Indy - Aug. 2, 2023 Vol 31. No. 30

FINAL ACT

A Q&A

with Coroner

Dr. Leon Kelly, who won’t seek a third term in 2026 4

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Sean Cayton Matthew Schniper

THE WIRE

The city cut the ribbon on the restoration of Shadow Lake in Monument Valley Park on July 26. The city installed a new lakebed liner and aeration system for better water circulation and upgraded stonework around the lake. Trees also were planted in the center island. Money came from the 2019 ballot measure to retain excess revenue, from the Hill Foundation and from Broadmoor Garden Club. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Britt Haley spoke to those who attended.

D20 RETHINKS BOOK BAN

Academy School District 20 patron Rob Rogers got good news in a July 21 email from Kathy Nameika, D20 legal specialist.

She addressed his request that the Bible be removed from district libraries, because it contains lewd and violent passages about homosexuality, bestiality, promiscuity and murder.

Rogers doesn’t really want the Bible removed, but he made the request to make a point regarding D20’s decision to remove three books in May after Advocates for Kids in D20 requested the action.

“Consistent with administrative policy IJL and procedure IJL R, the District must hold religious texts, such as the Bible, to the same standards it holds all other library books, subject to review and reconsideration before removal,” Nameika wrote. “After careful consideration, the District assures that the removal of library materials will be based on established poli-

SEVEN FALLS SEWAGE HAULING PLAN ADVANCES

The Water Quality Management Committee and the Community Advisory Committee voted on July 26 in favor of a sewage disposal plan proposed by The Broadmoor resort to truck sewage out of Seven Falls through the neighborhood.

Though some CAC members expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that neighbors weren’t notified of the plan, the vote was 7 to 5 to recommend that the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments approve the proposal at its August meeting.

Joseph Goode Jr., with Entech Engineering, hired by

cies and procedures. Therefore, any books recently removed without following the District’s procedure shall be reinstated and subject to reconsideration upon formal request.”

The books previously removed deal with LGBTQ+ topics. They are Push by Sapphire, which was the basis of the 2009 Academy Award-winning film Precious, Identical by Ellen Hopkins, and Lucky by Rachel Vail, which have been at the center of school board debates around censorship across the country.

Rogers was happy about the district’s posture and tells the Indy he won’t renew his request to remove the Bible unless other books are subsequently removed under the label of being obscene.

“I would prefer to trust librarians, teachers, and established rating systems for establishing what is age appropriate and what isn’t,” he says. “If that isn’t going to be the standard in ASD20, so be it, but whatever standard is adopted can’t prefer religious texts over other texts.”

The Broadmoor, told the CAC the resort hopes to tie Seven Falls into the city of Colorado Springs sewer system, at an estimated cost of $1.2 million. The trucking plan will cost about $200,000 to bury eight 2,500-gallon holding tanks to store sewage from the Seven Falls restaurant until trucks haul it through Cheyenne Cañon to the city’s Las Vegas Street sewage treatment plant. Goode said the tanks won’t leach or spill. The new system is made necessary by the restaurant exceeding the existing system’s capacity.

Residents sought a delay so that all neighbors could be notified. They weren’t, turns out, because the permitting process is handled by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which

Matter of Record

Marisa Wigglesworth started her tenure as the chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum on July 24. The museum said in a release Wigglesworth brings expertise in philanthropy, strategic planning, project management and operations.

King Soopers announced July 24 it hopes to reopen its store at 2910 S. Academy Blvd. this fall. The store closed some time ago due to the discovery of asbestos. The company is working to mitigate the asbestos and is offering free delivery for grocery orders to customers in the area.

Colorado Democratic Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper announced another $100 million was awarded to the 130-mile Arkansas Conduit pipeline that will provide water from Pueblo Reservoir to 40 rural communities and 50,000 consumers in the Arkansas Valley.

doesn’t issue neighborhood notices. (Beyond the permit, the applicant still needs PPACG approval.)

Chris Crockett, who represents neighborhood advocacy group CONO on the committee, said, “I hope the information is transmitted to the board that we feel it would be a great thing for notifications to happen, even if they’re not required. It’s also troubling that we haven’t heard from a representative of The Broadmoor.”

The CAC members voting for the disposal plan were Gary Shugart, Maile Foster, Welling Clark, Kathy Hisey, Sheila Williams, Summer Earthsong and Ed Dills.

Voting against: Judith Rice-Jones, Roy Rosenthal, Ann Esch, Chris Crockett and Bill Boles.

Compiled by Pam Zubeck

Courtesy city of Colorado Springs

ACT

A Q&A with Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly, who won’t seek a third term in 2026

BY PAM ZUBECK | zubeck@csindy.com

WHEN

EL PASO COUNTY CORONER DR. LEON

Kelly was queuing up to board Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride with his family last November, his path forward became crystal clear.

His wife and two kids in tow, he was on the phone with his office while medical examiners stood in the midst of multiple autopsies of Club Q shooting victims.

At that moment, he knew two things: He’d laid the groundwork for the office to operate without him; and he needed more time to focus on his family.

Thus, Kelly, who had just weeks before won his second term in office, resolved to not run again. (El Paso County imposes no term limits on coroners.)

“That was kind of the first test of like, ‘If I wasn’t here, how does it all go?’” he says. “And [my staff] were incredible.”

Though at first he planned to fly home immediately, Kelly decided to stay put.

“I will never forget the juxtaposition of ‘It’s a Small World’ while I tried to manage a response to a mass shooting at the same time,” he says. “But, you know, that’s the world we live in.”

Kelly, 46, sat down with the Indy for a 90-minute interview last month to recap his personal and professional life, and discuss his path forward, which will include a vigorous effort to revise state laws to require Colorado’s large counties to employ board-certified forensic pathologists as coroners.

Right now, there are no such rules — meaning that almost anyone can hold an office that’s crucial to public health and the criminal justice system, if they persuade enough voters to elect them.

LOOKING BACK, KELLY OVERCAME ENORMOUS ODDS TO

obtain his medical degree, including surviving a broken home and a mother who suffered from mental illness. He was even homeless for a time.

It was his rough growing-up years that drove him to succeed and then internalize the compassion necessary to deal with people at the worst moments of their lives — the loss of a loved one. His feelings hover near the surface, with tears welling up several times while he discusses his childhood, the mentorship he received during and after college, and the prospect of handing off his office to someone else.

Dr. Leon Kelly in his autopsy room at the El Paso County Coroner’s Office

Photos by Sean Cayton

Since coming here to work as a medical examiner for then-Coroner Dr. Robert Bux, Kelly’s impact on the office has been enormous. He’s the first coroner in El Paso County to compile data and issue annual reports, which have paved the way for community efforts to stem teen suicide, cope with the drug overdose crisis and deal with a global pandemic. And he played a key role in guiding the community through the COVID pandemic.

He also is the first coroner to track homeless deaths, which grew by more than 55 percent last year — from 78 to 121 — largely from drug overdoses and violence. Now, Kelly is preparing to hang up his white coat and turn his attention to his family, concentrate on pushing through groundbreaking legislation, and help build better infrastructure for treatment of mental illness. He’ll likely continue to conduct contract autopsies after he leaves the office, he says, but those plans have yet to be laid out.

This interview has been edited for length.

Can you take us on a tour of your background, your growing-up years, how you came to this profession?

So I grew up in Indianapolis on the west side. My mother and father dated in high school. My mom got pregnant at 17. She dropped out of high school when I was born, and my parents married and divorced shortly after that. My mother had bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, and that made for a difficult childhood. You know, as a young person, I didn’t necessarily understand why my mom was the way she was. She could be an incredibly loving person at times, but then incredibly volatile. She married, I think, three additional times.

When I was little, [my mom and I] would bounce around a lot from boyfriend to boyfriend, and then we would kind of be on our own for a little bit. My mom’s brothers would take us in. Sometimes we would stay with my grandparents. We were never on the street homeless, but we certainly were at the mercy of other people’s generosity at times.

My mom cleaned houses for a living. When I was in second grade, my dad took my mom to court to try to get custody. He had remarried when I was about 5, and he by then was a union construction worker, and my stepmom was a dental assistant. And so they had a much more traditional middle-class household, much more stability.

And so it got settled, joint custody. In summers, I was at my dad’s house during the weeks and then in winters, on the weekends. My mom was in charge of me during the school year during the weeks.

[My mom and I] had moved dozens of times over those few years. And so my mom got a trailer on the west side of Indianapolis and kind of got her life on track. She got her GED and was able to go to school to be a nursing assistant — and that provided us a little bit more stability. But there was still relationship drama. On the weekends I could go to my dad’s house which was, like, totally normal. We would sit around a table and have dinner that was cooked and the laundry was done and we’d go to the movies and it was this dramatic juxtaposition from the weekends to the weeks, what life was like, but it gave me a window into what normal looks like.

I was a pathologically introverted kid. I learned pretty early that the best way not to take the brunt of my mom’s mental illness was to just lay as low as possible. So I spent a lot of time drawing and watching scary movies and spending time by myself. I was kind of left to raise myself. When I was 14 going on 15, I decided to

live with my dad. I knew that if I was going to get out of that trailer park, that was my only shot.

The last few years of high school I found my footing, and I went from fairly poor student that was kind of a recluse and very shy to, you know, I’m actually relatively intelligent, like, I could do something with my life. And then with the support of my dad and my stepmom, I was able to get into Indiana University.

My senior year, the night before I was set to take the ACT [college entrance exam], my mom attempted suicide. That was essentially part of her mental illness, a sort of desperate fear of being abandoned.

And that was kind of the point where I made the conscious decision that no matter what it took, no matter how hard I had to work, I was not going back to that trailer park.

So you then went to college?

I worked summer jobs with the dental school to help pay for books and some living expenses, and I fell in love there, and it was amazing. I’d always been interested in science, so I thought, you know, medicine was sort of good.

By then I had really good grades and had been mentored by some incredible faculty at IU who kind of saw in me certainly more than I saw in myself. About halfway, two-thirds of the way through undergrad, I had a 3.98 GPA. And, you know, my nickname by that point by one of the professors was “Answer Key Kelly” because he’d say you could literally grade all the other tests in the exams based off mine. I loved every second of it.

I had no idea what medical school would be like. But I thought, what the hell. I had no thoughts of what I would do after I got in.

So I applied and I got into IU School of Medicine. I was so naive and so clueless. When you start medical school, they have this thing called the white coat ceremony where all the new medical students go and you get your short little white coat. And the deans are there and they give a big speech. It’s like, welcome to medical school, and then they kind of lay out what the next years of your life are going to look like. And then you decide where you want to do your residency. And I was like, “What was he talking about?” I knew nothing about it.

I went from undergrad and being the smartest guy in the room at all times, at that point, to being surrounded by the most brilliant kids I’ve ever met in my life. And it was incredibly intimidating. You know, you go to Top Gun Academy and then suddenly you’re just a guy. So for four years, I just worked my ass off to try to keep up and do as well as I could.

How did you wind up with the El Paso County Coroner’s Office?

I did my residency at Penrose-St. Francis on Cascade [Avenue]. That’s four years. Every resident has to spend one month doing forensics. And so we would come over here. They still do; there’s a resident here this month.

During that time, my wife, Heather, her dad was a farmer. He was badly hurt in a gas explosion. He was severely burned. He spent four months in the ICU and

continued on p.

Kelly with his mom Julie and sister Lesley, in 1991 at their mobile home in Indianapolis

Courtesy Dr. Leon Kelly

➔

continued from

eventually died. While I was here in residency, my wife had to move home. He had crops in the field, so she had to figure out how they were going to make all the decisions about his life.

Here, I was getting to the point where I needed to decide what kind of pathologist I wanted to be. I had this almost epiphany moment where, you know, it’s been twoplus years of looking at gall bladders, and appendices that had been surgically taken out and the novelty of it had worn off. It just didn’t have the meaning that I needed.

