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Carbondale’s weekly

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p r s a r c o t t i a ce fo n i ll

Volume 10, Number 25 | July 26, 2018

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e c n r park performa

his weekend, both adults and kids will be pollinating Sopris Park with love and aerial feats as they buzz around honey hives during the day and light up the night sky like fireflies. Practicing at The Launchpad on July 24 for their performance this weekend were Carrie Vickers, Stacy Everson and Devon Blanke. Photo by Jane Bachrach

Saturday, July 28th: 2-5pm

FREE MOUNTAIN FAIR BEER TASTING!

Stop by SL&W and beat the heat! Sample all the RFBC Brews !

Including the all new ROLL and LEMON DROP Plus the new RFBC/ODELL Colab: HIBISCUS LIME BLONDE ALE

970.963.5880 On the SE Corner of Hwy 133 and Main Street in Carbondale

Carbondale Commentary

The views and opinions expressed on the Commentary page do not necessarily reflect those of The Sopris Sun. The Sopris Sun invites all members of the community to submit letters to the editor or guest columns. For more information, email editor Will Grandbois at news@soprissun.com, or call 510-3003.

Remembering Dick Sparks and Milo

By Stan Badgett

This morning we bicycled past a handsome old cabin in Carbondale festooned with an American flag.

It reminded me of a “cabin” in Boulder — a dilapidated garage, really — where my friend Dick Sparks used to live. He was a music fanatic who owned expensive sound equipment in that dirt-floored hovel, a Deutsche Gramophone collection of classical music, and Led Zeppelin, which he played full blast. He and I worked for Western Union, delivering telegrams around Boulder on our bikes.

We rolled our own cigarettes.

He had a crazy rant that he liked to perform, part Zen and part Jim Morrison. He called it a tirade. Soft-spoken at first, it then waxed abusive. One time he performed it in the door of the Western Union office. As the receptionist looked on, he delivered his tirade in a sing-song voice, then dropped his pants.

Of course, underneath was a pair of boxers.

Once Dorene and I took Sparks and our friend Carol to a dance where people were bopping to raucous music. We tired of it after a couple of minutes and left the scene, abandoning him and Carol to their own devices without so much as a courteous adieu. Very bad!

I remember going to Dick Sparks’ cabin to ask the whereabouts of Milo, who had suddenly disappeared. Milo’s mother had written a letter pleading for information about her son. I thought that Sparks, if anyone in Boulder, would know. The FBI came to our apartment looking for him. Years later, we learned that they nearly caught up with him in New Orleans (he escaped out the back door while they were kicking in the front door).

There was a seven-year hiatus when no one knew where Milo was, then I spotted him in a crowd at the Denver Art Museum.

We were having lunch at the museum when a figure — seen from the back, no less — caught my attention. No one else stood like that. Dumpy, lost in thought. We had prayed for him for years.

He came to the valley for a brief stay and hiked with me up to a cave in Deep Creek Canyon. It reminded me of a hike we’d done thirty years earlier in a lonely canyon deep in the heart of

Rocky Mountain National Park. I was glad to see him, but he had changed. He saw flying saucers coming to abduct him.

I invited him to visit The Church at Redstone, but he paced on the boulevard instead. When he finally went home to his family, they appeared as imposters. Milo, who spoke a secret language we had invented as teenagers; who knew the first acid freak in Boulder; whose comments were dense with cosmic sarcasm; who looked like a sheepdog; who preferred living on the street to living at home; who bandied psychological terms around like baubles.

A vivant. A connoisseur of most anything at hand. He became a victim of the homeless murders in Denver nineteen years ago.

I whizzed around Boulder on my bike delivering telegrams: at 21 I had yet to own a car.

After Dorene and I married we were still without a car. I worked at Holubar Mountaineering and saved enough to pay for the delivery of our baby. I stacked bricks for a year at the Valmont brickyards, commuting every day on my bike.

One of the worst things that happened on that bicycle was delivering a telegram to a couple who had lost their son in Vietnam.

It was a mortifying task. I had no right to be part of their grief.

Dick Sparks faded out of our life. He can’t still be holed up in that cabin, wherever it was in Boulder. He seems still rosycheeked and mischievous. And it’s easy to imagine Milo with his bemused smile and his careless blond hair — not that haggard countenance in the newspaper, and to hear the chiding, bewildered sarcasm of his voice.

OPINION

Mutt & Jeff

So word by word, and line by line, The dead man touch’d me from the past, And all at once it seem’d at last The living soul was flash’d on mine.

– Alfred, Lord Tennyson Stan Badgett alternates this monthly column with fellow conservative Paige Meredith.

Letters

The Sopris Sun welcomes your letters, limited to no more than 500 words via email at news@soprissun.com or 250 words via snail mail at P.O. Box 399, Carbondale CO 81623. Letters exceeding that length may be returned for revision or submission as a guest column; please include your name, town, and contact information. The deadline for submission is noon on Monday.

No room for excess Dear Editor: On my mind is water — or the lack of it — in local rivers. All local rivers are flowing way below normal, as we can see.

I just heard on KMTS, that the Crystal River is only 6 to 25 percent of normal (pretty sure that’s what they said).This creates warm water that cannot support trout, so there are restrictions on fishing now.

What troubles me, as I drive past billionaire owned “ranches” in the Crystal Valley, is the enormous amount of spraying/irrigation going on, as if the water supply were endless. The crisscrossing, arching plumes of water, shooting high into the air are beautiful to see, I admit.

But, it is also heartbreaking to see this display of over consumption.

I know there are laws designating agricultural use of water (dating to the late 1800s, I believe.) But, how can it be sustainable to be practically draining the river? And, this excessive, indulgent usage is not even for the public good! It’s for

private profit.

Does water only belong to the few?

At the same time, in the Crystal Valley, we are suffering multiple new high fences and impassable gates along long established animal paths, blocking access to water and familiar habitat. (Thirty-plus properties owned and patrolled by a single billionaire in our beloved Crystal Valley.)

Billionaires do not make good neighbors for animals, humans or the environment.

Diane Kenney Crystal Valley

Hospice helps Dear Editor: In the final months and weeks of both of my grandparents’ lives, HomeCare & Hospice of the Valley helped care for them and helped prepare us for their deaths.

Caring for your dying loved ones is no easy task, and the support my family received was priceless. Having that support allowed us to keep my grandparents at home until they died, which was ex-

2 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018

actly what they both wanted.

We are a lucky family — my grandparents allowed us to help them through their last major transition in life, which I know we are all very grateful for. Being present at a home death, similar to a home birth, is an intimate, moving, beautiful experience for those of us left. I hope that with the support of our community and organizations such as HomeCare & Hospice of the Valley, more people will feel empowered to let their loved ones die at home.

It is truly a gift for all.

Zuleika Pevec Carbondale

One for the books Dear Editor: It’s been since the early days founding the Telluride Writer’s Guild and the comradery that happened between the poets, short story authors, novelists, journalists and graffiti nuts that I’ve enjoyed an afLETTERS page 15

Sincerest thanks to our Honorary Publishers

for their generous, ongoing commitment of support.

Jim Calaway, Chair Kay Brunnier Bob Ferguson – Jaywalker Lodge Scott Gilbert – Habitat for Humanity RFV Bob Young – Alpine Bank Peter Gilbert Umbrella Roofing, Inc. Bill Spence and Sue Edelstein Greg and Kathy Feinsinger Carolyn Nelson

Thank you to our SunScribers and community members for your support!

It truly takes a village to keep The Sun shining.

To inform, inspire and build community.

Donate online or by mail.

P.O. Box 399 Carbondale, CO 81623 520 S. Third Street #32 970-510-3003 www.soprissun.com Editor Will Grandbois • 970-510-0540 news@soprissun.com Advertising: Carol Fabian • 970-510-0246 adsales@soprissun.com Reporter: Megan Tackett Photographer: Jane Bachrach Graphic Designer: Terri Ritchie Delivery: Tom Sands Current Board Members board@soprissun.com Marilyn Murphy, President Raleigh Burleigh, Vice President Stacey Bernot, Secretary Barbara Dills, Treasurer Debbie Bruell • Cliff Colia Olivia Pevec • Nicolette Toussaint John Colson The Sopris Sun Board meets regularly on the second Monday evening of each month at the Third Street Center.

Founding Board Members Allyn Harvey • Becky Young • Colin Laird Barbara New • Elizabeth Phillips Peggy DeVilbiss • Russ Criswell Send us your comments: feedback@soprissun.com The Sopris Sun, Inc. is a proud member of the Carbondale Creative District The Sopris Sun, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Donations to The Sun are fully tax deductible.

Left: Lindsay Jones, foreground, and Emi Bauer spent several days in May dumpster diving for wood and other materials for the art “props.” Right: Jones originally sketched some ideas for what will be a large mixed media collage on the gazebo, then entered it into a computer-aided graphics program. Here Jones paints the final wooden cut-outs.

