IT’S ON! The Great Pizza “Saucesquatch”
Chow Down
Tony’s Challenges All Comers

by Fred Hernandez
Yes it is the challenge of all time, first ever in Custer County. Tony’s Mountain Pizza dares one and all to accept its bold challenge to tackle a giant pizza and get it for FREE plus prizes. The challenge kicked off on Friday, February 9th, at the main dining area when two young gentlemen accepted the first bout of man against pizza. It was a whopping 24 inch diameter monster. That’s two feet in diameter, topped with delectable pepperoni, sausage and cheese. It weighed in at an awesome ten pounds. There were eighteen slices in all.
The contest rules are simple:
1. A two person team against the pizza. They can share it half and half or one can eat more than the other as long as both members consume the whole pizza in forty five minutes or less. A staff member or manager must witness and has authority to decide if a rule has not been followed.
2. Once the timer starts competitors cannot leave the table for the duration of forty five minutes.
3. Napkins for the hands will be provided but they must remain flat at all times to ensure no food is being expelled.
4. Contestants must stop if they are feeling nauseated.
5. Named the Saucesquatch Pizza it has two layers of homemade dough, garlic butter sauce and delicious homemade sauce topped with Italian sausage, pepperoni, cheese at a cost of $50.
6. If the team manages to eat the entire pizza the cost is refunded, plus the team gets a victory T-shirt, a hundred dollars and their picture on the wall at Tony’s
7. Tony’s reserves all rights to any media, photographs, videos taken during the contest and all contestants will be asked to sign their consent before the contest.
The first challengers ( pizza gobblers) were two young men:. Alex Carpenter age thirty four from Cañon City, 5 Ft. 10 inches tall weighing 185 lbs. The second one was 35- year-old Larry Lavey, 6 ft. 2 inches, from Colorado Springs, weighing in at a hefty
275 pounds.
The two men were given 45 minutes on the clock to consume the ten pound flatbread delicacy. If they were successful the feast was free of charge plus a Tony’s T-shirt for each and a hundred dollars to split between them. If they failed the cost of the meal would be fifty dollars even.
Tony’s Mountain Pizza owner, Johnny Winton, personally brought the pizza pie to the table. And so, the signal was given and the pizza gobblers went quickly to work. They started out strong and fast gobbling down two pieces each in quick succession. Then a third slice.
At twenty two minutes on the clock there were ten slices to go out of eighteen and both contestants were breaking out in perspiration. Tension was rising among the small group of spectators. Johnny on the sidelines grinning with confidence.
Then unexpectedly, at fourteen minutes to go on the clock, gobblers raised both their hands and called for a truce. The monster pizza had won with nine slices to go! It was a good contest but the pizza got the best of them. Amidst cheers from family and friends the two men good naturedly took a bow and acknowledged their
defeat. Tony’s Pizza scores-one; and gobblers—zero.
And so, the challenge goes out to one and all. Come to Tony’s and go up against the monster pizza. Ten pounds, two feet in diameter, topped with Italian sausage. pepperoni, cheese and the special Tony’s sauce that makes this one of the best pizzas in the state. You win, it’s yours for free plus one hundred bucks, a victory T-shirt and your picture on Tony’s Wall of Fame. It will be a lot of fun plus truly great pizza at Tony’s.

