February 2017

A smattering of Latino and Anglo businesses in Carbondale closed in conjunction with nationwide political “actions” on Feb. 16 and 17.
On Feb. 16, it was a nationwide Day Without Immigrants strike to show how much the U.S. needed its immigrant workforce, and an informal survey of the town showed that at least four businesses closed their doors for the day.

In articles from the Feb. 22, 1977 issue of the Roaring Fork Valley Journal:
• The Carbondale Board of Trustees was preparing to hold their meeting in the “new” town hall building at Second and Garfield. Previous to that, town hall was located on Main Street in one of the bottom spaces in the Dinkel Building.

Lucianna Phillips witnessed a Peruvian woman this week, who thought she herself witnessed a miracle at the same time. The miracle, as conveyed by Lucianna in her Feb. 20 blog: murky, undrinkable water poured from one bucket to another, turned into clear, clean drinking water in Huanchaco, Peru.

Authorities on Feb. 22 were still looking for two suspects in a Feb. 16 armed robbery in Carbondale, after two men thought to be the robbers eluded police on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 21, by jumping out of an emergency window on a Roaring Fork Transportation Authority bus stopped at the Holland Hills area on Highway 82 near Basalt.

The Sutey-Two Shoes land swap, involving a total of roughly 1,200 acres of publicly-owned property at the base of Mount Sopris near Carbondale and other public lands in western Colorado, remains in a state of suspended animation. As the trade now stands – according to officials of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and volunteer members of a group fighting against the swap – a panel of administrative judges in Washington, D.C., is preparing to mull over questions about whether the public is getting fair value for its property in the proposed land trade with Ohio billionaire Leslie Wexner and his wife, Abigail.

For years, Lon Winston’s name has been practically synonymous with the Thunder River Theatre Company. This week, it’s official. After the opening performance of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” on Feb. 24, the black box performance space at the heart of the building will be dedicated “The Lon Winston Theatre.”
“I’m proud, of course,” Winston acknowledged. “It just says something so deep in my heart about giving to the community and all the people who were involved. If we don’t maintain the legacy and love of theatre, we’re going to lose something so important as a civilization.”

The Valley Settlement Project, a Carbondale-based project that aims at improving the lives and educational opportunities of immigrants (primarily Hispanic) in the Roaring Fork Valley region, is confident it will continue to provide services and support for numerous clients of all ages following its recent “launch as a stand-alone nonprofit,” according to executive director Jon Fox-Rubin.

The Carbondale fire department is considering whether to ask voters in November to authorize borrowing up to $10.5 million to pay for deferred capital improvement projects over the next 25 years or so, in light of the fact that otherwise the district’s tax rate will drop at the end of this year.
At a meeting on Feb. 8, the board of directors for the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District agreed to further explore the idea, after a presentation from the district’s bond counsel, Wes Bradish of RBC Capital markets, who indicated the district could seek voter approval for a new bond issue, but keep the property-tax rate, or mill levy for bonded indebtedness, right where it is today.

Feb. 13, 1997: The Town of Carbondale was searching for a new police chief after long-time and highly popular chief Fred Williams retired, and the town board of trustees asked the citizens what kind of chief they’d like to see. “Can’t we just clone Fred?” was one citizen’s response, though most took the question more seriously and advocated for someone a lot like Fred — compassionate, able to listen to constituents, possessing a solid understanding of the community, and who’s more interested in Carbondale than building a career as a cop by moving to ever-larger jurisdictions.

While the threat that triggered closures and lockouts in the Roaring Fork School District on Feb. 9 was ultimately deemed not credible, school officials and law enforcement stand by their cautious approach.
“Our job is to ensure as much as possible the safety of the students, the schools and the community,” said Carbondale Police Chief Gene Schilling.