July 2020 . Issue 9.7
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July 2020
Valley Voice
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Valley Voice
July 2020
Rants...
Contents How the 2020 Session Wrapped-Up
Page 4
How to Make a Better Mountain Area
Page 5
Dancing Through Life Together
Page 6
Northwestern Colorado: 1858 to 2000
Page 8
A Big Goof in Economic Numbers
Page 10
Arts and the Other
Page 11
By Dylan Roberts
By Mountain Area Master Plan Project Team By Heather Westfahl and Juanita Bonnifield By Ellen and Paul Bonnifield By Scott L. Ford
By Stuart Handloff
July Tales Page 12 By Aimee Kimmey
Publisher/Art Director: Matt Scharf mattscharf1@gmail.com
Wake Up Calls
Page 13 Page 14 Page 14
By Wolf Bennett
Sales:
valleyvoicesales@gmail.com
When the Ripples Meet
Event Calendar:
Eric Kemper ericvalleyvoice@gmail.com
Much Abuzz About Murder
Valley Voice is published monthly and distributed on the last Wednesday of each month. Please address letters, questions, comments or concerns to: Valley Voice, LLC, P.O. Box 770743 or come by and see us at 1125 Lincoln Ave, Unit 2C, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477. Or contact Matt Scharf: 970-846-3801. Website www.valleyvoicecolorado.com. Subscription rate is $40 per year (12 issues). All content © 2020 Valley Voice, L.L.C. No portion of the contents of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission from the Valley Voice.
By Fran Conlon
By Sean Derning
Hayden Update Page 15 By Brodie Farquhar
Warriors Page 15 By Joan Remy
When Ice Turns Fire
Page 16
Varicose Veins and Hemorrhoids
Page 17
By Eric Kemper By Kari Pollert
Yepelloscopes Page 18 By Chelsea Yepello
Comics Page 19
Official Fine Print
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"Kitters"
Advertisers assume full responsibility for the entire content and subject matter of their ads. In the event of error or omission in the advertisement, the publisher’s sole responsibility shall be to publish the advertisement at a later date. Advertisements and articles are accepted and published upon the representation that the author, agency and/or advertiser is authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The author, agency, and/ or advertiser will indemnify and save Valley Voice, LLC harmless from all claims and legal action resulting from the contents of the articles or advertisements including claims or suits resulting from libel, defamation, plagiarism, rights to privacy and copyright infringements.
Steamboat’s ugly house trend. This isn’t a warehouse district and you aren’t hip; your house just looks like a jumbled mess of mismatched pieces… To that marmot that just moved in underneath the shed, “Are you dangerous?...” People from out-of-town who think Routt County doesn’t have a mask mandate… The uneasy feeling of being shut down again… Super busy, super poor, super broken truck… Losing a good friend in your old home town and you can’t make it to the funeral… When hard work never seems enough…
Raves... Landmark anniversaries. Congratulations to Paul and Ellen for 50 and Adam and Debbie for 20… Family reunions. I’ll see you all out on the island… Rainy afternoons… Routt County keeping the Covid cases to a minimum… Dirt biking in your own yard... Watching the hummingbirds empty their feeder in less than a day… Getting all your deadlines completed on time…
Say What?... “Well, did NOT burning down the building keep anyone from getting choked?” “I need ear suspenders! My mask falls down like my pants” “I know I said I would have it done last week, but am I late?” “I think you are protesting all wrong.” “I can’t breathe in this thing.” “Does this mask make me look fat?”
We go to press July 27th for the August 2020 Edition! Send in your submissions by July 19th!
The views and opinions expressed reflect the views and opinions of the authors and may not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of the editor, staff or advertisers in Steamboat Springs’s Valley Voice. Direct all correspondence, articles, editorials or advertisements to the address below. The author’s signature and phone number must accompany letters to the editor. Names will be withheld upon request (at the discretion of the publisher). Submission is no guarantee of publication. Subscription rate is a donation of 40 measly dollars per year. However, if you wish to send more because you know we desperately need your money, don’t be shy, send us all you can! Advertisers rates vary by size, call 970-846-3801 and we’ll come visit you. Please make checks payable to: Valley Voice, LLC P.O. Box 770743 • Steamboat Springs, CO 80487 Thank you for your support!
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July 2020
July Valley Voice By Matt Scharf I want to thank everyone for your contributions that appear in this issue of the Valley Voice! Thanks to all our advertisers that print with us month after month. We could not produce the Valley Voice without you! A big thanks to Scott Kimmey for this month's cover photo. Although there will be no fireworks this year, it's at least fun to pretend. I think the world-record fireworks display last year was enough for most, and not enough for some. I am pretty sure our pets would love the break from it all.
Valley Voice
State Representative/ Eagle and Routt Counties
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By Dylan Roberts
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How the 2020 Session Wrapped-Up H Personally, I introduced bills that got all the way to the Governor’s desk that will help small businesses open their doors in rural Colorado , open up more child care spots , protect our precious water during dry years , and several other important pieces of legislation that will benefit Eagle and Routt Counties. I also passed two bills specifically targeted to help with economic recovery that originated from ideas right here in House District 26. One of my bills was an idea that both Eagle County Treasurer Teak Simonton and Routt County Treasurer Lane Iacovetto approached me with during the first week of the shutdowns. I worked with them and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to write HB1421 that will allow counties to reduce or waive interest penalties on property tax payments in 2020 so we can help individuals and businesses hit hard by the loss of revenue. After passing the legislature unanimously, that bill was signed into law last week.
And while you are enjoying all the activities this area has to offer, wear your mask! Keep your mask on at all times! Keep your distance from other people by six feet! Please! Have a wonderful month and stay safe!
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Last week, the Colorado legislature concluded the 2020 legislative session – a session that will likely go down as one of the most unique, trying, and historic terms in our state’s history. I am so glad to be back home and have returned both proud of the work we were able to get done but also humbled by the challenges that remain for Colorado. Normally, we are in session from January to early May for our constitutionally mandated 120 day session. However, COVID-19 forced the legislature to temporarily adjourn on March 14th and we returned to the Capitol on May 26th for a three-week “mini session” which we adjourned on June 15th for a total of 85 days of legislative work. Here is a brief recap: When we began in January, it was impossible to foresee the unique and challenging months that were ahead. Just as the first case of COVID-19 in Colorado was identified, I was introducing my bill with Sen. Donovan to create a Colorado Health Care Option to finally bring choice and lower health insurance prices to our counties. Coronavirus then tragically spread though Colorado, caused extreme financial hardship for individuals and businesses, strained our economy, and decimated our state budget. So, when we returned to the Capitol, we were faced with a completely different legislative reality than what we had left in March. While some of our big ideas like the Colorado Option had to be put on hold due to that reality, I am proud to have been a part of a legislature that came together to respond to the needs our state faces. First, we were able to pass a package of bills that respond directly to the impacts of COVID-19 in Colorado : bills aimed at boosting small businesses, protecting vulnerable workers, expanding unemployment resources, preventing outrageous price gouging on essential goods, housing assistance for renters, and much more. Several of the bills channel federal CARES Act funding directly to vulnerable Coloradans and small businesses.
