Redstone February/March2021

R

CELEBRATING OUR

21ST ANNIVERSARY

EDSTONE R •E •V•I •E •W

LOOK FOR REDSTONE REVIEW AT ISSUU.COM / SDCMC

VOLUME 22, NUMBER 1

B •R •I •E •F •S Trivia Night fundraiser success LYONS – The Friends of Lyons Library is delighted with the success of the recent Trivia Night Fundraiser. The event was held online on Thursday evening Feb.11 to raise money for the library’s summer and winter reading programs. Fifteen teams participated with over 60 players in attendance.

Many players donated far beyond the suggested $10 donation bringing the grand total to almost $1,400. Teams of up to six players were able to meet in private “rooms” to discuss their answers. Team captain submitted the responses using an online form.

After four rounds of 10 questions, it appeared necessary to have a tie breaker, but after teams wagered their points for a final question, the team Blue View Crew emerged victorious winning a $30 gift certificate to Pizza Bar. Tied for second place were the almighty Booksmarts and the Antipodals who won gift cards for the Stone Cup and the Barking Dog. Extra thanks to the Blue View Crew who then chose to give their Pizza Bar gift card to the Lyons librarians.

Everyone who played will agree that the trivia game provided much needed fun and laughter for our community. Quiz Mistress Leslie Reynolds cheerfully kept things moving right along, assisted by a cadre behind the scenes keeping score and solving technical problems. The trivia questions had enough variety that there was something for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who joined in Trivia Night and especially to all who so generously donated to help make our library more vibrant than ever. Stay tuned for future trivia events.

Follow Friends of Lyons Library on Facebook and consider becoming a Friend at http://tinyurl.com/LRLfriends.

issuu.com/sdcmc Like us on Facebook

I •N •D •E •X LYONS

2

TRUSTEE’S CORNER

3

INTEREST

4

OPTIONS

5

EDUCATE

6

INSIGHT

7

OPPORTUNITY

8

A&E

9

CONSIDER

10

WHAT’S COOKIN’

11

LOOK AHEAD

12

FORWARD

14

LYONS, COLORADO

RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 $.50

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

Oliver Dudas, Sadie Schneider and Talon Longtin make valentines at Lyons Valley Preschool. Lyons Valley Preschool is a Montessori-based non-profit preschool in Lyons serving children ages 2 1/2 to 6. Their mission is to provide children a safe learning environment that utilizes the Montessori philosophy, nurturing the whole child through the senses and discovery while providing an environment that supports physical, emotional and intellectual growth. Founded in 2014 after the flood, they are in their seventh year of serving the young children and families in the Lyons area.

Town Board discusses McIntosh Lake water shares, 2nd Ave. Bridge, affordable housing

By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – The Lyons Town Board had a discussion at a workshop before their regular meeting in early February on creating a process to accept McIntosh Lake water shares in some situations, including affordable housing.

Water share dedications are required from developers for building projects as well as water and sewer taps. Until recently, only Colorado Big Thompson (CBT) water shares have been accepted.

Town Clerk Delores Vasquez said the last time the town purchased McIntosh Lake water, the shares cost between $10,500 and $11,000 per share. She said that Lyons has not purchased CBT water shares for over a year, but at that time shares cost about $71,000 per share.

Yani Jones, Historical Preservationist and planner for the town, told the board that the Planning and Community De-

velopment Commission (PCDC) is working on grants for the Lyons Comp Plan. See story by Jocelyn Farrell on page 2. Mayor Nick Angelo said at the meeting that if there was a shortfall in funding for the Comp Plan, the Town Board could add $36,000 to advance the project.

Flood Recovery manager Tracy Sanders said that they are still working on one condemnation temporary easement agreement for the 2nd Avenue Bridge. A condemnation attorney was hired by the Town of Lyons.

The bridge project is proceeding on schedule. Due to the cold weather, the girders were delivered on the evening of Feb. 16 and were set in place on the night of Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 and during the day on Feb. 18. The delivery had to be overnight due to travel restrictions on trucks carrying such huge loads. Each girder is 140 feet long. When the girders arrived, they were removed by crane and placed on

the new abutments. The trails near the bridge and 2nd Ave. are temporarily closed during construction. The bridge is expected to be completed by spring or summer 2021.

This project has been in the works for a long time. The bridge was seriously damaged in the September 2013 flood when 17 inches of water fell over a twoday period. Although the bridge did not go down in the flood, the pilings supporting the bridge were seriously cracked. The bridge rebuild is one of the last remaining flood projects to be completed in Lyons.

In other news Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the board that some new and current businesses are remodeling or reconfiguring their businesses. The A-Lodge is currently working on creating an outdoor beer garden.

MainStage Brewing Company, the former Fork restaurant, is remodeling and reconfiguring the premises at both 446 and 450

Main St., and the Festivarie Inn, 349 Main St., is being remodeled by the new owner.

MainStage Brewing plans to open in the spring of 2021. The owners, Sam Scruby and Eric Kean, want to emphasize music, building community and great beer. Soon Main Street will be filled with happy tourists again.

On another subject, Trustee Mark Browning read a report that he has been working on to update the board on affordable housing. Trustee Browning made the point that there are only 10 residential lots left in Lyons for building and there are plans already in place for market rate homes on seven of them.

In a 2016 resolution, the town board set a goal to try to make 10 percent of its housing affordable.

Trustee Browning said, “At ‘buildout,’ Lyons will have approximately 1,000 residential units, based on 952 current residential electric connections, 40 Summit AH units, six remaining market rate SF lots in Lyons Valley Park and two other platted SF lots. With Summit (Housing), Lyons will have 72 ‘permanently Continue Town on Page 15

PAGE 2

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

LYONS Lyons Fire Protection District has a new fire chief

By Interim Chief Steve Pischke Redstone Review

Pischke

LYONS – The Lyons Fire Protection District announced at the February 11 meeting, their monthly board meeting, that the fellow they chose to be the new fire chief, Kevin Nunn, is not able to accept the po-

sition as the fire chief of Lyons Fire.

While unfortunate, it is important to understand that the initial hiring decision was very difficult and the outcome very close between two of the final candidates. The board noted the district had a well-qualified and extremely interested applicant in candidate Peter Zick.

After hearing of Kevin Nunn’s decision, the board has reached out to Peter Zick and offered him the position of

Chief of Lyons Fire. Zick has in turn accepted the employment offer and is currently in negotiations with the board.

The board expects to complete this no later than the first part of next week.

Board President Paul Davidovich stated that the board is extremely pleased in knowing we have a competent and highly regarded individual in Chief Zick who is excited to join us as our next fire chief. It is expected that Chief Zick will begin his duties with the department towards the end of March. More information will be released as soon as the hiring process is finalized.

Lyons Fire Protection Task Force evaluates wildfire mitigation and policies

By Jocelyn Farrell, Commissioner, PCDC Redstone Review LYONS – In 2020, the CalWood, Left Hand Canyon, East Troublesome, and Cameron Peak fires became the largest cumulative fire disaster in Colorado history.

Farrell More than 650,000 acres burned in Colorado and more than 10,000 acres burned in Boulder County.

In response, the Planning and Community Develop-

ment Commission formed the Lyons Fire Protection Task Force to evaluate complex planning needs for wildfire mitigation and policies that include local, state, and federal guidelines. The task force has four experienced fire fighters and volunteers working in conjunction with the Lyons Fire Protection District to reduce the risk to the Wildland Urban Interface, decrease the probability of severe wildfire events, create and implement community mitigation practices, bolster fire protection infrastructure, identify watershed risk, create an evacuation plan, and engage and educate the community.

The task force could use more members to help guide the PCDC, Board of Trustees, and Town of Lyons Administration to create a robust fire and hazard-resilient community. If you are interested in joining the Lyons Fire Protection Task Force, please contact PCDC Commissioner, Jocelyn Farrell at jfarrell@townoflyons.com. Members do not need fire-fighting experience, just an interest in planning for a fire-wise community.

Jocelyn Farrell is a member of the Planning and Community Development Commission (PCDC).

PCDC plans to re-apply for EIAF grants to complete the comp plan project

By Jocelyn Farrell Redstone Review LYONS – In governments of any size, the plans necessary to achieve well thoughtout goals often take a long time to realize.

And despite the devastation of COVID19 going into its second year, I am steadfast in my hopes for Lyons’ resilient future.

I’d like to bring you up to speed on the Town of Lyons Comprehensive Plan and a few challenges we are facing.

The Planning and Community Development Commission (PCDC) is tasked to

create a ten-year master plan for Lyons’ growth and development. In 2020, the PCDC, with Board of Trustees approval, chose the consulting firms Clarion Associates and the Brendle Group to create an inclusive, community-driven comprehensive plan. This will also include a much needed transportation plan.

To help offset the costs, the town applied for a $58,000 grant from the Energy/Mineral Impact Assistance Fund (EIAF), which is sponsored by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs

(DOLA). Often these grants fund comprehensive plans with a 50/50 match.

Because of the State emergencies from COVID-19 and the worst fire in Colorado history, the 2020 EIAF grants awarded last fall were given to disaster relief projects.

The PCDC, BOT and Clarion have spent the better part of two months strategizing the best way forward. The PCDC decided that it is in the best interest of the town’s budget and taxpayers to apply one more time for an EIAF grant to be awarded this spring.

The start date for the comprehensive

Lyons town staff develops a business license process

By Aaron Caplan Redstone Review LYONS – Discussions among the Town’s planning, building and utilities staff have resulted in developing a process that we hope will help our businesses and commercial customers become aware of each of the steps to do business in Lyons at the very beginning of the process. It should also help ensure that all of our staff involved in the process are able to transition the application to the next department quickly and efficiently.

Many times this process begins in the utility department when an applicant applies for utilities for a commercial account. The first change was to begin requiring a business license number for a commercial utility application. If the

customer does not have a business license or was not aware that they needed one, our billing clerk will put them in touch with the business licensing department. We are also developing a packet that can emailed or handed out.

Some business owners may not be aware of the utility concerns that a municipality has to monitor for the health and safety of its community. The business license process had a checklist added to it so that the utilities department could review any items that might be need to be of concern such as backflow preventers, grease traps and wastewater sampling ports.

We are going to build upon this to get the building department more involved at the very beginning of the business license process. Many times a business needs to make physical changes to the location where they want to do business and Gentleman is a sweet young fellow ready to start his new life with a loving forever family. He is very curious, chatty, and social, and enjoys being involved with what is going on around him. Active, charming and affectionate, Gentleman may just be your guy. Call 303-772-1232 to schedule a visit at Longmont Humane Society.

Longmont Humane Society’s Homeward Bound 2021 Online Auction. Just like the auction you’ve come to know and love, this year’s online auction fundraiser features something for everyone.

Bid on fabulous home and garden items, jewelry and apparel, local food and beverage, handmade crafts, personal care products and experiences, outdoor adventure packages and more. Bidding opens Thursday, March 18 and closes Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m.

Learn more about how to support Homeward Bound 2021 through sponsorships, donations and as an auction participant at our event website : https://longmont.ejoinme.org/homewardbound2021.

plan is now mid-June. If we are not awarded the grant, we will still proceed with a June start under the current town budget. It is anticipated the complete plan will be adopted in July 2022.

I’m not sure who said “Good things take time,” but I agree. We will have a 2022 comprehensive plan. Planning for Lyons’ future is a big responsibility, and to do it well will take time. This is a communitywide project for everyone to participate in and share their vision. Together we will continue to be Lyons strong.

may not be aware that a building permit of one form or another is required. One common example is a Tenant Finish Permit because of a change in use at the location where the business will be established. In addition to the business owner, the town will be emphasizing the importance of this to property owners who rent or lease out commercial space.

The modifications to the initial business license process should help streamline that process for new businesses starting up in Lyons. We do also have to take into consideration that some existing businesses may not be aware of these procedures. Staff has been listening to the concerns of recent business transitions and is aware of some of the confusion comes from miscommunication or lack of communication. Staff would like to take this time to emphasize that anyone doing business in Lyons does need an annual business license and it is the business owner’s responsibility to get that renewed every year.

Continue License on Page 15

REDSTONE R

•

E

•

V•I

•

E

•

W

M E M B E R C O L O R A D O P R E S S A S S O C I AT I O N EDITOR / PUBLISHER

PAGE DESIGN / PRODUCTION

Susan de Castro McCann

Eileen Tobin

COPY EDITOR

PRINTING

Sara Neustadtl

Prairie Mountain Publishing

BUSINESS MANAGER

Julie Hamilton ADVERTISING MANAGER

Bonnie Chaim ADVERTISING DESIGN

Monica Brooks

A ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION IS $18.

MAIL CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:

REDSTONE REVIEW P.O. BOX 68, LYONS CO, 80540 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY REDSTONE REVIEW LLC. CONTENTS ARE COPYRIGHTED. NO PART CAN BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT CONSENT FROM THE PUBLISHER.

T O C O N TA C T R E D S T O N E R E V I E W: TO SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS, LETTERS, PRESS RELEASES & NOTICES:

redstarnews5@gmail.com TO PLACE AN AD OR FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING ADVERTISING:

Bonnie Chaim 303-442-4701 or redstonereviewads@gmail.com FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING BILLING:

Julie Hamilton 303-324-2869

Servicing Lyons, Estes Park, Allenspark and surrounding areas

Full Service Plumbing & Heating Repair Residential & Commercial Sam Schwab

SchwabPlumbing@hotmail.com

Office: 303.586.2810 Mobile: 303.579.3146

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 3

TRUSTEE’S CORNER Annual town report will educate, engage residents

By Greg Lowell Redstone Review

public and state their opinions and try to influence the warrant articles.

Unwieldy as this sounds, it worked because some weeks in advance of the town meeting a town report would be sent to every household. The town report contained indepth details of the proposed budget and the past year’s spending down to the dime. Both proponents and opponents of a particular article on the warrant had an opportunity to state their cases in the report.

Come the town meeting date, the school gym or town hall would be packed if there was a particularly contentious issue and residents steeled themselves for a long meeting lasting well into the wee hours, sustained by the local Girl Scouts’ bake sale and the fire department’s coffee. Other times, the meeting was over in a couple hours.

