April 2017

The KDNK community access radio board has discussed rezoning its studios on Second Street for many years, but this time it’s pulling the trigger. “This isn’t a development proposal,” KDNK Board Chair Andi Korber told The Sopris Sun. “It’s not a change of use … no construction is planned,” she continued. “Hopefully, this (rezoning request) won’t be a complex issue.”

The Sopris Sun is conducting a series of interviews with folks you may not have seen in the paper before – a sort of introduction to your neighbors. This week, we caught up with Garrett Kennedy, a 2002 RFHS graduate and a full time firefighter and paramedic for Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District for more than a decade.

April 7, 1977: Rancher John Arbaney announced he was fighting a West Divide water district proposal to use condemnation to build a 190-foot-tall dam on his 640-acre property up Thompson Creek southwest of Carbondale. The proposal came after public opposition to West Divide dams on the Crystal River south of Redstone pretty much killed that project.

Saturday, April 8 marks the beginning of Aspen Film’s 26th Shortsfest — in Carbondale, at least. This year, the acclaimed festival features 64 “shorts” — films that are less than 40 minutes long, organized into thematic programs. The Crystal Theatre will host four of those roughly 90-minute programs at 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. April 8 and 9. Each event will be followed with a question-and-answer session with the featured filmmakers. The festival is a labor of love, with at least as much of the former as the latter. For this year’s presentation, the Shortsfest programming team sorted through almost 4,000 contending films.

Students, staff and volunteers pushed Roaring Fork High School’s electrical system to its limits as nearly 1500 waffles were served up on April 4. The event was organized in part as a show of support for Vice Principal Keslie Goodman, who was passed over to fill the role of principal in favor of Brett Stringer — a decision which goes before the school board on April 12.

Growing alarm about overuse of certain campgrounds in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area has prompted forest managers to propose setting up a permit system for overnight use at such highly popular spots as the Conundrum Hot Springs and others located in the eastern portion of the wilderness area.
But, according to a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) of the proposed management plan for the 181,535-acre wilderness area, the permit system and possible fees for campers will not have much effect on the western part of the wilderness area adjacent to the Crystal River Valley — at least not initially.

Who says little kids are the only ones who like Easter Egg Hunts? That was the feeling of the Carbondale Recreation Department when they decided to change the age group for the event.
This year’s event will now be limited to those 80 and over.
“We always do something for the little kids and most of them just cry when they see the Easter Bunny anyway,” said Mayor Ed McMcMuphin. “And we’ll extend the event from April 15 until July 30 in order to give everyone time to find all the eggs.”
There will be 15,000 unboiled eggs hidden in obvious places and service dogs will be allowed, although any eggs that are peed on will be disqualified. The dogs, not the eggs…And the participants are being warned to be careful when using their canes or walkers because it could smash the eggs into smithereens.