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	Friday September 03, 2010

EXTRA : Music notes for August 26, 2010 • EXTRA : Rural Living for August 26, 2010 • EXTRA : Main on Main St for August 27 • SPORTS : Stonewall Century Ride is huge success • SPORTS : Soccer registration now until mid September Open to students county wide • MORE : Smooth Start for RE-1 School Year • MORE : Preferred trail alignments on path for public review • MORE : RE-2 battles bats with science project • MORE : County Jailers’ anger can’t be contained • MORE : SPRHC Nursing Home in line for $2 million VA grant • NEWS : Cuchara Mountain Resort plans to be unveiled • NEWS : City hires new finance director • NEWS : Another City official resigns • EXTRA : This week in History for August 12, 2010 • EXTRA : Huerfano County 4-H Fair a local tradition • EXTRA : Judith Baker Montano wins prestigious awards • MORE : Briefs for August 12, 2010 • MORE : Toni Brgoch Resigns • MORE : Gross looks to have evidence suppressed; Pino pleads not guilty • MORE : Special city council meeting: the devil’s in the details • MORE : Huerfano County leaders view election options facing city and towns • MORE : Capitol Hill project moves forward • NEWS : Bovine TB outbreak polarizes ag community • NEWS : Alan Hein resigns as City Administrator • NEWS : City going back to five day work week • NEWS : All Season resort to open in Cuchara • NEWS : No bad vibes at Hippie Days • NEWS : Bovine TB decimates local dairy • EXTRA : Extra margerine on my corn, please... • EXTRA : The Passionate Gardner for July 29, 2010 • EXTRA : Its Greater Outdoors for July 29, 2010 • EXTRA : Clayful imaginations • EXTRA : This week in history for July 29, 2010 • EXTRA : Cuchara’s dance pavilion, an early teen haven • EXTRA : Despite this we stay for July 29, 2010 • MORE : RE-1 receives grants • NEWS : Bob Reece joins the Huerfano Journal • EXTRA : Museum of Friends host open house • EXTRA : This week in history for July 15, 2010 • EXTRA : The late great Chuck Wagon restaurant • SPORTS : Sports complex progressing on schedule • NEWS : James England resigns from City Council • NEWS : Vigil resigns as Finance Director • MORE : Population in Walsenburg, County, dwindling • TO SEE AND DO : Local Service Organizations • TO SEE AND DO : Youth Organizations • TO SEE AND DO : Churches • TO SEE AND DO : The Arts • TO SEE AND DO : Museums • TO SEE AND DO : Tourist Information • TO SEE AND DO : Recreation • TO SEE AND DO : Libraries • TO SEE AND DO : State & Federal Government • TO SEE AND DO : Local Government • TO SEE AND DO : Post Offices • TO SEE AND DO : Court System • TO SEE AND DO : Schools • TO SEE AND DO : Health Services • TO SEE AND DO : Fire Departments • TO SEE AND DO : Plice/Sheriff • TO SEE AND DO : Utilities • NEWS : Officer cleared in Gallegos shooting • SPORTS : Orlando Cup set for this weekend • SPORTS : Redskins honored at Athletic Banquet • SPORTS : Redskins win district tournament • SPORTS : Panthers’ season ends • MORE : Obituary- Lawrence Tubby Noga • MORE : Obituary- Betty Dasko • MORE : Obituary - Charles Siegfriend Sporleder, Jr. • SPORTS : Redskins burning up the diamond • SPORTS : John Mall track team gets delayed results • SPORTS : La Veta Wrestling explodes at Rocky Mountain Nationals • SPORTS : Panthers survive first round • SPORTS : Redskin\'s Season ends in Fountain • SPORTS : La Veta\'s Sweet Sixteen turns sour • SPORTS : Walsenburg Golf Course braces for Spring • SPORTS : La Veta\'s youth wrestling season begins • SPORTS : Ron ortivez captures third • SPORTS : Lady Redskins lose one, clinch district • NEWS : Huerfano Journal takes over the World • NEWS : What\'s all this then? • MORE : Huerfano County one of the lowest in health in Colorado • : Nathan Lewis dies •

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Music notes for August 26, 2010

