Archive

  • Locations: News Published

    Local school test results show promising growth

    The spring of 2016 marked the second year that students in grades three through nine in the Roaring Fork School District took the state mandated PARCC test (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career). Several other states use this same test, but in Colorado it is referred to as the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) PARCC. The test results, released this month, are reported in two ways: first, as “performance data,” which refers to the students’ test scores at a single point in time (in this case, spring 2016) and is presented as the percentage of students who “meet or exceed grade level expectations;” and second, as “growth summary data,” which refers to the gains students made on the assessment from 2015 to 2016, compared to their academic peers. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    B/P/T Commission kicks streetlights to trustees

    Monday night, the Carbondale Bikes, Pedestrians and Trails Commission sent the issue of streetlights and public safety to the board of trustees, following an assault and attempted sexual assault on women after dark earlier in the summer. The B/P/T recommendation reads, “That the Board of Trustees should address adequate lighting along priority corridors to be determined. The Board additionally recommends that additional lighting should be one piece of a more comprehensive approach to address citizen safety in town.” read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Trustees pick Henry for vacancy, Byars abstains

    Heather Henry — a long-time member of Carbondale’s Parks & Recreation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission, and well-regarded local businesswoman — was chosen by the town board of trustees (BOT) on Tuesday night to replace recently-departed trustee A.J. Hobbs on the board. Henry, according to statements made at the meeting, will be sworn in on Sept. 27. Her selection — she was nominated by Trustee Ben Bohmfalk, with a second by Trustee Marty Silverstein — was approved by a 4-0 vote, although there were five at the meeting: Frosty Merriott, Acting Mayor Dan Richardson, Katrina Byars, Bohmfalk and Silverstein. Byars abstained from voting because, in her words, “this process doesn’t feel right to me.” read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Women’s Study Club brought outside world to early-day C’dale

    The 1880’s and 1890’s comprised Carbondale’s birth years. Pioneers were moving to the area to strike it rich in Aspen, or at least find a job in a silver mine or downvalley coal mine, or to settle the suddenly available land in the wake of the forced departure of the Utes from parts of the Western Slope. The roads were rocky, muddy and poorly maintained. But men with fiery ambitions came to build a better life, and if they could, they brought their wives and children. It must have been odd indeed to fashion a semblance of domestic order from this frequently harsh valley that was far removed from what civilization lay to the east and further west. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Dance Spectrum returns

    Dance Initiative’s Spectrum Dance Festival returns to Carbondale on Sept. 16-18, with performances at Carbondale Middle School and workshops at the Launchpad. Now in the festival’s fifth year, highlights will include: • A performance by the Boulder-based Grass Roots Project, founded by nationally acclaimed hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris (Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.); • “Local Color,” a performance of original work by local dance artists and Dance Initiative Artists In Residence Alya Howe, Meg Madorin and Laura Ann Samuelson (Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m.). read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    B/P/T Commission takes streetlight input on Sept. 12

    An advisory commission that deals with bicycle and pedestrian trails in Carbondale is inviting concerned citizens to show up at a meeting on Sept. 12 and let their feelings be known regarding the safety of the town's streets, sidewalks and trails, and whether lights should be added to dark parts of town. But at least one member of the Board of Trustees stressed to The Sopris Sun this week that if additional lights are supported by the citizenry, people must understand that the town is not interested in detracting from Carbondale's highly prized night sky, nor in putting up lights that will negatively affect the town's energy efficiency goals. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Marble bails on Wild and Scenic designation

    The Town of Marble has officially gone on record as opposing Wild & Scenic designation for a 39-mile stretch of the Crystal River, by a vote of 3-1 at the Sept. 1 meeting of the town council. Only council member Larry Good voted in favor of the designation, according to Mayor Will Handville, who did not vote once the majority tally was known — an abstention that Handville said is in accordance with the town’s regulations. Voting to oppose the designation were council members Tim Hunter, Richard Wells and Mike Yellico. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Garco Commish candidates

    Garfield County voters in November will be faced with a choice between incumbent John Martin and challenger John Acha to serve the next four years as county commissioner for Dist. 2, which encompasses parts of Glenwood Springs, as well as New Castle, Silt and the central portion of the unincorporated county. The election is scheduled for Nov. 8, and is to be conducted primarily by mail. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Carbondale’s mayor race attracts three candidates

    A trio of Carbondale candidates — incumbent trustees Katrina Byars and Dan Richardson, and former trustee Ed Cortez — will be on the ballot in November, each hoping to become the town’s next mayor. The three submitted successful nominating petitions to Town Clerk Cathy Derby by the Aug. 29 deadline, as verified by Derby, and were the only ones who turned in petitions in for the election, Derby said on Tuesday. The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8, and whomever is chosen by the voters will serve out the remaining time of Stacey Bernot’s term, which expires in 2018. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Assault victim

    Erica Crampton went out one night in late July for a Slurpee at 7-Eleven, and on her way home was assaulted by an unidentified man along a dark section of the bike path next to Highway 133 in Carbondale. In the five weeks or so since the attack, Crampton told The Sopris Sun, she has generally come to grips with the incident and feels she is working to move forward with her life, including plans for some therapy sessions to bolster any possible mental-health hangovers from the ordeal. But she also feels the local police and the town government in general need to act more firmly to make the town’s streets safer for women walking alone at night. read more →