The Durango Telegraph, Nov. 4, 2011

Hiding under a rock since 2002

­elegraph­ the­­­­durango

FREE Nov. 4, 2021 Vol. XX, No. 43 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

Pay to play

Dysfunction junction

A room of their own

Supply-chain woes could affect your outdoor adventures p8

Jurisdiction at heart of suit over D&SNG Rockwood station p9

Smiley Building opens ‘ArtRoom’ communal studios p10

Hesperus

58th Annual

Ski Patrol Ski Swap $

"

&

""

#

!

%

! " !

2 n Nov. 4, 2021

#

!

" ###

$

!

$

# !

#

!

#

# "%

"

!

!

telegraph

lineup

8

4 La Vida Local

Supply-chain woes are rippling into recreational gear costs

4 Thumbin’ It

Pay to play

by Sarah Mulholland / Colorado Public Radio

5 Word on the Street 6-7 Soapbox

9

8 State News

Dysfunction junction Who regulates the train at core of lawsuit over D&SNG’s Rockwood station

9 Top Story

by Jonathan Romeo

10 Art Scene 12-13 Stuff to Do

10

13 Ask Rachel

Creative cubicles New common space in Smiley building seeks to bring together artists

by Denise Leslie

14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds 15 Haiku Movie Review

11

Stranger danger

On the cover: Muley Point in Utah basks in some late fall alpenglow./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Psychological duel following a murder makes for thrilling read

by Jeffrey Mannix

boilerplate

EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com ADVERTISING SALES: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com STAFF REPORTER: Jonathan Romeo jonathan@durangotelegraph.com

T

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: Luke Mehall, Jeffrey Mannix, Denise Leslie, Lainie Maxson, Rob Brezsny and Clint Reid

REAL WORLD ADDRESS: 679 E. 2nd Ave., Ste E2 Durango, CO 81301 PHONE: 970-259-0133

MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 332 Durango, CO 81302

E-MAIL: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

VIRTUAL ADDRESS: www.durangotelegraph.com

MAIL DELIVERY AND SUBSCRIPTIONS: $3.50/issue, $150/year

distributed in the finest and most discerning locations throughout the greater Durango area.

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

Ear to the ground: “It is like trying to get in a fist fight with a fart.”

– Astute Twitter comment describing what it’s like to debate politics these days.

Out of the hospital

thepole

RegularOccurrences

An old editor once told me about reporting the news: “If you put people in the hospital, you better take them out.” Well, we thrust you into the issues surrounding the Nov. 2 election, so we’re gonna get you out with a rundown of the results.

Locally, the most contentious election was that for the Durango School District 9-R School Board (now there’s a sentence we never thought we’d have to write).

The 9-R election, however, reflected a national trend where school boards have seemingly become the center stage for culture wars on topics like how to teach children about race and whether schools should implement COVID-19 protocols.

Though school board elections are supposed to be nonpartisan, three conservative candidates – Donna Gulec, Dean Hill and Kristina Paslay – banded together as a three-piece ticket, vowing to challenge things like mask mandates and critical race theory (which is not taught in 9-R schools).

These newcomer candidates, however, were handily beaten in this election by what was seen as their “progressive” counterparts.

In District A, 9-R incumbent Erika Brown received 8,407 votes to Paslay’s 3,346. A third candidate, Catherine Mewmaw, ran in this district and received 1,137 votes.

In District C, Rick Petersen, also a newcomer, beat Hill 8,681-4,105. And in District E, 9-R incumbent Andrea Parmenter beat Gulec by a vote of 8,961 to 3,870.

Now, can we make school boards boring again?

Also, all three statewide ballot measures failed.

• Prop 120 would have reduced property taxes for multi-unit housing and hotels, but not for single-family homes. And, the reduction in taxes would have hit to schools and fire districts.

• Prop 119 would have raised marijuana tax sales to fund out-of-school programs. However, opponents argued it would undercut already underfunded public school districts to fund private companies with little oversight.

