Boulder Weekly 10.21.21

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analysis:

Red flag laws are saving lives. They could save more.

by Matt Vasilogambros

boulderganic:

Xcel Energy is creating more programs to reduce carbon emissions, but that doesn’t mean it’s dropping fossil fuels completely

by Karlie Huckels

adventure:

Royal Gorge Ranch & Resort will be the first eco-friendly adventure community of its kind—and you can own a piece of it

by Will Brendza

buzz:

Jenny Shank takes a look at the Front Range of yesterday and today in short-story collection ‘Mixed Company’

by Caitlin Rockett

nibbles:

Two catering veterans left Brooklyn behind for greener acres and great bread in Longmont

by John Lehndorff

Safe, full capacity dining, and outdoor patio.

Bar open.

13 16 19 31

departments 5 6 15 21 23 26 28 29 35 37 38

Opinion: The real Safer Boulder Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views Vote Guide: A cheat sheet for BW’s 2021 endorsements Arts & Culture: CU production of ‘La traviata’ will be in Macky Auditorium Oct. 22-24 Events: What to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do . . .

Film: Wes Anderson pushes his style to the limit in ‘The French Dispatch’ Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Savage Love: The goodies Beer: Aaron Stueck keeps innovation alive at BJ’s Taste of the Week: Spicy Pig Patty-style pizza @ Audrey Jane’s Pizza Weed Between the Lines: Hop latent viroid is becoming a bigger problem

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief, Brendan Joel Kelley Managing Editor, Caitlin Rockett News Editor, Will Brendza Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Editor, Angela K. Evans Contributing Writers: Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Jim Hightower, Jodi Hausen, Karlie Huckels, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Sara McCrea, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Katie Rhodes, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman Advertising Coordinator, Corey Basciano Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer

October 21, 2021 Volume XXIX, Number 11 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism, and thought-provoking opinion writing.

Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2021 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@ boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

The real Safer Boulder

by Brooke Harrison, PhD and Leslie Chandler, Safer Boulder members

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ho is Safer Boulder? Safer Boulder is a nonpartisan grass-roots organization committed to supporting public safety and seeking innovative solutions, rather than reactionary policies, to address upstream factors of health, safety, and security.

This is how we, the members and supporters of Safer Boulder, define Safer Boulder. However, an article was published in the Boulder Weekly (“Who is Safer Boulder,” September 30, 2021) allowing an anonymous blogger, Safer Leaks (Leaks), to define us based on cherry-picked comments from a private social media app. This blogger had no interest in digging deep to investigate and understand the backstories, perceptions, or priorities of anyone in the chat. This blogger had the sole intention of smearing individuals to generate fear and silence those who disagree with the blogger’s personal agenda.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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The blog-based article was built around the premise that Safer Boulder is a “shadowy group” because: 1) leaders are not named on saferboulderco.org and 2) some members were reluctant to publish letters in local papers using their names. To the first point, Safer Boulder has not historically had a formal leadership structure. We are not a registered nonprofit and have no mandate for a leadership structure. The leaders change with each shift in direction. However, the group is growing quickly and may now need defined leadership.

To the second point, many members were fearful of putting their names out publicly due to doxxing and cancelation. We have seen what happens to members of our community when they speak out against crime at city council meetings. We have seen the speaker’s personal information shared on social media as revenge for sharing their experiences. Business owners victimized by theft and harassment are afraid to speak out for fear of retribution.

Even before the doxxing that followed Leaks, we faced a culture of fear and cancelation in Boulder. see OPINION Page 6

OCTOBER 21, 2021

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OPINION from Page 5

Perhaps the positive side effect of Leaks was that we are no longer afraid.

Leaks emboldened people to speak out more, not less.

When reading the Boulder Weekly article, one must ask: Why would a group create a social platform, admit almost anyone who expressed interest in the organization, and then all use their full names if they were a shadowy, secretive group? The answer is they would not. Safer Boulder is not shadowy.

The only shadowy character in this story is the blogger. The still anonymous individual was admitted to the group after expressing support and offering to volunteer. Once admitted, they used a fake name and an AI-generated avatar. Moreover, the claim that the Leaks blog didn’t dox is incorrect.

The blog profiled several individuals, along with some non-members, and included personal information such as business names, employer names, and volunteer positions.

Almost anyone expressing an interest was admitted to the Slack group. With no vetting process, the individual views expressed can’t be extrapolated to represent Safer Boulder as an organization. Slack was not used to determine group priorities or actions.

All planning occurred during in-person meetings. While rules of decorum should have been enforced, many of the leaked posts serve as a window into the fears and frustrations of our community, expressed hyperbolically, to assumed sympathetic ears. Some of the statements were abhorrent and we condemned them. Leaders within Safer Boulder pushed back privately when the conversation degraded, which was minimized in the article.

In the spirit of transparency, I offer a brief history of Safer Boulder.

The group formed around 2015 when victims of crime in Boulder began meeting to discuss safety issues. The group grew, and in 2019, the dismissal of safety concerns by city council candidates catalyzed us to act. Some of us began meeting to investigate complex safety issues and city policies.

We met with city staff from multiple departments, nonprofit providers, business owners, and residents. We prepared briefing books for city council members with our research, testimony from victims, and conclusions. Though many council members were receptive, the general consensus was, “there is little we can do,” and that we should 6

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“talk to the police.” However, when 2020 brought a crisis point for safety, the police communicated, “we do not have the political support in this town to enforce the law.”

In response, we created a petition calling on our leaders to listen to public concerns and protect our community.

In tandem, we launched a flyering campaign. Our petition gathered more than 9,000 signatures. As crime and safety became a more prominent topic during city council meetings, a slide outlining the requests from our petition was presented at a city council study session.

The new public attention likely incentivized the Leaks blogger to focus on Safer Boulder. However, we were undeterred and soon after launched a letter writing campaign to call for a no vote on SB21-062 (a measure to reduce jail populations) unless significantly amended.

This brings us to today. With an upcoming election, we must focus on the issues. People do not feel safe in the business districts, on the bike paths, or in our parks. People are living in encampments plagued by violence, human feces, stolen goods, needles, and drugs. We have to face the reality of a raging addiction crisis that has grown beyond opioids to include methamphetamines. All of this is compounded by inadequate mental health support across the state, if not the nation.

Safer Boulder supports the camping ban, resources for our police, and non-police intervention teams. We also support programs that keep people housed and address income inequality, as well as Housing First. As a state, we need more mental health and addiction treatment options that are available to everyone (additional detail on saferboulderco.org).

Though these are the priorities of Safer Boulder, individual members may disagree. Some members support aspects of the Defund the Police movement. Other members do not agree with Housing First. Safer Boulder will not silence our members.

Only through open discussion can we grow and evolve.

Going forward, Safer Boulder will continue to engage in the civic process to make Boulder a safe and welcoming place for all.

This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

OCTOBER 21, 2021

JOAN PECK IS THE MAYOR LONGMONT DESERVES Joan Peck is a tireless advocate for the hard-working residents of Longmont. We need her leadership as mayor for our future.

Joan has a strong and clear vision of what she intends to initiate and finish. Her accomplishments are built upon hard work, not arrogance, vindictiveness, and grandstanding.

She has started and operated a small business, supervised and managed employees, worked in the banking and tech industries, and she has been a public school librarian and substitute teacher.

Joan listens carefully to all sides, then she does the research. She builds coalitions. She stays focused, insisting upon results based upon the principles of our democratic republic. She leads and succeeds with initiatives such as the charter amendment to ban fracking in city limits; the petition to prevent Union Reservoir from becoming a publicly-financed religious enclave; the expansion of Longmont’s air quality monitoring; transportation advocacy with BNSF/RTD/Governor Polis.

She is steadfast in her advocacy for quality early childhood education and affordable housing for all residents of Longmont.

I have served for six years with Joan Peck and I have served for three years with her main opponent. There is no comparison: I cannot remember a single successful project he initiated. But he did manage to delay the implementation of the affordable l

housing ordinance for over a year and repeatedly demanded residential metro districts, a known burden for homeowners. Check out the financial contributors to this election.

Joan does not represent the special interests who are profiting from and manipulating our elections and Council. Joan represents all residents of Longmont.

As a wife, mother, grandmother, neighbor, and public servant, Joan has dedicated the last 44 years to listening to and representing the good-hearted people of Longmont.

Stand up for your future. Vote for Joan Peck, the mayor we deserve.

Polly Christensen/Longmont (Christensen is a current member of Longmont’s city council) PECK CARES FOR RESIDENTS’ BEST INTERESTS I strongly support Joan Peck for mayor. During her six years as a council member, Joan has proved to be a strong leader and a fair representative for Longmont residents.