02 - September - 2010by Mary-Ann Brandon
    This particular series was inspired by a conversation that I had with La Veta resident, Reed White.   Reed and his wife are in the process of opening a restaurant and they aim to offer performances. By his own admission, White is not a professional musician but he loves to play and wants to encourage other non professional musicians to play for the public with no exchange of money. He found his inspiration at the Park Side open mic shows. He says “There’s something magical that happens between an artist and an audience when no money changes hands, not even for tips” On the other hand, he expresses concern for full time musicians who must feed their families. “I believe it is absolutely true that musicians and artists are among the most exploited of all those workers who are not in the upper echelon.”   White worries about the viability of keeping a restaurant open, that offers live music, if he must pay professional musicians. His idea is to try to find amateurs who will be willing to offer their service in exchange for food or beer.
    To break into live music is no easy feat. Many iconic musicians over the decades have turned to busking for their start.   Some performed on the streets, others, including Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Durante, Billy Joel and even opera star Andrea Bocelli, used cafe busking as a means to get a career rolling. In this model, the performer relies on tips from the audience for their compensation. Some of the most enchanting buskers I’ve ever witnessed have been on the streets of Paris, France where this practice has been elevated to a true art form.
    Local professional musician Dave Aurelio, who performs more than 100 shows per year, has set a minimum price for his service. Yet, he admits that he will donate his time for benefit causes that he feels are worthy. Many professional entertainers share this policy.
    La Veta resident, Ken Saydak, who has made his living for 40 years, exclusively in the music business, offers his take. “When a culture compensates artists for their talents, it admits that art is vital to the community’s overall health and vibrancy. Musicians provide a “product” of social value, even though it exists simply as vibrations in the air. When I listen to a Bach cantata, for example, I’m grateful for those patrons of the arts who freed the composer to spend his time channeling beauty rather than having to flip mutton burgers to pay the rent.”
    Says music business veteran, Fred James, (for purposes of disclosure, my husband) “Open mics are a great forum for amateurs to become comfortable in front of an audience. However, the idea that all music should be free is pure exploitation. Something special happens when the music is good. Musicians and songwriters deserve to be paid for their work as in any other profession.”

Rural Living for August 26, 2010

02 - September - 2010Watch out for tourist drivers
by Carol Dunn
HUERFANO- As you settle into country life, hopefully you learn to drive a little slower and be a little more patient on the highways. That said, you can spot a tourist driver a mile away. They are usually in a hurry. They may break up the boredom of driving by talking on a cell phone. They may be tired. They may not be paying attention. Some of them risk passing illegally on dangerous sections of highway. They don’t know the local terrain, and they are mostly interested in getting through our rural area as quickly as possible.
    Walsenburg is the “Gateway to the Southwest,” and over 3.5 million cars pass through our area every year on the way to somewhere else. Defensive driving is of utmost importance for people who live here.   The National Safety Council describes this as anticipating dangerous driving situations regardless of light, weather conditions, or the mistakes of others.
    More than a few of us have had to swallow our pride and slow down to allow a car to slip back into traffic in front of us after they passed us illegally. Pride has no weight compared to the value of human life.
    A good defensive driving practice is to slow down. You can scan ahead for potential danger and have better reaction time the slower you drive. Young drivers (and even us older drivers) are sometimes impatient to get to their destination. Impatient resident drivers don’t mix well with impatient AND tired and/or distracted tourist drivers. Just ask yourself, would you rather be dead than be late? Then slow down a little.
    In 2009, the section of highway 160 across La Veta Pass was considered by the Colorado State Patrol to be in the top 20 most dangerous stretches of highway in Colorado, based on fatalities and injury crashes. Be extra alert if you are driving La Veta Pass.
    The majority of fatalities and injury accidents investigated by the CSP in 2008 involved alcohol use. In second place is speeding or driving too fast for conditions. The third most common cause is not paying attention (talking on a cell phone, texting, eating while driving, falling asleep). Aggressive driving is next – improper passing, running stop signs, following too closely, failure to yield right-of-way, and driving on the wrong side of the road or cutting across the center line on a curve. Common sense tells us how to avoid being in any of these categories. Then we need to be diligent every minute we are driving, ready to react to other drivers’ mistakes.
    With all the automatic features of newer vehicles, driving a car can become nearly a mindless activity. It’s up to each of us to drive like we are taking our lives and the lives of others into our hands – because that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Main on Main St for August 27

02 - September - 2010
“And the days grow short…”
by Gary Rollins
LA VETA- It pains me to realize summer is nearing an end. Early each week, I take pleasure in hanging around Charlie’s Market to visit with those wonderful folks who are visiting La Veta.
    If I find someone who is willing to chat for a spell, I offer them my card and invite them to belly-up at Charlie’s ice cream fountain. Most of the visitors are from the great state of Texas, and I’d suggest more are “older” than “younger.”
    I had a pleasant chat with a couple who drove up from San Antonio. Their destination was Denver, where they had relatives, but they wanted to see what life was like in a small town in southern Colorado. They seemed genuinely impressed and the lady remarked that the late Normal Rockwell would probably have wanted to feature La Veta’s Main Street. It pleased me that she felt that way about our little town.
    As they were driving north on I-25, just north of Trinidad, they remembered both La Veta and Cuchara as places friends of the family had visited in years past. They remembered the ski resort nearby, but I told them the Cuchara Ski Resort had gone the same way as the hula hoop. And, although there are whispers that the ski resort might be born again, there are no promises. Only unanswered prayers. So far.
    This conversation took place when the temperature was in the mid-70s, and the lady asked if we had air conditioning in our home. I told her we simply opened our windows, both at night and during the day, to enjoy the fresh air. She said their air conditioning bill typically topped $500 during summer months and any open windows represented an invitation to the bugs and mosquitoes to come on in and have a bite.
    School has begun, and so the days grow short and it won’t be long before those aspen leaves will change from green to golden yellow.
    What a wonderful time to live in the Spanish Peaks. I don’t feel sorry for those people who come to visit. But, by the same token, I do not envy them as they motor back to the Alamo City.    People from San Antonio have long proclaimed, “Remember the Alamo.” But those two people who came from San Antonio this past week will darned sure remember La Veta.
    And they’ll certainly not forget that fellow who resided in La Veta, but came from Texas and who bragged that his air conditioning bill for the month of July was zero.
    I have almost forgotten how to sweat.

