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DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
B •R •I •E •F •S Light show LYONS – The Lyons Lights will be held again in Sandstone Park during the holiday season. Bring family and friends to enjoy a colorful holiday light display synchronized to music. The schedule for the light display is: Friday Dec. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m.; Saturday Dec. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m.; Sunday Dec. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday Dec. 24 from 5 to 9 p.m. For more information on these events, call the Parks and Recreation Department at 303-823-8250.
Say good-bye to Colorado Spirit Team LYONS – All residents of Lyons and the surrounding communities are invited to come have a cup of cheer and say good-bye to the Colorado Spirit Flood Recovery Team on Friday, December 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Chamber of Commerce offices in the Lyons Village Central near Julie’s Thai. There will be lots of yummy holiday treats, good drinks, and door prizes. The team’s last day in Lyons will be December 23. They will continue to have office hours most days until then from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in their offices above the Barking Dog.
LEAF hires advocate for residents of mobile home parks LYONS – LEAF (Lyons Emergency Assistance Fund) has hired Janaki Jane as the Displaced Resident Advocate, with a mission to focus mainly on former residents of the two mobile home parks. Many know Jane because of her recent work in Lyons with the Colorado Spirit Flood Recovery Team and her articles in the papers. Her role with LEAF will last for sev-
Aidan Wann, 5, shares a laugh with Santa at the annual Lyons Christmas Bazaar
PHOTO BY CATHY RIVERS
Town reviews housing sites, approves budget, library moves forward
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By Susan de Castro McCann Redstone Review Editor LYONS –The Lyons Board of Trustees, BOT listened to a review of possible housing sites from the Boulder consulting group, Trestle, for flood replacement housing on Dec. 15. The list pared down from 26 original sites to three sites deemed the most viable included Bohn Park, the Dog Park and the Williams property owned by Sandy and Marsha Williams at 19680 N. St. Vrain at the east end of Apple Valley near the bridge. Trestle and PlaceMatters will present the same findings and site analysis for potential flood recovery housing on Monday, Dec. 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Rogers Hall for the public to review and make comments. The Dec. 22 presentation will include a background of the parcels that were evaluated. The board will make a decision at the Jan. 5 meeting to meet a March 2 deadline to apply for Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery, which includes $4 million in funds allocated for Lyons housing projects. The Bohn Park site ranked highest on the list by Trestle. Although the Williams property did not rank highest on the list by the Trestle Group, the 25.54 acres, with seven acres estimated to be developable, seemed to
be the most attractive option to the board. Members of the BOT asked numerous questions of the Trestle Group including items such as information about access to utilities, timelines, walkability, infrastructure, etc. The board asked very few questions about Bohn Park or the Dog Park sites. All the sites had some drawbacks. The parklands would require a vote of the people if the town chose to use the property for flood replacement housing. The Williams property may or may not require a vote to annex the property depending on whether the town bought the property or whether a developer or town-developer partnership bought the property. Several Trustees said that they would not try to avoid having a vote of the people by buying the Williams property outright. The price of the property is unknown at this time. Much of the land was damaged by the flood and is located in the floodway. However seven acres are out of the flood area and suitable for building. The board instructed staff to get two independent appraisals for the property, which is inside the Lyons Planning Area and approved by Boulder County for possible annexation. If the Williams property is chosen as the best site by the BOT for flood replacement housing, this would mean that the board
would not need to hold an election to ask people if they can use park land for the replacement housing. The group that formed in Lyons, Save Our Parks and Open Space, gave a signed petition to the town board by Gerald Cimmet and Bob Brakenridge to hold an election asking voters to require a vote of the people Continue Town on Page 14
Come celebrate our Tenth Annual Community Christmas Eve Candlelight Service Wildflower Pavilion at Planet Bluegrass Wednesday, December 24, 5 p.m. A love offering will be taken for Higher Ground Ministries. Dress warmly! For more information, call the Stone Cup at 303-823-2345
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
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LYONS
Dear Redstone Review,
EcoPass is back for Lyons’ residents By Dawn Weller Redstone Review LYONS – The Sustainable Futures Commission (SFC) is pleased to announce that the Lyons Community EcoPass program will be extended to Weller 2015, one more year than covered by the original grants. Due to service interruptions during the 2013 flood and the cancellation of the YL route between Lyons and Longmont, enough funding remains to extend the early morning and late afternoon, M-F service between Lyons and Boulder for another year. There was not quite enough funding to continue the mid-day service. With a supplemental contribution from the Town of Lyons, the two mid-day routes between Lyons and Boulder will be extended through 2015. There are no funds for the weekend summer shuttle; however the Lyons Chamber of Commerce and the Sustainable Futures Commission are looking for grant options to continue the weekend service. The Lyons program, funded by a Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) grant, provides a free EcoPass to all Lyons planning area residents. Over 900 EcoPass cards have been issued to date. If you already have a Lyons issued EcoPass, you’re all set for 2015.The value of the pass, if purchased monthly, is more than $1,900 a year. If you need to get your free EcoPass, bring proof of residency (utility bill or driver’s license) to Town Hall to initiate the process. Or, you can stop by Town Hall and obtain an RTD authorization form, which can be taken to the Boulder Transit Center (Mondays, 12 noon to 4 p.m.). Note that it takes one or two weeks for an EcoPass to be processed. Lyons was the first community to utilize the EcoPass program for all town residents. Lyons was able to combine grants from DRCOG and Boulder County to fund the community EcoPass program from 2011 to 2014. In 2013, Nederland implemented a ten-year community EcoPass program funded by property tax. The EcoPass is valid on all RTD buses and light rail routs, on an unlimited basis. Your EcoPass can be used all over Denver, including the SkyRide to Denver International Airport. (In 2014, EcoPass holders paid $2.50 each way to / from the airport. The regular fare is $12 each way.) Not sure of routes, connections, and schedules? The RTD website (www.rtd-denver.com/) has an easy-to-use Trip Planner. Once you specify the to-and-from locations, and other information such as weekday/weekend, the site provides the routes needed, times, and any connection information. Dawn Weller is a member of the Lyons Board of Trustees. She was elected in April 2014 to a second two-year term. She is the liaison from the town board to the Sustainable Futures Commission.
Weed-eating goats are an earth friendly, non-chemical method of land restoration and are being used as part of the Little Thompson restoration project. These goats, owned by Dr. Lani Malmberg, clear the ground of weeds, deposit their droppings as non-burning fertilizer, and aerate the soil with their sharp hooves. Unlike horses, goats digest seeds and therefore do not redeposit seeds with their manure. Goat droppings break down slowly and are immediately safe on vegetation, a sort of time-release fertilizer. Dr. Malmberg is an expert in her field, with a graduate degree in weed management and years of experience. Her method is far superior to, faster and safer than that offered by chemicals. The goats are quiet, work quickly, are undeterred by rocky steep terrain, and don’t require much water. Dr. Malmberg and her team erect a temporary electric fence and bring well-trained herding dogs to deter the goats from sampling valuable trees and ornamentals. Overnight, all the weedy brush is gone, replaced by a neatly mowed hillside. PHOTOS BY RONNIE PODOLEFSKY, TAKEN AT HER HOME NEAR THE LITTLE THOMPSON RIVER
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After reading the letter you printed recently in the 11/19/14 release related to marijuana anxiety and concern, I feel the need to respond. I hope your newspaper has the foresight to print letters covering both sides of such an important issue. Although the use of marijuana reportedly remained flat for the last two years in Colorado, the increased use of this drug prior to that, not only for middle and high school kids but for college age students and young adults, remains a concern now and in the future. The claim that somehow legalizing pot may actually be causing a decrease in crime and traffic accidents is laughable. The fact is that marijuana is more potent than ever. The New York Times reports that smoking pot has a bigger impact on developing brains than previously thought. Since the adolescent brain is not fully developed until around the age of 17, this fact should not be a surprise to anyone, with the possible exception of adolescents themselves. The Drug Enforcement Administration has found that the concentration of THC (marijuana’s psychoactive compound) in weed has increased from an average of 3.75% in 1995 (and it was even less during the ‘70s and ‘80s...) to 13% and rising, in 2013. This increased potency, say scientists, is causing structural changes in the brains of young users. Researchers at Harvard and Northwestern universities studied the brain scans of college age students who smoked pot (only) four times a week on average and found that all of them showed abnormalities in the shape, density, and volume of the nucleus accumbens – the walnut-shaped area of the brain associated with pleasure and pain. While THC is already known to disrupt focus, memory, decision making and motivation for up to 24 hours, the structural changes could have longer-term effects according to the study’s author, Hans Breiter. Imagine what could be happening to the brains of adolescents? My concern is that with the overall access to high THC weed gaining acceptance among pot smokers of all ages in Colorado, this ease of access continues to result in the drug reaching adolescents more often and in largely undocumented cases. It should be no epiphany to anyone that kids who want to sneak a toke behind the parent’s back usually do so without parental knowledge or consent and are seldom caught. The fact is that parents who do drugs raise kids that will do drugs. Parents that think they can hide drug use from their kids are delusional. These kids will be the engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, military personnel, pilots, and leaders of this country some day soon. Or maybe not. Perhaps those jobs that require advanced thinking skills, like mathematics, science and engineering will continue to be filled by waves of highly educated and motivated young foreigners who fill the void left by our educational system and our students. Will history record this as the era of uninformed complacency that fostered adolescence endangerment, or just one of the last nails in the coffin of a once great society? Thank you for your consideration, Mark Martella, Lyons, Colorado
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
BUSINESS Opticus branches out with a broader line of lenses and frames By Lizzy Scully Redstone Review LYONS – Just before the floods inundated Lyons, Opticus’ Vice President Lynn Sharpe and Scully President Fred Seitzman opened up their office and retail store on Main Street. The timing wasn’t great, says Seitzman, but the location was ideal for the partners, one of whom lived in Estes and the other Longmont. They, in fact, never meant to open up a retail store, but the only “office space” available in town was at 419 Main St,, so they decided they might as well set up shop. And, interestingly, as many Lyons businesses transformed after the floods, so did Opticus (though not directly because of the floods). After founding the company in 1978, Seitzman and Sharpe primarily sold specialized high altitude glacier glasses and prescription lenses for decades. The specialized lens business started when a scientist from the National Institute of Standards and Technology came to Seitzman and asked him to design prescription lenses for sunglasses for scientists working in Antarctica. It was a challenge that Seitzman enjoyed and he was able to
accommodate the scientists. No other sunglasses or goggle companies were or are able to deal with really difficult prescriptions. So, over the years hundreds of mountaineers, including many who have climbed Mt. Everest, have utilized their services. But times have changed, says Seitzman.