Setting the stage for Mountain Fair Photos and text by Trina Ortega Sopris Sun Correspondent

Two weeks ago, artist Lindsay Jones was sitting outside her garden-level apartment in Carbondale with a dozen or more wooden plant-inspired shapes scattered on the ground around her.

Some as big as six feet around, they were the art pieces for one of her largest art installations to date. She had white flowers with flowing petals and stringy stamens and pistils outlined in thick black lines.

There were teal pods on stalks, coral vines and yellow leaves. Four tall letters spelled out “LOVE.” An array of community members from throughout the valley come together to help with the barn-raising that is the Carbondale Mountain Fair, and Jones was commissioned to design the stage for the 47th run of the event. As she sat on her patio, paintbrush in hand, Jones carefully considered whether she wanted all of the similar leaf types to be painted the same color. She admitted that no one would know if she didn’t follow her own drawing. Still, it was important to her.

“Originally, I was going to do all black and white, with a couple pops of color like my drawings, but I decided to add more color,” Jones said, explaining that the style is in an art nouveau theme to reference this year’s poster design. “I’m being too picky.

I need to make a decision and just do it.

It’ll be good either way. That’s what takes the most time — figuring out what the heck you want to do. It’s not the actual process of doing it… well, that’s a lie.”

Jones has been working for about three months — sketching, illustrating on the computer, digitally collaging the different parts, collecting repurposed materials, cutting and more. She says she doesn’t have an accurate sense of how much time she has spent on the project. “I just figured it’d be

a billion hours, and I wouldn’t keep track.

It’s been a lot.”

Carbondale Arts Executive Director Amy Kimberly approached Jones to design the stage some time in January. Although Jones had done some commercial work locally (such as designing patterns for cycling apparel for Aloha Mountain Cyclery), exhibited her work at Anderson Ranch, and designed posters on a volunteer basis for Bonedale Bike Week, her work wasn’t widely known among the Carbondale community until her show “Pattern Recognition” in September 2017 at the Launchpad.

Originally from Kansas City, Jones moved to Carbondale eight years ago.

She is a contemporary artist, textile designer and graphic designer, who works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, digital art, sculptural constructions and installations.

According to her artist’s bio, her artwork “reflects on ideas of landscapes and environments that are built, altered, shaped and manipulated, while using playful patterns and abstracted imagery.”

“My work is the result of my observations of the landscape: the rural, the urban, the exquisite, the boring, the natural, the unnatural. I find myself both in awe of, as well as disturbed by, the way that we build, and transform our environments, and believe that humanity will always be trying to figure out how to negotiate our life in

this shared environment,” she says in her artist’s statement.

The flowers, vines, leaves and pods have been cut from wood found in Carbondale dumpsters. Jones’ goal for the project is to have the stage art be made almost entirely of discarded and up-cycled materials. She had a few “exciting dumpster diving expeditions” to fetch plywood, tarps, and other materials and even needed a tetanus shot after one ambitious dumpster run.

“So far, the only new materials I’ve had to purchase are one can of paint and a bottle of wood glue,” Jones said in a June 27 Instagram post.

She received help from Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) student Emi Bauer, who interned with Jones for her senior project.

“It’s like a view into the art world in the Carbondale community,” Bauer said. Bauer and Jones met at CRMS, where Jones taught visual arts for two years.

“Helping Lindsay with the Mountain Fair stage has been cool. This morning, my first adventure was just riding around looking for wood in Carbondale and asking people if we can have it,” Bauer said after dumpster diving in early May. Bauer additionally primed all of the wood, and Jones gave Bauer a tutorial on graphic design software and about commercial pattern design. (Jones has done work for Nikita Clothing, Shredly, Pakems, Oaki,

“My work is the result of my observations of the landscape…”

Rocket Dog Shoes and Stio among others.)

Other community members have helped along the way. Jones originally was going to cut the wooden shapes, but Corey Summers of Summers Design volunteered to cut them with his CNC router. Dru Handy Custom Painting donated paint. Volunteers are helping Jones this week install the pieces onto the “canvas” — the upper triangle of the gazebo, which measures 20 feet in length at the base.

Jones normally works on a very small scale. She accepted the prominent job to design the stage to push her own artistic boundaries.

“My drawings are fairly small; I’m using a .05 mm pen or whatever, so my stuff’s very detailed,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to go big for a while. Working at this scale is forcing me to think about the stuff I normally draw in a different way, and that has been really fun.”

Eight days before Mountain Fair, Jones was nearly done with the individual art pieces. She was off to install her show “Unfamiliar Landscape” at Plug Projects Gallery in Kansas City, then to network at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Denver.

Despite having completed the heavy mental lifting of design, installation and the fair itself were still to come. She expressed some of her fears: What if a piece falls? What if it turns out some paint was not exterior paint and a huge monsoon comes and makes the colors run?

Those fears, she says, will force her to go above and beyond to ensure those things won’t happen. Still, she mused: “It will become an interactive watercolor at that point. We’ll all get up there and start smearing it around.”

And that is the spirit of Mountain Fair — a community-supported, grassroots, gowith-the-flow barn-raising where the girl next door designed the stage.

The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 3

Scuttlebutt

Send your scuttlebutt to news@soprissun.com.

On a roll

fice (947-2920) for the most recent information relative to fishing closures, fishing conditions, and fishing opportunities. Incidentally, the Colorado Water Conservation Board recently approved a lease of Ruedi Reservoir water held in contract by the Colorado River Water Conservation District to augment baseline winter flows on the Fryingpan River to a minimum of 70 cubic feet per second.

Carbondale-based Solar Rollers is one of the recipients of Tesla’s new Nevada K-12 Education Investment Fund, with $76,000 granted to bring the program to Nevada.

This investment will see Reno-Sparks area students working in teams to design, build and optimize complete clean energy systems that incorporate generation, storage, efficient use and reliability. The organization already runs competitions in Denver, Dallas, Dubai and the Bay Area.

Of moose and men It’s not quite “Northern Exposure,” but a moose was spotted wandering around on the flood plain near Carbondale recently — so it might be worth keeping your canine companion on leash at the dog park.

If you’d like to celebrate the big, hyper-defensive quadrupeds, your best opportunity is Grand Mesa Moose Day, July 28.

Roaring reunion Everyone comes back for Mountain Fair, and several groups of Roaring Fork High School alumni are taking advantage of it. The Third Street Center seems to be a particular hotspot on July 28 — perhaps because it was the elementary school back in the day — with the class of ‘98 meeting from 5 to 9 p.m in the Round Room, Pre Collegiate’s 15 year reunion from 6 to 8 p.m. in the gym and the ‘08 kids from 4 to 6 p.m. in the old library. The class of ‘97 opted for the Village Smithy for their belated event from 5 to 8 p.m., also on July 28 (email jdowning12@gmail.com or brookeleugers@yahoo.com for details and RSVP). The classes of ‘68 and ‘78 are both waiting until Aug. 11.

Fair enough We’ve left most of the details on Mountain Fair to the program inserted in each issue of The Sun (and available on our website and at

The Sopris Sun staff found it easy to hide among the forest of sunflowers outside our office. Luckily for you, we’re leaving ourselves out of our sunflower competition, which we’ll be judging this weekend (last minute participants can send their name and garden location to news@soprissun.com through Sunday). the entrances to the park if you’ve already lost it). There are a couple of things worth extra emphasis. While the opening blessing won’t be the same without Lighting Heart, there will be a meaningful moment in the Community Salute to Our Valley Firemen, which takes place at 5 p.m. right after the drum circle. Also, the program lists the wrong date for the Create District Celebration / KDNK Fundraiser, which actually takes place Aug. 10 — stay tuned for more info.

Say no Moore Congratulations to Bob Moore for his 2018 Henry Award for Best Supporting Actor in Thunder River Theatre Company’s production of “The Price.”

Don’t go fish

They say it’s your birthday

Due to high water temperatures and low flows, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is implementing voluntary fishing closures between 2 p.m. - 12 a.m. on the Crystal River from Avalanche Creek downstream to its confluence with the Roaring Fork, on the Fork from there to the Colorado confluence, on the Colorado from State Bridge to Rifle and on the Eagle from Wolcott downstream. CPW recommends anglers contact their local of-

Folks celebrating another year of life this week include: Fran Page (July 26); Vince Savage and Franz Alderfer (July 27); John Tripp, Tom Baker and Brent Moss (July 28); Owen O’Farrell, Jake Spaulding, Sarah Kemme, Greg Tonozzi, Randi Garcia, J.J. Worley, A.O. Forbes and Liz Phillips (July 29) ; Debbie Bruell, Cheryl Loggins and Nancy Barnett (July 31) Sarah Uhl and Anibal Guevera (Aug. 1).

2018 Summer

Orthopedic Lecture Series Learn from top orthopedic specialists about common conditions, innovative treatments and exciting new technologies.

