Durango Telegraph - July 18, 2019

Missy who?

­elegraph the­­­­durango

FREE July 18, 2019

Vol. XVIII, No. 29 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

Caught in the web

Going to the well

Rooted to the stage

City’s online sales rise, as state system gets bogged down p8

COGCC steps up efforts to plug, reclaim orphan wells p10

Students found summer theatre company for young adults p14

FREE BENEFIT SHOW

Dustin & Kevin Welch with HalleyAnna Finlay

Sun., July 21, 7-10 p.m.

VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave., Durango #

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2 n July 18, 2019

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telegraph

lineup

8

4 La Vida Local

On the line Internet sales on the rise as state struggles to fix a taxing system

4 Thumbin’ It

by Tracy Chamberlin

5 Word on the Street

10

6-7 Soapbox

COGCC steps up efforts to plug, reclaim orphan wells

11 Mountain Town News

Well, well, well

by Missy Votel

12 - 13 Day in the Life

12

16 Flash in the Pan

Unplugged A look at a trip down the undammed delicacy that is the Upper Animas

17 Top Shelf

photos by Stephen Eginoire

18 On the Town

14

20 Ask Rachel

Ready for the show New student-run theatre troupe debuts with Putnam Spelling Bee classic

21 Free Will Astrology

by Zach Hively

22 Classifieds

17

22 Haiku Movie Review

Resisting the urge

On the cover: A close-up view of “Reflection,” an art piece from Volkan Alkanoglu, at FLC’s Concert Hall./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Dissent, Soldier Songs and Ella & Louis Music in the Mountains style

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, Ari LeVaux, Allen Best, Tracy Chamberlin, Zach Hively, and Shan Wells

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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.

PHONE: 970.259.0133

telegraph

Ear to the ground: “I’m a Strav-asshole” – Local cyclist coming clean on his Strava addiction

The hot list

thepole

RegularOccurrences

In this week’s “wish we’d have thought of that” (actually, we’re sort of glad we didn’t) comes the L.A. Times’ Spicy Snack Power Rankings. That’s right, what steamy hot summer isn’t complete without some bright orange salty snacks to set your fingertips, lips and innards aflame? Fortunately, Times food columnist Lucas Kwan Peterson did all the hard work – sweating it out until the roof of his mouth was raw – so you didn’t have to. In the end, he came up with 30 of the best-tasting spicy snacks (an oxymoron perhaps) known to humankind. And lest you think all Flamin’ Hot (insert snack name here) taste the same, Peterson begs to differ.

“There are subtle differences, which I will happily illustrate below,” he writes. “I have ranked the snacks based on 1) flavor and 2) heat, the amount of saliva-coaxing capsaicin I detected in each one.”

While space prohibits listing all 30, here are some of his hottest picks. So grab a tall glass of milk and dig in (just don’t wipe your hands on your white pants when you’re done): 1) Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho - “delightful” and “highly snackable,” Peterson writes. “Think regular Doritos but with a kick as strong as a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto – the perfect mix of cheesy and spicy.

2) Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs - The dimples in the fried puffed corn hold the spice powder better, leading to a more intense heat and flavor, he writes. But all this flavor has a downside. “The airy, fried texture, while initially novel, can become a little nauseating as the pieces become consistently compacted in your back teeth.”

3) Pop Fuego Popcorn - Basically Takis popcorn. “I vacillated between whether this was very good or very, very bad, and I ended up deciding that I like it,” Peterson writes. “The MSG is cranked up to a 12,” adding, “your cousin from Connecticut who calls La Croix ‘spicy water’ should be able to handle them.”

4) Flamin’ Hot Cheetos” - The “standard bearer” and “spicy breadwinner,” these have it all: heat, texture, crunch and flavor. As well as an inspiring origin story. According to Peterson, Ricardo Montañez, who was working at Frito-Lay as a janitor, approached the CEO with an idea – what if you made spicy Cheetos? Years and many millions in sales later, Montañez is vice president of the company.

5) (tie) Takis Fuego Takis (or “taquis”) – Although the Taki shape isn’t Petersons favorite for flavor conveyance, he does appreciate the way Takis help solve the plastic problem by doubling as a single-use straw while making everything taste like a michelada.

5) (tie) Doritos Dinamita - Doritos creates its own cylindrical Takis-like snack with a nice balance of lime and heat. Although neck-and-neck with Takis, these aren’t as punishingly salty.

And in case you were wondering, here are a couple that came in at the bottom of the bag: • Flaming Hot Funyons – “Not very spicy nor is it very oniony. Less fun than a regular Funyun.”

• Andy Capp’s Hot Fries – “I never understood why this unfunny creation would ever have his own line of snacks … There’s a mild heat to these, and a spice mixture that tastes unpleasantly of powdered tomatoes. Maybe they like these in northeast England?”

July 18, 2019 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal The power to choose

I was a freshman in college when my mom found out I had “popped my cherry.” I wasn’t planning on telling her; not because I didn’t want her to know, but because that’s just the relationship we have. But one day I felt a weird bump “down there,” and because I was still insured under my parents’ plan, I needed to go home to see a gynecologist, which lead my mom to ask me why.

See, in her mind, a woman didn’t need to go see the lady doctor until after she’d had sex.

I don’t think I ever said the word “yes” or “no” when she asked me directly if I had yet, and I most definitely avoided the questions of virginity altogether. Whatever mumbo jumbo I did end up saying, though, convinced her & she made the appointment.

My first visit was uncomfortable to say the least.

The woman doing the exam was neither friendly nor informative, and I was left lying on the hard table with sweaty palms and a racing heart. She never did mention the bump; the one thing on my body that was keeping me awake at night and the only thing I’d been thinking about for weeks, so I had to ask. She looked at it for half a second; an ingrown hair. It was, an ingrown hair.

My weeks of terror thinking that I would soon shrivel away by cervical cancer dissipated with a half-second glance and a pat out the door.

The humor of it all didn’t set in until weeks, or maybe years, later – probably about the same time I had to make my next gynecological appointment. This second one was an equally, if not more horrific, experience. Again, I thought there was something wrong with me, and again, the doctor totally side-stepped my concern. This time, though, I was overcharged for the appointment and had to fight off wrongfully given bills for years after.

It’s true that I’m not super ecstatic when it comes to going to the lady doctor. I have flashbacks of having “the talk” with my mom, a brush with deathturned-ingrown-hair and medical bills that fester in me like the common cold. I couldn’t shake the bad feelings, but I also couldn’t not get a check up.

After being on the fence about going back to the OBGYN for a long time, I was finally pushed into action when our country’s current president gave me a small-handed nudge. His administration was threatening to defund Planned Parenthood, and as much as I hated a cold metal scapula, I hated masculine bureaucratic control even more. I made an appointment with Planned Parenthood within that first month of the defund talk, and the first thing I did when I got there was cry.

I cried when I arrived to my appointment specifically because there was a

very nice, tall, stalky security guard that greeted me with a huge, warm smile welcoming and escorting me into Planned Parenthood. Then I cried when I sat down inside because the woman who greeted me was so warm and kind.

I did not cry because I’m a female or “hormonal” or because I’m hypersensitive to warm, kind smiles. I cried because when that officer greeted me and the women at the check-in smiled, a felt a sense of relief. I knew these people were there to protect and fight for everyone’s basic right to choose whatever it is they want to do with their lives. I was so grateful for that and for them – and I was proud to be a part of that.

That was three years ago, and recently, I finally had the nerve to go back into Planned Parenthood for my first exam in years. I did so because the nice lady at the front desk let me know of a program called Women’s Wellness Connection offered through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The program allows women who make under a certain yearly income to receive free overall health screenings.

As always, I was nervous for my exam – sweaty palms, racing heart. The first thing the practitioner did when she walked through the door was smile warmly and ask if I had any questions. She took a moment to listen about anything and everything going on and was kind enough to make a couple jokes to keep me calm. She let me ask all the questions I’ve ever had and answered in intelligent, detailed answers. She performed the exam and explained everything to me, and before I left she took time to answer even more questions. She made me feel more knowledgeable about my own body and more comfortable taking advantage of different options I had to make choices that were right for me. And when I got back to the front desk to check out, I was told that under the WWC program, my exam was free – and for the second time in that office over the past three years, I cried.

There are many things that I am grateful for, but one very big one is that I still have a place I can go where I’m greeted with warm smiles, valuable information and people who are looking out for my well-being. A place where I can feel safe and where I can make the decisions that affect my, and other people’s, entire lives and futures. I feel lucky to still have an organization and other area institutions that support my autonomy over my body.

And if that means crying in a waiting room every once in a while, fine by me. Because who can say they’ve never done that anyway? I’m just lucky that they are tears of gratitude and pride, because you never know when everything will change.

This Week’s Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It A massive wilderness bill pitched by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, that would protect 740,000 acres, including ancestral Puebloan ruins in Western Colorado Strong tourism numbers – and the money they bring in – with almost 100 percent occupancy at most Durango hotels over the Fourth of July holiday, increased visitation at Mesa Verde and plenty of bookings for the extended rafting season San Juan County Sheriff cracking down on two out-of-town off-roaders – who now face federal prosecution – for tearing up precious and fragile high-alpine tundra near Silverton

4 n July 18, 2019

– Jennaye Derge

Talks of cancelling next year’s Fourth of July celebration in Silverton due to this year’s getting frighteningly out of control with illegal fireworks, a missing 6-year-old girl (thankfully found), and injured firefighters Yet another racist tweet from Trump’s Twitter cesspool where he told four prominent House Dems – all women of color – to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” Two confirmed cases in La Plata County of the vesicular stomatitis virus – a disease that affects cattle, horses and pigs and causes lesions, lack of appetite and even loss of hooves

telegraph

Potland, Oregon The problem with legal pot in Portland is that there’s no place you’re allowed to smoke it once you buy it. So, Hawks PDX, a club in Portland, opened up their back patio for public cannabis consumption. However, just in case you plan on going, there’s one catch: the patio is also filled with naked men, because Hawks PDX is a gay sex club. But don’t worry if you’re not into that because Tuesday night is “bisexual night,” and anyone is welcome to come smoke, but it’s still rude to wear clothes.

