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Category Archives: 2008
A change for the worse? Critics say an EPA proposal could increase air pollution in parks and pristine areas
New rules proposed by the Bush administration would change how air quality is assessed in the nation’s most pristine areas, making it easier to build power plants near sites such as Mesa Verde National Park. Although the new Environmental Protection … Continue reading
Published in July 2008
Tight squeeze: Montezuma County’s justice system, government are running out of room
Montezuma County is growing — and along with the new homes, added revenues and new roads comes a host of new problems. One of the most pressing is a need for more space for county government and the judicial system, … Continue reading
Published in July 2008
Then and now: A photo exhibit celebrates the forces of change and stasis among the Diné of Montezuma Creek
In 1978, 24-year-old Bruce Hucko was doing his best to find work outside Salt Lake City, where he taught photography to school kids. He’d fallen in love with the outdoors, so he applied for a job as a National Park … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, June 2008
Siefer hopes landscapes resonate with beholders
Painter Becky Siefer wants viewers to interact with her mixed-media images. The Mancos-Dolores-area artist sees any picture she creates as half an equation. A beholder’s response makes up the other half. So, her excitement whoops down the phone line as … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, June 2008
Still flying high: Grand Canyon tourists are thrilling to the sight of the rare California condor
Related story Condor studies show lead bullets pose threat to humans Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. — The California condor, a giant vulture once on the brink of extinction, can be seen enjoying a measured comeback here, soaring above … Continue reading
Published in June 2008
Land-use planning stumbles into a pitfall
Less than one month after the Montezuma County commissioners approved a controversial gravel pit near Mancos, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that a previous board had erred in giving the nod to a gravel operation in the Lewis … Continue reading
Published in June 2008
Condor studies show lead bullets pose threat to humans
Related story Still flying high: Grand Canyon tourists are thrilling to the sight of the rare California condor Consuming wild game shot with conventional bullets poses a larger risk for lead poisoning in humans than previously thought, according to … Continue reading
Published in June 2008
Bluff’s choice of sewage system proves controversial
“This is bulls–t!” declared one disgruntled Bluff homeowner at a public hearing in May. But, in actuality, it was the ultimate disposition of human waste that was under discussion during the lively meeting of the Bluff Area Service Board. “We … Continue reading
Published in June 2008
Public lands expect more energy production
Related stories Dirty business: A Colorado scientist says chemicals used in natural-gas production can be harmful Underground treasure: As energy companies probe for oil and gas, the public watches with some concern As energy development increases on private lands, … Continue reading
Published in May 2008
Underground treasure: As energy companies probe for oil and gas, the public watches with some concern
Related stories Dirty business: A Colorado scientist says chemicals used in natural-gas production can be harmful Public lands expect more energy production Two public meetings related to oil and gas development took place in Dove Creek one week in … Continue reading
Published in May 2008
Who yields to whom? Recreation overload creates trail conflicts in the Hermosa Creek area
Is it wilderness, a National Conservation Area or a Wild and Scenic River? All of these preservation categories are proposed for the Hermosa Creek watershed, a swath of remote subalpine forest, and a recreation hot spot, located 10 miles north … Continue reading
Published in May 2008
Dirty business: A Colorado scientist says chemicals used in natural-gas production can be harmful
Related stories Underground treasure: As energy companies probe for oil and gas, the public watches with some concern Public lands expect more energy production Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, at least in terms of the emissions given … Continue reading
Published in May 2008
‘Drug czarina’ advocates random testing of students
Related story Critics question testing’s effectiveness, appropriateness Even while drug use declines significantly among public-school students and a recent Washington State Supreme Court decision casts doubt on the legality of random drug testing, President George Bush’s administration continues to … Continue reading
Published in May 2008
Critics question testing’s effectiveness, appropriateness
Related story ‘Drug czarina’ advocates random testing of students During an interview with the Free Press, Bertha Madras of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy defended the concept of “suspicionless” random drug-testing of public- school students, … Continue reading
Published in May 2008
Blending past and present: A new exhibit spotlights the lush art of the Utes
What do you see as you barrel down Highway 191 between Moab and Monument Valley in southern Utah? Red rocks, turquoise skies, glittering sand, and RVs? Ah! The town of White Mesa, where you stop for a snack or gas. … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, May 2008
Wright’s rants raise troubling questions
News flash! Illinois Sen. Barak Obama, until lately the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, isn’t all black. He’s only half black, the other half being as white as Hillary Clinton’s naked butt. (The simile is pure conjecture, of … Continue reading
Published in April 2008, David Long
Monument Valley: A legendary landscape in need of protection
Located on the Arizona-Utah border on Highway 163 in the northern part of the Navajo Nation, Monument Valley hosts over 200,000 visitors a year, who come to savor its red mesas and sandy deserts. But to appreciate the majestic rocks, … Continue reading