“X Gens and Millenials approach their outdoor sporting needs in a very different way from their Baby Boomer counterparts,” Seitzman said. “They want to experience it all, which means trying rock climbing, mountaineering, skiing, snowboarding, fishing, mountain biking, you name it. So we’ve brought in a wider variety of multi-sport glasses to serve their needs.” As well as carrying Julbo frames
Outlaw Saloon has a new owner and new look LYONS – The old Outlaw Saloon, which will soon have a new look, a new name and a completely new theme, was purchased by Pat and Betsy Hubner and partners on October 2. The property was first listed on April 11, 2012. Pat Hubner said that he and his partners plan to divide up the building with a mix of office, retail and a restaurant that will highlight the outside patio space which has been under utilized. “We have a giant behemoth amount of large restaurant space at the east end of Lyons such as the Black Bear, the Outlaw and perhaps La Mariposa,” said Pat. “I don’t think we need another 7,000 square foot restaurant.” Pat said that his group plans to have a 3,500 square foot or thereabouts size restaurant utilizing the space close to and around the patio. The upstairs apartment will be turned into office space and the space on the main level, formerly Mama’s Café, will become some type of retail space, possibly even a gallery will be included in the mix. The Hubners returned to Colorado from Vermont where Pat was involved in the hotel and ski industry. Betsy was and still is involved in the arts and art education. She is on the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission. No date has been set for the opening of the new retail / office / restaurant center. The building, which is 7,800 square feet, was purchased by the partnership for $ 612,500 according to Stroh Realty commercial listings on its website.
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RED FOX MAKES ITSELF AT HOME and goggles, Seitzman and Sharpe designed their own Altice line, to which they recently added a high performance multi-sport pair of sunglasses, which will be in the store soon. The duo says they opted to start carrying regular prescription glasses “after people walked in the door asking for them. We know how to do that, we’re equipped to do that, we should just go ahead and do that for Lyons and Estes Park locals,” said Seitzman “We introduced a few affordable and fashionable lines that are light, comfortable, and have a bit of flair,” added Sharpe. “Opticus is a first ever for the Town of Lyons,” Seitzman says. “And for a community that is so rich in therapeutic services and also has so many high-performing athletes, it seems like Opticus is a great fit. We want to help Lyons and Estes Park residents reach their goals, and see clearly along the way.” Stop in and visit Seitzman, Sharpe and their older but wiser dogs, Toby and Clark. They’re a welcome addition to town. Business hours are from 10a.m. to 5p.m. Monday-Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. Phone 303-823-6455.Visit www.Opticus.com, and follow Opticus on Facebook. Lizzy Scully lives in Lyons and runs a social media/public relations company called MergeThis Media. In her free time, she loves to do Pilates, rock climbing, snowboard, and just be outside as much as possible.
By Lizzy Scully Redstone Review LYONS – As Red Fox settles into Lyons, it has steadily become increasingly involved with the community, from donating product for fundraisers to hiring locals to take care of everything from photo shoots to public relations. “This town is full of talent, so it made sense to start right here staffing the positions we need to launch Red Fox in the United States,” says Director of Red Fox North America, Jim Wagner. Wagner’s goal with the business is to establish Lyons as a “gateway store,” where people come to interact and share stories about their outdoor adventures. Wagner, who has helped open similar stores in Switzerland and Nepal, feels the Lyons store could become “an information center and meeting place for these passionate climbers, skiers, and outdoorsmen and women.” With that in mind, Jimi Klopson, the store and athlete manager, is launching a slide show and film series January 2015. It will include films from the Lyons Film Festival series, along with slide shows or multi-media presentation by some members of Red Fox’s professional athlete team. Rock climber and “Offwidth Ninja” Pamela Pack will be kicking off the year with a showing of Continue Red Fox on Page 15
The Tourism Task Force steps into action By Tamara Vega Haddad Redstone Review LYONS – When the flood threat began on the evening of September 11 and unleashed its full fury through the morning of September 12, the entire business community of Lyons went from a thriving small town tourist economy to a complete halt. The damage caused by the flooding exceeded anyone’s ability to anticipate. One hundred percent (100%) of all businesses were shut down for over two months. Media told the world that Lyons, Colorado was closed for business. To combat that misperception, the Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce (LACC) applied for and was allotted $140,000.00 from the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Tourism and Marketing Grant to support a “Visit Lyons” tourism marketing campaign. This money is not in the bank. The LACC must first pay for all expenses out of pocket and then submit receipts with a self-audit to the Organization of International Trade (OEDIT), Department of Local Affairs
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(DOLA), and Upstate in order to receive reimbursement. The first call to action was the creation of the LACC’s Tourism Task Force, a separate committee comprised of decision makers from the Lyons Economic Development Commission, Parks and Recreation, Board of Trustees, Town of Lyons staff and LACC. The second call to action was to create a solid marketing campaign to revitalize and grow tourist traffic. The “Visit Lyons” campaign includes two major goals: to substantially increase tourist / visitor traffic in Lyons; and to create an environment in which local businesses and nonprofits can prosper from this increased potential revenue stream. The objectives and tactics include hosting and / or participating with community events; local, regional and national advertising; and marketing tools and techniques. The campaign focuses on year round day-trippers, incorporating advertising across multiple forms of media to reach Lyons’ target tourism market in a variety of ways. A video advertising effort introduces “Visit Lyons” camContinue Tourism on Page 15
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
EDUCATION Reading program increases skills and smiles By Carol Devenir Redstone Review PINEWOOD SPRINGS – Better reading skills and more smiles are spreading among elementary school students in Loveland, thanks to the Colorado Devenir Reading Corps. After spending 20 minutes every school day with reading tutors who carefully track their skills, a dramatic 89 percent of participating students have increased their reading abilities in the program’s first three months. The Colorado Reading Corps is a program with the focused goal of bringing all students up to their grade levels in reading by the end of third grade. Erin Zimmermann, Education Director for United Way of Larimer County, asserts that, “A solid educational start supports success in school work and in life in general. Reading is an important foundation for learning.” The Colorado program grew out of a finding that, based on 2011 CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Plan) scores, 17,000 young Coloradoans did not have the important reading foundation they needed to succeed in their school years and beyond. With that information, Lt. Governor Joe Garcia’s office and the Denver area’s Mile High United Way embarked on a trip around the state, to talk with people about early literacy. Over 2,500 people participated, sharing ideas. The organizers also studied successful programs around the country. The Minnesota Reading Corps was selected as the model, based on its documented success. Mile High United Way had already implemented a School Readiness Initiative, and was ready for the next step. With support from both Minnesota and the Lt. Governor’s Office, Mile High United Way created the Colorado Reading Corps, and service began two years ago in 12 Jefferson County schools. The program works with students most likely to benefit – those close but falling behind their expected reading levels. “We work with the kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks,” said Zimmermann. “This allows the schools’ interventionists more time to focus on students with greater needs.”
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eral months, with a goal of reaching as many of the former mobile home residents as possible, both individually and in groups. She will be talking with displaced residents to hear how they are doing, to discover as accurately as possible who wants to move back and how; to make sure that all former mobile home residents are aware of possible assistance and how to apply for it, and to try to separate fact from rumor so that former residents have accurate information. Many residents can receive assistance for rent, or buying a new home, or other forms of support.
“The Minnesota program was so successful that it was implemented all across the state,” Zimmermann said. “It’s part of the state budget now, and it’s been replicated in seven other states. At United Way of Larimer County, our focus is community impact, through education, income and health, to reduce poverty. This program fits well with our goals. The results in Jefferson County were just astounding,” she said. “Students who had been several grade levels behind were reading at or above grade level in the first year.”
Lt. Governor Joe Garcia sits in on a tutoring session at Van Buren Elementary School in Loveland. AmeriCorps tutor Kari Kleinhans, one of 17 tutors in the Thompson School District, works one-one-one with each of her students, for 20 minutes every school day. The documented results are pleasing administrators, students and tutors and may have far-reaching effects. After a year of solid results in Jefferson County schools, the state’s second Colorado Reading Corps program began in the Thompson School District, in Loveland, in August 2014. Already several students have reached the expected reading levels and “graduated,” which opens space for other students to participate. Zimmermann said the program has served 295 students in its first few months, and expects to serve 400 by the end of the school year. Serve Colorado, also called the Governor’s
Each person’s situation is different, and what one person or household is eligible for may differ greatly from what their neighbor can receive. All former home residents are encouraged to watch for meetings and updates at www.leaflyons.org/floodrecovery and contact Jane there, or to contact Jane for an appointment at 720-6003483 or at joyjane@gmail.com.
Pinewood flood book on sale in Lyons and online PINEWOOD SRINGS – In words and pictures from local residents, The Road Home – The 2013 Flood – Pinewood Springs Rises Above the Water tells the story of how the community of Pinewood Springs came together during and
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stores on the Front Range including the Colorado Cherry Company and Lyons Quilting in Lyons, Mac Donald Book Shop in Estes Park, the Used Book Emporium in Longmont, and McGuckin Hardware in Boulder. The book is selling for $34.95 plus tax. Members of the Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District who helped during the flood will be at McGuckin Hardware from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 13 and 20 to meet the public and help promote the book. McGuckin Hardware is located in the Village Boulder Shopping Center at 2525 Arapahoe Ave. in Boulder. Continue Briefs on Page 13
T h e L i t t l e Ye l l o w H o u s e
since 1985
More than 2,000,000 windows cleaned!! …screens, tracks, sills and cobwebs incl.
Carol Devenir worked for 30 years in City Planning and Public Works. She is the Vice President of the Friends of the Lyons Depot Library and the author of Beyond Chemo Brain: Recovering after Surviving. She lives in Lyons.
after the September 2013 flood. As the rebuilding process continues, Pinewood Springs is currently raising funds for a new fire station and community center to better serve local residents and the millions of tourists who pass by on Highway 36 to visit Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Proceeds from book sales go toward the fund for the new station. So far about 600 copies have been sold. The book can be purchased online at www.coloradofloodbook.org and copies are being sold at several local retail
A PAIN IN THE GLASS A Great Choice for all Seasons
Commission on Community Service, is the state agency of the national AmeriCorps program, which provides funding for the tutors. Matching funds are raised by the United Way organizations in both Denver and Larimer County. The Thompson School District program includes 17 tutors, who are AmeriCorps members. Tutors work full time, with an 11-month commitment. “AmeriCorps is traditionally a younger demographic, but we’ve had a diverse group,” said Melinda Macpherson, AmeriCorps program manager for United Way of Larimer County. “Some are just out of college and getting real world experience. Some are considering a career change. Some are retirees.” AmeriCorps tutor Maura Paxton of Fort Collins has experience in outdoor education, and works at Winona Elementary School in Loveland. “Seeing a student every day allows us to build a relationship, which is amazing,” she said. “It’s inspiring seeing how hard students work to learn to read. My favorite part is their small victories, like when they learn to tell a “b” from and “d,” or when they start reading dialogue with some expression. I love doing this!” Tutor Aaron Kieffer had recently graduated from college and was working at a Minnesota radio station. During an interview about the Minnesota Reading Corps, he learned of the Larimer County program and applied. After a summer working on a salmon boat in Alaska, he began the Reading Corps training in Denver, with both Denver and Minnesota program staff. Kieffer works with 16 students every day at Garfield Elementary School in Loveland. “We do weekly assessments and use the data to determine if we should try one of 10 or so different lessons or interventions,” Kieffer said. “It’s very rewarding to see the kids improve every single day. Reading is a skill they’ll use their entire lives.” “The program is “data-driven, with a detailed benchmarking component,” Macpherson said. “Strong data indicate success, and we see students increase their confidence, exposure and appreciation for reading. There is also a ripple effect in the classroom. Kids are impacted by the excitement of others, and get more excited about reading, too.”
