July 2, 2015
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VOLUME 120 | ISSUE 22 | 75¢
2015 WINNERS GUIDE ElbertCountyNews.net E L B E R T C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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Plenty to do at Kiowa events Town abuzz with street fair, auto show, rodeo By Rick Gustafson
Special to Colorado Community Media Vendors and visitors filled A.F. Nordman Memorial Park in Kiowa June 27 for the Seventh Annual Kiowa Street Fair. While magicians, games and bounce houses caught the attention of kids, vendors offered adults goods ranging from homemade jerky and jams to special offers on satellite television service. The street fair is inspired by a similar event that took place in 1910. In 2009, the town of Kiowa revived the fair, and last year paired it with a car show featuring classics and hotrods. “If it has wheels, we want to see it,” read the note on the town’s registration form. One-hundred percent of the car-show registration fees are bound for the Elizabeth Veteran’s Memorial Fund. Dean Mullikin, of Aurora, took the opportunity to display his custom 1993 Chevrolet S-10 Rodeo continues on Page 7
Cimmaron Gerke participates in a bareback event June 27 in the Cowboy Up in Kiowa rodeo. Photos by Rick Gustafson POSTAL ADDRESS
ELBERT COUNTY NEWS (USPS 171-100)
OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ELIZABETH, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210 Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs. 11 a.m. Legals: Thurs. 11 a.m. Classifieds: Mon. 10 a.m.
Rodeo clown JD Schulz preps kids for the Boot Scramble June 27 at Cowboy Up in Kiowa.
County seeks aid in wake of heavy rains Roads have taken beating from series of spring storms By Rick Gustafson
Special to Colorado Community Media
PL E ASE RECYCLE T HI S C OPY
Leann Goetz dyes Sarah Kelley’s hair at the seventh annual Kiowa Street Fair June 27 at A.F. Nordman Memorial Park in Kiowa.
When it started raining in late April, few in Elbert County expected that the storms would continue for 25 straight days. During the month of May, rainfall in the county ranged from 6 inches in some areas to 17 inches in others, and in one month the precipitation exceeded the county’s aver-
age annual rain and snowfall. “Just to give you an idea,” said County Manager Ed Ehmann, “we had two cells collide a little bit north of Kiowa. Those cells, when they collided, dumped about 6 inches of water in about 40 minutes. The flood of ’65 was one foot of water in three hours on Monument Hill, and it washed Denver away. Those are the types of volumes we’re dealing with.” Nine counties and nine cities in Colorado were hit by the heavy rains this spring, prompting the state to allow municipalities and counties to apply for disaster relief. On June 24, the Elbert County commissioners unanimously ap-
proved a resolution declaring a local disaster, the first step in the process of applying for federal money to help with repairs. Initially the state set a declaration period from May 9 through May 12, and Elbert County did not meet the threshold of around $80,000 of damage during that period to be eligible. “It was a very short point, and in that time frame, there was minimal damage in Elbert County,” Ehmann said. The state has since changed the parameters for aid, expanding it to a 30-day window beginning on April 28 through May 28, a period where the damages in El-
bert County are estimated to have reached over $1.2 million. “We’ve had multiple road closures. We have had multiple areas where we are not able to maintain the roads because of the large volume of moisture. It’s physically impossible to remove that moisture. We’ve had areas where the rain was so intense it washed the binder, the material that bonds the sands together, it washed it away from the sand, so we have a lot of loose areas,” Ehmann said. Ehmann told the commissioners that the county is developing a plan to complete Rains continues on Page 7