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Gilpin County that raised community controversy when it was approved by the Gilpin Board of County Commissioners last year.

Himmelman Construction began work on the new range on Oct. 2, but a formal ground-breaking ceremony wasn’t held, according to a spokesperson for Clear Creek County.

The new facility will include an operations building, classroom and 45 shooting lanes. In addition to the construction, Metals Treatment Technologies has begun lead remediation and mitigation on the Clear Creek County-owned site, which previously was leased by a private gun club. Organizers behind the new facility are also seeking an operator to help manage and operate the new range.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife awarded $1.16 million in grant funding for the project, which has a budget of $1.835 million –including Gilpin County’s $400,000 contribution, which was approved in September 2022, over the objections from sev- eral residents and Gilpin County Commissioner Web Sill. The late Sill (R-District 1), who passed suddenly last November, complained Gilpin was paying most of the local share of the costs, but Clear Creek will control the operation. “This is one-sided. It favors Clear Creek County – they make every decision,” he noted. Despite his protests, Commissioner Sandy Hollingworth (D-District 3) and now-former commissioner Linda Isenhart (D-District 2) approved the money.

“There is an increasing need for shooting opportunities that are safe, respon- and this range is designed to meet those needs,”

Clear Creek County Special Projects Manager Lisa Leben said. “It will address dispersed recreational shooting on U.S. Forest Service property, which is causing safety concerns and impacts to the natural resources in both Clear Creek and Gilpin counties.”

Potential range managers can call Leben at 303-6792434 for more information.

The New SAT is a Joke

As an AP English teacher and a former standardized test coordinator, I have ample reason to complain about the College Board, the non-sible for the SAT, the PSAT, and Advanced Placement (AP) classes in high school.

- cern for teachers is that AP classes have a proscribed, limited curriculum because the class is focused on passing a single national exam.

Teaching to a single test limits the content and skills teachers can emphasize. As for being a test coordinator, don’t even get me started on the days of my life spent on hold with College Board’s customer service line.

Those concerns, however, pale in comparison to my disappointment in the College Board’s decision to change the format of the SAT and PSAT tests and to switch to an all-digital test. When the state of Colorado’s contract with the College Board comes up for renewal, the state should immediately cut ties with the company and switch back to the ACT for state testing. The new SAT and PSAT tests can no longer be trusted as an accurate measure of a student’s reading ability and potential to understand complex materials at the college level. In fact, the new SAT can no longer be considered a reading test at all.

SIDEBAR: Clearly, the College Board is not really an educational services company. It’s simply a major international business focused on making a lot of money.

The new test format is inherently easier but also inauthentic as a legitimate measure of literacy. According to information provided by the College Board, the new digital format is shorter than the paper version. The SAT is now two hours rather than three, and it has 56 fewer questions. Simply based on averages, fewer questions decrease the margin of error. Students can get fewer questions wrong and still receive high scores – except, of course, for the College level. That’s because the test is now adaptive – meaning as students shift sections, they receive more or less challenging questions based module.

However, the most egregious change is in the question format. In the past, students would read long passages and answer 10 or so comprehensive questions about their full understanding of broad ideas and individual language choices. The new test, however, has no long passages. Students read short pieces of just a couple sentences or so, and they answer a single question. As a veteran English teacher and writer, I do not understand how the College Board can in any way claim to colleges and universities that their test measures a student’s ability to read and comprehend complex materials. Because they are no longer reading passages. And I haven’t even delved into changes to the math test, which eliminated the “no calculator” section.

Forbes magazine recently spoke with Shaan Patel, MD, MBA, and founder/ CEO of Prep Expert SAT & ACT Preparation, about the changes to the test. In no uncertain terms, Patel explained that the College Board is simply a business, and changes are designed to Patel, “The College Board purposely makes the SAT easier with every redesign because it wants more students to take the SAT.” The AP exams, which are used to grant college credit, are also getting easier at an alarming rate. For example, according to released data, the pass rate for the AP English Literature exam was 43 percent in 2021. Yet, just one year later, the pass rate in 2022 had

Gilpin school activities

This week

Friday, Nov. 10: High school spirit squad at Denver Christian. 6 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 11: Middle school boys basketball tournament at home, beginning at 9 a.m. Teams TBA.

