NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
MUSICAL ICON
AWARDS NIGHT
Paonia mourns the loss of Howard Berkman, B3
County 4-H members, leaders celebrate an eventful year, C8
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Fall & Winter
OUTDOOR FUN
ADVENTURE GUIDE FOR DELTA COUNTY
Look inside for your guide to fall and winter adventures A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE DELTA COUNTY INDEPENDENT
DELTA COUNTY
NOVEMBER 9, 2011 VOL. 128, NO. 45
75¢
INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
Svenson, Blair, Mingen win seats BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
The Nov. 1 election drew response from 56 percent of the county’s voters, the majority of whom were in no mood for new taxes. Locally and at the state level, voters soundly rejected Proposition 103, which would have funded public education. Just 28 percent of Delta voters were in favor of the proposition; across the state, 64 percent of voters voted against the proposal to raise sales and income taxes. Three new school board members were seated in the election. A three-way race for the Delta area school board seat was fairly evenly divided, with Kathy Svenson receiving 35 percent of the votes, Jill Jurca garnering 34 percent, and Barry Singleton 31 percent. Pete Blair (District 3) and Tom Mingen (District 5) won more handily. Mingen will serve a two-year term to fill a vacancy created first by Chad Campbell, then by his successor, Holly Sweetwood. Svenson and Blair will serve four-year terms. Voters in the Town of Paonia rebuffed a proposal to add $3 monthly to their utility bills, to create a designated revenue stream for sidewalk repairs and replacements. The
proposal would have generated approximately $38,400 annually, and would have sunset on Dec. 31, 2021. A total of 409 votes were cast in the Paonia election, with only 173, or 42 percent, favoring the utility surcharge. Voters and property owners in the North Fork Mosquito Abatement District (NFMAD) narrowly approved a measure to de-Bruce district funds. This measure would allow the district to retain any “unexpected overages.” A proposed mill levy increase of 1.802 mills was defeated by a margin of 1,079 to 524. The increased mill levy would have allowed NFMAD to increase the number of field personnel, pay for trapping and counting currently done by volunteers, accumulate reserves toward the replacement of vehicles and other capital improvements, and assist in the effort to physically reduce breeding sites throughout the district. “We’re very pleased that 5B passed,” said NFMAD board president Kevin Parks. “We’re glad that the voters recognized that it was a separate item from the tax increase of 5A.” The passage of 5B, Parks continued, will allow NFMAD to continue to offer the same levels of safe, effective mosquito control as in the past.
2011 COORDINATED ELECTION Nov. 1 • Unofficial Results BOARD OF EDUCATION District One Jill Jurca . . . . . . . . Barry Singleton . . . . Kathy Svenson. . . . . District Three Mike Mason . . . . . . Pete Blair . . . . . . . District Five Tom Mingen . . . . . . Dave Evans . . . . . . Shelley Clement . . .
2,363 2,198 2,438 2,702 4,585 3,478 1,618 2,117
Proposition 103 Yes . . . . . . . . . . . 2,220 No . . . . . . . . . . . 5,887
TOWN OF PAONIA Ballot Question 2A Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 No . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 NORTH FORK MOSQUITO ABATEMENT DISTRICT Referred Measure 5A Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 No . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 Referred Measure 5B Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 No . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Photo by Pat Sunderland
A mucky mess Richard Sirokman of Montrose, the driver of a United Companies truck loaded with gravel, escaped serious injury when he lost control of his truck on westbound Highway 92 about a mile east of Stafford Lane. A company representative on the scene of the accident said Sirokman was transporting a load of gravel to Blake Field when the accident occurred Tuesday, Nov. 8, at around 9:30 a.m. Sirokman was taken to Delta County Memorial Hospital and westbound traffic was diverted at 1725 Road to give Girardi’s, a heavy towing company from Grand Junction, room to work. With the investigation in its early stages, there was no word on what caused the truck to wind up in the barrow ditch, with the cab nearly completely submerged beneath a deep pool of mud and water. The load was lost.