I realized that really, really, really horrible things can happen to really good people, and there had to be somebody who was willing to take those things on. I decided this is what I want to do.

It [pathology] is kind of this beautiful combination of the science of medicine, but the art of caring for people in the worst moments of their lives, while also making immediate impacts to families and law enforcement and the media, while also being able to take a step back and look at the community and make big impact there.

So there’s very few jobs that allow you to, on a one-onone basis, change someone’s life. I wanted to have a job that I can leave at the end of the day, go home and be like, “This is what I did today. This is the impact I made,” versus research is something where it’s like these slow incremental steps that may help people in 10 years.

When I’m dealing with families who have suffered these unimaginable losses from suicide and substance abuse and violence, I’ve been in those situations, so I have a level of understanding that maybe a doctor who grew up in a family of doctors doesn’t necessarily have.

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about, and so I think that’s always given me an additional level of compassion but also a tolerance of the work and the difficulty of it.

In this field there is what I refer to as the pathologists’ superpower. We have to have this ability to walk into a room, a morgue, and see the most horrendous things imaginable, things that almost no one else can even believe exists outside of a horror movie, right?

You go put everything else aside in your life, in your mind and your emotions and just work the problem until you have a solution, and do it completely detached and emotionless because that’s what it takes to do that job — which, honestly, that’s kind of the easy part. The hard part is you have to walk out of that room and get on the phone with a family member who’s just lost that person and then turn all those emotions back on, so that you can be a person again and show compassion, and that’s the super hard part. That’s the part that tears at you.

I had to do an additional year of training, so I applied for a fellowship at the University of Texas in Dallas. But by then, I’d built a relationship with Dr. Bux. He had become a mentor and a friend. He essentially had a job waiting for me.

Other coroners, as we know, have made it their lifetime career. And now you’ve decided that’s not going to be the case for you.

I mean, I still love this work. But it’s complicated. My No. 1 goal and priority was family and having the time to invest in them and be part of their lives. And the last, I would say, five years — really the entire time I’ve been coroner — that has been incredibly difficult. This is a position that is nearly all-consuming. It’s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s a hamster wheel of crisis and conflict and tragedy every day.

And that takes a toll on you.

I’ve also been the coroner during what you could easily argue was the most difficult period in modern American history. When I got here, almost immediately, I was the deputy chief under Dr. Bux — and that came with a huge amount of responsibility. We were short-staffed, and then I immediately went into a national opioid crisis which caused skyrocketing deaths, and then that

rolled into this community. And then the heroin crisis, which then was immediately followed up with a teen suicide epidemic. As that’s finally coming under control, we have the rise of fentanyl.

And then in the midst of that, we have a global [pandemic] event that ran all of our lives, and required me to step into a leadership role at Public Health. That was 15 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week for nearly a year. At one point, I had gone 3½ months without a day off. I mean, like, 5:30 in the morning to 10 or 11 o’clock at night.

[Public Health Director] Susan Whelan finally was, like, “You have got to get out of here.” But the problem is, even if things at Public Health slowed down, and if we had an afternoon off, that meant I came over here [to the coroner’s office] and then had to try to catch up.

Actually, that Lego set right there [on the conference room table] is from Stranger Things, the Netflix show. Some friends of mine had bought me that, and so I had a Sunday off, and I sat there at a table and I built that Lego set. And I turned my phone off for the first time in, like, over three months.

I think that the drain and the emotions of that period of my life and the cost, honestly, to my family, because while I was on the news every day and on conference calls and trying to get schools open and get businesses open and help prevent deaths and helping everybody I could, my wife was the one that would step up and teach two kids at home while schools were shut down, while running a business and trying to save it.

And then coming out of that, we were short-staffed here. There’s a national crisis shortage of forensic pathologists. No office in the country is probably fully staffed at this point. And the caseloads that were required in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of a fentanyl explosion, also took a huge toll.

There are just times in your life where career and

community have to come first, and that’s been the last five to eight years of my life.

But now, I’m in a place where I think it’s time to prioritize some other things. My predecessors, Dr. Bux and Dr. [David] Bowerman, when they became coroners here, Dr. Bux’s kids were adults. And times have changed and the demands of this job are greater than they were.

Now you want to change the system?

Within months of getting here, Dr. Bux told me, “You’re the next coroner. When I’m done, it’s you.”

I had never in my life ever wanted, desired or imagined that I would be an elected official. I was the kid in the back of the class, making fun of the kids who ran for student council.

But unfortunately, as you know, this state is one of the few that still elects coroners, and does so without any meaningful qualifications.

Since the 1960s, [El Paso County] had only elected board-certified forensic pathologists. Dr. Bux had never run in a contested election. Dr. Bowerman had never run in a contested election. Everyone would agree that this antiquated system is ridiculous, and it’s not a position you should play politics with.

The Democrats put up a candidate [Chauncey Frederick] in 2018, and then four years later, the far right wing continued on p. 8 ➔

‘ONE [CORONER] HAD TO RUN AGAINST A YOGA INSTRUCTOR.’

— Dr. Leon Kelly

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR

! Y

of the Republican Party put up a candidate [Rae Ann Weber, who was not qualified to work as a pathologist]. That just added a layer of difficulty and complexity to the job that none of my colleague medical examiners across the country have to deal with. And it’s such a bizarre concept. That, in and of itself, has a cost — to run in an election. It’s a year-plus of your life, nearly every night, every weekend, it’s fundraisers and meet-and-greets and town halls and rallies.

Neither one of them, technically, were a contest, but it doesn’t mean you don’t still put in the work.

Should the coroner post be an appointed office? And if so, then who would appoint?

The easier option would be to leave it an elected position, but in the large counties — El Paso, Arapaho, Jefferson — to require a minimum requirement of being a board-certified forensic pathologist or a medical death investigator. Both of those have to have hundreds of hours of [death] scenes, take a written exam proving competency. They have to have experience and training, and they’ve proven they’re competent.

That alone, I think, would ensure that whoever sits in charge of these big offices actually has the ability to do it. That’s not probably realistic for the small counties, because you’re just not going to get folks like that out there. As you know, we serve 22 counties.

But it all depends on the person that sits in this seat [being] a board-certified

forensic pathologist. If they’re not, everything collapses. All of these little counties have no place to take their bodies and have no way to ensure that when somebody dies in that county, they’re properly being investigated, and so it’s in the best interest of all of Colorado that these large metro areas are run by people who know what they’re doing.

That still takes state level legislation to change, because you’re changing election law.

That’s one of the other reasons why I’m going to stop [being coroner]. I don’t want it to be perceived that I’m fighting to get laws changed because I’m trying to make it easier for me to get elected. I will have no dog in the fight at this point, if I’m leaving.

I will tell you, and Dr. Bux will tell you, you cannot do this job if you are not a forensic pathologist. It is not possible. I want the freedom to be able to say what I want to say about this issue without there being a conflict of interest.

That’s one of my goals over the next couple of years — to see what I could do to get this changed, because we saw what can happen with the [political] winds of change elsewhere that has nothing to do with investigating deaths.

If the wrong person sits in this seat, it’s catastrophic for the citizens, for our district attorney, for our public defenders, for our health department, for other elected officials, for schools.

If the community can’t trust what’s coming out of this office, if juries can’t trust what’s coming out of this office, we’re in a lot of trouble.

➔ continued from p. 7

Courtesy

Dr. Leon Kelly

– Drew Anderson, IT Manager Town of Monument

Kelly with daughter Eloise, son Milo and wife Heather at Disneyland

— Dr. Leon Kelly

So this will be a pivotal goal in the next few years for you, clearly.

That’s the main reason I’m talking to you right now — to bring more attention to that issue. It’s crazy. Other coroners in the state have to run against unqualified people. One had to run against a yoga instructor.

The entire Front Range is at risk if you get people in these positions who don’t know what they’re doing.

If I can get legislators to understand this in a non-coroner election year, maybe we can get something done. When we have a shortage of forensic pathologists, like any industry, we’re competing against other offices around the country to recruit the best talent here for a very important job. The No. 1 rule of a graduating forensic pathologist is don’t go to a coroner system. Why? Because you don’t know that in two years or three years, your boss gets voted out and someone who has no idea what they’re doing comes in.

We’ve been able to recruit here because we’ve had 60 years of board-certified forensic pathologists run this office. So it’s been stable. It’s well respected. It’s the busiest office in the state. But I don’t know how long that lasts. As politics grows more volatile, as the more this office falls under that partisan political divide, the more chances that it falls apart, because nobody’s going to want to come here, because they don’t have faith and trust that the office will be led by somebody who knows what they’re doing.

Do you have someone in mind who could replace you?

I’ve got five forensic pathologists, including me. Dr. Emily Russell-Kinsley, who’s the deputy chief now and has been since I took over five years ago, has done a wonderful job of helping me lead the office during the pandemic when I was focused a lot on public health and serving the community. She stepped right in and ran the dayto-day operations. She’s been here 11 years and she’s really come into her own. But I don’t get to pick it; the voters will pick it. But she is, by far, the most talented and a deserving employee if she chooses to do that. It’s my job to make sure that whoever does take over this after me is in the best possible position to be successful.

What’s the other option for the coroner requirement?

Actually in much of this country, that person is appointed. Some have one medical examiner for the entire state — New Mexico is an example. In that situation I would assume the governor would appoint the chief medical examiner.

The other is called regional medical examiners, where they basically take the state and carve it up into sections and then they appoint a medical examiner inside each section. That’s how it is in Texas.

But the requirement of coroner candidates [to be qualified forensic pathologists] is the easiest best first solution.

How do you start this process? Talk with lawmakers?

Other coroners in large counties in the state share this interest. We have a Democrat-controlled legislature so the Republican El Paso County Coroner can’t be the one that’s leading the charge here. I can certainly be part of it, as this is a bipartisan effort, and bring, hopefully, some of my Republican elected officials with me — but it probably would be more successful if it came from a coroner from a Democrat county.

This isn’t about a Republican or a Democrat trying to keep their jobs. It’s about ensuring the future of death investigation in our state is at the level that it should be.

What’s next for you?

I wanted to be transformational. I wanted to change the way this community approached several issues, with

mental health being No. 1.

When our teen suicide epidemic came, I felt like that was something that I could make an impact. That was a pivot point. And through that came the Child Fatality Review Team and then the teen suicide Working Group and now you have elected officials — Republican, conservative elected officials — openly discussing their own mental health or the mental health struggles of their loved ones. That didn’t happen five, six, 10 years ago.

That was my goal when I took over here, was to open up this office to the reality of the challenges that we have here. And that’s what I found most satisfying.

So when I look at my future, and being the [local] board chair of NAMI [National Alliance on Mental Illness] now for the past three years, I think we are in a very difficult period as a society that is going to require incredible effort to pull us out of — the isolation and the lack of connection that we have to each other that I think has been lost over the last probably decade and then exacerbated by the pandemic.

And so to play a role in some of those efforts is what I want the next phase to look like, to play a role in driving some of those connections. Like the Horror Fest House that I co-own with one of my friends. It seems like such a stupid, silly thing. You sit around and watch scary movies. But if you can get 100 people in a room who otherwise would be sitting at home, on their phones or on their computers, in a room together, and play trivia, and laugh and joke with each other, and share a passion for something they love, regardless of how silly it is, that’s the greatest thing you can do. That literally saves lives. Those are the things I think that we’re missing.

I don’t know what that looks like right now. But I want to continue to work with nonprofits, and particularly some of these preventative mental health wellness activities.

Also, as I said earlier, I was a massive beneficiary of really incredible teachers, and professors and mentors. I taught at UCCS for 10 years, and I’ve handed that off to one of my staff. But we have a national crisis of forensic pathologists. So honestly, this field needs reinforcements. The best way to do that is to mentor young doctors and try to get them to come into this field. And so I think those are two things.

