Durango Telegraph - May 30, 2019

Still afraid of Smelter

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FREE June 6, 2019

Vol. XVIII, No. 23 durangotelegraph.com

inside

T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

The great divide

Back in black

At home on the range

Outdoors groups unite to help sway climate action p8

DNF digs out, restructures with eye toward future p10

Road trip anxiety for EV owners fades into rearview mirror p14

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lineup

8

4 La Vida Local

Outside pressure Outdoor juggernauts unite in effort to sway climate action

4 Thumbin’ It

by Allen Best

5 Word on the Street

10

6-7 Soapbox

Eat to the ground: “Get in the boat, you’ll read all about it in the Telegraph tomorrow.”

– Exchange between boatman and passenger after Main Avenue Bridge carnage during Saturday’s Animas River Parade

A rock & a hard place

thepole

RegularOccurrences

New England has Plymouth Rock, South Park has Cow Rock and now Southwest Colorado has Memorial Rock.

At least that’s the working name given to the 8.5 million pound boulder currently resting alongside Colorado Highway 145 north of Dolores.

Staying alive Back on steady ground, DNF plans changes to help co-op stay there

11 Mountain Town News

by Missy Votel

12 -13 Day in the Life

12-13

16 Murder Ink

Strainer things

As the Animas rises, so does the river booty washing up in eddies

17 Top Shelf

photos by Stephen Eginoire

18 On the Town

14

20 Ask Rachel

Ready to charge Think electric vehicles are inconvenient in the mountains? Think again ...

21 Free Will Astrology

by Tracy Chamberlin

22 Classifieds

17

22 Haiku Movie Review

Headed for the Hill

On the cover: A rare and elusive sego lily blooms along the banks of the Animas River this week./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Best of Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass, Tab Benoit and Naughty Professor

by Chris Aaland

boilerplate

EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel (missy@durangotelegraph.com) ADVERTISING AFICIONADO: Lainie Maxson (lainie@durangotelegraph.com) RESIDENT FORMULA ONE FAN: Tracy Chamberlin (tracy@durangotelegraph.com)

T

he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, beckoning singletrack or monster powder days. We are wholly owned and operated independently by the Durango Telegraph LLC and

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Chris Aaland, Clint Reid, Stephen Eginoire, Jesse Anderson, David Feela, Ari LeVaux, Allen Best, Tracy Chamberlin, Jeffrey Mannix and Shan Wells VIRTUAL ADDRESS: www.durangotelegraph.com

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We’re only human. If, by chance, we defame someone’s good name or that of their family, neighbor, best

friend or dog, we will accept full responsibility in a public flogging in the following week’s issue.

Although “free but not easy,” we can be plied with schwag, booze and flattery.

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For those who may be living under a slightly smaller rock, the boulder and a smaller sibling (weighing in at 2.3 million pounds) crashed onto the road during a landslide Fri., May 24. That was, of course, Memorial Day Weekend.

Although the smaller rock was blasted to smithereens, the larger one remains nestled along the roadside where geologic time had a rare intersection with human time (fortunately, no one was injured.)

Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday that the state is opting not to destroy the boulder and instead will re-route the highway around the house-sized rock. In so doing, not only will taxpayers be spared $200,000 but travelers will have a new roadside attraction (and possibly rad new bouldering crag).

“We expect that for generations to come, people will have the opportunity to observe this geological masterpiece that we’re calling Memorial Rock,” Polis said. The cost of the project is expected to clock in at $1.3 million, which will be footed by a combination of state and federal funds.

Of course, no sooner had the dust settled on the so-called Memorial Rock than the twitterverse lit up with comments.

“The name, Memorial Rock, just begs for more pizzaz (sic),” wrote the Denver Post.

In an effort to get the rock rolling on a suitable replacement, the Post threw out a few suggestions in a reader poll: • The Liberal • Mount Polis • Rocky McRocker Face • Mount Polis • Tourist Trap • The Electoral Landslide • Atom Splitter • Rocky Road It also asked readers to weigh in (pun intended) on suggestions of their own. Some of our favorites: Trump (“because he’s dumb as one” – their words); Dwayne (as in “The Rock.” Get it?); Rockinlooper; and Rolling Rock.

Of course, we at the Telegraph are never shy with our two cents. Some of our suggestions: Rocky Balboulder; Trey (isn’t every guy from Boulder named Trey?); Classic Rock; and Oprah (in honor of the nearby part-time resident).

June 6, 2019 n

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opinion

LaVidaLocal Rosebud The 1952 movie “Viva Zapata” starring Marlon Brando portrayed an account of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. One of my favorite novelists, John Steinbeck, wrote the screenplay. But instead of taking you there, let me direct your attention to a completely non-Hollywood experience, an often explored Zapata not crafted by film-folk but by the natural forces of geology and weather that can be viewed by climbing 3.5 miles of switchbacks along a rocky road to the trailhead for Zapata Falls. You’ll have to bring your own popcorn.

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, southeast of Alamosa, is where you’ll have to go. My first visit happened 20 years ago. At the time Medano Creek pulsed and surged through the sand like an ocean tide, and I felt its mysterious current pounding against my legs. I still carry that experience, tucked safely into my memory’s saddlebags.

This spring, I stood there once more, beside the park’s 30-square-mile sandbox, staring at the snow-capped mountains beyond. A few determined hikers with walking sticks were ambitiously trudging toward the highest visible dune peak, even as a stiff wind out of the southwest conscientiously erased their tracks. Children playing at the edge of the creek shouted and splashed in the water. Spring break had blossomed at the best beach in Colorado. I shed my jacket and sat on it like a towel while brushing damp sand from my bare feet.

My thoughts ran back toward the turnoff sign I had passed on my way into the park marking the way toward Zapata Falls. The word drummed a rhythm in my head. Zapata Zapata Zapata. Like raindrops from some imaginary cloud. A 30-foot waterfall in this kind of desert? So remarkable a thought I tied my shoelaces, glanced toward the parking lot instead of the nearby sandy slopes. My plans for a hike suddenly shifted to a new location. I had to take a look.

The truck climbed 3½ miles of knobby, river-rocked access, bucking like a braying mule over a rough road. Ten miles per hour, with a few acceleration bursts up to nearly 15. The climb felt like it lasted for hours.

When I reached the trailhead, a single vehicle was parked there, and the

view was spectacular. Below the overlook the tallest sand dunes in North America stretched out lazily in the shadow of the much taller snowcapped Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The information board at the trailhead explained in bold print that to reach the falls a hiker had to exert only a half mile of effort, but it was all uphill, including a hazardous stumble into the flow of a rushing creek, through a maze of loose, slippery rocks. Basically, it said, count on getting your feet wet. I glanced at my dry boots and thought, well, at least I’m not barefoot anymore.

Trail conditions proved ideal, dry and not too steep. Spring had been here before me. Green grass and tiny mountain flowers basked in the sun. I stepped to the side as two young women outfitted in tennis shoes, tights and camisoles headed back down the trail, distracted by their cell phones, quickly glancing up only to return to the view of the selfies they had collected at the waterfall.

Half-a-mile breezed by. When I reached the nexus where water and trail merged, I found the creek but it had been lulled into a trance, still meditating on winter, still covered with snowpack and ice. Clinging to a rock wall, I carefully inched my way toward the sound of rushing water. I was standing on a frozen platform above the trail while invisible water gushed audibly below my feet. Then farther upstream, a slot in the rock grew wider as if caught in a beam of light, illuminating the sparkling and slippery surface.

Slick rocks towered above me. The notch broadened to scoop out a wide cavern. I slid along the wall to steady myself, using it like a handrail. Suddenly I could see where the top opened to the sky and sunlight played against the surface of a massively layered ice sculpture that had crawled down to the floor where I stood. I could hardly believe it before noticing that within the mass of ice, a ribbon of water pulsed through it, not over it.

The creek was contained like a snake by its wintered skin.

The cavern trickled and dripped, trickled and dripped – a space so full of moisture it floated down from the skylight transformed into a flutter of whimsical snowflakes, like in a snow globe, and I was standing at the center of this little universe, stirred, but not shaken.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It A court temporarily halting chainsaws in the Weminuche and South San Juan wildernesses until it can be determined if the Forest Service violated law by not conducting a more thorough public process

Durango’s fishery rebounding after a rough year in which low-water forced many fish to be released prematurely facing an uncertain future and many more were killed by ash and debris flows

The City and Trails 2000 breaking ground on the new SkyRaider Trail, which, when complete, will offer an alternate access from Sky Ridge to Raider Ridge and Horse Gulch

4 n June 6, 2019

– David Feela

Father’s Nay Still no official cause named in the 416 Fire more than a year after it started and despite the fact that a cause has been found for the nearby Burro Fire

Continued ignorance of high-water protocol on the Animas, with many river runners unprepared for the possibility of a cold and protracted swim, wearing nothing more than PDFs, Chacos, T-shirts and shorts

The homeless situation taking a toll on city resources, with park rangers devoting their time to picking up trash from homeless encampments in open spaces

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I searched the internet for 2019’s top Father’s Day gifts, but I found a sign of our downfall instead. Some made sense, like the unicorn-shaped taco holder or the tuxedo onesie, but some didn’t. Here are the bottom three. No. 3: For $200, you can buy dad the “Derby Turd” (aka preserved racehorse poop in a jar). No. 2: For $140, you can get dad the “merman tail” in case he identifies as a fish. No. 1: Or, for $70, you can get dad the most fitting gift of all: a bronze bust of Captain Picard doing a facepalm.

WordontheStreet

Q

With warmer temps returning to Southwest Colorado, the Telegraph asked, “How do you know summer has finally arrived in Durango?”

“Booze and tubes.”

Abi Pittman

“Little kids are out of school and everywhere on their bikes.”

Cindi French

“Working out outside."

Brigid Hunt

“It’s raining instead of snowing.”

“Rafters start coming down the river.”

