The Lost Creek Guide January 17, 2024

Volume 17 • Edition 2

January 17, 2024

Delivering to over 17,500 homes & businesses including all of Morgan County.

“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light” George Washington “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed” Thomas Jefferson

Putting the Fiscal Impacts of the Recent Influx of Migrants to Denver in Context

by DJ Summers, Common Sense Institute America’s southern border crisis is impacting Denver in a big way. If the Denver mayor’s recent spending projections of $180 million hold true, the city will have spent several city departments’ worth of general funding by the end of 2024. This comes to about $504 per individual tax filer in Denver.

In FY2023, there were more than 3.2 million migrant encounters at U.S. borders, a number nearly equivalent to the total number of babies born in the country in 2022 (3.6 million). With over 35,400 migrant arrivals in Denver since January 2023, Colorado has the highest level of migration relative to population of any state not on the southern border.

Migrants have been arriving at record levels for more than 14 months. The City is providing a range of services, including shelter and food, and coordinating with local non-profits. The total City expense in 2023 was more than $36 million, within the range estimated by CSI in October. The cost is growing as new shelters open and the city begins covering some migrants’ rent (one month of rent for migrants with jobs and three months of rent for those without). The City is opening a new congregate shelter but wants to transition migrants to permanent shelter from there.

Though the mayor’s budget proposal in October included a plan to start the year with $20 million set aside for spending on migrants, his presentation to the Denver City Council on January 2nd indicated that the City could spend more than $180 million on migrants in 2024. To date, spending has come from a combination of federal, state, and City funds, but it is unclear how the city would be able to spend the projected 2024 amount.

• If the Denver mayor’s cost projections played out in real time, the city’s spending on migrants would equal the spending levels of various city departments over time: • $15 million by January – General Fund spending for the Denver Department of Community and Behavioral Health • $44.1 million by March – General Fund spending for the Denver District Attorney’s Office • $59.8 million by April – General Fund spending for the Denver Department of Transportation’s operations • $103.2 million by July – General Fund spending for the Denver County Sheriff jail operations • $135 million by September – All City of Denver transportation and infrastructure spending • $152.2 million by October – Denver Police Patrol Districts Division spending • $181 million by December – Department of Parks and Recreation and Cultural Facilities PLUS the Office of Human Services City of Denver spending alone does not fully account for money and resources spent in Colorado. The mayor’s estimate does not include spending by non-profits, hospitals, and first responders. For example, Denver Health reports a surge in the number of patients from Central America but has not publicly released any figures on how much that care may cost.

Denver is not alone. Carbondale received $5 million funding an influx of Venezuelan refugees.

The Mayor’s Office’s projections are alarming but highly uncertain. The monthly amount under the $180 million annual projection ($15M) is over five times the reported December 2023 spending. According to the same CSI model that accurately predicted the City’s total migrant spending through last December, additional spending through 2024 could reach $55.5 million at the current rate of daily arrivals.

Budgets reflect policy choices. Policy makers and the public should carefully weigh trade-offs prior to turning projections into budgetary commitments.

Sheree’s Seniors 2023

by Sheree Sloan My 2023 Sheree’s Seniors campaign was a huge success!! Because of your abundant generosity of time, skill, and donations, we were able to gift 247 seniors in 7 different facilities.

As this project grows so does the awesome support from friends, family and the extended community who help make this blessing a reality.

Thank you to Mary Wafel, Peyton Yauger, DC Enroughty, Miriam Beg and Amador Guerrero for helping deliver all of the gifts!! The smiles on the Seniors faces were priceless. AND we had a blast!!

Thank you to my cookie bakers: Darlene Lewis, Mary Wafel, Cathy Yauger, Patty Musgrave, Tonya Pitcher, Diane Sauter and Tina Swayne.

Thank you to my team who helped put together cookie bags and assemble all of the gift bags: Tonya, JT and Jenna Pitcher, Debbie Howard, Donna Smith, Sarah Hinkle, Darlene Lewis, Patty Musgrave and Diane Sauter.

Thank you to Debbie Klausner, Rosemary Simpson, and Martha Klausner for sewing bibs and making flannel blankets.

Thank you to Sheri Martinez for crocheting lap blankets all year long!! They were beautiful, soft and the seniors loved them.

Finally, I want to thank Bob Grand for always working with me to get needed exposure and recognition to the community.

My heart is so full and so grateful to have had this opportunity to touch lives during the holiday season.

I am already looking forward to next year! There are many different ways for you to get involved. If you would like to be a part of my senior team, call or text me (Sheree Sloan) at 303-359-3940. Donations will be excepted and welcome through out the year. Santa works all year long so we will as well!!

Be still my heart!!!!! Sheree

Sheree’s Seniors 2023 Photos continued on page 13...

WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE

Page 2: Way of the World Page 2: Candidate Letters to the Public Page 3: Colorado State Senator Byron Pelton Op-Ed on County Clerks Page 3: Morgan CC announce 2024 Calendar Photo Contest Winner Page 5: Wiggins School District Newsletter Page 7: Crowded CD 4 Republican Primary Contest Page 8: Brush & Fort Morgan Basketball Results Page 10: Common Sense Institute Review of Governor Polis State of the State Address

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Lost Creek Guide

Way of the World

by Bob Grand A reminder that this past weekend temperatures were caused by the polar vortex dipping south, good thing we have global warming otherwise who knows what the temperature would have dropped to. Nature reminds us, quite regularly, who is really in charge.

The Denver Mayor, Mike Johnston, has asked Denver Department heads to look at a 15% reduction in services to help offset the cost of providing shelter and services for illegal immigrants. The big city mayors are finally beginning to realize the direct fiscal impact illegal immigration is having on their individual city’s finances. They are all clamoring for additional federal dollars to offset the additional expense. It was all right as long as it was along the border.

The numbers of illegal immigrants getting into the country unchecked is staggering. Since 2020 the number of non-detained illegal immigrants has soared to over 17.7 million, with almost a 30% increase this past year in 2023. This is effectively an invasion that has and continues to occur. It is the constitutional responsibility of the Federal government to protect our borders.

If you look at the total forecasted 2023 population of Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Colorado it totals about nineteen million people. In the last four years the federal government has allowed more illegal immigrants to enter the country than the existing population of these nine states combined. These illegal immigrants qualify for a wide variety of social welfare benefits. Who pays for all that? The taxpayers. It does not take a financial genius with an Ivy League PhD to realize this is not sustainable. As a country we are on an accelerated journey to economic disaster.

Rob Natelson, a former constitutional law professor who is a senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver, who authored “The Original Constitution: What it actually said and Meant” noted the following references to the word invasion in the constitution in the January 10-18th issue of the Epoch Times page A16: “Each state has a militia. Congress may enlist state militias to “repel invasions” (Article I, Section 8, Clause 15) An “Invasion” may give Congress authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (a traditional protection against imprisonment without trial) (Article I, Section 9, Clause 2) The federal government is obligated to protect each state “against invasion.” (Article IV, Section 4) A state – independently of the federal government - may engage in war if “actually invaded, in such eminent Danger as will not admit of delay (Article I, Section 10, Clause 3)” Natelson noted that it all depends on the definition of invasion. If you are a rancher along the border in Texas, you might have a different definition than a resident of an urban city.

However, listening to recent comments by the big city mayors one sure has to wonder if the definition of invasion is beginning to jell throughout the country.

It is unfortunate, the United States does not have a particularly good record over the years in managing its relationship with the people of Central and South America. Many, well intentioned people, use this as a justification for a fully open border policy. You have to ask should policy be decided by our elected officials and not by default by taking no action. But who is responsible for that? I would put forth that we the people are responsible. We elect people, over and over again to Washington, who fail to provide solutions. The most recent example of this is the clamor about the ongoing budget resolution issues. It turns out the difference between the Democrat proposal and the Republican proposal on the total budget is about 7%. Now that is still a lot of money but the order of magnitude of the expenses is not addressed. Government spending is currently almost 35% of the United State GDP. Historically that number has been about 25% of gross GDP except during extreme conditions such as war or pandemics, Worse, this growth in public spending has crept down to the state, county, and local levels.

All of that growth in expense falls directly onto the taxpayer. Rather than focus on the need and requirements of the taxpayer, many elected officials seem to focus on getting elected and then satisfying their donors or on a small but very vocal group of their constituents. I believe 2024 could be a tipping point. The people of America are realizing they are getting the truly short end of the stick while being asked to continue to pay ever increasing taxes for less services, so that special interests’ groups can receive more benefit. This is not equitable.

2024 will also bring a brutal awareness to corporate America that there is a price to pay for wokeness. If you read the employment news over the last couple of weeks it is not about job hiring but layoffs, the banking, auto, tech, and some manufacturing industries, to name a few. Additionally, earnings per share are suffering. When interest rates were low corporations borrowed money at almost zero interest rates which facilitated their ability to buy back stock, which reduced the number of shares outstanding which propped up earnings per share numbers. They cannot do that today. Raising prices will increase revenue but now companies are being forced to look at reducing expenses. For many companies that will lead directly to employee reductions.

Now where does that leave government employment at the federal, state, county and local levels? Ask your elected officials. The answer is that the sheer number of employees in all almost all areas has gone up as well as the total compensation including wages and benefits increases. This is not sustainable unless paid for by the taxpayer. Taxpayers are beginning to think enough is enough.

As always, your thoughts and comments are always appreciated: publisher@lostcreekguide. com

The Lost Creek Guide, Llc

Bob Grand - Publisher 303-732-4080 publisher@lostcreekguide.com lcgnews.com Our deadline is 7 working days before publication

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Letters to the Editor are encouraged. Letters may be edited for length, libelous, or inappropriate content. All letter submissions should include name, address, & phone number for verification purposes. Letters are published at the editor or publisher’s discretion. Opinions expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Lost Creek Guide or staff.

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January 17, 2024

Letter to the Citizens of House District 63

by Dusty Johnson, House District 63 Candidate It has become an unfortunate pattern in our state that every legislative session ends up being more contentious and outrageous than the previous.

It’s also the growing trend that every election cycle brings forth more elected leaders that are disconnected from the people. Let’s make 2024 the year that we put strong focus on a “[g]overnment of the People, by the People, for the People,” (President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address). One of our New Year’s resolutions should be to challenge the current mindset we have fallen into as a society when it comes to political accountability and how we interact with our candidates and/or elected officials.

