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B •R •I •E •F •S Business Protection Summit and Resource Day LYONS – A Business Protection Summit and Resource Day will be held on Friday October 17 from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Wildflower Pavilion at Planet Bluegrass, 500 W. Main St. in Lyons. In today’s complex environment, businesses face a diverse range of perils. Beyond the headline-grabbing catastrophic flooding of 2013, such common events such as mechanical breakdowns, supplier disruptions and changes in staffing can also threaten the success of any organization. Mayor John O’Brien will be a speaker at the event. This event, hosted by the Colorado SBDC Network, Downtown Colorado Inc. and the Town of Lyons, will have four interactive, expert panels throughout the day; resource tables featuring federal, state and local resources; and a happy hour networking event, complete with a jam session (bring your instruments!). The cost to exhibit at this event is $100 and includes a table and registration for two. Interested organizations must first fill out a short application. You will be notified of your application’s status within three business days. Accepted organizations will be notified via email and will be provided with instructions to register for the event. Continue Briefs on Page 6
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Above: Micah and Levin Wilson of Loveland had fun picking out pumpkins and squash with their parents at Loukonen Farm, 10558 N. Foothills Highway, just south of St. Vrain Road. John Loukonen, farmer and sculptor, and brother of the Loukonen Stone Co. owners of Lyons, says this is his best pumpkin crop in 15 years. He creates wonderful creatures using different squashes. Above, at left: Halloween skeletons having a party on the back of Loukonen’s red truck. PHOTOS BY CATHY RIVERS
BOT grapples with replacement housing sites and other issues By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS – Even Boulder County Housing and Human Services told the Lyons Board of Trustees (BOT) that it was not going to be easy to build replacement housing for residents who lost their homes in the flood. At a workshop held Sept. 29 at Rogers Hall the BOT asked the County Housing and Human Services to do a presentation reviewing all the pros and cons of the possible sites for housing in and around Lyons. About 18 sites were reviewed and most had a variety of complications. Some needed to be annexed into town, most did not have close access to utilities which raised the price significantly, some were not even in the Lyons Planning Area, some were open space and the County was not willing to sell. The ball fields near the high school were thrown out of the mix when the St. Vrain School District emphatically said no to a possible land swap if the fields could be used for housIF GOD WANTED US TO VOTE, HE WOULD HAVE GIVEN US CANDIDATES. JAY LENO
ing. Some of the properties are conservation easements, some have GoCo funding issues. Mayor John O’Brien asked the county for a cost analysis of housing units using one of the sites as an example. The county staff used the 2-acre Hawkins property with an example of 25 units on the property consisting of several single family and 21 multiplex units which came out to a unit cost of around $300,000, clearly not affordable housing for many.
At this point the BOT seems to be leaning towards several properties for consideration of replacement housing. The dog park in Bohn Park, another area in Bohn Park and the Loukonen property, not yet subdivided. The Loukonen property is a new addition to the mix which just came up early in October when members of the Loukonen family began a discussion with Victoria Simonsen, Continue Town on Page 18
Spooktacular Halloween Parade and events LYONS – The Spooktacular Halloween Parade will be held Saturday, October 25 starting in Sandstone Park with the lineup scheduled for 5:45 p.m. on Third Ave. between Main and Broadway, east of Bank of the West. The parade will start promptly at 6 p.m. Area residents are encouraged to enter unique Halloween entries in this year’s parade, and people can also walk in the parade in their costumes. To enter the parade, contact the Lyons Parks, Recreation and Cultural Events Department, the sponsors of the Halloween events, at 303-823-8250. Some of the events include live music, mask making, pumpkin carving, face painting, Bongo the Balloon Man, a costume contest and all sorts of tricks and treats for ghouls and goblins. Downtown businesses will be offering treats for trick-or-treaters. There will also be mystery music. The costume contest judging will take place at 4:45 p.m.; categories are adult and child. Registration for the costume contest must take place before 4:45 p.m. on the day of the parade; winners will be announced at the Raul Vasquez stage at 5:15 p.m. Contact the Parks and Rec Department and the Parks and Rec website for more information, 303-823-8250.
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
LETTERS Show our kids that we love learning When we moved our family to Colorado four years ago, we chose Lyons because it seemed to be a fun loving, intelligent, thriving and caring community. The views and outdoor activities offered by the proximity of mountains and rivers were incredible, the multitude of restaurants struck a chord with our Midwest food sensibilities, the local music and entertainment scene made it easy to make friends with similar interests. The town had two newspapers – a good sign. I remember being particularly impressed that a politician (mayor Julie) could write such thoughtful balanced perspectives each week – we didn’t see much of that back home in Illinois! We researched Lyons Middle / Senior High for our teenage children. The school was small but had a great reputation for quality education, sports and a highly respected teaching staff. All of this together drew us here to this very special town. Soon after our arrival, however, I went to the local library and at that point realized a key deficiency. An alternative to increasing taxes for library expansion In the upcoming election we will be requested to increase our taxes for an expensive library / center. The Lyons Library District Board claims that this building will have a great community building effect. I question that sacrificing our resources for an unnecessarily large expansion is going to have that effect, nor is it the only way to address the library’s
Libraries I had grown up with were full of books and computers, and programs and space to think and meet. Although well administered, the Lyons town library is quaint at best. So, I joined the library board and was encouraged to discover that there were many other town folk that agreed it was time for an upgrade. As a young mother in Chicago, I depended on my local library for children’s programs and picture books and simply a place to go that was not McDonald’s playland. As an adult, I did my own reading at the library, joined book groups, and borrowed music and movies. Later, as a teacher I sent my students to the library with research assignments and to view each other’s artwork that was displayed so beautifully on the library walls for the whole community to see. I was pleased when my high school aged children independently signed out the library study rooms to work with friends on difficult calculus homework or to review for AP exams. My elderly mother still goes to her local library with friends to learn how to use her iPad. This is lifelong learning and it is important stuff. A mod-
needs. I quote from the 8/18/14 edition of the Redstone Review in an article about Allenspark: “Every community needs a center – a marketplace for ideas, sharing and connection... Staffed and led by volunteers, the Old Gallery is a perfect example of what a community can do for itself with enough commitment, hard work and a spirit of collaboration.” Will we buy or will we create our future as we begin to define Lyons at the ballot box? As an alternative to supporting a
O B I T U A RY
Sharon Sue Porterfield December 25, 1942 – September 27, 2014 Sharon “Sue” Porterfield passed away peacefully September 27, 2014 surrounded by her loving family at home in Pinewood Springs. She was 71 years old. She was born December 25, 1942 to John T. and Norma Jean (Long) Hill in Richmond, Indiana. There she grew up and graduated from Richmond High School. On February 1, 1964 she married her high school sweetheart John Porterfield in Richmond. They made their home and started their family in Indianapolis before moving to Pinewood Springs in 1976. Sue Porterfield worked for Ball Aerospace in Boulder until 1996, when a stroke caused her early retirement. She is remembered as a loving wife, mother, grand-
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library district tax for a new building I envision a historically expanded Depot Library that would be a creative community effort, an expression of our heritage, a recreational gathering place, and a real economic attraction. There is a little used park with old trees to the west of the Depot much like a traditional village green. As an example I have designed a grounds plan and made a painting incorporating gardens, railroad cars for additional library space, a period decorated
mother and great grandmother. She volunteered for Meals on Wheels. Sue had an amazing green thumb which was displayed in her gardening and many house plants. She enjoyed many crafts including beading and macramé. She and John traveled often and enjoyed motorcycling touring around the world on their Harley. Sue was always the life of the party. She is preceded in death by her parents. Sue is survived by her husband John of Pinewood Springs, three daughters Cindy Grogg (husband Roger) of Crested Butte, Michelle Mathewson (husband Chris) of Fort Collins, and Corrine Porterfield of Portland, Oregon; six grandchildren Carson and Jacob Grogg, Tara and Tyler Mathewson, Harrison and Sophia Porterfield-Brown, and one great grandson Leo Asher Ross. She is also survived by one brother, Tom Hill, and two sisters, Carol Banning and Pat Sowers of Richmond, Indiana. A Celebration of Life was held on October 11, 2014. Cremation was entrusted to Ahlberg Funeral Chapel and Crematory. Visit www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com for more information and to share condolences. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to American Stroke Association.
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ern library is not just a place to borrow books; it is a dynamic community center that inspires intellectual growth. A place for meeting and sharing ideas that serves all ages. As a parent and teacher, I especially see it as a safe environment where kids can meet and play and study. A resource center that boasts new technologies. The Anythink library in Thornton was granted money for a video studio where teens can learn the latest in video, audio, and graphic design software. These are things they need to learn as they enter new job markets! We can’t serve any of these needs sufficiently without an investment in a new library. It’s easy to love Lyons, the ever scenic, fun and active party town. But that is just not enough. Let’s show our kids that we love learning just as much. The library steering committee has done an impressive job researching options and proposing a reasonable mill levy. Whether you are young or old, with or without families, for the kids and for our future as the greatest little town in the USA, choose to invest in a new Lyons library. Vote YES for 4C! Kathleen Crane caboose cafe and patio, and a gazebo for Sunday concerts and music / theater practice. For interesting further elaborations and costs see Peter Baumgartner’s blog at http://townoflyonslibrary.wordpress.com. Another of Lyons’ special events could evolve around a historic theme. Let’s have our heritage take us uniquely into the future instead of paying the pied piper. Annie Mannering 43-year Lyons area resident
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
MAYOR’S CORNER We need just enough housing By John O’Brien, Mayor Redstone Review LYONS – If you had a newspaper vending box, how many papers would you want to see the morning after daily sales? Well, if you had none left, you would not know how many you could have O’Brien sold. You need just enough papers. In the business world, if you have too much cash on hand, you may be passing up the ability to invest that cash in inventory, training, plant and equipment, etc. You need just enough cash on hand. The same holds true with inventory. If you have too much, your carrying costs would be too high. If you have too little, your customers would not be well served. So you need just enough inventory. You can apply the principle of “just
enough” to the public sector in many ways also. Residential development is generally a fiscal drag on a local municipality because the cost of infrastructure in getting utilities and roads to a new development usually outweighs the property tax generated by the residential development over time; however, a town needs a certain level or quantity of dwellings to house a workforce and consumers for local businesses. In a town that is considered in a “steady state” as far as housing is concerned, the town government can relatively easily budget property tax and sales tax revenue from one year to the next. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, especially when housing is lost, everything related to forecasting revenues is thrown into a cocked hat. It is exceedingly difficult for town officials to know how much housing is “just enough.” The town board has determined that Lyons will need approximately 100 dwellings and that will commit to developing 60 +/– 10. We think that number is
L E T T E R S •T O •T H E •E D I T O R Dear all: I have been really encouraged by the enthusiasm of people to build a new library for Lyons and improve the services it offers. I’ve read the letters to the editor from people from all segments of our community pointing out the benefits of a modern library / community center. These include creating a learning environment for our children, a meeting spot for our volunteer groups and non-profits, an information hub for businesses, an attraction point for foot traffic to our downtown commercial area, a center for life-long learning for our adult population, and a community-building amenity that improves the overall level of services available in locally. A better library for Lyons has been among the town’s priorities for at least six years, if my memory serves. It was central to the first economic development strategy developed for the town. It was specifically identified in the 2010 Comprehensive Plan and echoed in the recent Lyons Recovery Action Plan. In
fact, the Lyons Recovery Action Plan, developed by hundreds of citizens, identified not only rebuilding what was destroyed in the flood, but areas where we could improve our community, and a modern library was one of those. A very committed group of citizens has done community surveys, feasibility studies, site evaluations and public open houses to develop a proposal that fits with our community’s wants and needs. But to move forward, we have to decide to invest in ourselves. I have been asked several times recently whether I think that Lyons can afford to invest in a library at this time. I would like to share with you my answer. First, funding a library district in no way takes away from resources dedicated to rebuilding from the flood. As a town we have received a really staggering amount of money to address our needs. Our infrastructure replacement is being funded by 97.5 percent (at least) in FEMA and State of Colorado grants. In addition, we have received a million dollar grant from GOCO for Meadow Park, a million dollar
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just enough. The sites that can accommodate 50 to 70 dwellings are few in Lyons. A site analysis of the few remaining areas will get underway soon with a qualified independent professional firm. Over the
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next few months the town will reach out to residents with a public engagement program to help the board determine what the development should look and “feel” like and what amenities should be included. With the anticipated amount of time required to build new housing estimated
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at about three years, it is unrealistic to consider this in any terms other than the “just enough” housing that Lyons needs. A town cannot realistically build housing for specific individuals and it is unfair to ask these folks to put their lives on hold for that period of time. One of the main values we have in Lyons that constitutes that “small town character” is the appreciation of diversity. We all want to work together to maintain that. I expect that we have some spirited discussions yet to come and some difficult steps to take, but in the end I am confident we can work together to reestablish balance in our small Colorado town. John O’Brien is the Mayor of Lyons elected in April, 2014. He was the chairman of the Lyons Economic Gardening Group, LEGG. He has worked in business and industry for many years and teaches classes at the University of Denver. He lives in Lyons.
grant from the State for our new wastewater treatment plant, and countless other smaller grants. Boulder County and DRCOG have arranged that the town’s match portion (over $100,000) has been waived for the Phase 2 Main Street Enhancement Project about to begin. All in, we should expect to receive well over $70 million in dedicated grants for flood recovery efforts. And, creating a separate funding stream for the library would free up at least $100,000 in additional budget resources that town can use on other flood priorities or towards rebuilding our reserves to increase our resilience. Second, this library effort would be managed by the newly formed Library District, with a Board of Directors dedicated to this task. This would not overburden Staff working on flood recovery and would instead, relieve them of the added responsibility of running a library. Third, the town’s economy is springing back much stronger than expected. With the six week closing of Main Street last
fall, Town sales tax revenue was down 4.5 percent in 2013 compared with 2012. The current projection for 2014 is a sales tax revenue increase of 5.7 percent, or almost a million additional dollars into the hands of Lyons’ businesses over last year. While this tax would apply to residents and businesses alike, people whose homes were damaged in the flood are receiving general property tax relief. The time is now for a new Library. We have had the dream in place for a long time. Our economy has recovered and our town has ample resources for other flood repairs. We have a dedicated group of residents willing to take on the task of transforming our current library into an information and resource hub that will enhance life in Lyons. It is time to invest in ourselves. Please vote YES on 4C.
