Bailey Bridge: Unedited Version

The oldest railroad bridge in Colorado happens to be in Bailey and is getting a spiffy new facelift for its new chapter in history.

A small plaque on the top of the Bailey bridge names it the Keystone Bridge.

The pin-joint trussed bridge was made by the Keystone Bridge Company, somewhere in the 1880's.

Arthur Hall of Bailey is the president of the Park County Historical Society and co-administrator of the Great Outdoors Colorado grant funding the reconstruction of the bridge. Hall loves history, and has a special place in his heart for the Keystone Bridge, an oddly placed steel structure that straddles the North Fork of the South Platte River in Bailey.

He believes the bridges were a way to showcase the high-quality metals from the Pittsburgh Steel Company that constructed the bridge’s components.

The bridge has a105-foot span and a16-foot-wide roadbed, and a mystery.

Hall has watched over the bridge’s restoration and improvement but has tried to piece together the bridges history. A random source for information on the bridge is a catalog from the late 1800’s that Hall found that includes a likeness of the bridge.

The catalog sold bridges in kits that were made-to-order to accommodate load, location, use and size. The pieces of the bridge were manufactured and shipped by rail to the buyer, along with instructions how to assemble the bridge. For an additional modest fee, an engineer would accompany the shipment and supervise the bridge’s construction.

The cost of bridge from the 1870 edition of the Keystone Bridge Company catalog is unknown.

Hall said he believes it’s the only bridge in Colorado made by the Keystone Bridge Company.

Different theories exist about the bridge’s journey from the steel mills in Pittsburgh to the mountains of Colorado.

Kenton Forrest, archivist for the Colorado Railroad Museum said he knew about the bridge’s history, and that it was probably built around 1878. He said it was placed in its original location in the canyon in 1902, and he wonders about the bridge’s gap in time.

A standard gauge bridge, Forrest said that he thinks the bridge’s location in Waterton Canyon/Strontia Springs wasn’t it’s first home. He believes the bridge spent some time in Eastern Colorado and may have been replaced and moved to the Waterton Canyon area.

“It’s a piece of history that’s lost,” said Forrest.

Forrest said that until there’s a piece of paper that shows what happened and where the bridge originally came from, we’ll never know.

“It’s a great mystery,” Forrest said.

Forrest said that somewhere in five boxcars of old documents owned by the railroad museum is the answers to many questions about this bridge and others.

He said that storekeepers from the old railroads would hide information so no one could find them. It was their prize and they didn’t want people to know anything about their bridge.

Besides the railroad museum, other organizations have documentation of the bridge’s history.

According to Bob Wilson, from the Colorado Department of Transportation, the bridge was part of the Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad that ran tracks from Denver, following the South Platte River and parts of the then non-existent U.S. 285. The rails went over Kenosha Pass and through South Park, making stops in the town of Jefferson, where the old rail building still stands.

The goal was to get the rail all the way to the Pacific, according to Wilson, but the route only went as far as Gunnison.

Wilson said the tracks were used until 1938, when he said the rail was abandoned.

“It was a difficult route and it didn’t make money anymore,” said Wilson.

Beth Roman, staff analyst for the Denver Water Department said the bridge’s original location is now underwater, under the Waterton Canyon/Strontia Spring Reservoir.

Roman said the there were two bridges in the small canyon, and she believes one bridge is still under water.

Denver Water purchased the bridge on May 17, 1977 for $100 from the then Colorado and Southern Railway, a successor to the Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad, according to Roman.

In a memo of understanding with the U.S. Forest Service, dated Jan 20, 1978, Denver Water would pay to dismantle the bridge, number each piece, and store it. The bridge was deemed to have historical significance, and would have been lost with the creation of the reservoir.

The Forest Service would assume responsibility for finding another location for the bridge. That location was a segment of river in Bailey.

Park County Historical Society granted a license to the Denver Water Department on March 11, 1986 for reconstruction of the bridge on the channel improvements property where it’s now located.

Forrest said that he has an article from the Iron Horse News, dated May 1985 telling the story of the bridge’s introduction

According to the 1985 newsletter story, an engineering battalion erected the bridge across the South Platte in 1985. When the bridge was dismantled, it cleared the way for the dam at Strontia Springs.

Given to the Forest Service originally, the plan was to re-erect it on the Snake River near Keystone, but it was then given to Bailey instead, according to the story.

No date was given for that transaction in the article.

Forrest believes that there was indeed two bridges, but not at the same time. He said the Keystone Bridge was mostly likely a replacement or upgrade for a bridge that either was washed away in a flood or wasn’t strong enough to support heavier rail cars.

Forrest said he wish he knew where the bridge was during its approximately 30-year railroad tour.

“It’s the mystery of the bridge,” Forrest said.

McGraw Memorial Park is located at McGraw Memorial Park, U.S. 285 and County Road 68 in Bailey.

Still a star: Conifer’s McCandless recalls his days as an astronaut

Conifer’s nighttime skies are filled with clusters of faraway stars, and one resident has been closer to them than most people ever dream of.

Conifer resident and former astronaut Bruce McCandless shared his experiences with a small group of star-struck stargazers at the Conifer Community Center at Beaver Ranch on May 12.

McCandless is somewhat humble about his accomplishments during 312 hours in space. “You watch, and there are lots of guys doing what I did,” McCandless said.

In 1966, McCandless was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA. He served as a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 14 mission and was the Mission Control capsule communicator for the historic Apollo 11 mission when Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon. He was the backup pilot for the first manned Skylab mission and was the first man to step away from a space module in the untethered manned maneuvering unit.

McCandless, 73, wowed the gathering of about 40 people with his adventures with the manned maneuvering unit in space. The task was to venture out 300 feet, stop and come back to the shuttle.

He said the space shuttle was traveling at 18,000 mph at the time of the untethered space walk and that with no air, there’s no wind. McCandless said because you let go of the shuttle, there’s nothing to separate you from it and you glide alongside it through space.

During his untethered space walk, the shuttle used a laser range finder to track McCandless’ distance from the shuttle. He had a low-tech method to judge his distance from the ship: a single piece of angle iron. Held a certain way, the distance from the shuttle could be determined along the length.

“It fit the NASA budget at the time,” he said.

Images from that historic step have become iconic. McCandless himself took many images with a Nikon camera wrapped in quilted thermal padding and mounted on his shoulder. During his four-hour space walk, he looked down and was surprised to see Florida; he took a picture.

He noticed that, from space, there are no lines on the land, no distinction between people of different countries.

“Nationalities become weightless in space,” he said.

One place that he said has few international boundaries is the International Space Station, currently orbiting above the Earth. The international partners include a host of countries from around the world. McCandless said the life of the station has been extended to 2020.

“It’s foolhardy to spend significant billions of dollars into completing the station, then to abandon it,” he said.

Though McCandless doesn’t agree with President Obama’s push to end the Constellation Program, a program that studies science and technology, he still believes space isn’t an endangered adventure.

“I think that there is a lot of interest in the younger generation and are sufficient challenges to keep people interested for quite a while.”

McCandless said that, last fall, Congress passed a resolution to continue funding the Constellation program, and now NASA is under orders to keep building the program.

“If we abandon the ability to put humans in space for 10 to 15 years, we will probably be reading about what’s going on … rather than doing it ourselves,” he said.

He said he’d rather battle tall odds than read about someone else doing it.

“A few journeys to the moon don’t mean we know all about it,” he said.

McCandless said he wasn’t sure of his future plans but sees himself as a participant in ongoing space program discussions.

Even with the inherent dangers of space travel, McCandless said that everybody he knows who’s visited space would like to return there someday. Astronaut John Glenn was 76 when he made his return trip to the heavens.

“John Glenn went back and did a great job,” he said.

Conifer High principal: ‘This is our worst nightmare’

From the High Timber Times January 5, 2010

Still reeling from the accident Tuesday night that killed two Conifer High School juniors, students at the school began their first day back from winter break on Wednesday with a news conference by the principal.

Principal Michael Musick talked about the students he knew and lost in a horrific crash, and how he intends to help the students affected by the deaths of their classmates.

“This is our worst nightmare for any principal or any parent,” Musick said.

Kenneth “Kenny” Barnett, 16, of Evergreen, was driving a 1999 Honda Civic, and both he and passenger Mara Parslow, 16, of Morrison, died in the crash on U.S. 285 near Pine Junction on Tuesday night. Also in the car was Barnett’s brother, Austin, who was injured and taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver.

Barnett’s vehicle crossed the median of the highway and collided with a Buick SUV driven by Kylee Taylor, 20, of Bailey, then hit a Dodge pickup driven by Thomas Dimler, 42, of Pine. Taylor was uninjured, and Dimler received minor injuries.