Week of Nov. 12

Monday, Nov. 13: date for high school winter sports.

Tuesday, Nov. 14: Middle school boys basketball at Fitzsimmons. The B-Team will play at 4:15 p.m., followed by the A-Team at 5:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 15: Middle school boys and girls basketball tournament at Mile High Academy. The girls B-Team will play at 4 p.m., followed by the boys B-Team at 5 p.m. p.m., followed by the boys A-Team at 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 18: Middle school boys basketball at Clear Creek. The C-Team plays at 9 a.m., followed by the B squad at 10 a.m. and the A-Team at 11 a.m. The high school Spirit squad will participate in Greeley High School’s “Winter Blast” at 5 p.m.

Week of Nov. 19 risen to an astonishing 77 percent.

Monday, Nov. 20: High school girls basketball scrimmage at Dakota Ridge, 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 22 and 23: Thanksgiving holiday (no school).

NOTE: Schedules are tentative and may change due to a variety of factors, including weather.

Clearly, the College Board is not really an educational services company. It’s simply a major international business focused on making a lot of money. It’s mystifying that the company is granted nonCEO David Coleman reportedly had a $2.5 million salary to grow. The company has radically decreased its costs by eliminating paper tests, yet they still charge the same price. They can eliminate huge numbers of workers with no paper or transportation costs. Heck, at this point, the College Board could be run by three tech bros in their dorm room or parents’ basement. And, honestly, with these changes, that feels like the case.

While there will always be legitimate concerns about the predictive factors of any standardized test, the ACT is certainly now more authentic than the SAT. Thus, states, school districts, and universities should reconsider the faith they place in SAT tests. Now, if we could just convince the ACT to extend the time for its reading tests.

By Gary King Bygone Scribe

30 years ago

November 12, 1993

Coming right along Work is progressing on schedule for the new Gilpin Library. Librarian Roger Baker says the new building will be ready to move into around mid-December. Since the library bond passed with the voters on Nov. 2, there will be enough money available to purchase new bookshelves for the building. Baker is asking people who wish to volunteer to help move into the new library to call him. Donations from community members and organizations, including $25,000 pledged by Stu and Diana Boulter, $10,000 from the Gilpin Hotel, and substantial donations by both Black Hawk and Central City, allowed work to begin before the bond issue was approved by voters.

Wintershire celebration slated for three-day Thanksgiving weekend

Central City will sparkle with holiday cheer during its annual Wintershire celebration on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 26, 27 and 28. New holiday decorations and lights will brighten the entire downtown area, a joint project of the Central City Marketing Committee and the Central City Casino Association. The three-day Wintershire observance will include an arts and crafts bazaar, tours of historic homes and buildings, visits with Santa Claus, showings of Victorian fashions, a special musical performance, strolling carolers and carriage rides throughout the town.

Poll watcher tries to retract voter challenges

Central City’s political and ideological differences are being dashed as questions concerning the challenge of some voters in the Nov. 3 election begin to arise. During that election in which Betty Mahaffey was elected city alderman by a two-vote margin had been marked as eligible but were challenged, including Weekly Register-Call publisher William C. Russell Jr. Russell’s voting rights were challenged by Central City resident Mazel Johnson, who was an election watcher for candidate Dan Monroe. Johnson explained that allegations had been made about whether Russell actually lived within Central City. According to Johnson, she was given a list of names to challenge if they attempted to vote, which she did. When Russell’s wife, Kay, came to vote, Johnson said she thought to herself, “I’m not going to be the only one (doing the) challenging,” and left any challenge of Kay Russell’s eligibility up to the election judges. Kay Johnson was not challenged before being allowed to vote. “When that happened, I was in an absolute stupor,” said Johnson. Upon learning that Russell’s wife Kay had been involved in a fall and had been recuperating in Denver, Johnson said she began to wonder, “What did I get into?” Said Johnson, “To be perfectly honest, I feel I was used.” The next day, Johnson sent a letter to Central City assistant manager David Clyne asking that the challenges she made be withdrawn. During their conversation, Clyne told Johnson that he was not in the position to allow her to withdraw those challenges. Johnson declined to say exactly who supplied her with the list of names she was to challenge or who issued directions she do so. “Some people were let down with this cheap shot,” Johnson said, “It was a stupid political move.” Johnson did suggest the Russell challenge was made in answer to an advertisement Russell placed in the Weekly Register-Call before the election. That advertisement called into question council hopeful Dan the vacant council seat.