Dear editor I have been thinking about this issue and have these questions. A library is a service. Is a service an expense or a revenue generator? What are our post flood priorities? Is a new library vital or desirable? Even before the flood the town was short of income. How is the town going to pay for all the post flood costs without raising town taxes as well? The county is asking for two tax increases, plus a library tax? How much will this influence your taxes? What mill tax levy is actually being asked for on ballot issue 4C? How much more is the tax going to be
increased in the future? What kind of input will we have on the final design of the library? Could not a building serving the town and the district share the cost? What kind of grants and funding are available? How can tax revenue generated by a library help pay off the library? Don’t tax revenues go to the town? Does a small town library actually attract tourists? Are you willing to have a library designed with your tax money without another vote? Is it appropriate to be committing taxes to this library now? Richard Bennet
Sincerely, Julie Van Domelen
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
HOUSING State of the affordable housing debate By Meg Waters Redstone Review LYONS – Lyons as the next Aspen. That analogy was floated shortly after the flood, and Lyons-area residents responded with gusto: “No way. Waters We’re not the kind of town where artists and service workers can’t afford to live. The flood may have knocked us down, but we’re going to bring our neighbors back.” A year later, we’ve learned that living up to those claims will be harder than most of us expected. According to the town’s February 2014 needs assessment study, the September 2013 flood damaged approximately 70 homes beyond the possibility of being rebuilt, and displaced 185 households. The area median income or AMI is $79,875. Of those 185 displaced households, 72 percent earn less than 80 percent of the area median income and 39 percent earn less than 30 percent of the AMI which is $28,850 for a family of four. Among displaced respondents to the study, four out of five want to move back to Lyons. Seventy-five percent said a singlefamily home is their preference; only 2 percent said they prefer a duplex or townhome. Unfortunately, it’s not realistic to think new single-family homes are going to be affordable for families under 80 percent of AMI ($63,900 for a family of four), according to Lyons trustee Dan Greenberg, who’s the Board of Trustees liaison to the Housing Recovery Task Force. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) considers families to be “cost-burdened” if they pay more than 30 percent of gross household income in rent or mortgage payments. For an individual at 80 percent of AMI, that’s $1,119 per month. Few homes in Lyons are in this price range, and nearly threequarters of displaced residents need housing that’s even less expensive. “Some of the mobile homes that were destroyed were renting for around $400 a month,” said Lyons Mayor John O’Brien. “With the way the economics of this work, those are just not going to come back. As painful as that is, it’s a fact of life.” “The town can’t re-create what was
lost,” Greenberg echoes. “We can’t bring back exactly the same houses. But what we can do is create a different type of housing in the same price range so that displaced residents have the option to come back if they choose to.” To that end, the town is working with the Boulder County Housing Authority (BCHA) to identify its options. Those options may include apartments or townhomes that rent, on an income-based sliding scale, to families under 80 percent of AMI. They may include single-family
ments do not usually take on those financial obligations, and instead they typically support the project’s affordability through waivers of certain permits and impact fees, or through small low-interest loans or grants to the project.” If the project moves forward as it’s currently envisioned, BCHA will simultaneously pursue several avenues for financing: First is a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from HUD, which could reach $40,000 per unit – about four times its usual size – because of the flood. Second is funds from private investors, who would put money into the project to reap IRS low-income-housing tax credits
One of the latest projects developed by the Boulder County Housing Authority is Aspinwall, a 72-unit development consisting of duplexes, four-plexes, and six-plexes. houses built by Habitat for Humanity. They may include homes for sale with deed restrictions that control their appreciation. They may include a community land trust, in which the town reduces prices by retaining ownership of the land the homes sit on. And they may include some market-value houses. The development will likely include more than one of these options, but finding the optimal mix will be complex, as funding for different portions of the project will come from different sources. If the town works with BCHA on the project, the Housing Authority will identify the right mix. It will also own the rental units and the land they sit on, and handle project financing. “For most rental developments that BCHA undertakes, we act as the developer to fully finance the project, including taking on financial guaranties as required by our private lender and investor partners,” said Norrie Boyd, BCHA’s planning division manager. “BCHA also owns and manages the project, which requires ongoing asset management, tax prep, reporting, and financial obligations for the life of the project. The local govern-
associated with the affordable-housing rental units. Third, BCHA will borrow money that it will repay using cash flows from the rental units. And BCHA will close any remaining funding gaps through grants and other sources of financing. A mobile home park or a development of “tiny houses,” yurts, or similarly impermanent housing isn’t financially viable for the town to undertake, Greenberg said, because IRS tax credits and CDBGDR money aren’t available for that type of project. And although mobile homes themselves are relatively inexpensive, the site costs associated with grading, roadbuilding, and laying utility lines are “astronomical,” Greenberg said. These costs depend on factors such as slope, depth of bedrock, and the property’s proximity to existing utility lines. BCHA projections show that even for a smaller development of townhouses and / or single-family homes in Lyons, site costs will be in the millions of dollars, in some cases exceeding significantly the “hard costs” involved in actual construction of the buildings. The town board is planning to build between 50 and 70 housing units
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because that’s the size of project BCHA thinks it can make work financially. Now the board is working on the highly contentious issue of where to put the project. Greenberg said they’ve considered every property for sale within the town’s planning area, as well as properties under town control, and narrowed the list to five: the dog park in Bohn Park, the large open field in Bohn Park, a piece of Boulder County open space land near Stone Canyon, and two parcels under private ownership. None of these properties is without challenges, from conservation easements to encumbrances on the title, to a size less than half the eight to ten acres the board thinks the project will require. “We’re being creative, but we have to be creative within the bounds of reality,” Greenberg said. Meanwhile, a group calling itself Save Our Parks and Open Space is circulating a petition to put on the ballot an initiative that would require the town board to receive voter approval before re-zoning any land larger than a half-acre that is currently zoned “parks and open space district” or is under conservation easement. O’Brien said that he’s concerned about the unintended consequences the proposed ordinance might have for a future board, but that the current board agrees unanimously to put to a public vote any proposal to build housing on the town’s park land. In fact, the board is bound by state law to do so if the project involves transferring ownership of the land. Boyd said if the project happens, BCHA will give priority in assigning its rental units to displaced Lyons residents, although federal Fair Housing laws may restrict the proportion that can be set aside. Whether displaced residents will choose to come back to town, into a type of housing that isn’t their first choice, remains to be seen. But Greenberg thinks the project is worth the effort, regardless of who actually moves in. “Losing housing stock has a negative economic impact on a community,” he said. “Equally important, by having options that are affordable for first-time homebuyers, we bring young families into Lyons and build resiliency in the community. My greatest hope is that displaced residents do return to what we are able to build. We can’t re-create the physical nature of what we lost, but we can re-create what makes Lyons special: the community and the family-oriented nature of our town.”
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
REDSTONE • REVIEW
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BUSINESS Vintage Motors, a passion for vintage cars By Don Moore Redstone Review LYONS – “I’m a vintage car lover and I love the people who share that passion with me,” says George Raffensperger, owner of Vintage Motors of Moore Lyons, 602 Fifth Ave. That passion is both recognizable and infectious just by being in his presence. Vintage Motors of Lyons is a one-stop shop for those interested in buying, selling, consigning, and / or locating classic cars. “Whether you are wanting that perfect Sunday driver, a project car, or a higher end investment, we probably have a car that you will enjoy!” proclaims the shop’s website, www. vintage motors lyons.com. Raffensperger’s infatuation with cars started when he was a kid. In high school he bought his first car, a 1958 MGA, for $650. It was burgundy with a black interi-
consumed the interior of the family garage. What started as a hobby has become a business. Raffensperger moved to the area or and top, and it had wire wheels. in 1978, and in 2009 acquired the shop, “I saved for a year. After I bought the car which was originally built as a Texaco gas I tore it down and rebuilt it in my dad’s station in 1936. At first the building was garage. I discovered it was easy to take it to be a place where he could work on cars, apart, but tougher to put it back together,” but when people kept stopping by to ask Raffensperger said recently. His parents were about buying his cars, he decided to turn pleased when he finished, as the project had it into the business it is today. Of the eclectic assortment of cars finding their way into his business, Raffensperger prefers those from the golden age of cars, the 1950s and 1960s domestic and European models. “They had simple designs and were built to be owner-maintained,” he said. “They’re cars with things like carburetors, distributors, and points. There were no George Raffensperger with his classic 1954 MGTF. computers. Today it Raffensperger is the owner of Vintage Motors of Lyons.
Raising funds for the Lyons Fire Protection District – Timberwolf is back Staff Reports Redstone Review LYONS – In the first moments of the flood on the night of September 11, 2013, Lyons 4011 was dispatched on a stranded motorist call. The first responders didn’t know what they were in for. They drove up Longmont Dam road, rescued a stranded motorist and they soon realized that they were victims to the flood. Lyons 4011 was on a road that soon became the river. The Lyons firefighters are an all volunteer force. They went from rescue mode to self-preservation when the road became the river. They climbed to the canyon wall and eventually hiked to Pinewood Springs, then were Lyons 4011 was lost to the flood on the night of Sept. 11, 2013, when firefighters were dispatched on a stranded motorist call.
evacuated by helicopter to Lyons. Upon their return to Lyons they quickly took on their shifts at the station. The firefighters were safe but the fire truck was lost to the river, until now. This week, the all new Timberwolf fire truck made its trek from Minnesota to Lyons. This is a symbol of the Lyons Fire Protection District returning to normal. However, they still have a ways to go. The truck is being returned to duty and the volunteer fire staff is trained and vigilant, however they are working out of a single station. Fire Station #2 was destroyed in the flood along the Little Thompson. They are continuing to raise funds to rebuild Lyons Fire station #2 that serves the west half of Lyons as well as the Highway 36 corridor which hosts thousands of tourists on their way to Estes Park. There will be a benefit to raise money for rebuilding Lyons Fire Station #2 at the Greenbriar, 8735 Foothills Highway in Boulder on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. This is a black tie formal dinner. Please join the fire department for an unforgettable evening that will include appetizers, a gourmet meal, entertainment and a silent auction. The tickets are $150 per guest. Proceeds from this event and all donations will go directly to rebuilding Lyons Fire Station #2 and ensuring that we have the equipment to protect Lyons and the surrounding areas including the Hwy. 36 and Hwy. 7 corridors. Lyons fire provides emergency response to our residents as well as the thousands of visitors that come to our Continue Fire on Page 19
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seems as though we’re driving appliances.” In the past Raffensperger has had rare cars such as a 1934 SS Jaguar, a 1965 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, and 1962 Imperial. Currently, the shop’s offering includes a 1954 MGTF, 1969 Jaguar XKE 2+2 Coupe, two 1974 Triumph TR6’s, 1954 Jaguar XK120 SE, 1967 Triumph TR4A, 1961 Rambler Classic Deluxe, 1960 MGA, and a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle, with more cars being readied for sale. For Raffensperger, the best thing about his business is dealing with the people. Those who come into his shop nearly always have a love for the cars he sells. “People tell me all the time I should move the shop to a bigger metropolitan area, but I’m not going to do it, because I love this location, Lyons, and this community.” The shop, which has a worldwide following, is open on Saturdays and other days by appointment: 303-931-5280, vintagemotorslyons@gmail.com. Don Moore is a retired lawyer and the author of Love is a Verb: Healing Yourself through Love, Gratitude and Compassion. He lives in Lyons.
Frank’s Produce Outlet Frank Johnson opened his produce outlet on September 7 at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The little produce shop, which is open year round, offers local fruits and vegetables. Ralph Ford works with Frank Johnson as the produce manager and buyer. Ford and Johnson buy the produce from places as near as the Lyons Farmette and from as far away as Palisade and Grand Junction, and beyond. Much is Colorado grown. The produce is seasonal of course. Currently the outlet has beets, cucumbers, onions, apples, carrots garlic, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplants, avocados, limes, lemons, spinach, rhubarb, pomegranates, peppers of all kinds, spices, honey and hot sauces. The shop is usually open from about 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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L E T T E R •T O •T H E •E D I T O R
LIBRARY From a Lyons librarian By Ellen Hine Redstone Review LYONS – I would like to tell you why I support the new library / community center. As director of the Lyons Depot Library in the early 1980s to 1988 I became aware of the great need for a vibrant library in our community. Hine At that time the library was already too small. I helped the previous director write the grant for the baggage building to be moved back to the library. Within a short time the new building was bursting as well. I had five children in the Lyons schools and was aware of the need for enrichment in the schools programs and the need for summer and after school activities. I began teaching Junior Great Books during the school year. In the summer I had a book report / reading program with prizes for all who completed the reports. We also had summer craft fairs with demonstrations and activities. The library was the hub for my family and many others. I am not sure of the actual statistics, but I have heard
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
Lyonsites near and far that Lyons has the highest number of children under the age of 7, per capita, in the state. The library was too small in the 1980s and is inadequate now. The funding would be spread out throughout the greater Lyons district and free up $100,000 to $125,000 which could then be put back into the town’s general fund. I am looking forward to a safe place where middle and junior / senior high students can meet after school to work on projects or use computers or just read. I am involved in several groups and we are always scrambling for meeting space. Our new community center would provide us with these much needed rooms. I have spoken to several people who have lost their homes. The families I spoke with support the new library / community center. They all said they would use the facility often. Not everyone can readily download books, purchase software or go to the bookstore. Libraries are free to all. Our community needs a new facility with all the “bells and whistles” of a modern, inviting, vibrant space. Ellen Hine is one of the founders and owners of Lyons ReRuns, the used clothing shop on Main Street. The proceeds are donated to the Lyons Community Foundation. She was the director of the library in Lyons. She and her husband Marty live in Lyons.