WordontheStreet With Fiesta Days this weekend, the Telegraph asked, “What is the most impressive thing you can do for 8 seconds?”

Q

Clay Russell

“Stand on a surfboard.”

Jake Long

“Surf my raft in Ponderosa.”

Melissa Briggs

“An 8-second burp.”

Paul Gibbons

“Chug a beer.”

Steve Filler

“Hey, this is a family newspaper.”

telegraph

July 18, 2019 n 5

SoapBox

ReTooned/by Shan Wells

The Ministry of No Information To the editor, The Trump administration has halted, without explanation, the routine practice of reporting the current number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal, the AP and United Press International report. The new secrecy will make it nearly impossible to estimate the true cost of nuclear weapons, to show adherence to arms control treaties or to pressure other nuclear weapons states to disclose the size of their arsenals.

The secrecy decision was revealed in an April 5 letter from the Department of Energy’s Office of Classification to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Hans M. Kristensen, director of the group’s Nuclear Information Project, said the FAS regularly asks for the information and that it’s been made public for decades.

“The decision walks back nearly a decade of U.S. nuclear weapons transparency policy – in fact, longer if including stockpile transparency initiatives in the late 1990s,” Kristensen wrote in an April 17 memo, according to the AP. There is no national security rationale for keeping the number secret, Kristensen told the AP, adding that it is “unnecessary and counterproductive.”

“This is curious,” he reportedly said, “since the Trump administration had repeatedly complained about secrecy in the Russian and Chinese arsenals. Instead, it now appears to endorse their secrecy.”

In April, the Pentagon halted its public disclosure of how much of Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban, adding to a long list of progress reports from the war that are now being kept secret.

John Sopko, U.S. Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, told the New York Times, “We’re troubled by it.” Keeping Sopko’s reports secret means, “The only people who don’t know what’s going on and how4

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Gulliford received the National Individual Volunteer Volunteer Award Award from the U.S. Forest Service. The Woolly Woolly West Westt won Wrangler Western Award for History and the Wrangler Western Heritage Award Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction the Colorado Book Award Center. Books will be available for sale. Dr. Dr. Gulliford is a from the National Cowboy Museum & Heritage Center. professor of history and Environmental Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango.

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telegraph

good or bad a job we’re doing are the people paying for it,” he said. Sopko and some in Congress have access to some of the information.

The new restrictions on public information about the 18-year-long occupation of Afghanistan are in addition to the October 2017 halt to disclosing Afghan military casualties, its performance assessments and anti-corruption efforts by the Afghan Ministry of Interior, David Zucchino reported May 1 for the Times. Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the paper, “There is no reliable way to know who is ‘winning’ or the level of stalemate.”

Today’s increased military secrecy follows the March 2018 announcement by the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) that it would no longer post the public calendar of upcoming missile tests and will keep the testing classified. The schedule will only be made available to Congress, the Seattle Times reported. Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the agency, which spans 14 time zones and employs more than 9,000, reportedly said his test results will be made available after launches.

Expanding military control of information continues a pattern. Since June 8, 2002, the Pentagon has been allowed to keep secret all key missile defense test results.

The military’s blanket classification of performance data was imposed following the disclosure of scientific evidence of a string of failed, faked and fabricated results, and after the FBI began an investigation into fraud and cover-ups inside the program. Then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also waived all procurement oversight rules for the agency, laws designed to keep federal programs on budget.

With secret test data, secret schedules, and an unaccounted, bottomless budget, the MDA’s mission impossible – “hitting a bullet with a bullet” – has wasted over $200 billion since 1983. Other military impossibilities, like victory in Afghanistan or winning at nuclear deterrence, have cost trillions. They appear guaranteed to

gobble up billions more as long as Pentagon censorship is allowed to hide the facts.

– John LaForge, Co-Director of Nukewatch, writing for PeaceVoices

network” providers. Americans would have complete freedom to choose doctors, hospitals and specialists throughout the country.

– Jan Phillips, Durango

Myth busting Medicare For All

Shadow

To the editor, After listening to the Democratic debates, it’s clear that the insurance and pharmaceutical industries are acting like fog machines at a rock concert. They’re obscuring the truth and confusing the public about improved Medicare For All, using media manipulation and well-placed legislators.

When asking candidates about Medicare for All, moderator Lester Holt’s words reflected industry bias: “Who here would abolish their private insurance in favor of a government-run plan?”

Would Holt have referred to public schools as “government-run education?” By saying “private health insurance” instead of “corporate-profiteering plans,” Holt perpetuates the intentionally misleading terminology. Under National Improved Medicare for All (NIMA), our government would NOT be providing health-care delivery.

NIMA would use a government-funded single-payer model. Health care would be managed by independent hospitals and physicians using standardized rates. A single public agency would provide the financing, (Medicare model), private physicians and hospitals will deliver the care – not the government.

Holt doubled down on his bias later in the debate, claiming Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill “would put essentially everybody on Medicare, then eliminate private plans that offer similar coverage.”

In fact, Sanders’ bill provides everyone with comprehensive health-care coverage, including dental, hearing, vision and home-based long-term care – all without copayments or deductibles. You don’t find this kind of blanket coverage in private plans today.

NIMA would eliminate confusing “in and out of

It follows slightly to the side and behind like a lost disciple, hungry for love.

It tags along resigned, attached to countless parallels.

It dreams of a lost axis of freedom in detailed perpendiculars.

It hums under the dark for some mischief in your longing, hoping for that “someday” when it can finally break loose and dance farther ahead, leaving all that you were behind.

– Burt Baldwin, Ignacio

“We’ll print damned-near anything” The Telegraph prides itself on a liberal letters policy. We offer this forum to the public to settle differences, air opinions & undertake healthy discourse. We have only three requests: limit letters to 750 words, letters must be signed by the writer; and thank-you lists and libelous, personal attacks are unwelcome. Send your insights by Tuesday at noon to: PO Box 332, Durango, 81302 or e-mail your profundities to: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com. Let the games begin ...

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telegraph

July 18, 2019 n 7

TopStory

Caught in the web City’s online sales trend upward, while state tax system gets bogged down

by Tracy Chamberlin

I

n recent years, the City of Durango has enjoyed a growing number at the bottom of its monthly sales tax report – Sales Tax Only.

This category, which primarily consists of internet sales taxes, is up almost 15 percent compared to last year.

While it’s only 6.5 percent of the city’s total sales tax pie, it’s a number that’s been trending upwards for years.

“It’s growing,” Tim Walsworth, executive director for the Business Improvement District, said. “It grows every single month.”

And, it’s continued to grow every single month, according to Walsworth, for the past 19 months straight.

He admits part of the reason for the growth is the everincreasing popularity and ease of online shopping. Another part, however, is about a case decided last year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Part of the reason has to be some of the Wayfair decision,” he added.

Taxxed out Get the latest on the state’s new sales tax laws, sign up for email updates and even watch some webinars on the issue at www.colorado.gov/pacific/tax.

About a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case South Dakota v. Wayfair. The 5-4 decision dramatically changed the way interstate commerce works.

In the past, retailers needed to have a physical presence – like a storefront, storage facility, employee or contractor – in the area in order for that state, county or city to collect sales taxes. That’s no longer necessary.

Now, it’s about the physical address of where the product is delivered, also called destination sourcing. So, if a book is delivered from Amazon to Durango, the online retailer needs to collect the state, city and other taxes for that specific address and pay them to the right people.

Communities across the nation hailed the decision because it meant each would get its share of sales tax revenues. But, for Colorado, it actually meant putting a bright spotlight on the state’s complicated system.

When an online retailer like Amazon, for example, sends a product to Colorado, it’s up to Amazon to figure out in which of the state’s 344 cities, counties or special

Visitors and locals alike shop along Main Avenue in downtown Durango recently. After a tough tourist season last year, the city is enjoying a boost in sales and tax revenues - even in online sales. As important as all sales tax revenues are to the city, it’s the local shoppers that bring in the biggest piece of Durango’s sales tax pie.

Online sales only make up about 6.5 percent of total tax revenues./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire districts the buyer of that product lives, calculate the taxes specific to that location, and remit those taxes to the entities in question.

With all the different municipalities and districts over-

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7:30 PM July 18-20 & 24-27 and 2 PM July 21

Roshong Recital Hall, Fort Lewis College

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8 n July 18, 2019

lapping in this state, there are more than 700 possible tax totals. In addition, there’s no one-stop-shop for figuring out who’s owed how much and how to pay.

It quickly became clear it wasn’t going to be easy 4

telegraph

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970-749-0888

to pay those taxes in the Centennial state.

In an effort to address the complicated web of sales tax computations online retailers are facing, the Colorado Legislature passed two bills on the issue in their most recent session – House Bill 1240 and Senate Bill 6.

These laws make several big changes.

First, they repeal some outdated laws for clarification and put the court’s decision about destination sourcing into law. Second, they define what makes someone an online retailer, seller, facilitator and the like, including who’s responsible for collecting and remitting the sales taxes.

