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Category Archives: September 2014
How building a street led to a historic recall election
Voters in Cortez will go to the polls May 3 to decide whether to oust five of seven members of the city council in response to claims that the council squandered public money and needlessly aided a private subdivision. The … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
Tenth Circuit won’t rehear Salt Creek Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit will not rehear a case involving San Juan County, Utah, and Salt Creek in Canyonlands National Park. On Sept. 8, the court rejected a petition from the county and the state … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
Saints and sinners
None of us are angels, regardless of our good works and words, and most of us would readily concede this. But gently pointing this out in a profile of Michael Brown, the black teenager shot to death by a small-town … Continue reading
Published in David Long, September 2014
Fork in the road battle? Montezuma County is moving to take a tougher stance with federal agencies in disputes over access on public lands
After years of pressure from motorized-use advocates and critics of the federal government, the Montezuma County commission is taking an increasingly tough stance in its dealings with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Recently, the commissioners directed the … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
Turning a fresh page: Cortez’s sole bookstore reaches out via social media to tout its diverse, plentiful inventory
Imagine a life without books. For many folks this may be easy, while for others, it’s unthinkable. For centuries, books have provided education, entertainment, distraction, religious instruction, and fantasy. They’ve even been used as paperweights, booster seats, or home décor. … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
Spreading a message of hope: The Piñon Project is offering a program that uses both schoolkids and adults to prevent suicide among youth
Suicide is the ultimate expression of hopelessness. It’s tragic at any age, but there is something especially heart-wrenching about suicide among the young. That’s why the Piñon Project is working to implement a program throughout middle schools and high schools … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
McElmo Canyon ‘megatransect’: An intrepid duo sets out to explore the length of the creek on foot
In a 1999 issue of National Geographic magazine, journalist David Quammen and photographer Michael Nichols chronicled the 1,200-mile “megatransect” of conservationist J. Michael Faye across Africa. Over the course of a year, Faye slashed his way from northeastern Congo to … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
Off the beaten path Montezuma County is considering closing the only access to little-known Yucca House National Monument
The only motorized public access to Yucca House National Monument, a sprawling Ancestral Puebloan ruins group south of Cortez managed by Mesa Verde National Park, is being considered for closure by the Montezuma County Commission. Yucca House, near the base … Continue reading
Published in September 2014
The nature of beauty: A former local resident’s new film examines the treatment of facial abnormalities
Images of elegant, ageless, slender, buff, rich, unrealistic icons of beauty fill the media these days. Waiting rooms at reconstructive- surgery clinics fill with patients eager to transmogrify into mannequins of this cultural ideal. The modern preoccupation with beauty overshadows … Continue reading
Published in September 2014