Third, obviously, the family piece. You know, I’ve got four years left with my daughter at home, a little bit more with my son.

And certainly I’m appreciative of the opportunity that I’ve had in El Paso County to make an impact. It’s kind of like Charles Dickens — the best of times and the worst of times. I wouldn’t take back a second of all that hard work and working with all those amazing public health people during the pandemic.

But while appreciating that period, I certainly am beginning to enter that phase of my life where I see regrets in the things that I’ve missed.

I’ve done my thing. I’ve contributed. I want to focus on my family and myself. And this is the time for that.

Every single day I’m in the morgue with people whose lives were cut short for one reason or another. It’s a constant reminder, as cliche as it is, of how fragile life is, and you’re not guaranteed a single moment.

And then when the Club Q shooting happened, that was kind of the first test of if I wasn’t here, how does it all go, and [my staff] were incredible.

You realize you’ve got someone behind you who can do the job just as good if not better than you — and that’s where I feel like I am, and so I’m very satisfied and I’m really, really excited about what the future of this office looks like.

It’s satisfying in a way that I’d never experienced before. That, to me, is what legacy looks like.

A horror characters poster signed by the actors who portrayed them, Kelly’s gift to himself when he won the 2018 election

This X-Files poster is signed by the stars of the series, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

A poster reminding Kelly to have a sense of humor, “even if it’s a very dark one”

DECREPIT BIRTH, PSYCROPTIC

PLAYING AROUND

Tenderfoot Bluegrass Band, bluegrass; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, bicycleresort.com.

John Wise Duo, blues/jazz/Island; 9 p.m., Cleats Bar and Grill, facebook. com/CleatsBar.

Josh Turner, country; 8 p.m., Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, pikespeakcenter.com.

SATURDAY, 8/5

Scotty Austin, rock, with A Ronin’s Test; 7 p.m., The Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com.

Andy Clifton, singer-songwriter; 7 p.m., Abby’s Irish Pub, abbysirishpub.com.

The Downtown Hoedown: Extra Gold, country ; 4 p.m., Acacia Park, tinyurl. com/extragoldco.

Falter Never Fail, post-hardcore, with Between the Heart, SemiFiction, Raresleep; 7 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks. com.

Go Go Girlzilla, variety ; 6 p.m., Red Swing Brewhouse, redswingbrewhouse.com.

Elvie Shane, country; 7 p.m., Boot Barn Hall, bootbarnhallco.com.

Manitou Strings, Americana/roots/ rock; Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, bicycleresort.com.

WireWood Station, Americana; 2 p.m., Cripple Creek District Museum, cripplecreekmuseum.com.

SUNDAY, 8/6

Academy Jazz Ensemble, jazz ; 6:30 p.m., First Christian Church, firstchristiancos.org/upcoming-music-events.

WEDNESDAY, 8/2

Academy Jazz Ensemble, jazz; 6 p.m., Manitou Carnegie Library, ppld.org/ library-lawn-concerts.

Acoustic Hour, local musicians; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort.com.

Austin Johnson, rock ; 6:30 p.m., Front Range Barbeque, frbbq.com.

Dina Hollingsworth Trio, jazz; 6 p.m., Broadmoor Community Church, broadmoorchurch.org/music-ministry.

High Desert Queen, rock , with Blue Heron, Hashtronaut; 7 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks.com.

Skin & Bones, rock; 6:30 p.m., Limbach Park, townofmonument.org.

The Swing Connection, jazz; 6 p.m., Bear Creek Regional Park, communityservices.elpasoco.com.

3 Car Garage, classic rock , with John Wise and Tribe, Deryk Cunningham; 6 p.m., Hillside Gardens, hillsidecolorado. com.

THURSDAY, 8/3

A KILO 45 Years of Rock Show: Pop Evil, hard rock, with Lines of Loyalty, Lava Gato; 7 p.m., The Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com.

Arise Roots, roots/reggae, with The Irie; 6:30 p.m., Brues Alehouse, bruesalehouse.com.

Deep Blue Sea, pop/Americana/rock/ blues; 6 p.m., Fox Run Regional Park, communityservices.elpasoco.com.

Eric Golden Band, country ; 6 p.m., ViewHouse, viewhouse.com/coloradosprings-events.

Pop Evil, hard rock, with Lines of Loyalty, Lava Gato; 7 p.m., The Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com.

Stevie P. & The Hard Road, blues; 7:30 p.m., Thorndale Park, pikespeakblues. org.

Strawberry Girls, rock, with Oyarsa, Get the Axe; 7 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks. com.

FRIDAY, 8/4

Abhoria, metal, with Weaponizer, Upon a Field’s Whisper; 7 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks.com.

The Brothers Comatose, country/bluegrass/rock; 8 p.m., Lulu’s Downstairs, lulusdownstairs.com.

Countywyde, bluegrass; 6 p.m., Mash Mechanix Brewing Co. mashmechanix.com.

Jeremy Facknitz, indie-rock/singersongwriter/variety; 7 p.m., University Village North Plaza, uvcshopping.com/ concert-series.

Firefall, country rock; 7 p.m., Boot Barn Hall, bootbarnhallco.com.

The Swing Connection, jazz; 6 p.m., Bear Creek Regional Park, communityservices.elpasoco.com.

Mango fan Django, Gypsy jazz; 7 p.m., Grace and St. Stevens Episcopal Church, gssepiscopal.org/jazz-in-thegarden.

Martini Shot, variety; 6 p.m., Vista Park, banninglewisranch.com.

The Petty Nicks Experience, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks tribute; 7 p.m., Stargazers Theatre, stargazerstheatre.com.

Sean Paul and Princess, hip-hop; 9:30 p.m., Luxe Lounge, tinyurl.com/seanpaulandprincess.

Spyderland, indie-electric, with Church Fire, Ozso; 8 p.m., Lulu’s Downstairs, lulusdownstairs.com.

Chuck Snow, singer-songwriter, with George Duncan; 5 p.m., Goat Patch Brewing Co., goatpatchbrewing.com.

Stan & Denny’s Old-Time Cowboy Jamboree: Ashtōnz, rock/pop/country; 3 p.m., Searle Ranch, tinyurl.com/cowboyjamboree.

Traditional Irish Music, Irish; 3 p.m., Jack Quinn’s, facebook.com/jackquinns.

Relate, alternative rock, with Troubled Minds, Series Break, Gatehouse; 8 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks.com.

MONDAY, 8/7

Ryan Flores, Latin Gypsy; 6 p.m., Green Mountain Falls Gazebo Island, discoverutepass.com/monday-music-series.

Little London Winds: Theatre Night, wind ensemble; 7 p.m., Soda Springs Park, Manitou, littlelondonwinds.org/ concerts/2023/summer.html.

TUESDAY, 8/8

Afroman, hip-hop/rap/funk; 8 p.m., Lulu’s Downstairs, lulusdownstairs.com.

Embryonic Autopsy, metal, with Sightlyne, Sic Eklipse, Ovira; 6 p.m., Sunshine Studios, sunshinestudioslive. com.

Gable Price and Friends, alternative rock ; 7 p.m., The Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com.

The 719 Band, jazz; 6 p.m., Bancroft Park, occpartnership.org.

WEDNESDAY, 8/9

Acoustic Hour, local musicians; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort.com.

Edith Makes a Paper Chain, “Gypsyinspired indie-folk”; 6:30 p.m., Front Range Barbeque, frbbq.com.

Head up the pass Monday and catch the Latin Gypsy sounds of Ryan Flores.

The Marshall Tucker Band, rock; 8 p.m., Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, pikespeakcenter.com.

James McMurtry, rock/folk, Betty Soo, folk ; 8 p.m., Lulu’s Downstairs, lulusdownstairs.com.

Joe and Katie Uvegas, rock/folk/jazz; 6 p.m., Broadmoor Community Church, broadmoorchurch.org/music-ministry.

Triple Play, jazz; 6 p.m., Bear Creek Regional Park, communityservices.elpasoco.com.

WireWood Station, Americana; 6:30 p.m., Limbach Park, townofmonument.org.

THURSDAY, 8/10

Chicago, rock; 7:30 p.m., Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, pikespeakcenter.com.

PLAYING AROUND BIG GIGS

Decrepit Birth, death metal, with Psycroptic, Victim Ritual; 7 p.m., The Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com.

Heavy Gratitude, “sentimental occult noise,” with Sex Funeral, Castration Pact, Seance; 7 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks.com.

Jeffrey Alan Band, variety; 6 p.m., ViewHouse, viewhouse.com/coloradosprings-events.

Living Dead Girl, heavy metal, with A Ronin’s Test, No Amnesty, Aligned in Ruins, LCFP; 6 p.m., Sunshine Studios, sunshinestudioslive.com.

Sicard Hollow, psychedelic punk-grass rock; 8 p.m., Lulu’s Downstairs, lulusdownstairs.com.

Tall Tall Trees, “psychedelic banjo joy,” with Surtz; 7 p.m., Brues Alehouse, bruesalehouse.com.

Upcoming music events

George Clinton, George Porter Jr., Parliament-Funkadelic , Ogden Theatre, Denver, Aug. 2

Elliot Greer, Globe Hall, Denver, Aug. 2

Amythyst Kiah, Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Aug. 2

Gregory Alan Isakov, Fox Theatre, Boulder, Aug. 2

Ween, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Aug. 3

The Front Bottoms, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Aug. 4

Josh Turner, Pikes Peak Center, Aug. 4

Spyderland, Lulu’s, Aug. 4

Pretty Lights, Mission Ballroom, Denver, Aug. 4-6

boygenius, illuminati hotties, Phoebe Bridgers, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Aug. 5

Clutch, Dinosaur Jr., Red Fang, Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, Aug. 5

Wednesday,

Joe Bonamassa, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Aug. 6

Jorma Kaukonen, Boulder Theater, Boulder, Aug. 6

Afroman, Lulu’s, Aug. 8

Gable Price and Friends, Black Sheep, Aug. 8

Satsang, Fox Theatre, Denver, Aug. 9

The Marshall Tucker Band, Pikes Peak Center, Aug. 9

James McMurtry, Lulu’s, Aug. 9

Maggie Rogers, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Aug. 9

William Beckmann, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Aug. 10

Chicago, Pikes Peak Center, Aug. 10

Decrepit Birth, Black Sheep, Aug. 10

The Pharcyde, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom, Denver, Aug. 10

The National, Mission Ballroom, Denver, Aug. 11

Continued at csindy.com

Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry plays Lulu’s

Aug. 9.

Mary Keating Bruton

Appetizers

PAID ADVERTISEMENT | TO PLACE YOUR ENTRY CALL 719-577-4545

TONY’S

326 N. TEJON ST. | 719-228-6566 | TONYSDOWNTOWNBAR.COM

Winners of 70+ Independent “Best of Awards” in 20 yrs. A great Midwestern Tavern with warm beer, lousy food & poor service!!! Pabst, Fried Cheese Curds, Leinenkugle’s, Walleye Fish-fry, cocktails, burgers and more. 11am-2am daily. HH 4-6. GO PACK GO!

THE WAREHOUSE

25 W. CIMARRON ST. | 719-475-8880 | THEWAREHOUSERESTAURANT.COM

Curbside pickup with call ahead ordering. Silver for Best Chef 2016. American Comfort Food with a Twist. Burgers, Salads, Bison, Elk, Quail. Awesome Craft Cocktails. Friendly Service. Just South of Downtown, Convenient Access, Free Parking. Happy Hour From 4 To 6 P.m. Daily. Dinner Tuesday - Saturday, 4 P.m. To 10 P.m.

