NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
PRAISED AS PEACEMAKER Former Paonia mayor honored for years of service, B3
SPORTS
CEDAREDGE IS HOPPING
Weekend packed with Little Britches, Heritage Day, memorial services, C1
DELTA COUNTY
VAULTING TO THE TOP Paonia girls, Cedaredge boys bring home state track titles, B6
MAY 25, 2016 VOL. 133, NO. 21
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INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
Fish hatchery impacted by disease BY TAMIE MECK Staff Writer
Photo by Tamie Meck
Hotchkiss National Fish Hatchery technician Dominic Giordullo weighs trout bound for Taylor Reservoir Monday morning. The hatchery’s raceways will be dry this summer while the facility is disinfected after testing positive for bacterial kidney disease. The closure will affect stocking of lakes and reservoirs through next spring. The annual Huck Finn Day fishing derby in Paonia will also be canceled this year.
For the first time in its nearly 50 years of operation, the Hotchkiss National Fish Hatchery’s 40 raceways and 24 nursery tanks will be dry while the facility is disinfected after testing positive for bacterial kidney disease. Hotchkiss was one of four Colorado hatcheries to test positive for BKD, which was transmitted through cutthroat trout eggs from the Glenwood Springs Fish Hatchery, said Hotchkiss hatchery manager Adam Mendoza. Two facilities in Larimer County also tested positive for the disease. BKD, typically transmitted from females through their eggs, is more commonly found in salmon in the northwest and has been a non-issue in this area, said Mendoza. Hotchkiss tested clean for BKD and seven other diseases during an annual inspection in spring, 2015, and received the eggs from Glenwood in July. Hotchkiss was notified of the Glenwood contamination on Nov. 3. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was notified and the facility was ordered to stop production, affecting stocking programs through next spring. Test results were confirmed about Dec. 10, said
Poultry plant operation begins county review BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
The Delta County Planning Commission is set to review a specific development application on Wednesday, May 25, for a “small poultry processing plant to serve local producers of chickens and turkeys.” The operation is planned for 3085 Last Chance Road. The planning commission’s meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the courthouse and the poultry processing plant application is the fourth item on the evening’s agenda. The application is also
scheduled to be reviewed, and possibly acted on, by the county commissioners on June 6 at 10 a.m. in Room 236 at the courthouse. The applicants are Farm Fresh Chicken, LLC and Paul Le Blanc. Farm Fresh Chicken gives an address of Broomfield; Le Blanc’s residence is in Saudi Arabia. He has worked for Butterball, LLC as plant engineer, and for other poultry operations, according to the application. The application states, “Local producers report that they would increase production if the processing plant
Federal suit filed over county regs BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
David Kuntz, whose chicken barn operation on Redlands Mesa won the county’s specific development approval last year, has filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the constitutionality of those same county regulations. The suit, filed last month, cites the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. It also claims that delays in the county approv-
INDEX
Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Back Page ................... D8 Business ........................ A8 Church ........................... D6 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-5 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ......................B5 School Zone ............... A5-6 Service Directory ......... C5 Sports ..........................B6-8 Surface Creek News ...C1-6 TV Listings ..................C3-4
al process caused a significant amount of damages, costs and expenses to his operation. According to Kuntz’s Grand Junction attorney Ben Wegener, the lawsuit alleges that county specific development regulations treat agricultural operations in the county differently. The county as of Monday had not yet filed its response to the lawsuit but was expected to do so as a deadline was approaching.
was available. It’s almost as easy to raise 25,000 chickens as it is 200.” Under an operations plan outlined in the application, farmers would deliver their poultry on site at the facility, 3085 Last Chance Road. However, following the planning department receiving written comments from neighbors, that part of the plan has been amended to read, “We will have full control of the property and access the roads in a safe and controlled manner to reduce or [eliminate] feathers from leaving our vehicles while on public roads.” The plant would have a planned capacity of 500 birds per day. Offal and other unused portions of the animals will not be kept or disposed of on site. The plans are to build a steel structure “not larger than 50 feet by 100 feet” to serve as the plant. “No more than six” fulltime employees will be needed. There is one shift per day planned, and operations will be USDA inspected, the application states. The review process will require the applicant satisfactorily addressing 14 planning staff recommendations; there will be more than a dozen stipulations cited by the county health department; and, concerns of neighbors will have to be addressed.
