Delta County Independent, Nov. 25, 2015

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INDEPENDENTwww.deltacountyindependent.com

NORTH FORK TIMES SPORTSSPECIAL SUPPLEMENTHOLIDAY KICKOFF

Crawford hosts Parade ofLights, Festival of Trees, B1

DECK THE HALLSRecipes, crafts, gifts fill 2015Christmas Gift Guide, Inside

PLAYOFF QUESTPaonia, Delta football teams

will have to win on the road, C7

Accent ........................... A4Activities ....................... A9Agriculture .....................C5Back Page ................... D8Business .......................A10Church ............................C4Classifieds .................. D1-2Editorial ......................... A2Legals ......................... D3-4North Fork Times ........B1-5Obituaries ......................B8School Zone .................. A8Service Directory ........ D7Sports ..........................C7-8Surface Creek News ...C1-6TV Listings ................. D5-6

INDEX Christmas tree permits availableThe Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests are selling

Forest Service Christmas tree permits at a cost of $8 per tree. Permits come with information explaining regulations and helpful tips.

Some areas of the forest are restricted from cutting trees and these are depict-ed on available maps. Also this year as part of the More Kids in a Park (MKIP) Program, students with a valid fourth grade pass or paper voucher receive a free permit to cut a Christmas tree on the national forest. The free permits are ONLY available at Forest Service offices.

Forest Service Christmas tree permits are available locally in Delta at 2250 Highway 50; in Hotchkiss at Weekender Sports; in Montrose at 2465 S. Townsend Avenue; and in Paonia at the Paonia Ranger District office on North Rio Grande Avenue or at Paonia Flower Shop. Please plan ahead and be pre-pared for winter conditions. Start early, since winter days are shorter, and be advised many forest roads are not plowed.

NOVEMBER 25, 2015VOL. 132, NO. 47

Shop small this SaturdayAs the voice for our nation’s entrepreneurs, the

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) cele-brates all small businesses on a daily basis. When our small businesses do well, our communities do, too. Therefore, as part of SBA’s annual tradition, you’re encouraged to join millions of Americans and “shop small” on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28, to complete your holiday shopping (or to start your holiday shopping, as the case may be...). Travel outside your comfort zone — and away from your computer screen — to discover what your local merchants have to offer. Learn more about participating retailers on page A6-7 (Delta area), B3 (North Fork) and C3 (Surface Creek).

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BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

An extensive investiga-tion that took DEA investi-gators from the west edge of Montrose County to a grow operation in Gateway Can-yon, and finally to property north of Cedaredge, resulted in the seizure of approximate-ly 1,300 pounds of marijuana last week. In addition, two arrests were made.

Luis Adolfo Garcia, 33, and Luis Rios-Cortez, 23, are charged with federal charges of intent to manufacture and distribute more than 100 kilo-grams of marijuana. Rios-Cor-tez also faces a third count, illegal alien in possession of a firearm.

The search warrant was carried out by the Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Marshal’s Service, 7th Judi-cial Drug Task Force and Delta County sheriff ’s depu-ties and investigator on Nov. 13.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. Dis-trict Court, the investigation was launched after the dis-covery of two grow operations on public land along High-way 141. On Sept. 15, BLM rangers arrested four subjects later determined to be in the U.S. illegally. A total of six subjects were arrested after the discovery of the second grow operation on Sept. 30. Again all six were determined to be illegally residing in the U.S. One of the suspects testi-fied that Sept. 30 was to be

the growers’ last day and they were packing up all the sup-plies and marijuana to leave the area for the year.

Target vehicles used in the operations were identified and a search warrant was signed, allowing tracker devices to be affixed to two pickups.

Beginning in late October, DEA agents began monitor-ing the GPS tracker device and observed one pickup leave Parachute and travel over Grand Mesa toward Cedaredge. The vehicle trav-eled onto High Park Road, a private road blocked by a locked gate. Electronic sur-veillance was maintained until the vehicle arrived at the intersection of High Park Road and San Juan Vista Road. The property was iden-tified as belonging to Esther Garcia, who purchased the land in May.

After additional investiga-tion, which included both a flyover and a drive-by, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gordon Gal-lagher signed a search war-rant for the Cedaredge area property, as well as a Para-chute residence occupied by Esther Garcia, who identified herself as Luis Garcia’s sis-ter. Although the Cedaredge property and a truck were purchased in her name, she told investigators Luis had provided the funds. Addition-ally, she told agents she did not know what Luis Garcia was doing on the property in Cedaredge.

According to the criminal

Large marijuana operation shut down

Delta County Sheriff’s photoDuring the execution of a search warrant on High Park Road north of Cedaredge, investigators found marijuana laid out to dry. They seized approximately six large tarps with 70 pounds of marijuana each, as well as 36 lawn bags, each weighing about 40 pounds, containing pro-cessed marijuana.


About 4,000 Delta area res-idents enjoying a quiet eve-ning at home were startled by an automated Code Red alert warning them of two “armed and dangerous” individuals on the loose.

The calls were generated Thursday, Nov. 19, shortly after officers of the Delta Police Department responded to a robbery at the Western Convenience Store at 15th and Howard. Fortunately, the suspects were quickly identi-fied and apprehended, and a follow-up call informed resi-dents the suspects were in custody shortly after 9 p.m.

Zhane L.E. Ware, 18, of Delta was arrested and jailed for alleged aggravated rob-bery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. An

unidentified 16-year-old male of Delta was arrested and transported to Grand Mesa Youth Services for alleged aggravated robbery and pos-session of a weapon by an underage person.

DPD had advance warning of the incident — a lifelong friend of Ware’s knocked on the rear door of the police department and informed officers Ware had asked him for a ride to Western Con-venience Store. According to an arrest affidavit filed by the DPD, Ware had told the friend he planned to rob the store using a Ruger 9 mm pistol. The friend wasn’t sure Ware was serious, but told him it was a bad idea. He refused to give a ride to Ware and the younger male, whom he did not know.

Officers went to check the

area just moments before dis-patch advised there had been a robbery at gunpoint at West-ern Convenience. The suspects were described as two males wearing paintball masks and camouflage shorts. Both were later arrested at Ware’s home on Hastings Street.

During an interview at the police department, Ware said he was “car hopping” — check-ing vehicles to see if they were unlocked, then taking items of value. One of the victims discovered Ware had stolen money from his vehicle, and told him to return the money or the police would be con-tacted.

Bond reduction deniedfor armed robbery suspect


On Nov. 22 at approxi-mately 5 p.m. the Delta County Sheriff ’s Office received a call concerning a missing person. Bruce Bark-er, age 27, was reportedly last seen the night before at a large party at 7816 2100 Road in Delta.

Kristin McCarty contact-ed the sheriff ’s office and reported that several people were out looking for Barker and had been unable to locate him. Deputies responded to

the home on 2100 Road and obtained additional infor-mation. McCarty advised the deputies that Barker had been extremely intoxi-cated the night before and had engaged in altercations with others while at the party. Barker left the party at approximately 11:30 p.m. Saturday night.

On Sunday evening, Bark-er was found deceased in the general area of the residence. According to Delta County Undersheriff, it appears Barker died from exposure.

27-year-old man dies of exposure

Sign upfor CodeRed alerts

The Delta County Code Red system was used to alert the area to the potential threat, asking citizens to remain indoors and to alert 911 of any suspicious activity. Later the system was used again to notify the community the subjects had been taken into custody.

Landlines are automati-cally entered into the system. Cell phone users who wish to sign up for the emergency alert notifications should go to the Delta County website at www.deltacounty.com and click on the “Notify Me” tab on the left side. You can also sub-scribe to the Code Red Alerts by clicking on the “Code Red” button.

ARMED ROBBERY TO A3

MARIJUANA TO A3


Four city manager finalists were in Delta for a tour and interviews this week. The can-didates — Don Gaeddert, Dan Hamsmith, George Korthauer and David Torgler — also met with community members at a well-attended reception Mon-day night.

At the conclusion of the interviews Tuesday afternoon, the Delta City Council met in a brief executive session with its recruiting firm, The Mer-cer Group of Carbondale. Gary Suiter, senior vice president, was directed to begin negotia-tions with one of the finalists, but council declined to name that individual until negotia-tions have been wrapped up. Suiter said the details prob-ably won’t be finalized until next week.

During the community reception, candidates intro-duced themselves and talked about their interest in Delta.

Don Gaeddert was city manager in Larned, Kan., for 18 years. He and his wife Marie took a break and went to China on a mission trip for three years. They returned to the U.S. about a year ago. Gaeddert said he is still very interested in city manage-

ment, which he described as challenging.

Dan Hamsmith is the eco-nomic development director for the town of Hudson. He’s worked in the television and radio industry, and believes he has a strong understanding of what it takes to run a city. “As a city manager, this would be a great place to start,” he said.

Korthauer is currently employed as the chief execu-tive officer of a not-for-profit corporation in Michigan, but served as city manager in Peto-skey, Mich., for 25 years. Dur-ing the tour of the city, he said he most enjoyed talking with staff. “What impressed me the most is the way city manage-ment is organized under the consolidation.” Staff members are wearing “a lot of hats,” which is unusual, he said.

David Torgler has been the city manager in Hayden for five years, but has worked in public administration for over 30 years. Hayden closely resembles Delta in that it has strong roots in mining, agri-culture and ranching, Torgler said. He has working knowl-edge of infrastructure and downtown redevelopment, and believes it’s important to cre-ate a friendly environment for business.

Negotiations begin with unnamed manager finalist

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A2 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 OPINION Delta County Independent

By Eric KuhnGeneral ManagerColorado River Districtand Jim LochheadCEO/ManagerDenver Water

We should all truly cel-ebrate. Two years after the governor’s executive order, we finally have a Colorado Water Plan that lays out measurable objectives and metrics to help guide us toward a secure water future.

In the face of future challenges that include population growth and climate change, Colora-do’s first-ever water plan is a call to action to all Coloradans to work col-laboratively to ensure we protect our scarce water resources by using and developing our water sup-plies in the most efficient and responsible manner possible.

We applaud those who contributed to this plan, including those involved with the critical work of the basin roundtables. But we are far from done.

The success of this plan will depend upon

all of us — West Slope, East Slope, agriculture, municipalities and envi-ronmentalists — put-ting aside our individual interests, and coming together to do what’s best for Colorado. This plan must be implemented. If not, all the years of effort would be wasted.

It won’t be easy. Each of us must be willing to change. We must be will-ing to experiment, try new ideas and even risk failure. But we can learn from our mistakes and find ideas and projects that will help prepare us for an uncertain future. It will require leadership, collaboration and energy. It may be uncomfortable at times, and everyone isn’t going to get every-thing they want. But if we’re willing to roll up our sleeves, we can real-ize much of what is pro-

posed in this plan, from conservation to land use planning to storage.

The stakes are high. What makes Colorado great are our cities, agri-cultural economies, rec-reational opportunities and environment. What will keep Colorado great depends upon what we do today.

The Colorado Water Plan is a road map to help us all prepare for an uncertain climate future and pending water short-ages. If we don’t prepare, we only have ourselves to blame for the cost to our citizens, to our econ-omy, to our environment and to our future. So the question we now must ask is: Do we collaborate and implement this plan, or do we do nothing and hope tomorrow takes care of itself? Here’s to a move in the right direction.

Commentary

Action is now the key to Colorado’s Water Plan

Waking up in another dimensionDear Editor:

Imagine living in a very remote location at a very high elevation that doesn’t afford TV or radio access, you haven’t read the newspapers and have avoided outer human con-tact for some time. This was my experience some years ago and it became very obvious to me, one of the first times I went in to the nearest town to get supplies, that something very strange was happen-ing. It almost seemed like I had walked into another dimension.

I couldn’t help but notice that everyone was saying the same lines and phrases to each other as I made my way from store to store. First the hard-ware store, then the lum-ber company, the clothing store and finally the gro-cery store, everyone was saying the same thing. I didn’t catch on until I got to the liquor store. There in the corner was a television set with a news program running and the commentator was mouth-

ing the phrases I had been hearing all morning. “So this is how it works,” I said to myself. I went back to my reclusive style of living and gave it a lot of thought.

Recently I had a simi-lar, eerie resemblance to this, right here in Paonia. I purposely try to keep a certain anonymity in public so I can associate with people from both sides of the aisle. I say both because it is appar-ent to me that we are all divided into two distinct factions, usually stem-ming from political par-ties. What I have noticed, though, was that the people I do communicate with, from both sides of the aisle, seem to have these key phrases that they always use. As in the past, I don’t read newspa-pers, watch TV or listen to the radio so the only way I get the so-called “news of the day” is to tune in to Facebook. Sure enough it becomes obvi-ous that these phrases that I keep hearing from

my contacts are plastered all over the commentar-ies and memes they call news. I try to check out both sides’ reactions as much as possible through the “Paonia Message Board,” and both sides are represented pretty evenly. It also becomes obvious to me that there are ones who speak from their soul or from expe-rience and others who just repeat what they have heard and both are equally convinced that they know what they are talking about. Not to con-demn either side, though, for in this society we have all been taught since early age that you are rewarded for memorizing and repeating. It’s just that some would rather write their own story and imagine a better world ahead “beyond that which is known to man,” and others just want to repeat the past, maybe because it is familiar... in this dimension called life.

Jack YoungPaonia

LETTERS

Send the terrorists to CubaDear Editor:

Perhaps President Obama’s buddy, El Pres-idente Castro of the

island prison of Cuba will entertain a proposal from Obama to release the remaining Islamic terrorists at Guantana-mo to freedom in Cuba. Castro has run Cuba as a prison for most of the island’s people for over a half century, while exe-cuting thousands of his own citizens. Therefore, the terrorists should fit right in.

Also let us watch for Obama to try to give back Gantanamo to Dictator Castro before his term is up. His legacy hasn’t been bolstered by many positive accomplishments so it will be opportune for him to do so.

Clarence RostDelta

From the Delta Police Department:

Nov. 17:Jerry D. Galemore, 74,

of Delta was issued a tick-et for alleged third degree criminal trespass.

William A.S. Chalf-ant, 32, of Montrose was arrested and jailed on a warrant with a $300 bond.Nov. 18:

Jason C. Clennin, 37, of

Cedaredge was arrested and jailed on eight war-rants with a bond total of $29,008.

Alexander J. Jensen, 20, of Delta was issued a ticket for alleged bicy-cles prohibited downtown after being involved in a crash with a vehicle in the 400 block of Main Street. Minor injuries were reported. The vehi-cle was driven from the scene.

Chris Ortega, 32, of Delta was issued a ticket for alleged rabies con-trol and animal license required.Nov. 19:

Zhane L. Ware, 18, of Delta was arrested and jailed for alleged aggra-vated robbery and contrib-uting to the delinquency of a minor. A 16-year-old male of Delta was arrest-ed and jailed (at Grand Mesa Youth Services) for alleged aggravated rob-bery and possession of a weapon by an underage person.Nov. 20:

Albert Romero, 26, of Delta was arrested and jailed on a warrant with a $10,000 bond.Nov. 21:

Jeffery E. Amans, 20, of Clifton was issued a ticket for alleged careless driv-ing after being involved in a single vehicle crash in the 1100-1200 block of Highway 50 near mile marker 66. No injuries were reported or observed and the vehicle was towed from the scene.Nov. 22:

A 16-year-old female of Fruita was issued a tick-et for alleged driving on roadways laned for traffic and DUI.

Citations: 11 tickets for traffic violations were issued this week, four for speeding.

Please remember: All criminal charges are merely an accusation and the defendant is pre-sumed innocent until or unless proven guilty.

From the Delta County Sheriff’s Office (partial list):

Nov. 17:Criminal mischief

was reported to a vehicle parked on the side of Trap Club Road during the night. The case is under investigation.

Kevin Gallegos, 33, of

Cedaredge was arrest-ed on a Colorado State Patrol warrant. The bond was set at $500.

Adam Keniger, 31, of Paonia was arrested on an outstanding war-rant. The bond amount is $1,500.Nov. 19:

Sheriff ’s deputies were asked to check on dogs that appeared to be neglected at a resi-dence on P25 Road in the Hotchkiss area.

An Orchard City cou-ple reported property was dumped in the yard of their home on Highway 65.

Deputies assisted Mesa County Search and Res-cue in locating an indi-vidual who was found at his home in Eckert.Nov. 20:

The Delta County Sher-iff ’s Office responded to a vehicle-deer accident on Highway 65 on the south-ern edge of Cedaredge. Colorado State Patrol responded and took over the investigation.

A single-car accident occurred at the intersec-tion of Highway 133 and Lorah Lane in Hotchkiss. Larry Head, 44, was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant.Nov. 21:

A prowler was report-ed at Cedar Lane outside of Cedaredge. Deputies could find no one in the area.

Deputies responded to the intersection of Alkali Basin Road and Highway 50 for a report of a sin-gle-car rollover accident. They remained on scene while the Delta Police Department investigated the accident.Nov. 22:

An Orchard City woman reported her sis-ter had cut the lock off a storage unit to remove a set of china.

Deputies investigated the theft of miscellaneous tools and saddles from a storage unit on West Main in Cedaredge. The value of the stolen items is estimated at $600.

At 12:41 p.m., deputies responded to 28465 Lamp-shire Road, Hotchkiss, on a report of a garage, vehi-cle and possibly a home on fire. The occupants, Justin and Kelly Korth and their 1-year-old son, escaped without injury. No criminal activity is suspected.

At about 7:30 p.m., deputies responded to a report of gunshots on Thunder Mountain Lane, Cedaredge. Investigation revealed the homeowner had to dispatch a moun-tain lion that had killed livestock and threatened his family. The case was turned over to the Colora-do Division of Parks and Wildlife.

Law enforcement blotter

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DELTA COUNTY

INDEPENDENTDELTA COUNTY INDEPENDENT (UPS 152-700) is published weekly on Wednesdays at 401 Meeker St., Delta, CO 81416. Second class postage paid at DELTA, CO. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: DEL-TA COUNTY INDEPENDENT, PO BOX 809, DELTA, CO 81416

401 Meeker St.Delta, CO 81416(970) 874-4421

Thanks to Zack’sDear Editor:

Drug Free Delta County would like to express HUGE THANKS to Zack’s Bar-B-Q in Hotchkiss, especially Cheryl and David Price, for making our annual Thanksgiving feast a huge success! The smoked turkeys were delicious! We served over 100 clients in recovery and their family members last Thursday evening and each and every one enjoyed the yummy turkeys!

Pam Bliss, Volunteer CoordinatorDrug Free Delta County

KUDOS

Delta County Independent LOCAL NEWS Wednesday, November 25, 2015 A3

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Great Gift Ideas for anyoneon your list...big or small.

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Photos by Pat Sunderland

Oath of officeNewly-elected school board member Jill Jurca and Pete Blair (above) take the oath of office at the November school board meeting. Outgo-ing school board member Kathy Svenson (right) was recognized for her “big heart” and attention to detail. Restructuring of the board resulted in Tammy Smith being elected presi-dent. Ron Germann is vice president and Blair is trea-surer. The fifth member of the board is Jan Tuin.

Armed robberyWare told officers he

obtained the firearm by trading a knife stolen from a truck while he and bud-dies were carhopping.

After the robbery, Ware and the juvenile report-edly met the carhopping victim and gave him $108, the agreed upon amount of cash taken from the vehicle.

A backpack containing an additional $60 and the Ruger P89, fully loaded, with extra ammunition, were recovered at the juvenile’s home.

At a bond hearing last Friday, public defender Daniel Lavrisha asked Judge Sandra Miller to consider a personal recog-nizance bond. He said Ware is a 2015 Delta High School graduate who lives with his parents and six siblings. He has never been arrested and does not have a car, so his risk of flight is minimal.

The district attorney’s office objected, pointing out Ware had told officers he would have blown “her

head off” if the atten-dant hadn’t cooperated.

Judge Miller agreed with the DA’s office. The

affidavit shows Ware poses a significant risk to the community, she said, and while Ware had never been arrested, “law enforcement was well aware of him.”

Aggravated robbery is a class three felony that carries a mandatory mini-

mum sentence of 10 years in prison, up to 16 years in prison. The presump-tive sentencing range for contributing to the delin-quency of a minor is two to six years.

Ware will be formally charged on Wednesday.

FROM PAGE A1

Ware

CommunityThanksgivingdinner tobe served

A community Thanks-giving dinner will be hosted by Delta Chris-tian Church, 795 1600 Road, on Thursday, Nov. 26. Meals will be served from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Deliveries will be made from 10 to 11 a.m., and can be requested by call-ing Michael Frazier at 270-2524 or Carrie Fra-zier at 260-1945.

Delta Elks Lodge is providing the turkeys and potatoes. The remain-ing food items are being donated and prepared by members of Delta Chris-tian Church, First Bap-tist Church of Delta and Calvary Baptist Church.

Marijuanacomplaint, the search war-rant was executed at the San Juan Vista property at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 13. As law enforcement agents moved through the prop-erty, they discovered large bins full of processed bud marijuana and large black lawn bags filled with pro-cessed marijuana. They found growing supplies,

cut stalks of marijuana plants, and a processing area with large amounts of bud marijuana laid out on a tarp to dry.

They also encountered two Hispanic males. One of the two subjects sprint-ed away; the other, later identified as Luis Rios-Cortez, appeared to con-sider running, then put his hands up in the air. He was wearing an automatic pistol on his right side.

Luis Garcia was arrest-ed by sheriff ’s deputies as he was approaching the property during the execu-tion of the search warrant. Both suspects were trans-ported to the Mesa County Jail.

Agents loaded approxi-mately 36 lawn bags con-taining processed mari-juana, each weighing approximately 40 pounds, and approximately six large tarps with approxi-mately 70 pounds of mari-juana each, into a U-Haul truck. The truck has been stored at a secure DEA facility in Grand Junction pending processing of the evidence.

In an interview with DEA agents later in the day Nov. 13, Luis Garcia said all the marijuana seized from the San Juan Vista property was taken from six plants allow-able under Colorado law. Because it was his first attempt at growing mar-ijuana, he said “the six plants of marijuana got away from him.”

“I want to commend our DEA and BLM for the dili-gent effort they put forth in this investigation,” said Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee. “As a team we will remain diligent in seeking out those who continue to commit felony acts regard-ing the cultivation and dis-tribution of marijuana.”

FROM PAGE A1

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THIS PAGE IS COLOR

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

A4 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 ACCENT Delta County Independent

Senior CommUnity meals are served at four dining sites in Delta County — Cedaredge Community Center (Monday-Thursday), Delta Community Cen-ter (Monday-Friday), Hotchkiss Senior Cen-ter (Monday-Thursday) and Paonia Senior Citi-zen Center (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Meals on Wheels are also delivered from each loca-tion. More information is available by calling the Cedaredge meal site, 856-3636; the Delta meal site, 874-7662; Hotchkiss Senior Center, 872-3494; and Paonia Senior Citi-zen Center, 527-3435.

The menu through Dec. 31 follows:

Tuesday, Dec. 1 — Salisbury steak with mushroom and onion gravy, mashed potatoes, Parmesan pea salad, wheat roll and pumpkin custard.

Wednesday, Dec. 2 — Roast turkey, cornbread stuffing, gravy, carrot rai-sin salad, cheateau blend veggies, half an orange and frosted cake.

Thursday, Dec. 3 — Ham loaf, baked pota-to, honey bee ambrosia,

broccoli and bread pud-ding.

Friday, Dec. 4 — Beef stew, three-bean salad, cornbread, peanut butter cookie and banana.

Monday, Dec. 7 — Baked chicken breast on fettuccini alfredo, Cali-fornia vegetables, roll and apple crisp.

Tuesday, Dec. 8 — Meatloaf, mandarin spinach salad, zucchini, bran muffin and deluxe banana pudding.

Wednesday, Dec. 9 — Baked breaded fish, whipped sweet potatoes, green beans, roll and peach cup.

Thursday, Dec. 10 — Roast beef, mashed pota-toes and gravy, kidney bean salad, western corn, onion roll, frosted cake and half a roll.

Friday, Dec. 11 — Beef and bean burrito with let-tuce, tomato and onion, Spanish rice, pico de gallo, mandarin oranges and ice cream.

Monday, Dec. 14 — Crunchy chicken casse-role, Harvard beets, cole-slaw, rye roll and apple

cranberry crisp.Tuesday, Dec. 15 —

Pepper steak, brown rice, California vegetables, Italian bread and straw-berry shortcake.