FUJIYAMA

22 S. TEJON ST. | 719-630-1167

Beautiful, award-winning downtown restaurant with a full-service bar. Enjoy authentic sushi & creative rolls, teriyaki, tempura, udon & more! See our ad or call for great lunch, Happy Hour, & Ladies night specials! Fri. & Sat. 11am-2:30pm lunch & 5-10pm dinner. Sun. 5-9pm dinner.

SAIGON CAFÉ

20 E. COLORADO AVE. | 719-633-2888 | COLORADOSAIGONCAFE.COM

Open for Lunch and Dinner Mon-Sat. Welcome to the Saigon Café the award winning Vietnamese restaurant in Colorado Springs. Our cuisine is cooked with fresh vegetables, herbs and meats in authentic Vietnamese style. Try our renowned noodle bowl, a lunchtime favorite. M-Th 11AM–3PM; 4PM–8:30PM F-Sat 11AM–3PM; 4PM-9:30PM

AMERICAN ASIAN BBQ

BIRD DOG BBQ

3 LOCATIONS + CATERING | BIRDDOGBBQ.COM | 719-573-7671

Bird Dog now offers online ordering from the location of your choice! Order and pay online, then skip the line when you pick it up! Visit our website at www.BirdDogBBQ.com and click ORDER ONLINE to place your order. We also offer our award-winning catering services in individuallyboxed meals! Call 719-573-7671 for details.

CRAFT PUB

ODYSSEY GASTROPUB

311 N. TEJON ST. | 719-999-5127 | ODYSS EYGASTROPUB.COM

Voted Best New Restaurant 2015 by Indy readers. Specializing in an eclectic mix of craft food, craft beer, and craft cocktails. Odyssey Gastropub is a downtown gem with a warm, intimate atmosphere and awesome staff. Start your adventure with us! Mon.- Fri. 11am - 10pm, Sat. & Sun. 10am - 10pm

PASSION PROJECT

SUKI’S CANTINA HOPES TO BE OPEN SOMETIME IN AUGUST AT

106 Pueblo Ave., the former location of Lanier’s Speed Shop. That’s diagonally across from the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and directly across from the Indy ’s current office.

Owners Ian and Sharon Perez walk me outside their building to the tip of Pueblo Avenue (with The Green Line Grill at the opposite end), where the street spills into Vermijo Avenue — and they point to a wide open west-facing view of the mountains. We look back at Suki’s entrance, set back far from the street and sidewalk, and Ian tells me they’ll be able to host huge events (400-plus people) given the enormous space. Concerts, wedding parties, whatever.

Suki’s won’t be a restaurant, but a giant drink spot with two electricity-supplied concrete pads built into the exterior space to allow for steady food truck guests. Two interior bars will feature 40 total beer taps. And one of those bars will feature cocktails made exclusively with local Blackhat Distillery spirits. That’s partly because Blackhat Distillery President/Founder Joe Koscove is not only a friend of Ian’s, but also Suki’s landlord. He initially floated the idea of Ian opening a bar at the location.

Ian says he and Sharon arrived in town in 2015 and fell in love with the area. They both still work on Fort Carson full-time — he’s a transportation supervisor, overseeing all the unit movements on base, and she’s the TMP Production Control Clerk, looking after all the government-issued vehicles.

But in their spare time (read: just about every waking moment outside of work) they’ve been laboring to convert the old automotive shop. Ian says that over the past year and a half they’ve personally busted out 32 dumpster loads of bricks and concrete blocks, by hand. “Eighty percent of the labor done on this building has been me, my wife and my son,” he says, noting they knocked down seven walls and also took out an extensive drop ceiling to reveal what’s now 16-foot-tall overhead space.

“Our life savings are in this,” he says, emphasizing the desire to be open as soon as possible. (Of course there were a number of costly surprises along the way, which caused delays and altered the original design plans a bit — that’s not uncommon on building rehabs like this.)

I ask where the name Suki’s came from, and Ian shares that it’s the pet name he’s been calling his wife for more than 20 years; her kids even call her “Suki Mama.” So when it came time to think up a name for the business, it popped into mind. The amusing part: Ian didn’t know what it translated to in Japanese. He’d never bothered to look it up. “I truly didn’t know and I’d been calling her that all those years.” Man, did he dodge a bullet. It means “beloved,” he tells me. “It was the perfect name.”

Stay tuned to Side Dish for updates closer to the project’s launch.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MATTHEW SCHNIPER

Ian and Sharon Perez put all their savings (and muscle) into Suki’s Cantina.

SEEING RED (GRAVY)

‘IHAVE BOUGHT OUT MY PARTNERS AND solely own my restaurant.” Those are the words of Red Gravy (23 S. Tejon St., redgravyco.com) Chef (and now full owner!) Eric Brenner, posted to his Facebook page this past weekend. Quoting elegantly from The Bear, Season 2, Brenner related to the sentiment about always waiting for another shoe to drop in this industry:

“I’m not certain why this or any industry is populated by such talented, hard-working and driven people many of whom live in fear of failure, of some unseen force that can come take it all away (the pandemic proved we are more resilient than we believe), who mask their fear with bravado and abrasiveness at times and who always feel somewhat absent when others are having fun and celebrating,” he wrote. “There’s always SOMETHING to do, some way to improve, some angle to uncover out there, maybe a new technique or system; a completed task just leaves bandwidth for the next, no reason to cheer, just keep moving.

“I am reminding myself to breathe, smile, feel the love of my new management team, my staff, family, friends, acquaintances and the thousands of people who come through our doors each week and sustain us through difficult days, weeks, months and even years.”

Brenner concluded by quoting the sage advice of his wife: “Fuck that other shoe!”

Well said. Congrats, chef!

continued on p. 13 ➔

Eric Brenner’s the only one holding the reins now.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT • 719.577.4545

GERMAN

EDELWEISS RESTAURANT

34 E. RAMONA AVE. | (SOUTH NEVADA & TEJON) | 719-633-2220

For 50 Years Edelweiss has brought Bavaria to Colorado Springs. Using fresh ingredients, the menu invites you to visit Germany. Support local business! We’re open and doing drive-thru and takeout with a limited menu that can be found on our website! www. edelweissrest.com.

SOUTHWESTERN/MEXICAN

JOSÉ MULDOON’S

222 N. TEJON ST. | 719-636-2311 | 5710 S. CAREFREE CR @ POWERS | 719-574-5673

Since 1974. Features authentic Tex-Mex & Mexican fare in contemporary Sante Fe-styled establishment. Across from Acacia Park, and west of Powers & Carefree. Josemuldoons.com. Support local restaurants! We are open for delivery, carry out, and dine-in at both locations! Please check our Facebook page for hours daily, as they are subject to change.

STEAKHOUSE

THE FAMOUS 31 N. TEJON ST. | DOWNTOWN | 719-227-7333

Colorado Springs’ finest upscale steak house and lounge located in the center of downtown. Dine in an elegant and classic steak house environment. Award winning prime steaks, fresh seafood, premium wines, craft brews and piano bar provide a provocative mix of atmosphere and entertainment. Reservations suggested.

MACKENZIE’S CHOP HOUSE

128 S. TEJON ST. HISTORIC ALAMO BUILDING | DOWNTOWN | 719-635-3536

Offering half off all bottles of wine under $100! Voted Best Power Lunch, Steakhouse and Martini! Downtown’s choice for quality meats and mixed drinks. Mackenzieschophouse.com. Open Mon.-Fri. 11:30am-3pm for lunch, and 5pm- close every day for dinner!

➔ continued from p. 14

TWO QUICK HITS

• Insomnia Cookies (insomniacookies.com) opened its first Colorado Springs location on Saturday, July 22, at 4239 N. Nevada Ave. The chain now has 245 locations, this one being the seventh in Colorado. Know that there’s vegan and glutenfree cookie options.

• I recently reported the arrival of a Rock N Roll Sushi (rocknrollsushi.com) location at 7875 Silicon Heights. As of July 17’s grand opening you can now get that Sweet Home Alabama Roll you’ve patiently been waiting for.

SOME THINGS I ATE/ DRANK AROUND TOWN THIS PAST WEEK

• A new-to-me Barraquito at R&R Coffee Cafe (11424 Black Forest Road, rnrcoffeecafe.com). Owner/roaster Ryan Wanner makes his version of the Canary Islandsderived coffee/liqueur a little differently. Most notably, he replaces the traditional alcohol (Licor 43 from Spain) with Seedlip non-alcoholic spirit. He layers that between sweetened condensed milk, espresso and frothed milk. The drink sips fairly sweet and expectedly creamy with an interesting complexity coming through the botanical element.

• I decided to roll the dice (literally) and order the Trust Me, I’m a Bartender cocktail at district elleven (218 N. Tejon St., districtelleven.org). That equates to a random drink concocted just for you based on your dice display. Mine was “agave, herbal, sweet” and I was brought a pleasing blend of reposado tequila, Chartreuse, lime and bitters. Others in my party rolled as well and enjoyed drinks like a gin mix with blood orange, Aperol and Drambuie (if my notes aren’t lying to me all these days later). We also did a round of superstar guest bartender Montana Horsfall’s drinks, including a fun Change My Mind: brandy, banana liqueur, Orgeat, lime and brown sugar.

• The chilled noodles at Formosa Bites (315 E. Pikes Peak Ave., facebook.com/formosabitesco) inside The Well. An ideal summer dish, light and refreshing from cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts and cilantro. I added shredded chicken, which picked up the sesame sauce beautifully.

Call

Matthew Schniper is the former Food & Drink editor and critic at Indy. You can find expanded food and drink news and reviews at sidedishschnip.substack.com.

R&R Coffee Cafe

RULES

From Aug. 2 to Sept. 5, vote for your favorites to determine who is the Best Of Colorado Springs! Fill out this ballot or vote online at csindy.com. Vote in at least 20 categories for your vote to count. Winners will be announced in the Best Of magazine inserted in the Oct. 25 Indy !

BACK TO BASICS:

1. One ballot per reader, including online. All paper ballots must be postmarked by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5; online ballots must be submitted before midnight Sept.

5. Paper ballots must be sent via U.S. Postal Service. Faxed, handdelivered or photocopied ballots will not be accepted.

2. You must vote in at least 20 categories for your ballot to count.

3. For verification purposes, ALL BALLOTS MUST INCLUDE NAME, ZIP CODE AND A VERIFIABLE EMAIL ADDRESS.

4. If we can’t read it, it doesn’t count. Spell check is a thing; please use it.

5. Take time to review this year’s categories. Some are new. Some are gone. Quick heads-up — there must be at least three businesses operating in a given category in order for that category to appear on our ballot.

6. Cheaters never prosper so don’t even think about it. We see you and you’ll be excommunicated from future Indy love.

All fields required NAME CITY STATE ZIP

EMAIL

Mail completed ballot to: Best Of Colorado Springs · Colorado Springs Independent 235 S. Nevada Avenue., Colorado Springs, CO 80903 · Or vote online at csindy.com

When categories specify a region (North, South, East, West, Downtown), vote based on these boundaries in order for your vote to be valid: North/South dividing line: Pikes Peak Avenue.; East/West dividing line: Cascade Avenue.; Downtown: between Uintah Street and Fountain Boulevard and from Wahsatch Avenue to I-25.

HOME & GARDEN

Hardware Store

Store for Houseplants

Interior Design and Décor

Roofing Company

Remodeling Contractor

Garden Supply/Nursery

HVAC Company

Kitchens and Bathrooms

Flooring Company

Windows and Doors

Used Furniture

Electrical Contractor

Deck Builder

Sustainable/Environmental Home Improvement Co.