The third, and likely the biggest change, is they tasked the Department of Revenue with creating something called a Global Information System (GIS). This would be the

one-stop-shop for calculating sales taxes.

Any online seller would be able to type in any Colorado address, and the system would calculate what sales taxes were owed and to whom – well, almost.

Home-rule cities are not required to participate in the new GIS system; they are only encouraged to do so.

A home-rule city is one that can make its own rules, and have complete autonomy when it comes to sales taxes and collections. There are 71 home-rule cities in Colorado, including Durango.

According to Durango’s Finance Director Julie Brown, city officials haven’t decided whether or not to participate in the state’s GIS system.

But, they’ll likely have some time to think about it. The Colorado Department

of Revenue has said they don’t know when this system will be ready – nor are they willing to even guess.

Until it is in place, an exception was created for in-state retailers with less than $100,000 in online sales a year. So, smaller businesses with few online sales wouldn’t have to worry about trying to calculate endless tax equations.

Once the GIS system is up and running, however, even those little Colorado momand-pop shops will be required to pay up.

For now, it’s only the big retailers, like Amazon, Wayfair, Ebay or Etsy, who need to navigate Colorado’s sticky web of sales taxes.

And, it’s uncertain how it all will affect Durango – if at all. The growing trend for online sales tax collections was going on

before the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision. And, according to Brown, the city has been collecting online sales taxes from these retailers for years.

Walsworth said it’s good that the decision means towns and cities – like Durango – across the country will be able to collect additional taxes. The rub is that there’s nothing like keeping it all local.

He explained how purchases made in Durango affect more than just sales tax collections. Customers pay for products with the help of employees, who get paid by businesses, whose owners buy coffee at a local shop with the help of employees, who get paid by local businesses, and so on.

“There’s all that recirculation of money that doesn’t happen at all with internet sales,” he added. n

City releases master plan for parks, trails Thinking about the possibilities of Durango Mesa Park?

Wondering about a brand new Rec Center, or perhaps a connected trail system running from the north to the south end of Durango?

Well, wonder no more. The city has released the draft of its Parks, Open Space, Trails and Recreation Master Plan. The plan will serve as the guiding document for all parks projects over the next decade. It considers smaller ones, like some new bathrooms at Rotary Park, and bigger ones, like a new ski lift at Chapman Hill and the elusive Durango Mesa Park.

Over the past couple years, city officials have been working on an update of the 2010 version, hoping to take the city into the future where parks and recreation becomes, according to the draft plan, “the reason why people want to be in Durango.”

The team who put the plan together – including city staff and members of PROS Consulting – will make a presentation for the public at 5 p.m. Monday, July 22, at the Rec Center.

The Durango City Council will then hash out some of the details at a Study Session the next day at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, at City Hall, 949 E. 2nd Ave. Once both the public and City Council get a chance to comment, the plan will be updated and sent back to the Council for final approval.

To check out the plan, comment or get more details on the process, visit the plan website at www.durangoparksplan.com.

Comments can also be emailed to rec@durangogov.org or made at the meeting Monday. For more information, call the Parks and Rec Department at 375-7321.

telegraph

Site of future Durango Mesa Park

July 18, 2019 n

9

LocalNews

Going to the well COGCC steps up efforts to plug, reclaim orphan wells

by Missy Votel

T

he Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s to-do list is out, and it’s a long one. As per a July 2018 executive order from then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, the state panel that regulates oil and gas was tasked with ramping up its inventorying, capping and mitigating of the state’s so-called orphan oil and gas wells.

Orphaned wells are abandoned oil and gas facilities where there is no responsible party to clean up. Untold numbers – upwards of a million, according to the Environmental Protection Agency – litter the country, leaching toxins into groundwater and releasing methane gas. Such wells caused deadly explosions at a Colorado construction site in 2007 and at a Pennsylvania home in 2011.

“The COGCC has made significant progress in addressing and reclaiming orphaned wells and sites in Colorado over the last year,” COGCC Director Jeff Robbins said. “Cleaning up and reclaiming these old sites back to their natural condition when possible is a benefit to local communities and the environment. They reduce what can be a safety hazard or address long simmering environmental impacts.”

As of July 1, COGCC found 275 orphaned wells and 422 associated orphaned sites in Colorado – 73 of those in La Plata County with another 30 in Montezuma County. Under the order, the COGCC must complete a new inventory of orphan wells every year by July 1. This list is separated into low, medium- and high-priority cases based on population and urbanization; environmental factors; years of service; and history of venting or leaking. Of the orphaned sites, 20 percent

A pump jack in La Plata County. The latest inventory from the COGCC found 697 orphaned wells and associated sites in Colorado, including 73 in La Plata County. Under a directive from former-Gov. John Hickenlooper, the COGCC is stepping up its efforts to cap and remediate the wells, with a plan to be done by 2023. /File photo

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10 n July 18, 2019

are classified as low-priority; 59 percent as medium-priority; and 21 percent as high priority.

In addition to the release of the annual list, the COGCC also must produce a progress report on the orphaned wells

by Sept. 2. It is expected that all of the wells should be taken care of by 2023, but at an estimated cost of about $25 million. The money comes from a tax on oil and gas production as well as bonding. Colorado requires oil and gas companies to put up a $10,000 bond for any well less than 3,000 feet deep; $20,000 for wells more than 3,000 feet deep; $60,000 for a group of wells fewer than a hundred; and $100,000 for a group of a hundred or more wells.

The state Legislature also changed a law last year to allow the COGCC to spend more money on plugging and remediating orphan wells, from $445,000 a year to $5 million. The state has also worked to make it harder for companies to walk away from wells, by intervening earlier.

Sometimes plugging a well can cost more than 10 times the bonding that companies post, Dave Andrews, manager of Colorado’s orphan well program, told the Pew Charitable Trust. Oil and gas wells in Colorado are often deeper and more expensive to fill than, say, coalbed methane wells in Wyoming, Andrews said. On average, it costs $82,500 to plug and reclaim a well in Colorado.

“The COGCC is committed to furthering winnowing down this list over the next few years and reclaiming more land to protect Coloradans public health, safety and environment,” Robbins said.

To view the 2019 Orphan Wells and Site List, go to cogcc.state.co.us.

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MountainTownNews New plans for the wildlife Berlin Wall

VAIL PASS, Colo.—In the late 1990s, people concerned about wildlife mortality took to calling Interstate 70 the Berlin Wall for wildlife in Colorado. They had hard evidence for the name.

In 1999, lynx were reintroduced into Colorado, at locations in the San Juan Mountains. On a hot summer day just a few months later, one of them was squashed on I-70 near the summit of Vail Pass. It had wandered several hundred miles north, but it could not get across the freeway.

In 2004, a wolf had wandered south from Wyoming across the Red Desert and several mountain ranges. Once in Colorado it could not get across I-70. Its carcass was found near Idaho Springs. It was the first confirmed wolf in Colorado in decades.

Now come new efforts to continue to create both overpasses and underpasses on Vail Pass.

On the west side of Vail Pass, wildlife mitigation will be included in plans for building 10 miles of auxiliary lanes between Vail and the summit of the pass. John Kronholm, a design team manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation, says discussion with stakeholders have settled on two larger underpasses—for deer, elk, and moose—and several smaller underpasses, such as for lynx.

The science behind what will work best continues to evolve, says Kronholm, but the underpasses range from simple corrugated metal arches to concrete boxes.

The environmental assessment will wrap up next spring, he said, but nothing will be final until both C-DOT and the Federal Highway Administration sign off on the plans. But funding is another matter. It’s behind several other even more expensive projects planned to increase the capacity of I-70 between Denver and Summit County.

East of the summit of Vail Pass, one overpass and two underpasses have been identified as necessary to provide landscape connectivity for a breeding population of lynx as well as other species.

The structures, if built, would be on the west-bound lanes, as the east-bound lanes have several broad spans, essentially bridges, that allow wildlife to pass underneath.

Vail Pass has been identified as a high priority by Summit County Safe Passages, a coalition of local, state, and federal agencies, plus private companies and environmental and other advocacy organizations.

Julia Kintsch, a consulting conservation biologist, says preliminary engineering and cost estimates will likely begin before summer’s end. That work will be paid for with $190,000 in funding from Vail Resorts and Arapahoe Basin. The two ski area operators had been required to pay for wildlife mitigation projects relative to impacts caused by their terrain expansions, in the case of Vail Resorts for its expansion at Breckenridge.

As on the west side of Vail Pass, no money has been allocated for construction. However, Kintsch points to the partnerships with Summit County Safe Passages as foundational for future work. The diversity of government and non-government partners “can really accelerate these types of projects,” she says.

Highway 9 between Silverthorne and Kremmling provides an example of partnerships at work. The Colorado Department of Transportation wanted to straighten and widen a 10.5-mile segment of the highway between Kremmling and Green Mountain Reservoir. It’s a valley thick with sagebrush and large populations of mule deer and occasionally elk during winter.

Lingering memories of a 1985 accident were a motivation for the highway upgrade. A pickup driving on the two-lane highway swerved—to avoid hitting a deer, the driver said—and smacked head-on into the compact car carrying Gene and Mimi Ritschard.

The couple, who lived on a ranch along the Colorado River, had been driving home from a water meeting. They died instantly.

Paul Jones, the wealthy owner of the Blue Valley Ranch, near where the tragedy occurred, donated $1 million to get the planning and fundraising going. The Colorado Department of Transportation itself said the money had to come from elsewhere. Jones donated another $4 million and other private citizens donated $2.1 million, Grand County gave $3.1 million, and other local governments—Kremmling, Silverthorne, and Summit County—added $360,000.

