Two local artists will blend past and future in art and words during their park residency

Sonja Horoshko, who with Ed Singer was chosen as the local artists-in-residence at Mesa Verde this fall. The two will pen handwritten letters, accompanied by sketches, to their grandchildren during their stay in the park. Photo by Janneli F. Miller.

“It’s exciting to be returning to the poetry of ancient memory.”

This is what Sonja Horoshko (a Free Press contributor) said excites her about her two-week stint as an artist-in-residence at Mesa Verde National Park, taking place Sept. 29 through Oct. 12. Horoshko and Navajo painter Ed Singer are the most recent local artists selected for the Mesa Verde Artists-in- Residency Program.

Inactive since the 1970s, the current artist-in-residence program was “revived” by Frank Cope in 2006 for Mesa Verde National Park’s centennial celebration. Cope, who is in charge of maintenance at the park, is also a painter. Based upon his own experience working at the park, he took it upon himself to reinvigorate the program, believing it would not only promote the park, but also enable artists to develop their careers by sharing their interpretations of the park experience.

Under his guidance, the program developed five two-week residencies a year: two in May, two in September, and one in October reserved for local artists. Artists from all over the country have enjoyed their stints at the park, living and working out of a centrally located rustic hogan.

“Bone Weapon VIIII,” an acrylic-on-canvas painting by Ed Singer. Singer and Sonja Horoshko were the local artists chosen for this fall’s artist-in-residency at Mesa Verde National Park.

Roland Lee, a painter from Utah who held a residency in 2011, blogged, “What a fantastic experience it was to live in a wonderful Hogan on the very mesas inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans.”

One of the rewards of the residency is the opportunity to be in the park alone. Artists are allowed to access backcountry sites after a rigorous orientation and must carry radios when they are in the park’s remote areas.

“It’s just a fabulous program – it’s a lifechanger,” said Jan Wright, volunteer coordinator of the program. Indeed, for Wright – a watercolor artist from Mancos – her own residency in 2012 catapulted her into her current position. Cope ran the program from 2006 to 2012, which featured residencies by artists from all over the country. In 2013 the park shifted management of program away from Cope’s maintenance department, which it had outgrown.

Wright continued: “Mesa Verde Museum Association was very generous and took over ownership of the program – as long as I would be the volunteer coordinator. I was a Mesa Verde volunteer anyway, so I decided I’d step up. I didn’t know at the time I’d become the coordinator.”

The Mesa Verde Museum Association is responsible for developing and promoting educational and interpretive materials about Mesa Verde. One of the ways they accomplish this is by operating various bookstores in the park and online, as well as publishing guides and scientific monographs. All the books, calendars, games, toys, posters, jewelry and apparel sold in their stores are subject to staff review to ensure that the merchandise is educational and/or interpretive in nature.

The annual artist-in-residence program fits right in, and has been extremely successful the past two years.

In 2014 over 60 artists from all over the country applied for the residencies, and in 2013 there were 65 applications. Wright selects four jurors, who review the applications shortly after the January deadline and award residencies for the upcoming year to the top five artists. Three of the jurors are artists themselves, from different disciplines. The fourth juror is a representative of the park, such as an interpretive guide or ranger.

Over the years resident artists have worked in a wide variety of modalities – including quilters, sculptors, writers, photographers, educators, journalists, glass-makers, potters, printers, flute-players, dancers and composers.

Wright explained that not just well-established or professional artists receive the residency. Artists of all ages, ethnicities, and levels of experience are encouraged to apply. All residents donate one original work to the park and present a public program at the end of their second week.

“Jackson Sundown,” an oil on canvas by Ed Singer, now hangs in the Mainstreet Brewery in Cortez.

Along with a sample of their work, the application process requires artists to submit a statement of purpose, which details what they expect to gain and a plan for their public presentation. Of course, jurors examine the quality of the work, but most importantly, they look for something unique about the proposal. Horoshko and Singer’s ideas are striking in this regard. Their project consists of crafting letters to their grandchildren, Reid Aleksandre Korber, in Denver, and Keon Monty Edwards (Diné) in Tucson, who are both under 2. The letters will include written narrative messages as well as place-based sketches, and are deeply personal in that each artist, working independently, will record their im pressions of the park, and communicate directly to their grandsons.

This is the first time jurors have selected a collaborative project. Horoshko and Singer epitomize a distinct kind of dichotomous artistic relationship: male/female, Diné/Caucasian, and painter/writer. These tensions, combined with their shared experience of being grandparents, serve as inspiration for their work.

Singer explained, “We have our similarities and common goals and ideas, but there are a lot of differences in how we do things, and the ideas that we have. It will be an interesting project. I can’t wait to see the finished work.” Horoshko agreed. “Ed’s contribution is informed by his Diné experience and mine by my biligaana education.”

The pair, who met in 2008 through their participation in a group show at the Center for Southwest Studies in Durango, have never collaborated in this manner before. Singer, originally from Tuba City, Ariz., is a painter, but works in “almost every two-dimensional medium.” He said, “ I don’t ever remember not being an artist. I always remember drawing, and trying to paint.”

Horoshko said the idea of writing letters germinated after she recently read a letter from her deceased father. “Any time any of us keep a record, and look back at it, is a very singular experience,” she said. “The postmarked letter is a deeply personal, almost extinct form of communication today. I want Reid to know certain things about Mesa Verde and I’m keeping him in the foremost of my mind.”

Horoshko said she she feels it’s time, in her life, as a grandparent, to “train them, show them, and then they will learn as adults how to care about these issues.”

But the project encompasses more than just a personal record of the couple’s days spent in the park. The history of Mesa Verde’s journey to national-park status includes American and European letters home and articles. The site was first seen (by Caucasians) by Mancos rancher Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason in 1888. A few years later both Frank Chapin and Swedish explorer Gustaf Norkenskiold wrote about their discoveries in first-person narratives.

Over 100 years later, Horoshko believes her work follows in this tradition, noting that “our contributions as artists support the mission of the Park Service overall. I want our grandchildren to come here as adults someday and find little change from the contents of the letters they hold in their hands.”