Our state officials should represent the voice of those who elected them. The general definition of the word represent is to act and speak on behalf of a group. To be able to best represent one’s district, it should go without saying that one must listen to the concerns and interests of the area so they know what they are actually talking about. So why is it that our elected officials tend to talk more than they listen? To be honest, I do not like how town halls have become misused because they have become a platform for someone to talk at (not with) those in attendance. Townhalls place the focus solely on the individual that is leading the event. It would be more beneficial to organize events where community members can come to the table as equals and have an opportunity to have a discussion with your candidates and/or elected officials – which is why I plan to help organize community roundtables throughout House District 63.

Our elected leaders should always be reminded that they work for the people. You, the people, are the ones who elect – or hire – your elected officials. As such, you deserve the opportunity to talk with your potential/elected officials and tell them what it is you want acted upon or addressed. I am running to be your next State Representative because I want to listen to you and be your voice. Please reach out to me if you would like to help organize a community roundtable in your area at (970) 370-1154 or dustyforcolorado@gmail.com [House District 63 covers the counties of: Logan, Morgan, Philips, Sedgwick, Washington, parts of Weld, and Yuma]

Letter to the Editor:

To all Morgan County Residents. My name is Kris Musgrave, and I am running to be your next District 1 Morgan County Commissioner. I reside in the far southwest corner of Morgan County with my wife Jessica and our four young children. We own a ranch and livestock feeding operation, as well as Stagecoach Meat Company in Wiggins. As a fifthgeneration family of Eastern Colorado Ag Producers, Faith in God, the love of Farming, and the pride of community runs deep in our roots. Our way of life is very important to us, but continually comes under attack by agendas being pushed by groups and individuals who do not understand or appreciate our way of life. I served the last eight years on the Wiggins School board, am a current board member of the Morgan County Economic Development Corporation, as well as an appointed board member of the Colorado Beef Council. I look to bring to the board of commissioners my knowledge and insight of the current state of agriculture to help fight for our Rural way of life, my experience working with complex balanced budgets to ensure the county can provide and maintain necessary services and amenities, as well as a fair and objective mindset to all areas of economic growth and development in the county. I commit to all Morgan County residents to help lead the county with a compass guided by faith, community, and morals. I truly believe I am the voice, the fight, the passion, and the leader that Morgan County needs heading into an increasingly tumultuous future. If you would like to reach out with questions or support, please send me an email at musgraveforcolorado@gmail.com, call me at 970302-1137, and follow me on facebook @krismusgraveformorgancountycommissioner.

I look forward to the opportunity to serve the community and thank you for your consideration and support.

Kris Musgrave Morgan County Commissioner District 1 Candidate

January 17, 2024

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Lost Creek Guide

Celebrate our County Clerks Instead of Demonizing Them! Op-ed

by Colorado State Senator Byron H. Pelton, District 1 Colorado has a rich history of being a local-control state. We have numerous elected officials that serve at the local level. Whether it be in a municipality, a county, a school district, or a special district; local governments are the heart of our governmental system here in Colorado.

Over the past few years, particularly in the last few months, our county clerks have come under attack as widespread misinformation has been brought to the people and media of Colorado surrounding election integrity.

In the 2020 election, Donald Trump easily won the counties I represent in the northeast corner of the state. Yet, despite an overwhelming majority of votes for Trump, I constantly heard that the election had been stolen while campaigning for my current office. This fall, after working diligently with my colleagues to make sure proposition HH was defeated throughout the state, once again the election integrity of our county clerks was called into question – this time by Ron Hanks, chair of the Colorado GOP Ballot and Election Security Committee.

After the 2020 election, former Colorado Mesa county clerk Tina Peters filed a recount lawsuit. In talking with most of the clerks in my senate district, which covers seven Colorado counties, not only did the recount not uncover any mistakes, but the final recount ended with the exact same number of votes from the original election results. This November, Ron Hanks encouraged any member of the GOP not to certify the 2023 election results, but offered zero evidence to prove the election integrity issues that he is accusing the county carrying out.

I know the majority of county clerks in my district very well and they do their absolute best to ensure fair and free elections in their respective counties. They follow procedures and policies closely, taking great care to line up observers and election judges from both sides of the isle. The level of care they take to ensure elections with integrity is exemplary. If you have concerns about the election process in your county, I would encourage you to contact your county clerk and ask questions. Our clerks take a lot of pride in the work they do, and I believe they would be happy to answer your questions and explain the great lengths they take to ensure professional and ethical elections with only the highest level of integrity. The county clerks in my district are often the most trusted elected officials in their county. In Logan County where I served as a County Commissioner, our county clerk earned more votes than any other elected official on the ballot.

The accusations being made against the Colorado county clerks are not only dangerous, but are also perpetrating a fraud in the great state that I live in. If there is irrefutable proof of wrongdoing, then present it now. If not, end this dangerous rhetoric. We cannot continue this narrative that the elections were stolen just because our candidate didn’t win. The current attacks on the county clerks aren’t accomplishing anything except to create division and weakness in the party. We need to move forward and work to prepare for the 2024 elections, instead of remaining in a mire from the 2020 elections in a manner reminiscent of the democrats after Al Gore’s loss to George W. Bush.

To be clear, I’m not saying there aren’t any concerns that need to be addressed.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s should work better with our local election officials and restore transparency to her office’s election policy. The voter rolls desperately need to be cleaned up and the SOS should do more to clean up those voter rolls and provide guidance on how to audit the ballot signature verification process. Finally, the state legislature should pass a requirement to provide voter identification at all points in voting.

Our county clerks work very hard doing their jobs to make sure that our elections follow the law, are run efficiently and correctly, all while maintaining the highest integrity. I stand with all seven of the county clerks that I represent, and I appreciate the wonderful job they do to make sure that our Republic has fair and free elections.

State Senator Byron H Pelton Senate District 1

MCC Announces Annual Calendar Photo Contest Winner

Patricia Lentell’s photograph marks another milestone in the College’s celebration of community talent.

“I love photography and have mostly done so for my own passion,” stated photographer and contest winner, Patricia Lentell. “Now people are seeing more of that through different events I have photographed.”

“I voted for this photo. The golden sheen makes me think of fresh air and harvested foods coming to my table,” stated MCC Marketing Committee member, Suzanna Spears.

“It is a glorious moment captured with a camera.”

A collage of the photos submitted for the 2024 calendar contest can be viewed at www. morgancc.edu/calendar and on MCC’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

For more information about future contests, email Ariella Gonzales-Vondy at Ariella.

Gonzales-Vondy@MorganCC.edu.

Letter to the Editor:

I found a love for photography in my teens when my parents gave me a camera for Christmas. I found that spirit again after moving to the Wiggins Community in 2015.

I was wondering around our property one day thinking what a beautiful area we live in and a phrase came to my mind, God’s Beauty. Which eventually became “The Beauty of God & Country LLC”. My husband also believed in me and gave me an updated camera for Christmas…once again. Most think that beauty is in the mountains we are surrounded by, others find it in the deserts, fishing, riding trails, night skies or the city lights. I love all of these scenic opportunities and have taken many pictures.

I also found the farm lands and small communities on the Eastern Plains to have a certain beauty as well. In 2016, I found myself working for the Town of Wiggins and they realized my love for photography. I started taking pictures of the events around town. After retiring, I was lucky enough to become friends with Bob Grand from the Lost Creek Guide. He believed in my passion and asked if I could take some pictures for the paper. This new adventure has taken me to so many of our local communities and the events and celebrations they have throughout the year.

Now as I move forward into the future, what an honor and privilege of becoming the winner of the 2024 Morgan County Community College’s Annual Calendar Contest.

This picture is one of my favorites. The community here is welcoming, I am so proud to showcase the beauty for others to see as well. I want to “Thank” the Lingo Family that farm so many fields along with my family’s fields as well. Even at sunset they are out planting and harvesting far into the night or early in the morning.

Remember to follow your dreams, no matter how long it may be before they become reality. I am so utterly honored by this and hope you all enjoy my passion.

I am glad to call everyone I have met so far, my dear friends.

Patricia Lentell The Beauty of God & Country LLC

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Annual DINNER

JANUARY 27th 5:30 - 8:30 pm MORGAN COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS MARK ARNDT EVENT CENTER Join us for our 21st annual salute to Farmers, Ranchers, and Ag Businesses in the Brush! Area. Festivities include booths, dinner, speakers, awards and door prizes. Be sure not to miss it!

5:30PM Social Hour/Booths 6:00PM Dinner 7:00PM Program Introductions FFA Speaker Agriculturist of the Year Award Ag Panel Presented by Lorrie Boyer Tickets available from event Sponsors, or purchaseable at the Chamber Office or door night of Ag Appreciation for $40/ticket.

Get more info at the Ag Appreciation event on the Chamber’s Calendar at: Morgan Community College (MCC) congratulates Patricia Lentell of Wiggins Colorado for submitting the winning image for the college’s annual calendar photo contest.

MCC calendars featuring local photos were first published by the college in 1995. The 2024 winning photograph, “Planting at Sunset, Lingo Farms” depicts an image of a tractor and planter at sunset. The photo will be featured on the 2024 calendar and will be available for free at all MCC campus locations and the MCC Foundation office, 300 Main Street, Fort Morgan, beginning January 2024.

www.brushchamberofcommerce.org/events

Sponsorship/Ticket Information contact at: brushchamberexecdir@gmail.com or 970-842-2666

For more info visit: www.brushchamberofcommerce.org

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Lost Creek Guide

January 17, 2024

Morgan Community College Acquires Property in Wray, Colorado

Morgan Community College announces its recent acquisition of property located at 300 Dexter Street in Wray, Colorado. The purchase, made from Leslie and Bryce Revell, will be the site of a new MCC Wray Center and marks a significant step in the college’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of its students and the Wray community.

The newly acquired building at the corner of Highways 385 and 34 will serve as a strategic investment to support MCC’s ongoing initiatives. As part of the institution’s forward-thinking approach, the goal is to develop the facility to align with the future needs of the college and its stakeholders in the Wray region.