Memorial Day services
Lee Marts Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3571 and its Auxiliary of Delta will perform three memorial services on Monday, May 30. Members, assisted by Delta High School JROTC cadets, will do a short memorial service at Mesa View Cemetery at 9 a.m. at the entrance by the flagpole. A second short memorial service will follow at Delta City Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. in front of the Veteran’s Memorial. At 3 p.m., post and auxiliary members will perform a special veterans memorial service at the Wall of Honor in North Delta at 1576 H25 Road. Community members are invited to attend any service. Applications for plaques to remember any veteran will be available at the Wall of Honor services for those who would like to add their names, or the names of a loved one who was a veteran, to the wall. For more information, contact post commander David Rowland at 314-4208 or auxiliary president Jennifer Wright at 640-7720.
Mendoza. Each year the hatchery stocks about 750,000 rainbow and cutthroat trout to lakes and reservoirs throughout western Colorado and northern New Mexico, including Blue Mesa, Silver Jack, Ridgway, Crawford and McPhee. They were in transition to add a small brown trout program when the BKD issue came up, said Mendoza. That program is now on hold. With no fish to stock, the annual Huck Finn Day fishing derby, which the hatchery has sponsored in Paonia each June for the last 19 years, will be canceled, said Mendoza, along with the annual derby in Monte Vista, which also gets its fish from Hotchkiss. The facility was able to stock about 100,000 fish this spring, but will be unable to meet the remainder of its commitments through this fall. It plans to begin stocking on a normal basis by next spring, said Mendoza, although the fish will be smaller than normal for a while. BKD, which typically occurs in salmon, is fatal. Signs of advanced infection include bruising and blistering of skin, and kidneys reveal a gray matter and eventually shut down. Because it was caught early, “Our fish showed absolutely no external signs,” said Mendoza. Because the infection level was low, DNA tests were needed to verify the results. Regardless of the stage of the disease, “One
spore is all you need” to trigger a complete disinfection. There is some good to come out of all of this, said Mendoza. Because contamination was caught early, they were given a green light for an experimental treatment using fish food laced with erythromycin, an antibiotic commonly used in treating BKD in northwest salmon, through University of Idaho. Tests are being tried on a small scale while the drug, called an Investigational New Animal Drug, or INAD, undergoes the approval process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Because the program is costly, the existing stock of 200,000 fish was reduced by half. The state also agreed that if the program was a success, the remaining fish could be used for stocking. Had that agreement not been made, said Mendoza, all the fish would have been destroyed and the disinfection program would have started immediately. In February a 28-day antibiotic treatment was started. The fish were tested 30 days after the last treatment, “And everything came back clean,” said Mendoza. “We’re pretty positive, especially with the way the treatment occurred, that we got it all.” Because of its success, other facilities can benefit from the process, said Mendoza. The last truckload of fish will be delivered this week, FISH HATCHERY TO A3
Photo by Pat Sunderland
Not his first rodeo
Marion Miller, 5, of Hotchkiss comes from a ranching family, so the roping station caught his eye during a field trip to Fort Uncompahgre. Over 500 preschoolers and family members from throughout Delta County took part in hands-on activities organized by the Delta Family Center and its partners. A free lunch was prepared and served by the Delta Kiwanis in the Lions Pavilion. As part of the year-end activities, the BELA preschoolers also toured the schools where they’ll be attending kindergarten next year.
Explosion rocks neighborhood
Kenny Pratte, 54, of Delta is facing charges after allegedly causing an explosion that rocked a quiet Delta neighborhood shortly after 9 p.m. May 19. Pratte was seriously injured in the incident and had been transported to the hospital by a family member by the time Delta Police Department officers arrived on the scene at 1015 Meeker Street. The explosion took place in a camp trailer which was reportedly being used as a workshop. Although no one witnessed the incident, neighbors told DPD officers it was Pratte’s habit to go out to the ‘dobies and pick up spent shell casings that he cleaned so he could recycle the metal. There was a strong smell of gunpowder in the air, leading investigators to theorize the gunpowder in a metal container somehow ignited, causing an explosion that blew the container apart. Pratte faces charges of possession of explosives or incendiary devices and fourth degree arson.