We’ve already voted to create a Greater Lyons Library District but we have not yet funded it. The flood has changed our lives and forced us to do a lot of extreme prioritizing with our money. We are rebuilding our town and cannot afford to be left in the dust in terms of technology and community space to offer help with students’ homework, classes for our elders to become Internet savvy, access to databases and a host of other things that new libraries offer their patrons in Colorado. The reality of what a library is has been evolving at a stunning speed over this last decade and it isn’t slowing any time soon. It’s a stretch that is worthwhile and shows both ourselves and the rest of the world that Lyons has credibility and is worth investing in... e.g. for businesses considering starting up or moving to the Town. My conscience will not allow me to put off funding the district any longer. The library district’s time has come. A media and community center pools resources and will have access to materials that you and I could not afford as individuals. There have been intelligent and thoughtful arguments both for and against funding the district. To my surprise, I was nearly swayed to vote to keep things as they are now, BUT currently only Town of Lyons residents and Town taxes pay for the library as it stands. That’s not at all fair and the Town needs to allocate that $100,000 a year that it costs to run the library now, to other critical infrastructure needs. Passing 4C – voting YES – will spread out the expense across the entire greater Lyons population that the library actually serves and will reward us handsomely in the long run. I am one of those people in unincorporated Larimer County in the mountains who feels very connected to Lyons. Funding the library district will lead Lyons well into the 21st century. For me it comes down to conscience and where our town is headed. Vote YES on 4C. Encourage your neighbors to vote. With great hopes, Cheri Hoffer
Why vote YES for Lyons Regional Library District ballot issue 4C By Kate Kerr Redstone Review LYONS – Why are we talking about the library when our main concern is homes for families and individuals who lost everything in the flood? Currently the Town budgets about $100,000 a year for the library. If the library is turned over to a Library District, the Town could re-budget that money and devote more attention to other things, such as helping flooded households. What is the 4C Ballot Issue really about? Shall the Town of Lyons continue to provide limited, outdated, underfunded library service OR Shall the
B •R •I •E •F •S Continued from Page 1
The agenda includes: 7:30 – 8 a.m. Registration Opens 8 – 8:30 a.m. Breakfast and Opening Comments 8:30 – 9:45 a.m. “Identifying Risks and Developing Strategies to Mitigate Risks Group Activity” with Todd Ballantine, Ballantine Environmental Resources, and Bill Million, Business Resilience Solutions. 10:15 – 11:30 a.m. “Develop Emergency Response Procedures” with Dan Barber, Boulder Office of Emergency Management, Iain Hyde, Colorado Recovery Office, Tony Mendes, FEMA Region VIII. 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Lunch: CDBG-DR “Recover Colorado” Overview with Jeff Kraft, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. 12:45 – 2 p.m. “Evaluate Your Insurance Coverage” with Pat Fitzgerald, Dedicated Risk Insurance, Jamie Prochno, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Department of Natural Resources, Eric Weedin, Weedin Insurance Agency, Inc. 2:30 – 3:45 p.m. “Create a Business Continuity Plan” Rosy McDonough, Colorado SBDC, Bill Million, Business Resilience Solutions, Tim Singleton, Strive Technology Consulting. 3:45 – 5:30 p.m. Happy Hour Networking / Jam Session, bring your instruments. Let’s show off local talent and have a jam session during the networking event. The exhibitors include: City of Boulder, City of Longmont, Colorado Enterprise Fund, Colorado SBDC Network, DHM Design, Downtown Colorado Inc., FEMA, Lyons Chamber of
Library District provide dedicated funding to build and operate a true 21st century library / community resource center for the Greater Lyons area? How much would this proposal cost me? For individual property owners within the Library District, the tax amount paid depends on property value. Generally, the amount would range $10 to $25 per month. I never use the library. What’s in it for me? Great libraries provide books and materials, as well as: • Services free to everyone, no matter their income; a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can practice lifelong learning. • Free public WIFI, computer terminals, and low cost printers and copiers. Not everyone in the Lyons area has these at home, and sometimes home systems break down. • A “green” way to share (and store) books, DVDs, music CDs, magazines, newspapers, tech equipment and more. • Free online subscriptions such as Encyclopedia Britannica, magazines and e-books to access any time in your own home. • A place for people of all ages, especially teens, to hang Commerce, Recover Colorado (CDBG-DR Grant / Loan Program), Town of Lyons. For more information call the Chamber of Commerce at 303-823-5215.
out and relax with comfortable seating (and maybe even a fireplace?). • Interesting programs for children and adults – for us, maybe something like tiny houses, local climate change, search and rescue, etc. • Room for “Thinking Outside the Box” – What if, like some libraries, you could borrow a telescope? A microscope? A model of the human brain? Home tools? Art tools? Art work? Electronic music tools such as a moog synthesizer? A ukulele? The revitalized Lyons Library would be a community resource center – more than just books – with space to serve and grow our unique region. Please vote join me in voting YES on Lyons Regional Library District Ballot Issue 4C. For more information: Visit http://www.theheartoflyons.org/ Kate Kerr moved from Virginia to Lyons 18 months ago with her husband, Jim, partly to live near their daughter in Boulder – who got two temporary housemates during the flood evacuation. She enjoys playing fiddle, quilting, yoga, Nia, hiking and shopping local. She is a member of the Lyons Depot Library Advisory Board.
Thanks for a Great Season!
Chili Cook Off LYONS – The annual Chili Cook Off will be held on October 25 outside the Stone Cup on the corner of Fifth Ave. and High Streets at 442 High St. in the parking lot. It will be sponsored by the Lyons Garden Club. Chili entries will be accepted at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 25 and judging will be at 4:30 p.m. There is a $10 entry fee to enter the contest. Samples will be sold for 50 cents each and bowls will be sold for $5 each. The money will go to the Lyons Garden Club. The Stone Cup will be open for those who want drinks. The Halloween parade will take place at 6 p.m. that same night, Saturday Oct. 25 with trick or treating to follow the parade. Get costumed and head over to the Chili Cook Off.
Little Thompson Restoration Plan PINEWOOD SPRINGS – Peggy Bailey, professional engineer with the consulting firm TetraTech, will present findings on the Little Thompson and Crescent Lake restoration projects on Wednesday October 15, at the October meeting of the Pinewood Springs Property Owners’ Association. Tetra Tech was hired by the Little Thompson Watershed Restoration Coalition to provide technical services and project management for the Little Thompson River Restoration Master Plan. Neighborhood Captain Steve Fitzgerald said public review and comments are important to the planning process. The Continue Briefs on Page 14
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OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
INSIGHT Election 2014 By John Gierach Redstone Review LYONS – Are you tired of campaign ads yet? If you are, you’re not alone. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, $43 million had been spent on campaign ads in Colorado as of August 15 of this Gierach year (run back to back, that’s almost 18 full days of ads) and at least $20 million more for another 120 hours of ads is already committed. This is the price we pay for becoming an important swing state. A few of these ads seem almost reasonable, considering the genre, although according to factcheck.org, few if any are entirely accurate and some are misleading enough to be considered libelous in another context. But the worst are those sponsored by outside political action committees, which have so far spent three times more on ads than the candidates themselves. These are easy to spot by their personal attacks backed up by high-anxiety soundtracks and unflattering photos. The photos are easy enough to find. If you’re in front of cameras as much as politicians are, there are plenty of shots of you taken at odd moments between warm smiles when you look uncharacteristically sneaky, mean, or dumb. The overall, at least partly subliminal effect is that this isn’t an GREAT VALUE!
REDSTONE • REVIEW
opposing candidate whose policies we disagree with, but the very embodiment of either evil or stupidity, take your pick. The Republicans are especially good at this brand of character assassination and they’ve played it expertly for the long haul. A case in point: after years of claiming that President Obama shouldn’t be president because he was born in Kenya, or that he’s a socialist, or a secret Muslim terrorist sympathizer, or an appeaser, or whatever, there’s a kind of cumulative shorthand in effect, so that now all you have to do is claim that, for instance, Senator Udall agrees with the president 99 percent of the time. Enough said, right? The Democrats aren’t above this kind of thing, but they’re nowhere near as good at it and, sadly, they stand out more for being craven. I plan to vote for Udall for the two best reasons I can think of: because I agree with him more often than not and because even if Udall turned out to be a serial killer, I still wouldn’t vote for Cory Gardner. But I’ll cast my vote with a bad taste in my mouth now that Udall has gone out of his way to snub the president. You’ll remember that when Obama appeared in Colorado, Mark Udall didn’t appear with him because he was conveniently “busy” back in Washington. Busy doing what you could ask, since by Election Day this year Congress will only have been in session for 97 days. Well, busy staying as far away as possible from the president’s 38 percent approval rating, which is undeniably poor, but still a hell of a lot better than the 14 percent approval rating for Congress. Of course Udall isn’t the only Democrat running away from the president in this campaign, which I think only contributes to Obama’s low numbers. After all, if mem-
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bers of his own party don’t want to be seen with him, why should anyone else like him? It’s true that Obama’s presidency hasn’t been entirely successful – due largely to Republican obstructionism – but it hasn’t been a bust, either. Republicans are still raving about repealing Obamacare – although not as loudly as they once did –
candidates. A sampling of political commentators suggests that the Democrats don’t want to say too much about the stock market and the unemployment rate because many of us still don’t feel that we’re doing better now than we were a few years ago. And maybe they don’t want to talk about a rise in domestic oil production and
“...even if Udall turned out to be a serial killer, I still wouldn’t vote for Cory Gardner.” but in fact 8 million new people have signed up on the exchanges, 7.9 new people have signed up for Medicaid and there are now 25 percent more insurers in the health care marketplace. That means, among other things, that repealing Obamacare would leave no less than 18 million Americans without insurance. And never mind that a national health care system was originally a Republican idea. Energy is another favorite Republican cause (don’t forget that the previous president and vice president were both oil men) but since 2009, crude oil production in the U.S. is up by 70 percent, petroleum imports are down by 51percent and wind and solar power production has increased by 24 percent. The Republicans have been blaming the state of the economy on President Obama – forgetting that the financial collapse began under George Bush – but since 2009, the S&P 500 is up 144 percent and the unemployment rate is down to a pre-Great Recession level of 5.9 percent. It’s a complete mystery to me why I had to dig up these figures instead of seeing them plastered all over the headlines or touted in ads for Democratic congressional
a drop in oil imports because that would just stir up the controversy over the Keystone Pipeline. Of course the figures could also be used to illustrate why the pipeline is unnecessary, but if you’re a timid Democrat with an instinctive fear of big oil money, you don’t dare take that chance. And let’s not forget that even after all this time, Osama bin Laden is still dead. So okay, fine, maybe that’s just what they call “atmospherics” and the news certainly isn’t all good – think ISIS, Ebola and global warming – but if a Republican president had presided over increased oil production, decreased oil imports, a rise in the stock market and a drop in the unemployment rate, he’d have addressed the nation on prime time, possibly from the deck of an aircraft carrier under a banner reading “Mission Accomplished.” John Gierach is an outdoor and fly fishing writer who writes a column for Flyrod & Reel magazine. His books include Trout Bum, Sex Death and Fly fishing, and Still Life with Brook Trout. His new book, All Fishermen are Liars is available at book stores and fly fishing shops everywhere including South Creek Ltd. on Main Street. Travels with Redstone Lia Malito shares the Redstone Review with Donald Duck during a trip to Disneyland with her family: parents Kim and Jay Malito, brother Ronin and Nana Dawn Henley. Take the Redstone with you on your next trip and send us your photos showing where the Redstone has traveled. Send your photos to sdcmc@infionline.net.
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PAGE 8
REDSTONE • REVIEW
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
SERVICE How bad would a life have to be? By Don Moore Redstone Review LYONS – I arrive at 9:30 a.m., register, and don my Catholic Charities Disaster Response teal colored vest apron and handmade name tag. I’m in a large church social hall filled with tables piled with Moore clothes of all sorts, stacked according to size, type, and gender. The woman I will be working with, Arlene, and I are assigned to Yolanda with the Catholic Charities for our training. She is explaining how the system works when the program director announces the arrival of a new group. Eight young women, each with a small child, walk through the doors. We all stand, facing them with broad smiles, and give them a long, warm welcome of applause. They respond with measured smiles. They’ve just survived harrowing, dangerous journeys, followed by sterile processing of U.S. Immigration. This makes ours the first faces to give them a sense of “home” since they fled theirs in Central America, 1,200 to 1,500 miles south. I’m in McAllen, Texas on the Rio Grande, volunteering at the Immigrant Assistance project run by Catholic Charities at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. This project welcomes some of our newest immigrants, those who have fled the violent anarchy south of here. I’d heard about this project on a radio program and decided to become involved. Arlene and I choose clothes and toiletries for 30-year-old Maria and her 17month-old son, Pedro. They are bound for New York, with a layover in Atlanta, and will need three sets of clothes to start their new lives. From those sorted stacks we select undergarments, tops, pants, socks, and a pair of shoes for each. Next we gather toiletries and diapers, along with a backpack and a tote to hold all the belongings they will own in the world.