Joan is unafraid to stand up for us when developers try to sneak in metro districts and fracking because she knows the critical importance of clean air and water, affordable homes, good jobs, and safe neighborhoods and schools for a healthy, happy life.

Establishing a commuter rail service from Longmont to Denver is also important to Joan, as this can significantly reduce the impact of too many cars on the road as our

see LETTERS Page 7

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

LETTERS from Page 6

population soars. Joan has developed many6valuable relationships over the years she has been working on this complicated project that will help her get the job done as mayor.

I personally know Joan to be a kind person and an honest, hardworking leader, unbeholden to big money, who genuinely cares for our residents’ best interests. This fall she has been walking the city and speaking with countless residents to know what kind of practical, meaningful policies and actions to implement to address our most important concerns. I voted for Joan Peck and hope you will, too!

Elizabeth Olson/Longmont

residents, for our local businesses, for our community and, ultimately, for this place we call home.

I urge all voters in Boulder to support Michael Christy in this election, for a truly Better Boulder.

Jackie & Nicko van Someren/ Boulder TO PROTECT VOTING RIGHTS, WE MUST END THE FILIBUSTER Since the 2020 presidential election, state Republicans have passed 33 voter suppression laws in

MICHAEL CHRISTY BELIEVES IN SERVICE We are writing to express our wholehearted support for Michael Christy for Boulder City Council.

We have known Michael for more than 16 years and can attest to the many qualities that will make him an ideal member of city council. He is a man of his word and of highest integrity. He is a collaborative leader and community builder. He is a husband, father, volunteer, attorney, professor, cyclist, runner, and dog lover.

Michael’s thoughtful approach to finding solutions allows room for all voices, not just the loudest. He has honed his mediation skills not just to listen to all sides of complex arguments but to help people find common ground and consensus.

His ability to differentiate fact from opinion and evaluate alternatives without bias was likely behind his being asked to return to California to become a judge, a role he only declined because Boulder is where his family, home, and heart are.

Michael believes in service. As a former JAG officer, he demonstrates his desire to make a positive difference in the community through action. He volunteers with Boulder’s Shelter for the Homeless, Community Mediation and Resolution Center and Cannabis Licensing Board.

Whenever there is a call to action he jumps in to lend a hand.

Boulder’s opportunities and challenges require leaders who unite rather than divide; who respect the opinions of all, not just those with whom they agree. Michael possesses the humility and integrity to be an inclusive and collaborative member at the table. He will strive to make sound decisions that are best for all BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

19 states across the country. And there will be more coming out of GOP-held state legislatures before the end of the year unless Congress acts swiftly to protect our voting rights.

So far, I have seen more talk than action in the way President Biden has handled our voting rights crisis.

He’s advocated for voting rights legislation and asked Congress to take action, but he’s failed to do one very obvious thing that would change this fight: unequivocally support ending

the filibuster.

The Jim Crow filibuster is the thing standing in the way of passing once in a generation legislation like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. If Biden actually wants the Senate to pass those bills, he needs to use his influence as president to get the senate to abolish the filibuster.

Anything less is a failure to meet this crisis.

Karen Rosenschein/Boulder

VOTE #4 ON THE BALLOT – MATT 4 BOULDER!

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

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Red flag laws are saving lives.

They could save more.

by Matt Vasilogambros, Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts

If you or someone you know is concerned about domestic violence, you can call 800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit TheHotline.org for confidential help. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 800273-8255.

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lyssa Shaw’s job is to guide Seattle-area residents through what can be one of the most wrenching and complicated experiences of their lives: petitioning civil courts to temporarily take away the firearms of a loved one in a mental health crisis who may

harm themselves or others.

Washington state’s extreme risk protection order law— often called a red flag law—has been on the books for five years, but most Washingtonians don’t know the law exists, let alone the details of the petitioning process, said Shaw, the state’s first red flag law advocate. Often, people find out about the law only after they call the police to report that a family or household member is making threats or is experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Shaw thinks of herself as a translator of the legal system.

She walks family or household members through the petition process, often gathering background information about the person who might be a threat, asking whether the petitioner feels safe and connecting them with community resources.

“Families need support and it just makes the most sense that if we’re trying to prevent tragedies from happening, that BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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shouldn’t just be on the backs of family members,” said Shaw, who works in a multi-agency unit that includes the Seattle City Attorney’s Office and the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “We need to be providing all the support we can.”

Red flag laws have become an increasingly popular tool to prevent mass shootings, suicides and deadly domestic violence. Nineteen states, including Colorado, and the District of Columbia have adopted them, sometimes with bipartisan support. Fourteen of those laws came after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida—a catalyzing event that led to a wave of gun restrictions nationwide.

Many law enforcement officials, public health researchers and legislators think these laws prevent gun deaths by allowing people to act on early warning signs. But they say the public and even some police officers have so little knowledge of the tool that it isn’t used as often as it should be.

Most states allow only law enforcement and family or household members to petition the courts to temporarily seize or prevent the purchase of firearms, while some states also offer the option to medical professionals, school officials, coworkers and current or former partners. Five states, meanwhile, allow only law enforcement officials to petition. The length of the firearm timeout varies by state, but it typically lasts for up to a year.

Extreme risk protection orders must meet specific legal standards, and petitioners must present evidence, which a judge considers in a hearing. Police officers also may collect sworn statements. Initial research in at least one state, Colorado, suggests law enforcement officers are most likely to have their petitions granted. see RED FLAG Page 10

OCTOBER 21, 2021

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RED FLAG from Page 11

“The law is not complicated, but it is important to get the word out to the public about a law they can actually use to save lives,” Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, told Stateline.

So far this year, Oregon courts have issued more than 260 extreme risk protection orders. While the 2017 law is working well, Rosenblum said, it’s not as widely used as it ought to be.

The lack of activity is a common concern, said Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and one the country’s leading researchers on red flag laws.

“You pass the law and then nothing happens,” he said. “There’s no real systematic efforts to invest in letting people know about it, educating the stakeholder groups who need to know about it, setting up the infrastructure and protocol to do it.”

But there are efforts underway to close this gap.

Public education falling short

In Washington state, voters approved the red flag law by a ballot initiative. Even though it passed with 69 percent support, just a handful of residents filed petitions in its first two years, said Kim Wyatt, senior deputy prosecuting attorney for King County.

Because the legislature did not allocate money for the law’s implementation, there were no public education efforts.

Over the past three years, a team of prosecutors and law enforcement officers from King County and Seattle crafted a model policy for jurisdictions throughout the state to follow.

Having a point of contact to guide law enforcement and communities through the complicated process was essential, said Wyatt, who leads the Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit.

Her office has hosted three summits for law enforcement, judges, prosecutors and community advocates. It also has led training for county crisis line workers, crafted training resources for the state’s police academy and worked with local Veterans Affairs offices to advise officials on suicide prevention among former members of the military.

In California, two-thirds of people polled in 2020 had never heard of the state’s red flag law, according to a survey by the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center.

While the number of petitions has increased since the law’s implemen10

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“WHAT THE PUBLIC NEEDS TO KNOW IS WE NEED YOUR ENGAGEMENT AND YOUR AWARENESS,” DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEY GENERAL PHIL WEISER SAID. tation in 2016, that uptick has been slow, University of California, Davis researchers found.

San Diego leads the state in orders and has removed more than 1,000 guns from more than 550 people over the past four years.

City Attorney Mara W. Elliott told Stateline that the law is a lifesaving tool. Her office has trained 400 law enforcement agencies throughout California on the red flag law and how to file petitions, known in the state as gun violence restraining orders. California allocated $1 million over the next three years for San Diego’s statewide training efforts.

In Illinois, Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation in August that adds yearly training on the state’s red flag law for law enforcement officers and creates a public education campaign through the state Department of Public Health. The state’s original law, signed in 2018 by then-Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican, lacked the funding for either of these resources.

The original law in Illinois was being underused, said Democratic state Representative Denyse Stoneback, the primary sponsor of this year’s bill.

“We really needed to get the word out,” she said in an interview with Stateline.

Colorado took a similar step this year. In June, Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis signed into law a measure that creates the Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment. The new office will lead the state’s public education and training efforts on the red flag law that took effect in 2020.

The legislature appropriated $3 million for the office to educate residents, nonprofit officials, health care providers and law enforcement about the availability and process of filing a petition to seize weapons.

In its first year, Colorado’s red flag law produced fewer than 125 extreme risk protection orders. Courts denied 46 petitions to seize firearms.

“What the public needs to know is we need your engagement and your OCTOBER 21, 2021

awareness,” Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser said. “If individuals know about a risk, but they don’t know that there’s this tool to save this person’s life by removing their firearm, it may never be used appropriately.”