Day Shows His True Colors
Turns on the Party and the People
Who Elected Him

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
Who would have guessed? After three years of horrible decisions, incompetence, an openly hostile attitude towards a fellow Commissioner, and bad calls that have cost and will cost the County hundreds of thousands of dollars, Custer County Commissioner Kevin Day finally came out and revealed his true core: Day has abandoned the party and the PEOPLE who elected him and decided to change his voter registration from Republican to Unaffiliated. (This was confirmed via a phone call from the Custer County Republican Central Committee Chair, Jack Canterbury to Day.)
This was announced last week.
In Custer County, changing your party while in office, means you flat out can’t be trusted and you have betrayed the people and the party that had voted you in. Day just gave the Republican Party, all the people who voted for him, and especially the two Republican Commissioners the big “middle finger.” I guess Day’s motto now is “Self before Service.” But it probably was that before….
You could see it coming. During the BOCC meetings virtually the only ones supporting Day’s unbelievably poor decisions were the libs attending the meetings. When the local loony left starts loving you up like you’re the next Bill Clinton and saying you are doing a good job, you know something is wrong. Real wrong.
As the multiple messes created by Day continued to mount during his few years in office. (e.g., failure to manage the Finance Dept. and HR, ignoring the serious Audit issues, hiring Wilson as Finance Director and then the insane plot to put Wilson in charge of the County as the new County Manager, the Florence EMS/Wetmore failure, the $45k “severance pay” blood money gift to Wilson, the TV tower repair failure, limiting citizen comments at the BOCC because they were criticizing him, on and on….), Day just kept doubling down on failure. His constant attacks against his Republican teammate, Bill Canda, were vicious and uncalled for. (You could often see Day actually smirk if he got Canda on something. Sick.)
Day has hurt this County severely. He has alienated the Republican base (excluding the old RINO elected officials). And in one of the most unbelievable, and corrupt political moves in Custer County history, in an attempted coup by Day and other elected RINO’s, he supported making a beyond heavily flawed, extremely anger challenged person, Chair of the Custer County Republican Central Committee! Are you kidding me! Day wanted that guy instead of a life long Republican with a great track record for freedom, and ex Chair, Jack Canterbury. (Lucky, Jack won the election by a hair with a bunch of elected RINO Republicans also voting for the severely flawed Trojan horse candidate.)
With Day at the BOCC helm the last two years, NOTHING GETS DONE. Meeting after meeting things get postponed, no deadlines are established, nobody is assigned specific tasks, issues are avoided, obvious solutions are ignored and the peoples voices are muffled. (Just look at Day trying to manage the hiring of a new Finance Director and HR Director. This has been going on for FIVE months!)
It is people like Day, who have no core beliefs except deceiving the people who voted for him, are willing to mask their true positions to get elected, who are manifestly incompetent and then turn on the people who elected them: these are the kind of people who have destroyed the Republican Party
in Colorado.
So why abandon the people and the party that voted him in NOW? Did he think he might lose the Republican primary race and not be on the ballot for Commissioner in November? Was the move to Unaffiliated registration a play to run as Unaffiliated in November? If so, it means that his loyalty to the people who elected him was false and the most important thing in Day’s world is his personal gains and status rather than the principles of small and efficient government and listening to the people. (You could see this attitude in many of the meetings over the last year where Day was more interested in protecting the county’s employee status quo rather than working for the people. Also his push to dramatically expand the size of our county government, e.g., the County Manager debacle, is a classic liberal answer to failure to analyze the situation and fix it internally. It is always more, more, more for liberals rather than rather than address the core issues.)

Bottom line: Day was a career county employee and his world view is through that employee framework rather than the taxpayer’s. He doesn’t look at issues from the management side (that is, the People’s side), he looks at the issues as an employee with all the protective and regressive view points that come with that. Day is the classic scenario of having an inmate run the asylum. And regrettably, we have to pay for the results.