60 years ago November 8, 1963

Mr. and Mrs. Ray Hendricks returned home last week from a trip to the state of Washington. No luck in elk and deer hunting, but four bears were bagged by hunters of the party. They said it was too dry and dusty in that area to make for good deer hunting.

Word comes this Monday morning that a car with women and children passengers has been stalled on the Rollins Pass road in knee-deep snow since Sunday afternoon. One of the passengers hiked into Tolland or East Portal this morning to get help, which is on the way.

An afternoon outing in the mountains nearly turned into tragedy when a party of eight ran into a snowstorm on Corona Pass, and their car became stuck in the snow. The four children and four adults, all from Denver, were rescued Monday afternoon after spending Sunday night in the car atop Corona Pass on the old right-of-way of the Moffat road. They left Denver Sunday afternoon for Winter Park via Rollinsville, East

Portal and Corona Pass and ran into a snowstorm above Yankee Doodle Lake, where they bogged down in the snow. Stranded for nearly 24 hours in sub-freezing temperatures were Hans Farwig, 29; his wife, Corina, 22; their four children, Janet, 6; Sonia, 5; Yojana, 3, and James, 2; Mrs. Farwig’s mother, Mrs. Maria Lopez, 58, and a friend of the family, Miss Rosaria Pradel, 41, all of Denver. Farwick tried for several hours to get the station wagon out of the deep snow. It was equipped with chains, but he was unable to get traction. With the blizzard getting worse and darkness falling, he decided they should spend the night in the car. The blizzard raged throughout most of the night, and Monday morning Farwig found the new snow up to the windows. With temperatures dropping to zero during the night, he used the heater every few minutes and, Monday the doors open and started out to obtain help. He walked close to 15 miles to Tolland, where he was picked up by a freight train and taken to East Portal, where he phoned Sheriff Charles M. Smith of this city, who immediately organized a rescue team and called the Mountain Rescue Unit of Boulder.

Floyd Campbell has just completed a month’s work at the Episcopal Church in cleaning the rock, dirt and debris that has accumulated in the back of the building for the past 75 years. He has built retaining walls on the street behind the church and pointed up the walls with cement, and in all did a most excellent job.

Some deer crossed the road the day after the season ended. They were smart and kept out of sight until then.

The Gilpin County High School football team lost its chance to play for the district title last Friday when they were beaten by the boys from Bennett by a score of 19 to 21. The Eagles had previously beaten Bennett in league play, but following a hard game Monday against Strasburg to gain the league title, the team just couldn’t get going. The residents of the County should be very proud of those boys bringing the league title to Gilpin and having one of the best football teams seen in these parts in many years.

Leo and Katie Legg, of Travis Gulch were saddened last week by the death by asphyxiation in their camper, of George L. Strong of Commerce City and his brother-in-law, Oscar D. Worth. The Leggs lived next door to the Strongs before they moved to Travis Gulch and were very close friends. They brought the Strong children home to care for them for a few days at least.

Jim Steele, of East Portal has returned after working recently in Cheyenne, Wyo. Saturday, he attended a farm buy a mule or a nanny goat?

Golden Queen Chapter No. 17, O. E. S. Was visited Tuesday by the Worthy Grand Matron, Mrs. Dorcas Rhodes Grand Patron John Peach of Grand Junction, and othertion of Colorado. The initiation ceremony was presented. About 90 visitors and members were present and spent an enjoyable social hour after the meeting.

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90 years ago

November 10, 1933

Gold shipments to the Denver mint yesterday totaled

CITY

CENTRAL, COLORADO