Diane Weidinger

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June 6, 2019 n 5

SoapBox

ReTooned/by Shan Wells

Guzman LPEA offer is good energy To the editor, In recent LPEA Board elections, a rising tide of voters elected a 9-3 majority in favor of pursuing cheaper, cleaner energy. Thank you, LPEA Board, for performing your obligation by diligently researching our options.

Here’s context: our local electricity, which currently comes from wholesale provider Tri-State, costs about 40 percent more than open market electricity. We pay premium prices for coal, which is easily the dirtiest fuel source.

Tri-State does purchase renewable energy, which somewhat dilutes its smoky mix. But about 90 percent of TriState’s own production is from coal, earning Tri-State generation the awful distinction of “most carbon released per unit energy, of the top 100 U.S. electricity producers.”

Coal is poisonous, as anyone can attest who has directly inhaled its toxic, gagging smoke. Our bodies know immediately.

But reading the breakdown of coal emissions gags one even more. Mercury is a highly active neurotoxin that causes birth defects and cancer, even in minute quantities: 1/70th of a teaspoon makes the fish inedible in a 25acre lake. Domestic electricity generation from coal spreads more than 45,000 pounds of mercury in a very fine mist throughout our atmosphere and environment.

No wonder so many of our lakes and rivers are contaminated and so many of our children are displaying abnormal development and health problems.

Coal generation is by far the leading source of particulate matter, which is alone considered to be the fifth leading ambient cause of death (2015 EPA-funded study) due to its role in multiple deadly heart and lung syndromes.

The list of coal toxins goes on – arsenic, cadmium, nitrous oxide – confirming coal to be a concentrated poison

6 n June 6, 2019

awaiting combustion and release to the wind.

Let’s count it up. About 1 pound of coal is burned to generate a kilowatt of electricity. Roughly, LPEA uses .95 billion kilowatts per year, of which 58 percent is coal-gen-

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erated. That means that we at LPEA are responsible for the burning of about half a billion pounds of coal per year. That’s a lot of poison released into our air.

Here’s good news: Tri-State recently received a major 4

offer from Guzman Energy, an open market provider.

Chris Riley, president of Guzman, said they would “finance the early shutdown of (three Tri-State owned) coal plants, giving Tri-State a substantial cash infusion, in the vicinity of a half-billion dollars, and we would replace the (coal-based) portfolio with in excess of 70 percent renewables.” These three coal plants generate about half of TriState’s coal generation (roughly 800 megawatts). Guzman would replace that generation with 1.2 gigawatts of new renewable energy projects.

Many Tri-State members are praying that the deal goes through. Besides getting away from toxic coal, here are more reasons. Rocky Mountain Institute reported that if Tri-State shifted from coal to renewables, it could save up to $600 million by 2030. Guzman’s energy is cleaner and its rates are substantially cheaper than Tri-State’s coalbased costs. So Tri-State’s savings with Guzman could be passed on to members.

For those aware of the environmental disaster created by coal plants, here’s more good news. Part of Guzman’s offer would cover the high costs of dismantling and remediating the three coal plants and could even assist communities affected by early retirement of the units.

Guzman is able to make such a generous offer and still make a profit because renewable energy has become so amazingly cheap.

Guzman’s deal would also financially strengthen TriState, which owes $3.4 billion, most in endless revolving debts. And it would solve compliance with new renewable energy portfolio laws in Colorado and New Mexico, which dramatically impact 80 percent of Tri-State’s electricity sales. To survive, Tri-State must make rapid, revolutionary changes in its coal-heavy operations.

Here’s reason five – or is it six? – to want the deal.

Allen Best’s Energy News article notes that Guzman would “help Tri-State’s member co-ops build smaller but more dispersed electricity generation” which would “help local communities benefit by using local labor

and resources.”

This is one of the issues LPEA member-voters overwhelmingly responded to in recent elections. Currently, LPEA sends $70 million per year out of our area to support jobs in Denver and elsewhere. Guzman’s local industry support keep many of those dollars and jobs here. We need that.

Please ask your LPEA director to urge Tri-State to hold its nose and make the jump.

– Kirby MacLaurin, Durango

‘Up to state’ to vote Gardner out To the editor, First Cory Gardner dodged questions about his party’s uncompromising anti-choice laws aimed at challenging Roe v. Wade and became the face of the GOP’s attempt to run from the issue.

Then Gardner admitted to Politico recently that he believes abortion bans like those passed without exceptions for rape or incest are “up to the states.”

Of course, this is consistent with Gardner’s rigid antichoice record, despite his efforts to convince Coloradans otherwise. As the Aurora Sentinel wrote in an editorial last week, Gardner “dishonestly tried to assure Colorado voters in 2014 that, if elected, he would not permit erosion of women’s reproductive rights” by throwing up a “smokescreen” and insisting Roe v. Wade was settled law.

But in the Senate, Gardner has consistently voted to confirm Trump’s rigid anti-choice judicial nominees.

More of these judges are expected to receive votes this week. He has also voted several times to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides critical health services to more than 25,000 Coloradans annually.

Here’s the good news: Coloradans are fighting back.

Anti-choice bills don’t fly in the state Legislature and NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado says it’s seen a surge of volunteers, calls and emails from people wanting to defend

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reproductive rights. 2020 can’t come soon enough.

Cory Gardner supported the anti-choice judges President Trump selected to stack the courts, which is exactly why states are now passing strict laws with the intent of tearing down Roe v. Wade. This is another example of how what Gardner promised as a candidate isn’t what he’s done in Washington, and Coloradans are ready to hold him accountable in 2020.

– Alyssa Roberts, Colorado Democratic Party

Russia is a threatening adversary

To the editor, Russia continues to be an adversary of the United States and keeps trying to encroach into the Western Hemisphere and create instability in the region.

When I served onboard a radar picket ship in the Pacific during the 1950s, we tracked and reported Russian bear bombers making practice runs approaching the West Coast of the U.S. In the early 1960s, Russia installed missile batteries in Cuba that threatened the United States.

We implemented a naval blockade, and Russia was forced to remove the missiles.

Once again, Russia is becoming militarily involved in the Western Hemisphere. It has bilateral agreements with dictator Maduro of Venezuela, which is being expanded.

On March 23, two Russian air force planes landed in Venezuela carrying 100 special forces personnel to help bolster the Maduro regime.

We have to help the democratic forces in Venezuela oust Maduro so we can get the Russians out of Venezuela.

The Russian are a threat to the countries in the region and could threaten the United States and our interests in the Western Hemisphere.

President Trump told the Russians to get out of Venezuela. I commend him for realizing the adversarial threat Russia poses to the United States.

– Donald Moskowitz Londonderry, N.H.

June 6, 2019 n 7

TopStory

Scaling the partisan divide New outdoor partnership seeks to budge stalemate on climate action

by Allen Best

tions Caucus. Like Noah’s Ark, it requires membership in pairs: a Ren early February, the newly publican for every Democrat. In the formed Outdoor Business Clilast election, it lost 20 Republicans mate Partnership faced its first and hence 20 Democrats. The total test, and its response made some membership in the caucus slimmed people cranky. from 90 to 50.

Apparently, the president of the The climate partnership can International Ski Federation, Gianclaim to represent a hunk of the Franco Kasper, had dismissed cli$837 billion outdoor recreation mate change in an interview with industry. Largest among the three a Swiss newspaper. “To everyone member organizations is the who approached me shivering, I Boulder-based Outdoor Industry said ‘Welcome to global warming!’”

Association, which proclaims itKasper reportedly told people at self the voice of the outdoor the PyeongChang Olympics. recreation industry. Members inKasper was showered with declude more than 1,200 manufacnunciations. However, the trio of turers, retailers, distributors, industry heavyweights that had resuppliers and others from across cently partnered to seek climate the country. change solutions – the National Ski “We need to bridge gaps and Areas Association, Snowsports Infind common ground, and hopedustries America and the Outdoor fully this partnership can find Industry Association – remained those common grounds and bring mum. business voices to (achieve) solu“We didn’t feel that we needed tions,” Andrew Pappas, of the OIA, to come out and have a social said. media attack on him,” Chris That may sound hopelessly Steinkamp, of the Park City-based naïve. Climate change has become Snowsports Industries America, or a partisan issue. President Trump SIA, said. “That’s not our role.” has called global warming a hoax So what, exactly, is the partnerand done everything in his power ship’s role? At least in its early to bring back coal and stall efforts phase, the group is making the case to decarbonize. Given this backfor climate change not just as an drop, can this new coalition really existential threat but a business ophope to make headway? portunity. The emphasis is on findOne blueprint for achieving acing bipartisan common ground tion, said Pappas, is the reauthorizathrough conversation. Putting a tion of the Land and Water price on carbon emissions to accelConservation Fund. Funding reerate innovation is among several mains missing, although a bill with ideas touted. bipartisan support proposes to Members of the Partnership demake funding permanent. scended on Washington, D.C., late SIA’s Steinkamp thinks there’s a last month for a lobbying blitz. Orway over the partisan divide as well. chestrating the effort was the much The reality of human-caused clilarger Ceres Policy Network, a A lone snowboarder rides the lifts at Purg during the dismal 2017-18 snow year. Although this mate change is accepted by people Boston-based nonprofit that has season was much better, snowsport and outdoors industry leaders are hedging their bets against on both sides of the aisle, he says. more than 50 members, including climate change with the newly formed Outdoor Business Climate Partnership. The goal of the What remains absent is consensus companies like Microsoft, Ben & group is to lobby for bipartisan approaches, particularly carbon fees, to help slow or reduce cli- about the need for an immediate reJerry’s, and Kaiser Permanente. sponse at the federal level. mate change./File photo In its 2019 policy report, Ceres Steinkamp and other members identified carbon pricing as among of the group want to emphasize troduced by House Republicans – the first propriations for climate and clean energy its top five priorities – something that may Republican carbon pricing legislation since research, and climate change mitigation in- that major action now will avert the worst not be so far-fetched. In 2018, a carbon 2010, according to the report. damage of the future. Think spending $1 tegrated into policy. pricing bill was introduced by a bipartisan In addition, Ceres wants to see incenA particular focus for the group in Wash- today to avoid spending $10 in a few group of House lawmakers and another in- tives for electric vehicle infrastructure, ap- ington is the bipartisan House Climate Solu- decades. 4

I

Don’t let a small space stop you from a successful harvest!