Wednesday, Dec. 16 — Herb breaded chick-en, Italian veggie blend, tossed salad, garlic bread and lemon pie bar.

Thursday, Dec. 17 — Chili with cheese and chopped onions, corn-bread, spring mix salad and Emerald Isle salad.

Friday, Dec. 18 — Hot roast beef sandwich, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrot fruit salad, broccoli and applesauce cake.

Monday, Dec. 21 — Beef patty with car-rots and onions, cheesy vegetable soup, mashed potatoes, roll and peach-es with cottage cheese.

Tuesday, Dec. 22 — Spaghetti with meat sauce, candied bacon Brussels sprouts, tossed salad, Italian bread and one-cup fruit dessert.

Wednesday, Dec. 23 — Pepperoni pizza, wax beans with red peppers, tossed salad and tropical fruit mix.

Thursday, Dec. 24 — Baked ham, whipped sweet potatoes, pineap-ple coleslaw, green beans,

wheat roll and Christmas cookies.

Friday, Dec. 25 —Christmas. No meal ser-vice.

Monday, Dec. 28 — Pizza mac casserole, tossed salad, winter blend veggies, French bread and tropical fruit cup.

Tuesday, Dec. 29 — Tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat bread, beef and barley soup, fresh vegetable salad, corn and cherry crisp.

Wednesday, Dec. 30 — Sloppy joe on a whole wheat bun, baked potato wedge, coleslaw, green beans and frosted cake.

Thursday, Dec. 31 — Oven-fried chicken, hoppin’ john, mandarin spinach salad, Italian stewed tomatoes and apple crisp.

Senior meals for December

Photo submitted

Oncology donationDelta County Ambulance District (DCAD) sold black and pink T-shirts for October Breast Cancer Awareness month, and this year donated the pro-ceeds to Grand Mesa Oncology & Infusion Center. Pictured left to right: Kelsey Stark RN, Theresa Wrich RN, Danielle Gallegos RN, LouAnn Drown RN, manager of oncology, Kirby Clock, DCAD manager, Lynelle Schreiner receptionist, Dr. Eric Schmidt, oncologist, and Janamarie Dugle, volunteer

Ernie and Ida Mae Bailey, ages 94 and 90, will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary Saturday, Nov. 28, from 2 to 4 p.m. The Baileys are longtime residents of Cedaredge. They’re now

living at Grand Villa, 15th and Patterson in Grand Junction, where the cel-ebration will be held.

The Baileys were mar-ried Nov. 15, 1945, in Hotchkiss. They have four children, Donna Weisz-

brod of Cedaredge, Gary Bailey of Grand Junction, Randy Bailey of Salt Lake City and Danny Bailey of Grand Junction.

Longtime Cedaredge residents celebrate 70th

Heather and Cody Suckow of Delta are the parents of a daughter, Averie Brooks Suckow, born Nov. 17, 2015, at Delta County Memorial Hospital. She weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20.75 inches in length.

Chelsey and Alejandro Corona of Olathe are the parents of a daughter, Izabell Kareli Corona, born Nov. 17, 2015, at Delta County Memorial Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 21.5 inches in length.

Bryan and Cassie Vest of Delta are the parents of a daughter, Genevieve Bee Vest, born Nov. 17, 2015, at Delta County Memorial Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 inches in length.

BIRTHS

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Chevelle and Steve Mercilliott of Delta are the parents of a son, Armani Dezmond Sabastian Mercilliott, born Oct. 31, 2015, at Delta County Memorial Hospital. He weighed 5 pounds, 2.2 ounces and was 18.5 inches in length.

Erin and Dusty Rogers of Paonia are the par-ents of a son, William Chris Rogers, born Nov. 3, 2015, at Delta Coun-ty Memorial Hospital. He weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces and was 19.5 inches in length.

Doug and Kalen Dillon of Delta are the parents of a son, Wyatt Cole Dil-lon, born Nov. 4, 2015, at Delta County Memorial Hospital. He weighed 7 pounds, 3.5 ounces and was 20 inches in length

BIRTHS

Ida Mae and Ernie Bailey

The Baileys

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Delta County Independent LOCAL NEWS Wednesday, November 25, 2015 A5

Review

Maniacal 4 score big in DeltaBY CHARLIE HUFF

Delta-Montrose Community Concert Association

It may sound like a strange name — Mania-cal 4 — for a trombone quartet. Nonetheless, it is the name of a fantastic, talented and congenial trombone quartet which Monday, Nov. 16, treated us, the Delta-Montrose Community Concert Asso-ciation audience, to a con-cert of uniquely beautiful and melodious music. It was without doubt a rare treat!

The name, by the way, evolved over a four-year period after the quartet formed during the mem-bers’ freshman year at the University of North Texas. The name is com-posed of the first two letters of each of their names, Matt, Nick, Carl and Alex. Matt Jeffer-son and Carl Lundgren hailed originally from Canada, Alex Dubrov from Kiev, Ukraine, with Nick Laufer being the lone Texan. They are now based “more or less” in the Dallas, Texas, area.

In any event, the music they performed, much of it either composed or arranged by Carl, was unique in its harmony and just simply beautiful!

Their execution was near perfection as they played their variously ranged trombones, producing rich harmony and even, inspir-ing tone. They are true professionals — being defined as those who can make a difficult challenge look all too easy.

The variety of their compositions ranged from obscure to well-known classics, to popular num-bers from various eras. They even had some fun with the theme of “007.” And for our further enjoy-ment, each of the men took a turn telling a little of the history of a par-ticular selection to be performed, often adding a personal human inter-est tale or humorous anecdote! Indeed it was obvious to all that these young men were having pure enjoyment — even fun — sharing with us their talents and love of the music.

As ever, I must say that if you missed this show, you certainly missed a truly great musical expe-rience. But don’t despair — there are three more concerts remaining in this season’s run. The next concert will be the Jorgen-son Bluegrass Band per-formance on Monday, Feb.

8. It surely promises to be another great evening of family-oriented entertain-

ment. For all the details check out our website at www.deltamontrose

concerts.com or in Delta County call Bob Brown at 835-4480 or Sue Roushar

in Montrose County at 249-9154. We trust we may see you there!

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Lee Marts VFW Post 3571 and its Auxiliary in Delta encourage all mem-bers of the community to help our local veterans. The post and auxiliary currently have two com-munity-based projects going into the holidays.

In cooperation with the Colorado Aviation Business Association (CABA) holiday airlift and the local Dollar Tree, the Veterans of Foreign Wars are collecting and distributing non-perish-able foods and toys for local veterans and their families who need a help-ing hand or are homeless this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In cooperation with the Delta Library, VFW is col-lecting sample and trav-el-size toiletries, snacks, books, hard candy, indi-vidually packaged hot or cold drink mixes and other items under Opera-tion Troop Bounty. These goods will be packaged and sent to active-duty

military personnel who are serving at duty loca-tions around the world.

Contact auxiliary pres-ident Jennifer Wright at 640-7720 or post quarter-master Jim Baker at 874-8172 for more informa-tion about both projects.

Support sought for VFW projects

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A6 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Delta County Independent

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Delta, Colorado 81416

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Shop our locally-owned small businessesin Delta on Saturday, November 28

(and all through the year)and support our local economy.

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Wild Flower BistroWINTER HOURS:

M, W, TH, F 11A-4P

SAT. SUN. BRUNCH 8A-4P

CLOSED TUESDAYS

305 MAIN STREET DELTA, CO

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In conjunction with its regularly scheduled diabetes support group, Delta County Memorial Hospital is sponsoring a free educational program at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at the hospital. There is no charge and the pub-lic is welcome, but RSVPs are requested by Dec. 1. RSVPs may be phoned in to nutrition services at 874-6410.

Bill Rodriguez will share diabetes self-man-agement and lifestyle strategies based on extensive training and his personal experience living with diabetes.

Rodriguez is a mem-ber of the A1C Champi-

ons® program supported by Sanofi Diabetes. A1C Champions® is a patient-led approach to diabetes education. A1C Champi-ons® know firsthand the challenges and obstacles to maintaining control of their diabetes.

Topics to be covered include achieving good glucose control; effective self-management; devel-oping a balanced, healthy lifestyle; planning and prioritizing diabetes management; overcoming fears surrounding diabe-tes; and finding resources for diabetes support.

If you or someone you know is struggling with diabetes or has an A1C

that is 7 percent or above, the A1C Champions® can provide motivation to take the first steps to bet-ter blood glucose control. Diabetes patients need to know they are not alone; there are people like Rodriguez who can help them along their journey with diabetes.

Diabetes is a chron-ic, widespread condition characterized by high blood sugar in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, the hormone needed to trans-port glucose (sugar) from the blood into the cells of the body for energy. It is estimated that 19.1 mil-lion people in the United

States have diabetes, including an estimated 8.1 million who remain undiagnosed. At the same time, about 40 percent of those diagnosed with dia-betes did not achieve the blood sugar control target of A1C<7 percent recom-mended by the American Diabetes Association for many people with diabe-tes. Ask your doctor what the right A1C number is for you. The A1C test measures average blood glucose levels over the past two- to three-month period.

For more information, call Mary Grosvenor, dietary manager, at 874-6410.

Diabetics: Learn how to take control of your disease from a fellow diabetes patient

Photo submitted

A night to rememberBill Heddles Recreation Center hosted its annu-al daddy/daughter dance Saturday, Nov. 14. Over 120 couples enjoyed “A Journey to the Orient.” Zoey and Thomas Westwood were this year’s princess and king. The staff at Bill Heddles Recreation Center would like to shout out a huge thank you to everyone in Altrusa International of Delta.

Support Your Local Community –Shop Your Small Businesses on

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY® • NOVEMBER 28Small businesses are the heartbeat of our

community, the mom and pop shops,the businesses that help build our local economy.

PLEASE SUPPORT DELTA & MONTROSE SMALLBUSINESSES DURING THE HOLIDAYS AND EVERY DAY!

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Delta County Independent SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Wednesday, November 25, 2015 A7

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We carry the largest selection of American-made furniture

in Western Colorado

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A generous helpingNineteen Delta area families are looking forward to a bounteous Thanks-giving dinner, thanks to members of the Delta Elks Lodge who filled boxes with turkeys, stuffing, potatoes, yams, rolls, butter and pies. In addition, the Elks are preparing turkeys and mashed potatoes for the community Thanksgiving dinner at Delta Christian Church. Above, Doug Eades deliv-ers the boxes to the Delta County Sheriff’s Office, for distribution by Barb Yant, victim’s advocate, Delta County Undersheriff Mark Taylor and sheriff’s deputies.

Once again, the Advent (pre-Christmas) season will be celebrated with mini-concerts at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 5th and Palmer in Delta, four Tuesdays starting Dec. 1 and finishing Dec. 22. These concerts run from 12:10 to 12:55 p.m. to fit within working persons’ lunch hours.

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, The Rev. Paul Rosin will sing seasonal music. On Tuesday, Dec. 8, “Harps in Motion” fea-turing Robin Freed and her students will share their holiday program. The following Tuesday, Dec. 15, a mixed vocal ensemble, “Roses and Thorns,” will perform, accompanied by Sharon

Clark. A special men’s choir will offer the final concert Dec. 22.

Paul Rosin, tenor vocalist and pastor of All Saints Lutheran Church in Cory/Austin, will per-form at the first Advent mini-concert, 12:10-12:55 p.m.

Rosin was born and raised in Greeley and has performed the national anthem for the Denver Broncos, Colo-rado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rock-ies and Rapids as well as University of Denver hockey.

His concert will include Advent and Christmas music from contemporary and sacred genre.

Plan on joining this annual tradition of pre-paring for Christ at Christmas. Contact St. Luke’s Church, 874-9489, or Nyla Storch, 874-9485, for further information.

Advent mini-concerts begin Dec. 1

Rev. Paul Rosin

Support Your Local Community –Shop Your Small Businesses on

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY® • NOVEMBER 28Small businesses are the heartbeat of our

community, the mom and pop shops,the businesses that help build our local economy.

PLEASE SUPPORT DELTA & MONTROSE SMALLBUSINESSES DURING THE HOLIDAYS AND EVERY DAY!

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

A8 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 SCHOOL Delta County Independent

Photo submitted

Virtuous KidsLincoln Elementary and the Kiwanis Club of Delta recently recognized the Virtuous Kids pictured above: (front row, left to right) Kaila Dowell (on task), Boone Byers (enthusiasm), Jazlyn Naranjo (responsibility), Anna Jones (working hard), Claudia Gonzalez (kindness), Antonio Deleon (respect); (middle row) Micaela Mendoza (responsibility and caring), Madyson Feni-more (consideration), Stephanie Ponce (responsibility), Christian Baker (commitment), Jaiden Pena (on task), Elisha Blair (self-discipline); (top row) Ember Hatter (on task), Jacob Leib (hard work and on task), Brooke Suppes (respect and kindness), Katelyn Madrid (generosity), Izabella Valdez (dili-gence) and Ismael Zeferino (responsibility). The awards were presented by Kiwanians Hayley Suppes and James Conley on Nov. 16.

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Building on the posi-tive behavior support system of DOS Dollars, 38 shoeboxes for Opera-tion Christmas Child are being sent by Delta Opportunity School stu-dents.

Knowing that stu-dents were earning DOS dollars for exceptional work, excellent behav-ior and good citizenship, Angela McMurdy and Willyn Webb decided to take it one step further. The students had been

using their DOS dollars to purchase food items, earphones, pencils, chap-stick etc.; now they could spend to provide Christ-mas for children around the world. Giving to others is a hallmark of the DOS service learn-ing program and Opera-tion Christmas Child is a perfect fit. McMurdy and DMTC provided the items and the DOS students worked extremely hard to earn enough DOS dollars to buy the items to fill a

shoebox of gifts for a child who would not otherwise receive any Christmas presents. The DOS stu-dents watched videos on the Operation Christmas Child website and stu-dents chose whether to spend their DOS dollars

on items for themselves or for items for a shoe-box. The DMTC students raised the money to cover the $7 shipping fee per box. It was a wonderful collaboration and a great way to start the holiday season.

DOS, DMTC collaborate for kids’ shoeboxes

Photo submittedAngela McMurdy mans her Operation Christmas Child store while DOS students AJ Wilks, Carlos Pena and Katie Bates purchase items with DOS dollars.

Photo submittedJohnna Fender, DOS aide, Chanteele Gray, Amy Felix, Jacob Page, Marc Gonzales, Jimmy Vera, Alexis Alvarez and Willyn Webb, DOS assistant principal deliver 38 boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

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The Delta High School speech team did remark-ably well at the Eagle Val-ley Tournament on Nov. 14. Senior Cidney Fisk and junior Lydia Stalcup placed fourth in humor duet. Sophomores Juliet Ling and Mariah Drew came in third in drama duet. Sophomore Audrey Mayes and junior Bailey

Cloward placed fourth in drama duet. Junior Hannah Owens received an award of excellence in impromptu speaking, and coming in third in Lincoln Douglas debate was senior and captain Cidney Fisk.

The team is coached by Danielle Lopez this year. Team members antici-pate doing well at upcom-ing meets at Summit and Central high schools.

Speech team does well at Eagle Valley

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Enjoy the Christmas ambiance of beautifully decorated homes

2015

ChristmasHome Tour

Friday, December 11th4:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Tour begins at Delta United

Methodist Church 477Meeker Street

Delta High School’s speech team

In October, Peter Wil-liamson was named to Biola University’s Dean’s List for academic excel-lence.

Peter Williamson, from Eckert, was one of 1,566 students who were named to the Dean’s List for spring 2015.

Biola students are placed on the Dean’s List to honor those with a grade point average of 3.6 or higher while enrolled in 12 of more credit units and whose cumulative grade point average is at least a 3.2. This past spring, 38 percent of Biola students achieved this academic goal.

Biola University is a Christ-centered univer-sity in Southern Califor-nia that has been named one of the nation’s “up and coming” universities by U.S. News & World Report four times in the past five years.

IN THE NEWS

PEOPLE

Sign upfor winterswim classes

Bill Heddles Recre-ation Center is offering public swim lessons dur-ing the month of Janu-ary. All classes are taught by American Red Cross certified instructors and are offered at a variety of times and days. Call 874-0923 for a schedule.

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Delta County Independent ACTIVITIES Wednesday, November 25, 2015 A9

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Ray Carpenter

Join the Montrose Community Band on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 3 p.m. in the Montrose Pavilion auditorium for a free concert. The band will take you back to An Old-Fashioned Christ-mas with songs including “Sleigh Ride,” “Christ-mas Festival,” “Joy to the World” and a narrat-

ed version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The Jazz Band will start the concert off and the Oak Grove Elementary School music students will also take the stage to show off their holiday musical talent. For more information visit www.montroseband.com or call 596-1188.

Community band to perform holiday music

The Chapel of the Cross is happy to announce that its annual Christmas concerts will be presented Saturday, Dec. 5, at the chapel.

Performing this year will be local favorite singer and guitarist, Ray Carpenter. His program will be “Cowboy Country Christmas Music.”

Carpenter is the son of a Protestant minister and a native Coloradan. He was exposed to a vast selection of music from gospel to classical to country. Although he began playing trumpet in fourth grade he eventu-ally turned his attention to the guitar, country and western music and in particular, cowboy music.

He always delights his audience.

There will be two con-certs, at 4 and 7 p.m. Tickets are free for these popular concerts but must be obtained in advance at either Leisure Time Sports or Gazebo Florist & Boutique.

Carpenter presents a cowboy Christmas

Rec centercraft fairis Dec. 5

The holiday craft fair held annually at Bill Heddles Recreation Cen-ter is full with over 55 vendors. Come shop Sat-urday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Basement Bou-tique is a unique group of over 25 local artisans who collaborate to offer a yearly craft show and sale at the Montrose Pavilion. The show fea-tures locally handcrafted

gifts for all ages with a central checkout for con-venience and a pressure-free shopping experience. Pottery, jewelry, quilts, handcrafted jams and jel-lies, balsamic vinegars, hand sewn and crocheted items, glass ornaments, baskets, fine woodwork, beeswax candles and tole-painting are just a few of the treasures you will discover at the show.

The Basement Bou-tique was formed in 1974 by a group of artisans who originally held the show in one of the mem-ber’s basement. When they outgrew that space, they eventually moved the show to the Montrose Pavilion, but the name “Basement Boutique” stuck. This will be their 41st annual craft show. The show is held every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving. The dates for this year’s show are Friday, Nov. 27, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sat-urday, Nov. 28, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is a great way to support your local artisans while finding unique gifts for everyone on your list.

Basement Boutique turns 41 this year

Fort Uncompahgre, 440 North Palmer Street, Delta, will recreate Christmas as it was cel-ebrated in the 1830s, Fri-day, Dec. 4, from 7- 9 p.m. following the Parade of Lights. Santa will arrive at 8 p.m. and will be in the trade room area. Please plan to attend this special Christmas celebration.

Historical interpreters will be depicting a cele-bration of Christmastime as it was celebrated in the 1830s, including tra-ditional music and light-ing of the Christmas tree. The fort will be decorat-ed for the holidays with “period-correct” candles, lanterns and 300 lumi-narias. You’ll learn about the history of the Christ-mas tree and listen to local schoolchildren per-form Christmas carols.

A visit to the Fort on the Old Spanish Trail is a step back in time. Authen-tic trade goods and piles of furs and animal hides fill several of the rooms. Every aspect of the fort is maintained as authenti-cally as possible. You will see the trade room where Indians and trappers exchanged furs for guns, knives, beads and other prized trade goods and learn about the history of the American long rifle developed for the Ameri-can frontier. You’ll be able to gather around the

fireplaces in the “cocina” (kitchen) and the trade room and listen to stories and learn about the his-tory of Antoine Robidoux and the Fort on the Old Spanish Trail. Robidoux became involved in the fur trade and established Fort Uncompahgre in the late 1820s a short distance from the conflu-ence of the Compahgre (Uncompahgre) and the Blue or Eagletail (Gun-nison) rivers. Furs were brought to the fort by local Indians and trappers and were traded for goods that had been brought in from both Santa Fe and St. Louis. Robidoux built the fort in its origi-nal location because of

the close proximity to the Old Spanish Trail and an historic Indian trail.

The gift shop will be open and will allow you the opportunity to pur-chase books and authen-tic trade goods similar to those used at Fort Uncompahgre.

Refreshments will be served including authen-tic Mexican cocoa and hot cider. Outdoor activi-ties will depend on the weather.

Admission is $1 for adults, or free for those who bring a canned good for the fort’s annual food drive.

For more information, please call 874-6695 or 640-7076.

Enjoy Christmas at the Fort on the Old Spanish Trail

The annual chili bowl fundraiser benefiting Art Partners has a new loca-tion — The Lark & Spar-row historic venue at 511 Main Street in Montrose. To be held Saturday, Nov. 28, this event is a tasty, fun, and unique way to support Partners kids.

Purchase a bottom-less bowl of chili from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The bowl is yours to keep! Bowls start at $15 and vegetarian chili will be

available. The chili will be donated by local res-taurants, chefs and folks who are proud of their chili. Vote for your favor-ite!

Non-perishable food items will be accepted,

to be donated to Sharing Ministries to help meet holiday needs.

For additional infor-mation on this event, visit www.partners-west. org or call Lissette Riv-iere at 249-1116.

Chili bowl fundraiser to benefit Art Partners

Saturday brought another standing-room-only crowd for Alan “Stands Alone” Bryant’s presentation regarding Cherokee families and ceremonies. It was great for the children, too, who received a special prize. Attendees came from the Western Slope region, many of whom had Cher-okee heritage. They dis-cussed their experiences traveling to Cherokee country.

Roland McCook ended the program by answering

questions and announc-ing the next NACP pro-gram: “Conversations with Roland McCook - Uncompahgre Ute and Anuk Bald Eagle from the Sioux Nation.” The program is set for 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, at the Center for Spiritual Liv-ing, 658 Howard, Delta (next to Cleland Park).

The program is co-sponsored by Native American Cultural Pro-grams, Delta chapter, and Delta County Librar-ies.

Conversations continue with Roland McCook

Calling all seniors! If you’re looking for a new way to get out of the house and enjoy the company of other seniors, the Senior Connection at Delta United Methodist Church is for you. The next gathering is Thurs-

day, Dec. 3, at 1:30 p.m., and will include games, puzzles, conversation and companionship. Refresh-ments will be served. For more information call the church at 874-9501. Come and see if Senior Connection is for you.

Enjoy snacks, activities at Senior Connection

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A10 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 BUSINESS Delta County Independent

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Residential & CommercialInteriors & Exteriors

New ConstructionCustom Matches

RemodelsEntry Doors

Garage FloorsLog Home Protection

Stains, Polys & EpoxysLicensed & Insured

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After 15 years of working with two well-established painting companies and four years as a paint and hardware manager for a major chain, Michael Johnson understood what it was that people wanted most from their painting experience. Home and business owners alike wanted quality and completion! So in 2008, Johnson and one of his four brothers established Untouchable Painting. They set out to provide exactly that 100 percent of the time and have been in business ever since.

Earlier this year, Michael decided that in order for the business to continue to grow, he would have to expand geographically. His brother and original crew stayed in Cañon City, while he and his family found the perfect house in Eckert that would allow him to expand and start another crew here on the Western Slope, serving the Grand Mesa and Delta areas. The big beautiful homes on this side of the slope were a real driving force in choosing this area!

Michael and his crew provide a full spectrum of services, including power washing, residential and commercial painting of all sizes and types, interior and exterior, log home restoration and protection, garage floors and entry doors, stains, polyurethanes and epoxys.

“We believe that the customer deserves our very best, every time!” Michael

said. “We want them to be proud of their home or business when we finish. To help us accomplish this, we use only the very best professionally recommended products from Sherwin Williams, with fantastic results. Our list of local references who are proud to show you what we have done is growing. Our bids are always clear and complete and absolutely

free!”Michael is already hoping

to expand his business by adding another van, which would allow him to hire another two much-needed crew members. “We have already started scheduling for this spring, and expect 2016 to be a great year for Untouchable Painting as we continue to add to our list from the Delta and Grand Mesa areas. We are so excited to be working in this beautiful landscape, a true bonus that makes going to work every day an awesome experience. We love it here!”

