Delta County Independent, May 30, 2012

Page 1

le nng ed t-

n ng ey cng hto u-

NORTH FORK TIMES

SURFACE CREEK NEWS

SPORTS

TAKE A PEEK INSIDE

A HERO AMONG US

ADULT SOFTBALL

Home tour benefits Memorial Hall, scholarship fund, B5

On Memorial Day, we remember \ ‘The Greatest Generation,’ C1

Wells Fargo puts an end to H&R Block’s 44-game win streak, B8

DELTA COUNTY

MAY 30, 2012 VOL. 129, NO. 22

75¢

INDEPENDENT

www.deltacountyindependent.com

Caryn Gibson tapped to smooth troubled waters BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

“Enough is enough.” Those are the words of Caryn Gibson, a 22-year employee of Delta County School District 50J who was appointed interim school superintendent last week. “For one year, I get to make a difference,” she said. Job one is reuniting a school district that’s been in turmoil since the beginning of the year. At a special meeting last Friday, acting board president Tammy Smith first announced Tom Mingen’s resignation from the board of education, then asked for a motion con-

cerning the interim superintendent. Cheryl Hines quickly spoke up, saying she’s excited to get the focus back on kids and their education “where it needs to be.” Gibson was offered the position after a special school board meeting Monday, May 21, and she spent the week drawing up a three-point plan to review with the school board in an executive session Friday morning. Before accepting the job offer, Gibson said she wanted to know the school board members were on board with her plan and would be able to trust her decisions. Her three-pronged approach

School board president resigns BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

Paonia resident Tom Mingen, who was elected to the school board last November, attended a special meeting Friday morning just long enough to deliver his letter of resignation: Dear School Board Members: It is with much regret that I am informing you of my resignation from the Board of Education as of May 25, 2012. As many of you know both my wife and I recently retired, however my wife has recently accepted a new position that will require her to travel a significant amount. Since accepting the new position as of May 1, 2012 she has been traveling a total of eight days. I retired with the intention of spending more time with my wife and at the current time, the only way that will occur is for me

to travel with her. Because of the travel schedule, I do not believe I can fulfill the duties of a board member going forward. I have been torn about when would be the best time for my resignation to occur. I believe that with the appointment of Caryn and the board and staff getting together to plan the future of the district going forward it is the right time. I can assure you that I feel strongly that you are on the right tract and direction for the board and the district. In looking back, upon retiring, I had no intention to be involved in any activities at least for a period of time. However I was approached by Mike McMillan to run for the board. After discussing the position with him, I agreed to have my name placed on the ballot. I felt that I could fulfill the intent of MINGEN TO A8

includes: 1) building and establishing trust between herself and the board, which in turn will trickle down to staff members and the community. 2) developing a vision and goals which will put the focus on students. After establishing priorities, a longterm financial plan will be developed so the budget supports the school district’s goals, instead of the other way around. 3) leeway to build a productive and positive leadership team. Gibson plans to hire two assistant superintendents, one who will focus on K-8 and the other whose specialty will be high schools and the technical college. Other specific duties (transportation, public relations, Vision liaison, etc.) will be assigned based on the experience and qualifications of the successful candidates. The process of soliciting assistant superintendent applications has already taken place but Gibson says she plans to create a small window for potential candidates to reconsider. Several GIBSON TO A3

Photo by Hank Lohmeyer

Track hoes and other equipment went to work around the clock for two weeks locating equipment buried in a failed tunnel bore (lower right) some 90 feet below the surface of Cory Bench.

Water to begin flowing through N. Delta pipeline BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer

The North Delta Irrigation Company’s new pipeline beneath Cory Bench was finally installed last weekend and could be in operation with water flowing this week. After more than two weeks of round-the-clock operations, excavators succeeded last weekend unearthing equip-

Photo by Pat Sunderland

School’s out! Kesler Church and Jordan Long faced off for some good-natured “body bopping” during an end-of-year carnival at Delta Middle School. Each booth required a certain number of tickets, which were sold to raise funds for a school greenhouse.

INDEX

Register your cell phone

Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A9 Agriculture .....................B7 Back Page ................... D8 Church ........................... D6 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-5 North Fork Times ........B1-6 Obituaries ..................... A8 School Zone ............... A6-7 Service Directory ........ D7 Sports .............................B8 Surface Creek News ...C1-6 TV Listings ..................C3-4

Approximately 25 percent of households today rely on cell phones as their sole communications resource. Delta County in no exception. In Delta County, government utilizes several methods of communication to warn us (radio, TV, etc.); however, specific warning messages are distributed geographically to landlines and cell phones registered in the notification system. Emergency messages cannot be distributed to cell phones without voluntary registration of those devices. That is why it is very important to register your cell phone. To register your phone you may go to the county website: www.deltacounty.com and click on the yellow rectangle.

ment buried some 90 feet beneath Cory Bench, which enabled workers to repair a broken shackle and cable assembly. The remaining 300 to 400 feet of pipeline was then pulled through the company’s collapsed tunnel bore to the west portal. Amazingly, the massive, two-week-long earth moving project begun when the equipment failure occurred may not in the end delay the pipeline project’s scheduled completion. Lynn French, company representative, told the DCI on Tuesday that the original June 1 goal for having water flowing in the new pipeline was still attainable. An estimated 50,000-plus cubic yards of earth was moved by an armada of heavy equipment creating the giant crater which allowed workers to access and recover failed equipment in the collapsed 110-year-old old tunnel bore. French was highly positive in his assessment of the work done on the project by excavators Beavers Construction of Hotchkiss. “They really stepped up to the plate and got right to work,” French said. The primary contractor on the $1.2 million to $1.6 million pipeline project is a Denver-based firm. While the excavation work was needed to salvage the project from a major setback on the pipeline installation, there was still some good

fortune found along the way, French explained. In particular, underground soil conditions were dry and conducive to the work all the way down to the tunnel bore level. Weather, though blustery at times, generally cooperated and was also dry, allowing work to proceed inhibited. In addition, the point of the equipment failure underground allowed excavators to avoid digging and creating severe disturbance on residential property located atop Cory Bench. The owners of property where excavation took place gave immediate permission for the work to commence and were “completely cooperative,” French said. Other property owners in the neighborhood were also cooperative and helpful. “That cooperation was so important,” he added. The company’s quartermile-long tunnel carrying water from the Gunnison River collapsed last summer. The approximately 170 members who irrigate North Delta farm lands have since been using supplementary water supply from Tongue Creek. Company members had voted to assess themselves a portion of the grant-loan funded pipeline project With a new, four-footdiameter pipeline and other improvements on the system’s east portal end, North Delta Irrigation Company will begin working to fund other system improvements, French said.

Wind knocks trees onto cars Two cars parked in the Island Lake campground on Grand Mesa were severely damaged by trees felled by high winds Saturday afternoon. Airam Grijalva of Grand Junction was fishing at Island Lake when he heard cracking sounds from a nearby spruce tree. High winds knocked the tree onto his 2005 Ford Explorer, where his mother, wife and son had sought shelter. They were not injured but damage to the Ford Explorer was so extensive the Delta County Sheriff’s Office reports it had to be towed from the scene.

A second vehicle, a 2002 Jeep Cherokee, also sustained serious damage but the driver, Lucinda Beville of Clifton, was able to drive it away. She and the other occupants of the vehicle were out hiking and found the aspen tree on top of the Jeep when they returned. The first incident occurred at about 3 p.m.; the second was reported around 5 p.m. May 27. They were investigated by two reserve sheriff’s deputies who were on Grand Mesa doing campground checks over the Memorial Day holiday.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.