Delta County Independent, Sept. 12, 2012

Page 1

NORTH FORK TIMES

SURFACE CREEK NEWS

SPORTS

BEWARE THE BITE

BRUIN TRACKS

AT THE NET

Town of Hotchkiss hires private contractor to spray mosquitoes, B1

Cedaredge High’s new principal embraces small town life, C3

Lady Eagles are off to their best start ever, B7

DELTA COUNTY

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 VOL. 129, NO. 37

75¢

INDEPENDENT

www.deltacountyindependent.com

GMES receives national recognition BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

Garnet Mesa Elementary School has joined an elite group of schools across the nation that have gained recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School. The announcement was made last week by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who recognized 269 public and private schools based on their overall academic excellence, or for making progress in improving student academ-

ic achievement levels. “I have known that Garnet Mesa Elementary School is special for a long, long time,” said parent Gretta Carmichael, a member of the school and district accountability committees. Her children have attended GMES for seven years. “It’s an amazing school and there are no more dedicated teachers,” she said. “Now it’s official.” The school was nominated for Blue Ribbon status ear-

lier this year by the Colorado Department of Education, which studied academic achievement in 2,000 schools across the state and picked the five most deserving for consideration from Colorado. Applications were then subjected to two rounds of reviews. Once both reviews were completed, schools had to

meet adequate yearly progress for the latest round of state assessments to receive the Blue Ribbon award. Because state assessment results are not typically announced until late summer, the winning schools aren’t announced until September of the year after a school’s initial nomination. The ceremony takes

place in mid-fall. The entire process, from initial nomination to receiving the award, takes about a year. Principal Jim Farmer attributes Garnet Mesa’s recognition to a team effort that has included collaboration among staff, parents, students and the community. BLUE RIBBON TO A3

Hearing reopens hen house issue BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer

Supporters and opponents of Western Slope Layers and Grand Mesa Layers assembled at the County Courthouse Sept. 4 to once again make their cases to the Board of County Commissioners. The BoCC hearing on county Specific Development approvals for the two, 15,000hen egg production facilities was called in order to answer district court objections to the original hearing process last year. In a lawsuit brought by hen house neighbors that challenged the county’s approvals, the district court had found sufficient evidence of record lacking in four areas. The areas were: 1) whether the hen house operations were compatible with the neighborhood; 2) whether the operations would have a negative impact on neighboring property values; 3) whether the conditions imposed on the operations were sufficient to mitigate neighbors’ concerns;

and 4) whether the county staff was able to monitor and enforce the conditions of approval. The testimony at the hearing was limited to addressing those four specific areas. A key element of the proceedings involves the county’s mitigation-dependent planning process. The county relies heavily on a system of requiring mitigation measures to address opponents’ objections to new development. But this time, opponents are saying that mitigation measures do not automatically create compatibility with existing uses in their neighborhood. The BoCC’s original position that the opponents’ “fear factor” was not adequate for a specific development denial was challenged Sept. 4. Opponents came with claims and submitted their documentation of harmful health effects being caused by Western Slope Layers’ operation on Powell Mesa. Supporters of the egg HEN HOUSE TO A3

More West Nile cases expected BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

The Delta County Department of Health and Human Services reported three additional human cases of West Nile Virus the week of September 2, and warned the risk is still high. “While the prime West Nile Virus transmission season is waning, I expect to continue to see an increase in the number of human cases in September and October because of the lag time between being bitten and getting a confirmed diagnosis,” said Bonnie Koehler, Delta County public health director. “The risk of being bitten by a mosquito carrying West Nile Virus is still extremely high and will continue to be high until mosquitoes die off with the

first killing frost. It’s still not over for Delta County.” The three documented cases involve a 50- to 59-yearold female from the Delta area who was hospitalized; an 80- to 90-year-old female from the Delta area who had an uncomplicated fever; and a 50- to 59-year-old female from the North Fork area with uncomplicated fever. In all three cases, the onset date for the disease was July or mid-August. The total number of confirmed West Nile cases stands at 20, 10 males and 10 females from all areas of the county. The health department’s weekly collection of mosquito samples has concluded but active surveillance of cases involving humans continues.

Photo by Pat Sunderland

Amy King helps English Language Learners practice their writing skills. For a high percentage of Garnet Mesa Elementary students, English is their second language. Pictured with Mrs. King are Angel Romero, Mrs. King, Agustin Montoya, Emigdio Corral and Shwe Sin Paw. Alberto Lujano is in the back row.