Musick said U.S. 285 is a “troubled road” and always has been. He said it’s a difficult highway for skilled drivers, let alone a new driver.

According to Musick, students discussed the accident Wednesday in their morning homeroom classes, and he credited the school’s caring teachers for their efforts to help students cope.

Musick, principal at the high school of 1,003 students, said, “It’s a tough day for Conifer High School, hard for community, hard for staff and the students.”

Jefferson County Schools has provided crisis teams and additional counselors to help students and staff deal with the loss.
Musick extended condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the families of the students.

The Conifer community already has reached out and offered to help, and Musick says he’ll need it for his school and its students.

“We’re here to take care of kids,” Musick said.

May 4 wildfire notes

Timing is everything; late in the morning on May 4 I was in Conifer when I received a call that there was a possible wildfire in the Conifer Meadows area.

I was about five minutes away from the address located on Blackhawk Road and Cochise Drive. I drove right up to where the flames where, only a few fire fighters were there trying to assess the blaze.

I had the only image of flames as they reached the trees around several homes.

The day was filled with much confusion and drama, and I had to leave the area to transmit the first photos of the fire, knowing I wouldn't be able to get back into the area. That was a judgement call on the part of our editors, not me.

If I would have had a way to transmit from the scene, I would have been able to stay longer. That kind of technology isn't available through our paper, you have to pay for it yourself.

Anyway, I got the first images of flames at the wildfire.


Etola Leipply, a resident of Conifer Meadows, is reunited with her dog, Serenity during the wildfire that occured on May 4.
Leipply said she was at work when she got the call from a neighbor, tried to go home but was stopped by police officers.

She he saw all the activity going on at the Staples center, with lines of horse trailers and animal control trucks and stopped there to ask if someone could go get her three dogs. Leipply ask Jefferson County Sheriffs Department Animal Control Officer, Christine Padilla if she could rescue her dogs, Serenity, Mercy and Elke. About a half-hour later, Padilla returned with Leipply's dogs and the reunion was sweet for all four.

“That’s our job,” Padilla said.

Local author posits: Good things don't always come to he who waits

Sometimes playing the waiting game can bring an unwanted outcome: game over.

People who spend years waiting for their ships to come in may find hope in a new book by Conifer author Kristen Moeller, “Waiting for Jack: Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie: How to Stop Waiting and Start Living Your Life.” The book hit shelves on April 2.

Moeller will sign books from noon to 2 p.m. April 24 at Mountain Books, 25797 Conifer Road, Suite B-104. Already an Amazon.com bestseller in two categories, the book is filled with Moeller’s experience and knowledge about the rough road to recovery from being addicted to waiting.

Moeller begins with a story about when she was asked to read aloud from a book about the Windy City in her third-grade class. She came upon a word and slowly sounded it out: “Chick-a-go.” The class laughed in a way that only children can, pounding a nail into the heart of her self-confidence.

That moment defined her fear of situations in which she would be evaluated peers, a fear that followed her through her graduate studies in mental health counseling.

“I didn’t want to risk failure. … I played it safe,” Moeller said. “It kept me from doing the things I really wanted to do with my life.”

Addicted to waiting

Moeller believes there are defining events when we all make a decision to protect ourselves. Such was the inspiration for her book about waiting for good things to come or for problems to go away.

To help people with an addiction to waiting, Moeller has founded an organization called the Chick-a-go Foundation, named after her third-grade calamity. The foundation provides scholarships for educational programs in which people learn to identify events in their lives that limit them. Moeller said that helps people live freer lives.

“A parent’s divorce, trauma, moving around a lot, being made fun of,” Moeller said. “Everyone’s got something, and we make decisions and it starts to limit. People start living in a box and can’t get out of it. You can’t sit around waiting for what you want. You have to go get it.”

Her book helps people find their inspiration from within, not having to wait on or rely on others.

An unusual book title

The book’s title comes from her friendship with Jack Canfield, co-author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” and “Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.”

At a seminar in Denver in 2007, Canfield held up a hundred-dollar bill and asked a crowd of several hundred who wanted it. Moeller, seated in a front row, dashed up the steps to where Canfield was standing and grabbed the bill. Moeller saw that bold action as a metaphor for change.

Moeller struck up a friendship with Canfield, and, at one point, she was waiting for him to respond to her inspiration-seeking e-mails.

“Jack was first the catalyst, and then he was a metaphor,” Moeller said.

Choosing to react differently

One of Moeller’s favorite quotes is from jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Many people die with their music inside them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, times runs out.”

“I don’t want to die with my music inside me, and I don’t want others to either,” Moeller said.

Using “the lessons learned and the wisdom gained along the way,” she explains the importance of identifying those times in life when waiting for something good to happen can set people back. She shares ways to disrupt the status quo and to accept that there are good things we can have and active ways to achieve them.

For Moeller, it’s all about choice.

Choose that a criticism is a contribution, or that the driver who cut you off is having horrible things go on in his life, or the co-worker who snaps has something on her mind, she said.

“Choose another reaction to it,” she said of our negative reactions. “We can’t coast on the choice of yesterday. We often have to re-choose. Either you have a past, or your past has you. If you’re had by the past, there’s no choice, no awareness that there’s something else. That’s the people dying with their music still inside them.”

Contact Barbara Ford at barbara@evergreenco.com or 303-350-1043. Check

www.HighTimberTimes.com for updates.

Encouraging kids to open books and their minds

The eighth annual Reading Celebration Day will roll into Conifer on Feb. 6, and author Joe Wheeler believes that kids who read will own their imaginations instead of borrowing them from the media.

The Conifer Kiwanis Club is sponsoring the event, to be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Beaver Ranch, located a mile south of U.S. 285 on Foxton Road.

The event is partly a celebration of reading and also a chance for the Kiwanis to present four elementary schools with checks for $1,000 toward purchase of library books. The schools are Marshdale, Elk Creek, West Jefferson and Deer Creek.

The event targets third-graders an effort to get them excited about the magic of books. It is free for all third-graders, third-grade teachers, librarians and principals of the four schools.

“Unless a child falls in love with reading by third grade, they won’t ever develop it,” Wheeler said.

With parental permission, each third-grader who attends the event will receive one of six books compiled and edited by Wheeler. Children may have their book personally inscribed by him.

The books, donated by Wheeler, are stories about a variety of fun and inspiring animals. A prolific writer, Wheeler practices what he preaches and keeps approximately 30,000 books in his personal library, and he reads everything from the classics to comic strips.

Wheeler, who has authored 71 books, believes that children today are suffering from a lack of the social and imaginative benefits of reading and/or being read to.

“The child is so electronically over-connected and overexposed they no longer have the ability to imagine,” Wheeler said. “Children need to create their own mental pictures.”

Wheeler said a lack of access to printed media such as books, magazines and newspapers leaves children with a critical lack of imagination, problem-solving skills and writing skills, and leaves them open to problems such as cheating in school.

“If a child comes from a home where electronic media is everything and there’s little print media around, then the child has little chance to develop,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler is a member of the Kiwanis Club and coordinator of the reading program. He has donated books, time and money to get more new books in schools.

The average age of an elementary-school library book is 12 years old, said Wheeler.

Half of the money given to schools by Kiwanis will target third-grade readers, and the other half will be spent on other grades, kindergarten through fifth. Wheeler said that $1,000 is virtually nothing for the cost of books, but that fund-raising is tougher this year.

Wheeler plans to continue spreading the word about reading. Children can find themselves and their futures in the pages of a book, he said.

“This is a way to get families to read again,” Wheeler said. “Children will become their favorite stories.”

From the High Timber Times, February 2010

Residents help engineers become street-wise about Sutton Trail project

Jeffco designers and planners came up the hill to Conifer to present the proposed Sutton Trail project to the public, and they came away with input from area residents.

Concerns included parking, an access ramp to the Aspen Park Community Center, speeding cars and safety.

“We got all the ground-level details about the area,” Jefferson County transportation planner Will Kerns said.

The meeting, held recently at West Jefferson Middle School, drew about 40 residents.

Sutton Road is a two-lane paved road with residences, commercial businesses, a small wetland and open meadow along it. The trail will be built on the north side of Sutton Road from Wolff Avenue to Davis Avenue.

The concrete trail will be 4 feet wide with a 4-foot-wide concrete shoulder. Funded by the Conservation Trust Fund, the approximate cost of the 3,111-foot-long project is $600,000.

Jeffco transportation engineer Brent Soderlin said he was still working on the trail design, and the county will send out bid requests in mid-May. Construction could begin as early as mid-June and be completed in about 90 days.