This week in History for August 12, 2010

19 - August - 2010La Veta
1902: Chicken stealing has again started in La Veta and the parties came near getting a dose of red hot lead on Monday evening.
1908: Of the seven La Veta High School graduates of last spring, four young ladies are teaching at salaries of from $50..

Huerfano County 4-H Fair a local tradition

19 - August - 2010by Nancy Christofferson
    The 4-H Fair competition follows a long tradition in Huerfano County, having been established in 1937, or 73 years ago.
    Before there was a 4-H organization here, Waldo Kidder, the first Huerfano County Agricultural Agent, began the Boy and Girl Club work in 1917. The participants joined into the regular county Harvest Festival that fall, with 3,500 attending the two-day event.
    By 1923 most of Boy and Girl work involved beef cattle, and Calf Clubs were started in the communities of Bear Creek, Pauley, Butte Valley and Apache. On April 17, one was begun in La Veta. These clubs challenged the members to raise and show their animals, with the best animals and members excelling in showmanship continuing to State Fair competition. After a few years, pig clubs as well as girls’ calf clubs, canning and sewing clubs were started.
    The calf club members had an annual fair and that it was popular is shown by the 2,500 people counted at the 1926 event, the eighth annual.
    In 1925 the club’s name officially was changed to 4-H. La Veta’s Snowy Range was organized in 1938 with eight members, and remains as the county’s oldest 4-H Club.
    Huerfano’s first 4-H Fair was held in 1937 when 14 boys and 14 girls entered their exhibits. From the beginning it was seen there was no real show barn or large arena for display of projects and showing of animals. Thus the fair jumped from hay barns to empty lots and back again. By the late 1930s the 4-H fair combined with an event open to individuals of the county, and these exhibits were often placed in club rooms such as Odd Fellows Hall.
    Phil Miles became county agent in 1933, and remained in that job until his retirement in 1956. Of all the county and home demonstration agents, he was the one most associated with the growth and popularity of the 4-H organization.
    By the time of his retirement, for instance, there were more than 20 clubs in the county, with each having a different specialty. These ranged from cooking, sewing, forestry, electricity, dog training, woodworking, wildlife, automotive, tractors, knitting, guns, child care and music to the original livestock clubs. These clubs ranged in membership from six to 30-40, as with Snowy Range, and included as many girls as boys.
    The 1940s saw the fairs as two-day events, opened with a parade along Main Street, and closed with a “traditional cowboy ball” in the old pavilion in Cuchara Camps.
    The 1946 fair was poorly attended by either members or spectators because of the polio epidemic and the resulting ban on public gatherings. But, by 1947, 134 members entered projects in 46 categories. Two years later the county 4-H boasted 230 members in 17 clubs. In 1952, the 14th fair attracted 138 members having 198 exhibits. With many girls clubs organizing for domestic education in the ‘50s, the 1957 fair drew 444 entries, 110 in clothing and 82 in foods.
    In 1952 there was even a square dance team. The Carnation Set, in fact, won the state title, and went on to compete and win third in the National 4-H Square Dance Jamboree in Texas.
    Membership has fluctuated but interest among members and their families has never flagged.
    The local cattleman’s association in 1948 built a large exhibition show barn in which to have their registered Hereford shows and sales, and for the 4-H to have its annual fair. This building, north of La Veta, unfortunately blew down in a windstorm in 1950, but by December the association was in its new, better barn, a 150 by 160 foot structure containing 9,000 square feet. Less than 10 years later, the Hereford industry had collapsed and the organization sold the building.
    The fair was once again without a home. Private owners then offered a hay barn and an old iron warehouse, both located in the 100 block of south Main Street, for the display of county and 4-H projects. The rodeo, which had started in 1949, was held in Harry Willis’s large barn and arena several miles east of town.
    Thus it was decided to build a 4-H “home” that could be relied on. In 1973 the organization announced it would erect a steel Butler building, 60 by 260 feet, for $45,000 in northeast La Veta. Construction was begun in the spring with the hope the building would be completed in time for the fair in August. It was not, and only the arena and livestock areas were done, so the exhibits once again were forced to find other space. Thus they went back to the old show barn, now named the Cow Shed by its owner who ran a dance hall and lounge there.
    The new 4-H Barn was officially inaugurated with an Open House on Sunday, May 4, 1975. It was said the steel building and arena had been built at a cost of $55,000. Many alterations and additions have improved the premises since that time.