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DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
REDSTONE • REVIEW
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CONTRAST Students of preparedness By Emily Gubler Redstone Review LYONS – Last month I wrote about one way to approach thinking about emergency planning on the neighborhood level. It can be thought of as a necessary task, like feeding the chickens. Today I Gubler want to introduce another way of thinking about emergency preparedness, and in the process introduce a legendary firefighter, Paul Gleason. Paul Gleason spent close to 40 years as a wildland firefighter, working in the field for almost all of it. First working as a Dalton Hotshot based out of California, he then went on to be the superintendent of the ZigZag Hotshots in Oregon for 12 years and then to hold leadership positions with the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest here in Colorado. He was intimately involved with three policy-changing wildfires: the Loop Fire of 1966, the Dude Fire of 1990, and Cerro Grande in 2000. Gleason shaped the culture of wildland fire, bringing an emphasis to firefighter safety, working to create tree-faller training and certification courses, and boiling down the ten fire orders and 18 watch-out situations into four
key concepts that are now the foundation of firefighter safety: lookouts, communications, escape routes, and safety zones. He died of cancer in 2003. I recently attended talks on decision making in critical situations. These talks are full of intriguing concepts such as cognitive lock – that state where our brains hold onto one course of action despite incoming evidence to the contrary – or thin slicing, the skill of acquiring complete under- Legendary firefighter Paul standing of a situation in Gleason rewrote the book on firefighter safety. the blink of an eye. These concepts examine how we perceive information and process it in the moment. I’m fascinated by all of them. But my favorite concept is from Paul Gleason, who suggested a longerterm approach: be a student of fire. Even at the end of his fire career, when he had a huge amount of fire experi-
Lyons’ plan for a sustainable future By Toby Russell Redstone Review LYONS – It has been a long time in the making. Way back in August of 2013, Natural Capitalism Russell Solutions, a Hygiene based non-profit, won the contract to support the creation of the Lyons Environmental Sustainability Action Plan.
The vision of the plan was to create a document that would help guide Lyons on a path toward a sustainable future that harnesses the creativity of our dynamic population, minimizes our impact on our environment, and spurs innovation. Now the plan is almost complete and is undergoing a final round of reviews before going in front of the Board of Trustees on February 2. Just after the project started the flood tore though our town and changed every-
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ence, Gleason continued to stress the importance of continuing to learn from every fire. What does it mean to be a student of fire, or flood, or natural disasters in general? To me, it suggests cultivating curiosity. It’s hard to be curious and afraid at the same time; curiosity opens us to new possibilities. For the preparedness effort, what if we are students of preparedness – constantly observing, learning, and digesting new insights? We are all students, curious about the best way for our neighborhoods to be prepared. For more information about decision making, check out Blink by Malcolm Gladwell or Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales. An interview with Paul Gleason can be found at http : / / www. fireleadership. gov / toolbox / leaders _ meet / interviews / leaders _ Paul Gleason. html. The background work for emergency preparedness at the neighborhood level is happening; watch for a public meeting to be announced early next year. Thoughts or questions about Lyons All-Risk Preparedness may be sent to Lyons. Preparedness @ gmail. com. Emily Gubler spent 10 years working as a wildland firefighter and five years working on an ambulance as an emergency medical technician. She is currently working on emergency preparedness in Lyons as a volunteer with the Human Services and Aging Commission. She lives in Blue Mountain Valley with her family.
thing. But in true Lyons spirit we got back up, we rallied around those that needed help, we volunteered, and over 500 residents took part in the recovery planning process. The Sustainable Futures Commission and Natural Capitalism focused on supporting the creation of the Long Term Recovery Plan and insured that sustainability issues were considered throughout the process. The result is a great recovery plan but that doesn’t mean we’ve recovered. There are residents and friends who have yet to get back home. Too many don’t have a back home to go to. There is a lot of work to be done. After a short hiatus those of us involved in the sustainability plan continued to drive it forward because we felt that in order to move beyond recovery we need a strategy to be more resilient and to reduce our impacts on the environment. After all it is the effects of climate change that are contributing towards the soaring increase of natural disasters. In addition there were many sustainability opportunities that were not otherwise being directly related to the flood. In order to create an all encompassing sustainability plan, input was taken from several existing resources
including: Lyon’s Comprehensive Plan and Long-term Recovery Plan; the Ecology Board’s River Corridor Action Plan; and Boulder County’s Sustainability Plan. In addition Natural Capitalism sent out two town-wide surveys, conducted stakeholder interviews and reviewed best practices from towns and communities across the country. During this process 130 recommendations were identified and were refined down to the 60 that are most applicable to Lyons. These recommendations were then sorted under the following eight categories: built environment; energy; water and wastewater; waste; local food and agriculture; parks and open space; ecological health; and transportation. Finally every recommendation has been given a score in order help with prioritization. Points were given within five different impact areas (environmental, town values, economic development, social, and feasibility). Even though the scope of this plan was to look at recommendations that impacted our environment it is imposable to do so in a sustainable way without considering their impact on our economy and our people. Continue Sustainability on Page 15
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PAGE 6
REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
CONCEPTS A Robot will soon roam at Longmont Public Library Staff Reports Redstone Review LONGMONT – The Longmont Public Library is creating a library robot made by kids at the library for kids and patrons at the library. The robot, which is yet to be named, is the product of an unusual collaboration between the library and an entrepreneur. Jalali (pronounced Juh-lolly) Hartman, owner of his company Robauto, is the creator of this unique library robot. “The purpose of the robot is to greet patrons, increasing interaction and engagement and possibly interactive reading experiences,” said Hartman. Hartman, along with librarians Elektra Greer and Katherine Weadley, who both live in Lyons, started an innovation team through the library. The team consists of professionals, librarians, volunteers and mostly kids in sixth grade through 12th grade. This team of kids who are library patrons is a mix of kids considered typical and kids who are “neurologically atypical.” Several of the kids
fall on the autism spectrum. Not all of the kids are typical robot-club type of kids. Skills are matched with interests: some kids work on videos, some on designs and sketching and others on programming and engineering. “There is something for everyone,” according to Greer, who is head of the Children’s and Teen Services Division at Longmont Public Library. “We really like to go beyond typical library programming and push ourselves. We listen to what it is our patrons want and we are future oriented while still maintaining our library mission.” Hartman says the purpose of the innovation team is to teach robotics and entrepreneurship while working on real-world design and engineering projects. Hartman is a serial entrepreneur who has started and sold several companies including Yovia, a national social media campaign center. He received the 2014 Global IP Champion award for business innovation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He
Festivals sell out in minutes By Katherine Weadley Redstone Review News Editor LYONS – Tickets for Planet Bluegrass events are selling out quickly. Planet Bluegrass, the Lyons-based music events producer, is exponentially growing in popularity around the world. The 42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s four-day passes sold out in just a few minutes on Dec. 5, followed shortly by Saturday passes then Friday single-day tickets. According to Brian Eyster of Planet Bluegrass, tickets in the first ten minutes were sold to festivarians in 50 states and four foreign countries. Telluride Bluegrass is June 18 through the 21 and only Thursday and Sunday passes are available when this article was written. Telluride Bluegrass Festival is the biggest of the events held at Planet Bluegrass with an attendance of around 10,000 people. The other three festivals produced by Planet Bluegrass are held on the grounds of Planet Bluegrass at 400 W. Main St. in Lyons. This space holds about half the festivarian population of Telluride. The 43rd Annual RockyGrass Festival remains one of the purest bluegrass festivals in the nation. Only Friday and Sunday singleday tickets remain on sale for
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RockyGrass, which is held July 19 through 23. Planet Bluegrass recently released the lineup of performers for this year’s RockyGrass. Headlining this year’s RockyGrass is Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. Others musicians lined up for the festival include Sam Bush, Earls of Leicester, Dirty Kitchen, Caribou Mountain Collective, and Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass. More of this year’s lineup is located at bluegrass.com. On Saturday at RockyGrass, Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan play together in the “I’m With Her Tour.” Last year at the Telluride
festival they gave an impromptu performance together which was the seed for this year’s “I’m With Her Tour.” According to Jarosz the tour is a culmination of all three artists playing together as one band; sets will include a mix of each other’s songs, cover songs and traditional songs. “I’m really excited about this trio because we each do our own thing and we each do it differently, so I’m looking forward to discovering all of the unique possibilities that come with combining our individual voices,” Jarosz said. O’Donovan is also the lead singer in the progressive string bluegrass band Crooked Still, which performs on Sunday. O’Donovan is American, although she
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spent many summers in Ireland with extended family. She is a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor’s radio shows and graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2003. As well, Alison Krauss recorded “Lay My Burden Down” for her top selling country album Paper Airlplane. Krauss sang the song but it was written by O’Donovan The Folks Festival, known as the local’s favorite, is held Aug.14 to 16 this year and has all passes available as of now. The lineup has not been announced. Katherine Weadley is a librarian at Longmont Public Library. She also wrote for the Boulder Daily Camera. She lives in Lyons with her family, two dogs.
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also runs the company Robauto from his home in the mountains above Boulder. This boundary-pushing idea has not gone unnoticed. These librarians, including Elektra Greer, Katherine Weadley and Amy Fontenot, won this year’s Colorado Library Program of the Year Award, which was presented at this year’s Colorado Association of Libraries conference in October. They also won the City of Longmont’s External Services Award for Employee/Team of the Month. Their work has been written up in the Institute of Library and Museum (http : / / blog. imls. gov / ? p = 5285) as well as Innovationnews.com (http : / / innovationews. com / innovation news - releases / robauto - works - with autistic - kids - longmont - library - to design - build - robot - open - minds / ), the Longmont Times-Call, the Daily Camera, the Denver Post, and the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming. An article in School Library Journal is expected out soon.