One of the highlights for Untouchable Painting this last summer was doing some work at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, in preparation for its grand reopening last summer. “That was absolutely breathtaking the entire time!” Michael said.

If you’re thinking about a residential or commercial painting project, you’ll want to give Untouchable Painting a call at 970-589-6831. Estimates are always free and without any pressure.

Know Your Neighbor

Untouchable Painting:Delivering the very best, every time

Michael Johnson and his crew understand what people want from their painting experience — quality and completion — and they deliver exactly that 100 percent of the time.

BY TAMIE MECK Staff Writer

Delta County Library District director Annette Choszczyk has resigned after being placed on administrative leave on Nov. 4.

“The board felt they made the only decision that was available to them,” said board presi-dent Laura Earley in addressing library users and supporters at a Nov. 18 meeting held at the Paonia Library ahead of the regular board meet-ing. “And I’m sorry that I can’t reveal more of what this was based upon, but I can’t.”

Earley said that the board’s decision is a per-sonnel matter. Due to a non-disclosure clause, board members are “real-ly restricted” on what they can say.

“We did not take this decision lightly, let me assure you,” said Earley. “I really feel that every member on this board felt that they made the only decision, given the information we had, that we could make.”

Records indicate Cho-szczyk was hired in Sep-tember 2007, according to Earley. Her resigna-tion letter is dated Nov. 11. Lea Hart, a six-year district employee and regional manager, has been named interim dis-trict director.

In accordance with Colorado state law, “...Choszczyk will receive a total of $8,343 as agreed to in her separation and release agreement,” wrote Earley in response to questions emailed to the board by the DCI. “All other terms of the agreement are protect-ed by a non-disclosure clause.”

Earley, who was appointed board presi-dent in July, said that “some difficulties” were brought to the board’s attention in August. Following a prelimi-nary investigation, and at Choszczyk’s request, Mountain States Employ-ers Council, a Colorado-based organization spe-cializing in employment law, completed an exten-sive management assess-ment. An attorney con-ducted interviews and recommendations were made in a subsequent report.

Earley said she’s been spending 70 hours a week dealing with the issue. “I did not want to do it. I don’t think there’s a board member here that wanted to do any of this,” she said.

At the meeting, Ear-ley addressed specula-tion that the decision was related to reports of friction between up-valley and down-valley libraries. “I can assure the up-valley/down-val-ley never came up in this entire process, ever,” said Earley.

“I would say that if the public wants to learn more, you’re almost going to have to go through the court system and find out,” said Earley, adding that the board is not responsible for the decision not to release related documents to the public.

“I don’t think we want to go to court,” said library user Ed Marston. “I think what we’d like to

know is that the district will be fairly run and that this was not some up-valley/down-valley conflict and that the staff has not taken control of the system.”

Earley told the crowd that employee discord was also not behind the board’s actions. Accord-ing to the minutes of the Sept. 16 board meeting, “Earley told the board she had been contacted by staff with complaints about a hostile work-place environment and the need for a process to complain. Earley and (vice president Nancy) Hovde will investigate the situation and update the board as the situa-tion allows. Earley indi-cated that funds might be needed in case legal counsel was required.”

The comments made “...were related to Ms. Choszczyk’s employment situation but were not a dispositive factor” in placing her on adminis-trative leave, wrote Ear-

ley in the email. “The action taken by the board was done so after care-ful consideration of the management assess-ment report we received from Mountain States Employer Council.”

According to the min-utes of the Nov. 4 board meeting, following an executive session, a motion was made to place Choszczyk on adminis-trative leave through the end of the week, then on unpaid leave through Nov. 25. Six trustees voted for the motion, and the seventh member voted “present,” a non-vote, due to the trustee’s absence throughout most of the investigation, said Earley.

A motion to return to executive session was made and seconded, at which time John Gavan, IT director for the dis-trict, said that if he was to be the subject of that session, he would resign. Gavan resigned immedi-ately following the deci-

sion to place Choszczyk on administrative leave. He had no comment for the DCI but to say that he is moving on and remains very active in his profession.

Karen Ortiz, an edu-cational technology spe-cialist, said she frequents the Paonia library and appreciates the technol-ogy infrastructure, for which she said Gavan is largely responsible. Ortiz called his resignation “a huge double whammy for the organization. The district is already adver-tising the position. “I’m guessing you had some-one in place who could just take that over?”

Earley replied that there is no backup IT specialist. “That’s anoth-er one of the challenges that we’re going to face,” said Earley, “but we’ll face it and we have some plans for moving forward in that area.”

Hovde said she believes the board and district staff remain ded-

icated to the district and are “fully committed to preserving the resources we have and improving them, if possible.”

At-large board mem-ber William Crank said he agrees with comments made by Earley. “I would hope that nobody would think that the seven members of this board don’t care greatly about the libraries ... We’re on this board because we like libraries” and what they do for citizens.

Library user Betsy Marston asked if the hir-ing process for Choszc-zyk’s replacement will be open to the public. “I’m just trying to figure out how you could make this a more open process, maybe to restore faith in what you’re doing,” said Marston.

Earley said there are state mandates for how the position can be advertised, and at least two board members will be assigned to carry out the process.

Library director resigns in wake of board action

Annette ChoszczykBY HANK LOHMEYER

Staff WriterThe Delta District

Court last week granted a request from county government to reinstate the commissioners’ 2013 specific development approval for Grand Mesa Layers and Western Slope Layers.

The court’s action fol-lows the state Supreme Court’s recent decision not to hear an appeal of the Colorado Appellate Court’s decision that had upheld the county com-missioners’ original deci-sion.

The chain of legal fil-ings, rulings and appeals began in 2013 when the Delta District Court over-ruled the county commis-sioners’ specific develop-ment approval for the two

egg-laying operations.After the Delta Dis-

trict Court overturned the commissioners’ approval over two years ago, the Colorado Court of Appeals found in favor of the county and other defendants (Hostetlers). The Court of Appeals then declined to rehear the case. That triggered another appeal by the original plaintiffs (Jar-don, Holder, Raymond, Cool and Robinsong) to the state Supreme Court which declined to hear the case.

All the legal maneu-vering finally left stand-ing the original Court of Appeals decision in favor of the county and Hostel-ers.

Therefore, the district court’s action last week

deals specifically with the following four points:

• The district court’s ruling vacates all of the following previous actions in the case: its own Sept. 5, 2013, order on rule 106 claim; the Sept. 6, 2013, order to Hostetler to cease and desist opera-tions; the Sept. 16, 2013, order on motion to amend; the Sept. 30, 2013, entry of final judgment on all claims; the Nov. 18, 2013, order following hearing; and the Nov. 27, 2013, order on costs.

• The district court’s ruling reinstates the county commissioners’ May 28, 2013, decision approving with conditions the Hostetlers’ two egg-laying poultry facilities.

• The district court’s ruling enters judgment in

favor of defendants (Delta County and Hostetlers) and against plaintiffs on all claims.

• The ruling instructs that each party is to bear his, her, or its own attor-ney’s fees, but defendants may file a bill of costs within 21 days of the entry of this judgment or within any greater time as this court may allow.

The Hostetlers’ attor-ney, Karen Budd-Falen of Cheyenne, Wyo., told the DCI, “Yes, we are plan-ning to request costs.”

County attorney Jin Ho D. Pack told the DCI, “We’re still working on costs.” She added that the costs awarded in the final judgment do not include attorney’s fees, but are limited to filing fees and other incidentals.

Judgment on hen house final

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Tim Helmer is quick to explain how a microinverter converts energy generated by a solar panel from DC power to AC. And he does it in a way that makes it sound so simple.

“It’s pretty simple,” says Helmer, a junior at Paonia High School.

Solar Energy International has partnered with the Delta County School District to administer an introductory course in photovoltaic energy. Called PVOL101, Helmer is one of 13 Paonia High School and alternative school stu-dents enrolled in the course. Upon passing the course, stu-dents receive a high school-level certificate of completion from SEI.

PHS principal Randal Palmer said the pilot program is thus far going very well. He calls the relationship with SEI “serendipitous.”

There are no prerequisites, other than students must be either juniors or seniors, said Pete Mueller, an AmericaCorps VISTA volunteer at SEI. Muel-ler, who is involved with SEI in community revitalization programs through economic development, got his start in the solar energy industry in 1999 as an SEI student.

The course teaches skills that can be applied to col-lege, the military, mechanical and electronic engineering and other fields. “Many graduates have gone on to be entry-level installers,” said Mueller.

Course topics range from the basics of electricity through designing and building a PV system, and ultimately how to safely commission a system,

said Mueller. Students learn how to perform power and energy calculations, evaluate utility bills and rate plans, design a residential grid-direct system and more.

Helmer, a junior at Paonia High School, said his dad was an electrician and he knew some of the basics of electric-ity heading into the class. “It’s kind of rubbed off on me,”

said Helmer, who enrolled in the course after hearing an SEI school presentation last spring. “I thought it’d be a good opportunity to get out and do some hands-on train-ing, and it’d be kind of cool to get my solar energy installer certification.”

Helmer said the class fits well with other class cur-riculum and scheduling and students are moving quickly through the lessons. So far, “it’s going pretty good.” He is one of many students enrolled in Advanced Placement college preparatory classes and plan-ning to attend college, although he hasn’t chosen a career path. Taking the SEI course could influence his career decisions later on. “I’m just trying it out,” he said. “If I could get a good job in this, I may well do this for a while.”

While PV is normally a six-week course, curriculum has been adapted to meet the high school semester timeline. Stu-dents commit to 60 hours of online classroom textbook stud-ies and 30 hours of hands-on training at the SEI campus located on Mathews Lane. Each chapter includes a video and an online quiz, which is graded.

The educational disciplines of STEM, or Science, Technol-ogy, Engineering and Math, are all taught within the class, said Mueller. Completion of the course can give students an edge in the job market, in large part because the SEI name, which is highly respect-ed in the field of alternative energy, is on the certificate, and in part because the solar energy industry is growing “in a huge, huge, huge way,” said

Mueller. SEI was founded as a non-

profit educational organization in 1991 and has taught classes to more than 35,000 individu-als. Its Solar in the Schools out-reach program reaches more than 2,000 students annually through hands-on classroom presentations.

“SEI seeks to provide stu-dents a new avenue in an emerging industry,” said Muel-ler, and PV systems are the most common systems used in solar energy production today. The PVOL101 course, SEI’s most popular course, provides a gateway to a career in solar energy and is offered on-cam-pus and online.

Senior Warren Minerich comes from a coal mining fam-ily and plans to study mining engineering. Minerich said he intends to use the certificate to apply for jobs to help pay his way through college, but also sees the class as something that can be applied to his area of study.

So far, said Mueller, all of the students are passing. While there is no final exam per se, the final project, depen-dent on weather, will be to build and install a grid-tied system at PHS which can be used for future training and education. The project hinges on a pending grant.

Mueller said SEI will offer the course at Delta High School in the coming semester.

Helmer said he would rec-ommend the course to any stu-dent, regardless of their career goals or interests. “It’s a good time,” he said. “It’s not high-stress, by any means, but it’s not a coaster class.”

Students charged up about SEI class

www.deltacountyindependent.comTIMESNORTH

F O R KNovember 25, 2015

BSection


In order to address citi-zen concerns over an initial proposed increase in water rates that would have doubled commercial user base rates, Paonia trustees changed course during the Nov. 17 special budget work session, proposing an across the board base rate increase of $6, along with increases in volume usage.

Increases are needed to cover debt services and to continue covering fixed costs of operations, said town manager Jane Berry. A 2014 increase of $5 per customer was necessary to cover debt service related to state-man-dated water filtration systems upgrades, but covered less than half of what was needed for the roughly $197,000 in annual payments.

In looking at how the $6 increase would affect users, trustee David Bradford point-ed out that the fee hike would affect in-town residential users most. “That makes me somewhat uncomfortable,” said Bradford. In response to public complaints of a lack of fairness in the town’s rate structure, he suggested a 28 percent base rate increase for

all of the 1,500 water accounts, which reflects the percentage increase to in-town residen-tial users on a $6 increase. Of the four categories of users — in-town and out-of-town residential and in-town and out-of-town commercial, in-town residential users cur-rently pay the lowest base rate of $21 per month.

Trustees were largely split over the issue, with Eric Goold favoring a $6 increase and Ross King agreeing with Bradford on the percentage increase.

Mayor pro tem Charles Stewart reminded the public that the increases represent a temporary fix while the town awaits completion of an inde-pendent rate study after the new year. No final decisions were made regarding rate increases.

Out-of-town resident Jere Lowe expressed concern over the language in the ordinance and the potential passage of a document that he argued is replete with faulty language. Trustees and Berry stressed that the meeting was called to address water rates, which need to be established prior to passage of the 2016 bud-get, and that the specifics of the language can be discussed

and adopted at a later date. Adi Vongontard, also an

out-of-town user, said the pro-posed increases are “vastly superior,” and more logical and equitable than the origi-nal proposal, which would have doubled rates for busi-ness users and increased out-of-town residential customer rates by almost 50 percent.

Increases in per-gallon vol-ume usage rates are also on the table, although they were not discussed at length during the meeting. Regarding those increases, Ron Rowell, owner of Paonia Laundry Cleaners, urged the town to consider the businesses that will be affected most by such increas-es, including his business and Paonia Care and Rehabilita-tion Center. Rowell said the proposed $5.50 per thousand gallon cost of 100,001 or more gallons from the current $4.00 rate could kill businesses and believes in raising the base rate over the volume usage fees. He told the town that his business provides a service, and if people don’t come to his business for that service, they will use the water at home, for which the town will charge the lower volume rate. He said the proposed increase

Water rate debate continues in Paonia


Crawford Town Hall won’t be as festively lit as in past years due to removal of lights during the renovation proj-ect, which was completed last summer. There’s not enough time left to reinstall them, said Bair. “We’ll do what we can to try and make things festive. We have plenty of small lights and decorations that we can light things up with.”

Most of the other lights around town are in place and will be lit soon.

The star that shines from the water tank above town is showing its age and wear and tear and starting to rust, added Bair. The star was first put in place in the early 1980s by the local Lions Club, and just can’t take much more handling. The steel structure, which measures some 30 feet in diameter, is heavy and requires a fire truck or other piece of heavy equipment and

a winch to put it in place. In the process the star is scratch-ing the paint on the tank.

Also, a couple of its legs are barely attached. While it’s been rewelded in the past, at least two of the welds have since broken. Because of its size and condition, “It’s a haz-ard,” said Bair.

Bair recommends that it be rebuilt, perhaps out of lighter material, although it needs to be heavy enough to with-stand high winds. At one time it was placed on C-Hill, but that requires Bureau of Land Management permits.

“If it’s compromising the tank at all it needs to be rebuilt,” said trustee Mike Tiedeman.

While no action was taken, trustees agreed it’s worth replacing, even if the next star is a little smaller. Even a 15-foot star would be easy to see, noted Tiedeman.

“It makes a wonderful night light,” said Mayor Susie Steckel.

Shining a light on Crawford’s star


The Town of Crawford is gearing up for a long list of holiday events, most of which will be held at the newly-remodeled Town Hall. For those who haven’t seen the new Town Hall, festivities will run Nov. 27 through Dec. 4, providing numerous opportu-nities to see all of the work, said organizer Tristan Pfeffer.

For those wanting to shop locally, the Fruitland Mesa Club Craft Show runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, in the Town Hall community room.

Festivities begin Fri-day evening with the annu-al Parade of Lights. Floats should be parade-ready and at the Methodist Church parking lot by 5:30 p.m. Parade watch-ers can stay warm inside the Methodist Church while wait-ing for the parade, where the annual Chili and Nacho Din-ner will also be served from 5-7 p.m.

Fire trucks and floats will wind their way from the church to the newly-remodeled Town Hall, and it’s rumored that

both Santa and Mrs. Claus will be in the parade. Follow-ing the parade, enjoy refresh-ments at Town Hall, visit with Santa, and have family por-traits taken by Wild Country Photography.

The annual Festival of Trees starts Friday night and runs through Dec. 4. Through-out the week of Nov. 30-Dec. 4, Town Hall will be open from 4-7 p.m. daily. Visitors can vote on their favorite tree for the People’s Choice award, enjoy cider and hot chocolate while the kids make orna-ments and other Christmas crafts or write letters to Santa Claus.

Entertainment will be offered each day throughout the week. On Monday, Mrs. Claus will read stories from 4-7 p.m. On Tuesday the North Fork Montessori at Crawford choir will perform at 4 p.m., followed by the telling of the Biblical Christmas story and singing of carols.

Wednesday evening, Donna Saunders will sing holiday songs. On Thursday, Young at Heart will perform from 5:15-6:15 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 4, is the fina-

le of the Festival of Trees. Musicians David and Tamara Hauze will perform acoustic music from 5-7 p.m. The Com-munity Holiday Potluck din-ner begins at 5:30 p.m. From 6-7, the Montessori School will present its Winter Music Program at the school. At 7 p.m., dessert will be served at Town Hall, drawings for trees will be held, and the People’s Choice award and winning bidders in the silent auction for the trees will be named. Tickets for the drawing are $1, or 6 for $5, and are avail-able each day during the Fes-tival of Trees.

The Crawford Pioneer Days committee is organizing the parade and festival after the group that put it on the last few years announced in late October that it would no lon-ger be hosting the event. “For starting as late as we did, I think we’re doing really good,” said Pfeffer. Next year’s Pio-neer Days theme has already been selected, said Pfeffer. “We’re going to use the theme of ‘So True Red White and Blue.”

For more information, visit www.crawfordcountry.org.

Crawford’s Parade of Lights this Friday

Photo by Tamie MeckThe Festival of Trees, which runs Nov. 24-Dec. 4, is one of the many holiday events taking place in Crawford. The Parade of Lights happens this Friday night, and the annual Fruitland Mesa Craft Show runs Friday and Saturday.

Photo by Tamie MeckFrom left, high school students Jeramiah Hillman, Noah Has-well, Austin Katzer and Dominic Harman practice wiring array configurations on solar panels during a photovoltaic class, PVOL101, at Solar Energy International. Students who pass the pilot course receive certification of completion through Delta-Montrose Technical College.

RATE DEBATE TO B2

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The Hotchkiss High School Drama Club pres-ents “Chemical Bond-ing” (or “Better Living Through Chemistry), Thursday and Friday, Dec. 3 and 4. This full-

length comedic drama by Don Zolidis follows Dani, a recent high school grad-uate and class salutato-rian, as she takes a sum-mer job working the third shift at a small-town chemical factory. As her friends prepare for col-lege with road trips and Facebook updates, Dani struggles with her new job, a new relationship, a crazy grandpa, and a serious illness in her family. When she begins to wonder if she should put off school and figure out what to do with her life, her only support, a group of eccentric friends and her family, persuade her to pursue her dreams. Cast includes Megan Lange, Andrew Oviedo, Echo Miller-Barnes, Nolan Egging, Kevin Chavez, Brandi Goddard, Mario Espinoza, Mor-gan Miller, Lily Harvey,

Courtney Mattler, Cara Littlefield, Gabe Rodri-guez and Evelyn Shenck.

“It’s a great way to start your holiday season celebration,” says director Lenore Cambria. “Many of the actors have been cast in multiple roles, which makes it fun to see how they can turn into dif-ferent characters during the show. They’ve really brought this show to life with comedy and a heart-warming story.” Cambria has directed many of the actors since they were in middle school. “Now that they are seniors I’m real-ly going to miss them. They’ve all brought a lot of spark and joy to the community through their performances over the years.”

Tickets are available at the door and are $5 adults, $4/students and seniors.

HHS play kicks off holidays with ‘Chemical Bonding’

Rate debateFROM PAGE B1in volume usage is creat-ing a 70- to 75-percent increase in his water costs. “If you think more water use means more profit, you’re wrong,” he told the board.

Under the revised pro-posal, a $100 administra-tive service and capital cost fee for each of the 32 water companies serviced by the town will be negoti-ated on a per-case basis.

Due to ongoing prob-lems with the aging water delivery system, includ-ing more than 90 water main breaks this year, Berry is recommending to trustees that no taps be sold out of town until major upgrades can be accomplished.

According to town clerk Corinne Ferguson, in 2007 a significant water leak was discov-ered with the town’s half-million gallon tank. At that time, the tank was taken off line and an emergency ordinance established a moratorium on sale of out-of-town taps until storage could be increased. In 2010, after it was determined that the existing 2 mil-lion- and 1 million-gallon tanks could handle the demand, the board voted to allow the sale of up to eight out-of-town taps on a case-by-case basis, with each sale requiring a majority vote of the board. That ordinance remains in place.


Crawford Public Works Director Bruce Bair updated the town at the Nov. 18 work ses-sion on the Bureau of Reclamation’s recent release of a draft envi-ronmental assessment on the Zanni Lateral of the Clipper Ditch. The EA addresses a proposed piping project on the lat-eral as part of the Colo-rado River Basin Salini-ty Control Program. The pipeline is one of many being proposed in the Colorado River Basin to help reduce selenium in the basin. It is estimated that 551 tons of salt per

year seep into the basin.The federally funded

project, according to the EA, would replace approximately 1.7 miles of open irrigation ditch with buried water pipe-line. The lateral section is located entirely on private land beginning in town at the divider head gate at the flour mill south of Highway 92 near the Dogwood Avenue intersection. The pipeline would fol-low Highway 92 north-west through town, cross under the highway, then run north and west through irrigated lands, ending about 1.3 miles from town boundaries.

Because the town has drainage water that empties into the Clipper Ditch aquifer, trustees expressed concern over how the project would affect the system.

Trustee Larry Kon-tour noted that area soil is high in alkaline. Open ditches pull the salts from the soil and depos-it them into the basin. The Uncompahgre and North Fork river drain-ages put in 5 percent of all the salts in the Colorado River before it gets to California,” said Kontour.

Before the problem began being addressed some 20 years ago, said Kontour, birds living downstream in Califor-nia were experiencing severe birth defects due to selenium concentra-tions. Mexico and the Water Compact states are looking at Colorado to address the problem.

The roughly 150-page document can be found at usbr.gov/uc/ under the heading of “Environ-mental Documents,” or by calling 970-248-0651.

Comments sought on Zanni Lateral EA

B2 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 NORTH FORK TIMES Delta County Independent

ImmanuelLutheranhosts bazaar,chili dinner

Paonia’s Immanuel Lutheran Church, located at 5th and North Fork, is holding its annual bazaar, craft sale and chili din-ner on Wednesday, Dec. 2. Dinner of chili, corn-bread, salad and drink will cost $5. Pie is $1 a slice.

The doors open at 11 a.m. and dinner will be served from 11:30 to 1 p.m. For takeouts, call 527-3232.

Proceeds go to Good Shepherd Homes, HopeWest Hospice, Orphan Grain Train and other causes.

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Pick up your coloring contestforms now at thelibrary and otherPaonia locations

The Friends of Paonia Library will hold their annual holiday event book sales on Friday afternoon, Dec. 4, from 1 to 5 p.m. and all day Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Paonia Library Commu-nity Room.

On Saturday, the library will host a kids’ Holiday Puppet Show at 11 and 11:30 a.m. (adults welcome, too) titled “Bear stays up for Christmas!”

Take a round-trip ride

to the holiday book sale (on Saturday only), by hop-ping onto the horse-drawn hayride sponsored by Mt. Lamborn Ranches. The rides start at Lizzy’s Home-stead Market on Grand Avenue and turn around at the Paonia Library on 3rd Street. Pickup for the hayride will begin in front of the Lizzy’s at 10:30 a.m. (weather permitting), and will end at approximate-ly 1:30 p.m. The Friends of the Library will have free hot chocolate, cider, coffee and cookies in the Library Community Room for everyone.

A kids’/adults’ color-ing contest is part of the fun! The contest will be held for four age groups (3 years to 6; 7 through 9; 10 through 12; and all ages over 12). The win-

ners will receive one new book of their choice from the library catalog up to a $25 value. Coloring con-test entry forms may be picked up at the library front desk, the Blue Sage Center, and Lizzy’s Homestead Market from Nov. 24 through Dec. 5. Entries must by in by 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5. Kids can color while par-ents shop for books.

Book lovers — stock up on “gently used” best sellers for gifts, or bring a bag to fill up for your winter reading! Bring the kids and enjoy being part of all the holiday events at the library on Dec. 4-5.