The first phase of construction will be the storm/sewer system, designed to keep water off the trail with a series of inlets and pipes, some of which are already in place along Sutton Road.

Resident concerns

“(The residents) see things I don’t see and that we don’t come across very often,” Kerns said. “They just gave me details on every hill and dip on this road.”

Soderlin said he wanted to consult with engineers in the traffic department to discuss parking at the community center. Currently, those using the community center park on the road.

A design for a ramp leading to the community center will be incorporated into the trail project, but the specific plans haven’t been designed yet, said Soderlin.

Sid Jacobson, a 50-year resident of “the park,” as he calls it, isn’t really against the project, he’s more concerned about speeding along the road and the population explosion he’s seen in the last half-century.

The speed limit on Sutton Road is 20 mph, and several residents said motorists rarely obey the law.

Jacobson suggested to Kerns that speed bumps or one-way traffic on the road might help slow vehicles. He also doesn’t like that, because the trail won’t have any curbs, the road will be even with the trail.

The design will make it easier for snow removal crews to clear the road in the winter, according to Kerns.

Kerns said a possible answer to the speeding problem could be placing rumble strips in the dip between the road and the trail.

“If you cross (onto the trail) in your car, you’ll feel it and know you’re on the trail,” Kerns said. But he admits that wouldn’t provide the same barrier that a curb would.

Jacobson said, “When it’s snowing, how do you know where the sidewalk is?”

He did like that the Jeffco representatives arranged the meeting with the community so people could offer feedback on the design.

“You don’t go to the university and say, ‘Design this.’ You come to the community and say, ‘Design this,’ ” Jacobson said.

Ken Gerbrandt has lived in Conifer for nine years and loves the project. After all, he walks that road nearly every day.

“It’s great for people, great for Aspen Park, and we’re showing there’s progress being made,” Gerbrandt said.

Contact Barbara Ford at barbara@evergreenco.com or 303-350-1043. Check www.HighTimberTimes.com for updates.

Little shop of history: Students sold on the past in visit to J.W. Green Mercantile

Kids from a high-tech generation learned a little bit about low-tech history at the J.W. Green Mercantile in Buffalo Creek.

Fourth-grade students from Elk Creek Elementary School visited the mercantile to see Colorado history up close in the form of an old-fashioned post office and dusty wooden shelves semi-full of canned goods. The kids learned how the mercantile was the Walmart of its generation.

Mary Green now runs the mercantile, a store her great-grandfather and father operated since 1883. She said this was a great chance for kids to learn about the area’s history.

“This community has jumped on the bandwagon to help teach kids,” said Dude McGowan, a volunteer who helps with the annual educational event.

Built in 1898, the stone structure was constructed to replace a wood structure built in 1883. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places. McGowan knows about the history of the area because his grandfather came to the area in 1898.

“The kids come here wide-eyed, and we just love it,” McGowan said.

McGowan explains about the building’s stones, cut from a quarry 2 miles down Foxton Road and from a smaller quarry just around the corner from the store.

Other buildings that once stood in the area included the train depot, a saloon and an ice cream parlor, according to volunteer Gail King. Kids looked at images of buildings from more than 100 years ago, including structures that are still standing. King helped the kids imagine an earlier era in the area, which was a bustling rail town.

Michele Altenhofen and Bev Ahl, fourth-grade teachers at Elk Creek Elementary, prepared students for the field trip by teaching a unit on Colorado history using a timeline of events, from mining and mountain men to trains.

Foxton Road, the route the trains took to bring passengers up to the mountains and take natural resources down to the flatland, was partially traced by the students on the way to the mercantile.

Vicki Porter greeted students at the door and handed out a scavenger hunt checklist. Kids had to find a wood block used for chopping meat, a wooden freezer, phone booth, an old Coca-Cola sign, woodstove, box of nails, bags of feed, old-fashioned glass candy counter, letters and documents from the late 1890s, an old cash register, and mailboxes.

The old post office inside the mercantile is much as it was when Green’s dad, Don, was in charge of stamps and letters. The full-service post office is divided from the rest of the store by chicken wire and a wood door, and students can watch Green sort mail by hand. A Rocky Mountain News full-frame black-and-white print from the 1980s shows her dad standing in front of the same calendar that sits next to the picture.

“My dad began working at the store in 1950 and worked every day until he died in 2008,” Mary said.

An eerie echo, the post office of 30 years ago doesn’t look all that different from today.

Green recently found some old letters and bank notes from a time when banks issued their own currency in the late 1890s. According to a post office statement, in the quarter ending in September 1896, $39.16 worth of 2-cent stamps and other postal items were sold. Among the curly lettered pages were notations of eight letters delivered on Nov. 1, 1896.

Also on the scavenger list was the 1890 cash register with the name of J.W. Green embossed on the front, something that was done when a cash register was purchased. The highest sale the register could record is $19.

Kasim Rana and Gavin Bowen, both 10, talked about the people they imagined once walked through the store. They thought that miners, tourists and people who came up from Denver probably shopped there for food and tools.

“The coolest thing I’ve seen is the telephone booth. You don’t see many of those these days,” said Gavin.

Green isn’t sure how old the phone in the phone booth is, but she knows her uncle and grandfather helped string the wire for it sometime around 1930.

Joe Mead, 10, thinks he could live the way the people who first came here did. He liked being in the store and was able to find all items on his scavenger hunt list.

“I like learning about the olden days,” Joe said.

Tessarose Guernsey, 10, looked high and low for the old Coca-Cola sign and thought the store was really cool. She wondered about items in the store and was curious how some of the old antiques worked.

“I’m glad I got to see what a general store was all about,” Tessarose said.

After the mercantile visit, students journeyed down the road to Pine Grove to have lunch at North Fork Volunteer Fire Department Station 2, which formerly was the old railway depot. They walked the dirt streets of Pine Grove and stopped at the Pine Emporium, the cemetery, the Dake House, Pine Grove School and Pine Grove Community Center.

“Learning about people who lived is really important,” Gavin said.

PS-I didn't take the images for this story; they were all very well done by Photo Editor Matthew Jonas.

A colorful history: Quilters gather to document the fabric of history

Quilts tell a story, and some local patchworkers are stitching together history one piece at a time.

Almost 20 quilting queens recently added 54 more local quilts to the almost 14,000 documented by the Colorado Quilting Council, known as the CQC.

The CQC is a nonprofit agency that keeps track of Colorado’s quilts by conducting documentation sessions around the state. Sponsored by the Bailey Patchworkers, the local session was held May 8 at Deer Creek Christian Camp in Bailey.

Connie Mondy, a member of CQC’s historical documentation committee, said the state’s quilts are a source of inspiration.

“Documentation gives the quilt its own presence,” Mondy said.

Some quilts carry more than just a story; they carry a legend. A quilt made in 1800 was the blanket of a Civil War soldier. He was wounded, and the quilt was used to carry him off the battlefield. Later, the quilt was sent home, his blood a permanent part of the pattern.

Mondy, who has worked with the documentation project since 1982, encourages people to label and document their quilts, even if they don’t know their previous histories. She said quilts bought on eBay sometimes come with a history, but a quilt’s history has to start somewhere.

“Start the quilt’s history now,” Mondy said.

Each quilt was registered and its history recorded, and it was given a registration tag complete with a serial number.

All quilts are photographed, and everything down to the minute details is documented. They are measured for length, width, size of block, borders, backings and the quilt’s material; the colors are documented; and the way the quilt was put together is recorded, such as how many stitches per inch, the inside padding called batting, the binding, design elements and whether it was machine or hand made.

Documenters have seen some quilts that have newspaper as batting.

The quilt’s style is then researched and documented by scanning through stacks of books. Quilt styles have names such as Double-Four Patch, Log Cabin, Dresden Plate, Irish Chain and Bethlehem Star. Other less-known patterns include the Contrary Wife, Gentleman’s Fancy, Drunkard’s Path, Battle Ax of Thor and Robbing Peter to Pay Paul.

Lois Knight, a CQC member and pattern checker for the documentation project, said there are almost 5,000 very basic patterns and endless combinations and variations. Identifying those different patterns takes a well-trained eye.

“Years of practice and thousands of quilts,” Knight said.

Sometimes, the quilters debate the age of the fabric and style.

“With the whole committee and our combined knowledge, we can come up with the right dates for a quilt,” Mondy said.

That history will end up in a database. Each quilt’s registry number and history are on file and, if a quilt is lost or stolen, the information can be retrieved or traced. If a quilt is sold or passed on, the new owners can get the history from the database.

“If a quilt is stolen or a granddaughter finds it 100 years from now, they can trace it back to the owner,” said Bailey Patchworkers president Cyndi Bemers.

