Another Month in the Valley: Rain, Rain, Rain, Barking Dogs, and Rain

Downtown Paonia 1930’s

Another Month in the Valley:  Rain, Rain, Rain, Barking Dogs, and Rain

By Thomas Wills – Co-Publisher and Editor

May 2015 – the month when it rained almost every day.

April 22 –  Hotchkiss Mayor, Wendell Koontz, some trustees and town crew members joined Hotchkiss K-8  students and High School student government members in doing an Earth Day clean-up of the town’s roadsides.  Reportedly two pickup loads of trash was collected.

The Hotchkiss Planning Commission met to discuss the idea of how to allow expansion of residential water tap service to outbuildings without unfairly giving away larger share of the limited public water and infrastructure.  Updating the mobile home ordinance was also discussed. The Commission will also follow the Delta County Master Plan update process closely.

April 23 –  The May Herald was printed.

April 23 –  Susan Raymond called to talk about the Powell Mesa chicken farm issue and her personal lawsuit alleging trespass by pollution from the facility.  Corrections to the May issue article: Raymond is a 1972 graduate of Hotchkiss High School, not 1973 as stated. Also, actual health impact complaints were not investigated as such by the county but rather, “dust complaints.” I should have been clearer.

April 25 – Cloudy, overcast and cool. A pretty good rain fell over the Valley in the evening.

April 26 – More very welcome rain and the Valley is greening up nicely.

April 28 –  Paonia Town Council met in the evening. A highlight was a report from Manager Berry that two housing projects that would benefit seniors were in the works.  An age discrimination complaint filed by former Town Clerk Barbara Peterson has been received by the Town.

In turn the Town has asked the County Sherriff’s Department to investigate allegations that a Town employee had inappropriately used a Town debit card. Among the allegations lodged against Peterson in her Town Clerk dismissal hearing was that she had made some minor personal purchases along with fuel on a Town debit card while traveling to and from college classes on the Eastern Slope. Or the investigation could refer to someone else…  The Town declined my request for further details such as whether a present or past employee was the target of the investigation. (Update:  it turned out that the fraudulent debit card purchases were made from out of state indicating a Town employee, or ex-employee, was probably not involved.)

April 29 – The Hotchkiss Community Chamber of Commerce met in the morning and officially voted the accept the Hotchkiss Downtown Core and Highway Corridor Improvement Plan that was adopted on March 25 by the Hotchkiss Planning Commission and will be considered by the Town Council on May 14.

May 1  –  There has been the feeling over that last couple day of a natural switch being flipped from early to late spring.  Mary Simmons of the Hotchkiss Downtown Improvement flower project was out planting the less tender of the locally-sourced  flowers.

There was Facebook rumour/report today that Paonia Police Chief Scott Leon had submitted his resignation but it may be a a confusion with the resignation of Sgt. Shawn Sanchez who moved on to become a Gunnison County Sheriff’s Deputy as of May 3. (Note: it was later confirmed that Leon was “retiring” as of May 15.)

I’ve been looking into the developing story of a new, industrial scale chicken barn being built on lower Redland Mesa on the Kuntz ranch. Not a bad place for it. A specific development change of use application has been submitted.

May 3 – It definitely felt like an early summer day, which I spent in shorts and t-shirt, mowing, chopping and planting.  Things are greening up nicely for the Sheep Dog Trials this weekend.

May 4 – Writing a series of articles about the County’s twenty year old master plan has gotten me thinking about life in the Valley in the 1990’s when things were pretty much booming.  I fondly remember the great evening land use planning, brainstorming sessions at Robert’s Short Stop in Hotchkiss with Don Olsen (Valley Chronicle editor), Johnny Burritt and whoever was hanging around including the late, great Tommy Roberts.  Similar things were happening in Paonia.

The 2010’s have been a new boom time for the Valley’s creative arts and local/organic foods industries, but not so much across the board as it was in the 1990’s. I think we are moving more towards the Carbondale/Ridgeway type of economy with a focus on local foods/organics and wine.  Unfortunately most new jobs will probably be service related.  But, now would be the time to carve out an entrepreneurial niche as things develop.

May 5 – Overcast and cooler.  A light rain fell off and on for most of the day.

May 6 – More gentle spring rain with low stretched lines of clouds hovering over the bases of the mountains.  It did pour down hard for a short period in the afternoon and regional flash flood warnings were issued.  Leroux Creek was  running bank high for a while.

At the Crawford meeting the issue of the Town not being  legally or financially able to enforce many of their Town-specific nuisance ordinances once again came to the fore.  It was suggested that neighbors of a dog kennel  who were suffering through excessive barking and noxious odors privately take the offending party to civil court. Of course another option would be for the citizens of Crawford to sue the Town for not enforcing their  ordinances,  leaving the choice of either coming up with a way to finance a municipal court and law enforcement  or to strike all unenforceable ordinances from the books.

May 8 – The Hotchkiss sheep dog trials kicked off with early morning rain that cleared for most of the day.  Thanks to Kim at Ace Gambles for hosting the Hotchkiss Neighborhood  Watch bake sale in front of the business. The annual First State Bank free cook-out drew a good crowd.

Jerad Cotten of West Elk Outfitters of Crawford called to give his side of the latest Crawford controversy regarding barking dogs. (See related story.)  Lacking most code enforcement and a municipal court, there are a lots of dogs in Crawford, loose, penned, noisy  and otherwise and Jerad says his eight hounds are among the innocent and offered good evidence for that.  If Crawford had a municipal court he would have had a chance to present that evidence.

