Category Archives: Letters

2018

Greg Lopez Speaks Locally

Greg Lopez Speaks Locally: “It’s About All Of Us”

by Fred Hernandez
R ick Castor, campaign coordinator, announced the start of the meeting at 6 p.m. on June 13th at the Lange Hall of the Lutheran Church on 3rd Street in Westcliffe by calling Pastor Adrian Washington to the podium. Pastor Adrian, Custer County representative of the LOPEZ FOR GOVERNOR campaign, gave a prayerful invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Immediately thereafter, the energetic candidate, Greg Lopez, was up and running with one of his familiar mantras: “It is not about Denver or Boulder, it is about all of us” referring to the 64 counties that make up the Centennial State, a nickname resulting from becoming a state of the Union in 1876, one hundred years after the nation was founded. It was a good-sized audience of about seventy-five enthusiastic citizens eager to hear from Mr. Lopez about his plans and platforms. The only veteran among all those vying for the position, Lopez, who became the youngest Colorado Mayor (City of Parker) at age 27, recounted his experiences not only as a mayor but as City Manager as well, a position which involved him in all aspects Continue reading Greg Lopez Speaks Locally →

2018, BOCC

Planning Commission Puts the Dimmer Switch On Printz’s Dark Obsession

Lights Out for the “Printz of Darkness”
Planning Commission Puts the Dimmer Switch On Printz’s Dark Obsession

Planning Commission Workshop
by Jackie Bubis
On June 13th, the Custer County Board of County Commissioners (Mr. Canda was not present) and the Planning Commission met in a workshop to review changes in the Zoning Resolution. The Planning Commission began working on revising this document late in 2016. In January 2017, when there was confusion with the then BOCC (Kattnig, Hood, and Printz) about appointments to the Planning Commission and then in July when the same board referred issues of Dark Skies and shipping containers to them, the work began in earnest.
The workshop began with Commissioner Printz stating that he thought the removal of a definition of “light pollution” was a “self-serving” effort by the Planning Commission to kill Dark Skies. He went on to spend the next nearly forty-five minutes proselytizing for Dark Skies. He believes that the public meetings held by the Planning Commission on the subject were “staged” and “biased,” and was not representative of the opinions of the community. (Editor/llv: Perhaps, as there were many Dark Skies Advocates from out of county.)

Continue reading Planning Commission Puts the Dimmer Switch On Printz’s Dark Obsession →

2018, Uncategorized

Hospital District Board: WHERE IS OUR SECOND AMBULANCE THAT WE PAID FOR?

Another Hospital District Mirage

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
The critical issue of not having a 2nd Custer County EMS (CCEMS) ambulance with a qualified crew reliably available still plagues Custer County (CC) and its citizens. Not to mention that the Clinic has NO doctors. (See below.) This problem has been with us for a long time and has been quite visible for the last seven years or so.
It was supposed to have been solved with the large EMS mil levy ($280,000) voters approved in 2014 but that has NOT happened.
After reading multiple incidents on the daily Custer County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) Incident Report and listening to them on the scanner, the Sentinel reached out to the Sheriff’s Office (SO) and asked if there were any statistics available for times when a 2nd CCEMS crew was needed and called and was NOT available. It turns out that there was. The SO was gracious enough to compile a spreadsheet from 1/29/18 to 6/12/18 showing the cases where someone in Custer County needed an ambulance crew while one was busy on another call and CCEMS could not provide the 2nd crew. To say the least,it is very, very alarming.
In a four-and-a-half-month period, FIFTEEN TIMES CCSO Dispatch requested a 2nd crew and CCEMS was UNABLE to answer those calls. In those cases, thankfully, Deer Mountain EMS was able to send their primary or SECONDARY ambulance to help CC out. On at least one call, Flight for Life was also called as it was uncertain if Deer Mountain could make it in time. (Flight for Life would have caused the patient to incur an enormous bill, of $10,000 to $20,000!)…

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2018

No Bars for Katie Barr

by Barbara Penezic
Fremont Crusader Commentary
The Fremont County Clerk and Recorder, Katie Barr, was arrested in March on charges of embezzlement of public property, harassment, intimidation of a witness and fraud by check.
After months of public speculation and the Fremont County Commissioner’s asking Ms. Barr to “do the decent thing and resign her office” even though she had not been proven guilty of any wrong-doing at the time, it now appears the evidence to convict Katie Barr of any real crimes simply doesn’t exist. The Fremont County Clerk and Recorder took a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to issuing a bad check; a Class 3 Misdemeanor. Ms. Barr will pay a $750 fine and serve 100 hours of community service plus one-year unsupervised probation. Continue reading No Bars for Katie Barr →

2018

Round Mountain Water: ‘Let’s Get the Facts Straight’