Access to the database will be available soon.

Mondy said the history of quilts began with pioneer women. Their political opinions didn’t matter, so their opinions and statements went into their quilts.

Mondy said she loves to hand-quilt the older quilts, restoring them for the future.

“They have old quilts and patterns that cry for being hand-quilted,” Mondy said.

Newer quilts are reviewed with the same attention to detail as older quilts, though a newer quilt’s colors are brighter and fresher. It makes no difference to the quilting queens; it isn’t about the fabric — it’s about the history.

“These are not unknown quilts any longer,” Bemer said.

From the High Timber Times, May 12, 2010

Serving those who service: RMAE sends letter and care packages to soldiers

Colton Meyers lives in Conifer and attends Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen, but his heart and mind are far away with the service men and women whose feet tread the sandy soil of distant lands.

Colton has learned a lot about the military and the hardship soldiers face through his brothers, Army Spc. Jesse Bavender and Marine Sgt. Joshua Bavender, both 22. The twins are Colton’s half brothers.

The brotherly connection gave Maria Indrehus’ and Kim Ross’ fourth-grade classes the inspiration for their part in the RMAE Community Service Day, an event celebrated April 29 by the entire school.

This year, students in other classes at the school work to make their world better by filling backpacks for an orphanage in Kenya, visiting with elderly and special needs groups, picking up trash, helping charity organizations, and planting trees.
This year, Colton’s fourth-grade classmates geared their service toward those in uniform by writing letters, making videos and assembling care packages destined for Jesse’s military unit.

Jesse is in Afghanistan, and Joshua is in North Carolina, awaiting a transfer to Okinawa.

Colton and his mom, Melanie Breeden, said packages shipped to her sons could take three months to arrive. She also believes that the soldiers will write back to the class, and her sons could possibly even visit the class.

“I’m sure there are a lot of projects the class could have done, but they decided to do this,” Breeden said. And she’s grateful.
Colton’s peers sit as quietly as fourth-graders can, a sea of blue, red and khaki uniforms, and they listen intently to his descriptions of military life.

At 11 years old, Colton already knows more than most adults about the military, about how much soldiers carry in their backpacks and that leave time is like a library book: being early is OK, but being late, “It’ll cost you.”

Kit Hager, 10, of Evergreen said she liked the project and had written a letter to a soldier and drew a picture of a dog in “class-A uniform.” The drawing, letter and a young man’s idea of the bare necessities (licorice, hard candy and gum) will go to a soldier somewhere in the world. Kit is also going to throw in some shampoo, Chapstick, deodorant and wipes for good measure.
The sacrifice of those who serve in the military isn’t lost on this group of kids.

“I am so grateful for people who risk their lives for our protection,” fourth-grader Ethan Terpstra wrote in his letter to an anonymous soldier.

“This is special and a nice thing to do,” he said of the project.

The fourth-graders hum with activity against a soundtrack of tearing wrappers and crinkling cellophane as students try to cram as much as possible into the small boxes.

Nail-care kits, razors, candy of every type, puzzle books, juice boxes, personal-care items and small reminders of home are all packaged up and ready to ship.

The kids hope the soldiers who open the boxes will see not only reminders of America but hear the sound of home.
Breeden is a veteran herself at speaking about her sons in the military, and she admits privately that she listens to the news, fearful of hearing negative reports.

For the students, she keeps positive but does explain that military life isn’t glamorous.

“It’s hard not having food or shelter, not having anyone to talk to. You have to be very self-sufficient,” Breeden said.
Knowing a child is going through that is hard for any mom to accept.

Breeden was asked what it’s like to be the parent of a serviceman, and Colton volunteered the answer.
“Mom cried when they shipped out,” he said.

From the High Timber Times, May 10, 2010

WJMS becomes Ellis Island for a day

Strangely dressed and clutching a few meager possessions, adventurers to the New World braved arduous journeys, an uncertain future and possible deportation -- all for the chance at hope.

Almost 150 years have passed since the beginning of the immigration wave to America, but on April 20, part of Conifer became Ellis Island for a day. In this way, West Jefferson Middle School students learned about history from the ground up.

“Instead of just teaching in the classroom, we like to put them in the shoes of the people from the past,” said eighth-grade American history teacher Joe Cushing.

For 11 years, Cushing has provided the simulation as part of a unit on 19th century America, when immigration was a significant event. Eighth-grade students researched the Ellis Island experience for a few of the 12 million immigrants who passed through the concrete walls of the facility in search of a dream.

Students donned the identity of the immigrants, including their names, ages, nationalities, occupations, families and problems. They ventured through eight immigration stations exactly like those at Ellis Island. Dressed in the garb of their country and with practiced accents, they participated in hearings for identity, language, citizenship, political affiliation, health, physical fitness and financial security.

Wrong answers to questions posed by the Ellis Island “officials,” namely staff and parent volunteers, could result in immigrants having to give a bribe, sing a song, do a dance or be deported.

The students quickly learned that lost steamship tickets or identification papers, or wrong political affiliation could cost them their chance at citizenship. As the simulation went on, students became more aware of the few things that mattered: paperwork, families and possessions.

Anna Cuthbertson was one of the first immigrants to be deported and said the simulation seemed real. “Officials” who Anna knows as friendly teachers would now tell her she would be deported if she didn’t perform tasks correctly, and she said that was a little scary, but probably realistic.

Cushing said the participants tried to make the simulation as real as possible, although the people who came through Ellis Island probably didn’t eat as well as the students did during the school’s regular lunch hour. Still in costume and with their belongings, students had a small sandwich, a piece of fruit, a vegetable and a bottle of water.

At the end of the day, students who successfully maneuvered through the labyrinth of each task were sworn in as U.S. citizens.
“This is a chance for kids to live a little bit of history instead of just reading about it,” Cushing said.

From the High Timber Times April 28, 2010

PS-There's an audio slideshow for this project and it sits on my desktop

Art school: WJES learn about creating beauty

Energetic chatter fills the room, and it’s time for West Jefferson Elementary School art teacher Mike Wisniewski to mold the creative chaos into education.

“I’m planning for when half the class is done with their projects and half isn’t,” Wisniewski said with a laugh.
Wisniewski has taught art to schoolkids for 22 years, showing them how to use their subconscious skills and vision for creative results. He believes that “art comes from a play kind of place.”

He splits his time among Elk Creek, West Jefferson and Marshdale elementary schools.
“As a teacher, first and foremost I’m an artist,” Wisniewski said.

He teaches art at West Jefferson Elementary School most of the time, and different grades are working on different projects using the widest variety of materials possible.

Wisniewski uses many methods to get kids interested in art, including posters, puppets and even rap music.
In fourth grade, they talk about modern art and how it’s being created today as opposed to “dead-guy art,” as Wisniewski calls it.

He said his favorite artist, though it’s hard to choose, is Wassily Kandinsky. He likes his work because Kandinsky created artwork from something as simple as a feeling.

Wisniewski introduces art history with finger puppets that converse with him about important aspects of the artists’ lives and characteristics that define their art.

“I goof with them but answer their questions as seriously as I can,” he said.

After the business of art history introduction is over, Wisniewski adds a lesson in rap.

Impressionist artist Claude Monet was introduced to the class this way:

Claude Monet is here to stay,
We see his paintings every day,
In living rooms, shopping malls and even in elementary school halls.
For painting nature, he had a gift,
With shapes that seem to blend and shift,
Just like the wind was blowing right through it,
When it came to painting, he said just do it!

Music plays as big a part as paint does in Wisniewski’s life, and near the work tables sits his collection of CDs covered with the dust of past art projects. He’ll also play his guitar to inspire students to attack their art projects with the same zeal as they attack recess.

An old Beatles poster adorns the wall of the classroom near the images of Kandinsky, Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe and many others included in Wisniewski’s definition of artist.

“The kids like that. It’s another kind of input, a different kind of medium, different kind of art,” Wisniewski said.

Learning by doing
Dylan Hart, a first-grader at West Jeff, concentrates intensely while gluing down the edges of his color-weave project.
“I’ve been doing art since I was 3,” Dylan said. “I’m an expert with glue.”

First-graders are learning about mathematics through color-weaving that reinforces their counting skills. Other grades weave loom patterns, and some work on relief or flat sculptures made out of clay, creating vignettes and a moment in time.

Madeline Hornfeck, a second-grader, said she could see the picture in her mind even before she began working on her clay sculpture.

“It’s like pottery. Shape it, heat it, paint it and take it home,” she said.

The fifth-grade classes have made wire sculptures covered with plaster and painted with bright colors. The wire sculptures are destined for the display cases in the hall, where they will stay for the rest of the school year.