Ask questions and discover the best way to live your life in motion.

COMING UP MONDAY, JULY 30, NOON - 1PM Aspen Valley Hospital Osteoporosis of the Spine Stanley Gertzbein, MD TUESDAY, JULY 31, 5:30 - 6:30PM Basalt Regional Library Rotator Cuff Tears: An Update Namdar Kazemi, MD FREE; Full schedule at orthoaspen.org NO RSVP REQUIRED

Talks take place in Aspen and Basalt!

ASPEN VALLEY HOSPITAL Oden Conference Room 0401 Castle Creek Road, Aspen

BASALT REGIONAL LIBRARY Community Room 14 Midland Avenue, Basalt

0401 Castle Creek Road, Aspen, CO 81611 | orthoaspen.org

4 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018

OrthoAspen

Piecing together an angel

By Megan Tackett Sopris Sun Staff Diane Orlov’s studio space in the Third Street Center is filled with hundreds of carefully stored plates, each harboring glass pebbles in different sizes and colors arranged in different designs. But those plates aren’t the designs’ final destination: they’re pieces that will create a larger whole on an 8-foot-by-12-foot mosaic in Glenwood Springs.

Orlov, in partnership with Compassion Aspen, has spent the last two years cultivating a community within a community, reaching out to numerous nonprofits in the Valley that would be willing to lend literal helping hands to create Angel of Hope Roaring Fork — a second iteration of an artistic vision that came to Orlov in a dream more than six years ago.

“It was an angel painting that hung above my daughter’s bed, and it came to me in a mosaic,” Orlov said. It would serve as both inspiration to uplift others and foreshadowing for her own life.

“I felt like I was supposed to do this with children, but I didn’t know where,” she said of her initial urge to create a physical manifestation of the mosaic in her dream, albeit at a larger scale. At the time, she was living in Tampa, Fla., where she had a painting and decorative plaster business. “An interior designer I was working for was on the board of the Children’s Cancer Center. I told her about it, and she introduced me to the people at the center.”

Suddenly, Orlov was spearheading what would become a 14-month project, working with patients and their families and caregivers to create designs that would comprise the mosaic.

“I had no idea what I was getting myself into, trying to work with pediatric cancer patients, hemophilia, psychosemia patients who couldn’t touch glass or adhesives,”

she said of that first effort. “That’s why I came up with the idea to do these designs on a plate, where the kids would never have to touch these things and it would be completely safe. It was a completely backwards way of mosaicing!”

The Angel of Hope at the Children’s Cancer Center became symbolic for its young patients precisely because it was a mosaic.

“The thing was basically, ‘How many hands and hearts does it take to care for this life? To be a guardian?’” Orlov recounted. “That was always the theme at the center, that you never have to fight your battles alone. That’s why I wanted them to have an angel to protect them.”

“That was always the theme at the center, that you never have to fight your battles alone. That’s why I wanted them to have an angel to protect them.”

Putting the pieces back together

At the cancer center, the mosaic represented individual stories coming together to create something supportive and beautiful.

But the very nature of a mosaic is that it’s a broken image. Orlov felt that brokenness acutely when her 24-year-old daughter died unexpectedly.

“I had had the intention of doing this project again when I moved here,” she said. “Not under those circumstances, of course.”

Orlov didn’t pursue those intentions in her new Colorado home — not at first.

“After a couple of years of merely surviving, I felt such an outpouring of love from Pathfinders,” she said of the Aspenbased nonprofit that offers grief support. “[Program Director] Allison Daily was an angel to me.”

Daily wouldn’t be the only angel Orlov recognized in her life.

“Gabrielle Greeves from Windwalkers believed in my vision. I started going to the Unitarian church. I started to just feel like I didn’t have to really fight this battle alone,” she said. It was the same sentiment that the Children’s Cancer Center touted.

“This became the reality in my life: picking up my own brokenness, putting it back together with love and feeling like I

BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT

Diane Orlov shows off one of the flower designs that will go into the Angel of Hope mosaic. Several local entities have organized to create hundreds of such designs in support of the endeavor. Photo by Jane Bachrach wasn’t alone in that battle,” she continued.

Rejuvenated, Orlov recommitted to her vision.

“I didn’t have much of my own spirit left, but I made a promise to my daughter that I would do this,” she said. “It became obvious why her angel came back to me as a mosaic.”

This time, though, she didn’t want to limit the scope of participants to those affected by cancer. That meant coordinating with many more organizations and the interfaith communities in order to reach “as many as people as possible,” she explained.

She was grateful to learn that many faith-based entities maintain active relationships in the Valley, despite differing beliefs.

“I personally believe that without faith, there is no healing. Whatever it is, everybody believes in something. We are putting it at [St. Stephen Church], but it is an invitation to find your own faith in your own way, however it is for you,” she said.

The Aspen Jewish Congregation, Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist and the Way of Compassion also support the endeavor,

she added.

Even the angel image is not meant to necessarily connote religiosity. “It’s really just about guardianship,” Orlov emphasized, adding that many pieces are dedicated to pets.

“One of the themes of this is that all of us have a story, and all of our stories are interwoven,” she said. But she wants to protect the integrity of each piece as well, so she’s documenting the individual designs and their affiliated stories for a book.

Allyn Harvey, a Compassion Aspen board member, will be one of those whose story inspired a design. “I’m not much of a cryer, but when I did my piece for my godfather who died last year, I was crying by the end of it,” he said.

Orlov plans to unveil the Angel of Hope in September 2019. And while there is much to do (gofundme.com/AspenAngel for more information), she’s envisioning an installation close to the sidewalk, where people can touch and feel the energy in the work. “It’s sort of like a braille for the soul,” she said.

Our Town One Table Reserve Your Space Now

Open seats on the Town of Carbondale Board of Adjustment (Variances and Appeals Board for land use) Contact Janet Buck 970.510.1208.

Applications may be found at www.carbondalegov.org or at Town Hall.

Applications are due by August 15, 2018 at 5 pm.

Sunday, August 19 6:30 p.m.

4th and Main Carbondale Email to reserve: jwall@carbondaleco.net THIS COMMUNITY AD SPACE DONATED BY COOL BRICK STUDIOS.

The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 5

Why a cyclery rolled into Carbondale

By Megan Tackett Sopris Sun Staff

Not many people accidentally stumble into Why Cycles, as you have to successfully navigate the Dolores Way commercial maze in order to find its 2605 address.

But those who do are rewarded with offerings of a libation from the coffee bar (which, in addition to a sleek espresso machine, features a full lineup of bottles from Marble Distilling and a fridge stocked with beer and San Pellegrino) — and those who give some notice of their arrival can demo a bike.

Founder Adam Miller is particularly proud of what he and his four Why Cycles colleagues have done with the place.

“We made this all from scrap, so it was super dirt cheap. That’s how we got this fancy marble,” he said of the bar. “We just got these cubicle walls,” he laughed.

It’s the newest space for the company, which only just hosted its official grand opening in June — a full four months after actually moving in. Keeping up with operations during peak biking season meant things like grand openings had to wait.

“We started in this spot February 1, and February is also the time that bike season starts up, so we were moving in here at the same time that sales were ramping up. We were pretty busy,” he said, mentioning that the company ships to 14 countries in branded travel bags in lieu of disposable packaging.

It’s not even the first Dolores Way address for Why Cycles.

“We were two buildings over,” Miller explained. “We grew out of that spot kind of before we moved in.”

That was in December, when the Why Cycles crew first settled into Carbondale from Ogden, Utah.

“We’re really new,” he said.

The how and why of it While that may be true regarding this particular brand in this particular location, that’s certainly not the case in terms of the team’s experience in the industry. Miller, 26, started dabbling in the bike business when we was a 14-year-old Alaskan. “[That] is a pretty similar story to all of us,” Miller said of the team. “I just was a total bike nerd. There’s actually a huge bike community in Alaska, which was

Most people have a reason for going into Why Cycles’ Dolores Way location – it’s not an obvious downtown retailer and most of the company’s sales are online. But the space is a welcoming one for inquiring locals, with bikes everywhere and a marbletop coffee bar. From left to right: Adam Miller, Flynn George, Greg Herrman, Andy Michelin. Not pictured: Kevin Boyer. Photos by Jane Bachrach weird. It’s a frigid place.”

Because of Alaska’s climate, fat bikes — “a bike with a big, fat tire on it,” as Miller described them — are incredibly popular there, as the wider tires allow more stability on snow and ice.

When Miller moved to Colorado to pursue his economics degree at Colorado College, enthusiasm for fat bikes was pretty much contained in his home state, he explained. That led to a lucrative op-

portunity: nobody else was selling highend fat bikes.

“They were all cheap and heavy, and I saw an opening in the market,” he said matter-of-factly.