The whole key to the success of the New England town meeting, which dates back to the 1700’s, was the town report.

Residents could not profess ignorance of why their taxes had risen or why a particular regulation had changed because they had been well informed by the annual town report.

This was the mindset I carried to Lyons when I moved here in 2012 to be closer to my three children (Lyons, Longmont, Boulder) and our young grandchildren. I was surprised at how little information there was available on town governance. And I was a guy who was used to knowing everything about the towns I lived in and had always jumped in with both feet to volunteer on town boards.

There was no fault among the staff and Trustees in Lyons for this perceived lack of information. The town does a great job informing residents through emails, notices in the utility bill and on their website. But what I found lacking was the overall picture of town governance and the background on important issues.

Sure, I could attend Board of Trustees meetings (or watch them remotely), attend citizen board and commission meetings and generally spend hours each week trying to educate myself, but I do have a life and family – just as all of you do. It shouldn’t be that hard to keep abreast of town issues and to understand where your tax dollars go.

Raise your hand if you know what the Planning and Community Development Commission does, for example.

There’s no accusation of apathy here – it’s just a fact of life. Jobs, children, leisure activities and other issues often conspire to prevent us from participating in Town of Lyons issues (unless you’re foolish enough to run for office, like I did).

That’s the Readers Digest version of why we’re creating

LYONS – If you’ve ever seen the famous Norman Rockwell painting, “Freedom of Speech,” the Vermont farmer depicted has a copy of his town’s report in his pocket – and those around him are seen Lowell holding on to their copies. And while the reports are secondary to the painting’s theme, it’s been a longstanding tradition in New England towns to inform residents by the use of an annual town report.

Although we’re a long way removed from quaint New England town meetings and operate under a different form of government, the Town of Lyons will publish its first-ever Annual Town Report sometime later this month. It’s my hope that the report will become an annual occurrence.

The document will be available online at the Town of Lyons website and a limited number of hard copies will be available.

The report will be a compendium of reports from: Town staff; the various citizen boards and commissions; outside districts, like Lyons Fire Protection, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department (specific to Lyons) and the Lyons Library District; and outside organizations like the Lyons Emergency Assistance Foundation, Lyons Community Fund and other organizations that are part of the Lyons community.

Included will be financial spreadsheets showing 2020 expenditures and the 2021 budget.

It’s expected the report will run 100 or more pages. It will be a “one-stop shopping” document for all issues of town government.

The Town Report was something I have been pushing for a few years here in Lyons. It was a campaign promise I made when I ran for Trustee. I found out when I was elected that there was already an effort underway at Town Hall to explore the possibility of such a report and so I volunteered my time to help pull the report together.

My passion for a town report requires some background.

For more than 35 years, I lived in two small towns in my native New Hampshire where all decisions of municipal government were entrusted to residents at an annual town meeting. On a given date in the spring, residents would gather to vote on a lengthy “warrant,” which contained dozens of articles dealing with the upcoming year’s budget, changes to town regulations and citizen-initiated petitions. Every resident had an opportunity to stand up in

Freedom of Speech by Norman Rockwell, 1943, oil on canvas.Freedom of Speech was the first of a series of four oil paintings, entitled Four Freedoms, inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address, known as Four Freedoms, delivered on January 6, 1941. a Town Report this year.

If you’re a municipal government junkie, you’ll be able to pore over the financial spreadsheets. If you’re curious about how many burglaries there were in town last year, check out the Sheriff’s report. If you want to know how much has been spent on flood recovery, you’ll find out. Or if you’re wondering when your street’s potholes are or aren’t going to be fixed, you’ll find the answer.

My fellow Trustees, Mayor Angelo, Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen and I hope that Lyons residents will take the time to peruse the report to better understand their town’s inner workings and then, like the Vermont farmer in Rockwell’s painting, become engaged with your town.

Lyons resident Greg Lowell is a Lyons Town Board Trustee and serves as a liaison to the Ecology Advisory Board.

Redstone Review celebrates its 21st anniversary

By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – In February, 2000 the first issue of Redstone Review rolled off the press.

President Bush had just won the most disputed election in history even though he lost the popular vote. Little did we know what was coming up in the presidential election in 2020.

It was a rocky start, largely because I had no idea how to run a newspaper. I was the former business editor at the Longmont Times Call, but that did not prepare me for learning about printing presses, selling advertising, distribution

and a million other things.

In the past 21 years the world and the U.S. in particular has gone through intense turmoil. On September 11, 2001 three planes hit the two World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Our lives were changed forever. Global warming set in with a vengeance. The polar ice caps started melting, giant floods, devastating hurricanes, massive wild fires started their destructive path across the U.S. A flood in 2013 ripped the infrastructure out of Lyons. Today in 2021 the town is still recovering, rebuilding damaged bridges, repairing highways, etc.

Dan’s Quality Tree Care • Personalized Responsive Service from an Experienced & Dedicated Arborist • All Phases of Tree & Shrub Pruning & Removal • Licensed & Insured

Call Today for a Free Estimate!

303-823-6252

In 2020 Lyons had two of the largest wild fires in the state’s history. That same year the COVID-19 pandemic spread all over the world. Worldwide over 109 million people got the virus and 2.4 million people died. The U.S. was one of the hardest hit countries with over 28 million cases and 486,000 deaths. The government tried to discredit scientists and hide information from the people.

Over the last 21 years nearly 500 species of animals have gone extinct. And in the last 20 years over 2,000 newspapers have gone out of business; 1,300 communities have no local news coverage at all.

Newspapers have just lived through a

Utility Update

By Aaron Caplan Redstone Review LYONS – Town staff gave an update on the wastewater, water and electric utilities to the Town Board at a board meeting in mid-February.

Wastewater: Copper has continued to be above the current limit of 2.2 mcg. with a 3.3 mcg. in January. We are looking back into what has changed since this has con-

rough period where they were called the enemy of the people, fake news, liars and a variety of other things, all while trying to inform the public and spread the truth.

Some national news reporters had to hire body guards during the election of 2020.

The last administration tried to take away take away the people’s right to a free press; they changed facts to promote their agenda. The media, newspapers, radio, TV news, all struggled to get the truth out to millions of voters in 2020 and the media is largely responsible for Joe Biden winning the election to become the 46th president in the safest uncorrupted election ever held despite all the attempts by the former administration to prevent people from voting, to destroy valid ballots Continue Anniversary on Page 15

tinued to be a concern. Note that moving to the new outfall location previously had a limit of 14 mcg. for copper. We are waiting to see what the new general permit at the new outfall location lists as a copper limit.

The state has continued to discuss various pollution limits with the town for the new general permit. So far we have not yet been sent the new permit.

Ramey Environmental Compliance is scheduled to do sampling at Oskar Blues sampling port on February 16. Town staff had a grease trap inspection training and Continue Utility on Page 10

We offer hassle-free, direct insurance billing. ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Now Offering Telehealth, Home Health, and In-Person Appointments!

LYONS OWNED AND OPERATED

303-485-1730 435 High St Lyons, CO 80540

247restoration.com

(303) 823-8813

www.LyonsPT.com

Water and Sewage Damage Mitigation Fire and Smoke Cleanup Mold Remediation Asbestos Abatement Complete Reconstruction Services Eco-friendly Biodegradable Cleaning Products and Techniques

Rapid Response in 20 minutes or less!

24 hours/day — 7 days/week!

$200 Off Restoration Services for Water, Mold, Sewage, Fire and Smoke Damage Offer expires 4/30/21. Restrictions Apply.

PAGE 4

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

INTEREST Lyons Dairy Bar expands into desserts, candy and more

By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – When Darcey and Cory Pierce bought the Lyons Dairy Bar in December 2019, it was not long before the worst pandemic in over 100 years broke out across the world. Luckily, the Dairy Bar, 138 Main St., was already designed as a carryout short order ice cream, hamburgers and fries eatery. During the pandemic this past year, the Dairy Bar has been able to keep their staff going and to serve their customers in Lyons.

Some of the shops in the Shoppette were empty when Darcey and Cory purchased the Dairy Bar and before long the whole row of shops of shops behind the Dairy Bar were empty and Cory said he saw an opportunity to expand his business.

On January 25, 2021 they opened the new business and addition, The Lyons Dairy Bar, Specialty Bakery and Candy Shop. The Specialty Bakery offers items such as pies, cakes, turnovers, cupcakes, cookies, bear claws, scones and other sweet pastry type items. People can order items for birthdays, parties or any event.

The Candy Shop is fashioned after an

old-fashioned candy store and it has over 52 flavors of salt water taffy along with other candies of all kinds. The candies start at floor level and go all the way up the wall with plenty of candies at every child’s height.

And Lyons Dairy Bar has expanded its menu and now serves sandwiches. “We make a lot of deli sandwiches, fresh roast beef, we cut our own slices from the roast,” Cory said. “We have fresh turkey, ham. We make Reubens and corned beef sandwiches. We have French fries, onion rings, mushrooms and poppers. We rotate our ice cream flavors but we always have 14 flavors of ice cream at any time.” They also have hamburgers, cheeseburgers and Vienna hot dogs.

Cory said that he got the idea to expand last spring. “One vision that I had for a long time was to sell pie by the slice with ice cream,” he said. “I went to a place that sold pie by the slice with ice cream and the CBD guy had just moved into the laundromat so this side of the building was empty. I had the chance to create the bakery and candy store that I had envisioned. It just seemed like a perfect fit with the Dairy Bar.” Cory said he is grateful to his staff and

the work that they did at the Dairy Bar last summer during the pandemic.

“Darcey and I would like to give a shout out to the 2020 summer season staff,” he said. “Despite the challenges we faced due to Covid-19, our amazing management core and customer service representatives adapted continually and created a positive environment for employees and customers alike. In fact, despite two thirds of our staff being between the ages of 14 and 18, not a single employee quit this season, or missed a shift without getting it covered by someone else. Not one. If this dependability, hard work, and professionalism is representative of this generation’s potential, then as future caretakers of this country, there is a great sense of optimism.”

Cory used to be a school teacher and a principal at a school in Colorado. He and his wife Darcey graduated from Lyons High School. Darcey teaches third grade at Lyons Elementary School. They live in Lyons.

The Lyons Dairy Bar is located at 138 Main St. in the Lyons Shoppette. For information and to make an order go to info@thenewlyonsdairybar or call 303823-5880. Winter hours: Lyons Dairy Bar hours are Monday through Sunday 11 a.m.

LyonsDairy Bar co-owner Cory Pierce, in front of the new Candy Shop. to 6 p.m.; Bakery and Candy Shop hours are Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Thorncroft and its Founder, Lillie Lyon Thorne

By Brianna Hoyt Redstone Review LYONS – Edward S. Lyon traveled to Colorado in 1880 and started quarrying sandstone. In 1891, the Town of Lyons was established and he made the area his home. Lillie Lyon, born in 1866, was the oldest daughter of E.S. Lyon and Carrie Barrett Lyon.

In 1884, when she was 18 years old, she married Thomas J. Thorne. They first met when he was her teacher at the Lyons School. Their first son, Edward Raymond Thorne, was born in 1886, and her second son, Thomas J. Thorne, Jr., was born in 1901. Lillie, along with her husband, played a pivotal role in organizing the First Congregational Church in Lyons. Her father, Edward Lyon, had worked to have the church built “because the town has many saloons and the kids have to have some spiritual upbringing” (Benedict, 89). Lillie was the first treasurer for the church and her husband was on the board of deacons.

Like her father before her, Lillie had a head for business.

In 1890, she and Thomas opened and operated Thorncroft, a sanitarium two miles northwest of Lyons. Sanitariums for patients with tuberculosis, or consumption, were common in northern Colorado because physicians in the 19th and 20th centuries believed that high altitude, sunshine, and clean air could cure many ailments.

There were also sanitariums in Hygiene and Boulder. In Boulder the Colorado Sanitarium and Hospital along the Mount Sanitas Loop, founded by Dr. J. H. Kellogg of cereal fame, opened in 1894 and offered top-of-the-line care for tubercular and other chronically ill patients. The Lyons Redstone Museum has one of the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium cookbooks written by Dr. Kellogg in the collection. Dr. Kel-

logg believed that a healthy diet was one of the keys to overcoming chronic illnesses. The Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium even had its own dairy and food factory. Similar to Boulder, Lyons would have been considered a good location for chronically ill patients.

Thorncroft was not as large as the BoulderColorado Sanitarium, but still offered a resort stay for the chronically ill. In 1902, G.L. Harding said, “not only may the eye rest upon distant pine clad hills and nearer crested summits where rocks are tinted with exquisite and various delicate shades, the coloring which causes the tourists to see in Colorado beauties superior to Switzerland, and which indeed has given to the state its name, but at Mr. Thorne’s place a more than generous nature has added to the beauties of Colorado, the beauty of the eastern landscape.” Tuberculosis patients could stay at Thorncroft for $1.50 to $2.00 per day, or rent by the week or month.

In 1904, Thomas died from pneumonia, leaving Lillie a widow. She continued to run Thorncroft after his death.

In 1910, she married Austin Smith, who died in an accident only 11 years later. She eventually sold Thorncroft and moved to Boulder. After she became ill in 1930, she moved to California to live with one of her sons. On February 4, 1931 she passed away from tuberculosis, only a month after her father died.

At left, Lillie Lyon Thorne. Above, Thornecroft Sanitarium. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LYONS REDSTONE MUSEUM The buildings that housed Thorncroft are still in existence as Stone Mountain Lodge, which is open for tourists and weddings. If you would like to learn more about Lyons history and the founding of the town, check out the Lyons Redstone Museum’s Historic District Walking Tour on theclio.com.

Though the Lyons Redstone Museum is currently closed, staff continues to conduct research and work on future exhibits. However, you can also explore the museum’s virtual exhibits by visiting the Lyons Redstone Museum’s VirMuze.com page. Donations are always welcome and help the museum continue to create exhibits and preserve Lyons history. Check us out at lyonsredstonemuseum.com.