“Morgan Community College has served the Wray and surrounding region for many years in leased locations. Purchasing this property increases MCC’s equity and visibility in the community,” stated MCC President, Dr. Curt Freed. “It will also allow for expanded service and educational opportunities, such as providing space to bring mobile training labs to the region.”

The institution plans to engage in collaborative dialogue in early spring 2024 with community stakeholders to incorporate the needs and aspirations of the Wray region into the building’s renovation plans. Individuals, businesses, and organizations interested in providing input are encouraged to email Info@MorganCC.edu.

“Morgan Community College is a vital asset in our community. Besides offering our high school students educational opportunities that benefitted both of my sons, MCC is helping Wray grow our own nurses and nursing assistants, as well as providing affordable classes for many of our community members,” stated Dr. Monte Uyemura, respected Doctor of Family Medicine and dedicated resident of Wray. “I am looking forward to seeing MCC move into their new location. It will be nice to see an educational institution anchoring that corner, and I hope to see MCC have an even greater presence in Wray in the future.”

“We are absolutely thrilled with our new, prime location that allows us to serve and grow alongside the Wray Community,” stated MCC Director of Regional Community Outreach - Burlington & Wray, Holly Haman-Marcum. “Recognizing the dynamic nature of community, education, and training requirements, we are committed to adapting and becoming an integral partner in the ongoing development of the Wray community.”

While the new Wray Center is being developed, MCC will continue to serve students in its interim location, 423 Main St., Suite G in Wray. The phone number is 970-3325755.

Morgan Community College leadership looks forward to working closely with the residents of Wray in developing the new Wray Center property. The college remains committed to providing quality education, fostering community connections, and contributing to the growth and development of the region.

To receive additional information about how to support MCC’s students or campus development, contact Susan Clough, MCC Director of Development and Foundation at Susan.Clough@MorganCC.edu or (970) 542-3133.

FORT MORGAN www.CityOfFortMorgan.com

The newly acquired building at the corner of Highways 385 and 34 will serve as the future home of the MCC Campus in Wray, Colorado.

Dr. Deborah Coates, MCC Vice President of Instruction; Mindy Centa, MCC Coordinator of Regional Center - Wray; Leslie Revell, Wray Community member and previous owner; HollyHaman Marcum, MCC Director of Regional Community Outreach - Burlington & Wray

Auto, Home, Farm & Commercial

Agents Mark Kinnear Devon Kitchell 303-732-9700 20 S. Main Keenesburg, CO

PLAY PLAY PLAY

SHOP SHOP SHOP

There is a reason Fort Morgan is considered the Christmas Capital of the Plains. We celebrate the winter holidays with a live reindeer roundup, a chili festival, visits with Santa, an evening parade, alpine tubing, a live nativity experience, an art show, free movie matinees, and even a trackless train ride in our Glenn Miller Park. Join us November 13-December 24. Discover more at Christmas Capital of the Plains on Facebook.

January 17, 2024

Lost Creek Guide

WIGGINS SCHOOL DISTRICT 50J JANUARY NEWS

GOOD PEOPLE OF TIGER NATION: January 2024 Happy New Year: Wiggins School District will lower its bond levy from 14.69 mills to 12.5 mills for 2024. The district is able to lower the mills due to an increase in assessed valuation.

By lowering the mills the district will meet its needed payment for bond debt while generating an additional $6.4 million to go toward paying down future debt services or to call the debt early.

After waiting more than three years for the production of a 14 passenger bus, the district has changed direction and purchased a 77 passenger bus to support student transport on district activity trips.

During public participation, former Wiggins School Board President Kris Musgrave announced his bid for a Morgan County Commissioner seat. Kris expressed that he enjoyed his time serving the people of Wiggins and would like to continue serving each and every individual in Morgan County as a County Commissioner.

Congratulations: Football All-Conference: Jason Lousberg: Offensive Back, Americo Lorenzini: Offensive Lineman, Stevie Linton: Offensive Lineman, Hunter Beach: Defensive Lineman, Grant Reed: Linebacker, Jorge Mendez: Linebacker, Jacob Dorren: Defensive Back, Mark Walker: Honorable Mention

Monthly Expenditures for December

General Fund Capital Reserve Bond Redemption​

$917,092.99

$0.00

$0.00

Bond Project Elementary Project

$0.00

$155,492.77

Lunch Fund

$79,877.86

Total Activity Account

$1,152,463.62

$81,787.06

January & February Calendar

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Lost Creek Guide

Judge Orders Democrats at the Colorado Capitol to Stop Using Secret Voting System to Allocate State Budget

The decision marks the second time since September that the Democratic majority in the legislature has faced legal consequences after claims they flouted open meetings laws

by Jesse Paul and Brian Eason, The Colorado Sun Democrats in the Colorado legislature must stop using a secret voting system to decide their budget priorities, a judge ruled Friday in the latest example of the statehouse majority facing legal consequences over claims they flouted the state’s open meetings laws.

Denver District Court Judge David Goldberg ruled that the secret system — quadratic voting — doesn’t comply with the state’s open meetings laws, which prohibit government bodies from taking formal action by secret ballot.

A conservative political nonprofit sued House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Senate President Steve Fenberg in July, arguing that the Democratic caucuses at the Colorado Capitol had violated the state’s open meetings laws by using a quadratic voting system to decide how to allocate state dollars.

McCluskie and Fenberg issued a joint statement on Friday responding to the decision.

“This tool was intended to bring fairness, equity and inclusion into how we invest our state resources, and we are committed to these principles and to transparency in the legislative process,” the Democratic leaders said. “We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are still reviewing it.”

Democrats began using quadratic voting in 2019, as reported at the time by The Colorado Sun. The process applied an obscure economic theory to the challenge of prioritizing budget requests, essentially turning the caucus’ decision-making process into a market. Lawmakers received an allocation of vote tokens to “spend” on programs they cared about most.

But the lawsuit argued that not only did the system violate public transparency laws, it was “purposefully constructed to conceal information the public is entitled to know.” The caucus hired a third-party contractor to conduct the vote and keep the ballots anonymous through an electronic voting system.

Goldberg said the system deprived the public of the ability to know how their elected representatives voted to prioritize pending legislation, “hampering their ability to hold their representatives accountable for how they cast their votes.”

The judge said the Democratic caucuses can use quadratic voting to make budget decisions, but they need to do so in a way that complies with the state’s open meetings laws — by making lawmakers’ votes public.

Lawmakers contended in court that the voting system wasn’t a “secret ballot” because the quadratic voting didn’t constitute an official action of the legislature. The appropriations bills still had to go through public hearings, debates and votes to be adopted into law.

Goldberg disagreed. “Adopting a proposed position through anonymous voting is precisely the reason why the General Assembly amended (the open meetings law) to prohibit secret ballots,” he wrote.

Other defendants in the case were the entire Colorado Senate and Colorado House, as well as Democratic Sens. Jeff Bridges and Chris Hansen as well as Democratic Rep. Bob Marshall. Andrew Lindinger, a Democratic staffer in the Senate and the architect of the quadratic voting system, was also sued.

The lawsuit was brought by the Public Trust Institute, a conservative political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors. The group frequently targets Democrats.

The quadratic voting case was the second time this year Democrats at the Capitol were sued for alleged open meetings violations.

In September, McCluskie, House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, and the Republican and Democratic caucuses settled a lawsuit filed by two Democratic state representatives alleging pervasive violations of the state’s open meetings laws in the chamber. The lawsuit claimed the caucuses didn’t properly provide notice of meetings and that representatives illegally used a disappearing messaging application to discuss legislative business.

The lawsuit was filed by Marshall and state Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver.

As part of the settlement, state representatives agreed to not discuss public business or take a “formal action” during a caucus meeting without first providing public notice of the gathering and promptly making minutes publicly available.

Also, according to a consent decree reached in the case, two or more members of the House “shall not discuss public business through any electronic means (including, without limitation, any instant messaging platform or application) unless written minutes of such meetings are made publicly available upon request.” Those minutes would have to be released under the Colorado Open Records Act. Finally, the legislature agreed to pay Steve Zansberg, the lawyer representing Epps and Marshall, $13,000 in taxpayer dollars to cover his fees. Zansberg is a well-known Colorado media attorney who also represents The Sun and the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

January 17, 2024

Scooter’s Coffee is Open in Fort Morgan

by Ireland Gaddis, Photos by Lost Creek Guide In 1998, Scooter’s Coffee was born, C0-founders Don and Linda Eckes began an amazing journey when they opened their first drive-through coffeehouse in Bellevue, Nebraska. Their keys to success: find a great location and stay committed to highquality drinks, speed of service, and a BIG smile. Scooter’s Coffee is fortunate to have over two decades of success due to its commitment to the original business principles and core company values. Amazing People, Amazing Drinks … Amazingly Fast ® In 1998, Linda Eckles bought happy face stickers and placed them on every drink she sold. It was her way to say, “Have an amazing day!” Customers loved the added touch so much they often commented on how it made their day a little more special. To this day, every drink handed out at the window has a smiley sticker added to the top in hopes of bringing joy to our customers. The Fort Morgan location is owned by Mark Oberg and Jerry Ehrke out of Nebraska, and they also own the Sterling location. Ireland Gaddis (Fort Morgan) and Annie Payne (Sterling) run these locations. Scooters Coffee opened December 15th, 2023, and we are So excited to serve our community with amazing customer service and delicious coffee with a smile! We would not be here without our amazing staff and our community supporting us through this journey.

Scoot on by and give our delicious coffee a try!

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January 17, 2024

7

Lost Creek Guide

Top Republican at Colorado Capitol Jumps Into Crowded 4th Congressional District Race House Minority Leader Mike Lynch’s announcement comes a week after U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert announced she was abandoning her 3rd Congressional District reelection bid to run in the 4th District

by Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun

Then-state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, takes his 1980 Cessna Skylane off the runway on March 16, 2022, in Sterling. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

Colorado House Minority Leader Mike Lynch during the 2023 legislative session, Jan. 9, in the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

Mike Lynch, the top Republican in the Colorado House of Representatives, jumped Wednesday into the GOP primary this year in the 4th Congressional District, a race that has picked up national attention after U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert announced last week she would abandon her current congressional district to run for the 4th District seat.

Lynch, who lives in Wellington, is the minority leader in the Colorado House. He plans to stay in that role during his congressional bid.

