek County librarian – we’re here to help!

Be sure to nd us at back-to-school nights later this month to learn more and enter a grand prize drawing for a new Kindle.

Back-to-school nights

Carlson Elementary School: 4-6 p.m. Aug. 14 Georgetown Community School: 5-7 p.m. Aug. 14 King-Murphy Elementary School: 4-6 p.m. Aug. 15 Clear Creek Middle and High School: tentatively 5-8 p.m. Aug.17 (please con rm the date directly with the Middle and High School)

Free Fridays at the libraries

Calling Clear Creek kids: put the YAY into your Fridays at Library FriYAYS, starting August 25! We’ll o er scheduled activities at Idaho Springs Public Library and John Tomay Memorial Library, plus a range of activities kids can independently pursue at their own pace throughout

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Courant.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please Include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Contact Us: 1630 Miner St., Idaho Springs, CO 80452 - 303-566-4100

Mailing Address: 750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225 Englewood, CO 80110

Phone: 303-566-4100

Web: ClearCreekCourant.com

To subscribe call 303-566-4100

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

CHRIS KOEBERL Community Editor ckoeberl@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Email letters to kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com for closer the day (puzzles, games, computer time, quiet reading, etc). For more information, please visit www.cccld. org, or contact holly@cccld.org.

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.

Mountain Jams Summer Concert Series is program is a partnership between Georgetown Library Association, Clear Creek County Library District, Historic Georgetown, Inc., Evergreen National Bank, Buckskin Trading Company, and Rose Street B&B.

Enjoy live music on Saturday afternoons through September 9! Just head over to Library Park Stage, located in downtown Georgetown on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Rose Street (next to the John Tomay Memorial Library). Most performances run from 2 - 3:30 p.m. Book groups

Connect with other Clear Creek County readers at our book groups. Light refreshments and enjoyable conversations served. Email libby@ cccld.org for information.

Idaho Springs Book Group: 4 p.m. Aug. 14, “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus

John Tomay Memorial Library

Book Group: 10 a.m. Aug. 18, “ e Maid” by Nita Prose Writers’ chat 9 a.m. Aug. 26

Idaho Springs Public Library Local author Lisa Manifold will discuss writing and publishing strategies. Connect with other writers and share ideas! To register, email chris@cccld.org.

Adult craft

During the summer months, we are pleased to o er take-and-make craft kits! is August, create your own mini-macrame air plant hanger. Kits will be available to pick up at your Clear Creek County Library on Aug. 26 on a rst-come, rst-served basis. One kit per adult.

AUGUST STAFF BOOK PICK

TEAM MEMBER: Rita

RECOMMENDATION: “Good Morning, Monster: A erapist

Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery”

AUTHOR: Catherine Gildiner

GENRE: Non ction

RITA SAYS: “Good Morning, Monster” introduces us to Gildiner, a therapist who practiced for 25 years, and ve of her patients who overcame horri c su ering to live successful lives. As she worked to help each patient, Gildiner learned coping strategies from them which she applied to her own life. Although this book covers a di cult subject, the stories include humor and joyful moments while providing insight into the therapeutic process.

Library Services

COVID Supplies

Free masks and take-home COVID tests are available for pickup at your Clear Creek County Library branch- es. Collection

Check out books, movies, laptops, hotspots, tablets and more. Our Library of ings includes nontraditional items like cookware, kids’ science kits, a therapy lamp, and even an Oculus Quest!

Explore our book and movie collection at www.cccld.org View our Library of ings at https://cccld. org/library-of-things/ Or, call your Clear Creek County library to learn more and request items.

Do you have the Libby App?

Download the Libby App by Overdrive to your smart device to access thousands of e-books and audiobooks, available for checkout with your library card. Visit https://cccld. org/library-resources/ and click on the Overdrive/Libby icon to get started.

Visiting and curbside pickup hours

Idaho Springs Public Library

Hours

Monday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Tuesday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Wednesday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. ursday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Sunday: CLOSED

John Tomay Memorial Library

Hours

Monday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Tuesday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Wednesday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ursday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Sunday: CLOSED

Local History Archives (in the Georgetown Heritage Center) — visitors are welcome with an appointment.

Curbside pickup services are available by appointment; please contact your library branch to schedule your pickup.

Home delivery

Do you need library materials, but are unable to leave your home? Let us bring the library to you! Call us for details. Home delivery services are intended for homebound persons and patrons experiencing illness, and availability is determined by weather and sta ng.

Idaho Springs Public Library: 303567-2020

John Tomay Memorial Library: 303-569-2620

Local History Archives: 303-5692403

Tech access & study spaces

Enjoy access to computers, WiFi, and study spaces at your Clear Creek County Library.

Book our conference room at Idaho Springs Public Library for a quiet space to meet or work. Please call 303-567-2020 to make your reservation.

Technical assistance

Did you know that you can book a librarian for technical assistance? Our library sta can assist you with a variety of tasks – using a tablet or smartphone, navigating the internet, which ran a very similar promise in 1877. e Courier, the Courant’s publishers noted, had survived eight decades before it folded, and there was quite a list of local papers that hadn’t lasted nearly as long.

So, the Courant, the publishers boldly proclaimed, “has come to stay.” And 50 years later, it is still kicking.