Brianna Hoyt earned degrees in anthropology and history from the University of Denver and worked as a freelance writer for five years. She primarily worked with marketing firms to generate content for business websites and social media accounts. Brianna Hoyt started working for the Town of Lyons in February 2020 as Lyons’ Main Street Manager.

Lyons Main Street and the Economic Vitality Commission look forward

By Brianna Hoyt Redstone Review LYONS – A normal summer in Lyons includes a full campground, live music, and tourists escaping to our parks and enHoyt joying public river access.

But as we all know, 2020 was far from normal and our town felt the ripples of a global economic crisis. While some businesses have struggled, others have creatively pivoted to adjust to the new

demands created by COVID-19. The Economic Vitality Commission (EVC), which also operates as the Lyons Main Street Board, intends to support our existing Lyons businesses as well as welcoming new businesses as we move into 2021.

As we get closer to summer, the Lyons Main Street program and the EVC are working towards finding ways to collect and better use tourism data and impacts during our busy tourism season. Lyons Main Street is working with one of the Colorado Main Street consultants to create an economic dashboard. This tool will

RED CANYON ART

help track the sales tax we receive monthly, overnight visitor use at LaVern Johnson Park, along with dining and lodging spending throughout town.

Our goal is to use this data to develop a better understanding of the overall economic impact of tourism, and which industries benefit during tourist and festival season. The economic dashboard plays one role in a larger effort in developing a better understandContinue Main Street on Page 14

Sending ❤ to Lyons!

From The Farmette Family

ACCOUNTING • PAYROLL • TAXES

Julie Hamilton, E.A.

Your Downtown Resource for LOCAL Cards and Gifts

402 Main Street, Lyons CO scopesolutionsnow@gmail.com 303.823.5950 OFFICE • 303.324.2869 MOBILE

4 0 0 M A I N S T. LY O N S , C O O P E N D A I LY 10 - 5 , C L O S E D T U E S D AY S

LyonsFarmette.com

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 5

OPTIONS Black History Month: The story of Sojourner Truth reveals painful inequities in our history

By Terry de Castro Redstone Review LYONS – Before 2020 and everything that came with it, I had been unfamiliar with the “bingo card” metaphor. For example, it was probably not on anyone’s bingo card that wearing a mask in a pandemic would become a divisive, politicized issue. It was certainly not on my bingo card that I would be giving so much thought to statues.

I used to live in England. I was an American immigrant there for 13 years and spent four of them, from 1990 to 1993, living in Bristol. I would walk past Colston Hall and a statue of Bristol merchant Edward Colston on a regular basis. I gave no thought to who Colston was, unaware that he was a slave trader and that a controversy had been brewing for decades. Nearly 30 years later, in the wake of the George Floyd protests, Colston’s statue was pulled down by protestors and dragged into Bristol Harbor.

Last year, 2020, was a year of rethinking statues: some came down; some went up. On August 26, a statue went up in New York City’s Central Park, a bronze sculpture of suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth. It was the first statue in Central Park to feature real (as opposed to fictional) women and was erected to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of (White) women’s suffrage that came with the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

The project was made possible by nonprofit organization, Monumental Women, which sought to “break the bronze ceiling.” While the statue is a huge step in the right direction, it received criticism during its inception and after its completion. When the monument was first designed, it was only to feature Anthony and Stanton, which would have overlooked the vital contributions African American women made in the fight for women’s rights. The figure of Sojourner Truth was added to the design in an attempt to rectify this.

That the statue depicts these three women working together seems to gloss over racial tensions that existed in the women’s suffrage movement. Both Anthony and Stanton favored the fight for (White) women’s right to vote over the African American’s right to vote, believing that it was more important, and both came to oppose the 15th amendment.

Sojourner Truth was an American legend; she was fiercely intelligent, committed, witty, eloquent, and compassionate. She was born into slavery in the late 19th century. One year before abolition took effect, she was promised her freedom, but the promise was not kept, and she famously walked (she did not run, because she knew she was in the right) to freedom with her infant daughter.

She won the case for legal custody of her five-year-old son who had been illegally sold, making her the first woman of color to win a lawsuit against a White man. She went on to become involved in numerous successful cases that fought for justice for African American women. She was an abolitionist, nurse, traveling preacher (hence her name, which she changed from Isabella Baumfree), orator, suffragist, and human rights advocate, travelling extensively giving passionate speeches to rapt audiences.

She is possibly best known for her speech Ain’t I a Woman, delivered at the 1851 Women’s Rights Conven-

year in New York, at the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park in Ulster County. This bronze statue, designed by sculptor Vinnie Bagwell, was also erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

On the governor.ny.gov website, Bagwell speaks in a video about Sojourner Truth and the creation of the monument. She says that Truth was “intent on being free, on making sure that her children were free, and then she worked to help others to be free,” and that she worked with the “great notables of that time, trying make sure that America lived up to its creed” – a mighty and noble pursuit.

Bagwell wanted to capture Truth’s iconic features such as the glasses and face. But also the statue depicts more than just the figure of the woman herself: Bagwell uses the skirt as a canvas on which to tell more stories, depicting episodes of Truth’s life, including her invitation to meet with Abraham Lincoln. Bagwell goes on to say that if you Google the women’s suffrage movement you will not Above: On August 26, 2020, a bronze sculpture of suffragists Elizabeth immediately see images of Black women, Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth was installed in and that it might appear that the moveNew York City’s Central Park. Below: This monument to Sojourner ment was a White woman’s movement, Truth went up last year in Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park which it was not. She says, “Black women were working, alongside – not with – but in Ulster County, New York. parallel, trying to achieve the same goal.”

Again, I never anticipated that I would tion in Akron, Ohio. She spoke powerfully about, among think so much about statues. It was not on my bingo card other things, her experiences as a Black woman in Amer- for 2020 or 2021. But perhaps Bagwell’s sculpture is a more ica and how she endured both racism and sexism, perhaps fitting tribute to Sojourner Truth than the statue of the making her one of the earliest “intersectional feminists.” three women in Central Park – a genuine tribute to this The speech is not only remarkable for its message but also great woman who faced so many hardships on her own for its history. There are two versions and forged a fearless, individual path of it, one that was transcribed when with unerring humanity, dignity and she delivered it, and a vastly different perseverance. one that was adapted years later in It is astounding to me how resonant 1863 which became the definitive Sojourner Truth’s dedication to the version. ongoing fight for women’s equality – A fascinating and succinct website, especially women of color – is today. I The Sojourner Truth Project, created cannot think of a more appropriate

by Leslie Podell, investigates and heroine for our time, particularly at compares the history of the two verthis moment when we are in the midsions. The first version was trandle of Black History Month and about scribed, possibly quite faithfully, by a to begin Women’s History Month. friend of Truth’s, Marius Robinson.

Other monuments honoring Truth inThe later, more famous version was clude a memorial in Florence, Massaadapted by abolitionist and women’s chusetts; a bust in the United States rights advocate, Frances Dana Gage Capitol Visitor Center in Washingin 1863. Because Sojourner Truth was ton, D.C.; and a statue in Battle born in New York and grew up speakCreek, Michigan. ing Dutch, it is impossible that she Sojourner Truth fought tirelessly for would have spoken in the Southern justice, dedicating her life to sharing slave dialect of that period attributed her unwavering principles and pursuto her by Gage, and even more strangely, the famous Ain’t ing equality for women, people of color, and for all people.

I a Woman? title and repeated refrain of the speech never She has earned her place among Smithsonian Magazine’s actually appears once in the original, transcribed version. 100 Most Significant Americans of All Time, and she dePodell believed it was important to shed light on the two serves every statue she gets. versions of Sojourner Truth’s famous speech in order to preserve her legacy and to honor who she really was. She Terry de Castro lives in Los Angeles where she teaches yoga writes, “The more we examine her life with all its com- and works for the PBS series and arts organization, Craft in plexities, the more we understand our nation’s history.”

America. She was a member of a British indie rock band called Another monument to Sojourner Truth went up last the Wedding Present and continues to stand in on occasion.

A winter stroll on the Lyons Walking Arboretum

By Jessie Berta-Thompson Redstone Review LYONS – Ever wonder why some of the trees on Main Street have signs? These trees are part of the Lyons Walking Arboretum, a collection of 40 labeled trees, each a different kind. Strung together, they form a meandering path around downtown Lyons. There is a guide to the arboretum, available online, which contains a map and illustrated descriptions of each tree. A few weeks ago, I set out to walk the route with the arboretum’s creator, Garima Fairfax, planning to admire some conifers in the winter sun.

The walk starts by the fire station, at the Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (Lyons Walking arboretum Tree #1, Pinus aristata). This remarkable tree grows wild in the mountains of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, at elevations of 7,000 to 13,000 ft. This species can live more than a thousand years. The longest-lived examples are

Look For Us and “Like” Us on Facebook!

found in higher, drier conditions, where trees experience less risk of fungal rot. When near the alpine tree line exposed to high winds, this is one of the species that grows in wind-sculpted stunted shapes beloved by hikers, called krummholz formations. The Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine is not quite as long-lived as its cousin the Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), which holds age records for specimens around 5,000 years old in California.

The Lyons Walking Arboretum was created, without planting a single tree, in 2015 and 2016. The idea for the project was sparked by Ron Gosnell, a Lyons resident retired from the Colorado State Forest Service who organized a large community post-flood tree-planting project.

He observed that the variety of planted trees in Lyons was worthy of an arboretum. Fairfax took that thought and ran with it. She was, at the time, trying to find land to build the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens on, and needed an outlet for her botanical educating impulse.

Your Only Local Full Service Repair Shop

Galls on Tree # 4, Colorado blue spruce in Sandstone Park.

Using the Sibley Guide to Trees, as well as chats with Town of Lyons parks staff, Fairfax identified trees, designed a route, gathered information, painted illustrations, and Continue Arboretum on Page 13

HEATING & COOLING Heating & Air Conditioning Experts

TIRES • ALIGNMENTS • BRAKES • MAINTENANCE ALL MAKES AND MODELS, including DIESELS

4th & Broadway, Lyons 303-823-6760 www.lyonsautomotive.com

Darrell F. Paswaters PO Box 2509 Phone (303) 823-3030 Lyons, Colorado 80540 Fax (303) 823-8718 darrell@aceheatingandcooling.com • www.aceheatingandcooling.com

PAGE 6

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

EDUCATE By the numbers: LEAF’s 2020 impact

By Lori Barton Redstone Review LYONS – They say numbers don’t lie. By the numbers, Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fund’s (LEAF) impact in our community last year was unmatched. I am proud to say LEAF served every single Barton person who came to us for help in 2020.

I can never offer enough thanks to our donors, volunteers, partners, and participants, for all the good they achieved in 2020. This community knows how to create community, and that is a beautiful thing. Please take a look at LEAF’s 2020 impact.

Let’s also shine a spotlight on the incredible teams of volunteers who lead our volunteer-centric programs.

Truly, LEAF does not happen without these amazing community members.

Lyons Community Food Pantry provided high quality nutrition and safe community – every single week – to people who needed food. We served 20 percent of the households in the community last year. From the very start of the COVID pandemic, our volunteers worked tirelessly to assess the needs, to source the food, and to keep everyone safe.

They turned our operations upside down, basically overnight, to protect everyone on our team and our participants.

They worked hard (and sometimes scared) all year long.

When you see our leaders, Monique Sawyer-Lang, Debbie Tabor, or Nancy Reckling, please give them an elbow bump and a great big, Thank you for their leadership.

This big team of world-changers volunteered regularly, too, in 2020: Bruno Ammann, Alison and Cassidy Batts, Tom and Linda Brome, Regan Bullers, Karen Cornell, Ruth Corwin, Maridy Dandeneau, Gabriel, Tanya and Morgane Daty, Maddie Dusel, Joanne Farmer, Cindy Grundmeier, Whitney Hay, Wendy Hutt, Kate Kerr, Steve Lang, Leslie Larson, Eva Lennert, Tricia and Georgia Marsh, Cory Pierce, Dorina Savage, Karen Schwenn, Debbie Simms, and Genevieve Thomas. Please extend your gratitude for these fearless friends’ committed service.

Lyons Meals on Wheels volunteers delivered hot meals and warm hellos every single day last year. From the start, the team collaborated to operate under best practices, keeping our volunteers and clients safe. They identified and applied safety protocols with extra care and adjusted to ever-changing modifications in the way we procured meals. Their dedication to helping the most vulnerable people in our community made a lasting impact.

In addition to delivering nutrition, they provided caring

human contact all year long, if only through a window sometimes. They discovered critical health and safety needs that our clients were suffering, and brought in help before tragedy struck.

This team truly serves our most isolated and vulnerable neighbors. Eric Andresen led the Meals on Wheels team.

Our drivers included Linda Brome, Mark Browning, Charlotte Grojean, Cindy Grundmeier, David Hamrick, Lori LeGault, Anthea Rice, Jerry Rotz, Toni St. John, Charlotte Strauss, Stephanie (and Zachary) Tuley, and Sue Wratten.

Please thank these heroic helpers when you see them.

Lyons Volunteers (LoV) didn’t miss a socially distanced beat in 2020, either. This team’s earnest desire to help, in ways big and small, is truly heartwarming. And the team leads the Weed Posse and is creating the Botanic Garden, too. Led by program leaders Rick DiSalvo, Barney Dreistadt, and Mike Karavas, LoV fielded requests and helped people – while practicing safety and social distancing – all year long. Our program leaders were joined by project leaders Mark Browning, Jon Corson-Rikert, Bonnie DiSalvo, Garima Fairfax, Rolf Hertenstein, Jim Kerr, Cathy Rivers, Sandy Spellman, Peggy Story, Linda Talley, Crystal White, Leigh Williams and many others, too. Please share your grateful thanks with these selfless servants when you see them. In other words, show some love to the LoV. In addition to these programs, don’t forget that LEAF offers mental health counseling through our Mental Wellness and Addiction Recovery program. Caring and competent community-based mental health care is available, typically at no cost. We are living in a profoundly difficult season: If you’re struggling, reach out confidentially to our mental health therapist, Cherie Maureaux. You’ll find details on our website at leaflyons.org.

