Compiled by Allen Best
ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen Valley Hospital has been quietly stockpiling antibiotics and antidotes for chemical agents in preparation for a potential attack involving weapons of mass destruction.
"Colorado as a whole is one of the leaders in WMD readiness," said Stephen Kantrill, a representative from the Biological Nuclear Incendiary Chemical Explosive Training Center in Denver. "But I'd say you guys are probably a lot better off than most hospitals in the state and probably a lot better off than most hospitals in the country."
Bill Rodman the hospital’s director of trauma told The Aspen Times that he does not believe Aspen is a huge target. He confirmed that the hospital has antidotes for nerve agents such as sarin and VX gas plus stockpiles of ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic that treats anthrax, as well as a mobile decontamination shower and hazardous material suits.
Rich get richer…
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The rich are getting richer in Jackson Hole, and the poor – well, it’s getting more difficult to be poor there, just like in most resort areas.
Numbers-crunching columnist Jonathan Schechter explains that in 1989, when George Bush the Elder became president, those people who made more than $200,000 a year were responsible for 15 per cent of the annual income in Teton County. A decade later, they were 44 per cent.
During the past decade Teton County has become the wealthiest county in America on a per capita basis. More tellingly, the per capita income has increased more rapidly than median income. That’s a way of saying the gap between rich and definitely-not-rich has widened.
Too, as residential property becomes more expensive in Teton County, so too do commercial properties. That means that Jackson Hole is becoming more dependent upon wealthier people, he reports, writing in the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
Schechter sees tough times ahead. Housing prices during the 1990s increased 300 per cent while median household income increased 73 per cent. "It has been our fortune that our wealthy residents have been generous in giving to charities; in future years, as the middle class is increasingly squeezed and governmental funds get tighter, that generosity will become even more important to the community’s well-being," he said.
The tax cuts of George W. Bush have helped the wealthy of Jackson Hole, and if he is re-elected they will probably be helped even more, he says. But the overarching issue is the massive federal deficit incurred during the last four years. Regardless of who gets elected, he argues, that deficit must be reckoned with for decades.
Freedom on the march
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — Gary Lindstrom, a former county commissioner who wants to go to the Colorado Legislature, had what may have been a Freudian slip of tongue during a campaign debate, reports the Summit Daily News.
"We need to support our president," he said. "We need to support our secretary of defense. We need to support our secretary of homeland security to protect us from tourism. Uhhh. I mean terrorism."
It’s violence, Emily, not violins! Telemarketers, not telemarkers.
Ranchers look to tourism
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Several years ago a company called Routt County Woolens was formed. Headquartered in Steamboat Springs, it turns wool purchased from local sheep ranchers into blankets, which in turn are sold primarily to tourists.
There are many such small businesses in the Steamboat area, where working ranches still dominate the landscape. Local ranch-based entrepreneurs make soap, horsehair bracelets, quilts, log furniture and food products.
Now, reports The Steamboat Pilot, an effort is afoot to find synergy among them – and perhaps in doing so sustain farmers and ranchers even as they find it more difficult to compete in the global economy with their agriculture products.
Among the ideas to be explored at a Nov. 10 workshop is whether a regional branding plan would make sense. Proponents point out that California’s Napa Valley combined tourism with local products in promotional campaigns. In the Steamboat area, the brand would presumably encompass the region’s pastoral beauty, skiing, and ranching heritage. The goal is to get people to buy the products because the branding invokes these images.
(On the other hand, that is essentially the Steamboat ski brand already – with, of course, more snow).
Also to be discussed are whether to pool efforts to market the products and create a communal presence on the Internet, and how to improve channels of distribution.
Among the organizers is Tammie Delaney, of the Community Agriculture Alliance. "One of our greatest concerns is losing our agricultural lands. Working on bringing some of our outstanding local agricultural products to market may help keep some of our ranches viable in the face of growth," she told The Pilot. "What could be better than bringing home a part of the Yampa Valley in a blanket or soap?"
Environment big in Bow Valley
BANFF, Alberta — Intensifying densities will be a key issue as the new council in Banff gets down to business. The Rocky Mountain Outlook reports that businesses are happy with the new council, but environmental groups are reserving judgment. Dave Campbell, representing an environmental research group, said balancing the sense of community with business concerns will be a top item.
