January 25, 2012

SandBox Comments: Denver Post/Breaking News "Saguache County clerk recalled by voters following bungled 2010 election"

'SandBox Nanny's' commentary on this story goes out to Marilyn Marks. 

Re:  All of your elections activism statewide, including your support for the Saguache County issue:   Well done.

""Saguache County Clerk and Recorder Melinda Myers, under fire for a 2010 election that was bungled so badly it prompted a grand jury investigation, was recalled by voters yesterday.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler filed a lawsuit against Myers to get permission to conduct a public review of ballots from the election. That review — though disputed by some residents for not being complete — found the final results of the 2010 election had been accurate.

The grand jury investigation, conducted by the Colorado Attorney General's office, found no criminal wrongdoing.

Residents, however, began gathering signatures for a recall election.

The election — conducted by the El Paso County clerk's office — used paper ballots counted by hand, rather than using the vote tabulation machine that had been at the center of many of the 2010 problems.

(Read more? Click title. Comment to discuss) 

SandBox Comments: KJCT News 8 "CO Congressmen React to SOTU"

KJCT:

"Meantime, Representative Scott Tipton was left looking for more. "The president had an opportunity [Monday] to unite the American people, but instead chose to divide for political gain, offering no authentic solutions, just the same old partisan rhetoric we've heard over the past three years," he declared.


“Above all else, I call upon the President to join me in working from the basic principle that Washington cannot continue to take from the American people and that if it’s not paid for, then it’s irresponsible for government to continue to spend....”

(Learn more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Town Hall/John Stossel "The Real State of the Union"

John Stossel:

"Has Barack Obama learned nothing in three years? Last night, during his State of the Union address, he promised "a blueprint for an economy." But economies are crushed by blueprints. An economy is really nothing more than people participating in an unfathomably complex spontaneous network of exchanges aimed at improving their material circumstances. It can't even be diagrammed, much less planned. And any attempt at it will come to grief.

Politicians like Obama believe they are the best judges of how we should conduct our lives. Of course a word like "blueprint" would occur to the president. He, like most who want his job, aspires to be the architect of a new society.

But we who love our lives and our freedom say: No, thanks. We need no social architect. We need liberty under law. That's it...."

(Learn more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Iowa Republican "Kevin’s Korner: Newt’s Reboot, Caucus Chaos and Corrupt Dems"

Kevin Hall:

"Greetings and welcome to Kevin’s Korner. This has to be the craziest week in Iowa politics I’ve ever seen, so lots to yap about today. Sit back, crank the volume up to 11, and get ready for a bumpy ride.

My quick thoughts on the South Carolina primary: Newt Gingrich has two people to thank for his landslide victory … Juan Williams and John King … The moderators at the two debates last week inadvertently handed Newt the moments he needed to change the race.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney blew it. He should have wrapped us this race yesterday, but Mitt’s inability to answer simple questions about his tax returns seriously hurt him … I was getting emails from Ron Paul earlier this week claiming it was a “two-man race” between him and Romney … Dr. Paul, there are four candidates left. You’re the only one who has yet to win a state. Go sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here...."

(See related stories and  commentary here) 

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SandBox Comments: KREX News 5 "Fruita Police Department to Receive $1.4 Million in Upgrades"

Congratulations to the Fruita Police Dept.!

"Fruita - Mark Angelo has spent the past decade as Fruita Chief of Police. "It's really neat to see what's happening in Fruita," said Angelo.

He values the ability of police to keep not only his family safe, but yours too. "...that does draw people to want to live in your community," said Angelo.

But his team can't do that in their current building.

"We're crammed in this space," he added.

Since Angelo began his job, the Fruita Police Department has doubled in size. With a growing city comes a rise in crime.

"Its just really been difficult to work safely and comfortably in this building, and this safety issue for the general public, too," said Angelo.

That's why the city granted the Fruita Police Department $1.4 million in upgrades and renovations to this 1981 building that doesn't even currently have adequate locks or secure entrances.

"We have to make sure the day to day service of our citizens remains strong," said Fruita city manager Clint Kinney...."
(Cori Coffin)

(Read more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel "Extradition hearings set in missing teacher case"

via Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:

"The FBI is leading the two-state investigation. The agency has said Arnold is presumed dead, although her body has not been found.

