Durango Telegraph Aug. 6, 2020

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Aug. 6, 2020 Vol. XIX, No. 28 durangotelegraph.com

inside

T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Little Boy’s legacy

Sludging on

Dog days

75 years on, Durango still grapples with atomic past p8

EPA proposes longterm plan for mine waste storage p10

A late-summer tragicomedy as only the Italians can do it p11

Sure to float your boat.

Issue 13 is out now!

Wherever you find the Telegraph or at www.gulchmag.com.

To find out about advertising opportunities, email: steve@gulchmag.com

2 n Aug. 6, 2020

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lineup

4

4 La Vida Local

How Trump has managed to muck up even the Postal Service

4 Thumbin’ It

Newman’s lament

by Luke Mehall

5 Word on the Street 6-7 Soapbox

8

8 Local News

Little Boy’s legacy

75 years after the bomb, Durango still grapples with its atomic past

Ear to the ground: “Just wear a mask – it’ll cover up your double chin.”

– One of myriad benefits of face coverings

Charge it

thepole

RegularOccurrences

Two electric vehicle charging stations are the latest green initiative to sprout at Fort Lewis College. The stations, which are located next to Sitter Family Hall, will accommodate up to four electric vehicles at once.

The stations were spearheaded by the Campus Sustainability Council, which received an $18,000 grant from the state Energy Office’s “Charge Ahead Colorado” program.

The stations support the CSC’s Sustainable Action Plan, which has a goal of reaching carbon neutrality at FLC by 2050. Since 2011, the baseline year for campus emissions, FLC has seen a 62 percent reduction in its carbon footprint.

10 State News

by john van becay

11 Flash in the Pan 12 Stuff to Do

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13 Ask Rachel

Sludge solution EPA announces plan for Gladstone water treatment plant’s overflow

14 Free Will Astrology

by Missy Votel

15 Classifieds

12

15 Haiku Movie Review On the cover: In case you didn’t know, the wildflower show is in full swing in the high country, as evidenced by this display on the Mountain View Crest./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Dog days

A late-summer tragicomedy as only the Italians can do it

by Jeffrey Mannix

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EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel (missy@durangotelegraph.com) ADVERTISING AFICIONADO: Lainie Maxson (lainie@durangotelegraph.com) STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Eginoire (steve@gulchmag.com)

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he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, beckoning singletrack or monster powder days. We are wholly owned and operated independently by the Durango Telegraph LLC and

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Shan Wells, john van becay, Jeffrey Mannix, Jesse Anderson, Luke Mehall and Clint Reid

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We’re only human. If, by chance, we defame someone’s good name or that of their family, neighbor, best

friend or dog, we will accept full responsibility in a public flogging in the following week’s issue.

Although “free but not easy,” we can be plied with schwag, booze and flattery.

telegraph

“Commuting is a substantial part of our carbon footprint and the hardest to tackle because it’s decentralized,” Kathy Hilimire, associate professor of Environment & Sustainability and campus sustainability coordinator, said.

The multitude of ways people arrive to campus make it harder to widely apply sustainable solutions, she said. With electric vehicles becoming increasingly affordable, the charge stations are a critical piece to the clean commute puzzle.

Plugging in will be free, but commuters will still need a day or annual pass to park at the charge station. A full charge will take about six to eight hours. Depending on the amount of use the stations get, time limits and a waiting list could be implemented. More stations are a possibility if there is enough demand.

In addition to the Charge Ahead grant, the CSC received funding through the Green Fund, donations to FLC reserved for sustainability initiatives, and La Plata Electric Association.

Drive-thru swabbing Need a COVID test? San Juan Basin Public Health, in cooperation with La Plata Integrated Health, Animas Surgical Hospital and others, has launched a new in-town community testing site.

Located in the Durango Public Library overflow parking lot on the corner of East Third and 20th Street, the drive-up site will be open 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

Initially, testing will only be open to people in the high and medium priority categories: • High priority: people with COVID-19 symptoms and those notified of exposure by SJBPH or another public health agency • Medium priority: people with no symptoms or identified exposure but who live or work with high-risk populations such as: congregate living or high-risk work settings (first responders, longterm care facilities, detention facilities); people experiencing homelessness; and employees of high-risk workplaces.

Testing may open to others as more resources become available.

Aug. 6, 2020 n

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opinion

LaVidaLocal Postcards from the edge I’m going to try hard to focus while writing this one. Outside my writing window is some major construction – they are improving the sidewalks here for the kiddos to walk to school – but in the meantime its f***ing up my writing game. You see I am the so-called ADHD type. I need absolute silence to focus, while simultaneously having the option to be distracted by my own means.

A greater concern than my ability to focus, is my income and our right to vote. And right now, POTUS, via the United States Postal Service, is f***ing up both of those.

If you’re a Seinfeld fan like me, you remember Jerry’s nemesis, Newman. (Fun fact: my dad’s cousin played the farmer girl Newman hooked up with in the canrecycling-gone-wrong episode.) Anywho, in one episode Jerry has to deliver the mail for Newman and ends up delivering all of it, to which Newman replied, “No one has ever cracked the 50 percent rate of mail delivery, it’s like the 3-minute mile.”

Now that’s an exaggeration of course, but there’s some definite truth in that, something I can verify from my last 10 years of shipping through the USPS. The truth is they do lose a lot of packages. The USPS is constantly underfunded, and what makes it worse is that their insurance program is basically worthless. I’ve lost thousands of dollars in product and I’ve never successfully been able to get any of my money back, despite the fact that I had insurance on the very package that was lost.

My solution to that issue is when I’m sending anything worth more than 50 bucks, I use UPS or FedEx. And guess how many packages UPS or FedEx have lost for me in the last decade? Exactly zero.

I’m not writing this for you to feel sorry for me. I’m writing this for a few reasons: to recommend if you’re shipping something valuable to use UPS or FedEx, and to never EVER buy the USPS insurance option, and because this all connects to our upcoming election.

But first, can I say some nice things about USPS, specifically our local Durango office? Despite my frustrations with delivery, I still use USPS heavily, especially its Media Mail rate because I ship so many books. Basically, I am at the post office shipping things every day. These days I have my own label printing set up through Shopify – something I highly recommend for any business – so I

simply drop my packages off and I’m out of there. But for years, I’d wait in line to ship my packages. No matter how big my order was I always got the friendliest of service from the counter workers, and over the years I got to know the ladies who were working. And let me tell you a little secret: the nicer you are to them, the nicer they will be to you, like most people who work in the service industry.