After the students are done with their sculpture and weaving projects, some classes will move on to building 3-dimensional models with working doors and windows, cartoon drawing and monochromatic studies using magazines and a variety of paints.
“The hardest part is to get them to stop working,” Wisniewski said, “and that’s a good thing.”

From the High Timber Times, April 21, 2010

Young author published and proud

Most authors are a little older than 16 when they publish their first book - Apparently, no one told Annell Hodges that.

Hodges, a Conifer High School sophomore, had her first book published last month. “The Angel’s Tattoo” is a 316-page fantasy story published by Tate Publishing & Enterprises.

Annell will sign her book at noon May 1 at Borders bookstore at Colorado Mills.

Annell’s story is part fantasy, part tribute to her friend Jason Cain Rye. Jason died while in second grade, but not before the two put their pint-size heads together and came up with a giant idea for a story. The pair created the world of the “Anchanted,” a race of people who live among us but have special powers to shape-shift and morph into other beings.

Her sophisticated story is filled with angst, tension and mythic symbolism.

The main character, 14-year-old Jason, struggles to find his way in the world, separated by his heritage as an Anchanted, and he struggles with friendship, self-knowledge, separation and, most of all, loyalty. Jason’s story is of self-acceptance of his unique abilities and his fight against manipulation by those who would harm him.

Annell admits her story had one challenge: the Jason she knew as an inspiration for the main character was 8 years old when he died.

“It took imagination to know what he would act like being older,” Annell said.

The book, which Annell began writing in second grade, is geared toward middle-school-age kids, but she isn’t picky about who reads it.

“Anybody could read it. That would be great, actually,” Annell said.

‘Training, mastery and victory’
Around her neck, Annell wears a necklace with three words: “Training, mastery, victory.”

“With training comes mastery, and with mastery comes victory,” she said.

She doesn’t know where she heard the saying, but she made a necklace to keep the three words close to her heart.
“Victory is getting through life, smiling and doing a good job,” Annell said.

She believes she’s done just that with her book and feels there’s a message inside her story.

“Second to loyalty is friendship,” she said. “Be good to your friends. They are the only people you’ve got who will protect you and be there for you when you need them. You’re stronger than you think, and nothing in life is guaranteed.”

Advice from a young author
Annell has advice for those young and old who have a book inside them.

Annell walks the writer’s walk easily and confidently, and she cautions against being too hard on ideas and their evolution. Have lots of patience, Annell said. “Stick with it and believe it’s a good idea.”

She knows people who have come up with promising story ideas and have edited themselves into discouragement.

Annell knew what she needed from her characters but admits her writer’s block usually occurred during warm weather. On the flip side, she admits that sometimes her mind went faster than her fingers on the keyboard.

“It’s easier to think of things in school when I’m not paying attention in class,” she said with a laugh. Looking around a room, she daydreams and builds a ladder of her story progression in sequential steps.

Annell, who wants to be a drama/comedy scriptwriter after she graduates, is taking an Advanced Placement world history class and said it’s been great fuel for her character-driven imagination.

“I just try to be perceptive,” Annell said. “The more you are perceptive about the world around you, the more you understand why people do what they do and why what happens, happens.”

She’s trying to get the next book out of her head and onto a computer screen but admits it’s taking time. So she’s trying to take her own advice: “Don’t over-edit yourself and don’t underestimate yourself.”

From the High Timber Times, April 14, 2010

Milestones in May: Three local residents share a day that marks many years

Joyful celebrations and hard times have filled the long lives of three local residents. And the three also share a milestone day, May 15.

Centenarian Kay Kalber was born on May 15, 1910. Clarence and Shirley Walker celebrate their 73rd anniversary on May 15. And Clarence turns 94 on May 15. Shirley, by the way, turns 90 on May 9.

A party and celebration of their milestones were part of the Salvation Army senior luncheon at Conference Baptist Church on April 1. The Salvation Army bestowed gifts to mark Kalber’s 100th and the Walkers’ anniversary.

All three were seated at a table of honor, and Kalber sat quietly with light dancing in her pale-colored eyes. Her ready and quick smile transcends time.

Kalber wears a lightweight coat that looks as if it’s too heavy for her slight frame. Her tissue-paper voice is hard to hear, especially over the din of a luncheon with 80 guests, most in their 60s and 70s.

Kalber said she was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and came from a family of nine children. She talks of her 50-year marriage, two kids and three grandchildren. She’s also proud that she did aerobics until she was 90 and stopped only after a fall injured her hip.
She lives in Evergreen with family and now considers the climb down the stairs to her room at night as a legitimate form of exercise. She says her heart is giving her a little bit of trouble, but only over the last four to five years.

In a low, throaty whisper, she recounts a few details about early life in Brooklyn, of hand-cranked washing machines and her mother’s vision for the future of horseless carriages. At first she misunderstood her mother’s prognostication about motor cars and thought she and her brother would have to pull the car themselves.

Today, she said she loves to “look at TV.” Her favorite shows are “Ellen” and “Oprah” and any program that features NBC weather forecaster Al Roker.

She said her sister-in-law lived to be 105 and danced on her 100th birthday, and Kalber said on May 15, “I might try the same.”

The Walkers
The Walkers, Clarence wearing a pirate hat and Shirley wearing a paper tiara and short wedding veil, spoke about their lives together.

Married at 17, Shirley said she feels like she’s always been married. Clarence and Shirley met in high school when she was 14, and he said, “We’ve gotten along pretty good.”

Raising a family of five, they have traveled throughout Colorado and lived in places rich with deep snow, such as Steamboat Springs, and places rich with dust, such as eastern Colorado during the 1930s.

Clarence spoke about the days of earning $66 a month and house rentals for $15 a month.

They’ve lived in Conifer since 1950, and the two still live in the home in Pine Junction that Clarence built with his own hands.
Clarence said he built the Pine Junction Grocery Store, a structure still standing, and he was part of the Elk Creek Fire Protection District for 20 years. Shirley drove a school bus in the mountain community for 15 years.

Shirley said they didn’t have special plans for their anniversary. They would probably spend it quietly at home and save a celebration for their 75th anniversary.

Daughter Beverly Baty said her mom has lots of patience, and has good advice for a long and happy marriage.
“Let your husband think he’s right,” Shirley said with a quiet little laugh.

From the High Timber Times, April 2010

Indian Hills girl hurt in snow blower accident

Quick thinking by an Indian Hills mom probably saved her daughter from serious injury last week.

A snow blower being used by the woman on a steep driveway shot a projectile of ice or snow, injuring the 7-year-old girl and knocking her to the ground in front of the whirling blades.

The mom’s quick reaction to release the hand controls prevented the girl from being hit by the machine’s blades. The names of the child and the family have not been released, and the family declined to be interviewed.

“Things like this happen in a split second,” said Don Schoenbein, Indian Hills fire chief.

Schoenbein said the department responded to a call at 11:35 a.m. March 24 in the 5500 block of U.S. 285. Firefighters believe a projectile hit the girl, and she fell against the snow blower and possibly hit her head on it.

Schoenbein said the girl had one deep cut on her leg and a shallow cut on her scalp.

At the time, the Indian Hills area was covered with about 20 inches of snow from a recent storm, and the family lives on the shady side of a hill with a long, steep driveway.

“After 26 years, I’ve seen it many, many times,” Schoenbein said.

Schoenbein has seen accidents occur when people have tied the controls so the snow blower blades remain running or when people stick their hands in the mechanism to clear a blockage.

Schoenbein said it’s important to keep children away from snow blowers and to be aware of surroundings. He said that gravel, twigs or rocks will fly out of a snow blower like bullets and injure people.

All the safety controls on the snow blower in last week’s accident were properly used, which prevented the outcome from being worse, Shoenbein said. The mother’s quick reactions kept her daughter from further harm.

As the 40-pound girl was carried down the driveway for transport to Swedish Medical Center, she told firefighters her bandaged cuts were feeling better.

“She was a very brave girl,” Schoenbein said.

From the High Timber Times March 31, 2010

Gathering Conifer's Stories

Visit www.hightimbertimes.com for an audio slide show and to read the top 10 student stories.

Conifer’s apprentice storytellers cut their mythological teeth on tales of bandit capers and buried treasure, of ghosts that glide through venerable hallways, of a hot dog on wheels, and of a four-legged chicken.

The fledgling authors are part of West Jefferson Middle School’s seventh-grade gifted and talented class, and their muses are the master storytellers — Conifer’s local legends.

Teacher Frank Reetz asked: Wouldn't it be great to learn some long-lost stories from the quiet woods of southern Jefferson County, compose them, then read them back for others to hear?