He co-founded Borealis Fat Bikes with a guest professor who funded the venture during his junior year at CC. “We got really lucky: we were the first company with a carbon fat bike to hit the market,” Miller said of Borealis. “The

timing was right, and everything took off.

By the second year, we did over $5 million in sales.”

In 2015, Miller decided to sell his 50-percent stake to his business partner, citing differences in visions. That transaction subsequently allowed him to start Why Cycles, which focuses on high-end titanium bikes.

It’s an aptly named company, as there’s a reason for every aspect of his most recent venture.

“We all like riding bikes, so we just want to keep making bikes that we want to ride. It happens that other people want to ride them, too,” Miller said.

And Miller — along with with the rest of his cohorts — enjoys riding titanium hardtails much of the time. Why? “They’re super simple,” he said. “A modern geometry hardtail like the ones we make, they’re super lightweight and fast and low maintenance, so you don’t have to worry about a bunch of suspension pivots and whatnot.”

As it happens, that kind of bike is perfect for most of the trails in the area, he continued, though he acknowledged his bias on the matter. “For the local trails, a 27.5+ hardtail like our S7 is, if you’re going to have one bike for this area, I think that’s great.”

It’s one of several reasons behind Why Cycles’ relocation to Carbondale and Dolores Way in particular. Miller is excited to further ingratiate his company into the local scene — Aloha Bikes, 580 Hwy 133, is a retailer — but the majority of sales are online.

“We’re set up so people can walk in, but we’re not like a retail shop, so we didn’t need to be on Main Street,” Miller said, adding that rent for commercial space on Dolores Way was much more practical. Additionally, Carbondale’s proximity to I-70 meant that shipping costs here wouldn’t be any more expensive than if the company was headquartered in the Front Range — and he would much prefer to be here.

“From our office, we have to go on pavement for like a quarter mile and then we’re out on trail, and that’s mindblowing,” he said, naming Red Hill his “by far” CYCLERY page 7

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970-456-3277 allpetsmobilevet.net 6 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018

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When the music’s over, get on your bike

By Will Grandbois Sopris Sun Staff

It’s easy to see why so much effort goes into the cyclery’s branding and product. Photo by Jane Bachrach

Cyclery from page 6 favorite trail here.

That combination of business practicality and lifestyle quality is the main reason behind Why Cycles opting to call Carbondale home.

“Our goal is definitely to be more involved locally,” he said. “Yeah, we’re an online business, but there’s a huge bike community here.”

More than Main Street

Dolores Way is turning into Carbondale’s next business hub – especially outdoor recreation, whether you’re shopping for gear or training. Grab a bite at Silo, 1909 Dolores Way, then plan your next season. Here’s a sampling of what’s there: Ripple Effect 2551 Dolores Way (rippleeffecttraining.com) Roaring Fork Aikikai 2553 Dolores Way (rfaikikai.com) UpSki 2557 Dolores Way (upski.com) Why Cycles 2605 Dolores Way (whycycles.com)

Carbondale’s Full Moon Cruise has waxed and waned, but if history is any guide, this month’s Mountain Fair ride is likely to prove particularly bright.

The last time circumstances so aligned, hundreds of cyclists flooded Main Street right after the slideshow, breaking into several smaller groups that still outnumbered most successful months.

Other nights, a dozen stalwart souls rode against the February chill, half the procession waited at the bottom of White Hill while others rode up or the whole crew stopped for an impromptu fire dancing display.

“It’s never the same twice. That’s what’s cool about it,” said Spokes Man — an anonymous community member who has been involved since the very beginning.

He thinks that was April 2005, and doesn’t believe that the original organizers took the idea from anywhere else.

“I feel like it started in lots of places around the same time,” he said. “The town was ready for it to happen. It didn’t take much to get it going… just hand-drawn fliers that we just copied and put in brake levers in everyone’s bike around town.”

The anonymity isn’t just about liability, it’s an intentional attempt to keep things leaderless, as one of the Facebook group administrators — who identified himself as a robot “programmed to help Carbondale have as much fun as possible” — explained.

“It’s fun because it’s alive and anyone can determine the group’s fate,” he wrote.

“Nobody wants to have someone in charge telling them what to do, especially not on the full moon.”

Still, someone has to set a time to meet and keep the group together.

“You’re kind of like a cowboy trying to get the herd to move,” Spokes Man observed.

It helps to have someone with music up front, which has become easier in the era of bluetooth speakers and even inspired intermittent pauses for dance parties. It

used to be dedicated to those who didn’t or couldn’t join, but the latter demographic will hopefully be limited, as at least one pedi-cab service will be available. Spokes Man is proud of the diversity the event has attracted — all ages, walks of life and types of bikes — and the way folks cheer as it passes.

“It’s more of a community event,” he said.

He’s glad to see a new generation taking on organization, and plans to pass on the Spokes Man (Woman / Person) title like the Dread Pirate Roberts.

“It needs that youthful energy,” he said.

The robotic heir apparent — we’ll call him Spoke Too Soon — hopes that doesn’t mean too much of a party atmosphere, particularly with the Friday of the Fair timing.

“I’m really hoping that the chaos is contained safely and that the ride is fun for everyone,” he said. “I would definitely encourage people to wear helmets, light their bikes, make sure their bike is maintained ahead of time and don’t ride drunk.”

The July 27 ride will start later than

usual to allow the final act to finish its set.

The theme is “petals and pedals” to reflect the Fair’s “love pollinators.”

“Sometimes we have themes and other times we don’t,” Spoke Too Soon explained. “It gives some personality to the headless beast that is the ride.”

If all goes well, the big ride might hook some new participants as it moves into its next phase.

“I’ve really been enjoying the direction it’s headed,” he said. “I think people are having fun with it.”

Fair Friday Full Moon Cruise What: A moonlit bike ride through town When: 9:30 p.m. July 27 Where: Meet on Seventh Street, just west of Sopris Park Theme: Pedals and Petals Do: Wear a helmet, headlamp and a costume if you like Don’t: Ride drunk

The music doesn’t have to end when you join the cruise. To avoid dissonance, it helps if everyone tunes into KDNK for a harmonious groove on and off the bikes.

Photo by Will Grandbois

Saving Democracy In our Unitarian Universalist principles, we affirm democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. How should we understand the history of democracy in our society, and how can we put our principles into practice in a time of crisis in American democracy? with Guest Speaker Colorado ACLU Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley

Join us Sunday, July 29, 2018 - 10:00 a.m.

Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist (TRUU) @ Third Street Center, Community Room

www.tworiversuu.org

Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist

Music with Christina Wenning, Religious Exploration with Ana Chynoweth, Preschool with Justice Bouchet

The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 7

Town Report

Cop Shop

The following items are drawn from Town Manager Jay Harrington’s weekly report to staff, trustees and others.

WASTE HAULING discussions were robust at the Farmer’s Market, but the turnout for the open house at Town Hall was light. You can still take a survey at carbondalegov.org, and other feedback opportunities are under consideration.

THE BLOOD DRIVE this month was the most successful to date, with 39 donors. The next one is slated for Sept. 5.

NEW PLANNING COMMISSIONER candidates will be interviewed at the July 26 meeting.

ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS in River Valley Ranch were analyzed to see how they were allocated over a 25-year period. Planning staff also participated in regional housing land use meetings with area municipalities and counties.

BOND REFINANCING for the Recreation Center was expected to close July 25 now that document execution has been completed.

A FULL TIME POSITION doing recreation facilities maintenance is open. Inquire via ebrendlinger@carbondaleco.net or 5101279. Climbing instructors, program assistance and customer service representatives are also needed; contact jwall@carbondaleco.net or 510-1214.

SUMMER ADVANTAGE groups Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers are conducting community service projects with manual weed pulls at the North Face Bike Park and town ball fields on Friday, July 27.

THE THOMAS LAKES hike through the Our Trails and Tents Program on July 25 is full with 11 hikers.

POOL HOURS will change again on Aug. 13. See the schedule at carbondalerec.com.

SWIM LESSONS wrap up with a fourth and final session July 30 through Aug. 9. Aqua Zumba continues at 4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, Aqua Zen at 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and Water Aerobics at 8 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.

PARK PREP for Mountain Fair continued with help from multiple town departments and Carbondale Fire.

SNOWMASS DRIVE TRAIL progress continues with a base for curb and gutter installed, the colored concrete crosswalk half poured and the retaining wall in the process of being stained. Meanwhile, a piped ditch extension and conduit is being installed in preparation for the Third Street sidewalk project.

SATURDAY July 14 at 10:25 a.m.

Police were contacted by Colorado Office of Enforcement regarding barbering services without a license.

SUNDAY July 15 at 1:51 p.m. A report of child abuse/sex assault led to an investigation by law enforcement and DHS. SUNDAY July 15 at 9:15 p.m. A 25-year-old man was stopped for speeding and subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and cannabis.

THE I.T. SERVICES request for proposal is due Aug. 3.