Mesa Verde is home to the richest archaeological record in the United States. Indeed, Montezuma County has more archaeological artifacts per square mile than any other place in the U.S., and protection and preservation of the archaeological record is of utmost importance to Mesa Verde. The ancestral Puebloans who built and inhabited the cliff dwellings left their record via artifacts, petroglyphs, pottery, and pictographs, and archaeologists continue to preserve, research and interpret the material culture of the original inhabitants.

Yet contemporary indigenous people do not always get a chance to experience and express their thoughts about the park.

Singer hopes that his contributions will make a difference in this regard. “It will be like projecting something into the future of what the present park is. It is stewardship. When our grandchildren are adults the sacrifices, what Native Americans gave up in treaty rights, will come back. We gave up these lands – a lot of land – to be preserved and protected, not exploited. We will see how the U.S. government is doing 20 or 30 miles down the road.”

Both Singer and Horoshko are excited about the chance to spend two weeks at the park. The program allows artists special chances to see the park, perhaps as those who lived there originally did.

Wright said the artists can access Wetherill Mesa when it is not open to visitors. They can also choose to go to backcountry sites, at times when visitors, again, are not there, like sunset or sunrise.

About her own experience, she said, “I play native flute and being able to play my flute within the cliff dwellings and be alone there was just true magic, really magic.”

Wright is also excited about Horoshko and Singer’s project. She said their proposal rose quickly to the top of the application pile, because, “It was a way of also giving back to the park. Instead of just doing everything electronically, they said, ‘Let’s return to painting and sending paintings and prose to our children, and grandchildren.’ We’re really thrilled.”

Singer expressed his sentiment differently. “My goal is not to leave there with finished paintings, but to get ideas and to explore the unknown. I’m gonna just jump into the unknown,” he said. “The unknown, what will I find there?”

A free public presentation of Horoshko and Singer’s work will be given Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Farview Lodge library, in Mesa Verde.

The unaffiliated write-in candidate envisions a cadet program and a citizens’ review panel

Mike Steele

Mike Steele and his wife, Laurie, came to Southwest Colorado five years ago to retire. But a funny thing happened on their way to a laid-back rural lifestyle.

Ten or 12 months ago, he said, he was approached by some local acquaintances who asked him to run for Montezuma County sheriff. Initially he declined, but they returned a month later, and he asked why they were so insistent. They said there was a problem in the sheriff ’s office, referring to news items such as charges against former Undersheriff Robin Cronk, who recently pleaded guilty to embezzlement and official misconduct.

“Of course I’d read the paper, but I’ve dealt with media most of my life and sometimes you have to take things with a grain of salt,” Steele said. “They came back with some documentation indicative of some serious problems. I started looking into the situation myself.”

What he found, he said, was “a lack of proper administrative skills and leadership within the department.” He began seriously considering a bid for the position. “My wife and I talked about it and prayed about it.” Finally they decided to take on the challenge.

Steele is now running as an unaffiliated write-in candidate against Steve Nowlin, a veteran law officer who defeated incumbent Dennis Spruell in the Republican primary. There is no Democratic candidate in the race.

Steele, 57, has a wealth of law-enforcement experience, having worked more than 20 years in the field, at both ends of the spectrum – small and rural, big and urban. He worked in Inyo County, Calif., smaller in population than Montezuma County, and in the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’s Office, which serves several million people and employs over 3500. Likewise, he has worked and supervised staff in two diverse jail environments – one large (about 2,000 inmates), one similar to Montezuma County’s.

While with the San Bernardino sheriff ’s office, Steel said, he worked in patrol and in supervisory positions. His varied positions included a street-gang task force, a crime impact unit, community-oriented policing, street-narcotics investigations, SWAT, and homicide investigations.

Since leaving, he has made it a point to continue his training and education. He recently completed his POST certification. He said he has lectured at the college level on criminal justice and taught extensively in the San Bernardino training academy.

Beyond his law-enforcement career, he said, he has been a businessman and has owned and operated companies with gross revenues in excess of the MCSO budget. He also worked for a decade in fugitive apprehension agencies.

Seeing the system from the other side

Steele has also experienced the criminal justice system from the other side – as one of the targets of an investigation. In 2004 he was charged with three counts of unlawful solicitation of bail and conspiracy in connection with a bail-bond company that was allegedly giving kickbacks to jail inmates for recommending their company to new inmates. Ultimately Steele accepted a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor and paid $3,000 in court costs.

Steele said he was unwittingly caught up in a situation that had been going on before he arrived. The company had been created “in a way that was less than lawful,” he said, and that drew the attention of investigators. He said he was operating his fugitive-apprehension agency when he was contacted by the owner of the bail-bond company, in San Bernardino County. “He and his wife owned four or five different offices and asked me if I would do their fugitive work for them.”

He flew to California, talked with the owner, and decided to take on the contract. He and a team then worked about four months with the bail-bond company to bring down their fugitive population “to a manageable level” while he was also doing other work throughout the country.

Steele said he did notice that “it seemed like his [bail-bond] company was doing a large volume” but he didn’t find that strange, since they were in southern California. “I saw nothing that suggested to me there was any illegal activities taking place,” he said.

Eventually he decided to move to California and work exclusively for that company, “which let me quit traveling all over the U.S. living out of a suitcase,” an important consideration since his daughter was a high school student and he was raising her alone. His work included taking incoming phone calls, some of which were from people in custody.

“Their policy regarding incoming phone calls was if a call was answered and it was a person in custody in the jail system, you would accept, ask if it were pertaining to bail, and ask who was going to help them get out [such as a family member] and then connect them with a bail agent. I was not a bail agent. I made four or five of those three-way phone calls.”

But the company was being probed for the kickback scheme, and the San Bernardino DA’s office filed felony charges on the owners and everybody else associated with the company – a total of 19 people. He said all 19 people working in that company were charged. “I think they might have felt they had something bigger than it was.”

The owner and his immediate family were ultimately held accountable, he said, and the other people were processed through the system. Steele said he was the final individual to be addressed. “I had spent $65,000 protecting my innocence. I told my attorney I wanted to take it to a jury trial. They called a week later. . . and said they wanted another $75,000 to take it to trial. I said, ‘I really don’t have another $75,000 to give you’.”

In another few days, he recounted, his attorneys said the DA’s office said the sheriff’s office was concerned about possible civil litigation over the charges and would give him a deal under which he agreed to making the phone calls, a single misdemeanor, and he would be allowed to pay $3,000 in court fees over 12 months.

