Delta County Independent, April 12, 2017

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NORTH FORK TIMES

SURFACE CREEK NEWS

TESTING TECHNOLOGY Grower tries different method to protect fruit from frost, B1

SPORTS

ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

GEYER AT THE TOP

CES event promotes healthy lifestyle for students, families, C1

Cedaredge middle schoolers wrestle in Rocky Mountain Nationals, B8

DELTA COUNTY

APRIL 12, 2017 VOL. 134, NO. 15

75¢

INDEPENDENT

www.deltacountyindependent.com

Help is needed to keep the flags flying BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

Camping, hiking, knot tying ... all are part of the Boy Scout experience and activities the scoutmasters of the three local troops feel very comfortable guiding. They’re less confident when it comes to organizing fundraising efforts for the Flags for Delta program. Boy Scout Troops 475, 481 and 485 take turns posting flags along Main Street and Highway 92 for major holidays beginning with Mother’s Day in May and ending with Veterans Day in November. In the past, this patriotic community tradition has been organized by business leaders, with the scout troops providing manpower. The business leaders handled the administrative aspects of sending out solitication letters, tracking payments, maintaining the

post office box and making sure the tags are current on the flag trailer. Joel Butzin, Troop 475, said the number of business administrators has dwindled over the years, until two or three years ago the last individual dropped out and the scoutmasters found themselves in charge of administering the BSA Flags for Delta program. “We do fires and knots,” said Kurt Roithmayr, assistant scoutmaster of Troop 485. “We’re in over our heads as it relates to collecting money or asking the business community to help out.” Traditionally, businesses have been asked to donate whatever sum of money they deem appropriate to keep the flags flying, but in recent years solicitation letters have not gone out on an annual basis and contributions have FLAGS FOR DELTA TO A3

Photo by Pat Sunderland

Strolling Main

Sam and Levi, Suffolk Punch horses from Y Bar Hitch, provided wagon rides through Delta as part of the Second Saturday Stroll, an art walk in downtown Delta on the second Saturday of every month. Ken Spann and Valorie Barnica, owners of The Y Bar Hitch, own a number of the rare chesnut-colored Suffolk Punch draft horses.

Landfill is choking in a tide of mattresses BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer

Adobe Buttes landfill is choking in a tsunami of used mattresses. No one knows where they are coming from. During a commissioner work session on Monday, landfill manager Kevin Hunt explained that he isn’t exactly losing sleep over the issue, but he has no clue to the source of

the mattresses showing up at the landfill every week. It has been going on for the past two to three years, he said. He told the commissioners that 13 of the bulky baggages arrived last Monday morning alone. The minimum is generally 25 per week — or 1,300 per year. They are arriving without accompanying box springs

leading to speculation they are being replaced by the new “super foam” mattresses. Other landfills may charge up to $20 for each of the castoff, horizontal hibernation units that comes across the scales. Mattresses are bad for landfills. They don’t compact well, and Hunt calculates each one entering Adobe Buttes bound for its final resting

Public examines Rogers Mesa Highway 92 access plan BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer

Organizers of the Rogers Mesa Highway 92 access plan open house at Hotchkiss High School last Wednesday said they were happy with the substantial turnout for the event. At least 70 people registered at the sign-in table in just the first hour of the two-hour-long event. There was a lot of active interest as guests moved past a

gallery with displays explaining the access plan process. They examined details on big maps laid out on long tables, they talked about the project with neighbors, they filled out comment forms, and they discussed the project with county officials, traffic planners and CDOT personnel. Viewpoints were not being kept secret. Details of the project are available online through the Delta County website. The

Photo by Hank Lohmeyer

The discussion of Highway 92 access points got very specific as participants made notations on satellite photo maps provided to aid in the public input process. The 5.8-mile stretch of Highway 92 across Rogers Mesa has over 170 points of access.

