Delta County Independent, Jan. 9, 2019

Page 1

NORTH FORK TIMES

SURFACE CREEK NEWS

SCHOOL SAFETY

School resource officer patrols the halls in Paonia, B1

SPORTS

CHAPLAIN OF THE DAY Cedaredge pastor gives opening day prayer at the state capitol, B6

DELTA COUNTY

BACK ON THE MAT

Cedaredge, Delta wrestle at Eagle Valley Invitational, B8 JANUARY 9, 2019 VOL. 136, NO. 2

75¢

INDEPENDENT

www.deltacountyindependent.com

Delta hopes to cash in on tourism BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

City of Delta officials are enthused about a local effort to increase tourism revenue in partnership with Delta County Tourism and the Colorado Tourism Office. The city was one of two communities in Colorado to qualify for CRAFT 201 — Colorado Rural Academy for Tourism, a grant through the Colorado Tourism Office. This grant does not carry any funding; rather, it provides a consultant to work directly with a steering committee headed by Wilma Erven, director of parks, recreation and culture for the City of Delta. The consultant, Amy Cassidy of Eagle, has taken her hometown from a gas stop to a destination for travelers, Erven said. “She is just awesome! She is helping us develop tourism in a way that we market not only to the outside world, but to our own residents so they realize what we have to offer.” “I see the CRAFT grant as a real windfall that could help create a new and cost efficient industry for the city and county of Delta,” said Nathan Clay, a council member who also serves on the steering committee, along with fellow council member Christopher Ryan. Also on the steering committee are Don Suppes, county commissioner; David Torgler, city manager; Kelli Hepler, Delta County Tourism; Stacey Voigt and Nicci Robbins, Delta County Economic Development; Darnell Place-

Wise, public information officer for Delta County; and Sam Kimbriel, business owner and member of the Delta County Tourism Cabinet. “Tourism is already here in many forms and is already moderately successful,” Clay said. “However, it is an industry that is ready to be maximized and embraced. I believe that tourism is ready to grow, and needs to go mainstream in Delta. “We all have to help if we hope to capitalize on this new and exciting opportunity; it must be a community effort,” Clay said. To that end, CRAFT is hosting a tourism town hall in conjunction with the chamber’s business after hours Thursday, Jan. 17, at the Needle Rock Brewing Company in Delta. The business community is invited to join this gathering from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. There is no charge. “We want to provide information about where we’re headed, what we’d like to see happen, and we’d like to have input from our businesses,” Erven said. After the initial rollout, the CRAFT committee will be seeking input and ideas from the community at large. “This project is in its infancy but represents a new hopeful Delta,” Clay added. “Our citizens will ultimately decide whether we accept and embrace the tourist and their dollar or not.” The CRAFT group is working on a catchy tag line and a signature biking event, to be TOURISM TO A3

Photo courtesy DCMH

New year, new life

Abreaze and Oakley (no last name provided) welcomed the arrival of baby girl Ziyah at 11:38 p.m. on New Year’s Day. Ziyah was the first baby to be born at Delta County Memorial Hospital in 2019.

INDEX

Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Back Page .................... C6 Business ........................ A8 Church ............................C4 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ..........................C2-3 North Fork Times ........B1-3 Obituaries ..................... A6 School Zone .................. A5 Service Directory ......... C5 Sports .............................B8 Surface Creek News ...B6-7 TV Listings ..................B4-5

Photo by Dan Stucker

Flying a Cessna 182, Ron Widner cut the ribbon to officially open Runway 3-21. Widner is a commercial pilot and a mechanic at Smiling Aviation.

New runway paves the way for airport growth Mark and Cheryl Husmann, owners of Smiling Aviation and the managers of Blake Field, hosted a Christmas open house in conjunction with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly reconstructed main runway, Runway 3-21. The Husmanns report that the existing runway was about 28 years old and might have lasted another 10 if not for some water working its way underneath the northeast end. A full re-construction was done with all material being removed and dug down to start over. Funding was provided in large part by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with a smaller county match. Armstrong Consulting did the engineering on the project; United accomplished the rebuild in about 90 days by working six days a week, 12 hours a day. Pro-Electric did the electrical work for the new runway lights. Smiling Aviation, Inc. moved onto the airport in 2005. In addition to manag-

ing the airport, Smiling Aviation provides any services required by pilots, such as maintenance, fuel, aircraft and space rentals. The airport has grown considerably in the last 13 years, tripling in number of based aircraft and hangars, all privately owned. Three to four new hangars are expected to go up this year as well, on the east side where there is plenty of room to build, thanks to the county’s purchase of an old horse ranch. All hangar spaces have been filled to the west. The Husmanns report that the addition of jet fuel and a GPS approach in the last few years is contributing to expanding traffic at the airport, including a larger and more varied number of aircraft to include jets and more turbo-prop aircraft. “The privately owned hangars that are going in will be able to accommodate these larger aircraft and we hope that this newer expansion continues since it will bring in more small business owners to our area, which will,

A new beginning

in turn, be good for our local economy,” they said. The addition of Ultimate Skydiving Adventures increased usage at Blake Field Airport by several hundred flights this year, since more than 900 people went skydiving in Delta County in 2018. “These people, along with others brought in by existing or new businesses at the airport, will be looking for other services and things to do while here. We are always looking to find other businesses that want to work at our airport since Delta County offers several financial, geographic and traffic advantages that surrounding airports can’t.” The Husmanns say Delta County’s guidance and support was instrumental in making this expansion happen, with the county commissioners and county manager doing a lot of work to make things happen at the North Delta airport. Bob Basher, county engineer and Larry Record, District 1 manager, have been at the RUNWAY TO A3

Photo by Annette Brand

On Monday Jan. 7, Judge Jin D. Pack administered the oath of office to recently elected county officials pictured above. From left to right are Sheriff Mark Taylor, District 1 county commissioner Mike Lane, county surveyor Jesse Messenger, county coroner Lance Boren, county assessor Debbie Griffith, Judge Pack, and county clerk and recorder Teri Stephenson. County treasurer Lisa Tafoya took her oath of office on Jan. 1.

Commissioners change meeting days

At their meeting on Jan. 7, Delta County Commissioners Mark Roeber, Don Suppes and Mike Lane elected Suppes as chairman and Roeber as vice chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. Suppes and Roeber welcomed Mike Lane, who was sworn in as commissioner prior to the meeting. Lane fills the position formerly held by Doug Atchley, who was term limited. The commissioners changed their regular meeting day from the first and third Mondays of each month to the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The next meeting of the commissioners will be on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 8:30 a.m., Room 236 of the county courthouse. The agenda for each regular commission meeting is posted on the front window of the county courthouse at 501 Palmer Street on the Friday before the meeting. It is sometimes difficult for affected county departments to get information regarding items for the agenda to county clerk and recorder Teri Stephenson in time for the information to be included on the agenda prior to the agenda being posted on Fridays. Changing the meeting date to Tuesday will enable the agenda to be finalized on Monday and posted in the window on Monday afternoon.

Health coverage

The open enrollment period for health insurance through the Colorado marketplace ends Jan. 15. In Delta County, 1,069 residents have enrolled in private health insurance. Households, on average, are saving $1,114 a month on their premium. If you still need coverage for 2019, it is not too late! Connect for Health Colorado®, the state’s health insurance marketplace, is the only place where you can apply for financial help to lower the cost of your health insurance. To learn or speak to a certified expert, visit ConnectForHealthCO. com.


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