For information on the book sale and to volun-teer, call Anne Every at 527-4159.

Paonia Library hosts book sale, puppet show

Photo submittedEnjoy horse-drawn hayrides on Saturday, Dec. 5, in Paonia. Mt. Lamborn Ranches is hosting the rides which will travel between downtown Paonia and the Paonia Library, weather permitting.

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After a months-long search, KVNF Public Radio has a new general manager.

“This is either my fifth or sixth station,” said Jon Howard as he headed into his fourth day on the job. Howard has been in the public broadcasting business for more than 20 years, and KVNF is his fifth or sixth station. As with KVNF, all of the previous stations were commercial-free.

In his career, Howard says he’s taken a reverse path to arrive at KVNF.

Most public radio employ-ees will start in a small community radio station and move up to the more mainstream, profession-ally-staffed stations like Colorado Public Radio. “I’m learning that I pre-fer the feel of community radio more than the pub-lic radio options,” said Howard. “I just like it better. It’s smaller, you get to know everybody better.”

Howard moved across seven time zones to get to Paonia after living the last nine years on the Isle of Wight. His wife will make the move in a few

weeks. He’d never heard of Paonia, and found the job posted on the Corpo-ration for Public Broad-casting jobsite. He’s not new to Colorado, having lived in Springfield and La Junta. He also inter-viewed many years ago for a job at KDNK in Carbondale. While he’s used to packing up and moving, for his wife, a lifelong resident of the Isle of Wight, “This is a huge thing for her. She’s never lived outside of the U.K.”

Historically, How-ard said he’s taken jobs regardless of location. This time is different. After the couple came to Paonia for the interview

and spent 10 days here, they were hooked on both the area and the station. “I think the people at the station are incredible. I think this is a beautiful facility,” said Howard.

Howard is also a licensed Federal Com-munications Commission engineer. “I’ve hung off of towers in the pouring rain trying to fix anten-nas,” said Howard. That background gives him a chief engineer’s perspec-tive of the station, and he’s impressed with the facility, which was com-pleted in 2005. The infra-structure allows the sta-tion some of the same capabilities as the larger stations. “It is absolutely

beautiful. This little sta-tion has some of the cool-est tools for a station this size,” he said.

That qualification was a big part of what made Howard stand out from the 15 applicants, said KVNF board president Pam Ellison. “We just felt his qualifications made him the obvious choice.” He brings a depth of expe-rience to the position and has a clear understand-ing of the myriad rules and regulations, added Ellison. “He was head and shoulders above any-one else.”

Howard credits his start in public radio to a turquoise Bakelite table-top Philco radio. He grew

up the seventh of 10 chil-dren and the family house in Missouri was always filled with sounds. Top-40 radio was just coming on the scene and nearby Kansas City was trying it out. Through top 40 radio, he was exposed to all types of music.

His dad was a mail car-rier and moonlighted as a TV and radio repairman. Howard said he would follow his dad around with the tool caddy, all the while learning about electronics. With the combination of a love of music, that turquoise Philco and interest in electronics, “It was just a natural progression for me, I think.”

New GM brings depth of experience to KVNFDelta County Independent NORTH FORK TIMES Wednesday, November 25, 2015 B3

FabulousHoliday

Gift Shopping!

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Support Your Local Community Shop Your Small Businesses on

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY®

NOVEMBER 28Small businesses are the heartbeat of our community, the mom and

pop shops, the businesses that help build our local economy.

PLEASE SUPPORT NORTH FORK AREA BUSINESSESDURING THE HOLIDAYS AND EVERY DAY!

Photo by Tamie MeckKVNF general manager Jon Howard


Paonia Chamber of Commerce announces a long list of upcoming holi-day festivities. Most of the events listed are hap-pening Friday and Satur-day, Dec. 4-5.

The CAWS Kids Bazaar happens from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily beginning Monday, Nov. 30 through Saturday, Dec. 5, at Bar-kin’ Bargains, 211 Grand Avenue in Paonia. Pro-ceeds benefit the Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS).

The Town of Paonia will host a Tree Lighting ceremony at Poulos Park from 7-7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.

Book lovers can peruse a litany of publications during the Friends of the Paonia Library annual Holiday Book Sale from 1-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Satur-day, Dec. 5.

Shish KaBikes in Paonia will host a holi-day open house from Fri-day, Dec. 4, from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10-2. Enjoy home-made cookies and locally-pressed cider. Enter for a drawing for a bicycle while you’re there. Need not be present to win.

Elisabethan will host its ninth annual Shin Diggy studio event from 4-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, featuring locally-made eco-fashions and a selec-tion of local artwork.

Stone Cottage Cellars will offer wine tastings.

Revolution Brew-ing will tap “Three Dog Night,” a new winter lager, while Foxy Moron offers up-cycled one-of-a-kind wearable art from 4-9 p.m. Friday.

The Art Den Trunk Show happens from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, fea-turing locally made jew-elry and artwork. Door-busters will be announced every hour on the hour.

The Hive Paonia will host the Holiday Bazaar from 5-8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 and 5, featuring a variety of local arts and crafts, goods, servic-es and virtual services. Come sip some local wine and enjoy.

Lizzy’s Market invites everyone to enjoy locally-sourced hors d’oeuvres and taste wines from Mesa Winds Winery from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.

Enjoy hot cider and cookies Friday, Dec. 4, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Paonia Farm and Home third annual Ladies’ Shopping Night. Door prizes will be awarded every 15 minutes.

The Art Den, 136 Grand Avenue, will fea-ture jewelry by Catherine Bagley, Tamara Spano and Mystery and Me, and artwork by Dana Brad-ley from 5-8 p.m. Friday. Doorbusters will be fea-tured every hour on the hour.

Paonia holiday activities


Area schools are plan-ning several presenta-tions during the upcom-ing holiday season. Con-tact schools for details on any of the programs.

Dec. 3-4 at 7 p.m. —Hotchkiss High School Drama Club presents “Chemical Bonding (or “Better Living Through Chemistry). Tickets are $5 adults, $5 students and seniors, and are available at the door.

Friday, Dec. 4 — North Fork Montessori School Crawford Winter Music Program/Potluck dinner and Dime Auction.

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6-7 p.m. — Hotchkiss K-8 School concert.

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m. — Holiday Concert at Paonia High School.

Saturday, Dec. 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. — North

Fork School of Integrat-ed Studies Winter Faire at Paonia Elementary School.

Thursday, Dec. 15, 6-7:30 p.m. — Paonia Ele-mentary School holiday program, Paonia High School gymnasium.

North Fork ski swap is Dec. 5

The annual ski swap in the North Fork will be Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Paonia Town Hall.

The event is co-spon-sored by the Conserva-tion Center and PPPC Bike Co-op, a program of The Learning Council. A small portion of each transaction will go to the Learning Council.

Busy month for students

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Hundreds of under-served children in the U.S. and throughout the world will receive a gift box this Christmas, thanks to an organiza-tion called Samaritan’s Purse. Since 1993, the nondenominational evangelical Christian organization has coordi-nated Operation Christ-mas Child, an interna-tional effort to deliver gift-filled shoe boxes to children throughout the world and “to dem-onstrate God’s love in a tangible way.”

Getting boxes into the hands of children is a massive volunteer effort. The third week of November is National Collection Week. On Sat-urday, Christy Harding was manning the North Fork relay station at Paonia Friends Church, where almost 500 boxes were awaiting delivery on Monday to a collec-tion center in Grand Junction, and more were expected before the weekend was over. From there the boxes will be taken to the regional pro-cessing center in Denver, where they’ll be shipped out on semis to the next phase of their trip, and ultimately to their final destination.

Boxes, either shoe boxes, plastic bins, or custom boxes provided by OCC, contain age- and gender-specific items including school supplies, toiletries, wash cloths,

bandanas, toys and hard candy. “From there, it’s anything that’s fun,” said Harding.

Charlene Dorsey, with the Assembly of God, helped deliver 253 boxes. Dorsey said eight mem-bers of the tiny church contributed to the boxes, shopping year-round for gifts and meeting regu-larly to sew denim jeans into billfolds and purses and to knit hats.

Dorsey wrote in an essay on the program that for many of the chil-dren receiving a box, “It is probably their first gift, in a simple shoe box.” Watching videos posted at the Samaritan’s Purse website she said tears came to her eyes during a video of an orphaned boy showing his excite-ment at getting his own toothbrush. “It touched my heart so deeply since my dad was raised in an orphan home in Mis-souri,” she wrote.

Dorsey credits son-in-law and church pas-tor, Marvin Pemberton, and daughter Suelyn for introducing the small church to OCC. “They have been so encour-aged and blessed by the momentum,” wrote Dors-ey. Last year, after deliv-ering 190 boxes, they set this year’s goal at 250.

According to the Samaritan’s Purse web-site, in 2014, more than 10 million boxes were delivered internationally, including almost 8 mil-lion in the U.S.; since 1993 more than 124 mil-

lion boxes have been delivered to more than 150 countries and ter-ritories through OCC. More than 4,000 drop-off sites exist in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

In addition to the Friends and Assembly of God churches, the Christian Fellowship, First Christian Church, North Fork Baptist and Bible Center churches all contributed. Other area churches participate in OCC. Calvary Baptist Church in Delta is also a collection site. The program isn’t limited to November. Samaritan’s Purse allows anyone to build a shoebox online throughout the year.

This year’s boxes are headed for war-torn areas and to children living as refugees and in remote villages, said Harding. Many of the boxes deliv-ered in the U.S. go to

Indian reservations.Deacon Kiya McIntire,

head of Children’s Minis-try at Paonia Christian Fellowship, said she and her sister, Brittney Mar-shall of Ruidoso, N.M., have been filling boxes every year since they were little girls, and are now teaching their chil-dren about the boxes. Marshall was visiting for the holiday and helped with Saturday’s delivery.

“Mom and Dad encour-aged us to give at a young age,” said McIntire.” One of their best memories was when they were 7 or 8 years old and received a letter from a child in Latin America thanking them for the gifts.

Harding said that her two young daughters helped with the project and are learning about the gift of giving. “They’re starting to get the pic-ture,” said Harding.

Operation Christmas Child sends boxes of joy

Hotchkiss K-8 School was honored to have First Sergeant Lopez and cadets in the Delta High School JROTC pro-gram at its Veterans Day assembly. They presented the colors and taught the students about the mean-ing of the folding of the American flag.

The assembly began with Jenny West sing-ing the national anthem beautifully. First Ser-geant Lopez spoke to the student body about the meaning of Veterans Day. The assembly conclud-ed with Private Joseph Boyle, former HK-8 and HHS student, talking about his experience

serving in the United States Army. He spoke about the importance of GRIT (growth, resilience, integrity and tenacity) in all the students do every day.

“It was a pleasure to have First Sergeant Lopez and Private Boyle speak to our students,” said principal Carrie Yantzer. “It was a glori-ous day to recognize our veterans.”

A special recognition was given to the school’s very own veteran, Chuck Miller, fifth grade teach-er.

JROTC, speakers highlight Veterans Day assembly

B4 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 NORTH FORK TIMES Delta County Independent

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Private Joseph Boyle

Photo submittedDelta High School JROTC cadets demonstrate the proper way to fold a U.S. flag, as a narrator con-veyed the meaning of each fold.

Photo submitted

Elks honor North Fork studentsHotchkiss Elks Lodge No. 1807 recently announced its Students of the Month for the current school year. Shown with Exalted Ruler Bob Kapus are Nick Cambria of Hotchkiss, second from right, who was named Stu-dent of the Month for September, and Jeramiah Hillman, left, and Chelsea Meilner, who were named Students of the Month for October.

This summer, the Conservation Center and the Colorado Water and Energy Research Center at CU Boulder sampled local ground and surface water to assess for impacts from oil and gas development and to create a baseline for groundwater qual-ity in the North Fork Valley. The findings and what they mean for local water quality will be presented on Thursday, Dec. 3, from 6-8 p.m. at the Paonia Library.

The speakers will be:• Jessica Lewand, of

CWERC, who will pres-ent results from the baseline water quality monitoring study con-ducted in 2014-15;

• Dr. Mark Williams, of CWERC/CU Boulder, will present findings on impacts of oil and gas development on water quality in the Denver-Julesburg and San Juan Basins; and

• Katya Hafich, of CWERC, will present a short training on the CWERC Groundwa-ter Monitoring Guide for people to learn how to monitor their own groundwater quality.

Join us for a very informative evening! For more information, contact Alex at [email protected].

Results of water quality study to be presented

Photo by Tamie MeckPaonia resident Kiya McIntire, left, and sister Brittney Marshall deliver gift boxes to Paonia Friends Church Saturday for Operation Christmas Child. The church is the North Fork relay station for the international program, which delivers mil-lions of shoe box-sized packages to underserved children throughout the world.


Bruce Bair, public works director for the Town of Crawford, has been named an at-large member of the Gunnison Basin Roundtable. Bair expressed interest in the roundtable in September when Wendell Koontz, the mayor of Hotchkiss and senior mine geologist for Arch Coal, announced he would be stepping down as municipal representa-tive for Delta County.

Roundtables were cre-ated out of the Colorado Water for the 21st Cen-tury Act to facilitate dis-cussion between basins on water management issues. Terms are for five years.

The Gunnison Basin Roundtable is one of nine roundtables representing each of the state’s eight major river basins and

the Denver metropolitan area. Lake San Cristobal and sediment removal from Paonia Reservoir are listed as the basin’s major projects.

Bair said his first meet-ing will be in December. “I’m really looking for-ward to it,” said Bair.

Trustee Hetty Todd thanked Bair for taking care of the town’s water supply and ensuring that Crawford doesn’t have to spend a lot of money on water filtration projects because of his ongoing efforts to test the town’s water.

Bair appointed to Gunnison Roundtable

Photo by Tamie MeckCrawford public works director Bruce Bair was recently appointed an at-large member of the Gun-nison Basin Roundtable.

Photo submittedStudents and staff stand respectfully as Jenny West sings the national anthem to open a Veterans Day assembly at Hotchkiss K-8 School.

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Delta County Independent LOCAL NEWS Wednesday, November 25, 2015 B5

BY LEAH MORRIS Delta County Libraries

A Thanksgiving turkey sits on the counter, thawed and awaiting prepara-tion. Sweet potatoes and apples beg to be made into delicious dishes. Fam-ily members argue about football and politics. Kids whine because no one is playing with them. The car won’t start in the cold. Teenagers complain about the music. Someone won-ders how to pronounce the name of the fancy French cheese in the refrigerator.

It is time for Delta County Libraries to step in and help out. Even if it is a holiday and library buildings are closed, a visit to www.delta libraries.org/holiday-ideas/ will provide much needed recipe books, mag-azines, and other resourc-es to answer the needs of each family member without anyone having to leave the comforts of home.

The food is a good first step. One click on the OverDrive icon gives access to a multitude of e-books containing reci-pes for every type of cook, from gluten-free and vegan options to glorious desserts and make-ahead dishes. A few downloaded e-books will keep the tur-key from sitting naked for long.

Next, let Delta County Libraries settle disputes.

Check out current issues of magazines like ESPN and Newsweek to find up-to-date news. If OverDrive does not contain the right magazine, the libraries’ Zinio account provides a different assortment of popular magazines.

Whining kids can be quickly subdued with a click on the BookFlix icon. This site reads books to kids, pairing picture books with educational titles. Older kids have the option of reading along, and everyone will learn something while having fun.

Teenagers, too, can enjoy Delta County Libraries by accessing Freegal Music, where they will have access to millions of songs which they can stream and download. The site offers a lot of new and popular albums, as well as many other genres and music videos. The holiday music playlist should satisfy the whole family with a song for everyone.

The cheese question can be settled with a visit to Mango Languages, which provides a French language class specifi-cally geared toward wine

and cheese. Mango makes learning other languages easy with a simple and fun approach to over 70 different languages.

And finally, a diagnosis and maybe a fix for the car is possible through the Auto Repair Reference Center. Patrons can sim-ply search for a car make, model and year, then nar-row down the search to find the problem, print out a few pages, and get to work.

Delta County Librar-ies is dedicated to help-ing Delta County resi-dents find the solutions they need, over the holi-days and throughout the year. These website databases, and many oth-ers, are always available to patrons with a valid library card. “We work hard to provide Delta County residents access to the same opportunities as library patrons in larger cities,” says interim dis-trict director Lea Hart.

So, as the holiday sea-son commences, patrons can pull out their library cards, turn on the wire-less, and give thanks for the multitude of resources available through Delta County Libraries.

Holiday help is on the way with Delta County Libraries

Photo submitted

Safety DayHotchkiss K-8 third, fourth and fifth graders learned a lot during Safety Day sponsored by the North Ambulance Service. The students were able to look inside an ambulance and fire truck and learned the roles of the first responders and law enforcement officers.

Photo submitted

Exceptional EaglesOn Nov. 11, the pictured Paonia Elementary School students were rec-ognized for demonstrating S.O.A.R. behavior at school (back row, left to right): Trista Sweezey for achievement and respect; Olivia White, Edwardo Carrillo, Hazel Dirk and Adrienne Nolan for order, achievement and respect; Addison Emmons for achievement and respect; (front row) Yatziri Martinez, Tia Homedew and Billy Roach for achievement and respect. Paonia Elementary School provides a SAFE and ORDERLY envi-ronment that promotes high ACHIEVEMENT and growth, individuality and RESPECT.

Holiday Art Fair at the Blue Sage

The 23rd annual Holi-day Art Fair happens 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat-urday, Dec. 5, at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia. Fill out your Christmas list early at this intimate event with a selection of handcrafted gifts including paintings and prints, sculpture, pottery, clothing, fiber arts, jewelry, candles, honey, wreaths and more. Contact the Blue Sage at 527-7243 for more infor-mation.

Photo by Tamie Meck

Camera shyA rafter of wild turkeys heads for a foot bridge and away from the camera lens Sunday between Paonia and Somerset. While they often hang out along roadsides and in fields, wild turkeys are considered very difficult to hunt because they are extremely wary, know when they’re being hunted, and are highly adept at camouflaging themselves.

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B6 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 LOCAL NEWS Delta County Independent

The Delta County Libraries offer many edu-cational and entertain-ing activities and events for you and your fam-ily to enjoy. If you want to know what else your library is offering, please contact the library or visit the Delta County Librar-ies website at www.delta libraries.org. Check out

these programs:Cedaredge

Storytime for Babies, Tots and Preschoolers at the Cedaredge Library. Thursdays starting at 10:30 a.m. Parents and tots are invited to par-ticipate in a reading time together.

Maker Space Spe-

cial. Pasta Maker Mad-ness! Come in any day we are open in November and try your skills at making the perfect pasta noodles. We have the machine and the dough. If you have never tried making your own pasta, this is your chance! We don’t recom-mend eating any of your creations — this is more of a chance to play and have fun with the pro-cess. Any age is welcome; small children (under 7) should be supervised by a parent.

Computer Class. Optimizing your gmail account. Learn how to avoid virus infection, how to properly forward an email, get rid of unwant-ed senders, create email groups and print what you want. Friday, Nov. 27, at 10:30 a.m.

Genealogy. Who’s Who in Whoville ... find out who you really are. Friday, Dec. 4, at 10:30 a.m.

Teen Scene. Come and make a Christ-mas gift or two with the other “elves.” Don’t forget to bring a white elephant gift (something you already have) to exchange! Friday, Dec. 4, at 4 p.m.

Cedaredge Friends Meeting. The public is welcome! Thursday, Dec. 10, at 3 p.m.

Computer Class. Create a greeting card with Photoshop Ele-ments. Friday, Dec. 11, at 10 a.m.

Crafts Group. Craft-ers meet each Tuesday at 10 a.m. to share ideas and show and tell. Con-tact the library at 399-7674 for details.

Tech Soup Satur-day. Bring your devices

and your questions. Our expert “techies” will do their best to answer your questions. Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

CrawfordStorytime for

Babies, Tots and Preschoolers at the Crawford Library. Sto-ries, games, songs, activi-ties and crafts for kids 0-5 and their parents or caretakers. Thursdays starting at 10:30 a.m. Contact the library at 399-7783 for details.

Holiday Card Mak-ing and Gingerbread Houses. Bring your family to the Crawford Library for some holiday cheer and fun craft proj-ects! Thursday, Dec. 3, at 1 p.m.

Holiday Card Mak-ing. Get inspired for the holidays! Jan Ryan will provide tips and supplies to make exceptional holi-day cards this season. Friday, Dec. 4, at 1 p.m.

Computer Tutor. Librarians will be avail-able to help you with questions and problems about computers or mobile devices. Just drop in during regular library hours or call ahead for a specific time. Contact the library at 399-7783 for details.

DeltaStorytimes. Story-

times for babies, tots and preschoolers are Wednes-days starting at 10:30 a.m.

Free Heart Health Screenings. Free heart health screenings are being offered at the Delta Library every Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Operation Troop Bounty. Lee Marts VFW Post 3571, its Auxiliary, and the Delta Library are teaming up again to help supply deployed active-duty military men and women with “goodie boxes” from home. This joint project, dubbed Operation Troop Bounty, provides a local way for community members to provide active-duty military personnel with such useful and appreci-ated things as travel-size toiletries, snacks (such as jerky, gum, individ-ual-size packs of snack crackers and cookies, unfortunately exempt-ing chocolate, which melts in so many envi-ronments), books, hard candy, individual packets of baby wipes, packaged individual drinks (coffee, tea, cocoa, etc.), puzzles, combs and more! The dropoff bin is located at the Delta Library by the main circulation desk. Now until Nov. 28.

NaNoWriMo Write In. Writing a novel? Need dedicated time and space to meet the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words? Join other writers in the Delta area for a write-in at the Delta Library every Tues-day in November. Bring a light snack to share. Tuesdays in November at 5:30 p.m.

November Book

Club. Discuss Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watch-man” in this month’s book club meeting. Saturday, Nov. 28, at 1 p.m.

Teen/Tween Holi-day Party. Join us for a holiday party with tasty treats, awesome games, goodies to take home and more! For fifth grade and up. Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 4 p.m.

Decorate a Ginger-bread House. Come and decorate your very own gingerbread house. Participants are invited to enter their creations into the gingerbread con-test or take them home to enjoy. This event is free and all supplies will be provided, but signup is required. All ages are welcome, but children under 8 should be accom-panied by an adult. For more information call the Hotchkiss Library at 399-7781. Thursday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m.

Friends of the Delta Library Meeting. Public is welcome and encour-aged to attend. Wednes-day, Dec. 9, at 5:30 p.m.

Reading - The Night Before Christmas. Delta’s own Felicia Sab-artinelli reads from the humorous collection of “The Night Before Christ-mas” books. Saturday, Dec. 12, at 1:30 p.m.

Duct Tape Creation Station. Procrastinating on gifts this year? Come get crafty at our duct tape creation station. Supplies and project ideas provid-ed. The creation station will be located in the teen area of the Delta Library Dec. 14-23. Come in any time to make a unique gift for yourself or some-one special in your life!

Talk & Tangle Yarn. This is a group of knit and crochet enthusiasts who get together to talk and work on their indi-vidual projects. Anyone is welcome to join. Mondays starting at 5:30 p.m.

Tech Talk. Bring in your devices and get help from our tech-savvy staff! Every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Call the library to find out about this week’s class at 874-9630.

HotchkissStorytimes. Baby,

tot and preschooler sto-rytimes are Wednesdays starting at 10:30 a.m. Join us for stories, activities and crafts downstairs. Contact the library at 399-7781 for details.

Knitting Group. Do you knit or crochet? Join us for ideas, help and good company. Anyone is welcome to join. Call the Hotchkiss Library to get more information on this group. Wednesdays at 4 p.m.

Teen/Tween Holi-day Party. Join us for a holiday party with tasty treats, awesome games, goodies to take home and more. For fifth grade and up. Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 4 p.m.

Decorate a Ginger-bread House. Come and decorate your very own

gingerbread house. Par-ticipants are invited to enter their creations into the gingerbread contest or take them home to enjoy. This event is free and all supplies will be provided, but signup is required. All ages are welcome, but children under 8 should be accompanied by an adult. Thursday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m.