Has the Council Tree Pow Wow run its course? BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
Cold, rainy weather put a damper on this year’s Council Tree Pow Wow. Taking a year off in 2010 also likely hurt attendance numbers this year. Throw in the Montrose pow wow, which took place just a week later, and it’s no surprise that the Delta City Council is questioning whether the low attendance numbers indicate that the event has simply run its course. The Sept. 16-18 event was the 16th hosted by the City of Delta. City manager Joe
Kerby reported revenues of $36,477.26 and expenses of $45,612.50, for a net loss of $11,561.78. The pow wow has never made money for the city, but instead has been seen as a draw for local businesses. Restaurants and motels, particularly those close to Confluence Park, were very busy, council member Ed Sisson shared at a Nov. 1 budget work session. “I know we lost a lot of money, but I’d like to see us try another year,” Sisson said. Council members Bill Raley and Robert Jurca said the event may simply have run its
Oak Mesa exploration could provide a bonanza of information for county BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
County officials are hopeful that Oxbow Mining’s plans to drill 43 exploration bores on Oak Mesa next year will yield a bonanza of hydrology information county planners are eager to get. The Oxbow drilling program will log water levels and flow rates in the bore holes, said Bruce Bertram, the county’s advisor on minerals exploration, at a recent BoCC meeting. The hydrology information in those bore hole logs may be made available to the county, he said. Ken Nordstrom, the county environmental health director, said that the informa-
INDEX Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Agriculture .....................C8 Back Page ................... D8 Church ............................C4 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-6 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A8 School Zone ............... A5-6 Service Directory ........ D7 Sports ..........................B6-8 Surface Creek News ...C1-3
tion on the “multiple layers of groundwater” between 30 and 150 feet deep in the area “would provide great information.” He encouraged the BoCC to access the hydrological and geophysical logs from the drilling work. Susan Hansen, county administrator, reminded the commissioners of a presentation workshop given here in August. A consulting firm which has completed a “hydrologic and environmental systems analysis” for Pitkin County is pitching the same work to interested Delta County officials. The county’s interest in the hydrologic information stems in part from what it sees as the need to plan for
land use changes here, as in Pitkin County where “everyone wants their own well and septic system,” said Ken Kolb of Integral Consulting. The ongoing conversion of ag lands to subdivisions is also a factor. “Delta County’s vulnerability of its ground water is selenium leaching due to the Mancos shale layer,” the consultants said. Dealing with the problem of selenium loading in the Gunnison River is a growing focus of federal funding initiatives for on-farm improvements and other water projects. The commissioners also discussed possible impacts to roads and traffic patterns from the Oxbow drilling as next year’s planned explora-
tion project gets under way. Bertram said that most likely only one drill rig would be involved and that it would stay on site in the Oak Mesa area during the project. In other energy related business recently, the BoCC dealt with the following matters: • Commissioners agreed that Gunnison Energy Corporation’s $25,000 cash bond for roads on deposit with the county would be converted to a surety bond. The cash deposit will be refunded. • The CB Industries facility on Doughspoon Road has been state approved to accept loads of “drill cuttings” from energy exploration companies working in the area.
Name the City of Delta’s new park A contest is being held to name the new park property recently purchased by the City of Delta. The property is located at 1699 H38 Road in North Delta, and has been known as Corn Lake and the Lafarge property. Your proposal may recognize a feature of historical value, or may be whimsical in nature. Submit your suggestions in a letter which includes: proposed name for the park; the reason for the proposed name; any homeowners’ associations or civic groups in Delta which could be affected by the name; and the name and phone number of the person or organization submitting
the name. Please send your suggestion to Name Contest, P.O. Box 19, 360 Main Street, Delta, by Nov. 30. The top three final choices, as determined by the parks advisory board and city staff, will be forwarded to Delta City Council by Dec. 21. A public hearing will then be scheduled, allowing time for public comment. The final decision will be made by the Delta City Council. Please visit www.cityofdelta.net to view pictures of the property. Questions should be referred to Paul Suppes, parks director, at 874-7973.
course. “But we don’t want to become a city that does nothing,” Mayor Mary Cooper said, as she looked to Wilma Erven, Council Tree Pow Wow director, for ideas. Erven said she would be happy to come up with some suggestions, but pointed out it took two and a half years of planning to pull off the first pow wow. She explained the pow wow was intended to fill the void created when National Little Britches Rodeo pulled the finals out of Delta two years into a five-year contract. “It’s a little late to develop an event of any magnitude for 2012,” she said. After additional discussion, council members agreed to fund the pow wow at least one more year, while searching for an event which could take its place. The pow wow will remain in the rec center’s budget, as part of the city’s leisure programs. City manager Joe Kerby observed that the Montrose event was extremely well publicized. When he suggested the marketing budget be increased for Delta’s pow wow, council members declined to increase the overall budgeted amount. Erven said this year’s event came in under budget, and the difference could have been used for additional marketing. As for the intangible benefits of a special event, she commented, “The Council Tree Pow Wow has made a lot of people aware of where Delta, Colorado, is.”
Thanksgiving Dinner Delta Christian Church is again sponsoring the community Thanksgiving dinner. After hosting this event at the church for the past seven years, organizers have decided on a new direction. This year the dinner will be delivered to residents’ homes on Wednesday, Nov. 23, after 3 p.m. Please call the church at 874-4322 to request your meals. Reservations are due Monday, Nov. 21, and should include your name, address, phone number and the number of meals you will receive. Church members look forward to again being able to touch the lives of Delta residents.