While we work, the two Hondurans wash their hands and eat breakfast. Then, all five of us head outside to the portable showers. Maria showers Pedro, hands him to us to dry off and dress, and then showers herself. We toss in the trash all the clothes they wore into the facility. Back in the social hall, the two eat soup for lunch; actually Maria eats while Pedro falls asleep on her shoulder. Following lunch all the moms and kids go to the play area. At 3 o’clock they are walked to the bus station to begin the final legs of their trips. On the other end in various
the Red Cross. A local Baptist church launders and delivers clean towels and washcloths. Clothing and toiletries are donated by locals and people far away. Save the Children Foundation runs the kids’ play area. Doctors, nurses and lawyers volunteer their services. The bulk of volunteers come from the McAllen area, and the rest from other Texas locations and 22 other states. Some families have spent their entire summer vacations volunteering here. In late 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. This law was intended to combat child trafficking and applies to children coming to the
Sorted stacks of clothing and shoes for newly arrived Central American immigrants overflow tables at the Immigrant Assistance project, run by Catholic Charities in McAllen, Texas. cities across the U.S., family members wait to be reunited with loved ones. This process repeats itself several times a day, seven days a week. From June 9, 2014, when Sacred Heart received its first refugees, to early September, over 6,000 have come through the doors. In May, two young women at the bus station noticed people in ragged, dirty clothes with bewildered expressions on their faces. Sensing something different was afloat, they went to their church, told a nun what they’d witnessed, and that spark of concern for strangers began this project. It’s a community effort. The city of McAllen provides the outdoor portable showers. The Salvation Army runs the kitchen. Air conditioned outdoor tents with cots for overnight stays come from
U.S. from countries other than Canada and Mexico. If unaccompanied children from Honduras, the murder capital of the world, appear at the U S border they are allowed to cross and must be given a court hearing before they are either deported or allowed to stay. For humanitarian reasons, the U.S. government is allowing one parent to enter with their children. My new friend, Manny, emigrated from Cuba when he was 23, some 52 years ago. Even at 75 the refugee / immigrant experience is still fresh for him. He lives north of Houston and is volunteering as a cook for the Salvation Army. He hands out bowls of soup to the new arrivals, takes basic information and asks to hear their stories. Manny empathizes so deeply he finds himself in tears listening to each
Lyons Chamber news: Oh what a long strange trip it’s been By Tamara Vega Haddad Redstone Review LYONS – Over the last 13 months the Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce (LACC) has joined in beside our businesses, neighborhoods, municipality, and individuals. Together we have pushed through extreme circumstances and have continued to learn, strive, and lead the state on what disaster recovery looks like. Here’s the recap of the extraordinary efforts made by the LACC that propelled the Chamber and Lyons into the forefront of recognition on local, regional, and state levels. It began as we were evacuated from our town. While residents spread from one end of the U.S. to the other, LACC jumped into high gear, first by retaining a nonprofit law firm, Leaffer Law, who amended our bylaws to be able to communicate and vote via email. This enabled the Lyons Town Board to not only make effective decisions while under evacuation but to implement them – decisions such as opening a business recovery table and staffing it seven days a week at the
Twin Peaks Mall. Businesses came in droves with questions regarding building clean-up, emergency disaster relief, passes to get back into town, and Small Business Association (SBA) assistance, to name a few. We felt the worry of our local businesses, helped find temporary relocation sites and leveraged Facebook and newsletters to bridge the gap Lyons’ business community felt intrinsically, and created LyonsFightBack.org to harness national donations and volunteer efforts for local businesses and residents. Every opportunity LACC had to leverage awareness of Lyons’ businesses we took, regardless of membership status – we were all one. LACC created and still sustains close relationships with our state Representatives, Senators, and Governor Hickenlooper, as well our U.S. Senators and Congressmen. Keeping Lyons in the forefront of everyone’s minds we arranged tours by these elected officials, brought in print media and gave interviews for local TV stations to highlight our businesses’ plight and show their strength and anticipation of doors opening back up. We established a working relationship with the Boulder Chamber of Commerce and garnered its generosity in lobbying for
Lyons wherever it could. Coming home was a relief but also the beginning of another level of challenges. Now that our businesses were home how would we let the world know we’re open for business? The answer: ShopSmall / ShopLyons. We employed a local graphic artist and canvassed the region garnering even more attention in print and TV. On the home front we looked for the simple things to keep morale up, which showed in small gestures such as collecting candy for our businesses to give out at the townsponsored Spooktacular Halloween parade last year – a night more akin to a family reunion. Every day, every new week was a challenge met with solutions. We recreated Lyons-Colorado.com to capture regional tourist attention and dollars, lobbied Capitol Hill for U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds, attended meetings with the Organization of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) as they were making decisions on Lyons’ behalf. We joined and completed the Econ/Bus recovery plan; received 7 “A” (priority status) out of eight vetted by FEMA and
tale. Here are some of those stories: A mother and her 8-year-old daughter left their home in Honduras in the middle of the night after one too many threats on their lives. They are heading to Atlanta to join her husband. For reasons she does not explain, she had to leave her 12-yearold son behind. A teenage Honduran girl says her father was kidnapped by a gang that asked for ransom the family could not pay. The father is killed in retaliation. The girl’s mother reports the kidnapping and murder to the police. The next day the gang members tell the mother that because she’d talked to the police, the lives of the two are in danger. Obviously, the police are in league with the gang. That night mom and daughter flee. The mother hires “coyotes” (human traffickers) to smuggle them out of the country. A month later they arrive at Sacred Heart. A man sits beside his 13-year-old daughter quietly eating his soup and tortilla chips, when suddenly he breaks down and cries. I kneel down and put my arms around him. Manny joins us in a three man hug and Manny speaks in Spanish. The father says little, continuing to cry. We comfort him, offering tissues and after a while he lets out a sigh and the tears pause. Later, Manny says the man told him only that he and his daughter had walked for days without food or water. Those who didn’t survive the journey have no story to tell Manny and me. These events are not happening in Africa, not in the Middle East, nor any other place far distant. They’re happening just south of here. I’m a witness, yet find it hard to process. This is the question I ponder: How bad would the conditions of a life have to be to abandon family, friends, culture, all a person owns and knows to do what these people have done just to get a chance at a better life? You can learn about Sacred Heart’s Immigrant Assistance Project here: http : / / sacred heart church -mcallen. org / immigrant - assistance / general - information /. Don Moore is a retired lawyer and the author of Love is a Verb: Healing Yourself through Love, Gratitude and Compassion. He lives in Lyons. DOLA, and received approval by the Planning and Community Development Commission and Board of Trustees to move forward with our goals and objectives for a stronger, better Lyons business community. Acknowledging the economic impact our displaced residents, we lobbied for such legislation at HB14-1001, fondly referred to as the “If you can’t find my Continue Chamber on Page 18
US Rep. Jared Polis (left) took a tour of Lyons businesses before holding his annual town meeting on Sept. 2 at the town hall. He visited the St. Vrain Market with (from left) State Congressman Jonathan Singer (D) Longmont, Mayor John O’Brien Lyons, and Neil Sullivan, owner, with his wife Connie, of the St. Vrain Market.
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
REDSTONE • REVIEW
PAGE 9
FOUNDATIONS The world is a fearful place By Richard A. Joyce Redstone Review VP PUEBLO – Drought, floods, pestilence, diseases of all sorts, war, avowed enemies, economic disaster, global warming, volcanoes, earthquakes, forest fires, melting glaciers, mud slides, killer bees, Great White Sharks, traffic accidents, and many Joyce more life threatening things, creatures and events stalk us from birth until one of them brings us down. We call that moment death, and we portray death as a black-robed-and-hooded shadow-faced, boney-fingered reaper of souls suddenly severed by death’s scythe from the carnal vessels they inhabit. No doubt, from the dawn of consciousness in our mammalian predecessors, witnessing the death of others of their kind has been a deeply sad and often terrifyingly traumatic experience. Certainly from the dawn of self-conscious reflection in our own species it has been so, and perhaps even more so, fueled as it often is by our imaginative powers that can turn darkness and wind and bare trees into nightmarish fantasies that send adrenalin coursing through our blood and make our heartbeats sound like hammer falls within our chests and brains. This can happen at any time of year, but it’s mind-generated fear seems most keen at the end of October, on Halloween, when wolves – probably coyotes in Colorado – howl in the moonlight and tree branches scrape their skeleton fingers across roofs and siding, and when every shadow seems a sinister apparition waiting in the night to rip us with fang and claw, and to consume our flesh and drink our blood. Yet, more frightening than all of that is something that accompanies it as surely as the grave accompanies death: the adult Halloween Party. I speak the truth, and for doing so perhaps the hounds of hell will scratch at my door one of these nights, but I cannot in good conscience fail to warn of the horrors this “party” conceals. First is the invitation to the party. Ghoulish calligraphy and grim graphics invite the prospective partygoer to a night of revelry and horrific experiences, the first of
which may be the horror of knowing who is throwing the party, and the second of which may be the greater horror of knowing who is likely to attend. Once accepted, and the proper RSVP sent, the next horror begins nibbling at the partygoer’s bank account – not much at first, mostly because the potential party victim has delusions of finding an appropriate costume on the cheap. But in the end the seductive evil of splurging for the perfect costume bites deep into the financial flesh of many who seek such grave glory. By the day of the party, with clocks only two days away from being rolled back an hour to MST, darkness falls fairly early. For singles and married couples without children, this means little ghouls better known as trick-or-treaters ringing the doorbell throughout the period known as “getting into costume and character.” For those with children, add in taking their own kids trick-ortreating during the same period. It’s enough to push them all a bit further than usual toward madness. In fact, the ride to the party may be one of bone-chilling icy silence for the married-with-children crowd. In all fairness, it’s at least partly because the starched Little Bo Peep outfits half of these people are wearing don’t fit right, but the men in them are too proud to complain to their wives, who talked them into it. At the party, it’s the same as always: people asking other people who they’re supposed to be, people wrongly guessing who other people are supposed to be, and everyone ignoring those whose costumes are obvious. Those hosting the party, of course, begin poisoning all the others the moment they arrive, tricking them into taking more poison that they should by strategically placing snacks and other munchies, including “healthy” vegetable plates – with dips – candy, chips, pretzels and anything else that might soak up some of the poison until it’s too late.
It takes a village: LFPD Firehouse 2 to be rebuilt with help from a variety of sources By Kristen Bruckner Redstone Review LYONS – Lyons Fire Protection District (LFPD) lost Fire Station 2 in the flood last September. Rebuilding efforts for the critical hub for fighting fires in remote areas of Lyons are underway thanks, in part, to a grant from the Lyons Bruckner Community Foundation. By leveraging insurance money, an LCF grant and donations from the local community, the LFPD plans to build a new station that meets the current wild land and urban firefighting needs but also addresses issues that will serve the Lyons area for the next 20 to 30 years. The losses sustained by the LFPD in last year’s flood were large. Not only was Fire Station 2 lost, but a brand new engine also was destroyed in a heroic rescue of a resident on Longmont Dam Road. Numerous pieces of equipment such as radios, hoses, and ladders were also lost. The former station, located on Stagecoach Road in the Larimer county part of the LFPD, stood on leased land, and nearly the entire lot was washed downriver. The new station will be built above the flood plain on Larimer County Rd 37E. Lyons FPD serves all of the greater Lyons area. This includes not only the 2,000 residents in town, but also an additional 3,000 residents in the surrounding areas including parts of Boulder and Larimer Counties. This includes the more remote areas such as the Blue Mountain district, where Fire Station 2 was located. Not only is a fire station a necessity in firefighting efforts in these areas, but also critical in providing the fire protection coverage required by homeowner’s insurance policies. Like roughly 75 percent of all fire stations across the
nation, the Lyons Fire Department is almost all staffed by volunteers. Funding does not cover basic training and often does not cover necessary equipment. The fire department has had to become creative in its funding and staffing efforts. For example, Chief J.J. Hoffman has implemented an internship exchange program to provide critical training to new recruits in exchange for
Phase 1 of construction on the new Lyons Fire Protection District station will include a shell garage that will allow vehicles and other equipment currently being kept outside to move into indoor, weather-protected storage. service shifts at the firehouse, as well as a two-year service commitment after they complete their basic training. Fund raising by the department has including selling Tshirts and calendars, and the old stand-by “passing around the boot.” In addition to the Lyons Community Foundation grant, other local individuals and businesses have stepped up to help the department rebuild and move forward. Spirit Hound Distillery recently donated $10,000 to the LFPD, Planet Bluegrass solicited significant donations during its festivals, and the Cyclists4Lyons events
That’s when the ultimate horror really begins. I won’t describe it. It’s too disgusting to imagine. Let’s just say it involves internal organs desperate to expel toxins and not caring particularly where they do that. If the partygoer isn’t too far gone, the place of painful purging is usually a bathroom, but if the amount of poison consumed crosses a certain line, which varies by individual, any indoor room, the furniture in such rooms, and the seats and carpets of vehicles, including taxis, become… well, we all know what they become – and so do those expensive costumes. The horror of all this multiplies because much of the time, there are witnesses, and they will suffer from their own excesses and the excesses of their friends and family. It certainly isn’t pretty, and the torture gets worse the next day: The mirror mocks the revelers’ outsides; the sun keeps them huddled inside; antacids and pink liquids, headache remedies, tea and toast are the only menu choices throughout the day; and all others in their lives are advised to stay away or, in the case of children, to play quietly n their rooms or face dire consequences. And many a survivor of this onslaught of horror and evil has been heard through closed bathroom doors, groaning and muttering, “Oh, God, just let me die!” Most often, that doesn’t happen, of course, but surely it’s a small victory for the grim reaper anyway. So when Halloween arrives this year, scoff at the headless horseman, ridicule Dracula, use Frankenstein’s head for a drum, but whatever else you do, run screaming as fast as you can and far away if someone invites you to a party on that night of things that go bump – and worse. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must see what the hell is scratching so frantically at my front door. Richard A. Joyce is an associate professor in the mass communications department at Colorado State UniversityPueblo. He is an award-winning journalist who served as managing editor, and subsequently editor and general manager of the Cañon City Daily Record from 1988 to 1994. The opinions he expresses in this column are strictly his own, and do not represent in any way the views of anyone else at the Redstone Review or at Colorado State University-Pueblo. He can be reached at phase15@mac.com. helped to raise funds. There was a “Fight Fire with Beer” event this fall and a black-tie fundraiser is coming up at the Greenbriar (www.lfpdblacktie.weebly.com.) An additional LCF grant has also helped to pay for the recovery and repair of a 30,000 gallon cistern that was severely damaged at the original station and will be used for future firefighting efforts. The cost of the new facility is estimated upwards of three quarters of a million dollars. Flood insurance covered the building lost in the flood but not the land or a variety of other building costs. An estimated shortfall is roughly $360,000. Phase 1 of the new station will include a shell garage that will be able to house equipment and vehicles that are currently in temporary storage at the Lyons Fire house. Moving this equipment to the new station will allow several vehicles and other pieces of equipment that are currently being kept outside to move into indoor, weather-protected storage. The foundation on this building should be poured in the next week and construction will start immediately. Plans for a Phase 2 portion of the firehouse will include offices, training and meeting space, and eventually a heli-pad. The new fire station will not only allow these areas to be served but will also house Colorado Division of Fire Protection and Control employees who will provide actual paid staffing five days per week. Having a presence of volunteers and a consistent staff adds to the overall ability to provide safety and services to this part of the Lyons District. The goal for this part of the facility is to build it in the next year or two. For more information on the Lyons Fire Department or its rebuilding efforts, please contact the station at info@lyonsfire.org or call the nonemergency number 303-823-6611. For more information on the Lyons Community Foundation and its efforts in rebuilding and enhancing life in the greater Lyons area, see www.lyonscf.org or call 720-29LYONS. Kristen Bruckner is on the Lyons Community Foundation Communications Committee and writes columns for the LCF. She lives in Lyons.