8 n June 6, 2019

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“You have a lot of people, conservatives, who are not coming out against climate change,” said Steinkamp, who formerly headed Protect Our Winters. “I do think they believe that climate change is real, but they need to be given compelling arguments to address it. And I think the compelling argument is the economic case.”

Take the ski industry. Low-elevation ski areas will see the most trouble. Whistler already gets lots of rain at the base area in winter. Rocky Mountain resorts, being higher and more inland, will likely have snow well through the 21st century. But the warming climate will continue to shorten the ski season, and January rain will become more common.

As well, climate havoc may erode the affluence that allows people to take ski vacations in the first place.

This gloominess, though, will not be the entrée of the partnership. Rather, the talk will be primarily of silver linings: opportunity for economic growth in ways that reduce climatic and hence economic peril.

The partnership isn’t married to a specific policy, but the goal is to decarbonize the economy by 2050.

The climate partnership began coming together in discussions last autumn. Part of the impetus was the Trump administration’s rollback of energy and safety requirements, including the weakening of fuel efficiency standards.

It is hoped the new partnership can deliver synergies in reducing carbon footprints. For example, aggregated power agreements could provide renewable elec-

tricity, much as what Vail Resorts did by purchasing wind power from eastern Nebraska. In making efforts to reduce their own carbon footprints, members will be able to add credibility to lobbying efforts, Geraldine Link, of the National Ski Areas Association, said. “We are optimistic that we can at least begin a dialogue.”

The last significant climate change legislation in Congress was in 2009. Called the Waxman-Markey Bill, it would have instituted a cap-and-trade system, forcing innovation by effectively limiting emissions.

Congressional members from farm and coal states sank the legislation.

The delegation aims to entertain conversations with leaders in these states, particularly Wyoming, which produces 41 percent of the country’s coal. Given coal’s slide in recent years, the conversation may not be that difficult to approach. U.S. coal production fell to the lowest level in 39 years in 2018, according to the Energy Information Administration.

“Warning bells are ringing across Wyoming’s Powder River Basin that the largest-producing coal region of the country is in big trouble,” Heather Richardson, of the Casper-Star Tribune, reported in April.

“Wyoming made its peace with the idea that coal’s best years were likely behind her, but that a more modest future for Wyoming coal, with manageable losses over time, was also likely,” Richardson added. “That may not be the case.”

Nevertheless, the Outdoor Business Climate Partnership is still being invented. If there’s agreement on the need for carbon

A train carrying coal rolls through downtown Denver. The Outdoor Business Climate Partnership seeks, among other things, to reduce the carbon footprints of its members through steps such as aggregated power agreements for renewable energy./Photo by Allen Best pricing, it’s not the singular goal. A carbon tax in France yielded the yellow-vest protests. Government also must foster alternatives, such as cleaner cars. But the most important thing is joining of singu-

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lar voices into one.

“Getting the trade groups behind climate change is something we have been talking about for a long time,” said Steinkamp, “and it’s finally happening.” n

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To find out more, go to durangotelegraph.com and click on “buy photos.”

June 6, 2019 n

9

LocalNews

Back in black DNF climbs out of hole, restructures membership to help build nest egg

by Missy Votel

T

he local landscape isn’t the only thing coming back to life after a long, hard winter. Durango Natural Foods, the beloved but recently beleaguered local food co-op, is also showing signs of renewed life and vigor.

“We are definitely in a DNF revival,” co-op Board President Cody Reinheimer said Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the 45-year-old co-op had racked up $150,000 in unpaid debt to vendors, including local farmers that supplied the store with produce. However, thanks to a Go Fund Me campaign that raised $17,000 as well as a $75,000 loan from a member in late January, the co-op was able to stay afloat. Now, more than four months later, DNF is back on solid ground – with its local suppliers as well as its finances.

Reinheimer said the co-op has “completely” dug out of the hole to local farmers and is nearly done paying off the backlog to other local and national suppliers. He said he has personally talked to many of the local farmers affected, who remain committed to the co-op.

“All the ones I’ve talked to have said they are super happy to keep working with the co-op,” he said.

In addition to the financial lifelines, the co-op has also sought out the help of National Co+op Grocers, or NCG, an Iowa-based organization providing business services for coops throughout the country. “It’s basically a co-op for coops,” Reinheimer said.

First and foremost, NCG helped hire and pay a large part of the salary for six months for a interim general manager.

Lucinda Berdon began working March 16 and will continue until Sept. 16, at which time a new GM will take over. Reinheimer said a search for her replacement will begin within a few weeks. “We realized the general manger position is oh so important,” he said.

In addition to the new managerial help, NCG also provided the co-op with other valuable insight and advice as well, he said. “It’s an organization that wants to see co-ops succeed,” he said. “They helped us navigate a lot of challenges over the winter.”

One of the first things Berdon did was to lower prices at the co-op to help make it more competitive with other local prices . In addition, the co-op did away with the thriceweekly 10 percent member discount days.

“We realized it was definitely undermining our profits and was a big reason for our financial crisis,” Reinheimer said.

But this isn’t to say members won’t be seeing any more discounts. Last week, the DNF Board voted to restructure the co-op’s member bylaws. Instead of paying the one-time membership fee of $100, members will now be asked to

The produce section at Durango Natural Foods was well-stocked this week. After a challenging winter, in which the local co-op owed local farmers and other suppliers a backlog of $150,000, DNF has turned itself around and paid off almost all those debts./Photo by Stephen Eginoire renew for $20 yearly on their membership anniversary.

However, the $20/year fee will be capped at $300, meaning those who’ve already paid the $100 will pay off the new amount in 10 years. New members can sign up for $20/year and will be asked to renew for $20 annually until the $300 cap is reached.

Reinheimer said the new fee structure is in keeping with other co-ops around the country. In addition, it will help DNF build a reserve fund to insulate it against future financial calamities and the whim of outside forces.

“Who knows when we’ll have another fire, flood, huge winter or road construction,” he said. “We want to take precautions to make sure something like last winter’s financial crisis doesn’t happen again.”

To that end, the co-op is making a special plea to members to pay off their additional $200 equity sooner as part of the co-op’s new “Stock Our Root Cellar” campaign. The goal is to raise $100,000 for much-needed infrastructure repairs, emergencies and to provide a nest egg in the event of any

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unforeseen events. It will also help the co-op secure a $45,000 grant from NCG to help subsidize the salary of a new general manager. Reinheimer said the organization wants to be sure DNF is dedicated to building its reserves before it invests more money.

Members who opt to pay $100 or more in advance will get a 10 percent off coupon. Starting in July, benefits for all members will also return, with quarterly 10 percent discount coupons, in-store members-only discounts (look for the orange tag), special deals and a 20 percent off case discount. In addition, members can vote in all co-op elections.

“People will more than recoup their investment,” Reinheimer said. “Plus, they’ll get to have a voice in the co-op.”

He said he and other board members are excited about the co-op’s direction, not just as a purveyor of sustainable, fair trade and equal exchange products but as an outlet for local producers. “It’s been really great and we’re looking forward to continuing that,” he said. “We’re looking to have more food than ever from local farmers.” n

MountainTownNews Town frets about potential of floods LAKE CITY – Flooding in Lake City during this year’s runoff of the phenomenal snowpack has become such a concern that materials from the local historical museum have been transferred to higher grounds, as have some documents normally kept in the Hinsdale County Courthouse.

Some 15,000 sandbags have been imported to Lake City as attention has been focused on the watershed upstream in the San Juan Mountains.

Lake City, which got its name in 1873, during the first flash of the mining boom, has a population of 400. Its population swells during summer, when it’s a popular destination for Texans but also mountain climbers. Several 14,000-foot peaks, including Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn, are located nearby, above Henson Creek.

Henson Creek is what concerns Hinsdale County as well as authorities. There were many avalanches during snow season. One left snow and ice 200 to 300 feet deep and a half-mile wide across the creek. The trees, boulders and other debris in the snow create the makings of a dam. Should the dam back up melted snow and then burst, Lake City could be flooded.

“It is a totally different animal if we’re talking about a debris field of logs and trees as opposed to clear water,” Michael Davis, public information officer with the Hinsdale Unified Coordination Group, explained.

A masonry dam, called Hidden Treasure, compounds the problem.

Created in 1890 to produce electricity, it lost that function long ago.

It has a gaping hole in its face, the result of a breach in 1973.

But half a dozen experts who gathered to study it this past week concluded that trees & other materials could build up behind it. They say complete failure of the dam is likely, which could result in a “catastrophic flood surge,” according to the Hinsdale County website. To avert that possibility, the dam is being pre-emptively destroyed.

High runoff normally occurs by June 10, Davis told the Crested Butte News, but because of the cool spring, that high runoff as of late May was expected to occur on or around June 18. The snowwater equivalent in the snowpack of the Gunnison River Basin, where Lake City is located, was 727 percent of normal as of June 2, according to the SNOTEL measuring sites. Farther south, in the Telluride-Durango area, the same measuring matrix reported 1,174 percent of average.

The primary message Lake City wants to communicate is that it’s still very much open for business, despite the potential flooding.

More proof of mountain-dwelling bison

BANFF, Alberta – There were bison in Banff before the modern era. But were they tourists, who wandered into the mountains occasionally, or mountain dwellers?

The Rocky Mountain Outlook reports that tests conducted on 15 bison bones discovered recently delivered further evidence of bison as mountain dwellers, not tourists. In fact, they may not have left the mountains.

A scientist was careful not to deliver conclusions too sweeping, though. “It’s suggesting that these particular individual bison could have gone out of the mountains a little bit, but not very much,” Karsten Heuer, manager of Banff’s bison reintroduction project said.

Isotope analysis of the bones sheds light on the diets of the bison, including their habitat, while radio-carbon dating indicated a date of 600 years ago. However, other bison bones discovered in the park put bison there as long as 10,370 years ago.