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The next idea was giving restaurants the ability to continue selling to-go and delivery alcoholic beverages with their food. This extra revenue has been a life-saver for so many local restaurants and the bipartisan bill I was able to get passed extends this crucial tool until July 2021. The killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests demanding justice and equality occurred during the first week we were back in Denver. Over the next two weeks, we introduced and worked with all sides to craft an historic police accountability bill that passed both chambers with large bipartisan votes and was signed in law last week, making Colorado the first state in the nation to respond. I was proud to co-sponsor this bill and give huge thanks to the community members for your advocacy and to law enforcement leaders across Eagle and Routt Counties who helped me work with the bill sponsors to amend the bill so that it works for our local law enforcement while still getting all Coloradans the reforms they demand and need. While this bill moved quickly, the reforms within it are topics that have been discussed for years and I am glad our state acted in a collaborative, bipartisan, and swift way to put them into law. Finally, while it was not easy, we were able to pass a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year even when we faced a $3.3 billion deficit caused by the COVID-19 downturn. While nobody is happy with the cuts we had to make – especially to education – we balanced the budget in a way will help us recover more quickly than expected. Further, I supported efforts that will create more funding for education and ask voters later this year for more through a new tax on nicotine products and through a repeal of the Gallagher Amendment. Thank you, once again, for the privilege of serving our communities at the Capitol. Even in these trying times, it is an honor. Please contact me anytime on my cell: 970846-3054 or e-mail: Dylan.Roberts.House@state.co.us.
Representative Dylan Roberts represents Colorado House District 26, encompassing Eagle and Routt counties.
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Valley Voice
July 2020
City of Steamboat Springs
How do Breakfast Burritos, Chicharritas & Tight Lines Make a Better Mountain Area? By Mountain Area Master Plan Project Team Who remembers picking up gear and apparel from the Werner’s A-Frame ski shop in the early days? What about grabbing breakfast before hitting the slopes from Mother’s Deli, a double slice of Gnarly Charly’s pizza or a punch card from the Hot Cookie Shack, settling in for après-ski at the Tugboat or Dos, fine dining at Mattie Silks, or live music at late night haunts Levelz and the infamous Inferno. Over the years, lodging has ebbed and flowed from the first hotel, the Steamboat Village, grown now into the modern Sheraton, to the slopeside Thunderhead Lodge (long gone now), to Torian Plum and the Steamboat Grand to a mix of moderate and high-end condominiums in the vicinity. Today, Café Diva has taken the fine dining culinary helm. Breakfast and lunch specialties still abound at Paramount, Los Locos and T-Bar, and après is just as strong at Slopeside, Timber & Torch and Gondola Pub. Lodging is tailored to a wide variety of tastes, and powder dreams while resting your head on a fluffy pillow have come a long way over the past 50 years. Times change, but the elements of the base area hold unique experience for each of us for special and often memory shaping recollections on and off the slopes. Skiing and now summer fun have left an indelible impression on all who have spent one day/night to the entire season in the mountain area. What do you want the next powder hounds not to miss out on? What would you change or make sure never faded away? It’s okay, unlike your favorite powder stash, this is something you should share for all to enjoy. The city recently launched a project seeking input from the community members on their vision for the future of the Steamboat Springs Mountain Area and to develop a Master Plan, which promotes short- and long-term strategies for achieving the community’s goals for one of our core commercial areas. To map it out, the Mountain Area includes the Steamboat Ski Resort base area and the commercial and residential areas surrounding it. The plan is a city-initiated, longrange, comprehensive planning document that will guide future policies, investments, and decision-making. Through this process, we want to understand community goals and identify strategies for improvement in three priority planning topics: economic vitality, character of the built environment, and connectivity and mobility. That could be parking improvements, snow removal enhancements, and new crosswalks, as well as changes to zoning regulations or architectural design guidelines that will affect the way new buildings look in the coming years. The plan will also include conceptual site designs for improvements to Ski Time Square and the Gondola Transit Center. How Can I Engage? We’re interested in all ideas on the challenges and the opportunities related to growth and redevelopment in the Mountain Area. Share your opinions and input on what
you would like to see at Engage Steamboat, engagesteamboat.net/mamp. The site includes several ways to share your experiences, likes and dislikes, and suggestions for how to create a more vibrant area.
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Three short web surveys each reflect on a specific planning topic. The Tag Our Map tool can be used to highlight areas where you would like to see more restaurants or where there is an unsafe pedestrian crossing. Everything posted on the map helps formulate the future vision. Already a few common themes are emerging from community input: • Reinvest and redevelop Ski Time Square to revitalize it to where it was before 2008. • Change the Gondola Transit Center to a transitexclusive zone (no personal vehicles allowed). • Construct a parking structure in place of the Meadows Parking Lot. • Promote restaurants and shopping in the Mountain Area open after après ski and year-round.
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What is the Planning Process? The city has partnered with industry leading consultants led by the firms Cushing Terrell and Connect One Design to develop the master plan, which is scheduled to be wrapped up in April 2021. A 12-member Advisory Committee representing Mountain Area businesses and landowners, Steamboat Ski Resort & Corp, community organizations, and local government has been formed to guide the process and make recommendations. The project team is currently conducting extensive interviews, focus group meetings, and community surveys to gather data. This information will be used to develop community-driven recommendations for improvements in the Mountain Area. These may be smaller, specific projects, as well as large, high-impact proposals. The project team will present the findings and seek direction from the community at key milestones along the way. Why Now? The last master plan for the Mountain Area was adopted in 2005 and led to some big successes - the development of the promenade and the daylighting of Burgess Creek at the base of the ski area. Over the last decade, the area has experienced limited redevelopment and private investment. It is time to update our vision for this core commercial area to better reflect current conditions, trends, and community priorities. The success of the Mountain Area is critical to the long-term vitality and resiliency of our community as a whole. The rope has dropped on the Mountain Area Master Plan. There isn’t a better way to impart all the research you’ve done over the years. Whether it’s navigating the ins and outs of the area, savoring après-ski with friends and family, to sharing that great idea you would implement if you were in charge; your experiences, insights and participation will ultimately make a better Mountain Area for years to come.
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Valley Voice
Happy Anniversary
Dancing Through Life Together - 50 Years and Still Going Strong By Heather Westfahl and Juanita Bonnifield
The Wheelbarrow, 40 years after its first use, July 2010
Putting the handcuffs on July 11, 1970 On July 11, 1970 a sedate couple got married and are now celebrating 50 years of wedded bliss. I don’t know who they are, but they share an anniversary with Paul and Ellen Bonnifield. Paul and Ellen had a lovely wedding in Denver, Colorado. They have described the ceremony as a beautiful, solemn event, with a mischievous mood. As they walked down the aisle Paul saw a group of friends at the back of the church that he says shouldn’t have been there. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out the handcuffs Ellen’s father had provided just in case and handcuffed his bride to himself. Not only was this the start of 50 years together, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, it was the start of fifty years of living life to the fullest, enjoying life together, raising two kids, never knowing a stranger, adventuring and dancing every chance they get. When you are the daughter of master storytellers and authors, trying to tell of fifty years of life lived to the fullest is a daunting task. There were days of just getting up and doing everyday things that we all have to do, school, work, eating, paying bills, and doing dishes. However, life with Paul and Ellen has always been punctuated with adventure. Who is Paul Bonnifield? He is a high school dropout, with a PhD; he has been a professor, underground coal miner, railroad brakeman and conductor, gandy dancer, rodeo cowboy, Marine, author, friend, father, and husband.
Ellen in the wheelbarrow leaving the church, July 11, 1970 Who is Ellen Bonnifield? She has pushed the boundaries of what people thought women could do her whole life. She is an artist, chemist, librarian, ditch rider, author, teacher, friend, mother, and wife.