• Amendment 78 would have created a new process for how the state would spend some federal funds.

La Plata County had 42% voter turnout, high for an off-year election. “I’m very happy voters turned up,” said La Plata County Clerk Tiffany Lee. Good job, you did it.

Messy monopoly Last week, we reported about the Durango Fire Protection District’s plans to relocate to the 9-R Admin building at 12th St. and 2nd Ave. A major part of that plan was the City of Durango portioning off Buckley Park from the 9-R site. That happened Tuesday night, with the City finagling new property lines that expands the park to include the sledding area.

Now, DFPD intends to close on the sale of the 9-R building and begin an intensive planning process on how a fire station (and possibly police station) would work on the busy corner, which has received considerable public pushback.

In addition, the City continues to work to acquire Buckley. That could include swapping the City’s Carnegie Building on E. 2nd Ave. for Buckley, so 9-R can move its employees there, but nothing is official yet, a City spokesman said.

Nov. 4, 2021 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal Bears Ears: Part 3 I remember the moment well, it was late in 2016, and my plane had just landed in Denver from Chicago, where I was visiting my family. I love visiting the Midwest, but there’s a certain sense of relief when I’m back in Colorado; even if it’s just at DIA. As we all do when the flight lands these days, I turned on my phone. The good news wasn’t hard to find – it was all over social media: Obama had designed Bears Ears National Monument.

Bears Ears contains a place I often refer to as My Favorite Place on Earth: the Indian Creek corridor (aka “The Creek”). Nearly every weekend in the spring and fall, I’m out there with my friends, unplugging from the madness of this modern world, living in the dirt, climbing cracks by day and (when allowed) gathering around a fire at night.

When Trump came into office, he quickly shrank the monument, which set off a flurry of lawsuits. Those lawsuits argued that the president can only use the Antiquities Act to create national monuments and parks, not to reduce them. My homie and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who filed one of the lawsuits, also famously said, “This administration is evil, and I’m not going to let evil win.”

Those lawsuits seem to move slowly through the court system, so slowly that the courts never seemed to issue an opinion. And then, last month, the Biden administration announced that they were restoring the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument. Again, I breathed a sigh of relief.

The anger that I felt during the time when Trump was in office was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Maybe it’s similar to the anger those homegrown terrorists felt when they were storming the Capitol back in January; fed lies by Trump and our own Colorado mini version of him, Lauren Boebert. But unlike those folks, I didn’t want to do anything violent and end up in jail. I just needed to channel my anger and find a cause to fight for.

I swear that hip-hop may have saved my life. Well, the combination of high energy hip-hop, plus the solace of this place we are now calling Bears Ears National Monument. For those four years when Trump was in power, my rage seemed to boil every time I read what his administration was up to. Luckily, I had “The Creek” and all the comfort that it provides through raw nature. Every time I was at my wits end, The Creek would seem to say, “this too shall pass.”

I love that about wild places. Even if humans continue on our destructive path and make ourselves extinct, these places will still stand; they will outlast us by eons.

When I die, I want my dust to join the dust and dirt out there. As Robert Hunter of

the Grateful Dead wrote, “like the morning sun you’ll come, and like the wind you’ll go.”

Bears Ears National Monument is especially important to me as a climber because it was the first-ever national monument or park to include climbing in the language of the proclamation. Climbers, led by the Access Fund and the American Alpine Club, have been working hard to go from an outlaw group to one that engages with the highest levels of government and tribal nations to advocate for our sport and the preservation of the environment. Climbing is my life, so how could I not be all in and support this monument?

Another unique aspect of Bears Ears is that it was the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition that led the way in advocating for the creation of the monument. And now that the monument status has been reinstated, the group will also be involved in the management of the land, a natural and historic occurrence. Plus, current Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is a Native American who is in support of preservation of this land and is a descendant of the Ancestral Puebloans, who built some impressive structures when they lived on this land hundreds of years ago. (They were also the original climbers of this land, as evidenced by their moki steps and ancient yucca ropes.)

