Courier View Pikes Peak
PIKES PEAK 2.13.13
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 7
February 13, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Secrets of successful marriage Soon to celebrate 48 years of wedded laughter By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews.com For Neil and Sheila Naviasky, the secrets to wedded bliss are being friends, laughing with each other and sharing the same values. “We’ll be married 48 years on the Fourth of July,” Sheila Naviasky said. “He never forgets our anniversary.” “Yep, 48 fun-filled-years,” Neil Naviasky added. The couple went to the same high school in Baltimore but didn’t meet until Sheila Naviasky graduated a year and half after her future husband. “We met on a blind date set up by his best friend and my best friend,” Sheila Naviasky said. They married when she was a senior in college. They raised a son and daughter in Maryland and then moved to Colorado in 1999. “We took a wrong turn on I-70 and here we are,” Neil Naviasky said. “At first we rented in Colorado Mountain Estates and then built a home nearby.” “We’re friends; that’s true,” Neil Naviasky said. “But we also have the same value systems.” “It’s not just politics but that’s part of it,” Sheila Naviasky said. “A lot of our values are demonstrated by our politics,” Neil Naviasky said. “(They’re in) how we behave with one another.” “In how we care about people,” Sheila Naviasky added and then together in almost one voice the two of them said, “For the common good.” “We’re not great do-gooders but it’s our philosophe that we are our brother’s keepers,” Neil Naviasky said. “I don’t think we could have been married so long if we didn’t share the same politics,” Sheila Naviasky said. “I know some couples have had successful marriages despite political differences but I don’t think that would have worked for us.” Another key to the Naviasky’s wedded longevity is that they have separate interests, they said. “I volunteer for several charities including the Florissant Public Library while Neil is more comfortable in his home workshop,” Sheila Naviasky said. “We have to keep things fresh,” Neil Naviasky said. “We have a strong respect for each other and I actually believe she is smarter than I am. That makes for interesting conversations.” He added: “The essence of a good relationship is that it’s not dependent on events like Valentine’s Day or anniversaries. It won’t work if you can’t get it right most of the other times.” Other pieces of advice include never going to sleep not talking to each other and always try to put things in perspective. “A life-time relationship is the `lifetime,’” Sheila Naviasky said. “In the scheme of things the minutia doesn’t compare to living together. Life is too short to let the little things bother you.” “It also helps that the other person is still HOT,” Neil Naviasky said.
Sandy Harrison anticipates the morning needs of her customers, some of whom come from Colorado Springs to have breakfast at Grandmother’s Kitchen in Woodland Park. Preparing to drink more coffee are Beth and Elder Schwitzer. Photo by Pat Hill
Restaurant owners balk at wage increase By Pat Hill
state-mandated wage based on markets we don’t operate in,” he said. LaBarre has his suspicions about the source of the wageinflation connection. “If we have to mandate, there are certainly econometrics available to determine what the CPI would be,” he said. “But they don’t want to do it that way, because it doesn’t score political points.” Particularly grating for LaBarre is the fact that the new law is now part of the Colorado Constitution. “It’s ridiculous,” he said. “Now, to get it removed you have to have a vote of the people. Quite frankly, our constitution is in shambles right now; it’s absolutely an atrocity the way it’s been abused by special-interest groups to get things on it.” Most of Denny’s servers earn anywhere from $15 to
phill@ourcoloradonews.com When Colorado voters approved an increase in the minimum wage of 14 cents an hour beginning Jan. 1, the owners of two businesses in Woodland Park cite unintended consequences. On the surface, the increase seemed a boon for tipped employees, restaurant servers, for instance, whose hourly wage is now $4.76 and for non-tipped, it’s $7.78 an hour. The kicker in the law is that the minimum wage is linked to inflation according to the Consumer Price Index for Denver, Greeley and Boulder. That really gets to Pete LaBarre, chief executive officer of High Country Restaurant Holdings which owns Denny’s in Woodland Park. “It makes no economic sense to have a
$20 an hour, including tips. A study by the Federal Re“They make it because they are serve Bank of Chicago found good at what they do,” he said. that for every $1 increase in the “Based on our sales numbers, minimum wage, households and customers who tip an av- with minimum-wage workers erage of 15 percent, our serv- increased spending by $800 a ers average $12 an hour in tips year. The study, however, cites the decrease in savings as a realone,” he said. Servers make up about 60 sult of income redistribution, percent of Denny’s employees. thus, having ambiguous effects “So they’re making more than on economic growth. However, according to an just about everybody and by law I’m required to pay them article in the Huffington Post, an additional 14 cents an hour,” economists argue that a miniLaBarre said. “It’s egregious mum wage-boost is like a stimand designed to reward servers ulus action that pumps money greater than it does other work- into local economies. LaBarre, former economics ers.” Granted, LaBarre speaks professor at Pikes Peak Comfrom a business owner’s stand- munity College, disagrees. point. “Now we all deserve to “What happens with price fixmake more money but the way ing or wage control is that evyou make more money is not by erything goes up and buying having state regulators dictate power goes down,” he said. “For what it is you get paid,” he said. me, I have to raise my prices or “You let the markets determine Wage Increase continues on Page 10 what you get paid.”
WP to begin Fountain Creek project New brew pub to open in Woodland Park
The old Maximillian’s Café building at Midland Avenue and Fairview Street in Woodland Park will be opening soon as the Ute Pass Brewing Company. The owners were approved for a new tavern liquor license by Woodland Park City Council on Feb. 7. Photo by Norma Engelberg
By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews.com Woodland Park City Council took two steps forward on the Fountain Creek drainage improvement project. The project is a collaboration of the city and Teller with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for hazard mitigation. The first step was to convey portions of land Teller County that borders the creek to Woodland Park. These properties on Rosemount Road, Laura Lane and Sandy Wash of Fountain Creek
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were platted in 1948. They were deeded to the city because it is taking the lead on the project. An ordinance to make the deed transfer was approved on first reading at the Feb. 7 city council meeting. The county will consider the transfer at its Feb. 14 meeting and Woodland Park City Council will have its public hearing and second reading of the ordinance at its March 7 meeting. The second step pertains to the East Fork of Fountain Creek, which runs from near Woodland Park High School to the
creek’s main branch near the Auto Zone Store in Safeway Plaza. The East Fork goes under U.S. 24 and through an open ditch to the creek. The project will put the creek into a 72-inch pipe that will empty into the main branch of Fountain Creek. In a resolution, council accepted a lump sum of $250,000 from Colorado Department of Transportation for its share of project costs. The city will pay the rest and will soon be seeking bids. Councilmember Eric WP Council continues on Page 5