In Douglas County, just south of the Denver area, Sheriff Tony Spurlock is a leading advocate for the state’s law, at times taking political heat from gun rights advocates who question the law’s due process protections. But Spurlock, an avid Second Amendment supporter, insists the law is saving lives. All four people who were subjects of petitions in his community are still alive today, he noted.

“It’s our responsibility to protect our citizens from harm,” he said. “We have a tool that is very valuable and will make a difference in the community.”

Spurlock, a Republican, has shared his policies and training materials with several police and sheriffs’ departments in the state. His office also released a podcast and a Facebook Live for residents to better understand the law. He now hopes to be involved in a statewide educational effort about the law.

When law enforcement leads the way

The best way to increase the use of extreme risk protection orders is to train law enforcement officers, said Shannon Frattaroli, a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University.

“It’s more strategic and effective to invest in the people who are the professionals and who will be in contact with those who are in crisis themselves or supporting people in crisis,” she said.

Frattaroli points to Maryland as a state that has been effective in implementing its law. She gives significant credit to the law enforcement officials who helped draft the legislation and legitimize it in the eyes of those tasked with carrying it out.

The measure, signed in 2018 by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, was in part championed by Darren Popkin, the sheriff for Montgomery County, l

which borders Washington, D.C. In the five months between the passage of the law and its implementation, Popkin, a Democrat, traveled around the state training local law enforcement agencies, state police officers and sheriffs.

With that knowledge, officers responding to incidents of domestic violence or other related calls can introduce families to the red flag law and walk them through the process.

Courts in Maryland can process petitions 24 hours a day, so there isn’t a delay in seizing firearms in critical situations.

In Maryland, about half of petitions are filed by law enforcement and the other half by family or household members, with a smattering of petitions coming from mental health providers. In other states, law enforcement officers file nearly every petition.

Popkin credits that to his statewide training program: When officers respond to a 911 call, they inform residents of the red flag law when appropriate.

“When officers knock on the door,” he said, “I do expect 100 percent of them are aware of extreme risk protection orders.”

In other areas of the country, local law enforcement agencies have had to take the initiative.

After a shooter killed 17 students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, Florida quickly passed a red flag law.

Signed by then-Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, the law did not include funding to train officers statewide.

That burden has been put on local police departments.

Fort Lauderdale Detective Christopher Carita serves on the six-person Threat Response Unit that investigates threats that could lead to a mass casualty incident, often employing extreme risk protection orders. Without guidance from the state, Carita drafted a lesson plan for his fellow Fort Lauderdale officers and new recruits on the best practices for the red flag law.

“This is about having a tool that gives someone assurance that the ultimate goal is not to hurt them or lock them up,” he said. “It’s to save their life or prevent them from doing something they can’t undo.”

For many Fort Lauderdale officers, the law is personal: The agency’s SWAT team responded to the high school shooting in Parkland, and some officers had children who were there.

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The long road to carbon-free energy

Xcel Energy is creating more programs to reduce carbon emissions, but that doesn’t mean it’s dropping fossil fuels completely

by Karlie Huckels KRISTI BLOKHIN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

BASALT, COLORADO: ELECTRIC vehicle charging station at parking lot space near farmers market.

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arlier this year, Xcel Energy made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 85 percent by 2030. With that goal in mind it’s launched the Charging Perks pilot program for new electric vehicle (EV) smart

their EV vision aligns with Colorado’s goal to have 940,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2030.

“As we continue to cut carbon emissions on our system, electric vehicles will run on ever-cleaner energy. This provides cleaner air for everyone— whether or not you drive an EV,” Michelle Aguayo, a representative for Xcel, says.

On September 9, Xcel Energy announced four new residential EV prowhen drivers don’t charge their vehicles during peak hours, and rebates up to $5,500 on new EV purchases. Xcel Energy plans to use data from the Charging Perks pilot to evaluate and improve program design as well as learn more about smart charging technologies as a whole.

The pilot program will include up to 600 EV customers from automakers BMW, Ford, Tesla, and Honda.

"As thousands of new electric vehicle customers in Colorado—and across the country—start plugging into the grid, smartly managing charging is going to be critical to ensure a smooth transition to an EV lifestyle," says Matt Stover, director of charging/energy services at Ford Motor Company.

Over a three-year period, the programs Xcel Energy is offering will provide about 20,000 charging plugs in homes, businesses, workplaces, community charging hubs and other public places in Colorado. For the Charging Perks pilot, Xcel Energy will be working with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to analyze, learn, and evaluate the test program before making a full program available to all drivers.

“Achieving our EV vision to have 1.5 million vehicles on the road in the eight states we serve by 2030 will require unique partnerships and programs,” writes Alice Jackson, president of Xcel Energy-Colorado. “We’re excited because this pilot enables new paths to help manage the grid as we move to increase renewable generation on our system.”

Xcel Energy has a vision that by 2030, 20 percent of all the vehicles in the areas it serves will be EVs. The company wants to support communities as members transition to this option, and the automakers are completely on board.

“BMW is excited to partner with Xcel Energy in creating a ‘win-win’ for the electricity grid and electric vehicles that accelerates a clean energy future for both industries,” writes Adam Langton, energy services manager

see CARBON-FREE Page 14

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

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CARBON-FREE from Page 13

for BMW of North America, LLC. The company is trying to help reduce barriers individuals may have that may keep them from transitioning to EV by offering services like this Charging Perks pilot program, reducing upfront costs to home charging, and more planned programs on the way to ease challenges for people living in multifamily buildings like condos and apartments, as well as lowering costs for charging equipment in affordable housing. The company says that when you switch to electric, the cost is equivalent to one dollar per gallon of gas, and has the possibility of being less when vehicles are charged during off-peak times.

Xcel Energy doesn’t stop at the individual level either, it has plans for businesses and cities that operate

While the company

has the goal of offering 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050, it doesn’t mean Xcel Energy is making a complete shift away from fossil fuels.

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These organizations endorse Boulder City Council candidates like Nicole because

out in communities with mobility hubs as well as locations along highway corridors. Xcel Energy’s EV plans are even getting national attention. tation sector is a critical priority in Colorado and other states that Xcel Energy serves,” writes Martin Keller, laboratory director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "The

al Renewable Energy Laboratory is pleased to support and be a part of Xcel Energy’s exciting new EV vision.”

The Charging Perks pilot program is just one initiative Xcel Energy is working on; stabilizing grid systems while using renewable resources (even during times of extreme

VOTING LOCAL MATTERS!

multiple automakers and I believe represents a major opportunity to help our customers do even more to reduce their carbon footprint,” Jackson writes.

Last year, 47 percent of the energy Xcel generated came from carbon-free sources, but a large portion is still derived from coal (21 percent) and natural gas (32 percent). In coal (26 percent) and natural gas (37 percent) tilt the scale away from Xcel Energy’s goals.

While the company has the goal of offering 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050, it doesn’t mean Xcel Energy is making a complete shift away from fossil fuels— the company plans to still utilize compressed natural gas (CNG). Xcel Energy is still in charge of inspecting, repairing, and replacing parts of more than 24,000 miles of natural gas pipelines in Colorado, and while most coal energy stations have proposed shutdown dates, one coal-burning plant in Colorado is proposed to convert to burning natural gas by 2028. Xcel Energy also submitted a proposal to state regulators to extend the Pipeline System Integrity Adjustment (PSIA) from January 1, 2022, to the end

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY

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Concejo Municipal de Boulder

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helping build charging infrastructure

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safety and integrity. According to the application, the PSIA revenue requirements during the requested extension period are $122.3 million for 2022; $137.2 million for 2023, and $151.5 million for 2024 There is still a long way to go before Xcel Energy can reach its 2050 goal of offering 100 percent carbon-free energy. In the next nine years, the company is looking to add close in 2040.

NicoleForBoulder.com

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

2021

Election 2021 Boulder Weekly Endorsements Cheat Sheet CITY OF BOULDER Matt Benjamin Lauren Folkerts Nicole Speer Mark Wallach Dan Williams YES YES YES YES YES Ballot Measure 300 (Bedrooms are for YES Ballot Measure 302 (Let the Voters DeNO

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15

A ‘gated community’ for the adventure-inclined

Royal Gorge Ranch & Resort will be the first eco-friendly adventure community of its kind—and you can own a piece of it

by Will Brendza

COURTESY ROYAL GORGE RANCH & RESORT

ABOVE: The Royal Gorge and the iconic suspension bridge spanning its width.

LOWER: One of Land Arc’s customizable Mod Villas, that will populate the Ranch & Resort.