Ellen has always been good with vehicles. In her early adulthood she had a Jeepster and loved to Jeep, explore and see the world. Paul has always been good with horses. He has spent his life horseback, breaking, training, and
For those who live here and for those who wish they did.
riding horses. This dichotomy has been the basis of many adventures. The one that comes up most often is known as “The Car Body.” Juanita and I were elementary age when this adventure occurred. The truck we had was an extended cab, long bed, brown truck known as The Beast. The power steering had gone out in this truck. Paul rode horseback, and had Ellen bring the truck up. The car body was located somewhere up on Green Ridge, at a point Paul said to go through the meadow because the road was washed out. Between the four of us we loaded an old, rusty, fairly complete car body into the back of The Beast. Since dark was fast approaching, Paul said the road wasn’t as bad as he had thought, and Ellen should take the truck, loaded with a car body, and two young girls back down that way. Paul headed back down through the meadow. Ellen was able to keep The Beast between the ruts; the road was as bad as Paul originally thought. I picked daisies out the passenger window, while Juanita hid on the floorboards. When picking daisies, I was reaching straight out the window, and picking them at the base of the flower. The car body ended up with Dick Palmer who either used it for parts or restored it. History has always been a passion for both Paul and Ellen. Any vacation or road trip included stopping at every, yes EVERY, roadside historical monument along the way. If I remember right, we were on our way back to Yampa from a History Conference in South Dakota. We had hit every historical monument we passed on the way to South Dakota, we were hitting every one on the way back as well. At one point we passed a wide spot in the road. Paul hit the brakes, said something about there not being a sign indicating a historical monument, turned around and went back. All so we could see that there was an outhouse at the side of the road for travelers in need. Family vernacular now includes the question, “Do you need a historical monument stop?” to indicate the need for a restroom break.
Valley Voice
July 2020
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Paul & Ellen with daughters Juanita (left) and Heather (right) October 2019. When Paul & Ellen received the Leckenby Pioneer Award.
Picnics have been a part of Paul and Ellen’s life together. Early in their married life, when I was a toddler, Ellen had fixed a nice turkey dinner. Paul walked in the door at the end of the day and said, “Let’s go on a picnic.” The turkey, stuffing and all the fixings went into the picnic basket. There was no way Ellen was going to let all that work go to waste. My favorites are breakfast picnics. I’m not sure how we made them happen with two morning people, and two not morning people, but we would load up, head up to Green Ridge, and have a breakfast picnic. Coffee over a campfire, bacon, eggs, and pancakes are the best. ,
Paul and Ellen have always made family a priority. Meals were eaten together as a family. Sometimes dinner was late, or breakfast was early to account for railroad and sports schedules, but we ate together. Dinner conversations often resulted in more than one reference book on the table to check facts. Paul and Ellen love to dance. Anytime, anywhere, if there is music you can find Paul and Ellen dancing, including an impromptu birthday concert for Ellen’s 80th birthday this year during quarantine lock down. When you get a chance to congratulate Paul and Ellen on fifty years together, ask them about the wheelbarrow, cookie baseball, Paul’s ability to give directions, Ellen’s innate lack of sense of direction, how warm it needs to be for Paul to take off his jacket/long sleeves (hint: crayons will melt first), trips to England, Hawaii, and Washington DC, the Kentucky Derby, Paul’s Christmas tool box, the damn shovel, hiking the Grand Canyon, logging with horses, favorite artist, music, play, and unique places to see. They can show you dinosaur footprints, wild horses, and so much more. Happy 50th Anniversary Paul and Ellen. Keep dancing and living every day to its fullest.
Paul & Ellen with grandkids Samantha & Henry in 2005
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Valley Voice
Bonnifield Files
A Brief Untold History of Northwestern Colorado: 1858 to 2000 By Ellen and Paul Bonnifield
In a series of five or six articles we will attempt to provide a brief overview of the region’s secret past. We thought we should do something new after the shutdown. We will return to the Birth of Oak Creek after this series. The planning and construction of railroads across northwestern Colorado resulted in Ute removal, homesteading, gold and coal mining, and tourism. Our cities and towns are the result of various railroad schemes. At least until 1960, Routt County was dominated by the railroad. Railroads reached the United States in the 1830s and soon became a fever among men of power and vision. A railroad stretching across the continent connecting east and west coasts to Chinese and European markets assured ambitious men of wealth, power, and influence beyond measure. They pursued goals without rules, ethics, or morals. Chicago, St. Louis, and Memphis competed for the honor of being the gateway to California gold and Chinese wealth. Memphis promoted a southern route through northern New Mexico. St. Louis faced the daunting task of finding a route through the high Colorado Rockies. The great banks of Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, and London vied for financial control. Railroads’ broad scope touched everything and every life.
The July 4,1852, railroad convention at Little Rock, promoted a line from Memphis to California. It sent a Memorial to Congress stating in part, “When the European merchant, . . . encountering all the inconveniences, delays, and dangers of a long sea voyage, finds he can go there in thirty days by rail entirely across the continent . . . [he will] decide in favor of that route . . .” To pay for construction and operation of the railroad, the Memphis convention called for Congress to guarantee five percent per annum for fifty to one hundred years. In addition, they wanted a land grant 120 miles wide and 1,600 miles long. For that amount of money and land men would exert themselves. Congress did not act on the Memorial, but throughout the 1850s, handsome land grants were made to railroads in the mid-west and South. Designing men without scruples learned how to achieve great wealth building railroads, not operating them. The China trade was only a small portion of the vast wealth in gold, silver, timber, and stone resulting from the Mexican War and the California gold rush required dependable transportation (railroad) and communication (telegraph). In the 1850s, railroads were advancing across Iowa and Missouri toward the new cities of Omaha and Kansas City. A route through the Rocky Mountains became of utmost importance.
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The Pikes Peak gold rush of 1859 changed the game. Men of destiny hurried to Denver, but not to pan for gold. They sought a railroad pass through the mountains. William H. Russell and John S. Jones opened the Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company. Their stagecoach no sooner arrived in Denver than they were looking for a route directly west to Salt Lake City. Russell explored and even built a wagon road up Clear Creek above Empire. Jones attempted to get a wagon over Jones Pass and Beverly Williams, the stage lines superintendent, explored the Williams Fork and Blue Rivers. While the express company was seeking a pass through the Front Range, W. A. H. Loveland located Golden at the mouth of Vasquez Canyon (later renamed Clear Creek) planning to become the railroad and mining center of Colorado. In 1860, Edward M. Teller moved to Central City and soon became the political and financial leader of the “Kingdom of Gilpin.” The competition between Denver and Golden created a deep and lasting impact on northwestern Colorado. Russell offered an award for finding a pass through the mountains. In 1860, five Empire prospectors were climbing high mountains for fun; looking down from atop Ball Mountain they observed an opening between the peaks. That discovery set in motion a series of promotions to fund a survey from Golden to Salt Lake City. Early summer 1861, Lt. Edward Berthoud, mountain man Jim Bridger, Indian Agent H. M. Vaile, Rocky Mountain News reporter Charles M. Ferrell, and a small party of men crossed Berthoud Pass. At Hot Sulphur Springs, they began their march west. Crossing the Gore Range by the road Lord Gore built, they entered the Yampa Valley. Entering the Yampa Valley, travelers were taken by the beauty before them. Reading the report, Governor Gilpin, who considered himself a classic scholar, named the region Egeria Park after the beautiful queen of Roman legend. Although Egeria Park is now a forgotten place, during the early years it held magic. The real magic came at the west end of the Park. Ascending the ridge after crossing Oak Creek, “We discovered an immense coal bed of the finest quality coal; it apparently is as hard as the anthracite . . .” reported Agent Vaile to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Later, Berthoud’s men located coal in Twenty Mile Park and on the White River. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of the discovery of the Yampa Coalfield along the railroad survey. On September 12,1861, the Rocky Mountain News reported a practical wagon, stagecoach, and railroad route was accessible directly west from Denver. The road was 175 miles shorter than by the Overland Trail and agricultural prospects were unlimited. Berthoud’s survey completely altered the course of history. Due to political infighting, Governor Gilpin and Agent Vaile were removed. In the fabric of time, Territorial Governor John Evans, who was as monumental as the Berthoud Survey, arrived in Denver. Evans was an experienced “town boomer,” railroad promoter, and high rolling politician.
For those who live here and for those who wish they did.