This produced 2 overpasses, 5 underpasses, tall fences to funnel the deer to the crossing structures, and other infrastructure.

Evidence has been accumulating of the success. In the five years

before 2015, when the structures were mostly installed, roadside surveys revealed an average 56.4 carcasses per year. Since then, the surveys have yielded 6 carcasses per year.

With those and other statistics in store, Summit County Safe Passages approached the Summit County commissioners with a proposal. Safe Passages has identified two more crossings on Highway 9 in addition to the work on the east side of Vail Pass as high priorities.

One overpass would be between Green Mountain Reservoir and Silverthorne, and the other between Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass.

Both would benefit deer, elk, moose, and other large animals.

A call for more wildlife overpasses BAYFIELD, Colo. – Colorado wildlife officials expect a widening of U. S. Highway 160 between Pagosa Springs and Durango to include features to help keep hooves away from hoods.

The project near Chimney Rock National Monument will include two wildlife crossing structures, one of which may be an overpass, with the other sure to be an underpass. New fencing will be designed to influence animals to move to the overpass, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Construction is to begin in 2020.

The Southern Ute Tribe has committed to spending $1 million, Colorado Parks and Wildlife $75,000, and the National Wildlife Foundation $317,000 to supplement funding by C-DOT. The highway splits summer big-game range and the Weminuche wilderness to the north and excellent winter range—mainly on the Southern Ute lands—to the south.

This will supplement another underpass of U. S. 160 farther west, between Durango and Bayfield. In the 10 years prior to its completion in 2016, C-DOT documented 472 vehicle-wildlife collisions, mostly involving mule deer. Many collisions go unreported.

Mark Lawler, a biologist with the Colorado Department of Transportation, said that research throughout the world shows clearly that underpasses and overpasses dramatically lead to a decline in collisions.

“At the new underpass we’re seeing a large number of mule deer going through the structure daily,” Lawler said. “Animals are using the structure; we’re not just moving the problem.”

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Evidence of a lone gray wolf in Colorado WALDEN, Colo. – Coloradans visiting Wyoming is not news.

They’re called “greenies” in Wyoming, because of Colorado’s white-and-green license plates.

But one particular tourist from Wyoming to Colorado has attracted plenty of attention. Colorado Parks & Wildlife announced last week that a male gray wolf recently sighted in Colorado’s North Park had come from the Snake River pack. The pack normally dens just inside Yellowstone National Park. In February, the Wyoming Game and Fish’s telemetry instrumentation last recorded this particular wolf being near South Pass, at the southern tip of the Wind River Range.

It’s not the first dispersing male wolf from Wyoming since reintroduction of the species in the Yellowstone area in the 1990s. The first known wolf arrived in Colorado in 2004, and there have been several since.

But unless these lone male wolves bring dates, wildlife biologists say, there’s no real chance for a permanent population in Colorado. Colorado’s wildlife commission two years ago heard again a proposal to reintroduce wolves, but, as before, said—no, not now.

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Taking a virtual-reality coal mine tour CANMORE, Alberta — The preserve that became Banff National Park was created by the Canadian government in 1885. The next year, the first coal mine opened at Canmore, which today lies at the eastern entrance to the national park and is, in its own right, a thriving tourism town with a large component of vacation and weekend homes.

The last coal mine closed in 1979, but a new exhibit at the Mine at the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre seeks to give visitors a sense of what it was like to be in those coal mines. Jerry Auld, the animator, talked with former miners, most of whom had not been inside a coal mine since 1979, to get the details just right, or as close as possible for a virtual reality tour of what being inside the mine would have been like in the 1930s.

– Allen Best

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July 18, 2019 n 11

dayinthelife

E

xperiencing the free-flowing Animas River is a tr yes, even inner-tubing, those who connect with fed waters will undoubtedly feel that there’s som an undammed river. And how fortunate we are to ha

The Animas River flows through an incredible section of the 488,210-acre W

12 n

July 18, 2019

teleg

Unplugged

by Stephen Eginoire

reat in any capacity. From angling to, h the unbridled magic of mountainmething incomparably special about ave one of those, right here at home.

Weminuche Wilderness.

graph

Upstream of our humble valley, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the 26 miles of the Animas between Silverton and Rockwood are some of the finest lengths of flowing water anywhere in the US. As a friend recently put it, a trip down the Upper Animas during a hot mid-July day is a delicacy. Here’s a look:

Trying to remain upright in the throngs of No Name rapid.

A nerve-calming breakfast at Needleton before a day of running rapids.

Paddling the continuous, non-stop whitewater.

July 18, 2019 n 13

thesecondsection

OnStage

The cast of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” rehearse Tuesday night at Fort Lewis College. It’s the first production from a new theatre company, Animas Rooted Theatre Co., started by FLC students./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Rooted to the stage Students found summer theatre company for young adults

by Zach Hively

W

e can credit Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for making the classic “Hey, let’s put on a show!” trope famous. You know how it goes: a group of friends stage a musical production practically overnight to save the day. Well, Fort Lewis College students Hallie Denman and Harrison Wendt have one-upped the stars of old by declaring, “Hey, let’s start a theater company.”

The result is Animas Rooted Theatre Company, which in six months went from a brainstorm on a shared Google Doc to opening night of its first production. Tonight (Thurs., July 18), the company debuts at FLC’s Roshong Recital Hall with the Tony award-winning musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” “Harrison and I have learned so much about what it means to put on a show, and we’re both really interested in the theater world and going on as a career after college,” Denman said. “It’s helped us so much to understand more of what goes on outside of just re-

JusttheFacts What: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Animas Rooted Theatre Co’s debut production When: 7:30 p.m., July 18-20 and July 24-27, & 2 p.m., Sun., July 21 Where: Roshong Recital Hall at Fort Lewis College Tickets: $15, $12 students, available at the door or artdurango.org hearsals. It’s been a really good learning experience, I think, for everybody involved.”

Animas Rooted Theatre Company, or ART Co. for short, was born out of these young actors’ desire for more summer theater opportunities. The college theater department puts on several productions a year, and students can also audition for other theater groups in town, but there’s just not enough theater happening during the summer months – especially musical theater, which is both Denman’s and Wendt’s passion.

They thought about going to Pagosa Springs or Creede and auditioning for summer shows there. But,

they said, they love Durango and don’t want to leave.

Thus, they decided to make it happen themselves.

They pitched the idea of a summer class to the theater department, but the idea struck in January of this year, which was too late. Ditto for starting a student club. So, naturally, they created their own non-profit organization, and the ART Co. became real.

“If we want people to take us seriously and be able to get donations and write grants, we needed to have something behind us instead of being these two random kids who wanted to start a theater,” Denman said.

“It was a huge dream,” Wendt added. “We both believed in ourselves, and we really did commit ourselves to get to the point where we’re at. Since March, we’ve raised more than half of our goal to put on the musical.”

While these two co-creators acknowledge that starting the theater company was a selfish act – they wanted to create something they could participate in – ART Co.’s mission extends well beyond its origins. Its purpose is to provide artistic opportunities for young adults at FLC, in Durango, and in the region, while also4

Give your summer wardrobe some sizzlin, style Check out out hot, new summer inventory

14 n July 18, 2019

telegraph

offering a summer musical theater experience for locals and tourists alike.

The more theater in a town, the better, Denman said. They don’t view ART Co. as a competitor to any of the existing troupes and companies in the region – after all, they’re all working toward the same ends of expression, development, and entertainment. And each one has its own angle. One of this duo’s primary objectives is to give FLC students a chance to act in the summer, while also integrating them with the community theater scene in town.

“A lot of the students stick to doing theater with the school,” Wendt says. “I think it’s really important to branch out and try other things.”

Fittingly, the first production of this theater company driven to support young adult actors is about a group of even younger people. “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” tells the story in song of six middle school students preparing to compete in the titular spell-off. It’s as awkward as it sounds. Only now, thanks to all things sacred, all audience members older than age 14 get to laugh at all the cringe-worthiness.

They chose the show for a number of reasons. It’s a feel-good summer show, sweet, silly and weird, Denman said, promising that people will leave feeling “good and mushy-gushy.” Its cast is the right size for their first production – no 30-member ensembles here. No epic monologues, no big sword duels. Yet it’s fast-paced, and all the actors get to emphasize exploring their individual characters and their emotional journeys.

“It’s one of the funniest musicals I’ve

ever been a part of,” Wendt said. “We were trying to find something that would be fun for audience members and really fun for the people in the show, too.”

The theater company enlisted some professional help for the production. The musical is directed by Theresa Carson, with accompanist Paula Miller and choreographer Emily Simpson. Other off-stage roles are filled by recent graduates and current students, such as stage manager Izabella Gray and music director Abrianna Judson.

“They’ve all been awesome and supportive, and just really wanting to help us get this thing off the ground,” Denman said.

“We’re really lucky to have such a wonderful team.”

Alongside founding and directing a theater company, Wendt and Denman are producing the musical. They are also starring in it, because they’re crazy. “I think we can both say we’re pretty tired,” Wendt said. “But it’s so rewarding, what we’re doing.”

Denman plays Olive Ostrovsky, who bears a complicated relationship with her parents and therefore has made good friends with her dictionary. She’s supportive of the other spellers, and she breaks out of her mold by the end of the show.

She forges a special friendship with William Morris Barfée.

Naturally, Wendt plays young Barfée, who has to navigate middle school with the unfortunate last name. To add salt to the injury, he’s incredibly awkward and has a rare mucus disorder, yet somehow he still carries an outsized ego. And you better believe that the other characters play off of his name plenty throughout the production.