Finally, LEAF’s Basic Needs and Resource Matching team fielded more requests and met more needs in 2020 than ever before, too. Led by Ellen Keane, with significant support from Lyons resident Rebecca Major in her role with the OUR Center, the team connected with and supported over 250 households last year.

Clearly, 2020 was incredibly active for everyone at LEAF. Whether you are a client, a supporter, or a volunteer, or someone in the community who cheers us all on, we are so grateful for your trust and partnership. It’s a new year, and we are off to a concerning start. If you are able to help people right here in our community, it is important and it means so much. Visit our website to make a gift or to learn more about everything we do to serve in the Greater Lyons area. It is our greatest hope to return to inperson events later this year.

Lory Barton has served as LEAF’s Executive Director for 2 years. She holds a degree in counseling psychology and a Master’s in Business Administration and she has worked in the nonprofit field for over 15 years. She lives in Longmont with her family.

Mountain Blooms: Lyons Garden Club will hold its first garden tour

By Sara Erickson Redstone Review “Not till June can the grass be said to be waving in the fields.

When the frogs dream, and the grass waves, and the buttercups toss their heads, and the heat disposes to bathe in the ponds and streams, then is summer begun.”

Henry David Thoreau LYONS – The Lyons Garden Club is pleased to announce its first ever garden tour entitled Mountain Blooms. This event is set for Saturday, June 19, 2021.

The variety of gardens on the tour will offer inspiration to everyone who visits

Be Well!

Private Acupuncture Sessions Available

them. It’s an opportunity to learn what plants thrive in our climate and explore outstanding creative spaces and gain fun landscaping tips.

Each stop on the Mountain Blooms tour will be unique. You’ll meet a mix of master gardeners and passionate hobbyists, who garden not only for their own enjoyment, but to contribute to the health of our local ecosystem. Bring your curiosity and your questions. Whether you are just getting started or have an established garden of your own, new discoveries await you.

Details will be posted during the next couple of months on Facebook, local media including the Redstone Review, town Continue Garden on Page 12

Whippet Window Cleaning Finest Quality Residential Window Cleaning Available

Sliding Scale Fee Carol Conigliaro, L.Ac. Licensed Acupuncturist, Chinese Herbal Medicine

303-819-2713 • www.carolconigliaro.com

Stillwater C L I N I C

&

A P O T H E C A R Y

Empower Your Health, Naturally!

4 1 8 H i g h S t . Ly o n s • 3 0 3 - 8 2 3 - 9 3 5 5 StillwaterHealingArts.com

Steve Lubliner Serving Boulder & Larimer Counties

Phone (303) 823-8800

Lyons Chiropractic Clinic Spine & Extremity Evaluation & Treatment, Digital X-Ray Services, Hot & Cold Therapy, Ultrasound & Electric Muscle Stimulator, Custom Fitted Orthotics, and more!

Joseph D. Meckle, D.C. Health Through Chiropractic

438 Park Street, Lyons, CO www.LyonsChiropractic.com (303) 823-6664

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 7

INSIGHT Finding a vaccine and a croissant-like substance -----By John Gierach Redstone Review LYONS – Susan and I drove to a Starbucks in Golden recently to meet my friend DeWitt and pick up a cooler of elk meat. I hunted with DeWitt and our mutual friend Ed for 25 seasons, but gave it Gierach up several years ago. This happens with elk hunters of a certain age. At the end of what becomes your final big game hunt, you hear yourself saying, “Okay, that’s the last 600-pound animal I’m gonna drag off a mountain,” and your friends – no spring chickens themselves – don’t ask for further explanation. And then, in subsequent seasons, they cut you in for a share of the meat for old time’s sake.

Susan and I were standing in line to order when DeWitt walked in. He was wearing a mask, of course, but I could tell he was grinning by the way his eyes narrowed and crinkled at the corners. He said, “I know I’m not supposed to do this,” and then stepped in to give us each a big hug.

Except for Susan, this was the first physical contact I’d had with another human being in nearly a year and I didn’t know what to do with it. At first, I felt weird about breaking the social distancing rule – in public, no less. Then I felt weird about feeling weird about getting hugged by an old friend and thought, “The world is just a damned mess.”

When Susan ordered, she asked about a breakfast sandwich that was supposed to be on a croissant, but it was round. “‘Croissant’ means crescent,” she said, “so how can it be a croissant when it’s round?” (She’s an editor by trade and worries about language – as someone has to so we don’t all end up speaking gibberish.)

The second kid behind the counter said to the first, “You know what? She has a point,” and the first kid said, “You’re right. How ‘bout if we think of it as a ‘croissantlike substance?’”

So, the moment passed and we were back to good old American shucking and jiving, except that we were all wearing surgical masks and were separated by a plexiglass shield. It’s those constant and necessary reminders of our predicament that has given us all shell shock.

When Governor Polis announced recently that people like us – 70 and older – were now included in phase 1-B of the vaccinations, I again made the rounds looking for when, where and how to get the shot and again found that one

source referred me to another and so on until I inevitably arrived back where I started, still ignorant and now pissedoff, too. At one point, Susan tried to help and we each called the same agency and got separate and conflicting answers to the same question. It wasn’t the first time that’s happened, although the stakes aren’t usually this high.

When it comes to trusting in the vaccine, the only evidence I need is the sight of all the Republican politicians who are lining up to get vaccinated ahead of everyone else, including those who’ve claimed publicly that COVID-19 is just a liberal hoax. (Rachel Maddow said, “Don’t listen to what they say; watch what they do.”) And then just the other day, CNN reported that some wealthy

folks were approaching their boutique doctors with offers of large cash “donations” in return for getting their shots first. They didn’t mention if any of them were successful, but of course they were. And honestly, if I had unlimited funds and the sense of privilege that comes with, I might do the same. It’s easy to be self-righteous when the ethical choice is your only alternative. As it is, I’m left to wonder if senators and movie stars are more essential than the people who stock the shelves at the grocery store. I doubt it, but you tell me.

There are several flaws in the current system and one is that the group that’s now eligible – people 70 and older,

This is Buncie, a two and a half month old yellow lab puppy owned by fly fisherman and photographer Mike Dvorak in Minneapolis, Minn. Mike is a friend of John Gierach’s. This is Buncie’s first fishing trip and he couldn’t last the whole day; he got too tired and cold. So Mike stuffed him into his waders where he immediately fell asleep.

still sometimes condescendingly referred to as “the elderly” – comprise the least tech savvy demographic in the state. But signing up for your shot involves finding a list of providers online, signing up with each individually, some requiring patient portals with usernames and passwords, and each with its own method of notification.

Sometimes they say they’ll call or email; other times you have to go online and check every day.

Susan and I both work on computers, and although we’re not as adept as some, for us it’s just been the usual drudgery, but I’m thinking of people like my late mother.

She not only didn’t like computers, but was scared of them and wouldn’t even be in the same room with one. When I tried to show her my first one years ago, she froze in the door of my office. When I invited her in, she said, “That’s okay, I can see it from here.” What are people like that

supposed to do? There are hotline numbers, but a test drive of one revealed that if you can wade through 10 minutes of punching buttons, you’ll have no less than a 30-minute wait to talk to someone who’ll then refer you back to the website.

Judging by those I know who’ve gotten their appointments for shots and those who haven’t, the process seems as capricious as trying to get struck by lightning. I have to remind myself that vaccine distribution, as it stands now, is a leftover Donald Trump production and therefore inept by definition. Maybe it’ll get better now, but I wasn’t encouraged to hear from a member of Biden’s COVID team that they were shocked to learn that there was no distribution plan whatsoever. Really? I knew there was no plan and so did you – it’s been all over the news for months – so why were they shocked?

Meanwhile, public officials issue statements and give interviews that make things sound better than they actually are, but in the end only prove that if you can take a paragraph to answer and yes or no question without actually answering it, you have a future in politics. The last time I heard the governor speak I’d just spent two weeks negotiating the maze without success and caught myself having a rare Ronald Reagan moment. I was never a fan, but I’m pretty sure it was Reagan who said, “The most feared sentence in the English language is, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

John Gierach is an outdoor and fly fishing writer who writes books and columns for magazines including a regular column for Trout Magazine. His books include Trout Bum, Sex Death and Fly fishing, and Still Life with Brook Trout. He has won seven first place awards from the Colorado Press Association for his columns in the Redstone Review. His latest book, Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers was released in June and is available at book stores and fly fishing shops everywhere including South Creek Ltd. on Main Street in Lyons.

Lyons Area & Flood Books For Sale! from the Lyons Redstone Museum

Learn about Lyons Area History: Quarries/Quarry Town, Lyons Pioneers, Lyons 1900s, Isabella Bird, Welch Resort, E. S. Lyon, Billings Family, Blue Mountain, Old Stone Church, Meadow Park, Chopin Through the Window by Franciska Stein Flood Books and DVDs are also available.

To Order or For More Information: (303) 823-5925 or (303) 823-5271

440 Main St. Suite 1 720 934 7887 www.pilatesoflyons.com

WE’RE OPEN! Come by and see us.

Great Coffee, Housemade Breakfast Burritos and Flippin’ Tasty Baked Goods!

OPEN FRIDAY- SUNDAY, 8 AM - 1 PM

5th & High Street • 303.823.2345 • www.TheStoneCup.com

Scott Young

Senior Mortgage Planner

Serving Lyons Since 1997

Direct: 303.823.0567 scott@scottyoungsite.com www.scottyoungsite.com CO-MLO #10008456 NMLS #294755

Equal Housing Opportunity

1313 South Clarkson St, Unit 2 • Denver, CO 80210 RPM Mortgage, Inc. CA Bureau of Real Estate – real estate license #01818035 NMLS #9472

PAGE 8

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

OPPORTUNITY PA RT 1 : S E R I E S O N R A C I S M I N LY O N S

When the Klan went to church in Lyons

By Ian Brighton Redstone Review LYONS – About a month after George Floyd was killed in that infamous spring of 2020, I paged through a copy of Bertha Ramey’s hand-typed manuscript entitled “History of Lyons United Methodist Brighton Church” written in 1973. Known today as the Lyons Community Church, it’s also the home of the Lyons Emergency Assistance Fund (LEAF) which operates a food pantry and offers human services for anyone in need. Our family joined the congregation because I come from Methodists, and also because the Blue Canyon Boys sang the hymns on our first visit. The four-part harmonies seemed prophetic at the time.

According to Ramey’s telling, the church building was dedicated on March 1, 1908 at a cost of $4,000. Governor Henry Augustus Buchtel preached the Dedicatory. What follows is a litany of historical facts including dues collected, salaries paid, notable snow events, various pastors, and the number of saloons in town (about 15 to 20).

Apparently the church had its work cut out in those early days. As we progress into the roaring 20s, Ramey writes, “In December of 1924, at a funeral in the church, I was sitting in the choir when in walked 50 white robed (Ku Klux) Klansmen (KKK). It was a new experience, as I peered at their eyes, looking out from the small apertures in their robes.”

In the midst of the great pandemic and racial strife of 2020, I’d stumbled across an extraordinarily ugly truth about our town and the church. The chapel felt tainted.

I couldn’t shake the image of hooded racists occupying the same hallowed pews where our flock gathered pre-Covid to sing hymns and pray. It seemed vitally important to get the word out. As the former slave turned journalist Ida B. Wells once said, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”

That night, with my outrage growing, I sent an email to the church leadership that likely raised a few eyebrows.

Among other things, I suggested we install a giant Black Lives Matter sign on our beautiful white façade that fronts the highway. It seemed the reasonable thing to do, given

the tenor of the times. Our church, however, is full of good souls with a diversity of views. It was soon apparent we weren’t ready to dive head-first into the racial turmoil gripping our nation. We needed to work through difficult questions before we charted a path forward. I turned to research.

The 1924 funeral is the only mention of the Klan in Ramey’s manuscript, and Lyons has a curious gap in historic documentation from that decade. Luckily, it’s not hard to find references to the 1920s Klan for the rest of Colorado. The KKK was in its heyday, and held many levers of power in our state including the Longmont city council and the governorship. Several local newspapers were dedicated to the Klan such as the Durango Klansman, and the Rocky Mountain American. You can read archived articles in the vast online Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The hatred espoused towards immigrants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, African Americans, and mainstream media eerily echo some of the fringe dialogue we hear today. Protestants, regrettably, were leading the charge back then.

This fall, after the email dust had settled, our church opted to form a monthly discussion group rather than turn our building into a massive billboard. Led by Pastor Emily Hagan, it’s dedicated to facilitating honest and open discussion and to finding ways to take meaningful action. We read books together, listen to guest speakers, and grapple with difficult questions that strike at the heart of systematic racism. Our efforts are gaining traction. We’re seeing residents outside of the church participate as well as a community-wide discussion in the works. Despite my desire for immediate confrontation, ongoing dialogue appears to be working. Sometimes you need to turn down the volume to hear yourself think.

On an overcast Martin Luther King Day a few weeks ago, the church installed an anti-racism banner on our front ramp. Gathering outside for the first time since the pandemic began, we listened to speeches from Pastor Hagan, Mark Boys, Mayor Nicholas Angelo, and Boulder County Commissioner Marta Loachamin. I attempted to shine a light of truth by specifically mentioning the 1924 event, and speaking the names of just a few of those we’ve lost to racism. This is very raw territory, but it feels significant that

Members of the monthly BLM discussion group at the Lyons Community Church. PHOTO BY ERIK HAGHAN we’ve taken a first step towards atonement together. Now we can add a footnote to those two sentences on page six of Ramey’s manuscript. The rest is just fine as it is.

Ian Brighton grew up in Niwot, Colorado and moved to Lyons a month before the 2013 flood. He received a Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Colorado, Denver, and works in land management. He also plays woodwinds and keyboards and has performed with many local and national acts including Samba Dende, Bonnie and the Clydes, Devotchka, and the Motet. As a volunteer, he Chairs the Parks and Recreation Commission and serves as the President of the Lyons Ditch Company.