This battle for Bears Ears is surely far from over. The politics of public lands in Utah are complicated and continually contested.

Though only one party seems to want to preserve the land, the land itself will offer its wonders to conservatives and liberals alike. I believe this nation is more centrist than is portrayed in the media anyway.

I think many people who call themselves conservatives are mortified by many of the things Trump does and the direction the Republican party is taking. Same could be said for the Democrats; how the hell did we end up with Biden as a leader? I go back to my centrist statement; as I know several conversative-leaning people who hated Trump and ended up voting for Biden.

I hope that a lot of work can be done to protect Bears Ears National Monument in these next three years. The tides might turn again, yet another reason we need a third party to emerge that actually represents the people. Old man Trump and old man Biden will soon be dust, and it’s gonna be on the shoulders of our younger generation to lead. I am glad we have Bears Ears to stand as a place of solace, hope and action that things might actually get better.

– Luke Mehall Luke Mehall is the publisher of The Climbing Zine, host of the Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, and the author of five books, including The Desert, set in Bears Ears. The meme included in this story is his first. More of his work can be found at climbingzine.com.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It Two favorite food trucks – Cuevos Tacos and the Soup Palette – finding a permanent home on E. 2nd Ave. at the former Dandelion Café, which recently closed for good (that’s a thumbs down).

4 n Nov. 4, 2021

Reports that nurses at Mercy are getting “clobbered” with an influx of patients, according to the Upper Pine Fire Protection District. “As we approach Thanksgiving, be thankful nurses still come to work.” We are.

The opening of an all-new mountain bike park in Farmington, the East Glade Trailhead Skills Park. Now, when you go down for a Target or Chipotle run, you can burn some calories after.

Extreme drought (and politics) cancelling a high-flow release in the Grand Canyon to help restore sandbars and beaches, and dashing rafters’ big-water dreams.

News that astronauts were able to grow green chiles on a space station, part of an effort to grow more “crops” in the outer realm. Unfortunately, Colorado’s Pueblo chiles were snubbed in favor of New Mexico’s Hatch.

Texas attempting to ban books in schools which an analysis found were mostly written by women, people of color and LGBTQ authors. Slowly but surely, this entire thumbs down column is going to be named “This Week in Texas News.”

telegraph

QAnon-plussed QAnon supporters gathered in Dallas this past Tuesday because they believed JFK Jr. (who died in a 1999 plane crash) would reappear on election day, anoint Trump “the king of kings” and then reinstate him as president. Instead, it rained a bunch and everybody went home. The conspiracy theorists came up with another conspiracy theory to explain it, but really, zombie JFK Jr. probably just got stage fright given that his father was assassinated literally yards away from where the QAnon supporters gathered.

WordontheStreet With daylight savings set to take effect Sunday, the Telegraph asked, “What are you going to do with your extra hour?”

Q

Ryan

“I’ll probably drink coffee and just sit there.”

Grace

“Finish cleaning from the Halloween weekend.

There are lots of pieces of costume on my floor.”

Zack

“Spend another hour at the bar. I mean, why not?”

Brent

“I’ll probably get up early, go outside and enjoy the sun rise.”

Asher

“Not go to school and eat candy!”

telegraph

Nov. 4, 2021 n 5

SoapBox

D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim

Support Native artists I also participated in the Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Rage event on Oct. 10 and I appreciate what Riley Neugebauer wrote in the Telegraph opinions Oct. 21. With Native American Heritage Month and Thanksgiving in November, now is the time to finally remove the caricature statue of “The Chief” outside the Toh-Atin Gallery.

The Indigenous organizers have done so much to pave the way for increased public awareness of the harm this caricature causes every day in the lives of our Indigenous neighbors. They have asked white folks to use our individual and collective white privilege to once and for all take down this sign of ignorance and discrimination.

Representing Indigenous people as a crude mascot perpetuates white beliefs that Native Americans are relics of the past that can be exploited without recognizing the thriving current culture and modern lives of our tribal neighbors, including the Nuuchiu (Ute), Diné (Navajo) and Jicarilla Apache, among others.

