Another Month in the Valley
By Thomas Wills – Editor and Publisher
Autumn in the Valley. Among the top stories of the past month Bowie Resources Partners announced the idling (reduction of production) of the Bowie #2 Mine due to having to relocate the longwall machinery due to geologic problems. This may take a year, or the company may step back and reconsider costs versus benefits in a declining market.
Then there is the strange tale of the quest to bring real broadband Internet speeds (25 mbs plus) to the residential and commercial communities in the North Fork and region without the current prohibitively high costs. First DMEA was going to make it happen. Then a Region 10 grant/DCED/Delta County was going to build a fiber backbone into the Towns with the to-the-house/business last/last mile being left to somebody else. DMEA, TDS or? It is unclear. To me anyway.
In the meantime TDS is offering 25mbs/5mbs in a limited area of both Hotchkiss and Paonia for about $100, or a little less, a month. Still pretty pricy compared to other areas and the service is not fiber to the home and is being delivered on existing copper wiring, thus the distance limitations. The status quo seems to be that the closer you are to town (and a TDS server), the better your speeds are. So, if you need speed move your business to town.
And if you have waited until the last few days to turn in your 2015 mail-in ballot make sure you vote YES on the opt-out of SB05-152 questions asked by the County and your Town. This will add needed flexibility in getting the final buildout done.
September 22 – Jane finally had her partial hip replacement today (delayed from last month) and it went well. I spent the afternoon and evening at Delta County Memorial Hospital getting the last of the October Herald done (and probably not catching all of the typos). Not having the Internet is sometimes a big help. Missed attending the Paonia Council meeting.
Clouds moved in during the day and it looks like more rain after a few days respite.
September 23 – A little rain overnight. Summer-like temperatures with a breeze that carried that whiff of autumn. The October Herald went off to the printer. The Hotchkiss Planning Commission, of which I am a member, reviewed and recommended approval of a request for an expansion of a limited business water and sewer tap for the old pawnshop/Locksmith building.
September 24 – I attended, and read a short-short story (about the drawbacks of love affairs with space aliens) at the Mountain Harvest – Harvest of Voices. The Herald was doubly represented with Marla Bishop also reading. Fun. There was also a great art/artisan display open in the old firehouse in Paonia. A surprise venue. Paonia is amazingly vibrant these days.
September 25 – Jane is still in the hospital today but will probably be transferred to rehab tomorrow. Déjà vu all over again. (RIP, Yogi Berra).
Mountain Harvest Festival through the weekend in Paonia. Very warm today with people even complaining about the heat.
September 26 – Thanks to some questions posed by Hotchkiss Mayor Wendell Koontz (a geologist for Bowie Resources) I’m still thinking and studying obsessively about climate change, including the sociology and economics of the issue. Grim, serious stuff once you understand the basic science. I wrote down an idea that might bring the coal industry around from denial. (Posted here under opinion) Since politically and practically we cannot move from fossil fuels to renewables fast enough, why not supercharge the development of the process of carbon capture and sequestration at coal fired electric generation plants by placing a tax/price on carbon emissions and then using the funds to fully develop and subsidize the process? The future of coal could be coal. Only a small piece of a much larger collection of solutions, but it does seem to make sense physically as well as politically—even economically. But only if it happens very, very quickly.
September 27 – Jane is now in rehab again for a few weeks to recover from the hip replacement. Cooler nights but no frost yet in the lower Valley. Thanks to Ken Vaught for the tomatoes and veggies. This gave me enough ripe tomatoes, along with some of my own poor crop, to make and can a small batch of all local-local Italian sauce. Tomatoes, green peppers and onions.
September 28 – Miners at the Bowie #2 mine north of Paonia were informed today that the mine will be idled for the next year as the long wall machinery is moved to a completely new coal face. This means that at least half of the remaining approximately 150 miners will be laid off or transferred to one of the company’s Utah mines.
Many are remembering the Oxbow closing and talk of installing a new longwall there away from the area affected by the fire. Despite all of the happy talk from the company it hasn’t happened and apparently won’t. The reason was apparently the economics of keeping the insurance money versus spending it on a marginal mine with only a few years’ worth of coal left. Bowie has similar issues due to its reportedly iffy coal geology that causes expensive problems for the more efficient longwall technology. On the other hand the company was recently approved for a lease expansion that would add to the life of the mine. Time will tell.
September 29 – Bowie Resources issued an official press release today about the temporary idling/production slowdown.
The Hotchkiss Town Council held a special meeting to deal with a few items including voting on a new trash service contract followed by a work session with their attorney for a refresher on what you can and can’t do as elected officials.
It smelled like rain in the morning but it didn’t happen. Things are getting pretty dry again.
September 30 – The sewer line replacement project began in Hotchkiss.
October 1 – One heck of a meeting of stakeholders in bringing a real-speed broadband backbone into Hotchkiss (and the rest of the county) via a Region 10 grant. The idea is to help make 25/5 mbs plus (real broadband) service available at consumer affordable pricing. TDS’s Bill Long injected some realist thought into the thinking, but of course his company currently has a very, very expensive corner on the local 25mbs plus commercial broadband market.
October 2-3 – More warm weather and cool nights with no sign of early frost in Hotchkiss. Wrapping up the flower season out in front of my bookstore in Hotchkiss the Maximillian Sunflowers that Katherine and Joe Colwell brought down in the spring, are finally blooming but were worth the wait, creating towers of bright yellow that go well with the changing season.