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he first time Ty Seufer made an offer to William Koch (yes, that William Koch, of the famously wealthy Koch dynasty) for the 805-acre property near the Royal Gorge, he offered him half of the $2.6 million asking price. Seufer didn’t hear back from the billionaire, but he expected as much. He’d try again if he had to.

Seufer had something Koch didn’t: a vision for the property.

A vision of a world-class adventure community.

Koch had purchased the massive,

for his private enjoyment. The Royal Gorge property was put back up for sale shortly thereafter.

“When you’re a billionaire, you do whatever the hell you want,” Seufer says, chuckling.

The second time he made Koch an offer, he did hear back: with a definitive “No.” But a year later, after Surfer’s third attempt to purchase the empty, roadless, waterless, structureless property, his phone actually rang.

“The real estate agent calls me back and says, ‘You better be seriCOURTESY SHUTTERSTOCK ous,’” Seufer recalls. He had a moment of panic. Was he serious? Did he really want to buy that land for $1.6 million?

He wasn’t sure, but he said yes anyway.

“So I fell into owning one of the most gorgeous 810 acres on the planet,” he says, clearly proud of the property, and clearly excited to start building the adventure community of his dreams on it.

Seufer is a Boulder native, but says his real home has always been on the Royal Gorge River near Canyon City. He’s been raft guiding there since he was a teen, right out of high school, and eventually, many years later, ended up buying the same river business he used to work for. Royal Gorge Rafting has become beautiful desert property just after the the second largest rafting company in economic recession in 2008—not bethe state of Colorado under his ownercause he wanted to move there, but beship, he says—complete with a banging cause it had something he wanted on it. apres-raft BBQ joint attached to it.

For years that property had been home “I always wanted a good restaurant to an old Western frontier town known with great chicken wings and I always as Buckskin Joe. It had been a historic wanted to have a rafting company that piece of the Wild West, complete with showed people a really great time, and noontime gunfight reenactments in the that’s what we created down here,” he street, bar brawls, and authentic, period says. costumes and buildings. Koch wanted Royal Gorge Rafting was the first the town. He couldn’t have cared less for dream that Seufer manifested. Now he’s the dusty land it sat on. got another one he’s working on that’s So the billionaire Western-art taking root on the 800-plus acres he fanatic bought the land and had the bought from Koch: Royal Gorge Ranch entire town dismantled piece by piece & Resort. and shipped up to his massive ranch “I want to build an eco-adventure near Aspen, where it was reconstructed community with a zero-carbon foot-

OCTOBER 21, 2021

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

print. That’s my goal,” he says.

In order to accomplish that, he’s breaking the property up into 300 one-acre lots for purchase, which people will be able to outfit with pre-designed, fully customizable “mod villas” made by a company called Land Arc. The sleek, black modular units will all be situated on an elevated deck, covered with a “super roof,” furnished with low-flow toilets, faucets, and shower heads, solar panels, and CFL light bulbs. The closest neighbors won’t even be visible, Seufer says.

“My desire is for somebody to work remotely, for people to have a vacation home, or for retirees to come and chill, but all in a 600-square-foot, compact, perfect, eco-friendly COURTESY ROYAL GORGE RANCH & RESORT villa.” Seufer says. “It’s just classy, sexy, affordable, eco-friendly, green living.”

The one acre plots start at $100,000. Then there are six different Mod Villas for prospective home-owners to choose from, each offering different sizes and layouts, with addable features like bike garages and extra solar panels to customize the place.

That buy-in won’t just lock down one open acre of Royal Gorge Ranch & Resort, either. Seufer’s vision for this place goes well beyond “sexy” modular homes on wide open spaces.

It also involves a veritable adventure amusement park for hikers, mountain bikers, rock climbers, disc golfers, paddleboarders, music lovers, and more.

“There will be miles and miles of mountain biking trails, climbing areas with 50 named and bolted routes, two via ferratas, six different slacklines, our own private 180-step incline, all in this setting where we have these epic home sites.”

There will also be a 27-hole disc golf course, Seufer says, along with a putting and chipping green, a clubhouse, wetlands, fishing ponds, and even a “mini-Red Rocks” amphitheater for movies, parties, and live music performances. A trail-head leading from every single home will connect to a main trail system—access to all of that will literally be right out the back door.

“It’s an epic eco-adventure golf course community,” Seufer says. “Just without the golfers.”

It’s a new take on the “gated community” that not only reflects the nature of Colorado’s locals, but of Seufer himself. He admits the newness of this idea has made the processes of getting permits and municipal approval somewhat challenging. But he isn’t worried. He already has the land, he already has the vision and business plan, and he’s already turned one dream into a reality. Municipal logistics aren’t going to stop him from doing it again.

“No one’s doing this anywhere . . . so our county doesn’t know what the hell just hit them,” he says. “I actually wish that somebody else had already planned something like this, so I could just try and recreate that. But it’s just not out there.”

That will make Royal Gorge Ranch & Resort the first community of its kind, once Seufer breaks ground. He’s hoping to do that sometime in the next year or two. Then he’s going to build this community of like-minded adventure lovers, nature lovers, and the eco-inclined, and he hopes to do it so people will get to enjoy this beautiful part of the state the way he’s always enjoyed it.

“I don’t want to rent any of these spots to anybody—they’re all for sale,” he says. “You’ll own a piece of this entire community. You’ll own your own incline.

You’ll own your own via ferrata. You’ll own your own climbing area and your own 16 miles of mountain bike trails.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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JUST ANNOUNCED

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ON THE BILL:

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Mixed Company: Stories

by Caitlin Rockett

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Eklund Opera presents ’the perfect Verdi opera’ CU production of ‘La traviata’ will be in Macky Auditorium Oct. 22–24

by Peter Alexander COURTESY EKLUND OPERA

N

icholas Carthy describes La traviata as “the perfect Verdi opera.”

Based on the 1848 novel by Alexandre Dumas, La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), La traviata tells the tragic story of Violetta, a high-society courtesan who falls in love with Alfredo, a young man from a respectable family. Alfredo and Violetta move together to the country in search of a quiet life together.

Because of Violetta’s status as a social outcast, Alfredo’s father demands that she leave Alfredo, to clear the way for his younger daughter to have a respectable marriage. Under pressure, Violetta returns to her prior life in Paris, but she is suffering from tuberculosis, which took the lives of a quarter of the adult population of Europe in the 19th century.

The social issues of 19th-century Paris may seem remote, but Carthy, musical director of the show, says they are easy for today’s students to understand. “The idea of a disease that kills, and a family that disapproves is not terribly far away,” he says. “There’s still the angst parents approve?”

Of course, it’s the music that makes La traviata the “perfect Verdi opera.” “This opera has some of the most beautiful music ever,” says Leigh Holman, the director of Eklund Opera, who acts as stage director for La traviata. Even without the words, “Verdi’s music “It’s a challenging piece, and it’s at the pinnacle of what we do,” Carthy says. “It has everything in it.”

That’s why it’s a great piece for the students to learn their craft, both musically and dramatically. “Speaking of teaching tools, the dramatic range is huge,” Holman

after he realizes that she is dying, he ac-

ON THE BILL: UNIVERSITY OF

leaving Alfredo. In the end, he experiences real remorse, even though it is too late to avert tragedy.

The subtle changes in the music that Holman mentions represent one of the most important aspects of the opera. Italian opera of the generation before Verdi was known as bel canto (beautiful song), in which the expression is mostly in the vocal line and the orchestral accompaniment remains simple. But from La traviata on, more and more of the expression is found in the orchestra, which can either reinforce or undermine what the singer is expressing.

In the end, Holman says, La traviata “is about two people that fall in love. It’s about family. It’s about love”—issues we can all understand. “And there’s a tragic sub-story” she adds. “Because of Violetta’s disease, we know there’s limited time, and that raises the stakes.”

Adding to the dramatic tension is how Violetta’s illness changes the way people

points out. “They have to COLORADO EKLUND OPERA really dig in. Each character presents La traviata. 7:30 p.m. Friday, has an arc, and we talk Oct. 22, and Saturday, Oct. 23, 4 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 24, Macky Auditorium, about those things, we dig CU Boulder. into those things.”

Tickets: For example, Holman cupresents.org/performance/2388/ teaches the students to cu-opera/la-traviata/ portray both short-term and long-term changes in their characters. “Alfredo in one minute can be furious at Violetta,” she says. “Then the music changes and all of sudden he’s on his knees and he’s saying, ‘Don’t you a ball, and everybody’s there. But when she’s not healthy realize I love you?’” and beautiful, she’s left alone.

For another example, a much longer-term trans“That’s another lesson—it’s horrible but it’s the truth.”