Valley Voice
He was the founder of Evanston, Indiana, Northwestern University, and a high-ranking member of the Republican Party. Neither slavery nor Union were a concern. He wanted a federally subsidized trans-continental railroad. Speaking from the balcony of the Tremont House, May 16, 1862, he promised Colorado a railroad connecting Denver and Salt Lake City. Without delay, with territorial surveyor General F. M. Chase in tow, he rode atop of Berthoud Pass and declared it the ideal route. Never mind that after three later surveys, Chase firmly stated it was impossible to locate a two percent railroad grade over the pass. Returning to Denver, Evans hurried to Washington to witness Lincoln’s signing the Pacific Railroad Bill. He then rushed to Chicago to attend the Board meeting of the Union Pacific Railroad where he received assurances the line would run through Denver. He hurried back to Denver determined to remove the Ute Indians from the railroad right-of-way. Having ambitious plans for Indian treaties, in 1863, Evans set out to hold talks with the Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne. Middle Park Indian Agent Simeon Whiteley and interpreter Uriah Martin Curtis were instructed to go to Salt Lake and invite all the Ute to talks in Middle Park. Meanwhile, Captain Jacob P. Bonesteel and D Co. 1st Colorado Calvary opened a wagon road over Boulder Pass (now Corona Pass). Bonesteel’s road was the first over the Front Range. Camp Stilwell was established at the hot springs. In due time, Evans arrived with President Lincoln’s personal secretary, John Nicolay. Rounding out the treaty delegation were William H. Russell and a fine assortment of ladies and gentlemen. Legend holds he brought eleven extra excellent ladies to the camp. Whiteley and Uriah returned without seeing a single Ute. Nicholay and friends rode through North Park hunting, sightseeing, and enjoying the good life without encountering a Ute. The Ute were at war on the Overland Trail where they closed the Little Snake River Basin. Through the summer, stage stations and wagon trains were attacked. Major Wynkoop marched 150 men from Denver to Fort Halleck and a detachment arrived from Kansas to quell the fighting.
July 2020
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The approach of fall ended the gay adventure. Evans and Nicolay rode to Conejos and treatied with the Tabeguache chief, Ouray, in southern Colorado. Bonesteel closed Camp Stilwell and returned to Denver where in disgust he resigned. The Denver papers carried stories about the wonderful railroad route over the mountains. At Conejos, Evans and Ouray agreed to reservation boundaries that protected the Tabeguache’s land while ceding the land of the Yampa Valley and Grand River Ute except the White River Valley. The agreement also opened the way for a railroad directly west of Denver. (Grand River Ute were the Indians living along the Colorado River from Grand Lake to Glenwood Canyon – Grand and Eagle counties.) The push to build the Pacific Railroad became overwhelming after the close of the Civil War. Promoters of a line directly west from Denver were in a hurry to establish a proven road. The stagecoach king, Ben Holladay, pulled strings and stagecoach superintendent Bela Hughes and Lt. Colonel William M. Johns led 150 California Volunteer Infantrymen on a road building mission east from Salt Lake City. They constructed a road to the Green River then jerked the wagons the rest of the way over Boulder Pass. Hughes declared it an excellent road, but Johns didn’t think it was worth a damn, none-the-less, maps soon displayed a military road between Denver and Salt Lake City. The question of the Northern Ute title to the land remained unanswered. In 1868, Territorial Governor Alexander C. Hunt, Ouray, and a Ute delegation met in Washington, D. C. The excellent historian Marshall Sprague believed the Treaty of 1868 was Ouray’s greatest diplomatic achievement. For the Tabeguache, it was a superb agreement. The Ute of northwestern Colorado held a different view. The Ute Treaty of 1868 established the White River Agency with the eastern boundary at the 107th meridian to a point fifteen miles north of the 40th parallel, then directly to the Utah line. (That is the eastern and northern boundary of Rio Blanca, County.) All of Summit, Grand, Jackson, Eagle, Routt, and Moffat counties in Colorado and the Little Snake River Basin in Wyoming were ceded. The Ute were effectively removed from the proposed railroad route (the approximate route of modern US 40) and development. Next month Ute removal from Colorado.
Everyone loves the Colorado sunshine, even our dogs! A few Summer reminders from the Pet Kare team: NEVER leave your dog in a parked car, even in the shade with the window open. Walk your dog in the morning and evening to avoid hours of peak temperatures. Touch the pavement with the palm of your hand. If it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for paws!
Stay safe, and enjoy the Colorado Summer!
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10
July 2020
Valley Voice
Go Figure
Sometimes There Is A Big Goof In The Most Trusted Economic Numbers By Scott L. Ford
Sometimes you simply goof. Sometimes you goof when you can least afford to do so. That is what happened when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the stewards of the nation’s unemployment number, made a major goof in reporting the May unemployment percentage. All one can say when a major goof occurs is “Oops – my bad!” The goof occurred when the BLS reported the May unemployment rate of 13.3%, a decline from the April number of 14.7%. The lower number in May surprised a lot of economist. There were those in the Trump administration that were doing the happy dance in the Oval Office since the unemployment rate was lower than the previous month. The goof was a result of a classification error that likely understated the unemployment rate. In reality it should not have been the 13.3% as reported, it was actually about three percentage points higher. So instead of 13.3% it should have been reported at 16.3% if not slightly higher. This number would have put a serious damper on the Oval Office happy dance. What happened?
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I typically avoid diving too deeply into the nuances of economic data. However, to understand the reason for this goof we need to get wonky. Here goes. Each month about 60,000 households nationwide are surveyed. The official name of this survey is called the Current Population Survey or CPS. This monthly survey has been done since 1940. The survey itself is conducted by the US Census Bureau with the data being passed on to the BLS. One of the purposes of this data is to provide government and business leaders with a realistic idea of the unemployment rate.
In the survey, a set of precise labor force questions are asked. The answer to these questions is used to classify people as working, looking for work, or not in the labor force. These questions have worked monthly for 80 years to reasonably estimate the nation’s unemployment rate. That is a long time. However, the business shutdown associated with COVID-19 caused a major hiccup in how folks responded to these questions. What likely happened. You have a lot of people who one day discovered they were staying home rather than going to work and they had some kind of conversation with their bosses. However, most of them never received any kind of piece of paper saying you are on temporary layoff until I can recall you. And so, most of these people thought of themselves as having a job just not currently at work. What this meant is that when asked in the survey if they were unemployed – they responded, “No.” In reality they were laid off – although they had not been officially notified of that status. Technically what they were was unemployed, but they simply did not officially know it. If these unemployed had been properly classified, the unemployment rate in May would not have been 13.3% but slightly north of 16%. Hopefully in June when the survey questions are asked, these attached but unemployed folks can be properly classified as truly unemployed because that is in reality what they are. I can assure you that there will be little to no dancing in the Oval Office.