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Arts and entertainment in the greater Lyons area By MinTze Wu Redstone Review LYONS The Stone Cup Café / Rise and Shine Bistro will continue with Jake Pinello’s wonderful show rep.e.ti.tion through the end of October. Jake Pinello is the known muralist who created the farm scene Wu on the west wall of the St. Vrain Market. Ruth Wilson’s work will be featured in November and December. Wilson’s painting is often referred to as “atmospheric” for the soft edges painted in the wet method. Many works in this exhibition were painted in the mountainous outdoors at 9000 feet where she resides. Wilson was commissioned by Planet Bluegrass to do a painting for the 2014 Folk Festival. The music line-up for the month includes indie rock and alternative musician Bella Musser on October 26, folk-classic rocker James Faulk on November 1 and 15, American folk performer Billy Shaddox on November 2, jazz artist Glenn Colby on November 9, and folk performers Tupelo Honey on November 16. The café is located on Fifth Avenue and High Street. For more call 303-823-2345 or visit www.thestonecup.com. Foot-stomping, heart-stopping, high energy Celtic band Take Down the Door will be at Oskar Blues, 303 Main St., on October 18 at 8:30 p.m. Lyons locals Jessie Burns on fiddle, Beth Gadbaw on vocals and drum, and Eric Thorin on bass, join forces with Boulder guitarist Hon Sousa and fiddler Adam Agee for an evening of fiddle tunes and traditional songs whose name is inspired by the old Irish tradition of taking the doors off the hinges when a party gets going. Visit www.takedownthedoor.com for more information. For complete listing of musical events and menu please go to oskarblues.com. BOULDER Boulder Bach Festival presents Aeris, a radically dynamic and expressive trio devoted to the virtuoso violin sonata repertory of the Italian baroque. Comprised of Paintings by Ruth Wilson are three soloists, violinist featured at the Stone Cup durZachary Carrettin, cel- ing November and December. list William Skeen and harpsichordist Avi Stein, the band is known to improvise freely, exploring the transcendental and impetuous nature of sonatas by Locatelli, Veracini, Matteis, Valentini, Stradella, Vivaldi, and Bach, perhaps the greatest composer in the Italian style! Concerts are on October 16, 17, and 18 at 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church,1419 Pine St. in Boulder. For information please go to www. boulder bach festival. org or call 303-776-9666. The world-famous, all-woman Cavani Quartet will make an appearance on October 19 and 20 for a special 25th anniversary concert. Named after the 19th century Italian violin makers Giovanni and Vincenzo Cavani, the quartet will present a program of Schubert and Shostakovich string quartets and the Mendelssohn String Quintet with Cavani’s former violist Erika Eckard. Wrote the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Together, these players make music with passionate conviction, as if their lives depended on interaction.” The concert will be held at University of Colorado Grusin Music Hall, 18th St. and Euclid Ave. in Boulder. For information please go to www.cupresent.org or call 303-492-8008. University of Colorado Loft Theatre presents Legacy of Light from October 24 through November 2. Two women scientists, living hundreds of years apart, explore the meaning of love, motherhood, family, art and science in this contemporary comedy. The play juxtaposes the story of Émilie du Châtelet, a mathematician, scientist, and lover of the great 18th-century philosopher
Eric Thorin, Jessie Burns, Adam Agee, Beth Gadbaw, and Jon Sousa are the Celtic band Take Down the Door, appearing at Oskar Blues on October 18. Voltaire, who became unexpectedly pregnant at 42, and that of a 21st-century physicist desperately trying to conceive a child. The play will take place at the Loft Theatre at University Theatre Building. For information please go to www.cutheatre.org or call 303-492-8008. The Boulder Chorale celebrates American composer Morten Lauridsen on October 26. The compositions of legendary American choral master Morten Lauridsen combine musical beauty, power and spiritual depth and have thrilled audiences worldwide. Join the Boulder Chorale, Colorado State University Chamber Singers, and Boulder Children’s Bel Canto Choir for a program that includes Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna and MidWinter Songs. The concert will take place on October 26 at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1421 Spruce St. in Boulder. For information please go to www.boulderchorale.org or call 303-554-7492. Seicento unveils baroque music on the theme of “Dies irae” or “Day of Wrath” from the Latin mass on Saturday, November 1. With a unique concert custom-made for the season, Seicento will raise the spirits of baroque composers de Lalande, Kuhnau, Bach, Purcell, Bertulosi and Cannicciari in the concert Dies Irae – Halloween Goes Baroque. In typical Seicento fashion, the passionate choral music is accompanied by period instruments. As a special treat, the concert includes Bach’s “scary” organ Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Led by artistic director Evanne Browne, the vocal soloists include soprano Amanda Balestrieri, alto Marjorie Bunday, tenor Stephen Soph, and baritone Ryan Parker, with special guests Mimi Mitchell on baroque violin and Kajsa Teitelbaum on organ. The concert starts at 7:30 and takes place at First United Methodist Church, 1421 Spruce St. in Boulder. For information please go to www.cseicentobaroque.org or call 303-909-3517. CU Presents hosts Mummenschanz, the surreal
At the recent “Art on the River” event at River Bend, Sally King was inspired to paint her signature bears and give them away to flood victims. Recognizing we were all flood victims, she qualified recipients as those affected in a “major way.” The bears were accepted by 6 show attendees and all were deeply touched by this act of kindness. It was comforting to witness how art and music are an integral part of our Lyons community, and both are part of the healing.
Swiss theater troupe, on November 7 at 7:30 p.m. It is a show about silence, illusion, light and shadow with masks and props made from everyday objects. The New York Times called it “witty madness, dazzling and delightful.” For more than four decades, Mummenschanz has brought myth, mystery and plenty of laughter to audiences around the world, using its unique universal language to explore the human condition. The show takes place at Macky Auditorium. For information please go to cupresents.org or call 303-492-8423. DENVER C o l o r a d o S y m p h o n y Orchestra presents Mahler’s The Titan at its Masterworks Series on November 1 and 2. Led by conductor Marin Alsop in the program that begins with the iconic, minimalist style of modern master John Adams and the accessible classicism of Mozart, juxtaposed with Mahler’s gor- Kinetics sculptor John King recentgeous, complex, ly installed “Orchard Sprite” in a and Beethovian community park in Orchard Town First Symphony. On Center, in Westminster, CO. November 7, 8, and 9 conductor and celebrated violinist Pinchas Zukerman along with the Colorado Symphony Chorus will present an all-Mozart program that includes the Adagio and Rondo for Violin and Orchestra, Exultate Jubilate, and the Requiem. The Colorado Symphony performs at the Boettcher Concert Hall at the Denver Performing Arts Complex on 1000, 14th St. in Denver. For information please visit www.coloradosymphony.org. Vintage Theatre presents I Do! I Do! From October 17 through November 2. Based on The Four Poster by Jan de Hartog, this Tony Award nominated play is a two-character story spanning 50 years, from 1915 to 1965, as it focuses on the ups and downs experienced by Agnes and Michael Snow throughout their marriage. The set consists solely of their bedroom, dominated by the large four poster bed in the center of the room. Vintage Theatre is at 1468 Dayton St. in Aurora. For information please call 303-856-7830 or go to www.vintagetheatre.com. MinTze Wu is the musical director of the Sounds of Lyons. She lives in Taipei, Taiwan with her husband Jem and two daughters. She can be reached at mintzewu@hotmail.com.
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
REDSTONE • REVIEW
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CLIMATE New York Summit breathes life back into climate talks By Kate Zalal Redstone Review LYONS – The United Nations Climate Summit opened this September in New York with poetry, music, grand statements and personal stories of the impacts of a warming world. Leading up to the summit, hundreds of thousands of people, marching in 162 countries, unified for the Peoples Climate March, the largest climate change demonstration in history. The summit, hosting more than 120 world leaders, aimed to galvanize political will for a stronger and more legally binding global climate treaty by the 2015 UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) meeting in Paris, France. The recent years have provided a substantial body of evidence showing a climate responding to human influence. NOAA recently announced that this summer was the hottest on record for the globe and that 2014 was on track to take the record for hottest year. A 2014 University of Colorado Boulder and Western Water Assessment synthesis study reports that Colorado annual average temperatures have increased 2.0° F over the past 30 years, attributing this to increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations that are the highest at any time in at least the past 800,000 years. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 but never ratified by the U.S., formed the first international agreement mandating greenhouse gas emission reductions. The
The People’s Climate March in New York City on September 21 was one of 2,646 climate-change events in 162 countries occurring two days before the climate summit at the UN. PHOTO BY JENNIFER MITCHELL 15 sessions convened since Kyoto, including the Copenhagen 2009 summit and follow-up sessions in Durban, Doha and Warsaw, have ended without firm commitments for meaningful climate action. The reasons for these challenges are varied and complex, but the tone was different at the NY summit – perhaps because we’ve moved past merely projecting climate consequences and are now feeling them. Global leaders made their
strongest commitments yet to limit global temperature rise, improve technology transfers to developing countries and to slow deforestation. China, now the top carbon emitter, announced that its greenhouse gas emissions would peak “as early as possible.” European nations continued to make bold commitments and showcase past successes. President Obama issued an executive order requiring federal agencies to incorporate “climate resilience” into its
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Kate Zalal has a M.Sc. and three years of Ph.D. research in Geology and Environmental Science with a focus on Arctic and Antarctic climate change. She worked on her Ph.D. at CU in the Geology Department until last year. She lives with her husband and two kids in Lyons.
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action plans abroad and announced that the U.S. will release its emissions targets next year, ahead of the 2015 summit. Businesses are also demonstrating leadership, building the technologies that lead to a low carbon economy. U.S. automakers for instance, announced soaring profit margins at the same time they are building the most efficient cars in history, demonstrating that rigorous economic growth and meaningful climate action are entirely compatible. United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-Moon praised a number of business leaders, across a range of industries, which are already taking action and encouraged others to do the same. A strong international agreement would help create the confidence for global investment and accelerate the changes on which many businesses are already capitalizing. On a local level, state and city leaders are increasingly moving past the idea that climate action is not worth doing unless we can get a global agreement, citing the many other reasons to move to a clean energy economy including better air and water quality, fewer premature deaths and reduced health-care costs associated with respiratory ailments. This is especially true for Colorado, where pristine wild places are a critical part of our identity and economy. As a result, the state and many other municipalities have developed and are implementing their own Climate Action Plans including taking pioneering actions to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants and from oil and gas development. The NY Summit commitments and leadership at the federal, state and local levels are poised to breathe life back into climate treaty talks. The sheer number of people participating in the Peoples Climate March last month was moving. However, it is the diversity of those marching – students, labor unions, teachers, parents, clergy, faith groups, doctors, scientists, indigenous community members, bankers, corporations and civic groups – that reflects the broad and growing consensus that the time for action is now. Let’s hope that the voices and votes of the people will keep the momentum going and lead to meaningful action in Paris.
Know where to go before an emergency occurs!
Sat 11/8 Bonnie & the Clydes Sun 11/9 The Swing Chicks
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PAGE 12
REDSTONE • REVIEW
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
OPTIONS No new housing developments anywhere without CDBG-DR funds By Amy Reinholds Redstone Review LYONS – It’s time for an update on replacement housing that is affordable for the income ranges of people who lost their homes in the 2013 flood. Here’s a recap of recent decisions and information that Reinholds has been announced at meetings in the past month: No new developments of subsidized affordable housing will be built anywhere unless Lyons gets Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from the second round deadline. Neither the town nor the Housing Authority has money to build anything without these additional disaster funds. In September, the Board of Trustees instructed Lyons town staff to prepare a Notice of Intent for this funding, which
was estimated to be due by November 1, and a full application for funding, which was estimated to be due by December 15. However, the deadlines for this second round of funds won’t be set until the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development completes an amendment to the action plan for CDBG-DR. Colorado State Statute requires that any selling or change in ownership of park land owned by a statutory town must go to a vote of the people, so if and when a plan is ready for the Boulder County Housing Authority to develop replacement affordable housing, Lyons residents will have a vote before any park land can change hands. The Town of Lyons does not have its own housing authority, and the town would not be the entity building new housing At the Oct. 6 Board of Trustees meeting, Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen told the board that the Loukonen family has discussed selling approximately four acres to the town for housing. This parcel is close to an existing road in the Markel subdivision, but research is required about
access to the parcel, and the parcel would need to be annexed into the town. The board directed Lyons staff to direct the consultants who will be hired this month to perform a specific site analysis of potential housing sites to include that Loukonen parcel, in addition to parts of Bohn Park that are outside the existing and interim flood plain, and the dog park. (The board took the parcel south of the dog park off the list.) The Musser lot 2 property in Stone Canyon that was bought with Open Space tax dollars also will be looked at, although it is outside the Lyons planning area. At the Oct. 6 meeting, Trustee Dawn Weller asked the town administrator to discuss that Stone Canyon parcel with the County Open Space Department to find out more information. Funding for the site analysis study was applied for and granted in the first round of CDBG-DR funding in the spring / summer. The site study was originally expected to be conducted by the end of August, but this delay now allows late-breaking changes to be included in the site analysis, such as the addition of the
Conversations on Death third annual symposium CoD began in 2011 featuring a symposium for open discussion and now includes a movie series, ongoing Death Cafés and a soon-to-be presented art installation at the BOULDER – Conversations on University of Colorado Art Museum featuring the internaDeath will present its third annual tional phenomenon, Before I die… (www.beforeidie.cc). I symposium 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 1, spoke with Kitty Edwards, one of the founders of CoD. She at the Columbine Spiritual Center, expressed that those helping others with end-of-life issues recognized that there needed to be an organization that 8900 Arapahoe Rd., Boulder. Conversations on Death (CoD) is could help bring together other organizations in collaboraa full day workshop featuring pre- tion to foster open discussions surrounding death. Knock sentations, activities, live music, an Presentations are always in a group of three contributors, interactive altar and facilitated discussions designed to even if there are fewer speakers, so there is no individual invite conversations about different ways that end-of-life pontification. Presentations for the upcoming symposium include: The Physiology of Dying: The issues can be approached. Nov. 1 is Natural Wisdom of the Body with preDay of the Dead, which is traditionalsenters Dr. Myra Tuckerman MD and ly a day to honor ancestors and those Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk; Enfolding Our that have gone before us. Grief: Engaging in Loving Kindness with Open discussion about end-of-life presenters Kim Mooney CT and issues is very important to address Heather Menzie LPC, RYT500; misconceptions and to help dispel Journey of the Soul: Perspectives from fear. As evidenced by their interest in Three Spiritual Traditions with presendeath discussions, Baby Boomers are ters Andrew Holecek, Rabbi Nadya recognizing that fearful issues kept in Gross and Thyria Ogletree. These the dark are not conducive to optithree discussions explore the process mum health. Boulder County has one of death from the perspective of the of the largest concentrations of Baby body, the emotions and the spiritual Boomers in America, along with the dimension. California Bay Area and the Larger Dr. Myra Tuckerman is the resident Boston Area. Boomers are adept at doctor at Family Hospice in Boulder. I challenging the status quo and they spoke with Dr. Tuckerman about the are once again helping our society to talk she’s presenting with Dr. Rusk. envision what our full potential can Dr. Tuckerman expressed that she will be through every aspect of life, even be describing the signs and symptoms living fully through the process of ART BY OCTAVIO OCAMPO of the body when in final decay. There death. “The number of people in the U.S. over 65 is projected to double by 2030. In contrast, are organ specific and symptom specific signs the body is the number of people in Colorado over age 65 is project- in the active process of shutting down and ways to help the ed to triple by 2030,” according to Elizabeth Garner of body in this natural process. She expressed that there is a the Colorado State Demography Office. Boulder natural wisdom of the body to know how to shut down in County is at the forefront of this discussion and at the the correct way. At a certain stage it is beneficial to have hospice help ease this process. Dr. Rusk is the Director of center is the CoD organization. By Prescott Knock Redstone Review
Loukonen parcel. The consultants must give their findings to the Board of Trustees by Nov. 20. The mission of the Housing Recovery Task Force (HRTF) in the winter and spring was to evaluate available land parcels that might be appropriate for applying for grant money for replacement housing and to share that information with the Board of Trustees. But now the decision about parcels is with the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees decided in September to pursue CDBG-DR funding for 60 +/– 10 housing units to be part of the subsidized affordable housing to replace the same level of affordability of housing stock that was lost. According to the Housing Needs Assessment earlier in the year, 68 percent of displaced households earned less than 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), which comes to about $46,140 for a two-person household. The Area Median Income is $79,875 for a family of four. That means that maximum rent that is affordable Continue Housing on Page 18
the Brain and Behavior Clinic who will be discussing the neurological process the brain goes through during death. You can also participate with this group by attending the monthly CoD Movie Series and Death Cafés. The next movie is Biutiful starring Oscar-winner Javier Bardem playing Fri. Oct. 17 at Greenwood and Myers, 2929 Baseline Rd., Boulder. The Death Café is an ongoing monthly version of CoD with informal facilitated discussions of endof-life, Mon. Oct. 27, also at Greenwood and Myers. The CoD Symposium is very popular and has sold out every year, so get your tickets soon. To register and or sponsor this non-profit event please go to www.conversationsondeath.org; then go to Events. To be added to the newsletter, go to About Us, and then to Participate. For more information contact Kitty Edwards: www. dying consciously boulder. com; Dr. Myra Tuckerman: www. family hospice. net; Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk: www. brain and behavior clinic. com; Greenwood and Myers: www. greenwood myers funeral. com; or Death Café: www. death cafe / death cafe / 374 /. Prescott Knock is a resident of Pinewood Springs. He is Community Outreach and Education for Family Hospice www.familyhospice.net and co-founder, host and producer of the Collaborative Community Radio. Show on Boulder’s KGNU 88.5FM www.thecollaborativecommunity.org and cofounder of The Buddhist Coalition www.buddhistcoalition.org .