The cast of the first production from the Animas Rooted Theatre Company, or ART Co. for short, includes its founding members and other Fort Lewis students./Photo by Stephen Eginoire Opening night is bound to be special – both actors/producers promised they are going to cry, seeing the culmination of six months of dedicated effort. Their passion is as apparent as their joy when they discuss the theater company, and they’re both committed to making certain this is not a one-summer fling.

“It’s been really humbling to see people

stand behind us and want to see us succeed,” Denman said. “Just to know that we did this and we have really amazing artistic people behind us … that’s been the most rewarding, just to be able to have so much love in this community.”

“We defied all odds,” Wendt said. “We created a theater company and put up a production. We’re doing this.”n

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July 18, 2019 n 15

FlashinthePan

Gruel summer

by Ari LeVaux

J

une was so productive in the strawberry patch, we almost ran out of ways to use them. This inspired me to consult Sarah, a friend who has a way with steel cut oats and quinoa, an unlikely combination that she eats almost every day. I had tried this delightful mix, and thought it would be good underneath some strawberries for breakfast or even desert. She has given the unfortunate name “gruel” to this fibrous elixir and isn’t changing her mind.

“I like that word because it sounds like Dickens,” Sarah told me, knowing full well that what she makes isn’t gruel.

Porridge and gruel are two points along a spectrum of boiled grains that can be cooked and served with fruit. Porridge is thicker and has a better name, derived from an old world style of one-pot cookery called potage. Porridge has a homey, comforting sound that takes you to a world where the only concerns are too hot, too cold, but things are usually just right.

Gruel, on the other hand, is what babies, refugees and hippies eat. The sound itself is unappetizing and rolls off the tongue like wet cement. As the inspiration for the word “grueling,” gruel implies that eating a bowl of it is some kind of ordeal. Sarah’s gruel is on the thick side of porridge, more like a pot of cooked grains than a liquid and has no business being called gruel.

But it sure is great served cold with strawberries and yogurt. It also has a place in savory dishes too, in the spirit of fried rice or grain salad.

I suppose that when you have as many glass jars filled with seeds and beans and nuts as Sarah does, you can call your potage whatever you want. But I’ll be calling it potaggio, a nice Italian name that also gives a nod to the Latin root of potage.

Sarah’s potaggio, a mixture of quinoa and cut oats and special tweaks like hemp seeds, offers a pleasing nutty flavor and just the right amount of resistance to the tooth.

It’s light, mild and fun to eat, and there is a long tradition in the mixing of grains, fruit and some dairy product. This widespread motif includes cobbler with ice cream, and the tried-and-true granola with fruit and milk, not to mention bread with butter and jam. Even a berry cheesecake, with a crust based on finely ground wheat, would qualify.

When I put together a plate of fruit, cream and potag-

16 n July 18, 2019

gio, I need sweetness and sourness to be involved. If you have a sweet/sour sauce like chokecherry syrup, that’s ideal. Otherwise, mix lemon, sugar and chopped cherries into a sweet, tart dressing.

I usually cook my potaggio unsweetened, so the sweet-

ness we add is the sweetness we get, and everyone likes a little. But the tartness I serve it with is an unexpected game changer, making the whole dish more interesting and balanced.

The balance between quinoa and steel cut oats is essential to potaggio. They both cook to perfection in the same amount of time, each arriving at a place that complements the other. Quinoa cooked to this point would not hold together alone, but the steel cut oats add their moisturizing soluble fibers, which some might call slime, which binds the quinoa together. By absorbing this stickiness, the quinoa gives the oats a lighter, drier feel.

A pot of potaggio holds together with the ease of a pot of rice. It can be served warm, but chilled is good too, and it pairs gloriously not only with strawberries but blueberries, cherries and other sweet joys of summer, including, presumably, peaches.

Sarah doctors her potaggio with smaller amounts of hemp, chia and sunflower seeds. I started there and began exploring a range of tweaks. My favorite, so far, is to customize with hemp and sesame seeds.

telegraph

The ways to add sweet and creaminess are obvious, but it’s worth noting that potaggio can make the base of a great savory meal. My favorite savory potaggio is dressed with what I call Wild Rice Dressing: three parts soy sauce and one part toasted sesame oil with mashed garlic and ginger and minced green onion or scape.

Potage, pottage, porridge and other versions of the historical dish upon which potaggio is based, is more of a general process than a specific recipe. It’s also known as the original one-pot meal. Which is to say, cook it slowly in a pot, don’t burn it, and add water when necessary. It is from these guiding principles that Sarah derived the potaggio process she conveyed to me. It’s a satisfying, tasty substrate that can carry a lot of sauces.

You should definitely explore ways to augment the quinoa/oat base and find your own gruel groove, whatever that may be.

Potaggio About 10 servings 1 cup steel cut oats 1 cup quinoa (I prefer red quinoa, for the color) 4 cups water (plus more at the ready) 1 tablespoon untoasted sesame seeds 1 tablespoon raw, shelled hemp seeds Pinch of salt 1 scoop per serving of plain, high-fat Greek yogurt or similar 1 cup berries or fruit for each bowl A sweet and tart syrup like rhubarb, cherry or chokecherry Cream (optional) Add all of the ingredients to a heavy-bottomed pot, about 4 quarts in size, and bring to a boil. Bring down to a simmer and let it sputter slowly for about 20 minutes, until the grains have all swollen and softened to the point where they feel good to chew. The water may disappear before you get there, so be prepared to add more.

Don’t over-stir, but keep track of what is happening on the bottom of the pan. When the grains are good to chew, turn the heat to low and slowly let the water cook off. Turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature and store in the fridge.

For the berries-and-cream version, serve chilled, topped with yogurt and an abundant quantity of berries and a sweet/tart sauce. Don’t let them mix until the ingredients are on the spoon or in your mouth. Just as you wouldn’t stir a plate of cheesecake into a sloppy mess before eating it, a dish of fruity potaggio is best served and eaten deconstructed. And drenched in a sweet, tart syrup, of course. n

TopShelf

Resistance, Soldier Songs and Ella & Louis

by Chris Aaland

The ACT & Prohibition Herb present the second in a fournight, four- month Battle of the Bands at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. merica: Love it or leave it. Few phrases draw my ire more This time around, Red Eyed Djinn, Your Bones, Ashes of Jupiter than this one. I love America. And I’m pissed as hell at and Diabolical Sound Platoon compete. The winning band adwhat we’ve become. I have no plans to leave it. Expressvances to the series finale on Sept. 21, where the grand champion ing public dissent is as American as baseball, apple pie and will receive a cool $1,000.

Chevrolet. Ever since Donald Trump announced his presidency, Music in the Mountains takes a swing at big band at 7 p.m. Frihe’s set out to divide us. I always felt this was more his M.O. day with “Ella, Louis & Friends” at the Community Concert than actually winning the presidency. Along the way, someHall. Conductor and trumpeter Byron Stripling and vocalist Carthing unusual happened: his rhetoric struck a nerve in the men Bradford light up the stage as they take listeners on a journey working class, particularly in blue collar rust belt states. The through the most famous duets and solos by two of jazz’s greatest election essentially was delegends – Ella Fitzgerald and cided by fewer than 78,000 Louis Armstrong. They’ll be votes in Pennsylvania, Wisaccompanied by the Festival consin and Michigan.

Orchestra. It’s just one of sevThe rhetoric reached a eral MITM events this week. peak this past weekend when For a complete schedule and President Trump suggested tickets, visit www.music via Twitter than progressive inthemountains.com.

Democrat congresswomen go This week’s free Concert back to the countries they Hall @ The Park show at came from and help fix those Buckley Park goes local with totally broken and crime inthe M.C. Curry Organ Trio fested places. Three of the featuring Ryan McCurry, four – Reps. Ayanna Pressley Kevin McCarthy & Clay of Massachusetts, Alexandria Lowder from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Ocasio-Cortez of New York tonight (Thursday, July 18). and Rashida Tlaib of MichiMcCurry (Hammond organ), gan – were all born in the McCarthy (guitar) and LowU.S.; Rep. Ilhan Omar of Min- Dustin & Kevin Welch bring “Soldier Songs and Voices” to the Durango der (drums) began playing as VFW at 7p.m. on Sunday. nesota was born in Somalia, a trio in May, but have been but immigrated here when longtime friends and bandshe was a small child. His tweets are among his most factually inmates for years. McCurry has long aspired to form an organ trio incorrect since his bizarre July 4th speech in which he cited the fluenced by Dr. Lonnie Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith Army’s control of airstrips as critical to success in the Revolutionary and Joey DeFrancesco. Timing and chemistry aided his vision, with War (pro-tip: the Wright Brothers’ first successful flight was Dec. 17, McCarthy’s guitar stylings adding jazz and blues to the mix, with 1903 – some 120 years after the Revolutionary War). Yet I digress.

Lowder’s passion for jazz, Latin, rock and blues adding a solid founSuggesting someone return to their country of origin is racist. dation and tasty fills. As always, bring your picnic, lawn chairs and It’s racist if you shout “Go back to Africa” at an NBA game. It’s the whole family for a great night of entertainment. racist to have yelled “Go back to China” to an immigrant who The Telluride Americana Music Fest takes over the Sherihelped build the railways in the 1800s. For our president to make dan Opera House tonight through Sunday. Headliners include such a comment today? It’s racist. These four congresswomen Jack Ingram and Bonnie Bishop (tonight), John Fullbright (Friaren’t leaving. And neither am I. Instead, we’ll do what Ameriday) and Kevin Welch (Saturday), with an undercard of a host of cans have always done when facing a crisis: Put the nose to the talented singer/songwriters and musicians. A full schedule and grindstone and solve the problem. tickets are available at Tellurideamericana.com.

