Category Archives: Archives

The NEIGHBOR–BUILT House The Dynamic Duo Organizers

Mrs Martha Starr and Mr. Chris Jenkins

by Fred Hernandez
This is the sequel to last week’s story about The House That Neighbors Built. When Mrs. Martha Starr of Cañon City found out that the house of her friend, Ms. Judy Field, co-volunteer at The Pantry, had burned to the ground, she made up her mind that Judy would not be homeless for long. The Pantry, where both Mrs. Starr and Ms. Field volunteer tirelessly, supplies food products from Care and Share, Loaf N’ Jug and other sources to over five hundred households in Fremont County. Continue reading The NEIGHBOR–BUILT House The Dynamic Duo Organizers

Bobcats Move to 2-0 Under the Lights

by CCSD-1 Coaching Staff

Bobcat Tackled

It was a big night at Henrich Field on Friday, the Custer County Bobcats had their opening home game against Las Animas and played under the lights for the first time at Mile and a Half Stadium.  The Custer County Booster Club made the experience possible and the players made the most of the evening downing the Trojans from Las Animas 38-14.

The Bobcats received the ball and marched down the field on an opening 50 yard, 6 play drive that was highlighted by a 37 yard strike from Chad Lewenkamp to Michael Stanley.  Cole Budds scored on a 3 yard run to make it 6-0 with just a few minutes into the 1st quarter. The Bobcats defense swarmed the Trojans on the next series and the offense went back to work pounding out its run game with senior Ray Perez scoring on a 3 yard run to make it 12-0.  As the skies darkened and the first night game in over 10 years at Custer County began to be reality, Las Animas showed they had some fight in them. The Trojans marched down the field and scored a touchdown and extra point to make it 12-8.

The 3rd possession for the Bobcats came up empty and Las Animas began to drive again.  Junior Cole Budds stepped in to strip the ball from a Trojan runner and Jake Morris was close by to scoop up the fumble and rumble 20 yards giving the Bobcats the ball at midfield.  Driven behind the running of quarterback Chad Lewenkamp, the Cats moved down to the 2 yard line where an errant handoff turned the ball over to Las Animas. The Bobcat defense would hold off until the half ended 12-8.  “Although the score was close at half, we felt in control of our destiny,” said head coach Troy Bomgardner. “We had done what we wanted offensively and they only had a few plays on offense that kept their drives alive so we felt the game was ours to win in the 2nd half.”

The Bobcats went on defense first in the 2nd half and held Las Animas to 3 down and a punt and this is when the Custer County began to take the game over.  Ray Perez broke through on 4th down and blocked a punt and then on 1st down Budds bolted for a 25 yard touchdown with Lewencamp adding a 2 point conversion taking the game to 20-8.

However, the Trojans would not quit and drove down for another score bring the game to 20-14.  An onside kick recovery by Las Animas kept the fans wondering where this game was going but on the next defensive play, Custer County forced another turnover when junior Patrick Post intercepted a pass with a good runback to the Bobcats 40 yard line.  Again, on the 1st play following the interception, Budds busted through on a 60 yard touchdown run. “Cole is becoming more comfortable running the football,” said Bomgardner. “The rest of the season should be exciting to watch him progress.”

The Bobcats defense began to tighten up and forced a punt to junior Post which he made a good 35 yard return to the 50 yard line.  On the next snap Lewenkamp found Post for a 50 yard touchdown pass to take the score to 32-14. The teams traded a few drives with again the Cats fumbling inside the 10.  The JV squad came in and shut down the Trojans and even had a short scoring drive with freshman Ben Penkoff connecting with freshman Sam Babcock for a TD.

Leading the Bobcats offensively were Budds with 134 yards rushing followed by Perez with 58 yards.  Lewencamp finished with over 100 yards passing to Post and Stanley. Defensively, Budds had a big game with 22 tackles and Perez with 13 tackles.  The Bobcats again led in the turnover game with 5 takeaways and only giving up 2 turnovers.

The Bobcats have an off week this week on the varsity level and will be at home vs Simla on Sept 15th at 1pm at Henrich Field.

