Delta County Independent, June 19, 2019

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NORTH FORK TIMES

SURFACE CREEK NEWS

CHC FILES SUIT

WORLD OF WATER

Citizens object to county approval of gas exploration, B1

SPORTS SUMMER BASEBALL

Water users association manages complex issues, C1

Cedaredge diamond crew gains experience, B7

DELTA COUNTY

JUNE 19, 2019 VOL. 136, NO. 25

75¢

INDEPENDENT

www.deltacountyindependent.com

Farm program connects kids with local food BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

Through the Delta County Farm to School Program, learning is continuing through the summer, with lessons on gardening, agriculture, and health and wellness. Program coordinator Angela Flores said classes are open to all students and community members. “The purpose is to raise garden and agriculture awareness, as well as to inspire healthy lifestyles for all,” Flores said. “The funds raised from the summer classes will help fund our AmeriCorps garden coordinators and provide essential resources to help sustain school garden programming for eight schools and many more children around the district.” Gardens have been established at eight schools districtwide, and in many cases are complemented by garden clubs. Three AmeriCorps garden coordinators helped update older gardens and build new gardens where needed. Flores said the students will be growing vegetables to share with Food for Thought families. The Food for Thought program, coordinated by Vision Charter Academy, provides families with supple-

mental food on weekends and holidays. Through this community service project, young gardeners will come to understand and appreciate where their food comes from and how they can grow it on their own. Hopefully, a bountiful harvest will also provide an opportunity for students to hone their business skills at area farmers’ markets. Funded through a Colorado Health Foundation grant, the Farm to School program works to promote healthy lifestyles with hands-on agriculture and nutrition education, create connections between classrooms, communities and local farms through field trips and summer programs, and increase access to healthy, local foods for all families. The school district is partnering with Mountain Roots Food Project to develop the program as a means to address nutrition education and food insecurity issues in the schools. “Our program seeks to inspire healthy lifestyles by providing agriculture and nutrition education for students and families, provide access to healthy foods for all students and families in need, and connect schools and communities with Delta County’s

rich farming and agricultural heritage,” Flores said. Twice-weekly classes rotate between Garnet Mesa

Elementary, Lincoln Elementary and Hotchkiss K-8. Each class begins with a fun group activity and ends with a snack

made with fresh foods from local farms or school gardens. Local experts and Master FARM TO SCHOOL TO A3

Photo by Pat Sunderland

Richard Flores shares flyfishing techniques with participants in the Delta County Farm to School program. At a separate table, students practiced fly tying with Randy Fender of Gunnison River Expeditions. The summer program offers classes that focus on gardening, agriculture and health and wellness.

Tri-State consideration worries DMEA BY KATHARHYNN HEIDELBERG Montrose Press

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association may take steps to become rate-regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a move Montrose’s local power cooperative views with skepticism. If the wholesaler from which Delta-Montrose Electric Association purchases most of its power does become FERC rate-regulated, it would no longer fall under Colorado Public Utilities rate control, DMEA’s chief operating officer Virginia Harman said last week. That would affect DMEA’s current case before the PUC, in which the co-op wants a “fair and equitable” amount set to buy its way out of its contract with Tri-State. “The way we understand it is if they (fall under) FERC jurisdiction, then the case before the PUC would essentially be closed and we would have to start over with FERC,” Harman said. “We think it’s outrageous the way Tri-State is forumshopping in the middle of our PUC complaint. It’s a way of wasting time and money.” Tri-State says that is not the motivation at play. “Tri-State considered FERC regulation well before DeltaMontrose Electric Association filed its complaint with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, and the consideration of FERC rate regula-

INDEX

Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Back Page ................... D6 Business ........................ A8 Church ........................... D4 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Health Pages ...............B5-6 Legals ......................... D2-3 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A6 Service Directory ........ D5 Sports ..........................B7-8 Surface Creek News C1-C5 TV Listings ..................C3-4

tion is in no way a response to DMEA’s complaint or any other current proceeding in the states; rather, it is a pragmatic response to inconsistent rate-regulation among the states in which Tri-State has operated for decades,” TriState spokesman Lee Boughey said. A Tri-State memo the Montrose Daily Press obtained said that with FERC regulation, the association would become fully rate-regulated on generation and transmission rates and other matters; this would “preempt” individual state regulations for rates and eliminate state jurisdiction in buyout disputes. Currently, Tri-State’s membership consists of only small electric cooperatives, like DMEA, or public power districts, a situation that exempts its rates from FERC regulation. If it adds a member that isn’t a small co-op, it would no longer be exempt from FERC rate-regulation. For that to happen, the Tri-State board would have to establish a new membership class, with defined rights, as defined by bylaws. If the board moves forward, it would then file with FERC for regulation. The move would bring costs, including an annual fee, as well as rate case and litigation costs, but there are also costs in litigating state rate regulation cases, Boughey said. Harman said the change

