Highlights of 2017
A Year in Review Edition
Volume 11 • Edition 1
January 3, 2018
Delivering over 17,000 papers to rural Adams, Morgan, and Weld Counties
Welcome to Colorful East California
By Jon Caldara, President of the Independence Institute From The Denver Post When asked about a popular restaurant, Yogi Berra put it like only Yogi could. “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” Well, Colorado has turned into that restaurant. A fascinating recent report by The Denver Post’s Aldo Svaldi (which I’m pretty sure is the name he made up to start a budget winery) details the demographic shifts happening to our once ruggedly individualistic state. More people are still pouring into Colorado than sneaking out, but the gap is narrowing. Last year was the first drop this decade in people moving here from other states. At the same time, more people were leaving Colorado than ever before. There were still 30,000 more coming than going, so don’t think our population is shrinking. They’re still flooding in like the Chinese into Korea during the war, and destroying what Colorado used to be. People have always come here, that’s not news. The real story is people are escaping at record numbers to get away from what the state has sadly become. Most anti-growth types yap about how all these out-of-state transplants hurt the “character” of their communities. To the point even traditionally sensible places like Lakewood have turned tribal in attempting growth limits, foolishly thinking it will reduce traffic and give them back some elbowroom. Elitist Boulder proves it does just the opposite. “Character” of communities always changes and we’ll always long for what they used to be like in our younger years. People are fleeing Colorado not because there’s too many people here or a box store replaced a mom-and-pop shop (don’t worry, the box store will be replaced by Amazon drones, and later something will replace that). They’re bolting because what it is to be a Coloradan has changed. Deep down in its soul there has been a seismic shift in the spirit of Colorado, in its people. It’s not the change in the physical “character” of our town. It’s the change in the character of our people. You feel it. You’re reminded of it every time you roll your eyes when you’re stuck behind a California license plate in traffic. You feel it with the growing “triggered” society, ready to riot over a sign at a coffee shop. You feel it with every proposal to raise “fees” on grocery bags or drinks with sugar, force green roofs, municipalize power companies, raise sin taxes on smoking, build city-owned internet, growth control, gun control, healthcare control. Control, control, control. You feel it — we are becoming California. More than ever Coloradans want to make decisions for other people and engineer how others live. This is wildly antithetical to the Colorado I grew up in. The personal stories in Svaldi’s report echo this Californication as the reasons our escapees are fleeing: “The growth of our beautiful city has brought nothing but increased traffic, angry entitled transplants who have no respect, and a cost of living that is through the roof.” “Colorado had become very liberal, anti-religion, anti-gun and way too sensitive about stuff.” Colorado has always been a destination state, perhaps THE destination state in THE destination nation. Why? Because people were drawn to Colorado because it was the place where one could write his own biography. People who craved the freedom to make their own decisions were pulled to this state by some unseen magnet which created the Colorado Character. Miners, farmers, ranchers, brewers, artists, techies and businessmen all were drawn here and had one common denominator: a fearless desire to take on risk. They directed their own activities, made their own calls, and through the power of freely associating with others built the greatest state in America. The tales of their failures and successes only powered the magnet more. The magnet that seems to pull today’s new Coloradans are pretty mountains, a job, and home that somehow costs less than the one they’re selling in California. The new Colorado character craves the illusion of security and certainty of outcome. It’s time to rename our state East California. Jon Caldara, a Denver Post columnist, is president of the Independence Institute, a libertarian-conservative think tank in Denver, and host of “Devil’s Advocate” on Colorado Public Television.
County Celebrates Completion of It’s Largest Infrastructure Project: WCR 49 Corridor
WELD COUNTY, CO—Two years ago, Weld County Government embarked on its most ambitious project to date – building a 20-mile, five-lane, concrete corridor to run north/south through the county. On Saturday, November 18, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. the official completion of this corridor will be celebrated at a public event to be held at the county’s Kersey Grader Shed, located at 23636 WCR 54 (just west of WCR 49). “This is an exciting time for Weld County,” said Commissioner Chair Julie Cozad. “This project, which the county was able to pay for in cash, is completed on time and on budget, and it now provides an additional north/ south route for travelers in the county.” While improvements to WCR 49 had been on the county’s project list for years with county officials actively pursuing an access management plan on the corridor, it was the 2013 flood, which at one point closed most of the north/south roads in the county, that prompted the project to be done sooner rather than later and at an expedited pace. “This corridor provides an alternative to Highway 85 and even I-25. These improvements ensure we have a road that will be an efficient and safe transportation corridor for the traveling public and our residents,” said Commissioner Mike Freeman, coordinator for the Public Works Department. During the celebration event, commissioners will speak about the background of the corridor project as well as highlight some of the project’s interesting statistics including this: as of October 13, 2017, Interstate Highway Construction (the contractor for the project) and their subcontractors, material suppliers and vendors had injected over $10.7 million into the local economy. “This is a project that will benefit Weld County residents for years to come,” said Cozad.
What’s In This Issue:
Page 2: Way of the World Page 2: 100 Years Community United Methodist Church Page 2: Wiggins- A Gigabit City! Page 3: Town of Hudson Dedicates New Town Hall Page 4: MCC Employees Give Locally Page 5: Mayor Patch Recognized at Open House Page 6: Keene Clinic 7th Annual Polka Fest Fundraiser Page 6: Wiggins Elementary Students of the Month Page 8: Weld County 4-H Recognition Night Page 8: Pedal the Plains in Keenesburg, CO Page 9: Keenesburg Days at the American Legion Post #180 Page 10: Dedication of Carbon Valley Veterans Memorial Page 11: Aims CC Opens New Applied Technology and Trades Center Page 13: Special Olympics Held at Weld Central Middle School