Read more
Category Archives: 2006
Anonymous accusations carry their own stigma
Cable news has been filled lately with idle speculation about whether or not members of the Duke University lacrosse team raped one of two exotic dancers who briefly performed for them at a drunken party. (Don’t they mean “erotic” dancers, … Continue reading
Published in David Long, May 2006
Coal-mine proposal meets resistance
For more than three decades the Peabody Western Coal Company has been mining coal from Black Mesa, Ariz., transporting it as slurry to a power plant 273 miles away in Laughlin, Nev. Anyone who’s traveled to the Grand Canyon via … Continue reading
Published in May 2006
The San Juan: A region’s lifeblood
Early this spring I sat up late reading a book entitled “River Flowing from the Sunrise,” by James Aton and Robert McPherson. Sometime around midnight I stepped outside and within 10 seconds I was drenched in a wet, heavy snow; … Continue reading
Published in May 2006
Diné poets share art with students
In April four Navajo (Diné) poets were invited to the Fourth Annual Celebration of Diné Authors for a week-long program at Rough Rock High School and a community event: Orlando White, Esther Belin, Velencia Tso-Yazzie, and Sherwin Bitsui. The purpose … Continue reading
Published in May 2006
59th District contest heating up: Deitch battles ‘smear’ as he tries to petition onto primary ballot
Durango attorney and environmentalist Jeff Deitch is a man determined to have his way with voters in the 59th legislative district — at least through the Democratic primary in August, when, if things go as hoped, he’ll face off against … Continue reading
Published in May 2006
Marking 100 years of the Antiquities Act
The tower rises on the cliff, elegant as any European castle, even after standing a thousand years. “There may have been more people living in the Four Corners in 1250 than there are now,” says LouAnn Jacobson, manager of Canyons … Continue reading
Published in May 2006
Rural motorists enjoy life in the fast lane
Here’s a challenge: Drive through McElmo Canyon at the speed limit. Go ahead, try it. Motor along at 40 mph down County Road G, which offers the shortest route from Cortez to Utah’s Aneth, Montezuma Creek, and Bluff. Odds are … Continue reading
Published in April 2006
Mystery explores Arapaho-Shoshone conflict
Boulder, Colo., author Margaret Coel loves wolves, because they “can see very far, and are alert to changes in their environment.” Using the wolf as metaphor in her mystery, “Eye of the Wolf,” she creates a villain that resembles a … Continue reading
Published in April 2006, Arts & Entertainment
Utah Navajos seek trust-fund accounting
I have a private joke about the founding of this San Juan country, if it can be said that it was ever “founded.” Indeed it was not devoid of human habitation when the first Mormons came here at the end … Continue reading
Published in April 2006
Travel video spurs teacher’s suspension
Two high-profile incidents in Colorado that raise questions about academic freedom have a counterpart in Cortez. Shortly before winter break, a Montezuma-Cortez High School teacher was suspended for showing a travel video in which sex reared its ugly head in … Continue reading
Published in April 2006
In defense of (a little) intolerance
That dirty rotten Communist Karl Marx quite correctly pointed out that religion is the opium of the masses. Karl (I feel like we’re on a first-name basis since I’ve also been cursed as a dirty rotten Communist), who preferred name-callers … Continue reading
Published in David Long, March 2006
Garments, goods and gossip: Trading posts, once community centers, are disappearing
I parked my motorcycle on the broken pavement and gravel driveway and went to the front of Ismay Trading Post, with its peeling adobe façade and dust-glazed windows. As I pushed the door open the little dog bounded over the … Continue reading
Published in March 2006
Canyons of the ancients? Retiree influx altering Four Corners’ demographics
They’re coming. Montezuma County is expecting about 3,000 new residents during the next few years, an increase of more than 10 percent in its population. Who are these newcomers? One thing is certain: It won’t be the stork delivering these … Continue reading
Published in March 2006
Is biodiesel really coming to Dove Creek?
Farmers are risk-takers. Each year they gamble big that the cost of input and production will be less than their crop earnings, providing a profit margin to sustain their families into the next growing season. In dryland farming areas, the … Continue reading
Published in March 2006
Famed “El Camino Real” celebrated
Dawn breaks over San Gabriel in the Española Valley, north of where Santa Fe will grow. Several men walk a path. They carry beads, pottery, and turkeyfeather blankets, items they’ve brought from their homes at San Juan Pueblo. Others come … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, March 2006
Mancos seeks solutions to crime wave
If you want to do something illegal, do it in Mancos. There’s no law enforcement here. That’s been the word on the street this winter, prompted by some staffing glitches in the Mancos Marshal’s Office. But Deputy Marshal Sam Sparks … Continue reading
Published in February 2006
Gambling with the future: How far should a town go for financial gain?
She sits looking right at you — full frontal nudity. The only thing she’s wearing is a tiny pendant around her neck. Her hands are flat on the white floor, fingertips pointed away from her thighs. Her legs are artfully … Continue reading
Published in February 2006
“Visions” shows Diné in their native lands
“Visions of the People in Their Native Land,” the 40-piece photography exhibit currently at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz., is the show that almost wasn’t. “(It) came about in an odd fashion,” says David H. Davis, who … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, February 2006
Protection or over-regulation? Talk of ‘wild and scenic’ status worries water-users
Should the lower Dolores River be considered “wild and scenic”? How about Hermosa Creek near Purgatory, or the Piedra River east of Durango. These are questions that will soon be mulled during public discussion of proposals for a new management … Continue reading
Published in February 2006
A rare bird is growing even rarer
New research showing the harmful effects of oil and gas development on sage grouse may have implications for shrinking populations of the birds in Southwest Colorado. A recently released study by a doctoral student at the University of Wyoming finds … Continue reading
Published in February 2006
Locals debate idea of paving Norwood Road
NORWOOD — Montezuma County commissioners are lobbying the federal government to pave their way north towards this tiny mountain town using Forest Road 526, more commonly known as the Dolores-Norwood road. But in late January, the recently publicized plan sparked … Continue reading
Published in February 2006
Unwanted immigrants: Africanized bees are steadily spreading closer to Colorado
Swarms of “killer” bees, an aggressive hybrid true to their name, have long inhabited Texas, Nevada and southern Arizona. More recently they have been spreading through New Mexico, arriving in Santa Fe neighborhoods last November. Will they migrate further north … Continue reading
Published in January 2006
Seeking a pollution solution
Jim Hook, owner of the Recapture Lodge in Bluff, Utah, brings forth an empty, dusty old wine bottle. It has a dilapidated cigar shoved down its neck, and around its middle is taped an official vote tally from a 1997 … Continue reading
Published in January 2006
Relocated: A new visitors center leaves vendors in Monument Valley with an uncertain future
What is now graded red sand at the junction of Highway 163 and the Monument Valley Road in Utah was, just six months ago, the “Vendor Village,” also referred to as the Monument Valley Mall. It consisted of two lines … Continue reading
Published in January 2006
Learning about life through bits and pieces
“In the dry early summer of 1992, I am still nominally a physician, but I dig in dirt these days, instead of taking stock of my patients’ bodies, attending only to bones stripped of muscle, blood and brain. . .” … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, January 2006
Future of roadless areas in limbo
The Clinton roadless rule vs. Bush’s state petitioning rule Keep roadless areas roadless. That was the message delivered by a majority of speakers at a meeting of Colorado’s Roadless Area Task Force on a wintry night at the Tamarron Resort … Continue reading
Published in January 2006