BOCC: Tourism Board Issues, Airport Improvements Continue

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—August 15, 2018
SAN ISABEL, Colo.
by Jackie Bubis

The meeting started at noon with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
Minutes of July 31st, August 7th and 8th meetings were approved.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Printz reported attending two Tourism Board meetings. He helped finalize agreement between the Wetmore Community Center and the Historical Society. He also has received calls about CR 260 needing grading. Continue reading BOCC: Tourism Board Issues, Airport Improvements Continue

The Colorado Press Association: Part of the Deep State?

by George Gramlich, Editor

I received this email below from Jill Farschman of the Colorado Press Association last week:


The last line is a link to the Boston Globe article calling for all the newspapers in the U.S. to write editorials condemning President Trump’s attacks against the main stream media concerning the media coverage of him and his administration.
The Colorado Press Association (CPA) is the “trade” group for Colorado newspapers. It has been around for a long time. It is definitely left leaning. Regrettably, when we started the Sentinel six years ago we thought it prudent to join the CPA for a variety of reasons, one being credibility as a new, startup newspaper. It isn’t cheap to join. It became apparent when working with them and viewing their publications over a period of two years that the Sentinel was probably a lone sheep dog in a pack of left wing wolves. So we quit the organization. Continue reading The Colorado Press Association: Part of the Deep State?

BOCC August 8th: Printz on Violating State Law! Possible Raise for the County Employees, Haga Land Deal Approved

August 8th BOCC; Printz on Violating State Law! Possible Raise for the County
Employees, Haga Land Deal Approved

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—August 8, 2018
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.
by Jackie Bubis

The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed.
There were no new commissioner items or attorney items.
Administrative Assistant to the BOCC Brenda Gaide, reported that the DA’s budget meeting is August 29th.
Public Comment
State Senator Larry Crowder was present and spoke with the Board and audience. He reported that the legislature is working on getting more funding for the DA’s offices in the rural counties to alleviate the imbalance in funding between the public defenders and the district attorneys. He also said they are working on reforms for rural Colorado on septic system administration and that there is a real need for reform of the septic regulations. Of the sixteen counties he represents, fifteen are below the federal poverty level; Custer County is the only one that is not.
Angie Arterburn, from the Tourism Board asked the board some questions about getting more Board members. She was deferred to the next Tourism Board meeting. Continue reading BOCC August 8th: Printz on Violating State Law! Possible Raise for the County Employees, Haga Land Deal Approved

Drought Seminar

Been Through the Desert
on a Horse with No Name…. Drought Seminar

by Arthur Gerard Michael
von Boennighausen
I attended the drought seminar with 40 other people at our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church community room. The audience included Fred Berry, Jerry Seifert, Dorothy Nepa and Robert Miller. The seminar was facilitated by a USDA Ethnographer. As part of the seminar the attendees shared their current situation along with any course of action that would help all of us. The consensus was that we are in an extreme drought. People as old as 88 could not remember even the most reliable mountain streams and creeks drying up like this year. Hay production is at 20 percent of normal and many Ranchers have sold off their herd at a very low price as there is not enough grass hay to feed the animals. Continue reading Drought Seminar

Why We Cannot Stop Mass Shootings

Dear Editor,
I just read the Tom Knighton column on “How to Stop Mass Shootings” in your July 27th edition. While Tom makes some good points, the simple answer is “no, we can’t stop mass shootings.” This is America, a constitutional Republic, with 400 million firearms legally in civilian hands. Sadly, few in public office are serious about doing anything about mass shootings, school shootings or neighborhood shootings like those that happen daily in Chicago. There exists in America many who are sympathetic toward illegal alien murderers, terrorists, MS 13 gang members and even school Continue reading Why We Cannot Stop Mass Shootings

BOCC: July 31: Printz Meltdown, Airport Improvements, Fire Ban Now Stage 1, New CC Proposed Logo Panned

July 31 BOCC: Printz Meltdown,
Airport Improvements, Fire Ban Now Stage 1,
New CC Proposed Logo Panned

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)

—July 31, 2018
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public followed. Before the meeting began, three items were taken off the agenda including the proposal for establishment of a county housing authority and advisory board – which was moved to the August 7th agenda.
Commissioner Items:
Commissioner Canda updated the Board on improvements at the airport – funded by the Watts family of Aught Six Ranch. They expect all the work to be done by the end of September.
Chairman Flower reported on the meetings he attended and mentioned that the A/C will be serviced in the Wetmore Community Center. Continue reading BOCC: July 31: Printz Meltdown, Airport Improvements, Fire Ban Now Stage 1, New CC Proposed Logo Panned

July 18th BOCC: Meetings Are Much “Nicer”

BOCC: Meetings Are Much “Nicer”
Land Swap, New AT&T Tower,
Stage II Fire Ban Continues

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)

—July 18, 2018
WETMORE, Colo.
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Commissioner Canda joined the meeting by phone. Introductions of the public followed.
Commissioner Items:
All Commissioners reported on meetings they attended.
Commissioner Canda continues to speak with Veronica Logan of the BLM regarding a land swap for the five acre tower property on Lookout Mountain. Continue reading July 18th BOCC: Meetings Are Much “Nicer”