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Valley Voice
July 2020
11
Piknik Theatre
Arts and the Other By Stuart Handloff
Let’s put the cards on the table: I'm a 70 year-old white guy. I’ve benefited from my skin color, my privilege, my whole life. Let’s not pretend this country hasn’t endured several hundred years of systematic belief that certain races of people are by birth and nature superior to others. The genocidal wars against Native Americans (“The only good Indian is a dead Indian”), over two hundred years of legal slavery (not to mention over one hundred more of legal segregation), and immigration laws and walls that, to this day, are intended to discriminate against people of color are ample proof. The fact that I am a Jew and was mostly raised by a black woman the first 12 years of my life doesn’t give me a position of authority to know what racism means first hand. But I do have experience living as one of “the others” - people who are different due to race, color, or creed, for example - and I am intrigued by how classic theatre explores the differences between “us and them.” Shakespeare’s plays are full of characters who represent The Others. The most classic example is the lead character in the tragedy Othello, The Moor of Venice, who is a Black general in service to the Duke of Venice. Othello’s military record has been outstanding but that doesn’t protect him from the racist slurs of his father-in-law or the hate-filled intrigue that causes him to ultimately distrust and murder his white wife Desdemona. Were he a white character, the play would lack much of its power and drama to be more than a simple tragic soap opera. But Othello as a black man becomes a character whose downfall has elements of pathos and loss that link us all: “One that loved not wisely, but too well.” I think we’ve all been there. There are numerous examples of other Shakespearean characters who blur the lines between us and them: Shylock, the Jewish moneylender in The Merchant of Venice; Malvolio, the pompous servant in Twelfth Night; and the Capulets and Montagues - the “two households both alike in dignity” who continue the ongoing deadly feud that only ends with the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. What’s exciting
to watch and understand through each of these productions, when well directed, is that Shakespeare is reluctant to write his characters as wholly good or evil. Othello is noble, but insanely jealous. Malvolio is an insufferable prig, but horribly bullied and abused. Shylock is spat upon for wearing his Jewish gabardine, but bitter and vindictive (like most of the other characters in the play). Of course, without different costumes, audiences would not know a Capulet from a Montague, as both are alternatively loving of their families and hateful of the others. What really engages the audience, or the director or an actor embodying the roles, is the tension between these different facets of each character. It’s no fun playing a character who’s totally good or evil (well, except maybe Iago, the villain in Othello, who is just so rotten and devious to the core); performing artists love that liminal space to explore the moments of right and wrong and find truth in the uncertainty of both. It’s fun for the audience to see that if only Othello had seen through Iago’s racist treachery, or if only Juliet had been able to confide in her loving mother about her marriage to the “enemy” Romeo, then senseless tragedy would have been avoided. To understand ourselves, Shakespeare is saying, means we have to gain some measure of understanding and acceptance of those who are not like us: the others. In the spring of 1969, at the height of anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests, the university I was attending was overrun with local and State police in response to the peaceful takeover by several Black students of an administration building. There were no lives being threatened and no damage I could see upon returning to the building days later (except one of the students had evidently written with a marker “White Only” over a drinking fountain). Nonetheless, the tear gas flowed, overwhelming the typical beauty and somnolence of a North Carolina spring day.
Island music and dance, giving local kids an insight into both art and ethnicity. We no longer have that connection but there’s no reason we can’t include other uniquely American cultures into our performance by diversifying our acting company, our leadership, and our artistic programming. Our work can reflect our world community and enhance our understanding of the walls outside the Yampa Valley to the betterment of our lives within these friendly confines. I would challenge all of our performing artists and organizations (and visual artists for that matter), to begin or continue to explore concrete ways to do the same: bring in more museum exhibits exclusively devoted to artists of color, feature more musicians of color at our venues, include more people of color on our boards and in leadership positions. We’re a white bread community for the most part and that won’t likely change. But the opportunity to give our kids and ourselves the opportunity to experience the lives and cultures of others, to grow through the stories of those others different from us in color and other ways, is beyond value.
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During the several days of marching and protests, a group of Black students got together to stage a production showing what it was like growing up Black in the South during the 1950s and ‘60s. The production was entitled God’s Trombones, based on the book of poems written in 1927, and it was played in a relatively unused building on a remote part of the campus, not a place normally considered a theatre. The building was packed with students of all colors but it was clear from the stories that the Black students could “Amen” the meanings while the rest of us were quizzical, shocked, and horrified. For a while, a few hours of suffering from the gas or listening to these recollections, we got to experience what it was like to be The Other. The power of understanding was life-changing. It is what has inspired me to continue to make theatre over these last 50 years, hoping to give audience members a view of what others experience, to give life to the stories of others, to be able to tell or listen to someone else’s story as if it were your own. How does this apply to the performing arts in Steamboat Springs? When Piknik Theatre first began in 2008 and in the first few years following, each year’s cast included a number of Pacific Island actors from New Zealand. The cultural differences with American audiences were unique and inspiring in many ways, asking the audience to view our “island” community through the lens of another island culture. Our youth theatre workshops included Pacific
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12
July 2020
Valley Voice
Tales from the Front Desk
July Tales By Aimee Kimmey
The story you are about to read is true... More or less. Front desk. Thursday. July 3rd. 4:48 pm. "This is so weird..." The clerk looked out of the lobby across the half empty parking lot. "It doesn't feel like July at all." Sure, the scorching sun was drilling the black top, threatening to liquify it. The highway was a steady rumble of RVs and motor homes. The clerk could even hear squeals of laughter from the park next door. But it was nowhere near the cacophonous roar of a normal July. Usually July in a tourist town is elbow to elbow with humanity. But this year, the global pandemic had turned the volume way down on everything. "I kinda like it." The clerk's partner said over her magazine. "We may not be making that much money, but have you ever been able to just... sit down in July?" Grinning, the clerk flounced back into her chair behind the desk, "No, I have not. My God, remember last year?" The clerk's partner rolled her eyes, "Ugh, I'm trying not too. I seriously thought this place was going to explode." "The whole town was a fire hazard! Everything was beyond maximum capacity," The clerk remembered. "The grocery stores were always ravaged, the locals were grumpy..."
"Yeah, there wasn't a single room available in the entire town." The clerk's partner chuckled.
"I really felt for the guy, he looked wrecked when he got here."
"Remember that guy who booked a room for the 3rd, and the 5th, but forgot to book the 4th?" Reminiscing, the clerk propped her feet up onto the counter.
"Didn't you call every other hotel in town to find him a place to stay on the 4th?"
"... Yeah, yeah, he booked on one of those travel sites, right?" "Mmhm, and his trip up here had been horrendous. I remember, I was the one who waited on him. He said it took him eight hours to get up here from the city!" "Holy crap! I didn't catch that part... but I'm not surprised; I've seen the weekend traffic, it must be even worse on a holiday!" The clerk's partner shuddered. "Yeah, a two hundred mile parking lot!" The clerk recalled,
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"Pretty much, almost everything was booked." The clerk laughed, "Except that parlor room with the roll-away bed." "Yeah, yeah, it cost the dude like $300 bucks!" The clerk nodded, "Do you remember when he called back to thank me?" "Yeah... wasn't he kind of an ass?" "He said, 'I don't mean to be rude, but are you the young one? ...Or... the one with... glasses?' "I mean, just say it: the old one!" The clerk's partner laughed! "Rudeness achieved!" The clerk grinned, "He was at least grateful that we went to all the trouble to find him a place to sleep. After that 'one with glasses' business, he was just gushing thanks." "Bet he's a lot more careful when he's booking now." "Right!" The clerk nodded, watching a car roll into the parking lot. "Ooo look, a customer!" Her partner shook her head, setting her magazine aside, "I still like this pace better than last year's. You kinda' almost welcome people when they arrive one at a time." The clerk chuckled, "Can't disagree there!" The car outside settled into a parking space. A middle aged couple got out, pulled on their masks, and headed for the lobby. The clerk and her partner smiled under their own masks as the guests entered, "Hi there!"
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Yeah, this July felt weird for sure, but the clerk couldn't deny, it wasn't all bad.