MONDAY July 16 at 1 a.m. A stop for failure to obey a traffic device led to the arrest of the 39-year-old drive on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

POLICE AGILITY tests are being conducted. Officer Vladimir Dominguez completed a critical incident training, and Officer Bell attended an active shooter class. Fred Williams officer position is in the process of being filled, with oral boards this week.

Summer Fun For Everyone We e k o f J u l y 2 9 - A u g 4

Tunes & Tales Happy Dreamer A musical storytime with the Aspen Music Festival

Movie Making 101 The Blair Witch Project Three film students dissappear in the woods.

Music at the Library Chamber Recitals A selection of chamber music masterworks.

Tues, July 31 10:30 - 11:30 AM

Wed, Aug 1 5:00 - 7:00 PM

Thurs, Aug 2 5:15 - 6:30 PM

Adults

FRIDAY July 13 at 10:22 a.m.

While arresting a 31-year-old man for an outstanding warrant, officers reportedly found hallucinogenic mushrooms on his person, resulting in an additional possession of a controlled substance charge.

WATER PRODUCTION remains stable at 1.88 million gallons per day and 74 percent production. Adjustments are being made to compensate for low flow periods in the ditch system as well as the potential for flooding in the case of a microburst.

Basalt Regional Library

All Ages 3+

From July 13 through the 19, Carbondale Police handled 253 Calls for Service. During that period, officers investigated the following cases of note:

Adults

See all the events for this week at BasaltLibrary.org/events-calendar 14 MIDLAND AVE · BASALT, CO 970-927-4311 | www. basaltlibrary.org

Somethings Have Always Been Worth The Drive!

Life

without

The

Sun? That wouldn’t be much fun.

It takes community support to keep The Sopris Sun shining.

Please donate at soprissun.com or PO Box 399, Carbondale, CO 81623 All donations are tax-deductible.

July’s Monthly Special

Cooling Cucumber Body Masque Private Mineral Bath, Back, Neck and Shoulder Massage, and a Day pass to our Historic Vapor Caves.

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Trustees raise tobacco age, keep marijuana tax

By Will Grandbois Sopris Sun Staff Having increased regulation of tobacco and decreased taxation for marijuana on the same Board of Trustees agenda seemed like a contrast, but the final outcome on July 24 showed a measure of consistency.

Several meetings worth of discussion came to fruition with an ordinance increasing the smoking and vaping age to 21. The Board stopped short of requiring licensing, but will be able to enforce the ordinance with both criminal and civil violations — the former for anyone caught actively selling tobacco to someone underage and the latter for the buyer, shop owner or manager or someone providing it outside of a retail context.

Mandy Ivanov of Eagle County Public Health encouraged trustees to consider licensing at some point, noting that the loss of the right to sell tobacco products at all is a stiffer punishment than a fine.

“There isn’t a magic bullet that’s going to completely take away our extraordinary youth vaping rates, but that tends to bring about the largest behavior change,” she said. “Christmas trees are licensed in Colorado. Ice is licensed in Colorado.”

Several trustees seemed more concerned about the potentially excessive penalties for minors themselves, but Police Chief Gene Schilling doesn’t see a precedent for that.

“Over the years that we’ve had the 18 and under tobacco ordinance, we may have issued one citation,” he said.

The marijuana tax discussion, meanwhile, was championed by High Q Owner Renée Grossman but ultimately resulted in no change.

Carbondale voters passed a 5 percent excise tax shortly after Amendment 64 took effect in 2014, bringing the total rate to 25.5 percent.

“We’re the only industry that suffers an extra tax,” Grossman told trustees.

“My store in Silt does double the sales we do in Carbondale… I’m just asking for a level playing field.”

She contended that, as an early adopter, Carbondale had set its regulations before the market was competitive and voters were truly aware of the consequences.

Trustee Heather Henry wasn’t about to alter a public mandate without public consent.

“If we were to entertain this, for me it would be to go back to the voters and test if the situation has actually changed for them,” she said.

She also pointed out that Carbondale uses some of the increased revenue to mitigate youth use — though it’s not explicitly earmarked.

As for whether the extra tax was actually having a significant impact on sales, Trustee Lani Kitching had her doubts.

“We’ve heard from different sources that people were upset about the PIF in

No Name Sanctuary

Glenwood (Meadows) and yet we still go to Target,” she pointed out.

When the Board declined to pursue the matter further, Grossman expressed a lack of surprise, but said she’d likely raise the issue again down the road.

Bridging troubled water Water is the source of a lot of conflict in the arid West, but at least a couple of old municipal disputes have been put to bed.

At the same meeting, Trustees approved proposals by Public Works Director Kevin Schorzman for a water dedication agreement with Colorado Rocky Mountain School and an easement swap related to the Town’s well on the Crystal River.

The former concerns the Rockford Ditch, which has been the subject of debate ever since a piece of CRMS property was annexed by the town in 1979.

With each new development, the school and the Town have feuded over water shares, sometimes ending up in court.

The solution as presented by Schorzman is simply to assign shares by acreage from here on out.

“It became apparent that there’s probably an easier way to do this,” he said at the meeting. “It just made sense for both the town and CRMS to just spell it out.”

Town Manager Jay Harrington seemed pleased with the outcome.

“This is a really good thing to have in

place after years of arguing over minute details,” he said.

The Crystal Well agreement, meanwhile, has been in the works since the 1990s. Effectively, the Town will quit claims to easements it’s not using in exchange for new easements around the wellhouse. A .21 acre parcel will also have its deed vacated, something that proved a bit of a sticking point for Trustee Ben Bohmfalk.

“That doesn’t seem like something we would normally do,” he said. “A quarter acre is not to be scoffed at… I think if any of us owned it, we probably wouldn’t give it away.”

In Schorzman’s assessment, however, it was just part of balancing the scales and Mayor Dan Richardson didn’t feel like getting hung up on it.

“I wonder if that was one of the reasons it wasn’t resolved in the past,” he said.

Ultimately, the trustees favored resolution.

In other action, the board…

Declined a request by members of the Roaring Fork Horse Council and neighbors to endorse use of the Sutey Ranch property for non-mechanized use, citing insufficient time for public comment with the current Aug. 5 deadline.

Approved a letter of support for the Town of New Castle to accompany its grant application for design of LoVa Trail.

Plan ahead, register your vehicle before July 31.

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All County Clerk Motor Vehicle departments will be closed August 1 - 3 for conversion to Colorado DRIVES, the new computer system going live August 6 for titles and registrations.

The Garfield County Clerk & Recorder’s office will be open during the conversion dates, but will not be able to assist with any motor vehicle needs.

Garfield County Clerk & Recorder 970-384-3700

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Haddie Lopez 970.456.6559

www.garfield-county.com/clerk-recorder The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 9

Community Calendar THURSDAY July 26

SPANISH FILM • At 7 p.m., the Cine Club at KDNK (76 S. Second St.) screens “La Teta Asustada” (The Milk of Sorrow) — Claudia Llosa’s acclaimed second feature — with English subtitles. Free entrance; voluntary donation.

AMERICANA • Moors and McCumber plays Steve’s Guitars (19 N. Fourth St.) at 8:30 p.m. or thereabouts.

To list your event, email information to news@soprissun.com. Deadline is noon on Monday.

Events take place in Carbondale unless noted.

at 5:30 at the Basalt Regional Library (14 Midland Ave.) — outdoors if weather allows.

REGGAE JAMS • Catch Whiskey Stomp at Carbondale Beer Works (647 Main St.) from 9 p.m. ‘til midnight.

FUNKADELIGRASS • Steve’s Guitars (19 N. Fourth St.) hosts Liver Down the River after the Fair.

SATURDAY FRI July 27 – SUN July 29 July 28 MOUNTAIN FAIR • Carbondale Arts celebrates art in all forms of expression with the fair’s diverse range of arts and crafts, non-stop entertainment, great food and an amazing spirit. See the full lineup in the inserted program.

FRI to THU July 27 - Aug. 2

MOVIES • The Crystal Theatre (427 Main St.) is closed July 26-29. Showing “Won’t You be My Neighbor” (PG-13) at 7:30 p.m. July 30-Aug. 1 and “I AM MLK Jr.” (PG-13) presented by the Way of Compassion Foundation at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 2.

FRIDAY July 27

HONKY TONK • Zephaniah OHora, “a pillar of the burgeoning NYC CountryWestern music community,” performs at 8 p.m. at The Temporary (360 Market St., Willits). $19 in advance at tacaw.org or $24 at the door.

LATIN MUSIC • Jarabe Mexicano plays

CHAMBER MUSIC • A juried selection of the Aspen Music Festival student musicians perform at 6 p.m. at the Carbondale Branch Library (320 Sopris Ave.) in a free event.

FOLK PUNK • Isabella Betts starts things off at 8:30 p.m. at Steve’s Guitars (19 N. Fourth St.) followed by The Gasoline Lollipops.