Holman and Carthy both express their pleasure with how the students are performing, from the soloists to the is very forceful and aloof. His main concern is for his chorus to the orchestra. daughter’s happiness, and he shows no sympathy for But most of all they are thrilled to be back in the theVioletta. can hear him soften, because the music changes. And

lucky are we?’ “

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

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E VENTS

The Blind Cafe Experience

EVENTS

October 21, 22, and 23, The Wesley Chapel, 1290 Folsom Street, Boulder. Tickets: theblindcafe.com/boulder The Blind Café is an award-winning social-impact discussion, sensory tasting dinner, and live music experience held entirely in darkness. Depending on where people are at in their development of their psychology, attendees have vastly different experiences in the dark. The experience will include live music, a social-impact discussion in the dark between the audience and performers, a sensory tasting dinner, all held in 100 percent darkness with no blindfolds!

If your organization is planning an event of any kind, please email the managing editor at crockett@boulderweekly.com

Stories on Stage presents ‘Harmony of the World’ (in-person and virtual performance)

Jeff Leeson and Tige Wright’s 2021 Comedy Tour

7 p.m. Thursday, October 21, Dickens Opera House, 300 Main Street, Longmont. Tickets: $12, dickensoperahouse.com For more than 20 years, Jeff Leeson has been astonishing crowds across North America (and once in Cuba) with his off-the-cuff, improvisational style.

Leeson uses his surroundings and people in front of him to create a personal show. In addition to headlining top comedy venues throughout North America, his comedy has been featured on Sirius/XM radio, The Bob & Tom Show,, Spotify, iTunes and he has two hour-long comedy specials on Amazon Prime. Leeson will be supported by Canadian comic Tige Wright.

7 p.m. Friday, October 22, Nomad Theater, 1410 Quince Avenue, Boulder. Tickets are $22 and ticket holders will receive a link prior to the performance, storiesonstage.org or 303-494-0523 Charles Baxter’s Harmony of the World is a bittersweet love story about what happens when a music critic (Geoff Kent) falls in love with an opera student (Emily Van Fleet) whose pitch is a little less than perfect. The show will feature live piano accompaniment by Martha Yordy as well as songs performed

by Van Fleet.

Gene Hayworth Authors Series: “Yep, We’re Supposed To Be Here!” Shining Your Identity Through Writing

7 p.m. Friday, October 22, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Price: Free— registration required, thedairy.org Graphic novelist and professor R. Alan Brooks will moderate this writers’ panel discussion for Dairy Arts Center, featuring: Olivia Abtahi, author of Perfectly Parvin; Steven Dunn, author of water & power and Potted Meat; Dylan Edwards, writer and artist of Politically InQueerect and Transposes. The panel will discuss art as protest, art as “not” protest, and what it means to enter the world of writing with an identity and perspective that isn’t always heard.

BDT Stage presents ‘Take to the Highway’

Showing October 21-31, BDT Stage, 5501 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder. Tickets: $60-$65, bdtstage.com Take to the Highway—the new, original show that celebrates the music of James Taylor, Carole King and Carly Simon—features dozens of hits, like “Carolina In My Mind,” “Mexico,” and “Fire and Rain,” as well as chart toppers from Simon and King, including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “It’s Too Late,” and “You’re So Vain.” Four incredible singers and pianist Paul Falk bring the ’70s folkrock movement back to life.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Screening of ‘Side by Side’ Documentary by Ron Taylor

6 p.m. Wednesday, October 27, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder. Tickets: $15, museumofboulder.org The Museum of Boulder will host an in-person screening of Side by Side, a documentary about living with cerebral palsy. As social/political as Crip Camp is, Side by Side is the other side of that coin on disability: emotionally alive and personally interactive as only a great slice-of-life documentary can be. Thomas T. Reiley, a retired doctor and clinical professor at Colorado Children’s Hospital, will introduce

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Home Grown Shorts from the 2021 Boulder International Film Festival 7:15 p.m.-8:45 p.m. Thursday, October 21, Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road, Longmont.

Tickets: $5-$10, bit.ly/3pqZCy7 An evening dedicated to

and Longmont as featured in this year’s Boulder International Film Festival, folWelcome Strangers follows newly released The Silence of Quarantine follows two elderly African-American women living in Boulder during the quarantine. The Incredible Lamont covers the life of Boulder magician Lamont Ream, who has spent a lifetime astonishing audiences with illusions and escape artistry.

Author Talk: O. E. Tearmann—‘Aces High, Jokers Wild’ Series

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 26, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl Street, Boulder. Tickets: $5, boulderbookstore.net In this presentation, O. E. Tearmann will speak about their new book series, Aces High, Jokers Wild. It’s 2155, and seven corporations run the City Grids for to your Corporation the day you’re born, and your life is dictated by the hand that holds your Corporate Citizen Contract. Freedom is just a word in the news Aces High, Jokers Wild

see EVENTS Page 26

OCTOBER 21, 2021

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CONCERTS

EVENTS

DAR WILLIAMS, CREDIT EBRU YILDIZ

CONCERTS COURTESY OF IVALAS QUARTET

EVENTS Saturday, October 23

Thursday, October 21

Above & Beyond with Olan, Gardenstate. 6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $65-$125.

Willie Green Project. 8 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20.

Back 2 Business. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20.

Friday, October 22

The Midnighters. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt Street, Longmont. Free.

Peter Stoltzman, Gabriel, Bijoux, Drew.

7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway, Boulder. Suggested $15 cover.

Above & Beyond with Olan, Gardenstate. 7 p.m.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda COURTESY OF WRECKNO Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $65-$125.

Jokes and Jazz. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 East S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $10. After a set by three of the Denver jazz scene’s best, enjoy an evening of comedy curated by funnywoman Zoe Rogers.

Ivalas Quartet. 7 p.m. Louisville Center for the Arts, 801 Grant Avenue, Louisville. Tickets: $15.

Willie Green Project. 8 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20.

Wreckno with Megan Hamilton. 9 p.m. The Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $20-$25.

Boulder Bach Festival 41st Season Opening: Across Time Across Cultures. 4 p.m. Longmont Museum Stewart Auditorium, 400 Quail Road, Longmont. Tickets: $60.

The Custom Shop. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt Street, Longmont. Free.

Dreamville on the Rocks featuring J.I.D, Ari Lennox, Earthgang, Bas, Cozz, Lute, and Omen. 6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $49.95.

Peter Stoltzman, Gabriel, Bijoux, Drew. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway, Boulder. Suggested $15 cover.

Boulder Chamber Orchestra presents Pandemic Heroes: An All-Beethoven Concert. 7:30 p.m. Boulder Seventh-day Adventist Church, 345 Mapleton Avenue, Boulder. Tickets: $25-$18.

Aqueous. 8 p.m. The Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $18-$20.

Willie Green Project. 8 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20.

8 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main Street, Louisville.

Free.

John Hiatt with Jerry Douglas. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $50-$60.

Sunday, October 24

Rebecca Folsom. 3 p.m. The Trident Cafe back patio, 940 Pearl Street, Boulder. Tickets: $20.

Svdden Death with Space Laces, Oolacile, Aweminus, Phiso, Neonix b2b SYZY. 6 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $29-$69.

Pert Near Sandstone. 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Community House, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $20.

Dar Williams with Heather Maloney. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $29.50-$39.50.

Birdtalker with Lonas. 9 p.m. The Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20.

Tuesday, October 26

The Del McCoury Band. 8:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $25-$37.50.

Wednesday, October 27

G-Eazy with Joyner Lucas, Yung Baby Tate, ALLBLACK, Kossisko.

7 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison.

Tickets: $59.95. see EVENTS Page 26

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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E VEN T S

EVENTS

W

es Anderson’s cinematic style did not appear fully formed. It took a

A live-action Looney Tunes cartoon

years before Anderson locked in on formal compositions, planimetric framing, cuts along the 90-degree axis, diorama-esque interiors, Richard Scarry-like landscapes, idiosyncratic dialogue, peculiar characters, and fastidious control over colors and props. Everything in an Anderson frame has a place, and he has a place for everything.

Wes Anderson pushes his style to the limit in ‘The French Dispatch’

by Michael J. Casey

results aren’t engaging.

eTown’s October Pay or Play—Halloween Spectacular

7 p.m. Tuesday, October 26, eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce Street, Boulder.

Tickets: $20, etown.org

The French Dispatch is a thoroughly enjoy-

Chalamet—frankly, we don’t have time to run through them all, and neither does The SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES French Dispatch. Anderson jams his movie so full of marquee actors, half remember if he says anything. Elisabeth Moss has a line, two at most.

performer. Not a performer and would like to watch the show? Purchase a ticket to the event and feel free to dress up as well.

delightfully, all over the place. Inspired

by The New Yorker can choose any performer they would like to cover. Just remember to keep the costumes family friendly, and not offensive.