So Day is possibly prepping for a run for Commissioner as Unaffiliated. But now we have a track record: failure after failure after failure. His actions regarding the Finance Department are going to cost the County hundreds of thousands of dollars. Abandoned the Party and the People who have elected him. A man without loyalty and any introspection on his actions. (And the non-funny part to this turncoat drama is that Day didn’t have the “cojones” or the honesty to register where he belongs: the Democrat Party! Maybe that will be his next move.)
And one more shot because it shows exactly Day’s mindset: After the County Manager position was killed by Epp and Canda, and Wilson walked away with $45k of OUR money with the bogus “severance” penalty that Day put in (for Wilson doing five days work), Day was asked about the severance money. He literally said he would do the same thing all over again! Folks, you can’t fix stupid.
The County can not afford four more years of Traitor Day. We will be bankrupt.
(Side Note: Things are so bad at the BOCC meetings after Day took over as Chair that there is a Deputy there at all meetings. We never had that on a regular basis.)
(Folks: We really need to vet the BOCC candidates earlier and better. We need people with real business and management experience running this $9 million a year operation with 90 employees and a ton of departments. We need candidates with a TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESS. Problem Solvers not Problem Makers. We don’t want Mr. Popular or Mr. Good Ol’ Boy. This is not a “learn on the job” position. Bringing people in to run the show with no experience is a disaster. Just look at Day and Flower. Total delusional failures. And the sad part is, they think they did a good job.)

Press Release
CCEDC
WESTCLIFFE, Colorado
Custer County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) announced January 26 that they will suspend the operation of the Main Street wi-fi system effective February 1st. The nonprofit organization has supported and paid for the system since 2015, and the cost of operating and maintaining the system has become too expensive for CCEDC.
CCEDC initiated the operation of the Main Street wi-fi system in 2015 to support the end of the Ride the Rockies bicycle race in Westcliffe and Silver Cliff. The idea started as a public wi-fi system to support tourism in the Regional Broadband Strategic Plan completed in March 2015 and funded by an El Pomar Foundation matching grant of $25,000. Local donations were received in less than two weeks and the initial six antenna locations were in operation 10 days prior to the race’s termination.
The system has expanded from its initial six antennas to the current 12 in both Westcliffe and Silver Cliff. The operation of the system over nine years has been totally supported by the CCEDC at a cost of approximately $1,000 a month.
However, if the CCEDC were to receive additional funding, the operation of the system could be continued through the tourist season, May 1st through Labor Day. Further details will become available as the summer season approaches.
For further information, contact Charles
Bogle, president of CCEDC; (719) 315.6229; ccEconDevC@gmail.com; or Ellen Glover, CCEDC member, at communityoutreach9000@gmail.com.

Unlawful Use of Force Lawsuit Filed
Against Ex-Deputies
January 18, 2022 Incident Involved
a Runaway Female Juvenile

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

In a disturbing development, a law firm out of Colorado Springs has filed a civil lawsuit against three ex Custer County Sheriff Office Deputies and one current Detention Deputy. The primary defendant in the case is ex Deputy Michael Kear. The other two ex Deputies are Miles DeYoung and Supervisor Deputy Scott Hinshaw. The final Defendant is Detention Deputy Megan Robbins. The lawsuit was filed January 16, 2024. Continue reading Unlawful Use of Force Lawsuit Filed Against Ex-Deputies from Jan 2022 →

by Dale Klingbeil
Custer County ,Colorado
—1/18/2024

You have seen recent problems with EVs not charging in cold weather. Power outages have made this event even more concerning. Here are some thoughts and considerations.
First and foremost, EV batteries does not operate well in cold weather. The stated optimum temperature range for EV batteries is; 53 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit. They lose significant power in the cold, (the colder the temperature, the lower the output and shorter the power output span).
First, Let’s Look at House Generators:
I have always considered a 3500 watt generator as a suitable output to support an average residential home. Now consider a rural home with a well pump and maybe a septic tank pump. Maybe add an outside light or two and a separate garage with lights and heat. Maybe a 5000 watt generator would be a better choice.
In summary, if you have all of the switches on in the house and you have your generator running, the 3500 watt generator is suitable to power your home. This probably
will not be enough watts if you have an electrically heated home.
Another consideration is that the start up of electric motors require 3x energy to start. Only momentarily. But still a draw.
The basic calculation for average home would be:
1214 watts times 2 to account for startup; equals 2428 watts. If the power was all motor driven devices that calculation now become times 3, (or 3642 watts). But it is not likely that such a requirement is likely in a personal residence.
See “How Many Watts Does it Take to Run a House? | EnergySage”
https://www.energysage.com/electricity/house-watts