Though I wish Trump had a mute button, it’s impossible to ignore his attacks on mail voting, as well as his sabotage of the USPS. Though this news often gets buried in the headlines, Trump has been on a never-ending Twitter tirade about how mail in voting causes fraud, with zero evidence. He also recently suggested delaying the election – something only Congress can do – but of course that was merely a distraction from his disastrous response to COVID, the terrible state of our economy and high unemployment.

Trump recently named a mega donor of his, Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general, and the USPS has recently stopped paying mail carriers and clerks the overtime necessary to ensure that deliveries can be completed each day.

This has led to the delays I’ve seen more and more of recently, and also packages simply not arriving, which has also been more frequent for myself in the last few months.

Like many Coloradoans, I’ve been voting by mail for years. I get my ballot in the mail, but you can also be damn sure I deliver it straight to the ballot box myself. Seems like a straightforward enough system, and that’s exactly what he’s so afraid of. Remember that Trump won by actually receiving less votes than Clinton, as George W. Bush also won that way versus Gore in 2000.

At the least here I’ve proved I can still write some words while the sidewalk is being destroyed and rebuilt. Eventually it will be safer for the kids walking to school in our neighborhood. I’m hoping the same for our country, that after all this destruction and distraction that Trump has caused, we will rebuild, and eventually be better.

– Luke Mehall Luke Mehall is the publisher of The Climbing Zine, the author of five books, and the host of the Dirtbag State of Mind podcast.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It

4 n Aug. 6, 2020

Friends of Cedar Mesa receiving $300,000 from the World Monuments Fund to help protect archaeology sites in the Bears Ears area of southeastern Utah

A nationwide coin shortage adding yet another hurdle for local small businesses to overcome in the wake of the pandemic

Durango School District 9-R heeding concerns of teachers and parents and delaying the first day of school by a week to allow more time to prepare and implement COVID precautions

The bungled start of the MLB season, with three teams reporting several cases of COVID infection with the first few weeks of play

The thus-far successful return of the NHL, with the Avs squeaking out a dramatic last-microsecond win against the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in their season re-opener

Congress planning to head out for a monthlong vacation this week despite a stalemate on the stimulus package, leaving millions of Americans in limbo

telegraph

Let sleeping microbes lie So … researchers aboard the drill ship JOIDES Resolution decided to dig into the seafloor 20,000’ below the surface and then give the mud to a group of Japanese scientists. After sorting through the sediment, said scientists found microbes that were 100 million years old. After providing nutrients, the microbes woke up and resumed life after remaining dormant since the time before dinosaurs, which was thought to be impossible. Not only that, but after two months of “feeding,” the microbes quadrupled in number, which doesn’t sound anything like the beginning of an apocalypse movie. Not one bit.

WordontheScreen With most summer travel and vacation plans scrapped this year, the Telegraph asked, “Where is your happy place?”

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’ check our website for hours: www.jimmysmusic.supply 1480 E. 2nd Ave. & 15th St. • 970-764-4577 Shelly

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Bob

“Patchouli, acid, black light posters, lava lamps and everything tie-dye.

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Gunter

“Sometime in November when Trump has been so soundly defeated that neither he nor his minions can dispute the election.”

Gillian

“By the looks of downtown, summer vacation was rerouted to Durango.”

Zach

“A happy ending.”

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Aug. 6, 2020 n 5

SoapBox

ReTooned/by Shan Wells

We deserve fair price for drugs To the editor, A recent Freedom of Information Act filed on behalf of the people revealed that Trump has secretly signed contracts with some major pharmaceutical companies, allowing them to charge outrageous prices for any drugs related to COVID-19 treatments or vaccines.

Under existing law, drugs created with taxpayer funding must charge “reasonable prices” upon sale to the public. Trump excluded this protection for the American taxpayer in the four revealed contracts with Roche, Regeneron, Johnson & Johnson, and Genetech. Taxpayers have already funded almost $1 billion toward COVID-19 research by these companies.

Trump contracts with Gilead Pharmaceuticals for COVID-19 treatments of Remdesivir in the hospital, allows $3,120 per treatment to patients with private insurance. There is no mention of requirement of “reasonable price” in Trump’s contract with them either.

– Susan Troen, Durango

A difficult but productive year To the editor, This year’s legislative session was unlike any other. A global pandemic, an economic crisis and an interrupted session made my colleagues and I have to think on our feet and shift our priorities to meet the changing and unprecedented needs of our state.

In January, my Democratic colleagues and I began the session focused on creating an economy that works for all and protecting the Colorado way of life. We had bold plans to lower the cost of health care, boost rural economies, and ensure as many people as possible could live out the Colorado dream.

Once the pandemic reached our state and the economic consequences it dealt became clear, we reorganized and strategized around the best ways to help

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Colorado recover. When the Legislature took a twomonth hiatus for public health reasons, I returned to my district and took stock of the blow our economy had 4

been dealt. I returned to the Legislature in May more motivated than ever to fight for rural Colorado and my neighbors, who are too often looked over when policy decisions are made in Denver.

My Democratic colleagues and I crafted an ambitious legislative package that included 14 bills designed to help hardworking Coloradans make ends meet and keep our small businesses afloat. We invested tens of millions of dollars into direct rental and mortgage assistance, provided grants and loans for Colorado’s small businesses, including those who had been overlooked by the federal government’s response, and passed laws that will help Coloradans pay their utilities and keep food on the table.

Some of the solutions we implemented were innovative and tailor-made to meet the moment brought on by COVID-19. We passed laws to outlaw price gouging during emergencies, preventing bad actors from charging exorbitant amounts for ventilators, masks and pulse oximeters, for example. We also passed a law to protect whistleblowers, ensuring that workers who fear that their employers aren’t taking the health and safety of their employees and the public seriously can speak out without fear of losing their jobs.

In many other cases, we did not have to reinvent the wheel to help Colorado get back on track. In fact, some of the bills that we had been working on long before the pandemic began became more important than ever. We passed robust, commonsense bills that will guarantee that workers have access to both earned sick leave policy and a flexible retirement savings system without putting an undue burden on businesses.

Another bill that became even more relevant after COVID-19, and one that I’m particularly proud of, was my bill to boost Colorado’s rural economies. SB20-002, which I was proud to sponsor, was one of the very first pieces of legislation introduced by Democrats in January.

Simply put, the bill strengthens a successful existing program, the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI), to ensure that it continues to spur rural economies and support job creation in the parts of our state that need it most.

Communities and economies like ours here in Durango were struggling before the pandemic even began. Now, with tourism dollars dwindling and town budgets being decimated by the pandemic, a bad situation has been made worse. Thankfully, Gov. Polis signed my economic development bill into law in late June. The REDI program has a track record of success, and bolstering it will go a long way toward getting rural Colorado back on its feet and on the road to recovery.