Painting Contractor

CANNABIS

Place for CBD Products

Recreational Marijuana Dispensary

MMJ Dispensary-Downtown

MMJ Dispensary-West

MMJ Dispensary-North

MMJ Dispensary-East

MMJ Dispensary-South

Head Shop

MMJ Dispensary-Pueblo

FOOD

Neighborhood Restaurant-West

New Restaurant (since 7.1.22)

Diner

Vietnamese

Chocolatier/Confections

Vegetarian/Vegan

Food Truck

Brunch

Wings

Caribbean

Donuts

Green Chile

Chinese

Latin American

Indian

Neighborhood Restaurant-EAST

Mediterranean/Middle Eastern

Cajun

Frozen Treat

Seafood

Chef

Dessert Menu

Neighborhood Restaurant-North

Happy Hour Menu

Cheap Eats

Best German

Italian

Local/Regional Chain

Bakery

Korean

Patio

French

Overall Restaurant

Fine Dining

Neighborhood Restaurant-South

Restaurant for Tourists

Neighborhood Restaurant-Downtown

Burger

German

Thai Caterer

Steak

Irish Tacos

Japanese/Sushi

Gluten-Free-Friendly

Dog-Friendly Restaurant

Pizza

Barbecue

Mexican Sandwich

Late-Night Dining

Your guide to events in the Pikes Peak region CALENDAR

ART EVENTS

Mural fundraiser for Knob Hill Urban Arts District, “a huge block party at The Black Sheep and Vultures to raise money for more murals in Knob Hill. Join us Sunday, Aug. 6, [1-5 p.m.] for an art market inside and outside The Black Sheep with over 50 vendors, as well as performances by DJ Xoomie, live painting and a projection show by Diego Jaguarart, outside live painting by Phil Lear and Nat Feather.” See knob-hill-urban-arts-district.org/ about-1.

The Rocky Mountain Puppet Palooza, all-ages puppetry performances and workshops, two crafting stations so you can make your own puppet, a talent show, puppet museum, vendors selling puppets, face-painting, stories and more. Saturday, Aug. 5, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; free (suggested $5-$10 donation). The more adult-oriented Summer Rocky Mountain Puppet Slam starts at 7:30 p.m. It all happens at 6990 Lake St., Green Mountain Falls; tinyurl.com/day-of-puppets.

FIRST FRIDAY/ART

45º Gallery, 2528 W. Colorado Ave., Suite B, 719-434-1214, 45degreegallery.com.

“Gourd artist Dawn Healy and painter Michelle Lopez, both of whom will present at the event and have new collections to share.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8 p.m.

Academy Art & Frame Company, 7560 N. Academy Blvd., 719-265-6694, academyframesco.com, How Do You See God? — works by artists of “all faiths and beliefs, as well as all media, all ages, and 2D or 3D works.” Through August.

Art 1eleven Gallery, 111 E. Bijou St., 719493-5084, facebook.com/Art1elevenGallery. Large-scale abstract oil paintings by Bill Stone. Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.

The Bridge Gallery, 218 W. Colorado Ave., #104, 719-629-7055, thebridgeartgallery. com. Clayprints, monoprints by Michael Cellan and Mary Lyn Baird created by using clay as the printing medium. Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8 p.m.; through Aug. 26.

The Colony, 2 S. Wahsatch Ave., #100, 719357-7639, info@thecolony.studio, thecolony.studio. Open studio featuring a henna artist, member art, studio tours and refreshments. Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8ish p.m.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., fac.coloradocollege.edu. Aug. 4 First Friday celebration, 5-8 p.m.; free and open to the public, includes music, cash bar, snacks, and art for sale in the Deco Lounge. Featured artist — Manitou-based animator/graphic designer/sculptural artist Ian Stewart. Solo(s): Krista Franklin. Franklin “creates books, poetry, collages, handmade paper, installations, murals, performances, sound works, sculptures, and lectures.” Through Dec. 16. In Conversation: Krista Franklin and Ionit Behar, Thursday, Aug. 31, 6 p.m. FAC museum free days, Aug. 12 and 18.

Commonwheel Artists Co-op, 719-6851008, 102 Cañon Ave., Manitou Springs, commonwheel.com. 12 Hands: Works in Clay by six Bemis School of Art ceramic instructors who “share the joys of the many facets of the ‘mother earth’ medium — clay.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8 p.m. with music by Jamie Howard, a member of Celtic band Foinn Sliabh; through Aug. 28.

Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 427 E. Colorado Ave., 719-520-1899, cottonwoodcenterforthearts.com. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, a juried show by artists from the Pikes Peak region and beyond who were asked “ to study their subject with a faithful eye, showing us a glimpse of modern life, culture, and/or experience. The goal is to communicate essential qualities that get at the ‘real’ and not the ‘ideal.’” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8 p.m.; donations welcomed; through Aug. 26.

Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, 121 S. Tejon St., #111; facebook. com/artsculturefun. Stone Boats, O Vases, and Other Fleeting Things, “freshly created stoneware ceramic pieces by local artist and educator Jeremiah Houck. Featured items include wheel-thrown vases, sculpted treasure chests, and a small armada of wall floated sushi serving vessels.” Through Aug. 25.

Escape Velocity Comics, 19 E. Bijou St., 719-578-8847, escapevelocitycomics. com. Featuring artists Elle Ruoff and Cerissa Cheffy and their new graphic design and acrylic arts. Friday, Aug. 4, 5-7 p.m.

G44 Gallery, 121 E. Boulder St., 720-9510573, g44gallery.com. Suz Stovall: A Conversation with Color, “Manipulating layers of paint to reveal themselves, I allow the paint to be in control and be authentic. Once I understood how to let go and take each day as it was dealt, I became a much happier artist.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.; artist talk Aug. 17, 5:30 p.m.; through Aug. 25.

Gallery 113, 125½ N. Tejon St., gallery113cos.com, 719-634-5299. August’s show features Karen Standridge’s contemporary abstract paintings, and works by Mary Sexton, a rural-landscape painter working in pastels. Opening reception, Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8 p.m.

The Garfield Gallery, 332 E. Willamette Ave., 719-227-8836, garfieldgallery.com. Playtime by Jeffrey Allan Rozell: Using photos of ’90s-era Playboy and Playgirl models “to envelop the awareness of fleeting beauty,” the exhibit “ serves as a time capsule of exuberance that blends the body with disorder, color, and an occasional unclear form. We live in our skin as it fades with us.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.

GOCA (Galleries of Contemporary Art, UCCS), Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., gocadigital.org. Caesura, “Martha Russo’s genre-defying body of work is experienced as an exercise in contradiction. Upon first encounter, her sculptural investigations appear at once fragile and potentially dangerous, cautioning one

ART EXHIBIT

G44 Gallery, 121 E. Boulder St., 720-951-0573, g44gallery.com. Memento by Felicia Kelly, “who works mainly with ‘traditional women’s craft’ mediums with a current focus on collage. Inspired by Victorian photocollage, she almost exclusively uses second-hand, used, and upcycled materials .... She loves exploring the vast stories and histories within the pages of used books and revels in their potential for creating something new.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.; artist talk Aug. 17, 5:30 p.m.; through Aug. 25.

away while hypnotically drawing one in — ever closer — for intimate examination.” Thursday, Aug. 3 through Dec. 2.

Kinship Landing, 415 S. Nevada Ave., 719-203-9309; kinshiplanding.com. With works by fine artist Emily B. Solomon and live music from Sapphires Garden. Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.

Kreuser Gallery, 125 E. Boulder St., 719464-5880, kreusergallery.com. In Master Copies — “a curated selection of master copy paintings,” Chris Alvarez “takes on the role of interpreter, allowing us to experience the artistic vision and technique of iconic artists.” Neon Arcade, new works by Colorado Springs native Jon Francis: “I am currently focused on painting urban landscapes as a way to record, preserve, and savor what has shaped my childhood and shaped Colorado. The old, the rusted, the abandoned have a beauty all their own.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.; through Aug. 25; artist talks Wednesday, Aug. 16, 5:30 p.m.

The Look Up Gallery, 11 E. Bijou St. (inside Yobel), thelookupgallery.com. City Series, a solo show by Clay Ross: “11 largescale paintings of Colorado Springs from a townie’s perspective.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.

Manitou Art Center, 513/515 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, 719-685-1861, manitouartcenter.org. Father & Son, a commemoration of the life’s work of photographer Cris Pulos, who died in 2022, and a celebration of new work by Nikos Pulos. Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-8 p.m.

Portraits of Manitou by C.H. Rockey, features original town views and significant historical buildings. Manitou Springs Heritage Center, 517 Manitou Ave.; manitouspringsheritagecenter.org; through November.

Surface Gallery, 2752 W. Colorado Ave., surfacegallerycos.com. Ordinary Fields, “paintings by Betony Coons exploring Midwestern iconography in richly storied environments both personal and collective.” PARTS, new abstract works by Jes Moran, “explores the multifaceted identities in a world that often demands simplicity. It serves as a reminder that we are not defined by a single label or limited to a singular narrative.” (Artist talks for Moran and Coons, Saturday, Aug. 26, 11 a.m.)

Connections: a Fibers Exhibition by Art Quilters With Altitude: “Our futures are frequently based on the foundations laid by our previous connections. Sometimes, we’re the catalyst for these welds. Other times, we’re the result.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m., through Aug. 26.

True North Art Gallery, 31 E. Bijou St., 210-842-2476, truenorthartgallery.com. New work by 18 local artists. Open late Friday, Aug. 4, from 5 to 11 p.m.

UCCS Downtown, 102 S. Tejon St., downtown.uccs.edu/our-space. The Urban Animalz, a themed group art exhibition, with live performances by GShenky, Johnny Larson and DJ Gravity, and a pizza party with Slice 420. Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.

continued on p. 21 ➔

“Side Chick” by Felicia Kelly

CALENDAR

➔ continued from p. 19

ZoneFIVE, 1902 E. Boulder St., zonefivecs.com. Idiom: Works by Warren Arcila, “a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures created throughout the years.” Through August.

AT THE CSPM ANNEX...

The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum Annex has a new show — a Smithsonian traveling exhibition, Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight. It’s “the story of African Americans who, despite facing tremendous racial barriers, attained amazing achievements in aviation history. ... several stories and artifacts from local Tuskegee Airmen will be on exhibit to highlight the many Black heroes in our community.” Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; free; Plaza of the Rockies, 121 S. Tejon St., #100; cspm.org.

KIDS & FAMILY

Kids’ Morning Out: Foothills Detectives, “drop off your child (ages 6-11) for a morning spent hiking, playing games and learning how to read nature’s clues.” Saturday, Aug. 5, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; lunch included; $25, $20/member (prepaid); Bear Creek Nature Center, 245 Bear Creek Road; 719520-6387, tinyurl.com/epco-fun.

Native Pollinator Class and Hike, “Guest speaker David Woolly will regale us with a lesson on the lesser-known but critically important pollinators that we can be on the lookout for and lend a helping hand to. Then we’ll walk along the nature trail to find some pollinators and other bugs in action and finish up with a craft. Geared for all ages!” Saturday, Aug. 5, 9-11:00 a.m.; $5, $4/member (prepaid

registration required); Fountain Creek Nature Center, 320 Peppergrass Lane, Fountain; 719-520-6745, tinyurl.com/epco-fun.

LEARNING & LECTURES

“Nuclear Arms Control in Dire Straits,” with Steven Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, presented by the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council. Wednesday, Aug. 23, 5:30 p.m.; $45; The Pinery at the Hill, 775 W. Bijou St.; learn more and register at tinyurl.com/cswac-pifer.

“History of the Alexander Film Company of Colorado Springs,” “Alexander Film Company was the largest employer in Colorado Springs with over 700 employees in the 1940s. It was the largest producer of theatrical advertising in the country, and they produced commercials for many of the Fortune 500 companies including all three of the major automobile manufacturers of that era.” Tuesday, Aug. 8, 4 p.m.; Western Museum of Mining & Industry, 225 North Gate Blvd.; wmmi.org.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Mash Mechanix Brewing Summer Car Show, “a diverse collection of rat rods, modified rides, stock cars, and trucks.” There will be plenty of live music and food trucks; free for spectators; $35-$45 car registration (all car-show proceeds will be donated to local veteran charity Monster Motors – Hot Rod Garage). Saturday, Aug. 5, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; 429 E. Pikes Peak Ave.; register vehicles at tinyurl.com/register-yer-wheels; spectator info at tinyurl.com/mash-cars.