Fiber optics will put Delta in the fast lane BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor

The City of Delta has joined forces with the Eagle Net Alliance, an intergovernmental co-op that is connecting communities across the state with high-speed broadband service. Eagle Net received a $100 million federal grant to deliver a carrier-quality broadband network to connect education, libraries, government and health care facilities across the state. At a recent city council meeting, Patrick Swonger, the southwest regional community representative, discussed the “exciting era” of fiber optics that will open up a new way of doing business across the state. The United States is ranked 25th in Internet bandwidth and speed, he said; Colorado is ranked 21st among the 50 states. “That’s a middle-ofthe-pack place we don’t want to be,” Swonger said. The solution, he said, lies with fiber optics. “Just one strand of that fiber holds 14 terabytes and that’s a lot of data. I don’t think here in town you even have a gigabyte. That one strand will provide 14,000 gigabytes.” Installation will move western Colorado from the “information mule trail” to the “information superhighway” with fiber optic capability that he compared to a 150,000- to 200,000-lane highway.

That may seem like excess capacity, he said, but the demand for bandwidth continues to grow beyond all forecasts. “Cell phones of today have more power than a computer of just a few years ago and that trend is just only going to accelerate. We need to provide for that.” In addition, the excess bandwidth will be made available to private providers who can then make faster service available to homes and businesses in the Delta area. “In Delta we’re working on four miles of infrastructure,” Swonger said. The cable will initially connect “community anchor institutions” such as Delta-Montrose Technical College, Delta City Hall, Delta County Courthouse, Delta Public Library and the hospital. “Our hope is over time we can reach out to Hotchkiss, Paonia, Crawford. This is really the beginning of a statewide effort, not the end.” Councilmember Mary Cooper, the city’s liaison to Delta County Economic Development, echoed Swonger’s comment that faster download speeds are critical for attracting new business to the area. “This is an incredible opportunity for the city,” she said. “It will be a phenomenal move for us if we can put it together.” Swonger said by year’s end, 2,550 miles of fiber optics will be strung across the state.

Construction is moving rapidly, with crews at work on I-25 north to the Wyoming border, in the Denver metropolitan area, in the eastern Colorado communities of Yuma, Brush, Fort Morgan and Burlington, and south in Colorado Springs, Monte Vista and Alamosa. What EagleNet brings is open access, which means the roads opened for data are open to everybody. “A lot of places have fiber that go right through them, and you are one of them, but the problem is you don’t have any way to get on that road. We’re trying to bring in more lanes and more ability to move data in and out, particularly out.” With permission from the City of Delta, Swonger said the fiber optics should be installed by the end of the summer. Council members unanimously agreed to sign a power pole agreement in exchange for two fibers dedicated to city use. “We’re paying for four megabytes of service now,” said interim city manager Glen Black. “With this agreement (valued at $23,600 over a 20-year period), we’ll get up to 40 megabytes at the same price. That’s a pretty phenomenal increase for the city.” “Now we don’t have to talk about what you don’t have and we can start talking about what we’re going to do with this bandwidth and connectivity,” Swonger said.

INDEX

Contract finalized

Water to shut off early

Drug Take Back

Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A9 Agriculture .....................C8 Back Page ................... D8 Bruin Tracks ................C3-6 Business .......................A10 Church ........................... D6 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-5 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A8 School Zone .................. A6 Sports ........................B7-10 Surface Creek News ...C1-8 TV Listings ..................B5-6

Contract negotiations between the City of Delta and Justin Clifton, Delta’s new city manager, have been finalized. Clifton is expected to begin his duties about Oct. 1. He will be paid $95,000 annually, which is about $8,000 less than former city manager Joe Kerby, who was more experienced. Kerby also received a housing allowance that Clifton will not, although he will occupy the same city-owned home on 7th Street temporarily. According to Delta’s charter, the city manager is required to live within the city limits.

Due to drought conditions and the heavy usage of stored water this summer, the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association (UVWUA) will be shutting the Gunnison Tunnel off two and a half weeks early this year. The shut-off date will be Oct. 15. This decision has been made to conserve Taylor Reservoir water for next year. Growers planting winter grains should plan accordingly. Pending the type of winter we have this year, there is a possibility water will be turned on later than normal next spring. For questions or comments, call UVWUA at 249-3813.

The Delta Police Department will participate in the fifth national Drug Take Back event sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Agency on Saturday, Sept. 29. The police department will have a collection site at Bill Heddles Recreation Center, 530 Gunnison River Drive, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The service is free and available to anyone. Prescription and non-prescription medications which are expired or no longer needed can be disposed of. Please remove any personal information from bottles and packaging. For more information, go to www.dea.gov.


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