A bison shot near Lake Louise in 1858 was believed to be the last wild bison in what is now Banff National Park. In 2016, Parks Canada transplanted 16 bison imported from east of Edmonton into the park. So far, reports the Outlook, the effort appears to be paying off. The original herd was enclosed within a fenced pasture, and it has more than doubled, with more calves on the way.

The intent of the fencing was to instill a sense of home in the bison. Now that the fences have mostly been dismantled, the theory seems to be working.

Mountainfilm not just for mountaineers

TELLURIDE – The name of Telluride Mountainfilm has been slightly misleading for a long time. The festival has been around since 1978, but even by the late 1980s it had strayed far from its mountaineering roots.

That was again the case this year as the most acclaimed film at the festival was about urban life, reports the Telluride Daily Planet.

The film, “17 Blocks,” tells the astonishing, truth-is-stranger-thanfiction story of a family that lives a mere 17 blocks from the nation’s Capitol in Washington, D.C. But the family might as well be a world away, says the Planet.

“The masterpiece of verité filmmaking follows four generations of the family as hope keeps them raised up through struggles of addiction, gang violence and devastating tragedy,” Mountainfilm writes in its promotional material. The film was named audience favorite at the festival and also the best feature film by the expert panel. As for verité, it’s a genre that emphasizes realism and naturalism.

As usual, there was much more than just cinematography at the festival. For example, there were also musical brothers who gave impromptu rap/tub performances, but also Winfred Rembert, a selftaught visual artist who is old enough to have worked for pennies in the cotton fields of his native Georgia, and who worked on a prison chain gang and survived a lynching attempt.

Then there was Oprah Winfrey, a part-time resident of the Telluride area, in an on-stage conversation with Cheryl Strayed, who wrote a book about hiking the Pacific Trail that got some attention.

Maybe you’ve heard of Wild?

Skier fesses up to going out of bounds JACKSON, Wyo. – In May, a 24-year-old Jackson man ignored advice to retain a defense attorney and instead fessed up to his guilt for skiing out of bounds. For this, he must pay $6,000.

In late February, after 4 feet of snow had fallen, Andrew Richards had dipped out of bounds at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The U.S. Forest Service and the resort operator had instituted an extraordinary closure to the backcountry, the first ever.

In skiing out of bounds, Richards didn’t intend to stay outside the ropes for long. But two of his companions followed his tracks out of bounds but did not follow his tracks back inside the ropes.

Instead, getting confused, they skied into Granite Canyon, in Teton National Park.

Once he had discovered what had happened, Richards did everything right. He got vital information from one of his lost companions via cellphone, told her to stay put, and went to ski patrol headquarters and spilled everything. National Park Service rangers reached the skiers just before midnight after using ropes and belays.

They hiked back up to the ski area boundary, arriving at 3 a.m.

The thing is that somebody easily could have gotten killed because of the dangerous conditions.

“To me, that’s one of the most frustrating things I have experienced in society – people not owning up to things they have done wrong,” Richards told the Jackson Hole News&Guide. “I can’t reiterate enough how thankful I am that everyone is OK and how sorry I am.”

No word on whether the other skiers who hopped out of bounds will similarly get their hands smacked.

Some have skied every month for years TRUCKEE, Calif. – It turns out that quite a few people have made it a point to put on skis every single month of the year – and for years on end.

Writing in the Sierra Sun Jenny Goldsmith turned up several skiers in the Tahoe-Truckee area who are every-month skiers. But perhaps most notable was the story of Brennan Lagasse and Jillian Raymond, who have been married nearly two decades. They started tracking their months of consecutive skiing in November 2003, their intent being to ski every month for a year. Now, 16 years later, they still haven’t missed a month.

Now, they’ve got company. They have a 1-year-old who hasn’t missed a month of skiing with her parents since she was in the womb.

Everest spectacle provokes discussion STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – The image of the climbers on Everest last week, waiting their turn to bag the summit, was certainly arresting. There was a similar arrest of hearts among some for the climbers exposed for too long in this zone where oxygen blood saturation levels drop below 25 percent. Even in mountain towns, most healthy people have saturation levels well above 90 percent.

Eleven people died on Everest in May, if for various reasons.

– Allen Best

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June 6, 2019 n 11

dayinthelif

A

s the Animas River once again ro fine its rushing waters follow su strewn banks are piles of debris a effectively known as a strainer. As water

Strainers are a great place to look for gear sacrificed to the river gods. Like

A riverside view of one of the lower Animas’ most notorious strainers. This

12

n June 6, 2019

teleg

Strainer things

by Stephen Eginoire

oars to life, the features that deuit. Common along its boulderand detritus that create what is r passes through these log-laden

e entire rafts.

walls, all manner of objects are captured and held. From paddles to full beers to flip flops, strainers are home to untold amounts of lost gear as well as beautifully sculpted driftwood. And while creating crucial subaqueous habitat, they are a formidable hazard to boaters. Here’s a look:

Rule No. 1: hang onto your paddle.

s one has been in place for years behind the Durango Mall.

graph

One is sure to find tennis balls in 90 percent of strainers along the town run.

June 6, 2019 n 13

thesecondsection Sarah Kelly, a member of the Durango Electric Vehicle Enthusiasts, plugs in at the Smiley Building in downtown Durango. Over just the past few years, Durango has gone from just a couple charging stations at the Transit Center to several located all over town./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

At home on the range Road trip anxiety for EV owners fades into rearview mirror

by Tracy Chamberlin

S

ummer is finally descending on the Southwest, and most residents are ready to hit the road. Some, however, are still a little hesitant.

“One of the biggest questions I often hear is, ‘How far can you get?’” Sarah Kelly, who helped form the Durango Electric Vehicle Enthusiasts, said. “There’s a lot of misinformation and doubt out there.”

Many owners of electric vehicles, or EVs, suffer from something called “range anxiety,” which is the fear they’ll run out of battery power before reaching the next charging station.

It’s not a concern when running errands or commuting to work, but hitting the open road has been a different story. At least, until now.

The roadblocks that have kept EV owners close to home – mainly infrastructure and battery power – are coming down, and they’re coming down fast.

Within the past few years, Durango has gone from having a couple charging stations at the Transit Center downtown to having ones at Mercy Regional Medical

14 n June 6, 2019

JusttheFacts What: Road-tripping without gas in 2019: Benefits and drawbacks of EV road trips today When: 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 10 Where: La Plata Electric Association headquarters, 45 Stewart St. More info.: To find out where charging stations are located around Colorado and country, go to www.plug share.com Center, the Smiley Building, La Plata Electric Association headquarters and the Doubletree Hotel.

There are also stations in Mancos, Mesa Verde National Park, Pagosa Springs and Silverton.

Under the state’s Charge Ahead program, which helps fund up to 80 percent of installation, the City of Cortez, Fort Lewis College, Ignacio Community Library and Wolf Creek Ski Area could all be next.

Laurie Dickson, executive director of 4CORE, said the plan is to have fast-charging stations installed about every 75 miles along all of Colorado’s major roadways.

telegraph

Telling EV owners and others about the dramatic increase in infrastructure is one thing, but having them hear about road-tripping first hand is another.

With that in mind, the Durango Electric Vehicle Enthusiasts are hosting “Road-tripping Without Gas in 2019: Benefits and Drawbacks of EV Road Trips” at 6:30 p.m. Mon., June 10, at LPEA headquarters in Bodo Park.

One of the club’s members, who owns a Tesla, will talk about his recent experience on the road, offering insight and answering questions. Kelly said the club plans to have another event this summer featuring members who own other EV models, like the Chevrolet Bolt or Nissan Leaf.

Even just a few years ago, the number of electric car models could be counted on one hand. Today, there are almost 50 models, and manufacturers are turning their attention to developing trucks, SUVs and other types of utility vehicles. The options for consumers are growing exponentially.

Dickson said by 2025, it’s estimated that 20 percent of vehicles in Colorado will be electric.

And, it’s not just shaping decision-making for 4

consumers at the dealership, she added. Developers are starting to include charging stations in parking lot design, and municipalities are talking about their potential impact on building codes.

Fines and funding It turns out, the biggest boon to EV infrastructure was a scandal.

Back in 2014, the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University conducted emissions tests on two Volkswagen models and one BMW model. The original intention was to prove how effective new technologies for diesel engines were at reducing carbon emissions.

But, the center instead discovered something else in the VW models.

It turned out Volkswagen had installed software in their diesel cars called “the switch.” When the VW was tested for carbon emissions, it would trigger the software

to change the engine setting to reduce emissions. When the car was on the road, however, the engine would operate normally, spewing out 20 to 35 times more carbon emissions than regulations allowed.

As a result of the scandal, some VW executives resigned, others are still facing criminal charges, and the company was forced to pay $4.3 billion in penalties in the United States. A portion of those funds were used to create Electrify America, a new arm of VW responsible for building and maintaining a public EV charging network. The remaining funds were distributed among the states, including Colorado, which received $68.7 million.

Much of Colorado’s settlement money has gone to building up the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure through grant programs like Charge Ahead.

There are three types of universal

charging stations: Level 1, Level 2 and fast-charging. The difference between these types is how long it takes to recharge a vehicle. Most of the stations available on the road today are Level 2, which give enough power for an EV to travel about 10-20 miles for every hour spent plugged in, while Level 1 only charges about 2-5 miles for every hour.

The funds from the VW settlement are being used to install only fast-charging stations. These allow an EV to go about 60-80 miles after just 20 minutes of charging.

Aside from universal charging stations, Tesla has its own network. Several years ago, the luxury EV maker installed charging stations across the country for free. The rub is that Tesla has its own proprietary plugins, so those stations only work for Tesla vehicles.

Kelly pointed out that EV owners need to make sure the station they’re looking to

stop at is the right one for their model.

As much as the growing popularity of electric vehicles is changing other industries, Kelly said the real growth will happen at the dealership.

“I think that’s where we’re going to see some growth,” she added.

As soon as someone gets in an electric vehicle and drives it for the first time, she explained, they’ll likely never go back to gas-powered vehicles.

