by George Gramlich
Over coffee at the 16th Street Cafe last week, I asked Cañon City Police Department Deputy Chief Allen Cooper what got him interested in law enforcement. It was an interesting short story. When he was around 20 years old he had a hot rod Ford Galaxy 500 and was speeding quite a lot with it around Fremont County. He was stopped for speeding (the third time in a short while) by a Colorado State Patrol Trooper. Instead of a ticket, the trooper gave Allen the “fatherly” lecture on where he was headed in life and that he has a couple of alternatives to consider. That trooper’s talk planted a seed in Allen that sprouted several years later. Continue reading Allen Cooper: Candidate for Fremont County Sheriff
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BOCC February 6th Commissioner Kerfuffle over hearsay?
BOCC February 6th
Commissioner Kerfuffle over hearsay? Printz on Commissioner Protocol, Resident on CR 271 Discusses Ongoing Problem of Semi Truck Traffic
by Jackie Bubis
Reporters Note: Since I was headed in to this meeting and my car wouldn’t start, I took the opportunity to watch live streaming. It worked very well. During the staff reports, the person with his back to the camera was a little difficult to hear. I had my volume maxed out. It was also interesting to watch facial expressions and body language.
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—February 6, 2018
WESTCLIFFE, CO
The meeting started at 9:00 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Minutes from January 31st were approved.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Canda reported working with Road & Bridge, particularly on the Hermit Bridge project.
Commissioner Printz reported attending a Regional Housing meeting, the Dennis Hunt meeting (CTSI), CART’s Person of the Year event (which he said was a great handshake opportunity).
Printz then engaged Mr. Canda, accusing him of “usurping your power as a commissioner” on two occasions. He went on to state that Canda had instructed the Planning and Zoning office to take out references to light pollution in the Zoning Resolution and had instructed Planning Commission Chairman Vic Barnes to make an announcement in their meeting that the commissioners were not going to speak. Printz stated that he’d heard about these things “second and third hand” and said, “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Mr. Canda responded that he had gotten the rough draft of the Zoning Resolution and was merely speaking for himself with input on the draft. He suggested that anything not enforceable should be taken out of the draft. Regarding the conversation, he believes that Barnes misunderstood him, and that if he attended, it would be only to listen. Continue reading BOCC February 6th Commissioner Kerfuffle over hearsay?
Let There Be Lights: Planning Commission Kills Latest Dark Skies Proposal 6 – 1
February 5, 2018
by Jackie Bubis
The courtroom was full to overflowing for the Custer County Planning Commission (PC) meeting on Monday afternoon. The citizens were there to make their voices heard on the on-going work the PC is doing, as requested by the Custer County Commissioners last year, to study requested changes made by the local Dark Skies International group concerning regulating outdoor lighting in the county. The Dark Skies group defines outdoor lighting as “light pollution”. This has been a highly controversial topic in the county for the past year or so and was one of the reasons for the successful recall of two County Commissioners who supported the Dark Skies proposals last November. Continue reading Let There Be Lights: Planning Commission Kills Latest Dark Skies Proposal 6 – 1
Trails For All Meeting
by Paul Parsons
On the evening of January 30th, the All Aboard Westcliffe facility was filled nearly to capacity. The people gathered because of a shared interest in trails in Custer County, informally representing at least seven user groups of trails: by horse, motorbike, ATV, road bike, mountain bike, snowmobile and foot. Presentations were given by Trails For All, an all-volunteer, presently unfunded, grass-roots group that has been meeting for the last year. They shared that their purpose is to maintain, promote, and enhance the trails of the county, and that this community event to which all were invited would be an essential step in moving towards that purpose. Continue reading Trails For All Meeting
Another Dark Skies LTE
Dear Mr. Brown,
I don’t expect you to understand this but I will try. You state in your January 19th Letter to the Editor “it is against the law to litter, to cause fires and to set up firing ranges on our properties that might endanger others. Then you state in your piece ‘my rights on my property are unlimited and I can do what I want on my property.’” What you miss is that those activities don’t stay on my property. I can shoot all I want on my property, what I can’t do is let those projectiles leave my property. The same is true for the rest. I notice that you conveniently left off the whole livestock thing. Continue reading Another Dark Skies LTE
Mr. Brown- You Have Completely Missed the Point
Dear Mr. Brown,
You have completely missed the point. Yes, there are some reasons to have certain laws. There are other things that can be done without a law governing it. The majority of the people, if not all the people, in this county love our dark skies. There is no way we are going to do anything to pollute our dark skies. We need no law governing that fact and I think you understand that from what you say. Our skies have been dark since the very first person stepped foot on this land to use it for any reason whatsoever. Continue reading Mr. Brown- You Have Completely Missed the Point
First Streamed BOCC Meeting
R&B gravel bid goes to A&S Construction, County Server Crashed, DA Not Interested in Grant Money?
Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
Westcliffe, CO
—January 24, 2018
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9 a.m with the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Minutes for January 9th and 10th were approved unanimously.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Printz met with the Tourism Board by phone. He attended the Sheriff’s Awards dinner and the Early Childhood Development meeting. He reported that there is an outlet that is not working in the Wetmore Community Center and he wants to hire an electrician to fix it. Commissioner Canda asked about the dollar limit that would require three bids on a job, wanting to make sure there is no nepotism with regards to commissioners hiring work done. Continue reading First Streamed BOCC Meeting
FORTY-YEAR HOME-GROWN SUCCESS
FORTY-YEAR HOME-GROWN SUCCESS Congratulations to Entrepreneur Russ Hartbauer
photo by Katrina Stone
by Fred Hernandez
The year was 1978 in America. A good year. The average cost of a new house was $ 54,800, monthly rent was $260 and the price of a gallon of gasoline was 63 cents. Bacon was at $1.20 /lb. and eggs were 48 cents a dozen. On the international scene the big news was Egypt and Israel had signed the Camp David Peace Accords brokered by then President Jimmy Carter. Continue reading FORTY-YEAR HOME-GROWN SUCCESS
Ben Rusher Day Proclaimed
The Custer County Board of County Commissioners solemnly declared January 31st as Ben Rusher Day in memory of Ben Rusher’s heroic effort to save his drowning brother last summer. Shown is Commissioner Printz reading and presenting memorial plaques to Ben’s father, John Rusher, and mother, Elin Parker Ganschow.
Photo by George Gramlich
Federal Broadband Definitions: The Impact on CCEDC’s Proposal
Editor;
I would like to address the issue of government run Internet provisioning as the Custer County Economic Development Corporation advocates. Because the issue is complex and I don’t want to chase rabbits, I will limit my concerns in this letter.
First, we need to define broadband. In 2015, the FCC changed the requirement for Internet speeds to be considered broadband from 4 Megabits per second download speed and 1 Mbps upload to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. That meant millions who had fast enough Internet speeds suddenly did not have “broadband”. The decision was completely arbitrary and capricious and was not based on any science. Continue reading Federal Broadband Definitions: The Impact on CCEDC’s Proposal