ART EXHIBIT

Kreuser Gallery, 125 E. Boulder St., 719-464-5880, kreusergallery.com. Curse You, Tiny Paintings: “Through a collection of 100 miniature oil paintings, artist Chris Alvarez invites viewers into a world that weaves together his life experiences and his deep connection to the landscapes of Colorado, New Mexico, and New England.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m.; through Aug. 25; artist talk Wednesday, Aug. 16, 5:30 p.m.

The Downtown Hoedown! a fundraiser for CONO (Council of Neighbors and Organizations): “Come for line dancing, BBQ from Front Range BBQ, and live music from Extra Gold! After the Hoedown, head to the downstairs at Oskar Blues to keep the party going!” Saturday, Aug. 5, 4-7 p.m., Acacia Park, 115 E. Platte Ave.; $40 ($15 for kids 12 and younger); then 7-10 p.m. at Oskar Blues, 118 N. Tejon St., with live music from Countywide and $1 from each beer sale donated to CONO. See tinyurl.com/CONO-hoedown for details and tickets.

Manitou Springs Waterfest, celebrating the town’s mineral water springs — history presentations, water games, walking tours and a family picnic with live music presented by Manitou Springs Heritage Center and Museum and the Mineral Springs Foundation. Friday-Saturday, Aug. 4-5; see event lineup and registration info at mineralspringsfoundation. org and tinyurl.com/manitou-heritage.

Vino & Notes, unlimited tastings of Colorado wines along with plenty of food and live music; gate proceeds support Habitat for Humanity of Teller County. Saturday, Aug. 5, noon to 8:30 p.m.; Memorial Park, 200 N. Park St., Woodland Park; facebook.com/vinoandnotesfestival.

Starlight Spectacular, presented by the Trails and Open Space Coalition, “where participants put on their favorite glowin-the-dark gear, light up their bikes, and ride or run into the beautiful Colorado

night in the Garden of the Gods.” Open to cyclists (including e-bikes) runners and walkers. Saturday, Aug. 5, 8 p.m. to 12:45 a.m.; Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center, 1805 N. 30th St.; info@ trailsandopenspaces.org; see trailsandopenspaces.org/starlight-spectacular for full schedule and fees.

Pikes Peak Cycling Hill Climb, a USA Cycling-sanctioned bicycle race up Pikes Peak with competitive, gran fondo and ebike categories to accommodate cyclists of all skill levels. Aug. 12, Pikes Peak; coloradospringssports.org/cycletothesummit.

Donkey Derby Days, A parade, live music, races, a Friday night street dance, vendors and a beer tent are basic components of this annual homage to the town’s resident donkey herd that, legend has it, are descended from those who worked alongside miners during Cripple Creek’s Gold Rush days. Friday-Sunday, Aug. 11-13; Cripple Creek; see visitcripplecreek.com for a full schedule.

STAGE & THEATER

Titanic: The Musical, “featuring a cast of 25 students from Colorado Springs Conservatory’s Musical Theatre Summer Intensive representing nine different schools in the Colorado Springs/Pikes Peak area, along with a pit orchestra comprising local professional musicians.” Four shows Aug. 4-6; Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave.; see tinyurl. com/ent-titanic for times and tickets.

From Curse You, Tiny Paintings by Chris Alvarez

ART EXHIBIT

Surface Gallery, 2752 W. Colorado Ave., surfacegallerycos.com. Ordinary Fields, “paintings by Betony Coons exploring Midwestern iconography in richly storied environments both personal and collective.” Opening reception Friday, Aug. 4, 5-9 p.m., through Aug. 26.

“Summer Storm” by Betony Coons

By Rob Rogers

A DEMOCRACY ISSUE

The urgency of fair redistricting in El Paso County

‘ONE OF THE CRITERIA

I have liked from the beginning was minimizing the ability for someone to vote me out of office every four years,” said El Paso County Commissioner Holly Williams on May 8. This candid statement puts the urgent need for fair redistricting in the county into sharp relief — especially in the context of a governing body held exclusively by a single party since the early 1970s.

In 2021, Colorado legislators enacted House Bill 21-1047, aiming to end the long-standing practice of partisan gerrymandering in larger counties like El Paso. This law encourages transparency, emphasizes community input, and safeguards voter rights, in alignment with the principles of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. HB21-1047 allows for county commissioners to form the redistricting

commission, but it does not specifically endorse this arrangement, due to the inherent potential for bias. It also mandates public hearings to ensure community input and explicitly states that districts must not be designed to protect incumbents or favor any political party.

In El Paso County, however, a worrisome practice has arisen. The incumbent commissioners, essentially tasking themselves with shaping their own districts’ boundaries, have appointed themselves as the redistricting commission. This move has provoked concerns among citizens, exacerbated by El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker revealing discussions that allude to potential legal breaches. He has noted that commissioners discussed maps and provided staff instructions outside of public meetings, which contradicts the transparency that HB21-1047

is designed to enforce.

“Communities of interest,” a core principle of HB21-1047, also seems to be manipulated by commissioners. The law designed this principle to ensure groups of citizens with shared social, cultural, racial, economic, or political interests are fairly represented. For instance, Southeast Colorado Springs, known for its vibrant, diverse minority population, undoubtedly qualifies as a “community of interest.” Yet, some redistricting plans proposed by the commissioners selectively merge only certain precincts, potentially muting the collective voice and shared interests of this broader community.

Additionally, proposed plans include a “wildland-urban interface” community, a term more associated with geographical attributes than shared interests among residents. This feature appears to be a dubious justification for potentially diluting voter voices in District 3.

The law’s focus on “competitiveness” is

intended to nurture a vibrant democracy by creating districts that do not systematically favor any political party. However, the El Paso County commissioners seem to have strayed from this intention. Instead of examining political affiliations within proposed districts, they have been comparing partisan deviation between old and new maps and arbitrarily choosing races as examples of “fair” competition — a strategy that twists the very definition of competitiveness and undermines the principles of HB211047.

The issue of fair redistricting should concern all citizens. Competitive districts foster accountability and ensure elected officials are responsive to their constituents. Balanced representation is crucial to a healthy democracy. When one group continually holds power, the perspectives and needs of others may be overlooked or deliberately ignored. True transparency is derived from diverse

representation, achievable only through fair redistricting.

The call for fair redistricting transcends partisan lines — it’s about maintaining the health of our democracy. El Paso County citizens must demand that their county commissioners adhere strictly to the law. We must voice our concerns at public hearings, submit written feedback, and participate in advocacy. Our democra -

cy’s strength hinges on our collective commitment to uphold it.

Rob Rogers is a data scientist and business agility executive, with experience in the U.S. intelligence community and as an Air Force veteran. A 2022 candidate for state representative, Rogers now serves as the vice chair of the El Paso County Democrats. He is also a vocal defender of the separation of church and state, with an eye on Christian nationalism.

El Paso County citizens must demand that their county commissioners adhere strictly to the law.

LOWDOWN

By Jim Hightower jimhightower.com

AS JOHN MELLENCAMP

sings: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” True. And here’s and equally true twist on that aphorism: “If you stand for everything, you won’t amount to anything.”

In a remarkable achievement, a newly formed political party calling itself “No Labels” has managed to fall into both traps, standing up for everything and nothing at all. The fledgling entity is using every synonym in the book to assure everyone that it is a middle-ofthe-road, bipartisan, centrist, both-sides party, offering hybrid liberal-conservative solutions that won’t offend anyone.

But wait — they’ve chosen a multimillionaire coal baron and multimillionaire son of a global plastics polluter to be their standard bearers. As a presidential ticket, Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Jon Huntsman probably would unite voters of both parties — against them!

While they don’t stand for much, there is one huge, overriding issue that the No Labels hucksters strongly agree on: corporate money contaminating American politics. These “reformers” are in favor of it! Indeed, secret fat cat donations are the No Labelers’ financial lifeline, having already hauled in hundreds of thousands of dollars from right-wing corporate interests. Such as? No-no, say the founders, we can’t tell you who’s buying the No Labels label, for the funders don’t want the public to know their names or their special interests.

another gang of corporate politicos who think governing America is a game to be won by hook or crook.

AND SPEAKING OF JOE MAN -

chin... Rube Goldberg would marvel at Manchin’s wacky, convoluted machinations to rig the system so fossil fuel polluters can run roughshod over nature, local people and democracy.

Goldberg was a master of satirical cartoons, drawing hilarious schematics of convoluted contraptions to do silly tasks. His “Self-Operating Napkin,” for example, involved a spoon, cracker, toucan, skyrocket, sickle, and a pendulum attached to a napkin — all operating sequentially to automatically wipe the chin of a soup eater.

So here comes Joe with his own sequential machinations to (Zip! Ping! Sproing!) push his pet corporate boondoggle into law. Manchin’s Mountain Valley Pipeline would ram a 300-mile polluting pipe through the pristine mountains of West Virginia, into Virginia and ultimately into North Carolina, ripping through farms, communities, national parks, and 1,000 streams and waterlands. The people hated it — and, amazingly, environmental regulators and multiple courts sided with the people again and again!

Of course, secret funding of elections equals secret government — of, by, and for the funders. By standing against the people’s right to know, the group has put a flaming neon FRAUD label on their hokey “reform” party. Huntsman even admits it, saying financial disclosure would be the right thing to do, but “that’s not the way you play the game.”

“The game?” Just what we need —

Time for Joe’s Rube Goldberg act. Late last year — Ping! — Manchin switched from a “No” on a climate change bill to a “Yes,” in exchange for President Joe Biden supporting the pipeline. But congressional progressives rebelled, so their dirty deal failed. Then — Sproing! — Biden snuck Manchin’s boondoggle into this year’s must-pass debt ceiling bill, so — Whoosh! — locals and environmentalists were blown away. Wait though, the federal court that had been siding with people still had a say. But — Zzzzzt! –Manchin and Biden teamed up with congressional Republicans to — Whammo! — shift jurisdiction over the pipeline from that court to one with corporatefriendly judges. But the abandoned court says, “Hold it” — Congress is unconstitutionally interfering in the Judicial Branch’s power.

So, do Manchin and Biden get to stiff the people? Undecided — but they’ve already revealed to the people how corrupt their Rube Goldberg system is.

WE CAN’T TELL YOU WHO’S BUYING THE NO LABELS LABEL.

Who’s really running the ‘NO LABELS’ PARTY?

News of the WEIRD

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

The aristocrats

Wow! Things went literally and physically south on July 11 at a press dinner on New York’s Upper East Side in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. According to Page Six, as Kennedy answered questions, someone posed one about climate change, but before Kennedy could answer, Doug Dechert, the event host, screamed, “The climate hoax!” Which brought a scolding from art critic Anthony Haden-Guest, who called him a “miserable blob.” The two continued their exchange, with Kennedy calmly looking on, until Dechert loudly released a “prolonged fart” while yelling, helpfully, “I’m farting!” After attempts to change the subject and more verbal antics, the evening wound down. The next day, Dechert told Page Six, “I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence.”