BROOKLYN BHANGRA • Red Baraat plays at 9 p.m. at The Temporary (360 Market St., Willits). $27 in advance at tacaw.org or $32 at the door.

SUNDAY July 29

WORLD FOLK • Ley Line plays after the Fair at Steve’s Guitars (19 N. Forth St.).

First Friday, August 3rd

RALLY PALOOZA

In the heart of Carbondale's Creative District

MON July 30 - SUN Aug. 5

COUNTY FAIR • Head down to 1001 Railroad Ave. in Rifle for 4-H shows, Jr. Livestock Show & Sale, rodeos, concerts, a parade and a demolition derby.

MONDAY July 30

DAM FILMS • Catch “The Quest of Alain Ducasse” at 8 p.m. as part of the ongoing Dance, Art, & Music series at The Temporary (360 Market St., Willits). $8 for Aspen Film members, $11 in advance at tacaw.org or $13 at the door.

TUESDAY July 31

ORTHOASPEN SERIES • OrthoAspen shoulder specialist Dr. Kazemi will update his previous lecture on the vast history of rotator cuff tears, including symptoms and both surgical and non-surgical treaments at 5:30 p.m. at Basalt Regional Library (14 Midland Ave.).

WEDNESDAY Aug. 1

POETRY READING • Barbara Ras and Ellen Doré Watson share their newest works at 7 p.m. and will be available to sign books afterwards at The Temporary (360 Market St., Willits). $7 in advance at tacaw.org or $11 at the door.

Ongoing TRAIL WORK • Help Aspen Valley Land Trust and Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers give the Red Hill / Mushroom Rock trail system a makeover from 4 p.m. ‘til dark Tuesdays through Aug. 21. Sign up at rfov.org.

HISTORY MUSEUM • The Mt. Sopris Historical Society Cabin Museum and Pioneer Heritage Garden (located at the corner of Highway 133 and Weant Boulevard) is open on Wednesdays 3-6 p.m. and Fridays 12-3 p.m. through September 2018.

RODEO • The nonprofit, volunteer Carbondale Wild West Rodeo continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Gus Darien Riding Arena on Catherine Store Road.

FARMER’S MARKET • Sample wares from a small, eclectic blend of local farmers, producers and artisans Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fourth Street Plaza.

KARAOKE • The Black Nugget (403 Main St.) and Sandman bring you over 30,000 songs to choose from and a quality sound system to release your inner rockstar at 9 pm. every Thursday.

BOOK CLUB • Join friends and fellow readers to discuss great books at Carbondale Branch Library (320 Sopris Ave.) at 4 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month; call 963-2889 for this month’s selection.

HEALTH THROUGH NUTRITION • Free opportunities include… One-hour consultation about heart attack prevention, plant-based nutrition, other medical issues.

CALENDAR continued on page 11

FootSteps Marketing is a proud raffle sponsor of the 47th Annual Carbondale Arts Mountain Fair.

We have teamed up with Colorado salvaged-materials painter, outdoor enthusiast and trail steward, Brinkley Messick, who created this one of a kind “Celestial Sopris Summit” painting and a custom, hand-painted and sewn trucker hat.

At FootSteps Marketing, we strive to support our community and Colorado artists like Brinkley Messick Art. Visit his booth at Mountain Fair or online at BrinkleyMessickArt.com

The annual Hot Rods First Friday event returns with a new name!

This year, we've expanded hot rod entrants to include classic cars, motorcycles, electric cars & bikes, and more! Vehicles will be on display on Main Street from 5:00pm to 8:30pm.

Vehicle check-in: 4:50pm at Roadside Gallery-320 Main Street.

For details & to register your vehicle visit www.carbondale.com or call 970.963.1890 10 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018

Helping independent businesses thrive in their communities.

(970) 510-5800 | Carbondale, Colorado | footstepsmarketing.com

Community Calendar

continued from page 10

Ongoing

Call retired family doctor Greg Feinsinger, M.D. for appointment (379-5718). First Monday of every month catch a powerpoint presentation by Dr. Feinsinger about the science behind plant-based nutrition, 7 to 8:30 p.m., boardroom Third Street Center (520 S. Third St.). Fourth Monday of every month, plant-based potluck 6:30 p.m.

Calaway Room, Third Street Center. All events supported by Davi Nikent, Center for Human Flourishing. More information at www.davinikent.org.

TRIVIA • Geeks Who Drink comes to Batch (358 Main St.) for free at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays.

HIGH NOON • Bring your compliments, complaints and ideas to Sopris Sun Editor Will Grandbois at 12 p.m. Thursdays at the Pour House (351 Main St.).

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN • Staff and sources talk about this week’s paper and more at 4 p.m. Thursdays on KDNK (88.1 FM).

MEDITATION • Free silent meditation sessions are held at the Launchpad (76 S. Fourth St.) from 6:45 to 7:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Additionally, The Monday Night Meditation Group meets from 7 to 8:15 p.m. at True Nature (100 N. Third St.) and offers instruction in the Buddhist practice of Vipassana. Also at True Nature, everyone’s invited for SRF meditation from 10 to 11 a.m. on the first Sunday of the month.

DHARMA • The Way of Compassion Dharma Center holds a Dharma talk and

meditation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and a silent meditation and Buddha of Compassion practice at 8 a.m. Saturdays at the Third Street Center (520 S. Third St.).

MINDFULNESS • The Mindful Life Program in the Third Street Center (520 S. Third St.) offers group sessions Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Admission is by donation and registration is not necessary. Info: mindfullifeprogram.org and 970-633-0163.

LIFE DRAWING • Drop in for figure drawing with Staci Dickerson at 6:30 p.m. Mondays at SAW (525 Buggy Cr. Unit C).

COMMUNITY MEAL • Faith Lutheran Church (1340 Highway 133) hosts a free community meal from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of the month. Info: 510-5046 or faithcarbondale. com. Carbondale Homeless Assistance also has its meeting on the fourth Tuesday of each month.

LET’S JUST DANCE • Feel great, have fun and dance Tuesdays at The Third Street Center (520 S. Third St.). Catch a free lesson at 7 p.m., then from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. it’s open dancing with two-step, swing, waltz, line dance, salsa and more. No partner or experience necessary. $8/person; $14/couple. Questions? Call 970-366-6463 or email billypat4@gmail.com.

WORLD DANCE • Learn rhythms from various countries and cultures for $12 per class from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Mondays at the Carbondale Community School (1505 Satank Rd.).

ROTARY • The Carbondale Rotary Club meets at the Carbondale Fire Station (300 Meadowood Dr.) at 6:45 a.m. Wednesdays.

The Mt. Sopris Rotary meets at White House Pizza (801 Main Ct.) at noon every Thursday.

OPEN MIC • A new open mic takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays at Riverside Grill (181 Basalt Center Circle, Basalt).

Food and drink specials. Free.

YOGA • Get a donation based introduction to Hatha Yoga Tuesdays from 8 to 9 p.m. at The Launchpad (76 S. Fourth St.).

MAKERSPACE • Children and teens are invited to design, create, tinker, and play with art and technology to design and create with 3D Pens, make stop-motion animation films, engineer duct tape creations, build their own video games, and more from 2 to 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Carbondale Branch Library (320 Sopris Ave.).

ONE VOICE • Lisa Dancing-Light, founder of Higher Octave Music Programs, presents a community singing group intended to celebrate the joy that music brings to the spirit. Every other Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Helios Center (601 Sopris Ave.) in Carbondale.

RAGTIME • Theatre Aspen (470 Rio Grande Pl.) presents an epic musical set in 1900s New York with shows through August.

GRIEF AND LOSS • Pathfinders offers a grief and loss support group every other Monday at 6 p.m., and a caregiver support group every other Wednesday noon.

An RSVP is required to Robyn Hubbard

at 319-6854. Pathfinders offers support groups from Aspen to Rifle and is located in Carbondale at 1101 Village Rd. Info: pathfindersforcancer.org.

PARENT CHILD CLASSES • Waldorf on the Roaring Fork (16543 Highway 82) presentslasses for parents and children 0-1.5 on Wednesdays June 20 thorugh July 25 and parents and children 1.5 to 3 on Thursdays June 21 through July 26; siblings up to kindergarten age welcome. Info and sign up at waldorfschoolrf.org.

WRITERS GROUP • Wordsmiths of all experience and abilities gather at the Carbondale Branch Library (320 Sopris Ave.) at 6 p.m. on the second Monday of the month.

Further Out THURSDAY Aug. 2

I AM MLK JR • Compassion Fest and Gathr Films has partnered to bring this special screening to the Crystal Theatre (427 Main St.) at 7:30 p.m. — provided enough tickets are sold in advance at compassionfest.world.