Makeup vs. AI with Cardi Acarrest

2 p.m. Saturday, October 23, Longmont Public Library, 409 Fourth Avenue, Longmont.

Price: Free.

Participants will learn makeup skills from drag presenter Cardi Acarrest before trying to use what they’ve learned to fool facial recognition technology. Participants will also learn more about facial recognition, how it works, and how it’s used.

The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun is a weekly magazine featuring reviews, goings-on, reports on art (high and low), politics, science, and travel.

Using four vignettes, Anderson structures his movie like you were reading

Queerly Magical: LGBTQ Youth Dance

7-11 p.m. Saturday, October 23, Lafayette YMCA, 2800 Dagny Way, Lafayette. Free.

RSVP: bit.ly/lgbtq-dance Break out your spookiest attire for Out Boulder County’s annual Youth Dance, open to ages 13-18, from 7-11 p.m. Saturday, October 23. Masks are mandatory regardless of vaccination status. Volunteer opportunities: bit.ly/youth-dance-volunteer

ON THE BILL: The French Dispatch opens October 22 in select theaters.

the setting of Dispatch third chronicles a student revolutionary movement led by personal chef of the police commissioner (Mathieu Amalric).

Masculin féminin

Prohibition—A puzzling 1920s adventure through Boulder

1-9 p.m. Saturday, October 23, Pearl Street Mall, 1325 Pearl Street, Boulder. Price: $120, rabbithole.rs It’s the 1920s and the murder of “John Doe” took place on Pearl Street; now clues, interacting with characters, and solving the murder to learn the location of the after-party. All teams that make it to the speakeasy will be entered into a rafteams must be present to receive their prize.

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events 26

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

Pick-Up. “Revisions to a Manifesto” draws on

them feel like rip-offs, more like helpful guides pointing you to other works of art. It’s fun to think they all inhabit the same whimsical universe. And these references are but Bordwell and Matt Zoller Seitz will.

But playing the reference game distracts from the almost assaultive number of textures Anderson throws at the audience. Dispatch has every tick and trait of his previous work and throws in a few more: 2D animation, nudity, black and white cinematography that transitions to color and back again. It’s as if Anderson is pushing his style to the breaking point to see if it’ll shatter. It doesn’t, but there’s a moment in “Revisions of a Manifesto” when Robert Yeoman’s cinematography abruptly shifts to handheld. In a movie of static frames and smooth tracking shots, a slightly shaky camera is jarring. I would guess that Yeoman and Anderson wanted to invoke the spirit of cinematographer Raoul Coutard. Or maybe they just wanted the image to call attention to itself. Everything in The French Dispatch us to forget. l

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

LIBRA

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Even the wisest among us are sus-

ceptible to being fascinated by our emotional pain. Even those of us who do a lot of inner work may be captivated and entranced by frustrations and vexations and irritants.

Our knotty problems make us interesting, even attractive!

They shape our self-image. No wonder we are sometimes “intensely, even passionately, attached to suffering,” in the words of author Fyodor Dostoevsky. That’s the bad news.

The good news, Aries, is that in the coming weeks, you will have extra power to divest yourself of sadness and distress and anxiety that you no longer need. I recommend you choose a few outmoded sources of unhappiness and enact a ritual to purge them.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: In Norway, you don’t call your romantic partner “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.” You say kjaereste, which is gender neutral and is translated as “dearest.” In Sweden, you refer to your lover as älskling, meaning “my beloved one.” How about Finland? One term the Finns use for the person they love is kulta, which means gold. I hope you’ll be inspired by these words to experiment with new nicknames and titles for the allies you care for. It’s a favorable time to reinvent the images you project onto each other. I hope you will refine your assumptions about each other and upgrade your hopes for each other. Be playful and have fun as you enhance your empathy.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: The band Creedence Clearwater Revival,

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

led by Gemini musician John Fogerty, achieved tremendous success with their rollicking sound and socially conscious lyrics. They sold 33 million records worldwide. In 1970, they were the best-selling band on the planet, exceeding even the Beatles. And yet, the band endured for just over four years. I foresee the possibility of a comparable phenomenon in your life during the coming months. Something that may not last forever will ultimately generate potent, long-term benefits. What might it be? Meditate on the possibility. Be alert for its coming. Create the conditions necessary for it to thrive.

CANCER

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: Self-help author James Clear describes a scenario I urge you to keep in mind. He speaks of “a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two.” Clear adds that “it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.” You’ll thrive by cultivating that same patience and determination in the coming weeks, Libra.

Proceed with dogged certainty that your sustained small efforts will eventually yield potent results.

SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Nobel Prize-winning poet Odysseus

Elytis was speaking like a consummate Scorpio when he said, “What I love is always being born. What I love is beginning always.” Like most Scorpios, he knew an essential secret about how to ensure he could enjoy that intense rhythm: He had to be skilled in the art of metaphorical death. How else could he be born again and again? Every time he rose up anew into the world like a beginner, it was because he had shed old ideas, past obsessions, and worn-out tricks. I trust you’ve been attending to this transformative work in the past few weeks, Scorpio. Ready to be born again? Ready to begin anew? To achieve maximum renaissance, get rid of a few more things.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: “I haven’t had enough sleep for years,” author Franz Kafka (1883–1924) once confessed to a friend. It showed in his work, which was brilliant but gaunt and haunted. He wrote stories that would be written by a person who was not only sleep-deprived but dream-deprived. The anxiety he might have purged from his system through sleep instead spilled out into the writing he did in waking life. Anyway, I’m hoping you will make Kafka your anti-role model as you catch up on the sleep you’ve missed out on. The coming weeks will be a fantastic time to fall in love with the odd, unpredictable, regenerative stories that well up from your subconscious depths while you’re in bed at night. They will refresh your imagination in all the right ways.

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Cancerian philosopher Jean-Jacques

CAPRICORN

LEO

everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day,” writes author Anne Lamott. I will add that on rare occasions, virtually everyone in your tribe is functioning at high levels of competency and confidence. According to my analysis, now is one of those times. That’s why I encourage you to take extraordinary measures to marshal your tribe’s creative, constructive efforts. I believe that together you can collaborate to generate wonders and marvels that aren’t normally achievable. Group synergy is potentially at a peak—and will be fully activated if you help lead the way.

Rousseau wrote, “I am unlike anyone I have ever met. I will even venture to say that I am like no one in the whole world.

I may be no better, but at least I am different.” I urge you to make that your own affirmation in the coming weeks. It’s high time to boldly claim how utterly unique you are—to be full of reasonable pride about the fact that you have special qualities that no one in history has ever had. Bonus: The cosmos is also granting you permission to brag more than usual about your humility and sensitivity, as well as about your other fine qualities.

JULY 23-AUG. 22: Nigerian poet Ijeoma Umebinyuo writes, “I

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: “The reason life works at all is that not

will always want myself. Always. Darling, I wrote myself a love poem two nights ago. I am a woman who grows flowers between her teeth. I dance myself out of pain. This wanting of myself gets stronger with age. I host myself to myself. I am whole.” I recommend you adopt Umebinyuo’s attitude as you upgrade your relationship with yourself during the coming weeks. It’s time for you to pledge to give yourself everything you wish a lover would offer you. You’re ready to claim more of your birthright as an ingenious, diligent self-nurturer.

AQUARIUS

VIRGO

PISCES

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: As author David Brooks reminds us,

“Exposure to genius has the power to expand your consciousness. If you spend a lot of time with genius, your mind will end up bigger and broader than if you spend your time only with run-of-the-mill stuff.” I hope this strategy will be at the top of your priority list during the next four weeks. You will have abundant opportunities to put a lot of “excellent stuff into your brain,” as Brooks suggests. Uncoincidentally, you are also likely to be a rich source of inspiration and illumination yourself. I suspect people will recognize—even more than they usually do—that being around you will make them smarter. I suggest you help them realize that fact.

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JAN. 20-FEB. 18: I believe your plan for the rest of 2021

should borrow from the mini-manifesto that Aquarian author Virginia Woolf formulated at age 51: “I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one’s self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.” Does that sound like fun, Aquarius? It should be—although it may require you to overcome temptations to retreat into excess comfort and inertia.

