Volume 112, Number 9
Shorts
Thursday, March 7, 2013
50¢
New park to honor Center veterans BY TERESA L. BENNS
Donors needed for blood drive CENTER – Center High School is looking for 40 blood donors for a blood drive scheduled in May, sponsored by the Bonfils Blood Bank in Denver. Those willing to donate blood are asked to call school counselor Adele Alfson to confirm. Unless 40 donors sign up in advance, student volunteers organizing the event will be unable to schedule the drive. To donate blood, call Alfson at 754-2232.
HOW'S THE WEATHER? Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 58. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Thursday night Partly cloudy, with a low around 23. West southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Friday A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly after 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. South southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Friday night A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. South southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent. Saturday A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42. South southwest wind around 5 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40 perent. Saturday night A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. Sunday A slight chance of rain and snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 39. North northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent. Sunday night Partly cloudy, with a low around 10. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Monday Mostly sunny, with a high near 44. West wind around 5 mph.
CENTER — While Center already has a community park, dedicated to both play areas and sports fields for school activities, the idea had long been debated, beginning in 2009, about creating smaller park in town for special events on the site of the old Town Hall. Rock Finley and Michael S. Garcia suggested that a “veterans park” be constructed to honor those in the Center area who served their country, perhaps with a memorial. Others held out hope that the recreation area many residents lobbied for years ago could be built on the site, and this was considered. But school officials discovered that the building they, at one time, thought might be relocated to the site, with the construction of the new school, was not workable as a location for the center. Years ago, it was discovered that the old town hall, which then housed social services and the Center Library — also used as the town’s food bank and as an election polling place — was slowly decaying. Moisture had seeped into the adobe bricks used
Courtesy Photo
This PriDian Group drawing shows how the park will look when completed. to construct the building and they were deteriorating. Also, asbestos building materials had been used in constructing the building and that needed to be removed. So social services relocated further downtown in Center and the library was combined with
Center Schools’ Fyock Library collection. With the completion of the new school, the public now has a full-service library complete with a computer center and a meeting room. The school also became the new polling place. Once the old town hall was vacated,
Nothing better than a good book
Trustees, mayor answer candidate questionnaires
The filing also cites State law and BGPOA bylaws regarding the indemnification of board members should they be sued. The filing contends that C.R.S. 7-129-102, Authority to Indemnify Directors, does not provide for “automatic” indemnificationofboardmembers,that Please see BGPOA on Page 2A
Please see ELECTION on Page 6A
Courtesy Photo
Objection filed in BGPOA suit In the filing Janie Thomas, Bruce McDonald, Nigel Fuller and Diane Dunlap primarily objected to giving the board members 20 more days to respond to the Temporary Injunction that has already been awaiting a ruling from the court since Feb. 1. A temporary injunction is a protective order that is supposed to be acted upon by the court fairly quickly.
Please see PARK on Page 3A
CENTER — The following candidate questionnaires were submitted by the three Center Board trustees being recalled -- John Faron, Moe Jones and Julio Paez -- as well as Mayor Susan Banning, who will also face recall on March 19. The following candidates have announced they will be running against the present incumbents: Herman "Dicky" Sisneros, who is running for mayor; former mayoral candidate Michael S. Garcia, former trustee Geraldine Martinez, former Assistant Town Clerk Edward Garcia and Ronnie Vialpondo, all running for trustee positions. The candidates running against these board members and the mayor are reminded to call Valley Publishing at 852-3531 if they would like to fill out a questionnaire. John Faron, Trustee Why did you run for office in the first place? The town of Center was not moving forward. I felt like we needed new leadership. The people of Center chose this Board because... They wanted a change in direction and leadership. They wanted openness and honesty. The people elected me because… They had trust in me and knew that I would represent them honestly, fairly and would listen to their concerns with an open mind.
Americorps and Vista volunteers have helped children at Center Schools form reading clubs to improve their literacy skills.
CRESTONE — On February 27, the four Baca Grande Property Owners Association (BGPOA) members who sued three otherboard members, (Russell Schreiber, Treat Suomi and William Folk), filed an Objection in Part To Extension of Time and a Memorandum In Support of Temporary Injunction with Saguache District Court.
it sat empty for a few years. The town board at that time discussed plans for demolition but the project kept being postponed. Finally, at a special town board meeting held Sept. 21, 2010, then Assistant Town Clerk Ed Garcia