News you can use

Oddity Central reported on July 21 that a young woman named Xiaohua in Huizhou City, China, suffered a ruptured eardrum following a moment of passion with her boyfriend. When she went to the emergency room because of loss of hearing, a doctor saw blood on her eardrum and asked if she’d had any physical trau-

The Other Separation

By Ken Burrows

In his autobiography, Founder Thomas Jefferson looked back with pride on his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom but lamented the attempts delegates had made to amend the Statute prior to passing it. He singled out one amendment in particular— the suggestion to modify the phrase “the holy author of our religion” by adding the words “Jesus Christ.” He had been relieved when that amendment was soundly rejected because he intended his Statute to protect, as he put it, “the Gentile, the Christian and Mehometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.” In other words, the law was never meant to enshrine the beliefs of any one religion, and it was written to protect the irreligious as well. Things are different today. When Missouri legislators were crafting their 2023

ma to her ear. Nope, she said, but, “When he kissed my ear, he sucked it hard and it made a ‘pop’ sound. After that, I couldn’t hear in my left ear.” The hospital’s deputy director of otolaryngology head and neck surgery, Fu Jia, said eardrums usually heal on their own.

Bright idea

Michael Raduga, 40, founder of the Phase Research Center in Russia, but — critically — NOT a doctor or neurosurgeon, nearly lost his life in June when he tried to implant a chip in his brain on his own, in his living room in Kazakhstan. The Daily Mail reported that Raduga lost more than a liter of blood in his quest to control his dreams. He said he practiced on five sheep’s brains and watched hours of neurosurgery on YouTube before starting on his own head. “During the first 30 minutes I was ready to give up many times because ... I was afraid I could just lose consciousness,” Raduga said. “I finished the surgery, I took a shower and I worked for 10 hours straight. People didn’t know.” But neurosurgeon Alex Green of the University of Oxford wasn’t having it. “This is an extremely dangerous thing to do,” he said. “We are probably decades away from being able to synthesize new experiences.”

law that eliminates virtually all access to abortion, one of the lawmakers remarked: “As a Catholic I do believe life begins at conception. That is built into our legislative findings.” A Colorado legislator this summer was quoted in a news article as saying he could not do his job without his faith because his religious belief is “necessary” to crafting good laws. In these and similar instances of late around the country, legislators’ intent is to embed religious beliefs into law.

In too many cases, modern-day lawmakers thus depart from what our key Founders believed in and practiced, which is observing a well-considered separation between private piety and public policy. One might call it “the other separation” these Founders abided by, one that coincided with the church-state separation they strenuously advocated and incorporated into the Constitution they created.

MULTIPLE WRECKS TIED UP NORTHBOUND I-95 IN BRIDGEport, Connecticut, on July 17, all attributed to one cause: A tractor-trailer was leaking human waste onto the roadway, leading to a motorcyclist losing control and crashing, the Associated Press reported. Several vehicles collided with each other or with concrete barriers on the slippery roads, and another truck skidded into a state police cruiser, which then rammed into another cruiser. No one was seriously hurt. The tractor-trailer driver was charged with reckless endangerment and reckless driving; officers believed he knew of the gross leak but kept driving.

This other separation is yet one more revolutionary hallmark of Jefferson and his colleague James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution. They were personally religious, even if not Christian, but they nonetheless took great care to not impose their faith onto others. In his precedent-setting Virginia Statute, Jefferson wrote explicitly that “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions.” Madison pointed out that the “Jesus Christ” amendment would have limited the liberty in Jefferson’s Statute to only certain religious believers. He went so far as to say it would have “profaned” the name of Jesus by “making religion the means of abridging the natural and equal rights of all men.” Madison regularly contended in his journal writings and correspondence that any connection between religion and government is harmful to both. (One wishes the self-described “originalists” on today’s

Supreme Court mirrored this conviction.)

Civic officials who seek to codify their private faith into public laws and policies flirt with a dynamic similar to today’s Christian nationalists, those authoritarianfriendly extremists who seek to establish a Christian theocracy to replace the secular republic our Founders bequeathed to us. Noted nationalist Michael Flynn has said publicly, “We have to have one religion, one nation under God, and one religion under God.”

That sort of thinking is wholly un-American. When laws are formulated to foist selected religious tenets onto the public at large, it reminds us we must have freedom from the dictated religion of some if we are to preserve freedom of religion for all. Today’s legislators should take a cue from our Founders and observe “the other separation” they practiced and handed down to us as a model to follow.

“The

legislators

most formidable danger.”

— THOMAS JEFFERSON

Free Will ASTROLOGY

(July 23-Aug. 22): In 1811, Leo scientist Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856) formulated a previously unknown principle about the properties of molecules. Unfortunately, his revolutionary idea wasn’t acknowledged and implemented until 1911, 100 years later. Today his well-proven theory is called Avogadro’s law. According to

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Israeli poet Yona Wallach mourned the fact that her soul felt far too big for her, as if she were always wearing the clothes of a giant on her small body. I suspect you may be experiencing a comparable feeling right now, Virgo. If so, what can you do about it? The solution is NOT to shrink your soul. Instead, I hope you will expand your sense of who you are so your soul fits better. How might you do that? Here’s a suggestion to get you started: Spend time summoning memories from throughout your past. Watch the story of your life unfurl like a movie.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Nineteenthcentury Libran physician James Salisbury had strong ideas about the proper ingredients of a healthy diet. Vegetables were toxic, he believed. He created Salisbury steak, a dish made of ground beef and onions, and advised everyone to eat it three times a day. Best to wash it down with copious amounts of hot water and coffee, he said. I bring his kooky ideas to your attention in hopes of inspiring you to purge all bunkum and nonsense from your life — not just in relation to health issues, but everything. It’s a favorable time to find out what’s genuinely good and true for you. Do the necessary research and investigation.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I’m amazed that anyone gets along!” marvels selfhelp author Sark. She says it’s astonishing that love ever works at all, given our “idiosyncrasies, unconscious projections, re-stimulations from the past, and the relationship history of our partners.” I share her wonderment. On the other hand, I am optimistic about your chances to cultivate interesting intimacy during the coming months. From an astrological perspective, you are primed to be extra wise and lucky about togetherness. If you send out a big welcome for the lessons of affection, collaboration and synergy, those lessons will come in abundance.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Please don’t make any of the following statements in the next three weeks: 1) “I took a shower with my clothes on.” 2) “I prefer to work on solving a trivial little problem rather than an interesting dilemma that means a lot to me.” 3) “I regard melancholy as a noble emotion that inspires my best work.” On the other hand, Sagittarius, I invite you to make declarations like the following: 1) “I will not run away from the prospect of greater intimacy — even if it’s scary to get closer to a person I care for.” 2) “I will have fun exploring the possibilities of achieving more liberty and justice for myself.” 3) “I will

my analysis of the astrological omens, Leo, you will experience your equivalent of his 1911 event in the coming months. You will receive your proper due. Your potential contributions will no longer be mere potential. Congratulations in advance!

seek to learn interesting new truths about life from people who are unlike me.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Champions of the capitalist faith celebrate the fact that we consumers have over 100,000 brand names we can purchase. They say it’s proof of our marvelous freedom of choice. Here’s how I respond to their cheerleading: Yeah, I guess we should be glad we have the privilege of deciding which of 50 kinds of shampoo is best for us. But I also want to suggest that the profusion of these relatively inconsequential options may distract us from the fact that certain of our other choices are more limited. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I invite you to ruminate about how you can expand your array of more important choices.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): My best friend in college was an Aquarius, as is my favorite cousin. Two ex-girlfriends are Aquarians, and so was my dad. The talented singer with whom I sang duets for years was an Aquarius. So I have intimate knowledge of the Aquarian nature. And in honor of your unbirthday — the time halfway between your last birthday and your next—I will tell you what I love most about you. No human is totally comfortable with change, but you are more so than others. To my delight, you are inclined to ignore the rule books and think differently. Is anyone better than you at coordinating your energies with a group’s? I don’t think so. And you’re eager to see the big picture, which means you’re less likely to get distracted by minor imperfections and transitory frustrations. Finally, you have a knack for seeing patterns that others find hard to discern. I adore you!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Is the first sip always the best? Do you inevitably draw the most vivid enjoyment from the initial swig of coffee or beer? Similarly, are the first few bites of food the most delectable, and after that your taste buds get diminishing returns? Maybe these descriptions are often accurate, but I believe they will be less so for you in the coming weeks. There’s a good chance that flavors will be best later in the drink or the meal. And that is a good metaphor for other activities, as well. The further you go into every experience, the greater the pleasure and satisfaction will be — and the more interesting the learning.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Emotions are not inconvenient distractions from reason and logic. They are key to the rigorous functioning of our rational minds.

Neurologist Antonio Damasio proved this conclusively in his book Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain The French philosopher’s famous formula — “I think, therefore I am” — offers an inadequate suggestion about how our intelligence works best. This is always true, but it will be especially crucial for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. Here’s your mantra, courtesy of another French philosopher, Blaise Pascal: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The famous Taurus TV star Jay Leno once did a good deed for me. I was driving my Honda Accord on a freeway in Los Angeles when he drove up beside me in his classic Lamborghini. Using hand signals, he conveyed to me the fact that my trunk was open, and stuff was flying out. I waved in a gesture of thanks and pulled over onto the shoulder. I found that two books and a sweater were missing, but my laptop and briefcase remained. Hooray for Jay! In that spirit, Taurus, and in accordance with current astrological omens, I invite you to go out of your way to help and support strangers and friends alike. I believe it will lead to unexpected benefits.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Did you learn how to think or how to believe?” When my friend Amelie was 9 years old, her father teased her with this query upon her return home from a day at school. It was a pivotal moment in her life. She began to develop an eagerness to question all she was told and taught. She cultivated a rebellious curiosity that kept her in a chronic state of delighted fascination. Being bored became virtually impossible. The whole world was her classroom. Can you guess her sign? Gemini! I invite you to make her your role model in the coming weeks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the coming weeks, I advise you not to wear garments like a transparent Gianfranco Ferré black mesh shirt with a faux-tiger fur vest and a coral-snake jacket that shimmers with bright harlequin hues. Why? Because you will have most success by being down-toearth, straightforward and in service to the fundamentals. I’m not implying you should be demure and reserved, however. On the contrary: I hope you will be bold and vivid as you present yourself with simple grace and lucid authenticity

HOMEWORK: Make up a fantastic story about your future self, then go make it happen. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology. com.

Focus Woodland Park/Teller County

Mountain high Living

‘above the clouds’ doesn’t come cheap

BY SARAH MCMAHON

Agrowing Bible college student population, little to no workforce housing, and controversy surrounding short-term rentals has created some vexing housing challenges for Woodland Park. Like many Colorado mountain towns, the City Above The Clouds urgently needs to find innovative ways to tackle its unique set of housing market problems.

So, to find solutions for residents and help local businesses maintain a workforce, the city of Woodland Park has hired Points Consulting, a firm located in Moscow, Idaho, to perform a housing needs assessment. The city is also staying engaged with residents through community surveys, council meetings and public hearings.

But it may be some time before a solution is in place.

The confluence of housing challenges begins when Charis Bible College moved to Woodland Park in 2014. Charis is led by right-wing pastor Andrew Wommack, who told a political mobilization conference at the college: “Man, as many people as we have in this school here, we ought to take over Woodland Park.” In August last year, the Bible college was successful in rescinding a decade-old agreement it had made with the city to pay property taxes on its student dorms. At the time, the Gazette reported that Woodland Park residents who urged the council not to rescind that condition said the ministry was “not paying its fair share” in the community, pointing out

it was draining resources at the cost of taxpaying residents.

Over the past nine years, the influx of students has increased with each new semester. The most recent numbers show more than 800 students attending the college, which has created a need for apartments and shorter lease terms in the area.

And the demand has driven rental rates to an all-time high. “Rates have gone up dozens of percentage points in my almost three years here just because of demand,” says Woodland Park City Manager Michael Lawson.

“So it’s becoming less affordable on the rental side — and for houses. Houses have for a long time been very difficult to rent, especially for less than a year. You’re just

not going to find them up here.”

The college is currently building six student housing buildings that Lawson says will house about 240 students. In the meantime, however, many students still need housing.

