Colorado Seen September 2010
BISHOP CASTLE ALSO: DACONO LIBRARY n BRONCOS FANS
Colorado Seen September 2010 A CIVIC PRIORITY The public library in the small plains town of Dacono is only 935 square feet, but holds pride of place in the lives of the city’s residents. 4 A CASTLE IN THE WILDERNESS Jim Bishop has spent 41 years building his own castle amid the evergreens on the eastern slopes of the Wet Mountains. 18 EYES ON THE SEASON Broncos fans preview their hopes for the team as they flock to Mile High Stadium for pre-season games. 38 Departments From the Editor 3 Out of our past 48 On the cover A young visitor descends a staircase on one of the flying buttresses that supports Bishop Castle in Colorado’s Custer County.
A summer storm clears over the Great Plains town of Dacono, home to one of Colorado’s smallest public libraries.
From the Editor I can sympathize with Jim Bishop. Colorado didn’t necessarily need its own castle, but Bishop did — and set out to build it. 41 years later, he’s still at it. (see page 18). Colorado doesn’t necessarily need its own photojournalism magazine, but I do —thus ColoradoSeen. We’ll see if I can keep it up for 41 years. I can sympathize with Bishop’s essential libertarianism. For the most part, what individuals do on their own time, on their own property, according to their own beliefs, is their own business. I’m not sure I follow his arguments regarding a “Luciferian” world conspiracy (see page 36) — but nobody has to agree on everything. I can sympathize with Bishop’s excercising his freedom of speech —as should any journalist. I don’t like it when he uses racist expressions, though. They are not only hurtful, but they do a disservice to Bishop himself. The real Jim Bishop is different from the ugly snapshot he sends to the world when he uses those words, even if it’s his right to do so. Jim Bishop’s castle is a monument to the power of the free individual working alone. By contrast, the Dacono library (see page 4) is a monument to the power of a community working together. The real America —and the real Colorado — is not one of these or the other exclusively. It is the constant swirling symphony of both happening side by side. Forever, I hope.
Colorado Seen A monthly internet magazine Editor & Publisher Andrew Piper We welcome comments and letters. Submit them to: coloradoseen@comcast.net To submit work or story ideas for consideration, send an e-mail to: coloradoseen@comcast.net If you would like to advertise in ColoradoSeen, send an e-mail to coloradoseen@comcast.net for information on rates and interactive links. Copyright © 2010 ColoradoSeen
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Colorado’s Smallest Libraries: Dacono
A CIVIC PRIORITY
Stor y & Pictures by Andy Piper
I
n the southwest corner of Weld County, where the Rocky Mountains are a dusky rumor on the western horizon, and the donkey wellheads of the Spindle oilfield sit frozen in time, lies the Colorado plains town of Dacono. Dacono’s city hall is a low gray structure in the middle of town, expanded from an old school house. Within its walls are crowded the police department, the water and sewer offices, a city council chamber that doubles — with a quick swap of the seating nameplates — as a courtroom. And, in 935 square feet, one of Colorado’s smallest public libraries.
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B
ut for all its compact size, the Dacono library plays
Dacono
a large role in the life of this town of about 3,000. There is often a waiting list to use the nine computers arrayed in the center of the
reading room. Bundles of books borrowedfrom other libraries arrive every other day. And an ever-growing collection of DVDs and
In Dacono, traffic fines and library fines get paid side by side. At right, Dawn Dison assembles a jig-saw puzzle beneath a quilt marking the city’s 2008 Centennial. videotapes expands in the corner shelves. In 2009, Dacono put $80,000 - matched by ➤ Page 8
Library director Amy Bruno checks in a shipment of books borrowed from throughout Colorado via interlibrary loan.