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CONTRAST Everything you should know about sitting By Bronwyn Muldoon Redstone Review LYONS – Everyone does it. No age group is exempt, the young, the old and all of us in between. We encourage it from a young age in schools and continue to promote it through our work desks, to our entertainment in front of computMuldoon ers, TV and video games. Current research is finding that sitting is linked to numerous health issues such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, some cancers and of course back and neck dysfunctions. Many of us sit for up to eight hours a day, which over time leads to deconditioning of muscles, poor spine alignment and low cardiovascular endurance. We can’t avoid sitting in our daily lives, so let’s focus on what we can do to make sitting more body and health friendly. Sit for shorter periods of time: Make an effort to get up at least every 50 minutes. Go get a drink, take a bathroom break. If you can’t leave your desk, then stand for five to ten minutes every hour. Talk on the phone while standing. Many companies are even switching to standing desks to promote better health. Replace your chair with an exercise ball: Sitting on the ball engages your core and promotes good spinal alignment. Buy a ball according to your height, (look on the side of the box, it will tell you which size ball is appropriate for different heights). No slumping please: Kids and teens are the worst with this, especially when they are playing video games. They slump forward, curving their backs and protruding their heads and chins. This posture is especially hard on growing bodies as it promotes poor spinal alignment and muscle tone. Sit up straight: Sit back so your buttocks touch the
back of the chair, with head, shoulders and hips in a single line, and distribute your body weight evenly on both hips: hips and knees should be bent to 90 degrees with feet flat on floor. You can roll up a small towel to place between the back of the seat and your lower back for support. If your feet aren’t flat on the floor, use a box or stool to place under your feet for support. The arm rest should be at elbow height, no higher, so as not to elevate your
shoulders and put stress on your upper back and neck. Make sure to exercise or stretch daily: Getting a cardiovascular workout multiple times throughout the week will help keep our hearts and minds strong while also keeping our muscles toned and flexible. Stretching the spine keeps it mobile and fluid, decreasing stiffness and preventing it from injury. Below are a few good spine stretches: In standing: Slowly reach for the sky, raising arms above the head, stretching your spine upward and arching lower back as your reach up. Hold for three seconds and lower your arms slowly. Repeat three times. Another
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exercise is to place your hands on your hips. Keep pelvis / hips forward, as you rotate the upper body to the right, leading with your right shoulder. Hold three seconds then slowly rotate to the left. Repeat three times on each side. A third exercise is to bend down and touch your toes, as you come back up to standing position, arch your back, repeat slowly three to five times Lying on your back: Bend your knees up with feet on the floor. Arms are out to the side at shoulder height. Roll both knees to one side, making sure your shoulders and upper back stay on the floor (they do not rotate with the legs). Hold three seconds and repeat to opposite side. Lying on your side: Bend knees up, so they are stacked on each other. Arms are straight and stacked on each other, with the bottom arm straight out in front at 90 degrees, resting on the floor. The hips / knees stay where they are. Take the top arm, keeping it straight, and rotate the upper body away to the other side, leading with the top arm. If lying on right side, the right arm stays and the left goes up and over your midline, trying to touch the floor on the opposite side of your body. Hold three seconds. Repeat three times before lying on the opposite side. Good luck with the stretches and remember whenever you are sitting, be kind to your body: sit up straight and don’t stay there very long. Bronwyn Muldoon, a licensed physical therapist, owns Lyons Physical Therapy, 435 High St. in Lyons. Some of the things addressed at her clinic include but are not limited to: acute and chronic spinal pain (back and neck pain), postural dysfunction alignment, sports and performance-related injuries, repetitive / overuse-related injuries, post-surgical rehabilitation, muscles strains and sprains, and physical rehabilitation of all kinds. For more information call 303-823-8813.
Colorado Spirit: Choosing to choose By Janaki Jane Redstone Review LYONS – Let’s face an uncomfortable fact: most of life is out of our control. Life proves this to us in small ways all the time. From having our favorite TV show cancelled to getting sick on vacation, to falling in love or finding a 20-dollar bill on the street, life is full of things that are unexpected. When it’s something positive, most of us react with pleasure. Except for the occasional gloating, most of us have no problems with “dealing with” our positive reactions. It’s dealing with our negative reactions that can be challenging. Sometimes after the bad things happen we are so shocked, so angry, so hurt, that it feels like we have no choice but to stay in our reactivity. We’ve all done it: decided to blame or eat chocolate instead of face our feelings. There is another way. Viktor Frankl was a Holocaust survivor who watched his fellow prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps. He wrote: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Among the most important conclusions he came to is that taking responsibility for our own feelings and reactions to what life throws our way gives our lives meaning. Otherwise we are a cork on the waves. There is really only one place in the whole universe where we have choice: how we respond to what life is throwing
at us. This isn’t always easy. The frontal lobe of our brain, where we make decisions and think things through, shuts down when we are stressed, and we go on automatic. It can take real work to break out of the cycle of being run by our fears. Our forebrain shuts down any time we feel threatened, and that can be big or small. Have you ever gone blank when someone asked you a question that you know you know the answer to? That’s frontal lobe shutting down. Have you ever said something stupid to a person that you desperately wanted to impress? Frontal lobe shut down. So if we shut down in little situations like that, imagine how much more we shut down in response to a catastrophic event, like the floods. One way to regain the ability to think – to reconnect with the frontal lobe – is to come back to the now. Once the situation that our brain perceives as an emergency is past, and we are in the aftermath, we can calm down, take a breath, and choose to come back into the present. Being in the present enables us to look at what we are left with afterwards, and to think of how we can take responsibility for ourselves right now. We can choose in this moment to think of something to make the world better, of a way to help our neighbor. We can choose in this moment to forgive ourselves for not being perfect, for freezing or wallowing or blaming, and for one minute do something different. When we are deeply impacted, we can Continue Choosing on Page 18
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CANDIDATES Linda Shoemaker runs for CU Regent BOULDER – Linda Shoemaker is a CU graduate and she is running for Regent for the Second Congressional District open seat now held by Joe Neguse. Shoemaker is Dr. Matthew Brett’s stepmother and she lives in Boulder. Shoemaker said, “CU is a world-class institution with four diverse campuses, serving some 60,000 students. The University is Colorado’s third largest employer, and its research propels much of our state’s economic growth. Despite limited resources, we must find a way to make higher education more affordable for Colorado families. Higher education is the gateway to economic opportunity, and it is central to strengthening our economy – now and for generations to
come.” The state only pays CU about 25 percent of the cost of a student’s education; tuition has to pay the rest. She has the support of U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, Congressman Jared Polis, and all four of the sitting Democratic Regents – Michael Carrigan, Stephen Ludwig and Irene Griego, in addition to Joe Neguse. “I will work to ensure that the University of Colorado will be affordable, accessible and accountable to all of us,” said Shoemaker. Larry Gold, CU professor, endorsed Shoemaker saying, “A regent must be capable of understanding competing desires from many constituents and be able to listen to different points of view. A
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regent must, over the next decades, help CU navigate the business world. CU will want to work closely with corporate entities, while strengthening its academic pursuits. Linda Shoemaker has all of those things. She is a trained business attorney, able to help the university make business decisions that are consistent with its academic mission. Shoemaker has been a philanthropist as well; she has high values and works tirelessly to improve the world around her. Shoemaker has the broad kind of mind we need in a regent.”
Kathy Gilliland runs for Larimer County Commissioner Staff Reports Redstone Review LYONS – Kathy Gilliland, former mayor of Loveland, is running for Larimer County Commissioner. She wants to work with the county to create a longterm vision that would include meeting the challenges for growth. The population in Larimer County grew from 251,494 people in 2000 to 310,487 in 2012 and is expected to grow even more in the next 20 years. Gilliland, a Democrat, is running against Republican Lew Gaiter, the incumbent and Eric Sutherland, an independent candidate. She is a county transportation
commissioner and was the first citywide elected mayor of Loveland from 1996 to 2003. She has lived in Northern Colorado for more than 50 years and has a background in business, with experience serving on local, state and national commissions. Gilliland said she wants a water plan for the county because "growth is going to come." She would like to create a 50- to
100-year water plan. She also wants to create new revenue streams for the county. Renewable energy is a big focus for Gilliland. She said that the oil companies have been able to do anything they want to do, but they told her that they are willing to come to the table and talk, which she said she wants to initiate. She said that she does not see the current commissioners working together in a close collaborative way. She believes that all the neighboring counties should work together in a collaborative way. She would also like to see more new rail transportation which she said would be very beneficial for seniors.
meeting at the Pinewood Springs fire house begins at 7 p.m. For more information contact Fitzgerald at stevefitzgerald at yahoo.com or (720) 438-9404.
Local children give back to confluence residents at first Project: KIDS LYONS – The first Project: KIDS event was a great success! The turnout was excellent: we had 20 kids from a range of ages. The day began with a song and games, followed by the option of multiple craft stations. Kids either baked cookies, decorated gift bags to deliver with a gift, painted miniature wooden birdhouses, or made snacks for the group. There were several times throughout the day dedicated to craft stations, so each child could do each activity. Lunch was prepared by a group of the kids along with our adult volunteers, and we all enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs together. The day concluded with the children walking down to the Confluence neighborhood and hand delivering the birdhouses and decorative bags they created to their neighbors impacted by last year’s flood. The recipients were touched by the thoughtfulness and creativity demonstrated by our young volunteers. On November 15th at Rogers Hall (9 a.m. to noon) the theme will be “Grounding in Gratitude.” The children will paint Lyons Rocks! to thank Town staff, Trustees, all the commissions, volunteers, firefighters, police, EMTs, etc. It will be a wonderful opportunity for Lyons youth to give back to those who have helped us all so much, and just in time for Thanksgiving. More adult volunteers are needed to make the next event even more successful. Register online at http : / / november lyons project kids. eventbrite. com / ? s = 30052843 or call 720226-8709 to register your kids or to volunteer. Continue Briefs on Page 16
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CONCEPTS Lyons Sandstone, a family business, helps flooded neighbors, plans upgrades By Carol Devenir Redstone Review LYONS – When last September’s floods hit and the Little Thompson River carried torrents of water, logs and boulders across the land, Blue Mountain area residents were grateful that Lyons Sandstone is their neighbor, high up on Beech Hill. Devenir Zeke Little, whose ranch borders the Little Thompson and sits 700 feet below the sandstone quarry, was one of those. “The Busters, up on the mountain, have internet and phone service via satellite, and immediately opened their office to us,” Little said. “We otherwise had no way to communicate with the outside world. It happened organically, then, that Josh Buster would drive down with all the latest information every day, and the neighbors would gather to hear from Josh what the sheriff and emergency offices were saying. This helped calm our fears, and Josh helped us organize, for borrowing and lending generators, sharing food, and whatever was needed.” Later the company’s equipment and materials helped repair the bridge at Stagecoach Trail. Grateful neighbors gathered for a neighborhood meeting in August to hear of Lyons Sandstone’s plans for the future. Larimer County Land Use Planner Rob Helmick staffed the meeting as part of the county’s special review process. Because the quarry has existed since the late 1800s, long before county regulations, Lyons Sandstone’s request for a building permit prompted the county to offer the opportunity for public review and comment on its impacts, Helmick said. “In other areas of the county,” he said, “residents in newer developments often are not even aware of the quarries in the area, and these meetings bring out their fears.” At the Lyons Sandstone meeting, however, virtu-
ally all the attendees knew each other and the Buster family, Bernard Buster and his wife Brenda, Bernard’s nephew Josh, and Josh’s wife Laura. Bernard explained that the plan is to make the business more efficient by enclosing some of the fabrication processes, allowing year-round fabrication. “This way,” he said, “we will be shipping more finished products,
At the Lyons Sandstone quarry on Beech Hill, Bernard Buster explains the process for separating layers of sandstone for extraction. The quarry site lies a mile northwest of the old Noland town site, at 6300 feet elevation. rather than shipping the raw materials to be finished somewhere else. Also, we have outgrown our office space.” He said the boundaries of the 173-acre permitted quarry site on Beech Hill would not change, and quarrying operations will continue to be overseen by the State Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety. The stone is transported from extraction sites to the production area, where it is cut to size and prepared for shipping. All proposed enclosed buildings will lie within the 10.5-acre production and fabrication area.
Helmick said a public hearing would be scheduled once the Busters submit a formal application, and notices will be sent to all who have been notified or participated to date. Plans are available at larimer.org/planning/planning/current_applications.cfm. Based on currently available information, Helmick sees no reason staff would not recommend approval, which would then be considered by the Larimer County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners. Lyons Sandstone is a three-generation family business. Joy and Louden Buster bought 1260 acres as a cow ranch in 1958. The prior owners used the property mainly as a ranch and leased the quarries. In the late 1970s, the Manuel Vasquez family leased the quarry site from the Busters. As teens, Bernard and his late brother Dave picked up moss rock and hauled it on their dad’s flatbed farm truck down to Loukonen’s to sell. “In the 1960s nobody had equipment,” Bernard recalls. In the late 1990s, leaseholder Vasquez bought the Ohline quarry property adjacent to the Buster property, and Bernard and Brenda sold their construction business in Kansas and established Lyons Sandstone on the family property. Their dream of winter downtime for skiing remained a dream. Currently operations are managed by the four Busters. The company has 38 employees and is a member of the Building Stone Institute, a national trade association. Bernard Buster is past president of the Building Stone Institute and Chairman of Natural Stone Council Sustainability Committee. He describes sustainability as “living in such way that allows the current generation to meet its needs while not impairing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” According to Josh, the carbon footprint of a concrete patio is 14 times the carbon footprint of the same patio made of stone. Stone also has a longer lifecycle than concrete. “Most of the projects we do,” he said, “if they were not done with stone, would be done with concrete. Most Continue Sandstone on Page 18
Open 10 - 6 dail y
Sept. 27 thru Oct. 31
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NATURE Watch yer gourds, squirrels are here By Jenny C. Bryant Redstone Review LONGMONT – It’s that time of year again; baby squirrel season, part two. Do you know what squirrels just love to get their little paws on at this time of year? Gourds. And boy, is there a smorBryant gasbord of gourds awaiting these little nut lovers as they leave the nest and set out on their own during Halloween season. Last fall, Greenwood cared for an unusually low number of squirrels, but this year we’re caring for 97 little ones, a task that can require up to four feedings per day, and many, many volunteer hours. Survivor, our first fox squirrel of this fall season who was found beneath a tree, wet and cold after a hail storm, is almost ready for release. No doubt, he will be excited to find a bounty of Jack O’ Lanterns just waiting for furry little paws to dig into. This brings up a question we’re often asked several times a year. Why do we save squirrels when they can be considered a nuisance? There are many, many reasons
we rehabilitate these tree dwellers, but I’ll stick to the big ones. First, and arguably the most important, they’re an important part of biological diversity and our ecosystem by helping with tree species renewal – they don’t often find every single nut they’ve cached for the winter, leaving the nuts to germinate and produce a new plant in the spring. That may not be a comforting fact if squirrels are burying nuts where you don’t want them in your garden, but don’t forget that humans have also invaded their habitat. A new tree seems a small price to pay for taking space. There is also evidence that biological diversity can decrease the risk of zoonotic disease transmission to humans. They act as a natural buffer of protection. This brings me to the other big reason we rehabilitate small mammals like squirrels, and it ties in with the first. The vast majority of them come to Greenwood because of some type of negative human interaction. We hit them with our cars. We cut down their homes without looking for nests, or they build their nests in our homes. We’ve invaded their habitat. Don’t they deserve a second chance if something in our human environment has affected their natural course of life? We think so, and so do many of you, otherwise Greenwood wouldn’t be here. When you hear a baby squirrel crying for
his or her mother, we are here to provide you with advice and comfort. We are here to help people help animals. So remember, if you step out on your porch the morning after Halloween and find that something has eaten into your pumpkin, it’s within your power to coexist humanely and peacefully. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the fun: have you ever watched a squirrel try to drag a gourd home? It’s a task worthy of Survivor.