Judith Baker Montano wins prestigious awards

19 - August - 2010by William T. Beverly, Ph.D.
LA VETA- Judith Baker Montano has recently published her twelfth book, Fibreart Montage, Combining Quilting, Embroidery and Photography With Embellishments. The publisher is Dragon Threads.
    Baker Montano has won two major book awards for the book: the International Book Awards for 2010 for the most outstanding book in the Craft/ Hobbies/How-to category and the Benjamin Franklin Awards recognizing excellence in independent book publishing as the most outstanding art-how-to book for 2010.
    The book is a hardcover spiral-bound book full of beautiful photography and step by step instructions. There are nine different subjects: crazy quilting, photography, computer skills, watercolor painting, land/seascapes, underwater, collages, embroidery and dying fabrics. Baker Montano guides the reader through the steps she takes to make mixed-media pieces.
    According to Baker Montano, "This is a great validation for my book as well as for publisher Linda Teufel of Dragon Threads Inc. because we were up against hundreds of entries." In her career she has moved from painting to quilting to crazy quilting to embellished embroidery artwork and into land/seascapes and underwater projects. Although her work keeps evolving, crazy quilting always appears in new designs, and she has turned it into a contemporary art form. She is renowned for her fibre landscapes, which incorporate all aspects of art and needlework techniques.
    Among other places, Baker Montano’s work has been featured at the Denver Art Museum, Profiles Gallery in Canada, and the Mitskoshi Department Show in Japan. She has been a guest artist at many Stitches and Craft Trade shows throughout Australia, at the Tokyo Hobby Shows in Japan, at Profiles and Visions in Canada and at the La Conner Quilt Museum in Washington.
    She is an associate editor for Belle Armoire, Art to Wear. Her art garments have traveled throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and the Far East.   She has won many awards for art garments and soft jewelry pieces and designs for Butterick/ Vogue, Bucilla Company, Mokuba Ribbons of Tokyo, Japan Fox Hill Designs, Treenway Silks, and Robert Kaufman Fabrics.
    Her teaching has taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Her classes are varied and include clothing design, crazy quilting, embellishments, silk ribbon embroidery and fiber landscape designs.
    Baker Montano offers seminars in her private studio in La Veta. The seminars are limited to six students and are offered eight times from May through September. Book information and class schedules may be found at www.judithbakermontano.com.

Extra margerine on my corn, please...

05 - August - 2010by Mary-Ann Brandon
LA VETA- With a short introduction from Shane Clouse, the Oleo’s took the stage at the Francisco Center For the Performing Arts in La Veta on Saturday night. The plan had been to open the season’s melodrama in conjunction with the Fort Francisco celebration, but days before the planned opening night, with no “hero” on board, the play had to be postponed. It is to the credit of this small town group that they were able to pull off an evening of chuckles with just one week to write and prepare the performance.
    The evening was heavy on the corn ball humor mixing one liners with short and longer skits. Some worked well, some less so, still the audience was forgiving and the players stayed honest and committed to their performances. The cast included Shane Clouse, Mark Erwin, Coral Anderson, Laurie Erwin, Eugene Heikes, Sher Clouse, Chance Christie, Kristine Jenkins, Zane Sternberg, Polly Hill, Jamie Smith, and (The Huerfano World Journal’s own) William Beverly.
    The biggest laughs of the night were so goofy that it was hard to imagine that we, the audience, were not embarrassed by our own participation. For example... one skit involved a man who believed that he was a chicken, strutting the stage clucking, while his wife explained to a psychiatrist that she hadn’t reported his problem sooner because they needed the eggs.
    Another skit that received a lot of laughter, treated us to a wine tasting demonstration. Some of the descriptions included “it smells like something rotting in the earth” and “it finishes with notes of feces” (all the while our demonstrator guzzled the wine and became more absurd, along with her upstaging foils, as the skit proceeded).
    Groaning, moaning, hissing and booing from the audience was encouraged, all in good fun and in the spirit of the moment. Aesthetic distance was eschewed in favor of audience participation.
    There was a dueling joke contest between two of the players, battling for the crown of king or queen of corn. At the end of the contest a drunken, beer swilling referee crowned the victor. The performance culminated with an explanation of “what women really mean” when they say certain words or phrases. This skit was created to celebrate the wedding anniversary of Shane and Sher Klause who are described as being “the backbone of the entire operation”.
    All in all it was fun and earnest, silly and heartwarming. A small town piece of Americana that managed to transport us, for a short time, away from worry about our lives, the economy, war or any other misery. To provide us with brief respite from anxiety is what this type of performance should do and it succeeded in that goal.
    If you need some wacky good fun, be sure to mark your calendar for the first two weekends in August to see the Melodrama “Here Come The Cows” (subtitled “Never Say Moo In Mesa”) by Tim Kelly.