October 5-6 – A little rain fell with cooler daytime temperatures. The tomatoes in the gardens are finally ripening in enough numbers to plan for another canning session. In anticipation of a snowy El Nino winter to match a wet summer, I picked up an adequate pair of snow boots ($5) at the Hotchkiss Methodist Peace Circle’s Wearhouse Thrift Shop in the basement of Memorial Hall. And another pair of roomy camouflage pants (one dollar) that will be comfy with a layer of long underwear. The only new clothes I buy are socks and underwear (if you don’t count all my new Bernie for President shirts –American made by Union members). Everything else is usually from the Methodist Thrift Shop.
October 7 – The Crawford Town Council meeting featured Michelle Haynes of Region 10 giving a very different view of the Broadband “middle mile” project than that from TDS’s Bill Long at the October 1 Hotchkiss Council meeting. Apparently it is a capitalism vs non-profit communications gap.
October 8 – Broadband again at the Hotchkiss Council meeting. The Council voted to nominate the Town Hall and Town Shops as places for Region 10 project anchors.
October 10 – Hotchkiss Homecoming and a beautiful day for the parade festivities and game.
October 11 – The first Second Saturday Shop in Hotchkiss Day. For some reason the Downtown was pretty empty for most of the day but I did get a few people in just before 5 p.m. for my 50% off all fiction sale. I’ll feature that sale again at next month’s event.
October 12 – A gorgeous fall day with still no sign of frost in the lower Valley. The new Valley climate normal is that the previous late September first frost date is now several weeks to a month later. There was a forum for the School board candidates at Hotchkiss High School but I ended up attending the Hotchkiss Neighborhood Watch meeting.
October 13 – I picked Jane up from hip surgery rehab in the morning and she is really glad to be home and is doing well. I spent most of the day getting ready for the Delta County for Bernie Sanders Democratic Presidential Debate Watching Party/Potluck at Memorial Hall in the evening. That meant that I wasn’t able to make it to the Paonia Town Council meeting.
The Bernie /Debate Watch went well with about fifty people filling the Hall bringing an amazing array of food. Special thanks again to Wesley Howe, tech guy, for doing the projection and Internet streaming and skillfully overcoming the few hiccups due to the CNN servers being overwhelmed. Everyone was pleased with Bernie’s performance but Hillary and the other candidates also drew applause at times. I particularly appreciated the obvious respect that Bernie and Hillary showed for one another, along with friends Jim Webb and Bernie.
October 15 – The opening, official reopening of the Church of Art in Hotchkiss was a fun affair with hands on print making and lots of neighborly schmoozing. (My quick piece resembled second grade refrigerator door art.) One the great charms of a COA opening is the front steps and how, in good weather, they become a sort of urban stoop party.
Warm weather continues with no killing frost yet in Hotchkiss although that has not been the case in slightly higher areas of the Valley.
October 17 – Warm with a little rain in the late afternoon. Made it to the Hotchkiss Methodist church in the morning. Fair turnout despite the competition from football games. Pastor Amos presented another charming sermon, this one playing off a theme of computer viruses compared to moral viruses. I canned another batch of Italian All-Purpose sauce from tomatoes, peppers and onions from the gardens.
October 19 – More, heavier rain fell in the morning. The Creamery’s Linda Tullis came by to discuss advertising and the future of the arts facility. Then I ended up a couple doors down at artist Michael Cleverly’s home and studio where the conversation continued with some very different perspectives added .
October 20 – The rain continued today although it is not particularly useful this late in the season. I have a feeling that frost will descend on the lower Valley once this storm moves out.
Business News and Other Rumours
The Creamery Arts Center’s gift shop is now open Wednesday through Saturday 11-5:30. And on special days even more stuff is happening. For example at the end of October the facility hosted a benefit Halloween concert dance party.
Ann Robertson, the new owner of the Old Town Hall/Bank of the North Fork building in Hotchkiss, plans open a massage therapist’s office soon in the rear to the building in the space that was once the Hotchkiss Marshal’s office.
Shish KaBikes is a new bicycle repair shop in Paonia located at 202 Poplar (on the corner of Second Street). Owner, Scott Shishim has been wrenching on bikes for over 12 years. He learned basics of bike maintenance at an early age from his father and has wrenched ever since. His passion for cycling led him to Durango, where he raced for Fort Lewis College and honed his skills at Durango Cyclery working with professional Wrenches. He attended SRAM Technical University and works on the full gamut of road, mountain, BMX, cross, touring, townie and kids bikes.
A Political Reminder: If you are an unaffiliated voter, unregistered or registered with a third party and would like to participate in either the Democratic or Republican caucuses because you like Bernie Sanders (D) or Donald Trump (R) or another main party candidate, you need to register and affiliate by the end of December. This is a very interesting and historically important election cycle.
Akomplice Clothing Leaves Paonia Due to Slow Internet – From Bobby Orlando of Paonia (posted on Facebook “I would like this passed onto John Gavan, DOLA and DMEA. My sons grew up here (in the Valley) and started their business here and moved away to grow the brand Akomplice Clothing. They decided to come back to the North Fork and locate their warehouse and offices in Paonia. They tried this for a good while but finally had to abandon this plan because of the lack of a FAST and reliable internet service. This would have grown into a good sized employer and locally conscious business for this area—gone because of poor broadband infrastructure.”
Tags: Another Month in the Valley, Colorado, Crawford, Hotchkiss, Paonia, Thaomas Wills