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a grant from the State of Colorado - into a renovation. “The city made the library a top priority — it’s in our stated goals,” says library director Amy Bruno. Bruno has driven a 150 per cent increase of the library’s usage
over the past 3 years. “When I started here, a good week was 25 visits. Now we get 30 a day, 50 some days.” Although she also credits, if that’s the right word, the weak economy for the growth. “This — depression, really, — we’re having
means more people check out videos. They’ve had to give up their cable or their satellite service.” Bruno pauses to dig out a statistic she recently read. “Did you know public libraries distribute more videos per
day than Netflix? It’s true! Libraries, 2.1 million; Netflix, 2 million; RedBox, 1.4 million; Blockbuster, 1.2 million. “Also, people out of work have more time on their hands, and a lot of them are spending it reading.” Sometimes combin-
ing the reading with a little agriculture. In a vacant lot on the edge of town is the library’s Reading Garden, where kids signed up for a ten-by-ten plot and free seeds and grew vegetables and ➤ Page 14
Above, Internet access via the library’s nine computers are a big draw for patrons. At left, a sign over the circulation desk. 9
The library’s Reading Garden fills a vacant lot on the edge of town. Kids who signed up for the summer got 100 square feet of growing space, free seeds — and three reading sessions a week.
Tutor Kristen Forrest helps a student prepare a report on this season’s Atlantic hurricanes using live reports and images from the internet, accessed through the library’s computers.
Video tapes and DVDs are a popular checkout item. Public libraries nationally deliver more movies daily than Netflix.
A bundle of books borrowed from other libraries in a network throughout Colorado and Wyoming awaits checkin. In anticipation of the new TV season, the Dexter mystery novels are especially popular right now.
Xavier Glass, 9, watches a replay of a BET awards show on YouTube via the library’s internet connection.
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flowers over the summer. For every book they read, they also got entries in drawings for prizes. Bruno offered reading sessions in the garden three evenings a week.
“We’d read Peter Rabbit, and then go through the garden looking for parsley,” she laughs. The reading sessions are over now — “After reading Bridget’s Beret for the tenth
As patrons check out books, sign up for computer time, or arrange for interlibrary loans, Library director Bruno crochets a gift for an “emergency baby shower.”
time, I sort of burned out,” says Bruno. But the crops are ready to harvest. The library’s internet service is another draw. “The statistics say there is one com-
puter for every three households in Dacono. But you average in a house like mine, where we have four computers, and realistically, maybe one household in four actually has a computer; probably one
in seven have internet connections.” On one recent afternoon, all nine computer were in use. At one, Kristen Forrest is tutoring a an elementary student. Xavier Glass is on another, watching
YouTube videos. Finally, Bruno has to gently remove one user who has been online past the four-hour limit, to make room for someone else. Interlibrary loans are another feature Bruno has introduced.
“The concept that we could borrow any book owned by any library in the state (and Wyoming) — that was mind-blowing” to patrons, says Bruno. Between her regular check-in/check-out du-
ties, shepherding computer users, unwrapping and distributing the incoming packages of books, Bruno puts in 25 hours a week. “I go home exhausted — and dancing with joy.” n
A sign along Colorado Highway 52 gives the town library pride of place among Dacono’s civic institutions. The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains rises on the horizon.
41 years ago, Jim Bishop set out to build a cabin in Colorado’s Wet Mountains. It turned into
A CASTLE IN THE
WILDERNESS
From the tip of Bishop Castle’s highest tower, Colorado Highway 165 is visible winding through the San Isabel National Forest.
Stor y & Pictures by Andy Piper
S
ome liken it to a relic of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Ear th. Others see echoes of M.C . Escher’s twisted third dimension. But perhaps the truest metaphor for Bishop Castle is the computer game Myst. Here are the same beckoning stairways, the same dark corners that may hold secrets and surprises, the same lonely turrets, the same mysterious vistas that appear and disappear and reappear through windows and trees.
However, no computer game inspired Bishop Castle, started when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were still in high school. “I used to read National Geographic as a boy,” says Jim Bishop, who began construction in 1969 and is still building away at 66. “I was inspired by the great cathedrals of Europe - Notre Dame, Reims, Paris. I loved the flying buttresses. The castles of England and Germany — Bodiam; Caernarfon in Wales. And buildings from all over the world: The Great Wall of China; the Mayans, the Pyramids; the work of Gaudi and Eiffel.” The Watts Towers of Los Angeles?
“Exactly, exactly. Built by an Italian immigrant — Simon Rodia. Did you know he was persecuted for building those? During World War II people thought they were secret radio towers for communicating with the Japanese — and tried to tear them down.” Jim Bishop has felt persecuted, too. His castle has provoked controversies with both local zoning and Federal land officials. For the moment, those are in abeyance, but they still color Bishop’s anti-government beliefs (See story, Page 36). “I love wildflowers, I love the forest. ➤ Page 26
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A castle visitor peers up from a window in a tower stairway. Unexpected vistas are what make exploring every inch of the castle worthwhile.