The Passionate Gardner for July 29, 2010

05 - August - 2010by Karyn Ames
Master Gardener
New Mexico Certified Nursery Professional
HUERFANO- If fighting the bugs, rodents, deer, and weeds was not enough, vegetable gardening presents even more opportunities to solve problems, this time related to watering and cultivation.
    I was at a friend’s house the other day and admiring her ripening tomatoes. From my view at the top of the plants I could see perfectly shaped red globes. But, when my friend picked the fruits and turned them over, the bottom of each tomato was sunken and brown.
    These tomatoes had developed blossom-end rot, a condition also found in peppers and squash. At the end of the fruit where the blossom drops from the maturing fruit, a round, sunken, water-soaked spot can develop.
    Blossom-end rot occurs from a lack of calcium in the soil, which in turn slows growth and damages roots because of:
• Extreme fluctuations in soil moisture from very wet to very dry. Solution: maintain uniform soil moisture by mulching and timely watering.
• Excess soil salts. Solution: plant in well-drained soil and, if your plant is potted, make sure the water drains out of the pot’s bottom holes at each watering.
• Cultivating too close to the plant. Solution: do not cultivate deeper than 1 inch within 1 foot of the plant,
    A problem I have with tomatoes almost every summer is growth cracks. Circular or radial cracks mar the stem end of the ripening fruit. Cracks may extend deep into the fruit, causing it to rot.
    Tomatoes crack when environmental conditions encourage rapid growth during ripening, caused by heavy watering or rains following a drought period. Cracking is more severe in hot weather. Some varieties crack more easily than others. Cracked tomatoes are still edible. The solutions are straightforward:
• Maintain even soil moisture, if possible.
• Grow crack-tolerant varieties.
    Although radishes have a reputation for being easy to grow, some years my radishes do not “plump up.” Poorly developed radish roots are caused by:
• Seedlings that are not thinned. When seedlings are 1 to 2 inches tall, thin them to 1/2 to 1 inch apart.
• Radishes prefer cool temperatures below 85ºF, so plant your radishes early in the season. Root development is hampered at higher temperatures.
• High-nitrogen fertilizers promote bushy top growth at the expense of root development. Use a balanced vegetable fertilizer and mulch with moderate amounts of organic matter to keep the soil cool.
    If the tops of your carrots are green and have a strong flavor, the root tops have been exposed to sunlight, so check now and then that rains or irrigation have not washed the soil from around the tops of your carrots. If your carrot roots are forked, twisted or misshapen, your carrots may be overcrowded or be growing in rocky or heavy soils.
    Those tiny carrot seeds need to be planted 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep and 1/2 inch apart. When the seedlings are 1 inch tall, thin them to 1 to 2 inches apart. Rake out and discard any stones, break up soil clods, and incorporate organic matter or peat moss into the soil before planting carrots. Beets, turnips, and other root crops also benefit from the same cultivation.

Its Greater Outdoors for July 29, 2010

05 - August - 2010by Gary Rollins
LA VETA- Back in the day, as many will remember, Art Linkletter had two smash-hit television programs. One was “People Are Funny” and the other “Kids Say the Darndest Things.”
    Sadly, Linkletter passed away a couple of months ago, but it was the memory of the second program that provided me with a spark for this week’s commentary.
    Each week, I take great pleasure in seating myself on one of the benches in front of Charlie’s Market and shooting the breeze with the many visitors that come to enjoy Don and Mitzi Keairns′ ice cream.
    Frequently, it is their license plates that give them away. But, T-shirts and baseball caps are also quite revealing.
    This past week, it was a couple from Houston who were both sincerely interested in knowing the places they could visit and take pictures while they’re enjoying the break from the high heat and humidity that combine to make the Bayou City miserable for most of the year.
    Earlier, they had seen the mule deer meandering through the neighborhoods and the gent, a computer programmer, asked if would be possible to see elk this time of year. They had done their homework and were aware of the elk herd that lives in the Huerfano Valley. They also confessed the altitude and the thin air were a new experience for them.
    And then came the question I shall never forget. The lady leaned forward and said, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but at what elevation do the mule deer turn into elk?” I tried to keep my laughing subdued. I suggested they take their Suburban over to the Town Lakes, where geese are usually to be found at that time of day. And off they went.
    But, I have one more knee-slapper even funnier than the first one. We welcomed a couple from Southern California who had never, ever been in this part of the country and they were absolutely blown away by the mountains and the scenery and the deer walking around town. We enjoyed their company at dinner the first evening and, almost on cue, the deer and the turkey showed up to nibble on our greenery.
    The next morning, remembering the elk herd usually began their trek down valley about the time breakfast was ending, I asked if they’d like to take a little ride in the truck.
    And so we motored slowly down CR 360 and as we passed a wooded glen, I was delighted to see a sizable number of elk grazing quite close to the road. Very carefully, we eased out of the truck and our lady friend was able to capture some pretty neat photos before the elk became edgy and moved away.
    That afternoon, prior to their departure, our friend asked if she might use our computer to check for messages and access her Facebook account and, inasmuch as I am one of her “friends,” I got a big laugh out of reading what she told all of her friends about La Veta.
    And the high point of her trip, or so she said to all of her friends, was the “flock of elk” she had seen that morning.
    Folks, I am not making this up. Our visitors do say the darndest things.