But some say not much is affordable in Woodland Park anymore. “Honestly, you pay to live up here,” says Bernie Vayle, broker-owner of Coldwell Banker 1st Choice Realty. “People are always looking for affordable. We don’t have a ton of affordable. That’s just a reality. We don’t have a lot of townhomes. We don’t have very many condos.”

House sales, though, are rocking. The market has slowed since last year, but it’s still healthy — albeit unpredictable. “The market is kind of challenging right now. It looks like it’s going to take off again,” says Margie Keener, broker-owner of Keener Team Realty. “We had a substantial number of homes go under contract in the last couple of days.

“Woodland Park is still a highly soughtafter area,” she says. “And it’s a little bit different of a market. It appears that the homes over $600,000 are moving very well. And it’s the homes that are $350,000 to $500,000 that are the ones that are kind of stagnant.”

In fact, the average listing price for homes this year is $628,327, Keener says. She also notes that the average days on the market for homes in Woodland is up from 2022, which saw an average of 26 days on the market. For 2023, the current average is 38. So homes are still turning over.

“There is still a strong demand,” says Vayle. “But buyers are being choosier. So, in other words, they’re not going to settle because of the high interest rates and the high mortgage payments. They’re not going to settle for something that they don’t really love.”

Perhaps once a more affordable option, buying land and building a home is becoming out of reach for many would-be residents. Alongside the housing boom, land prices have risen in Teller County, and so have associated expenses and wait times for completing builds.

“The value of vacant land has increased dramatically,” says Vayle. And coordinating contractors is proving to be more chalcontinued on p. 29 ➔

The newly built Trailhead Townhomes in Woodland Park

Photos by Sarah Mcmahon

August 15, 2023

11am - 1:30pm

DoubleTree Hotel

Business Leader of the Year

JUDY CARA Friends of Children Colorado Springs

KARLA GRAZIER Goodwill of Colorado

KATE HATTEN Home Front Military Network

DR. KENYA LEE PureLee Redefi ned

KRIS LEWIS Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity

AIKTA MARCOULIER U.S. Small Business Adminstration

LANA MARTIN Children’s Hospital Colorado

LISANNE MCNEW Safe Engineering

LINDA WEISE Colorado Springs Community Cultural Collective Young Professional of the Year

RYCHELLE ARNOLD Girl Scouts of Colorado

CHLOE HOEFT Notes Live

ABRAGAIL KAPPEL Black Rose Consulting

CORAL LASKI Exponential Impact

DE’AURA LEMUS

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EMILY TAMAYO Catamount Institute

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5 lots in classy upscale subdivision of 37 homes. Complex has clubhouse with pool table, kitchen, meeting area, & indoor pool. Build to meet HOA guidelines which include stucco exterior, stucco privacy walls & tile roof. Can buy 1 to 5 lots (package deals). Each lot can be sold individually for $35,000 each. Nice area in walking distance to shopping & dining yet quiet & tucked away. MLS# 5194232

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5671

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6943 S Picadilly Street

Aurora - $1,269,000

Stunning stucco and brick 6963 sq ft custom 2-story home on over 1/3 acre private lot in coveted Saddle Rock Golf Club neighborhood! Open floor plan with 5 beds, 6 baths, study, 4-car attached garage, & amazing 13,504 sq ftlot. Curved open staircase. Gourmet kitchen. Formal living & dining rooms. Oversized master suite. 3 fireplaces. Wet bars. Crown molding. Bay windows. Trex deck and balcony. Solar panels. Cherry Creek schools. Close to Buckley SFB, golfing, shopping, dining, parks, trails, pools, club house, playground, and tennis courts. MLS# 2560918

 THE 2023 SOUTHERN COLORADO WOMEN’S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACCOLADES EVENT FEATURES KEYNOTE SPEAKER JACKIE JOYNER- KERSEE.

Tramore Court

Honestly, you pay to live up here.

— Bernie Vayle

➔ continued from p. 27

lenging as well.

“Some of the very reputable well drillers in our area are still at least two years out. So if you bought a piece of property today, and you wanted to have a well drilled in the next couple of months, that’s impossible,” says Vayle. “They are literally two years out, so you buy the land now, and you sit on it for two years until you can drill your wells.”

With these increases in housing costs across the board, the city is contending with a labor shortage in the area, which is an immediate concern for Lawson and his planning team.

“We’re really kind of looking at workforce housing because our local businesses are suffering,” Lawson says. “And therefore residents are suffering; they can’t go do the things they like to do, would need to do every day of the week.” Many businesses in Woodland close for one or two days a week due to labor shortages, which is affecting business owners and the local economy.

“Even for the city, it’s been difficult for us to hire, especially entry-level positions, because you can’t be making $16, $20 or even $24 an hour and be able to afford a home and Woodland Park,” says Lawson. “It’s very challenging right now.”

One stopgap solution for people looking for housing is in short-term rentals (usually Airbnbs, VRBOs, or a similar set-up).

Some renters and buyers are reportedly staying in these locations while they search for new homes.

But it’s a contentious topic for Woodland Park residents; that citizens are actively organizing to restrict future STRs. Currently, the city has a moratorium set for December of this year for new STR licenses.

While some residents see STRs as beneficial for tourism dollars, others say they’re damaging the community. STRs

have directly affected residents by tightening the race to purchase available homes over the past few years.

“Residents were competing with investors that wanted to use them as a VRBO. And a lot of these investors had cash,” Vayle says. “So primary residence buyers are moving out on those affordable properties to investors, so it affected the people that want to live here full time.

“Now that has slumped down a little bit, but remember we’ve got a moratorium inside the city limits. The county does not. So it’s just a double-edged sword,” Vayle says. “It’s great for investors. It’s tough for homeowners. I’m not necessarily against or for it either way, but you know, there’s always a flip side that affects somebody.”

According to Lawson, Woodland Park City Council marked $40,000 in the budget to do an economic impact study on the impact of STRs on the housing market.

“Because we’ve had a series of fits and starts with our local legislation on shortterm rentals, we’ve not as a city initiated that study yet,” he says, “but we definitely are interested in finding out that correlation a lot better.”

Using available grant money from the 2021 American Rescue Plan and the Innovative Housing Incentive program, the city is able to conduct some of this correlating research to address the housing conundrum.

One community survey, set to close in mid-August, will help gauge resident need.

“We’re asking folks: ‘What is your housing experience? What is the need, as you see it? What’s the biggest challenge in this area for getting over this hump?’” says Lawson.

“We’re trying to generate all that data and synthesizing it to figure out, ‘OK, here’s the precise need.’”

From these assessments, the city can then create a housing strategic plan. All in due time. n CSBJ

The Pact Act

Validating service and providing benefits deserved

According to the White House, more than 5 million Veterans — across all generations — may have been impacted by toxic exposures while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Before 2022, veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf War, and post9/11 eras who experienced a variety of illnesses and chronic ailments from toxic exposures due to their service were often denied benefits and coverage. In August 2022, that changed. Veterans, surviving spouses, and caregivers were finally validated for service and sacrifice.

On Aug. 2, 2022, the U.S. Congress passed bipartisan legislation known as the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (PACT Act).

President Biden signed the PACT Act at a ceremony at the White House on Aug. 10, 2022. The act provides affected veterans, their families, and caregivers health care and benefits and is likely the most significant expansion of benefits in Veterans Affairs history. It covers many existing and new presumptive conditions stemming from Agent Orange, burn pits and other toxic exposures.

The PACT Act not only expands and extends eligibility for VA health care for veterans, but also adds more than 20 presumptive conditions for burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic exposures. The Pact Act added more presumptive-exposure locations for Agent Orange and radiation, requiring the VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every veteran enrolled in VA health care.

Presumptive conditions are those the VA automatically assumes were caused by a veteran’s service. If a veteran has one of the defined presumptive conditions, they do not need to prove service to be eligible.

They only need to meet the service requirements for the presumption.

Cancers that are now presumptive include brain cancer, gastrointestinal cancer of any type, Glioblastoma, head cancer of any type, kidney cancer, lymphoma of any type, melanoma, neck cancer of any type, pancreatic cancer, reproductive cancer of any type, and respiratory (breathing-related) cancer of any type. Illnesses that are now presumptive include asthma that was diagnosed after service, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, constrictive bronchiolitis or obliterative bronchiolitis, emphysema, granulomatous disease, interstitial lung disease, pleuritis, pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis.

Veterans or survivors who file a PACT Act claim or submit an intent to file by Aug. 9 may have their benefits backdated to Aug. 10, 2022. Claims can still be filed after that day but will no longer be backdated to Aug. 10 of last year. Additionally, Veterans discharged between Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct. 1, 2013 who have yet to enroll in health care have a special window to enroll until Sept. 30 of this year.

According to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics Fiscal Year 2021 report, the United States veteran population is 19,088,805. Colorado is home to 387,618 of those veterans. The report also indicates El Paso County is home to 94,483 veterans — approximately 24 percent of the state’s veteran population.

Over 5 million veterans are estimated to have been exposed to toxic substances and are eligible for benefits under the new Pact Act law. That means approximately 26 percent of all United States veterans can now capture previously unavailable generational benefits. Specifically, about 24,000 veter-

ans in El Paso County could be eligible for new benefits.

To bring awareness to this new legislation and ensure our community’s veterans are served, the El Paso County Division of Veterans Services has hosted PACT Act Claims Clinics to fast-track PACT Act claims for El Paso County Veterans. Since August 2022, the El Paso County Division of Veterans Services has hosted nearly 20 Claims Clinics, serving more than 1,206 individuals and filing over 472 PACT Act Claims.

Referencing the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics Fiscal Year 2021 report, many El Paso County Veterans could still be eligible for new and expanded benefits under the PACT Act. With the Aug. 9 benefit backdate deadline quickly approaching, the El Paso County Division of Veterans Services offers a final threeday Claims Clinic Aug. 7-9, to help regional veterans capture these benefits.

The El Paso County Division of Veterans Services has partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Colorado Division of Veterans Affairs, Teller County Veterans Services, and Jefferson County Veterans Services to host PACT Act Claims

Clinics on Aug. 7, 8 and 9 from noon to 8 p.m. at the Recruiting & Readiness Center located at 9510 Voyager Pkwy. The clinics aim to assist with filing PACT Act claims, provide toxic exposure screening, and health care enrollment for veterans. There will also be opportunities for compensation and pension exams. No reservations or appointments are necessary. Individuals will be helped on a first-come, first-served basis.

During the PACT Act Claims Clinics, Aug. 7-9, veterans can also request a screening by a VA nurse trained in identifying and documenting potential exposures to toxins during military service. Enrolled veterans can also leave a message with the VA’s My HealtheVet or via voicemail at 720-857-2511.

Learn more about El Paso County Veterans Services and the PACT Act at elpasoco. com/pact-act.

Marshall Bosworth serves as the El Paso County veteran service officer. Marshall retired from the U.S. Army as a sergeant first class with over 25 years as a combat medic. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management.

The Veterans Voice News Service, presented by The Veterans Voice Project and Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center, provides weekly, military and business-themed news, analysis and commentary for The Front in partnership with the Colorado Springs Business Journal

Over 5 million veterans are estimated to have been exposed to toxic substances and are eligible for benefits.

Marshall Bosworth shutterstock.com

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5671 Tramore Court

Banning Lewis Ranch - $419,900

Beautiful 1766 sq ft 3-story that shows like a model. 3 beds, 2 baths, loft, flex space, & 2-car garage. Granite throughout. Stainless steel appliances. LVP flooring. All appliances included, even washer & dryer. A/C. Whole house humidifier. New blinds. Covered patio, balcony, and fenced yard. Maintenance free landscaping. D49. Community club house, pool, waterpark, playgrounds, and more. Close to shopping, dining, entertainment, schools, parks, and military bases. MLS# 9404662

2757407

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