“I decided to swallow my foolish pride and do what was right financially. I was never arrested or booked. There is no criminal background relative to that.” Steele said the entire episode was a learning experience.

“I spent three years assuming that just because somebody said something, that it was right. I have had my eyes opened and now have seen the other side of that system and what a clarity I have experienced as a result.”

‘Remove the paramilitary style of policing’

Steele was raised in Lone Pine, Calif., a rural area at the base of Mt. Whitney. “I’m not a big-city boy,” he said. “I enjoy hunting, fishing and rodeoing.”

He and his wife have bought the Sinclair station in Dove Creek, which his wife runs. “She’ll be responsible for it,” he said. “My objective is with administering the sheriff ’s office.”

Steel said his biggest concern about the sheriff ’s office now is “a lack of unification” with the broader community.

“There seems to be a divide there. That can’t be. We have got to start rebuilding relationships between the community and sheriff’s office.

“We have to remove the paramilitary style of policing that exists and try to redirect it to a more community-oriented type.” He wants his officers to interact with the community both on and off duty. In addition, he said, citizens need to interact with the office.

He called for the creation of a citizens review panel “which would help me better direct the agency.” The panel could address concerns such as policy, agency restructuring and citizen complaints, “so nobody can ever say, ‘They swept it under the rug’.”

He also wants to increase the agency’s involvement with local youth, perhaps by initiating a “cadet” program as one step. “I started as a cadet sheriff at 16. It gave me an opportunity to determine if I wanted to be in law enforcement and to build a friendship and respect and trust with men and women in uniform. Let’s initiate a cadet program here and bring in some of the folks who are in our public schools.”

He said that would be one way to draw more Native Americans into the agency, piquing their interest as teens and hoping it would result in them being employed in the sheriff ’s office.

“We need to evolve that agency where its staff becomes an active and viable part of the community. We want thankful, kind, and professional law-enforcement personnel that are proud of who they are and where they work. It will take some time, but with proper leadership I know it can happen.”

Revolving door

Steele said he is also concerned about the “massive turnover of personnel” that has been a perennial problem in the MCSO. “When a ‘seasoned officer’ has less than three years of experience, that’s scary.” He hopes to counteract that by creating “a very positive work environment for those employees.”

The relatively low salaries in the MCSO as compared to other such agencies around the state have been cited as one factor behind the turnover, but Steele said this should not be a major issue because working conditions here are far better than in large urban areas.

“If you want to make big bucks and take a 65 percent higher risk that you might not go home at night, go to work in the big city…. When I was a patrolman in the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’s Office, there were 20 to 30 deputies a shift. They started out 40 to 50 calls behind and never got caught up. There should not be any expectation of equal pay” with places like that, he said.

Officers who were raised here understand that they have to give up something in order to raise their kids in a beautiful place and work with a considerably lower risk of injury or death, he said.

He added, “Everybody would like to make a lot of money, but county government is based on taxpayer revenue and there’s only so much. You have to make things work within the boundaries provided for you.” He said the MCSO’s current budget of over $5 million for 72 to 73 employees is substantial.

Even without bigger salaries, Steele believes he can retain sheriff ’s employees by providing “a harmonious and productive environment that helps them increase their personal education.”

“Give them a path,” he said. “It is an entire career, not somebody who says, ‘You’re going to do it my way or nothing.’ You have to work as a team with you being the leader.”

Dealing with the mentally ill

One key community issue that needs to be addressed, he said, is the presence of people with mental-health issues who sometimes wind up dealing with law enforcement. Steele said some sort of facility needs to be developed locally that can work with and help them – “something where you can just take them over there and they make sure they get back on their medication, things like that.”

Currently, he said, there is a lack of resources to effectively deal with problem people. “Here in Montezuma County the resources are extremely limited. Concerns are growing on a daily basis.”

Even though such facilities are expensive to run, he said, it’s time to start working to launch one.

“The goal would be to afford law enforcement a proper facility where they can take these folks with mental-health issues,” Steele said. “Start getting them back on track where they can be coexistent and not a harm to others. Jails aren’t the answer to the mentally ill, or people detoxing.

“I believe it’s time to initiate a fundamental group of people to start securing resources for a program or facility in this area where somebody with mental issues having difficulty interacting with society can be taken. Law enforcement can evaluate the situation and they can be taken to these locations.”

Such facilities can be small or large, private or not, even part of a hospital. “It could be a very small facility, a multi-use facility for detox and mental health. It’s something that really needs some attention. I think this community is ready to start developing some answers. The sheriff ’s office needs to be a viable part of the effort.”

He said he supports the Bridge Emergency Shelter in Cortez. “If folks don’t have an opportunity to get in out of the elements they could die.”

No need for vigilantes

In addition to those issues, relations with federal agencies are an ever-present concern. During his four years in office, Sheriff Spruell became widely known for his vocal criticisms of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, mainly in regard to road closures on public lands. Spruell often said he would issue a citation to any federal officer he found closing a road in a manner Spruell thought to be illegal, though the situation hasn’t occurred so far.

Steele said the issue of roads on public lands is “anything but a simple question. It’s extremely complex. It’s being addressed all over this country.”

In his opinion, the county in which federal roads and lands exist “should have some sort of involvement in the decision-making process as to whether roads should remain open,” he said.

But he believes this will ultimately occur without the need for any vigilante action. “As resistance grows to federal actions, you will see some unity to enable local governments to help and I would encourage that type of a business approach to these problems.”

He said it’s important to remember that Forest Service and BLM workers in the area “are just employees trying to provide for their families. To hold them personally responsible for decisions being made so far removed from them is kind of ridiculous.

“I am not a supporter of vigilanteism and I don’t believe in being aggressive to the local staff who have so little to do with the ultimate decision-making here. They’re part of our community. Their kids play with our grandkids.”

While everyone wants and needs access on public lands, he said, “there are some manmade, after-the-fact, unmaintained roads up there that may not be all that necessary. I would hope the state, federal, and local get together and start making these critical decisions as a group.

“I think we need to build that bridge between us and the federal government in a professional and businesslike manner as opposed to a vigilante-type manner.”

