Still waiting on our Nobel Prize, too
elegraph the durango
FREE Oct. 8, 2026 Vol. XXV, No. 39 durangotelegraph.com
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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
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B E Y O N D
Forging ahead
Good days gone bad
Mom on a mission
City reveals latest City Hall design as suit continues p8
Event helps people heal after tragedy in the outdoors p9
The woman behind state’s transgender initiatives p10
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lineup
4 La Vida Local
Going deep Broken toes and prostate exams – all in the name of a good story by Zach Hively
4 Thumbin’ It 5 Writers on the Range
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6-7 Soapbox
Moving forward
8-9 Local News
City reveals latest designs for City Hall campus as lawsuit continues by Missy Votel
10 State News
13 Ask Rachel
Help from the hurt Film night, panel focus on healing from tragedies in the outdoors by Jennaye Derge
15 Haiku Movie Review
On the cover Old license plates find new life as colorful siding on the side of a shed on 9th Street, near the Horse Gulch trailhead./ Photo by Missy Votel
Behind the ballot The Colorado mom pushing the ballot measures on transgender youth by Jennifer Brown / The Colorado Sun
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STAR-STUDDED CAST: Zach Hively, Jennaye Derge, Jennifer Brown, Lainie Maxson, Jesse Anderson, Rob Brezsny & Clint Reid
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he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-
14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds
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PIT CREW: JENNAYE DERGE jennaye@durangotelegraph.com
Pick a pika
We’ve all heard of Alaska’s Fat Bear Week (shout out to Backpack!), but here in Southwest Colorado, it’s all about Fat Pika Week. Or “fluffy” if you’re not into fat-shaming small mammals. Taking place this week, the contest is put on by Mountain Studies Institute and coincides with the creatures’ seasonal caching as they prepare for winter. Unlike their ursine neighbors, pikas do not hibernate, remaining active all winter. As a result, they must rely on the stockpile of food they collected over the summer and fall (much like those of you squirreling away Telegraphs for your wood-burning stoves.)
12-13 Stuff to Do
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EDITORIALISTA: MISSY VOTEL missy@durangotelegraph.com
4 Sign of the Downfall
Ear to the ground: “I don’t know where the jacuzzi jets ended and my farts began.” – When hot tubbing goes horribly wrong – or right – depending on perspective
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But don’t let this cute potato with legs fool you, pikas are tough little cookies. Thanks to their high inner core temperature, they can survive along rocky, treeless alpine slopes where lesser species would perish or need a very large puffy. Voting for the contest, which takes place at mountainstudies.org, started out with eight pikas. Currently, it is down to the final two – a battle royale between Pickle, a hefty fella who looks like he could beat up a small dog; and Rawlings, who flouts a darling, fuzzy Rubenesque backside. And while the contest is all about celebrating our adorable local fauna, there’s also a more altruistic motive. See, the same warmblooded super power that keeps pikas thriving in the winter is also their kryptonite. Exposure to temperatures above 78°F for more than a few hours can be fatal, making them especially susceptible to climate change. As a result, the contest will raise funds for PikaNet. The MSI citizen science initiative tracks pikas in Southwest Colorado as key indicators of climate change in alpine ecosystems (i.e. when the pikas aren’t doing well, we’ve got bigger problems.) To vote for Pickle or Rawlings, don’t delay – voting closes today, Oct. 8, after which a new winner will be crowned. And Backpack will have a little (no pun intended) competition. Oct. 8, 2026 n 3
LaVidaLocal Foiled again It’s time for some accountability around here. Several months ago, I proclaimed in this space that I, despite liking my couch very much, was training for a half-marathon. The intent was something far greater than earning one of those oval 13.1 stickers for my bumper – declaring my mission guaranteed me ways of entertaining both my readers for the weeks, maybe years, that such training requires. I foresaw mishaps. I foresaw not that they would be so mundane. Pride goeth before a fall publication schedule. No sooner did we run that piece about my halfbaked half-marathon plans than I stopped running because my big toe fell off. The good news is that toes are a lot like teeth: I dropped it in a glass of cold milk and the dentist was able to reattach it. The bad news is how my foot is now permanently in my mouth. I have not run another mile. I ran around the back yard exactly once with my dog. On about the third step, I stubbed my other toe so badly that it sent pain stabbing all the way up to my ears for about a week. I thought it must be broken. Not like us manly men usually think we’ve broken our toes anytime we forget there’s a coffee table, and we hurt (this is true) worse than childbirth for a moment. Actually broken. Fortunately for this second big toe, the issue seems to have gone away all on its own. This is my preferred method of medical care. It works every time, except when it doesn’t. The process is still in progress on my first big toe. The language I’ve been given to understand the persistent issue is that I “probably hyperactivated my embouchure,” or something to that effect. Listening to the words experts use is not a strong component of my preferred method of medical care, OK? I did, however, latch onto a suite of tools my expert suggested for me, because manly men like tools recommended by cute experts. These tools restrict my toe’s movement, improve circulation to the area and force me to demonstrate gratitude that this toe (no matter what all I say about it) is in fact attached in its rightful place and supporting me every day and continuing to heal. It’s a good big toe, and I love it. Doubly so, because it’s gotten me out of running. But I still needed to do something positive for your entertainment and my health. Lucky for both of us, my toe is not the only body part as old as I am.
One of my very first pieces in this space, 12 or 13 years ago, was about my prostate. No one may have realized it at the time, least of all me, but this was Zach at his most forward-thinking. I knew that when I crossed that inevitable threshold into my forties, I would subject myself to a regularly scheduled prostate screening for men. For a decade and a half now, I’ve been looking forward to writing some new euphemisms for getting my pumpkin thumped. This promise of a column, it needs to be said, is the sole reason I set an appointment to get established with a new provider. For health? No. I met my new doctor and looked her right in the eye when we shook hands. This established a human connection, because I wanted her to remember that I am a whole and secure individual, and I certainly wasn’t going to look her in the eyes after we finished. We did the routine things – confirming, for instance, that I have not grown taller even if I have clearly added pounds of muscle since my last checkup in 2017 or so. We sat and chatted about my medical history, including all the undocumented things I’ve ignored until they went away. The conversation was winding down. I could sense this was the time. I breathed in big, filling the lungs she said sounded good, in order to say: “Welp, I’m firmly in my forties now. I guess we need to start doing those regularly scheduled prostate screenings for men.” I think she scrunched up her face. Hard to tell – I was studying the medical poster on the wall by this point. “That’s … not recommended until your fifties,” she said. What? Had I been fed bad intel in my twenties? Or had our prostates, generationally, become bolstered by manliness and microplastics? She went on to explain, with hand demonstrations, the better medical understanding of the shortcomings of manual prostate exams, and why doctors like her increasingly rely on prostate-specific antigen levels in bloodwork. She was geeking out. “But, my readers!” I said – then, “Never mind,” as I didn’t want it ending up in my chart that I wanted to publish my prostate screening experience in the newspaper. So, twice in one go, I have fallen short. (But I haven’t gotten shorter!) I guess, future apocalypses willing, you can look for me here in 10 years’ time for the latest on my internal man-bun. Maybe my toe will feel better by then, too. – Zach Hively
Thumbin’It A ray of hope for the state’s wolves, with CPW announcing it will hit pause on killing (most) wolves that prey on livestock after killing three wolves in quick succession last month. The state’s wolf population is faltering due to high mortality, inability to source new wolves and parasites. The groundswell of support, outrage and awareness that has emerged from the lawsuit brought against Cornell frat members by Jane Doe. After decades of sweeping the problem of sexual assault on college campuses under the rug, maybe there will finally be some accountability this time. Ballots finally arrived in mailboxes this week. Can the midterms be over soon enough? (Speaking of which, the Telegraph’s ballot cheat sheet is coming soon.)