Not that this would be my preference, but if the owners of Toh-Atin are so attached to an old timey Wild West feel, put up a caricature of a cowboy instead. Caricaturize your own race if you are attached to a “Cowboys and Indians” mentality.

Or if their value is around having a Native American draw attention to the artwork inside the gallery, take up the

anonymous donor on their offer to remove “The Chief” and replace it with artwork by Native artists. In terms of brand alignment, the crass “Chief” is in stark juxtaposition to the beautiful artwork inside. The Toh-Atin is not a roadside trading post, it is a classy art gallery with a gorgeous assortment of Native art. The Toh-Atin website highlights the artists in a respectful way. Wouldn’t a beautiful statue by a Native artist outside the gallery draw even more attention by appreciators and collectors of Native American artwork, and thereby increase sales? As it stands, the offensive sign likely turns away many potential shoppers, myself included.

Taking actions toward a more inclusive culture and community doesn’t mean defeat; it means winning together. Let’s get out of the “either/or” thinking that if one group achieves success, the other side loses.

No! We can all be winners in this together. I encourage the Clarks to take action to heal some of these wounds and help bring our community closer together.

Everyone, please talk to your friends, write letters, attend City Council meetings and take a photo at the statue with the hashtag #notyourmascotdurango.

– Sandhya Tillotson, Durango

Lights, camera, action There’s quite a bit of nothing to do on a movie sets. Now that there was a tragic shooting death in Santa Fe where bored

staff used live ammunition for target practice with the same gun that took out a young mother/cinematographer, how about having a delivery of ping pong tables and other non-lethal games to all movie sets? The games could be donated to Boys & Girls Club or other organizations afterwards, which is a lot less expen-

sive than civil lawsuits.

The loss of a human life followed by mean-spirited comments from lawmakers Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene should be addressed at The Capitol.

More horse sense in Wild West settings and less hate all-around would be nice.

– Sally Florence, Durango

Where the grass is always greener.

The Alternative Resource

Save $5 off shipping on any of our pre-made SIGNATURE GIFT BASKETS

Variety of Strains • Hash/Concentrates • Edibles • Tinctures • ATM Bodo Park (Durango)

Grandview (Durango)

Cortez

REC: 9am-8pm MED: 9am- 6:45pm 72 Suttle Street, Units F/G 970.259.3674

REC ONLY: 9am-8pm 37 CR 232 970.426.4381

MED & REC: 9am-8pm 1104 E. Main St., Cortez 970.565-6500

6 n Nov. 4, 2021

Order now for holiday delivery!

Stop in or check us out at: dietzmarket.com

!

telegraph

!

Defend voting rights Biden has a choice to make: Does he want to establish his legacy as a president who fought for voting rights, or not?

In order to be remembered as a president who fought for voting rights, Biden must do more than ask the Senate to pass voting rights legislation. He knows as well as we do that bills like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act won’t make it through the Senate unless we abolish the filibuster.

Biden must publicly and unequivocally support abolishing the filibuster to clear the way for these crucial reforms. It’s time for Biden to be the leader he promised to be and call on the Senate to end the filibuster and protect our right to vote.

We’re counting on him to do the right thing.

– John Vreeke, Ignacio

True cost of military Congress is currently considering two infrastructure spending bills totaling $4.5 trillion. The dollars will be spent over a 10-year period on roads and bridges, railroads, the power grid, internet access, water infrastructure, cyber security, climate change, public transportation, airports, affordable housing, clean energy, health care, education, child care, wildfire prevention, and much more.

That amounts to $450 billion per year.

By comparison, over the past 10 years, we’ve spent $6.3 trillion on defense, or an average of $630 billion per year. The 2021 defense budget is $753 billion. That goes toward the cost of military operations; equipment maintenance; pay, retirement and

health care for military personnel; weapons and equipment; and construction and management of military facilities.

The U.S. spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, U.K., Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia – combined.