Clayful imaginations

05 - August - 2010by William T. Beverly, Ph.D.
LA VETA- The Clay Continuum Exhibit and Sale opened its 5th annual show Saturday with a robust crowd. Viewers enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, conversation, and innovative, well-crafted functional and sculptural pottery and clay formations.
    The brainchild of Polly Harris, Lori Hannan, Nicole Copel, and Mary Daly, this show has grown.   According to co-founder Copel of Pinon Hills Pottery, they now enjoy “more entries of higher quality and greater variation!” Once an invitational show, the show is now juried. This year 11 of 18 applicants were accepted.
    This show was judged by Sumi von Dassow. According to the SPACe website: “Sumi is an award-winning ceramic artist who lives in Golden, Colorado. Her love of color and form is expressed in a varied and unique body of work ranging from brightly glazed functional pottery to unglazed burnished work.”
    The Clay Continuum this year showed both functional pottery and intriguing sculptures. For example, Sharon McCoy’s “Best of Show” winner could be interpreted as a sculpture of a common functional tool – a tricycle. This piece appears to be a goat with horns riding a tricycle with a pig’s body for a frame. Where junior’s little bike light or horn might typically go on the handle bars, one instead finds the face of a piglet.
    Co-founder Polly (the Potter) Harris is also interested in sculptural as well as functional forms. In 2001, captivated by Huerfano County’s Spanish Peaks, Harris moved here from Boulder. Since 1983, she has built a successful pottery wares business, manufacturing 15,000 or more per year of any given item, such as her popular French butter safe.   Harris continues to create the attractive functional pottery wares she has manufactured for years but has also developed more sculptural forms. For example, along with her former staples, Polly makes those famous pumpkins for the La Veta Oktoberfest.
    Notables this year included Sharon McCoy,“Best of Show” for the tricycle piece; Liz McCombs, First Place Sculptural; and Laura Cooper, First Place Functional, Elm. Other awardees included Neil Celani, Bob Smith, Donna Rozman, and Abbey Rothenbuehler.
    This exhibit will be at the SPACe Gallery until August 14. For an online preview, go to http://www.spanishpeaksarts.org/ and hit “Current Show.”
    Also, SPACe presents La Veta’s Annual Studio and Gallery Tour 2010 August 7 and 8 from 9 to 4. Maps to participating artists’ studios will be available at the Gallery in the Park.

This week in history for July 29, 2010

05 - August - 2010Walsenburg
1899: The sound of the curfew bell not only sends the young people home but also reminds the family man of the time.
1907: County Commissioner Alex McDonald of La Veta received painful injuries yesterday while plumbing at Peter Krier’s commodio..