And so was born the Gathering Stories Project: Conifer’s Myths and Stories.

Reetz brought together 39 of his students and nine of Conifer’s characters.

The characters are: Jesse McKean, owner of Mountain Books; Richard Burrows, longtime resident; Katie Dix, creator of Handkerchiefs Through History; Yvonne Ludwig, Conifer Historical Society secretary; Betty Field-Long, longtime resident and part of the Long Brothers legacy; Ron Aigner, owner of the Coney Island hot dog stand in Bailey; Joe Beery, owner of Aspen Drilling; artist Eric West; and Conifer sage Norm Meyer.

“This is special, this project,” Reetz said. “I hope the students learn what makes their community special, and the perpetuation of stories creates a loyalty to their community.”

The idea for the project came to Reetz while he was hiking last summer through hemlock groves in Vermont, and Reetz wants to make this project a yearly tradition.

Before gathering the stories, a little legwork was needed. The students learned new skills and concepts: research, interviews, documentation, story angles and composition; and themes: hospitality and graciousness, cherishing the reputation of the storyteller, and loyalty to community.

The interviewees and interviewers
With a giddy-up spirit, the students dived head-first into interviewing the characters and creating a picture of Conifer history.
The kids worked in nine teams of three or four interviewers to one storyteller. Each student took turns operating the small video cameras provided by the school, while others wielded old-fashioned paper and pen. Starting in early February, the interviews began, with everyone sitting around a table as a substitute for a working fireplace.

• West entertained the students with his love of crafts and creativity, and how the skills he uses to make his wooden creations and storytelling props came from his time at West Jeff Middle School.
• Field-Long spoke of Field’s Trading Post and four-legged chickens.
• Dix told her stories through her handkerchiefs, gently unfolding her history of Conifer.
• McKean shared a story about a place much like Conifer and the impacts of change, “ … a magical time in a magical place.”
• Ludwig talked of her family through a series of pictures, how she was reared in a cabin and about her fascination as a child with the running water at school — something the cabin didn’t have.
• Burrows regaled the students with the mystery of the houseless chimneys and a wooden cornice that’s too ornate for the hills of Conifer. He wondered about the people who left no trace.
• Aigner mused about motorcycle dreams and the giant hot dog on wheels that has devotees who travel across the United States for a frank.
• Beery thrilled his team with stories about his missing fingers and the fox farm.
• Meyer spoke in his slow and steady way of his family’s history beginning with his birth in 1917.

The next steps
A week later, Reetz brought in teachers to help with writing and editing. Amanda Rae and Gary Schanbacher, both with the Denver Lighthouse Writers Workshop, worked with the students to write and polish their stories/myths.

“It’s great to get the kids together with the mothers and fathers of the town,” Schanbacher said.

About 100 students and most of the characters gathered Feb. 17 to hear the finished stories. Students took their place at the table under the soft light of a lamp and read their stories aloud.

“When I walked into the room, I spied an elderly woman sitting lonely at an empty table. Her name is Betty Field-Long. As I could tell she was eager to tell her extravagant story… ,” Landon Wildes wrote in his story, called “Long Life as We Know It.”
Sam Cassman’s story, “Jesse’s Tale,” is about Jesse McKean.

“ … His hands were gnarled and calloused and showed many years of work and struggling. He greeted us jovially. … When we finally stopped our noise and shuffling … he told a story and his voice carried us to magical landscapes and times. … He was rejuvenated by this story; he grinned at us like he was 20 years younger.”

Jenna Wisnewski’s story, “Blood Orange,” is a searing interpretation of Beery’s fox farm.

“Foxes (were) everywhere, like a famous artist had just one color left to paint his farm scene: orange. … The line like a funeral procession, slowly filed into the mill … each fox met its fate.”

Finished products
Like all good stories, the project has taken on a life of its own.

The stories will become part of the Denver Public Library's Western Genealogical Library, according to Reetz.

Janet Shown, president of the Conifer Historical Society and Museum, has added the stories to the society’s Oral Traditions Project. Students will present their stories at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 12, in the main lodge at Conifer Community Park at Beaver Ranch.

“I think it was a really exciting intergenerational project, one that brought the community closer together,” Shown said. “Having kids interview longtime residents about the community brings them into the history and makes them part of the history of Conifer.”

Student author Landon Wildes summed up the project best:

“The story of life is more important than a false (made-up) story,” he said. “When you get truth and facts about life, it’s amazing.”

The student authors

Students who participated in the project are: Matthew Bluestein, Matthew Burroughs, Justin Ford, Lindsey Foust, Lauren Freytag, Maria Jacobs, David Klaassen-Cornish, Michael LaBarge, Matthew Lein, Connor Lipke, Grant Martin, Cody Miller, Averi Rickert, Jacob Romero, David West, Cole Wheatley, Julien Williams, Jenna Wisniewski, Gabriel Arrage, Bjoern Bingham, Evan Blaskowski, Liam Canty, Jake Carter, William Dale, Megan Freytag, Olivia Galvin, Julianna Hastings, Reed Helle, Caleb Horrocks, Simon Hughes, Samuel Kassman, Camden Lawhead, Megan Mosey, Andrew Norman, Calvin Ringelberg, Howard Ritter, Maja Sagaser, Kyra Searcy and Landon Wildes.


From the High Timber Times March, 31, 2010

Staunton State Park: a lady in waiting

“Designing a park from scratch is a pretty rare opportunity. It doesn’t happen too often.” — Chad Herd, Landworks Design

Bright plastic ribbons wave furiously in the late-winter wind at the future site of Staunton State Park, marking the construction stakes that map the makings of Colorado’s 43rd state park.

The master plan has been approved for the park just north of Shaffers Crossing, and the first phase of preparation is about to get under way for the pristine, 3,700-square-acre preserve that will feature creeks, cliffs, wetlands, meadows, aspen trees, bubbling natural springs, and old caretakers’ cabins that have long since tumbled down.

Designs for the first phase of construction are under way, including the entry to the park along South Elk Creek Road, a visitor center, park offices and trailheads. Phase one of the park will be for day use only.

The park also will offer almost 18 miles of trails, 11 miles of which will be multi-use for bikes, horses and people. Seven miles of trails will be designated for hiking only.

Francis Hornbrook Staunton donated the original 1,680-acre parcel to Colorado State Parks in 1986. Additional patchwork acquisitions have created a 3,700-square-mile wilderness 45 minutes from Denver.

“She loved the state of Colorado,” said Chad Herd, principal with LandWorks Design and project leader for Staunton State Park’s design. Herd said the park ultimately came together from a series of land purchases between 1999 and 2006.

“This stuff takes awhile to work out,” Herd said. “We’re really excited about it.”

Herd spent two years traversing the park and calls it a blank canvas. He is mindful of the areas that need protection and the places that can be developed. Almost 4,000 photos have been taken of the park as part of the design process.

“Designing a park from scratch is a pretty rare opportunity. It doesn’t happen too often,” Herd said.

Of the park’s 3,700 acres, improvements will be on less than 1 percent of the land, with roughly 29 acres slated for development.

“Every time you go out there, with that many acres, you discover something new,” Herd said.

Scott Roush, the park’s manager, has explored about 75 percent of the park and agrees that there’s always something new to find amid the wetlands, meadows, forest and outcroppings.

The Staunton cabin, located in Middle Camp, remains standing. Inside, an old mattress with coil springs stands upright next to a broken window. A fox has made a home on an old bed in the upstairs sleeping loft. There are uneven floorboards on the front porch, but the screen door is visitor-friendly.

Plans for the cabin include an education facility/exhibition/history building. For now, wind blows through the broken windows.

Six distinct areas
The park is divided into six areas: Lower Camp, Middle Camp, Rocks Camp, the Old Mill Site, East Preserve and West Preserve.
• Lower Camp is where visitors enter the park, and the area is accessible and will be family-friendly. This first phase of the park will offer hiking, camping, picnic areas, fishing, outdoor lectures series, wildlife viewing and a children's play area.

• Middle Camp presents an opportunity to commemorate the gift that Staunton gave to Colorado, according to the LandWorks Design proposal. At the heart of this area is the historic Staunton cabin. Future park amenities will include additional hiking trails, group cabins, sleeper cabins, activity areas, group camping areas and picnic areas.

• Rocks Camp will allow access to rock formations and will serve as a base camp and check-in point for climbers and the adventurous. The property backs up to Pike National Forest and has secluded cabins and winter activities that transform the park into a year-round experience. Rocks Camp area is as far as cars will be able to go.

• At the Old Mill Site, the remnants of an old mill stand guard over mountain memories. The area will suit the more adventurous hikers, expert climbers, cyclists and horsemen. The mill is scheduled for renovation.

