NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
TIME TO CELEBRATE
SPORTS
SPREADING THE GOSPEL
Paonia Chamber of Commerce salutes businesses, volunteers, B1
Cedaredge Community United Methodist celebrates 120 years, C1
DELTA COUNTY
REGULAR SEASON ENDS Steadily improving swim team is ready for district competition, B7-8
FEBRUARY 1, 2017 VOL. 134, NO. 5
75¢
INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
Traditional schools attain highest rating BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
The Colorado Department of Education has released the official accreditation rating for Delta County Joint School District #50. Based on academic achievement and academic growth, school districts are placed in one of five categories: accredited with distinction, performance plan, improvement plan, priority improvement plan, or turnaround plan. Delta County Joint School District #50 was accredited as a performance district. And for the first time in many years, all 13 of the district’s traditional schools received a performance rating, which is the highest rating awarded to individual schools. Last year two schools were on improvement — Hotchkiss K-8 and Delta Middle School. Both moved up to performance with improved student
outcomes. In addition, the school district uses the same rating system as the CDE to recognize high-scoring schools within the district as schools of distinction. Five Delta County schools achieved that status — Hotchkiss High School, Paonia Elementary School, Cedaredge High School, Cedaredge Middle School and North Fork Montessori at Crawford. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had five schools of distinction,” commented school superintendent Caryn Gibson. “We’re very pleased.” Parents may choose to “opt out” of state assessments for their children. With proper documentaton, the school rating is unaffected by students who have opted out of the exams. While Delta County’s overall participation rate met the RATINGS TO A3
Photo by Pat Sunderland
Danger: Thin ice
Canada geese find purchase on thin sheets of ice on Confluence Lake. As temperatures inch toward the 50s and the ice melts, they’ll have to find another spot to settle.
County master plan rewrite begins BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
What is planned as a yearlong process of rewriting the Delta County master plan is set to begin following a presentation to planning officials and county commissioners Monday. Gabe Preston, owner of planning group RPI Consultants of Durango, outlined his plans for conducting the rewrite during Monday’s planning commission work session. Also present were county advisory planning committee (APC) members, county staff and a few interested citizens — about 35 people in all. Preston said he would begin the following day working to gather background information on the county. County officials have promised the rewrite process (also termed as an “update”) will be a grassroots effort. Preston said his firm would “reach
out to the community and get everyone’s voice” as part of the new master plan. Preston said that available means of communication would be used to keep the public informed on the process and to get input: newspaper, email, word of mouth, community meetings, fliers, the county website and any others available. Direct mail and telephone surveys are considered cost prohibitive for use in the county’s master plan rewrite process, Preston said. No schedule of the public meetings was yet available at Monday’s session. As described at Monday’s presentation, the rewrite process will involve three elements. The first is called “vision and goals.” This is to include the public participation phase of the rewrite process. It is scheduled to begin and to be completed over the
Photo by Hank Lohmeyer
Gabe Preston, owner of RPI Consultants of Durango, gave a presentation on the Delta County Master Plan rewrite process to commissioners, planning officials and others at a work session on Monday.
INDEX
Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Agriculture .....................C8 Back Page ................... D6 Business ........................ A5 Church ............................C7 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-4 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A6 School Zone .................. A8 Service Directory ........ D5 Sports ..........................B5-8 Surface Creek News ...C1-6 TV Listings ..................C4-5
first two quarters (first six month) of this year, according to a project timeline. The public participation phase is to include community meetings, workshops, informal surveys and face-to-face meetings, Preston explained. He added that a “vision and goals” draft document would be available to the public for review and comment before the process begins work on the second element — a future land use plan. Creation of a draft “future
land use plan” is the second element in the process Preston described. It is to include much mapping information that will include display of “current development patterns and analysis” of land uses in the unincorporated areas of the county. Projections of future land uses in specific areas are part of this element of the master plan rewrite process. The third element of the process will be a “land use code road map.” The code road map
will be a separate report and “not necessarily part of the master plan,” Preston said. While the master plan itself is considered an advisory policy document, the codes road map “would implement the master plan.” The land use code road map “may include zoning, potentially,” Preston said. The RPI staff includes a land use code specialist who is an attorney who works in the field. Delta County’s current suite of land use planning MASTER PLAN TO A3
No sign of voter fraud detected in Delta County BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
The Delta County elections department reports a very problem-free election cycle concerning issues with voter fraud. Rene Loy, chief deputy for elections in the county clerk’s office, told the DCI, “Delta as a whole didn’t have any issues. We just received comments and phone calls throughout the election cycle.” Loy submitted an information advisory from Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams that outlines some of the safeguards that Colorado’s election system uses to combat voter fraud. In that advisory, Williams explains, “In Colorado, our clerks and our judges prevent the overwhelming majority of attempts to vote that are improper. Voter fraud is rare but it undercuts our confidence in democracy, which is why it is so critical to protect against.” The advisory goes on to
detail specific safeguards that are employed: • The state participates in two programs to help identify individuals who might be registered or vote in more than one state; • Obtains federal and state death records to remove those voters from the rolls; • Works with sheriffs and the state Department of Corrections to ensure potentiallyregistered felons who are serving a sentence are not allowed to vote; • Uses U.S. Department of Homeland Security data to identify noncitizens; and, • Collaborates with the U.S. Postal Service in using change-of-address records to update its registration files. Williams also provided data from the 2016 election involving mail ballots that were rejected because the voter did not provide ID as required or did not include a signature or the signature did not match the one on file. Williams noted that voters
have until eight days after an election to “cure” their ballots and take care of any problem identified by election judges. “After that [eight-day] period ended, 21,408 ballots [statewide] were rejected — or not counted — because 2,593 did not provide IDs; 2,606 lacked signatures; and 16,209 signatures did not match. County clerks refer signature discrepancies to their local district attorneys, but those cases do not necessarily constitute voter fraud. A voter could have decided not to take care of the problem, for example, because the election was over and his or her vote wouldn’t change the outcome,” the advisory explains and adds, “Voters can have confidence in Colorado’s election process.” Loy emphasized that Colorado works very hard to prevent all types of voter fraud. The county elections department has a fact sheet addressing a number of frequently asked questions on the subject. It is available by request.
Republicans organize
Band festival
Drug arrests pending
Delta County Republican Central Committee is holding its biennial organizational meeting Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 6 p.m. at the Surface Creek Community Church, 21987 Austin Road, in Austin. The purpose of this meeting is to elect the executive officers and bonus members for the Central Committee and conduct other business as outlined by the state GOP guidelines. This is an open meeting and your attendance is encouraged. For information contact Roger Bentley, chairman, Delta County Republican Central Committee, at 874-1114.
The music teachers of Delta County are putting on the annual Delta County Band Festival on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. at the Delta Center for the Performing Arts. The concert will include over 250 middle school and high school students from the entire school district. Admission to the concert is free but donations are greatly appreciated! For more information, call Andrew Bruington at 874-8046 or email andrew. bruington@deltaschools.com.
On Jan. 19, officers of the Delta Police Department in conjunction with officers from multiple other agencies to include the Delta County Sheriff’s Office, the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency, completed a search warrant at the multi-residence property of 1345 and 1347 E. 3rd Street in the City of Delta. DPD detectives conducted an extensive investigation into the allegations of manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine. The search of the property has been completed. Due to the nature of the case and the ongoing investigation the identity of those involved is being withheld. Charges are pending.