What is GDV and how can we prevent it? By John Litterine-Kauffman, DVM, Surgical Intern Redstone Review LONGMONT – It is two in the morning. You have just been awakened by your yellow lab, Rufus, retching at the foot of your bed. He has been uncomfortable all night, but now he is gagging and retching as if something is stuck in his throat, but he cannot bring it up. His belly also seems bigger than you remember and feels tight when you go to calm him down. As a veterinarian working in an emergency clinic, this set of symptoms points to one thing – gastric dilatation and volvulus, better known as “GDV” or bloat. In gastric dilatation and volvulus, the stomach twists on itself, which causes obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract as well as the blockage of blood flow from the extremities back to the heart. With the stomach twisted, there is no exit for the stomach contents, so the stomach becomes bloated with gas and distends in size. Weakness and collapse can result due to the decreased blood return to the heart. As the stomach distends and its blood supply is disrupted, the stomach wall can become damaged and sections can even become necrotic, or die. Occasionally, a stomach will bloat without rotating, which is equally uncomfortable but far less life-threatening. To differentiate the two, your veterinarian will need an x-ray of your dog’s abdomen, which will show the stomach either in its normal position or rotated. Treatment of gastric dilatation and volvulus includes stabilization followed by surgery. The sooner treatments are started the better the chance of recovery. Before taking Rufus into the operating room, most veterinarians will try to relieve the pressure in the stomach. This can be done by sedating Rufus and trying to pass a tube down into the stomach. In some cases, this cannot be done due to the rotation of the stomach. In these cases, a large needle can be passed through the skin into the stomach to relieve some of the tension. Unfortunately, using a stomach tube or needle to decompress the stomach does not allow a twisted stomach to return to its normal position, so surgery is still required. In surgery, the stomach is moved back into its normal position and all other organs will be evaluated. In some cases, there is concurrent damage to the spleen. When this occurs, we remove the spleen during surgery. Most dogs won’t ever miss it! It is important to remember that GDV is a complicated and
life threatening disease and even with prompt, aggressive veterinary care, some patients will not survive. Obviously, with a condition as dangerous (and expensive) as GDV, prevention is key. For large and giant breed dogs, we recommend a procedure called a gastropexy. This is a minor surgery in which the stomach is tacked to the body wall using thick suture. The stomach and body wall will scar to each other, holding the stomach in its appropriate place. In most cases, this will prevent GDV, or the ability of the stomach to rotate. This procedure can be performed during a spay or castration, and can even be performed as a minimally-invasive procedure using small “keyhole” incisions and a camera. Many studies have searched to find underlying causes of gastric dilatation and volvulus, looking at everything from types of food, speed of eating, geographical location, temperament, age, sex, and pretty much every other factor you could think of! Thus far, the only definitive risk factor is large and giant breed dogs, or those labeled as “deep-chested.” It is for this reason that veterinarians will recommend that any dog that fits this description has a gastropexy performed. If you have a puppy matching this description, you can ask your family veterinarian about having a gastropexy performed with your pet's spay or neuter. Gastric dilatation and volvulus is a true emergency. It is scary for us as owners, dangerous for our furry friends, and can be significantly prevented through gastropexy. In any large or giant breed dog, pain or discomfort around the abdomen, retching without vomiting, and abdominal distention should immediately be evaluated by a veterinarian. Hopefully, as more owners opt for gastropexy, we can help prevent this emergency. Dr. John Litterine-Kauffman is a surgical intern at Aspen Meadow Veterinary Specialists. AMVS is a 24-hour veterinary facility providing specialty internal medicine, surgery, neurology, oncology, emergency and critical care, physical rehabilitation, and blood bank services for pets located in Longmont at 104 S Main St. For more information, go to www.AspenMeadowVet.com.
Jenny C. Bryant is the Volunteer and Outreach Manager at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which cares for more than 2,300 mammals and songbirds along the Front Range, on average, per year. Greenwood also offers education programs for children and adults of all ages. Visit www.greenwoodwildlife.org to learn more. Got an idea for a column? Send an email to jenny@greenwoodwildlife.org.
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La Fiesta World Party BOULDER – Intercambio Uniting Communities is hosting its 13th annual La Fiesta World Party on October 18. Multiple bands will play at the Boulder Elks Lodge, 3975 28th St., Boulder, starting at 7:20 p.m. This fundraiser unites a diverse range of party goers who come together to dance, enjoy good food, and expand language skills. Attendees can bid on silent auction items and purchase snacks made by local restaurants and chefs for $1 or $2. Cash bar. Tickets $20 in advance, $30 at the door. Last year 1,300 people attended La Fiesta. For a schedule and more information visit http://www.intercambioweb.org/intercambio-events/la-fiesta/Bp or call 303-996-0275. About Intercambio: Intercambio was born in 2000 from a desire to help immigrants in Boulder County improve their quality of life. We started out by providing English classes to help integrate immigrants into their new communities. We soon learned that language was not the only barrier: immigrants expressed feelings of deep loneliness and alienation. In order to help with the cultural transition, we hosted events and gatherings to build a sense of community among immigrants and other residents in Boulder County. Fourteen years later we serve immigrants from 60 countries by providing English lessons and conversation, education on citizenship, parental involvement in education, organizing events such as monthly group hikes and an annual fiesta, and much more. We are sharing our curriculum and resources with organizations in all 50 states to help similar organizations better serve their communities. For information contact 303996-0275 or Kristine@intercambioweb.org, 303-996-0275. Continue Briefs on Page 17
John Gierach and Poncho the mule catch up on news along the Old South St. Vrain Road. PHOTO BY RICHARD JOYCE
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
REDSTONE • REVIEW
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CONTEXT Long Man’s story reaches in to lives and hearts Long Man by Amy Greene 272 pp., Alfred A. Knopf, $25.95 Reviewed by Andi Gregory Pearson Redstone Review LYONS – Amy Greene tells the story of a river. “…the Cherokees who once lived on its shores had called it Long Man, with his head in Pearson the mountains and his feet in the lowlands.” It’s long, this river and it not only runs through a part of the South but it runs through lives – generations of them. And Greene’s novel Long Man builds on this image, this vision, this description of the river and the lives on its periphery. The river and the creation in the mid-1930s of the Tennessee Valley Authority is central but the story in this book is one of humans who live on the land, who love the land, who are passionate about the lives they live and about the rugged, untamed Appalachia that surrounds them. Homes are built by hand of existing materials, and fruits and vegetables grow both wild and cultivated. Fish are regularly pulled from the river and life is comfortable if not easy. Annie Clyde Dodson was born in the hills and she and her husband James live there with their three-year-old daughter Gracie. Silver is Annie’s aunt, the sister to Annie’s deceased mother – but more than that she is a sort of guardian angel of the primitive area who shuns the intrusion of modern updates and the changes the new dam will bring. She says she can see by the light of the sun and
the light of the moon and what else would anyone want. Annie is as connected to the land as Silver is and is passionate to hand it down to her own daughter, the next generation to live on the mountaintop farm. Life is not easy – crops grow or fail depending on the weather, Annie scrubs her clothes on a washboard and no one has electricity and the ease-giving appliances that come with it. When the TVA authorities begin to move residents to other locations so the project can go through, love of the Amy Greene drew from her Tennessee roots in writing her novel Long Man, a story set during the time of the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority land and the way of life become as sharply defined as an antique stone arrowhead. Annie does not want to leave, even though James has gone to Detroit to find another life for them. Annie defies the authorities, claiming she wants her daughter to see her dragged off in handcuffs rather than submit. Amos grew up in the area but for years, he has drifted and made his way by riding the rails and scrounging or stealing. He has few possessions and seems to shun commitment. Yet he returns to the area, at least for awhile, and to his mother Beulah – and to Silver, who loves him.
Scruffy and one-eyed, Amos lives in the woods and when Gracie goes missing, he is the prime suspect. The sheriff calls on the town’s remaining men to look for Gracie and tensions are high. Amos and his actions in the summer of 1936 will become a part of the history of the area. Did he have anything to do with Gracie’s disappearance? Will the little girl be found before the water rushes in? What will Amos do to try to stop the dam and how will that affect him? And Silver who wants to halt progress – what will happen to her and her mountain-woman way of life? Amy Greene was born and raised in the foothills of East Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains which is most likely the reason she writes about the region and its people with such sensitivity and tenderness. “When I was about six, I’d walk by the creek behind our house and tell stories out loud. I always wanted to be a writer,” she says. “When I wrote my first novel Bloodroot, I’d never met another author and I’d never taken a writing class.” Even though she travels widely and now has a college degree, she still lives in Tennessee with her husband and two children. To check the availability of Long Man, go to http://aspencat.info. Once you reserve the book, it can be picked up at the Lyons Depot Library currently located at 405 Main St. in Lyons. Notices arrive from Librairian@AspenCat.info. Library hours vary so call 303 823-5165 for updated information. Andi Gregory Pearson wrote her first short story at the age of seven and despite requests to do so, she has not quit writing since then. She spends a great deal of time reading and writes a monthly book review for the Denver Post YourHub. Her website is www.andipearson.com. She and her husband have a cabin in the greater Lyons area.
Breathing Faith, a new book on high-risk pregnancy by Lori Stott Staff Reports Redstone Review LYONS – Breathing Faith: A Journey through Infertility and a High-Risk Pregnancy is a compelling, true story of one woman’s extraordinary path to Stott becoming a mother. Lori Stott writes with an easy, conversational tone that draws the reader in from the very first page. This book takes the reader on a journey that Stott and her husband shared while trying to conceive a child.
This book is recommended for anyone dealing with fertility challenges, and also for the people that love them, as well as medical students, physicians and midwives. Lori Stott wrote this book to give hope and inspiration to women and men who desperately want to conceive a child but cannot yet. The infertility ride is often times maddening and people experiencing it often feel deeply saddened, isolated and alone. Readers will finish Breathing Faith with a feeling of having traveled with Lori Stott through every moment of her resilient, heartbreaking, roller coaster ride toward motherhood. She takes readers on a grand adventure through infertility, a
high-risk pregnancy and ultimately to the birth of her daughter. Lori Stott lives in the Rocky Mountains with her beloved husband and daughter and three kooky animals. A fundraising professional by day, she writes personal essays at night. She’s been published in several anthologies, including Knowing Pains: Women on Love, Sex and Work in Our 40s and Heartscapes: True Stories of Remembered Love. A late-
Pinewood Springs book shows 2013 flood event Staff Reports Redstone Review PINEWOOD SPRINGS – A new book called The Road Home – The 2013 Flood – Pinewood Springs Rises Above the Water, includes hundreds of photographs vividly depicting last September’s flooding impacts in and around Pinewood Springs. Stranded when Highway 36 was destroyed both above and below it, the community of over 1000 residents was included in a National Guard aerial evacuation that was the largest of its kind since Hurricane Katrina. The book sold out on its release at a Celebration of Community Spirit held September 13. It is now available again, at the Colorado Cherry Company on
Highway 36 and on line at coloradofloodbook.org. Libby Noble, book committee chair, said the book is a product of many people’s work, celebrating the community’s resiliency. The project is a fundraiser for the Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District, and all proceeds go towards building a new fire station and community gathering place. The price of the book is $34.95 plus tax and shipping. “It was a dark and stormy night. Really, it was, and then it became darker and stormier, and much, much wetter. The adventure was about to begin...” – from Foreword by Assistant Chief Andrew Lucas and Chief Richard Wilcox of Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District. The 124-page, full-color publication was compiled and
designed by Melody Brinkley, K a t h l e e n Cundall and Elizabeth Noble of the Pinewood Springs Flood Book Committee. P i n e w o o d Springs resident Laura Levy said, “It invites the reader on a journey through the eyes of the people in the Pinewood Springs community as they responded to the flood of 2013. Although the unrelenting power of Mother Nature brought this mountain hamlet to its knees in September 2013, Pinewood Springs was truly able to ‘rise above the water.’”
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8333 or at rocky moutain sakya @ gmail. com. For updates, like us at www. facebook. com / rocky mountain sakya.
them off in the yard or on the patio. For information contact LaVern Johnson, President of the Lyons Historical Society, 303-823-5925.
Buddhist Meditation Group in Lyons
Garage sale benefit
LYONS – A new meditative community has started in Lyons. The first and third Thursday of each month from 5:30 to 6:40 p.m. anyone is invited to join the group for chanting, meditation, reading and discussion. The group meets at Lyons Yoga and Wellness, 310 Main St. in Lyons. Enter through the door around the side off the driveway, not the front door. Cash donations are requested to pay for rent of the space. For questions or more information, contact Janaki or Christopher at 303-242-
LYONS – The Lyons Historical Society has a barn full of garage sale items at 306 Evans Street, south of the post office on the corner. We offer items for free to the flood impacted. Donations are appreciated. This is a benefit for the Lyons Redstone Museum. Garage Sales will be held Fri., Sat., and Sun., Oct. 17, 18, 19. Remaining items will be hauled to the recovery center during the next week. Set-up will be held Thurs. Oct. 16 from 11 to 3 p.m. Bring any donated items by or drop
Sugarloaf Holiday Craft Show at the Lower Fire Station
B •R •I •E •F •S
bloomer to the writing world, she’s already won several writing contests and her work has appeared in Elephant Journal. Stott wrote this book to be of service to other women and men who may be entwined in the maddening world of infertility and / or a high-risk pregnancy. Her story provides the reader with hope not easily found in other books about fertility issues. The book is not just for people experiencing infertility. Weaving stories from her life into the narrative makes for compelling reading. Breathing Faith is Lori’s first book. She is currently working on her second, a series of essays about parenthood.