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SignoftheDownfall: A new report from the Joint Economic Committee Minority found that Colorado families have spent $4,500 more in goods and services under President Trump. We’d much rather pay for his absurd propaganda ad campaign than food, anyway. The botched execution of Christa Pike. The whole story is wrong and disturbing on so many levels, but we’re pretty sure that lethal injections of pentobarbital are not the solution. It’s official – the Trump EPA just made America greater by rolling back methane emission regulations for the oil and gas industry. So what if we have to put space blankets over the snow at our ski areas to keep it from melting?
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Frivolity is Our Recipe A few weeks ago, Wendy’s brought back the T-Rex Burger Challenge (you’d win a T-shirt if you ate a ninepatty burger in under nine minutes), but they pulled the plug immediately after all the heath organizations complained; turns out 3000 calories in nine minutes isn’t good for you. The rejection hurt Wendy’s soul and put her in a dark place, so her marketing department did the only thing they could think of—in late September, Wendy’s released an emo album called “Songs to Listen to in a Wendy’s Parking Lot.” It features goth artists like blessthefall and Memphis May Fire singing songs like “My Frosty’s Funeral,” and it seems to have worked, because the health organizations stopped complaining about the T-Rex burger and started hating their parents instead.
WritersontheRange
How the West was lost Increasingly, federal land swaps favor wealthy landowners over the public by Erica Rosenberg
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n late August, national headlines exposed the National Park Service’s efforts to swap land from one of America’s natural crown jewels, Yosemite National Park, so that a developer could give his planned resort direct access to the park. Federal land trades are meant to advance land management objectives, such as enhancing recreation opportunities and access. Unfortunately, many swaps are not initiated to directly benefit the public. Rather than federal agencies spurring land deals, private parties, such as developers or landowners, often initiate the deals that benefit themselves, not the public. Public land trades are also meant to go through a public process. But in western Colorado alone, two of three active – and controversial – land-exchange proposals would circumvent standard requirements for environmental review and public comment. A trade finalized in 2025 in western Colorado illustrates how federal land exchanges benefit the rich. When the Blue Valley Ranch gained the last three publicly owned parcels along 15 linear miles of the Lower Blue in a swap last year, the public lost guaranteed access to a Gold Medal trout fishery near the town of Kremmling. Although Colorado gives people the right to float navigable rivers, access remains severely limited because touching landowners’ riverbeds and banks amounts to trespass. With publicly owned access to Colorado’s rivers such a valuable commodity, the privatization of BLM access over land to this beloved fishery is now a huge loss for the public. As is typical of other public-land deals across the West, the exchange was initiated by a wealthy landowner, billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II, owner of the 25,000-
One former public BLM access to Colorado’s Lower Blue River, near Kremmling, that became part of the private Blue Valley Ranch in last year’s federal land swap. The landowner allows limited public access but can shut that off whenever he chooses./ Photo by A. Ezman acre Blue Valley Ranch in western Colorado’s Grand and Summit counties. The landowner’s rationale was the need to consolidate his holdings, and he and his consultants had close ties to the nonprofit Friends of the Lower Blue River, which promoted the land exchange as a win for conservation and recreation. The ranch owner’s wellfunded advocacy drowned out concerns from anglers and local residents about both river access and transparency. In its initial administrative protest, Basalt-based Colorado Wild Public Lands, a land exchange watchdog, summed up the proposed deal: “Im-
mensely valuable public lands are to be traded away for restrictive-access easements and non-guaranteed infrastructure improvements.” The Bureau of Land Management chose the billionaire over the public when it traded away what had been close to 2 miles of riverfront access along the Lower Blue River. In exchange, the public got some marginal hunting grounds and a river “park.” The park confines all riverfront recreation to a three-quarter-mile section of the Blue River. Blue Valley Ranch offered easements that maintained access to the riverbank
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for floaters on a limited basis, but the language allows the owner to revoke those easements and close off the river altogether. He is now trying to curtail river access through a permit system. Perhaps worse, according to a December 2025 Colorado Parks and Wildlife study, the rest of the Lower Blue River is experiencing increased fish mortality and declining river health. The study found the ranch’s efforts to boost fish population and fish size were the cause. The ranch blamed overfishing. Thanks to the trade, the public lost not just access, but also long-term protection of the river and its corridor, because the Blue Valley Ranch decided not to place its newly acquired federal lands under a permanent conservation easement. Protections once guaranteed by law now depend on the interests, integrity and whims of a single landowner. Shockingly, the BLM finalized the land exchange despite pending appeals, and the agency then declined to grant a stay of the closing pending the outcome of the appeals. It proceeded with an irreversible land transfer under circumstances that underscore the lack of fairness in the process. In this exchange, one powerful landowner benefited at the expense of everyone else. It also highlights the ongoing privatization of public land throughout the West. Perhaps the well-publicized outrage over Yosemite will fuel public awareness about federal agencies that abdicate their responsibilities and continually give away our natural heritage. Erica Rosenberg is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. She worked as counsel to both House and Senate Committees overseeing public lands and has served on the boards of several conservation nonprofits, including Colorado Wild Public Lands. ■
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SoapBox
D-Toon/by Rob Pudim
Is Whole Foods rearing its head again?