“I’m sick of being represented by people that are not sincere in their service,” Lynch told The Colorado Sun. “I think what’s wrong with this country is (Congress) has become a job where your first concern is yourself. I think the people of CD4 deserve to have somebody that’s fighting for them who knows how to do it.”

The 4th District seat will be open after U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, announced Nov. 1 that he wouldn’t run for reelection this year, citing the GOP’s embrace of election conspiracies and Congress’ inability to get work done.

The 4th District, which spans the Eastern Plains and includes much of Douglas County and Loveland, is considered the most Republican congressional district in Colorado, a state that has recently been dominated by Democrats. The 4th District leans 27 points in the GOP’s favor, according to a nonpartisan analysis of election results from 2016 to 2020 by staffers for the Colorado legislature.

Boebert, who was facing dim reelection prospects in her 3rd Congressional District, which is mostly on the Western Slope, announced last week that she would run in the 4th District instead. Although she’s not required to live in the district, the congresswoman said she plans to move there in the coming months from Garfield County.

Lynch said he’s not deterred by the congresswoman’s entrance into the race and that he plans to spend more time talking about what he will get done in Washington as opposed to focusing on what Boebert has been unable to accomplish.

If elected, Lynch said he wants to focus on water issues, securing the U.S.-Mexico border and addressing crime and drug use. He said he would want to serve on the House Armed Services and Agriculture committees.

“There’s a lot you can do from the national level,” he said, explaining that on water he wants to be part of Colorado River use negotiations and be involved with Army Corps of Engineers decisions. “I’ve been wanting to serve at this level since I was in junior high.”

Lynch, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said his combined experience and success in agriculture, the military and at the statehouse set him apart from other candidates in the Republican primary.

“I’ve got more of all the components than any of the other candidates,” said Lynch, who grew up on a family ranch and now has a ranch of his own.

Lynch said he supports the inquiry into impeaching President Joe Biden.

“Depending on what it puts out there, I would be in favor of impeachment if it’s proven that that’s a good case,” he said.

In addition to Boebert, Lynch joins a long list of Republicans vying to replace Buck, including: • Former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling. He’s currently a Logan County commissioner.

• State Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron • Conservative talk radio host Deborah Flora • Former state Sen. Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch

Reflections

by Darryl L. Myers

“Our worth has nothing to do with what we have and everything to do with who we are” “Life is a journey of choice, not chance” “It is the ordinary things that make life extraordinary”

Assuming all of the Republican candidates running in the 4th District make the ballot — they must either collect 1,500 Republican voter signatures or secure a spot through the caucus and assembly process — the large field could work to Boebert’s advantage.

The congresswoman’s challengers will be battling for the anti-Boebert vote, which may in turn block any one of them from exceeding her vote total.

“I think that’s a mathematical certainty — that every credible candidate who gets in there and peels off 5-10% from the other candidates makes it that much more likely that Lauren wins,” said former state Sen. Greg Brophy, a Republican who lives near the town of Wray, which is in the 4th District.

Brophy, who is supporting Sonnenberg, said another candidate could break through in the crowded race, but they would have to spend a lot of money to combat Boebert’s name recognition.

A map showing the boundaries of Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. (Screenshot)

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the U.S. House GOP campaign arm, told The Sun on Tuesday that it views Boebert as an incumbent, even though she’s running in a new district.

It’s unclear if that status will come with financial or other support in the primary.

Meanwhile, Boebert’s departure in the 3rd District race has prompted other Republicans to eye the seat. State Rep. Ron Hanks, an election conspiracy theorist who lost in Colorado’s 2022 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, announced his campaign Friday.

State Rep. Matt Soper of Delta, told The Sun last week he’s “seriously interested in jumping into the race.” Colorado Board of Education member Stephen Varela of Pueblo, who ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in 2022, also said he is “strongly considering the race.”

Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, who is supported by a number of big-name Republicans, including former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, was already running in the GOP primary in the 3rd District when Boebert announced her switch.

Colorado’s congressional primary elections will be held June 25.

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

8

Lost Creek Guide

Northridge Basketball Takes Two From Fort Morgan

by Paul Dineen GetThePictureSportsLLC@gmail.com Photos courtesy of OTSPORTSCHEK / Paul Dineen Fort Morgan Mustangs boys basketball hosted the Northridge Grizzlies on January 9, with Northridge taking the contest, 64-42. The Mustangs ended the first quarter within three, down 15-12. They then fell further behind at the half, 32-18. The third quarter was more favorable for them, ending at 45-38 for the Grizzlies. Northridge then put it away with a 19-4 scoring advantage in the final quarter. All of Northridge’s points were scored by three players: Drake Walker with twenty-seven points, Louis Pisano with twenty-five and Amadrick Woods with twelve. Individual stats were not available for Fort Morgan.

January 17, 2024

Prospect Ridge Academy Boys Basketball Defeats Brush, 68-31

By Paul Dineen GetThePictureSportsLLC@gmail.com Photos courtesy of OTSPORTSCHEK / Paul Dineen Brush Beetdiggers boys basketball played host to the Prospect Ridge Academy (Broomfield) Miners on January 4. Prospect Ridge entered with a 4-3 record. Brush was 1-7, with their lone win against Fort Morgan (then 0-6). Brush took last year’s contest at Prospect Ridge, 5957.

Last season, Prospect Ridge was 13-10, going five games deep into the postseason.

The roster of fourteen included five seniors, who accounted for 68.3% of team scoring.

This year’s roster of twelve includes eight players returning from last year.

Last season, Brush was also 13-10, and also went five games deep into the postseason. The roster of fourteen included nine seniors, who accounted for 98.6% of team scoring. This year’s roster of thirteen includes three players returning from last year.

The Miners controlled the scoreboard throughout the game. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never led by less than eight. They lead by eleven after quarter one, nineteen after two, thirty after three and thirty-seven at the final. Their scoring included six three-pointers to Brushs’ one.

Leading scorers for Prospect Ridge were Samuel Vasquez with seventeen points, Liam Schilling with twelve and Own Miller with ten. Travis Agbosse pulled down eleven rebounds and Vasquez added nine. Vasquez also assisted on five.

Stats were not available for Brush.

Brush’s next home game is on January 25 at 7:00 versus Strasburg. Prospect Ridges next home game is on January 24 at 7:00 versus Peak to Peak.

Louis Pisano of Northridge drives against Fort Morgan’s Aiden Gaver. Pisano scored twenty-five points.

Jackson Wiedrich grabs a rebound for Fort Morgan.

Amadrick Woods scored twelve points for the Grizzlies.

Charlie Langford brings the ball upcourt for Fort Morgan.

Drake Walker of Northridge, who scored twentyseven points, guards Fort Morgan’s Aiden Garver.

In the girls’ game, also at Fort Morgan, the host team’s Achilles Heel was the second quarter. With the exception of the second, the score was 34-31, Northridge. However, Northridge outscored Fort Morgan twenty-five to three in the second, for the final 5934. Point leaders for Northridge were Jillyin Fulton with sixteen and Sophia Carbajal with thirteen. Individual stats were not available for Fort Morgan.

Shaelynn Ramirez brings the ball upcourt for Fort Morgan.

Jillyin Fulton led Northridge scorers with sixteen points.

Sophia Cabajal, here blocking a shot by Bella Phillips, scored thirteen points for Northridge.

Samuel Vasquez attacks for the Miners. Eric Rico defends for the Beetdiggers.

Liam Schilling drives for a layup for Prospect Ridge. Thatcher Queen defends for Brush.

Payson Poland drives for Brush, while Owen Miller defends.

Colorado Beef Council’s Executive Director, Todd Inglee Moves on After over a Decade of Dedicated Service

Todd Inglee steps down to serve as Colorado’s next Brand Commissioner Englewood, CO (January 10th, 2024) – After over a decade of service, the Colorado Beef Council (CBC) announced the departure of its Executive Director, Todd Inglee, who has been selected to serve as the State Brand Commissioner for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Inglee will replace outgoing Colorado Brand Commissioner Chris Whitney, who retired after 12 years in the position.

Inglee will continue to serve the Colorado beef industry by directly impacting policy and practice in the state. His new position will allow him to continue his commitment to the industry while scaling his impact beyond marketing and education.

“Todd has played a significant role in the success of Colorado’s beef industry over the past eleven years. We will miss him greatly, and are grateful for his contributions to our industry. We know he will continue to make an impact on the livestock industry in his new role,” said John Scanga, Colorado Beef Council board Chair. “Not only has Todd been a dedicated Executive Director, but he also has been a compassionate community member and friend to so many.”

As a Colorado native, Inglee has been a producer and advocate for the industry for many years. He graduated from Colorado State University and also attended the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management’s Ag Leadership Program. Aside from his educational background, Inglee founded his own cattle operation, Ralston Valley Beef. Before his five years of service as CBC Executive Director, he sat on the Colorado Beef Council’s Board for six years, during which he also served as board Chair. He was previously active for many years in the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association where he served as association president from 2017 to 2018.

CBC would like to sincerely thank Todd for his decade-plus years of service and dedication. Not only has he proven to be an exceptional state and national leader in the industry, but a strong educator and champion of knowledge and innovation.

CBC will begin the process of hiring a new Executive Director through an extensive search that will be executed by its Board. For more information on CBC and its programs, visit cobeef.com.

January 17, 2024

9

Lost Creek Guide

Doug Lamborn Won’t Seek Reelection In 2024, Meaning All of Colorado’s RepublicanHeld Congressional Seats Will Be Open

Lamborn’s decision is sure to ignite a fierce race in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, which is a Republican stronghold

by Jesse Paul and Sandra Fish, The Colorado Sun U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn won’t run for reelection this year to a 10th term in Congress, the Colorado Springs Republican announced Friday, a decision that’s certain to ignite a fierce race to replace him in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.

“I think it’s time for a new chapter in my life,” Lamborn, 69, told The Colorado Sun in an interview Friday morning. “I want to do things with my wife and my kids and my grandkids. It just seems like it’s the right time.”

Lamborn’s move means that all three of Colorado’s GOP-held congressional districts will be open in November.

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, is retiring from his 4th Congressional District seat. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Garfield County, announced last week that she was abandoning her 3rd Congressional District reelection bid to run for Buck’s seat, which is more favorable to Republicans.