At Lyons Community Foundation, love for Lyons runs deep

By Tanya Mercer-Daty Redstone Review LYONS – At Lyons Community Foundation (LCF), our love for Lyons runs deep. Since 2007, our gears have always Mercer-Daty been turning, planning ways to work with the community to make Lyons an even more wonderful place to call home. We could not do this incredible community work without the countless hours of our dedicated board members and volunteers or the financial support of our monthly/annual donors.

This month, we would like to honor our monthly contributors who help sustain us through good times and bad. Without them, LCF would not be able to budget and predict revenue and funding for our grant requests. This group of philanthropists truly help to build community in the greater Lyons area. LCF would like to publicly thank the following people for sustaining us through the years: Debbie and Steve Simms, Sandy and Lloyd Banta, Kathleen Crane, Reena Rotz, Kathy and Scott Leiding, Laurie Miller and Warren Groom, George and Sally Pillsbury, Robert and Pam Freeman, Larry Quinn and Linda Backup and Jeanne and Bill Moore.

One of our local residents and former Town of Lyons trustee, Sandy Banta, served as treasurer on the LCF Advisory Board from 2014 to 2017. She knows better than anyone the importance of sustainable contributions. As she said in a recent interview that she knows, from having been the treasurer of LCF, that “monthly gifts they can rely on help them budget for the year and know what programs they can expect to fund.”

Sandy Banta states that what she loves most about the Lyons Community Foundation is how it brings our community together. “We learn to know each other, love and appreciate each other so that when a disaster strikes or we have problems, we know where to turn.” She also explained why she and her husband Lloyd Banta decided to donate monthly, “It’s super con-

Above: Sandy Banta, former Town of Lyons Trustee and treasurer of LCF (2014-2017) is pictured in front of the Clarifier, which she helped to cover in mosaic. It’s one of her favorite LCFsponsored projects.

At right: Kathleen Leiding (right), one of the founding members of LCF is pictured in her backyard with Jeanne Moore, chair of LCF. venient for us. We can set it up online. I don’t have to remember that it’s December and that on top of buying Christmas gifts, I also need to get my annual donation in.”

When asked what LCF-sponsored project is her favorite, she points to the clarifier that was covered in mosaics over a tenyear period by a group of dedicated volunteers under the direction of local artists Priscilla Cohan and Cathy Rivers.

Most of you will probably remember Kathleen Leiding, former Athletic Director of Lyons Middle/Senior High School. Not only was Leiding one of the founding board members of LCF, she returned to the LCF Advisory Board for two years after retiring.

In fact, she has been a monthly contributor for many years. She believes that a monthly donation is not only important, it’s easy too.

In a recent interview, she stated, “I felt that it was the easiest way to give money

to LCF rather than give a check at the end of the year.” She added, “I also know how important that money is. My strongest appeal is if everyone in Lyons would do that (a monthly contribution), it would make LCF’s job so much easier than all the fundraising they have to do... all the money goes to Lyons. You aren’t paying a CEO’s salary. It all goes back to the community.”

Obviously, one of Leiding’s favorite LCF projects is the Scholarship Fund, which grants anywhere between $500 and $2,000 to send seven graduating seniors to attend a post-secondary institution.

Another longtime resident, Laurie Miller, has been a founding contributor since LCF was created in 2007. She loves

that she can see her contributions put to work as she is driving through town, whether it be people lining up outside LEAF’s Food Pantry or hot meals being delivered to her elderly neighbors.

Luckily, Miller is able to make an employee contribution which her employer will match. She doesn’t even have to think about making a donation as it is set up automatically and deducted from her paycheck every month. She suggests that if people are looking to save money on services such as internet providers, TV or telephone, they could put the money saved towards a local non-profit such as LCF. This coming year is very difficult to plan, due to the on-going uncertainties of the current health and financial crisis. The LCF Board has tried to budget conservatively, given that the pandemic will continue in 2021 and the assumption is that this will prevent any fundraising events from occurring until at least the second half of this year. The cancellation of past fundraisers has only exacerbated their efforts to increase revenue to offset funds such as Community Support Grants ($30,000) and Senior Scholarships ($8,500).

We are asking all residents who can afford to give this year to consider becoming a monthly donor. If you enjoy live concerts in the park, the Holiday Parade of Lights, local history, beautiful gardens, educational opportunities for your children, public art, etc., then we ask that you consider becoming an LCF Community Builder by becoming a monthly donor. Any amount per month ($10, $25, $50 or $100) would be welcomed and appreciated, and so helpful to us in generating a consistent revenue stream. If you are interested and are able to give back to this amazing community, please visit our website to set up a monthly contribution at www.lyonscf.org.

Tanya Mercer-Daty is the new Marketing and Communications Associate for Lyons Community Foundation. You can contact her at tanya@lyonscf.org.

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT The Middle has been a hard place to get to lately

By Sally King Redstone Review LYONS – Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial made a plea to end division in the U.S. by highlighting a chapel that is the geographical middle point of the nation’s lower 48 states. Narrated by Bruce Springsteen, King driving alone in the late afternoon on the back roads of a snowy Kansas winter day. The camera work is beautiful, the music is stirring and the words spoken are a poem. A true collaboration with art and industry and I

suspect we will be seeing more of this kind of thing as our need for uplifting vision continues. I was inspired.

“The Middle,” shows Springsteen on the grounds of the U.S. Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas. The chapel is described as a place that “never closes” and where “all are welcomed.”

The Middle “It’s no secret, the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear,” “As for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few.

It belongs to us all.

Whoever you are, wherever you’re from.

It’s what connects us.

And we need that connection.

We need the middle.

We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground ...

Our light has always found its way through the darkness.”

“To the ReUnited States of America.”

them how strong their people are and that they can overcome anything. She said “That’s how my miniature museum of African American history started.”

We hope you will get out some materials and jump in and make a Picture Portal of your own and then share it with all of us. All ages welcome. Please deliver your piece to The Stone Cup on Friday, March 19 or first thing Saturday morning, March 20. There will be a card for you to fill out with your information. The show comes down on April 24.

JUST FOR FUN

By Sally King Redstone Review LYONS – Make a Diorama, a miniature scene placed in a shallow box or a deep frame and we will hang it in The Stone Cup as part of a month-long show called Picture Portals.

Cathay Christensen, Rachel Tallent and I were talking one day and one thing led to another and we said, “Let’s host a group show of dioramas”. I had been sharing with them an article I’d read in the AARP Magazine about a woman artist who found her way out of a depression by working with dioramas, saying “It took my mind off my troubles” She wanted to influence black children to tell

“Learning to embroider over this last year has illuminated and nourished my life. I’ve been entirely homebound for many years with health challenges, which has kept me from being able to engage with the Lyons community. The simple act of sharing some of my creations in the newspaper allows me to feel a part of this vibrant town, a sense of belonging.

I don’t sell them now, but someday, as my skills and confidence grow!” Diane Magnussen

After 11 months, Defined Motion is absolutely thrilled to reopen our doors to in-person children’s dance classes. Our 6 week dance session begins Monday, February 22 with 16 classes for all ages.

We will be following all current COVID protocols and guidelines which include mandatory masks and distancing. All classes will be limited to seven participants so that we can maintain proper distancing throughout dance classes. We can’t wait to get back to what we do best which is build and uplift community through movement and the healing arts. Dance is such a wonderful art form that uses both sides of the brain, emotions, and the entire body to inspire, express and have fun. It is poetry in motion. All adult classes will remain online for the time being. We are taking small, conservative reopening measures to maximize safety as well as the stability of our business. We look forward to serving our Lyons community in this way again.

Welcome back.

Ali Kishiyama and Jasmine Lok own and operate Defined Motion at 625 1/2 4th Avenue in Lyons.

Contact them at 720-245-5448 or info@definedmotiondance.com

Lyons artist’s traveling exhibit leaves lasting impression on veterans

By Cristina TrapaniScott Redstone Review LYONS – With the sweet bear and child reading sculpture that now sits in front of the library and the Trapani-Scott Bell of Renewal that graces the entrance to the bridge at Bohn Park, artist and Lyons resident Anita Miller has left a clear creative mark on the town of Lyons.

What Lyons residents may not be aware of, however, is the profound impact her work has had on Gold Star Families and military veterans throughout the country.

In 2008, Miller unveiled the Eyes of Freedom: Lima Company Memorial in the Ro-

One of the eight paintings in the Eyes of Freedom: Lima Company Memorial by Anita Miller. The boots of the soldiers depicted are displayed with the paintings.

Fine Art Connoisseur Maga- trum. The whole spectrum of emotions are zine. covered, but the men’s faces are calm.

The paintings depict the They are all looking into the center and at soldiers from head to toe each other. We stand in the middle and against various landscapes you feel like you are with them.” on the backs of the paintings While Miller’s initial goal was to honor are listed the names of all the the entire company and to bring peace to members of Lima Company. the families of the fallen soldiers, she Miller said the idea was to quickly learned that the exhibit had a honor the entire unit’s sacri- much broader reach. fice as well as to memorialize “I feel it was made to sooth the hearts of those who lost their lives. the families that lost the 23 men,” said Throughout the develop- Miller. “After several years, it felt like the ment of the exhibit, Miller pain of those Gold Star Families wasn’t as “Silent Battle” is a life-sized sculpture of a grieving veteran connected with the families sharp and what I began to see was the peoholding the dog tags of a fellow soldiers lost in combat. of the soldiers. The families ple most profoundly affected by the exhibit generously donated their were veterans,” tunda of the Ohio Statehouse in Colum- loved ones’ combat boots to the project Mike Strahle, executive director of the bus. The memorial is a series of eight paint- and the boots are displayed in front of each memorial and a member of Lima Company ings that depict 23 men from the marine of the soldiers. who suffered severe injuries and nearly lost reserve unit Lima Company who lost their “Each (of the paintings) has their own his life, and Sean Flaharty, who handles lives during Operation Iraqi Freedom. different feeling,” Miller said. “Some are the logistics of the memorial, both travel The unit, which deployed in 2005, was very painful in a way because the back- with the exhibit. Miller said along the way one of the hardest hit during the opera- grounds are very explosive. Some are very they spoke with many veterans who had tion. The soldiers came from all over the calming, so there is just an emotional specContinue Miller on Page 15 United States with the largest contingent The town seeks sculptures for outdoor art collection hailing from Ohio where Miller was living at the time. She read about the unit’s story LYONS – The Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission (LAHC) and the Town of Lyons anof devastating loss and was compelled to nounce a call for artists for entries in our public art collection now known as the heARTS of LYONS – an outdoor arts collection – all over town. We wish to judiciously expand our current create the memorial as a way to honor outdoor art collection through the careful selection of an additional six high-quality pieces. their sacrifice. Included in her vision for Town of Lyons Pays an honorarium. the piece was having it displayed in the To be considered for this two-year commitment, artists are encouraged to do an online subOhio Statehouse Rotunda. mission for up to three pieces for juried consideration for a one-time $30 submission fee.

“My goal was to get it there because it’s Submit Online. The window for submissions is now through February 22, 2021. where it appeared in my vision, and I then The Town of Lyons and the LAHC have identified where placement of art is permissible and saw it as a traveling memorial,” said Miller. will assist with the installation of mounting blocks and placards for each piece adding to this The exhibit was established as a not-foroutstanding opportunity for high visibility. profit organization and has since traveled Artists are paid a $750 honorarium (paid in two installments) for a two-year placement. Artists across the country. It has been featured by are encouraged to sell their work showcased in this main high-traffic corridor to Rocky Mountain National Park; if the existing work sells, the expectation is that said piece is replaced by a comlocal and national news outlets as well as parable piece in a timely fashion for the duration of the two-year contract. in prominent art publications, including

PAGE 10

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

CONSIDER Lyons Regional Library hires a new Youth Services Librarian

By Kara Bauman Redstone Review LYONS – The Lyons Community Library has some exciting news: We’ve hired a brand-new Youth Services Librarian.

Bauman We would like to introduce Becki Loughlin to our wonderfully supportive community of library lovers.

Loughlin was born and raised near Washington, D.C. and was privileged to grow up frequently visiting many cultural and historic sites. In high school, she was teased in a loving way by her friends for volunteering in the school library, but little did they know a passion was brewing.

After envisioning what it would be like to move to Colorado, she attended CUBoulder for college and has lived in Colorado for the past 22 years. College led to employment at CU, then a stint in the publishing industry, and eventually to her true passion for public library service, where she has now worked for over 15 years.

Most recently, Loughlin managed the Carbon Valley Regional Library in Firestone. Prior to this, she was a Children’s Librarian for five years, where she oversaw children’s services and programming for the High Plains Library District - Erie Community Library. She coordinated the Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries grant, which addressed parent and child early literacy education for English language learners through library orientations and outreach. Loughlin has a Master’s in Library and Information

Science from the University of Denver.

Loughlin lives in Longmont with her husband and two smart, strong, and funny daughters. She and her family enjoy kayaking, hiking, cooking, spending time with friends, and of course, reading all the time.

Lives in: Longmont.

Favorite grown up book: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery Favorite children’s book: If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson Favorite Authors: Toni Morrison, Barbara Kingsolver, Mo Willems, Kadir Nelson, Matt de la Peña Preferred Superpower: Kindness Instruments: Guitar and Becki Loughlin has joined Lyons Community Library as the Youth Services Librarian.

Ukulele Favorite Vacation Spot: Taos, New Mexico What three people (dead or alive) has something fun for the kiddos to create.

Upcoming for adults is the final installwould you invite to a dinner party?

Michelle Obama, Mother Theresa, Toni ment of our Colorado Author Series, an evening with Connie Shoemaker. The seMorrison Favorite Quote: “No matter what gets ries has been a wonderful partnership with done, and how much is left undone, I am Colorado Humanities and Friends of the Lyons Regional Library. Connie Shoeenough.” – Brené Brown.

We can’t wait for Loughlin to join our maker, the 2020 Colorado Book Award team on March 1. We’re eager to once Winner in General Nonfiction, developed again offer storytimes and other youth pro- an interest in Muslim women when she gramming. Please stay tuned for those de- spent four years in Cairo, Egypt with her tails as we get them ironed out. In the husband and children, teaching English meantime, make sure to check the Porch and writing for several news organizations.