It is proposed that infrastructure bills will be fully paid for by tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy as well as various fund reallocation strategies for already approved, but unspent stimulus dollars.

Defense spending comes from the discretionary federal budget, funded primarily through income taxes and borrowing.

Granted, it’s not an “either/or” situation, but in the long run, which do you think provides a better return on our investment?

– Greg Phillips, Durango

Retire The Chief’s legacy I write today to join the chorus of people, Native and non-Native alike, calling for the removal of “The Chief,” the controversial sign owned by Toh-Atin Gallery.

I was born and raised here in so-called “Durango, Colorado, USA” and have lived in this community for the entirety of my nearly four decades on this Earth. I am a beneficiary of conquest and genocide, living on stolen, occupied Indigenous land.

Never have I seen The Chief as anything other than the racist caricature that it is.

Such caricatures are designed to reinforce the stereotype of the happy and grateful Native who welcomes the theft of their land and the destruction of their culture with a smile and an invitation to commerce. The caricature also reinforces the idea of the suc-

cess of the “White man’s burden” of supposedly civilizing the “merciless Indian savages” (language from the U.S. Declaration of Independence) who dare resist the theft of their land and annihilation of their people. Such caricatures and stereotypes actively harm living Indigenous people through their portrayal of the acceptance of subjugation and dehumanization, reinforcing colonial narratives of European superiority, justifying conquest and destruction.

In short, The Chief is so beloved to some because it represents settler-colonial entitlement to Native land and resources, the supposed success of the settler-colonial project of cultural genocide (which to be clear, is genocide nonetheless), and the supposed elimination of the direct threat represented

by Native autonomy and genuine self-determination, which cannot coexist with colonial occupation. This is the source of the virulent backlash some have unleashed in defense of The Chief’s continued presence in our community. To challenge such a caricature is to challenge, albeit rather mildly, the very project of settler-colonialism itself, and thus the legitimacy of our nation, and such challenges must not be tolerated. Or so the defenders of colonialism believe.

It may be that the Clarks (owners of the gallery) are not prepared to face their own legacy and role in colonial exploitation, and will not do the right thing by taking down The Chief and retiring it to a historical institution such as the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Undoubtedly, their business will suffer for it, if not their consciences.

But we, people of conscience seeking to reckon with the violence and trauma inher-

telegraph

ent in our cultural foundations, aren’t going anywhere, and we will not stop until all celebrations of and monuments to the horrors of colonialism and white supremacy fall.

One day, The Chief will be but a memory of a harder, harsher, more brutal time. Until that day, we struggle on.

My heartfelt thanks to all who have spoken out thus far, all who have taken action in the streets and board rooms and City Council meetings, and all who have yet to join us, but soon will.

All power to the people!

– Nathan Coe, Durango

Journey for J. Wagoner

The poem lifted across the wind, Over the feathery mares tails And floated down the river Of dreams.

It drifted down the mountainside Where no one could see And slid across the golden moon Of memory.

The poem sang in the laughter Of children running in the park.

It left the lips of longing lovers Huddled from the rain And rose with the sun, Dappling ancient trees.

It kissed bending flowers And echoed from the belfry.

Contented, It whispered lovingly Into the ear of the poet, Deciding to rest With strokes of blackened ink.

– Burt Baldwin, Ignacio

Nov. 4 2021 n 7

StateNews

Supply chain reaction Heading into the mountains is about to get more expensive

by Sarah Mulholland Colorado Public Radio

desperate to get their products and forced to pay whatever it costs. Before the pandemic, it cost between $1,500 to $2,000 to here are millions of dollars of camping get a container from Asia to the U.S., acequipment and apparel stuck on ships cording to White. In September, it was sitting in a harbor right now. That’s a $15,000, he said. big part of the reason the company Kelty – The various hold-ups are even changing known for its backpacks and sleeping bags – the products themselves. will be raising prices later this month.