Five-time San Juan County Commisisoner Mark Maryboy’s work for the county may not be over.

During a county-commission work session Sept. 15, Commissioner Lyman proposed that a position be created for Maryboy, a county commissioner from 1986 to 2002 and from 2006 to 2010, to serve as the county’s “southern liaison” with the Navajos. The county already has a northern liaison, Jerry McNeely, who works with Spanish Valley residents between Moab and Monticello, attending meetings the commissioners can’t get to in the sprawling, 7,933-square-mile county.

Commissioners Bruce Adams and Ken Maryboy – Mark’s brother – discussed the possibility with Lyman and put it on the agenda for a vote at the next regular commission meeting the following Monday, Sept 22.

On that day, however, Adams was absent because of a family emergency, so a decision was delayed because Maryboy would have to recuse himself from the vote, leaving only Lyman.

The idea has raised some questions and concerns.

Former County Commissioner Lynn Stevens told the Free Press, “I don’t understand in any way why there’s a need for a liaison. When San Juan County is districted and one of them is entirely Navajo, that person is very adequate to represent the Navajo people. I am strongly opposed to the idea and know many Navajo people who have told me they are as well. It is an insult to the voting process.”

Morgan agreed. “The elected District 3 commissioner represents the Navajo,” he said in a phone interview. “That person, whoever he or she is, becomes the liaison between the people, the tribe and the county. It is not appropriate to bring in another unelected, appointed office in an attempt to diminish the power of a commissioner elected in a legal process by the people.”

He said when he was a county commissioner, Utah’s Native people had a liaison position appointed to the governor’s cabinet, something he thought was valuable. “We had the governor’s ear. Things got done. What happened to that representation on that state level? It’s not there any more. It’s as if the clock got smashed when that ended. Nothing has happened. It is my intent to get that appropriate representation back for my people and I will work to do that if I am elected.”

However, others have said that anything that furthers communication between the county and the Navajo Nation would be beneficial. Some have suggested it might be more appropriate, though, to wait until a new commissioner is elected Nov. 4 in the all-Navajo District 3 before making a decision on who should be the liaison.

Candidate Benally told the Free Press it would be “premature” to comment on the liaison issue. “I have to consult my committee,” she said.

There is said to be a petition circulating in Montezuma Creek opposing the appointment of a southern liaison. However, Benally did not return a follow-up call to verify the existence of the petition or to clarify her opinion on the liaison proposal after meeting with her committee.

Atcitty did not reply to a message seeking comment on the same topic.

The issue is to be on the agenda at the next regular commission meeting Monday, Oct. 6.

Gail Binkly contributed to this report.

Bill Utrup

Bill Utrup is stoutly convinced he has the essential qualities to make him the “best commissioner Montezuma County has ever had.”

“I am a young, energetic 65-year-old [who is] proactive and pro-business,” Utrup said, describing those qualities he believes would make him the leader the county must have in the challenging times ahead. “I have been self-employed my whole life and understand what it takes to make things happen.”

He lists among the wide-ranging experience that has prepared him for the job his work as a real-estate agent, a building and demolition contractor and, in those capacities, his complex dealings with local, state and federal governmental agencies.

“These professional occupations have given me extensive experience in business and government, whether for building a home, financing a business or purchasing a farm – as well as for the preservation of the natural systems we all hold so dear.”

If, as he confidently predicts, he is elected, his priorities will include focusing intensively on improving the county’s public education system, vigorously promoting economic development and instilling a sense of community in which all citizens will benefit from their united efforts.

“My greatest challenge will be my greatest reward,” he said in a prepared statement, “and that will be to assist in the enhancement of this community on every level that I can.

“But I need your support,” he stressed, “[so] together we can continue to build a model community that we will all be proud of.”

Asked what the commissioners could do to improve the quality of education in Montezuma County, which ranks very low in most of the categories by which the county is judged statewide, Utrup said that “just my presence and supporting education I think would be a biggie.

“And the school systems, knowing that they’re supported any way they can be by a county commissioner, I think is a big plus. “I know we [the county] have excess funds from time to time that can be channeled in that direction and also as a commissioner, there’s always the possibility of influencing different organizations to donate to our school system,” he said. “In the case of Kinder Morgan [a CO2 producer that accounts for a large portion of the county’s tax revenue] in terms of joint efforts with them and other individuals, to buy computers. “So I think there’s a lot of room there to support the school systems through being a county commissioner.”

Utrup said he doesn’t believe the incumbent commissioners are doing all they could to support education

“Other than directing funds from time to time, I don’t think the current commissioners have given that much attention to education in terms of awareness – in terms of being on the forefront of doing everything they can in order to assist the educational system,” he said. “They have varying interests and I guess my interest in education might not necessarily be their interests.

“So I feel it’s a personal endeavor as a commissioner in whatever arena you’re in to fully support that arena,” he said, “and education is one of my priorities because it feeds into economic development and vice versa.”

Establishing a stable economy is paramount to providing jobs once an educated workforce has been trained and ready to enter the job market, he said.

“Getting a good education is integral to getting a good job, and if we have economic benefits here, hopefully we can keep more of our people in the community versus leaving for the outside world — they have to go where the economic opportunities are the greatest.”

Just how such economic opportunities would be developed is, Utrup conceded, a knotty issue.

“That is a major hurdle,” he said. “A lot of the kids that grow up here would like to stay here if there are job opportunities available, so a good education and job opportunities go hand-in-hand.

“So we have to continue to increase and build on our economy as well as help our students to become more progressive any way we can to get good jobs in the future.” Utrup heartily endorsed the proposal now being mulled by the incumbent commissioners to “livestream” meetings (broadcast them via computer as they are in progress) and possibly record them for later transmission to allow interested citizens to tune in at their convenience.

“Videoing our meetings would be a definite asset to the community,” he said.

Other than that, Utrup said, he would need to have a comprehensive view from the inside once he is on the commission to gain insights into how the county government could be improved or made more efficient.

“That’s a tough one because you would almost have to get in there and have a feel for the reins, and then that opens one up to see what possible changes would benefit the community,” he said.

“It’s one thing to be on the outside and another to be on the inside dealing directly with these issues,” he added. “On the inside you’ve got a full reign of what’s going on through the different factions.