FRIDAY Aug. 3

AMBASSADOR TALK • The Roaring Fork Cultural Council brings Ambassador Chris Hill to the Thunder River Theatre (67 Promenade) at 7 pm. to discuss the current world political climate including the Korean Peninsula. Tickets are $25 at thunderrivertheatre.com.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL 61+ STRAINS DAILY SPECIALS $20 EIGHTHS REWARDS CLUB

CARBONDALE DISPENSARY 9:00am–7:00pm 970–510–3065 304 Highway 133

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The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 11

Carbondale leads county for 2018 DUI citations Summer events, officer diligence likely cause

By Justin Patrick Special to The Sopris Sun With the summer festivities and cool mountain nights comes a stern reminder from the Carbondale Police Department to stay safe and refrain from driving while intoxicated.

The reminder is especially salient here, because Carbondale sees a relatively high rate of DUI citations compared to neighboring municipalities. In the past year, there were 108 DUI/DWAI cases, with about a third of those occurring in the summer months. Glenwood Springs saw a comparable rate (181 DUIs with a population of 10,000) while Basalt had about half the rate of DUI citations (22 with a population of 4,000). It is estimated that Carbondale is leading Garfield County in 2018, having already logged 62 DUI/DWAI citations by mid-July.

Part of the reason for that high number is attributable to large events that involve more people consuming alcohol. Chief Gene Schilling noted that four DUI arrests were made during June’s First Friday. “We have First Fridays every month, Mountain Fair… a lot of special events that have alcohol involved,” he said. But that factor may only go so far in explaining the trend.

Another significant factor is Sergeant Robb Windham, who has led the County in DUI citations for the past four years. Last year, Windham was responsible for approximately 70 of 100 DUI citations in Carbondale.

In addition to serving on the force in Carbondale for several years and knowing the town well, he is a certified Drug Recognition Expert (DRE). The process for certification is demanding and requires an extreme de-

gree of accuracy in understanding the range of drugs available to the population and what effect they will have on the brain, and by extension, driving behavior.

“For most of the trainings we go to, you have a sense that you’re just going to get through it and get your certificate,” said Sergeant Windham. “For DRE, they’ll boot you. You have two days to show that you are proficient.”

After acceptance into the program, officers must take two weeks of classes and then complete a five-hour exam.

If they pass, they must travel to a city jail and evaluate freshly arrested occupants (they willingly volunteer) who are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. They must successfully identify the source of intoxication in 11 of 12 subjects, as confirmed by blood tests.

“Once you get that higher level of certification, it makes it a little easier to spot drunks,” said Chief Schilling.

“There’s clinical indicators that people can’t control,” said Windham of his tactics to identify drunk drivers after pulling them over. Windham said almost all citations begin with erratic driving behavior. Drunk drivers will drive far faster or slower than the speed limit, will run stop signs or stop several feet after them, and will even sit at green lights.

Windham says there is no demographic especially prone to drunk driving; he sees all ages, genders, and races making the mistake. He says most people in Carbondale are polite and remorseful when caught, and he will frequently give rides home to cooperative individuals. “A lot of the people we pull over just seem like normal people who made a bad choice,” he said. “They were thinking they were okay to drive, or they flat out made a bad choice.”

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Windham has a special passion for the job, having lost two good friends in high school to drunk drivers.

“It is my number one passion,” he said. Windham believes most DUI citations happen when officers are in the right place at the right time, and that “the harder you look, the less likely you’ll find one.”

Armed with a DUI Enforcement Grant through the state that pays for officers’ overtime, Carbondale’s police will be out in force during Mountain Fair and other pre-identified hotspot dates. He advised residents to play it safe and plan to take public transportation or designate a sober driver when enjoying the festivities in town this summer.

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Will Grandbois

He’ll take your compliments and complaints, answer your questions and hear your suggestions.

Pour House

Stop in for lunch, grab a drink or dessert or just drop in.

Sopris Sun Editor will be at the

(351 Main St.)

at noon Thursdays

12 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

By Will Grandbois Sopris Sun Staff Despite intermittent rain, the Lake Christine Fire continues its inexorable march over Basalt Mountain, smoking fiercely as it passes through thick beetle-kill pine.

Officials have hopes that it will be easier to manage in gambel oak in the Upper Cattle Creek drainage. At nearly 12,000 acres as of press time, the fire is on pace to exceed the 2002 Coal Seam Fire in size. Containment is holding steady at 39 percent — a relative figure that actually reflects additional firebreaks as the fire grows in size.

After several days under a Type Three Incident Management Team, a new Type Two command structure is back in charge with roughly 400 firefighters in the field.

At a press conference on July 19, White River National Forest Director Scott Fitzwilliams characterized such fluctuations as normal.

“That’s the beauty of the system. It’s made to ebb and flow. It pulses with needs,” he said. “With more fire activity comes more complexities… We want to make sure we set both the firefighters up for success and the community.”

Specifically, Fitzwilliams cited the fire’s jump over an escarpment that had previously restricted its growth onto rougher terrain and with more potential to threaten neighborhoods along the north side of the Fryingpan. Pre-evacuation orders remain in place on Cedar Drive, Toner Creek, Seven Castles, and Taylor Road as well as eastern Missouri Heights. Mandatory evacuations have been rolled back, but forest closures remain in place on Basalt Mountain and Red Table Mountain, where several cabins are threatened.

Air traffic has also added complexity to the firefighting effort. While drones are banned over the blaze for the duration, efforts have been made to allow commer-

Connect

cial aircraft access to the main approach into Aspen Pitkin County Airport as possible. Still, hundreds flights have been canceled, affecting thousands of travelers.

General Aviation aircraft capable of making a visual approach have largely been able to skirt the closure.

Another potential complication is the potential for heavy flooding in burned areas when the next rainstorm comes through. According to Eagle County Emergency Manager Barry Smith, crews are in position to respond but residents may still be cut off for periods of time.

“This fire is still going to be with us a while,” Fitzwilliams noted. “We’re going to need a change in the weather. In the meantime, we’re going to continue to fight this thing aggressively.”

The Lake Christine Fire has been burning since July 3, when Richard Miller, 23, and Allison Marcus, 22, apparently ignited the blaze by firing off tracer rounds at the Basalt State Wildlife Area shooting range.

The pair were issued summonses for misdemeanor arson, subsequently upgraded to felony status.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife later came under fire for keeping the range open — despite concerns from private citizens, municipal leaders and even within the agency — and has since closed all such facilities it manages in Northwest Colorado.

Meanwhile, the fire spread west, threatening neighborhoods above Two Rivers Road. The next day, it began to expand east towards the Frying Pan, as well. That night, another run to the west brought the fire within spitting distance of the El Jebel Trailer park and parts of Missouri Heights — resulting in the loss of three homes.

Since then, the fire has grown tremendously but is moving mostly away from civilization.

Fire danger remains critically high, with stage two fire restrictions in place.

Intermittent air quality health advisories have been issued for Basalt and Carbondale. Residents and visitors — particularly the very young, elderly and those with heart disease or respiratory illness — are encouraged to avoid outdoor activity, keep indoor air clean and consider relocating temporarily if visibility is less than five miles. Real-time air quality readings are accessible at purpleair.com. Photo by Jane Bachrach

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The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 13

Water battles and dry heat

From the archives of the Roaring Fork Valley Journal July 27, 1978 In a story on mid-valley water battles, Don Sky described a turn-of-the-century dispute in which a farmer threatened to shoot another for stealing his water, but missed and was killed by the alleged thief. By ‘78, however, lawyers were the preferred weapon for the purpose, with the Basalt Water Conservancy District coming down on the side of locals. According to Board Member Floyd Crawford, many new subdivisions lacked defensible water rights — at least if folks wanted to use it on their lawns and gardens. “If we are going to abandon the past policies and laws — and maybe we ought to — it all comes down to the problem of a shortage,” Crawford commented.

In other news… The Basalt Civic Center and Firehouse was anticipated to cost between $290,000 and $345,000.

July 28, 1988 With 24 days above 90 degrees recorded in Glenwood Springs, nearly all the snow had melted off Mt. Sopris for what one long-time rancher estimated to be only the second time in 57 years — the other being 1977. The Soil Conservation Service predicted that some sections of the Crystal River would run dry in August, and the West Glenwood Water District was without water twice due to a call on Mitchell Creek. Luckily, local lorists pointed to an abundance of porcupines and an early aster bloom as a sign of an early winter.

In other news… Carbondale Trustees opted to survey residents before enacting any sort of woodstove regulation

source” reportedly said. Other Beer Garden rumors included a best dressed chicken contest and an “unhappy hour” with double-priced drinks during the sweatiest part of the Fair. If they made it through Mountain Fair, KDNK planned to set up a beer garden at River Days in August, too.

In other news… A particularly strong milkweed bloom had Lulu Volckhausen extolling the virtues of Asclepias tuberosa.