Cuchara’s dance pavilion, an early teen haven

05 - August - 2010by Nancy Christofferson
CUCHARA- Many references to the old dance pavilion have been made in this series of articles on Cuchara Camps history, and it was indeed the center of “teenage culture” before the word teenage became a standard American word.
    The founder of the Camps, George Alfred Mayes, built the first dance hall just west of his hotel and commissary in the early days. He fashioned the building from an old shed he’d formerly used as a stable for his riding horses, so it was nothing fancy! He installed an old and well-used piano and the rustic hall soon became the meeting place for the young. Someone could always be enlisted to play tunes, and others to sing. The hall was lighted by kerosene or oil lamps and firelight until the Delco battery system was introduced in 1927. After that, it was lights out at 10 p.m. sharp, and the singers and dancers were dispersed to other activities. Few, it was reported, were ready to go home, so night hikes were undertaken up the Rock Wall to tell ghost stories and prolong the evening’s fun.
    The pavilion became a popular dance hall for the young people of La Veta and Walsenburg as well, and for the young at heart who just wanted to go dancing. The official summer dance season opened in mid-June, and local orchestras, as well as those from Pueblo and Trinidad, were booked for every Saturday night. There were old fashioned dances and new, round and square dances. After the last notes had faded, the pavilion was ready to host Sunday morning prayer or worship services and bible study. Wanda Powell, later Jameson, was the regular piano or organ player for those services.
    The pavilion received several updates and enlargements, until it was attached to the commissary next door, had adequate space for whirling dancers and a new floor.
    Following the death of G.A. Mayes, the buildings were sold to Charlie Powell, the father of the piano player Wanda, and in 1933 he tore down the old pavilion and built a new one. His pavilion included a large entrance area with a fireplace and even a refreshment counter where hungry dancers could buy a burger or hot dog and beverages. They still had to leave at 10, but at least they’d taken on nourishment.
    The enlarged hall attracted ever more dancers, and also more activities. Card and board game playing became popular with all ages on rainy or cool days. The pavilion was used for all types of large gatherings and meetings, day and night.
     Charlie sold the Camps to John and Rae Albright in 1945. The Albrights tore down the hotel, rebuilt the commissary and gutted the pavilion. The Walsenburg World-Independent noted in July 1947, “John Albright has converted the old dance hall into a modern apartment house to fit the needs of the tourist who doesn’t want to ‘rough it’”. It even had indoor plumbing!
    Shortly after completion the so-called apartment house was sold to Ward and Veda Vickery of Kansas and longtime Camps residents. They named it La Chacra Lodge. Chacra in Spanish means small farm, so perhaps a farmhouse atmosphere was desired. The Vickery’s son Dean managed the business.
    The Vickery family sold the place to the Elmo White of Texas in 1956. The Whites hired La Veta contractor Gilbert Arnold to begin a remodeling project to modernize the rooms and add five more bathrooms. Unfortunately, Mr. White overdid assisting and succumbed to a heart attack in July 1957, in La Chacra.
    A family that visited La Chacra that summer wasted no time purchasing the motel. Gerald and Jeanette Hollman of Norman, Oklahoma, bought it in November 1957. The Hollmans had two daughters, Jill and Jolly, who were responsible for cleaning, registering guests and other light chores usually completed with the help of their friends. The motel by this time included an owners’ “suite” of two large rooms with the girls’ bunks in the kitchen. La Chacra was renamed Cuchara Valley Lodge.
    The outside of the pavilion appeared much the same once it became a lodge. It was covered with pine slabs [under which many families of bats made their homes] but the entryway underwent fresh remodeling with every owner.
    The Hollmans sold to Chuck and Dorothy McCart of Garden City, Kansas in the early summer of 1966. The McCarts again renamed it, and it became known as the Cuchara Chalet. To fit the theme, the entry was decked out with wooden gingerbread painted in bright colors, and the rooms were once again remodeled and modernized. In 1979 the McCarts sold to Don and Betty Vietti, visitors to the Lodge since 1956 and later cabin owners of long standing.
    Al and Dennis Mills purchased the Cuchara Chalet in 1981. More improvements were made, including the addition of a two-story false front complete with balcony. The entire façade was sheathed with rustic lumber and shops were added. It became the Cuchara Lodge Chalet, with a big wooden “HOTEL” sign on top.
    The historic building caught fire in early July 1994, and was destroyed. Firefighters from Cuchara and La Veta were unable to save it but managed to keep the blaze contained to avoid catching fire to nearby buildings such as the Country Store and The Timbers. Only the façade remained to greet Fourth of July parade-goers and partiers two days later.

Despite this we stay for July 29, 2010

05 - August - 2010Foxes
by Carol Dunn
HUERFANO- There sure are a lot of foxes in these parts. Some people think they are cute and cuddly (those are the people who have never raised chickens), and some people think they are lunatic killers (those are the people who have raised chickens).
    Rumor has it that one Huerfano household is feeding wieners to foxes at 5:00 pm every day. The neighbors swear that the foxes have learned to tell time, because at precisely 5:00 pm they start gathering in for the wiener-fest. This may or may not bode well for the neighborhood cats. Either the wieners are mere appetizers for the foxes, and they will be looking around for the main course later that night. Or the wieners fill them up so well that they just go snuggle up under a bush and sleep the rest of the night. Only the cats and chickens know for sure.
    Now some people don’t believe that a fox will eat a cat. But then there are people who don’t believe that adobe bugs are cannibalistic either. I looked this up on Buzzle.com, and they said that “foxes feed on rodents, worms, insects, birds and all types of relatively smaller sized animals.” What else might that be besides cats and Chihuahuas? Well, ok, there’s one more kind of small animal you’d have to look out for in the wiener-fest neighborhood. And that would be wiener-dogs. If foxes really are as sly as everyone says, they know when a dog looks like a wiener. I don’t think I would be letting my wiener-dog outside around 5 pm, if you know what I mean.
    There is one good way to get rid of the foxes, especially those that have a “Recommended Daily Allowance” of wieners. Remember the story of the Pied Piper? He piped on his flute, and the rats followed him out of Town and over to the movie set of “Ben.”
    Well, the Board of Elected Officials could rent the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile and drive it through Town at 5 pm, and all the foxes would think they died and went to heaven. A GIANT WIENER! Of course they would all chase after it looking for that one big score, and the Wienermobile pilot could just drive on up to Boulder or somewhere there are lots of animal rights activists. And the foxes could live happily ever after there, and the cats could live happily ever after in Huerfano County. Well, it’s one idea.

Museum of Friends host open house

30 - July - 2010by Bill Knowles
WALSENBURG- DJ Ezra Eismont, Brendt Berger’s stepson, supplied the ambiance, a CD of the cool sounds of Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke blowing his horn. The music filling the large open space of the downstairs area of the Museum of Frie..

This week in history for July 15, 2010

30 - July - 2010La Veta
1907: Times must be looking up. Three saloons are now seeking the patronage of the thirsty ones, and receiving it.
1911: The county surveyor and crew are locating a route for a new county road running from the south Abeyta to Middle Creek canyon i..