Fridays are free The Delta Museum is offering free admission on Fridays through October. The museum is located at the corner of 3rd and Meeker and is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays. Popular features include a Victorian butterfly collection, old log cabin with a life-size Alferd Packer doll, a dinosaur exhibit, a robe worn by the King of Siam, and a clock from Versailles. Kids will love ringing the bells in the large outdoor collection. For more information, contact the museum at 874-8721.

being considered would be a drastic one that would substantially affect most distribution co-ops in Colorado and rural ratepayers, yet TriState management has provided only limited information about the possible overall effect. DMEA hopes to exit its Tri-State contract, now valid through 2040, by paying a

fee. The co-op in filings said Tri-State refused to provide a just, non-discriminatory fee as had been done for a New Mexico-based cooperative that bought out its contract. DMEA asked the PUC to step in. Tri-State contended DMEA has no automatic right to have an exit fee set and also said the PUC lacked jurisdiction

over what was a rate issue. It also sued in Adams County, where it is headquartered. The PUC subsequently agreed it has jurisdiction to hear DMEA’s petition and the Adams County court separately dismissed the lawsuit. “We think Tri-State didn’t want to be in the PUC, so they took this case out of the TRI-STATE TO A3

Commissioners approve Graff gravel pit application BY ANNETTE BRAND Staff Writer

At the June 11 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a Special Development application for Best Rock Sand & Gravel Pit 1 as recommended by the County Planning Commission. The property is located at 6450 Graff Road in Delta. The application is for a sand and gravel mining operation, to produce construction materials such as road base, concrete and asphalt. The entire operation will exist on land currently owned by applicant, Jared Graff Enterprises located roughly one-half mile west of Delta city limits and adjacent to Confluence Park. Located between the Gunnison River, the Uncompaghre River and the Union Pacific Railroad, the site is currently

being used to grow alfalfa and corn. A small private airstrip, residence and agricultural structures are located in the central portion of the site. The anticipated mine life will be roughly 50 years. The first roughly 20 years will be confined entirely to the west pit. Agricultural activities will continue to take place on all areas of the property until mining reaches them. Delta public works/utilities director Betsy Suerth said city representatives have been working with the applicant and project engineer Ben Langenfeld in examining the sewer line location and determining mitigation measures to protect a nearby sewer line. Regarding concerns by the City of Delta, Langenfeld said he wanted to clarify that the distance between Pit 1 and Confluence Park, as far as

protecting park experiences is concerned, is 1,000 feet, not 2,000 feet. Suerth agreed with the 1,000 feet application. As to traffic, at full production (200,000 tons a year) the traffic will consist of approximately 20 trucks and 15 employee and contractor vehicles per day. This assumes the trucks will all be 13.5-ton capacity highway trucks. Using larger trucks would reduce those numbers. One hundred percent of truck traffic will use county and city roads prior to turning on U.S. Highway 50. No one spoke in favor or in opposition to the application. Commissioner Don Suppes noted that the county won’t see all the impacts of BRS&G Pit 1, but the City of Delta will. He encouraged the applicant to see that the needs of the city are met promptly.

DPD seeks information on shooting At approximately 12:36 a.m. Saturday, June 15, officers of the Delta Police Department were dispatched to a residence in the 1500 block of H-25 Road on multiple calls of gunshots being heard. One call was from a specific resident stating his home had taken fire and multiple people had fled the scene in a dark colored truck or SUV type vehicle. The residence had sustained damage from multiple gunshots being fired at the structure. The occupants of the home did not report any injuries and no injuries were observed. The resident did return fire upon the assailants. Further investigation revealed the parties

involved are possibly known to each other. A short time later, officers located the vehicle, which was parked with no one inside. There are indications of injuries; the details are not available at this time. The vehicle was seized and towed to a secured holding facility for further investigation. This is an active and ongoing investigation. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Delta Police Department at 970-874-7676, Dispatch at 970874-2015, or Crime Stoppers at 970-874-8110 It is believed this is an isolated incident and the general public is not at risk of a random act of violence.


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