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DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
REDSTONE • REVIEW
INSIGHT Rutting season and what passes for romance By John Gierach Redstone Review LYONS – Here in northern Colorado, the mule deer rutting season roughly corresponds with the first Christmas shopping ads on TV, making the event Gierach seem oddly festive, at least to an observer. Why then? Because, like so much else in nature, it couldn’t be otherwise. Mating among these animals is timed to the females’ gestation period so that they’ll drop their fawns at that moment in the spring when there’s plenty of tender new greenery to fuel their initial growth spurt after weaning, followed by a long feeding season to fatten them up for the first tough winter to come. There are those who take this kind of elegant scheduling as proof of intelligent design (they’re the same folks who think every snowstorm proves that global warming is a
hoax) while those in the fact-based universe recognize it as an example of natural selection. Gestation period is more or less a constant, so deer that mated too soon in the fall had their fawns too early the following spring when it was still cold and food was scarce. Consequently, their chance of survival was reduced. The same went for those that bred later. Their offspring were born too late to get big, fat and strong enough to make it through their first hard winter. It was the fawns that were born at just the right time that stood the best chance of surviving to breed and, incidentally, to pass on their parents’ tendency to mate in late fall. Natural selection isn’t just a theory as Ronald Reagan once said. (He also said trees cause more pollution than automobiles.) The evidence for it exists in fossil and DNA records and we’ve been breeding animals for all kinds of characteristics using the same principles for most of our history. Just ask anyone in 4-H or the American
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Kennel Club. When people do it, it’s selective breeding; when it happens on its own, it’s natural selection. You can often tell the difference at a glance. A mule deer is a model of efficient adaptation, while nature on its own would never have started with a wolf and ended up with a miniature poodle. I’m not an expert on deer, but I’ve paid close attention to them all my life, both as an amateur naturalist and a hunter, and now live in a foothills valley where there’s a healthy population. And as a freelance writer with a home office, I spend entirely too much of my so-called work time watching them. I usually see them in singles and groups of three to five, but I’ve also seen as many as 20 or 30 at a time and everything in between. Mostly they’re does and yearlings, but sometimes there’s also a young spike or fork-horn buck in the mix. The older, adolescent bucks usually hang out in their own small herds and I don’t see them nearly as often, partly because there are fewer of them and also because they’re less habitual than the does, hanging back from the usual comings and goings as if they’d been ostracized, as in fact they have. The big, mature bucks are almost always solitary and secretive and tend toward being nocturnal. I hardly ever see them even when I go looking and when I do spot one, it’s just a fleeting glimpse at dawn or dusk. Often it’s too dark for a good look, but there’s the unmistakable impression of a deep-chested body with something on its head that suggests a bentwood rocking chair. And then it’s gone. But all that changes during the rut. The does are around in their usual numbers going about their usual business of getting enough to eat, but now they’re trailed by a revolving roster of bucks. The adolescent males remind me of young boys at their first high school dance circa 1960. Some stand around awkwardly alert and mildly aroused, but incapable of doing anything about it, while the bolder ones make clumsy passes at every female they meet in hopes that the law of averages will be on their side. But it’s not, and sometimes they get a swift kick from a hind leg for their efforts. When they finally show up fashionably late (but actually right on time) even the big bucks aren’t above a little buffoonery. Last week they were cagey and dignified, but now, suddenly, they’re prancing around in broad daylight like lovesick Billy goats, exuding confidence in a goofy, wide-eyed sort of way. These would be the senior guys on the football teams who drive convertibles: much more desirable than geeky freshmen. Most of the younger bucks get the message and quietly leave the dance floor, while a few others have to be chased off. Now and then, when bucks are more evenly matched, there’s anything from a little tussle to a real knockdown, drag out fight complete with locked antlers, flying dirt and blowing snot. I’ve only seen two real battles between bucks, but the level of violence was appalling and I’ve never been able to look at these pretty animals the same way since. Mule deer don’t intentionally fight to the death – once dominance is established, the scrap is over – but there are sometimes accidental fatalities. Broken bones are the usual cause, but the most successful bucks expend a staggering amount of energy fighting and breeding and often don’t eat much for long periods of time, so it’s not all that unusual for an older buck to end his life from exhaustion and starvation after the rut. A biologist will tell you this is all about the biggest, strongest bucks mating with the healthiest does for the ongoing good of the species, but that makes these pairings sound like arranged marriages. To begin to comprehend the nature and quality of the instinct we have to delve into our own sex lives: the uncertainty, the nervous excitement, the sleepless nights and the loss of anything resembling common sense. What I see out my office window in the fall isn’t exactly romance as we know it, but it’s what romance evolved from. Or, as a friend once said, “There’s more zoology to who we are than we like to admit.”
PAGE 7
GOOD-BYE AND TAKE CARE By Janaki Jane, Colorado Spirit Redstone Review LYONS – This is my last article for the Redstone as a member of the Colorado Spirit Flood Recovery Team. The team’s last day at our office in Lyons will be on Tuesday, December 23. Many of our members on the county-wide team have already Jane scattered to the four winds, moving on to other opportunities in other workplaces in Colorado, California, and even Myanmar. The Lyons team of Camilo Casas, Robin Lyons, Beth Knorek, Sally Truitt and me, Janaki Jane, want to thank everyone in the Lyons area for welcoming us and for allowing us to support you in recovering from the flood. Please come to our farewell party at the Chamber of Commerce on Friday, December 19 from 4 to 7 p.m. There will be yummy holiday treats and beverages and door prizes. You may not know that Colorado Spirit Flood Recovery Teams were in 11 counties in Colorado following the September 2013 floods. The money for the program comes from FEMA and its sister agency, SAMSHA, and has to be requested by the state and the county before the Crisis Counseling Program (which is what the program is called) is activated. Then the local non-profit mental health agency, which in Boulder County is Mental Health Partners, hires outreach workers to provide crisis counseling and resources to survivors in their efforts to respond to the disaster and to increase individual and community resilience. Everything our team has done has been in an effort to support the community and its residents. We hope that we have been able to offer something of use. A big part of supporting those who have lived through a disaster (and everyone who was staying in this area on September 12, 2013 did), is encouraging self-care. One piece of that is clarifying how this unusual experience we all lived through elicits unusual responses from us humans, and helping residents to see, understand, and have some compassion for that in themselves (and others). Another piece is then to inspire folks to take steps to take care of themselves, because that is one of the best ways to counteract and deal with the stress that comes along with having to recover from a disaster. So over the last couple of weeks we are around, we will be distributing a postcard with some self-care tips and a recipe for butternut squash soup and an invitation to our party on it. We will be putting them in your doors, as many as we can get to, and leaving them at coffee shops and restaurants and other places. We'd love it if you’d hang on to it – maybe put it on the refrigerator to remind you of the party, then flip it over for the self care tips and keep it somewhere you will notice it. Self care isn’t hard; sometimes getting started can feel like it is. That’s why one of the basics is breathe. Right now, take a deep breath. Use it to stop a second. Now take another. You can set the timer on your cell phone to remind you to take a deep breath. Or if your job includes talking the phone from once to ten times an hour, take one deep breath every time you reach for the phone. Or when you stop at a stoplight or stop sign, take a deep breath. Create a habit of breathing, or climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or going to bed 15 minutes earlier every Monday night, or of drinking one more glass of water and one less cup of coffee – little things eventually become easy, and then pick another little thing and before you know it your life is a little easier. We thank everyone in Lyons, Allenspark, Raymond / Riverside, Blue Mountain, Hygiene and unincorporated Boulder County whom we spoke to, everyone at Town Hall, and all the many individuals and organizations that helped us to sponsor, put on and attend events in order to get our message out. Too many people and organizations to name waived fees, donated space supplies and cut their normal charges in order to support our efforts. We couldn’t have done it without every one of them. We are also grateful to Mental Health Partners for welcoming us into their fold. Janaki Jane has lived off the grid in the foothills above Lyons since 2004. She has been working with the Colorado Spirit Teams in Estes Park and in Lyons since October 2013. She will end her work with Colorado Spirit in December and will begin her new job with LEAF (Lyons Emergency Assistance Fund) as the Displaced Resident Advocate in January.
PAGE 8
REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
CULTURE In Nightwoods Frazier’s best yet prose tells tender story Nightwoods by Charles Frazier 259 pp., Random House Reviewed by Andi Gregory Pearson Redstone Review LYONS – Luce lives in an abandoned mountain lodge. She’d been the Pearson caretaker and when the visitors dried up and old Stubblefield, the owner, passed away, no one was quite sure what to do about it all. The lodge, located near a lake, was a half mile walk to Stubblefield’s house, another half mile to Maddie’s and an additional mile to the nearest store – a long four mile round trip to buy “bologna and light bread and milk, yellow cheese and potted meat, and every brand of soft drink and candy bar and packaged snack cake known to man.” And so begins Luce’s journey in Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. Luce sleeps in the main hall, in front of the fireplace, on a bed she’s dragged in from one of the many dusty rooms. She’s by herself but she isn’t lonely – spends her days splitting logs for the fire, gathering
berries, growing tomatoes and gently exploring all that the old mansion offers. All the while, she thinks about her life – especially about her sister Lily who was killed by her husband. Lily left twins who are driven to the decrepit lodge by the “man from the State” and deposited with Luce. A boy and a girl who don’t talk, don’t make much eye contact and only seem interested in fire, pose a real challenge for Luce. Luce pulls a couple more beds near the huge fireplace and begins to talk to the kids about important subjects – like water, food, and eventually Maddie’s pony. The children, scarred by what they’ve seen, “...expressed their feelings in ways besides whimpering and chin quivering and their eyes watering up. They might fly at you with balled fists and try to fight. They might go running away toward the woods. They had a sound like a growl, and also various hollers and hoots and screeches.” The sweet, unsophisticated story set against the natural-beauty backdrop takes a turn, of course. Lily’s husband has been acquitted by a jury and he turns up. So does young Stubblefield who is the son of the deceased lodge owner and tenderly
A •R •T •S • B •R •I •E •F •S High Street Concerts are back LYONS – High Street Concerts Presents: Take Down The Door with special guest Honeytree will perform on Saturday January 10 at 8 p.m., doors open at 7 p.m. at Rogers Hall, Fourth Avenue and High Streets in Lyons. Tickets are $15 in advance and $17 the day of show. Tickets are available online now at www.highstreetconcerts.com and in person at the Stone Cup in Lyons. The Irish once were known to take the doors off the hinges when it was time for a party. Now inspiring the modern Celtic world to do the same is Take Down the Door, a new trad band from Lyons and Boulder. The band’s foot-stomping, heart-stopping, wide-open sound reflects both the band’s name and its natural habitat.