Richland County, Mont., prosecutor Michael Weber alleges the two men kidnapped Arnold from a Sidney street about 10 minutes after she left her home. Only one of her running shoes has been found.

The FBI asked landowners in extreme northeastern Montana and in four counties in northwest North Dakota to search abandoned farmsteads that have shelterbelts with rows of mature or rotting trees.

According to court records, the two men left western Colorado less than two days before Arnold disappeared.... "


(Learn more? Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Dept. of Defense "Special Operations Forces Rescue Hostages in Somalia"

Other alerts have this credited to Navy Seal Team 6.

Thank you so much for your service.

Jim Garamone:

"WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2012 – Special operations forces rescued an American woman and Danish man who had been held captive in Somalia for three months, President Barack Obama announced early this morning.

Both are well and are in a secure location, and there were no American casualties in the operation.
Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted were working as part of a Danish demining group when Somali criminals kidnapped them near Galcayo, Somalia, on Oct. 25, according to a statement from Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. Galcayo is near the border with Ethiopia. There was no word where the two were held.

“This successful hostage rescue, undertaken in a hostile environment, is a testament to the superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others,” Panetta said in the statement. “I applaud their efforts, and I am pleased that Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted were not harmed during the operation.”
The president said he had spoken with Buchanan’s father and told him that all Americans are thankful that his daughter is safe and will soon be home.

“The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice,” Obama said in his statement. “This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people...”

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Study: Wetlands restoration rarely effective"

Bob Berwyn:

"SUMMIT COUNTY — For years, land managers and elected officials have permitted the destruction of ecologically valuable wetlands under the assumption that those areas can be replaced somewhere else with artificially created wetlands.

That development model has created a billion-dollar-per-year wetlands restoration industry, but a recent study suggests that restored wetlands rarely reach the quality of a natural wetland.

“Once you degrade a wetland, it doesn’t recover its normal assemblage of plants or its rich stores of organic soil carbon, which both affect natural cycles of water and nutrients, for many years,” said David Moreno-Mateos, a University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral fellow. “Even after 100 years, the restored wetland is still different from what was there before, and it may never recover...”

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SandBox Comments: KREX News 5 "Future of Oil Shale Debated During Western Slope Forum"

"Two experts with completely different ideas sit together at the same table to answer questions about what the future of this potential energy source could look like. Jeremy Boak is a Colorado School of Mines professor director who has been studying oil shale for years. Randy Udall is an energy analyst who has studied oil shale for decades.

These polar opposites opened up the dialogue Tuesday night, something that has not been done in a long time. Western Colorado has a long love-hate relationship with oil shale development. In the past, booms and busts have left many people wary of the process to get the oil from rock..."
(KREX)


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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times/Letters to the Editor "We want names"

Almost impossible anymore to find news articles that quote Mayor Mick Ireland that reveal his thinking before he speaks.

How about we set aside the obvious in this latest from Mayor Mick to the editors of both Aspen papers today? That obvious being the fact that the hydro project dust-up  is not a voter's ballot and to compare the two in relation to laws, ethics, rules, etc. is not only ludicrous it is rather bizarre.  (Does make for a 'good' (?)  jab at his nemesis Marilyn Marks though, doesn't it?)

And instead, let's focus on where Mick's angst likely lies.

In the fact that this pet project has turned out to be one that he can't simply ram down the throats of the folks up in Aspen and Pitkin County.

They have something to say and are willing to put their money up to have the freedom to say it.

Could they possibly desire anonymity so that they are socially safe from these kind of 'persuasion' tactics of powerful people?

This is not a popularity contest, it's a development project controversy.  But if it was, Mick.

You probably would lose.

(Read Mayor of Aspen Mick Ireland's latest rant?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Report questions Colorado tourism incentives"

It's a shame this snafu had to come up and off-color the good works of the Regional Tourism Act.

One also has to wonder why Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt, Rifle and Carbondale are not on board with seeking out funding for tourism related infrastructure.

How long will it take before we stop relying on sole source lodging taxes in these communities to fund our need for tourism and related economic development?  Start going after programs like this, more GoCo funds and other grants that just might be out there if we were to devote a dedicated tourism/economic staffer to look.

Avatars in commentary are so vocal over this issue and still our leaders spin wheels in 4lo.  Here's another year of possible funding simply passing us by.  