The late great Chuck Wagon restaurant

30 - July - 2010by Nancy Christofferson
CUCHARA- In this little series of stories about the old Cuchara Camps, aka Cuchara since 1957, the subject of the late great Chuck Wagon has come up several times. The Chuck Wagon restaurant was, in the 1950s, the center of Cuchara life.
    The Chuck Wagon replaced the old hotel dining room as the only eating place in Cuchara Camps. The hotel restaurant had been in use from 1908 to 1948, and had seen better days.
    When John and Rae Albright purchased Cuchara Camps store, hotel, pavilion and real estate from the Albert Jameson family in 1945, big changes were on the way. The old commissary gave way to a semi-modern store, the pavilion became an inn with “modern” rooms, real estate holdings were enlarged with several land additions but decreased by many sales for new homes, and the hotel was razed.
    Construction on the Chuck Wagon evidently began in the fall of 1948. It was a modest frame building with log siding, to contain a dining room and small lunch counter. The décor and furnishings were rustic, with knotty pine paneling, a huge river rock fireplace and large picture windows. Mostly, the windows afforded views of the tires of cars passing just above on Highway 111, now known as Highway 12, and the dust they raised. The tables and chairs were wooden and frankly uncomfortable. Lighting was supplied from chandeliers fashioned from old wagon wheels. Even the entrance to the café featured wagon wheels, but somehow the owners refrained from naming it the Wagon Wheel.
    The new establishment was opened over the Memorial Day holiday in 1949. The services of a La Veta couple, Chuck and Laura Fouch, were secured as managers and a Mrs. Black of Liberal, Kansas, was the cook. It took absolutely no time at all for a new Camps tradition to take hold, for residents to go to church services in the brand new nondenominational chapel, then flock to the Chuck Wagon for Sunday dinner. It didn’t take too much longer for the Chambers of Commerce of La Veta and Walsenburg to schedule at least one dinner a summer there, and the local Rotary Clubs soon followed suit, as did the Walsenburg Lions Club and Huerfano County Shriners. The two Chambers ganged up on the Chuck Wagon by having a joint meeting, their first in Cuchara Camps (except for picnics), in August 1950. The next year the Rotarians and their wives of La Veta and Walsenburg did the overwhelming of Chuck Wagon staff when about 90 of them had a dinner meeting there in July which featured a program by Cuchara artist Clayton Henri Staples. For events such as these, the restaurant was closed to Camps families for casual dining.
    In fact, even back in the days when the entire Camps, at the height of the summer season, could boast no more than 500 seasonal residents and visitors, the Chuck Wagon could demand a waiting line for the Sunday specialties of crispy fried chicken or chicken fried steak, followed by homemade pie ala mode.
    In the summer of 1953 the proprietors tried a new gimmick – an all you can eat smorgasbord with fried chicken and Spanish meatloaf - $1.85.
    The Chuck Wagon not only packed in the diners, it hosted many celebrations and activities. The old juke box played for impromptu teen gatherings, while the beloved bingo games were played there for a decade. When Lawrence Welk made one of his visits, the entire community packed into the restaurant to see and hear him, and, occasionally, let their children perform for him. Even pot luck dinners were held here.
    The 1950s saw the excellent cooking of several La Vetans, Lee and Sammy Hopson, who also operated the café at the Park Lane Hotel in La Veta, and the Falk family, Elsie Wagner and Josephine Falk, often “assisted” by their husbands. Elsie’s daughter and daughter-in-law, Mary Lou Nauerth and Patty Wagner, were the popular young waitresses. Unbeknownst to most Cucharans, the lucky local school children often had Elsie as their head cook for nine months.
    In the 1960s the restaurant was alternately run by Dorothy McCart, who owned the hotel across the street, and Dianne Baldwin, co-owner of the café and store. These women hired a series of solid cooks, such as Rita Galvan of La Veta, to continue the tradition of good food. In 1965, Nick Morelli of Walsenburg, owner and operator of the Little Pig Inn, took the helm. By this time the Cuchara Recreation Center had been completed so community activities had been moved there and the Chuck Wagon had some lonely evenings.
    The restaurant had been enlarged, as well, with a second dining room built onto the back, or north, and a coffee shop on the east replacing the former lunch counter. It became the place for teenagers to go for an afternoon snack of French fries and a milk shake while they listened to the same 1950s tunes on the same old juke box.
    The Baldwins reigned over the Chuck Wagon in the 70’s, expanding the menu to include more than just fried chicken and chicken fried steak, and, eventually, to serve wine and cocktails with one’s supper.
    For the summer of 1979, the Chuck Wagon was leased out. On the morning of Monday, September 24, the place was discovered to be on fire, and before long, was just a memory as high winds and low water pressure allowed the flames to burn the building to the ground. It was the end of an era, the end of a Cuchara tradition.
    The following year, The Timbers was built on the same site.


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