About her book, Taste the Sweetness Pickup Table for available take-and-make craft kits. Librarian BJ Campbell always Later, she says, “It brings together two of

Utility Continued from Page 3 has inspected the grease traps at two locations. We will continue to do random sampling as well as maintaining a spreadsheet on grease trap reporting.

Water: We have the correct new six-inch PRV valve and have selected a contractor. We are waiting to hear when the contractor can schedule the project. Once the valve is installed we will have the manufacturers rep out onsite, hopefully on the same day, to set the pressures. We will then be testing the fire hydrant flow at the fire hydrant at the corner of Seward and 4th St. We will check other hydrants at times after this work but on the day of the actual work we will use

the hydrant at Seward and 4th St. as this is a nearby hydrant that has not met the requested fire flows.

We have sent a memo to Longmont documenting the pre-existing commitments the town is aware of.

Electric: The new electric meters are estimated to start being installed in mid-March. The contractor will be sending out postcards to all utility customers with their 800 number for anyone who would like to schedule a specific time for their meter installation.

Undergrounding the electric and communications lines running along 2nd Ave. south from Railroad continues with conduit and wire in place. There will also be some power outages as the transition is made from the lines in the air to those

my passions: the power of telling stories and the commitment to building bridges between cultures and generations.” Shoemaker continues, “More than half my life has been focused on education of international students and immigrants. Before retiring, I co-founded and directed Spring International Language Center, an intensive ESL program, and I now serve on the board of Immigrant Pathways Colorado.

One of my joys is facilitating a program called Those A-Ha Moments: Telling and Writing Life Stories for the Osher Life-Long Learning Institute (OLLI), sponsored by the University of Denver.”

Shoemaker will join us via Zoom on Thursday, March 18 at 7 p.m. Register for the event at connieshoemaker.eventbrite.com and please visit our website (lyons.colibraries.org) for more information.

There’s still plenty of time to register for our first-ever Winter Reading Program which will wrap up March 15. Our Winter Reading Program features challenges for early literacy, K-12, and adults and runs through the Beanstack platform. Please see our website for additional details. Prizes include gift cards to local businesses, a one-year subscription to a magazine from Cricket Press, an indoor teepee, and the Trekking National Parks board game.

The library is available for curbside pickup of materials between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays; between noon and 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; and between 10 a.m. and 1 pm. on Saturdays. We’re always available online at lyons.colibraries.org and we eagerly await your calls at 303-823-5165 and email requests at info@lyonslibrary.com.

Stay well, Lyons.

underground. We will work to keep customers in the area updated of when these transitions will take place.

The feasibility study with CU Denver for a location for a town-owned solar installation had its kickoff meeting last week, with introductions, scope of work and expectation discussions.

Capital Improvement Projects: With the announcement that DOLA will be providing the Town a $450,000 grant for the Longs Peak Ave. water and sewer line repairs we are ready to finalize the design and get that project out to bid with an estimated construction start time of June.

We will be setting up another public input meeting to review the final design.

Multiple agencies warn of tainted street drugs in Boulder, Longmont and Broomfield

By Dionne Waugh Redstone Review BOULDER – Law enforcement agencies in Boulder, Longmont and Broomfield want to warn the public about a recent influx of possible fentanyl-tainted street drugs in the community.

Since the start of the year, law enforcement and medical agencies in these jurisdictions have responded to several unattended deaths, some of which might be drug-related. However, the cause and manner of death will be determined by the coroner’s office. Boulder Police are sharing this information to help the public stay safe.

Boulder Police (BPD) officers have been trained to carry and deploy Narcan on a regular basis since summer 2015. From 2018 to 2020, BPD officers saved at least 17 individuals by administering Narcan.

Longmont Police (LPD) officers and community service officers have been carrying Narcan since January 2017. Since January 2017, they have saved 47 lives with Narcan. Broomfield Police started carrying Narcan in 2017.

Though 2020 data is still incomplete, 2020 is on track to be a record year for overdose deaths and follows a three-decade trend upward, except for 2018, according to the Boulder County Health Department.

This mirrors national trends in overdose deaths, according to Boulder County Health. Fentanyl is a big driver, and it is cross-contamination which is considered the cause of the increase in cocaine deaths as well. Overdose deaths from psychostimulants, such as meth, increased 34.8 percent and now exceed cocaine-involved deaths.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin, and significantly increases the risk of death from accidental overdose.

Each day in the United States, more than 100 people die as a result of drug overdose.

Rates of drug overdose have increased dramatically in the past decade, with drug overdose surpassing motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death.

According to the Boulder County Health Department, 2020 had the highest numbers of Emergency Department visits for opioid overdose compared to 2017 to 2019. Additionally, stimulant overdose visits to Boulder County hospitals were 54 percent higher in 2019 than in 2020. Even though the final numbers for 2020 aren’t yet in, the county has also seen an increase in deaths from methamphetamine, heroin and other opioids.

Signs of overdose include: not responsive to sound or pain, such as a sternum rub; not breathing; blue lips or fingertips; loud gurgling sounds.

If an individual is concerned that some-

All Stages of Tree Care Residential & Mountain Properties

Bryan Baer ISA Certified Arborist INSURED

■

PROFESSIONAL

www.baerforestry.com (303)823-8088 (630)725-8753 (cell)

one is having an overdose, but reluctant to call 911 for fear of prosecution, the 911 Good Samaritan Law states that a person is immune from criminal prosecution for an offense when the person reports, in good faith, an emergency drug or alcohol overdose even to a law enforcement officer, to the 911 system, or to a medical provider. Learn more at https://cdphe.colorado.gov/colorado-public-health-harmreduction-legislation

Anyone who may have information about any incidents involving these tainted drugs or any crimes that could be related may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers and remain anonymous at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips may also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at crimeshurt.com.

Dionne Waugh is the Public Information officer for Boulder Public Safety.

Start The Year Right…

Invest In Your Health!

Save $10 on Hot Stone Massages

Join us for a conversation with

Connie Shoemaker

for the months of February & March

2020 Colorado Book Award Winner Taste the Sweetness Later

JJ Booksh-Asnicar, LMT

Thursday, March 18 7:00p.m.

22 years of experience.

Celebrating 18 years in Lyons!

303.709.9090 454 Main Street, Lyons

COLORADO HUMANITIES

For more information and to register: https://bit.ly/shoemaker

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 11

WHAT’S COOKIN’ An onion tart for a grey day

By Barbara Shark Redstone Review LYONS – Winter and the cold send me to my favorite comfort food recipes. We’ve been eating pasta with caramelized fennel and walnuts, pizza topped with sausage and ricotta, and red Shark chili chicken enchiladas.

One of my favorite meals is a savory tart accompanied by a salad. I use a wonderful, easy recipe, from cookbook writer Patricia Wells, for a simply made, crisp, crust.

Combine 1 cup unbleached flour, a big pinch of salt, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup water and mix well. Press the dough into an 8- or 9-inch pie plate or tin. Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.

I don’t prebake the shell. If you must, prick the bottom but there’s no need to weight the pastry as it does not shrink (another recommendation for using the recipe). I make spinach, asparagus, tomato or cheese tarts with this dependable crust. Lately I’ve had a yen for caramelized onions.

Thinly slice two largish yellow onions and sauté over medium high heat in two tablespoons olive oil. When

the onions have begun to soften, lower the heat and cover the pan. Continue to cook over low heat, about 25 minutes, until browned and caramelized. Watch so they do not burn, stirring every now and then. Uncover in the last five minutes and raise the heat a bit to further brown.

Stir frequently. Cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Use the back of a spoon to paint the bottom of the tart shell with a good tablespoon Dijon mustard. In a bowl, combine the cooled onions with 1/2 cup half-and-half or

milk, 1 large beaten egg, 3 ounces grated Gruyere, cheddar, or parmesan, and five or six grinds of black pepper.

Stir well. Fill the shell and bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes. The center may be slightly jiggly but will firm up as the tart settles.

Barbara Shark is an artist and author of How I Learned to Cook, an Artist's Life. She lives near Lyons, Colorado.

For more recipes, read her blog, www.howilearnedtocookanartistslife.blog

Banana bread pudding with dates and pecans – An any-day extravaganza

By Catherine Metzger Redstone Review LYONS – Our Valentine’s Day baby turned 30 this year. So, last week I made my annual search for delicious desserts for the celebration. Then, while I was cruising Facebook, I watched virtuoso chef Emeril Lagasse’s two-minute video on how to make banana walnut bread pudding. Inspired, I raced to the kitchen and prepared it from memory, making a couple substitutions. The results were spectacular. This year it was my go-to dessert for Valentine’s Day. But it’s great any day, really, that is, whenever you’re craving a tender, delicious dessert made with all-natural, whole foods.

Though the ingredients are simple and the recipe appears humble, the results are extraordinary and are as fine as any dessert.

And this recipe uses what’s usually on hand in your kitchen, namely: stale bread, overripe bananas, dried fruit and nuts. Not only is it fabulously delicious, it’s economical, a word not often put in a sentence with the words “fabulously delicious.” These words most certainly belong together in the description for what I call Banana Bread Pudding with Dates and Pecans.

The secret to the tender results is soaking the bread for at least 30 minutes in milk before mixing in the custard and the rest of the ingredients.

I used my week-old artisan sourdough rye bread with crusts on, cut it into oneinch chunks and soaked the bread in milk while mixing up the custard. Then I added in the sliced, half-crushed ripe bananas stirred in along with pecans, and some outrageously tender Medjool dates I had on

hand. The result was a home run: delicious, tender, and, because it’s just the two of us, it’s not just for one night but for the next few days. With just a 30-second reheat in the microwave served with a dollop of whipped cream, this dessert’s tenderness and flavors are good all week.

Here is my interpretation of Emeril Lagasse’s recipe:

should be mostly covered by the custard, with just the tops of the bread rising above. Set pudding in the middle of a preheated oven. Bake for 55 minutes or until your thermometer reads 160° F. • While the banana bread pudding is baking, make the whipped cream: Beat the whipping cream and as it thickens, add the sugar and vanilla. Once it holds soft peak, it is ready. Cover whipped cream and set aside in the refrigerator.

• Remove banana bread pudding from oven. Serve warm with a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy.

Banana Bread Pudding with Dates and Pecans Serves 6 4 C stale bread with crusts on, cut into 1-inch cubes 4 C milk (2 cups to soak the stale bread in and 2 cups for the custard) 4 eggs, beaten 1 t vanilla 2 T melted butter 1/2 C sugar Pinch salt Cinnamon to taste: I used about 1/4 tea spoon, but Emeril appears to have used about 1 teaspoon.

Two overripe bananas, sliced and half mashed 1/2 C pitted, chopped Medjool or other dates 1/2 C roughly cut pecans 1 C whipping cream 2 T sugar 1 t vanilla Directions • Preheat oven to 350° F. • Cut bread into 1-inch chunks, enough to make 4 cups, leaving on the crust. Place in a medium-sized bowl and pour two cups

455 Main Street, downtown Lyons 303-823-5225 • www.StVrainMarket.com

Sandwiches, Soup, Fresh Bread, Homemade Sausage, Pies and more…

Hours: Mon-Sat 8am-8pm • Sun 8am-7pm

Join our online community TODAY! Visit our website at www.StVrainMarket.com “Like” us at www.Facebook.com/StVrainMarket and receive Facebook-only sales, specials and discounts.

of the milk over the bread and stir to mix.

Over the next 30 minutes, as the bread soaks up the milk, stir occasionally.

• While the bread is soaking, prepare the custard: In a small bowl, combine four beaten eggs, 2 cups of milk, melted butter, sugar, vanilla and pinch of salt. Set aside.

• Peel and slice the bananas into a small bowl and half mash them. Set aside.

• Pit and chop the dates and add to bowl with bananas.

• Roughly chop or hand split the pecan halves and add to bowl with banana mixture.

• Butter an 8 x 12 inch baking dish.

• Once the bread has softened in the milk and the bread mixture appears creamy, add the custard and banana-date-nut mixture and stir until combined.

• Pour into baking dish. The mixture

Catherine Ripley Metzger has been cooking professionally and privately since 1979. She was a French cuisine journeyman at the celebrated Henri d’Afrique restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Today she is the proprietor of the food blog www.foodfortheages.com, and Facebook.com/Food for the Ages. Though she cooks every day in a tiny kitchen with a two-burner stove, her recipes are expansive and she dedicates her craft to living large by cooking well in tiny kitchens.

PAGE 12

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

LOOK AHEAD The Vanishing Half – A story of splitting and searching for identity

By Andi Pearson Redstone Review LYONS – In the book, The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett’s second novel, twins create separate lives and try to escape their past.

Pearson Stella and Desiree are twins, two tiny humans who, though twinned, grew into two very different and separate girls. They are born to Adele and Leon Vignes – does the author mean to refer to vines – a twisting, growing tendril that ties the family together while watching the members grow separately? And the family lives in Mallard, a town so tiny it’s not on any map, doesn’t show up officially anywhere in Louisiana. Is the town itself growing and changing and vanishing?

Mallard was the town “more idea than place” founded by Alphonse Decuir in 1848. Alphonse was the son of a father who had once owned him, a son who was so light skinned that his mother often shoved him into the sun to darken. He’d married a mulatto and generations that followed were light, blue eyed, red haired and fair. Alphonse, their ancestor, had been dead many years when the Vignes twins were born.

Stella was light skinned, a good student with fair hair and Desiree was dark with no interest in school – two sisters, different in appearance and in goals and outlook. They were 16 when they left, just disappeared from Mallard, made their way to New Orleans, got jobs and rented a tiny apartment. Working at the Dixie Laundry was

The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett’s second novel, is the story of twins who take different paths that intersect many years later. hard but they felt they were free of the small town bonds and things went well.

Until Stella left – was just up and gone one day. “Sorry, honey, but I’ve got to go my own way.” Desiree was left alone.