Musicians are at the forefront of the resistance, stomping out Speaking of Kevin Welch, he and his son, Dustin Welch, racist, sexist and xenophobic tweets by doing what they do best: will bring “Soldier Songs and Voices” to the Durango VFW at 7 write protest music just like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and p.m. Sunday. Through this organization, the Welches have creChuck D did. Music heals us. Shut up and sing, my ass. ated change in the lives of veterans and active duty military I’m inspired by musicians like Jason Isbell, the Drive-By Truckthrough songwriting and music. Founded by Dustin in 2011 in ers, Margo Price and Kyle Craft. I don’t need another song about Austin, Texas, it’s grown into a nationwide program that provides a fast car or a night of binge drinking. I seek music with a mesinstruments and songwriting lessons to veterans and military sage. And, yes, I hope it has a driving beat and a good riff. members. The elder Welch is an acclaimed songwriter and AmeriThe Animas City Theatre presents Ezra Bell and The Copcana/country artist who has released eight studio albums during per Children at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday. Ezra Bell was founded his career and founded the Dead Reckoning Records label. His around the irreverent and introspective songwriting of Benjamin songs have been recorded by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Garth Wuamett, carving a wide path through a musical spectrum that Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Don Williams and Ricky Skaggs. The brushes up against folk, jazz, blues, rock, pop and R&B. The Portevent includes dinner at 6, followed by the concert. Donations land-based group was formed in 2013, and its once revolving cast will be accepted. of characters settled into a core lineup of Darren Moore (jazz Finally, And Then Came Humans plays this week’s Ska-B-Q bass), Tom Trotter (drums), Aaron Mattison (horns) and Jeremy from 5-7 tonight at the World Headquarters in Bodo Park. With Asay (multi-instrumentalist) that provides an unsettling backdrop origins in Cleveland and New Orleans, the guitar-and-drums duo for Wuamett’s playful and sometimes vicious vocals. They’ve of Mike Sopko and Ryan Scott Long blend jazz, rock, funk, hipbeen hailed by Paste, Vortex and No Depression as “charming,” hop and experimental music into an energetic sound. They’re “riveting” and “most impressive.” Denver’s Copper Children is a touring in support of their debut release, “In Heat Wave.” folk band that blends original soul and psychedelic rock into What we need is awareness? Email me at what they’ve deemed “psychedelic gospel.” chrisa@gobrainstorm.net. n

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July 18, 2019 n 17

onthetown

Thursday18 Baby Meetup with Durango Café au Play, 9:30-11:30 a.m., 2307 Columbine. 749-9607.

Office Hours with La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff, 10 a.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.

Old Fort Open House, featuring tours, food, beverages, silent auction and more, noon-6 p.m., Old Fort off Highway 140 in Hesperus. www.fortlewis.edu/oldfort.

Tween Time: Iron Chef, for ages 11-17, 1-2 p.m., Durango Public Library.

Drop-in Tennis, 4 p.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave. Thursday Afternoon Social Club for veterans, their spouses and supporters, 4-6 p.m., VFW, 1550 Main Ave. Book Signing and Meet the Author event featuring Heather Martinez, author of Lettering Journey, co-hosted by Maria’s Bookshop, 4-6 p.m., Studio &, 1027 Main Ave.

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

Farmer’s Market, 4:30 p.m. till dusk, event runs each Thursday, downtown Farmington. 505-599-8442.

Gary B. Walker performs, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave. Powerhouse Trivia Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio. www.powsci.org.

Durango Native Stories, featuring presentations from Rey & Clair Martinez and H. Prescott Blake, 7 p.m., event also runs Aug. 22, Henry Strater Theater, 699 Main Ave. 375-7160 or www.durangonative.com.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” presented by the Animas Rooted Theatre Company, opening night, 7:30 p.m., show also runs July 19-20, 24-27, and 2 p.m., July 21, Roshong Recital Hall at Fort Lewis College.

The Black Velvet Trio performs, 7 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave.

Open Mic & Stand-Up, 8 p.m., El Rancho Tavern, 975 Main Ave. Karaoke, 8 p.m., Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2nd Ave. Plursday featuring DJ Tones, 9 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Friday19

Bayfield Farmers Market and Block Party, featuring local farmers, bakers, craftsmen, live music, dancing and more, 4:30-7 p.m., intersection of Mill and Pearl streets in Bayfield. www.bayfielddowntownfarmers market.org.

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

The Assortment performs, 5 p.m., Chainless Brewing, 3000 Main Ave.

Summer Carnival, 10 a.m.-noon, Farmington Rec Center. 505-599-1184.

And Then Came Humans performs, 5-7 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Kids’ Club: Moon Landers, for ages 5-12, 1-2 p.m., Durango Public Library.

Terry Hartzel performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

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

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

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

“Ella, Louis & Friends” featuring Byron Stripling, conductor and trumpet, and Carmen Bradford, vocalist, part of Music in the Mountains, 7 p.m., Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. www.musicinthemountains.com.

Leah Orlikowski performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave. Sunny and the Whiskey Machine perform, 7-9 p.m., Durango Craft Spirits Tasting Room Patio, 1120 Main Ave., Suite 2.

Rob Webster performs, 7-11 p.m., Blondies.

Karaoke, 7 p.m.-close, VFW, 1550 Main Ave. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), originally written for The Reduced Shakespeare Company and updated for The Sunflower Theatre Troupe, opening night, 7:30 p.m., show also runs July 20, 26-27, and 2 p.m., July 21 and 28, Sunflower Theatre in Cortez. www.sunflowertheatre.org.

Saturday20 83rd annual Fiesta Days, featuring parade, rodeos, cook off, BBQ, street dance and more, July 20-28, La Plata County Fairgrounds.

Durango Farmers Market, featuring music from Jolie, 8 a.m.-noon, TBK Bank parking lot, W. 8th Street. www.durangofarmersmarket.com.

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

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

Terry Hartzel performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Trails 2000 Trailwork Party, 9 a.m.-noon, Colorado Trail. www.trails2000.org.

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

Henry Stoy performs, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave.4

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Oblee performs, 6-9 p.m., DJ Hakan, 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave. Disco Night, 6:30-9 p.m., Chapman Hill Skating Rink.

375-7395.

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

M.C. Curry Organ Trio performs for Concerts @ the Park, sponsored by the Community Concert Hall and Alpine Bank, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Buckley Park. www.durangoconcerts.com.

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

Dustin Burley performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Trails 2000 Trailwork Party, 4:30-7 p.m., SkyRaider Trail. www.trails2000.org.

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

Silverton Summer Sounds Music Series featuring J-Calvin, 6 p.m., runs third Friday of each month thru September, Columbine Park, Silverton. www.silver tonconcerts.com.

telegraph

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

What: Let’s Letter Together with

Apollo 50th Anniversary Moonabration, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Farmington Museum. 505-599-1425.

Summer Picker’s Circle by the River, musicians of all levels welcome, 3-5 p.m., Saturdays thru August, White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, 128 W. 14th St. 259-2213.

Grand Summer Nights, featuring live music, dancing, food, art and more, 4-8 p.m., event also runs Aug. 17, downtown Mancos. mancoscreativedistrict.com.

The Black Velvet Duo performs, 5-9 p.m., Animas River Beer Garden at Doubletree Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio. Four Corners Rod Run & Open Car Show, featuring art, food, live music from Rockabilly Strangers, and more, 510 p.m., historic downtown Farmington. 505-599-1148.

J-Calvin performs, part of the iAM Music Fest Concert Series, 5p.m.-midnight, 11th Street Station.

Terry Hartzel performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Light Show Public Skate, 6:30-9 p.m., Chapman Hill.

375-7395.

Robin Davis performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave. Battle of the Bands Series, featuring Diabolical Sound Platoon, Shawn Arrington Band, Zion Spencer Band, Ashes of Jupiter, Red Eyed Djinn and more, doors open, 7:30 p.m., show begins, 8:30 p.m., event also runs Aug. 17; series finale, Sept. 21, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.

Comedy Showcase, featuring Joey Johnson and Ritchy Flo, 8 p.m., Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave. www.hen rystratertheatre.com.

Comedy Cocktail Open Mic Stand Up, 8 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave.

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

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

Writers’ Workshop, 2 p.m., Ignacio Library.

Live Music on the Lawn, featuring Robert 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.

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New World Record, the ultimate tribute to Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), performs, 7:30-10 p.m., Farmington Civic Center. 505-599-1148 or www.fmtn.org/CivicCenter.

Andrew Schuhmann performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Monday22 Yoga Storytime, 9:30-10:45 a.m., Smiley Building Studio 10, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Workshop for Vets, hosted by Soldier Songs and Voices, 4-6 p.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave. info@soldiersongsandvoices.com.

Watch Your Step class, 10:15 a.m., Durango Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.

Blue Moon Ramblers, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Dustin Welch and Kevin Welch perform with HalleyAnna Finlay to benefit Soldier Songs and Voices, doors open, 6 p.m., show begins, 7-10 p.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave.

Traditional Irish Music Jam, 12:30-4 p.m., Irish Embassy, 900 Main Ave.

use in their work,” writes Martinez on her website.

The book is a how-to lettering tutorial inspired by a cross-country trip Martinez and her husband took after leaving Washington, D.C., where she worked as a visual practitioner – a professional who employs a variety of methods to creatively communicate ideas and information. The book includes eight lettering styles complete with recommended tools and examples of practical applications.