• The East Preserve has cliffs, forests and aspen groves. In this area, Mason Creek runs through and allows for wildlife migration. The area will have multi-use trails.

• The West Preserve promises to be the most popular destination in Staunton Park, with Lion's Head looming overhead and hidden Elk Falls drawing many visitors, according to LandWorks Design. Raptors live on the mountainside, including peregrine falcons, prairie falcons and a golden eagle, according to Roush.

Early opposition softens
In the early days of the park’s conception, some residents of Elk Falls Ranch were dubious about creation of a state park in their backyard.

Suzi Nelson, roads chair for the Elk Falls Ranch Property Owners Association, was worried about traffic and fire safety.
But area property owners seem to have had a change of heart. The LandWorks Design team changed Nelson’s mind with its proposals, and now Nelson can’t wait to welcome her new neighbor.

“It’s a win-win for the state and for everybody,” Nelson said.

From the High Timber Times March 17, 2010

Bidding on the future: Kenosha Auction open for lots of sales

The air was mixed with rapid-fire auctioneer chatter, the smell of Swisher Sweets, vanilla pipe tobacco — and excitement.
Kenosha Auctions’ first auction Feb. 27 drew several hundred bidders, gawkers and the curious.
Rick Arnold and Rob Witherington have resurrected the old Reggie’s Will o’ Wisp restaurant at 66803 U.S. 285 and transformed it into an auction house.

“It was lot of excitement, with a lot of panic,” Witherington said of the first run at the auction house. “It turned out real well, with more people than we were expecting.”

The auction ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a little longer than either Witherington or Arnold expected. The 310 lots up for auction included tack, dinnerware, guns, exercise equipment, wood, tools, furniture, brick-a-brack, a stuffed bobcat and coyote, antlers, ATVs, tractors and an ancient wooden-wheeled buggy.

Almost every lot sold.

“Auctions are a lot of fun,” Arnold said. “The auction has the same feeling as going to Vegas, except you get to come home with something.”

Cousins and professional auctioneers Miles Downare and Cody Downare called the auction while wearing the requisite cowboy hats, taking bids and watching for the subtle but unmistakable signs of a bid.

With eyes trained on each bidder, the auctioneers’ hawking was as fast as their linguistic cadence.

Certain donated items were auctioned, and the proceeds benefited the Mountain Peace Shelter. No commission was charged on those items; 100 percent of the money raised went to the shelter.

In the future, other charities will benefit from the same type of sale.

Rick Wilmoth of Bailey bought guns, a mounted deer’s head and random sets of antlers.
“I’m just biddin’ on stuff,” Wilmoth said.

He won several sets of antlers and a deer head complete with a full set of antlers, but Wilmoth planned to take the deer’s present antlers off and replace them with a larger set, then sell the dull-eyed deer for a greater price.

Gena and Ryan Alexander of Bailey came to check out the lots but didn’t buy anything.

“(We came) just to look at it and look around,” Gina Alexander said.

The only real glitch of the day was the parking. Confusion reigned, and both Arnold and Witherington are committed to making it work.

“We’ll expand the parking,” Witherington said, “We’ll have that ironed out by next time.”

March 27 is the next consignment auction, and April 10 is an antique auction. The plan is to have an auction each month. The deadline to submit items for the March 27 auction is March 19.

Each item sold is charged a commission between 10 and 15 percent. “The more you sell, the less it costs, and the less you sell, the more it costs,” Witherington said.

Arnold, who owns a construction company, hopes the auction house will make a profit.

“This works well. I was looking for something a little more recession-proof,” Arnold said.

There will be some absentee and Internet bidding in the future, as well as some auctions that are strictly online. Arnold wants to have 1,000 to 2,000 bidders before online auctions begin.

Arnold has big plans for the large dirt lot and former restaurant. The largest building is unfinished, and Witherington plans to convert it to an event center someday.

Arnold said his dreams include hosting flea markets and bluegrass festivals, reopening the ice cream shop and holding 1960s-style sock hops, but he says, “It all depends on money.”

For information on how to put items on consignment and how to bid on items, check out “Auction 101” for a step-by-step guide on the Kenosha Auction website. Visit www.kenoshaauctioninc.com.

From the High Timber Times, March 10, 2010

Local dog leads students to a love of books

Lulled by the soft, staccato cadence of a blooming reader, Mozart the dog encourages young readers without criticism or correction; just the soft grunts of a dozy dog.

Mozart is a 4-year-old yellow Lab, and reading time with him is a special incentive for students at Elk Creek Elementary School.

Mozart, who is a trained service dog, lies on a big green blanket while children sit next to him and read aloud from colorful books or pieces of paper. As the children become more relaxed with their reading, Mozart does too. Soon, with droopy eyelids, he’s made himself comfortable leaning up against or lying on the reader.

Mozart passes no judgment on mispronounced words and offers no advice, which is helpful to young readers like Alexandra Gunhus.

Mozart rests his chin and paws on Alexandra’s foot, and her reading pace begins to flow. When she makes a reading or pronunciation mistake, she doesn’t look up apprehensively, waiting for correction.

Mozart doesn’t look up either but snoozes on in support.

Cameron Fitzgerald, 11, reads from a piece of paper and absentmindedly strokes the thick fur on the back of Mozart’s neck. Cameron confidently and quickly finishes his reading assignment.

Chase Leyton, 10, said he now likes to read out loud because Mozart listens. Chase rewards Mozart by throwing a ball for the dog.

Robin Reynolds, special education specialist who helps students with reading improvement, loves Mozart’s visits and appreciates the canine contribution.

“With all the budget cuts, we wouldn’t be able to help kids improve their reading,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds has seen a big improvement in the kids’ performance since Mozart began reading with them. “He’s so good with children, and I’ve seen research that suggests that reading to dogs helps kids,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the small groups and one-on-one attention the kids receive in her class, along with Mozart’s help, have improved test scores and reading comprehension.

“Kids who were hesitant about reading aloud are picking out more challenging books to read, because Mozart has no judgment,” said Reynolds.

Mozart was trained with assistance from the Guild Assistance Dog Partners in Lakewood. The nonprofit provides individually trained service dogs at no cost to people with disabilities. Mozart has been a service/therapy dog for three years.

Mozart’s owner, Shirley Granger, calls him a sweet boy. Mozart belonged to Granger’s husband, Gene, who died in 2007, and Mozart became Shirley’s constant companion.

When not performing his duties as a reading coach, Mozart helps Granger by assisting her when she stands, navigating up and down stairs, and fetching items for her.

Sometimes he takes his fetching task a little too seriously. Granger said she has to keep her closet door closed because he fetches ad lib, and she frequently finds her slippers in the yard.

Granger said Mozart seems to know where they are when she pulls into the school’s parking lot for the weekly reading sessions. He begins to whine and is eager to join the kids.

“He loves to come here, and he loves the kids,” Granger said.

Mozart’s next helping paw is to aid kids as part of the Park County victim advocacy program. Granger and Mozart attend classes to become more familiar with advocacy for children, and Mozart’s calm presence will be there when kids are being interviewed by the sheriff’s deputies or have to testify in court.

Despite his full calendar, Mozart will keep his weekly appointments with Elk Creek students, the only school he visits as a reading guide dog.

From the High Timber Times, February 24, 2010

Getting to the heart of the matter: Kids get lessons in nature, science and respect

Visit www.HighTimberTimes.com to see an audio slideshow of the elk-heart dissection class.

A sense of excitement was in the air — as well as the scents of a real-life anatomy lesson.

On Feb. 10, students in Karen Griffin’s seventh-grade life-science class at West Jeff Middle School; performed heart dissections with organs harvested from wild game hunted and killed in the mountain area.

Local hunters, including some young hunters in Griffin’s class, donated the hearts.

Most anatomy dissection classes analyze organs processed and preserved with formaldehyde.
“(But) these are fresh and beautiful,” Griffin said of the muscled powerhouses.

With hearts in hand, students learned how the organs work and were required to label each aspect of the heart.
“This is not a cookbook approach to dissection,” Griffin said.

Students placed small pieces of paper with the typed names of each aspect of anatomy on the correct attribute of the blood-pumper. The paper got very, very bloody.

This is the third year Griffin has given students the chance to examine up close different animal anatomies. Students in Griffin’s class also do dissections on testicles, ovaries and eyeballs, and c-sections on dead pigs.

“When the students remove the unborn piglets from the uterus, 30 13-year-olds make the sound of angels … aahh,” said Griffin.

Today, it’s just strictly wild-game hearts, and the accompanying aroma fills the air in the classroom. The classroom’s door is closed.