For instance, he said, “We have an ongoing relationship with Kinder Morgan, but being on the outside, we’re not that close to Kinder Morgan to where a lot of information is shared between us and Kinder Morgan, but between the county commission and Kinder Morgan a lot of information is shared.

“Now this is just a ‘for instance,’ but until we know more of the depth of everybody’s business we can’t start to formulate new ideas as for how things should go,” he said.

“This is just from my perspective, but from being on the outside we don’t have near the flow of information that we have on the inside,” he added. “Once we’re on the inside, through that flow of information we have a lot more to pull from and make conscious decisions.”

When asked what he would do to improve county government and the lives of its citizens, Utrup said he “would have to think about that, because I’ve been focusing on a lot of different areas of the job,” such as conflicts with federal agencies on roads and who has ultimate control over them, and on the issues surrounding transferable development rights (TDRs) in the Dolores River Valley Plan.

On one of the more controversial issues currently facing the county, Utrup makes no bones about the fact that he believes the plan, developed after years of study by a citizens’ group with input from water-quality experts, has failed to live up to its goals of improving water quality or enhancing property values in the river valley. Perhaps the most contentious provision of the plan is the system of TDRs under which property owners who have no plans to develop their properties could sell 10-acre portions to those who do, thus concentrating development in certain areas while leaving others in more pristine states. Recently, the commission voted 2-1 to eliminate this portion of the plan, and a lawsuit challenging this decision is currently working its way through the court.

“I am a relatively new to the area [so] I wasn’t here when the plan was enacted 10 years ago,” Utrup wrote on his Facebook page, while sharply criticizing the scheme. “There is no proof that the quality of water has changed in the valley [and] proof of a change in the last 10 years should have to be established and pointed out to the commissioners.” (Defenders of the plan say pro-actively assuring water quality is far better than addressing a problem once it occurs.)

Utrup said he would make a better commissioner than James Lambert, his Republican opponent, because, “I am a more active member of the community – I think that’s a big plus. I work in the soup kitchen now and attend school-board meetings and am a member of the Cortez Chamber of Commerce. I feel my business experience is way better than his.”

While Utrup remained vague when asked for specific programs or policies he would support or oppose as commissioner, he did sum up his general goal during his interview with the Free Press:

“My whole ideal is to become the best county commissioner that has ever been elected in this county.”

Commission hopeful Lambert worries about ‘federal overreach,’ road closures

James Lambert

“Conservative fiscally and socially” reads the slogan on a campaign brochure for Pleasant View farmer James Lambert, Republican candidate for Montezuma County commissioner in District 1. “For God, family, country, community.”

Lambert, 77, is not afraid to display his beliefs. He is opposed to “the federal overreach” on public lands, he does not like conservation easements or the transferable development rights that have caused controversy in the Dolores River Valley, and he can quote Bible verses as easily as a hippie could recite the lyrics to Beatles anthems of peace and joy.

But, while his views seem clear, there is one thing he says some people misunderstand about him. Contrary to concerns in some emails circulating around the county, he said he does not believe in the supremacy of Aryan peoples.

“There are some people that are trying to tie me to white-race supremacist people and there could be nothing further from the truth than for me to be associated with those people,” he said in a phone interview. “I need to make it clear somehow or other that I don’t subscribe to the belief of the white-race supremacists at all.”

The issue has arisen because of Lambert’s extensive writings about religion on a website, kingdomseekersministry.org. For more than three decades, Lambert and his wife have had a non-denominational Bible study ministry that includes mail outreach and a local Bible study group; his Bible interpretations are expressed on the site, and some of those statements have prompted questions.

For instance, the “We Believe” page of the site states that God chose a people to become his “servants and witnesses to the world,” and further states, “These people in modern times are represented by the Anglo- Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, and kindred peoples of the world. However, genealogy is not the ultimate criteria. . .” (For more of the quote, see below.)

Another comment in one of his lessons states, “I presume that it is Scripture like this chapter that has led today’s Jews to believe that they are superior to other peoples. Even if they were who they claim to be, which they are not, this should not give anyone a superiority complex.” (See below.)

Lambert said he is simply explaining what’s in the Bible. He said emphatically that he wants nothing to do with white supremacists.

“On our mailing list we have a number of prisoners and this white-race supremacist thing, it’s a problem in the prisons, especially where they have a large Negro population, and so we get requests quite often from prisoners who want to be put on our mailing list,” he said. When they receive such a request, “I write them back telling them I’m glad to put them on our mailing list but I have to know for sure that they’re not having any part to do with the white-race supremacists. If they are, they’re not welcome on our mailing lists. Usually they never write back.”

Lambert said he feels the need to make this clear “because I realized people aren’t saying it but they’re inferring it in their emails and their conversation. … this is what they’re thinking and I’m a little bit hesitant to talk much about what I believe because people who aren’t informed can certainly draw the wrong conclusions.

“I don’t mind telling anybody what I believe, but I need to have the time to explain it to them so they don’t draw the wrong conclusions,” he said. “I just felt like I needed to make it real clear to you that I had no part of that.”

Regarding the comment about Jews, Lambert provided a lengthy explanation of Biblical history. Following the death of Solomon, he said, the Kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms. Each was eventually taken into captivity by different peoples. One tribe was allowed to return, but the other, called Israel, was not. Instead, its members moved north and west from where they were captive into Asia Minor, Europe, and the British Isles, from where they spread into North America, Australia, South Africa, and other places.

“I believe that we are descended from those people,” Lambert said. “God gave them a particular job to do. They were to be witnesses of him for the whole world and basically this is what they’ve done.”

“Keep in mind what I’m saying is Judah and Israel are two different entities,” he added. “They never came back together. The people you are calling Jews today are not part of the Israel Kingdom. They were part of it to start with, but when they split they became their own kingdom.” Asked whether he believes any human beings are superior to any other people as far as race, creed or religion, Lambert said no.

“I do think that the Israel people, and this would include some from Judah as well, they already have been and will be blessed more than some of the other people because of the job that God gave them to do,” Lambert said.