Web Feb 16, 2023 · Key takeaways.
On average, it takes about 1,214 watts to power a home in the U.S. The actual amount of electricity it takes to run your home depends on what …Email: support@energysage.com

Given all of the variables in this event, you should hear the audible sound of the engine on the generator open the throttle and run with a higher decibel, (sound measurement) to accommodate the startup electric power requirement.
When you turn the “MAIN” switch on and with everything in the house switched on, you could hear the generator engine speed slow until some of the electric devises have started and the engine power recovers. All good again.
As a side note, consider my 15,000 watt generator connected to a 40HP tractor PTO, (power take off) shaft. This power generation combination was running at the required RPM. When the device switch was switched on, the running generator wanted to power the load, but the “start up” power required was, too large. The 40 HP tractor had plenty of power. In calculated terms, a 20 HP tractor could handle this load, (HP= Horsepower).
In the calculation, Power is electric, and Horsepower would refer to ICE, (Internal Combustion Engine).
Convert units

FORMULA for an approximate result, multiply the power value by 745.699872
We don’t know what device was switched on or what else was already operating.
The result was that the trailer on which the generator was mounted on was lifted off the ground and started to spin in the air. During this movement the trailer frame was bent into a half-moon shape. But, more importantly the PTO shaft connecting the tractor to the generator was twisted off and the end of PTO shaft which was still connected to the tractor was now free and spinning at some 540 RPM, flailing in the air. Dangerous for sure.
Now understand that this is farm use, and some exceptional electric demands were placed on this generator when the switch was turned ON.
However, the same will be noted when an excessive power load is “switched on” your home (3500 watt) generator. This would only be noted in very extreme conditions. The result will be less dangerous. Very simply the engine will stop abruptly. You will not be able to restart the engine until the electric power switch is turned off. Unless of course some internal device in the generator will allow the startup of the engine before the electric load is reapplied.
Many of the “standby generators”, have the onboard electronics in the on-board controls to adjust the start up conditions to reduce the initial load and allow for smooth operation throughout the startup cycle. When correctly installed this “standby” unit will not stall out or stop running.
Just for basic knowledge all systems in the home are set up for 60 cycle operation. Thus, the generator is usually set at 3600 RPM, (60 times 60 equals 3600 RPM). By the way, one-minute equals 60 seconds, ie. 60 cycles.
Now, Let’s Look at Charging an EV with a Generator:
This does not take into account an EV charging station.
Now, for the new enthusiasts which may have an EV in the yard or in the garage. A 3500 watt generator will not support the load to recharge your vehicle. As I have witnessed personally at a charge station, 7300 watts were being consumed by a single EV
being charged. It is to be understood that three times the energy to “start” this system is not required. But, do understand that the load required to charge this EV is twice what the (3500 watt) generator can produce. Do not increase the generator speed, this will not charge faster. It will only disturb the 60-cycle operation and requirements of the EV charging system. A “standby generator” may not have enough power to charge an EV. I have not found a smaller portable generator setup specifically to charge an EV. With current portable generator technology, you will probably run out of fuel before the EV is fully charged.
I reviewed a You Tube presentation with a 7000 watt generator with the result being unacceptable.
Just for fun, my new 15000, watt, (15Kw) generator connected to my tractor will handle the charge requirements very handsomely. The “wired in” and grounded connections are necessary. My 40 HP tractor/ generator will run very comfortably. Even a 20 HP tractor will do the job. You will not have any trouble or worry that the gen set will lift off the ground. Even with two EVs attached at the same time. This is now Level II charging at 240 volts and will still take 10 to 20 hours to charge to FULL.
Worries with big expenses to overcome. Cold Temperatures as we have had recently only make all of these circumstances more difficult. Keep your Diesel or other ICE vehicle
available for these cold temperatures to ensure reasonably normal operations in Colorado cold.