Romero will restore checks on power
The Durango Urban Renewal Authority (URA) Board has been once again discussing a proposal to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize a redevelopment of the Durango Mall. This new developer, the second this year for this site, is hoping to secure a taxpayer-funded deal with the City of Durango and has been playing hardball to do so. This mall proposal includes no housing component and follows the same tried-and-failed design this mall has had since its inception. Yet, the developer claims that over the 25 years of the plan, this redevelopment will generate $100 million in tax revenue for the city, primarily through sales taxes. Does that rosy claim take into account cannibalization of revenue from small, homegrown businesses? No. It assumes no revenue taken from local businesses to get that number, while maintaining 95% occupancy. The previous proposal from earlier this year included Amazon’s Whole Foods at its center. Following the backlash toward that news from our community, this new developer has been mum on which national grocery chain they plan on bringing into the space beyond it being a major grocery anchor, although it does a have history of working with Whole Foods. The next URA meeting on Oct. 12 will feature a feasibility study concerning potential tax revenue cannibalization. While we all want to see something done with the blighted mall property at the entrance to our wonderful city, we shouldn’t just accept anything. – Jacob Leinhardt, Durango
Rep. Jeff Hurd likes to talk about restoring Congress’ role as a check on presidential power. His voting record on Trump’s wars tells a different story. When the House voted to direct troops out of unauthorized hostilities in Venezuela in January, Hurd voted no. The measure failed by a single vote. On Iran, Hurd has now voted against ending or limiting the war three separate times – in May, July and September – even as a small but growing number of his own Republican colleagues broke ranks each time to support reining it in. The July and September resolutions passed any way, over his objection. This isn’t a one-off. It’s a pattern: four straight votes to leave two unauthorized wars unchecked, from a congressman who told reporters just weeks ago that “Congress has given more and more of its power to the executive branch” and that he wants to restore that balance. Colorado’s 3rd District deserves a representative whose votes match his words. On the two wars actually in front of him, Rep. Hurd chose the executive branch over Congress every time. We need to get out of wars and serve the American people in other ways. Hurd has proven he supports unnecessary conflicts. Romero will fight to get and keep us out of wars. Please vote for Romero in CD-3. – Patti Adler, Durango
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Stewart voted to tax my overtime pay Rep. Katie Stewart says she wants to make life more affordable. Then why did she vote to keep taxing my overtime?
The federal government gave eligible workers a tax deduction for part of their overtime pay. Colorado lawmakers could have let workers get that relief on their state taxes, too. Instead, Stewart voted “Yes” on HB25-1296, which keeps Colorado’s tax on my overtime pay. I work extra hours because my family needs the money. The state should let me keep more of what I earn, especially when that means spending less time at home. Stewart talks about helping working families, but her vote says otherwise. These Democrats have gone too far in
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Colorado. I’m voting for balanced leadership. I’m voting Republican! It’s time for a real change, and it’s time to quit taxing my overtime. – Cathy Patterson, Durango
Romero the type of public servant we need A leader should be a servant first, putting the needs of employees, team members and stakeholders above their own ambitions. Supporting people who exhibit this “servant-leader” style has long been on my radar, and we certainly
need more of these folks. Dwayne Romero strikes me as such a leader. Growing up as one of three brothers with a single mom on minimum wage, he pitched in early to help his family survive. He not only served his family, but he also served his country in the military and now serves his community as a small businessman. His ethic of giving more than you take is refreshing, especially when compared to Congressman Hurd, who gave us the One Horrible Ugly Bill, tax breaks for millionaires, and reduced healthcare among other “takings.” Romero is the servant we need in CD-3 – vote for Romero. – Marilyn McCord, Vallecito
Building homes families can buy A teacher, nurse, deputy or young family should be able to buy a home in Southwest Colorado. Too often, they look at the listings and realize that even with a steady paycheck, they cannot. Why have homes that working people can afford become so difficult to build? We often use “affordable housing” to describe homes built with public support and reserved for buyers or renters within certain income limits. Those homes serve a real need. But people also want to buy a modest home in the regular market but find nothing within reach. That is what I mean by “attainable housing”: a home whose price and monthly costs fit a local household’s income, without requiring qualification for a housing program. I know the difference between a regulation that protects neighbors and a process that adds time and expense without solving a problem. Private builders are
not choosing to build only expensive homes because working families do not matter. Land, construction, financing, permits and utility connections have become so costly that a modest home may not pencil out. The state should examine its own costs. In 2025, Sen. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, introduced Senate Bill 25-131, Reducing the Cost of Housing. Among its proposals was a requirement that local energy-code provisions be cost-effective. The bill did not pass, but I would focus on the housing cost issue of it. Its central question deserves an answer before lawmakers add another requirement: What will this do to the price of a home, and are the benefits worth the cost? We should ask the same question about Colorado’s housing programs. House Bill 26-1001 creates a special administrative path for housing on properties owned by public entities or qualifying nonprofits. Why should a private owner willing to build homes local workers can afford be left out? I would let local governments offer a predictable review process to private owners proposing smaller, lower-cost homes, while keeping local decisions about lot sizes, density and infrastructure. Water, sewer and roads are where this discussion becomes real. In parts of Archuleta County, infrastructure is already a constraint on new development. San Juan County faces similar challenges. La Plata and Montezuma counties have multiple water and sewer providers, and some parcels outside town boundaries may still be able to connect to central systems. Before approving more homes, providers should identify capacity, connections and upgrades. Those
numbers, along with applicable road requirements, should be clear and available to the public. New projects should pay the costs they create. Existing customers and taxpayers should not absorb the cost of new connections and infrastructure. At the same time, local governments should have flexibility to adjust infrastructure requirements when conditions allow, without compromising safety. When a project receives a property tax exemption, its fiscal impact should be accounted for rather than shifted to taxpayers. But new homebuyers also should not be charged for replacing an aging system that serves the entire community. When an upgrade benefits both new and existing users, the costs should be shared. I would bring property owners, private builders, entitlement professionals, surveyors, utility providers and local governments together to identify buildable sites – and the regulations, standards and costs that keep modest homes and diverse housing types from moving forward. That means making room for smaller homes, duplexes, fourplexes and other housing local families can afford. Fix the barriers we can document. Keep realistic local safety and infrastructure standards. Then, judge the result by homes completed and what local people actually pay – not another target on paper, mandate or study. Our region needs income-restricted housing, and it needs a path back to ordinary homeownership. We can make room for both while respecting private property, local decisions and the infrastructure our neighbors already depend on. – Naomi Riess, Durango, Republican candidate for Colorado House District 59
Tired of this guy sleeping in the yard next door? Tina can help you find a home with better neighbors. *First person to guess who this local is should get a free steak dinner but in these times, will get a beef stick
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Oct. 8, 2026 n 7
