NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
SPORTS
UP FOR TRADE
ON THE ROAD
UNDEFEATED
Bear Ranch takes another stab at controversial land swap, B1
Cedaredge FFA travels to Kentucky for convention, C2
Hotchkiss enters postseason play with 9-0 record, B5
DELTA COUNTY
NOVEMBER 2, 2011 VOL. 128, NO. 44
75¢
INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
CAWS poised to take over animal shelter BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
If negotiations are successful, the City of Delta animal shelter will soon be operated by CAWS, or Citizens for Animal Welfare and Shelter. The animal welfare organization is based in the North Fork Valley. In the meantime, Delta Police Department officers are dealing with reports of vicious dogs, but there’s no animal control officer to respond to reports of loose dogs, barking animals, or nuisance cats or dogs. The animal shelter is
being operated in a very limited capacity with two parttime shelter technicians. This state of affairs brought several animal lovers to the Delta City Council meeting Oct. 18. Fran Goetz questioned why the city can support the golf course, but have no funds for animal control. Instead, city officials expect animal welfare non-profits to handle stray and abandoned animals. Debbie Faulkner of Crawford said the Black Canyon Animal Sanctuary is getting “20 calls a day” from
residents, with over half coming from Delta citizens. “We’re maxed out, and we’re having to tell people no,” she told city council members. More animals are being dumped than ever before, she added. This activity is “rampant” because people seem to think they won’t get in trouble if there’s no animal control officer on the job. Both she and Goetz said the abandoned animals pose a community health risk which increases liability for
the city. Chris Miller attended the meeting to invite council members to a RSVP volunteer recognition ceremony but took the opportunity to express her concerns about safety and nuisances caused by animals running at large. The decision to reduce animal control is largely due to budget constraints, Delta Police Chief Robert Thomas said shortly after the services were “drastically” curtailed in the spring. Thomas said his priority is keeping police offi-
cers on the street, a direction which has the endorsement of city manager Joe Kerby. At a budget work session preceding the city council meeting on Oct. 18, Chief Thomas expanded on animal control operations. Actual expenditures for animal control were $85,940 in 2010, and are estimated at $53,940 in 2011. With the support of CAWS, Thomas said he expects 2012 expenditures to drop even more, to $47,264. ANIMAL SHELTER TO A3
Search scaled back for hunter BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
An intensive search for a missing Ohio hunter has been scaled back, Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee reports. Terry Baughn, 75, of Howard, Ohio, was hunting with others in the Bailey Reservoir area near Leroux Creek when he failed to return to camp. The sheriff ’s office was alerted at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26. Baughn is an experienced outdoorsman who has hunted in the same area for more than 40 years. His ATV was located the first night, at the spot where his hunting party had split up. At daybreak Wednesday, more than 15 members of Delta County Search and Rescue were dispatched to the area. Fresh snow had fallen during the night, making the search difficult. The extensive search was expanded with the assistance of West Elk Search
& Rescue, the Montrose County Posse, Hotchkiss firefighters, a helicopter and a dog from Douglas County Search & Rescue. A number of volunteers from the area, including several sheriff ’s deputies, also turned out to help. The search has been concentrated on Green Mountain. On Tuesday, Sheriff McKee said the helicopter would make one more sweep. “The weather has been good and we’ve had a little snowmelt, so it may be worth another shot with the helicopter,” McKee said. McKee met Monday with Baughn’s family members, and said they plan to remain in the area for a little longer. “The family understands we’re in a recovery mode at this time,” the sheriff said. “We were all hopeful for a couple of days, but the nights have been extremely cold and that first night a foot-plus of very, very wet snow covered the area.”
Photo by Pat Sunderland
Halloween happenings Five-year-old Jacob Springer carefully “shaves” a balloon at the Li’l Boo Bash hosted by Bill Heddles Recreation Center on Halloween. Assisting with this activity was Chandler Wear, one of several volunteers from Calvary Baptist Church who helped out with the popular Halloween festival. Monday’s weather was exceptionally mild, much to the delight of the little trick-or-treaters and their parents.