Meanwhile, down-valley at Canmore, four of the six incumbents got bumped by voters in what many interpreted as a discomfort over too much development too rapidly in recent months. The two candidates that environmental groups thought were the most environmentally conscious got the most votes. The new mayor, Ron Casey, actually worked on behalf of the Three Sisters development project, but Chris Ollenberg, the manager for land development for Three Sisters, said he believes Casey will maintain a balanced approach.
Billionaires plot to beat W
ASPEN, Colo. —Ski towns of the West have been in the news often this year in connection with the U.S. presidential election. Dick Cheney, of course, has a home in Jackson Hole, and John Kerry married into Ketchum, where his wife, Theresa Heinz-Kerry, has long had a home.
Former diplomat and part-time Telluride-area resident Richard Holbrooke is Kerry’s lead advisor on foreign affairs. And in Aspen, a quietly conducted meeting took place this summer at which five aging billionaires gathered with a dozen "liberal leaders" to discuss how they could help defeat President George W. Bush.
The best-known individual at the meeting, reports The New Yorker in an article entitled "The Money Man," was George Soros, the 74-year-old Wall Street speculator who alone is worth $7.2 billion. Peter D. Lewis, 70, the chairman of the Progressive Corporation, an insurance company based in Cleveland, organized the meeting.
Also attending were John Sperling, an octogenarian businessman who nearly 30 years ago created the for-profit University of Phoenix, and Herb and Marion Sandler, a California couple in their 70s who founded Golden West Financial Corporation, a savings-and-loan company. The Sandlers, says the magazine, are devoted to the idea of preserving progressive income taxes and inheritance taxes.
In Aspen, these billionaires discussed such ideas as trying to unionize Wal-Mart employees, but settled upon the more immediate task of trying to defeat Bush, who they all think is bad for the country. Since then, of course, the Democratic Party has held its own with the Republican Party in raising money, which rarely happens.
Bear in the driver’s seat
MAMMOTH, Calif. — A man in Mammoth Lake thought it odd when, just before going to bed, he noticed the emergency lights on his SUV were flashing. Investigating, he found a large bear inside. The bear, he surmised, had let itself in the car, but then a gust of wind closed the door, and the bear couldn’t figure out how to get out.
Once released, the bear ambled across the street and broke into a house. Police told The Mammoth Times that the bear had a habit of breaking-and-entering both houses and trucks, a consequence apparently of being fed human food.
Fahrenheit 9/11 free
ASPEN, Colo. — If critics of Fahrenheit 9/11 are right, Michael Moore stretched the facts pretty hard in his docu-diatribe against President George Bush the Younger. Still, to video store owner Steve Stevens, the film constitutes education that he believes voters need before heading to the polls.
To that end, he is offering to let out his 10 copies of the movie for free, reports The Aspen Times. "I'm frustrated by some of my friends who don't investigate (the issues)," Stevens told The Aspen Times. "I'm doing this so people will get out there and have some knowledge before the vote."
Late fees will still apply. After all, the movie isn’t worth much after Nov. 2.
It’s now 4 lanes to Aspen
ASPEN, Colo. — With the completion of a 3.5-mile segment through Snowmass Canyon at a cost of $100 million, all but the last mile of the highway to Aspen will be four-laned within a few weeks.
The result, transportation officials told The Aspen Times, is that the road that once was called Killer 82 will cease having head-on collisions. Crashes will be less severe, with fewer fatalities.
The end of construction work is expected to shave a few minutes off the drive to Aspen, but Dan Blankenship, who directs the valley’s bus agency, does not expect the easier drive to dampen the ridership on buses. He reasons that the entrance to Aspen, which is a tremendous bottleneck, will continue to slow cars more than buses, which have special privileges.
Commuting times haven’t changed all that much over the years. Improved snow tires allow faster speeds now, but increased congestion has the opposite effect. According to the agreement worked out in advance of the four-laning, if the traffic count hits 1994 levels, the state transportation agency must begin working on ways to increase use of mass transit.
Rape charge in Canmore
CANMORE, Alberta — Police jailed a 28-year-old construction worker after charging him with locking up a local service worker inside a hotel room for four days, giving her drugs, and repeatedly raping her and threatening to kill her. She was not reported missing.
A knowledgeable individual told the Rocky Mountain Outlook that many service workers, especially if they live in dormitory-style staff accommodations, prefer to spend their days off away from home.
