Press Release
The Friends of Beckwith Ranch, Inc. announces the 1st Annual Beckwith Ranch Spring Roundup Fundraiser at the historic Beckwith Ranch near Westcliffe, Colorado. The event is to raise money to preserve The Historic Beckwith Ranch. Continue reading Beckwith Ranch Spring Roundup – June 4 – 5
by George Gramlich,
News and Notations
Citizenship is a responsibility few of us, regrettably, take seriously these last few decades.
Being self-absorbed seems to be the new American norm. It is why we are where we are today as a country with Custer County being a rare exception. One of our local patriots, Jim McMahon, rancher, farmer, plumber, builder, Christian, bon vivant, saw something wrong two years ago at a Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting (attended by Muskies Bill Canda, Jay Printz and Tom Flower). So wrong, and obviously wrong, that this country boy said enough is enough, I have to do something about it. Government needs to be watched closely, especially local government. That is a key part of Citizenship. And Jim IS a serious watchdog.
At the August 28, 2020 BOCC meeting, McMahon, watched as Commissioner Tom Flower, in multiple violations of Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS), proceeded with attempts to influence his fellow commissioners into a vote to award the Health Department overtime pay that his wife, Cindi Flower, would be a recipient of. He not only hid the fact from the commissioners and the public, that he and his wife stood to benefit from the decision, he also discouraged waiting for a recommendation of fund appropriation from the committee set up for CARES Act funding disbursement. Flower also pushed the other two muskies, who did not want to vote on the issue at that time, into changing their opinions and voting to pay the unbudgeted overtime from the County coffers. These actions are in violation of CRS 24-18-109(3)(a) the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission ruled, specifically, “a breach of the public trust for private gain.”
How did the Ethics Commission come to this discovery and decision? Because Citizen Jimmy McMahon took the time to research Colorado’s ethics laws, found where to make a complaint, and sat down and wrote out a letter to them outlining these serious ethic violations. The complaint was filed and there was almost a year of working out the details of the complaint with the Ethics Commission. Finally, March 15th of this year, the Ethics Commission held the evidentiary hearing. They released their opinion Monday, May 15, 2022.
In a devastating ruling, the Ethics Commission took apart all the smoke and mirrors Flower attempted to use to slither his way out of this and found him flat out guilty of multiple
violations of Colorado Law. And they also imposed a fine on Flower which is somewhat rare.
So we have a County Commissioner that now has been censured and punished by his fellow muskies in the recent employee harassment scandal (involving county employee Jackie Hobby) and is now being found guilty of violating Colorado law and being fined for more immoral behavior relating to a payment to his wife. We’ll hear the same, old, croaky, crocodile tear apology next meeting (I’m soooooo sorry. I’m a bad boy. It will never happen again. Waaaaaaa.) and he will do the contrition act for a week or so (like he did in Jackie Hobby’s case.) Then it is back to the Flower Power Hour where the world revolves around The Flowers. County employees, his fellow muskies, and the public will again be treated to his bullying and selfish actions that are hurting our county.
What honor lies in a man like this? Will the calls again for his resignation from the public ring hollow in this man? We will find out.
The full ruling is below. The decision and compulsory penalty is at the end. Read the whole thing. It is a lesson in moral politic that hopefully one person might finally learn. God Bless Jimmy McMahon for standing up to corruption. If you see Jimmy about town thank him and buy him ONE beer.
The Ethics Committee finding were printed in their entirety.
To view, go to https://iec.colorado.gov/sites/iec/files/documents/Complaint%2020-73%20Findings%20and%20Conclusions.pdf
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BOCC: American Rescue Plan Grant:
Another Flower Power Show
by George Gramlich,
News and Notations
The April 29, 2022 Custer County Board of County Commissioners meeting was held in the royal musketeer’s throne room and started at 9 a.m. All three muskies were present: Chair Kevin Day, and members Bill Canda and Tom Flower.