Boebert filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission this week making the move official. Drew Sexton, her campaign manager, said she wouldn’t run in the 5th District.

Democrats control Colorado’s five other congressional districts.

The 5th Congressional District is entirely in El Paso County. It leans 20 percentage points in the GOP’s favor, according to an analysis of election results from 2016 to 2020 in the district conducted by nonpartisan legislative staff. Lamborn won reelection in 2022 by 16 percentage points.

Only Colorado’s 4th District is considered more favorable to the GOP. Lamborn has fended off a number of Republican primary challengers since first being elected in 2006. Most recently, he defeated three primary opponents in 2022, including then-state Rep. Dave Williams, who is now chairman of the Colorado GOP. Before being elected to Congress, Lamborn, a fierce opponent of abortion who has focused his work in Washington on military issues, served in the state legislature from 1995 through the end of 2006.

Lamborn first announced his decision Friday on the Richard Randall Show on KVOR, a conservative talk radio station in southern Colorado.

Lamborn is the 38th member of the U.S. House to announce their retirement when their current term ends or who have decided to run for a different office in 2024.

Another seven House members have recently left Congress or are leaving before their terms are up.

“I feel like I’ve accomplished many of the goals that I set out to do,” Lamborn told The Sun, “and the latest one was keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs.”

in leading Colorado, or whether they are relegated to antagonist backbenchers and laughing-stocks.”

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

Mug Shot Café & Saloon

A revitalized restaurant in Orchard Colorado The Mug Shot Cafe and Saloon is a building that holds many memories for the amazing small town of Orchard, Colorado. It is one of the buildings that was in the movie “Centennial”, and holds some historical meaning to a lot of our residents. Our mission with reopening this building is to continue to provide a place for these memories to be remembered and new ones created. Many of our customers used to come here when they were young and as they are older walk back into this building seeking to remember or make new memories. Our goal as a team is to make this environment safe and welcoming for our amazing customers, the town of Orchard, and the surrounding communities. We offer breakfast all day, American, and Spanish food on our menu. We also do private parties and can hold up to 50-55 people, so if you need to book a place to meet, for Birthdays, Anniversary, Christmas, etc. give us a call.

We also offer to go food for people who are in a hurry or not feeling like coming in. We are not a fast food place, everything is freshly prepared when we receive your order.

We also would like to invite all of the hunters that come out this way hunting to stop in and give us a try, or give us a call for an order to take out to the field with you. You will be greeted with that hometown feel.

We are a family owned and operated Cafe. We take pride in bringing back to this community a place to come to eat, see ole friends, without having to drive so far to get together with family and friends.

We are located about 3 miles from Jackson Lake. So if you are headed out that way stop in and say Hi. We are located at 22696 Grand Avenue in Orchard Colorado. If you are coming from the west on highway 34 turn left onto highway 144 and you will drive directly into Orchard. Take the first left and we are located on the right side of the corner.

If coming from the east, get off of I-76 onto highway 34, turn right on 144 and go straight into Orchard and take the first left. We are located on the right side corner.

Hope to see you soon!

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From left: U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert, Doug Lamborn and Ken Buck speak at the Western Conservative Summit on June 19, 2021 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun)

But his years in office weren’t without some controversy.

One of Lamborn’s former staffers sued the congressman in 2021, claiming Lamborn failed to follow safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic and alleging Lamborn used office resources for personal benefit. Congressional ethics investigators concluded there was “substantial reason” to conclude Lamborn misused official resources.

Lamborn denied the allegations. He settled the lawsuit in early 2023 and it appears the House Committee on Ethics never acted on its investigation.

Five Democrats had filed to run for Lamborn’s seat as of Friday, but Lamborn was the only Republican in the race.

Because the 5th District is so dominated by the GOP, and because Lamborn has had so many primary challengers in the past, there are several Republicans already eyeing the seat.

Williams hinted on social media that he may run, using the Colorado GOP’s account on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, to amplify his interest.

Former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, who ran unsuccessfully last year to be Colorado Springs mayor, said he, too, is interested in the race.

“Lamborn has fought hard for our community and the security of our nation,” he said in a statement. ” I appreciate his dedication and service, and wish he and Jeanie well in their retirement.”

Eli Bremer, a former Olympian who also once served as chair of the El Paso County GOP, said he was “considering all options.”

“I was surprised by Congressman Lamborn’s decision this morning,” Bremer, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate 2022, said in a text to The Sun. “He has represented our district well and with distinction and will be missed.”

Jason Dunn, Colorado’s former Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney, said in a post on X that the Colorado GOP “is really at an inflection point.” He said this year “will determine whether Colorado Republicans have a real voice in Congress and a future

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10

Lost Creek Guide

Gov. Jared Polis’s 2024 State of the State

by DJ Summers, Common Sense Institute Introduction Governor Jared Polis gave his annual State of the State address today marking the beginning of the 2024 Colorado General Assembly session. In it, the Governor addressed some of the biggest issues facing Colorado, including property taxes, housing, homelessness, crime, energy, cost of living, the Colorado economy, and energy. Common Sense Institute (CSI) has been at the forefront of data analysis regarding each of these issues and has the following response to the policy and economic issues raised in the Governor’s address.

Issue Highlights and CSI Research

State Budget Gov. Polis - “Thanks to Colorado’s amazing economic success, we are well on our way toward another year of record TABOR surplus, projected to be between $1.6 and $1.8 billion...As demonstrated by our healthy surplus in Colorado, taxes are simply too high: income taxes, property taxes, and the state sales tax. We ignore that signal at our own peril and I challenge Democrats and Republicans to work together to improve our economic growth and success by not taking taxes we can’t keep from people and instead working on a bold, balanced, progressive package, including cutting the income tax rate.”

CSI research: • Colorado Budget Then and Now o Government spending has outpaced inflation and population growth in recent years - adjusted for inflation, total state government appropriations per Coloradan increased by 26% over the last 20 years, from $5,244 to $6,594, rising 22% in just the last 10 years. o Health care has dominated budget growth in recent years while education’s share has declined - In the last 20 years, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing’s (HCPF) budget increased by 425% from $3 billion to $15.5 billion and its share of the total budget rose from 22% to 37%. HCPF accounts for 68% of the General Fund appropriation increase in FY24 and 45% of the proposed FY25 increase. o Conversely, the Department of Education’s budget grew by only 129% and its share of the total budget decreased from 24% to 18%. Its share of the General Fund declined from 42% to 31% over the past 20 years. If Education had maintained the same share, its FY24 appropriation would have been $1.8 billion higher. o Over the four years from FY23 through FY26, there is a projected $9.3B in TABOR surplus revenue available for refunds. Over the same period, revenue subject to TABOR, available to be spent by the state, is projected to grow from $16.657B to $19.943B—by 6.6% per year, on average.

Housing Gov. Polis - “This session, I will be supportive of bills that reduce the cost of housing and encourage innovative approaches like new financing strategies, easing parking restrictions, tackling liability costs for multi-family condo construction, reducing the cost of fire insurance - especially in the face of increasing climate-related disasters like the Marshall Fire, which we just observed the second anniversary of - and I will be very skeptical of bills that increase the cost of housing.”

CSI research: • Home Affordability in Colorado o According to CSI’s Free Enterprise Competitiveness Index, Colorado’s overall competitiveness in housing fell to 51st, making Colorado dead last in the country.

The Colorado Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index shows the affordability of townhomes and condos declining at a faster rate than single family homes during this time, however they remain 32% more affordable.

• “The Decline of Condominium Construction in Colorado” o Condominium development between 2018 and 2022, across 11 front range counties which collectively house over 80% of Colorado’s population, was 76% lower than between 2002 and 2008. This amounted to 14 new apartments for every 1 new condo in recent years, while there was 1 new condo for every 1.25 apartments in the 6 years prior to 2009. This is largely the result of liability costs specific to condominium development.

Property Taxes Gov. Polis - “Likewise, we know that property taxes are a part of what’s driving up the cost of living in Colorado. So let me take a moment to commend the General Assembly for your hard work during the special session in November to reduce property tax rates.”

CSI research • 25% - The average Colorado homeowner ($570,000 value at 85.03 mils) will still see their property tax bill increase 25% (+$590) next year, even after the changes from the November 2023 Special Session. That is down from 36% (+$847) under prior law, however still significantly higher than seen in the past 3 decades.

• 0$ – The legislative special session did not reduce commercial tax rates to address rising property taxes for businesses. Previous CSI research indicates that rapidly rising property taxes for businesses will produce a $177 million drag on the Colorado economy, reducing employment by over 7,500 jobs.

• While the property tax relief only applied to one year, the special session also established a task force to study long-term reforms and recommend a path forward.

This committee will convene over the coming months and is required to have its report complete by March 2024.

Homelessness Gov. Polis - “By reducing housing costs we will also decrease homelessness in our communities.”

CSI research: • Denver Metro Area Stands Out for Growth in Homelessness o Of 50 regions, Metro Denver experienced a greater percentage increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness (46%) than just 4 other regions including Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Louisville. Metro Denver’s annual growth rate was nearly 4 times the U.S. average of 12%. o Total homeless population – Between 2022-2023 10,054 individuals experiencing homelessness o Fifth-highest percentage increase among major city Continuum of Care

January 17, 2024

areas (46%) o Third-highest increase in total number among major cities, eclipsed only by New York City and Los Angeles o Fifth highest total number of people experiencing homelessness, 10,054 o Unsheltered population – Between 2020 and 2023, the Denver metro area saw an increase of 1,202 unsheltered people experiencing homelessness o Sixth-highest among all 388 areas HUD tracks o Chronically homeless population – 2,567 in 2023, the eighth-highest among the 388 areas HUD tracks.

Crime Gov. Polis - “We all deserve to be safe, which is why our goal is to make Colorado one of the ten safest states in the nation by 2027 and I will be supporting legislation to further that goal and will be very skeptical of any legislation that would make us less safe... Early data shows a downward trend in violent crime, which is why this year we want to continue these investments to create safer communities for everyone.”

CSI research: • November Crime Snapshot o Colorado ranked 4th highest nationally for combined property and violent crime rates according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data. o This is a dramatic decrease from the 2012 ranking of 31st. o Both property and violent crime rates have risen steadily since the early 2010s, speeding up in the early 2020s. o The state ranked 3rd in the nation for property crime rates and 8th in the nation for violent crime rates. o The governor’s reference to “early data” alludes to the fact that crime statistics for any given year are typically not available until roughly the following spring.