This was, without a doubt, the most winding and difficult year of my legislative career. But I’m proud of the work my colleagues and I did to meet the moment and govern responsibly when our state needed it most. I can’t wait to keep on working on behalf of rural Colorado.

– Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango

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Rethinking education in COVID To the editor, As fall approaches, there is much consternation and controversy over the opening of schools and how learning will take place in the coming months. As a retired educator, I have pondered what my life would be like if I was still teaching. Frankly, I would be very worried about my health and the health of my students.

In the coming months, teachers, administrators, parents and students will be confronted with a myriad of questions and will have to negotiate the difficulties of deciding how the education process should take place.

How do you keep staff and students safe? What is the most suitable environment for learning? How do working parents deal with work and child supervision? How will students and teachers be able to interact? How do you keep support staff safe? How do you deal with an asymptomatic student? How are lunches to be distributed? These are just a few of the issues that must be addressed if the school year is to be successful and safe.

Flexibility will have to be the norm in order for each district to decide on what will be the best environment for their learners. Districts should incorporate free testing for every student as soon as possible.

As a former teacher of 36 years, I have a few suggestions that come to mind. For 14 of those years, I taught environmental education for the Ignacio School District. Eighty percent of my lessons were taught outdoors. Considering the high rate of contagion, this approach would help to mitigate the chances of spreading infection. The chances of contracting the virus is greatly reduced in an outdoor environment as aerosols are quickly dissipated.

I would suggest that districts utilize their environs as well as indoor facilities. Outdoor sessions could be taught as much as possible by establishing outdoor sectors where small groups of students could be taught, thus avoiding close proximity. Tents could be set-up during inclement weather. This would free up classrooms for the primary school learners and help with spacing as more classrooms would be available. The school day could be divided into morning and afternoon sessions, rotating students in and out of the building. Upper elementary students could be assigned activities on an individual basis, using clipboards, self-directed instruction and established work stations of discovery. There are numerous outdoor educational curricula available for just such occasions including winter environs.

Altering the school year calendar would also be helpful in reducing the spread of the virus. For example, the school year could be divided into two semesters. The first semester would run from September through midNovember. The second semester could begin after Easter and run through July. This would prevent the spread of infections during the heart of the flu season. Another possibility is to allow secondary students to be taught using computers and the web. Seniors could opt for Zoom sessions with faculty and learn independently.

Graduation would be contingent on submitting a portfolio for review by the faculty.

As the pandemic continues to plague our society, it is paramount that we begin to think of creative ways to meet our children’s educational needs. It will be up to every one of us to do our part. Older students may need to supervise their younger siblings. Evening learning sessions may be needed to accommodate certain learners.

In any case, there is much to contemplate.

As a rule, masks should be mandated as well as adequate distancing supervised, as suggested by the CDC. Parents should be able to opt out and homeschool their children. The pandemic has affected everyone, it can only be eradicated if each and every one of us follows an agreed-upon consensus, a plan of action with protocols.

If everyone follows a consistent procedure, things could improve. European governments have shown this to be true. These are perilous times, and immediate actions need to be taken, otherwise our children’s futures are in peril. It is up to all of us to work together to see this through. We have no choice!

– Burt Baldwin, Ignacio

Stop blowing disinformation To the editor, Now there are new fans being peddled that “blow disinfectants” into K-12 classrooms. A few weeks ago, a man and his three sons were arrested for selling thousands of products with “oral disinfectants” that put people in the hospital and killed many. Gullible people actually believed the Commander in Chief when he suggested the idea of injecting household cleaning products into our bodies to destroy COVID-19.

In the U.S.A., we are subjected to daily tallies of our people, all age groups, hospitalized/dying of COVID-19, and we have the worst number of cases in the world with no end in sight. The man at the helm refuses to mandate common-sense measures such as masks, social distancing and have testing with immediate results for the everyday folks. When Trump gets tested in the morning he knows before lunch if he has COVID-19. Even his former chief of staff complained recently in an op-ed about having to wait eight days for results. A lot can happen in a week by spreading this virus.

Please question what we are accepting and demand to follow a tried and true blueprint from countries that are opening up without a hitch.

– Sally Florence, Durango

“We’ll print damned-near anything” The Telegraph prides itself on a liberal letters policy. We offer this forum to settle differences, air opinions & undertake healthy discourse. We have only three requests: limit letters to 750 words, letters must be signed by the writer; and thank-you lists and libelous, personal attacks are unwelcome. Send your insights to: telegraph@durangotele graph.com. Let the games begin ...

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Aug. 6, 2020 n 7

TopStory

A photo of the old Durango Smelter from the Vanadium Corp. of America’s magazine, the Vancoram Review, dated December 1949. Today, Aug. 6, 2020, marks the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Most, if not all, of the uranium in the Hiroshima bomb was initially processed in Durango.

75 years after Little Boy Reckoning with Durango’s troubled atomic legacy by john van becay

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eventy-five years ago today – Aug. 6, 1945 – the uranium bomb, Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima by American forces. Three days later, the plutonium bomb, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki.

Unsure of this startlingly new science, the United State had developed two different atom bombs – the uranium bomb and the plutonium bomb. Scientists were confident the uranium bomb would work, but the plutonium bomb remained a question mark.

Within a week of the bombs falling,

8 n Aug. 6, 2020

WWII – a conflict that had lasted six years, taken some 80 million lives and whose bloody end appeared to be nowhere in sight – was over.

Most, if not all, of the uranium in the Hiroshima bomb was initially processed in Durango. For better or worse, the world – and Durango – had entered the Atomic Age. Smelter Mountain and Smelter Rapid are namesakes of Durango’s first industry – the smelter – founded in 1881, the same year as the town. They are all that remain of the ore smelter that put early Durango on the map. That and the heavy metals and poisonous byproducts of 80 years of smelting

telegraph

ore that were dumped into the Animas River, contaminating food and water for more than 60 miles downstream. Durango smelted many types of ore, all of which produced toxic waste. But uranium was the worst. Its byproducts were not only toxic, but radioactive.

During WWII, the Durango Smelter was part of a covert network of mines, smelters and refineries on Colorado’s Western Slope whose highly classified work was delivering uranium for the first Bomb. Uranium originating from the Durango Smelter had been used since the earliest days of the Manhattan Project in 1942. (Vanadium was the 4

Above: Archival photos from the 1949 Vancoram Review, including a scenic view of downtown Durango from the smelter site. Below: A photo of the Durango Smelter dated 1942 from the Library of Congress. Below that, a Vanadium Corp. map of plant and mines throughout the southwest official product of the Durango Smelter. In secret, they also smelted uranium.) In 1946, the Vanadium Corp. of America (VCA) took control of the Durango Smelter and began openly processing uranium for the Defense Department.

