Category Archives: 2018

2018

CCEDC’s Broadband Tower Proposal Instant Obsolescence?

by Dan Bubis

Colorado law requires that municipalities hold a referendum before providing cable, telecommunications, or broadband service, unless the community is unserved. Our community is not unserved, we have several providers and yet we have not seen a ballot issue addressing whether taxpayer funding should go to providing either broadband or telecommunications. For the County to engage in the provisioning of these services they stand a reasonably good chance of being sued.

One of the major problems with the CCEDC’s proposal is that they don’t really have a plan beyond building towers. They have no commitments from any providers of Internet or Cellular service. While “if you build it, they will come” may work in a movie, businesses need more concrete commitments to ensure success. AT&T has demonstrated an unwillingness to increase their current equipment and they already have a tower. If the existing Internet providers could make the use case for additional towers, they would erect those towers. Perhaps the CCEDC is planning on providing access to the towers at no charge. Then how will maintenance and support be funded. See the map of DD Wireless (now Secom) towers for an idea of existing coverage. Continue reading CCEDC’s Broadband Tower Proposal Instant Obsolescence? →

2018

Allen Cooper: Candidate for Fremont County Sheriff

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 →

2018, BOCC Meetings

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? →

2018

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 →

2018

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 →

2018, Letters

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 →

2018

Dark Skies Redux: A Lighter Side of Darkness Proposed ?

Image

by George Gramlich,
Commentary
Clint Smith, Vice President of the local Dark Skies organization, was gracious in visiting with the Sentinel last week with regards to a new, revised Dark Skies amendment that his organization is now proposing.  You will recall that their original one, now before Custer County’s Planning and Zoning Commission (on their February 5th meeting agenda), was quite oppressive and it also had criminal and monetary penalties for violations. (Although Commissioner Printz denied, in public, multiple times, that the proposal contained those penalties. He has never retracted those comments.) This proposal was widely panned in multiple BOCC and general public meetings as being a massive infringement on our property rights without any compelling state interest. Continue reading Dark Skies Redux: A Lighter Side of Darkness Proposed ? →

2018, Letters

Dark Skies VP Clint Smith Softens Approach

Letter to the Editor;
On Monday, February 5, at 1:30 p.m. the Custer County Planning Commission will be conducting another public meeting to solicit further comment on the issue of amending the Custer County Zoning Resolution with respect to light pollution. This issue has been characterized over the past several months as an attempt by our non-profit group—Dark Skies of the Wet Mountain Valley—to impose a “Dark Skies ordinance” and to force onerous and restrictive outdoor lighting regulations on the residents of the county. Continue reading Dark Skies VP Clint Smith Softens Approach →

2018, Letters

A Call from Bradburn on Dark Skies: Lumens and Ranchers

Dear Editor,
I received a very cordial phone call from Jim Bradburn, the president of the Astronomy Club, in which he explained some Dark-Sky guidelines concerning a dark sky reserve which shed more light on the subject than my poor old brain previously picked up.
My main concern was the effect the proposed addition to the zoning resolutions would have on our ranchers. The effect would be nothing because of Resolution 98-14 Establishing a right to ranch and farm policy of Custer County which protects our ranchers and farmers from all complaints having to do with their ranching and farming. Continue reading A Call from Bradburn on Dark Skies: Lumens and Ranchers →

2018, Letters

Colorado and Marijuana; Open Letter to FoxNews Five

FoxNews “The Five” panel;
You guys disseminated so much inaccurate information January 4, 2018, that someone should apologize to your viewing audience. So, Dana hasn’t lived in Colorado for 23 years and still offers statistical information that is 100% wrong. The vote to legalize marijuana wasn’t a landslide, it was very close…53.3% “yes” and 46.7% “no.” If she and Geraldo think that everything is going fine, maybe you should ask someone who lives in Colorado and who has some policing experience…me for example. Continue reading Colorado and Marijuana; Open Letter to FoxNews Five →