Education The governor praised universal pre-K, statewide free lunch, and after hours tutoring, and the elimination of the budget stabilization factor.

CSI research: • Dollars and Data: Colorado Education Data and Trends o As we reported last year, local, state, and federal dollars continue to flow to the Colorado public education system in ever-larger amounts, continuing a longstanding pre-pandemic trend. While some argue Colorado’s public schools are underfunded, the school system continues to receive larger contributions from local, state, and federal sources year after year. Since 2020 total public education revenue from all sources has climbed 9.6% from $14.6 billion to $16 billion. o At the same time, student enrollment steadily declined for many districts and is forecasted to keep sliding downward for the foreseeable future. In 2022-23, statewide public-school enrollment was almost 30,000 students below its 2020 peak – a drop of 3.1%. o Student achievement, as reflected in the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) results, has yet to recover from massive declines in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. While math scores improved modestly in 2022-23, English Language Arts scores dropped after recovering somewhat the previous year.

• “Colorado’s Workforce Woes Should Spell Opportunity for Economic Mobility” o Colorado’s labor force is the tightest on record, with 2.7 jobs for every unemployed person. The labor shortage and skills mismatch in Colorado is costing $46 billion in additional state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year. Therefore, if workforce needs were met this would result in a 10 % increase in state GDP. The problem will not be resolved by in-migration or natural population growth under current projections. o Many of the unemployed experience barriers to employment or are marginally attached to the labor force. Employers, education and training providers, and the state’s workforce system must innovate to help remove barriers to employment and to better align skills acquisition with the jobs of the future.

Healthcare Gov. Polis - “We are also continuing to save people money on healthcare - which is, after housing, often the largest cost that Coloradans face. Since day one of my Administration, starting with the creation of the Office of Saving People Money on Healthcare, we have been bold in taking on the entrenched special interests and tackling the true cost drivers in healthcare... This has led to historic successes including Reinsurance and the Colorado Option, both of which have been costsaving game-changers for people accessing healthcare in our state. Since its creation, reinsurance has saved thousands of dollars for families all across our state.”

CSI research: • Diagnosis of Colorado’s Healthcare Industry o Colorado’s healthcare system generates $148 billion of economic output and supports over 744,000 Colorado jobs—nearly 1 in 5 statewide. CSI’s Free Enterprise Healthcare Competitiveness Index ranks Colorado 13th in the country for its healthcare system’s performance.

• Do Colorado Option Plans Deliver on the Promise of Consumer Savings? o The Colorado Option Plan is in its second year and will impose further premium reduction requirements next year. In a 2021 report, CSI analyzed the impacts of implementing top-down government price caps without lowering service delivery costs. CSI’s economic modeling estimated that payments to doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers would have been cut an estimated $830 million to $1 billion by 2024 without reducing costs. The impact on access and affordability could cut between 4,300 and 5,400 jobs across all sectors. It will be important to monitor the Colorado Option Plan’s impact on providers before pursuing strict enforcement as hitting rate targets grows more difficult. Already four carriers have left the individual market, the small-group market, or both.

To learn more about CSI’s research on all of these topics, please check out our reports here at www.commonsenseinstituteco.org

January 17, 2024

11

Lost Creek Guide

Armstrong: The State of School Choice In Colorado

by Ari Armstrong, Complete Colorado Page 2 “There must be a special place in Hell for these Privatizers, Charterizers, and Voucherizers! They deserve it!” That’s how a state legislator characterized the school choice movement back in 2007, as the Gazette reminds us. A professor at a teachers’ college said recently that charter schools “harm Black children” for money—and never mind that parents choose to send their kids to charters.

Reformers, meanwhile, point out that, as poorly as many white and Asian kids are doing in public schools, Black and Hispanic kids are doing far worse on average (with exceptions, of course). And wealthier parents have the means to get their children a quality education even if they have to work outside the school system to do it. To reformers, school choice is especially important for less-advantaged families, who often are trapped in the worst-performing schools.

Dan Schaller, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, recently argued that Colorado “families flock to charter schools because of the quality and flexibility they offer to meet the unique needs of our students.” He pointed out that more than 137,000 Colorado students attend charter schools. And “Colorado is ranked second in the nation for charter school student achievement” according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, he noted.

Charter schools are public schools, however much their defenders and critics might try to deny it. Typically they have more flexibility than traditional public schools.

But charter schools (and other public schools) can involve private money. As Jenny Brundin reported in July, “The Daniels Fund promises to add 100,000 seats to nontraditional schools by 2030. Those can be secular or religious private schools, publicly funded charter schools, or ‘micro-schools.’”

Colorado still has a vibrant network of charter schools even though many Democratic politicians hate them. Colorado also has a strong choice program among traditional public schools, as parents can apply to send their children to any public school, if space is available.

Other states have more choice Colorado does not have, and is not likely to get under Democratic control, a more robust system of tax-funded school choice. Various other states are turning to broader school-choice programs.

Fox news reports that “six states passed universal school choice” in 2023, and Corey DeAngelis of the American Federation For Children expects more states to follow in 2024.

Arizona’s Goldwater Institute calls its state’s “universal education savings accounts (ESAs) . . . the nation’s new gold standard for school choice.” Sixteen states have such a program. That organization says, “At the core of the school choice movement is the aspiration that every family obtain the freedom to pursue educational excellence for their children—regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic background.”

Here is how Arizona describes its program: “With the ESA program, the money that would pay for that student’s education in a neighborhood school follows that student to whichever school the parents choose for their child, including education at home. ESA dollars cover multiple education expenses such as private school tuition, curricula, educational supplies, tutoring and more.”

The fight over money and control The Colorado State Board of Education is considering rule changes that could reduce tax funding for homeschoolers, arguably a rollback of school choice. My Tech High, which provides part-time online enrichment programs (and which my family uses), warned that proposed rule changes could “eliminate funding entirely for online homeschool enrichment programs in grades K-5,” “reduce the role of parent choice in selecting approved curriculum,” and “limit or otherwise curtail the ability for public schools to contract with outside providers for the purpose of providing homeschool enrichment programs.”

But Carolyn Martin of Christian Home Educators of Colorado is not a fan of the tax benefits anyway. “While the attitude of education bureaucrats remains opposed to our freedom to homeschool, these rules do not threaten the homeschool law,” she writes. Martin wants to “ensure homeschool families remain as free as possible from government control.” “What the government funds, the government controls,” she adds.

Homeschool advocate Treon Goossen, whom Martin quotes, is very wary of any government involvement. She warned, “Charter schools began offering homeschool programs. The public school system has slowly but surely over time infiltrated the homeschool community and has steadily eroded parental freedom in education.”

This debate has been going on for at least a quarter-century. Back in 1998, I attended the Separation of School and State Alliance conference in Colorado. Marshall Fritz, founder of that organization, argued that government funding inevitably brings government controls.

I sympathize with the concerns of Martin, Goossen, and Fritz. At the same time, I sympathize with those parents who pay taxes for schools that they do not use, who then have to pay out-of-pocket for the private options that they do use. I view my participation in My Tech High as a way to get back some small portion of my tax dollars to educate my own child.

Obviously programs such as Arizona’s

ESAs do come with a lot of government strings. Government will approve which expenses are covered and which are not. And parents are forbidden to use the money for, say, better food or better housing, which might actually do more to improve their children’s academic performance in some cases.

People like Fritz would completely do away with government involvement in education, including all subsidies. As I have pointed out before, if we presume that government should subsidize the poor, simply giving tax dollars to disadvantages families with no strings attached would maximize choice, including educational choice. For example, if a mother wanted to use the money to work fewer hours and spend more time with her children, she could do that. But getting the government out of education and letting parents decide how to run their lives is unthinkable to almost all of today’s politicians and probably to most voters.

At least in the short run, we are not likely to get more school choice in Colorado, and we probably will get incrementally less. But at least parents retain substantial choice within the public-school system. And parents remain free to choose private schools or homeschooling—provided they are financially able to pay double.

Ari Armstrong writes regularly for Complete Colorado and is the author of books about Ayn Rand, Harry Potter, and classical liberalism. He can be reached at ari@ ariarmstrong.com.

748 Area Code Coming in 2026 for Northern and Western Colorado

DENVER, CO: — Starting in the first quarter of 2026, telephone customers in the 970 area code overlay region who request new service, an additional line, or to move their service may be assigned the new 748 area code. The 970 overlay region services the Western and Northern portions of Colorado. The current 970 area code is projected to run out of available phone numbers by the first quarter of 2026.

The new area code is projected to last approximately 38 years. The 303 Numbering Plan Area (NPA) was the original NPA that served the entire state of Colorado and was implemented in 1947. In 1988, the 719 NPA was created when the 303 NPA underwent a geographic split. In 1995, the 303 NPA was split again creating the 970 NPA. In 1998, the 720 NPA was implemented as an overlay over the 303 NPA. On Nov. 20, 2023, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved an implementation schedule for the 748 area code. The new area code will not be assigned for use until the current 970 area codes have been exhausted.

Key facts about the 748 area code overlay: • All current customers will keep their existing phone numbers and area codes.

• The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change.

• What is a local call now will remain a local call.

• Customers in the overlay region will continue to dial 10 digits for local calls within and between the overlay area codes, and 1+10 digits for long-distance calls and operator-assisted calls.

• Customers can still dial just three digits to reach 911, as well as 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, or 811 if those are currently available in their community.

The implementation plan for the new area code will occur over a nine-month schedule that is completed at least six months before the projected exhaust quarter and includes telecommunications network preparation and direct customer education campaigns by service providers.

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12

Lost Creek Guide

How hard is it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Just look at Boulder.

A newly updated carbon dashboard for Boulder says “communitywide emissions decreased 2% from 2021 and were 18% below the 2018 baseline”

by Michael Booth, The Colorado Sun

The former Boulder Community Health hospital building is to be recycled after its recent deconstruction.

The sustainable deconstruction of concrete, metal, electronics and other materials can be reused and recycled instead of going to landfills, reducing carbon emissions in the process.

(Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

If anyone in the United States could make it look easy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help fight global warming, it should be the People’s Republic of Boulder, right?