Stella got a job at a bank, a job that could not in the 1960s have been held by a black person. But Stella looked white, she “passed.” And eventually, she fell in love with her boss, Blake. They married and Stella, after an anxious pregnancy,

Garden Continued from Page 6 email blasts, and the town utility bill. The latest information will also be posted on our website: www.lyonsgardenclub.com Lyons Garden Club is grateful to the Lyons Community Foundation, which provided a generous grant to make this event possible. We encourage you to support LCF and their incredible work.

Lyons Garden Club welcomes new members. Come join

gave birth to a baby girl, a fair skinned baby girl named Kennedy.

Desiree learned to read fingerprints, those personal identifying marks, and got a job in DC. She fell in love with Sam, a black man who could not believe the stories of life in Mallard. The two married and a daughter, Jude, was born to them – and she was black. But Sam was not a kind man and he hit Desiree one time too many. The mother and daughter ran – all

us this spring and summer for planting, weeding, conversation and exchange of gardening knowledge. You can often see us working at the West Wall, where the Bears reside, and in the Butterfly garden. We are an active group during the spring and summer and like to get our hands dirty. Gardening is healthy and fun, and you will make a difference. Your participation will be rewarding to you and your community. Check out our website this spring for events and the planting and weeding schedules. To be added to our mailing list email: sarae403@gmail.com.

the way to Adele’s house in Mallard.

Kennedy was raised in an upper-middle class white neighborhood and she attended private schools while Stella volunteered and spent her time in leisure. Desiree had returned to Mallard and Jude went to local schools while her mother worked cooking and serving at Lou’s Diner.

Years passed and Kennedy decided to drop out of college and go into acting – small parts, little theatres, experimental plays. Jude was interested in medical school and Reese, a transgendered male, loved her and encouraged her. They built a life together.

But the two different paths of the girls, one white and one black, intersect.

And while they are cousins, each the daughter of a twin, they look nothing alike, share no background experiences and have little in common. How do they come together? Do they bring their mothers back together? Does the color of their skin matter anymore as their lives go forward? These are all dilemmas that Brit Bennett addresses in her second novel, The Vanishing Half.

A New York Times Bestseller, The Vanishing Half is a Good Morning America Book Club selection. NPR calls the book, “the kind of story that feels like it’s moving fast, but really, it’s moving deep.”

Andi Gregory Pearson writes essays, book reviews and short stories. Her first novel Scent of the Wild, is available from Amazon or through her blog andipearson.com. Her website is www.andipearson.com. She and her husband have a cabin in the greater Lyons area.

It has been a long winter in so many ways. What a delight it will be to get out and see the flowers blooming and gardens growing in our lovely town. So, mark your calendar for June 19, 2021. It should be noted it’s the day before Father’s Day and also the day before the first day of summer. What an auspicious day to welcome summer, regrowth and renewal. We hope you will join us.

Sara Erickson is a member of the Lyons Garden Club. She lives in Lyons.

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

REDSTONE • REVIEW

PAGE 13

2021 Updates to the zTrip voucher program

By Lisa Ramsey Redstone Review LYONS – The Town of Lyons is happy to announce some new and positive changes to the zTrip Voucher Program for 2021. Thanks in part to an increase in funding from Boulder County, the hours of the program have been expanded. The vouchers are free and are now valid from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. any day of the week, and we are able to give each rider more vouchers depending on need. Vouchers are valid for one-way travel to/from Longmont or Boulder.

This voucher program was originally put in place to help cover transportation needs for those impacted by the loss of the midday Y route bus service. With the cancellation altogether of any type of bus service to and from Lyons due to Covid-19, the need for an alternative solution became even greater.

Vouchers are available to anyone who would have used

the Y route for transportation for the following needs: commuting to work or school; medical, legal or social services appointments; grocery, pharmacy, or other errands; and social reasons. Priority is given to those without alternate transportation. You do not need to be a Lyons resident to receive vouchers but rides must start or end within town limits.

If you’ve never used this program before, it’s easy. zTrip is a taxi service and you can book a ride in a variety of ways.

You can book via phone call, online, or by using an app on your phone. There is no need to book your ride in advance but it’s best to call early if you have a strict timeline.

If you are in need of vouchers there are several ways to get them. The easiest is to pick them up at Town Hall. Please call in advance so we can have them ready for you. If you have not received vouchers before you will need to answer several questions. It’s best to request vouchers at least a few days before you need them, but they are available the same

day in emergency situations when Town Hall is open.

Get your vouchers at these locations, or from the following people: • Town Hall, Monday thrugh Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 432 5th Ave., 303-823-6622, ext 30 or 10; lramsey@townoflyons.com.

• LEAF Food Pantry, Wednesday only, 3:30 to 5 p.m., 350 Main St., 720-864-4309; lory@leaflyons.org.

• OUR Center representative Rebecca Major, 303-5253106, rebecca@ourcenter.org.

• BCAAA representative Lynette Anderson, 303-8239016; landerson@bouldercounty.org.

The Housing and Human Services Commission worked together with Boulder County and zTrips to create the voucher program. The program has been deemed such a success that RTD is looking to expand it to other small towns. We thank the HHSC and our riders for their part in making this program successful.

Lisa Ramsey is the Recreation Coordinator for the Town of Lyons.

Arboretum Continued from Page 5 ordered signs. Tosh Golias created the arboretum map, and Kurt Carlson put the guide together in digital form. Fay Marshall added the key design element of making the walk a loop so that you end up back at your car, and many other volunteers have contributed over the years. The project is a joint effort of the Lyons Ecology Board and Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens, with Town support. Deputy Town Clerk Marissa Davis has long been supportive of the project, helping to distribute arboretum maps. Funding for the arboretum comes from donations. Volunteers replace and repair damaged and stolen signs, and do weeding and pruning to keep trees looking tidy. The arboretum trees in town parks and along Main Street get regular professional care from the Town of Lyons parks crew and arborists.

Our walk continues, crossing 3rd Avenue into Sandstone Park. Tree #4, the Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens), is magnificent and, indeed, blue. This species is native to the central and southern Rocky Mountains, but its beauty and tolerance of many conditions have led to its widespread planting in suburban settings. Look up to find the small sign hanging on one the trees, and down to see its fallen cones. This tree also has some fascinating galls on twig tips right now.

These brown growths, like strangely spiky cones, are caused by insects that rely on the

Scotch pine cone, tree #8 trees for their life cycle, in most cases without serious harm to the tree. Just past the spruces is the wispy Austrian Pine (Tree #5, Pinus nigra), unfortunately currently missing its sign, and near the center of the park, a Scotch Pine (Tree #8, Pinus sylvestris). As the names suggest, these species are European natives. Drought tolerant, they were historically planted as windbreaks.

The main goal in creating the arboretum was to transform existing trees into a learning resource and celebrate the history of tree planting in Lyons. It is also a meditative activity, an excuse to spend some time looking more closely at the friendly green beings overhead. Another use for these la-

beled trees is to provide gardeners a way to get to know a tree and watch it through the seasons before choosing to plant it. A few of the trees in the arboretum are not recommended for planting, though, because they are invasive or otherwise problematic (warnings provided in guide).

Although we set out along this winter walk for evergreens, we found lots to look at in the dormant deciduous trees as well.

The wafer ash (Tree #14, Ptelea trifoliata, also known as the hoptree) in the Town Hall Plaza wildlife garden is still covered with its papery fruits. The gnarly acorns at the top of the burr oak (Tree #18, Quercus macrocarpa) are more visible in the winter

than in summer. Last year’s long pods still festoon the Northern catalpa (Tree #31, Catalpa speciosa). In all the deciduous trees, the architecture of branches stands out against the sky, and bark patterns, colorful twigs and plump buds catch the eye.

There’s a scavenger hunt quality to walking the arboretum. Be prepared for signs tucked under trees and small signs hanging on trees instead of the larger inground versions (repeat sign disappearances led to this creative labeling). As a temporary warning, in addition to the Austrian pine, three other trees are currently missing signs (Tree #7 Siberian elm, Tree #26 Columnar Oak, Tree #32 Mugo pine). They’ll be replaced in the spring.

For those interested walking the arboretum, the guide is available on the Town of Lyons website or the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens Website (www.rmbg.org), and printed maps are available in the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens Little Free Library. For families, a good mission at this time of year might be to locate all the conifers, pick a needle and break it in half to release the fragrance, and then try to pick a favorite, or to hunt for cones and compare their shapes. Looking forward, it’s rewarding to walk the arboretum in all seasons to get to know each tree’s flowers, leaves, fruits and fall colors.

Jessie Berta-Thompson is a member of the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens Board.

Jonelle Tucker 303-902-6250 jtucker@realtor.com www.tuckergroupinc.com We are happy to introduce Tamara Vega as our new Broker Associate and Buyer Advocate. Welcome to the team!

CREEKFRONT

Check out our new WEBSITE and 2020 Lyons Area Market Watch at www.tuckergroupinc.com!

3027 Middle Fork Rd, Boulder $1,100,000 Awesome 4BD/3BA on 1.56 acres w/ 900’ of waterfront!

Park-like setting with private trail, decks overlooking creek, chefs’ kitchen, open floorplan & only 7 min to Boulder.

2BD/2BA UPDATED CONDO

UNDER CONTRACT

6505 Kalua Rd B301, Boulder Call for details!

1650 Sagrimore Cir, Lafayette $380,000 Under contract in 1 day with multiple offers above list!

This bright 2BD/1BA is totally updated and move-in ready with an open floorplan near trails, parks & downtown.

UNDER CONTRACT

SOLD PROPERTIES 118 Noland Ct, Lyons 108 Noland Ct, Lyons 3920 Stone Canyon Rd, Longmont 493 Territory Lane, Johnstown $369,000 Under contract in 1 day with multiple offers above list!

Move-in ready 2BD/2BA + study ranch home with huge basement, and mountain and pastoral views.

181 Stagecoach Trl, Lyons 4711 Raven Ave, Broomfield 2669 Brittany Dr, Loveland

Thinking of buying or selling?

Contact us today for important industry updates!

PAGE 14

REDSTONE • REVIEW

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

FORWARD` A bird’s journey

By Mysti Tatro Redstone Review LONGMONT – Picture the American Robin. A common species in Colorado, these birds have a bright orange chest with bright white rings around their eyes. This type of bird is altricial, meaning it is naked Tatro and helpless when it hatches out of its blue and brown speckled egg. As a result, these feathered passerines require parental care for several weeks after hatching.

Unlike what movies would lead us to believe, birds have multiple stages of growth. Many will not jump out of their nest right away and start flying. It can be useful to know their life stages for many reasons, especially when determining if a baby needs help this spring.

The stages of life for altricial birds: Hatchling: After the incubation period in which the mother closely tends the eggs, keeping them at just the right temperature, the chicks finally get the urge to break out of their shells. They stretch until the walls of their eggs crack. They wiggle and flail until they are freed from the remnants of the shell, falling out into the nest their mother carefully crafted for them. The babies are mostly bald with sparse patches of down feathers. Hatchlings will cuddle together as they await their first meal. Every 20 minutes or so, the mother, and sometimes father too, will leave the nest searching for food and return with a regurgitated slurry for their babies. The chicks will instinctively open their beaks wide and stretch their necks upward when their parent hovers over them.

Nestling: After about a week, the young enter the nestling stage. Nestlings are still heavily dependent on their parents. They frequently eat during the day and have learned to stick their rumps out of the nest to defecate.

Their eyes are open, and their pink bodies have patches of what looks like hollow straws poking out. These are called pin feathers, and soon they transform into feathers that will make up their beautiful plumage!

Fledgling: Fledgling birds are much more independent.

At about three weeks old, most of their feathers have

grown in, except for a few tufts of down that stick out.

Short, stubby tails begin to emerge. Fledgling robins will have a speckled white and gray chests with down sticking out around the eyebrows. They are about as big as their parents at this age. The parents will start to wean the babies off of their food supply. They feed the fledglings less often to encourage the young critters to begin exploring for their own food.

Periodically, fledglings hop around and flutter as they try to maneuver their newly found limbs. They will jump out onto the ground to explore as they outgrow their cozy nest; this is normal behavior. These juveniles hang out on the ground near their mother’s nest for almost a week before developing enough muscles to fly.

Sub-Adult: At this stage, the young birds are entirely independent. They can feed themselves, soar amongst the treetops, and sing their species’ song all on their own.

They will leave their nest but will not become sexually mature for another year. Young robins keep their speckled chest for almost a full year before the orange plumage appears and they become full adults.

Well meaning people mistakenly kidnap fledglings every spring when confusing them for injured adults. As you have read, fledglings can look a lot like their fully grown counterparts. They clumsily flutter around without flying away, which to the uninformed may seem like abnormal behavior. Because of the young birds’ inexperience, they might act friendlier toward humans, lacking the healthy fear of people that keeps them safe.

To determine the difference between a fledgling and an injured adult, you can always call a professional. Sometimes identifying the species can be tricky, especially when the bird has not developed its adult plumage. Many factors can be at play, and almost every situation is different.

Use this knowledge to help altricial birds during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. When young birds cannot yet fly, they are subject to neighborhood cats, lawnmowers, and the elements. Luckily for them, now they have someone looking out for them as they navigate into their independent, wild life.

Mysti Tatro is the Communications and Marketing Coordinator at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. For information, call 303-823-8455 or www.greenwoodwildlife.org.

Top to bottom: Hatchling, Mid fledge, Fledging

Bear incidents down slightly across Colorado in 2020

By Scott Condon, The Aspen Times Redstone Review ASPEN – The number of bear reports was down slightly across Colorado and down significantly in Pitkin County in 2020 compared with the prior year, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

The agency received 4,943 bear reports statewide last year compared with 5,369 in 2019. Wildlife officers euthanized 120 bears in Colorado last year and relocated another 89 because of conflicts with humans. Both actions were up from the numbers in 2019.

Bear “reports” cover everything from attacks to simple sightings in the woods.

In Pitkin County, the number of reports fell drastically to 454 in 2020 from 948 the prior year, according to Randy Hampton, Northwest Region public information officer.