Published in April 2008
Let the good times flow: Big water on the Dolores
The record snowfall this winter is melting away into an extended boating season on the Lower Dolores River that is rarely seen. Typically a trickle following average to below-average snowpack, the Dolores River below McPhee Dam falls victim to … Continue reading
Published in April 2008
A Dolores-based program seeks to aid U.S. women’s cycling
After negotiating the ruts and puddles of the spring melt in the muddy streets of Dolores, you are prepared for the maze of a garage that is the current home of the U.S. Women’s Cycling Development Program. You duck below … Continue reading
Published in April 2008
A controversial decision on land use in Montezuma County
It seemed like déjà vu all over again — again. A roomful of people had turned out to oppose a major-impact subdivision proposed for the top of Granath Mesa, north of Dolores, Colo. One by one, opponents stepped to the … Continue reading
Published in April 2008
Canadian broadcasting proves too racy for local viewers
Blame it on CBS, Janet Jackson and the Federal Communications Commission. Or spicy “adult” shows on ABC and Fox. But the end result is the same: Local viewers who depend on the Southwest Colorado Television Translator Association for their TV … Continue reading
Published in April 2008
Sorting through public comments on the Canyons of the Ancients plan
The Montezuma County commissioners have numerous concerns about the draft resource management plan proposed for Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, from worries that the monument will become “more like Mesa Verde” to objections to policies on oil and gas … Continue reading
Published in March 2008
A dispute over videotaping in Dolores County
One of the most contentious issues in Dolores County — seismic testing for oil and gas exploration near Cahone — spawned a new controversy Jan. 30, when the chairman of the county planning commission refused to allow a citizen to … Continue reading
Published in March 2008
The complexities of land use in Montezuma County
Land use continues to be a thorny problem in Montezuma County. Recent meetings of the county commission have included a business owner scolding the county for what he perceived as its flawed zoning scheme and a three-lot, minor subdivision being … Continue reading
Published in March 2008
The aspen decline: Will views like this vanish?
Colorful Colorado — named for golden-orange aspen panoramas capable of stopping RVs mid-highway to spill tourists gawking in amazement — is suddenly at risk of fading away. Aspen are dying at an alarming rate across the Intermountain West, threatening biodiversity, … Continue reading
Published in March 2008
The art of compromise: Local author says ‘us vs. them’ mentality won’t save the environment
Environmentalist and author Amy Irvine wanted “to turn tail and bolt” when her father committed suicide on New Year’s Eve, 1999. She left the Salt Lake City area, where she grew up, for tiny Monticello in southeastern Utah to work … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, March 2008
Holding my nose for Hillary?
I’m just not sure I’ll be able to do it. Vote for Hillary, that is, rather than facing the reality of shape-shifting Mitt Romney or blood-and-guts John McCain. It’s certainly not because she’s a woman, nor is it about what … Continue reading
Published in David Long, February 2008
Giving voice to the Apaches
‘Stories’ gains acceptance by Mescaleros Albuquerque journalist and nonfiction writer Sherry Robinson describes her book, “Apache Voices: Their Stories of Survival as Told to Eve Ball,” as not a narrative but a collection of stories. Robinson found these stories amid … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, February 2008
Will Rico have a molybdenum mine?
The sleepy mountain town of Rico, Colo. could revert to its bustling mining past pending a deal being negotiated between a local land developer and a Canadian mine company. Bolero Resources Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, has entered into contracts … Continue reading
Published in February 2008
A tragic Utah bus crash spotlights the gaps in cellular coverage
Often it takes a tragedy to bring about needed change. For San Juan County, Utah, that tragedy occurred Jan. 6, when a busload of skiers returning to the Phoenix, Ariz., area from Telluride, Colo., veered off a narrow, curving road … Continue reading
Published in February 2008
The pet-overpopulation problem: Who’s helping
The small tuxedo cat was dying by inches – literally. At first the fur was missing from about three inches of his tail, torn off by some traumatic injury. The bare skin bled in patches. Then, as the days passed, … Continue reading
Published in February 2008
Unintended effects of the digital-TV switchover
Out with the old, in with the new. That adage will have special meaning to TV viewers early next year. Many older sets will literally be thrown out in advance of new federal regulations that will end the broadcasting of … Continue reading
Published in January 2008
A new publishing company wants regional writers
Dear Author: We have read your manuscript with great interest at Manhattan Press. Unfortunately, it does not suit our needs. If editors at big publishing houses don’t recognize a writer’s name, a story or an article almost automatically lands in … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, January 2008
A high-density subdivision high on a mesa gets a ‘no’ vote
For the second time, the planning commission rejects a Granath Mesa proposal For the second time, the Montezuma County Planning Commission has said no to a proposed major-impact subdivision on Granath Mesa about 2 miles above Dolores, Colo. On Dec. … Continue reading
Published in January 2008
Gift of the Spider Woman: Exhibit celebrates Diné weaving of the 1800s
According to oral tradition, Spider Woman taught weaving to the Diné (Navajos). She also instructed Spider Man to build the first loom of wooden vertical and horizontal beams that represented the earth and sky; and reflected the sun, rain, and … Continue reading
Published in Arts & Entertainment, September 2008