October 2017

One suspect fled and another was taken into federal custody when law enforcement raided an illegal marijuana grow on public land near Redstone on Sept. 28, according to a criminal complaint filed in United States District Court. The complaint provides an affidavit by a special agent for the United States Forest Service for the events leading up to the arrest of Fernando Esquivel Herrera, 25 or 26.

Money talks, as the adage goes. During Potato Day weekend, a little money can say — and do — a lot. As both printed books and vinyl records continue to enjoy industry-wide renaissances, locals will have the opportunity to expand their collections in both arenas without paying retail prices — all while helping two Carbondale nonprofits.
Carbondale Homeless Assistance (CHA) will be temporarily taking over the 689 building on Main Street for their second annual book sale from 9 a.m. Oct. 6 to 3 p.m. Oct. 8.

While “fire” is right there in the name, it’s just one small facet of the services Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District provides across 323 square miles and six stations. “Maybe Emergency Services is more accurate but not as much fun to say,” observed Deputy Fire Chief Rob Goodwin. In fact, volunteers actually spend more time running the ambulance. According to data provided by the department for the past 12 months, of 1,197 calls for service, 576 were emergency medical service (EMS) related, with 101 motor vehicle accidents included in that figure.

It’s hard to miss the newest addition to the True Nature Peace Garden: a 6-foot-tall, 2,860-pound granite statue of Ganesha, a well-loved figure in Hinduism and Buddhism.
“Ganesha is a very important deity in India. He is the remover of obstacles to our happiness and purpose in this life,” Eaden Shantay, co-founder and co-owner of True Nature, said in an email while in Costa Rica. Shantay shares his founder and owner credits with his wife, Deva Shantay. In December, the pair traveled to Tiruvannamalai in southern India to further their studies of Vedanta, a spiritual philosophy based on India’s sacred scriptures.

The end of September and the close of summer brought with it the departure of some of Carbondale’s most honored guests: the 220 goats that munched their way along several miles of the Rio Grande Trail destroying weeds and rehabilitating soil in year two of three in a standing contract with the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA). After about 36 days of being corralled in temporary enclosures along the iconic trail, the goats were loaded into trailers and moved to their next job reducing potential wildfire fuel near the location of the infamous Storm King fire. Moving with them were co-owner Donny Benz, full-time employees Harmony Davies and Russ McKenna, and a couple of sturdy sheep dogs.

In days of yore, Homecoming meant balloons on Veterans Memorial Bridge, painted signs in every shop window and most of the town watching the game. While the Rams still enjoy community support, Athletic Director Jade Bath wouldn’t mind if it stepped up a notch this week. “I think it’s huge for the kids to see the stands full,” she said. “It means a lot to them whether they’re winning or losing, but particularly if they’re not having the best season.”

Oct. 6, 1977: The Journal took the town’s oldest festival opportunity to share a bit of potato history. According to Martha Witchey, then viewed as the preeminent authority on the subject, Eugene Grubbs was testing potato varieties in the Carbondale area back in the 1880s before he was appointed to the State Board of Agriculture and wrote the definitive work on the subject. His work inspired area farmers, and Potato Day got its start in 1909 as much for buying and trading as for entertainment

While the recent discovery of a 2,700 plant illegal cannabis grow on Forest Service land near Redstone is dramatic, it’s far from unprecedented. In fact, according to Regional Press Officer Lawrence Lujan, 51 such sites and more than 160,000 plants have been eradicated statewide since 2009, with Colorado ranked third behind California and Kentucky for such seizures in 2016. It’s a major challenge for the Forest Service on several fronts. First, there’s the matter of public safety, with booby traps, armed growers and toxic chemicals par for the course.

The Historic Thompson House will soon be getting a new furnace thanks to a grant from the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), but its historic counterpart will stay in place so that Lew Ron Thompson can tell its story.