Turns out, cutting carbon is hard. Even for the city of Boulder. And since Boulder has set audacious goals for itself, their year-end reports can look pretty brutal.

Boulder was one of the first cities in the country to set its own goal for cutting carbon, in 2006. Then, in 2021, Boulder doubled down and said it would try to cut its local carbon footprint 70% by 2030, from a very ambitious new baseline of 2018 emissions levels. Remember, those 2018 levels already represented significant cuts from the 2005 baseline that many government entities use, so Boulder was giving up a big head start.

How are they doing? A newly updated carbon dashboard for Boulder says “communitywide emissions decreased 2% from 2021 and were 18% below the 2018 baseline.”

That’s a nice number, representing millions of tons of carbon removal. But it’s a long way from 18% to 70%, with only six years left to go. Boulder’s even bigger goal is to be net zero on carbon emissions by 2035. And the city doesn’t have the opportunity of shutting down a coal-fired power plant within its boundaries to get a big numbers boost.

“We continue to make progress,” Boulder sustainability senior manager Carolyn Elam said in an interview. “I think we continue to have to accelerate our progress if we’re going to hit our goal. Seventy percent is … really hard.”

City of Boulder set ambitious climate goals, then made it harder by resetting the baseline forward to 2018. This dashboard shows how they are doing in cutting carbon. (City of Boulder report) Other cities in Colorado and elsewhere have set their own carbon goals to drive local policy while signaling to state and federal leaders that there’s grassroots support for combating climate change.

As part of Denver voters approving a new climate-dedicated sales tax in 2020, city leaders and task force advisers set a goal of ending 100% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The goals included the interim step of “a science-based target of a 65% reduction in emissions by 2030 from a 2019 baseline.”

Milwaukee has set goals of 45% greenhouse gas reductions by 2030, and going net zero by 2050.

To get at its carbon emissions, Boulder adds up the carbon produced from all public and private categories such as its portion of Xcel Energy’s sales of power in the city, the transportation emissions of cars and trucks inside the boundaries, natural gas burned for building heat and stoves, and more. Boulder gains as Xcel cleans up its statewide electricity generation with solar and wind, and city officials encourage Xcel’s transformation, but that’s only one portion.

“The biggest thing that we’d have to do to influence that number is just transition the majority of our buildings away from natural gas,” Elam said. Chances to do that are limited somewhat by the fact Boulder has almost no residential construction going

January 17, 2024

on. Banning new natural gas connections, as many cities have considered, doesn’t move the needle if there are no new houses going up.

But the city is working with partners to emphasize rebates and other opportunities for homeowners and landlords to replace gas furnaces with electric heat pumps and other alternatives, Elam said.

On transportation, Boulder also has little control over how quickly drivers transition to electric cars, or the private truck fleets that crisscross the city. But the city is supporting turnover in local bus fleets to clean electric, and is always seeking ways to reduce vehicle miles traveled, Elam said.

Denver’s goals also outline the main strategies for achieving them, including “fuelswitching” for residential and commercial buildings and completely decarbonizing transportation by 2050. Achieving net zero would require building owners to accelerate the switch from natural gas as a heating and cooking source to clean and efficient electric heat pumps and induction stove tops. Cleaning up the vehicles crisscrossing Denver would mean all-electric or hydrogen-fuel buses for RTD, diesel delivery trucks switching to batteries or hydrogen, and an all-electric passenger vehicle fleet.

Denver’s climate office, charged with spending the $40 million-plus in annual revenue from the 2020 dedicated climate sales tax, also believes small solar projects can add up to a big part of the solution, according to office director Liz Babcock. The climate office has unveiled a series of parking lot canopies at Denver Public Schools that serve multiple purposes of generating electricity, providing shade in urban heat islands, and powering electric car chargers.

Another big target for Boulder is waste, with the goal of reducing the carbon emissions associated with sending items to a landfill that could otherwise have a useful, emissions-reducing second life. Successfully reusing much of Boulder’s former community hospital during a 2023 deconstruction was a watershed moment, Elam said.

Boulder has recently begun an even more ambitious education effort by adding a second, global carbon footprint for the city, counting up carbon created from goods made outside Boulder and brought in as retail sales, for example. That larger carbon footprint from all goods and services used in the city can be daunting for many people to accept.

But sustainability leaders shoot for learning, not despair, Elam said. She recalls early debates about Xcel in Colorado, when regulators wondered if a 5% goal for renewable generation was impossibly high. Those same regulators are now entertaining studies about whether Xcel will hit 80% or 85% renewable generation by the 2030 target.

“We often are surprised at how far we can go. And we often shoot past some of those targets. So I’m actually still optimistic about our goals,” Elam said.

“I think they’re the right goals, to guide our community and to really set that bar out there for people to think about.”

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization that covers Colorado people, places and issues. To sign up for free newsletters, subscribe or learn more, visit ColoradoSun.com

January 17, 2024

Gaines: Who’s to blame for Coloradans’ distrust of journalists?

by Cory Gaines, Complete Colorado Page 2 Recently a survey came out which, among other things, showed that only 36.4% of Coloradans polled trust journalists to quote “do the right thing?” This seems to have touched a nerve among some Colorado reporters because journalistic social media lit up.

A notable response was that of media commentator and Colorado College Journalism Institute co-director Corey Hutchins writing in his December 15th newsletter, that responses to Colorado Sun reporter Jesse Paul’s tweet on the topic ” … show just how little understanding exists among some about the role of journalism in society.”

Obviously there is a mismatch between where those in the media put the problem vs. where those in the general public do.

Words can be pretty slippery. Language is not a one-to-one transfer of concepts out of one human and into another. My whole point here is based on the idea that before anything else we need to understand what others mean by “the role of journalism in society” and “trust”.

I reached out to Mr. Hutchins to see if he could flesh out for me what he meant by a misunderstanding of the role of journalism, specifically what he (and likely many others because he’s not only worked in the field but studies it as a professor) meant by the role of journalists. He told me in an email that, “In short, I believe the role of journalism in society is to illuminate for the many what is known by a few through a process of verification, done independently, in a way that provides people with the information they need to be free and self-governing and to make decisions in their lives.” Pushed by me to explain how this intersects with replies to Mr. Paul’s tweet exhibiting a misunderstanding, he followed up with, “I’d have to go back and scan, but I seem to recall some people saying they didn’t think they needed journalists to help them make decisions and others thinking journalists were lying on purpose or not correcting stories if there were inaccuracies.”

That definition is a sound one and I don’t disagree. At its best this is exactly what we the public could hope for. I also think that there are plenty of people who genuinely believe that some or all in the media lie, take little to no care to get their facts right, and don’t bother to fix it when they do. In my experience (consuming more media than is probably healthy for a human), I know that those things do happen, but I don’t think it’s widespread. Most journalists and news outlets (even those I disagree with) do a good job of vetting and reporting facts in their articles. When they do make mistakes, they are quickly, and publicly fixed.

And yet I, like 63.6% of the survey responders, do not entirely trust the media. I do not trust them for the reasons Mr. Hutchins cites, however. Most people, even if they couldn’t reproduce Mr. Hutchins’ textbook definition, have an intuitive sense of the role of journalism. They know what good reporting is and they hold what they’re actually getting in their hands, weighing it against that standard where it comes up short.

Put another, perhaps cruder way, people don’t trust the media because they don’t like it when someone pees down their back and tells them it’s raining.

From the same news sources that tell you how critical they are to a functioning democracy, you’ll get continuing, breathless updates on Lauren Boebert’s bombast and outlandish behavior, but nothing at all about how Gov. Polis’ husband Marlon Reis publicly berated Fence Post reporter Rachel Gabel. Or, you’ll get the reverse from a conservative outlet.

You’ll get articles where “nonpartisan” sources are clearly anything but (a neat little semantic trick on the part of reporters who use that in the sense of “not affiliated with a political party” as opposed to likely more commonly-used meaning of “neutral” or “unbiased”). Similarly, in articles where “experts say” something, you’ll only hear from the experts that say what the reporter wants.

The list of examples could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Trust means different things to different people. Of course, it can mean that I feel you won’t lie to me, but this standard is not enough. Look at my examples above and note that none of them require lying on the reporter’s part. They are all “true” in that sense.

As I note above, however, people are not dumb and when they put words next to actions and see a mismatch, they do not trust. They (rightfully) believe that they’re not getting a fair and full picture.

If this problem is going to get fixed, it will require the news media to do two things. One, bring their actions in line with their rhetoric about themselves. Two, it will require doing the hard work of asking and listening to those that don’t currently like or trust them.

I sympathize here because this is difficult. As a college instructor, every semester I go through the ritual of doing course evaluations and the results can sometimes be tough to read because they directly conflict with the image I have of myself as a teacher. Still, if improvement is the goal, doing this is vital.

Until our media learns to stop shielding (and soothing) themselves with the notion that the problem solely exists with news consumers and our lack of understanding, they will likely continue to face the kind of lack of trust they are seeing right now.

Cory Gaines lives in Sterling on Colorado’s Eastern Plains and writes at the Colorado Accountability Project substack.

Sheree’s Seniors 2023 Photos continued from page 1

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Lost Creek Guide

Apply for Morgan County REA’s 2024 Scholarships

As your local electric cooperative, Morgan County Rural Electric Association holds true to the seven cooperative principles—which include concern for community.

Area youth are a very important part of our community, and MCREA strives to positively impact these individuals by offering numerous scholarships to deserving local students. In doing so, MCREA continues its longstanding commitment to fostering the education of future leaders.

MCREA is happy to once again partner with Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association and Basin Electric Power Cooperative in sponsoring a total of nine college or vocational scholarships for students who reside within the outer boundaries of MCREA’s service territory, and whose family (parents or grandparents) receives electric service from Morgan County REA. For the 2023-2024 school year, Morgan County REA will award five (5) $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors and one (1) $1,000 scholarship to a current postsecondary student that will be returning to college or trade school. Tri-State will award two (2) $500 scholarships to graduating seniors, and Basin Electric Power Cooperative will award one (1) $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior.

Only one set of application materials is necessary to apply for scholarships from all three cooperatives. This year, MCREA’s college scholarship application can be completed and submitted online at www.mcrea.org/college-scholarships. The deadline to apply for scholarships is Friday, February 16.

