News

On Jan. 15, Carbondale Mayor Stacey Bernot untied the ribbon on an array of 356 solar panels that are now powering the town’s Roaring Fork water treatment facility.
“It goes towards Carbondale’s ongoing goals for green energy and offsetting our use,” Bernot said in a press release. “What more appropriate place than our nature park for a living example of what we hope to achieve? This array will offset 100 percent of our historic energy use at this water plant.”

The year is 1879 and Indian agent Nathan Meeker, a renowned national authority on agriculture, is becoming frustrated by the slowing progress of the civilizing of the Indians. The volunteer Ute plowmen and ditch diggers that Chief Douglas (Quinkent) had organized were not showing up, so Meeker requested a budget from Gov. Pitkin to hire white people to plow up the winter range of the Nünt’z at a faster rate. Gov. Pitkin had campaigned with the slogan “the Ute’s must go!” and the money to hire white workers came quickly.
Meeker had given a few of the chiefs land parcels on a surveyed grid for a town he had laid out on their winter range. This was to entice them to cooperate and now he was plowing that up in an effort to consolidate the fencing necessary to keep Indian horses out of the irrigated fields. Meeker even plowed up the racetrack where horses raced during the great Bear Dance gathering in the spring.

Gary Pax, 65, brought his lawn chair, newspaper, and coffee and pastry, arriving in near zero-degree temperatures at 7:01 a.m. on Jan. 15 to nail down the historic “first in line” honors at the Doctor’s Garden marijuana shop on the third floor at 580 Main Street.
A salt-and-pepper bearded Marc Horwitz, from Moab, Utah, dressed in blue overcoat, scarf, multi-color fleece hat and wire-frame glasses, got there a bit later. As the fourth or fifth buyer he might go down as Carbondale’s first “marijuana tourist” – depending on future definitions of the term.
And 25-30 others waited, shivered, joked around and waited some more before the Doctor’s Garden finally opened its doors about a half-hour after its 9 a.m. target time.

Mike Strang wore many hats — jean-clad rancher, businessman, and tuxedoed auctioneer, perennial MC at numerous events and devoted family man — but there was one hat he wore most of the time.
“He could wear a cowboy hat to almost any event,” daughter Bridget Strang told The Sopris Sun on Wednesday afternoon.
Strang passed away at his Missouri Heights ranch on Jan. 12. He was 84.

The committee for The James Surls Center for Visual Art has made the decision to not continue with the Carbondale Branch Library space for the project, according to a press release. “We are extremely appreciative of the town’s support of our project and the process to get us to this point,” said Jim Calaway, the driving force behind the Surls Center.

After a mixed start in December, the Roaring Fork High School basketball season returns in earnest this week, with both teams traveling to Gunnison on Jan. 10 and hosting Glenwood Springs on Jan. 11.
The boys enter the month at 3-2, with a pair of losses at their own Brenda Patch Tournament followed by a series of victories over Coal Ridge, Grand Valley and Olathe. That’s a better record than the Gunnison boys’ 1-5, but falls short of Glenwood’s six game domination last month.

A distinguished old dame with a checkered past recently had some major work done, in order to, in the words of construction specialist David Fischer, “bring her back to her former luster.”
Fischer was the contractor chosen to renovate the building on 55 N. Fourth St. that private account manager Ron Speaker is leasing from Tom Bailey, who purchased it in 2001 through an LLC called Morningwood.

If you missed the December deadline to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, you can breathe a small sigh of relief. The open enrollment period to get coverage for 2014 continues through March.
But local insurance brokers are advising individuals who still need to sort out their coverage or who need new plans altogether to sign up for a plan sooner versus later.
“Don’t wait till the last minute,” said April Trulove of Martin Insurance Group in Carbondale. “This is a yearlong decision; you don’t make a decision like this on the fly. You want to make sure you’re making the right decision for your needs.”

The rumors have been confirmed.
Sunday, Jan. 5, will be the last day of business at Russets restaurant. After just shy of 10 years of operation, including the recession’s rough years, owners Sue and Claude Van Horton are hanging up their hats.
The decision is, according to Sue, purely economic. Although billed as a “neighborhood restaurant and bar,” the establishment has a reputation for fine dining that has been both a blessing and a curse. When the eatery opened in February 2004, times were good and people had income to spare. When things got tough, Sue surmises, people didn’t think of Russets as a place to just grab an appetizer and glass of wine.
Since word began to get out that they’re closing their doors, they’ve been packed almost every night. Folks are eager to get one last taste of their favorite dishes. In particular, the wild mushroom soup and lobster bisque have been in great demand.

When Carbondale band “All the Pretty Horses” announced the retirement of their old name at their Dia de Los Muertos concert in November, some folks drew comparisons to Prince’s 1993 moniker change. But by the time this issue hits the stands, fears that the band will adopt an unpronounceable symbol as their new name will have proven unfounded. After nearly two months of input and discussion; Oliva Pevec, Mateo Sandáte, Ashton Taufer, Frank Martin, Aaron Taylor, and Sophia Clark will be known collectively as “Let them Roar”.