“Pitkin County didn’t get hit as hard as far as drought impacts,” Hampton said Wednesday. Natural food sources were more bountiful in the Roaring Fork Valley than in many other parts of the state, he said. Therefore, bears might not have been seeking human food sources as desperately in the valley.

Wildlife officers had to kill eight bears in Pitkin County last year and they relocated another 10. In 2019, 13 bears were put down in the county and three relocated, according to the agency’s statistics.

Hampton said the majority of the most severe bear issues in 2020 were outside of the Aspen core. “For the most part, this was bears on the outskirts,” he said.

The most memorable incident was

when a bear got into a home on Castle Creek Road and swiped at the occupant, causing injuries to his face. That bear was tracked and killed by wildlife officers. In another case, a bear started associating people with food and created problems at Silver Queen Campground on Maroon Creek Road.

“It was actually chasing people while they were packing their cars,” Hampton said. A group of campers was loading their vehicle at the end of a trip and had the trunk open as they packed. “The bear grabbed dog food and ran away,” according to Hampton.

The bear returned on other occasions and tried to find food among campers. It created a hazard to people so the U.S. For-

Main Street Continued from Page 4 ing of Lyons commercial district. The Economic Vitality Commission is also working on updating the inventory of our commercial district. This inventory looks at both the properties and the recent business use. The EVC’s goal is to create a list of vacant spaces and their past usage in order to assist in business recruitment. We hope to be able to better assist entrepreneurs who are considering Lyons as an operational hub for their business.

Lyons has also become a great wedding destination, with five plus venues to tie the knot and celebrate getting hitched. “Maybe 10 years ago, we weren’t as well known as a wedding destination, but over the past seven to 10 years, that has definitely changed,” said Erin Foudy, Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce Administrator and EVC

est Service requested help. Wildlife officers euthanized the bear August 26, according to Hampton.

One of the incidents appeared to be a mercy killing. CPW received a call August 31 “about a bear that was running in circles in a hayfield. It had been running in circles for 30 minutes,” Hampton said.

Wildlife officers discovered it was a female approximately 20 years old that was blind and in poor physical shape. In most cases, wildlife officers try other actions before euthanizing.

“One of the things we explain to people is we don’t just come out and kill bears,” Hampton said. “There are a lot of other things we do.” That includes site visits to

member. “The dramatic sandstone cliffs, St. Vrain River, small-town Lyons vibe, and welcoming hospitality stand out, which is harder to capture in other wedding destinations.” The wedding season kicks off in May and ramps up

by June, with guests and wedding parties able to experience Lyons through mid-October. With vaccinations and COVID protocols including masks and social distancing, the local wedding venues are a bit more optimistic for 2021, after a crushing summer in 2020.

Typically, the winter is often a slow period for our downtown business district. We are working to encourage safe tourism during the winter by utilizing the Colorado Tourism Office’s itineraries and established marketing channels. Our town has a lot to offer during these chilly months. The ice rink in LaVern Johnson Park is open, (cold) weather permitting, for some safe, socially dis-

provide individualized plans for reducing conflicts to general education.

Even though the number of bear reports was down in 2020, Area 8 Wildlife Manager Matt Yamashita said there were still a substantial number of human-bear conflicts across the state. Yamashita was featured in a Q&A bear issue feature compiled by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and available at cpw.state.co.us/aboutus.

One big push by CPW is to get people to change habits to prevent conflicts with bears.

“Being rewarded with food over time makes a bear willing to take greater risks to get the calories it needs,” CPW said in a news release about the 2020 bear report. “The next and most dangerous step they may take is to break into a home. In 2020, CPW documented 362 reports that had bears breaking into homes, cabins, dwellings and garages (forcible entry into a garage, not walking into one left open).”

In Pitkin County, there were 162 reports of a bear causing damage while trying to obtain a food source out of 454 total reports, Hampton said. That could be anything from damaging a house during a break-in to banging around a trash container.

CPW has a section on its website dedicated to making people bear aware and steps they can take to avoid conflicts with bruins at https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/LivingwithWildlifeWildBears.aspx.

Scott Condon works for the Aspen Times.

This story is from AP Story Share, a collaborative of Colorado Newspapers who have come together with the Colorado Press Association to share their stories.

tanced outdoor fun. The Old Man Winter Rally was extended over eight days to comply with Boulder County Health Orders. Yet, nearly 500 cyclists participated in the 10K Run through Lyons and either a 50K or 100K bike ride which started and ended in Lyons. The event was held February 6 through 13.

Now that we have moved into yellow on Boulder County’s COVID Dial, our restaurants have more indoor seating available. In addition, carry-out is always a safe and convenient option. Shopping and dining local while enjoying our historic downtown is an easy way for locals to support our small businesses, who have worked so hard through winter and COVID. Even though Lyons is small, we have a downtown that is filled with unique businesses. Take some time over the weekend to visit one of Lyons stores, pick up some carry out, or leave a positive review for your favorite local business.

FEBRUARY 17 / MARCH 17, 2021

Miller Continued from Page 9 lost friends to suicide after returning from combat. Miller felt the exhibit could acknowledge that as well as honor the Lima Company soldiers.

“I felt I needed to make a sculpture rather than another painting,” she said.

The problem for Miller at the time, however, was that she had never sculpted

REDSTONE • REVIEW

before. She considered having the piece commissioned, but ultimately her husband encouraged her to give sculpting a try herself. The result is yet another profound work of art that creates an additional impactful layer to the exhibit.

Miller created a life-sized sculpture of a grieving veteran holding the dog tags of one of his fellow soldiers lost in combat.

She titled the piece “Silent Battle.” The

G

DIN

N PE

FABULOUS, UPDATED CONTEMPORARY HOME BY RYLAND HOMES IN IMPECCABLE CONDITION ON A NEARLY 1/4 ACRE LOT IN BEAUTIFUL STONE CANYON SUBDIVISION! Numerous updates and upgrades including bathrooms, granite & SS appliances in kitchen, wood flooring throughout main level. Spacious and open great room floor plan, including large kitchen island. Ideal home for entertaining inside or out!

Composite deck flowing to sandstone patio with stone fire pit, grill plumbed for natural gas, and professional quality landscaping. Main floor office opens to 2nd patio and large side yard. Plenty of room for the whole family with 4 brs upstairs and 2 down. Perfect mother-in-law setup in the professionally finished basement featuring 2 brs, 2 ba, + living room and kitchenette. Access to neighborhood park just down the street. This one is a peach!

121 Falcon Lane, Lyons / $825,000

E

L SA

THE FORMER BRADFORD ESTATE, AVAILABLE NOW TO THE PUBLIC FOR FIRST TIME IN DECADES! Amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own one of the most beautiful and coveted properties on the front range! Nearly 7 acres of forested, fertile land in the country, but walking distance to town, schools, parks, trails, etc. Charming, updated 1935 farmhouse with an open floor plan, lots of character, and tremendous potential! Large red barn for all your critters and/or storage needs. Majestic, old-growth trees, irrigation ditch, huge garage, 2k gallon water cistern + extensive irrigation piping installed, large garden area— the perfect hobby farm! Additional study on upper floor, Solar PV system = low electric bills. For those with school-aged children, Lyons schools are rated among the best! Bring your horses, too! A truly rare paradise!

227 County Road 69, Lyons / $2,400,000

ING

D

EN

EARTHSHIP! THE ULTIMATE IN SUSTAINABLE LIVING! HAND-BUILT SA PASSIVE-SOLAR DESIGN ON A GORGEOUS 9+ ACRE LOT WITH A SEASONAL POND IN BEAUTIFUL SPRING GULCH RANCH ESTATES! Water provided by a cistern filled from an adjudicated natural spring. A genuine Earthship designed by renowned Taos, New Mexico architect Michael Reynolds. Structure made from both natural and upcycled materials (such as earth-packed tires). Systems include a composting toilet, large indoor greywater filtration planter, roof catchment water system with an 1800 gallon cistern, four stage water filtration system, and heavy gauge wiring for future PV system. The drain system is pre-plumbed for future installation of a flush toilet and septic system. Home is super insulated and earth-bermed.

Temperature rarely gets below the mid-50s, no matter the outdoor temperature.

There are two 2-foot by 6-foot skylights in the rear roof, with opening windows in the front face to cool with a chimney effect.

3487 Colard Lane, Lyons / $475,000

P LE

RARE AFFORDABLE BUILDING LOT JUST OUTSIDE OF LYONS WITHIN EASY EARSHOT OF THE NORTH ST. VRAIN RIVER! Adjacent to jointly-owned 1.3 acre outlot with river frontage on west side, and Boulder County open space on the east! Nearly flat, circular building envelope is located approximately straight ahead as you approach lot (i.e. below road as it ascends to neighboring homes). Great solar access!

57 Longmont Dam Road, Lyons / $218,996

WE ARE ABSOLUTELY THRILLED TO WELCOME IAN PHILLIPS TO THE GATEWAY REALTY GROUP TEAM! Ian has been an important part of the Lyons community for the last 9 years and is probably a very familiar and friendly face to many of you! Having started his life in Colorado as a New York transplant, Ian brings first hand experience on the process of relocating and becoming a first time home buyer. Whether you’re buying, selling, or curious about the market, Ian is a fantastic resource for all things Lyons.

We consider ourselves very lucky to have such a positive force join our team!

sculpture has also become an interactive part of the exhibit as those who view it are free to lay their hands on the soldier. A scale model of the sculpture is on display at Western Stars Gallery in Lyons.

“The exhibit got a lot more legs than I thought it would. It surprised me that it has gotten the popularity it has, but it captures people’s hearts. I think the subject matter captivates people. The power of that work is due to the men that are depicted. That is my belief,” said Miller.

To learn more about the Eyes of Freedom: The Lima Company Memorial and Silent Battle, visit the website at www.limacompanymemorial.org.

In further Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission (LAHC) news, the deadline is quickly approaching for submissions for heARTS of LYONS – An Outdoor Art Collection All Over Town. The deadline for artists to submit work is Monday, February 22. The LAHC and the Town of Lyons are seeking to add six new pieces to the current outdoor collection of art. The program offers

Town Continued from Page 1 affordable’ housing units: 40 Summit units, 12 at the Walter Self Center, eight at Bloomfield Place, six at Mountain Gate, and six Habitat homes. That's 7.2 percent AH. Pretty good for a small town.”

Since Lyons has so little land to build on in town, Trustee Browning suggested that the town look at the outlying areas and recommended that they look at more affordable housing in the Eastern Corridor rather than looking to force builders to create affordable housing in town.

In other news, the town board directed staff to prepare an ordinance to repeal Ordinance 1055 which had some redundancies concerning water share dedication.

PAGE 15 artists a $750 honorarium for a two-year placement in a high traffic corridor to Rocky Mountain National Park. For further information on how to apply visit the heARTS of LYONS page at the Town of Lyons website at www.townoflyons.com/668/heARTSof-LYONS. The Baby Bell and lock fundraisers for heARTS of LYONS continues. Bells can be purchased at Western Stars Gallery, 160 E Main St., Lyons.

The LAHC has launched its monthly newsletter, Kaleidoscope. The newsletter highlights arts events happening in and around Lyons and includes a list of Colorado opportunities for artists. To sign up visit the LAHC page at the Town of Lyons website at www.townoflyons.com/181/Lyons-ArtsHumanities-Commission.

Cristina Trapani-Scott is a member of the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission. She is a poet and writer who also dabbles in a little bit of oil painting.

Trustee Mark Browning explained that when ordinance 1055 was passed several years ago, the board believed that they were dangerously low on owning enough water shares for the lots that were remaining and ready to build on. However, through the research of Utilities and Engineering Director, Aaron Caplan, who recalculated the number of water shares that Lyons owns, it turns out that Lyons does own enough water shares for the number of lots left until build out, so the trustees directed staff to write a new ordinance repealing the old one. New lots annexing into Lyons still need to dedicate water shares to Lyons. Town Attorney Brandon Dittman said they this was made very clear in the town code.

Anniversary Continued from Page 3 and rig the court system.

Without a free press, there is no democracy and there is a preponderance of corruption. It could be said that freedom of the press is the most important freedom we have, because without getting the truth out to the public, lies can easily prevail. Newspapers benefit everyone and every city and town. There is no down side to a community newspaper. Newspapers are not perfect, but they do inform the public and protect the rights of individuals.

The Internet, which does have numerous fake news sites, has contributed to the closure of many newspapers. About 51 percent of newspapers’ revenue used to come from classified advertising. Classified advertising has now dried up. COVID hit all newspapers particularly hard.

For those of you who cherish democracy, local news, believe science is real, please support your local newspaper and consider buying a subscription to the Redstone Review or making a donation. Any amount is welcome.

Subscriptions are $18. Make checks out to Redstone Review, PO Box 68, Lyons, CO 80540. The Redstone staff thanks you for your support.

License Continued from Page 2 With everything going on in the world and with the concerns that staff has heard about from the business community, we wanted to give businesses some time to get their business licenses and any needed building permits or utility concerns into compliance.

Is the Board in agreement that after March 1 our code enforcement should be out writing up notices of violation for any business that does not have a valid business license? Another area of concern is to let all businesses know that they are not allowed to be operating in a space that is under construction, that they will need a valid building permit, and that they will be issued a violation notice if this situation

is found to exist.

While staff understands that this should already be underway, because of some of the confusion and what sounds like miscommunication we thought this would be a balanced way forward. Many of these concerns and regulations are for the health and safety of everyone in the town. Not having a properly working backflow preventer can lead to contaminated water.

Having a valid business license is part of the process for the town to monitor backflow preventers. Having the proper building permits obtained and followed helps the town monitor for needed backflow preventers.

Aaron Caplan, is the Director of Utilities & Engineering for the Town of Lyons.

Proudly serving the Boulder and Lyons area since 1983 Property Management Services Available

dan siddall direct: 303-823-8400 mobile: 303-918-8400 email: siddall@realtor.com www.gateway-realty.com

SCULPTURE BY BILL FOY, PLATTEVILLE, CO