Durango was proud of its contribution to the war effort and to the Cold War. The growing mountain of radioactive waste next to the smelter drew little attention at first. Neither did the holding ponds of bright green radioactive and toxic waste left over from the uranium processing. Although some of the contaminated waste water went into the ponds, the rest was dumped directly into the Animas.

Before long, the ponds began leaking their poisonous brew into the Animas as well.

By the mid-1950s, the smelter’s impact could no longer be ignored. It was impossible to secure the mountain of tailings that loomed over the smelter. Nothing would grow in the radioactive waste. Wind blew the fine pink dust over south Durango settling on cars, houses, front lawns and grade school playgrounds. Vanadium Corp. of America began selling the radioactive waste to contractors as a substitute for sand. To this day, radioactive waste lurks in roads, sidewalks and house foundations throughout the area.

The deceivingly pretty pink dust contained radium that releases odorless, colorless, radioactive radon gas, the second biggest cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking. In addition, the smelter sent billowy coal smoke north and northwest, over downtown and up Lightner Creek, contributing serious air pollution to the area. Practically every photo of the south part of Durango during the smelter era features a heavy plume of thick smoke smearing the sky.

But it got worse. At its peak, more than 500 tons of uranium ore were processed daily at the Durango Smelter, using thousands of gallons of water from Lightner Creek.

In the 1950s, leaks from the tailing ponds and direct discharge dumped an average of 340 gallons a minute, nearly 490,000 gallons of polluted water daily, into the Animas.

The Vanadium Corp. smelted mostly uranium at the Durango mill. Uranium is a parent element. The daughter radioactive isotopes – including thorium, polonium, radium and bismuth – were discarded into the environment. Of these, radium 226 presents the greatest health hazard as it collects in bones like calcium. Radium 226 is absorbed and concentrated by algae in the river and continues up the food chain – from fish and plants that uptake the radium

in their food and water – to larger animals and, ultimately, humans. Once humans ingest contaminated food, water or milk, radium 226 migrates to the bones and teeth, where it lodges and accumulates. This is particularly dangerous to young children. Because there is no conventional treatment to remove radium from water, regulations prohibit more than trace amounts of this dangerous isotope in drinking water.

Samples taken as far as 60 miles downstream of the smelter in the late 1950s showed radium levels in drinking water over twice the regulatory limit. For decades, residents of Aztec and Farmington, which get their drinking water from the Animas, were exposed to elevated levels of radium. Closer to home, samples taken from water 2 miles below the smelter, about where Walmart now stands, had 3.5 to 7 times the regulatory limit for radium, which was found in mud, algae and insects at poisonous concentrations. Even now, elevated levels of radium 226 can be detected in the river bottom alongside toxic metals from earlier waste.

In 1963, unable to clean up the site, and confronted with its serious pollution, the smelter was moved to Shiprock, on the Navajo Reservation. Meanwhile, the abandoned ponds in Durango continued to leak toxic radioactive liquids into the Animas. The mountain of poisonous pink dust continued to blow over Durango. In addition, the site began contaminating the groundwater beneath it.

Only the noxious coal smoke was gone. Twenty-five years later, with Superfund money, the site was finally cleaned up. It took five years and $500 million, finishing in 1991.

A similar effort and cost was spent on decontaminating the Shiprock site.

Vanadium Corp. of America never took responsibility for the massive pollution it caused while operating the Durango and Shiprock smelters. The last remnant of the Durango Smelter – the smokestack – was dynamited in 1988, a fitting end to an era and to the Cold War. Durango’s smelter was gone – into the annals of history. But its health risks and environmental impact remains. n

Many thanks to Norman Norvelle. Much of this article was derived from his definitive work, Animas River Environmental Contamination from the Durango Mill Site - Over 100 years of River Pollution.

Free Clinic on Advance Care Planning Presented by Colorado Legal Services

Tues., Aug. 18, 5:30 - 7 p.m. via Zoom Topics include medical power of attorney, living will, CPR directive, etc.

Please call (970) 247-0266 for details on how to attend

telegraph

Aug. 6, 2020 n

9

RegionalNews

Sludging along EPA releases plan for longterm storage of mine waste at Mayflower site

by Missy Votel

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he plan for the Mayflower has landed. Nearly five years after the Gold King Mine spill unleashed an orange torrent of mine waste down the Animas River and across screens around the world, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced its latest plan for dealing with waste from the Bonita Peak Superfund site. The proposal calls for storing sludge from the Gladstone Interim Water Treatment Plant, which is expected to reach capacity by the end of next year, at the Mayflower Mill, about a mile northeast of Silverton along the banks of the Upper Animas River.

The proposed site is on land primarily owned by the Sunnyside Gold Corp.

EPA will host a virtual meeting on the proposed plan Tues., Aug. 11, with a presentation on the plan from 6-7 p.m. followed by a public comment period from 7-8 p.m.

The meeting can be streamed at https://epawebconferenc ing.acms.com/bpmdproposedplan.

At the Gladstone IWTP, an excavator rips open a massive bag of sludge that remains from wastewater from the Gold King Mine. The Gladstone plant is expected to run out of room to store the sludge by the end of 2021. The EPA recently released a proposal that would move the sludge to the Mayflower Mill site, about a mile northeast of Silverton along the Animas River, for longterm disposal./File photo

JusttheFacts What: Virtual presentation and public meeting on the proposed Bonita Peak Repository When: Tues., Aug. 11, 6-8 p.m.

Where: epawebconferencing.acms.com/bpmdproposed plan More info: https://tinyurl.com/y4rwqkap

Built as a temporary fix in 2015, the Gladstone plant, about 6 miles north of Silverton, intercepts and treats contaminated water from the Gold King Mine adit. It prevents the discharge of roughly 992 pounds per day of contaminants into Cement Creek. However, the treatment process creates 4,600-6,000 cubic yards of heavy-metal laden sludge a year, and capacity for sludge storage at Gladstone is expected to run out by late 2021 or early 2022. As a result, EPA was tasked with finding a long-term sludge solution.

According to the EPA, the Mayflower site was chosen because of it is close to Gladstone, is in a high and dry location, and the area is already disturbed, having been used for mining waste from the Mayflower Mill. It also has the capacity to store many years’ worth of sludge.

“It came down to the Mayflower tailings area because it has a large enough capacity that it would make sense, so that’s our preferred alternative,” EPA spokeswoman Katherine Jenkins said. “The point of this process now is to get public input and feedback.”