The cars are quiet but quick, surprisingly good in the snow and require little maintenance.

“I was just surprised how easy it was to own,” she said. “Even the cheapest ones are a pleasure to drive.”

With new charging stations popping up all over the country and improved battery technology, more and more EV owners are ready for the long haul. n

Trip down memory lane: Electric vehicles are nothing new The first electric vehicle actually hit the road in Europe almost 200 years ago. In 1832, a primitive version was built in Scotland, and by the 1870s viable models started showing up on the streets of England.

It wasn’t until the late 1880s that the first battery-powered carriages were seen in the United States.

By the turn of the century, however, electric vehicles had become so popular they made up one-third of all vehicles on the road. Thomas Edison was even working to improve battery technology, and the founder of Porsche had already invented the first hybrid motor, which ran on battery power and gas.

Then, Henry Ford entered the picture with the Model-T.

Mass production suddenly made cars affordable to the masses, and the new gas-powered Model-T was the first nail in the coffin for electric vehicles. The internal combustion engine ended up ruling the roadways for most of the 20th century – until the oil and gas crisis of the 1970s.

After waiting in line for hours for a chance to fill up at the gas station, people started to think about alternatives, and the electric vehicle re-entered the public realm.

Once the crisis faded, cheap gas-powered vehicles and a lack of infrastructure made it hard for electric vehicles to carve out a lane in the automotive marketplace. But, with regulatory changes and a new model released by General Motors in the

telegraph

1990s – one that looked like something James Bond would drive – the tide began to turn.

By the early 2000s, Toyota’s Prius electric hybrid was available worldwide, Tesla was all the rage among Silicon Valley elites, and the federal government was backing electric vehicle development in the lab and at the bank.

Today, new models are emerging every year from Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Tesla, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes and more. In addition, new fast-charging stations are popping up almost weekly. It may have taken two centuries, but it seems electric vehicles are back in the fast lane.

– Tracy Chamberlin

June 9, 2019 n 15

MurderInk

Meet the neighbors Civility spirals out of control in Candlish’s latest, ‘Those People’

by Jeffrey Mannix

G

reat Britain’s celebrated crime fiction writer Louise Candlish specializes in claustrophobia. Not the fear of small places, but the fear of being trapped in your own mind with circumstances squeezing relentlessly until you’re going to explode or kill somebody.

We’ve all been there, or almost there, where one moment the conversation or circumstance is exuberant then in an instant intensifies to the point of being irrepressible. Outbursts of anger usually de-escalate the building pressure. But getting lost in the frisson or feeling trapped or overwhelmed by incomprehensible forces causes the little dendrites in the brain to blow fuses, and all bets on rationality are withdrawn. Candlish specializes in disassociation, and she’s skilled at drawing her readers into the unnerving fight-orflight response.

Candlish began this obsession with her 2018 novel, Our House, which Louise Candlish won the British Book Awards Crime & Thriller of the Year honor. A high-wire study in desperation, it was reviewed and foreseen to be a prize winner in the September 2018 “Murder Ink” column. Candlish hit the gong in this story of Fiona Lawson coming home to find strangers moving into her home.

She’d been away for a few days in a co-parenting, bird’snest custody arrangement to provide stability for her two children who live in the family home while she and husband, Bram, trade weeks.

Events spiral out of control: the house is sold while Fiona is away; Bram and the kids are nowhere to be

found; and bank accounts are empty. The dendrites start popping, and control of nearly everything is lost in one moment, drifting farther away with every hyperventilation.

In her latest book, Those People, Candlish dials it back a notch but adds more actors. This time the pressure is redlining over No. 1 Lowland Way, and the newly arrived homeowners, Darren and Jodie Booth.

Lowland Way is a tidy cul-de-sac with six or seven carefully curated detached and semi-detached homes in an upwardly mobile, middle-class subdivision in South London. Ralph and Naomi Morgan have lived in No. 7 for more than 15 years, and Ralph’s brother Finn and wife, Tess, have been living in the attached No. 5 for 12 years.

Widow Sissy Watkins runs a genteel two-room B&B in lovely No. 2 across the street; Ant and Em Kendall remodeled No. 3, and so on up one side and down the other. Scads of kids, barbecues, grass trimming, ebullient waving. An “Urban Spaces Award” has been bestowed for clearing Lowland Way of parked cars and traffic every Sunday for “Play Out Sunday,” mainly a way to give children a taste of the kind of safe outdoor play older residents took for granted years ago.

Darren Booth gets to work right away on the old Victorian he inherits from his mother’s half-sister. It was the eyesore of Lowland Estates in general, and talk had been about tearing it down to increase the radius of the turn

Free Divorce and Custody Clinic Presented by Colorado Legal Services

Tuesday, June 18th, 5:30 - 7 p.m.

Durango Public Library For more information, call: 970-247-0266

16 n June 6, 2019

telegraph

into Lowland Way. Darren and Jodie moved from a more common neighborhood, where Darren did auto repair from his rented tenement, played loud music while he worked and through the night as he and Jodie drank.

And within a week on Lowland Way, there are seven or eight cars parked in a shared driveway and on both sides of the street, including a motorhome across in front of Ant and Em’s house. Darren tells Sissy when she crosses the street with a bunch of flowers from her garden and asks demurely about moving the fleet to “f*** off.”

So, you can see how this is going to go. Insults escalate. Sissy’s daughter-in-law gets killed by falling scaffolding while trying to mollify Darren. Everyone is plotting, everyone is feuding, wives are leaving, and the police are becoming bored with domestic complaints and construction accidents. The pressure is building, the sky is falling, and manslaughter is in the air.

What would you do if the quality of your life at every turn and level became unbearable from a single, despicable source?

Don’t read Those People if you’re prone to hives. Or if you have something to do tomorrow morning. n

TopShelf

Best of the fest, Tab Benoit and Naughty Professor

by Chris Aaland

campsite and slam a pint or two in between bands.

But what really sets this festival apart are the people. Dan and he 14th annual Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass rolls onto Crista have become friends, as has their dedicated staff. They Reservoir Hill this Friday through Sunday, bringing a host aren’t just professional promoters who fly into the area a few of bluegrass and indie folk bands to the region and offering weekends out of the year to throw a party… they were and rethe best camping/music combo festival around. The Del Mcmain committed to music fans in Pagosa Springs and the greater Coury Band, Traveling McCourys, Sierra Hull, and Sam Reider & Four Corners. They’ll insist that what they created years ago Human Hands are among the headliners. Regional favorites like forges forward into the future in good, loving, capable hands.

FY5, Halden Wofford & the Hi*Beams and Bonnie & the Clydes I’ve been to 11 of the previous 13 Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass festiare also back. vals (including its predecessor, I’m excited to see Kate IndieFest), missing just two due Lee & Forrest O’Connor, to the births of my children. half of the Grammy-winning Let’s hope this isn’t the end, but O’Connor Band. Forrest is rather a passing of the baton.

Mark O’Connor’s mandolinLouisiana blues takes center shredding son while Kate is stage at the Animas City TheForrest’s fiddling and singing atre when Tab Benoit and wife. In addition to the festiEric Johanson perform at 8 val, they’ll perform a KSUT p.m. Wednesday. Benoit has session live on the airwaves at spent the past 30-plus years 2:06 Friday afternoon. Anblending Delta blues with other couple that’s intriguing Crescent City R&B, Gulf Coast is Wisconsin’s Dead Horses, swamp pop and Cajun and an indie-folk duo that draws Creole sounds. He’s a member comparisons to Mandolin Orof the Louisiana Music Hall of ange, albeit with darker lyrical Fame and has won dozens of imagery. contemporary blues awards. JoI’ve been spinning their lathanson is a New Orleans-based est album, “My Mother the bluesman who has performed Moon,” quite a bit lately. And alongside the Neville Brothers, Old Salt Union is another Kate Lee & Forrest O’Connor are among the acts performing at Anders Osborne, JJ Grey & relative newcomer I’m excited the 14th annual Pagosa Folk’n Bluegrass festival this weekend. Mofro and Eric Lindell. about. This newgrass quintet The ACT’s busy week also features a bassist/vocalist who is a hip-hop producer, several classiincludes Naughty Professor & Snazzy Licks at 10 p.m. Friday cally trained musicians and a horticulturist. They remind me a bit and Diabolical Sound Platoon at 10 p.m. Monday. of Trout Steak Revival and the Lil Smokies, two other groups I first It’s a new month, meaning a new firkin will be tapped at saw in Pagosa.

Steamworks at 3 p.m. Friday. This time around, it’s Cherry This year’s festivals on Reservoir Hill (the Four Corners Folk Kölsch, which sounds ridiculously refreshing. New brewer Doug Festival takes place over Labor Day Weekend) are bittersweet.

Williamson developed the recipe, which, as advertised, is a tart Since its beginnings 24 years ago, FolkWest events were driven by cherry Kölsch. It’s based in Steamworks’ award-winning and popthe husband-and-wife duo of Dan Appenzeller and Crista Munro. ular Colorado Kölsch – a light, crisp ale that already has a hint of Dan and Crista were Pagosa Springs locals with a vision of profruitiness. “Then put a cherry on top!” said head brewer Ken Marducing large festivals on a beautiful spot that could be converted tin. “Our preliminary taste testing found it did indeed taste like into seasonal festival grounds. They quickly realized that dream. cherry pie with the Kölsch playing the role of the crust. Pretty Eight years ago, they relocated to Oregon and continued to operdelish for an early summer beer.” ate both festivals from afar. They announced their retirement iAM Music and Manatee Collective are collaborating with Dufrom FolkWest last week, meaning this year’s festivals are their rango Rapid Response to present the Artists Unite for Immiswan songs. Crista will soon begin serving as the director of the grants event at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the Durango Arts Center.

Sisters Folk Festival in Oregon.