“They went into captivity because of their sins, but God used that to scatter them throughout the world. The fact that he’s using them for his purpose, I think that he blesses them and that’s the reason I think the United States is blessed, Great Britain is blessed, because of this, but that doesn’t mean that they’re superior. In fact sometimes I wonder if they’re a little inferior.” Asked if he would treat all constituents equally, he said yes. “I think we have that obligation as people no matter what.”

Lambert, a county resident since the age of 1 and a Pleasant View resident for 44 years, has a variety of business and board experience that he says has prepared him well to serve on the county commission. He owned an industrial-equipment business and later a roofing and siding business, both for more than 20 years. He was a founding member of the board that created the Montezuma Water Company and is currently vice president of the boards of Farmers Telephone Co. and Farmers Telecommunications, Inc. He served on the Pleasant View Fire Department (including 12 years as fire chief) and on the fire district’s board.

He said he is running without any specific mission in mind. “I don’t have an agenda, I don’t have an ax to grind or a special project that I want to promote or personality that I want to do something about.”

Lambert, who has been attending commission meetings since February, said he has mixed feelings about the Dolores River Valley controversy. After a public hearing before a packed crowd, the commission ers voted to end the decade-old system of transferable development rights in the valley, a decision that triggered a lawsuit that is still in the court system.

At a meeting before the local 9-12 Project, Lambert said he would have voted to keep the TDRs even though he doesn’t like them.

“I am basically opposed to the principle of the TDRs and conservation easements and this type of thing,” Lambert told the Free Press, but the reason I would have voted for it was that as I saw it, a majority of the people who own land in the Dolores River Valley appeared to be in favor of this.”

However, he added, “I basically am opposed to the principle. . . A TDR and a conservation easement are the same thing in my mind and I’m opposed to that. A person has every right to do whatever he wants to do with the land that he owns as long as it doesn’t interfere with or damage somebody else, but I don’t feel like he has the right to determine two or three generations down what they can do.

“The present landowner doesn’t have the right to put conditions that future generations are going to have to live by.”

He said he does believe the county should keep the current 10-acre minimum lot size in the valley rather than revert to the three-acre minimum required in the rest of the county.

“I don’t think there’s any question but what growth has to be limited in the valley and I don’t know how else to do it at this point. The whole area depends on that water so it has to be protected one way or the other.”

Another controversial issue with which the county has to deal is its relations with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Lambert said the two agencies are not following their own rules and regulations and that if a road on federal public lands is proposed for closure, the county has to consent to it first.

“By state and federal law, the county has a responsibility for the roads. Once a road’s established the county has a responsibility for it unless it’s on private land. They’re supposed to coordinate with the county. They say they do so by coming in and telling everybody what they’re going to do but they’re not working with the county at all.”

For example, he said, he believes the Colorado Constitution requires prior approval from the county and state for the federal government to buy private land, but managers of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument did not seek it when proposing to purchase land from a willing seller, Bud Poe.

“I’m opposed to the federal overreach,” he said.

He believes federal law trumps state law “not in every case but most cases, yes.” He supports the concept of nullification, the theory that states can nullify federal laws if they deem them unconstitutional.

“We already have nullification in Colorado,” he said. “The people nullified the pot law, the marijuana law, by voting to allow recreational marijuana. In effect they nullified the federal law in doing this.”

This isn’t an action Lambert supported, however. He said while he is receptive to the idea of growing industrial hemp in the county, if it proves viable in the area, he opposes growing hemp’s psychoactive cousin, marijuana, and to allowing its sale for recreational use – something that is coming to the municipalities of Cortez and Mancos.

He is skeptical as well of the need for medical marijuana.

“To be honest with you, what I think I’m seeing in the medical marijuana is a major abuse of it,” he said. “If it was regulated properly like all other drugs I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but at this point I think it’s being abused too bad.”

From the “We Believe” page:

To implement His plan, God chose a people through unconditional promises to one man, Abraham, to become His servants and witnesses to the world. These people have the primary responsibility to be God’s witnesses to the nations of the world, and to ultimately rule the world with Christ Jesus, the King of Kings. The story of these people, this kingdom, both from a historic standpoint and a prophetic standpoint, is the story recorded in the Holy Bible. These people in modern times are represented by the Anglo- Saxon, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, and kindred peoples of the world. However, genealogy is not the ultimate criteria—as the apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:29, “And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

From one of the newsletters:

Rev. 21:25-26, “And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.” The apostle John tells us in Rev. 21:2 that he is speaking of the new Jerusalem which is really the governmental structure of God’s kingdom. It is not a literal city as was the old Jerusalem. I presume that it is Scripture like this chapter that has led today’s Jews to believe that they are superior to other peoples. Even if they were who they claim to be, which they are not, this should not give anyone a superiority complex. Again, if we look at the big picture, Israel has been richly blessed by God, but they have also been severely punished for their sins. In fact had it not been for the promises to Abraham, they would have been completely destroyed many centuries ago because of their sin. When we understand the heart condition of the people who are part of this kingdom, i.e. their thinking and feeling in tune with God’s thinking and feeling, even if they are a part of this kingdom, they will not have a feeling of superiority. This can be difficult for us to understand, but I believe the closer we come to God, the greater our understanding of these people will be.

Climbers love cracks and fissures of the red-rock buttes of the Indian Creek Recreation Area near Canyonlands National Park. Planners are working on an idea for a small cluster of huts or cabins to house some of the climbers. Photo by Gail Binkly.

A proposal to build a collection of huts or cabins for rock-climbers in the Indian Creek Recreation Area near Canyonlands National Park is being revamped after initial plans ran into opposition.

“We’re kind of back to the drawing board,” said Oliver Crane, assistant city manager for Monticello, Utah, in a phone interview. “We’re looking at some other properties. We want to help, not do harm.”

The Indian Creek area, some 30,000 acres about 20 miles northwest of Monticello, straddles Highway 211, which heads west from Highway 491 toward the Needles District of Canyonlands. The route travels through vistas of cloud-topped red-rock buttes with the spires of the Needles rising in the background.

People travel through the area en route to Canyonlands, but many also come specifically to Indian Creek to camp, hike, bike, ride ATVs, or take photos. The largest group of visitors, however, is drawn to the stunning Wingate-sandstone cliffs not just for their beauty, but for the challenge they offer to climbing skills – particularly “crack climbing,” which focuses not on rock faces but fissures and crevices.