The nearly $25 million proposal calls for placing the sludge in lined cells on top of three existing tailings impoundments. Once a cell is full, it will be capped and reclaimed with soil and vegetation. Leachate ponds, and drying and stockpile cells will also be located on the site.

The Mayflower Mill was built in 1929-30 and operated until 1991. Operations included crushing (milling) and mineral extraction for export to the Durango Smelter. During its heyday, the mill produced several hundred tons of tailings per day and the tailings impoundments were used into the early 2000s.

On. Aug. 5, 2015, an EPA-contracted crew triggered a blowout at the Gold King Mine, near Gladstone, that sent an orange torrent of mine waste down Cement Creek and the Animas River, and, eventually, into Lake Powell. Despite years of objections that Superfund status would tarnish the area’s reputation, the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund Site was ultimately declared in 2016 to deal with the massive mine runoff problem. The Superfund site con-

10 n Aug. 6, 2020

sists of an interconnected patchwork of 48 mines considered to be the top polluters in degrading the Animas watershed, stretches of which have not supported aquatic life for decades.

“This repository is desperately needed,” Peter Butler, chair of the BPMD Community Advisory Group told the Silverton Standard. “We need to find some place to put the sludge and mine waste, and a lot of people feel that (Mayflower) might be the best place for it.”

A sitewide study by the EPA found elevated concentrations of mining-related contaminants such as aluminum, cadmium, copper, lead, iron and zinc, in surface water, sediment, soil and waste rock. Water-quality standards are exceeded in many places, particularly in discharge from adits.

The Mayflower plan is just the latest step in cleaning up the acidic mine runoff. So far, the EPA has poured an estimated $75 million into researching and addressing the myriad problems in the area. There is no time frame for when the agency will present its final plan.

At the time of the Gold King Mine spill, Sunnyside Gold Corp., which owns the Sunnyside Mine, was considered a “potentially responsible party” due to its ownership and past mining activity in the area, then-EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Peterson said.

Although the Sunnyside Mine closed in 1991, it continued to leak acidic wastewater for years after. Steps were taken to address it, and the area’s numerous other leaking mines, by the Animas River Stakeholders Group, which formed in 1994. The coalition of local, state and federal agencies, mining companies and residents had some measurable success in addressing water quality in the drainage.

In addition, in 1996, in an agreement with the State of Colorado, Sunnyside Gold installed three plugs to stem the flow of acid drainage in the American Tunnel, which transported materials and runoff from Sunnyside to Gladstone.

However, researchers and experts believe that water from the Sunnyside Mine pool began backing up around 2001 and spilling into adjacent mines, like the Gold King. Sunnyside Gold, which was bought by the multinaitonal Kinross Gold Corp. in 2003, denies the claim.

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Proposed Bonita Peak Repository In 2015, pollution had gotten so bad that the EPA stepped in to install a bulkhead in the nearby Red & Bonita Mine, which was spewing 500 gallons of acidic wastewater a minute. It was during this project, when crews were exploring the entrance to the adjacent Gold King Mine, that the blowout occurred.

The Mayflower plan can be viewed in depth at: https://tinyurl.com/y4rwqkap. In addition to the public meeting Aug. 11, comments can be submitted via email or writing through Aug. 27. Send comments to: Katherine Jenkins, U.S. EPA Region 8, 1595 Wynkoop St. (8OC-PAI), Denver, CO, 80202 or email: jenkins.katherine@epa.gov. n

MurderInk

Inglorious bastards ‘Puppies’ a tragicomedy as only the Italians can do it

by Jeffrey Mannix

T

he literary establishment has for far too long ignored or not taken seriously Italian novelists, crime fiction writers especially. There is a vein of humor in Italian tragedy, or if humor lands too flippantly, perhaps Italians are indeed imbued with la dolce vida. Whatever the condition, tragicomedy is the charm of Italian literature, and Americans have not fully embraced the drama beyond theatrical operas of the 19th and early 20th centuries by such masters as Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini.

Over the years, I have reviewed and gushed about the waggish Italian mysteries of Andrea Camilleri (some 27 of them), which revolve around Inspector Salvo Montalbano and the small police station in the fictional Sicilian town of Vigáta. You either love Camilleri or you haven’t read him yet – and you wouldn’t have read Camilleri before the 1994 salty English translation of The Shape of Water. It was translated by the brilliant Stephen Sartarelli, who is a regarded poet in France with uncanny intuition for Camilleri’s lyricism and without much doubt has made Camilleri a treasure beyond Italy.

However, for today’s “Murder Ink,” we’re diving a little deeper into esoteric Italian crime fiction with a book by one of Italy’s literary doyens, Maurizio de Giovanni.

Puppies for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone, translated by Anthony Shugaar, was released in the United States two weeks ago by the prestigious Europa Editions.

The drama in this near-flawless book takes place in contemporary Naples, where de Giovanni lives and about which he writes. It is a study of desperate causes, beginning with a newborn baby, dressed in fine baby clothes, left abandoned beside a dumpster across from the Pizzofalcone police station. The station itself is scheduled for abandonment – currently is manned by

tenured slackers and grifters shucked off from other precincts to wait out their retirement number and stay the hell away from real police work.

This assembly of shorttime cops got the moniker “Bastards” from the real Bastards of a dozen years ago, who were brazen and dimwitted enough to have been caught peddling confiscated shipments of narcotics out the back door.

Now the coterie are simply placeholders, with a couple of the original Bastards hanging around counting down months before ignominious retirement.

Something unspeakable goes wrong with this group of louts after Warrant Officer Romano dashes in with the expensively swaddled infant.

Gears grind together, a century of combined police work bubbles up, and new resolve springs from the depths of lassitude to care for the baby and find its mother.

And in the rush of confidence over saving the baby and solving the mystery of her

telegraph

appearance, cases begin to coalesce and the Bastards of Pizzofalcone emerge from ignominy to detectives of a shiny new legend.

De Giovanni is a painter of word pictures.

His characters are dimensional; the uniqueness of Naples is vibrant; humor sprouts to ease tension so expertly built; life shimmers from the selection of words laid delicately on the canvas without even a hint of who put them there.

It’s a custom in “Murder Ink” to not reduce and regurgitate a plot. I don’t need to tell you what this book is about; I need to tell you that Maurizio de Giovanni’s Puppies for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone is a fully formed and wonderful drama not without charm, surprise, insight and levity. It’s a paperback original that Maria’s Bookshop will discount 15 percent if you mention “Murder Ink,” putting in your hands a book that will absorb and charm you for the cost of lunch downtown that you are better to avoid anyway.