Dave Bombard owns Bishop, a two-perProblems in the global supply chain are son operation out of Edwards that handcreating big headaches for businesses – and crafts bindings for Telemark skiing. It’s an for shoppers that are dealing with long waits intricate process, involving roughly 60 and higher prices. parts, Bombard said. For one critical comNo industry has been spared, and that inponent, Bombard was using a particular cludes the vast market for outdoor recrethickness of sheet metal. ation equipment. Coloradans should be “This is the part that basically holds the prepared to pay a little more for gear when boot in … it is kind of the key. This one part heading to the mountains for the foreseeholds the heel of the boot to the binding,” able future. he said.

Russ Rowell oversees Kelty and a number He ended up having to redesign the bindof other outdoor brands for Broomfielding when his supplier told him he wasn’t based Exxel Outdoors. He said retailers had going to get the material in time for winter. to absorb some of the recent shockwaves in Bombard had to raise his prices by 10%. order to keep prices manageable.

Bishop designs skis, too. In an ominous “If we were to pass on the full breadth of sign for how long the problems will drag the impact … I don’t believe consumers on, Bombard recently received word that would be camping anymore,” Rowell said. he’ll need to cut next year’s order for skis Starting Nov. 15, the price of a Kelty campby 20% due to the potential for ongoing ing chair will go from $109 to $139, he said. material shortages.

The logjam started with a surge in deHoogendoorn of Yeti says his company mand for goods from people stuck at home is thinking about ways they can source during the pandemic, according to Randy more of what they need domestically.

An employee scans supplies at Wheel Pro’s Denver warehouse./ Photo by Kevin J. White, the CEO of Wheel Pros, a Green“The most basic way for it to get solved is for Beaty/Denverite wood Village-based company that designs demand to drop off, for us to stop buying as and manufactures specialized wheels, including those example, a COVID-19 case could shut down a port in much product … from Asia,” he said.

Asia. Finally, it opens back up and ships leave, but when used on Jeeps and SUVs for driving off-road.

The kinks in the supply chain go way beyond outdoor Supply chain snags have only continued to get worse, they get to the U.S., the ports are clogged. On top of that, equipment. Prices are going up everywhere – from the there might not be enough workers to move the cargo grocery store to the gas pump. The supply chain isn’t the he said.

“It’s like once somebody steps on the brakes in traffic after it’s unloaded. only thing driving inflation, but it’s definitely making It can start with simply getting goods aboard a ship, things worse. and all of a sudden you have hundreds of cars backed up on I-70 … It’s a chain reaction all the way through the according to Steve Hoogendoorn, co-founder at Yeti CyRowell, of Exxel, said his company waited as long as it cles, a mountain bike manufacturer in Golden. His shop could to raise prices, especially because camping is seen system,” White said.

The network that gets stuff from point A to point B is booked space on a ship that never materialized. as an affordable vacation option. With everything getting “They call them ghost sailings, when they just don’t so expensive, some families have tough choices to make a global web of ports and highways, ships and trucks and planes. And, of course – people. There are countless ways actually show up,” Hoogendoorn said. when it comes to money.

The time it takes to get a shipment from Asia to his for things to go wrong. But up until recently, things “They’re not going to spend it on camping goods mostly got to where they needed to be, when they needed workshop in Golden has quadrupled, and it can be as when they have to buy milk,” Rowell said. long as four months, he said. to be there.

Shipping costs are skyrocketing because everybody is These days, there are hiccups every step of the way. For For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to www.cpr.org.

T

We’re W e’r e e pr proud oud to suppo support rt the ’21-’22 Green Business siness Gr een Bu 11/10 Roundtable oundt able Wednesday R ou 12-1pm

Join us for November GBR and learn about how a new business model for community banking benefits small businesses and reinvestment in rural America. From administering government funds to nurturing and financing entrepreneurship and small business, find out about the many creative and collaborative ways a forprofit community bank and not-for-profit community loan fund are partnering to deliver much needed working capital to rural Colorado.

sanjuancitizens.org/events/green-business-roundtable sanjuancitizens.org/events/green-business-roundtable

Community Reinvestment: A New Banking Model for Rural Colorado 8 n Nov. 4, 2021

2020 Business siness of the Year Year Durango Chamber of Commerce 2020 Community/Rural Lender of the Y Year ear Colorado Small Business Administration

telegraph

fswb.bank (970) 375-1100 | info@fswb.com 600 East 2nd Avenue, Durango

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

TopStory

Who’s conducting who?