“They come from all over the world. Indian Creek climbing is somewhat worldrenowned,” said Donald Hoffheins, director of the Monticello Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the area.

But the climbers – who often camp outdoors for days, bring much of their own food, and pay few fees – don’t bring a major stream of revenue to San Juan County. Locals would like to see a little more financial benefit from their presence.

Speaking to the San Juan County commissioners on Aug. 11, Crane discussed a tentative idea for a “climbers’ village” in Indian Creek with possibly a dozen very modest cabins that could each house four to six people.

The village was proposed not on BLM land, but for an adjoining parcel managed by the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA). Such parcels are owned by the state and are managed to produce revenues, primarily for schools.

Crane told the commissioners the village could provide an economic benefit.

“If we have aggressive occupancy – 12 cabins, about $20 a night [per cabin], 90 percent occupancy for 70 percent of the year – it would bring about $56,000,” he told the commissioners.

The money would be split with the American Alpine Club, which was to manage the cabins, he said, and the remainder could go into a fund, managed by a nonprofit, that would disburse small-business loans and community-development grants in the area. The commissioners sounded receptive to the concept.

However, on Aug. 18, Heidi Redd came to the commission meeting to register a vigorous objection to the plan.

Sheer buttes of Wingate sandstone such as this one lure climbers from around the world to the Indian Creek Recreation Area. Photo by Gail Binkly.

As owner of the Dugout Ranch, which sits on the threshold of Canyonlands, Redd has been one of the major landowners in the Indian Creek area since the 1960s. In 1996, she sold the 5,260-acre ranch to The Nature Conservancy, retaining a lifetime lease, her home, and 25 acres. She currently manages TNC’s cattle-grazing operations on the ranch and on allotments on 250,000 acres of surrounding BLM land.

Redd told the commissioners the piece of SITLA land being discussed for the village contains her water diversion on Cottonwood Creek, and the proposal could affect her cattle operation as well as the ranch’s water supply. She also said she had not been informed about the plan and had only learned about it from reading a local newspaper.

Subsequently, Crane and others involved in the project – including the state, the University of Utah, and the American Alpine Club – decided to seek a new locale, he said.

The next step now, he told the Free Press, is “finding the correct piece of land that would be a good location both in a pragmatic business sense” and for all the adjoining landowners, including the Dugout Ranch, the National Park Service, and the BLM.

They will be looking for a piece of land that has already been impacted and where huts or cabins won’t harm the view.

Crane said the idea is to “make something that is pleasant to the eye and hopefully not necessarily in sight when you’re driving past, but if you’re there camping or at the hut or cabin or whatever the final drawing turns out, you’ll have a good view of the Needles or Indian Creek.

Crowding in the Indian Creek area has prompted the Bureau of Land Management to create better parking areas. Photo by Gail Binkly.

“We probably won’t have it right there in the heart of Indian Creek. Everyone wants to preserve as much as possible.”

He said planners want to involve numerous stakeholders in the decision-making. “The Park Service and BLM are advising on it, SITLA – everyone’s on board. I’m trying to take as much input as possible from lands groups and private citizens.” He said the concept “would be a good way to provide a benefit to the county without competing [with local businesses]. It’s an idea that we’re exploring.

“I think it’s innovative. It’s kind of a win-win for everybody. It reduces scattered camping and provides something that’s not there right now. We’re trying to do some good in a way that helps.”

Such a village could ease camping pressures on the Indian Creek corridor, which are increasing.

A document prepared by the Monticello Field Office as part of its resource-management planning process noted, in regard to Indian Creek, that “. . .recreational use has changed over the past decade. What was once a remote area with few visitors has now become an international rock-climbing destination. The rapidly increasing popularity of the area has severely increased the impact of humans on the corridor environment, and has created a demand for additional visitor services and facilities.”

In the fall and especially the spring, rock climbing may draw hordes to the area. In a 2002 article in Climbing, Amy Irvine described the scene: “40 cars are smashed into various small pullouts beneath Supercrack and Battle of the Bulge Buttress, and hordes of climbers stand like rush-hour crowds on subway platforms, jostling each other for a burn on some of the world’s finest crack climbs. Across the road, toward Beef Basin, new campsites are scattered like buckshot across the desert floor. Late-risers cloister there, plunging French press pots and taping their hands for the day’s projects. Beyond them, a labyrinth of trails lead into the bushes and telltale piles of used toilet paper.”

Such crowding led the BLM to create a new Indian Creek Recreation Corridor Plan in 2005, and in 2008 the corridor was designated a BLM special recreation management area, Hoffheins said. Since then, more parking has been developed, and the BLM is currently improving a campground.

And for years the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Field Institute has worked with the BLM and the Dugout Ranch to preserve Indian Creek Canyon and mitigate recreational impacts. The institute has built several trails to popular climbing routes, Hoffheins said. He could not provide visitation numbers for Indian Creek, but said, “ We’re trying to get a handle on the amount of use nowadays with traffic counters and so forth.”

Hoffheins said he learned about the village plan while in an inter- agency meeting about a possible hut-to-hut system. “Somebody from the county or state mentioned this plan. I said I hadn’t seen anything and I would like to be kept informed because it does potentially affect BLM land.”

He said he recognizes that the BLM’s facilities in the area are “still on the rustic side” and that people might be interested in a more permanent structure. However, he said, there is nothing in the field office’s resource management plan that calls for a higher level of development for camping. “We may eventually get there,” Hoffheins said.

“I can tell you I have talked with the Park Service, extremely briefly. Our staff has mentioned that the Park Service has encouraged us to look at additional campground development in Indian Creek because of overflow camping out of the Needles District.”

The question of how much development to provide in the corridor is a delicate one. Many climbers do not want to see anything that would implement a fee structure for overnight stays, and those who love the area and its soaring views shudder at the thought of any type of structures cropping up along Highway 211.

The Nature Conservancy is watching the planning cautiously. In addition to managing Dugout as a working cattle ranch, TNC has launched the Canyonlands Research Center at the site, which offers facilities for scientists and students studying invasive species, climate change, grazing impacts, and other issues on the Colorado Plateau.