remembers Luce from their teenage years. But Frazier’s twisty story of the family set in the mellow almost melancholy mountains of the South is not the only reason to read this novel. His beautiful prose, his descriptive ability, his deep sense of the world that surrounds them – those are the reasons. Here he describes the moist summer woods: “Sit in a yellow sunbeam and the damp air around thickens with myriad beings dancing up into the daylight they love. Life likes the wet and rewards it.” Here, the reader is meeting Luce’s father, the deputy sheriff: “Lit wore his dark hair combed straight back, shiny with Brylcreem, comb tracks straight as soybean rows. His faded chino uniform was starched and pressed sharp, with a silvery shine along the seams at pockets and fly and cuff and collar where somebody leaned hard on the steam iron.” Luce tells Stubblefield how she supplements her stipend: “...by selling worked flints and clay pipe bowls turned up in plowed fields in the spring and after heavy rains year-round. Bird points and spear-
Fiddler Jessie Burns toured for six years and recorded three number one world albums with Celtic supergroup Gaelic Storm. The music of Adam Agee and Jon Sousa has been called “sincere and from the heart” by top traditional fiddler Martin Hayes. Described by Irish Music Magazine as “exceptional,” singer Beth Leachman Gadbaw made her mark as singer for acclaimed traditional group Siucra. Eric Thorin, the folk world’s busiest bassist, currently tours with the Matt Flinner Trio, Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore, and the Jeff Austin Band. Opening our evening is Honeytree, a soulful collaboration between Monocle Band’s Monica Whittington and Eric Wiggs. Their sound is fresh, nuanced and absolutely delightful! The duo focuses on the artists and songs that have shaped them as musicians, and each artist brings new repertoire to the table. If you’re planning to share the gift of music this holiday season, consider High Street Concert tickets for friends and loved
heads and scrapers from an earlier world. Down in the bowl of a good pipe, you could often see a crust of burnt tobacco and imagine some original inhabitant taking a smoke at the end of the day.” At the local roadhouse: “Guitar licks falling like little ball-peen hammers beating on roof tin, and some young man at the edge of sanity shouting all his yearning and anger for the world to hear, keening it out mad in the manner of old battlefield Celts. Two and a quarter minutes of urgent utterance broadcast mostly over radio stations you couldn’t pick up until dark.” Charles Frazier’s award-winning expressive prose can be found in Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons. In Nightwoods, it rises to a new level of beauty and grace that will make you glad you’ve read his latest novel. The author lives in North Carolina. 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.
ones. A sure way for some fun memories in the making. Happy Holidays to all.
The Ballad of William Henry Gleiss LYONS – On Tuesday Dec. 2, KGNU 88.5 FM Boulder featured a new folk CD by Lyons resident Josh Gadbaw titled The Ballad of William Henry Gleiss on the Kabaret show in Boulder. It was a performance and interview that told the true and ill-fated end-of-life story of a train engineer on the Old Milwaukee Railroad back in the early 1900s. Dan Willging of KGNU Public Radio described The Ballad of William Gleiss as “a fabulous new CD. Josh Gadbaw has given us another folklore hero’s story.” Gadbaw was joined on the radio by Lyons residents Beth Leachman Gadbaw and Brian McRae, former Lyons resident Jean Ballhorn and Eric Drobny of Golden to Continue Briefs on Page 9
GIVE LOCAL, GIVE LYONS
Lyons Community Foundation spotlight on Lyons ReRuns By Kristen Bruckner Redstone Review LYONS – LYONS – During this holiday season, many of us are our focused on giving, sharing Bruckner and doing for others. One local Lyons retailer has a business model that centers entirely on these concepts. Lyons ReRuns, located on Main Street in downtown Lyons, sells gently used adult and children’s clothing and equipment, shoes, sporting goods, housewares and books. Not only does this provide an outlet for area residents to purge themselves of unwanted items, but the proceeds from sales go right back into the community through the Lyons Community Foundation. Ellen Hine and Gabry Cornell started Lyons ReRuns after they discovered their mutual interest in making Lyons more sustainable. Hine explains, “I was telling someone how I thought it would be great if you didn’t have to drive to Longmont or Boulder every time you needed a pair of pants or a jacket.” Cornell had also been exploring ways to reuse and recycle as well as an interest in giving back to the community. When the two met, Lyons ReRuns was born. They originally opened their shop just east of town, but through a “generous lease” offered by landlord John Burke, they moved into the heart of Lyons in 2008. By being in a downtown, central
location, the shop gets a lot foot traffic, tourists, and often serves as community hub and place to get information about town. “Lyons residents come from all different socioeconomic backgrounds, but everyone can shop as well as donate to ReRuns” says local mom Jessica Kutrumbos. “Also, ReRuns is teaching our kids that recycling is cool, and that we can all share what we have.” Indeed, during the aftermath of the flood, ReRuns provided an avenue for neighbors helping neighbors, accepting a variety of donations and offering necessities to those who lost so much at little to no cost. ReRuns has also expanded its offerings to meet the needs of residents. With Lyons’ growing youth population, there is a great call to have a local source for gifts for kids’ birthday parties. Reruns now offers “Melissa and Doug” brand toys, puzzles and art supplies at prices below suggested retail. There are also unique gift items like the “flood books” created by Lyons Elementary School children. Not only does this shop fill a need in town, but it also provides support for the Lyons Community Foundation (LCF). When the LCF was established, ReRuns became a founding contributor and continues to donate its proceeds directly to support LCF. Since 2008, ReRuns has given close to $30,000. By donating used clothing and gear in addition to shopping at ReRuns, residents are providing funding for
Gabry Cornell (left) and Ellen Hine started Lyons ReRuns in 2008 as a way to make Lyons more sustinable. The store’s proceeds go directly to the Lyons Community Foundation to provide local funding. To date, nearly $30,000 has been donated. things right here in town such as the food pantry, public art and music, and academic enrichment in local schools. Monique Sawyer-Lang, LCF chair, emphasizes, “We are so grateful for the support that ReRuns has provided to the LCF. Not only do Ellen and Gabry offer a great service to Lyons residents, but their work goes back into helping the community at large.” Lyons ReRuns is open at 437 Main St. every day 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. except Mondays, and accepts donations during business hours. Donations of new and gently used clothing, books and small housewares are welcome. Due to space constraints, ReRuns cannot accept large furniture, appliances or electronics. Items
ReRuns cannot sell are forwarded to other local charities. The Lyons Community Foundation exists to improve the quality of life, build a culture of giving, and encourage positive change in the greater Lyons area. The LCF is gratefully accepting year-end tax deductible contributions that may be applied to Community Support Grants, Flood Relief / Rebuild Lyons, or Scholarships. For more information or to make a donation, please visit 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.
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
REDSTONE • REVIEW
CONTEXT Lyons Cross Country teams net double gold the boys’ hopes of a third state team title. In the score three format of 2A and with no fourth or fifth runners able to fill in for the critical scoring posiLYONS – Lyons is well known across the state for its tions of Anderson or Such, the championship season strong tradition of high school distance running. Under took on an unanticipated element of suspense and the direction of Coaches Mark Roberts and Jeffery Boelé, doubt. With Anderson sitting out at the Mile High the 2014 cross country team began the season’s training League meet, senior Kate Berreman stepped up with her cycle in early summer. By the first significant meet in seventh place finish, one place shy of taking down a September, the Saint Vrain Invitational, the Colorado strong Heritage Christian team. Cross training in low 2A season looked to be one dominated by Lions. The impact fashion, Anderson reemerged with a terrific race girls took down number one ranked Telluride in the com- at regionals that secured the team win in a rematch with bined 2A-3A race for the win, while Lyons’ top three Heritage Christian and reignited the dream of state gold boys ran well against a strong 4A-5A field with Paul for the girls. Such, on the other hand, continued to Roberts winning the individual title. deteriorate, his smooth stride replaced with a ragged, limping gait that still sealed the wins at both league and regionals. On October 25th, the Lions were ready to face Colorado’s brutal and unforgiving state course at Bear Creek Park and the NorrisPenrose Event Center in Colorado Springs. Composed of creek crossings, bridges, hills, and horse barns accented by choking dust, the course has been known to take down the best of runners. In the 2A girls’ race, CeAnn Udovich capped a phenomenal sophomore campaign with her second place finish. Sierra Tucker’s hard work since last year’s 20th place finish earned her a fifth place podium finish. Running a determined race for her teammates, Anderson emerged into the stadium and crossed the finish line in 18th place to put an abrupt end to the accumulation of points for Lyons. With points tallied, Lyons took the team 2014 Lyons Cross Country State Champions Back win over both Telluride and Heritage Christian row (left to right): Coach Mark Roberts, Adam Crowl, Brian by four points. Following Anderson were freshDillon, Joel Such, Matt Dillon, Paul Roberts, Landon Milbrath, man Sarah Roberts finishing 27th in her state Coach Jeffrey Boelé. Front row (left to right): Sierra Tucker, debut, and seniors Kate Berreman (44th) and CeAnn Udovich, Faith Myers, Jenna Anderson, Kate Berreman, Faith Myers (50th). Sarah Roberts PHOTO BY RENÉE HAIP In the boys’ race, Paul Roberts quickly left After bringing home state runner-up trophies three of the competition behind, easily defending his individual the past four years, the Lady Lions had high hopes for 2A state title with the fastest time of the day regardless first-ever gold at the state meet. In fact, it appeared that of classification. Steadily gaining in speed and strength they would easily put their top three runners, sophomore across the season, Matt Dillon’s final state cross country CeAnn Udovich, junior Sierra Tucker, and senior Jenna race was a stellar one that rewarded him with a sixth Anderson on the podium with All-State honors. Across place podium finish. With Joel Such in 51st place at the the season, the team worked its way up in the rankings mile, a three-peat looked improbable, but Such moved despite a stress reaction that sidelined critical scoring up to secure 22nd place by the finish to clinch the team runner Jenna Anderson for several meets. Plagued by title over Mancos by seven points. Following Such were injuries her freshman year, Udovich quickly gained in freshmen Landon Milbrath (60th) and Adam Crowl speed and confidence to emerge as Lyons’ lead girl, as (78th), and junior Brian Dillon (80th). well as one of the top ranked runners in 2A. Beyond an inspiring journey to double gold as a team, The Lyons boys began their season as the heavy Paul Roberts finished fifth at Nike Southwest Regionals favorites for a third consecutive state team title. Having in Casa Grande, Arizona, earning him a coveted spot at won the 2013 state title with a rare and perfect score, Nike Nationals. Held in Portland, Oregon on December Lyons returned three of its top four runners – junior Paul 6, Roberts finished 18th amongst many of the nation’s Roberts (two-time defending state champion), junior finest high school distance athletes to earn AllJoel Such (third place in 2013), and senior Matt Dillon American honors. (11th place in 2013). Together, they appeared to be Renée Haip is a writer and photographer who has chroniunstoppable in their quest for a repeat title. However, cled the seasons of Lyons Cross Country and Track and Field immediately following his strong performance at Saint Vrain, Such went down with a debilitating injury that since 2010. She has a master’s degree in landscape architecplagued him the entirety of the season and threatened ture from the University of Arizona. By Renée Haip Redstone Review
Know where to go before an emergency occurs! Thank you for choosing…
A •R •T •S • B •R •I •E •F •S Continued from Page 8
play railroad and traditional songs. You can hear the performance by visiting the archives page of KGNU’s Kabaret program. For more information on Josh Gadbaw’s Dec. 2 Kabaret show on KGNU go to http://www.afterfm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/sh ows.detail/showID/23/showName/Kabaret and for information on Josh Gadbaw’s artist page go to www.joshgadbaw.com.