“Nobody has thrown up or passed out, so we’re doing good,” Griffin said.

Part of the preparation for the class included discussions about the fact that this isn’t an icky assignment, but a miraculous opportunity to learn.

“A lot of kids were freaked out at first, but we can’t have that kind of energy in the room,” Griffin said.

Caleb Horrocks thinks the dissection class is fun, and he’s unfazed by the small amounts of blood that accompany such an undertaking.

“This is a good idea to bring these hearts in,” Caleb said. “You get hands-on experience without having to dissect yourself.” Caleb laughed at his last statement.

Jordan Arnold has no problem handling the heart sitting in front of he and his cousin Caleb Horrocks.
“This is really fun,” Jordan said.

Jordan is one of the young hunters who brought back two hearts from his family’s last hunting trip. He said he shot an elk himself and tracked it, but wasn’t able to find it.

Natalie Armstrong has a different viewpoint about the assignment, but was game to at least occasionally touch the smaller heart sitting on the black plastic butcher tray in front of her.

“This really isn’t my thing,” Natalie said.

Her dissection partner, Lilly Canfield, agreed.

“It’s a little gross, but it’s interesting,” Lilly said.

Trice Hufnagel is a substitute teacher and hunter and brought two hearts from recent hunting trips.

Griffin explained to the class that hunters help manage the elk and deer population, and she feels it’s a better alternative than letting animals starve to death through an exploding population and few predators.

Griffin also reminded the students to say a silent thank you to the hunters, to thank the animals, and to treat their heart sacrifice with honor and respect.

“Turn it inside out, and it’s beautiful,” Griffin said.

From he High Timber Times February 17, 2010

History for sale: Conifer's Yellow Barn

The Yellow Barn is up for sale, and along with it a part of Conifer’s history.

Owner Corrine Meyers said she put the 2.48-acre property up for sale for personal reasons.

Structures on the parcel include the historic Yellow Barn and three other buildings at Highway 73 and Barkley Road. The listing price is $1.595 million.

Businesses located on the property are Aspen Specialty Foods and Catering, the recently closed Child Garden and a new store, Grow Your Own, which will open soon.

Though Meyers is looking to the future, the barn and its history are on her mind.

“I’m trying to avoid selling to a group that will alter or destroy the barn,” Meyers said.

She said she may have to sell to someone who has other ideas for the property if she can’t find a buyer who will honor the Yellow Barn’s history.

Jacque´ Scott, co-chair of the Conifer Area Council Historic Preservation Group, said the Yellow Barn was a landmark at Bradford Junction, the precursor to what is now Conifer. The Yellow Barn represents the historic heart of what today is called Conifer.
“We’re worried that new owners may not understand the value of the area,” Scott said.

Scott said the barn has a hayloft that once hosted community dances, political rallies and community meetings.

“We’re very activated by this news,” Scott said. “We are calling for anyone or anybody who might be helpful in getting us in the position to be the owner of Bradford Junction or help the new owners preserve the area.”

Members of the community have tried for years to raise money to purchase the barn and the property on which it sits. According to www.preservetheyellowbarn.org, a nonprofit organization was established for that purpose.

The barn was constructed in 1918 and has been a landmark since then, according to the website. Just to the south of the barn is a well dug during the Civil War. The well, a toll-road gate and stage stop provided necessary services to travelers and their horses heading west out of Denver to the gold diggings in the high country.

The historic barn's unique shape and construction indicate it probably was a Sears and Roebuck barn kit. In 2003, the Yellow Barn was designated a Jefferson County historic landmark.

From the High Timber Times, February 3, 2010

Encouraging kids to open books — and their mind

The eighth annual Reading Celebration Day will roll into Conifer on Feb. 6, and author Joe Wheeler believes that kids who read will own their imaginations instead of borrowing them from the media.

The Conifer Kiwanis Club is sponsoring the event, to be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Beaver Ranch, located a mile south of U.S. 285 on Foxton Road.

The event is partly a celebration of reading and also a chance for the Kiwanis to present four elementary schools with checks for $1,000 toward purchase of library books. The schools are Marshdale, Elk Creek, West Jefferson and Deer Creek.

The event targets third-graders an effort to get them excited about the magic of books. It is free for all third-graders, third-grade teachers, librarians and principals of the four schools.

“Unless a child falls in love with reading by third grade, they won’t ever develop it,” Wheeler said.

With parental permission, each third-grader who attends the event will receive one of six books compiled and edited by Wheeler. Children may have their book personally inscribed by him.

The books, donated by Wheeler, are stories about a variety of fun and inspiring animals. A prolific writer, Wheeler practices what he preaches and keeps approximately 30,000 books in his personal library, and he reads everything from the classics to comic strips.

Wheeler, who has authored 71 books, believes that children today are suffering from a lack of the social and imaginative benefits of reading and/or being read to.

“The child is so electronically over-connected and overexposed they no longer have the ability to imagine,” Wheeler said. “Children need to create their own mental pictures.”

Wheeler said a lack of access to printed media such as books, magazines and newspapers leaves children with a critical lack of imagination, problem-solving skills and writing skills, and leaves them open to problems such as cheating in school.

“If a child comes from a home where electronic media is everything and there’s little print media around, then the child has little chance to develop,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler is a member of the Kiwanis Club and coordinator of the reading program. He has donated books, time and money to get more new books in schools.

The average age of an elementary-school library book is 12 years old, said Wheeler.

Half of the money given to schools by Kiwanis will target third-grade readers, and the other half will be spent on other grades, kindergarten through fifth. Wheeler said that $1,000 is virtually nothing for the cost of books, but that fund-raising is tougher this year.

Wheeler plans to continue spreading the word about reading. Children can find themselves and their futures in the pages of a book, he said.

“This is a way to get families to read again,” Wheeler said. “Children will become their favorite stories.”

From the High Timber Times February 3, 2010

Short order drill: VFW members cook up a mountain of food for monthly breakfast

As hard-rock music blares through the kitchen, cooks armed with spatulas, whisks and wooden spoons attack the huge task of feeding an army of hungry people.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars monthly all-you-can-eat breakfast on Jan. 17 at Beaver Ranch fed 301 people a mountain of food cooked by the members themselves.

A bubbling coffee pot is pressed into service starting very early in the morning. Some members show up at 2 a.m. to start food preparation, arriving just after other VFW members have left after completing set-up tasks.

“We start on average at 2 a.m., work long hours and get a lot of people to eat,” said Conifer VFW Post commander Kirk Rosa, who is in charge of the well-oiled breakfast-making machine. “It’s a lot of hard work to put it on and get it cleaned up afterward.”

The tasks include not just food preparation. Members arrange and display the flags of the different service branches, as well as the Colorado and American flags. A table is set with a POW/MIA flag and dog tag as a reminder of those whose fates are unknown.

Preparations for the breakfast include assembling a battleship-size list of ingredients.

The list includes 60 dozen eggs, 8 gallons of green chili, 80 to100 pounds of potatoes, 75 pounds of bacon, 48 pounds of sausage links, 24 pounds of sausage patties, 15 gallons of orange juice, 6 gallons of gravy and 4 gallons of canned fruit. King Soopers and Safeway donate assorted bagels, pies, cupcakes, pastries and doughnuts.

Cooks are dressed in the post uniform of black jeans, black boots, white shirt, leather vest, ball cap and, most important, a manly apron. The cooks’ secret recipes are guarded as closely as any military secret.

Breakfast-goers sit at tables with red, white and blue tablecloths and condiments that include ketchup and high-powered hot sauces such as U.S. Air Force After-Burner Hot Sauce.

Chuck Bruckman is the commander of American Legion Post 2527 in Bailey. Sitting next to his brimming plate is his cap from the American Legion with pins and patches for the state of Colorado and insignia honoring POWs/MIAs.

“I come here to support the guys and support other veterans,” Bruckman said.

Yvonne and George Holm of Conifer said they have come to the breakfast since it began. Yvonne said more people come to the breakfast every year.

There are no leftovers, and sometimes crew members must make runs to the grocery store to restock the dwindling supply line.
Rick Johnson, acting sergeant-at-arms, is in charge of ordering the huge grocery list and equipment and works hard to ensure there is enough of everything.

“We did pretty good this time. We only ran out of gravy,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he wanted to thank the crew that helps set up and make the breakfast a success.

The Conifer VFW Post 12009 has veterans from most wars, from World War II to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.
Rosa and crew provide the breakfast the third Sunday of each month at Beaver Ranch, and the cost is $7 for all you can eat.

“Our breakfast is here so that we can raise funds to help veterans out and support our post,” Rosa said.