July 24, 2008 Lifelong resident and country schoolteacher Margaret Darien turned 100. Like many local settlers, her parents hailed from the Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps. When she started teaching at the school in Emma in 1927, Darien’s was paid $75 a month to educate around 20 students from first through eighth grade in a building with no plumbing. She later transitioned from the one-room era to stints at Carbondale Union and Basalt High School, and continued to work as a substitute until 1985.

She later served on Basalt Town Council and lived in the Kelley Building before moving to Heritage Park shortly before the story was penned.

Margaret Darien In other news… Beda Calhoun and Rudy Kimberly planned a pedal-powered smoothie booth aimed at reducing the Fair’s carbon footprint.

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Anna Shook Peleaz Anna Shook Peleaz unwillingly, but ever so gently, set her Earthly body down to rest on the morning of July 7, 2018. In the arms of her birth parents, her brother and her beloved husband, she surrendered to the ravages of her cancer and bid farewell to the people she loved most in the world. She was 32 years old.

Anna would want to be remembered for her grace, her humor, and her authentic joy in living her life fully. She would want to be remembered for her unwavering sense of this life having purpose. And she will be. She will be remembered for all of those things.

Anyone who ever knew her, and especially those who fought alongside her these past two years, will

always remember how fiercely she wanted to live and how completely she wanted nothing more than to be Mrs. Nicolas Peleaz, a dream that became a reality on June 16 in a stunning twelfth-hour coming together of details and people.

Anna’s life was celebrated in grand and joyful style on what would have been her wedding day, July 14, at the Flying Dog Ranch in Carbondale, Colorado.

The family wishes to thank Valley View Hospital and Calaway Young Cancer Center for their continued efforts to buy her more time and in their ability to keep her comfortable in her transition. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Calaway Young Cancer Center through the Valley View Foundation.

The Sopris Sun accepts obituaries with a local connection of reasonable length, including pictures, with no charge.

Accidents claim four lives over the weekend

July 23, 1998 Bill Clinton was rumored to be planning an appearance at the KDNK Beer Garden — or maybe he was just conducting a fundraiser nearby. “The stage crew has been instructed not to jab the president with their cattle prods if he tries to crawl onto the stage to jam with one of the bands,” a “well placed Secret Service

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14 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018

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out on an emergency location device.

Basalt Fire crews later used sonar to locate the bodies 20 to 30 feet below the surface, and were able to recover them shortly after midnight.

In an unrelated incident, two teens from Longmont were killed in a single car accident on Highway 133 on July 20 and a 14-year-old passenger was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Finally, an accident was averted on July 18, when searchers located a 9-year-old boy who had wandered downstream from his family while fishing along Thompson Creek.

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Two longtime locals drowned in Ruedi Reservoir on July 21.

According to a Pitkin County press release, witnesses reported that a man — later identified as John Teague, 46 — was out some distance from his boat when we began to have trouble swimming. Another man — James “Bret” Varra, 59 — jumped in to help him and began to have trouble as well.

By the time a boat from the Aspen Yacht Club arrived, neither man was visible. It proved difficult to alert authorities due to the lack of cell service, but someone was able to text

Off

BECOME A DJ

We have monthly training meetings every third Thursday at 5:15pm. Contact Luke (luke@kdnk.org) for details.

Renew online at KDNK.org/Donate See us 76 S. 2nd Street, Carbondale Mail us PO Box 1388, Carbondale, CO 81623

Letters from page 2 ternoon as much as last Sunday in Marble’s Park talking to the Crystal River’s wordsmiths and the curiosity seekers who sought them out.

Thanks to the work of Helen Kline who organized it all (including hand forging the banner), Alyssia Ohnmacht (publisher of the Crystal Valley Echo), Charlotte Graham (now releasing her second volume of regional memorabilia and characters like Clifford Duncan, very well known Ute elder now unfortunately no longer with us… or then, isn’t he?) and the like.

I’ll be back for number three next year for sure.

And the traditional 4:15 Sunday Afternoon Rain was right on time, 15 minutes after the easyups all came down.

This is what community is about.

Gary Lee Duncan Moab, Utah

Sincere gratitude Dear Editor: Words cannot express the gratitude to DJ Custom Restorations.

After my large cottonwood tree crushed my vintage camper, John Watkins and Dennis Bracegirdle went to work. They put together a 1969 Red Dale trailer in 10 days for me to enjoy camping during my two weeks of fun. They worked day and night to get her road worthy.

I love my new vintage camper, I named her the Lil’ Bandit.

DJ Custom Restorations is located in the Basalt Business Center if you are looking for a “real” restored vintage camper. Many thanks John and Dennis for many fun camping trips.

Rae Ann Hunter Carbondale

Double dough Dear Editor: Once again, the Carbondale Community Oven would like to acknowledge some special donations.

A hearty thank you goes out to the Rebekahs Lodge (Near New Store) for their very generous recent donation. In addition, we would like to thank Peppino’s Pizza for gifting us with a different kind of dough — pizza dough!

— for our free public pizza picnics.

The Oven will be open for baking after the fire bans are lifted, and we wish everyone a safe and happy summer.

The Carbondale Community Oven Team

Unclassifieds nanny for five children and have worked in community health and education the last 15 years. My past employment at the Cancer Center and Mountain Valley Developmental Services have motivated me to learn how fracking and environmental toxins can affect the health and quality of life of our community members.

Health: A recent study from the Colorado School of Public Health shows that the concentration of known carcinogens increase dramatically near Colorado’s oil and gas facilities, exceeding the EPA’s upper threshold by 800 percent. This study showed eight times the normal cancer risk for Coloradans living within 500 feet of a well and a fourfold increased risk of leukemia. Long-term impacts include increases in heart disease, endocrine disruption and disorders, congenital birth defects, and permanent brain damage to children.

Safety/Resources: In 2017, 93,000 gallons of oil spilled into Colorado soil, groundwater, and streams and our state has experienced at least 14 fires and explosions at oil and gas sites, some resulting in death or serious injury. Additionally, fracking uses approximately 4.6 billion gallons of our state’s fresh water annually.

Quality of Life: When fracking comes to communities, our friends, families, and neighbors throughout Colorado, are forced to live in an industrial zone that has stadium-style lights blaring through the night, 24/7 construction noise and vibration, noxious chemical orders and traffic from diesel tanker trucks.

So I encourage you, my neighbors, to seek out and sign the petition now and then vote in November. We will have circulators at Mountain Fair, Snowmass & Glenwood concerts,

Parting Shot

and other events around the valley.

Donations and volunteers are also needed - information can be found at CoRising.org.

Michelle Williams Carbondale

Extraterrestrial life? Of course Dear Editor: Seems like every day some astronomer finds evidence of life on a distant planet. I think the possibility there isn’t life, yes, intelligent life, elsewhere in the universe is absolutely zero. We’re not alone.

The information these scientists are gathering is invaluable, but I don’t think they know what they’re looking for. They’re not thinking outside the box.

There was much excitement when evidence was discovered there was once water on Mars. That raised the possibility there was life on Mars at one time. Why? For all we know, other forms of life could require acid.

Recently, astronomers found a solar system that had seven planets with oxygen in their atmosphere. Life needs oxygen, right? Not necessarily. Extraterrestrial life could thrive on a nitrogen-based atmosphere, like Venus’.

Beings from outer space might not even be cellular. They could by crystalline, like the Andromeda Strain.

I believe extraterrestrials are among us right here on Earth, but they’re extra-dimensional, so we can’t sense them in any way. They’re not gonna interfere in human affairs.

They’re just here to observe.

Who says these entities are on a planet? They could be floating around in the universe like an abstract spirit.

Maybe one of them is God. Fred Malo Jr. Carbondale

Submit to unclassifieds@soprissun.com by Friday 12 p.m. Rates: $15 for 30 words, $20 for up to 50 words. Payment due before publication.*

GET THE WORD OUT IN UNCLASSIFIEDS! Rates start at $15. Email unclassifieds@soprissun.com. *Credit card payment information should be emailed to unclassifieds@ soprissun.com or call 970-274-1076. Checks may be dropped off at our office at the Third Street Center or mailed to P.O. Box 399, Carbondale, CO 81623. Call 510-3003 for more info.

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Setbacks for greater safety Dear Editor: For the health and safety of our greater community, I like to use my life energy to improve the health and well being of people and our planet, so I am volunteering as the Roaring Fork Valley coordinator for the Colorado Rising ballot initiative that would create common-sense setbacks for neighborhood fracking from the current 500 feet to 2,500 feet.

I am a mother of two young adults,

A traditional South Mexico funeral procession for 37-year-old Romeo Cruz Sanchez proceeded down Eighth Street on July 12.

Originally from Jiquipilas Chiapas, Mexico, Sanchez is survived by his wife Norma Perez and two sons Romeo and Rodnel.

Photo by Jane Bachrach

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The Sopris Sun, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 26 - AUGUST 2, 2018 • 15