Valley Voice
July 2020
Mensan Musings
Brewery of the Month:
Upslope
Wake Up Calls By Wolf Bennett
Is your alarm clock a tyrant, even though it helps you? There is a snooze button that delays that wake up call. How many times have you just rolled over and hit that button? Did it really provide you with much additional rest? Probably not, though it can seem satisfying to put off the inevitable. Metaphorically we hit that snooze button many times before we wake up. We ignore or deny the signal that helps us. What we practice, we become. All this is quite typical and yet, it’s time to get up when that alarm goes off isn’t it? Wake up calls come in many forms. I knew a severe alcoholic and we talked of his life on his few semi-sober days. His life had been a series of failures (school, relationships, driving, friends, health) always one after the other, making him feel bad, and his need to escape was very strong. In his life story I could see him receive wake up calls one after the other. A bad grade, a tough teacher, a missed catch, any mistake at all and he learned to hit the snooze button of life so he wouldn’t have to wake up and simply face the day. The alarms kept going off and they got louder, as they always do. Lost friends, car crashes, getting sick more often, even the weather was always worse than he wanted. He hit snooze again and again, finally settling on alcohol as his main tool. The alarms got even louder with jail time, a friend dying due to his driving, doctors’ warnings and snooze was hit yet again. One day he collapsed, dead at 32 from liver failure due to extreme alcoholism. He had had lots of wake up calls and ignored them all. Essentially it wasn’t the alcohol that killed. It was refusal to listen to the alarms going off that got ever louder. Practicing ignoring wake up calls and getting really good at doing it wrong. This is an extreme example with tragic consequences and yet how many of us have ignored the repetitive wake up calls that have come our way? I see people all the time just hitting the snooze button and making life worse by ignoring that insistent, ever louder alarm of abusive relationships, addictions, dead end jobs, failed diets, environmental degradation, racism, fake friends, “white” lies and dreams that went awry simply because we just didn’t listen or learn. A divorce was the wake up call I finally listened to and the ensuing counseling, education, teaching, reading and admitting that I had a problem taught me that I was the one who needed to wake up. I am truly sorry I hurt those I loved. Life has been a much better adventure since that training.
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step is refusing to hit snooze again to escape the waking noise of life. Choosing core values leads to confidence and peace. Carpe Diem. You’re awake and alive, so celebrate.
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You will find that once you add one little thing done correctly, it will spread into all aspects of your life. Mindfulness is metaphorically like practicing Nordic skiing technique, you cannot just go out and go fast. You must train. If your technique can add just one centimeter per kick, by the end of a kilometer you will be many meters ahead. Perfect form is faster than muscle or talent. Any technique or training that gives you one tiny advance will result in ever greater victories. The same is true for your life, so learn how to learn, and practice. So listen to that alarm and rejoice that you are awake and actively decide to take on that challenge of the day. No, it isn’t always easy. Nothing hard is ever easy. The easy way out always leads back into the mess. Denial is not a river in Africa. Understand that you have a choice (not to decide is to decide). Feel the dreams and make them come true. It is interesting to note that as you wake up from things your world gets brighter and challenges fade. I remind myself constantly to never hit an escape button. Enjoy the difficulty itself as it is the journey that counts. I’ll see you out there as the sun comes up and we wake up and can celebrate the day.
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A Zen master admonished his students upon awakening to leap out of bed and shout joy to the day and never remain in bed. He was on to something, so commit early to a great day. His lesson is both metaphoric and literal. What you practice you will become. Your alarms come in many forms, as do snooze buttons. How many facts are enough to demonstrate that you are in denial? The process of learning takes more time, so have patience with yourself and enjoy the path. Practicing mindfulness through meditation, mental focus, counseling, Zen and other practices will help awaken you to deal with the wake up calls. The first step is admitting that you have a problem. Your next
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14
July 2020
Valley Voice
Pesky Hornets
Poetry
When the Ripples Meet By Fran Conlon
Wild Kingdumb Correspondent
Ripples meet and then dissipate, Unless they should have a rave, Where they merge with power great, Into a wall: a rogue wave.
The phone rang. The editor of the Valley Voice was on the line and asked if I wanted to do an interview with a high profile, notorious criminal. Curious, I agreed. “He’s over at the Routt County jail,” he said. “The cops caught one of those Asian murder hornets pillaging one of the apiaries at Colorado Mountain College. Hundreds of bees were killed, decapitated and their bodies transported and fed to the hornet nest. If we interview him, we’re hoping to get him to give up the whereabouts of his nest as they are impacting local honey supplies. But he’s elusive. They call him Hannibal the Hornet.”
The naive eye now sees it's true, Neptune has a final say, The up-risen sea will set the rule, Perchance this moment I will pray. Safe land I left long ago, To cross the mighty Southern Sea, A transit touching Pt. Nemo, With thin dreams of my destiny.
“What kind of information do we have on him?” I asked. “I’ll forward you the email from the police department, but be very careful with him,” said the editor. “Twice the size of average domestic hornets, they say murder hornet stings are like having a red hot nail driven into your skin. He’s an herb garden variety serial killer of bees and at the top of the most wanted list with the Department of Agriculture. Don’t let him get in your head. Literally. That would be a very painful experience. Good luck.”
I rise and rise, and point up the bow, Life passes by another chance, Small choices now do work somehow, Ripples flow with a second branch. Up, up and over; then the down-stream glide, Never was there such an amusement ride. zirkel-valleyvoice-ad-120519.pdf
Much Abuzz About Murder By Sean Derning
1
12/5/19
6:36 PM
A few days later I arrived at the jail and was lead into a windowless room followed by a deputy escort armed with a flyswatter. There on the table in a small, clear acrylic box was Hannibal the Murder Hornet, dressed in a tiny orange prison jumpsuit that prevented him from spreading his wings and flying. A tattoo reading “Born to swarm” was written on his antennae. He was pacing back and forth, clearly irritated at his confinement. “Who are you?” he asked. “I’m Sean Derning, a reporter for the Valley Voice. I’ve been asked to interview you,” I said.
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“May I see your credentials?” he asked. “Um, I don’t have any. I’m a freelance writer,” I replied.
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“A freelance writer? You think you can dissect me like they do in a high school science lab? You know what you look like with your bald head, pasty white skin and your beer belly? An oversized bowling pin.” “You see a lot, Hannibal. But are you strong enough to point that high powered perception at yourself? Or maybe you’re afraid to?” I said. Staring at me with those large, hollow yellow eyes, he said, gnashing his mandibles, “A bumble bee once tried to test me. I bit off his head and ate his thorax with some hummingbird feeder water.”
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“The police mentioned you offered up a tip as to a person who knew the nest’s whereabouts. You told them Gordon Sumner knew, launching a nationwide manhunt,” I said. “Gordon Sumner is a former band member of The Police and the rock musician also known as Sting.” Hannibal gave a wheezy chuckle at his own joke.
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“Why do you think I remove the bees’ heads?” he said. “It excites you. Most serial killers keep some kind of trophy from their victims.” “But I didn’t,” he said. “No, no…you ate yours.” I replied. “Let’s play quid pro quo and I don’t mean like the president says,” said Hannibal. “You tell me things about yourself and I’ll share things about me. Agree? And don’t lie because I will know.” “Sure.” I said. “What was your childhood like?” “I never knew my father and had several hundred brothers and sisters,” he said. “Mom was always too busy laying eggs. We were smuggled into the country from Japan in a shipping crate. At a very early age I hung around with the wrong crowd, ransacking beehives, drinking Mountain Dew and stinging outdoor enthusiasts. I was caught once or twice on minor charges but they couldn’t contain me because the tiny home monitoring bracelet slid right off my leg. Then they incarcerated me and played vintage Raid bug spray cartoon commercials on continuous loop from outside my cell. Petty torture from the sheriff. Quid pro quo, Mr. Derning. Your worst childhood memory?” “My uncle was a beekeeper and would often ask me to join him to help clear out the honeycombs in his apiary.” “Did he watch you dress and undress in your beekeeping outfit?” Hannibal inquired. “No, he was a very decent man,” I continued. “One day when we were out collecting, I caught the seat of my suit on an exposed nail and tore the material. The bees swarmed in and my buttocks suffered numerous stings. I couldn’t wear pants or sit for a week. Things got really bad when I went into an antique store and my enlarged bottom knocked over and broke several Precious Moment figurines.” “And you still wake to hear the buzzing of the bees. If you can find the hornet nest, will the buzzing stop?” he said. “Quid pro quo, Hannibal. The nest I seek, what need does it serve?” “It is something we see every day. It offers protection for the nest, but murder hornets thrive on disruption. What does disruption mean to humans?” he asked. “Wasting time?” I asked. “And what is the biggest waste of time in Steamboat Springs?” he said. “Waiting in a lift line?” I offered. “Think summer,” he said. “Traffic on Lincoln Avenue!” I exclaimed.