SUGARLOAF – Come to the Sugarloaf Holiday Craft Show at the Lower Fire Station from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on December 14 and help to support our fire department. There will be about 25 local vendors: think gifts! We are also looking for original arts and crafts vendors who would like to participate in the show: the table cost is $25 with an additional 20 percent once sales reach $125. The planning committee is holding two
crafting events for anyone interested in helping to make craft items to be sold at our Community Table. All profits for these items will go to the fire department. On Tuesday, October 21 we will have an evening (7 to 9 p.m.) to make small tie purses (for adults and kids over 12); and a time is planned from (3 to 5 p.m.) on Saturday November 22 for children to make fun play materials (like goop) to sell in small jars. There will be refreshments for both events. Contact joyweinstein@gmail.com or 303442-3112 soon for a vendor application and so we’ll know if you are coming to the adult or children’s crafting events. Hope to see you at the crafting events and at the show.
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Town Continued from Page 1 town administrator. The task of replacing the lost housing seems daunting at this point with no easy fix in sight. But the board seems determined to push forward. All of the properties on the long and short lists come with issues that may or may not be resolved At the special meeting of the BOT on Oct. 13 Trustee Connie Sullivan told the board that she would like to see the issue of replacement housing go to a vote of the people if any park land is designated to be used for replacement housing. Several board members nodded in agreement. At the same board meeting Trustee Dan Greenberg suggested that the Musser
REDSTONE • REVIEW property open space in the Stone Canyon area be considered along with the three other properties. This property also comes with some issues since it is open space and the County made it clear to Lyons that they don’t want to use sell or use open space land for replacement housing. The town staff put out a Request for Proposal, RFP, for a Lyons Housing Analysis Study. The BOT would like to hire a company to review the three or four sites identified by the board to come up with the most viable site to build replacement housing. Only one firm or group responded to the RFP and that group will be interviewed soon. The BOT does not need to hire the group even if they are the only ones that applied. “I hope that the consultants (whoev-
Chamber Continued from Page 2 house you can’t tax me on it” bill. With our assistance, the bill passed in the last hour of deliberation. There is so much we are proud of that still remains a tour de force. Our bridged relationships with Lyons Parks and Recreation (P&R) and the Economic Development Commission (EDC) have allowed all of us to reap the best possible results from each individual commission’s efforts. We built out the hallway and storage space into a meeting space, art gallery, and shared space with Lyons Community Foundation and are on our legislative leaders’ speed dial. But that was then – the question remains, what have you done for us lately? Glad you asked. Lately we raised $15,000 in sponsorship dollars to go towards events, promotions, and my personal favorite – subsidizing five members that could not afford a membership this year, due to the flood, two of whom are musicians. We wrote and received a $140,000 grant focusing on the day destination tourism market, and created a new committee, the Tourism Task Force. The Task Force, made up of members from LACC, EDC, and P&R, places advertisements in Boulder Weekly, Marquee Mag,
Housing Continued from Page 12 (doesn’t exceed a third of monthly income) is $1,154 and maximum purchase price (that doesn’t exceed a third of monthly income of a two-person household making $46,140) is estimated at $191,700. However, the Housing Needs Assessment found that 39 percent of displaced households earned less that 30 percent of AMI, which is about $23,100 for a two-person household, which would allow for a maximum rent of $578 or a maximum purchase price of $96,000. The mission of the HRTF is now public engagement around new replacement housing, to collect input from all stakeholder groups. Although the Colorado Department of Local Affairs did not grant
Travels with Redstone Erica Ellingson, wife of Nick Schneider, holding up the Redstone from the vaporetto passing Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. Take the Redstone with you on your next trip and send us your photos showing where the Redstone has traveled. Send your photos to sdcmc@infionline.net.
er is hired) will look at each site with fresh eyes and I hope we can come up with one or two sites for the board to look at,’’ said Debra Lee Pearson, disaster recovery manager for Lyons. “Boulder County reviewed the parcels and gave the pros and cons on each site and urged the board to make a decision on site selection.” A group of concerned residents called Save our Parks and Open Space would like to see the use of parks and open space come to a vote of the people. The group has pulled a petition that it is circulating among residents, getting signatures to force a vote on the parks and open space land if the town decides to build houses there. If Trustee Sullivan’s proposal is accepted by the BOT the vote would happen anyway.
Longmont Times-Call. We promote through a well cultivated media list, and leverage social media garnering hundreds of hits for #LyonsCO. We have filled every board seat with local professionals and have a stellar executive board adding to the long list of non-billable hours. But we’re not through. In fact, we have just begun. We will continue to be champions of our businesses that applied for CDBG-DR Business grants (which is now up to $50K and deadline has been extended to February), bridging the bureaucratic gap between Lyons, Small Business Development Center, DOLA, OEDIT and the Governor’s Recovery Office. You will see new elaborate events such as the Holiday Storefront Contest and an extended Holiday of Lights executed by Kyle Miller and his team at Lyons Town Hall, and a Taste of Lyons in February. We are in the midst of producing a local’s Lyons Passport highlighting every Lyons licensed business, and we have enough funding for a community guidebook in 2015 and 2016. We have initiated May as Lyons Heritage Month, which will be packed full of efforts from the Redstone Museum, a historical play written and performed by locals, and a “where is our Sandstone” mindmap, following Lyons Sandstone around the world – a celebration of our quarries.
funding to hire a public engagement specialist, the mayor and town administrator are working with the Denver Regional Council of Governments and Place Matters to get some public engagement hours provided to work with the town and the HRTF. The goal is for all stakeholders to have a voice about new replacement housing. Watch for upcoming announcements for online and in-person events where you can give your input. A good way to find out what’s going on is to attend HRTF meetings the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. Background information is available at http : / / www. lyons recovery. com / housing - task - force. html. Finally, beyond the town government and civic volunteers like the HRTF, the
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014 In other matters the town received high marks on its audit. Jim Ray presented the audit from the firm Poysti & Adams. Ray said, “We are looking at a clean audit.” There was one material weakness which was flood related adjustments of $9.6 million, but Ray said would be resolved. A resolution was passed awarding a contract to Ripley Design Inc. in Fort Collins for the Phase II Master Plan Recovery Project. This item was on the agenda the week before, but the board wanted more information before committing to spending $341,070 on the project. Russell Lee from Ripley Design and Scott Shipley president of S2O, spoke about the park plan. The board passed the resolution unanimously.
On November 1 the LACC is moving into the Lyons Village Central expanding our square footage to offer free public meeting space for four to 40 people and quiet cubbies for our home businesses with all the amenities of a private office. We are partnering with the Town of Lyons to offer visitors information, complementing the updated facility in Sandstone Park, and with the Boulder County Mental Health Partners, which will offer services to Lyons residents three days week. And last but not least we are working on revising the LACC Social to fit the changing needs of our members and community, featuring local musicians and artists and expanding promotional and networking opportunities. The next social will debut in the new space January 2015. In the end the Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce’s mission remains true: To support a thriving business climate and an enhanced quality of life by promoting the economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability of the Lyons Colorado Area. Tamara Vega Haddad is the Executive Director of the Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber will be moving to new offices at the Lyons Village Central on Nov. 1. For more information call 303-823-5215.
nonprofit sector is also working on needs of displaced residents with private funding. The Lyons Emergency Assistance Fund (LEAF), just announced that it is hiring three positions: 1) a project manager, who will support homeowners with the permitting process and fast-tracking the rebuilding phase after the flood, 2) an advocate for former mobile home residents, who will understand individual situations and assist the dispersed population in communicating their housing needs to town boards and other organizations, and who will bridge gaps with case management for immediate needs, and 3) a manufactured housing analyst, who will research technical information and work with manufactured housing developers, housing non-profits, local property owners, town staff, the HRTF,
and the Board of Trustees to generate project concepts for future housing that meets the needs of former MHP residents. I started conversations in August with members of LEAF about mobile home resident advocacy, and I’m so glad that this work is underway to provide displaced MHP residents an avenue to shape their future in Lyons. For more information, see http://www.leaflyons.org/blog. Amy Reinholds is a member of the Lyons Housing Recovery Task Force. She and her husband, Caleb Roberts, have lived in Lyons for 11 years and in the surrounding Lyons area since 1995. She is a technical writer for IBM and a former reporter and freelance writer for the Colorado Daily and the Boulder Daily Camera.
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Sandstone Continued from Page 15
start by coming back into the present for a minute once a day. Then we can work on coming back more frequently, until living in the present becomes a habit. The thing about this is that life doesn’t change, so we do. We still have no control over the actions of others and the acts of nature. But through doing the hard work of choosing to take control of how we respond, life gets easier, for ourselves and everyone around us. That’s worth the effort.
of our stone is used here on the Front Range of Colorado.” In the past six years Lyons Sandstone has sold 8 to 9 thousand tons of sandstone a year, except for a post-flood decrease, and shipped nearly 34,000 tons of rubble to CDOT last fall for road repairs. Lyons’ quarry industry got its foundation 250 million years ago, when a shallow sea covered the Midwest. Millions of years later, while geological forces were lifting the Rocky Mountains, the Lyons Sandstone formation, formed from highly compacted sand, was lifted also. White settlers began quarrying this natural resource in 1873, nearly 20 years before Lyons’ incorporation as a town. In 1884 the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad Company built a railroad to Lyons for shipping sandstone to Eastern cities, and Lyons’ first export industry was formed. One hundred twenty years later, sandstone quarrying remains one of Lyons’ economic bases.
Janaki Jane is a member of the Colorado Spirit Team in Boulder County, a program of Mental Health Partners. The Lyons and Environs team, covering the area from Hygiene to the Larimer County border, can be reached at 720-2268709, on Facebook, https : / / www. facebook. com / Lyons And Environs, by visiting 431-B Main Street between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by e-mail bouldercounty colordao spirit @ gmail. com. Discuss your thoughts about this article on the Facebook page One Year Strong. Colorado Spirit Teams in Boulder County are a program of Mental Health Partners.
Carol Devenir worked for 30 years in City Planning and Public Works. She is the author of Beyond Chemo Brain: Recovering after Surviving. She lives in Lyons.
OCTOBER 15 / NOVEMBER 19, 2014
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BoCo Commissioners refer two county issues to ballot Staff Reports Redstone Review Measures to help fund Flood Recovery and extend Human Services Safety Net BOULDER COUNTY – The Board of Boulder County Commissioners has approved resolutions to place two countywide issues on the November ballot. One asks voters to approve a Flood Recovery Sales and Use Tax; the other seeks to extend an existing property (mill levy) tax that provides funding for Human Services Safety Net programs. Flood Recovery Sales and Use Tax – County Issue 1A Issue 1A provides for a 0.185 percent sales and use tax for a period of five years (for a total of $49.6 million) to fund flood recovery. The funds would be used to pay for the costs associated with immediate flood response, repair of public infrastructure, including permanent repairs to roads and bridges, and restoration of waterways, and assistance to county residents impacted by the 2013 flood. In addition, these funds would be used to ensure Boulder County's readiness to respond to future disasters and emergency situations. “The rainy day funds that we had in reserve prior to the flood have been expended,” noted Commissioner Cindy Domenico at the public hearing. “Having the reserve in place helped us respond quickly and capably to the community’s needs, and made our residents more safe and secure following the flood, but those reserves have been spent and there are more expenses coming in every day. In order to accomplish the critical work that still needs to be done to our roads and other public resources, we
need to ask the community’s help in raising money for these essential repairs.” Flood Recovery Background From September 2013 through July 2014 Boulder County spent $40 million in flood response and recovery efforts. It is planned that over the next five years, approximately $217 million will be spent on recovery, with the vast majority being spent on major repairs to public infrastructure. Much of the flood recovery work will be eligible for reimbursement by either federal or state partners, but not all of it. After accounting for all anticipated State and Federal reimbursement, the county has an approximately $56.1 million funding gap in flood recovery expenses. This proposed sales and use tax would cover most of that shortfall. “The community’s response to the 2013 flood has truly been impressive,” said Commissioner Elise Jones. “It’s never an easy thing to ask residents to increase their taxes, but in order to cover the necessary cost of rehabilitation, recovery and resiliency in our communities, Boulder County will need to rely on the public’s help to dig a little deeper for a short period of time so that we can put our county’s transportation and waterways network back in order, get our residents back on their feet, and leave our county ready to respond to the next disaster.” “The flood was an unprecedented event in the county, and the spending by the county to recover from it is historic,” said Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle. “Emergency funds and reserves build up slowly over time, and we have spent our reserves in response to the 2013 flood. Maintaining our ability to respond adequately and rapidly to the next wildfire,
flood, or major event is an essential public service that we need to preserve.” Human Services Safety Net Extension – County Issue 1B The Board of Commissioners also approved a resolution to ask voters to extend a 0.9 mill ad valorem property tax for an additional term of 15 years to continue to fund crucial safety net services for Boulder County residents. The continued combination of increased need and decreased funding has made it challenging for Boulder County to meet the needs of its most vulnerable residents. The existing mill levy equates to about $21 per year for a property valued at $300,000, and generates about $5 million each year to help provide for high-quality services that promote family stability and ensure that people have access to the basic services that they need to get out of crisis and continue towards self-sufficiency. In addressing the need for an extension of the Safety Net Mill Levy, Department of Housing and Human Services Director Frank Alexander said, “We’ve heard it loud and clear from our neighbors: people want community-based solutions that focus on prevention and support.”
Travels with Redstone Emily, Alison, Bill and Mia VanLeeuwen enjoyed carrying their Redstone Review around Europe and photographed it everywhere.This was one of their favorites, along the Seine in Paris with Notre Dame in the background. The kids climbed up on a bridge and then jumped for this timed photo. Take the Redstone with you on your next trip and send us your photos showing where the Redstone has traveled. Send your photos to sdcmc@infionline.net.
Fire Continued from Page 5 beautiful town for music festivals and river recreation along with those travelling through our district on their way to Rocky Mountain National Park. The respond to a range of emergency incidents including: emergency medical needs, structural fire, technical rescue, search and rescue, hazardous materials, natural disaster response, and wild land fires. Additionally, they provide mutual aid with the surrounding fire districts including Left Hand, Pinewood and Estes Park. Please continue to support the Lyons Fire Protection District so that they can maintain the safety for our residents and our tourists. For more information and tickets for the black tie dinner, go to http:www.lfpdblacktie.weebly.com . Thank you for being a fire department hero.