After the muskies wowed us (especially Flower) with all the productive and truly worthy government meetings they attended (via in person, or more frequently now, via Zoom) since the last muskie episode, the big show was up: doling out the $870,000 O’Biden slush fund American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that the county was awarded. Who gets this O’Biden vote bribe money? YES! Continue reading BOCC: American Rescue Plan Grant: Another Flower Power Show
Town of Westcliffe Board of Trustees Monthly Meeting
—April 18, 2022
by Becky Olson
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Town of Westcliffe convened as scheduled. in Patterson Hall. A quorum of Trustees was present and proceedings commenced after recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
After the consent agenda and Treasurer’s report were unanimously approved, discussion turned to the one item of old business, Bootlegger’s Mercantile restaurant’s application for additional outdoor seating. Mayor Wenke summarized discussion that took place in a separate workshop on this topic and reported they had determined it would “not be wise to lease or sell” the strip of property in question for the proposed additional seating. There was amotion to disapprove Bootlegger’s application, which was seconded and passed unanimously. Continue reading April Westcliffe Town Meeting
by Becky Olson
This summary is part of a larger and ongoing discussion in our community about a specific curriculum implemented in Custer County’s elementary school last year called “Social Emotional Learning”, or “SEL” for short. Though originally developed many years ago and initially introduced during the first Obama administration, SEL grabbed more national attention over the past year or so as it was marketed by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention(CDC), teachers unions, and state education boards as a helpful solution to the emotional andpsychological issues brought on in students due to the pandemic and school closures of the past two years. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning or “CASEL” (www.casel.org), the objective of SEL curriculum is to provide, “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintainsupportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions”. The particular SEL curriculum implemented in our school last year is from Sanford-Harmony, which claims the honor of being a “CASEL SELect program”. Continue reading “Social Emotional Learning” Curriculum
by Mark Bunch/Royal Gorge Gun Club President/
Chairman Fremont County NRA
Choosing a Riflescope
The first documented telescopic rifle sight was
invented between 1835 and 1840. This sight was called the Chapman-James sight and by today’s standards it was a piece of junk but back in its day it was considered pretty good.
Having a good quality scope on your rifle can mean the difference between coming home with meat for the freezer or not at all. It can also mean the difference in helping you get back home safely from some far-off dangerous place. Unfortunately, numerous shooters buy a good quality rifle and the cheapest piece of junk scope money can buy and then wonder why they can’t
hit anything.
Via Round Mountain Water and Sanitation
District (RMWSD)
Dave Schneider, district manager for Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District, sent the plans for the wastewater treatment plant for review this week. The project will be completed in two phases. See phase 1 estimates. See phase 2 estimates.
Dave says RMWSD now has “received permission from CDPHE to install a Pilot project using this new technology. The conceptual design will be sent to CDPHE for their review. A $3 million price tag is much more reasonable that $14.1 million!”
See diagram of phase 1
“Financially, the district has requested a change of project scope on our existing DOLA grant and has sent grant applications to Hickenlooper’s and Bennett’s offices for CDS funding.”
“The District is beginning to receive statewide attention in our attempts to find a treatment solution for our wastewater challenges. I have received phone calls from other rural districts struggling with similar issues and have project support from CDPHE and the Colorado Rural Water Association. The State is using us as a testing site as part of the plan to provide an affordable and effective solution, not only for our District, but for the hundreds of other rural districts within the state of Colorado.”
by Charlotte Burrous
—March 21, 2022
Many many citizens are still not happy with some things that are happening in Florence. It seems neither are the members of council.
On Tuesday, March 22nd, six of them resigned. The only one left is the mayor, who said he would not resign after a citizen asked him to during the Monday night meeting.
When asked what happened to cause the council to resign, Interim City Manager Tom Piltingsrud said he wasn’t sure.
Councilor Mike Vendetti, who is on his second term, said everyone but the mayor had resigned. Continue reading Entire Florence City Council Resigns
—March 21, 2022
WESTCLIFFE, Colo.
Town to Develop Policy for Outdoor Restaurant Seating, Snow Route Ordinance Modified, Town Manager Gets
New Credit Card
by Becky Olson
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Town of Westcliffe convened as scheduled at 5:30 p.m. in Patterson Hall. A quorum of Trustees was present and proceedings commenced after recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
After the consent agenda was unanimously approved, discussion turned to the one item of old business, Bootlegger’s Mercantile restaurant’s application for additional outdoor seating. Ed Stefanich, owner of Bootlegger’s, informed the Trustees he learned from Dave Schneider at Round Mountain Water & Sanitation District (RMWSD) that the town actually owns the water and sewer lines that run to the public bathrooms in Jess Price Park to the east of Bootlegger’s where the additional outdoor seating is proposed. RMWSD does not assume responsibility for those lines until the alleyway, so the town is free to handle this request from Bootlegger’s in any manner they please without input needed from the water district. Continue reading Westcliffe Town Meeting- March 2022
by George Gramlich,
News and Notations
Our local whine fest lib newspaper, the Wet Mountain Tribune, apparently has had a pretty sizable meltdown following the Custer County’s Board of County Commissioner’s decision in January of this year to award the county’s legal notice publication bid to the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel. The Trib’s owner and editor, Jordan “Red Bug” Hedburg* hired a local lawyer, Mr. Wade Gateley to fight this.
Mr. Gately did some basic research based on Red Bug’s opinion that somehow awarding the bid to another local newspaper was illegal. Mr. Gately then sent a “Demand Letter” to the commissioners stating that they violated the Colorado Constitution and a U.S. Supreme Court decision. (Red Bug also attacked our Custer County Attorney Clint Smith in the Trib in several pieces about allowing this ‘outrage’ to happen, and, in a continuing temper tantrum, accused Smith of being incompetent and not doing his job. See below for more on that.) Continue reading Sore Loser: Sue Happy, WM Tribune