Hotchkiss Ginger-bead Contest. Par-ticipants are invited to enter their gingerbread house creations into the gingerbread contest. Cat-egories: children, family, adult entries. Deliver entries to the Hotchkiss Library any time during the first week of Decem-ber. All entries must be submitted by Thursday Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. Open to the public Dec. 7-17. Win-ners will be announced Dec. 21. Entries need to be picked up by Dec. 30.

Tech Help. Librar-ians will be available to help you with questions and problems about com-puters or mobile devices. Tuesday–Thursday by appointment. Contact the library at 399-7781 for details.

PaoniaStorytimes. Baby, tot

and preschooler story-times are Tuesdays start-ing at 10:30 a.m. Contact Paonia Library at 399-7881 for information.

Holiday Coloring Contest. For all ages. Pick up your age group coloring pages at the Paonia Library, Blue Sage or Paonia Farm and Home Store. Contest runs from Nov. 23-Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. when library closes. The winners in each age group get to pick out a new book up to $25 value.

Movie at the Library. Come see the much anti-cipated follow-up movie to “Jurassic Park” on the big screen with your friends and family! Fri-day, Nov. 27, at 2 p.m.

Holiday Book Sale. The Friends of the Paonia Library will have a won-derful selection of gently used materials available for purchase. Stock up on winter reading mate-rial, find some great gifts, and have fun with the friends! Friday, Dec. 4, at 1 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Holiday Puppet Show. Join the Paonia Library Puppeteers for another delightful pup-pet show the whole fam-ily can enjoy. Shows will take place at 11 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 5.

Movie for Grown-ups. Paonia Library pres-ents a movie for grown-ups, about the world’s first consulting detec-tive. Garnering great reviews, Ian McKellan stars as Sherlock in his later years (struggling with early dementia but still possessing most of that remarkable mind), with Laura Linney as his housekeeper. Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 6 p.m.

What’s happening at your library?

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Photo submitted

Highest bidderLeAnna Spadafora had the highest bid for the Bosom Buddies hot pink hot tub online auc-tion. LeAnna and Deisel celebrate the installa-tion of their new hot tub thanks to the gener-osity of Hot Water Productions and co-sponsor Alpine Bank.

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Delta County Independent LOCAL NEWS Wednesday, November 25, 2015 B7

For anyone who is liv-ing with the effects of a loved one’s drinking, the strain on mental and emotional well-being can be significant. “There is nothing worse than the pain and the loneliness of living with an alco-holic,” said Suzanne, an anonymous commenter on a “First Steps to Al-Anon Recovery” podcast.

In Al-Anon’s 2015 Membership Survey, 84 percent of respondents assessed the condition of their mental health to be below average before attending Al-Anon meet-

ings. However, after attending Al-Anon meet-ings, the percentage of respondents assessing the condition of their mental health to be below average fell to 6 percent.

Danielle Fritze, Men-tal Health America direc-tor of public education, said in an interview with Al-Anon, “Al-Anon’s big-gest benefit to friends and family members of problem drinkers, as I see it, is being a forum for people to ‘talk about it.’”

“Stigma and the isola-tion and shame that go

along with it can really take a toll on a person, and having a safe and supportive place to talk about the issues that you are facing can provide a great sense of relief and opportunity to learn from others,” she said.

“The sooner people can get to an Al-Anon meet-ing, the sooner they may begin seeing increased happiness in their lives, whether or not their loved one continues to drink,” said Pamela Wal-ters, marketing informa-tion analyst at Al-Anon Family Group Headquar-

ters, Inc. “When we think about

cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them,” said Fritze. “We start ‘before Stage 4,’ and we need to treat mental health issues with the same sense of urgency. When you compare the stages of mental illness to the stages of other chronic health conditions, that really seems to resonate with people. That is why Mental Health America has chosen B4Stage4 as the framework for its out-reach efforts in 2015.”

“It is important for people to seek help for mental health issues because there is no health without mental health,” said Fritze. “Everyone has something to offer to their family, friends, and community and we want people to be their best, most productive, healthi-est selves, from head to toe,” she said.

“I attended my first Al-Anon meeting last week,” said Suzanne. “I wish I had not waited so long. I felt a sense of peace. Finally, I did not feel so all alone. I was surrounded by com-passionate people who understood my pain.”

Al-Anon Family Groups are for families and friends who have been affected by a loved one’s drinking. Nearly 16,000 local groups meet throughout the U.S., Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico every week. Al-Anon Family Groups have been offering strength and support to families and friends of problem drinkers since 1951.

For more information about Al-Anon Family Groups, go to al-anon.org and read a copy of Al-Anon’s annual public outreach magazine “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2015.” Find a local meet-ing by calling Elizabeth W. at 874-9832 or toll-free 1-888-4AL-ANON.

Friends and family members affected by alcoholics don’t have to wait to get help

The Dolphin House Child Advocacy Cen-ter has been awarded accreditation by National Children’s Alliance. The accrediting agency for children’s advocacy cen-ters across the country, National Children’s Alli-ance awards various lev-els of accreditation and membership to centers responding to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and effi-cient, and put the needs of child victims of abuse first. Accreditation is the highest level of mem-bership with National Children’s Alliance and denotes excellence in ser-vice provision.

The Dolphin House Child Advocacy Cen-ter serves child abuse victims and their non-offending family mem-bers throughout the entire 7th Judicial Dis-

trict including the coun-ties of Delta, Montrose, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray and San Miguel. Services provided include child forensic interviews, medical exams, crisis and ongoing support, victim advocacy, and mental health assessments and referrals.

“Accreditation vali-dates our efforts as a community in provid-ing services to victims of child abuse. In addition, accreditation opens doors for additional funding and sustainability for the organization,” said Rhon-da Follman, executive director for the Dolphin House Child Advocacy Center.

For more information about Dolphin House Child Advocacy Center please visit our website at www.dolphinhouse colorado.org.

Dolphin House gains accreditation

Nine Delta Coun-ty teachers have been named recipients of inno-vative teaching grants by the Arch Coal Foun-dation, according to Jim Miller, general manager of Mountain Coal Compa-ny’s West Elk mine. This is the ninth year that the Arch Coal Foundation has set aside $10,000 to award grants to support teaching excellence in Delta County.

The nine recipients and their projects are:

“Crime Scene Investi-gation” – Megan Downs, Delta High School: Downs’ forensic students will gather evidence from a mock crime scene, ana-lyze evidence, interview witnesses and hold a mock trial for the sus-pect. Students will be given roles as police offi-cers, crime scene inves-tigators, detectives or specialists (blood splat-ter analyst, fingerprint analyst, etc.). The project will increase the students’ ability to think critically, work in groups and pres-ent information publicly, which are important in career development. The grant will underwrite the cost of the equipment and project materials.

“CHS Happenings through Video Produc-tion” – Kim Freeman and C.J. Cannell, Cedaredge High School: The teach-ers want to increase knowledge about school activities and student achievement through more professional vid-eos. Students will pro-duce short weekly videos, which will be shown to CHS students internally as well as placed on the CHS YouTube channel for external audiences. This will allow the school to reach a broader group of people including parents and community members both locally and across the country. The grant will provide a new video editing system.

“Academic Learning through Fishing” – Aman-da Cerise, Cedaredge Middle School: Cedaredge sixth-graders will support their outdoor education class with a fly-fishing unit designed to educate them on river ecology, hydrology and wildlife biology, as they study the anatomy and health of a river and the creatures that inhabit it. Students will incorporate geogra-phy, reading, science and math throughout the unit as they learn about river recreation and aquatic science. The unit also will include learning basic fly-fishing techniques, fish and insect identification, fly-tying, water safety and trip planning. The project will culminate with each student planning his or her dream fishing trip, including a detailed trip plan and proposed bud-get, a topographic area map, a packing list of necessary equipment and a detailed itinerary for each day of the trip. The foundation will supply the necessary fly-fishing equipment and materials for the hands-on portion of the project.

“E-textiles: Art and Electronics” – Esther Alsum and Sarah Beiger, North Fork Montessori:

Students will be intro-duced to the concepts and materials used to create e-textiles, including fabric and embedded electron-ics such as LED lights, conductive thread, speak-ers and small computers. Students will learn about basic electrical circuits, computer programming, and hand-sewing and embroidery, and they will use these skills to com-plete an e-textile item such as a bookmark or small wearable item. The grant will underwrite the cost of materials.

“Outdoor Learning Center” – Michael Chas-tain, Lincoln Elementary: Chastain plans to con-struct a series of outdoor learning centers at the school that can be used not only for science, tech-nology, engineering and math classes, but also for reading, language arts, art, music and social stud-ies classes. Each grade level will have an area set aside for its particu-lar needs, but all areas also can be used by every grade level along with special groups such as gifted and talented. The learning centers will pro-vide a much-needed out-let for student investiga-tion, community involve-ment and building an atmosphere of academic exploration in a safe and stimulating environment. The foundation’s grant will fund equipment to support the center’s start-up.

“First Annual High Altitude Challenge” – Ben Magtutu and Scott Siett-mann, Delta High School: Student teams from Delta High School’s AP Phys-ics 2 class will compete in the first annual High Altitude Challenge. The project requires teams to design, develop, launch and subsequently retrieve and return to earth a sci-entific payload exceeding 120,000 feet in altitude. Students will gain valu-able physics knowledge and hands-on experience in the fields of science, technology, engineer-

ing and math. The grant will help purchase equip-ment needed to develop payloads and also will be shared with other disci-plines within the school.

“This year the founda-tion made a significant program change,” Miller explained. “In the past, applicants were restrict-ed to requests of no more than $500. Those limits were removed this year and teachers were chal-lenged to stretch their imaginations and develop interesting, creative proj-ects with broad appeal to many students in the county. We look to our local teachers to enhance student learning in Delta County, and we are pleased to recognize their commitment.”

Applicants — either individual classroom teachers or several edu-cators working in col-laboration at one school or at schools across the county — could request funds for projects up to and including the entire $10,000 made available by the foundation. A com-mittee of area residents and local employees reviewed the applications for creativity, clear pro-gram goals and specific

Arch Coal Foundation awards teaching grants

Photos submitted

Pie eating contestBlack Canyon Boys and Girls Club of Olathe, Colorow staff and residents participated in Colorow’s annual pie eating contest last week. Below are the winners (left to right) Shonda Young, Colorow staff, first place; Katlin Young, Black Canyon Boys and Girls Club project man-ager, second; and Samantha Luraschi, Black Canyon member, third.

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B8 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 OBITUARIES Delta County Independent

June StoryLongtime Paonia resi-

dent June E. Story died Nov. 15, 2015, at Hori-zons Care Center in Eck-ert. She was 83.

No services are planned at this time.

Mrs. Story was born in Pueblo June 19, 1932, to Ralph and Grace King.

She enjoyed reading the Bible and talking about her faith and hopes for the future. She was a member of the Hotchkiss congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Mrs. Story is survived by her son, Joel (Tara) Story of Meeker; her daughter, Barbara (Eric) Strebel of Hotchkiss; two granddaughters; and two great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, Melvin Story in 2007; and two sons, Shane Story and Mark Story.

Taylor Funeral Service and Crematory handled the arrangements.

View the Internet obit-uary and sign the online guest registry at taylor funeralservice.com.

Steve PereaSteve L. Perea, a Delta

resident for 50 years, died Nov. 16, 2015, at his home in Delta. He was 78.

A celebration of life was held Saturday, Nov. 21, at Delta First Assem-bly of God.

Mr. Perea was born in

Edith May 4, 1937, to Alcario and Della Perea. He married Phyllis Silva Oct. 19, 1958, in Pagosa Springs.

He enjoyed being a husband, father, grandfa-ther and great-grandfa-ther, fixing and painting cars, riding horses, build-ing things and spending time with his family. He enjoyed telling stories and published a book titled Childhood Stories from Colorado.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Phyllis Perea; three daughters, Angela (Robert) Lovato of Grand Junction, Carol Perea (George Montes) of Bismarck, N.D., and Becky (Drew) Black of Henderson, Nev.; a sis-ter, Tina Sandoval of Silt; his brother, Al Perea of Grand Junction; a broth-er-in-law, Ben Lovato of Delta; seven grandchil-dren; and nine great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a son, Paul Perea; a sister, Nettie Lovato; a brother-in-law, Julian Sandoval; a sis-ter-in-law, Ida Perea; and extended family.

Memorial contribu-tions may be sent to Phyllis Perea, c/o Ange-la Lovato, 2724 Rincon Dr., Grand Junction, CO 81503.

Taylor Funeral Service and Crematory handled the arrangements.


Neil ThompsonPaonia resident Neil

Thompson died Nov. 20, 2015, at Paonia Care Center. He was 85.

Gerald Neil Thompson was born at home near Tokio, Texas, March 10, 1930, to John and Katie (DuBose) Thompson. When he was 5 years old the family moved to

Brownfield, Texas. He graduated from Brown-field High School in 1947. He attended Texas A&M College in Bryan, Texas.

He married June Hodges on March 24, 1951, in Lovington, N.M. They moved to Paonia in 1967.

Mr. Thompson was a bookkeeper for Copeland Hardware and a partner in Cargill Tractor Com-pany in Brownfield.

He was a 60-year mem-ber of the Masonic Lodge. He served two terms as grand master of the Paonia AF & AM Masonic

Lodge, as well as treasur-er and various positions. He served on the Farm-ers Home Administration board and the board of the Minnesota Canal and Reservoir Company for over 40 years. He was president of the Beaver Reservoir board for 35 years. He was a motor sergeant in the National Guard Howitzer Compa-ny, 112th Armored Cav-alry Regiment of Texas for 14 years.

Mr. Thompson enjoyed farming, especially grow-ing apples, pears and peaches, football, the

Denver Broncos, his granddaughter Julia Thompson singing his favorite hymns and coun-try music, and singing in the choir at First Chris-tian Church where he was the song leader for 17 years. He also sang at many funerals over the years.

He is survived by his wife, June; son, Jerry (Deborah); daughter, Pamela (Steve); four grandchildren, Aubrey Harris, Jennifer Clark, Julia Thompson and Wyatt Thompson; three great-grandchildren; a

sister, Janell Pharr of Lubbock, Texas; a sister-in-law, Janet Thompson of Arlington, Texas; and extended family.

He was preceded in death by four brothers, C.B., Mansel, John and David; and a brother-in-law, Harold Pharr.

Memorial services will be held at a later date.

Taylor Funeral Ser-vice and Crematory is handling the arrange-ments.


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BY LOUANN DROWN Grand Mesa Oncology

and Infusion CenterThe Basics

Lung cancer cells are different from normal cells. They are unable to stop growing and divid-ing and they do not die; the cancer cells just “stop doing anything useful.”

When we breathe in, air travels through the trachea, which then divides into a right and left bronchus. From the bronchus, it divides fur-ther into smaller segments called alveoli. There are millions of microscopic alveoli through which oxygen diffuses into red blood cells. The red blood cells travel throughout the body carrying nour-ishment and oxygen. Types of Lung Cancer

1. Non small cell lung cancer (adenocarcinoma, squamous cell, large cell) is the most common lung cancer, approximately 40 percent of all lung can-cers.

2. Small cell lung can-cer represents approxi-mately 15-20 percent; it grows and spreads rap-idly.

Causes ofLung Cancer

Eighty-five to ninety percent of lung cancers are caused by carcinogens in tobacco which cause damage (mutation) to the DNA in lung cells. Lung cancer is not inherited.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women and men. Commonly, lung cancer is found in cur-rent or former smokers, usually in their late 60s.

About 15 percent of lung cancers are people who have never smoked.

SymptomsThe symptoms of lung

cancer depend on loca-tion. Common symptoms include cough, blood-tinged mucous and short-ness of breath. If the lung cancer (tumor) arises fur-ther out from the lung near the chest wall, the patient can experience pain.

DiagnosisBecause these symp-

toms are common in respi-ratory illness, the patient is often treated with anti-biotics. The symptoms don’t go away; a chest X-ray is taken revealing a mass (tumor) in the chest. This is followed by a CT of the chest. Next a biopsy (sampling of tis-sue) will help determine the type of lung cancer and treatment. A biopsy can be obtained by bron-choscopy or surgery. The doctor will need to deter-mine the type of lung cancer (small cell or non small cell), the size of the tumor and if the cancer has spread to other areas in the body (metastasis).

TreatmentThe three tradition-

al treatments for lung cancer include surgery, radiation and chemo-

therapy. Surgery is an operation to remove the tumor. Radiation deliv-ers a beam of radiation aimed at the tumor. Che-motherapy is medication taken either by mouth or intravenously that will kill cancer cells or stop their growth.

Small cell lung cancer tends to be more sensi-tive to chemotherapy and radiation.

Should IQuit Smoking?

Yes!The National Cancer

Institute has found that patients with cancer who continue to smoke could decrease the effectiveness of their treatment and

increase the likelihood of a second cancer.

Also, continued smok-ing could worsen the side effects of treatment, put you at increased risk for complications, and decrease survival time.

This article is based on information from “Lung Cancer” by Joan H. Schil-ler, MD, 2014.

For more informa-tion, visit these websites: National Lung Cancer Partnership, CancerCare, Cancer.net, National Cancer Institute, Nation-al Cancer Institute Clini-cal Trials, Quitnet (for smoking cessation) and National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

The basics of lung cancer

Delta County Historical Society photoDelta Museum’s special World War II exhibit opened Nov. 7, with living veter-ans sharing their stories and a presentation made to Ensign Bellmire’s family. Bellmire was killed during a training exercise during the war.

BY MATT SOPER Delta County Historical Society

“The war took my dad. He wasn’t going to knock on my door and tell me it was all a mistake,” Vicky Lehmann said during an emotional interview.

Lehmann had just turned one year old when her father was shot in the head and killed by a Ger-man sniper during the Battle of Normandy. This past summer, Lehmann and her husband, Dave, traveled to France, for the first time, to visit her father’s grave and pay their respects.

“I longed, growing up, to sit on my daddy’s lap, but that never hap-pened,” Lehmann said.

“Being able to see his grave brought the closure I needed.”

Descendents of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the libera-tion of the European continent from the Nazis are treated with esteem, respect and attention by the American Battlefield Monuments Commis-sion. Families are pro-vided service records and a graveside memorial in which American and French flags are laid at the marker.

“At the grave, they told

me my dad was a hero. I had never thought of my dad as being a hero. They explained that he saved a lot of people by helping to end the war and rescue them from Nazi oppres-sion,” Lehmann said. “I thought, ‘This is kind of an awesome thought.’ ”

The effects of World War II are long-reach-ing and Lehmann is not alone in feeling that the war took her dad.

Muriel Marshall, in her book, Where Riv-

ers Meet, describes how Alvin Lee Marts, who enlisted in the Navy after he graduated from Delta High School, was pres-ent during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Marts went on to “serve at Midway, Wake and other South Pacific battles, but he was killed in action off the coast of Salvo Island on Nov. 30, 1942,” Marshall wrote.

Marts served with such distinction and bravery that the U.S. Navy named the USS Marts for him and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organized as the Lee Marts VFW Post 3571.

The total number of American servicemen and women who gave their lives for their nation during World War II was 407,300. Over 700 men and women from Delta County served in the armed forces during the war, and 83 lost their lives.

The Delta Museum has included a table setting in its special World War II veterans’ exhibit to sym-bolize those who served but never returned home to join their families for holiday festivities.

Remembering World War II

War’s lasting effects

Historical society photoAlvin Lee Marts died in the Pacific Theater dur-ing World War II. His bravery led the Navy to name the USS Marts in his memory.

Join HopeWest and become a part of a heart-felt ceremony dedicated to remembering those who have touched our lives. Light up a Life will take place on Thursday, Dec. 3, at 5:30 p.m. at Heir-looms for Hospice, 521 Main Street in Delta.

This beautiful cere-mony honors loved ones and celebrates the hope that HopeWest brings to patients and families.

The evening will feature holiday music, remem-brance of loved ones, an inspiring holiday mes-sage and refreshments.

Celebrate the lives of friends and family with the purchase of a person-alized pewter heart orna-ment, luminary, greeting card or make a donation in honor of a loved one. Find out more about these options by visiting www.HopeWestCO.org.

Celebrate those you love this holiday season

Meal sitesclose forthe holiday

The senior center meal sites at Delta, Cedaredge, Hotchkiss and Paonia will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 26-27 for the Thanksgiving holiday. No meals will be served by Senior CommUnity Meals, there will be no Meals On Wheels deliver-ies, and the Delta Senior Center’s Thrift Store will also be closed.

The Hotchkiss Senior Center will be open on Thursday, Nov. 26, for a community Thanksgiv-ing dinner, but it is not organized by the seniors there.

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

www.deltacountyindependent.comNEWSSURFACE

C R E E KNovember 25, 2015

CSection

Photo by Hank Lohmeyer

High country, low countryApproaching winter shows its hand early the morning after a recent snowstorm that hit Grand Mesa but left lower elevations untouched, including this favorite vantage point atop Slaughter Grade.

Music, shoppingand food round outbig day of fun

BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer

Cedaredge is making prep-arations for its annual Parade of Lights this year on Satur-day, Dec. 5. Events are being scheduled and local business-es are including activities to help celebrate the event.

This year’s theme is a “Cow-boy Christmas,” and there are sure to be plenty of cowboys and cowgirls in the parade down Main Street which gets underway at 6 p.m.

This year’s “Cowboy Christ-mas” parade entry forms are available at the Chamber of Commerce office. The cham-ber’s hours are 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 4 p.m. Folks may also enter by simply calling the chamber during office hours, and the staff there said they will complete an entry form over the phone — 856-6961.

A few steps away from Main Street at the Chapel of the Cross in Pioneer Town there will be the traditional two concert performances on Dec. 5. This year’s music will feature the Surface Creek Valley’s favorite cowboy bal-ladeer, Ray Carpenter.

Ray’s authentic western voice will fill the chapel to the rafters with western-style holiday music fitted to the Parade of Lights theme and to the Christmas season. His performances will be at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. As always, admission to the chapel music events is by donation; but for this special event a ticket is needed to make sure there is enough seating for all. The

free tickets are available at Gazebo Florist and at Mun-son’s Main Street Gallery.

Santa will visit the Cham-ber of Commerce office begin-ning at 4 p.m. Parents are advised to bring their kids and their own cameras for a holiday tradition snapshot of the youngsters with the Jolly Elf.

The third annual Habitat for Humanity gingerbread house building and decorating festival is scheduled for the Civic Center again. It will take place from 1-3 p.m. on Satur-day, Dec. 5. There will be a silent auction also. Tickets to participate in the gingerbread house activity are available in advance by calling Cedaredge Land Company at 856-3173, according to organizers.

During the parade there will be hot cider available to help chase any wintery chills at the town offices.

The planned events and activities include the follow-ing ones:

• A kids’ free winter coat and jacket giveaway will be hosted by the local Methodist women at the Masonic Hall beginning at 3 p.m.

• The chili and baked pota-to bar in the Masonic Hall from 4-7 p.m.

• At the other end of Main Street a new artists’ co-op is planning to have a grand opening event on parade day so there will be something brand new for families to experience.

•The Living Christmas Card at the Methodist Wom-en’s Thrift Shop front window beginning at 3 p.m.

• There will be a display and mini-seminar on wood-working conducted at Mun-son’s Main Street Gallery by Walt Anderson.

Cedaredge preps for a Cowboy Christmas parade


Cedaredge will be looking at a cost of some $75,000 for its share to extend fiber optic cable to institutional anchor sites in town, according to a report to the trustees on Nov. 19.

Under the Region 10 broad-band plan, fiber optic cable will be extended to a “carrier-

neutral location” in the town. The other five municipalities in the county will also have the CNLs installed as part of the Region 10 infrastructure plan. The town will then have to cost share the expense of extending the fiber optic cable from the CNLs to the anchor institution sites.

Town administrator Katie Sickles said there will be six carrier-neutral sites in Cedaredge.

This phase of the Region 10 plan will not make fiber optic cable or wireless broadband access available to local busi-ness or individuals. That ser-vice is to be provided via the CNL sites by commercial busi-nesses. As of the last Region 10 presentation to county gov-ernment officials on Nov. 2, no commercial Internet service providers had committed to participate in the Region 10 plan.

The $75,000 that the town will be paying for the exten-sions is not budgeted. Accord-ing to discussion at the Nov. 19 trustees meeting, half will need to be paid in 2016 and half in 2017.