Regulatory authority over D&SNG “at the heart” of Rockwood lawsuit

by Jonathan Romeo

W

ho has regulatory authority over the historic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad? Well, that’s a loaded question that should receive further clarification as part of a lawsuit between the railroad and La Plata County over the increased use at the Rockwood station north of Durango.

The D&SNG filed the lawsuit May 21 after La Plata County issued the railroad a notice that it may be in violation of the county’s land-use code for ramping up operations at Rockwood in the past year without first going through the proper channels. According to neighbors, using Rockwood as a major point of departure has caused all kinds of problems with traffic, noise, trespassing, litter and increased fire danger.

On Oct. 12, District Judge Suzanne Carlson issue a ruling denying the D&SNG’s request to allow major operations to resume out of Rockwood in the short-term. And, Carlson put the lawsuit and any permanent determinations on hold to await a judgment from Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on just how much jurisdiction it has over the railroad, which was founded in 1881 – just five years after Colorado officially became a state.

“Identifying the proper regulatory agency and the scope of that agency’s jurisdiction is at the heart of this matter,” Judge Carlson wrote in the ruling.

The D&SNG has always had a station at Rockwood, serving as the last stop before entering the remote Animas Canyon, which has no access from roads. The station, however, has never served as a major point of departure for passengers, save for a few outdoor recreationists going into the Weminuche Wilderness or people traveling to the Tall Timbers Resort or Tacoma Power Plant.

In 2020, however, the D&SNG stopped running trains out of its downtown Durango depot because of the COVID19 pandemic, and instead used Rockwood for three trips a day known as the Cascade Canyon Express. These trips became hugely popular, bringing up to 300 new daily car trips to Rockwood throughout the summer season.

For the unacquainted, the Rockwood station is about 15 miles north of Durango, accessed by turning off Highway 550 on County Road 200, a narrow and winding mountain road that is the only way in and out for the station and residents living in the area.

To accommodate increased use at Rockwood, the D&SNG expanded the parking area to about 100 spots; started charging to park there; and added a tent, concessions, bathrooms and loudspeakers to communicate with riders.

Most residents were agreeable to the D&SNG using Rockwood in the 2020 season, understanding all the hardships the pandemic brought. The railroad, however, continued to use the station in 2021, and that’s when residents and county officials felt deceived, to say the least.

“We did not expect it to roll over in 2021,” County Manager Chuck Stevens said in April. “Could the county have taken a different approach? I don’t know. We did what we did. If it was wrong, I will own that.”

Among the many complaints are the hundreds of cars that now travel the tight road, sometimes speeding and parking on the nonexistent shoulders. Traffic has been known to back up on Highway 550, leading to 30-minute waits to get in and out of the neighborhood. Trains idle at the station and loud speakers blare during operations. And, people are constantly trespassing on private property and some are seen throwing cigarettes on the ground, increasing fire danger.

Neighbors in Rockwood have complained about the increased operations at the D&SNG station since 2020, which has brought more noise, trash, litter and fire danger to the area north of Durango./ Courtesy photo “It went from a little ghost town to a Disney Land,” Adrienne Aronson, who has lived in Rockwood since 2003, wrote in court filings. “It changed the neighborhood from a quiet neighborhood to a nightmare.” Greg Parady, who also lives in the neighborhood, said his family experienced an emergency and couldn’t get out of the neighborhood because of all the traffic.

Both La Plata County and the Colorado Department of Transportation have made comments that the major change in use at Rockwood likely requires the D&SNG to go through a permit process. The railroad, however, adamantly rejects this notion, arguing the historic railway is a public utility not subject to the same rules as other entities.