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: “Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough,” writes author and philosopher Alain de Botton. That’s too extreme a statement for my taste. But I agree with the gist of his comment. If we are not constantly outgrowing who we are, we are not sufficiently alert and alive. Luckily for you, Pisces, you are now in a phase of rapid ripening. At least you should be. The cosmos is conspiring to help you learn how to become a more vibrant and authentic version of yourself. Please cooperate! Seek all available updates.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: I’m a woman in her 40s in a relationship with a man and I have my first STI with symptoms. Genital warts— yay! I noticed them about two months ago (near my b-hole) and went to the gyno today and had them treated. My question is, do I need to tell my boyfriend? We’ve been dating for about five months, and we don’t use protection because I have an IUD. More background info: My BF hasn’t gone down on me. He wants to, but I’m very subby and it’s hard for me to get off that way, so I’ve been putting him off. And now that I want him to try, I have warts. I don’t know if he’s seen them. Maybe? We haven’t had sex from behind in months and I think that may be why. Maybe he saw them before I did and stopped wanting to have sex in that position? He did want to fuck me from behind a couple of days ago, but I said no because I was embarrassed. Do I need to tell him I have HPV/ genital warts? We’ve been having unprotected sex about five times a week for the last five months.

—Worrying About Really Terribly Situation Dear WARTS: “Yes, WARTS should disclose this to her partner,” said Dr. Ina Park, a professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. “Hopefully he will be calm and supportive about it, and it won’t be a big deal for the two of them.”

What you’re facing, WARTS, is what I’ve long described as a “one thing/everything” disclosure scenario. Meaning, you’ll be telling your boyfriend one thing he needs to know about you when you make this disclosure—that you have a very common and easily transmissible STI—but his reaction will tell everything you need to know about him. If he isn’t calm and supportive out of the gate, WARTS, or can’t pivot to calm and supportive quickly, you’ll know he’s not anyone you want in your bed or up your butt.

“And while I usually don’t try to pinpoint where HPV comes from in terms of ‘blaming’ a specific partner,” said Dr. Park, “if the boyfriend does freak out, I would make this next point: Given that the warts showed up for the first time so soon after starting this new relationship, it’s likely that WARTS’ current partner gave her the HPV that’s causing these warts.”

Dr. Park, who is also an STI prevention consultant to the Centers for Disease

Control (and so knows what the fuck she’s talking about), points out that the strains of HPV most likely to cause genital warts—types 6 and 11, for those keeping score—will typically start showing symptoms a few months after someone starts sleeping with a new partner who has undisclosed or undiagnosed HPV. “In some cases, it can be longer, and some folks won’t manifest warts for two years after exposure,” added Dr. Park. “But there have been several studies in U.S. women showing the average time to development of warts after HPV exposure is 3-6 months.

So, while we can’t prove which of WARTS’ partners gave her HPV, she is in the perfect window timewise with the current relationship.”

Which is not to suggest your boyfriend knew he had HPV and didn’t disclose or take proactive steps to protect you, WARTS, like wearing a condom, which would’ve provided you with a significant degree of protection. Like most people with HPV—assuming he has HPV your boyfriend most likely wasn’t aware he had it. (And he may not have it, but he probably does; most sexually active adults do.)

Now there’s a safe and effective HPV vaccine—a vaccine that protects people against HPV-related cervical cancers, penile cancers, rectal cancers, and throat cancers—and ideally people should get their children vaccinated against HPV before they’re sexually active. But even sexually active adults up to age 45, including adults who’ve already had HPV, can benefit from getting the HPV vaccine.

“Since we know that WARTS’ immune system didn’t clear HPV very easily—because she had warts—it’s a great idea for her to get the HPV vaccine,” said Dr. Park. “It will protect her from the strains of HPV that she hasn’t already been exposed to, including other strains that cause warts and cancer. And WARTS should bear in mind that it often takes multiple treatments to get rid of warts. So, if they don’t go away immediately or appear to go away and come back, she needs to know that this can be a normal part of the process.”

Dr. Ina Park is the author of the wildly entertaining memoir Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @InaParkMD.

Call 720.253.4710 All credit cards accepted No text messages

Send questions to mail@savagelove. net, follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage, and visit savage.love

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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There’s Still Time to Make Your

Hello Boulder!

All of us at Japango are excited to welcome you to dine with us this summer. Our four patios are the perfect place to enjoy all your Japango favorites or you can opt for a great indoor dining

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

WHISTLING BOAR

The way of the loaf

Two catering veterans left Brooklyn behind for greener acres and great bread in Longmont

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

B

rooklyn is a long way from Longmont, but it was exactly the right ABOVE: Debbie Seaford and David destination when Debbie Seaford and David Pitula sought a more Pitula of Longmont’s sustainable life for their family and their food business.

Whistling Boar. Lower The couple’s 25-year food-industry careers in New York City left: Country sourdough included catering events for Alicia Keys, Hugh Jackman, Glenn Close, bread and marble rye and composer Philip Glass at venues such as the Museum of Modern bread from Longmont’s Art. Seaford worked with legendary chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Whistling Boar “We had two children and we wanted to be in a place where we could be connected closely to where the food was being grown,” Pitula says.

Whistling Boar opened in 2020 just as the pandemic hit, but their focus as a private breads, dinners, and desserts for two, packed in eco-friendly containers.

“I’ve always been interested in fermentation and sourdough, but I had no plans to open a bakery. We started baking breads for catering clients who wanted to buy them separately. Then our neighbors asked if they could buy some of the baked goods, too,” Pitula says.

Try a slice of Whistling Boar’s country sourdough loaf and you can taste the handmade care and 36-hour fermentation. The bread is crusty outside, moist and dense

WHISTLING BOAR

The couple feeds three different sourdough starters they’ve named “Davaad,” “Marcus” (after chef Marcus Samuelsson whom Pitula worked with), and “Julia,” a 90-yearold starter from Alaska they refer to as “the old lady.”

Whistling Boar’s only retail outlet is the Simply Bulk Market, 418 Main St. in decided it was the natural place to sell our breads,” Pitula says.

The breads arrive fresh from the oven Fridays at Simply Bulk. That’s the best time to grab see NIBBLES Page 32

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

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NIBBLES from Page 31

Whistling Boar’s menu of baked goods, which includes challah cinnamon rolls, High-

“Our vision for Whistling Boar was that we made as much of the

WHISTLING BOAR

to their kitchen near downtown

the arrival of another East Coast “I wanted to use local ingredients and a low-waste business and Whistling Boar was holidays, sufganiyot doughnuts, and decorated yule logs are on the

Local food news

Words to chew on The Art of Eating

2115 13TH STREET BOULDER, CO 80302 | BOULDERADO.COM 32

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

John Lehndorff is Food Editor of Boulder Weekly. He hosts Radio Nibbles at 8:20 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU (kgnu.org). Send comments and quibbles to nibbles@ boulderweekly.com.

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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OCTOBER 21, 2021

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Reasons to explore flavor Aaron Stueck keeps innovation alive at BJ’s

by Michael J. Casey

M

edal-wise, Aaron Stueck is having a phenomenal year.

“Because the pale bock that came out of this rye whisky barrel won a gold at the North American Beer Awards,” Stueck says, patting the face of an American oak barrel from Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons. “And then the honey whisky,” he continues, pointing to the next barrel, “Swedish Farmhouse Ale won gold at GABF.”

is only available in California—Stueck says it’s coming to Colorado in 2023—but that’s not an issue for Boulder drinkers since Stueck is the one writing the recipes and pouring them under BJ’s specialty tap list: Aaron’s R&D. ning Rye Whisky Barrel-Aged Pale Bock (a lively and refreshing strong lager with loads of toasted marshmallow, vanilla, marzipan, and barrel tannins), the soon-

MICHAEL J. CASEY

Business-wise, Stueck is a busy bee.

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse’s director of research and development spent 2020 working his tail off—the pandemic shifted everything in the business, and Stueck shifted along with it. Then, in March of 2021, BJ’s launched Brewhouse Beer Club, a monthly membership with access to exclusive beers. Currently, Beer Club

to-be-released 24 Carrot Ale (with fresh ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, lactose sugar, and 24 carrots in a second-use rye whisky barrel—it’s liquid carrot cake), a kettle sour brewed with barley and wheat and aged in French oak (it looks, sniffs, and drinks like Chardonnay, but with a third of the alcohol), and the Stueck staple: Got Beer.

Got Beer—short for gotlandsdricka—is a Viking-era Swedish farmhouse ale brewed with honey, juniper, and smoked malt. In al, a gold, for Got Beer in the Indigenous Beer category at the Great American Beer Festival. Two years later, Stueck’s Got Beer won bronze in the Indigenous Beer category at the World Beer Cup, with gold also going to Stueck for Wild and Crazy Rye, a Finnish farmhouse ale similar to gotlandsdricka.

That sent Stueck down a Scandinavian farmhouse ale rabbit hole for the next few years until the brass at BJ’s made him come up for air. “You can’t just put juniper in everything,” Stueck recounts with a grin.