In other business at their Nov. 19 regular meeting:

• Trustees approved a reso-lution for a grant application to the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) for money to rebuild the one-lane bridge at Jay Avenue.

• Trustees officially denied approval of a GOCO grant application for the Jay Ave-nue Bridge in favor of asking DOLA for the funds.

• The town will be con-ducting interviews with its top three candidates for the job of sewer plant operator. The town learned recently that it is required to hire a more highly qualified opera-tor than had been planned. An operator with a “B” license is required instead of one

with a “C” license as has been planned. The town had been given information that turned out to be wrong, town officials noted.

• The public works depart-ment reported on its main-tenance and repair work at some of the town’s reservoirs on Grand Mesa.

The department has also been busy with removal of tree limbs downed by recent wet snowfalls.

• Trustees report that the tennis community and the pickleball community are now getting along much better than they were in Septem-ber. That is when disputes over funding for facilities and programs broke out in a point-counterpoint letter-writing campaign to the town from members of the two groups.

• Trustees appointed two new members to the tree board. They are Ella Kelly and John Buerger.

• Trustees approved the final plat for High Country Avenue Subdivision. The approval is part of the process for deeding the Surface Creek Animal Shelter property to Friends of Cedaredge Animal Control.

• Trustees approved the “administrative subdivision” of lots 1 and 2 of the Home-stead Mobile Home Park sub-division and a name change to Homestead at Centennial Subdivision. During delibera-tions on the item, it was noted the property is owned by town administrator Katie Sickles and her husband, Dan.

• Among other items of dis-cussion were possible exten-sion of the Surface Creek Trail to the south; a new sign that has been erected at South Grand Mesa Drive and High Country Avenue, and a remark about the need for new members of the recre-ation and culture committee.

Anchor broadband sites will cost town $75,000

Photo by Hank LohmeyerTruck traffic approaches the one-lane bridge on Cedaredge’s Jay Avenue. The town board has approved a grant application to DOLA for 70 percent funding of the estimated $542,000 cost of replacing and upgrading the structure.

Photo by Ken Barber

Cedaredge fireKen Barber captured the Cedaredge Fire Department mopping up following a fire and explosion which destroyed a fifth-wheel trailer in the Shady Creek RV Park on Wednes-day, Nov. 18. There were no injuries, but a neighboring trailer was damaged. The cause of the fire is being investigated, but Cedaredge Police Chief Dan Sanders says mischief or foul play is not suspected. He said, “The fire department arrived and knocked the fire down quickly.” The fire began around 9:30 p.m. The explosions heard during the blaze were likely caused by two propane tanks exploding, said Sanders. The owner had been seen working on the trailer earlier in the day around the area of the propane tanks.


The Cedaredge trustees approved change order work on the sewer plant project at their Nov. 19 meeting that will add some costs to be paid from the project contingency fund.

There was lengthy board discussion over a telecommu-nications link from the plant to a plant operator’s home that would sound an alarm in the event of serious fail-ure. Trustee discussion cen-tered around confusion about what was included in the bid prices, wasn’t included, and what level of equipment and engineering would be needed.

Trustee Larry Smith called the matter “an engineering issue.” Trustee Ray Hanson replied, “But we’re paying for it.”

Before approving the $32,488 additional expen-diture, trustee Al Smith

remarked, “We’re over a bar-rel, but what can you do?”

Trustees also approved the addition of a domestic water line to serve the new plant. The improvement to the origi-nal plans will add $115,683 in cost to pay for the 5,000-foot-long water service line.

The water line was removed from the original project to save money to pay costs of sludge removal from the town’s old lagoons. When sludge removal cost bids came in lower than expected, the water line was added back in, explained Katie Sickles, town administrator.

Also of increasing cost con-cern to trustees on the sewer plant project are additional billings to the town for engi-neering work. On-site services provided by the town’s engi-neering firm based in Boulder had been agreed on at $98,000 before construction. The town

has since been notified that those costs are going to go higher. Estimates now expect the costs could run as much as $50,000 more than the origi-nal amount.

Trustees authorized an additional $12,000 for the services and stipulated that the engineers notify the town when the $110,000 amount for extra services is reached.

In addition, the town will try to utilize a local engineer to conduct on-site inspections in order to save on expen-sive travel costs from Boulder which the town is billed for.

The trustees-approved change orders to the project amounted to $160,171, accord-ing to Sickles. She explained that the construction proj-ect budget is $4.835 million, including a contingency fund of $422,600. The remain-ing contingency balance is $262,429.

Change orders adding to sewer plant costs

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

C2 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 SURFACE CREEK NEWS Delta County Independent

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Photo by Sue Morris

Before the stormSue Morris captured this photo of Cedaredge and the Surface Creek Val-ley just before a storm brought the first snows of the year to the area.

Habitat for Humanity of Delta County announc-es that its third annual Family Gingerbread Dec-orating event and silent auction will be held at the Cedaredge Civic Cen-ter on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 1-3 p.m.

In addition to building and decorating your own gingerbread house, there will be a silent auction, including fabulous gift baskets, gift certificates for goods and services and a fabulous vacation weekend in Ouray!

Come to Cedaredge Land Company at 160 West Main in Cedaredge and place bids in person, or you can bid online. To

access the online auction, “Like” the Habitat for Humanity of Delta Coun-ty Facebook site, then click on the silent auc-tion event. Bidding will continue till 3:30 p.m. on December 5.

According to organizer Terry Hotz, “the event has been a very success-ful fundraiser in the past, but, more importantly, as a community event it gives friends and families a few hours to build their house and enjoy some time together.”

Tickets to the event are $30 per family. Some individuals purchase tickets that are given to the elementary school

principals to distribute to families who would benefit from the experi-ence but cannot afford the cost. Individuals and businesses may donate to the silent auction or pur-chase tickets by contact-ing the Cedaredge Land Company at 856-3173.

Build a gingerbread house, help Habitat build homes

Photo submittedChildren of all ages have fun building gingerbread houses. It’s even better when it all supports a good cause — Habitat for Humanity. Build your dream gingerbread house during the Family Gin-gerbread Decorating Event on Saturday, Dec. 5, in Cedaredge.

Photo submitted

Each year the Cedaredge Rotary pro-vides nice, hardbound Scholastic Children’s Dic-tionaries for each third grader at Cedaredge Ele-mentary School.

The kids are always more than excited to receive them.

The teachers work with them throughout the year in their class-room, and then each child gets to take their diction-ary home so they can use it through their school years.

Although a lot of resources come through the Internet, the oppor-tunity to have this infor-mation without having to have a computer handy seems to be a great way for the kids to learn.

One focus of Rotary International is educa-tion, and members feel that supporting local schools with this gift to

the children is just one of the ways to fulfill that goal on the ground level and to our local schools.

The Cedaredge Rotary Club meets each Tuesday

at noon at RJs Steak-house. Anyone who is interested in participat-ing in this active group of individuals dedicated to community service both

locally and internation-ally, please contact the club’s membership com-mittee: Gloria Good at 856-7077 or Paul Lyons at 856-7985.

Rotary supports local students

AppreciationAs we come through

our driveway, we note that the Mahonia berries have darkened from red to ruby-red. The orange Pyrancantha berries seem brighter … or is it that the landscape has become darker … more gray than tawny? And looking toward Grand Mesa, the snow level is down to the pinon-juni-

per belt. In the past we’ve watched the aspen belt turn from gray to a gentle spring green, then later, yellowish areas began to appear. Next the aspen covered a whole stretch of the mesa slope and I recall our drive through them — I love to see the leaves shimmer in the breeze. Now the gold is gone, and with last night’s snow

the aspen have become aspen-silver.

We pull into the yard and realize that our cot-tonwoods are nearly bare. But the few leaves that remain continue to dance in the breeze. And we notice that our trum-pet vine lost its leaves in last night’s wind. Six-inch-long seed pods dan-gle from the bare, brown branches. I recall look-ing at one of the pods from the south window this morning. I wondered how the curved pod was created. What bug had built its winter home or laid its eggs within?

A few weeks ago, the rabbit brush was glorious with yellow blossoms. Now the fluffy seeds gleam silver in the low sunlight. The sagebrush by the shed is laden with yellowish blossoms but I remember not to get too close! I’m allergic to it!

And there’s a white patch of snow on the north side of the garage. For

sure, autumn has passed and winter approaches. The water level in the reservoir rises a little bit each day (just as it always does when irri-gation season is over). That’s a hopeful sign for our spring migration of sandhill cranes.

To be aware of the world around us, to be capable of understanding the changes, makes us appreciate being alive. For me, every day is an appreciation day.

Plants of the Western Slope A look at local flora with Evelyn Horn

Photo by Evelyn HornMahonia berries

Photo by Evelyn HornTrumpet Vine seed pods

Photos submittedThe Cedaredge Elementary School third grade class of Mrs. Leslie Hoerr is shown with Cedaredge Rotary Club members as they are joined by Principal Daniel Renfrow and Assistant Principal Sissily Brown.

Members of the Cedaredge Rotary Club are shown with the students of Ms. Peggy Lampton’s third grade class at Cedaredge Elementary School during the presentation of dictionaries for each student last week.

Students of Mrs. Stacey Fuller’s third grade class at Cedaredge Elementary School proudly display the dictionaries they received last week from members of the Cedaredge Rotary Club.

Hymnsingplanned

There will be an old-fashioned fifth Sunday community gospel sing on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. It will be held at Grand Mesa Baptist Church, 110 S.E. Jay Avenue at Hwy. 65 in Cedaredge. Come and enjoy the music as you remember it, with special groups and inspired congrega-tional singing. Come and join the combined choir for rehearsal at 5 p.m. Stay for refreshments afterward. Everyone is welcome. For more infor-mation, contact Roger Congdon, 640-8668.

THIS PAGE IS COLOR


Three of the people largely involved with staging the Chamber of Commerce’s biggest and perhaps most successful AppleFest ever have left the organization, rais-ing issues for the orga-nization to deal with.

President Lesley Lewis resigned on Oct. 14, less than two weeks following AppleFest, the biggest event of the year for the chamber.

Shortly after Lewis’ departure, co-adminis-trators Gretchen Atkin-son and Lindy Palmer also tendered their res-ignations.

Since the departures, Bill Miller has been serving as acting chair-man of the chamber board. Miller told the DCI in an email, “I will step down at the Janu-ary chamber meeting or when a new president is elected. I will retain the position of treasurer if the [new] board so desires.”

Two new office per-sonnel have also been brought into the orga-nization to perform administrative duties.

Lewis told the DCI that internal issues with the chamber’s organi-zation had contributed to her decision to step down at this time. She noted a lack of support for projects, particularly during the busy Apple-Fest season.

“I decided that my time would be better spent on projects that actually help my busi-ness and my family,” she explained.

Lewis’ tenure as board chair was characterized by her positive, high-energy personal style and direct approach to completing tasks and to solving problems. But as she explained, the chamber organiza-tion’s close relationship with town government wasn’t contributing to success. She noted, “I put my heart and soul into the chamber for the

last several years. This AppleFest was a mas-sive success – we made over $12,000, more than in years past, and had more vendors than ever before.”

The Cedaredge Area Chamber of Com-merce is closely linked with town government. When asked, Mayor Pat Means said, “I can tell you there was not [personal] opposition to Lesley. There were some issues where we felt the chamber wasn’t on the mark.”

Means cited some specific matters relating

to communication and coordination including chamber website con-tent. Means said she thought that town hall was “very supportive” of the chamber.

Lewis said, “I [worked] to make the chamber successful. But it was obvious that I could not do it alone.”

Lewis said she will continue being involved in community activities. She is involved with the high school parents group and said she plans to work with an artists’ co-op gallery planning to open in Cedaredge.

Resignations at Chamber of Commerce bring reorganization

Delta County Independent SURFACE CREEK NEWS Wednesday, November 25, 2015 C3

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BY SURFACE CREEK COMMUNITY SERVICES

Special to the DCIAs we approach the

holidays of thankfulness, blessings and renewed hope, we remember families who are still challenged in meeting increased demand during these times.

The Surface Creek Community Services Food Bank in Cedaredge is seeking your monetary donation to help cover the costs of a generous Christmas Box dinner for families.

With the aid of won-derful volunteers, the food bank serves over 200 families per month.

The unselfish dona-tion you make today will bless someone who may be your neighbor during the holiday season.

The food bank is open Mondays from 9 to 11 a.m., and Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. This year’s annual Christmas Box distribution will take place on Saturday, Dec. 19. To participate in the distribution, sign up at the food bank.

Food bank plansChristmas drive

Photo by Hank Lohmeyer

Top billingLocal animal lovers will be pleased that the Surface Creek Animal Shelter got top billing on the new directional sign placed at High Coun-try Avenue.

Support Your Local Community Shop Your Small Businesses on

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY®

NOVEMBER 28Small businesses are the heartbeat of our community, the mom and

pop shops, the businesses that help build our local economy.

PLEASE SUPPORT SURFACE CREEK AREA BUSINESSES DURING THE HOLIDAYS AND EVERY DAY!

The Cedaredge Rota-ry Club and Les & DJ Mergelman are organiz-ing the free Community Christmas Dinner again this year. As in the past years, it will be held at the Stolte Shed at Pio-neer Town, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

This popular dinner continues to grow every year. Each year more than 250 people have attend-ed. This dinner is open to anyone who would like to come, so don’t spend Christmas alone — come enjoy wonderful food and fellowship on this most special day of the year.

As you can imagine, providing a dinner of this magnitude requires many things, not the least of which is lots of volun-teers, and any monetary donations will be very much appreciated to cover the expense of the meal.

Any monetary donations should be turned in by Dec. 12 in order to pur-chase the food.

If you would like to vol-unteer or help out in any way, call Marsha Bryan at 234-8800. There will be Christmas Eve setup duties at the “shed,” food preparation, on site, prior to the dinner, and serving and clean-up duties. All volunteers are also wel-come to enjoy the dinner.

Checks should be made out to “Community Christmas Dinner” and can be mailed to either address below or submit-ted to Les or DJ or any Cedaredge Rotary Club member.

Contact Les and DJ Mergelman at 380 NE Shady Oak Ave., Cedaredge, CO 81413; or Cedaredge Rotary Club, P.O. Box 750, Cedaredge, CO 81413.

Christmas dinner needs donations and volunteers


Owners, staff, and probably a few of their own family members as well at the Cedaredge Creekside Café will be boosting the community holiday spirit and host-ing a traditional Thanks-giving dinner for every-one this year.

There won’t be any charge for the Creekside Café event that will take place on Thanksgiving Day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the restaurant on North Grand Mesa Drive across from the elemen-tary school.

Also at another Thanksgiving event, the Surface Creek Senior Citizens organization will be hosting its annual Thanksgiving meal on the day before Thanks-giving, Wednesday, Nov.

25. The senior citizens’ event is at noon at the Civic Center, and there is a suggested donation for the meal.

Thanksgiving meals planned

Cookie walk on Dec. 5

Little Sprouts Pre-school will hold a Cookie Walk and Vendors on Sat-urday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to noon in the basement of the Cedaredge Com-munity United Method-ist Church. The church is located at 210 NW 3rd Street.

Purchase homemade holiday treats for $10 for a large box, $4 for a small box.

We urge our readers to Shop Small and support their local economy on

Saturday, November 28.

DELTA COUNTY

INDEPENDENT

THIS PAGE IS GRAYSCALE

C4 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 CHURCH Delta County Independent

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The walls are going upThe first walls of St. Joseph’s new church building are going up. This has been, and will continue to be, a huge labor of love. With committed and continued support from members, as well as the surrounding com-munities, the project will continue. All are invited to stop by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 59350 Carnation Road, Olathe, to see the progress. For more information about the church or the project, call Father Gregory Drahman at 323-5057.

Area churches have submitted the following special events:

All Saints Lutheran Church, Cory — Thanks-giving Eve service, 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

St. Philip Benizi Cath-olic Church, Cedaredge — Confessions at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25, fol-lowed by a Thanksgiving Mass at 5:30 p.m. The church, now in its 105th year, celebrates Sunday Mass at 8 a.m. Faith for-mation and teen classes are scheduled at 9:30 a.m. every Sunday.

First Baptist Church of Delta — The Steve Stutzman Family Sing-ers will be in concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday. They

travel the U.S. and Can-ada sharing the love of Christ with songs and testimony. This concert is sponsored by First Baptist and West Rock-ies Mennonite Church in Delta. A freewill offering will be taken up for this family of singers.

Delta United Meth-odist Church — On Wednesdays, beginning Nov. 25, Pastor Carol Rhan will lead partici-pants through “The Jour-ney.” In a five-week study, these journeys will cap-ture the stories of Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, and the road from Bethlehem to Nazareth to today. There are two opportu-nities, from 1:30-2:30 or

5:30-6:30.On Friday, Dec. 4, the

Delta United Methodist women host a cookie walk and craft fair from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Karl Gaiser will lead a small group study on the book, “Jesus Apprentice - Doing What Jesus Did.” Combining four sessions into the study will be on Saturdays, Dec. 5 and 12, from 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Presbyterian Church of Delta — After the Parade of Lights on Fri-day, Dec. 4, you’re invited to the church for a des-sert potluck, hot choco-late and hot apple cider. Goodie bags for the Delta prison ministry will be decorated and filled.

Special Thanksgiving, Advent services planned


Farmers, lawmakers, agribusiness represen-tatives, and the general public are all invited to attend the 2015 Colora-do Ag Classic – an event that serves as the joint annual conference of Colorado Corn and Col-orado Wheat, and each year draws hundreds of attendees.

The 2015 Colorado Ag Classic — titled “Defin-ing Sustainability” — will take place Dec. 7-9 at the

Embassy Suites in Love-land (4705 Clydesdale Parkway), and will fea-ture presentations from:

• Cameron Bruett, head of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer at JBS USA

• Don Brown, Colorado agriculture commissioner

• James Eklund, direc-tor of the Colorado Water Conservation Board

• Rebecca Perrin, EPA Region 8 agricultural adviser

• Reagan Waskom, director of the Colorado Water Institute

• James Pritchett, executive association dean for CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences

• and many other industry experts, includ-ing Colorado farmers.

Once just a buzz word, the term “sus-tainable” today has an ever-strengthening foot-hold in mainstream food discussions, and due to

increasing popularity and demands is a term that will play a massive role in shaping the agri-culture industry for the foreseeable future.

But more so than other trends and phrases, “sus-tainable food” has count-less, varying meanings — nearly all of which have been defined by a rapidly growing population of consumers who are more removed from farms and ranches today than dur-ing any other time in history. Meanwhile, the ag industry tasked with

producing this sustain-able food supply seems to have had the least input in what it means, and what sustainable food production looks like going forward.

With that in mind, “Defining Sustainability” will be the theme and focus of this year’s Colo-rado Ag Classic.

These discussions will address how food pro-ducers can best operate within today’s sustain-able food landscape, and what the ag industry can do better in the future

to help shape and define this landscape. The event will also showcase the many examples of sus-tainable practices that already exist in farming and ranching today, and touch on “financial” and “generational” sustain-ability for ag producers — aspects that are often overlooked in sustainable food talks.

Those wanting to attend this year’s event can do so by registering at www.coloradocorn.com, or at www.colorado wheat.org.

Sustainability is focus of ag conferenceDelta County Independent AGRICULTURE Wednesday, November 25, 2015 C5

It’s almost Christmas and this is the best time to order seedling trees! Our seedlings come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including decidu-ous trees, shrubs and conifers, and you can purchase our seedlings as either bare root or potted. They are great for creating windbreaks, visual screens, noise bar-riers, reforestation, wild-life habitat and erosion control.

The Tri River Exten-sion is offering hybrid cottonwood, Manchurian apricot, red-osier dog-wood, aspen, hackberry, bur oak, peachleaf wil-low, and narrowleaf cot-tonwood, just to name a few of our deciduous species. Shrubs, such as caragana, lilac, native plum, Gambel oak, sand cherry and buffaloberry are also available. And have we have conifers! You can purchase Aus-trian pine, Colorado blue spruce, Douglas fir, bris-tlecone pine, Englemann spruce, and eastern red-cedar.

Trees can be pur-chased in lots of 30 or 50 trees of the same species,

and prices range from just over a dollar per tree for our most economical species, to roughly $2 per tree for conifers. Extra large potted trees can be ordered in lots of four per species as well. You can order now through early April, and your trees will arrive in mid-May.

For an order form or more information, stop by or call your local

Extension Office. The Delta County

Extension office can be reached at 874-2195. Full-color brochures of seedling tree species we sell are also available at the Extension Offices. To have an order form mailed to you, please call any of these numbers at any time and leave your name and mailing address.

Best time to select seedling trees is now

Tractor Supply Com-pany, in partnership with National 4-H Council, recently announced the fundraising results of its fall 2015 paper clover campaign.

Tractor Supply Com-pany, the largest retail farm and ranch sup-ply store chain in the

United States, raised an astounding $893,817 dur-ing the 11-day national in-store fundraiser. With the more than $1.8 mil-lion raised during the 2015 spring and fall cam-paigns, Tractor Supply has now raised nearly $8.3 million for 4-H pro-grams across the country

through the paper clover campaigns in just over five years.

Shoppers had the opportunity to purchase paper clovers between Oct. 7-18 for $1 or more during checkout. Seventy percent of the funds raised will benefit state and local 4-H youth develop-ment program activities, such as local camps and after-school programs, and grant scholarships for 4-H youth in the com-munities where Tractor Supply and Del’s stores are located. The remain-ing 30 percent of the total funds will be donated to National 4-H Council to help connect more young people across America to high-quality 4-H youth development programs.

“This fall’s paper clo-ver campaign was anoth-er huge success thanks to our dedicated customers and team members,” said Christi Korzekwa, senior vice president of market-ing for Tractor Supply Company. “We exceeded our goal, and we couldn’t have done this without them.”

“We’re thrilled with the result of the fall Paper Clover Campaign,” said Jennifer Sirangelo, presi-dent & CEO, National 4-H Council.

Paper clover campaign raises $893,817 for 4-H programs

The harvest and removal of trees out of the Sheep Flats Timber Sale area is slated to continue through December 31, 2015. The Sheep Flats Timber Sale, designed to treat spruce beetle infes-tation and improve the health of the forest in that area, is located on the Grand Mesa Nation-al Forest approximately 10 miles southeast of the town of Collbran. To facilitate the removal of harvested timber, autho-rization to plow roads from the timber sale area to the Forest Boundary has been granted. The authorized roads include the western portions of National Forest System Roads (NFSR) #279 and #260 and the northern

4 miles of the Trickle Park Road, NFSR #121 from its intersection with NFSR #260 to the Forest Boundary.

The Trickle Park Road is part of the Bonham Snowmobile Trail during the winter months and parking normally occurs at the Forest Boundary. Since the road will be plowed and used for log hauling, arrangements have been made to plow NFSR #121 up to the Bonham parking area to facilitate visitors’ winter parking and snowmo-bile use. The Bonham parking area is located approximately 4.2 miles from the Forest Bound-ary. Plowing will not occur during weekends or holidays.

Logging will affect Grand Mesa plowing

The Colorado State University Extension, Tri River Area, is now accepting applications for the Master Gardener Training Class.

Trainings will be held in Grand Junction on Wednesdays, for 11 weeks, starting in mid-January. Green industry professionals and public members who do not wish to volunteer can take this class outright and earn the Colorado Gardening Certificate. People who wish to become Mas-

ter Gardeners take the class at a reduced rate in exchange for volunteer-ing for the Tri River Area Extension.

The Master Gardener Program was developed to help disperse research-based information to the public in regard to non-commercial (mainly resi-dential) landscaping and gardening.

For more information, contact the Mesa County office at 970-244-1834 and ask for either Susan Carter or Susan Honea.

Sign up for Master Gardener course

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

BY STEPHANIE SENG Director, CSU Center for

Family and Couple Therapy

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

– A.A. Milne

From the time we are young, we learn about being thankful from our parents, teachers, books and TV. According to Psychology Today, chil-dren under the age of 6 only say thank you about 20 percent of the time. By age 10, when they begin to develop cogni-tive empathy skills, this increases to 80 percent. We all have the capac-ity to be grateful, but with the hustle, bustle and challenges of life, we may forget the immense value that gratitude can provide to ourselves and those around us.