As a trio of visitors cross the moat, Jim Bishop hoists yet another of the tens of thousands of stones he’s placed since 1969 in building his castle.
Friend Jesse Saize snaps a picture of Bishop with two castle sightseers.
Bishop Castle
But these Lady Bird Johnson Roadside laws repress commerce and repress people.” Today, there are even state highway signs directing seekers to the castle. “Those were pushed through by — what was his name? — Schwarz? He loved the castle,” says Bishop. (Former State Rep. Larry Schwarz of nearby Wetmore). Karen Chaney, a visitor from Colorado Springs, asks one obvious question. “What is the point?” “I’m putting my God-given talents to 26 use. I’m creating a
Constitutional Republic. Maybe you’ll put a dollar in the donation box. How’s that for a point?” retorts Bishop. He turns with a grin. “I’m on the one drug the government still can’t control — adrenalin.” Originally, the castle began as a simple mountain cabin. But when friends commented that the stone foundation looked like a castle, Bishop had his first moment of insight. Now, that “cabin” soars 160 feet into the sky near the Wet Mountain town of Rye in Custer County. Built ➤ Page 32
After 41 years, Bishop Castle is still a work in progress. Tools, ladders, ropes and power cords hang from the eaves and towers. At right, Jim Kuehnert photographs Joy Robinson on a bridge to nowhere that may someday connect the main towers.
An open geodesic sphere tops the castle’s second-highest tower, another popular spot for snapshots.
Stained glass windows illuminate the stony gloom of the second floor, a dark and mysterious grotto.
On the highest step in the highest tower, a castle vistor clings to the ironwork. Bishop estimates the tip to be 160 feet above the ground, “but I 30 don’t measure, I just build.�
A 10-foot-long dragon’s head arcs from the castle’s roof. Once it breathed fire — Bishop has plans for a new mechanism. Below, a barbarian war axe held by a disembodied arm helps support the wrought-iron rafters of the main hall.
of red Colorado stone, it also incorporates miles of decorative ironwork — the kind of work Bishop does for a living during the winter months in his Pueblo workshop. After 41 years, tools, power cords, and ladders hang from the walls. Scaffolding and hoists still top some of the towers. Is it even close to being finished? “Finished? Nothing will ever be finished. What does ‘finished’ mean? Kaput, Dead,” says Bishop. But for the moment he has switched his attention to the new entry — a medieval gateway complete with moat, drawbridge and barbizon. As he works along the highway, a departing visitor comes over to shake his hand and wish him luck. Bishop takes mild offence. “Don’t wish me ‘Luck’!” He cups his hands to his mouth so all can hear. “Don’t wish me ‘Good Luck’!! I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t believe in luck. This castle wasn’t built with luck. It was built with God-given talent and knowledge. “If you want to wish me something, wish me ‘Godspeed’.” n Stairs, stairs, stairs. Bishop’s skill as a decorative metal worker results in many styles, from a Gaudiesque Art Nouveau ripple (top) to ornate curlicues (right) to the medieval 32 (opposite).
Castle visitors descend a stairway (also seen on the cover) that tops one of the castle’s flying buttresses.
Jim Bishop delivers one of his political diatribes to visitors as he takes a break from building the newest addition to the Castle, a 36drawbridge and moat.
A voice in the wilderness
T
here’s no getting around it. Every person’s home is his or her castle — and Jim Bishop’s Castle is home to his political and social opinions. They are displayed on hand-painted posters scattered around the grounds, and expressed in loud, selfdescribed “rants” when Bishop takes a break from building. And so, regardless of your own religion, or ethnicity, or politics, one feature of visiting the castle is that you may well hear or read something that offends you. Most of Bishop’s rants express a simple anti-government libertarianism, reinforced by his battles with National Forest and local zoning authorities over the Castle. Or revolve around a “Luciferian conspiracy” for global domination, involving 33rd-degree Masons, The Federal Reserve, the New World Order, Wall Street, organized religion, and Queens Elizabeth II of the U.K. and Beatrix of the Netherlands. Too complex to reproduce here, but Bishop can connect the dots. For the most part,
these are expressed with a self-effacing humor. “I enjoy this s---,” says Bishop. “I love the (Custer) County commissioners. They made me recognize my rights. I’m gonna buy them a gift card to Applebee’s and give it to them with a note saying I won’t be coming -— they can enjoy their meal without listening to me rant.” Describing a con-
frontation he had with one visitor, Bishop says “You should have seen the bruises my face left on his knuckles! But when it was over — which one of us was running for his car?”
