Annual Holiday COVER DESIGN Contest
2018
Tai Jacober (center) at Flying Dog Ranch, 2013. Photo by Amy Hadden Marsh
Crystal River Meats goes belly-up; bankruptcy case dismissed
Sopris the
G E ale pt. C’d . De RIN SID P c Re R/S E IN TE ID WN 8 GU 1 20
Carbondale’s community
Because every town needs a park, a library and a newspaper
Sun
supported, weekly newspaper
Volume 9, Number 46 | Decemb
er 21, 2017
Spruce Up The Sun
Zombies
out on the town
This year’s theme is
Let It Snow
The contest is open to grades pre-K through high school.
This year’s winner is…
The Sopris Sun continue d its Spruce Up The Sun cover competit ion this year, soliciting original designs from contestants in pre-K through high school. This year’s theme was “Peace and Love” and over 105 entries were submitted by students from local schools. Our favorite entry came from Anicka Ashcraft, a sixth grader at Aspen Middle School. She captured the essence of peace and love with whimsica l animals singing carols around a tree. The entries incorporated a variety of ways to express peace and love during the holiday season: some figuratively featuring family, friends and/or animals enjoying the holidays together, others were more literal using symbols of this year’s theme in clever ways. First-place winners in the age categories are: Florence Serson (preK-kindergarten), Abby Harris (fi rst grade), Lexi Filiss (second grade), Avery Spencer (third grade), Emmalin e Warner (fourth grade), Emma Charters (fifth grade) and Cynthia Rodriguez (sixth grade and up). Judging such a competit ive contest would not have been possible without the help of the discernin g eyes of staff members at Carbondale Arts (CA) and The Sopris Sun. We would also like to thank all the contestan ts for sharing their creativity and talents. It made judging a truly difficult task. For those contestants who would like to pick up their original artwork, stop by The Sopris Sun office at the Third St. A horde of zombies turned Center (520 S. Third St., out for the annual pub Suite 32). crawl around downtow for the popular eatery’s See pages 12-13 and n Carbondale the evening last supper were grateful visit our webof Oct. 21. Diners lucky not only because they site enough (www.sotoprissun.c were able to enjoy one but also because they were be in Town om) for additionmore dinner before the safe from the insatiabl al restauran winners. t closed, e thirst of creepy creatures like Kelly Hedrick. Thanks again to all who Photo by Jane Bachrach entered.
Cover contest winner:
580 Main S treet Carbondale
Artwork must be on 8 ½” x 11” paper, vertical orientation.
• You may use a variety of media, such as paint, pen and ink, crayon, chalk, markers, etc. • Bright and bold colors are encouraged. • No glitter please.
• Please keep designs 2-dimensional in order for us to scan the artwork for publication.
Let your imagination run wild and get those creative juices flowing.
Anicka Ashcraft, a sixth
• www.mi-casita.net • Deliv er ing from Iron Br idge
grader at Aspen Middle
Happy holidays!
School.
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Contest winners receive the honor of having their artwork printed in the Dec. 20 issue and posted at www.soprissun.com. The deadline for entries is 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7. Drop them off at The Sopris Sun office in the Third Street Center (520 S. Third St., #32) or send them to P.O. Box 399, Carbondale, CO 81623, postmarked by Dec. 3. Please include your name, school, grade, age and phone number ON THE BACK of your entry. For more information, call The Sopris Sun at 970-510-3003 or email terrir@soprissun.com.
8 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 5, 2018
By Amy Hadden Marsh Sopris Sun Correspondent Crystal River Meats, owner of Carbondale restaurant Fatbelly Burgers, has gone out of business. “But, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to start up again,” said Tai Jacober, CEO of CR Holdings Inc., Crystal River Meats’ (CRM) parent company. Jacober recently told The Sopris Sun that all businesses associated with CR Holdings, Inc. have suspended operations. Crystal River Meats is the wholesale distribution arm of the holding company. The situation began in March 2018, when JBC Agricultural Management, the farming and cattle-raising arm of CR Holdings, filed bankruptcy. (Jacober made it clear that the bankruptcy case did not involve CR Holdings – only JBC Ag.) According to court documents, JBC Ag found itself on the losing side of a breach-of-contract complaint filed by two ranches on the Front Range. The story basically goes like this. In 2015, JBC Ag contracted with Southern Cross Ranches to buy grass-fed cattle. But, because the cows delivered were not grassfed, JBC rejected them. Southern Cross claimed that JBC breached the contract, and sued. Jacober told Colorado Bankruptcy Court in 2018 that he thought JBC would ultimately prevail but the company was under-represented during key phases of litigation. JBC Ag lost the suit and was ordered to pay a little over $2,500,000. That judgment is still under appeal.
Jacober told The Sun that he filed bankruptcy to help JBC Ag restructure operations, which is the whole point of filing for Chapter 11. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if we didn’t have a lawsuit that demanded bankruptcy and suspension of operations,” he said. But, because he was unable to remain in business, restructuring was impossible. “If you’re not making money, you can’t restructure debt,” he explained. Consequently, the bankruptcy case was dismissed late last month. “We were hoping that the bankruptcy case would stay around long enough for the appeal to go into effect,” he said. Jacober’s attorneys declined comment. Jacober is still trying to make things work with Crystal River Meats. “I’d like to go back to being the same but also owning the processing element,” he said. His goal is to work with creditors and possibly sell assets, which include equipment and meat inventory. “We will be in negotiations individually, working out a plan,” he said. Crystal River Meats will continue to supply Fatbelly Burgers from existing inventory, and he said that Aspen Ski Co. plans to buy meat this season. Jacober said he’s working day jobs as a cowboy and is still CEO of the holding company. He’s doing his best to handle the problems and maintain relationships that the company developed over the years. “The hard part is knowing you owe people,” he said. “It’s difficult to know how to pay them.”