And don’t you just have to know where the puppies fit in? n

Aug. 6, 2020 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday06 Free computer recycling, 1-5 p.m., Durango High School. Acceptable donations include computers, laptops and tablets. Sponsored by PCs for People. For info, email recycle@pcsforpeople.org.

Jose Villareal plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Kevin McCarthy plays, 5 – 8 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St.

Friday07 Free business electronics recycling, by appointment only. Acceptable donations include desktop computers, laptops, flat screen monitors, keyboards, printers, speakers, hard drives and other computer parts, power cords and cables, servers, and networking equipment.

Pick-up available (15 computer minimum). Email recycle@pcsforpeople.org or call 720-452-1548 to schedule.

Carve Wars, chainsaw carving competition, Aug. 7-9, Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresort.com First Friday Art Walk, 4-7 p.m., Silverton, Sponsored by the Silverton Creative District.

“Unbridled” equine photography of Tony Stromberg, opening reception, 5-7 p.m., Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave. Exhibition runs through Aug. 31.

Sunday09 Henry Stoy plays piano, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., Jean Pierre Wine Bar, College Drive and Main.

“Demystifying the Wines of Verona,” Wednesday Wine Workshop with Sommelier Tracy, 4-5 p.m., PRIMI Pasta & Wine Bar, 1201 Main Ave. Reserve your spot at www.primidurango.com

The Black Velvet Trio plays, 6-9 p.m., at Fox Fire Farms Winery, Ignacio.

Chad McCluskey plays solo, 12 noon - 3 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St.

Ben Gibson plays solo, 5 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St.

Bent Fender, a four-piece band from Cortez, plays country, 5-8 p.m., Serious Texas BBQ South, 650 Camino del Rio.

Dustin Burley plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Terry Rickard plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Blue Moon Ramblers play Americana/bluegrass, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Rotary Club of Durango Zoom presentation with Rob Kolter, Boy Scout leader, 6 p.m. Email: mtnman16@gmail.com.

Donny Johnson plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Flatwater plays live on the deck, 5-8 p.m., the Nugget Mountain Bar, south of Purgatory.

Deadline for “Stuff to Do” submissions is Monday at noon. To submit an item, email: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

What could be better than a socially distanced wine tasting on the patio? PRIMI Pasta and Wine Bar is offering sommelier-led wine workshops every Wednesday afternoon. Next week, Aug. 12, it’s the wines of Verona, Italy. Sign up at www.primidurango.com.

Saturday08 Durango Farmers Market, Saturdays, 8 a.m.-12 noon, in TBK Parking Lot, across from the Transit Center.

Facemasks required. www.durangofarmersmarket.com.

Escalante Days Mountain Bike Race, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., 13-mile, 18-mile, 33-mile and 50-mile options. Flanders Park, Dolores. Register at: https://bit.ly/3hfN1ak.

More details at doloresrace.com Edible/Medicinal Plant Excursion, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Participants meet at the Rec Center and carpool to the site. Register at the Rec Center or at DurangoGov.org .

More information: AlpineHike@gmail.com. $35.

Devin Scott plays solo, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St. DJ Calvin live on the deck, 5-8 p.m., the Nugget Mountain Bar, south of Purgatory.

Devin Scott plays everything from R. Kelly to Patsy Cline on ukulele, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Monday10 National Spoil Your Dog Day Meditation and Dharma Talk with Yong Oh, 5:307 p.m. online at www.durangodharmacenter.org/ Rob Webster plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Ed Bolster plays live on the patio, 6-8 p.m., PRIMI Pasta & Wine Bar, 1201 Main Ave. Rocky Mountain Uke Fest online jam, 6:30 – 8 p.m. Email denise@rockymountainukefest.com for Zoom link.

Tuesday11

Matt Rupnow plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Leah Orlikowski plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Gary Walker plays jazz accordion, 6-8 p.m., Dandelion Café, 725 E. Second Ave.

Wednesday12

Ben Gibson Band plays, 6-9 p.m., outdoors in the parking lot at Gazpachos, 431 E. 2nd Ave. BYO lawn chair.

Spadefoot plays solo, 6-9 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St.

12 n Aug. 6, 2020

“Difficult Conversations for Front Line Employees,” featuring the dreaded mask discussions: how to talk to customers about wearing masks, 8-10 a.m., Southwest Colorado SBDC Center of Innovation, 2nd floor of the Main Mall, downtown Durango. Limited to 15. Register at: tinyurl.com/y6q8374q

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The Jeff Solon Jazz Duo plays the patio, 6-8 p.m., Dandelion Café (formerly The Cyprus Cafe), 725 E. 2nd Ave. “Rock Art of Dinetah: Stories of Heroes and Healing,” Zoom presentation by the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society, 7 p.m. For information on how to log in, see sjbas.org.

Ongoing Virtual Bow Wow Film Festival, Aug. 7-21, a fundraiser for the La Plata County Humane Society. For information, URL and tickets, go to: www.lpchumanesociety.org.

BART, art and Leadership sessions for middle and high school boys, Aug. 10-13. Advance registration required; scholarships available. www.durangoarts.org Lacey Black/Dale Elliott play ragtime and honkytonk piano, 12 noon – 2:30ish, daily at the Grand Imperial Hotel’s Lone Spur Cafe in Silverton.

The Hive offers daily youth activities including “Musical Mondays,” “Sewing Tuesdays” and “Theatrical Thursdays.” Space is limited and masks are required. For info or to sign up, email Kelsie@hivedgo.org Pine River Library is offering curbside checkouts Mon.-Fri., 2-6 p.m., and Sat., 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. For info., 4

AskRachel

Fake fans, socket frenching and Rachel in training Interesting fact: The fake baseball audience sounds (which come from a video game) are actually played over stadium speakers. Which only intensifies the cardboard cutout horror vibe.

Dear Rachel, I heard a report that they’re using fake audience sounds in televised baseball games. I had to watch five minutes of an actual baseball game just to check it out. It’s weird. It’s like a laugh track without the humor. But the weird thing is, it worked. I stopped noticing the audience sounds right when I remembered why baseball is boring and turned it off. But now I’m wondering where else we can use fake audiences. Besides Trump rallies, I mean.

– Take Me Out to the Crowd Dear Peanut and Cracker Jack, You shut your face. Baseball is beautiful. Not that I actually watch it. But I tuned in for five minutes of a game to answer your letter, and it’s not the piped-in audience that’s weird. It’s the cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands. Like, imagine a building with 30,000 seats, and the only people in them are two dimensional. It’s horror film fodder. Give me an international plague any day over a thousand paper dummies.