“Do You Know My Rights?” is a gathering of artists standing in What does this mean for Four Corners festivarians? Hopefully solidarity for immigrants featuring art, dance, poetry, live music not much. FolkWest is working with another local nonprofit to and a silent auction. The event will feature people of color and take over the festivals in 2020 and beyond, with hopes that not indigenous artists from Colorado and New Mexico, as well as much changes. It takes a village to put together an endeavor like members of the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition and Cola major music festival. It’s likely that many of the same seasonal orado Rapid Response Network providing the latest stream of inworkers and volunteers that have served FolkWest in the past will formation concerning immigration in our region. continue to do so in the future.

Finally, Mountain Village’s weekly free Music on the Green I spent the past week wistfully reminiscing about what the fesconcerts begin this Friday at Reflection Plaza. The entire summer tivals on Reservoir Hill mean to me. Musically speaking, I’ve been lineup is stellar, with the likes of Sammy Brue (June 28), Robert introduced to dozens of artists that have since become personal Ellis (July 12), I Draw Slow (Aug. 2) and Freddy & Francine (Aug. favorites. Live performances were among the reasons I first set 9) promising to be highlights. This week’s freebie features Brent foot on Reservoir Hill more than 20 years ago. During our early Cowles, a Denver native who blends the soul-inspired vocals of years, my wife, Shelly, and I would commute to and from Pagosa Otis Redding and Sam Cooke with the outlaw country chug of each day, take the bus up onto the hill, and pack tarps, chairs and Waylon Jennings. His “Cold Times” LP is a fascinating, intoxicatcoolers. We quickly discovered that it was the best on-site camping mix of the two, while his follow-up “How to Be Okay Alone” ing fester around. Where else are you in the middle of giant ponLP cements his reputation. derosa pines, sheltering you from rain, wind and the sun’s rays?

I’m going where the cold wind blows? Email me at chrisa@gobrain Plus, you could eschew festival-priced beer, run back to your storm.net. n

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onthetown

Thursday06

Zumba Gold, 9:30-10:15 a.m., La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.

Baby Meetup with Durango Café au Play, 9:30-11:30 a.m., 2307 Columbine. 749-9607.

LEGO Club, for ages 5-12, 1-2 p.m., Durango Library.

Firkin Fridays, featuring “Cherry Kolsch” on tap, 3 p.m., Steamworks Brewing Co., 801 E. 2nd Ave.

Welcome Evan! Community Appreciation & Open House to welcome Maria’s new owner, featuring live music and more, 4-7 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. www.mariasbookshop.com.

Spanish Speaking Parents & Littles Fridays, 4-6 p.m., Durango Café au Play, 1309 E. 3rd Ave., Room 201. durangocafeauplay.org.

Sunny & The Whiskey Machine performs, 5-7 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Mancos Youth Baseball Fundraiser featuring live music from Pete Giuliani, 4-7 p.m., Fenceline Ciders in Mancos.

Tim Sullivan performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

BMX Friday Night Race, 6 p.m., Cundiff Park. 3757331.

Sitting Meditation, 5:30-6:15 p.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave.

Lacey Black performs, 5-8 p.m., Serious Texas BBQ South. 259-9507.

Open Mic Night, 6 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave.

Robby Overfield performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

“Space Jam” screening, 6 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.

Friday Nights at Fox Fire Farms, featuring music from Black Velvet, 6-9 p.m., Fox Fire Farms in Ignacio. foxfirefarms.com.

Rob Webster performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main.

Submit “On the Town” items by Monday at noon to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

Drop-in Tennis, 9 a.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave.

River Walk Book Talk, 11 a.m. Durango Library.

Veterans Thursday Afternoon Social Club for veterans, their spouses and supporters, 4-6 p.m., VFW, 1550 Main Ave

Gary B. Walker performs, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave.

J-Calvin performs, 6-9 p.m., DJ Hakan, 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Saved by Art featuring Benton Yazzie, Navajo artist/illustrator/teacher, 7 p.m., Mancos Public Library. 5337600.

Disco Night, 6:30-9 p.m., Chapman Hill Skating Rink.

375-7395.

Karaoke, 7 p.m.-close, VFW, 1550 Main Ave.

nd

Karaoke, 8 p.m., Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2 Ave.

“Hotel Transylvania 3” screening, part of Free Outdoor Movie Night, show begins at dusk, approx. 8:309 p.m., Three Springs Plaza. 764-6000.

Friday07 Durango Early Bird Toastmasters, 7-8:30 a.m., LPEA, 45 Stewart St. 769-7615.

Free yoga, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Lively Boutique, 809 Main.

Mulch Giveaway, hosted by the City of Durango, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Van Dal dump site at the Durango Tech Center. 375-4839.

Sensory Storytime, for children on the autism spectrum and families, followed by sensory activities, 10:3011:30 a.m., Durango Public Library.

We Be Jammin’ Anniversary Party, featuring live music by Bards In-Between, Troupe Verde Belly Dancers, Red Desert Muse Belly Dancers, food, drummers and more, noon-8 p.m., Bomdiggity in Mancos.

BMX State Race Triple Qualifier, 3:30-7 p.m., Cundiff Park BMX Track. 375-7331.

Summer Picker’s Circle by the River, musicians of all skill levels welcome, 3-5 p.m. Saturdays thru August, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, 128 W. 14th St. 2592213.

Water & Wine perform, featuring Jenny Winegardner and Gary Watkins, 5-8 p.m., Nugget Mountain Bar, 48721 Highway 550.

Pete Giuliani and Brian Aherne perform, 5-9 p.m., Animas River Beer Garden at Doubletree Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio.

Robin Davis performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main.

Blue Lotus Feet Kirtan, 7:30-9:30 p.m., YogaDurango, Florida Road.

Plursday featuring DJ Hakan, 9 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

VFW Indoor Flea Market, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 1550 Main Ave. 247-0384.

The Black Velvet Duo performs, 6 p.m., Seven Rivers Steakhouse at Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio.

The Chills performs, 7 p.m., Billy Goat Saloon.

Open Mic & Stand-Up, 8 p.m., El Rancho Tavern, 975 Main Ave.

Henry Stoy performs, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave.

Dustin Burley performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Gary Watkins performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Claude Bourbon performs, 7:30 p.m., Sunflower Theatre in Cortez. www.sunflowertheatre.org.

Street. www.durangofarmersmarket.com.

Sean Farley performs, 7-9 p.m., Fenceline Ciders.

Light Show Public Skate, 6:30-9 p.m., Chapman Hill. 375-7395.

Comedy Cocktail open mic stand up, 8 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave.

Naughty Professor performs with Snazzy Licks, 9 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.

DJ Zirk performs, 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Saturday08

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Durango Farmers Market, featuring music from the Assortment, 8 a.m.-noon, TBK Bank parking lot, W. 8th

Durango Flea Market, 8:30 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds.4

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Henry Stoy performs, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave. Mad Science Space Adventures, 10:30 a.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.

Traditional Irish Music Jam, 12:30-4 p.m., Irish Embassy, 900 Main Ave. Wear Orange Rally for Moms Demand Action, 2-4 p.m., Pete Giuliani performs, 3 p.m., Buckley Park. www.indivisibledurango.com.

Live Music on the Lawn, featuring Rob Webster, 2-5 p.m., Sundays thru Aug. 4, Trimble Hot Springs, 6475 CR 203. 247-0111.

Adult Coloring, 3-5 p.m., event runs each Sunday thru Aug. 25, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities Garden, 128 W. 14th St. 259-2213.

Chasing the Moon Day, presented by Rocky Mountain PBS and featuring telescope viewing, kids activities, “American Experience: Chasing the Moon” screening and more, 36 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio. www.rmpbs.org.

The Black Velvet Trio performs, 4 p.m., Wines of the San Juan in Blanco, N.M. Blue Moon Ramblers, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Do you know my rights? Artists Unite for Immigrant Rights benefit featuring music from Baracutanga, Lokimoon and more, presented by iAM Music and Manatee Collective, 6 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. The Wild Roses perform, 6-8 p.m., Cyprus Café.

Jose Villareal performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Monday10 Yoga Storytime, 9:30-10:45 a.m., Smiley Building Studio 10, 1309 E. 3rd Ave. Watch Your Step class, 10:15 a.m., Durango Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.

World music: concert to benefit local immigrants What: “Do You Know My Rights? Artists Unite for Immigrant Rights” music benefit with Baracutanga When: 5:30 p.m., Sun., June 9 Where: Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. Get your groove on while helping the local immigrant community this Sunday as iAM Music presents an Baracutanga evening of music to benefit families in La Plata and Montezuma counties facing deportations.

The event will feature poets, dancers, artists, activists and musicians, including headliners Baracutanga.

Based out of Albuquerque, the seven-piece band

represents four different countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and the United States) known for its multicultural South American rhythms that mix in everything from Middle-Eastern darbuka to Afro-Cuban bata. In so doing, Baracutanga strives to break down barriers of discrimination, by promoting intercultural experiences.

Local band Lokimoon will also perform. Additional event sponsors include the Manatee Collective & Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Tickets are $15 and available online at bit.ly/doyouknowmyrights. Proceeds will go to attorney’s fees to help immigrant families.

Electric Vehicle Enthusiasts, 6:30 p.m., La Plata Electric Association headquarters, 45 Stewart St.

PWN Summer Networking Kickoff, featuring Robby Overfield and hosted by the Professional Women’s Network of Durango, 5-6:30 p.m., Rochester Secret Garden, 726 E. 2nd Ave. pwndurango.com.

Trivia Night, 7 p.m., Blondies in Cortez.

Rob Webster performs, 7 p.m., The Office.

Industry Nights, featuring local music and throwback movies each Monday thru summer for those working in restaurants, retail or other tourism-related fields, opening night features Diabolical Sound Platoon, 10 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.

Contiki Party with the Aussies, 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Rotary Club of Durango, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel. 4269549.

Trivia Factory, hosted by Ben Bernstein, 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr. DJ Crazy Charlie, 6:30-10:30 p.m., Billy Goat Saloon.

Tim Sullivan performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Tuesday11 Zumba Gold, 9:30-10:15 a.m., La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.

Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Guided Nature Tours, 9:45 a.m.-noon, Tuesday and Thursday thru mid-August, meet inside Purgatory Ticket Office. sjma.org.

Classic Movie Monday: “Damn Yankees,” 6 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.

Summer Reading Show: Mad Science, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Durango Public Library.

Road-tripping without gas in 2019: Benefits and drawbacks of EV road trips today, hosted by Durango

Drop-in Tennis, 4 p.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave.

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Latin Social Nights, 8-11 p.m., Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2nd Ave. 375-2568.

Open Mic Night, 8 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Wednesday12 Fired Up Stories! firefighters and EMTs from Durango Fire and Rescue share stories and safety tips with preschool children and families, 10:30-11:15 a.m., Durango Library.

More “On the Town” on page 204

June 6, 2019 n 19

AskRachel Interesting fact: Looks like regular Skittles dropped the lime flavor in 2013. Thanks, Obama.

Dear Rachel, I eat candy very seldom, and non-chocolate candy even less. So imagine my shock and horror when I treated myself to a movie theater bag of Skittles and discovered that somewhere along the line, they replace the lime-flavored Skittle with green apple. Effing gross. Green apple doesn’t go well with any other flavor on the planet, and it killed my lemon-lime combo. What kind of abomination is this, and who should be executed for it?

- Turning Gree Dear Sour Patch Kid, I haven’t eaten Skittles since I stopped trick-or-treating, so basically, since November. I honestly don’t even pay attention to the flavors. I just dump the entire funsize bag in my mouth at once and stick it in my cheek like a ballplayer with his chaw. The sensation of teeth rotting really overpowers anything more unpleasant, like green apple. Now that I know green apple is in the mix, though, I’m relegating my Skittles to candy corn status.

That’s right, you candy-corn loving perverts. Shots fired.

– Rain the tastebow, Rachel

Dear Rachel, Thanks to the wonder of internet advertising, I have a chance to win a car in a giveaway. They found the Venn diagram overlap of “environ-

OntheTown from p. 19

Tai Chi at Trimble, 1:30 p.m., Wednesdays thru the summer, Trimble Hot Springs, 6475 CR 203. 247-0111.

mentally conscious” and “low-powered oldschool” to point me toward a Tesla-battery-powered VW Bug. It’s the first time I’ve ever clicked on an ad. The catch? They want donations (to a worthy cause, but still) for more entries. Which moral matters more: saving the planet by burning no more fossil fuels in style, or never succumbing to misleading advertising?

– Bugging Out

Dear Love Bug, My high school math teacher had a bumper sticker in his classroom: “I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandpa. Not screaming like the passengers in his car.” He also had another bumper sticker that said, “The lottery is a tax on people who can’t do math.” He really liked bumper stickers, but he was not gambling on cars to put them on.

– Beep beep, Rachel Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Rachel, Oh my god, I’m so buzzed on caffeine right now. What can I do to bring myself down from this mildly unpleasant high? I can’t just sleep it off like I do a brunch-mimosa buzz or too many edibles. I don’t quite feel like I can clean my entire house while riding this wave, because too much motion makes me queasy. But I also can’t sit still, because my eyes are bobbing back and forth. Help?

– Coffee Annan

Dear Mr. Beans, There’s nothing for it, I’m afraid. I mean, you could take some downers, like alcohol or the daily news, but that would simply slow you down while your blood still hums. You could try to burn it off by running, but nah.

You could eat all the leftover green apple Skittles, but let’s be humane about this. Your best bet is to hope that your buzz dies off before this goes to print, because if your buzz lasts longer than four hours, you should call your doctor.

– Keep it up, Rachel

City Theatre, 128 College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.

Men Who Grill, benefit for Women’s Resource Center featuring food, music from Kirk James Blues Band and more, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., June 15, Buckley Park.

Karaoke, 8 p.m., Blondies in Cortez.

Karaoke with Crazy Charlie, 8 p.m.-close, Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2nd Ave.

Kirtan, 6-8 p.m., June 15, Studio 10, Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

Ongoing

Grand Funk Railroad performs, 8 p.m., June 15, Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio. www.skyutecasino.com.

Mighty Moon Histories, storytelling for children of all ages, 4-5 p.m., event also runs June 19 and 26, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, 128 W. 14th St. 259-2213.

“Inside Out: Visions from the Artist’s Mind,” thru April 2020, Southern Ute Museum, 503 Ouray Dr. www.southernutemuseum.org.

Veterans Breakfast, 9-11 a.m., June 16, Elks Club, 901 E. 2nd Ave. 946-4831.

5th annual Guest Bartender event, featuring John Ogier and Samantha Gallant and benefiting Know Your Dough, 5-7 p.m., Red Snapper, 144 E. 9th St. www.knowyour-dough.org.

After-school program, 4:15-5:15 p.m. Wednesdays, Mancos Library.

Writers’ Workshop, 2 p.m., June 16, Ignacio Community Library.

Karaoke, 8 p.m., Thur-Sun, 8th Ave. Tavern, 509 E 8th Ave.

10th annual Durango Pride Festival, June 19-23, around Durango. www.durangopride.org.

Upcoming

Storytime with Melanie Milburn, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., June 20, event also runs July 11, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities Garden, 128 W. 14th St. 259-2213.

BookMarks Book Discussion featuring Swamplandia

by Karen Russell, 2 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.

Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Thank the Veterans potluck, 5:30 p.m., Peter Neds performs, 7-8:30 p.m., VFW, 1550 Main Ave. 828-7777.

Loki Moon – Raw Experiments, 6-8 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave. The Jeff Solon Jazz Duo performs, 6-9 p.m., Cyprus Café. 385-6884.

True West Rodeo Opening Day, 6:30 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds. www.truewestrodeo.com.

Dustin Burley performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave. Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr. Tab Benoit performs with Eric Johanson, 8 p.m., Animas

20 n June 6, 2019

Concerts @ The Park, featuring music from Baracutanga, 5:30-7:30 p.m., June 13, Buckley Park. www.durango concerts.com.

Pete Giuliani performs, 7-10 p.m., June 13, 11th Street Station.

Free Legal Clinic, 4-5 p.m., June 14, Ignacio Community Library. 563-9287.

Raven Narratives Live Storytelling, featuring theme of “Animals,” 7:30 p.m., June 14, Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio; and June 15, Fenceline Ciders in Mancos. www.ravennarrativestickets.org.

Heritage Apple Tree Sale & Fundraiser, hosted by Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., June 15, MORP Nursery in Cortez. www.montezumaorchard.org.

telegraph

Ignacio Farmers & Artisans Market, 4-8 p.m., June 21, market runs Fridays each week thru Oct. 4, ELHI Community Center in Ignacio. 563-4600.

Deadline for “On the Town” submissions is Monday at noon.

To submit an item, email: calendar@durango telegraph.com

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I don’t think we were ever meant to hear the same song sung exactly the same way more than once in a lifetime,” poet Linh Dinh says. That’s an extreme statement that I can’t agree with.

But I understand what he’s driving at. Repeating yourself can be debilitating, even deadening. That includes trying to draw inspiration from the same old sources that have worked for you in the past. In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you try to minimize exact repetition in the next two weeks: both in what you express and what you absorb. For further motivation, here’s William S. Burroughs: “Truth may appear only once; it may not be repeatable.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Peter Benchley wrote the bestselling book Jaws, which was later turned into a popular movie. It’s the story of a great white shark that stalks and kills people in a small beach town. Later in his life, the Taurus author was sorry for its influence, which helped legitimize human predation on sharks and led to steep drops in shark populations. To atone, Benchley became an aggressive advocate for shark conservation. If there’s any behavior in your own past that you regret, Taurus, the coming weeks will be a good time to follow Benchley’s lead: correct for your mistakes; make up for your ignorance; do good deeds to balance a time when you acted unconsciously.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Some birds can fly for days without coming down to earth. Alpine swifts are the current record-holders, staying aloft for 200 consecutive days as they chase and feed on insects over West Africa.

I propose we make the swift your soul ally for the next three weeks. May it help inspire you to take maximum advantage of the opportunities life will be offering you.

You will have extraordinary power to soar over the maddening crowd, gaze at the big picture of your life and enjoy exceptional amounts of freedom.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “I think gentleness is one of the most disarmingly and captivatingly attractive qualities there are,” poet Nayyirah Waheed writes. That will be emphatically true about you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Your poised, deeply felt gentleness will accord you as much power as other people might draw from ferocity and grandeur. Your gentleness will enable you to crumble obstacles and slip past barriers. It will energize you to capitalize on and dissipate chaos. It will win you leverage that you’ll be able to use for months.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is the Loch Ness monster real? Is there a giant sea serpent that inhabits the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland? Tantalizing hints arise now and then, but no definitive evidence has ever emerged. In 1975, enterprising investigators got the idea to build a realistic-looking papier-mâché companion for Nessie and place it in Loch Ness. They hoped that this “honey trap” would draw the reclusive monster into more public view. Alas, the scheme went awry. (Lady Nessie got damaged when she ran into a jetty.) But it did have some merit. Is there an equivalent approach you might employ to generate more evidence and insight about one of your big mysteries, Leo? What strategies might you experiment with? The time is right to hatch a plan.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): When he was 20 years old, a German student named Max Planck decided he wanted to study physics. His professor at the University of Munich dissuaded him, telling Planck, “In this field, almost everything is already discovered, and all that remains is to fill a few unimportant holes.” Planck ignored the bad advice and ultimately went on to win a Nobel Prize in Physics for his role in formulating quantum theory. Most of us have had a similar experience: people who’ve tried to convince us to reject our highest calling and strongest dreams. In my view, the coming weeks will be a potent time for you to recover and heal from those deterrents and discouragements in your own past.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Earlier in your life, you sometimes wrestled with dilemmas that didn’t deserve so much of your time and energy. They weren’t sufficiently essential to invoke the best use of your intelligence. But over the years, you have ripened in your ability to attract more useful and interesting problems. Almost imperceptibly, you have been growing smarter about recognizing which riddles are worth exploring and which are better left alone. Here’s the really good news: The questions and challenges you face now are among the finest you’ve ever had. You are being afforded prime opportunities to grow in wisdom and effectiveness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Not all, but many horoscope columns address your ego rather than your soul.

