Courier View Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak 7-3-13
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 27
July 3, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Drought strengthens rancher By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
Harold Peterson, 86, veteran of three American wars, and his wife Gwenlyn, will celebrate 65 years of marriage July 4th with five generations of the Peterson family. Photo by Pat Hill
Five generations celebrate
Petersons’ 65th By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com At the tender age of 86 Harold Peterson still has a twinkle in his eye and a hankering for a good story. “I tried to get in the Navy when I was 16 but I wasn’t old enough,” he said, as an introduction to his military career. Veteran of WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars, Peterson displays the American flag on his t-shirt, a reflection of pride in America’s military and his role in the U.S. Army as well as the Air Force. Back in those days, the Army wasn’t so particular as the Navy. The memories linger of his service with the Army’s 3rd Infantry in 1944 in Germany. “I stood guard over Axis Sally, the spy,” he said. Axis Sally, aka Mildred Gillars, was hired
by the Third Reich as an American radio announcer to spread propaganda. She was convicted of treason and served a prison term in the United States. Dedicated to serving his country, Peterson left the Army and joined the Air Force in 1948 and served until he retired in 1973. Today, in what he calls his “tinkering” room, Peterson recalls his war days in Korea with a model airplane hung from the ceiling. For Peterson, memories of the third war in his military career, the Vietnam War, are vivid. “We lost two airplanes and their pilots,” he said, referring to a particular wartime mission. However, his daughter, Kathy Dillavou, recalls that her father’s unit received a Presidential citation for its service in Vietnam. Dillavou refers to a scrapbook of photos and news articles that track her father’s
military service. Going back over the years, Gwenlyn and her daughter reveal a side of the couple that veered off the beaten track. “They sold moonshine,” Dillavou said, as her parents smile. Those early days were tough, Dillavou said, as military pay failed to keep up with the needs of a growing family, Karen, Kathy, Kris, Kurt and Kelly. (Kurt died in 1995.) This month is notable for the family, as five generations plan to gather in the Hayden-Divide Park to celebrate the elder Petersons’ 65th wedding anniversary. “There will be about 60 of us, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren,” Dillavou said. Asked for the secret to a marriage that lasts 65 years and counting, Peterson divulges. “It’s always saying `yes, dear.’”
Walking over the brittle field, her shoes sounding the crunch of parched land, Becky Sandefur mourns the loss of the earth’s fertility. “It’s heartbreaking,” she said. For Sandefur, the land bears the story, of heat, drought and fear, although hope is always around the bend. “We go on faith, hoping it’ll rain,” she said. Owner of Becky’s Bovines and Brews in Highland Meadows in southern Teller County, Sandefur runs a dairy business that offers fresh milk and homemade cheese from the 80-acre ranch. For the past several years, the enterprise has been self-sustaining. Until now. With one of two wells going dry, in addition to a dry pond and another gradually evaporating, Sandefur has reduced the herd to five cows and a bull. Nonetheless, she has her fingers crossed that the five will produce calves in January. The well supplies water for the household but the pond nourishes the livestock that includes five horses. “If something happens to the pond, I’m finished,” she said. Keen to voices of the land, Sandefur mourns the loss of what used to be. “There aren’t any frogs here,” she said, standing near the empty pond with dead trees in the bed announcing the effects of the drought. As well, frogs disappear, she said, when the water goes away. With the parched conditions, Sandefur has quit making cheese and providing milk for her customers. “Normally I have 10 cows that give milk,” she said. Talking about the drought, Sandefur switches between fatalism and optimism. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” she said. “But I have to admit, you can see the green tinge out here from the spring rains.” Unlike other seasons of drought, the wind is the enemy. “Look at these dust devils out here,” she said. “And the erosion is phenomenal. We used to have soft dirt in the arena but not anymore; we watch the wind come and take it.” For a short time in those 30 years, Sandefur left the land. “I went to Italy to study to be a chef,” she said, adding that her ancestors are from Chipprano. “That’s how the dairy-ing came about.” Drought continues on Page 4
These trees were once covered with water but the drought has reduced the pond to dirt on the Sandefur Ranch near Florissant. Photo by Pat Hill
Teller fires accidental
POSTAL ADDRESS
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.
By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com Contrary to rumors flying around Teller County, several fires on rural county land the week of June 17 were not the result of arson. “They were all accidental, reported quickly and put out quickly,” said Sgt. Marc Porcelli. The fires were all in the vicinity of
county roads 1, 12, and 121. One was caused by a generator running, another by a machine moving dirt, rocks and small boulders. “The machine sparked a spark,” he said. The third was started by kids who, frightened by the smoke from a fire pit, attempted to put out the fire but instead re-ignited the blaze with flying embers, Porcelli said.