Valley Voice
“Find the stoplight and you will find the nest,” he said. “Now, I am tired and need my nectar. I would literally kill for a honeybee right now. Snapping off those little heads…”
I left him as he started walking in tight circles. His fate was sealed and I learned he later stabbed himself to death with his own stinger. A violent criminal the size of the tip of your finger with his own king size real and imagined demons.
The local public works department located the nest at the stoplight on 9th and Lincoln Ave, across the street from Fuzziwig’s Candy Factory (go figure). Traffic was rerouted to Oak St. and the attack was carried out after dark. The following morning, hundreds of murder hornet carcasses littered the intersection. Closer inspection of the massacre revealed the most chilling fact of the case; the queen was missing! Rumor has it she hopped on the local Greyhound bus to Salt Lake City incognito or became a windshield casualty on Highway 131. Some say she’s up Seedhouse Road or on Buffalo Pass in exile. At this time, her whereabouts are still a mystery. But what about the bees? Hive spokesperson Polly Pollinator offered this response; “We are relieved to see some closure at this time so the healing process can begin in our colony. Evening vigils outside the hive are being held with many survivors holding mini beeswax candles. This was an insect inspired hate crime arriving from a foreign country, pure and simple. Those puny terrorists that participated in the hive raid and perished in the city’s counterattack have been punished to our satisfaction. “We expect honey production to resume shortly and have taken several precautions to prevent this tragedy from happening again. Security to the hive has been stepped up and tiny ID cards have been issued to all bees leaving the hive. On return, they will have to present their card for admittance. “All bee stingers are required to receive a weekly sharpening for maximum penetration and there is now fly-in testing for venom potency. Martial arts self-defense training adapted from the killer bee task force manual has been offered and with additional legs, our trainees are a force to be reckoned with. “And finally, our covert counterterrorism operation, the BIA (Bee Intelligence Agency) is working with the government’s Department of Agriculture to locate the hornet queen. Agents have been dispersed throughout the countryside checking dead trees and logs, while others are checking social media dating sites for such clues as ‘Mama Queen looking for her King Bee.’ These terrorists cannot be permitted to disrupt our country’s honey and pollinating needs. When apprehended, the hornet queen and her newly hatched followers will be brought to justice. We want to prevent another hornocaust.”
July 2020
Hayden
Hayden Update
15
Be Local & Eat Local! Locally roasted espresso and coffee drinks. Amazing sandwiches, soups & salads. Wonderful baked goodies!
By Brodie Farquhar
Amidst the pandemic and emerging reopening of business and the community, there’s news to report about Hayden. The Yampa Valley Brewwing Company is planning a soft opening in their new brew pub at the corner of Walnut and Lincoln, in late July, with a hard opening in August. The facility will support a greater capacity for brewing volume, indoor and outdoor seating, parking and spots for food trucks to visit. The salt shed building, between YVBC and the Granary complex of Embers Pizza and Wild Goose Coffee, will be a commons area.
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The former Wolf Mountain Pizza building has been leased by Steamboat’s Skate Church and will feature indoor skating, pool tables and a snack bar. Sunnyside Restaurant, across from the Post Office, is reopening July 1 after some remodeling.
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The controversy over whether spraying for mosquitoes in town was resolved June 18 at the town meeting. There had been opposition over using a pesticide, but the council ruled the pesticide was safe and scheduled two more aerial sprayings this summer – the first is June 29.
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The Routt County Board of Commissioners decided to limit the 2020 Routt County Fair scheduled for August 7-16. The County and Fair Board are moving forward and working out details for hosting 4-H and FFA shows and the Junior Livestock Sale.
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Poetry
Warriors By Joan Remy
The warrior never tells About the wounds Just acts and plays the game Sometimes you hurt immensely Can’t run away The training never leaves I only separate and come back again Within Earth’s deep beauty Don’t let anyone take your power Love intensely Be kind but aware
16
July 2020
Valley Voice
A More Perfect Union
When Ice Turns Fire By Eric Kemper
Set this all against the backdrop of an ongoing and accelerating pandemic that has kept people alone and apart for months, it’s easy to see why this moment has exploded the way it has. As the National Science Foundation says, “When an ice-covered volcano erupts…(it) can have catastrophic results.” “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…”
Which of these armed protests led the NRA to support new state gun control laws? What might have made the difference? The challenges we face are only just beginning, but we will face them the only way we can. Together. Because we have no other choice. Scarcely had these words gone into print when the true test of their merit suddenly exploded across the streets of America. Months, years, generations of pressure burst forth when yet again, the American people were faced with a horror. Only this time, unlike the strange, unseen threat that had been hanging over us all spring, this horror had a familiar face. This is a scene we have all seen before. George Floyd was the latest name on a list that had just previously been led by Ahmaud Arbery, and has subsequently added Elijah McClain right here in Colorado. Not one of these people deserved to die, but the horror continues. John Crawford, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile all suffered the same sentence for the perceived crime of their mere existence.
It’s been more than twenty years since the murder of Amadou Diallo and nothing has changed. Breonna Taylor’s murder, in bed during the dead of night, has haunting similarities to the assassination of Fred Hampton. We have seen this before. And what we have also seen before is the disheartening absence of justice in it all. Time will tell what happens in these new cases, but in nearly every other instance mentioned above, the fatal actions were deemed to be justified. Despite what your eyes or your innate sense of right and wrong may tell you, it is considered perfectly reasonable in the eyes of the law for a police officer to shoot a twelve year old with a toy gun within two seconds of arriving on the scene, as was the case with Tamir Rice. Despite the horrific 8:46 that any American who can stomach it has almost certainly seen by now, every prosecutor out there will tell you it will be a steep uphill climb to see any of the officers involved convicted of anything.
According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” America is the greatest nation on Earth, full of opportunities found nowhere else. It is Reagan’s Shining City on a Hill and an inspiration for people all over the world. America is also a nation of deep-seeded issues and tremendous internal strife, with fissures that rend and tear from within to the point it seems sometimes we are but a spark away from open conflict. We have always been a quarrelsome nation, fond of arguing loudly with ourselves, but the partisanship of this particular moment seems to be especially pernicious. That’s why we need to try to remember the ideals that we started with. More perfect. Not perfect, but getting there. Trying. From the beginning we recognized that we are flawed and each generation should be striving to do better than the last. Fix what the past got wrong. Dr. King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” What went unmentioned is that working to bend that arc can be like trying to bend a freeway while cars drive on it. It’s hard work and results can be hard to see, but right now, the streets are reminding us that it’s work that has got to be done. Even out here in Northwest Colorado, protests in Steamboat Springs and Craig showed that we know this. It can no longer be good enough to consider yourself “not racist.” We each need to move to the next step of being, as Ibram X. Kendi lays it out, an anti-racist. The concept recognizes that every person has biases that affect their thoughts and actions, but encourages change and improvement by recognizing and making allowances for mistakes and fallibility, so long as the willingness and motivation to work for better is there. As long as there is the willingness to work, to improve, to strive for the more perfect Union, we should always try to look for the best in each other’s intentions. And so I will close the same way I opened. The challenges we face are only just beginning, but we will face them the only way we can. Together. Because we have no other choice.
For those who live here and for those who wish they did.
Valley Voice
July 2020
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Wellness Corner
Varicose Veins and Hemorrhoids: Troubles and Treatments By Kari Pollert
varicose veins and hemorrhoids besides liver congestion and portal hypertension; is blood vessel weakness and fragility. With poor diet, overly strenuous work, pregnancy, etc., the body can become deficient in critical rebuilding materials. Other signs of vessel weakness include easy bruising, spider veins, easy nose bleeds, and bleeding gums. The capillary walls are having a hard time maintaining their integrity and holding the blood inside. Bulging and minor (or sometimes major) blow-outs can occur. Both varicose veins and hemorrhoids can become chronic, painful, and debilitating.
