June 2016

When Garfield County voters start mailing in their ballots this month (they were mailed out on June 7) for the 2016 primary election, only Republicans will actually be making choices.
That is because there are no competitive primary races involving Democrats on the Garfield County ballot.
County Clerk & Recorder Jean Alberico told The Sopris Sun this week that state law requires that she send out ballots for the Democrats anyway, but only on the Republican side of the political ledger are there any races where two or more candidates seek their party’s nod to appear on the Nov. 8 general-election ballot.

But by Sunday morning (June 12), 2,500 Ride the Rockies bicyclists and support crews will be on their way to Aspen for the tour’s second stop, and Carbondale’s population will drop back to about 6,000.
We know a lot about RTR (see ad below) but one question remains for folks who just want to know everything: how will the 2,000 bicyclists weave their way through town on Sunday? In lieu of an actual map, here is a narrative the RTR organizers sent to The Sopris Sun.

Following a six-month experiment in holding trustee meetings on Wednesdays, initiated at the behest of former Mayor Stacey Bernot, the Carbondale Board of Trustees [BOT] last week voted unanimously to return the meetings to their historical schedule of the second and fourth Tuesday nights of each month.
The change back to Tuesdays was suggested by Trustee A.J. Hobbs, who said at the board’s May 25 meeting that he had supported Bernot’s request back in November 2015, in order to give her the chance to see her kids perform in school-sponsored athletic events.
But Bernot stepped away from her post earlier this month to move out of town with her family, and Hobbs suggested at a recent meeting that a switch back to Tuesday meetings should be considered.

There are no tidings of comfort and joy here in Geezerville, which is what we call our end-of-life storage facility: The Purple Haze Nursing Home.
It’s located in the township of Chipeta. Chipeta used to be part of the township of Satank, but we seceded many years ago when the other part of town got in an argument with this part of town on the quality and quantity of our yard art.
So we quit ’em and called our part of town “Chipeta.”
And just so ya’ know, Chipeta is way cooler than Satank.
And we’re taller.
And better lookin’.
And way smarter than them.

When the 2,200 or so cyclists and support personnel of Ride the Rockies 2016 get to Carbondale next week, at least one of them will be a man whose family roots are here and who, despite a serious physical handicap, is certainly no stranger to making arduous cycling trips.
Steve Ackerman, 62, is a father of two, a former runner and concert promoter, and current proprietor of a cannabis business in Fort Collins. His parents, Art and Carolyn Ackerman, are long-time and well-known Carbondale-area residents.
Steve also happens to be a paraplegic, meaning he is paralyzed from the chest down, due to a 1987 car accident along the Poudre River, which rises in Rocky Mountain National Park.