March 2017

After a competitive Western Slope League season that saw Roaring Fork win one game on a buzzer beater, and Basalt reel off 14 straight wins at one point, the teams take 17-5 and 19-3 records respectively into the 32-team state 3A basketball playoffs starting on March 3.
Meanwhile, Western Slope tournament winner Coal Ridge stays at home on March 3 in its bid to advance beyond the regional leg of the state tournament.

February 21 was a rough day at Crystal River Elementary School.
That’s when Principal Matt Koenigsknecht had to break the news to certain teachers that their current jobs won’t exist next year. It’s a counterintuitive conundrum for a school that has otherwise made tremendous strides with significantly improved test scores and a new sense of identity around “project-based” learning.

Second-grader Abraham Marlow walked into the art room at Crystal River Elementary School (CRES) and found a set of salt and pepper shakers he had glazed the week before. He clutched the smooth ceramic shakers and gazed admiringly at the kiln-fired speckles of blue, pink, yellow and green.

Starting on March 9, two dozen students from Roaring Fork High School – along with three adult teacher-chaperones – will join more than 2,000 other high schoolers in New York City for five days of simulated high-intensity diplomacy and (they hope) a good dose of sightseeing fun in the Big Apple.

March 3, 1977: The first lots were slated for sale in the Crystal Village subdivision – a 70 acre Planned Unit Development anticipated to house between 1,200 and 1,500 people. Although it has since been surpassed by River Valley Ranch, it was then the largest ever addition to the Town of Carbondale, comprising most of the homes on the west side of Highway 133 from Hendrick Drive to Oak Run, as well as two parks and 12 acres of professional, commercial or multifamily space along W. Main Street.

First Friday (March 3) celebrates the Carbondale Creative District as a whole, while the Carbondale Clay Center also presents its annual “Pairings.” The event allows folks to pair ceramic cups created by more than 30 local and national artists with handcrafted local and state beverages.
After two years of holding “Pairings” offsite, the Clay Center is bringing the fund-raiser back to its gallery/studios spaces at the east end of Main Street.

The two men suspected of robbing a Carbondale convenience store at gunpoint on Feb. 16, and then leading area law enforcement officials on a two-day chase through the back-country near Basalt, remain in the Garfield County Jail while awaiting trial on charges of armed robbery.
The two men, Nicholas Ameral and Benjamin Weeks, who are cousins and both 19 years old, were arrested on Feb. 22 during a traffic stop in Basalt.

Carbondale’s elected leaders on Feb. 28 approved an extension of the plat-filing deadline for the Carbondale Marketplace project (site of a new City Market grocery story,) the fourth time the Board of Trustees has had to do so. But while the move was unanimous (except for Trustee Heather Henry, who was not present at the meeting), it was not entirely enthusiastic.
“I hope this is the last time we have to do this,” said Trustee Marty Silverstein.