B
ut a darker side of Bishop’s polemics comes out when he
exercises his freedom of speech using racial epithets. “N-----, n-----, n-----! Obama is a n-----!” begins one rant. “I’m not prejudiced,” insists Bishop. “ ‘N-----’ to me means trash or any ignorant person — of any color. I don’t want to hurt nobody. I love everybody. I just don’t always love their ideas.” The problem, of course, is that n‑‑‑‑‑ means something very different to many people. And even Bishop realizes that maybe he is crossing a line. Sitting in a log, head bowed, scuffing one workbooted toe in the pine needles, he recalls one recent episode. “There was a black woman here last week with two lovely kids, and I did one of my rants, and I could see that I’d offended her. “I went over and tried to explain I didn’t mean any harm. But later, when the kids wanted to have their picture taken with me — she wouldn’t be in the picture. She wouldn’t have her picture taken with me.” “I offended her and I didn’t want to.” He looks up. “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m wrong. I have the right to be wrong, don’t I?” n 37
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EYES ON THE
SEASON Broncos fans at pre-season games weigh in on how things will go in 2010.
KEN CASTENEDA
“Ten wins, and we’ll make it to the playoffs. We should sit Tebow out this season — this should be a learning experience for him. He’s our quarterback of the future.” Ken Casteneda’s Broncos-tinted contact lenses may not give him a 20/20 look at the future. But they are spectacular.
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TIM & RHIANNON MOWERY “8-8.” Tim
“I don’t know!” Rhiannon
MILE-HIGH JESTER
(Shane Hergenreder) “9-7 — No, scratch that — 10-6. We’re better than most people think we are.”
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Rhiannon Mowery wears rookie quarterback Tim Tebow’s #15 —one of the most popular jerseys among Broncos fans.
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SONNY JUAREZ
“I think we’ll go 10-8. Well, OK, 10-6. Want to try a jalapeño burger or a hot dog?”
THE BRONCNATOR
(Chuck DeVorss) “We’ll make the playoffs at 10-6. Tebow is still to be determined — he can’t be just a running quarterback. Really, it’s a pretty easy schedule.”
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THE KING
(John Lopez, with wife Renée) “Orton will lead the Broncos to the playoffs this year. But Tebow will get some play time. He needs the maturing.”
DONNA STANG
“I’m thinking 8-8. Same as the last two years.”
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Donna Stang decorates a tree with Bronco-orange pompoms next to her tailgate-party motorhome in the parking lot of Invesco Field at Mile High (still known to true fans as Mile High Stadium).
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A brass septet serenades game-goers outside Invesco Field at Mile-High before the pre-season game on Sunday, August 29.
DONNY HAYNES
“I think it’s 50/50 this year. I’d say 9-7”
ADAM STEINBACH
“I think it’ll be a good year. If it isn’t, we’ll just have to do more tailgating!” Adam Steinbach. left, and his uncle, Donny Haynes, kick back on their Broncos beanbag-toss game, a staple passtime of tailgate parties.
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Out of our past: September 15, 2001
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Four days after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Denverites held a demonstration of
national solidarity in Civic Center Plaza and on the steps of the State Capitol. American flags and New York Yankees caps were
the symbols of the day. As the demonstrators marched down Colfax Avenue afterwards, Denver police lined the
Andy Piper/ColoradoSeen
route to redirect traffic, their badges draped in black in memory of the safety officers killed in the fall of the two towers.
Suddenly, out of the crowd came a hand, reaching out to this officer with a firm grip of respect and sympathy.
Then another. Then a pat on the shoulder. In this moment, the unbowed American spirit was revealed.
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