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LYONS – Ruth Wilson’s art will remain at the Stone Cup, 442 High St., through the end of December. Barbara Cargill will display her watercolors in January. She comes from generations of artists. Currently she has studied with Boulder County Oil painters Rey Ford, Jake Gaedtke, John Taft, and Cathy Rivers. She also studied at CSU in the Fiber Art Program, and studied watercolor at Naropa University. She has shown her art at a number of local galleries. The exhibit in the Stone Cup in January will primari-
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Library district moves forward with operations, IGA and budget By Mark Browning Redstone Review LYONS – The Lyons Regional Library District is making progress toward its goal of bringing a new library and community resource center to the Lyons area. Browning The Library District’s first budget has been adopted, two library board of trustees positions have been filled and an agreement has been negotiated to transfer library operations to the Library District from the Town of Lyons. Voter approval to fund the district was obtained November 4, with tax funds to be received beginning in April, 2015. Full funding will not occur until July as property taxes are collected. At that time, the district will be able to begin operating the library. The Library District Board of Trustees, at its December 4 meeting, adopted its first budget ever. With no operating history of its own, the district used the current town library budget plus budgets of similarsized Colorado library districts as a starting point to prepare a budget for the last half of 2015. The Library District expects to spend more than $200,000 per year operating a library with more staff, more hours and more programs than the town has been able to afford. Funds will also be reserved from the District's estimated $350,000 per year in revenue for a building fund for a new facility. Before construction begins, the Library District must start receiving its tax funding, hire a library director and other staff, and solicit bids for architectural design. Completing those steps will likely take until early 2016. In addition to passing a budget, the Library District board at its December meeting reviewed an InterGovernmental Agreement (IGA) to transfer library operations from the town to the Library District. As required by Colorado library law, Town of Lyons, Boulder County and Larimer County will consider the IGA by year-end. The “Operations IGA” sets two different dates for transferring operations and physical property. The Library District will take over operations (staffing the library, directing programs, checking out materials) by July 1, 2015. Transfer of property (in the form of a lease of the Depot Library site and conveyance of materials and equipment) will not occur until repairs to the Depot Library building are completed. Renovation of the Depot Library and adjoining baggage building from flood damage is being done by the town through grants, insurance proceeds and architectural and construction contracts, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency paying to rent temporary library space on Main Street. The Library District cannot legally assume the town’s role on that project, so property transfer must await completion of renovation work. That is expected to occur in the fall of 2015.
ly be “Still Lifes in the Style of the Old Masters.” The music at the Stone Cup will continue every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. Some dates in January are still open. Saturday Dec. 20 Eric Adrian Gonzales, Modern Folk / Americana; Sunday Dec. 21 Glen Colby, Jazz Standards; Saturday Dec. 27 James Faulk, Folk / Classic Rock; Sunday Dec. 28 Bella Musser, Indie Rock / Alternative; Saturday Jan. 10 James Faulk, Folk Classic Rock; Sunday Jan. 18 Aural Elixir, Jazz / Rock / Folk Fusion. More dates will be filled in soon.
Oskar Blues Grill & Brew LYONS – Oskar Blues Grill & Brew, 303 Main St., will host a New Years Eve celebration with Grant Farm on Dec. 31 to Jan. 1, 2015 from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. For more information go to: http://eat.oskarblues.com/events/#sthash.LgGYzuvV.dpuf
Dairy Center receives a gift of over a million dollars BOULDER — Grace and Gordon Gamm of Boulder gave the Dairy Center for the Arts a grant of over $1 million dollars, which amounted
Continue Library on Page 15
to the center’s largest grant in the center’s 22year history. The money, donated by longtime arts supporters Gordon and Grace Gamm, will go toward programming and improvements to the Dairy’s building at 2590 Walnut St. The gift follows the passage in November of Boulder Ballot Issue 2A, a tax measure that will bring in an additional $3.8 million for a major renovation of the arts facility. Gordon and Grace Gamm The Dairy is home to more than 200,000 arts experiences every year and provides music and dance studios for more than 2,000 students and the Boedecker art cinema draws many art lovers. Its three performance theaters are the home to local theater companies, dance organizations and music groups. There are also three art galleries within the Dairy hosting local, regional, and national artists in 20 exhibits each year.
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
FOUNDATIONS It’s time to celebrate our good fortune By Richard A. Joyce Redstone Review VP PUEBLO – Recently, I wrote of my fear, backed by science, that the sun is trying to kill me – well, Joyce all of us for that matter. Sunburn leading to skin cancer, mass coronal ejections aimed at Earth, even small increases and decreases in the amount of solar radiation reaching the planet for any of a number of reasons all make this mammal want to live below ground, coming out only as necessary to survive – and then only when it’s cloudy and / or raining. In my solar-fear-free utopian fantasy, I imagined I’d be safe. Now, some pesky scientists have me trembling once again. David Romps, an assistant professor of earth and planetary science and a faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at University of California, Berkeley, is one of the culprits. He and three colleagues have published a new study in the journal Science suggesting the number of lightning strikes in the U.S. will rise significantly as the century progresses, increasing by more than 50 percent by 2100. All because of global warming. With warming, thunderstorms become more explosive, Romps said in the study. It has to do with water vapor, which is the fuel for explosive deep convection in the atmosphere. Warming causes there to be more water vapor in the atmosphere, and if you have more fuel lying around, when you get ignition, it can go big time.
“When you used to have two lightning strikes, you’ll now have three,” he said. “It’s a substantial increase.” He also said increasing global temperatures means more severe storms as well as more lightning strikes, which currently are believed to cause more than 50 percent of wildfires. For every rise of 1 degree Celsius in the Earth’s average temperature, the study says, lightning strikes in the lower 48 states in the U.S. will increase by 12 percent per year – about 300,000 strikes. This will inevitably cause more wildfires, and an increasing human toll from both the lightning and the fires. Increased lightning will also increase the nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, the study says, which exert a strong control on atmospheric chemistry. The study’s estimates are based on calculations of convective energy and precipitation from future thunderstorms; the calculations fit well with three independent data sets based on past strikes, the scientists said. So, there it is: just one more reason to live underground. It is, after all, how many mammals survived in the age of dinosaurs, and since I’m nearly old enough to recall personal experiences from that epoch, it sounds more attractive each day. Devastating floods, ash from near and far volcanic eruptions, satellites and meteors falling from the skies, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, the polar vortex, drought, dust storms and certainly the idiot in the car that just cut you off all point toward abandoning our exposed wood-frame, steel and concrete for some-
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thing much safer. Then add in the fact that when the “S” of all this hits the fan of all this, an underground abode – modeled on, say, an old missile silo or a Hobbit home – may just be the best place from which to defend oneself not only against these naturalphenomena predators, but also against the hordes fleeing them and trampling through our lightning-glass sand gardens, not to mention our turnip, carrot and potato gardens, in the process. The fact that, so far, none of these terrible things have happened to me is strong motivation to hope they never will – and even stronger motivation to cele-
brate my good fortune by giving thanks to the powers that be on Nov. 27. Hope you do, too, and not underground. Richard A. Joyce is an associate professor in the mass communications department at Colorado State University-Pueblo. 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.
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
REDSTONE • REVIEW
PAGE 11
RECOVERY Pinewood water system flood repairs move toward completion the river,” said Gabi Benson, District Administrator. In such situations, water is pumped from the reservoir to the treatPINEWOOD SPRINGS – Flood dam- ment plant. Before the reservoir was built, age repairs are nearing completion on the water had been hauled in, in dry years. Pinewood Springs water system. Recently back-up arrangements had been Pinewood Springs Water District pumps made with the Town of Lyons to purchase water from the Little Thompson River additional water if necessary. when it’s available, treats it, and stores it Pinewood’s “intake gallery” allows water to be pumped from the river either to the reservoir, or directly to the water treatment plant on Cree Court. “The storage tanks, which store about a million gallons of treated water, were invaluable after the flood,” Benson said. “We had lost our ability to get water from the river and relied on the stored Pinewood Springs Water District staff and contractors work to relocate the water line which serves 35 households on Kiowa Island. The treated water.” Most of the community work must be completed before Larimer County begins replacing the had water right after flood-destroyed Kiowa Bridge. Plans are in process for restoring the the flood, from the adjacent Crescent Lake. full tanks. Flood damage has in five tanks for distribution to about 300 required repairs to the treatment plant, households and two businesses. In 2009 the inner workings of the river intake the District completed building a 42-acre- gallery, the building exterior, the pump foot reservoir, which can store a year’s house, and three river crossings. Repair of worth of untreated water. “We were really the water line across the Little Thompson glad in 2012 that year we got our water River at the Seneca Bridge was able to from the reservoir for nine months, resume recently with the warmer weather. because there was not enough water in Larimer County’s bridge engineers plan By Carol Devenir Redstone Review
to replace the destroyed Kiowa Bridge before spring runoff. Because the County has designed a new alignment for the bridge, the rebuilt post-flood water pipeline must be moved by the District before the County’s bridge work begins. This will involve a one-day or more water shutoff to about 35 households – the same group who earned the name “Kiowa Islanders” after the flood. The Islanders lost access to their homes when the bridge was destroyed, and were also without water for about two months. The Pinewood Springs Homeowners’ Association is talking with county engineers about plans to reconstruct Crescent Lake, important as an emergency source of fire-protection water. “The county will require fill material to build the Kiowa Bridge,” Benson said. “If we can work in partnership with them, they may be able to dig that fill from the adjacent lake bed,
where it was deposited last year by the flood. This would further both projects.” Most of the District’s $400,000 floodrelated expenses have been covered by the District’s insurance policy. “We have good insurance,” said Benson. “Only the line at Crescent Lake and the Seneca Bridge crossing weren’t covered, and we expect FEMA to help with those.” Much of the flood repair work has been done by District Water Superintendent Carl Pender. Right after the flood, he had help from Vic Mootsey, Rich Troiano and Steve Fitzgerald, as well as numerous other community volunteers. “Carl is a magician when it comes to keeping the district functioning,” Benson said. Thanks to the wet year, currently the reservoir is full. Whether or not it has silt in the bottom won’t be known until next summer. If so, that will be an additional flood impact needing to be addressed. Travels with Redstone Marie McCreery recently traveled to South America and Antarctica and brought her Redstone Review along. 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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REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
SERVICE Trestle consultants presented housing site findings to the BOT By Amy Reinholds Redstone Review LYONS – Trestle Strategy Group and PlaceMatters presented findings of the Lyons Reinholds Housing Site Analysis to the Lyons Board of Trustees (BOT) on Dec. 15 at a workshop before the board meeting and answered more questions from the BOT at the board meeting. Trestle is the consultant group that the Town of Lyons hired for a site analysis of potential recovery housing sites. PlaceMatters is a Denver-based non-prof-
The range of 50 to 70 housing units would allow for flexibility of development based on design, available space, and budget. Approximately 100 homes in the Town of Lyons were lost in the 2013 flood. In October 2014, the Town of Lyons hired Trestle Strategy Group to conduct a Housing Site Analysis Study to determine the feasibility for replacement housing on potential subject parcels. Trestle began with a list of 26 potential sites, including sites that the volunteer Housing Recovery Task Force reviewed in the past year, and new parcels such as commercial-zone sites and other sites that were brought forward by the public. At
Red Oak Park in Boulder has both multi-family and single family houses for rent for people who make 30% to 50% of the area median income (AMI). For example, 2 bedroom rentals are $648 / month for people who make 30% of AMI, and 4 bedroom houses are $1393 / month if you make 50% of AMI. This was one of the stops in the affordable housing tour that Trestle Strategy Group organized on Dec. 5. PHOTO BY AMY REINHOLDS it think tank for civic engagement and process in planning. Trestle listed for the town board the following sites that seem the most viable to pursue the federal disaster recovery funds for new housing: Bohn Park, the Williams parcel (owned by Sandy Williams and his wife) at 19680 N. St. Vrain (the portions not in the flood plain) and the dog park (south of Bohn Park). These three sites were at the top of the list for meeting most of the criteria. Back in September 2014, the Lyons Board of Trustees directed Lyons town staff and Flood Recovery Manager Deb Pearson that the board would be seeking funds from Round 2 of Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) federal funds for housing replacement of 60 (+/–10) units.
