December 15, 2022 Vol. 22, No. 4 Serving Manitou Springs, Old Colorado City and Lower Ute Pass
$100
Breakfast with Santa
Santa made his annual appearance at the Manitou Springs Kiwanis Club’s annual event, which took place at the Community Congregational Church on Dec. 10.
Photo by Bryan Oller
Remi Willie, 6, sits on Santa’s lap.
City Council hears chamber’s request for digital signage By William J. Dagendesh A request to install a digital messaging sign in at the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce was put on hold at the Dec. 13 City Council work session. In October 2022, a windstorm destroyed the sign in front of the building at 354 Manitou Ave. The chamber has photos that show the sign toppled from its foundation, and electrical wiring and light bulbs yanked from their outlets. In a memorandum to City Council, Planning Director Hannah Van Nimwegen-McGuire said the chamber is seeking an “official sign” designation that would allow a digital messaging component. A grant was tailored to assist in the region’s economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, Van Nimwegen-McGuire said. “In their application for this grant, the Chamber of Commerce stated, ‘Our capacity for business and event promotion, as well as important messages through the marquee is limited to two messages, four lines of 12 See COUNCIL/page 3
What you need to know about the Bulletin’s future By Rhonda Van Pelt Editor’s note: Almost all copies of our Dec. 8 issue were accidentally taken from our company’s downtown Colorado Springs office. It would be too expensive to reprint the issue, so we are publishing this important story again. Approximately 30-35 people got a behind-thescenes look at what’s been happening, and what’s next, for the Bulletin. They attended the Dec. 1 meeting about the newspaper in the Manitou Art Center’s conference room.
Amy Gillentine, the newspaper’s publisher, explained that her local career began with the Colorado Springs Business Journal in 2005. When John Weiss purchased it in 2012, she joined his company as a reporter, and after a two-year stint at the Air Force Academy, came back as editor of the Business Journal. She took over as publisher of the CSBJ and associated papers in 2017 and took the reins of the Colorado Springs Independent in 2019. After July 2022, when Weiss decided to retire,
he handed the company reins to Gillentine. That includes overseeing operations at the Indy, CSBJ, Southeast Express, the Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group and the Bulletin. “I was a reporter for most of my career, and find myself now as publisher of the new nonprofit 6035 Media. And that (the nonprofit) is the result of about three months of extremely hard work,” she told the crowd. See BULLETIN/page 5
INSIDE CHRISTMAS PARADE DRAWS HUNDREDS...............PAGE 11 ATHLETIC TEAMS IN GOOD SHAPE.................. PAGES 12, 13 OFFICIAL ANSWERS ABOUT DEAD DEER.................PAGE 16