August marks the Courant’s 50th birthday. To celebrate, we are launching a new column this week that looks back on the headlines of Clear Creek County’s past. In preparation, I’ve been scouring the Courant’s archives with the help of summer reporting intern Teddy Jacobsen. We’ve lingered over stories about heroes, o cials in hot water, funmakers, horrible moments, interesting events, unusual moments and more.

Here are a few headlines that caught our eye:

– Sept. 14, 1973: Two Georgetown selectmen resigned and a former re chief returned four of his pension checks because the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department, he said, has become “an organization with which I would rather not be identied in any way.”

– Sept. 1, 1982: e Georgetown Grocery announced that it would cut prices on basic items to help nancially pressed Henderson Mine employees and others a ected by the tight economy. Mike Heidorn, who owned the grocery with his wife, Carolyn, said the initiative was about thanking miners’ families, who had supported the grocery.

– Nov. 4, 1998: Clear Creek County voters shut down a push for a new high school on Floyd Hill. Clear

Choice, an ad hoc committee, proposed a bond issue to raise $16 million needed to build and a mill levy to pay operating costs. Both failed by around 200 votes each.

And we found lots of stories about less sensational things. Our reading gave us a good sense of the people of Clear Creek County. Over the years, they’ve been energetic, giving, thoughtful, patient, independent and resourceful.

I can also say that the Courant has lived up to its promises to cover the towns and valleys un-beholden to any Powers that Be.

As the Courant promised in its rst edition on Aug. 24, 1973: “Our paper will be Independent to the core.”

It makes me grateful for the Courant’s co-founders, Carol and Cary Sti . For decades, they kept the paper alive. Foremost, they were passionate journalists. In that rst edition, a photo shows Cary, “the editor,” and Carol, “the editor’s editor.” e rst edition reported on “ reworks’’ among the selectmen over an attempt to vacate town rights on 7th Street between Taos and Argentine streets “to allow more junked cars to be parked there.” ere were also stories about vandalism, a car-horse collision, openings at a preschool in Idaho Springs, the death of a motorcyclist and a birth. ere were many ads, including one for Polly Chandler’s Book and Card Shop and another for Montgomery Ward locations touting electric alarm clocks for $4.48. e Sti s sold the paper in 1999 and it passed hands a few times before becoming part of Colorado Community Media, which oversees two dozen newspapers in the counties that surround Denver. Even after the Sti s left, the paper’s journalists continued to win awards.

Carol, just 34 years old in 1973, had worked for papers in her native Nebraska, e Army, Navy, Air Force Times in Paris and e Littleton Independent (also a Colorado Community Media newspaper). And Cary, 36, of Michigan, was an editor/reporter and founder of e Unsatis ed Man, a monthly review of the Colorado press. Both were at e Denver Post prior to starting the Courant, which they initially located in a former billiards hall at 5th and Rose streets in Georgetown.

Under the Sti s, the Courant was named the best weekly in the state. It won dozens upon dozens of Colorado Press Association awards. And, in 1997, the couple received the Eugene Cervi Memorial Award of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, recognizing a lifetime of aggressive community journalism.

Yet, the awards aren’t why we journalists do what we do. We’re all about the stories and being a part of the community. We are here to shine a light on issues of public interest so that people don’t remain in the dark.

I’m sure the Sti s would say the same but, unfortunately, I can’t ask them. Cary passed away in 2008 and Carol in 2013. I’d love to hear them talk about the 13-year “newspaper war” in the county when they tried to branch out with a second newspaper in Evergreen. ey lost that battle to the Canyon Courier and here I am, chief editor of both papers because they’re both part of Colorado Community Media. I wonder what the Sti s would think of that.

What I do know is that our Clear Creek Courant sta carries the torch the Sti s lit. With it comes a sense of duty to be there for all the stories that matter and a reverence for the truth. And, I promise, like the Sti s, that the Courant is independent to the core. You can nd that promise in writing (because I just wrote it!) and also see it, in essence, as part of our statement on newsroom ethics.

As many long-time readers know, the Sti s lived and raised their family in Idaho Springs, where they eventually relocated the newspaper’s headquarters.

Our new reporter for the Courant, Chris Koeberl, also lives in town with his son. And, Koeberl, Courant/West Metro Editor Kristen Fiore, Colorado Community Media Publisher Linda Shapley and myself are talking about making sure we continue another tradition of the Sti s: just talking to readers.

Cary “started a Saturday morning breakfast meeting in Idaho Springs, and anyone could come, and the subject could be anything,” Cary’s former pastor, the Rev. Pat Jordan, told the Post after Cary’s passing.

A favorite subject of Cary’s was freedom of the press. I’m not surprised and, of course, just wind me up and I’ll bet I pick up where the Sti s left o . is is to say that we want to keep meeting you, the residents from all walks of life across the county, to hear what you care most about. After all, the Courant is your paper.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy reading headlines from years past as much as we have. I expect we may summon up a few ghosts. Just know that if there’s more to tell, we’re always eager to follow up.

And, as it turns out, the whole archives thing is another Sti s tradition we’re upholding. On the occasion of the Courant’s 25th anniversary, we found headlines from the past in a section dubbed, “Olds,” so as not to be confused for news. So, we’ve decided that’s what we’ll call it. Look for “Olds: is week in the Clear Creek Courant…” starting in this edition.

Michael de Yoanna is the editor-inchief of Colorado Community Media.