the Dec. 15 meeting, Trestle representatives presented three lists of sites at the workshop, organized by viability for development of new recovery housing with federal disaster recovery funds. After the first three at the top of the list mentioned earlier Trestle listed the following second tier of sites that are potentially viable for housing in the future, perhaps by private developers, but won’t work with the timeline of the CDBG-DR funding: • The Bunker property at 520 Eagle Ridge • The Anderson property at 46 Bradford St. • 4807 Highland Dr. • The old Longmont water treatment plant at 4561 Ute Rd. • 4858 Highland Dr. • The parcel south of the dog park at 0 Bradford St. • The Hawkins property at 113 Stone
Canyon Dr. • The southwest corner of the Loukonen property at 4324 Ute Rd. • The Talmadge property at 101 Bradford St. (However the owner requested that this parcel be removed from the list, because it is no longer available.) Also, Trestle listed the following nonviable site that won’t work because of issues of access: the Carter property at 0 Carter Dr. (on the hill south of Lyons Valley Park). Trestle previously ruled out the following sites because they did not meeting threshold criteria designated in parenthesis: • 0 Longs Peak Dr. (not below elevation blueline for water service) • The “beehive” site adjacent to South St. Vrain County Open Space (not in Lyons Planning Area in Intergovernmental Agreement with Boulder County and less than two acres of developable acreage) • Black Bear Inn (less than two acres of developable acreage) • Boone Quarry (not below elevation blueline for water service) • McCain site near Town Hall (less than two acres of developable acreage) • Musser-Stone Canyon site (not in Lyons Planning Area in Intergovernmental Agreement with Boulder County) • Outlaw Saloon (less than two acres of developable acreage) • Sandstone Park (less than two acres of developable acreage) • The “shopette” site at 138 Main St. (less than two acres of developable acreage) • South St. Vrain County Open Space (not in Lyons Planning Area, in Intergovernmental Agreement with
Boulder County and designated as Boulder County Open Space) • 407 Steamboat Valley Rd. (not below elevation blueline for water service and less than two acres of developable acreage) • 452 Steamboat Valley Rd. (not below elevation blueline for water service and less than two acres of developable acreage) • Valley Bank (less than two acres of developable acreage) Between now and the Dec. 22 meeting, there are two more office-hours sessions scheduled when the public can meet with Trestle representatives at 443 Main St.: Thursday, Dec. 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, including materials from the Dec. 15 Board of Trustees workshop, see http : / / www. town of lyons. com / housing - recovery. Trestle and PlaceMatters will present the same findings and site analysis for potential flood recovery housing on Monday, Dec. 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Rogers Hall for the public to review and make comments. The Dec. 22 presentation will include a background of the parcels that were evaluated, a description of the range of concerns and issues that Trestle heard from members of the public, and a look forward to what the process will look like and how the public will be involved with that process if the Board of Trustees selects a site to pursue federal disaster recovery funds for new housing. The public also will have the opportunity to comment during a public hearing portion of the meeting. Amy Reinholds is a member of the Lyons Housing Recovery Task Force. Travels with Redstone Gail Frankfort, Linda Vahrenkamp, and Kim Freymiller at the Plaza de Espana in Seville, Spain. 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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DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
REDSTONE • REVIEW
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TEXTURE Little Thompson River seeks voice in statewide water planning By Denise Coté Redstone Review LYONS – There’s something missing from the first draft of Colorado’s Water Plan, released this Coté month by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB). The plan, nine years in the making and headed for the Governor’s office in 2015, is intended to be the most comprehensive analysis of Colorado water ever undertaken. But it makes no mention of the Little Thompson River. The oversight came to the attention of a few members of the Little Thompson Watershed Restoration Coalition (LTWRC) a few months ago, when they approached the CWCB for assistance with post-flood recovery. Efforts to secure funds depend, in part, on knowing how the river fits into the context of water supply and demand in the South Platte Basin. However, there are few studies of the Little Thompson that have been done, and the river and its tributaries haven’t been included in State planning efforts. Decisions by State authorities or even by holders of individual water rights could result in water being added to or removed from the river, with positive and negative impacts on everyone who lives, works, and plays in the watershed. There is also the possibility that the area could come under consideration, once again, as a site for a water storage reservoir. The lack of knowl-
edge about the Little Thompson River is becoming a liability as the demand for water in the state continues to grow. What is known is that the available water in the Little Thompson is often not enough to fulfill even the existing demands for agricultural, domestic, and other uses, and none of the perennial stream’s supply is reserved for so-called in-stream flows, which would ensure a bare minimum flow necessary for river habitats, trout, and other species to survive from year to year. The Little Thompson River is the only significant South Platte tributary on the Front Range without any in-stream flow rights. It may be possible to secure water rights and firm up supplies for existing needs and in-stream flows, but in some cases this can only be done effectively if there’s solid data and analysis of current water usage. To address this information gap, a small committee of landowners representing the LTWRC has applied to the CWCB for a grant in the amount of $68,000 to study water usage on the Little Thompson. The proposed study would cover five key types of water use: Water Districts, Domestic Wells, Agricultural, Environmental (aquatic habitat), and Industrial (such as oil and gas drilling). If there is no significant use or demand by one of these sectors – for example, it’s likely that there’s no current use of Little Thompson water by the oil and gas industry – the study will document that fact. If the grant is successful, the study will be the first part of a multi-phase project
which has the goal of firming up water supplies for existing demands and instream flows, with minimal adverse impacts on residents and the environment. It also brings the Little Thompson Watershed one step closer to inclusion in the final State Water Plan, which will be completed in 2015, and one step closer to having a voice in the future of water usage in the South Platte Basin, of which the Little Thompson is a part. The South Platte Basin Roundtable Needs Committee is scheduled to review this grant application on Tuesday, January 6, 2015. If the Needs Committee approves the application, it will be reviewed by the full South Platte Basin Roundtable on January 13. Residents along the river are
welcome and invited to participate in this process by attending both sessions. The exact time and locations for the January presentations have not been announced, but you can email or call Deirdre Daly, 303823-5307 or d2daly@yahoo.com and she’ll notify you as soon as the details are available. You can also visit www.LTWRC.org to get information and view a copy of the grant application. To see the draft Colorado Water Plan, go to https : / / www. colorado. gov / pacific / cowaterplan / 2014 - draft - colorados - water - plan.
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Volunteer Naturalist training class. Volunteer naturalists lead interpretive nature hikes in county parks, present public natural history slide programs, and provide hands-on environmental field experiences for Boulder County schools. A 10-week training program is required. Training includes an overview of the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department, including history, mission, and resource management; Native American history; geology; plants and ecosystems; forestry; wildlife and birds; interpretive programming and resources. Training classes take place on Thursdays, January 8, 2015 through March 12, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Longmont. Participants must be at least 18 years old and attend all training sessions. Because many of our requested programs are scheduled Monday through Friday during daytime hours, applicants must have some ongoing weekday availability. For information call Larry Colbenson at 303-678-6214 or lcolbenson@bouldercounty.org for information.
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Mental Health Partners to open an office in Lyons LYONS – Mental Health Partners (MHP) has leased office space in the new Chamber of Commerce offices, thanks in part to a grant from the Lyons Community Foundation. There will be a therapist there three days a week. The therapist will likely do brief therapy and possibly work with some of the medical offices in town (MHP does a lot of work on the interface of medical illness and behavioral health). What is offered can change depending on the needs and desires of the clients who come there. MHP is in the hiring process now, so look to have the office up and running by the end of January.
Volunteer naturalist training program Boulder County Parks and Open Space is now accepting applications for the 2015
Denise Coté is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Little Thompson Watershed Restoration Coalition and a property owner on the Little Thompson River.