Varicose veins and hemorrhoids are topics seldom talked about. People afflicted with them may find themselves sneaking into the pharmacy seeking help for a painful and distressing condition! What you may not know about hemorrhoids is that it is also a varicose vein. A painful, swollen, weak, and sometimes bleeding vein. So what causes varicose veins and hemorrhoids? They occur as a result of stagnant, de-oxygenated blood remaining in the veins, because it is having a hard time getting from the extremities back to the heart for recirculation. This condition is directly related to liver function. The ‘portal vein’ is the main vein that comes into the liver from the intestines, pancreas, stomach, and spleen. If the liver becomes congested because of thickened blood, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, or poor diet, it will raise the blood pressure in the portal vein and its branches in an attempt to push the blood back to the heart. The other component to
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The usual treatments for these problems are rectal salves, suppositories, surgery, and elastic stockings, all of which do not address the root cause. The protocol I use includes three products from Standard Process. The first is Collinsonia Root (also known as Stone Root). This root astringes, tones, and strengthens the structure of the blood vessels. The second product is Cyruta Plus. This supplement is made from buckwheat leaf, which is one of the richest sources of rutin, a component of the vitamin C complex. Rutin is critical in the formation of collagen, which is the structural matrix of our vessels. Collagen provides the “strong weave in the fabric”, so to speak. And the third product is AF Betafood. This supplement helps to thin the bile in the liver, reducing congestion and helping the bile flow smoothly. It supports the processing of dietary fats for proper cholesterol manufacture and metabolism. When the liver is decongested and the vessels are toned, the pressure can come down.
879.5929 905 Weiss Drive - across HWY 40 from the Holiday Inn
Do you want a moto project?
FOR SALE: 1998 XR 400 This is a very tricked out XR. Bored out to a 440. Titled. Aftermarket everything! All the Goodies! More parts than bike! 3 tanks! A-Loop kit, extra set of rims, Hitchcock Suspension, etc. Problems? Broken Frame
These products are safe and easy to use. If you are suffering from varicose veins or hemorrhoids (and you may be surprised how many people do, they just don’t talk about it), please call, text, or email me. You don’t need to suffer anymore. 3-6 months on a protocol like this will have you feeling much better!
Kari Pollert is a licensed acupuncturist with extensive training in nutrition and herbal medicine, with office location at 1560 Pine Grove Road. If you want to talk or schedule an appointment, please contact Kari at 970-8468985, or email at info@lifelinehn.com. Please check out the website at Lifelinehealthandnutrition.com.
$1800.
Call for details: 970-846-3801
ANNOUNCING! Montgomery’s General Store has just installed 2 (level 2) electric car charging stations! Montgomery’s is located in downtown Yampa at 24 Main St. Stations can be activated by scanning the bar code on station and entering your credit card number on your smart phone.
Have a Safe and Patriotic 4th of July!
Downtown Yampa 970.638.4531
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July 2020
Valley Voice
Yepelloscopes
Your Monthly Message By Chelsea Yepello Aries
March 21 - April 19
There may not be fireworks this year and the crowds may not be able to gather for beer and BBQ filled activities, but its nothing that a book of old matches and a gallon of gasoline can’t fix. You may be socially distant, but that doesn’t mean people won’t see the flames from twenty miles away.
Taurus
April 20 - May 20
Between the orange man-child smearing his greasy booger fingers all over the antiques of the White House, a deadly virus, and racial injustice that has been separating the country physically and mentally, saying this summer has an atmosphere of anxiety and distress is an understatement. The chilling reality is this is all just a distraction from an aggressive alien species preparing to enslave humanity and use vital organs as fuel for their spaceships. Oh…. THAT’S too farfetched?
Gemini
ONLINE ORDERING NOW AVAILABLE!
May 20 - June 20
And as you rip the throat out of your unsuspecting neighbor and gnaw on his jugular like beef jerky, you think to yourself that this is probably not the most sanitary thing to do. Also, you kinda liked your neighbor, he was friendly and would feed your fish when you were out of town. On the other hand, it is really nice to be noticed, even if it’s as patient zero.
Cancer
June 21 - July 22
As your birthday comes and goes, you consider that you should try to be more mature. Maybe you should be savvier about politics and have matching living room furniture. These are all good goals, but you can always start small. Maybe begin by stifling your laugh when you fart in a full elevator. Obviously, you’ll still fart in the elevator and of course, it will still be hilarious, but you can just be a bit more subtle about it.
Leo
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970-870-2941
www.GoldenLeaf.co For those who live here and for those who wish they did.
July 23 - August 23
You try to impress your friends by sounding knowledgeable about astrological signs and insist that you can read the stars. You were believable until you mentioned that you can read the stars at a 9th grade level.
Virgo
August 23 - September 22
You’ve been planning your wedding since you were a little kid. Your partner has finally popped the question. You have spent endless hours and funds. You have designed and mailed hundreds of save the dates. You planned every
flower down to the shape of the leaf… then BAM! A pandemic. If that’s not the universe telling you to get all your money back and elope, then you’re just not listening.
Libra
September 23 - October 23
You are finally fed up with looks of shock, hate and distain when you sneeze in a grocery store through your mask. You decide to print a catalog of neon colored shirts that read “It’s hay fever, not Covid fever.”
Scorpio
October 24 - November 21
In the world of dogs there is a recurring day of dread, knowledge of its malice and callousness has been passed down for generations. This day is loud, its hot, its busy…the humans call it Independence Day, but to dogs its known as the Flashy-Awful-Scary-Nightmare-Boom-Boom Day.
Sagittarius
November 22 - December 21
Just because you are friendly acquaintances with your neighbors and they erected an above ground pool this summer, does not give you permission to use it as your very own naked, drug filled, 70’s inspired pool parties when they are not around. Despite pleading your innocence, they know their eight-year-old did not leave the man speedo in the bottom of the pool.
Capricorn
December 22 - January 19
As you sit on a bench by a lake, you peacefully feed ducks the crust of your sandwich and watch them dive and waddle. You giggle at the clumsy ducklings as they try to keep their place in line with the other hatchlings. On a whim, you Google the life cycles of a duck and are about a paragraph into their mating methods when you decide that the evil little bastards don’t need your sandwich crust and they can starve for all you care.
Aquarius
January 20 - February 18
Frodo and Sam stumble down the street grasping the ring, they address you as Gollum and ask you to lead them up the mountain. After being mixed up with a short, wrinkled, bald gremlin, you quickly realize that it’s time to hydrate and reapply sunscreen.
Pisces
February 19 - March 20
Everyone has a part to play and everyone has a purpose. You will soon find your purpose when you purchase a new car and your part will reveal itself as the getaway driver.
Valley Voice
By Matt Scharf
When Pandemic Masks Throw you for a Loop
July 2020
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July 2020
Valley Voice
The Valley Voice is for those who live here and for those who wish they did.
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Advertising in the Valley Voice gives you a whole month of exposure in Routt County! Call Today! Who reads the Valley Voice? •A well-educated population. Almost 60% of the readership has a bachelor’s degree or better. This means to you that a display ad can be designed to easily reach your target customer.
•Each copy of the Valley Voice is read on average by 2.3 persons. Your ad will be seen by more people than it would in any single daily publication over a period of 30 days. This means to you that your advertising will be seen more people who buy, therefore increasing its economic effectiveness.
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Who comes up with this stuff?!
Contact Matt Scharf at mattscharf1@gmail.com or at valleyvoicesales@gmail.com For those who live here and for those who wish they did.