September 2013

From Bush’s No Child Left Behind legislation to Obama’s Race to the Top grant program, standardized testing persists as the primary measure of a school’s success and the focus of our nation’s education policies. Punishing or rewarding schools based on their test scores continues to be our government’s key strategy for attempting to improve schools.

Carbondale resident Susy Ellison is heading out to sea. Way out.
A science teacher at Yampah Mountain High School in Glenwood Springs, she is one of 25 teachers from around the nation selected by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for its Teacher at Sea (TAS) Program.

The Carbondale Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is considering the rezoning of the old Gordon Cooper Library property at Fourth and Garfield from Residential Low Density (R/LD) to Historic Commercial Core (HCC), in order to accommodate the Surls Center for Visual Art.
The P&Z will hold a public hearing on the rezoning application at 7 p.m. on Sept. 12 at town hall, at which point P&Z can either recommend approval or denial, or continue the public hearing to a later date.
The rezoning application is the current step in the establishment of an art center that will showcase the works of James Surls, a prominent sculptor who has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley since 1997 and now lives on Missouri Heights, as well as other local, regional and nationally known artists.

Frank A. Smotherman, 69, passed away peacefully on Aug. 29, 2013 with his daughter and wife by his side as a result of injuries sustained in a tragic accident at home.
He was born on Sept. 13, 1943, in Hazel, Kentucky to J.P. and Lottie Smotherman. He was one of seven children. His family relocated to Detroit, Michigan, where he fell in love with the music of Motown and carried that love of music with him for the rest of his life. He excelled through high school as president of his class, a leader in varsity football and was a state-ranked wrestler. He graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in business and was honorably discharged from

“That bee is humongous!”
The comment comes from my 5-year-old neighbor Sam Stableford. Sam and his sister Annabelle, who is 7, showed up and began lugging rocks into place the day I first started to build my xeriscaped meditation garden in Crystal Village. I was surprised that kids would be interested.
I laid out the path in the snow in early 2012. As soon as the ground thawed, a contractor stripped out the lawn – about 800 square feet of it – and I began installing the spiraling flagstone path and berms with help from my two young volunteers.
I designed the spiral with four goals in mind: to save fuel, water and bees – and to deliver an environmental message.