Research shows that regular expression of gratitude actually trig-gers physiological chang-es that have a profound effect on both our physi-cal and mental health. These benefits have a domino effect, reaching

other people and aspects of our lives. People who practice gratitude regularly are found to exercise more; sleep bet-ter; be more optimis-tic, alert, enthusiastic, determined; report less depression and stress; feel more connected to others; and even have lower levels of heart disease. Research on children who practice gratitude shows similar results, as well as kids reporting more satisfac-tion with school. It is pos-sible to increase focus on gratitude for ourselves and our children in very simple ways:

• Keep a gratitude journal: There are many different ways to do this, but it can be as simple as writing one thing each day for which you are grateful. Children can draw pictures or cut things from a magazine. There are even apps to help. Research reported in the Harvard.edu news-letter shows just this one act can significantly increase well-being and satisfaction.

• Talk about gratitude: Set aside time each day to talk with a significant other to share thoughts of gratitude. You might each share the best thing that happened in your day or one thing about the other for which you are grateful.

• Dinner table “Grate-fuls” — Before dinner have each person at the table share one thing for which they are grateful. This can become a night-ly ritual that children anticipate, helping them (and adults) pay atten-tion throughout the day to things they may be able to share that night.

• Gratitude letter: Psychology Today sug-gests writing a letter thanking someone and then reading it aloud to that person. This could be an excellent Thanks-giving tradition — choose the name out of a hat of a person who will be at the table, write a grati-tude letter, and then go around the table reading each letter.

• Gratitude jar: Keep small pieces of paper and a pen near a large jar in a central area of the home or office. People can write notes of grati-tude and place them in the jar throughout the week. Then, at a regu-larly planned time each week, the family, staff or other group can read the notes aloud.

• Meditate or pray: Set aside time each day to be still and focus on all the things for which you are grateful. Kept to brief time periods (one or two minutes), even young children can use this exercise.

• Be present: Mind-fulness exercises can be adapted to focus on gratitude. For example, think of the five senses and count down things to appreciate in the moment: five things you see, four things you hear, three things you smell, two things you feel, and one thing you taste.

• Gratitude trigger: Associate thoughts of being grateful with a particular item. It could be something you drive or walk past every day like a park bench or tree, something you wear like a charm bracelet, or something you hear on the radio. Every time you encounter that item, think of one thing for which you are grateful.

• Teach gratitude: Research shows that teaching children about gratitude is very effec-tive. Jeffrey Froh from Hofstra University has created a simple and effective curriculum that can be found at http://col.st/BVgcz.

Stephanie Seng is director of the Center for Family and Couple Ther-apy, part of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program in the Colorado State University Depart-ment of Human Develop-ment and Family Studies. For more information, see www.cfct.chhs.colostate.edu.

Tips for practicing gratitude this Thanksgiving and beyond

BY MCKENZIE MOORE CHS Intern

Many students in Delta County come to school wearing “DC Young Life” T-shirts. This indi-cates their membership in a countywide youth group that meets every Monday night. Young Life is a global organiza-tion based in Colorado Springs that branches out into numerous differ-ent groups with different focuses. Delta County Young Life allows youths from all over the county to gather and connect with each other.

Young Life member Sierra Baldozier express-es her love for the group. “It’s a place for kids to

go and have fun. It’s an escape to do some crazy activities. It’s a religious group, but it’s also about finding yourself.” Sierra also states that Young Life plans to have a winter camp later this month. She describes it as “a bigger version” of the weekly meetings, with groups from all over the region coming together. The event hap-pens twice a year: once in the summer and once in the winter.

Young Life mem-bers participate in a vast array of activities throughout the year, including 5k runs and paint parties. The group also participates in

activities outside of the area, attending concerts and summer camps. The members enjoy spend-ing time with each other and creating memories in a safe environment. Each activity provides the members with use-ful skills, such as fac-ing their fears and com-municating their ideas. Students also have the opportunity to be named “leaders” in the club, which gives them the job of helping other mem-bers and obtaining life-long leadership skills.

All members of the youth group express their passion for the experi-ences it gives them every week. Cedaredge member Shane Gates encourages county youths to attend

the weekly meetings. “Young Life is an awe-some way for all types

of kids to get involved. I highly recommend all high schoolers to attend.”

Young Life meets Mon-days at 7:29 p.m. at 1009 E. 13th Street in Delta.

Kids connect at Delta County Young LifeC6 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 LOCAL NEWS Delta County Independent

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Bear Den for OctoberStudents at Cedaredge Elementary School are nominated each month by their teachers to be included in the Bear Den. The different charac-teristics which can earn recognition are Perseverance (P), Respect (R), Integrity (I), Duty (D) and Excellence (E). October’s Bear Den students are: kindergartners Lilly Fischer and Christian Suppes from Ms. Barton’s class; Zaden Robidoux and Kenidee Shultz from Mrs. Tanner’s class; and Olivia Blair and Harrison Suppes from Mrs. Parsons’ class; first-graders Taylor Armstead and Ian Blair from Ms. Belger’s class; Lydia Tietz and Shane Smothers from Mrs. Campbell’s class; and Jaelynn Weed and Dakota Richardson from Mrs. Rienks’ class; second-graders Kenzie Reed and Dylan Gilbert from Miss Benson’s class; Shyle Almon and Lauren Crockett from Mrs. Hawkins’ class; and Gabe Young and Cierra Williams from Ms. Winemiller’s class; third-graders Connie Archuleta and Logan McIntire from Mrs. Fuller’s class; Kierra Terry and Isaac Nichols from Mrs. Lampton’s class; and Natalia Carrillo and Joshua Scott from Mrs. Hoerr’s class; fourth-graders Cheyenne May and Jayden Reed from Ms. Berger’s class; Breanna May and David Martinez from Mrs. Cox’s class; and Tay-ton Nelson and Shelby Norris from Mr. Stanfield’s class; and fifth-grad-ers Mackenzie Crawford and Justin Williams from Mrs. Whitney’s class; Sammie Pritchett and Kyle Brown from Mr. Henderson’s class; and Taylar Myers and Kade Henderson from Mr. Thompson’s class.

The Pope kissed her brow

It’s the kind of Thanks-giving story straight out of a Frank Capra movie, reports the Association of Mature American Citi-zens. Distraught parents, holding their 1-year-old baby girl, braved the vast crowds to get a glimpse of Pope Francis when he visited Philadelphia in September.

They hoped for a prayer, at best, but got what they now call a full-blown miracle.

The child was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor. Her desperate parents sought the inter-vention of the Pontiff, but they did not expect what would happen as they made their way through the thousands of people standing in front of Inde-pendence Hall. A papal bodyguard spotted them, took the baby into his arms and presented her to the Pope, himself. The Pope kissed her brow. The moment made the evening news.

In August, a brain scan clearly showed the menac-ing tumor growing inside baby Gianna’s head. An MRI done in mid-Novem-ber, two months after the papal visit, showed that the tumor had shrunk to such a size that it was almost impossible to detect its presence.

“She’s getting better and stronger. She’s blow-ing kisses. She’s start-ing to point at things,” Gianna’s mom, Kris-ten Masciantonio, told reporters. If not a mir-acle, the Pope’s kiss gave Gianna and her family new hope and something very special to celebrate this Thanksgiving Day.

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

Delta County Independent SPORTS Wednesday, November 25, 2015 C7

SPORTSwww.deltacountyindependent.comNovember 25, 2015

BY WAYNE CRICK DCI Sports Editor

Last weekend’s quar-terfinal round of this year’s Class 3A state football championships featured play between Delta’s Panthers and The Classical Academy’s Titans. The contest, won by Delta, 27-14, marked the third time in two years Delta has faced TCA on the gridiron.

The Panthers defeated TCA, 27-22, in 2014 and held on for a 38-35 win on Aug. 28 to start the 2015 season.

Delta’s playoff success has been noted the past

three seasons, beginning with a 21-0 win over TCA in 2012. The Panthers bowed out of the playoffs in 2012 with a 35-24 loss to Pueblo East, who is this year’s top-ranked 3A team.

In 2013 Delta went 2-1 in the playoffs that began with a 42-41 overtime vic-tory over Holy Family in the first round. The Pan-thers knocked off league-foe Glenwood Springs, 13-9, to advance to a semifi-nal-round game with Sil-ver Creek. Silver Creek ended Delta’s quest for a title with a 28-17 win.

Last year’s football

season began in Colora-do Springs against TCA with the Panthers claim-ing a 27-22 decision. After going 8-4, Delta defeated Conifer, 24-21, in the first round and then fell to Discovery Canyon, 47-7, to end its season.

Saturday’s quarter-final round against the Titans was competitive from start to finish.

Delta deferred to TCA after winning the coin toss and started the game on defense.

The Titans moved the ball smartly in their opening possession, beginning at their own

32 and advancing the ball to Delta’s 29 before stall-ing out and missing a 44-yard field goal attempt by Anders Carlson. A 23-yard pass from Austin Bervig to Brayden Luft covered 23 yards and Sawyer Weeks raced 25 yards to help the Titans get to Delta’s 29.

The Panthers started their first drive with Jonny Ponce contribut-ing 3 yards on the first play. Tristan Brown took a Kole Roberts pass 8 yards and Ponce added another 2 yards. Follow-ing an incomplete pass A.B. Ontiveros swept the left side for 37 yards to get the ball deep into TCA territory. Brown bruised his way the final 2 yards for Delta’s score with 2:37 remaining in the first period. An Onti-veros kick gave Delta a 7-0 lead.

TCA started its next possession on its 20-yard line and used an Austin Bervig-to-Jayce Hall pass that covered 28 yards to Delta’s 24. Bervig, Jayce Hall and Jenson Hall combined runs to move the ball to Delta’s 4 as the first quarter came to an end.

Weeks carried the ball to Delta’s 1-yard line for a first and goal. The Pan-thers defense stopped the next three running plays with no gain to bring up a fourth-and-1 situation. Bervig used play-action to set up Weeks for a 1-yard toss and the score with 9:35 left in the first half. Carlson’s kick tied the score at 7-7.

Delta was driving on its next possession when

Ponce was stripped of the ball to set up TCAs next possession at the Titan’s 36-yard line.

On the third play from scrimmage, Jayce Hall took the handoff and rambled 58 yards to paydirt, giving TCA a 14-7 lead following Carlson’s kick with 6:15 left before halftime.

Delta punted after a three-and-out possession with the Titans starting at their own 40-yard line. An 11-yard gain by Jayce Hall placed the ball at Delta’s 49. On the next play Bervig was inter-cepted by Beau Byers

and Delta had the ball back at its own 14-yard line.

Delta’s passing game took the spotlight in this drive. Roberts hit Byers for back-to-back 18- and 38-yard receptions that placed the ball at TCA’s 25-yard line. A well-exe-cuted route by the speedy Ontiveros resulted in a 25-yard scoring strike from Roberts to close the scoring gap to 13-14. Ontiveros’ PAT kick was wide, giving the Titans a one-point lead with 2:40 left in the second quarter. The 86-yard drive took

Panthers beat TCA 3rd time

BY ERIC GOOLD DCI Sports Writer

The Paonia High School football team found itself in unfamiliar territory last Saturday afternoon.

On the road. Trail-ing the entire game. The Eagles’ season and quest for a coveted 3-peat state championship on the line.

No problem. As it has done now for the last three years, the Eagles defense rallied at just the right time and Paonia came from behind to shock Res-urrection Christian 21-15 in the 1A state semifi-nals at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins.

“We call it the PHD of football,” Paonia coach Brent McRae said.

“You’ve got to be physical, you’ve got to have heart and you’ve got to play with desire. We played with heart and desire and physicality, that was the key.”

Leading rusher Evan Anderson ran for a 40-yard score for Resurrec-tion Christian midway into the first quarter, then he ran in the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 Cou-gars lead. The home team would lead the contest until late in the fourth quarter.

“They have so much talent and speed, they jumped on us early,” McRae said about the Cougars, who entered the game undefeated and averaging 49 points a game. “They were all

over us early, but we were really resilient. When we got down we just kept fighting. I give all the credit to the boys for never quitting and never saying die.”

Senior Taylor Walters got Paonia (11-1) on the board with his 1-yard run early in the second quarter. Colby Simpson’s kick brought the Eagles to within one at 8-7.

Resurrection Christian answered with a well-conceived gadget play. Receiver Brin Hayden, who collected the ball on a reverse and pitch, threw a 40-yard touch-down pass to quarterback Michael Stevenson.

“On the gadget play we just had a couple people make the wrong read, take the wrong step, and they capitalized. That’s what happens against a good team,” McRae said. “A couple of the kids

made mistakes early in the game but came back in the second half and just made some spectacu-lar plays.”

Stevenson’s kick made it 15-7 for the Cougars, and the game stayed that way through the third quarter.

Then Paonia mounted its fourth quarter come-back. Dagan Rienks caught a 2-yard touch-down toss from Walters and Paonia cut the lead to 15-13.

“Offensively our game-plan was to keep the ball,” McRae said. “We wanted to control the clock, con-trol the line of scrimmage and keep them off the field. The times we didn’t score, it was our own fault. We’d get a hold or a penalty and we’d get off schedule.”

Paonia’s defense shined in the fourth quar-ter, stopping the Cougars

on two more drives. Trev-or Smith, Trevor Plymale and Cyrus Malek-Mada-ni all had key defensive plays in the fourth quar-ter.

After a punt, Paonia got the ball on its own 31-yard line with a little over four minutes left. That’s when Walters rolled to his right, waited for the play to develop, then hit KJ Seriani down the field for a 45-yard pass that set up the Eagles on the Cougars’ 14.

Two plays later Jera-miah Hillman ran in from 13 yards out and gave Paonia its first lead. Wal-ters did the honors on the 2-point conversion run and the Eagles went ahead for good 21-15.

Hillman’s touchdown run capped a stellar day for the senior, who also pulled down two huge interceptions for Paonia, one in the red zone. Hill-

man finished with a game-high 141 rushing yards.

“Jeramiah is just get-ting better week by week,” McRae said. “He doesn’t want to lose. He played hard and fast and I was extremely proud of him.”

The Eagles defense wasn’t done yet. Resur-rection Christian put together one last drive but was stopped when Wal-ters picked off Anderson and essentially wrapped up the game. Paonia ran out the rest of the clock and set up a rematch of last year’s 1A state title game against No. 1 Buena Vista.

“All of our boys just want to play one more game,” McRae said. “They get all the credit and I just couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The Eagles will travel to Buena Vista for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.

Eagles stun Cougars, 21-15

Paonia after 3rd straight title

Photo by Wayne CrickDelta junior Tristan Brown gets a block from teammate A.B. Ontiveros (32) that helped spring Brown for an 18-yard scoring scamper at the 10:35 mark of the fourth quarter. Brown scored the game’s first and last touchdowns as the Panthers advanced to the Class 3A semifinal round after defeating The Classi-cal Academy, 27-14, last Saturday afternoon in Delta.

Photo courtesy Kelly RienksDagan Rienks (13) pitches the ball to Taylor Walters (18) while Cyrus Malek-Madani (52) and Jeramiah Hillman (33) look to block on a running play during the first half of Paonia’s 21-15 win over Resurrection Christian. Rienks, Walters and Hillman all had touchdowns in the game. Up next for the Eagles is a return engagement with an all-too familiar foe, Buena Vista, in what could be a fan-pleasing 1A title game in Buena Vista this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Photo courtesy Kelly RienksPaonia junior Trevor Smith (2) celebrates after the defense stopped a Resurrection Christian drive late in the Eagles’ semifinal win. Paonia’s defense forced three turnovers and, for the second year in a row, held the highly touted Cougars to just 15 points.

Photo by Wayne CrickDelta defenders Logan Church (55), Kory Mills (45) and Beau Byers combine to tackle The Classical Academy’s Jayce Hall during 3A state football action last Saturday. The Panthers secured a spot in this week’s semifinal round against Roosevelt with a 27-14 win.

DELTA FB TO C8

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

C8 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 SPORTS Delta County Independent

just five plays. Ontive-ros commented on his touchdown catch after the game. “I didn’t see the ball at first. It was over the wrong shoulder (right side) and I had to turn to see it just in time to catch it. I didn’t know I was that close to the goal when I caught it.”

TCA took the ball to Delta’s 44-yard line before being forced to punt and the Panthers ran the clock out to trail 14-13 at halftime.

Talk at halftime cen-tered around not wanting the season to be over. A comment of “This can’t be your last game. We can’t go out this way.” From that, players vowed to stay together and make Delta proud.

The Panthers began the second half 80 yards away from the end zone. Ponce asserted himself in the beginning of the period with runs of 25, 13 and 8 yards. A 9-yard run from Ponce placed the ball at TCA’s 1-yard line. Roberts called his own number to cover the final yard to give Delta a 20-14 lead after Ontive-ros’ kick for extra point. The 80-yard drive took 13 plays.

TCA, again, had suc-cess moving the ball in the middle of the field but bogged down inside the 20-yard line. A 19-yard run from Bervig moved the ball to Delta’s 17 only to see two straight losses set the ball back to the 20 where the Titans lost the ball on downs.

The Panthers began their final scoring drive in the waning moments of the third period. Ponce picked up 19 yards on three running plays and Byers added 13 and 23 yards to his receiving stats on the accuracy of Roberts’ throwing arm. The quarter ended with the ball resting on the 24-yard line.

Byers had dropped a pass earlier in the game but came up with several key receptions to keep the drive alive. When asked about the early drop, Byers responded with, “I was motivated to catch the next one. I know the team wants me to catch balls and I didn’t want to let them down. I just focused more.”

In the fourth quarter, Ponce ran the ball for 6 yards to the 18. From there Roberts found Brown all alone for an 18-yard scoring strike with 10:35 left in the game. Ontiveros made the extra point kick to make the score 27-14.

TCA put together a drive that moved the ball to the Panthers’ 6-yard line. A fumble, recovered by Delta’s Kory Mills, snuffed out the scoring threat at Delta’s 11-yard line.

The Panthers were unable to move the ball on their next possession and punted from their own 22. The Titans took possession on their own 34.

An interception by Cameron Schaal ended TCA’s drive.

Delta controlled the ball on its next posses-sion but was unable to move the chains and turned the ball over on downs near midfield.

TCA moved the ball to Delta’s 13-yard line before a Bervig pass was deflected and intercepted by Ponce in the end zone to end the Titans’ final shot at scoring.

Delta rolled up 412 yards of offense against the Titans. The Panthers had 231 yards on the ground, led by Ponce’s 165 yards on 32 rushes, and another 181 through the air, paced by Byers’ six catches for 112 yards.

The Classical Acad-emy posted 448 yards of offense with 239 coming through the air. Weeks caught three Bervig pass-es for 66 yards and Jayce Hall topped Titan rush-ers with 11 carries for 91 yards.

This week’s practice sessions promise to be intense with intentions of making it past the semi-final round and into the finals.

Delta is slated to play in Johnstown against number two Roosevelt on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both teams enter the game with 11-1 records.

And, by the way, the last time the Panthers won a state title in foot-ball was in 1960 against Cañon City, 12-7.

In 1961 Delta reached the finals once again but lost a 40-14 decision to Lamar to end its sea-son short of its intended goal.

Delta FBCONTINUED FROM C7

Photo by Wayne CrickThe 2015 Delta High School volleyball team attended this year’s state volleyball tournament for the first time in many years. After a highly successful season, the Panthers added to their laurels with the Les Schwab Academic All State award sponsored by CHSAA. The team had a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5. Several Panthers earned individual awards for the season. Those awards will be noted in next week’s DCI.

BY ERIC GOOLD DCI Sports Writer

Paonia goes for the 3-peat on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Buena Vista. The matchup seemed fated from the very beginning of the season.

Paonia was No. 1 and the Demons were ranked No. 2 until the Eagles lost to 2A Bayfield (cur-rently No. 1 in 2A and playing for the state title on Saturday as well) in Week 4. Then Buena Vista assumed the No. 1 ranking and has held it since then.

Paonia beat No. 2 Res-urrection Christian 21-15 last week to set up the rematch of last year’s 1A state title game, which the Eagles won in Paonia 21-7.

Clearly the Demons (12-0) and Eagles (11-1) have been 1A’s best two teams all season. It is

fitting that they will play for all the marbles on Saturday.

“When you have pro-grams as successful as Paonia and Buena Vista, you don’t really expect much to change,” Paonia coach Brent McRae said. “You do what got you there, and I won’t expect anything different. They’ll probably run the same type of offense and defense. I expect them to make some tweaks here and there, but we’re just going to let the kids play and see who wins.”

Buena Vista breezed through the other side of the 1A playoff bracket, beating Centauri, Wig-gins and Crowley County by a combined score of 140-12.

In the semifinal against Crowley Coun-ty, Keenan Barr scored three times (once on

defense) and quarterback Keegan Wentz scored two touchdowns to pace the Demons.

Demons coach Matt Flavin leads a veteran group that is due. In 2012 Buena Vista lost in the 1A finals to Cedaredge 18-16. The next year it fell in the semis, los-ing at home 28-14 to Paonia. Then last year the Demons were once again runner-up, this time after a 21-7 defeat at Paonia.

Three seasons of fall-ing just short is going to make the Demons a very hungry team on Satur-day.

Facing them is an Eagles team that has done it before and is peaking at just the right time.

Jeramiah Hillman put together his best game as an Eagle in the semifi-

nal against Resurrection Christian, scoring once and snaring two intercep-tions to lead the defense.

Cyrus Malek-Madani leads the team in tack-les, and fellow sophomore Jaden Miller is a force at the linebacker posi-tion. Junior Trevor Smith is making the most of his first real chance to shine in the play-offs, making key plays on offense and defense.

There’s a long list of Eagles who are unsung heroes: Dagan Rienks, Colby Simpson, Willy Darling, War-ren Minerich and Trevor Plymale all have contributed in key moments during the play-offs. Newcomer KJ Seriani announced his presence with the biggest catch of the day against the Cougars, a 45-yard bomb that set up the winning score.

Then of course there’s Taylor Wal-ters, the 1A Player of the Year. Walters moved into fifth all-time in touchdowns scored and became the 15th leading rusher in Colora-

do history after the first round of the playoffs, but he’s not thinking about personal records.

“It’s more just think-ing about winning anoth-er state championship with my team and just enjoying my last bit of high school with all these guys,” Walters said after the first round of the

playoffs.The state champi-

onship matchup was hatched a year ago, and the rematch on Saturday has potential to make his-tory. The Eagles and their fans will get one more game in this incredible run, and on this Thanks-giving weekend there is much to be thankful for.

Eagles, Demons could be donnybrook

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Photo courtesy Kelly RienksPaonia kicker Colby Simpson, left, signals that he is ready to kick off against Resurrection Christian. Paonia beat the Cougars, 21-15, and will play for its third straight title Saturday in Buena Vista.

Photo courtesy Amie HendersonDelta outside hitter Ashton Reese sets the ball during play in this year’s Class 4A state volleyball championships. The Panthers had a great season in 2015 and split matches played while at state. Delta finished the year with a 22-5 record.

THIS PAGE IS COLOR ClassifiedClassified

874-4421 • Fax: 874-4424www.deltacountyindependent.comE-mail: [email protected]

A World of Products and ServicesAt Your Fingertips...