INDEX

Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... D5 Agriculture .................... A7 Bruin Tracks ................1-4E Business ........................ 6A Church ............................3E Classifieds ...................1-4E Editorial ......................... 2A Health & Fitness .........7-8B Legals ..........................4-6C North Fork Times ........1-6B Obituaries ......................7C School Zone .................. 5A Sports ......................... 1-4D Surface Creek News ...1-3C TV Listings ..................3-4B

public can make comments there and see comments that have been left by others. There is also a survey form that can be filled out. The deadline for leaving comments on the plan at the online site is April 30. Attendees at last week’s open house also learned the following about the access plan process: • The access plan process began last year. Full development of the access plan will take approximately one year. • There will be a second open house at Hotchkiss in August or September (final date not yet available) for public review of the final plan draft. • Project engineers expect to have a final plan ready for county adoption in November, according to officials from traffic engineering firm Stolfus. • Individuals to contact about the plan are Delta County administrator Robbie LeValley, 874-2102; Dan Roussin, CDOT regional manager, 683-6284; or Michelle Hansen, Stolfus project manager, 303-221-2330. • The plan will define current and future access SH92 ACCESS TO A3

place takes up $12.50 worth of space at Adobe Buttes’ current rates. The commissioners’ discussion on Monday focused on three elements of landfill management — when the new higher charges will take effect, how much those charges will finally be, and what to do about all those mattresses. It is quite possible following Monday’s discussion that when the new landfill fees do take effect there will be an additional per-mattress charge assessed as well. • In a separate discussion on Monday, commissioners got an update on the Region 10 broadband project. The report stated that Region 10 is still working to finalize

facilities sharing agreements that involve the cities of Delta and Montrose, DMEA and TriState Generation. Region 10 director Michelle Haynes and a consultant on the project said they “will be ready to fire up services by mid May” in Delta and Montrose. Projections on broadband progress have been optimistic; the project is far behind its original schedule. Haynes reported that the equipment for Delta and Montrose carrier neutral locations (CNLs) is on order — a milestone originally scheduled for completion a year and a half ago. She also predicted that all of the CNLs in the six-county region would be installed by year’s end.

County master plan review dates released BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer

The consultant for the county master plan rewrite project, RPI of Durango, has provided an update which includes dates for six community meetings scheduled next month. The community sessions (also being called “visioning workshops”) will begin in Hotchkiss on Monday, May 15, and then move to Paonia on Tuesday, May 16; to Cedaredge on Wednesday, May 17; Crawford on Thursday, May 18; and finally to Delta on Tuesday, May 23. Locations for the community meetings are to be determined, according to the email provided to the county. The community sessions are set to be major events for gathering input from the general public. A public website for the project was not opera-

tional as of Monday. The consultant will meet with the county planning commission on Tuesday, May 2, at 6 p.m. It will be an orientation prior to the community sessions. Planning commission meetings are open to the public. RPI also reports that telephone interviews with selected landowners, citizens and “stakeholders” are taking place between April 6 and May 5. A document summarizing the interviews is promised for delivery on Friday, May 12. By June 9, the consultant plans on having available a report summary of its community meetings. Then, on Wednesday, June 14, another meeting with the planning commission is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. to review the draft master plan vision and goals. MASTER PLAN TO A3

Easter in Delta

DCMH town hall

Free Easter lunch for 60+

Don’t be late! The Delta Lions Club is hosting its annual Easter egg hunt in Cleland Park Saturday, April 15, beginning at 9 a.m. sharp. On Easter Sunday, the public is invited to a community Resurrection Day SonRise worship service in the arbor in Confluence Park. The service begins at 6:50 a.m. Several pastors and churches will participate in this community event. Please dress for the weather and bring your own seating. For more information, contact First Baptist Church Pastor James Conley, 874-3847.

Delta County Memorial Hospital’s CEO, Jason Cleckler, is hosting a town hall meeting at ShadeScapes,122 E. Bridge Street in Hotchkiss at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 13. The purpose of the town hall is to provide information about the Hotchkiss and Paonia clinics and to discuss how changes to the Affordable Care Act could affect the hospital and health care in Delta County. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. For more information, call Cynthia Hines at 970-201-8671.

A free Easter-themed lunch for seniors age 60 and over will be served at the Delta Senior Center, 247 Meeker Street at noon on Thursday, April 13. This meal is being sponsored by the Delta Elks Lodge #1235 through a grant from the Grand Lodge. The menu will be baked ham, scalloped potatoes, pickled beets, mixed vegetables, homemade roll and carrot cake. Those under age 60 will be charged a $3 meal fee. The Delta Senior Center would appreciate advance reservations from those planning to come. Please call the DSC at 970-874-7837 to make a reservation.


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