"...DENVER--Gaylord Entertainment Co. and the five other applicants for state tourism incentives overestimated the number of new visitors their projects would bring to Colorado and, as a result, the amount of tax-increment financing they're eligible for, according to reports by the state's independent analyst.

The reports were prepared for the Colorado Economic Development Commission, which will decide in April which projects receive state tourism incentives. The state hasn't released the reports, but the municipalities applying for incentives provided copies to The Denver Post on Monday.

Several applicants said the consultant — Economic Planning & Systems Inc. — misinterpreted the Regional Tourism Act. Enacted in 2009, the RTA allows a portion of state sales taxes generated by a project that advances tourism to be used to help finance its infrastructure...."

(Learn more?  Click title.  Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Garfield County pledges $1M for Silt infrastructure"

Now this, is much better.  (See related stories and comments here.)

Our county should be looking after its own instead of pushing them out to the necessity of reaching  for federal funding.

SandBox is sure this money is going to be spent very wisely.  Silt Mayor Dave Moore and the Trustees are all doing a great job. Despite the very small handful of Silt residents who simply cannot seem to ever find anything to be positive and encouraged for when it comes to town politics.

Congratulations to the Town of Silt!

(Read article?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Aspen sign discussion sparks criticism on government red tape"

No doubt, sign codes are necessary.  But when the code takes days to wade through that is a bit much.

Wouldn't it be great for the Glenwood Meadows tenants (and likely the upcoming VCR tenants if the development passes by voters) if our local municipalities would sit down and revise it all down into a simple, appropriate and acceptable couple pages tops?

Dorothy Atkins:

"...The conversation was side-tracked however when local businesswoman Shirley Tipton, owner of The Aspen Emporium and Flying Circus, criticized the city for not only making the sign code application difficult for a new business owner, but for generally making the process of opening a new business in the a commercial core a bureaucratic nightmare.

“Going through the sign application process is way less fun than a root canal,” Tipton said. “It has been confusing and onerous and certainly not clear.”

Tipton suggested that there be an adequate appeal process for signs not following protocol and she questioned the reasoning behind allowing for window advertisements, but restricting the size of sign letter cutouts.

Tipton’s business was one of the first new stores to open since City Council directed staff to crack down on signage-related clutter about a year ago, she noted.

“It might be interesting to test your own process,” Tipton said.  “And it’s not incredibly friendly.”

Community Development Director Chris Bendon echoed Tipton’s concerns about how difficult the city makes it for small business owners to open and suggested that the city either create a kind of starter kit for new entrepreneurs that would outline the ins-and-outs of Aspen policies and taxes or have a staff position dedicated to assisting new business owners.

“At this point, it’s sort of learn the hard way,” said Bendon on how most new owners figure out local laws and policies.

Council agreed and noted that the issue deserves its own work session. The sign code is just the tip of the iceberg, Councilman Derek Johnson said.


“It would be good,” Mayor Mick Ireland said on creating a guide for new business owners. “The experience you had should not be replicated Shirley.”

City staff’s request on sign protocol came after police officers — at the direction of city planners — cited and fined La Crêperie du Village, a new restaurant at the corner of Mill Street and Hopkins Avenue, for having a sign that was several feet to large by the city’s standards.

“I apologize for the discomfort that that causes, really for anyone in the community that hears about an enforcement action that is less than pleasant,” said Bendon of the confrontation between the police and the business owner..."

(Read more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

 

SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Breckenridge: Ready, set, sculpt!"

This is terrific!  Let's hope Jenney Coberly is planning on doing a daily peek at the championships up in Breck.

Click title to take a look at how professional snow sculptors start the process of tackling a giant snow cube.

All credit:  Jenney Coberly

SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Morning photo: Avalanche control at Breckenridge"

*For more info on avalanches, snow science and avalanche safety, attend one of the upcoming public Breckenridge Ski Patrol info sessions, the third Thursday of each month (Feb. 16, March 15, and April 19) at the Ten Mile Room in The Village at Breckenridge.

Matt Krane:

"SUMMIT COUNTY — One of the most superb skiing experiences at Breckenridge has always been the velvety flat, steep ‘windblown’ surface that often develops during post-storm wind cycles. It’s developing right now in Horseshoe Bowl, but to put things in perspective, less than a week ago the T-bar was not yet open to the public...."  (Read more and see more photos?  Click title.)