The first 12 participants will receive a free pouch of Neuland markers and a seat in the lettering demo. In addition, anyone who buys her book will be entered to win a free one-on-one lettering session as well as other prizes.

Martinez offers more learning opportunities in her downtown studio and at the Durango Arts Center in handwriting, calligraphy and chalkboard sign writing. For more info, go to: www.LetsLetterTogether.com

Dog at Large performs, a rare reunion gig, 3-6 p.m., Nugget Mountain Bar, Highway 550 North.

The Black Velvet Duo performs, 6 p.m., Cyprus Café, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

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

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Heather Martinez When: 4 – 6 p.m., Thurs., July 18 Where: Studio &, 1027 Main Ave. In today’s digital world, it can seem as if the act of handwriting has become a lost art. But local artist Heather Martinez is here to help, whether you’re an aspiring letter artist or just someone who wants to spruce up the old chicken scratch.

This Thur., July 18, from 4 – 6 p.m., Studio &, 1027 Main Ave., in conjunction with Maria’s Bookshop, will host a book signing and handson experiential lettering session with Martinez. She will also give a lettering demo based on styles found in her book, Lettering Journey.

“When I’m not working with clients, I am developing my lettering practice to translate techniques I have learned from master calligraphers, sign painters and graffiti artists into practical tips and tricks for other visual practitioners to

Zia Chicks performs for Music in the Shade Summer Series, 4-7 p.m., Wines of the San Juan in Blanco, N.M.

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Bill Edwards performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Rob Webster performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave. Trivia Night, 7 p.m., Blondies in Cortez.

Industry Nights, featuring music and throwback movies each Monday thru summer for those working in restaurants, retail or tourism-related fields, featuring a screening of “Big Lebowski,” 9:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.

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AskRachel Interesting fact: Apparently, those gas station TVs actually do have mute buttons. They’re just not labeled. So go crazy pushing your options, kids. If you accidentally take out a whole screen, I’ll give you a nickel.

Dear Rachel, According to the in-laws on my Facebook feed, the fact that Ariel was cast as a woman of color in the live-action Little Mermaid remake is the worst thing to happen since a black man was cast as President. This was news to me. I didn’t even know they were remaking the Little Mermaid. How can we expect things like bigotry to ever end, if we can’t even end the shameless, empty-calorie exploitation of the Disney Renaissance?

- Seaweed is Always Greener

Dear Poor Unfortunate Soul, Nothing is original. Those Disney classics were ripping off older fairy tales and legends. Star Wars is the Clif’s Notes for Joseph Campbell’s myth studies. Heck, the questions and answers in this column are all reruns and retreads. You think the world comes up with three original problems every week for me to answer? Every single one boils down to 1) why can’t I be loved? 2) my neighbors suck, and 3) someone’s ruining my childhood.

- Life is the bubbles, Rachel

Dear Rachel, Remember when gas stations started installing those talking boxes that blared ads at

OntheTown from p. 19

Tuesday23

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

Guided Nature Tours, 9:45 a.m.-noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays thru Aug. 15, meet inside Purgatory Ticket Office. sjma.org.

Summer Reading Show: Steve Weeks, 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Durango Public Library.

Drop-in Tennis, 4 p.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave. Mark Ransom performs, 5 p.m., Kip’s Grill in Pagosa.

Bill Edwards performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Rotary Club of Durango, presentation by Kristin Pulatie with San Juan Basin Health, 6 p.m., Henry Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave. 385-7899.

Dave Mensch performs, part of the free Summer Sounds Concert Series, 6-8 p.m., Three Springs Plaza, 175 Mercado St. 764-6000.

The Dark Mold Site: Durango’s first farmers, the Basketmakers and Mona Charles, 6:30 p.m., Animas Valley Grange, 7271 County Road 203. 403-3862.

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.

20 n July 18, 2019

you while you gassed up? Every single one had the mute button bashed in from people pounding it so vehemently. Gas stations must have learned their lesson… because now they’re installing video screens, without a mute button. I feel massively, even irrationally, violated by these things. How can I cope?

- Bye Bye Personal Space

Dear Bursted Bubble, What I want to know is, why did nearly every gas station in town (nay, the entire region) suddenly get taken over by Speedway? I used one once, and it had the video screen you’re talking about, and I swore then and there I’d never use another Speedway. So I pulled up somewhere else in Aztec, and lo and behold, they had a video screen too. If this becomes a pandemic, it’ll be more than mute buttons I’m bashing in.

- Pump in peace, Rachel

Dear Rachel, Our governor started a bit of a kerfuffle when he declared Pueblo green chilies to be the superior stuff. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a trucker-hat-wearing, IPA-guzzling, 14er-topping Colorado diehard. Yet I didn’t even know that green chilies were a Colorado thing. I need to make up for lost time and start bragging about our other green crop. What is the most Colorado way to eat chilies and show my pride to the world?

- Green Party Tim Sullivan performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main.

Ezra Bell performs with special guest The Copper Children, doors open, 7:45 p.m., show begins, 8:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.

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.

Wednesday24 “Hispano Sheepherders from Colorado and New Mexico,” free lecture with Dr. Andrew Gulliford, 1:30 p.m., Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, Lyceum Room 120. swcenter.fortlewis.edu.

Great Garden Series: Create Over Sized Tissue Paper Flowers with Daisy Grice, 2-3:30 p.m., Durango Public Library.

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Eggs and Ham, I’m a Colorado girl. I know exactly how much edible chocolate I can take, and I know that many 13ers are tougher climbs with a lot fewer cardboard-sign-toting tourists. But seriously? Saying we have the best chile is a lot like saying TexMex is the best Mexican food, or Attack of the Clones is the best Star Wars. We don’t have to be the best at everything to be the best. What else does New Mexico have going for it? Let them have their chile.

- Christmas for me, Rachel Bill Edwards 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. Jeff Solon Jazz Duo performs, 6-9 p.m., Wednesdays thru Aug. 28, Cyprus Café, 725 E. 2nd Ave. 385-6884.

Pub Quiz, 6:30 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave. 403-1200.

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

Gary B. Walker performs, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave. Terry Rickard performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main.

Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.

Kennebec Market, featuring local farms, baked goods, handmade products and more, 2-6 p.m., event runs each Wednesday, Kennebec Café in Hesperus. 759-7345.

Trails 2000 Trailwork Party, 4:30-7 p.m., SkyRaider Trail. www.trails2000.org.

Community Concerts in the Secret Garden, featuring music from Kirk James Blues Band to benefit La Plata County Historical Society, 5-7 p.m., Rochester Hotel, 726 E. 2nd Ave. www.swcommunityfoundation.org.

Pete Giuliani performs, 5-9 p.m., event also runs July 31, Animas River Beer Garden at the Doubletree Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio.

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

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

Ongoing Music in the Mountains, through July 28, around Durango. www.musicinthemountains.com.

“Practice,” curated by Maureen May, “Meanderings,” works by Jan Goldman, and “Wild Grace Art,” works by Sarah Sumner, all exhibits run thru Aug. 31, Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. 259-2606.

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): An Aries reader sent me a boisterous email. “I was afraid I was getting too bogged down by my duties,” he said, “too hypnotized by routine, too serious about my problems. So I took drastic action.” He then described the ways he broke out of his slump. Here’s an excerpt: “I gave laughing lessons to a cat. I ate a spider. I conducted a sneezing contest. I smashed an alarm clock with a hammer. Whenever an elderly woman walked by, I called out ‘Hail to the Queen!’ and did a backflip. I gave names to my spoon (Hortense), the table (Beatrice), a fly that was buzzing around (Fallon), and a toothpick (Arturo).” According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Aries, you’d be wise to stage a comparable uprising.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Welcome home, homegirls and homeboys. After observing all your homesteading in homes away from home, I’m pleased to see you getting curious about the real home brew again. I wonder how many times I’ll say the word “home” before you register the message that it’s high time for you to home in on some homemade, homegrown homework? Now here’s a special note to any of you who may be feeling psychologically homeless or exiled from your spiritual home: the coming weeks will be a favorable time to address that ache and remedy that problem.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The world is full of eternally restless people who seethe with confused desires they don’t understand. Fueled by such unfathomable urges, they are driven in unknown directions to accomplish fuzzy goals. They may be obsessed in ways that make them appear to be highly focused, but the objects of their obsession are impossible to attain or unite with.

Those objects don’t truly exist! I have described this phenomenon in detail, Gemini, because the coming months will offer you all the help and support you could ever need to make sure you’re forever free of any inclination to be like that.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): What would you say if I asked you to tell me who you truly are? I wouldn’t want to hear so much about your titles and awards. I’d be curious about your sacred mysteries, not your literal history. I’d want to know the treasured secrets you talk about with yourself before you fall asleep.

I’d ask you to sing the songs you love and describe the allies who make you feel real.

I’d urge you to riff on the future possibilities that both scare you and thrill you.

What else? What are some other ways you might show me core truths about your irrepressible soul? Now is a good time to meditate on these riddles.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction story about a physicist who masters time travel and summons William Shakespeare into the present time. The Bard enrolls in a night school class about his own plays – and proceeds to flunk the course.