– It’s a shame, Rachel Dear Rachel, I can’t take much more of the suspense every day. All this stress about not getting and spread-

ing disease. I just want a homeless person to lick my eyeball and get it over with. No more worry about what’s coming. Just two weeks of quarantining with Netflix, and a distinct chance of lifelong complications with a non-zero shot at death. Even the abyss must be better than this waiting game. At least I’d know I was dead.

What do you think? Would eyeball licking do the trick?

- Optometrist’s Special Dear Short Sighted, Why should you subject a homeless person to the joylessness of licking your eyeball? Besides, what if YOU are the carrier and the homeless person is previously uninfected? Could you live with yourself then? Guessing you could, since you think all homeless people are both diseased and desperate enough to french your face sockets.

– Lickety split, Rachel Dear Rachel, I think apprenticeships should come back in style. I thought of this while watching the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” while high, but it’s not just for magicians. Plumbers… electricians… say hey, maybe you could take me on as an apprentice.

Or anyone, I mean, but preferably me. Teach me all the skills to do what you do. Show me the ways of the Force. Because really, what you do seems so much better than my day job. Think about it?

– Grasshopper

Mountain Ukulele Retreat, Aug. 1416, featuring duo Victoria Vox and Jack Maher as well as workshops, .www.rocky mountainukefest.com.

MoreStufftoDo from p.12 call 970-884-2222 or visit prlibrary.org/curb side-checkout-program/

Upcoming: Sean O’Brien plays, Aug. 13, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. La Plata County Free Virtual Legal Clinic, Aug. 14, 4-5 p.m. Clinics will be held via telephone. To schedule a spot, call the Ignacio Library at 970-563-9287. Space is limited.

Jack Ellis plays, Aug. 14, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Mushroom and Wine Dinner, Aug. 14, 6:30-9 p.m., Purgatory Resort. www.pur gatoryresort.com Guided Mushroom Hunt, Aug. 15, 9:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m., $39/person. Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresort.com

Dustin Burley plays, Aug. 15, 11 a.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St.

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Padawannabe, Everyone thinks they could do my job. It’s so easy, even a dishwasher could do it. They’re wrong. I mean, sure, they could write three answers a week to questions that really don’t warrant answers. Probably no one is going to die if they do a piss-poor job. But could they stand the adoration? The long line of applicants to lick my… let’s say my boots? The constant scrutiny and lecherous emails? Not a chance in hell. I don’t get no piped-in audience. You all be real, and you be so freaking weird.

– Love u too, Rachel

Business up front, socially distanced party in the back?

Gary Watkins plays, Aug. 15, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Kirk James plays solo blues, Aug. 15, 6 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave. Bob Hemenger plays solo, Aug. 15, 6-9 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Zoom author talk with Makenna Goodman, author of The Shame, 6:30 p.m., Aug. 17. Hosted by Maria’s Bookshop. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83040844563 10th annual San Juan Mining & Reclamation Conference: Adaptive Capacity in Uncertain Times, Sept. 21-24, presented by Mountain Studies Institute. For info or to register, go to: www.mountain studies.org/sjmrc

Deadline to submit items for “Stuff to Do” is Monday at noon.

Send your stuff to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

Ads in the Telegraph can let your customers know you’re back in business!

Call Lainie to mullet over: 970-259-0133 or lainie@durango telegraph.com

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Aug. 6, 2020 n 13

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): In her book Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones, Stephanie Rose Bird reports that among early African Americans, there were specialists who spoke the language of trees. These patient magicians developed intimate relationships with individual trees, learning their moods and rhythms, and even exchanging non-verbal information with them. Trees imparted wisdom about herbal cures, weather patterns and ecologically sound strategies. Until recently, many scientists might have dismissed this lore as delusion. But in his 2016 book The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben offers evidence that trees have social lives and do indeed have the power to converse. I’ve always said that you Aries folks have great potential to conduct meaningful dialogs with animals and trees. And now happens to be a perfect time for you to seek such invigorating pleasures.

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14 n Aug. 6, 2020

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Author Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “I am an act of kneading, of uniting and joining.” She adds that in this process, she has become “a creature that questions the definitions of light and dark and gives them new meanings.” I would love for you to engage in similar work right now, Gemini.

Life will be on your side – bringing you lucky breaks and stellar insights – if you undertake the heroic work of reformulating the meanings of “light” and “dark” – and then reshaping the way you embody those primal forces.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Joanne Harris writes, “The right circumstances sometimes happen of their own accord, slyly, without fanfare, without warning. The magic of everyday things.” I think that’s an apt oracle for you to embrace during the coming weeks.

In my opinion, life will be conspiring to make you feel at home in the world. You will have an excellent opportunity to get your personal rhythm into close alignment with the rhythm of creation. And so you may achieve a version of what mythologist Joseph Campbell called “the goal of life”: “to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”

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CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Pleasure is one of the most important things in life, as important as food or drink,” Cancerian author Irving Stone wrote. I would love for you to heed that counsel, my fellow Crabs. What he says is always true, but it will be extraordinarily meaningful for you to take to heart during the coming weeks. Here’s how you could begin: Make a list of seven experiences that bring you joy, bliss, delight, fun, amusement and gratification. Then make

a vow – even write an oath on a piece of paper – to increase the frequency and intensity of those experiences.

the more likely it is that you will generate vigorous decisions that serve both your own needs and the needs of your allies.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): At times in our lives, it’s impractical to be innocent and curious and blank and receptive.

So many tasks require us to be knowledgeable and self-assured and forceful and in control. But according to my astrological analysis, the coming weeks will be a time when you will benefit from the former state of mind: cultivating what Zen Buddhists call “beginner’s mind.” The Chinese refer to it as chūxīn, or the mind of a novice. The Koreans call it the eee mok oh? approach, translated as “What is this?” Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield defines it as the “don’t-know mind.” During this upcoming phase, I invite you to enjoy the feeling of being at peace with all that’s mysterious and beyond your understanding.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): “Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons,” actor and director Denzel Washington says. “When you shine bright, some won’t enjoy the shadow you cast,” rapper and activist Talib Kweli says.

You may have to deal with reactions like those in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. If you do, I suggest that you don’t take it personally. Your job is to be your radiant, generous self – and not worry about whether anyone has the personal power necessary to handle your radiant, generous self. The good news is that I suspect you will stimulate plenty of positive responses that will more than counterbalance the challenging ones.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

Author Anne Lamott wrote that, and now I’m conveying it to you – just in time for the Unplug-Yourself Phase of your astrological cycle. Any glitches or snafus you may be dealing with right now aren’t as serious as you might imagine.