May 9 – More rain making for a cold, soggy day in Hotchkiss. Not good yard sale weather.  Great for gardeners and farmers. The rain did hold off for the duration of the Sheep Dog Trials 5K where I successfully repeated as the 50-60 year old division male winner, a feat diminished by a certain lack of competition in the age range.  But, then I’m not very competitive.  After 45 years as a runner I’ve learned that the goal is to keep running, not fast, but regularly.

May 10 – Clearing and sunny for most of the day with a light rain in the evening.  It did dry out enough to mow the lawn and weed whack the back yard.  Spring salad greens, lettuces and spinach, are coming on fast in the garden, adding variety to the monotony of early arugula.

May 11 – The sun came out and Valley is all green and sparkly bright.

May 12 – Quite an interesting meeting of the Paonia Town Council.  Someone could probably write their sociology doctoral dissertation or master’s  thesis on the  various sub-themes bubbling  in the room.  The small town power struggle continues. My sympathies are with Manager/Administrator Berry.

May 13 – Hotchkiss Municipal Court at the end of a beautiful, sunny day.

May 14 – The monthly Hotchkiss Town Council meeting went well with Lindee Cantrell did a good job and moving through the agenda in the absence of the Mayor and mayor pro-tem. The rains returned after a couple days off. Snow was reported in the higher areas.

May 15 – Blub.  More rain, of and on through the day.  Many thanks to Betty and Bill Houseweart for  sharing the load of well-rotted manure for the garden. Wonderful stuff.

May 16 – I took my first sick day off in at least a decade. A case of the flu or “the crud” as others around her call it. I did work on the paper but closed the bookshop so I could take intermittent naps.

May 22 –  After taking last year off, I read a story  of mine at the Blue Sage’s annual Write-On anthology evening.  A welcome encouragement to write some fiction and poetry as a break from local newspaper stuff.  The story and a poem of mine are included in the 2015 edition of the anthology. Pick up a copy at the Blue Sage. The price benefits this very valuable community facility.

Business News and Other Rumours

Debbie Pennington Shaffer’s  North Fork Lifestyle Boutique, offering an eclectic selection of gifts, finery and even some Colorado and local canned food items , is now open at the prime business location the Valley, 101 West Bridge Street in the historic Hotchkiss Hotel in Hotchkiss.  The space has been completely re-done  with striking exposed brick walls and polished hardwood floors. For the historical record, from about 1989 until 2013 the address was that of Liz Lillian’s Ark II antiques and collectibles store.  Originally, in 1900, it was the lobby of the Hotel and the Oasis restaurant.

Congratulations and thanks were extended from the Valley  community to  Richard Kinser for 40 years of community service to the North Fork Ambulance Association!  Having recently retired from the NFAA board he was honored at an April meeting of the association in Paonia. Kinser had served equally long with the Paonia Fire Department.

Paonia has a new tattoo parlor, Lasting Image, at 237 Grand Avenue just south of the D.C. Hawkins Insurance agency.

Paonia also has a new collectibles shop Green Cottage at 334 Grand Avenue.  Fun stuff and beautiful landscaping.

Paonia’s Downtown is looking great but there are a few opportunities for new businesses to locate into the heart of town. The old Pete’s Barbershop building is for sale, as in West’s Home Center building and long vacant North Fork Video building.  What is your dream business?

I don’t recall mentioning  that the whole Oak Mesa coal mine idea appears to be off the table despite no official announcement from Oxbow. The evidence for this, besides no attempt to file any mining permit applications for the past couple years, is the fact that, according to local realtors, much of the strip of land that was purchased by Bill Koch’s companies, from about 3100 Road west to the railroad, is for sale. This land was, according to sources several years ago, intended to be a possible corridor for an enclosed nearly  10 mile long conveyor system taking coal from Oak Mesa to a loadout somewhere west of Stengel’s Hill.  Lack of sufficient, quality coal in thick enough seams in the exploratory area along with the high costs of developing a new mine, and the decline in domestic coal markets, are among the reasons for possibly nixing the project.  Also Mr. Koch has been selling off other properties including a couple buildings in Paonia, and has told journalists that he was now out of the coal business.  The Koch-owned natural gas development company, Gunnison Energy Corporation, remains active in the far upper Valley area.

Neighbors of the upper Rogers Mesa/Stingley Gulch area, including organic orchards, vineyards and a winery are reportedly breathing a tentative, collective sigh of relief, while coal miners, hopeful that the jobs lost from the closed Oxbow mine would be replaced by a new down-Valley mine, are less than upbeat.

In other Oxbow news it was announced that there would be an auction of equipment from the Elk Creek mine. Probably not a good sign despite statements from local Oxbow official that there remains a chance of the mine reopening if circumstances change.

Paonia Public Library celebrated their sixth anniversary in their new building with a celebration complete with cake, hosted by the Paonia friends of the Library on April 25. In other Valley library news it was announced that  North Fork branches’ manager, Kit Stephenson, would be leaving her post on May 28 as she and husband, well-known, local musician Russ Chapman, would be moving out of the area.

Rancher David Kuntz is in the process of the construction of a very large chicken confinement barn on his property on lower Redlands Mesa. The barn is about a half mile from the nearest residential neighbor.  According to the County a specific development review application has been submitted. Delta County has not adopted a building code or a permit system so until the building is populated with chickens it is just a building.

And in possibly the most important news in the County and Valley, County Administrator Robbie Baird LeValley reports that the process of updating the 1996 Master Plan is proceeding at a careful pace. She is currently working to craft a comprehensive planning survey to be reviewed by the Delta County Planning Commission.

Getting Tough: No money, no service.  “Effective 3/13/2015 – If you do not bring your co-pay we will have to reschedule your appointment for another date when you have your co-pay available”  Sign on the patient window at the DCMH Primary Care in Hotchkiss.