LocalNews
Forging ahead City reveals latest iteration of City Hall-Police campus while citizen lawsuit continues by Missy Votel
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s the battle over the design of Durango’s new city hall and police department campus plays out in court, the City is moving ahead on the project. On Sept. 16, the Durango City Council received a presentation on the latest design, with Phase 1 of construction set to begin Oct. 19. Work will include removing non-contributing structures, protecting historic elements and initiating structural upgrades, according to a news release from the City. The public will have a chance to check out the new design at an Engage Durango Forum on Oct. 27, where project partners will share details on the construction timeline and next steps. (The city did not include a time and location for the forum and details were not found on the Engage Durango website as of this writing.) In addition, the City will be holding a separate meeting on the completed Buckley Park Master Plan at the Durango Public Library, Mon., Oct. 12, from 4-6 p.m. The Buckley Park Master Plan is being funded separately from the new City Hall Project. The City Hall project was designed by HDR/Roth Architecture, a Denver-based firm. FCI Constructors, which has several offices throughout the West, including in Durango, is serving as contractor, working alongside project management firm Artaic Group, also out of Denver. According to the City, design elements were updated to better align with community expectations for aesthetics, functionality and historic preservation. One change based on public input is the adjustment to the secure parking fence at the Police Department. The original concept called for an 8-foot fence, but community members expressed concerns about height and neighborhood compatibility. In response, the fence will be reduced to 6 feet and designed with a combination of wrought iron and masonry pillars, with a landscape buffer. In addition, the rose garden in front of the former 9R Administration Building, which was slated for removal, will now be saved and “enhanced.” Residents also
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emphasized the importance of maintaining visual character, pedestrian comfort and environmental sensitivity, so additional garden amenities and dark-sky-compliant lighting were incorporated. Inside the new City Hall, residents influenced decisions on both historic preservation and modern functionality. Community members strongly supported keeping architectural elements of the original high school, including hardwood floors, slate chalkboards, wood doors and historic light fixtures, which will now be integrated into the restored building. “You can really see the community’s fingerprints all over this,” Councilor Jessika Loyer said. “A lot of what people asked for in engagement made it into this design.” Resident input also guided the color palette and interior finish selections, reinforcing a desire for historical and environmental compatibility. Through open houses, design sessions, online engagement and board and commission reviews, the city has continued to adapt the project in response to public
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priorities. According to the city, the project remains financially on track, with the current estimates $112,000 under the $61.2 million construction budget. That is after some components of the original design, including underground parking and Buckley Park upgrades, were removed from the plan. Throughout construction, Buckley Park and the sledding hill will remain open. Primary construction traffic will be routed on 14th Street through East Second Avenue. Meanwhile, the lawsuit between nearby property owner Charles Shaw and the City of Durango continues to make its way through the court. Shaw, who owns the Smiley Building, is suing the city to halt construction over what he sees as significant changes to the original renovation proposal that voters agreed to in 2025. Notably, he has raised issue with the removal of the former Big Picture High School, which was originally slated to become the new Police Department, to make way for police parking. The City and Shaw, who has hired Denver attorney Chris Beall, returned to court Oct. 1 after an initial hearing in 6th Judicial District Court on Sept. 10 seeking an emergency injunction. At that time, the court denied Shaw’s request on the grounds that the demolition was not imminent, as the city had not yet filed for a building permit for the demolition. However, the judge did leave the door open, saying Shaw could return to court when the City issues a demolition permit for the project. That court date has been set for Thurs., Oct. 15. “The court agreed that we have a reasonable probability of succeeding on our claim,” Shaw said previously in an email. “In other words, the court recognized that changing from restoration to demolition may go beyond what voters authorized. The court also agreed that demolition before the case is resolved would cause irreparable harm.” ■
LocalNews
When good days go bad Event explores grief, trauma and healing among those who work and play outside by Jennaye Derge
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auren Glass is a licensed professional counselor and mental health consultant, and she also goes big in the outdoors. Not necessarily Redbull Rampage big, but she spends big days exploring large mountains while on bikes, skis and foot. And on any day, she knows any of those activities could potentially result in tragedy. She knows this, because she’s seen it. Glass has been a long-time counselor in places that value outdoor recreation, she’s worked in the outdoor industry, and she has felt the heartache of grief. She’s seen and experienced struggles outdoors. So it’s only natural that she would go on to help other people cope with grief, anxiety and depression – not only through one-on-one counseling but through an annual gathering that focuses on mental health and the outdoors.
JusttheFacts What: “Mental Health in the Mountains” film night and panel discussion When: 5:30-10:30 p.m. Fri., Oct. 9 Where: FLC, Noble Hall 130 Her third annual “Mental Health in the Mountains” film night, which takes place Fri., Oct. 9, is meant to shed light on the struggles outdoor enthusiasts and outdoor industry workers face. The night features a series of short films and a panel discussion with folks involved in the films and outdoor industry, including members of La Plata County Search and Rescue and mental health professionals, including Glass, who will be facilitating. Glass said she has been part of similar mental health in the mountains events in the Telluride area and thought it would be a good fit for Durango. The event is held in partnership with local avalanche education nonprofit Friends of the San Juans, where Glass is a volunteer and current board member. This year’s event will be held in conjunction with an avalanche workshop the following day, Sat., Oct. 10, in Silverton. “Especially in the snow and avalanche industry, people are interfacing a lot with grief and loss … and historically, it has not been talked about as much in recent times,” Glass said. Death and injury are synonymous with the chances people take in the outdoors, but grief expands beyond loss of friends and family, and often falls on the shoulders of those who were present when something went terribly wrong. What Glass has learned through her counseling practice and from conversations with friends is that working in the outdoors brings its own set of challenges that lurk below the surface: death or injury on someone’s watch; burnout from harsh outdoor environments; bodies that get pushed to their limits – often for seasonal work that
Local counselor Lauren Glass takes in some sun during a backcountry excursion. An avid outdoorsperson, for the last three years, Glass has put together the “Mental Health in the Mountains” film night to build awareness of the unique mental health needs of people who work in the outdoors, particularly those who have faced trauma in the line of work./Courtesy photo only pays a few months out of the year. “The conversation has definitely increased over the last five to seven years, and people are much more aware of the occupational stress of injuries, burnout and the impact of staff long term,” she said. “Those are why those industries specifically benefit from having these kinds of conversations.” Outdoor industry workers are faced with everything unpredictable that the outdoors has to offer. Employees, such as guides, have made it their career to lead people through the outdoors safely, which means they have the responsibilities of accurately assessing conditions, preparing for varying conditions, being strong when others may be weak and being the safety net if anything goes wrong. Their objective is often to face difficult terrain and conditions with the goal of leading others safely to the other side. However, sometimes they might fall short of that goal. Maybe someone gets sick or breaks an ankle. Maybe someone dies. It’s not up to Glass to figure out what happens in those situations or who may be at