County halts North Fork road work BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
The county’s District #3 road department has logged many complaint calls about roads in the Garvin Mesa area north of Paonia, Farm-
ers Mine Road and Garvin Mesa Road. But District #3 road crews’ well-along efforts to make improvements have led to more calls for the work to stop.
Photo by Hank Lohmeyer
Neighbors living on the narrow, one-lane Garvin Mesa Road north of Paonia don’t want county road crews to remove the field stone walls lining the roadway.
INDEX Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Agriculture .....................C7 Back Page .................... C8 Business ........................ A6 Church ............................C4 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-4 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A8 School Zone .................. A6 Service Directory ........ D6 Sports ..........................B5-8 Surface Creek News ...C1-3 TV Listings ..................C5-6
Residents on Garvin Mesa Road have succeeded in getting the county commissioners to call a temporary halt to the road work. The Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 17 suggested they allow time “to take the matter under advisement,” said Bruce Hovde, commission chair. Residents are alarmed by work plans that call for removal of field stone walls along Garvin Mesa Road, a narrow, one-lane road. Removal of the walls would allow widening and provide fill material for the work on Farmers Mine Road, explained Ralph Clark, District #3 road supervisor. The walls evoke the area’s pioneering spirit and may even have historical significance, residents say. Removal of the walls would allow widening of the Garvin Mesa Road, an improvement that one resident, Carrie Tarran, told the BoCC she is opposed to.
Election results can be found online On Tuesday morning, the Delta County Elections Department reported voter turnout was nearing 50 percent in the Nov. 1 coordinated election, with a total of 6,787 ballots returned by mid-morning. Voters were selecting three school board members and weighing in on a proposition which would raise taxes to fund public education. For voters in the North Fork, the ballot also contained questions from the Town of Paonia
and North Fork Mosquito Abatement District. The Town of Paonia asked voters to increase utility bills by $3 a month to fund the construction and maintenance of sidewalks and pathways. The North Fork Mosquito Abatement District asked for a mill levy increase and to be allowed to collect and retain all revenue collected by the entity. Look for the results online at www.deltacountyindependent. com or call 874-4421.
She said the planned widening would remove a tree she wants to keep. It would bring traffic too close to a new studio addition on her home, and too close to her grandchildren’s play area in the yard. The first people to object to the project were Brent and Karen Helleckson. On Sept. 19 they asked the BoCC to hold off on the planned Garvin Mesa Road work. That, they explained, was because simultaneous road work on Farmers Mine and Garvin Mesa would impair tourist season traffic to their winery via its only two access routes. The commissioners agreed to the Hellicksons’ request and no work had been started on Garvin Mesa Road by Oct. 17, when Tarran and eight of her neighbors also lodged their objections to planned widening work on Garvin Mesa Road. The neighbors don’t want the lane changed or widened.
They don’t want the field stone walls removed. They say the county should take its fill material from a narrow stretch of Garvin Mesa Road that ascends the mesa’s south face and needs widening for safety. Clark explained that option is too massive a project for road crews to tackle at this time. The situation has been compounded by a dispute over county right-of-way. According to Ken and Oogie McGuire who live on the east side of Garvin Mesa Road, “The east (wall) is ours, and according to the county (most recent version) they do not have any rights or easement to it. So it will stay.” As for the field stone wall on the west side of the road, McGuire explains, “The west one is Hellecksons’ and Carrie Tarran’s, and according to the county they have a 30-foot deed to the area dating from 1984 or so.”
Delta man arrested for exploitation Kirby Gale Kishbaugh was arrested on Sept. 23 by the Delta County Sheriff’s Office, on suspicion of sexual exploitation of a child (containing 20 or more images). The arrest came after an extensive investigation into the allegations. On April 6, the Delta County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search warrant at Mr. Kishbaugh’s residence for evidence of child pornography after receiving information from
the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. In an unrelated incident, the Delta County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search warrant at the residence of 20925 Jarvis Road on Sept. 28. The search warrant was issued for the suspicion of sexual exploitation of a child, after receiving information from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The case is ongoing and no arrests have been made at this time.