If you have questions about Morgan County REA’s scholarship programs, please call MCREA’s member services department at (970) 867-5688. Morgan County REA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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Lost Creek Guide

Fort Morgan Wrestlers Drop Close Varsity Meet to Mountain View, Take JV

by Paul Dineen (GetThePictureSportsLLC@gmail.com) Photos courtesy of OTSPORTSCHEK / Paul Dineen The Fort Morgan Mustangs wrestlers hosted the Mountain View (Loveland) Mountain Lions on December 7. Mountain View took the varsity contest, 40-36, while Fort Morgan won the JV, 24-0.

Mountain View varsity over Fort Morgan 40-36 Forfeit 106 (FtM) over (MtV) Jacob Harrison 1:13 Fall 113 (FtM) Conner Derry over (FtM) Cristofer Juan 5:04 Tech. Fall 120 (MtV) Isaiah Harrison over (FtM) Darius Masias 2:58 Fall 126 (MtV) John Paul Salazar over (FtM) Austin Hall 1:22 Fall 132 (MtV) Tommy Haines over (FtM) Marcellus Masias 5:01 Tech. Fall 138 (MtV) Diego Sirio over (MtV) Coleden Lucero 2:45 Fall 144 (FtM) Jeremiah Mills over (MtV) Nathan Lepe 1:50 Fall 150 (FtM) Ashtyn Meeks over (FtM) Benjamin Fritzler 10-9 Decision 157 (MtV) Tristan Gilbert Forfeit 165 (MtV) Kc Mendoza over (FtM) Adler Staley 1:03 Fall 175 (MtV) Dean Espinoza over (MtV) Grady Cogan 0:52 Fall 190 (FtM) Noah Aguirre over (FtM) Nate Dahl 1-0 Decision 215 (MtV) Walker Simianer over (MtV) Connor Mann 1:54 Fall 285 (FtM) Carson Roth Fort Morgan JV over Mountain View varsity 24-0 126 (FtM) Isaiah Panameno over (MtV) Tryston Knepper 1:35 Fall 126 (FtM) Kinser Smith over (MtV) Tryston Knepper 3:21 Fall 190 (FtM) Melakhi Salazar over (MtV) Jacob Smith 0:51 Fall 285 (FtM) Brayden Cox over (MtV) Jacob Smith 0:52 Fall

Tristan Gilbert of Mountain View throws Ben Fritzler on his way to a 10-9 decision in the 157 pound weight class.

Mountain View’s Dean Espinoza won by fall over Adler Staley in the 175 pound weight class.

Jeremiah Mills of Fort Morgan won by fall over Coleden Lucero in the 144 pound weight class.

Fort Morgan’s Brayden Cox wins by fall over Jacob Smith in the JV 285 pound weight class.

January 17, 2024

Caldara: Colorado Bag Ban An Arrogant Exercise Of Power

by Jon Caldara, President of the Independence Institute It’s not the banning of plastic bags that pisses us off. It’s the intolerance and abuse of power behind it.

Plastic shopping bags are now forbidden in Colorado. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not the worst inconvenience or even most expensive headache our state government has thrown at us.

I mean, just bring a reusable bag to the supermarket — no biggie.

So why does it anger us so? Because we can feel it in our bones. Instinctively we understand this is a senseless exhibition of raw, unbridled power by an elite who smugly know how others should live.

There are plenty of big, complex issues for us to dissect from different angles — think abortion, monetary policy, Ukraine and the Middle East. Banning plastic bags by contrast is small enough for us to get our hands and minds around.

And we’re not nearly as angry about the bother of not having the bags as we are about that nagging feeling in the back of our heads, that little voice that says if they can force us to do something this stupid and meaningless, what isn’t off limits?

Let’s again get the argument that this is somehow useful policy out of the way.

Banning plastic bags does absolutely nothing to protect Colorado’s environment. In fact, it’s marginally more destructive since people will be forced to buy truly singleuse bags to clean up after their dogs and line their trash cans.

I remember the government school, in Soviet re-education camp style, teaching my kid to sing the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” song. Is there a better example of “reuse” then plastic grocery bags? We use them to carry other stuff, pick up dog poop and line trash bags, among a host of other uses.

The brand-new strictly single-use bags we’ll have to buy now for those functions are not made from natural gas like shopping bags. They’re made from petroleum and will be around a lot longer.

Congratulations, environmentalists. You won a Pyrrhic victory.

And, likewise, it won’t save ocean life. Enviros love to talk about a plastic straw found in the nose of a sea turtle, but guaranteed it didn’t come from landlocked Colorado. Even if it got into the water supply, the many water treatment facilities it would have to get through before hitting the ocean would stop it.

Reduce litter? Perhaps on the margin. So ban bottles, beer cans and gum wrappers, too. Wouldn’t it be better to enforce the litter laws? Clearing the homeless off our streets would do 1,000 times more to get litter out of our communities.

So why are they forcing us to live with this inconvenience that has absolutely, positively, without a doubt no environmental benefit? I see two possible explanations.

The first is the most effective tactic the left employs: boiling the frog slowly. Like compound interest, the power of small incremental despotic change over time is unstoppable.

As people acclimate to a restriction, it becomes the new baseline. The commandand-control crowd uses the “new normal” ratchet to build tolerance of their authoritarianism in the hearts and minds of those they rule.

A government that takes away plastic bags today will take away gas stoves tomorrow, and gasoline powered cars soon after.

But it’s the other explanation that is more distressing. They do this just because they can.

The left is smitten with virtue signaling and just can’t resist forcing you to do their signaling, too. All it takes is a wave of their dictatorial hand.

So, instead of convincing us to join them in their lifestyle choices, they coerce us through the power of law. It takes only 33 representatives, 18 senators and our “libertarian” governor to force their lifestyle on us.

It is pure arrogance. It is an exercise in raw dictatorial power and intolerance. And it’s an addiction our leaders couldn’t shake even if they did recognize it.

It’s not the bad, even comical public policy that quietly terrifies us.

Though we don’t verbalize it, it hits us in our hearts.

Though “small,” we know this is a violation of all the principles we hold dear — our liberty, our pursuit of happiness, our right to be autonomous creatures in a free society.

On some level we know, they are just beating us down.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.

January 17, 2024

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Lost Creek Guide

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Henrylyn Irrigation District - Full-time Ditch Rider Duties include, but are not limited to: • Accurately measures the amount of water delivered and adjusts headgates/ diversion structures accordingly.

• Takes daily water calls and notifies water users of changes in type of water being delivered, as well as monitors account balances.

• Brings ditch online in early spring, monitors and maintains ditch and access roads.

• Repair headgates, measurement devices and culverts as needed.

• Safely and efficiently operate all equipment within the company (training available).

• Maintain accurate and current records of all water delivered.

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Required Minimum Qualifications: • A current and valid driver’s license.

• Must be a U.S. citizen or possess a permanent work visa.

• Reside in close proximity to the Henrylyn Irrigation District, or be willing to reliably commute, prior to starting work.

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Excellent benefit package including: Matching IRA; Dental insurance; Health insurance; Life insurance; Paid vacation; Vision insurance; and Holidays.

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Lost Creek Guide

High Plains Culinary

A new restaurant in Morgan County at the Block Barry Strand is the Chef/Owner of High Plains Culinary. Chef Barry grew up in Brush, Colorado and is excited to return home to the area to provide quality food and unique dining experiences.

Chef Barry brings with him a wide range of culinary talents and experiences. Having taught at Cook Street School of Culinary Arts in Denver, worked as the Culinary Manager for the Brand “Beef, It’s What’s for Dinner” and a number of fine dining establishments in Denver. Chef Barry is excited to bring those experiences to the High Plains.

High Plains Culinary will focus on restaurant, catering, cooking classes and private events. The restaurant is open Friday & Saturday night 5-9 pm. It will soon expand its offerings to include brunch beginning January 27th and will be serving brunch every Saturday and Sunday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Catering inquires can be sent to bstrand@highplainsculinary.com Sweet spot catering for catering is 10 – 300.

Cooking classes include knife skills, fresh pasta, with date night classes coming soon. Class information is available on the website or via our face book page at High Plains Culinary.

We are hosting a private event w/After Hours Cocktail Bar on Sunday, January 28th at 5:00 pm. Our next event will be on February 25th with Country Road Winery.

It is our goal to partner with as many small local businesses as possible. Our menu features meat from Stagecoach Meat Company in Wiggins as well as micro greens from Wild Wiggins Homestead. We are looking for more local companies to partner with and add to the menu.

We will be having a Date Night Cooking Class on Valentine’s Day, February 14th.

There is more information on our face book page.

We look forward to seeing you visit High Plains Culinary.

January 17, 2024

Mountain Plains Agency New Location in Fort Morgan

by Karen Potts, Photo by Addison Mountain Plains Agency is excited to announce that we have moved to a bigger location at 231 Prospect St., Suite B, Fort Morgan, CO from our previous address at 530 E Platte Ave., Fort Morgan, CO. The new location is conveniently located in the East Larrick building. Mountain Plains has been serving Fort Morgan and the Morgan County area since September of 2021. Locally owned and operated out of Northern Colorado since 2005, Mountain Plains has devoted its knowledge and combined experience in the industry to deliver quality insurance policies to individuals and businesses throughout Northern Colorado and the surrounding areas. Our team of insurance agents and other professionals has years of collective industry experience in writing both personal, commercial and agricultural insurance policies designed to fit your needs. With Mountain Plains Agency, our friendly staff will work with you on a one-on-one basis to develop not only the perfect policy but a lasting relationship.

When you work with us, you’ll experience the exceptional service and attention to detail that you can only find with an independent insurance agency. We value our clients and know that they are the life force of our business and our future. We bring the values of our family and home to work in order to better serve our clients. We observe the “Golden Rule” of proprietorship to treat each client the way we prefer to be treated. And, because our clients are loyal, they deserve the highest standards. We would love the opportunity to earn your business. We look forward to serving you in this wonderful community!

Shelly Bristol, Gloria Mosqueda, Kelley Mertens, Evi Salgado, Sandy Schneider-Engle,Phil Riggleman, Karen Potts, Brian Bergmeier, Alycia Stewart and Balance Mosqueda

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Friday Feb 23, 2024 6-9pm