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REDSTONE • REVIEW
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
NATURE Second Chances By Jenny C. Bryant Redstone Review LONGMONT – Second chances aren’t always easy to come by, especially if you’re an Bryant orphaned or injured wild animal. But because of supporters and compassionate communities like Lyons, we’ve helped more than 2,400 waterfowl, songbirds and mammals get a second chance on life this year. Take Angel, a little golden-mantled ground squirrel baby found all alone in Allenspark Community Church. Discovered, we understand, in the church projector with no nest or parent to be found, a Good Samaritan transported her down from the mountains to Greenwood. After spending a couple of weeks growing
up with other ground squirrels and dining on seeds, grasses, pine cones and nuts, Angel was successfully released back into the wild with some new friends. Then there’s “the Coot,” as we affectionately referred to an American Coot who was found dehydrated and injured on a backyard patio. Rehabilitators feared a grim prognosis, as the bird initially refused to eat and couldn’t stand. Coots can only take off from water, so finding one of these birds on dry land so far from water is never good. But after a radiograph, rehabilitators discovered the Coot’s stomach was full of foreign material and it suffered only a nerve injury, not a broken bone, in its right leg. Good news! After a critical care diet that encouraged proper digestion and receiving some tender physical therapy in a pool, we released “the Coot,” who appeared to be quite happy, in the company of more than 100 others. Successfully caring for and releasing
Keeping your pets safe this winter By Sofia Kalkstein, DVM Redstone Review LONGMONT – We have all heard the old adage in Colorado that if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. However, winter is here and will lay its cold, snowy grip on the Front Range for the next few months. Here are some reminders about how to keep our best friends safe during this season.
Both cats and dogs are vulnerable to antifreeze poisoning, which is commonly used this time of year. Its sweet taste is irresistible to pets, but will cause severe kidney damage without aggressive treatment. Also, antifreeze or other toxic substances, like ice melt, may be on your dog’s paws after a walk in the slush, so
Town Continued from Page 1 if the board wants to sell, build housing or use park land for purposes other than park space. The BOT passed a resolution on Dec. 15 committing the town board to hold a vote of the people on the use of any park property for flood replacement housing. The resolution will last for as long as the current board is in office and will end on April 18, 2016 when a new board is sworn into office. It is the hope of the town board that the Save Our Parks and Open Space group will drop its petition to hold an election since the board has committed to hold an election for the same purpose. This all comes on top of the fact that the State requires a vote of the people whenever any park lands are proposed for sale or used for housing or several other purposes. So all the proposed elections are
wiping off paws, feet and the underbelly with a towel when you are back home may prevent exposure to these toxins. Cats should stay indoors year round for many reasons, but especially when it’s cold outside. Their relatively small bodies make them susceptible to freezing temperatures much sooner than dogs. Cats that go outdoors have been known to seek out the warmth of a recently running car motor to avoid the cold temperatures.
If a cat is asleep on the engine, tragedy can occur when the motor is started. Rapping loudly on the hood with your fist prior to starting your engine should alert a sleeping feline that the nap is over and it’s time to return to the warmth of a home. Another issue facing our loyal canine companions is the effects of snow on their somewhat redundant since the State requires an election. In other news the BOT passed the budget for 2015, $30,076, 857, which is the largest budget ever passed for the Town of Lyons, a town of less than 2,000 people. Due to the flood and the necessary recovery work, the expenditures grew astronomically. The budget covers the expenditures planned for each of the town’s funds for 2015 based on the revenues that are either already in place or expected to come in during the year. The grant fund pushed the budget over the top this year with $25,000,000 in that fund. This money will go to flood repairs and renovations this coming year. The town budget for 2014 was about $5.4 million. It was similar to the 2013 budget of $5.7 million. The budget was not exactly balanced in 2014 (a state requirement) due to the fact that the town owed about $25 million for flood
Greenwood is now the only large wildlife rehabilitation facility caring for BOTH birds and mammals on the northern Front Range. We’re going to need your support now more than ever! As you prepare to spend time with friends and loved ones this holiday season, please don’t forget about wildlife who have nowhere else to turn. With your support, Greenwood will continue to grow and give as many animals as possible a second chance. Wishing you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year! Angel, the golden-mantled ground squirrel wildlife keep all of us going here at Greenwood, but the pressure continues to mount. We are faced with yet another local wildlife center closure this year. Wild BIRD of Denver shut its doors this fall. Despite working hard to raise funds for a new building, it is very likely that it will not reopen in time for next year’s busy spring and summer seasons. senses. It is important to keep dogs leashed in a snowstorm as they can easily become disoriented. A fluffy layer of snow is a great disguise for razor-sharp shards of ice that can cut into paws and legs. An off-leash dog will be more prone to these injuries. If you notice your dog limping, bleeding, or other signs of injury, see your local veterinarian to assess their paws. Another of the problems we face with the onset of the cold weather is joint pain or pain associated with metal hardware placed in orthopedic surgery, a problem that does not only apply to humans. If your dog has had orthopedic surgery and has metal plates placed on their bones as part of the repair, they may experience discomfort or even pain in the cold weather. If your pet does spend a considerable amount of time outside in the winter, consult with your veterinarian as to whether the device should be removed once the bones are healed, as well as other possible options for pain management. Remember, there are no safe, overthe-counter pain medications you can give your pets at home! Consult your veterinarian for recommendations. Many factors dictate how much exposure your dog can withstand, including hair coat, thickness of the skin, breed, age, and how acclimated your dog is to spending time outdoors in the cold weather. A large Siberian Husky can romp happily across a winter wonderland, while a tiny Chihuahua would much rather be huddled in your lap while you sip your peppermint cocoa. It is important
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. to keep this in mind before you take your dog out for wintery fun. Many small dogs really dislike going outside to do their business in the cold, snowy weather. Sometimes, they will refuse to go outside until it is too late, so please go easy on them if they have an “accident” in the house. The weather can be rough on their paws, fur, and generally unenjoyable for some breeds, so try to accommodate your pets’ needs. You may need to remind them by going outside with them and praising them for a job well done when they go. You may even need to shovel them a path to a spot where they can go without being submerged in deep snow. These suggestions are important to remember as the cold months approach in order to ensure your pets have a safe and comfortable winter. If you have any questions regarding the safety of your pet, consult your veterinarian about how your animals can enjoy the snow as much as we Coloradoans do. Dr. Sofia Kalkstein is an emergency veterinarian 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.
damage repairs. However grants, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) money, insurance money and other funds came in to offset the $25 million which is noted on the budget for 2015. In other matters the town approved several resolutions to further the restoration of the Depot Library and approved an Intergovernmental Agreement between the new library district and the Town of Lyons. Trustee Dan Greenberg seemed overjoyed. “We have a new library district,” he cheered. The board also decided to continue a resolution to create the new Lyons Watershed Board. The Watershed Board would incorporate the Stream Task Force into a more permanent group with a broader range of responsibilities. The BOT will take up the matter again on Jan. 5. PHOTO BY GWYNNE OWEN
DECEMBER 17, 2014 / JANUARY 14, 2015
SUNRISE OVER THE LITTLE THOMPSON RIVER VALLEY
Tourism Continued from Page 3 paign to key markets such as Fort Collins, Estes Park, Boulder County and Denver. Billboard advertising at key locations on Interstate 25 North and South and Colorado Hwy. 66 target visitors to the Rocky Mountain area as well as regional locals on their daily commute. Digital advertising is appearing on websites popular with the target audience. A website designed around Lyons tourism and economic vitality will be launched in January 2015. And a public relations plan has been launched to tie together all efforts mentioned above for a seamless
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PHOTO BY SUSAN PEIRCE
and continuous campaign message. This is not a one-shot deal as a onetime grant may imply. The work being done now will set the foundation for a thoughtful and community integrated tourism sector that builds and sustains Lyons’ economic vitality. This is not an overnight success story; this is an ongoing and deliberate call to action to continue partnerships, sponsorships, and create a vibrant community environment for locals and visitors alike. Tamara Vega Haddad is the Executive Director of Lyons Area Chamber of Commerce. She lives with her family in Lyons.
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Red Fox Continued from Page 3
The Library District is governed by a seven-member, all-volunteer Board of Trustees, appointed jointly by the Town of Lyons, Boulder County and Larimer County. As part of the Operations IGA, two new trustees are being appointed to fill vacancies. Kathleen Crane and Sandy Banta will be the new trustees. Crane is a former member of the town Library Advisory Board, has a Masters of Education degree and has many years of experience in teaching. She currently does substitute teaching and tutoring at Lyons Middle School and High School. Sandy Banta, an engineer and former town board member, has also agreed to serve on the Library District board. Banta’s engineering background was critical in overseeing emergency flood repairs as a volunteer for the town, and her professional skills and government experience are much welcomed by the Library District as it moves toward the construction phase. With a full board in place, a budget adopted and an IGA completed, the Library District is looking forward to an active 2015.
one of her films. As well, the store will be hosting famous speed climber and Estes Park resident Quinn Brett along with avalanche expert and author of Buried, Ken Wylie. As well, the store is offering a locals’ discount of 20 percent off to all Lyons residents until Christmas. And, the store is currently running a Facebook photo contest. “It’s simple,” says Klopson. “All you have to do is post a photo and tell us why you need a new pack. We’ll pick the winner from the top three most-liked photos. We hope to engage people in the community more, and we’d love to give someone a great $200 backpack of their choice.”
Mark Browning is the Lyons Regional Library District Board President. The district roughly follows the boundaries of the Lyons Fire Protection District.
Sustainability Continued from Page 5 The recommendations along with a full draft of the sustainability action plan can be found at www. lyons sustainability. com. The next step is for the town’s boards and commissions to review the plan before it goes to the Board of Trusties for a vote on February 2. We are also very interested in your input and comments – these can be given in person at the Sustainable Futures Commission meeting on January or can be given online at www.lyonssustainability.com. Once voted in this will be a living document constantly adapting as new opportunities arise. It will be managed by the Sustainable Futures Commission with some town support – the website will consistently be updated so that the public can see progress and give input. The more people involved in imple-
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Lyons Golden Gang news LYONS – The church-sponsored dinners for all area seniors and disabled are held at the Walter Self Center 335 Railroad Ave. and will be on the following dates: Dec. 30 at LDS Church dinner at 5:30 p.m.; Jan. 5 at the River Church dinner at 5:30 p.m.; Jan. 19 Lyons Community Church at 5:30 p.m.; and the LDS Church the last Tuesday of January at 5:30 p.m. Please call 303-823-6771 to reserve a spot. For information contact Sandy Cottrell, Administrator at lyons golden gang @ aol. com.
menting this plan the more successful it will be. If you are interested in joining the Sustainable Futures Commission there are currently openings and there will always be opportunities to work on or championing a specific indicatives. Please email LyonsSFC@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering. Toby Russell is a Lyons resident and the C.E.O. of Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS), an entrepreneurial non-profit focused on implementing genuine sustainability. His role is to ensure the operations of the organization are aligned with its vision. Toby has led Natural Capitalism’s work on employee engagement (Estee Lauder, Wrigley, Aveda), sustainable disaster recovery (Boulder County, Lyons CO), and small businesses programs (San Rafael CA, Denver CO, San Leandro CA). In addition Toby manages NCS’ grant projects.