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VOLUME 24, NUMBER 10
LYONS, COLORADO
RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 $.50
NOVEMBER 15 / DECEMBER 13, 2023
B •R •I •E •F •S Holiday Parade of lights December 2 LYONS – Enjoy the magic of the season and join us for the Holiday Parade of Lights on Saturday, December 2. The parade begins at 6:30 p.m., along Main St (which will be closed for the parade) and will be filled with illuminated, colorful floats, fire engines, horses, dancers, many of which will be decorated in the theme of this year’s parade – Small Town. Big Heart. Head downtown before the parade to grab a bite to eat with family and friends or visit afterwards to celebrate the season. As always, we need your amazing creations and entries, along with your enthusiasm and talent to host our fun and festive community parade. So grab your neighbors, friends or co-workers and enter your sleigh, float, or horse, decorate your golf cart, jazz up your bike or classic vehicle, get together a dance troupe or your bandmates to join the fun and showcase your love of Lyons. Don’t delay. The form is easy and online. Please visit www. townoflyons.com/holidays for all the info and to enter the parade.
Holiday Artisan Market December 2 and 3 LYONS – The bright glow of the holidays comes to the Town of Lyons the weekend of December 2 and 3. The Lyons Holiday Artisan Market is held on both Saturday and Sunday, December 2 and 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lyons Elementary School. Be sure to enter via the back door, which is on Stickney St (past the playground). There will be visits from Santa Claus on both days from 2 to 4 p.m. Continue Briefs on Page 7
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I •N •D •E •X LYONS
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MAYOR’S CORNER
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OPTIONS
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CONTRAST
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OPPORTUNITY
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INSIGHT
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CREATIVES
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ARTS & LIFE
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INTEREST
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CROSSROADS
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WELLNESS
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SEASONS
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WHAT’S COOKIN’
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Photographer Tony Hake came upon this trio of turkeys out for a stroll at Eastlake Park and Preserve in Thornton. Hake is known online as Tony’s Takes, and is a Denver-based photo enthusiast focusing on wildlife and landscape photography across Colorado. More of his work can be found at tonystakes.com. Redstone Review very much appreciates the use of his inquisitive turkeys for this issue.
Lyons Town Board, approves a lease of town property, revokes a business license and grants a liquor license By Susan de Castro Redstone Review Editor LYONS – At a Lyons Town Board meeting in early November, the Board of Trustees wasted no time after opening remarks taking on the issue of revoking the business license and liquor license for Finer Diner LLC for unpaid sales tax. Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the board that the staff was notified that Diner Bar did not have a payment plan in place to pay the state sales tax. “It is my understanding that this goes back to their origination,” she said. “Our policy is that they cannot have a business license or a liquor license if they are not paying their sales tax, so we are working with Mr. Esserman (the owner) encouraging him to work with the Dept. of Revenue to come up with a plan so he could retain his business license and his liquor license, and he was no able to come up with that at this time. He wrote us on Saturday Nov. 4 that he is closing his business and he
will be liquidating his equipment to try to pay those taxes back.” Finance Director Cassey Eyestone told the board, “We have to be very careful with the information on sales tax that we provide. The state cautioned us to be very general with the information we are giving.” Town Attorney Brandon Dittman explained to the board that sales tax is money paid by the customer and is passed on to the state and then it comes back to the town. Trustee Jocelyn Farrell asked if the town can recoup any of the sales tax money from Diner Bar. Administrator Simonsen said, as Lyons is a statutory town, “the state collects it (sales tax) on our behalf. So they are also responsible for collection and enforcement. The state recently had conversations with Finance Director Eyestone and they are going to send a team here to do whatever they do. But the state will collect the taxes that are due and they will work out a payment plan.” Trustee Farrell said, “I’m sure that they
paid a decent amount of money to repaint that building and that was money that was probably sales tax money. To do that just infuriates me.” Mayor Hollie Rogin said, “It is incumbent on the businesses to pay their taxes. We rely on sales tax for so many things in town. I’m extremely disappointed.” Trustee Gregg Oetting said, “One of the rules of government is to create a level playing field. There are several other businesses in town, very similar to this business and they are paying their taxes.” In other news, Administrator Simonsen announced that Santa will be riding the fire truck in the Annual Holiday Parade of Lights on Saturday, December 2. He did not ride on the truck last year, but he is back on the truck this year, much to the delight of many children and our Mayor Hollie Rogin, who drove him around last year. Turning to a different issue Attorney Dittman told the board that there is a posContinue Town on Page 14
PHOTO BY CATHY RIVERS