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fault, but she has made it a goal to help people figure out the best way forward when things don’t go as planned or, worst case, tragedy strikes. “A lot of people feel like they’re alone in their experience of struggle. I think there’s this persona people try to put on in the industry, to show up strong and competent, and I think behind all of that, people really do want a place to feel like they can talk about their struggles and are also acknowledged and supported,” Glass said. This year’s event is being held at Fort Lewis College in Noble Hall 130 and will feature three award-winning films mostly on avalanche loss, including “Succession,” a film about professional splitboarder Stratton Matteson, who was killed in an avalanche outside Pemberton, B.C., earlier this year. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the event is free and open to the public. “It’s a great time to kind of come together as a community,” Glass said. “Much of the challenge happens in the background, and it’s really affirming when people get to be in a space where it’s OK to talk about it, and it’s out in the open,” Glass said. ■ Oct. 8, 2026 n 9
StateNews
Mom on a mission Meet the Wellington woman behind Colorado’s transgender ballot measures by Jennifer Brown / The Colorado Sun
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mother in the northern Colorado town of Wellington, about 10 miles north of Fort Collins, is the driving force behind two Colorado ballot measures on transgender youth – one that would outlaw surgeries to change a child’s sex characteristics and another that would require transgender kids to play on sports teams that match their biological sex. Erin Lee, who also is pushing a third ballot measure that would put child sex traffickers in prison for life, says all three ballot issues are part of her fight against the “sexualization of children.” Lee’s catapult into politics and the founding of her issue committee Protect Kids Colorado in 2024, stems from an invitation her 12-year-old daughter received to a middle school gender and sexualities club. The three measures from Protect Kids Colorado on the ballot this year are Proposition 134, which would ban transgender girls, kindergarten through college, from playing on girls’ sports teams; Proposition 135, which would outlaw gender-affirming surgeries for children 17 and younger; and Proposition 133, which would require life imprisonment for child sex traffickers. The three proposals are some of the most contentious on the November ballot and track with a national Republican movement that calls for increased parental rights and shielding children from sexuality and gender influences. In Colorado, Lee has become a lightning rod for controversy, to the point that she said she is called an “anti-trans bigot just about every day” and had to increase security at her home because of death threats. Lee’s experience with her daughter’s middle school club propelled her into a prominent role in Colorado’s debate over transgender youth. But the ballot measures she helped put before voters do not address school clubs or parental guidance over school issues. Instead, opponents say the initiatives would have a broad impact on medical care and criminal sentencing, going far beyond any personal experience that drew Lee into politics. Lee’s social media content is an impassioned blast against the various laws that Colorado has passed in recent years on transgender rights. Her least favorite, one she calls the “worst bill ever in the history of the world,” is a 2025 measure passed by the Legislature that expanded the Colorado Discrimination Act to include misgendering or using a person’s “dead name” at school or work. “It forces all Coloradans to call that man a woman,” Lee said, although the law does not make it illegal to use someone’s dead name or misgender them. “You cannot misgender or deadname, or else (you will) face the penalties of Jack the cake baker,” she said, referring to a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple and a gender reveal cake for a gender transition. Jack Phillips won a partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court but his business suffered because many Coloradans refused to buy his cakes.
10 n Oct. 8, 2026
Erin Lee, at her home in Wellington, talks about ballot initiatives that would prohibit transgender youth from gendered sports and prohibit gender-affirming surgeries for minors on March 31, 2026. / Photo by Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance Lee also calls Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Democratic nominee for governor, Colorado’s “chief kiddie cutter” for fighting the Trump administration’s ban on federal dollars going to gender transition care for children. Gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers, is legal for minors in Colorado, though doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado are no longer prescribing those medications as the hospital faces a federal investigation. The Aurora hospital does not perform gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 18 and never has. Opponents of the measures say Lee is causing Colorado’s transgender community damage. Her issue committee “built its campaign on mocking kids for exploring who they are,” Jax Gonzalez, political director at One Colorado, a gay and transgender advocacy organization, said. “That isn’t protecting kids. Every kid in Colorado deserves to grow up safe, supported and surrounded by neighbors who have their back, and that includes transgender kids.” Colorado for several years has been considered a haven for families with transgender children because of state laws that allow gender-affirming medical care and require that insurance companies cover it. The state also has one of the easiest processes in the nation to change a gender marker on a birth certificate and has anti-discrimination protections for transgender kids in schools. The school club that started it all Lee moved to Colorado from Florida in 2018. She was working and raising three kids. She was a “typical, politically disengaged, apathetic, overly trusting, Democrat-voting mom,” she said. What happened at her daughter’s Wellington middle school in 2021 changed that.
telegraph
That’s when Lee said she found out that her 12-yearold daughter had been attending a gender and sexualities alliance club that was “disguised” as an art club. The then-sixth-grader, sitting alone on the school bleachers one day, was invited to the club by an art teacher, said Lee, who sued Poudre School District in Larimer County in 2023. The lawsuit was dismissed in federal court in Denver and the U.S. Supreme Court declined last year to take up the case. At a club meeting, Lee’s daughter heard a guest speaker talk about puberty blockers, gender transitioning, the definition of polyamory and how to contact a gender-affirming therapist, all without her parents’ knowledge, Lee said. Soon after, the girl told her parents she was transgender and picked out a new name. “She was such an innocent 12-year-old and she came home completely confused,” Lee said. “She had never thought about kissing anyone, a boy or girl, and was still playing with dolls and eating macaroni and cheese on the kids’ menu. “We’re really lucky that we have such a good relationship with our daughter that she came home and told us what was going on, despite the rule of the club being ‘what you hear in here, keep in here.’” The family spent the next year working through it. Lee said her daughter saw a therapist, who affirmed her daughter’s thoughts that she was transgender instead of helping “her be comfortable in her sex or make sense of her feelings.” When the girl became suicidal, she was prescribed antidepressants, Lee said. “We eventually got her through it,” Lee said. “She really came out on the other side and went, ‘I can’t believe
that happened to me. I’m mortified. I’m ashamed. They took advantage of me. I don’t trust anybody anymore,’ and we decided to go public with what happened.” Her daughter, now 17, spoke publicly last year about the experience, calling her parents’ approach “rough” but what she needed. “To be honest, even now, it makes me embarrassed and a little disappointed with myself,” she said, tearfully, during a Colorado Parent Advocacy Network panel. “They asked me, ‘Is this really who you are? Are you really a boy?’ “They were right. I’m not a boy. I was just really, really confused.” The Poudre School District cut ties with the nonprofit that was facilitating the gender and sexualities club in 2022. In September, the Poudre School District Board voted to officially oppose the ballot measure that would keep transgender students off gendered sports teams. Kicking off a firestorm While Lee acknowledged that none of the three measures are about gender and sexualities clubs, she said her family’s experience connected her to other parents across the nation who have stories about children’s attempted gender transition, inequality in sports and sharing locker rooms with children of the opposite sex, and children taken into sex trafficking. To her, the measures are about protect-