ROUND MOUNTAIN WATER AND
SANITATION DISTRICT

Regular Board Meeting
—June 7, 2018
by Mike Haga
The meeting was called to order at at 5:15 p.m.   Roll call and the Pledge of Allegiance proceeded.
Before reporting on the Board meeting, it is important to note two major inaccuracies on page 2 of the June 7th edition of the Wet Mountain Tribune titled “Round Mtn. expected to adopt new rates tonight.”
1. The first inaccuracy reported in the Tribune article is: “….the board voted unanimously to institute the Equivalent Rate structure (EQR) that District Manager, George Medaris originally introduced.” George Medaris did not originally introduce the EQR. Continue reading Round Mountain Water: ‘Let’s Get the Facts Straight’ →

2018, BOCC

BOCC: County Spending on Target…

County Spending on Target,
Airport Runway Weight
Capacity Study, Bennet to Set up
Office Hours in Custer County?

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—June 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 in attendance followed.
Chairman Flower remarked on the passing of Allen Butler, saying that there were a lot of heavy hearts today. “May he rest in peace.”
The agenda was changed to remove Hank Miller of Westcliffe Meats and to move the discussion of the runway testing up on the agenda. Continue reading BOCC: County Spending on Target… →

2018

Greg Lopez for Governor: The “Real Deal” Conservative

by Fred Hernandez
Gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez came to Cañon City on Tuesday, May 29th, and spoke to supporters at the Gibson Mansion on 9th and Greenwood Streets in Cañon City, CO. The venue, a beautifully restored seven thousand square foot, three story home, built originally by lumber baron David E. Gibson, in 1898, was an ideal setting for the more than seventy attendees who crowded the two sitting rooms and part of the dining room of the well-appointed home of current owner, Mr. Brendan Pardue. The opening statement of the candidate set the stage for the rest of his delivery when he said, “ The Lord has a hand on my campaign”.

These are times, according to Mr. Lopez, when everyone who wants to preserve the deeply held values of Coloradans need to unite and insure that a conservative Republican is elected to the governorship or suffer the loss of the soul of Colorado. Not to win the Governor’s Mansion in November is to risk becoming “the ugly twin sister of California”.

Continue reading Greg Lopez for Governor: The “Real Deal” Conservative →

2018

Native American Sites Presentation

“Native American Sites”

Press Release
West Custer County Library District

Native American expert and local author, Courtney Miller, will share his extensive knowledge of “Native American Sites” at a presentation focusing on four tribes, the Ute, the Cherokee, the Anasazi, and the Hopewell Native American Cultures.  Through discussion, slides, and video, Miller will help attendees understand the significance of these sites to the Native Americans.  This free talk is open to the public and will take place at the West Custer County Library Community Room on Saturday, June 16, at 4 p.m.

Miller has written over 200 articles for the online magazine, Native American Antiquity, and is considered an expert on Native American cultures.  He is the author of a seven-book series, “The Cherokee Chronicles,” which has been praised by the Native American community.

Courtney Miller is a multi-award winning author in the genres of Historical Fiction, Faction (Fiction based on Fact), Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery, and Geezer Lit.  His newest book series, “The White Feather Mysteries” is carrying on his award-winning tradition; book two, “It’s About Time”, was the winner of the 2016 Extravaganza Draft to Dream Book Competition.

 

For more information on these free library events, please contact Cathy McCarthy at 719-783-9138.

 

2018, BOCC, BOCC Meetings

BOCC: Printz Demands Another Public Hearing

BOCC: Printz Demands Another Public Hearing on Planning Commission’s New Zoning Resolution

Will “Dark Skies” Rear Its Ugly Head Again?

Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC)
—May 31, 2018
WESTCLIFFE, Colo
by Jackie Bubis
The meeting started at 9:00 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. Introductions of the public in attendance followed.
Chairman Flower reported that, after studying Robert’s Rules of Order on the subject, items cannot be added to the agenda during the meeting; they can only be moved or deleted. He then introduced Lisa Drew, the new administrator at the Custer County Clinic. She gave a bit of her background.
The Board approved the minutes of May 16th.
Commissioner Items
Commissioner Printz reported a number of meetings he attended: Upper Arkansas Council of Governments meeting, a thank you party for Bob Weisenbach after his resignation from the Tourism Board, Affordable Housing, the Memorial Day Celebration in Silver Cliff, the UACOG housing study meeting and the Justice Center meeting. He also mentioned an ongoing issue with an at-risk adult in our community that he’s been addressing. Continue reading BOCC: Printz Demands Another Public Hearing →

2018

Round Mountain Water – EQR Stays

–May 31, 2018
by Mike Haga
The Board of Directors of Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District (RMWSD) held a Special Session to review and discuss which of the two remaining options (the Flow Based system or the EQR system) will be the most equitable in terms of billing for both residents and commercial business owners in view of the necessity to raise enough revenue to pay for the six million dollar cost to construct a new state-mandated waste water lagoon to replace the existing lagoon which is presently running at overcapacity. Continue reading Round Mountain Water – EQR Stays →