They provide useful information for your surface self, but little help for your deep self. If you’ve read my oracles for a while, you know that I aspire to be in the latter category. In that light, you won’t be surprised when I say that the most important thing you can do in the coming weeks is to seek closer communion with your soul; to explore your core truths; to focus on delight, fulfillment and spiritual meaning far more than on status, power and wealth. As you attend to your playful work, meditate on this counsel from Capricorn author John O’Donohue: “The geography of your destiny is always clearer to the eye of your soul than to the intentions and needs of your surface mind.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): How many languages are you fluent it? One? Two? More? I’m sure you already know that gaining the ability to speak more than one tongue makes you smarter and more empathetic. It expands your capacity to express yourself vividly and gives you access to many interesting people who think differently from you. I mention this, Libra, because you’re in a phase of your cycle when learning a new language might be easier than usual, as is improving your mastery of a second or third language. If none of that’s feasible for you, I urge you to at least formulate an intention to speak your main language with greater candor and precision – and find other ways to expand your ability to express yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Here’s Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano from The Book of Embraces: “In the River Plate basin we call the heart a ‘bobo,’ a fool. And not because it falls in love. We call it a fool because it works so hard.” I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because I hope that in the coming weeks, your heart will indeed be a hard-working, wisely foolish bobo. The astrological omens suggest that you will learn what you need to learn and attract the experiences you need to attract if you do just that. Life is giving you a mandate to express daring and diligent actions in behalf of love.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian biochemist Gertrude Belle Elion shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988. She was instrumental in devising new drugs to treat AIDS and herpes, as well as a medication to facilitate organ transplants. And yet she accomplished all this without ever earning a PhD or MD, a highly unusual feat. I suspect you may pull off a similar, if slightly less spectacular feat in the coming weeks: getting a reward or blessing despite a lack of formal credentials or official credibility.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Today Mumbai is a megacity with 12.5 million people on 233 square miles.

But as late as the 18th century, it consisted of seven sparsely populated islands. Over many decades, reclamation projects turned them into a single land mass. I foresee you undertaking a metaphorically comparable project during the coming months. You could knit fragments together into a whole. You have the power to transform separate and dispersed influences into a single, coordinated influence. You could inspire unconnected things to unite in common cause.

telegraph

June 6, 2019 n 21

classifieds

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.

Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com. Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133 n 777 Main Ave., #214 Approximate office hours: Mon., 9ish - 5ish Tues., 9ish - 5ish Wed., 9ish - 3ish Thurs., On delivery Fri., 10:30ish - 2ish please call ahead: 259-0133.

Announcements

holiday pay and PayActiv (access to your pay between paychecks)! Advance your career and work for the agency voted #1 in home care! Visit https://sites.hireology.com/comfortkeepersnmco/ to apply or call Jennifer at 970-442-0772.

Summer Horse Work Available immediately. Call 610-7375963.

Wanted Turn Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. Into Cash! at RJ Metal Recycle, also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

HelpWanted

Classes/Workshops

Music Lessons w/ Jeff Solon Sax flute clarinet harmonica beginning piano. Improv on any instrument.

Composition arranging theory special projects. All ages, levels, + styles. Returning to your musical passion after a long absence? Let’s talk jeffsolon.com call/text 970-946-1992.

Classes at Namaste Thursday meditation - 8am Thursday classes: Parenting, healing herbs, food as medicine 9:30-10:30 Donations accepted.

RSVP to 970-247-2043. namastehealth center.com The Art of Mindfullness Sundays in June 9, 16, 23. 9:00am4:30pm. Hike. Connect. Renew. $225 www.MyInsightMBS.com/events. 970-2380438. Bronwyn@MyIn sightMBS.com Mommy and Me Dance Class Come join the fun! Now registering for classes. Call 970-749-6456. mom myandmedance.com.

Services House/Pet Sitting Experienced, reliable, excellent ref.

Lisa 970-903-5396.

CNA/Caregivers Needed!

Comfort Keepers offers competitive pay, paid training, recognition programs,

22 n June 6, 2019

Harmony Organizing and Cleaning Services Home and office 970-403-6192.

Advanced Duct Cleaning Air duct cleaning specializing in dryer vents. Improves indoor air quality; reduces dust and allergens, energy bills and fire risk. 970-247-2462 www.advanced ductcleaninginc.com

Edible/Medicinal Plant Walk Call for details 970-759-9287.

Himalayan Kitchen 992 Main Ave., 970-259-0956, www.himkitchen.com. Bringing you a taste of Nepal, Tibet & India. Try our allyou-can-eat lunch buffet. The dinner menu offers a variety of tempting choices, including yak, lamb, chicken, beef & seafood; extensive veggies; freshly baked bread. Full bar. Get your lunch punch card – 10th lunch free. Hours: Lunch, 11am-2:30 p.m. & dinner, Sun. Thurs., 5-9:30 p.m., Fri. & Sat. ‘til 10 p.m.

Closed 2:30 - 5, daily.

Marketing Small and Local Businesses Media, social media, website content, SEO, etc. for small, local, independent or startup businesses. Email jnderge@gmail.com

Low Price on Storage!

Inside/outside near Durango, RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494.

telegraph

BodyWork Massages by Meg Bush, LMT 30, 60 & 90 min. 970-759-0199. massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 2018.

Couples, sauna, outdoor shower, cupping. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-9032984.

Massage with Kathryn 20+ years experience offering a fusion of esalen style, deep tissue massage with therapeutic stretching & Acutonics. New clients receive $5 off first session. To schedule appt. call 970-201-3373.

RealEstate Great Homebuyer Opportunity FSBO in town 5BR/2BA. Live in part, rent out part to help pay mortgage. Perfect for ADU (accessory dwelling unit). $568K. 970-759-0551.

Radon Services Free radon testing and consultation.

Call Colorado Radon Abatement and Detection for details. 970- 946-1618.

ForSale Vintage Yeti Bike 1989 FRO hand built in Agoura Hills, CA., before Yeti moved to Durango. Still has some of the original Shimano XT parts - including cranks, derailleurs and wheels. Comfy swept back bar and stem

HaikuMovieReview ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ If you couldn’t find something to like about this film, you’re dead inside – Lainie Maxson have been added for that town bike vibe.

This bike could easily be made original again with very little effort. $800. Serious buyers only, please. Call 970-903-0005.

Reruns Home Furnishings Storewide sales in both stores! Great summer inventory arriving daily. Cool vintage bench, patio items galore, planters, bistros. New great stuff and daily markdowns. 572 E. 6th Ave. 3857336.

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CommercialForRent Large Warehouse for Lease Durango 1200 sq ft warehouse /metal building w concrete floor, elec provided, 8 miles from Durango on Hwy 160 storage only 1000.00 a month, secure, Call Yonna 970759-2514.

CommunityService Great Old Broads for Wilderness Host Art Quilt Raffle Raffle tickets are on sale for the 2019 Art Quilt Fundraiser. This year’s quilt, entitled “Get into the Wild,” celebrates the conservation organization’s 30th anniversary.

Proceeds support Broads’ work to protect America’s wild public lands and waters.

The raffle is open to the public and tickets may be purchased online at www.greatoldbroads.org/2019-art-quilt-raffle/.

EndoftheLine

Remembering Redbone (Editor’s note: The following is a review of a concert by the late Leon Redbone at the Community Concert Hall on March 21, 2004. Redbone died May 30 at the age of 69.)

how old he is, how he remains perpetually famous, why he always wears shades and a straw summer hat, whether he’s drunk or simply quixotic, or if he’s ascending or de-

by Jeffrey Mannix

L

eon Redbone is a unique, immensely talented throwback to a time that never was. And if that sheds no light for you, it gets murkier still if you caught his performance Sunday night at the Concert Hall.

Who is this guy? And how is it that an ageless neo-vaudevillean who is certain of only about a third of his guitar fingering and sings as if with loose dentures can so enrapture an audience aged from 16 to 80?

It’s hard to explain just what happened Sunday night. But something extraordinary did indeed happen – akin perhaps to being entertained by an extraterrestrial in the center of a crop maze on some Iowa corn farm.

You’re too smart to risk telling anyone about the experience, and you wouldn’t know how to describe what you heard anyway. You just have to live with the unimaginable, knowing that your appreciation of music had been altered forever by what may just be a figment of your imagination.

Redbone has been doing this schtick for 25 years, and he’s still a mystery. No one knows where he comes from,

scending. It’s as if he were never here, yet if you were present at his performance, your life was somehow enriched by an aura in the shape of cartoon character. Who is this guy, anyway?

A reviewer once said that if Johnny Cash and Tony Bennett conceived a son during the intermission of a

We’d give you the shirts off our backs ...

vaudeville show, he’d sound remarkably like Leon Redbone. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface of this apparition; it’s too realistic even in its glib sarcasm. Leon Redbone, or whatever his real name is, was sent to earth to keep popular music honest and tethered to lofty emotions of love, loyalty and invigorating meaninglessness. He’s been called the Friedrich Nietzsche of popular music, yet he proclaims that “to take myself too seriously is the gentle kiss of death.”

He’s been limned, too, as the Andy Warhol of front porch guitar playing, and until someone comes up with something more cogent, that about hits the mark. He’s chimerical by nature and unassuming in character: a delight, albeit fleeting and unfulfilling after 90 minutes of toe-tapping, wonderfully aimless minstrel meanderings.

Redbone was accompanied by veteran coronet man Scott Blank and a nimble Paul Asaro on the keys, both of whom had no idea what was coming next. It was worrisome for a while, until you realized that painting outside the lines is what gives Redbone’s music that exciting genius seldom heard in contemporary music. And just when you thought you were getting the hang of Redbone’s extraordinary talent … poof, like a falling star, he’s gone, and you are left with only a phosphorescent afterglow of what may have taken place before you were born. n

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June 6, 2019 n 23

24 n June 6, 2019

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