ing kids at school, in sports and everywhere else. “I had so many people reach out, and they were afraid to say it out loud, and they were still going through it with their kids,’” Lee said. “That’s what keeps me going in this public sphere that is very uncomfortable for me.” When Lee decided to speak out about the school club, the story of what her daughter went through caught fire. “It just went viral really fast,” Lee said. “It was a whirlwind for me. It was only conservative outlets that would cover our story, and I wasn’t a conservative. I didn’t know who these people were. It was on Glenn Beck. “Another family reached out, and then another one, and then another one, and I learned that it was a very pervasive problem.” Lee and her husband, along with the parents of another Poudre School District student, sued the district. She lost her job because of the controversy, she said. And soon she was spending hours at the state Capitol, supporting bills that would protect parents’ rights. All three of the ballot measures were once legislation – all voted down by the majority-Democratic Legislature. The ballot initiatives would change state law, not the state constitution,
which means that if voters pass them, the Legislature could come back and change them or eliminate them entirely. Lee believes that won’t happen, that lawmakers have an “ethical obligation to respect the will of the people.” “We’re the lucky ones” Lee and former state Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Larimer County Republican, cofounded Protect Kids Colorado two years ago. Lundberg also made a documentary called “Art Club” about Lee’s family story, billed as a “first-hand account of transgender social contagion.” Protect Kids Colorado has volunteers in all 64 counties, and as those volunteers spread out to grocery stores and community events, they had little trouble collecting the required 124,238 signatures to get each measure on the ballot, Lee said. More than 3,000 volunteers gathered 170,000 signatures for each measure, with a 91% validity rate, she said. The group used mainly volunteers but also paid some signature gatherers, she said. “We didn’t have any money,” Lee said. “We just activated citizenry to get this done, and it defied everyone’s expectations.” Critics of Lee’s three measures have strong opinions and have raised a lot more money to fight them – opponents of the transgender athlete initiative raised
telegraph
$1.3 million through mid-September, eight times as much as the proponents. Opposition to the three measures isn’t entirely based on their sentiment – the measures would also create a pile of unintended consequences, critics said. Opponents say that victims of child trafficking, who are often coerced to recruit others, could end up with life sentences under the sex trafficking measure. Better to let a judge consider the circumstances when handing down sentences, is their argument. Gonzalez, with One Colorado, said one transgender measure would “open the door to invasive gender checks on student athletes” and another “puts politicians between doctors and patients and could block care for kids with dozens of medical conditions.” To Lee, the measures are “very simple, very clearly written and really commonsense protections.” She’s done the work, she said, to help other parents. Lee’s daughter is now a happy teenager, “comfortable in who she is,” Lee said. “But we’re one of the lucky ones. I’ve just met so many families who are not so lucky.” This story was edited for length. The Colorado Sun is a nonprofit, award-winning news outlet covering Colorado. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. ■
Oct. 8, 2026 n 11
StufftoDo
Thursday08 Thursday Morning Cribbage, 8-10 a.m., Just the Drip Coffee Shop, 1600 Florida Rd. Elmore’s Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., Florida Grange, 656 CR 172 Cancer Support Group, 10-11:30 a.m., Wells Group Building, 1130 Main Ave. Tai Chi, 1-2 p.m., Fort Lewis Mesa Library, 11274 Hwy 140, Hesperus Carver Brewing Co. 40th Anniversary Party, 5-8 p.m., Carver Brewing Co., 1022 Main Ave.
Submit items for “Stuff to Do” by Monday at noon at: www.durangotelegraph.com/send-us-your-stuff-to-do/
Spanish Conversation Hour, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218 “Rooted to Rise” Shanta Village Partners 20th Anniversary, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Riverbend Ranch, 27846 Hwy 550 La Plata Quilters Guild meets, 5:30-8 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds Extension Building Dart Tournament, 5:30-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave. Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Ashley Edwards plays, 6 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave. “What Does a Quality HOA Look Like?” 67:30 p.m., Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Dr.
Veterans Hot Dog Friday, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
The Sanjuanderer plays, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Friday Afternoon Club Market, 3-6 p.m., Breen Community Building, 15300 Hwy 140, Hesperus
Ross Douglas plays, 6-9 p.m., Fenceline Cider, 141 S Main Street, Mancos
Ross Douglas plays, 5-7 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Stand Up Comedy: Fresh & Seasoned Showcase, doors 6:30 p.m., American Legion, 878 2nd Ave.
Mental Health in the Mountains Film Night, doors 5:30 p.m., Fort Lewis College Noble Hall 130 Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Author Event: Annette McGivney & Betsy Gaines Quammen with Maria’s Bookshop, 6-8 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave. Dustin Burley plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Kate Mclachlan and Her Funny Friends, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. Pete Giuliani Trio plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave. Birds of Play, 7-10:30 p.m., The iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave., #207 “The Magic of Motown,” 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC
Saturday10 Bayfield Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-12 noon, Pine Valley Church, 1328 CR 501
Indie and Punk Rock featuring The Grumbles, Puma Generals, Natural Infestation, Gabe Casual and Gnarwhal Jrz., 6:30 p.m., The Swarm at The Hive, 1175 Camino Del Rio Riley J w/ Nu Bass Theory, 8-10:30 p.m., The iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave., #207
Sunday11 Durango Marathon and Half Marathon, 8 a.m., Santa Rita Park Durango Flea Market, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds Veterans Benefit Breakfast, 9-11 a.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave. Sunday Record Brunch Club, 12 noon-3 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave. Sunday Crafternoon, 12 noon-5 p.m., Durango Winery, 900 Main Ave. Sunday Irish Jams, 12:30-3 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice, 3000 Main Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Durango Farmers Market on Main, 9 a.m.-12
The Rev Free Concert, 2:30-4:30 p.m., Rotary Park, 1565 E. 2nd Ave.
Christopher Cody Meacham plays, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Apple(less) Days Festival, 9 a.m.-12 noon, Main Ave.
Funk Jam Sessions, 4-6 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Bluegrass Jam, 6:30-9 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice, 3000 Main Ave.
Fire Prevention Day, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Buckley Park
The GaiaShakti Kirtan Band plays, 7-8:30 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, 419 San Juan Dr. Open Mic, 7-9 p.m., The American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
Friday09
100 Years of Highway 550 Talk, 1-2 p.m., Animas Museum, 3065 W. 2nd Ave. Yarn Meetup, 1-3 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave. “Graduated State Income Tax on the Ballot,” League of Women Voters discussion, 2:30-4 p.m., Wells Group, 1130 Main Ave.
iAM Music Jazz Jam, 5-7 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave. Matt Lewis plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Monday12 LEGO Club, 2-4:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Earlybird Toastmasters, 7-8:30 a.m., The Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 225
Pete Giuliani plays, 5-7 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Veterans Friday Morning Coffee, 8-10:30 a.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
Adam Swanson plays, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
BID Coffee & Conversation, 8:30-9:30 a.m., TBK Bank Community Room, 259 W. 9th St.
Tracy Wiebeck plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Barons Creek Vineyard Tasting Room, 901 Main Ave.
Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30 p.m., The Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste 109, online www.durangodharmacenter.org
Yoga of Recovery, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Smiley Building, 1308 E. 3rd Ave., Room 20A
Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
12 n Oct. 8, 2026
telegraph
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
AskRachel
Hired hell, catting around and algo therapy Interesting fact: The average therapist-client relationship lasts anywhere from six to 20 sessions. But remember, I’ve dragged that number down with every therapist I tried just once. Dear Rachel, People keep telling me I need to get better at asking for help. So, I hired a couple basic professionals to make my life easier. Right out of the gate, my new bookkeeper recommended what amounts to tax fraud, and the handyman left a bigger mess under the kitchen sink than the one he came to fix. How does anyone ever trust other humans? – Self Reliant Dear Do-It-Myselfer, I’m continually amazed that so many humans on so many cell phones aren’t managing to crash their cars every 15 seconds. The fact that any street in the world works more often than it doesn’t baffles me. I think the problem isn’t trusting humans, per se – it’s that every human is well below average in some way, and those seem to be the things that draw people to the jobs they choose. Keep trying. And maybe try the tax fraud? (Note: this does not construe tax advice.) – Measure twice, hire once, Rachel
Dear Rachel, My roommate has cats, which is not the problem. But my roomie has taken to talking to me through his cats. “Fluffy thinks that’s a stinky idea! Ew, gross, who wants to do dishes?” he says in the cat’s voice. I tried playing along. “No one wants to. But it’s a stupid human job,” I’d say. It wasn’t cute then, and it’s become awful. We’re stuck in the lease for another eight months. How can I survive this without snapping? – Crazy Non-Cat Lady Dear Poofy Tail, Pretty sure every jurisdiction in the country would not hold you liable for snapping under such circumstances. (Note: this does not construe legal advice.) All I can say is, rumor has it cats will eat the bodies of their owners if they die. Maybe all you have to do is plan a month-long vacation and come back to reporting the bones in your house? – Meow, Rachel Dear Rachel, I’ve noticed the shift in my algorithm. For years I’ve gotten therapy-centric content. (which I’ve been in for years.) Lately that’s shifted to “maybe you should quit therapy,
Jazz Church, 7:30-9:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Tuesday Trivia, 6-8:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Randy Crumbaugh plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
The Monday Social with Country Swing & Line Dance, 7 p.m., BuckWild Durango, 1315 Main Ave.
Wednesday14
“Night Sky Wonder Tour,” 7-9 p.m., SJMA Durango Nature Center, 63 CR 310, registration required
Wild New Way Women’s Collective Open Gathering, 8:30 a.m., Durango Collective, 1315 Main Ave.
Tuesday13
Fort Lewis Mesa Book Club, 3-4 p.m., Fort Lewis Mesa Library, 11274 Hwy140, Hesperus
Economic Monthly Meeting, 9-10 a.m., FLC Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 225 How to Stay Out of a Nursing Home, 1 p.m., TBK Bank Community Room, 259 W. 9th St. Four Corners Free Mobile Health Clinic, 2-5:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave. Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Zine Making, 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave. “Weaving a Partnership,” Cedar Mesa Perishables Project presentation and film screening, 67:30 p.m., Center of Southwest Studies at FLC
Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com it’s keeping you stuck in loops.” What does the algo know that I don’t know? Have we entered a post-therapy time in our culture? – Processed Out Dear Better Self, Has your therapist recommended tax fraud or covering up a murder? If not, then they may well be one of the more responsible professionals out there! Never let them go! (Note: this does not construe medical advice.) Besides, just because someone keeps you coming back week after week doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in it for the money or the job security or the power trip. Some of us just like seeing our names in print. – See you next Thursday, Rachel Trivia Night, 6-8 p.m., Zia Cantina, 2977 Main Ave. Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. San Juan Basin Archaeological Society presents “Late Middle Archaic and Early Agricultural Period in Southern Arizona,” 7 p.m., FLC Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum The (Almost) Weekly Comedy Open Mic, 7-8 p.m., American Legion, 878 E 2nd Ave.
Ongoing
TUkulele Night, 5-7 p.m., Four Leaves Winery, 528 Main Ave.
Banned Books Week Historical Poster Display & Zine Contest, Oct. 4-10, Ignacio Community Library
Ska Bingo Night, 5-7 p.m., The DoubleTree Animas River Lounge, 501 Camino del Rio
West Slope Startup Week, Oct. 5-9, various locations, downtown Durango
20th annual Village Aid Project Celebration, doors 5:30 p.m., FLC Student Union Ballroom
NFL Sunday Ticket Football, thru Jan. 10, 2027, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave.
“Money Talks,” casual personal finance meetup, 5:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Upcoming
Meditations on Compassion, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste.109 Writers & Scribblers, 6-8 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
telegraph
HOA Board Member Celebration, Thurs., Oct. 15, 4-6 p.m., Rochester Hotel Garden, 726 E. 2nd Ave. Know Your Ballot: FLC students present ballot initiatives and Q&A, Thurs., Oct. 15, 6-8 p.m., FLC Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum Oct. 8, 2026 n 13
FreeWillAstrology by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Dear Oracle: My secret terror is being ordinary. I need to be special, and lately I’m worried I’m just average and unremarkable. That thought is repugnant to me! Can you offer any advice? – Afraid of Average.” Dear Afraid: The pressure to be extraordinary is exhausting because it’s the wrong goal. Your birthright and your life assignment aren’t about being special in the sense of better-than. You’re simply meant to be vividly, generously, amazingly yourself. In coming weeks, I invite you to trade the anxious hunt for superiority for the warm joy of self-expression. Shine because it feels fantastic, not to outrank anyone. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Ravens sometimes hide food while pretending to conceal it elsewhere, especially if another raven is observing. They’re strategic and imaginative and aware of how they’re perceived. With their social intelligence as inspiration, I will encourage you to think more consciously about the stories you’re broadcasting. Which precious projects will flourish better if protected from premature scrutiny? Do you have any in-progress blooms that really should continue to incubate before being revealed? Discernment isn’t deception. PS: Conversely, there may be a part of you that deserves greater visibility. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Taurus philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote that life must be lived forward but can only be understood backward. You Geminis are naturally inclined to resist that advice. Many of you analyze experiences while they’re unfolding. Can I coax you to try a different approach in coming weeks? As usual, you may be tempted to figure everything out immediately. But the most useful clarity won’t arrive until later, as you survey what has occurred and recognize patterns. So try to stay curious rather than overly diagnostic. Keep gathering impressions, stories, and clues. Allow events to transpire like chapters in a book. CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Germans have a word, Sehnsucht, for a feeling that my English language can’t quite convey: a deep, sweet, aching longing for something you can’t name. It may be a faraway home you’ve never visited or a wholeness you seem to remember without ever having had. Most people treat this yearning as a problem to be fixed or numbed. But I think it’s sacred information, and you’re especially fluent in it right now. Don’t rush to resolve the ache. Follow it like a scent. Let it lead you toward the meaning your soul is homesick for.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Botanists know that climbing vines have a simple approach. They keep extending their sensitive tendrils until they discover something sturdy enough to support upward growth. Their progress depends on continual experimentation. I love it when you imitate this style of intelligence, Leo, which I think will be especially useful and successful during the coming weeks. So instead of demanding guarantees before beginning a new endeavor, offer exploratory feelers. Ask friendly questions. Test prototypes. The right support system probably already exists, but may not reveal itself until you reach toward it. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of my favorite Virgos works in a museum cleaning centuries-old paintings with exquisite patience. She uses tiny swabs and gentle solvents to lift away layers of darkened varnish and grime. She’s an expert at making the original colors emerge so vividly that the painting looks newly made. But her work demands artful restraint. If she presses too hard or applies the wrong solvent, she could destroy the very thing she means to reveal. This approach can be your specialty in the coming weeks, Virgo. I hope you will attend to valuables that have been obscured by accumulated grime, like old habits, stale assumptions, and other people’s projections. Your task is to gently lift it all away and let the true colors shine. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Periodically, you have the cosmic right to receive precisely what you need. Life is duty-bound to deliver a close approximation of full satisfaction. I believe now is one of those times. So please be bold and articulate about naming the specific blessings you require. Write them down, speak them aloud, and pray for them—not as a demand, but as a hearty invitation. Then, for a while, live as if all of creation is indeed honor-bound to respond accordingly, adjusting its behavior so it’s in harmony with the gifts you’ve asked for. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Every Thursday night, I haul my trash bin out to the street so the collectors can empty it the following morning. Most weeks it’s threequarters full. But now and then I produce an unusually large haul of debris. On those occasions, I have to turn into a one-person compaction crew: I grab a low-hanging branch of the persimmon tree, hoist myself up, drop down feet-first into the can and bounce around to squash everything enough to squeeze in the overflow. Consider this my audition to be your role model, Scorpio. According to my reading of the celestial weather, it’s time for you to consolidate
Good selection of clothing for cooler temps as well as lots of Halloween ideas and accessories
14 n Oct. 8, 2026
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Ancient navigators sometimes crossed vast stretches of sea by studying the swells beneath their boats. Their bodies were instruments of perception that enabled them to feel the subtle wave patterns generated by winds and distant islands. Your intuition has a similar sensitivity these days, Sagittarius. I hope you will trust it: what your whole being senses before your rational mind assembles the evidence. I call this fully embodied intelligence. It deserves a key role in your decision-making. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’ve never been a fan of Capricorn poet Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931). The ideas he expressed seem commonplace and sentimental to me. But his book “The Prophet” is an all-time bestseller translated into more than 100 languages. Millions of readers have adored and benefited from his words, and he’s acclaimed as a literary hero in his native Lebanon. So who cares what I think! I’ll just shut up and appreciate the fact that he worked hard and published a lot. His disciplined, painstaking efforts have been widely inspirational. Let’s make him your role model for the coming months. I think you’re primed to create enduring offerings that nourish people’s souls. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Think of an aspect of your life that you have always wished you could change but have assumed or feared you could never change. What if, sometime soon, you try to change it, but this time you do it with playful lightheartedness? You resolve to feel zero stress and have as much fun as possible as you try to shift how this problem works. You decide you will use your imagination to dream up unprecedented and even outrageous ways to break your trance and invite sweet liberation to swoop in. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Geologists tell us that over time, rocks really do get transformed under sustained pressure. Their material gets reorganized into denser, more stable stuff. This is an apt metaphor for you, dear Pisces. You’re under pressure right now, and it may feel intense. But what if it’s actually reconfiguring you? Maybe the constraints are what you need to make you more focused, more essential, and more real. Not all pressure is bad, and this is proof. Ask yourself: What is this pressure making possible that freedom couldn’t create? Let yourself be reorganized. Our Losing heal health th ins nsur urance? ce? Lo service is Getting kicked Get cked off Med Medica caid? d? FREE! Turning 65 / Enr Turn nroll olling in Med Medica care? e?
Fall ll is here ere! Buy • Sell • Trade • Consign ~ Home Furnishings ~ Clothing ~ Accessories ~ Jewelry Closed July 4 • Open Tues. - Sat., 12 noon - 5 pm • 572 E. 6th Ave. • 970-385-7336
and discard at least half a year’s accumulation of obsolete clutter – both the invisible emotional kind and the tangible stuff filling your space.
2855 Main Ave., Suite A102 www.jayshortinsurance.com
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Call or text Merida or Forrest: 970-382-8147
classifieds
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon. Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $10 minimum. Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check. (Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)
Ads can be submitted by emailing: classifieds@ durangotelegraph.com
tion Collaborative. Registration requested: durango-colorado.isosld.afsp.org/ If you or someone you know is considering suicide call/text "988.”
Announcements Notice of Public Sale To enforce self-service storage facility lien. “Personal Property,” stored at Unit C32 of The Animas Mini Storage at 20995 Highway 160, Durango, CO 81301, described as: fishing pole, suitcase, duffel bag, tent & boxes/bins/bags of misc., which are stored under a Rental Agreement between The Animas Mini Storage and Levon Ellison, will be sold to the highest cash bidder unless all rents and fees are paid in full prior to the auction. Date and time of Sale: October 10, 2026, at 9:30 AM Terms of Sale: CASH Place of Sale: The Animas Mini Storage, 20995 Highway 160, Durango, CO. All bidders must present a valid State-issued picture ID to place bids.
BodyWork Massage by Meg Bush 30, 60 & 90 min Meg Bush, LMT 970759-0199
Electric Repair Roof, gutter cleaning, fence, floors,. walls, flood damage, mold, heating service
Dog Fosters Needed Parker’s Animas Rescue urgently needs fosters to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs. We supply all necessary items: crate, food, leash, toys, behavioral support and vet care. You provide the love and guidance. parkersanimalrescue.com. Durango Area Association of Realtors is accepting grant funding requests
HaikuMovieReview ‘Mr. K’ If “Stranger Things” and “Parasite” had 200 peculiar babies – Lainie Maxson from local nonprofit organizations. Qualifying organizations must be in La Plata or San Juan County, Colo. Preference will be given to housing and family support organizations. Deadline is Thurs., Oct. 15. For info., call 970-247-9604.
Boiler Service - Water Heater Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
Wanted Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213
CommunityService ForSale
Services
Free Conflict Support Group Oct. 22, 12 noon - 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. Monthly confidential meetup provides space to talk, get perspective and learn ways to handle conflict – work, family, relationships, neighbors, politics or anything else. Facilitated by Dave Albrechta, coach, mediator and integrative lawyer. Email Dave@Tallgrasscollective.org to register and receive meeting link.
Chapman Electric Professional, reliable repair and installation. Residential and commercial, new construction and remodels both big and small. Colorado licensed. Mike 970-4036670
Survivor of Suicide Loss Day Durango Community Recreation Center, Sat., Nov. 21, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Hosted and led by The Grief Center of Southwest Colorado, The Cody Project and The La Plata County Suicide Preven-
Reruns Home Furnishings Refresh your iiving spaces. Small furniture and furnishings, rugs, kitchenwares, artwork and more! Also looking to consign. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat.
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50% OFF one month of display ads* *1/8th page or larger • Ads start at just $80/week! Get your business in front of thousands of adoring fans each week to make sure you’r not a one-hit wonder
For details email: missy@durangotelegraph.com Oct. 8, 2026 n 15
16 n Oct. 8, 2026
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