The biggest problem seems to be the messy congestion that has accumulated over time in your links to sources that usually serve you pretty well. So if you’ll simply disconnect for a while, I’m betting that clarity and grace will be restored when you reconnect.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn occultist Peter J. Carroll tells us, “Some have sought to avoid suffering by avoiding desire. Thus they have only small desires and small sufferings.” In all of the zodiac, you Capricorns are among the least likely to be like that.

One of your potential strengths is the inclination to cultivate robust desires that are rooted in a quest for rich experience. Yes, that sometimes means you must deal with more strenuous ordeals than other people.

But I think it’s a wise trade-off. In any case, my dear, you’re now in a phase of your cycle when you should take inventory of your yearnings. If you find there are some that are too timid or meager, I invite you to either drop them or pump them up.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Have you been saving any of your tricks for later? If so, later has arrived. Have you been postponing flourishes and climaxes until the time was right? If so, the coming days will be as right a time as there can be. Have you been waiting and waiting for the perfect moment before making use of favors that life owes you and promises that were made to you? If so, the perfect moment has arrived. Have you been wondering when you would get a ripe opportunity to express and highlight the most interesting truths about yourself?

If so, that opportunity is available.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The people who live in the town of Bazoule, Burkina Faso, regard the local crocodiles as sacred. They live and work amidst the 100+ creatures, co-existing peacefully. Kids play within a few feet of them, never worrying about safety. I’d love to see you come to similar arrangements with untamed influences and strong characters in your own life, Aquarius. You don’t necessarily have to treat them as sacred, but I do encourage you to increase your empathy and respect for them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes,” Scorpio author Maxine Hong Kingston writes. That would be an excellent task for you to work on in the coming weeks. Here are your formulas for success: 1. The more you expand your imagination, the better you’ll understand the big picture of your present situation – and the more progress you will make toward creating the most interesting possible future. 2. The more comfortable you are about dwelling in the midst of paradoxes,

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your body naturally produces at least one quart of mucus every day. You might not be aware of it, because much of it glides down your throat. Although you may regard this snot as gross, it’s quite healthy. It contains antibodies and enzymes that kill harmful bacteria and viruses. I propose we regard mucus as your prime metaphor in the coming weeks. Be on the alert for influences and ideas that might empower you even if they’re less than beautiful and pleasing. Make connections with helpful influences even if they’re not sublimely attractive.

classifieds

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.

Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com. Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133 n 679 E. 2nd Ave., #E2 Approximate office hours: Mon: 9ish - 5ish Tues: 9ish - 5ish Wed: 9ish - 3ish Thurs: On delivery Fri: Gone fishing; call first

Announcements Come to the Horses To reset your mind, refresh your body and rejuvenate your soul. Equine coaching sessions available for 2 new clients.

Trish @ Joy Rides Coaching, 970-9467835, joyrides.dgo@gmail.com, www.joy istheride.com The Perfect Gift for your favorite dirtbag. Literature from Durango’s own Benighted Publications. The Desert, The Climbing Zine, The Great American Dirtbags, American Climber, Climbing Out of Bed and Graduating From College Me are available at: Maria’s Bookshop, Pine Needle Mountaineering, the Sky Store, or on the interweb at www.climbingzine.com.

HelpWanted Amaya Natural Therapeutics Hiring massage therapists. Call 970382-1115 to inquire.

Landscapers wanted for installation of custom landscapes with Genesis Land and Waterscapes.

Looking for full-time employees to join the team. Pay is dependent upon your experience. Please contact me at genesis @frontier.net or 970-749-0912

Lost/Found Lost E-Bike Battery 970-769-9939. Reward.

Wanted Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

Services

Pets

Academic Support Math and science tutoring & college application support. 7th-12th grade. Distancing and masks req. Al McKown 970799-6114

Sweet healthy kittens Available for adoption immediately.

Seen Veterinarian and been de wormed, first shots. 8 weeks + in age. If interested please TEXT 970 946-0768.

Mysto the Magi is Back!

Mysto the Magician is back in town and ready to perform the most mind blowing magic either outside or virtually for your family reunion, wedding, birthday, or corporate event. Contact Mysto at (970) 759-5015 or MystoTheMagi@hot mail.com

ForSale

RSE Handyman Service Home maintenance & repair, yard work, odd jobs 970-903-0449.

Lowest Prices on Storage!

Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside spots: $65, with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494

Miscellaneous 12 ft Hobie fiberglass kayak, $185.00.

Auto trailer-5 x 8 feet size, $345.00. 303522-6798

Garden items, bistro, and lots of fun kitchen items. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

RealEstate Radon Services Free radon testing and consultation.

Call Colorado Radon Abatement and Detection for details. 970- 946-1618.

HaikuMovieReview

Reruns Home Furnishings New arrivals: Vintage Drexel Asian cabinet with matching mirror. Tall tables, bar stools, and two midcentury dressers.

“Palm Springs” So funny that I watched it twice. Hey, Greg Moore, I guess it bit my butt – Lainie Maxson

NewspaperOrigami A Cat

Harmony Organizing and Cleaning Services Home and office 970-403-6192.

Marketing Small and Local Businesses Media, social media, website content, SEO, etc. for small, local, independent or startup businesses. Email jnderge@ gmail.com

ForRent Bright & Beautiful Office Space available inside natural health care office. Perfect for body worker or therapist.

Shared waiting area & bathroom. Free: pkg, wifi & util. $550/mo Call/text 970.749.2815 Sustainable Small Community 45 miles from Durango, next to national forest. Private cabins for rent or work exchange. Refs, dep. snowdome ranch@protonmail.com.

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Aug. 6, 2020 n 15

Come visit our shiny new Airstream style trailer in Bird’s restaurant parking lot 2957 Main Ave. Open daily, noon ’til dusk 970 903 1300 See our Instagram and Facebook pages for updates

La Plata County’s new Draft Land Use Code is out for public review!

Please provide your input on the new code that aims to: 7 /,3&!" -/"!& 1 &)&15 +! &*-/,3"! "/1 &+15 ,# 1%" !"3"),-*"+1 -/, "00 +! ,21 ,*"0 7 &)&1 1" +! !&/" 1 $/,41% 1, --/,-/& 1" /" 0 7 *-/,3" 1%" /"3&"4 -/, "00 7 /1& 2) 1" )" / !"3"),-*"+1 01 +! /!0 7 1/" *)&+" 1%" !"3"),-*"+1 -/, "00 7 /,1" 1 +! /"0-" 1 1%" ,2+1580 *,01 3 )2"! 00"10 7 &+&*&6" 0-/ 4)

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