Pages of the Past: Healing with music…Or stealing it

Nov. 17, 1977

The Journal featured the work of Ray Adams, then the area’s only registered music therapist. Through Wildwood School in Aspen and his Carbondale home, he worked with handicapped and neurotypical children in what was then an emerging field. “Music is a very natural thing to use in a therapy situation. There’s a rhythm to everything… it’s nonverbal and it doesn’t have to be forced on someone,” said Adams (who went on to be the Aspen Chorale Society’s conductor and resident composer for many years until his death in 2013).

In other news… An 18-year-old suspect in the previous week’s bank robbery was apprehended in Wyoming with $4,000 in cash.

Nov. 19, 1987

Over a dozen Carbondale teens were facing charges in what Police Chief Fred Williams called the biggest shoplifting spree he’d ever seen. The incidents, which occurred in Glenwood, had been under investigation since October, with around $2000 worth of Walkmans, cassettes, sunglasses and the like reported missing. Although there wasn’t an apparent ringleader and the kids mostly appeared to be operating independently, on at least one occasion they were believed to have had a group distract the clerk at Max’s Music while others made off with several sets of headphones.

In other news… Despite several key witnesses changing their testimony, the trial of an alleged kidnapper was set to begin in December.

Nov. 20, 1997

Judy Hill reflected on the success of her “Cozy Point” photograph — a lucky shot of horses in a snowstorm lit by morning light. Hill slipped as she was taking the picture, and was actually surprised the shot turned out at all, but initially opted not to print the negative, which had one horse partially out of frame. Six months later, however, she was convinced to crop the shot and enlarge it, a feat made viable by the medium format camera she’d used. It eventually became a common sight in homes in the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond, with hundreds of prints made.

In other news… The Cyber Valley Cafe, a coffeehouse with “a heavy dose of computer services,” reopened in Basalt after a year of operation and a brief closure.

Nov. 22, 2007

Construction was underway on “Colorado Place” — a residential and commercial complex across from the American Legion building (and adjacent to what’s now True Nature Healing Arts). With five of the 31 units deed restricted, high efficiency appliances and a covered parking lot, it was shaping up to be a modern project. Meanwhile, plans were also underway to redevelop the old Mountain Aire Motel property at Fourth and Garfield (but they never materialized, and it currently sees use as a parking lot).

In other news… Carbondale Middle School students participated in a mock debate on topics like the DREAM Act.