October 2014

Is Carbondale’s “urban forest” in danger of a precipitous decline?
David Coon, the town’s urban forester (among numerous other duties) believes it might be, and has cautioned other town officials that something needs to be done about it.
Coon, who took over the position last May, recently issued a round of blast e-mails to members of Carbondale’s Tree Board, warning of a looming infestation of something called the emerald ash borer, which he said could quickly mow down nearly a tenth of the town’s “urban canopy” of trees.

In the contest to become the next Garfield County commissioner for District 1, incumbent Tom Jankovsky and his challenger, Michael Sullivan, both are essentially running on Jankovsky’s record.
The difference is that Jankovsky feels his record has been exemplary and justifies keeping him in office, while Sullivan feels Jankovsky has not represented his constituents in District 1 and should be kicked out of office.
District 1 encompasses the Garfield County portion of the Roaring Fork River Valley, including the Town of Carbondale and most of Glenwood Springs.

The third graders in Danny Stone’s classroom at Crystal River Elementary School received a special treat for their Carbondale history lesson last week: a visit from one of the student’s 95-year-old great-grandmother, Ruth “Ditty” Perry. The children gathered at her feet as she told stories about “the old days” in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Ditty’s father, David Brown, was born in 1856. He moved from Denver to Aspen in 1880 when “there was nothing there.” Brown built the first building to stand in Aspen: a two-story structure, with living quarters upstairs and a general store on the first floor.

In the contest to become the next Garfield County commissioner for District 1, incumbent Tom Jankovsky and his challenger, Michael Sullivan, both are essentially running on Jankovsky’s record.
The difference is that Jankovsky feels his record has been exemplary and justifies keeping him in office, while Sullivan feels Jankovsky has not represented his constituents in District 1 and should be kicked out of office.
District 1 encompasses the Garfield County portion of the Roaring Fork River Valley, including the town of Carbondale and most of Glenwood Springs.

The checkered flag has been dropped!
High school student teams are signing up to build Solar Rollers this month, and the race is on. Thrilling as it is, the mini Daytona 500 that will be held next May isn’t just about the clash of remote-controlled, solar-powered cars hurtling along at speeds of up to 28 miles per hour. It’s really a race to educate students about energy.
And this year, it will be zipping out of the Roaring Fork Valley into other states.
“This will be the first time that Solar Rollers has gone beyond the local region,” said Noah Davis, the program’s founder.
In 2013, four Roaring Fork Valley teams participated; in 2014, a total of 10 teams came from a geographical area that stretched from Aspen to Summit County. “We are going be challenged to handle 40-50 teams this year,” Davis muses. Teams from Reno, Nevada and Austin, Texas have already signed up.