“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.” I love the curious lyric in Kris Kristofferson’s ballad of Americana, and it’s good enough for Bobby McGee. I resonate more with Dylan’s perspective on such values as freedom: “I spoke the word, as if a wedding vow.”
On the birthday of The Sopris Sun, I keep reflecting on the value of the free press in our society and in our community.
What serendipity that the week before the Sun’s birthday party, our local press informed us of a threat to dam Thompson Creek. Puckett Land Company held a conditional right since the 1960s to build a dam for the purposes of development of oil shale and fossil fuels. They recently relinquished the right to build a water pipeline over the Thompson Divide to the Colorado River Valley.
This is the same Thompson Divide that has galvanized farmers and ranchers, recreationalists and environmentalists, laymen and government officials to defend these public lands from gas and oil drilling. (Disclaimer: My house is cozy partly because of the gas pipeline from the mountains above town. My drinking water is clean because people have worked hard to protect the source.)
I first learned of this archaic and inappropriate dam right from an article published by Aspen Journalism. The Aspen Journalism water desk was reviewing court filings and discovered that the land company’s required periodic due diligence filing was upcoming. Any entity wanting to contest this right had less than a week to do so.
The Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association (CVEPA) sprung into action. Wilderness Workshop was already securing legal assistance and numerous other Crystal Valley defenders rallied. Ultimately, Puckett abandoned their dam(n) right.
The Aspen Journalism Water Desk helps the layperson interpret information through their depth of knowledge and understanding of water law, politics and current issues. I am not only grateful but I am impressed at the vigilance of Aspen Journalism’s investigative journalism.
So, who is Aspen Journalism? You will not find their paper in the kiosk. Aspen Journalism’s model is unusual, if not unique. Aspen Journalism’s articles are available to news agencies, any news agency, free of charge! The nonprofit is funded by grants and donations from foundations, family trusts, jurisdictions, news groups and people that want to stay informed about issues affecting their air, water, public lands and governance. You and me!
Aspen Journalism is not the only organization of its kind, but it is one of the best, as evidenced by the numerous awards it continues to garner throughout the state and nationally. After working for ProPublica, longtime local journalist Brent Gardner-Smith founded Aspen Journalism in 2011. Brent has had a passion for all things water: augmentation, diversions, compacts, water rights going back to the first ditch dug. In his spare time he rafted every river he could.
The organization has evolved to report on history, the environment and local issues within the Three Rivers Watershed, the Western Slope, the upper Colorado River basin and beyond. Aspen Journalism believes “well-informed citizens make better decisions, that good journalism can sustain both community and democracy… [and] can spur reform.”
Our Sopris Sun recognizes the importance of Aspen Journalism’s work and frequently prints their articles. We cannot take our Carbondale newspaper for granted nor assume that it is someone else’s responsibility to fund it. A $100 donation translates to less than $2.00 an issue — half the price of a cup of coffee.
Our Valley is not a stranger to free press. The Sopris Sun’s predecessor was Carbondale’s Valley Journal. For decades the Journal provided a local forum which benefited our Crystal River and lower Roaring Fork Valley citizens. In the early Carbondale days, residents relied on The Carbondale Avalanche (1888), The Carbondale Item (1898) and the Crystal River Empire (1923) for local news.
Two years before Satank was developed to support the coal strikes on Thompson Divide, while men were busy purging Colorado of the Ute Tribe, a newspaper was founded in Aspen. The Aspen Times has continuously printed papers since 1881. The Times gained respect under the ownership of Bil Dunaway, who was a true citizen of the world. Born in Persia and educated in Switzerland, Dunaway worked in the Arctic, fought with the Tenth Mountain Division and then graduated from Harvard and was the first man to ski Mont Blanc. Dunaway was a true champion of free press and social justice. He bucked politicians, big money and prejudice, and he set the bar high for other editors/owners. Dunaway brought a level of sophistication and credibility to a small mountain newspaper in the wide and wild West that was recognized nationwide.
The constant threat to a free press during this last decade should alarm you. Information, misinformation and alternative facts make it ever more important that you know your press!
Know it, fact check it, get involved … and at the very least, support your free press.
Free press is the eyes, the ears and the voice of a community.
To learn more about the Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association (CVEPA) and to support our mission, visit www.cvepa.org