November 25, 2015

DSection

REALESTATE

REALESTATE

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RENTALS

1 BR, 1 BA APT. WITH garage at 341 W. 6th in Delta. No smoking, no pets. Water included. $500/month; $500/deposit. Available Nov. 1. Phone (970) 323-5555 or (303) 618-5839. (2x46)

FOR RENT IN DELTA close to the courthouse: Formerly a beauty shop but could easily be converted to an office. For more infor-mation, contact Pete Tarr at (970) 874-4433. (3x46)

FOR RENT, 2 BR, 1 1/2 BA, large kitchen/dining room, large living room. 6 ft. chain link fence, corner lot between Garnet & Lincoln Elementary, Delta. Call Linda (970) 250-2033 or Ron (970) 250-5101. (2x46)

2 BR, 2 BA – DOWNTOWN Delta, attached garage, $600 per month plus utili-ties. $500 security deposit. References checked with written application. (970) 874-7485. (2x47)

FOR RENT – NEWER 3 BR, 2 BA, 2-car garage in Delta. $1,000/mo.; deposit $1,000. Call (970) 261-1540. (2x47)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

DELTA VITAMIN & Health and Upscale Resale is going out of business soon! 40% off storewide starting November 25th! Please bring cash for pur-chases! 128 Main St., Delta. (970) 399-3374. (1x47)

MEATPROSSESSING

FORSALE

DELTA VITAMIN & Health and Upscale Resale is going out of business soon! 40% off storewide starting November 25th! Please bring cash for pur-chases! 128 Main St., Delta. (970) 399-3374. (1x47)

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CAWS ADOPTION CEN- ter in Delta, Colorado seeks a CVT (or 3-5 years experience in anamal care management) to manage a small shelter operation for a 17 year-old non profit, pri-vate 501(c)3 organization. Familiar with behavioral testing, PACFA shelter regu-lations and "open" facility practices as defined by the Asilomar Accords, a plus. Computer skills includ-ing internet, email a must. Familiar with Facebook and google docs, a plus. Hours are M-F, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., $13.50/hr, no ben-efits, seven days paid vacation. Email resume to: [email protected], or mail to: CAWS, PO Box 1736, Paonia, CO 81428. (1x47)

THE CITY OF DELTA Police Department in Delta, Colorado is now accept-ing applications for Police Officer. Applicants must be POST certified. Patrols an assigned beat in the enforce-ment of law and order and prevention of crime; takes intensive field and basic training in the early period of employment. Necessary special requirements are: High School Graduate; pos-sess a valid Colorado driv-er's license or able to obtain within 30 days of hire; State certified in law enforcement or ability to acquire; must be 21 years of age or over at time of hire; will be required to pass a detailed back-ground and criminal record check, a psychological exam, physical agility test, physical, written test and a pre-employment drug test. The starting salary is $19.70 per hour plus an excellent benefits package. Please submit application and sup-plemental application to: The City of Delta, Human Resources Department, 360 Main Street, Delta, CO 81416. Application, supple-mental application and complete job description available at City Hall or on the web at www.cityofdelta.net. Incomplete applica-tions will not be accepted. Deadline for applications is 5:00 p.m., December 1, 2015. EEO (2x46)

ADVERTISE TODAY!

NORTH FORK AMBU- lance is seeking a quali-fied Bookkeeper/Office Assistant for part-time work encompassing bookkeep-ing, general clerical sup-port, answering phones, membership data entry, customer service and board meeting minutes & records. Proficiency in accounts pay-able, accounts receivable and payroll is required. Must be versed in account-ing software and Microsoft Office. Grants management preferred but not required. See complete job descrip-tion on our News page at www.northforkambulance.com/news.html Please send cover letter and resume electronically to [email protected] or by mail to: North Fork Ambulance, PO Box 127, Hotchkiss, CO 81419 to arrive on or before November 30, 2015. (2x46)

PUBLICSERVICE

PUBLICSERVICE

THE DELTA COUNTY Independent runs these items as a public service free of charge for non-profit organizations, if no fees are charged. However, each group is asked to please keep them current by call-ing 874-4421.

HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERS Wanted! Delta County Memorial Hospital needs hospital volunteers. Days and hours are flexible. There are currently openings in the ER, Oncology, Gift Shop and some additional areas. If you are interested, please contact Volunteer Coordinator, Joyce Picard at (970) 874-3841 for an application. (4x27)

WOMEN ONLY AA MEET- ings, Delta. Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m., closed (Alcoholics only) at Friends of Bill W. Club, 897 Palmer. Saturdays, 11:00 a.m., open (others may attend) at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 5th & Palmer (back door). (tfnx3)

FREE DIAPERS FOR UP to one year! Pregnant women in Delta County can now get help to quit smok-ing and get something they can really use after their baby arrives — free diapers. Healthy moms have healthy babies. Enroll in the Baby & Me Tobacco Free program today. Contact the Delta County Health Department at 874-2165 or your local physician. (TFNx2)

SUPPORT THE DELTA Public Library. Give a gently used book in the Downstairs Book Store.

WELCOME RETURNING Veterans, Post 9221 VFW meets at 5:00 p.m. on the 4th Thursday of each month in Cedaredge. To find out how to participate in pro-moting patriotism and assisting veterans, contact Wayne Hamrick, (970) 250-1180. (tfnx23)

AARP DRIVER SAFETY Course. Save on insurance, keep up on newer traffic laws, learn defensive driv-ing techniques. For details and schedule contact John Loring (970) 856-6924 or (970) 424-1778.

HOTCHKISS-CRAWFORD Historical Museum. Winter hours, Saturdays 1-4 p.m. thru December 24. $3 admis-sion or free to members. Come see our museum at 2nd & Hotchkiss Streets in Hotchkiss. 872-3780. (tfx44)

CHECK OUT THE BOOK store at the library. You'll find a great selection of paperbacks at reasonable prices.

IF YOU LOVE BOOKS, you will love the Downstairs Bookstore in the basement of the Delta Public Library.

NARCOTICS ANONY- mous meets at 9th and Palmer, Delta, Mondays and Fridays at 8 p.m. (tfnx5)

BECAWS! DONATIONS needed. Credit cards accepted. Call 970-527-3350, or visit cawsonline.org. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

DELTA FOOD PANTRY needs meals for Delta families who are temporar-ily in need. Donations of non-perishable food may be brought to 628 Meeker. (tfx36)

HELP!!! KEEP THE animal population under control, and SAVE an ani-mal's life. Adopt your new cat or dog from the Delta County Humane Society. Adoption fee is minimal. Call 874-2149. (DCHS)

THERE IS A VFW MEETING on the first Monday of each month. At 6 p.m. there is a potluck and the meeting is at 7 p.m. at the IOOF Hall, 860 Hwy 92, Delta. For further information, call 874-8172 Jim Baker, Quartermaster. (tfx12)

BECAWS! ADOPT A DOG or cat today. Call 970-527-3350, or visit cawsonline.org. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

FOUND SOMEONE'S puppy? Let them find it in the DCI Classifieds.

ADVERTISE874-4421

WORKWANTED

CUSTOM CARPENTRY trim and framing, sliding doors, windows, new con-struction, remodels, decks and more. Experienced and insured. Call Mark at (970) 589-2373 or (970) 901-1717. (1x47)

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DCI DEADLINESSpace Reservation for ALL Display Advertising Fridays (5 p.m.)Copy for Display Advertising Mondays (noon)Legal Notices Mondays (10 a.m.)Classified Ads Mondays (10 a.m.)Too Late To Classify Mondays (noon)Calendar Of Events Items Tuesdays (10 a.m.)

Thank you for your cooperation

THIS PAGE IS COLOR

D2 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 CLASSIFIEDS Delta County Independent

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Colorado Statewide Classified Advertising Network

To place a 25-word COSCAN Network ad in 83 Colorado newspapers for only $350, contact your local newspaper or call SYNC2 Media at 303-571-5117.

SYNC2 MEDIAHELP WANTEDCan you dig it? Heavy Equipment Operator Career! We Offer Train-ing and Certifications Running Bull-dozers, Backhoes and Excavators.

Lifetime Job Placement. VA Benefits Eligible!

1-866-362-6497

Buy a 25-word statewide classified line ad in newspapers across Colorado for just $350

per week. Ask about our Frequency Discounts. Contact this newspaper or call SYNC2

Media, 303-571-5117

MISC. MISC.PUBLICSERVICE

PUBLICSERVICE

PUBLICSERVICE

PUBLICSERVICE

CHAPTER, UNITS OF DAV regular meetings on the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Veterans Building, 15th & Howard, Delta. For further information, call Paul Carter 874-5150. (tfx19)

ARE YOU NEW TO THE Delta area? Stop by the Delta Area Chamber of Commerce at 301 Main St. for you FREE Welcome Bag, filled with goodies, samples, discounts and community information, courtesy of Chamber mem-bers and sponsored by Kim Guthrie-Burch of Re/Max Today.

YOU HAVE THE POWER TO change a child's life! Children are waiting for senior partners in Delta County right now! Can you spare 3 hours a week? We need your help! Call today for more informa-tion. Please volunteer to spend time with a child in our community. Partners of Delta, Montrose and Ouray, 874-4661, www.partners-west.org. or [email protected]. (tfx13)

PAONIA AMERICAN Legion runs a year round non-perishable emergency food pantry. This is for the North Fork area. For information, call 527-6252. (tfx49)

SAVE EYEGLASSES, OLD jewelry and silver or bits of gold and silver scraps. The Grand Odd Fellow Lodge is sending them to: New Eyes for the Needy, 549 Millburn Ave., Short Hills, NJ 07078 or send them to: Gale Conger, Secretary of IOOF Lodge #116, 544 St. Hwy. 548, Delta, CO 81416.

THE AMERICAN RED Cross needs you. Become one of the Red Cross volun-teers who says, “We’ll Be There, Because Help Can’t Wait!” Call your local Red Cross Chapter at 970-242-4851 or 1-800-HELP NOW for information on the dif-ference you can make in someone’s life as a disaster volunteer. ((TFNx4))

DELTA HAS A BOOK- store in the basement of the library featuring gently used books and magazines. Come check it out!

UNEMPLOYED? JOIN others for a time of net-working, encouragement, and skill improvement. Latent Resources meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 at the Delta United Methodist Church (5th & Meeker). Attendants and visitors are encour-aged to dress profession-ally and bring a note pad and a willingness to learn and be challenged. Find us on facebook.com & twit-ter.com - search "Latent Resources", or call James at 970-901-9463.

HEALTHY BABIES START with early prenatal care. Delta County Health Department. Offers access to immediate, temporary Medicaid for pregnant women who qualify. 874-2165. (tfx25)

BOOKS MAKE GREAT stocking stuffers. Find books at great prices in the basement of the Delta Public Library.

BECAWS! DISCOUNT spay and neuter coupons available. Call 970-527-3350, or visit cawsonline.org. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

FARM WORKER HEALTH Services: We offer assis-tance with medical, dental and medicines. If you work in agriculture you may qualify for our services. For more information call 323-0538. (tfx12)

SERVICIOS DE SALUD De Campesinos: Ofrecemos ayuda con doctores, dentis-tas, y medicinas. Si trabajas en agricultura puedes califi-car para nuestros servicios. Para mas informacion llame al 323-0538. (tfx12)

THINK YOU'RE PREG- nant? Abused? Need help? The Pregnancy Resource Center in Delta offers free service, support and advice to all teenagers and women in crisis pregnancy situa-tions. For Christian help, anytime, call 874-5733.

YOU CAN QUIT. WE CAN help. Colorado Tobacco Quitline offers free, confi-dential assistance. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. (TFNx28).

FAMILIES BELIEVING in families: Tandem Families is an innovative, private non-profit mentor-ing program providing ser-vices for at-risk children of Delta and Mont-rose coun-ties. Anyone interested in volunteering their services or donating usable items should call 874-3000 or 252-7445. (TFNx8)

THE AMERICAN LEGION Post 97 Paonia is seeking the names and addresses of all persons currently serv-ing on active duty in the military from the North Fork Valley in order to contact them and show our sup-port. Send addresses to American Legion Post 97, PO Box 277, Paonia, CO 81428 or call 527-6552.

PARENTS FREE! INFORM- ation and referrals to licensed child care provid-ers, call Bright Futures Child Care Resource and Referral, 1-877-728-5613. (TFNx4)

SUPPORT THE DELTA Public Library. Give a gently used book in the Downstairs Book Store.

FOSTER GRANDPARENT Program enriches the lives of senior volunteers while improving the education of children with special needs. Volunteers, 55 and older, needed to assist in class rooms tutoring and mentor-ing children. Low-income volunteers may qualify for a stipend. Teachers in Delta area class rooms request "Grandparents" to come in and work with students who need the extra help to achieve their best. For infor-mation on how you can use your talents to help kids call Tanya at 263-9091. (tfx7)

PARENTS — FREE information and referrals for licensed child care pro-viders. Call Bright Futures Child Care Resource & Referral at 877-728-5613. (TFNx1)

HAVING A YARD SALE? Advertise it in the DCI Clas-sifieds.

BECAWS! VOLUNTEERS needed. Call 970-527-3350, or visit cawsonline.org. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

PLEASE HELP! VOLUN- teers needed to help get new animal shelter in Delta off the ground. We need temporary or long term foster homes, foot soldiers, light research, paperwork and phone people. Many hands make light work. Thank you! Another Chance Critter Haven. 874-9011.

DEDUCT IT FROM YOUR taxes! Donations of: pet food, old blankets, tow-els, kennels, carriers, pet beds or dishes, and money always appreciated. Another Chance Critter Haven. 874-9011. 501 (c) (3)

JOIN FORCES WITH US! Animal lovers rescue groups, shelters: let's band together and get a county-wide shelter built! We are here for the animals. Another Chance Critter Haven. 874-9011.

BECAWS! DOG/CAT foster families needed. Call 970-527-3350, or visit caw-sonline.org. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

COLORADO QUITLINE IS a free, confidential tele-phone coaching service for anyone calling from a Colorado area code. With QuitLine, tobacco users can receive free supplies of the nicotine patch as they work with trained coaches who create a personalized quit plan just for them. To contact the QuitLine, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) or visit www.coquit-line.org.

BECAWS! DO YOU HAVE an animal rescue suc-cess story to share? Call 970-527-3350, or email [email protected]. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

THE DELTA COUNTY Democratic Party invites you to visit their Facebook page for announcements, information and intelligent discussion of issues. You are not alone! Contact www.facebook.com/pages/CO-Delta-County-Democrats/109082339170167

BECAWS! DONATION items needed for Barkin' Bargains Thrift Store in Paonia. Call 970-527-5111.Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

ALZHEIMER'S ASSO- ciation Caregivers' Support Group, Cory/Austin. All Saints Lutheran Church, 20101 Deer Creek Road. Last Wednesday of every month, 1 p.m.

ALZHEIMER'S ASSOC- iation Caregivers' Support Group, Delta. Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado, Grand Mesa Oncology Center, 1501 E. 3rd Street, Tuesdays at 2 p.m.

BECAWS! SHOP BARKIN' Bargains Thrift Store in Paonia. All proceeds to to CAWS. Call 970-527-5111. Delta County Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter (CAWS)

IF YOU THINK YOU have a drinking problem... Alcoholics Anonymous can help. There are weekly AA meetings throughout the North Fork area and beyond. For meeting times and locations call AA at 970-245-9649 or 888-333-9649. Or go to the website www.aa-westerncolorado.org. Alcoholics Anonymous can help!

AL-ANON MEETINGS BY day of week. Sunday: Woman's Al-Anon in Montrose 3:30 p.m., All Saints Anglican Church, 2057 S. Townsend, con-tact Peggy, (970) 964-4970. Monday: Al-Anon in Hotchkiss 6:30 p.m., Methodist Church, 285 N. 2nd, contact Kay, (970) 208-5257 or Chris, (970) 527-3366. Monday: Al-Anon in Montrose 7:00 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 1840 E. Niagara, contact Diane, (970) 964-4417. Tuesday: Women's Al-Anon in Eckert 1:00 p.m., 13596 Hwy. 65, contact Sandy, (970) 856-7348. Tuesday: Al-Anon in Delta 7:30 p.m., St. Luke Episcopal Church, 145 W. 5th St., contact Mark, (970) 874-8965 or Elizabeth, (970) 874-9832. Tuesday: Alateen in Delta 7:30 p.m., St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 145 W. 5th St., contact Elizabeth, (970) 874-9832 or Shirley, (970) 323-5067. Wednesday: Al-Anon in Paonia 7:00 p.m., United Methodist Church, 3rd and Onarga, contact Kay, (970) 208-5257 or Chris, (970) 527-3366. Thursday: Al-Anon in Montrose 12:00 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 1840 E. Niagara, contact Diane, (970) 964-4417. Thursday: Al-Anon in Cedaredge 8 p.m., Wick Hall behind First Baptist Church, 370 W. Main, contact Vicki, (970)589-9290. (tfnx16)

HUNGRY? PLEASE JOIN us for a free meal. Tuesdays, 5:30 - 7 p.m., and Saturdays 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Served at Westminster Hall, 135 E. 4th St., Delta, across from the post office. No income restrictions - if you're hun-gry, please feel free to join us. For questions, to donate or to volunteer, please call the Abraham Connection, (970) 773-8290.

MISC.

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Delta County Independent PUBLIC NOTICES Wednesday, November 25, 2015 D3��

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D4 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 PUBLIC NOTICES Delta County Independent

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D6 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 TELEVISION LISTINGS Delta County Independent

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THIS PAGE IS COLOR

Delta County Independent SERVICE DIRECTORY Wednesday, November 25, 2015 D7

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THIS PAGE IS COLOR

D8 Wednesday, November 25, 2015 BACK PAGE Delta County Independent


C ivil Air Patrol, the offi-cial auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, performs

about 85 percent of inland search and rescue missions in the U.S. The squadrons search for lost hikers or hunt-ers, locate downed aircraft and transport emergency per-sonnel or medical materials. They also serve as mentors to cadet squadrons, a role Lt. Tom Jones and Capt. Tammy Mattics take very seriously.

Both are affiliated with the Thunder Mountain Compos-ite Squadron in Grand Junc-tion; Capt. Mattics also serves group and regional roles.

Capt. Mattics explains her oldest son enlisted in the squadron in 2009, and because she had to transport him to meetings in Grand Junction, she hung around to observe the squadron’s activi-ties. As she learned more and more about the organization, she became a sponsor, then a regular member. Eventu-ally she earned the informal title of “group mom,” a title that reflected a wide range of duties, from personnel to pro-fessional development. In the the Colorado Wing (COWG) of the Civil Air Patrol , which operates in the Rocky Moun-tain Region, Capt. Mattics is

assistant inspector general for the 35 squadrons in three groups across Colorado.

Within the group, she sup-ports the five squadrons “on this side of the hill.”

At every opportunity, she has expressed a willingness to learn and to take on new responsibilities. “I’m proud to have earned the rank of cap-tain, and in May will advance to major,” Mattics said.

Her rank reflects her atti-tude of, “Okay, I’m ready, what next?”

“If it’s something I enjoy, I want to know more.”

Her son his now in college, but Capt. Mattics is looking forward to the spring, when her youngest son turns 12 and can join the Civil Air Patrol. She’s seen firsthand how the program instills maturity and self-confidence in the cadets.

“Whenever my son put on his uniform, he stood just a little straighter and exuded a little more confidence,” Capt. Mattics said. “It was really good for him.”

Lt. Tom Jones also became involved in the Thunder Mountain Composite Squad-ron through his son, Jack, and now expresses pride for all the cadets with whom he works.

During a Veterans Day assembly at Delta Middle

School — where Jack Jones is a student — a color guard comprised of Cadet Air-man Jayd Gardner of Clif-ton, Senior Airman Jonathan Lyons of Palisade and Jones — a master sergeant — pre-sented the colors. Later in the day they visited residents at area nursing homes.

In addition to community service, squadron members attend weekly meetings that focus on aerospace education, physical fitness and moral leadership.

As a recruiter, Master Sgt. Jack Jones is well versed in membership requirements: applicants must be between the ages of 12 and 21 and a citizen of the United States. Prospective members must attend three meetings prior to joining, so they understand what they’re getting into.

Everyone has an opportu-nity to fly — and that’s a big drawing card — but to advance within the organiza-tion, members are required to participate in the educational program.

“They have to work for their rank,” said Lt. Tom Jones. “We don’t give them anything.”

The other cadet from Delta County is Cadet 2nd Lieuten-ant Ezra Russell of Paonia, a homeschooler who is in the 10th grade.

In addition to a rigorous online course load, he takes piano and karate lessons, and participates in the Civil Air Patrol and its color guard.

While service in the mili-tary is not a requirement for Civil Air Patrol cadets, Rus-sell said his ultimate goal is to become a fighter pilot for the Air Force. In fact, he learned about the Civil Air Patrol while researching the Air Force Academy’s admis-sion requirements for home-schoolers. “They had suggest-ed becoming involved with CAP, so I joined the squadron in February 2014,” Russell said. “I believe my participa-tion in CAP will help prepare me for life at the academy or ROTC. I am learning about leadership and aerospace as well as flying which will help me become a fighter pilot.”

Russell has to complete one more orientation flight, then will begin pursuing a pilot’s license.

Ezra’s parents, Paul and Paula, have seen tremendous growth and maturity in Ezra since he joined the Civil Air Patrol.

“He has become more dili-gent and takes CAP serious-ly,” they said. “He sets high goals to test and promote every two months, and he achieves whatever goals he sets for himself. He is respect-ful toward people and toward his uniform. We are so proud of Ezra, and we know he will accomplish his future goals of becoming an Air Force pilot.”

Russell will have a head start if his plans to enlist come to pass. Cadet officers who enlist in the U.S. Air Force are able to “rank up,” coming in as an E-3 (airman first class) rather than an E-1

(airman basic).Cadets also enjoy many

unique opportunities, from tours of the Air Force Acad-emy and Fort Carson, to encampments, described as mini boot camps. Last sum-mer, Lyons had the opportu-nity to attend a CAP encamp-ment at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base in Honolulu. He has no desire to be a pilot. Instead, he hopes the CAP aerospace science studies will provide a solid foundation for a career as a meteorologist.

Russell was selected to serve in the capacity of Echo Flight Sergeant for the 2015 Blackbird Encampment at the Air Force Academy. Next summer, he plans on attend-ing the SWR Powered Flight Academy in Shawnee, Okla., where he will receive 10 hours of hands-on flight time as well as 25 hours of ground train-ing.

Jack Jones is competing in an online Air Force Asso-ciation cyber warfare pro-gram known as CyberPatriot. A total of 3,000 teams com-pete at three levels — middle school, high school and mili-tary. During the right round of competition, Jack spent the better part of a Saturday in front of a computer at Central High School.

Prior to the rounds, teams download “virtual image”

representations of operating systems with known flaws, or cybersecurity “vulnerabili-ties.” Teams must find the flaws while keeping computer functions (“services,” such as email) working.

“This is a whole different caliber of kids for the most part,” said Capt. Mattics. “The leadership, the core val-ues, the discipline ... it gives them a strong boost to the next level.”

BACK

PAGE

Reaching new heights with the Civil Air Patrol

Photo submittedPrior to an orientation flight, cadets Ezra Russell and Jack Jones go through a pre-flight check with Capt. Capelli. Each cadet receives five free air flights to get to know the aircraft. Jones plans to start private flying lessons soon.

Colorado Wing Civil Air Patrol’s Cadet Ezra Russell was awarded the prestigious Billy Mitchell Award and promoted to rank of Cadet 2nd Lieutenant. This award honors the late General Billy Mitchell who was an aviation pioneer, advocate and sup-porter of an independent air force for America.

To earn this award, cadets must complete the first eight achievements of the cadet program, pass a physical fitness test, attend a cadet encampment and pass a com-prehensive examination cov-ering leadership theory and aerospace topics scoring an 80 percent or higher.

Russell, a CAP member since February 2014, is an active member of the Thun-

der Mountain Composite Squadron where he current-ly serves as a flight com-mander and lead guard for its color guard. Russell was also selected to serve in the capacity of Echo Flight Ser-geant for the 2015 Blackbird Encampment at the Air Force Academy. Russell plans on attending the SWR Powered Flight Academy in Shawnee, Okla., this summer.

Cadets who receive the Mitchell Award are also eli-gible for advanced placement to the grade of E-3 (Airman First Class) should they choose to enter the U.S. Air Force. They are also eligi-ble for advanced credit in AFROTC, various CAP schol-arships and CAP special activity opportunities.

Ezra Russell winsprestigious CAP award

Photo by Pat SunderlandA color guard comprised of Cadet Airman Jayd Gardner of Clifton, Master Sgt. Jack Jones of Delta and Senior Airman Jonathon Lyons of Palisade visited residents at area nursing homes on Veterans Day.

Photo submittedCadet 2nd Lieutenant Ezra Russell hopes to become a fighter pilot for the Air Force. He believes his participation in the Civil Air Patrol is pre-paring him for life at the Air Force Academy or in ROTC.

Photo by Pat SunderlandAt a Delta Middle School assembly, Lt. Tom Jones of Delta explains how the Civil Air Patrol grew from the desire of volunteers to put their planes and flying skills to use in defense of their country. As a result, the Civil Air Patrol was born one week prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Photo submittedCapt. Tammy Mattics (left) is an Olathe resident who serves the Civil Air Patrol cadet corps at the squadron, group and wing level. “I’m an overachiever — in a good way,” she said.