News

Dec. 15 at 6:37 p.m., the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District was paged for a report of a structure fire at 251 Bobcat Lane, (Redstone Ranch Acres subdivision) Redstone, according to a press release.
Upon firefighters arrival, flames were visible outside the chimney chase. The first fire officer on scene worked with a neighbor and they were able to keep the fire from spreading until the first fire engine arrived.

Faced with a projected $1 million decrease in property tax revenues for 2014, the Carbondale Fire District will dip into its reserves to the tune of $700,000 next year and also cut services or programs, such as the Wildfire Patrol that puts crews on the ground to locate and fight fires before they spread.
The cuts come after the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District’s five-member board approved a 2014 budget of approximately $2 million on Dec. 11, down about $1.2 million from 2013 due to a decline in property values.

Carbondale’s last First Friday of 2013 was one of the coldest in memory, topping out at about 17 degrees. That didn’t deter the steadfast community spirit that permeates all First Friday events however, as the streets were filled with crowds of bundled up revelers.
After the lighting ceremony, caroling kids, Santa visit and marshmallow roasting at Fourth Street Plaza, restaurants and bars filled up with shivering souls looking to get warm. But a good majority set their sights on another target at the east end of town: the annual Benefit Cup Auction at the Carbondale Clay Center.

Many of us who migrate from here and there to someplace else arrive as righteous pilgrims aspiring to liberations of one sort or another.
Just such a pilgrim I once met a long. long time ago in a galaxy far, far away in Nexus 81623.
The pilgrim’s name was Ray Adams.

Prompted by complaints from a bus rider, the town trustees voted 4-3 on Tuesday night to ask RFTA to delay its Carbondale circulator bus until 2014.
Joanne Teeple told the trustees Tuesday night she was “disgruntled” and “disgusted” over the new circulator route, which RFTA will implement on Dec. 14, and that other riders are “fairly apoplectic.”

When Anthony and Alexandra Jerkunica opened Coredination: A Movement Studio in Carbondale in 2004, they introduced the Roaring Fork Valley to a new approach of offering pilates, yoga and ballet instruction under one roof.
“The three (disciplines) compliment and support each other,” Alexandra told The Sopris Sun.
The husband/wife team expanded to the Third Street Center three years ago and have now moved to the Bridges Center on Sopris Avenue.
“We’re in the west wing and we’ve tripled our space.”

It takes six miles of wire, 682 rolls/strands and 30,000 individual lights to officially light up Carbondale. Throw in privately owned lights and what do you get?
Light Up Carbondale, as the 2013 First Friday close out on Dec. 6.

With the October count tallied and reviewed, enrollment at Roaring Fork High School is at an all time high of 335 students, according to school district officials.
That’s up 8 percent from last year and up 17 percent from the decade low of 290 in 2011-12. It also marks the first time since 2007 that the incoming class at the high school exceed the combined exiting classes of Carbondale Middle and Carbondale Community School.
The figures suggest the school might be regaining momentum as a choice for students and their parents, and also has immediate implications for academic funding.

The Aspen Clinic CEO, Amanda Wagner, joined forces with elite personal trainer, Megan Reilly, to form TAC FIT, a gym with a higher purpose located on East Valley Road in Basalt. The gym in itself is sensational. But what separates it from the rest is both its unique curriculum and its caring personnel.

America’s history — tons of it — rests in the Distinguished Boards and Beams lumberyard. The timber here comes from old factories and barns all across the United States, a few dating back to before there was a United States.
“Right now we have wood from a 1775 Kentucky chestnut cabin and a barn built in 1890 in Michigan,” DB&B owner Robbie Williams told The Sopris Sun. “We took those buildings down ourselves and numbered all the boards, so they can be put back up again.” The barn was huge: 40-by-70 feet with a roof peak 48 feet high. The trees harvested to build it were at least 100 years old, so they began their lives around the time when Peter the Great was crowned Czar of Russia.