Taxes hike needed to thin trees
GRAND LAKE, Colo. — The recreation district in Grand Lake is an anomaly, a government that has never raised its property tax during its 45 years of existence. But directors hope voters change that distinction this fall by approving a higher tax that will, in part, be used for removal of trees infested with bark beetles.
The goal, explains the Sky-Hi News, is to protect property adjacent to the golf course from the potential of both beetles and wildfires.
Lawnmower expensive fire hazard
KETCHUM, Idaho — In July 2001 a fire on the edge of Ketchum spread into the nearby national forest, burning 300 acres altogether.
From the national forest it might have burned into the densely populated Warm Springs neighbourhoods around the Sun Valley ski area had not the federal government pressed 100 firefighters and a fleet of helicopters and planes into action. The federal government tabulated the cost at $310,600.
So, who pays? Usually, the federal government, but the Idaho Mountain Express reports that in this case the Forest Service believes it was evident a lawnmower owned by a Ketchum-based landscaping company became high-centred, causing sagebrush and grass to catch fire.
An insurance company representing the landscaping business is not admitting liability, but nonetheless is paying a negotiated settlement of $225,000. "It’s difficult to actually have that evidence that proves, without a doubt, who the responsible party was," said Ed Waldapfel, a Forest Service spokesman. "In this case, it was pretty clear cut. A $225,000 settlement is better than no settlement at all."
Cyanide mining OK
OURAY, Colo. — Colorado has only one active gold mine, with no active proposals for others. But the potential for gold mines using liquid cyanide to parse out the gold from vast quantities of low-grade ore has activists hoping to outlaw the process.
Their chief argument is that the cyanide-leading process causes great environmental destruction. For evidence they cite the Summitville Mine, located in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, where cyanide-leach mining has cost nearly $200 million in cleanup, with all but $25 million borne by taxpayers. As well, the pollution poisoned 18 miles of the Alamosa River.
Since then, Colorado has stiffened its regulations governing mining, but the question remains whether cyanide heap leach processing remains too dangerous. Four counties, including two of them with ski areas, Gunnison and Summit, as well as Gilpin and Costilla, have adopted laws that ban such mines.
Recently, several residents in Ouray County, a one-time hotbed of gold mining also located in the San Juan Mountains, tried for a similar ban there. They argue that state authority remains too weak and ineffective to deal with cyanide processing.
While no mining is now being done in the area around Ouray, a place once called the Switzerland of America, mining sentiments remain strong. Mining industry representatives were able to portray the proposed ban as a forum about mining in general, and so the county commissioners agreed not to take any action now – but said the ban is open to discussion in the future.
Pretty faces is goal
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — While the ski season has now officially started in Summit County, others are talking about pretty faces. Several businesses have banded together to create a contest that will result in one person getting a $14,000 physical makeover.
"I think people don't see that you can be glamorous in the mountains," said Johanna Raquet, patient co-ordinator at the Summit Center for Cosmetic Dentistry, one of the sponsoring businesses.
Some of the stuff doesn’t sound exactly cutting-edge glam. Yoga? Pilates? New contact lenses or glasses? But then there’s new clothing, chemical peels, and even dental work, and possibly botox injections.
The Summit Daily News reports that the makeover experience will be documented in reality-type programming on RSN, a resort-oriented television network.
Silverton gets in fast lane
SILVERTON, Colo. — High-speed Internet service has finally penetrated the icy fastness of the San Juan Mountains to reach Silverton, a town of about 500 year-round residents. About 70 customers are expected. Eventually, technology permitting, wireless roaming hot spots will be installed.
Amy Gass, executive director of the Silverton Chamber of Commerce, told the Durango Herald that high-speed Internet access will attract new businesses to Silverton and accommodate more home-based businesses.
Condos at the corner store
TELLURIDE, Colo. — Can there be any doubt that real estate rules in the mountain resorts? Not only is for-sale real estate a part of nearly every new hotel built in recent years, but it may soon underwrite groceries.
That’s the message in the Telluride area, where The Telluride Watch reports several plans for new grocery stores or expanding existing ones. One entrepreneur, who wants to more than double his 10,000-square-foot store, proposes to build and sell 12 condos in the same complex. He also has grocery stores in Aspen, Vail, and several other mountain towns.