Modern ideas and modes of discourse are simply too disorienting to him. He is unable to grasp the theories that centuries’ worth of critics have developed about his work. With this as a cautionary tale, I invite you to time-travel not four centuries into the future, but just 10 years. From that vantage point, look back at the life you’re living now. How would you evaluate and understand it? Do you have any constructive criticism to offer? Any insights that could help you plan better for your long-term future?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to buy yourself toys, change your image for no rational reason and indulge in an interesting pleasure that you have been denying yourself for no good reason. In addition, I hope you will engage in at least two heart-to-heart talks with yourself, preferably using funny voices and comical body language. You could also align yourself gracefully with cosmic rhythms by dancing more than usual, and by goofing off more than usual, and by wandering in the wilderness and seeking to recapture your lost innocence more than usual.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Although you’ll never find an advertisement for Toyota or Coca Cola or Apple within my horoscope column, you will find hype for spiritual commodities like creativity, love and freedom. Like everyone else, I’m a huckster. My flackery may be more ethical and uplifting than others’, but the fact is that I still try to persuade you to “buy” my ideas. The moral of the story: Everyone, even the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, is selling something. I hope that what I’m saying here purges any reluctance you might have about presenting yourself and your ideas in the most favorable light. It’s high time for you to hone your sales pitch; to explain why your approach to life is so wise; to be a forceful spokesperson and role model for the values you hold dear.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You are growing almost too fast, but that won’t necessarily be a problem – as long as you don’t expect everyone around you to grow as fast as you. I suspect that you also know almost too much – but I don’t anticipate that will spawn envy and resistance as long as you cultivate a bit of humility. I have an additional duty to report that you’re on the verge of being too attractive for your own good – although you have not yet actually reached the tip-

ping point, so maybe your hyper-attractiveness will serve you rather than undermine you. In conclusion, Scorpio, I invite you to celebrate your abundance, but don’t flaunt it.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): The snow leopards of Central Asia crave a lot of room to wander. Zoologists say that each male prefers its territory to be about 84 square miles, and each female likes to have 44 square miles.

I don’t think you’ll require quite that vast a turf in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. But on the other hand, it will be important not to underestimate the spaciousness you’ll need in order to thrive. Give yourself permission to be expansive.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I want to do things so wild with you that I don’t know how to say them.” Author Anaïs Nin wrote that in a letter to her Capricorn lover Henry Miller.

Is there anyone you could or should or want to say something like that? If your answer is yes, now is a good time to be so candid and bold. If the answer is no, now would be a good time to scout around for a person to whom you could or should or want to say such a thing. And if you’d like to throw in a bit more enticement, here’s another seductive lyric from Anaïs: “Only the united beat of sex and heart together can create ecstasy.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Did you hear the story about the California mom who started a series of forest fires so as to boost her son’s career as a firefighter? She is an apt role model for behavior you should diligently avoid in the coming weeks. It’s unwise and unprofitable for you and yours to stir up a certain kind of trouble simply because it’s trouble that you and yours have become skilled at solving. So how should you use your problem-solving energy, which I suspect will be at a peak? I suggest you go hunting for some very interesting and potentially productive trouble that you haven’t wrangled with before – some rousing challenge that will make you even smarter than you already are.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The heroine of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is curious, adventurous and brave. First, she follows a well-dressed rabbit down a rabbit hole into an alternate universe. Later she slips through a mirror into yet another parallel reality. Both times, with great composure, she navigates her way through many odd, paranormal and unpredictable events. She enjoys herself immensely as she deals with a series of unusual characters and unfamiliar situations. I’m going to speculate that Alice is a Pisces. Are you ready for your very own Alice-in-Wonderland phase? Here it comes!

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July 18, 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

Announcements

vite, no walk-ins accepted. Entry Level Position - Tech Support Advisor (#12716) – Call Center. Location: Durango. 2 Fulltime Shifts: 1st shift $14.50/hr and 2nd shift $15.95/hr. Openings: 10. Full benefits. www.worldpay.com Seeking Dog Sitter/Ranch Hand to exchange PT work for off grid, private cabin east of Bayfield. Text 970-3175863

Suite 109. For more info twinfish@bres nan.net Piano Lessons for the Fall Lessons for all ages and levels. For more info visit duranpianostudio.com or call (970)710-0469 Mommy and Me Dance Class Come join the fun! Now registering for classes. Call 970-749-6456. mom myandmedance.com.

Services

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.

The Perfect Gift for your favorite dirtbag. Literature from Durango’s own Benighted Publications. The Desert, The Climbing Zine, The Great American Dirtbags, American Climber, Climbing Out of Bed and Graduating From College Me are available at: Maria’s Bookshop, Pine Needle Mountaineering, the Sky Store, or on the interweb at www.climbingzine.com.

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

HelpWanted Upcoming Hiring Fair: Thurs., July 25 for Worldpay, a global payments leader. Must apply online to receive in-

22 n July 18, 2019

TeamUP AmeriCorps Join TeamUP’s AmeriCorps crew in Sept. for a chance to serve a rural Colorado community for 1 year doing meaningful work focused on healthy outcomes for children & families. 11 unique positions from food security to youth development are available! To apply and view full position descriptions, visit teamup -swco.org/americorps.

Classes/Workshops Hawaiian Hula Dance Come live your Aloha. Experience culture of the Hawai’ian islands through dance & chant. Soothing for the soul, gentle discipline for the body. Hula is the expression of Aloha: living a life of kindness & perseverance. New evening class begins 7/22. Mondays: 6:15 PM, Thursdays: 10:15 AM. 541.944.6859 Tame Your Inner Critic Find Peace Tame Your Inner Critic and Find Peace and Balance: Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Date: 8 Wednesdays: 9/4 - 10/23 Time: 5:30 - 8pm Sliding Scale Fee- $250 $350 - Scholarships Available. Register by E-mail - MyahMindfulness@gmail.com or

by Phone- 970-946-5379. Myah Lee, Certified Mindfulness and MSC Teacher Embodied Meditation The Reggie Ray Practice Group facilitated by Elisabeth Peterson meets Saturdays, 10-11:30 a.m., 1800 E. 3rd Ave,

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Tidying up with Evonne Do you need help organizing and letting go of your stuff? I use the Marie Kondo method and will coach and help you sort, organize and purge your clothes, books and knickknacks so you feel lighter and better within and without. Call 970-946-2591 for an estimate and consultation.

HaikuMovieReview ‘Night School’ Do you love short jokes?

Predictability? This is your dream movie – Lainie Maxson massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 2018.

Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984 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

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

BodyWork Massage “Special” 1 hr. - $50 / 1.5 hrs. - $75 - foot detox$35/ in town Durango/free parking/call or text Nancy R. @ (970) 799-2202 Mastering Touch 16 CEU’s An NCBTMB certified workshop for the first time in Durango. Sept. 14 and 15. To register, go to www.durango mobilemassage.com/workshop—mastering-touch.html Massages by Meg Bush, LMT 30, 60 & 90 min. 970-759-0199

Telluride Lodge Condo Live the dream: 4/bedroom, 3.5/bath condo in Telluride Lodge! Beautifully remodeled in 2013 with open floor plan.

Gourmet kitchen; gas fireplace; stainless steel appliances; large master bedroom w/ensuite. Steps from the grocery store, river trail & Lift 7. Live in, rent or both – successful short-term rental history. $1.1M. Mountain Rose Realty, AnneBritt Ostlund: 970-729-8005. Listing ID 37205.

Radon Services Free radon testing and consultation.

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

ForRent Nicely Maintained 3/2.5 Townhome Great location near Oxbow Park. Ideal for proff or small family. W/D, 2 car gar. $1975/m + dep, 1-yr lease. No pets, refs reqd. 970-759-2751

4 Bedroom Home for Rent Looking to fill 3 bedrooms in downtown Durango. Available Aug 1st. $500 per person/$500 deposit, not including utilities.

Dogs ok $50 extra per month. Contact Brittnie 970-946-0261

ForSale Mountain Bike Scott “Genius 720” /size- medium/ black & white/ Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, drop seat, like new – All original paperwork and receipts purchased for $4,600/ Sale price: $2,500/ Durango Call or text (970) 799-2202 Stuff Sale 7/26 – 28 Mancos. 2007 F250 Lariat 6.0 power stroke diesel, crew cab, air ride rear, A.R.E. shell, $15,500. 7x4 beige vinyl window, 3 x 5 wood bay window. Oak drawing table. Clothes & stuff, stuff.

970-403-9536.

Handgun Springfield XDM – 9 mm/compact 5 ammo magazines / original case/ shot 1xoriginal paperwork and receipt purchased $688/ Sale Price: $500/ Durango Call or text (970) 799-2202 Ammo Freedom munitions/ new practice shot 9mm 50 ct per box @ 42 boxes- $8.00 per box / Durango Call or text: (970) 799-2202

Baby Items Chicco adjustable high chair $25; Joovy Rm 2 playard +2 Joovy sheets, like new $60.

970-946-8522

NewspaperOrigami

Vintage China Set for 8 Noritake Shenandoah pattern #9729/ Ivory bone china with platinum rim/like new/ $300. Durango (970) 799-2202 Diamond Ring/Neil Lane Gorgeous 14 K. white gold/ Emerald cut center stone/ Round stones surrounding/ Size 5.5/ 1.47 carat wt/ orig receipt $4,600 /Selling $2,500 Durango Call or text: (970) 799-2202 Furniture for Sale Kitchen set for 6 people with buffet table and 83 inch couch. Used for two years, whole package for $1200. Call for details 970-903-7913 Pilates Aero Reformer Exercise Machine with rebounder/ $100/ Like new/ Durango Call or text (970) 799-2202 1990 Yamaha XT 600 Enduro New tires, chain, battery, tune up. 17K miles, $900. 970-759-8820 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. 385-7336.

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July 18, 2019 n 23

24 n July 18, 2019

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