Sue Bellagamba, Canyonlands regional director for The Nature Conservancy, told the Free Press Sept. 17 that TNC “has not been contacted by San Juan County or the American Alpine Club regarding any proposed development on or near our Dugout Ranch property, so it’s difficult for us to have any real comment because we have not seen plans.”

TNC purchased the ranch in 1996 “to protect and conserve it,” including the viewshed, Bellagamba said. “We are opposed to any unnecessary developments in kind of a pristine area,” she said, adding, “I would hope as any good neighbor that somebody planning something in the area would contact both Heidi Redd and TNC.

“TNC always tries to work with people for a win-win situation, so I would like to see what they’re interested in and I would like to explain what we’re trying to do down there and see if there’s an opportunity to do something that meets both of our goals.”

Crane said he understands the need to balance development with respect for the area’s resources, as well as the character of the nearest community – Monticello.

Original plans for the village called for modest structures built of beetle-killed ponderosa pine, with solar panels so climbers could charge their devices, and water only for drinking and cooking – no showers.

“There’s a big concern about growth without dramatically changing the character of the community,” Crane told the Free Press. He is optimistic that a plan can be worked out that will prove beneficial to all concerned. “You can still benefit from tourism without changing the character of the stakeholders,” he said.

By Gail Binkly

and David Long

Saying they want to move in another direction, the Montezuma County commissioners fired their long-time landfill manager, Deb Barton, on Monday.

The decision came following a discussion with Barton over issues such as fees, the merits of baling vs. compacting, and the landfill budget. The commissioners had listed the discussion on the agenda as an executive session, but Barton opted to have the session open to the public – an employee’s prerogative under Colorado law.

“I have always believed in transparency,” she said.

Commissioner Larry Don Suckla made the motion to remove Barton, effective in 45 days. The vote was unanimous.

However, on Oct. 30, Barton told the Free Press she had been informed by Commissioner Keenan Ertel that she was to leave on Oct. 31, not in 45 days.

Barton had been landfill manager for 14 years. A member of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America board of directors since 2002, she was named the outstanding SWANA member for Colorado in 2005.

Suckla and Barton had had a heated exchange over the landfill at the Oct. 20 commission meeting. On Monday, Barton apologized, saying she had lost her temper.

But Suckla said he continued to have a number of concerns about the way the landfill has been operated, in particular the fees that are charged. He said he’d spoken with a county commissioner from one of the counties served by the multi-jurisdictional landfill in the San Luis Valley, and that commissioner said their rates were about half those charged at the Montezuma County facility and they “have $4 million in the bank.”

“The landfill is a service to the constituents of the county,” Suckla said. “Every year, [our] landfill fees go up – I wonder why.”

The landfill is an enterprise business, meaning it does not rely on taxpayer subsidies, and has a million-dollar annual budget.

Barton said the San Luis Valley facility has to have $4 million set aside as surety in case the facility should go bankrupt. Because it is multi-jurisdictional, it can’t use a county as its surety, but the local landfill can.

Barton said Montezuma County Landfill fee hikes are necessary to keep pace with cost-of-living increases for items such as fuel, personnel, electricity, and engineering costs. In addition, she said, the county is required to have liners for its cells because of its nearness to water wells. The landfill is operating in the black, with $387,000 in its account, she said.

Suckla asked how she had determined the fees for electronic-waste disposal, and Barton said they were based on the fees the landfill pays to Natural Evolution, a vendor in Oklahoma that accepts the e-waste, plus staff time and the costs of packaging and shipping the material. Natural Evolution is one of 16 U.S. companies that is e-Steward, R2, and IS14001-certified, meaning there will be no practices such as the use of sweatshops or child labor in the supply chain and that the facility meets health and safety standards.

“I don’t think you guys want to be on ‘60 Minutes,’ because I don’t,” she said. Such shows have done exposés on how e-waste is sometimes taken to Third World countries and recycled under extremely dangerous conditions for workers, often children.

Suckla said a local man has said he could take the e-waste more cheaply. Barton said she’d asked that individual to provide proof of his third-party audit and he failed to do so, because his downstream vendors did not provide him proof that they met standards.

Suckla said local fees are so high, they discourage people from disposing of waste properly. “I believe the fees have a direct impact on the way our county look – how much stuff people in the county are willing to bring to the landfill, and how much they will leave out there sitting like blight.”

He said a local man told him he had a large TV he wanted to dispose of and was told it would cost $57, which he considered exorbitant. “This guy says he will take a backhoe and take care of it in his pasture,” Suckla said.

Barton said the landfill charges $1 per diagonal inch for a TV, the same rate as the Durango landfill.

Barton said the county landfill offers services that some other facilities do not, such as recycling and composting, including with biowastes; collecting e-waste two days a year; setting metals aside for collection; refrigerator collection in conjunction with Empire Electric; and providing education and outreach. Those services are done at the request of the community, she said.

Suckla also voiced concern about what he said was Barton’s reluctance to move toward compacting – which some people see as more efficient – rather than baling. He said the commissioners have asked her for the past year to look into compaction “and you have always thrown up a roadblock.”

Barton said she had a person coming to the landfill the next morning to talk about the costs of buying or leasing a compactor.

The commissioners also questioned Barton about some of the figures in her budget, including the amount she had estimated for fuel costs, which was based on a price of $6 a gallon for diesel. The board said they’d never seen diesel costs that high. Barton said the figure was just an estimate and any funds that weren’t spent would remain in the landfill account at any rate.

Suckla also said he had received complaints that Barton was sometimes rude to people and Commissioner Steve Chappell agreed, saying, “We often get reports of short temper and abruptness at the landfill.”

Barton said this was the first she’d heard of this and that she was rarely at the window at the landfill. She said if there were complaints, she should have been told sooner, and asked whether it would not have been fairer to provide her a performance evaluation so that she could make improvements.

County Administrator Melissa Brunner said the county doesn’t yet have performance evaluations.

Suckla said Barton had been told a year earlier of a complaint and had said she would change but did not.

He said the county needs “a cheerful face” at the landfill.

After the vote, Barton said, “It has been a privilege to serve the county and I thought I had done the best I could.”

Barton is the latest in a growing number of high-ranking employees who have left under the current commission, including the county attorney (who’d been with the county 26 years) and road supervisor (six years), who were terminated; and the county administrator (seven years) and planning director (eight years), who resigned abruptly.