The break was refreshing, but Boulder BJ drinkers wanted their Got Beer. So Stueck acquiesced, brewed a batch on his three-barrel system with half going to the tap and the other half going into Spirit Hound’s honey whiskey barrel. And then . . .

“It’s kind of a funny story,” Stueck starts, “because my air conditioner unit went out this summer, and it was like 91, 95 degrees in here. For about a month and a half.”

Replacement parts were stuck somewhere in a shipping container, and the air keep the beers from souring. So, out they came.

“Normally, I would let the barrels sit for a little bit longer,” he says. “But I gotta take ‘em out. And it was the perfect time.”

Stueck uses a variety of American, French, Hungarian oak barrels—each do the various Spirit Hound liquors saturating the wood. And the Spirit Hound connection isn’t arbitrary: Stueck lives in Lyons and is friendly with the Spirit Hound team, particularly head distiller Craig

Engelhorn. Engelhorn used to be Oskar Blues’ brewer in the ‘90s; back when a tion feared Y2K was going to knock out everyone’s electronics. Engelhorn brewed a beer to commemorate the impending event: Lights Out Cherry Stout, a big, dark beer loaded with roasted malts and sour pie cherries. And soon, Stueck will pay homage to Engelhorn with a spin on Lights Out Cherry Stout when he releases Dr. Engelhorn’s Nocturnal Serum later this year.

“I don’t really want to call it a porter or ries,” Stueck says. “You get a little bit of smoke, a little bit of roast, a lot of barrel, a little bit of whisky, some cherry.”

It’s phenomenal. Fittingly, Stueck is giving the brew a unique bottling, with charred parchment paper for the label.

And lest you think Stueck has nothing but barrels on the brain, his R&D lineup shows how varied his experiments are.

Currently in the tanks: An ESB brewed with English malts, hops, and a specialty plenty of malt and a touch of fruitiness. If you’ve ever spent time drinking in a pub across the pond, this will trigger some sense memories. And for the calorie-conscious, Stueck has a low-cal IPA brewed with rice, malt, oats, and Zuper Zaazer hops. It’s low in alcohol, low in residual sugar, strong with lemony hop aromas, and refreshingly dry.

“I’m trying to produce a low-calorie actually want to drink,” Stueck says. “We already have our Lightswitch Lager, but I don’t want to just say: ‘Okay, we have that. There’s no reason to explore.’ There

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

JOHN LEHNDORFF

bY JOHN LEHNDORFF

TASTE OF THE WEEK:

Spicy Pig Patty-style pizza @ Audrey Jane’s Pizza

W

but we grew up calling it “New Haven-style” because of

“Detroit-style,” but they are mainly partisans from Michigan. These go-style” or, locally, “mountain pies.”

While New York-style, Sicilian pan-style, and gluten-free

in the oven a few extra minutes. The 30-minute wait was more than worth it. Slow fermentation, olive oil, cheese, and high heat ed slice was a great new taste revelation that any fan of sesame-topped artisan breads or bagels would understand.

On top of all that crust were pepperoni cups, hot sausage chunks, roasted jalapeños, and fresh garlic nestled between the

that includes Breadworks, the Boulder Wine Merchant, and Moe’s Bagels, the latter operated for decades by the parents of Boulstyles from two large windows with some patio seating. The eatery also produces an acclaimed toasted meatball grinder in a houseVeg with pumpkin seed pesto, spinach, mushroom, onions, sweet

JOHN LEHNDORFF

What to do with too many red onions

Culinary calendar

Y

The image in the photo at right depicts neither an alien life form nor some form of seafood. This is what happens when you put a whole, fresh, unpeeled red onion in a

a Ya Farm & Orchard between LongABOVE: mont and Lyons is open Tuesday through Sunday in October offering ame-baked crust diverse apple varieties, apple cider doughnuts, apple pies and farm attractions for families. More information at yayafarmandorchard.com . . . Now is the time to clear those pantry shelves of all the food roasted red onion items (especially proteins) you stockpiled in the past year. Drop off non-perishable items on October 23 at Lafayette’s Sister Carmen food bank, Centaurus High School, or Superior Town Hall.

More at sistercarmen.org

use ingredients.

Normally, onions roast and steam inside their skins and vent steam and

Send information about local food events, classes, festivals and tastings at least two weeks in advance to: nibbles@boulderweekly.com white and sweet yellow onions.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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I

t’s an RNA-based viroid that is extremely contagious— to avoid spreading between individuals it requires careful social distancing and diligent disinfection. It’s wreaking havoc in places like California, Michigan, and Colorado. Some infected individuals won’t show any symptoms whatsoever, while others will wither fairly rapidly after onset. Worst of all though, is the fact that symptoms often develop long after initial infection.

According to Dr. Lev Spivak-Birndorf, a co-founder of PSI Labs, one of the only cannabis PCR testing companies in the nation, the pathogen is visually observable— plants is noticeably lackluster: the leaves are swollen; the stems get weak and the quality of the bud is dramatically lower. The trichomes don’t develop, and there is actually less cannabinoid and terpene content in the bud.

And the disease doesn’t affect all plants equally. Some will outwardly exhibit symptoms, while others will exhibit none—carrying the disease asymptomatically.

“The good news is it’s not a safety issue in the sense that smoking virally infected plants is not going to harm humans,” says Spivak-Birndorf. “It’s more about the fact this is devastating the quality of crops and that’s becoming very costly to growers.”

Hop latent viroid is not a new disease, Spivak-Birndorf explains. As

A plant pandemic?

Hop latent viroid isn’t new, but it’s becoming a larger problem as the cannabis industry grows

by Will Brendza

in hops (a close cousin to the cannabis plant). It caused problems for commercial hop growers long before it started wreaking havoc on cannabis farmers.

But now that cannabis is being grown commercially, it’s sneaking up to take a commercial-sized bite out of those

And while there isn’t a cure for it (yet), companies like PSI Labs out of Michigan and Dark Heart Nursery out of California highly recommend regular PCR testing to gauge infection rates. Otherwise, growers could be losing 20 to 30 percent of their crop every grow cycle.

The disease is called latent hop viroid (HpLVd) and it’s gouging grow operations across the country. In California alone, where Dark Heart Nursery tested over 200,000 samples of cannabis tissue from more than 100 licensed cannabis vendors, over 90 percent of their grow facilities tested positive for HpLVd. The company estimated that could constitute $4 billion in crop losses.

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And HpLVd is sneaky. To Spivak-Birndorf, the most pernicious feature of this disease is the “latent” aspect of it.

“Plants don’t really start showing stage,” he says. “It’s not something you can identify early on, in most cases.” late. The viroid is so contagious, if two plants brush up against each other, it could be spread between them. Or, if someone at the grow is using the same pair of shears to trim a row of plants, they could potentially be spreading it manually throughout the grow.

Spivak-Birndorf thinks this is one of the primary drivers in the spread of the disease.

“Hops are grown in rows, and a lot of times [HpLVd]

OCTOBER 21, 2021

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will be spread down the rows, correlating with people nipping with the same shears and going down the line,” he explains. “It really does the same thing to cannabis. In a way, those two things are very parallel.”

Cloning (which is the main method of propagation in commercial cannabis grows) presents problems of its own, as HpLVd can be passed on genetically. And because plants can carry the disease asymptomatically, a healthy-looking mother plant could be riddled with HpLVd. And mysteriously, says Spivak-Birndorf, its clones might not have the same genetic resistance.

“We’re seeing cuttings from the same mother, in the exact same room—the same clones—and some [of the that causes that virus to take over.”

That won’t happen until those clones reach matupathogen. There’s no way to know if they’re infected with HpLVd until then. Except regular PCR testing, which Black Heart recommends doing on every mother plant every month and a half. In their assessment, growers who completed PCR tests as advised and who immedireduced infection rates from 40 percent to just 1 percent.

Spivak-Birndorf says that PSI Labs’ results back that up. They’ve seen growers who identify an outbreak mitigate their losses. But he’s also careful to temper expectations about PCR testing.

“I don’t like to kind of oversell the information [PCR testing] provides, because in some ways, if you have [HpLVd], some things are going to go bad and some aren’t,” Spivak-Birndorf says. At that point, he continues, “Growers have to make hard decisions about what they want to keep, what they want to get rid of, and how to approach a program of breaking down, sanitizing and rebuilding a room to make sure that you can kind of keep [HpLVd] out.”

There’s still a lot left to learn about HpLVd and about cannabis pathogens at large, according to Spivak-Birndorf. Moving forward he believes that understanding this disease and others like it, how they spread, and how to in the cannabis industry.

“The next cannabis pandemic could be around the corner,” Spivak-Birndorf says “Really, we just don’t know.”

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