Since the D&SNG filed its lawsuit in May, the railroad and La Plata County have been battling it out in the courts.

Needless to say, the two sides interpret the law very differently. La Plata County believes the D&SNG is subject to the county land-use code, and as such, should go through the permitting process if it wants to continue major activities out of Rockwood.

The D&SNG, for its part, argues its operations pre-date the county’s codes, and even still, it is only subject to regulatory authority from the PUC. The railroad says operations out of Rockwood are now essential to the company’s success, accounting for millions of dollars in profits. When it shut down Rockwood trips this spring until this matter is settled, 30% of customers chose to cancel rather than rebook a ride out of Durango.

“The County has no authority to stop D&SNG from operating round-trip passenger trains out of Rockwood based on these alleged impacts on nearby residents as it now attempts to do,” the D&SNG wrote in a June 9 court filing.

telegraph

In September, La Plata County petitioned the PUC to define what agency has what authority in order for the local courts to make a more appropriate ruling. The D&SNG, oddly, opposed this move, almost going so far as to say the PUC in fact does not have authority over the railroad.

Judge Carlson, in granting a pause until the PUC decides, seemed to notice this sentiment, too. “Taking the D&SNG’s argument to its logical conclusion, the County lacks jurisdiction because the PUC has exclusive jurisdiction, but the D&SNG’s activities in this case are too inconsequential for the PUC to consider; therefore the D&SNG may engage in the kinds of activities that brought it before this Court free of any government regulation at all. That cannot be the outcome intended by the General Assembly when it enacted the statutes governing public utilities and their relationship to local land use planning.”

The PUC found the whole situation “alleges sufficient controversy” to take up the case, said spokesman James Cullen. Now, the ongoing dispute enters that agency’s proceedings, the timeline of which is up in the air.

But the final decision may have ramifications on future issues involving regulation of the railroad. The last time regulatory authority over the D&SNG came up was in 2018 amid the 416 Fire when the county enacted fire restrictions that banned the use of coal-fired trains. The D&SNG, at the time, stopped using coal without much pushback, but there was a sense railroad officials didn’t believe the county had the ultimate authority in the matter.

In the meantime, the D&SNG has ceased major operations out of Rockwood. Despite losing those trips, the railroad reported one of its best years on record in 2021.

Because the case is active, representatives with D&SNG and La Plata County denied commenting for this story. ■

Nov. 4, 2021 n

9

ArtScene

A space of their own Smiley Building opens communal studios with new ‘ArtRoom’

by Denise Leslie

S

Justthefacts

ince my arrival in Durango a little over 12 years ago, I have worked in the arts community as the publisher of an arts magazine, director of Durango and Mancos Open Studio tours, coordinator for the Durango Gallery Association’s fall and spring art walks as well as community relations and sales at Sorrel Sky Gallery. So, one can imagine my excitement when I arrived at my ukulele studio – yes, I play and teach – located in the Smiley Building at 1309 E. 3rd Ave. to find a new creative space being developed by Smiley owner, Charles Shaw, and his crew.

Continuing with Shaw’s grand vision to transform the old Emory E. Smiley Junior High School into Durango’s most innovative meeting and office space, his

10 n Nov. 4, 2021

What: The ArtRoom @ The Smiley Opening Celebration When: Thurs., Nov. 4, 5-7 p.m.

Where: Smiley Building, 1309 E. Third Ave. latest project provides affordable art studios designed with an openness to offer collaboration and community. “We wanted to make affordable space for artists to create, and this is in alignment with the vision for our work,” Shaw said.

Twenty cubical-type spaces are divided by repurposed, wooden window panes from the Smiley Building to create The ArtRoom, in the space of the school’s old auditorium.

The new space sits on the main floor and houses artists creating everything from photography, paintings, drawings, pottery and jewelry to upholstery and architecture.

A public celebration and grand opening will be held in The ArtRoom today, Thurs., Nov., from 5 - 7 p.m. to showcase the artists, purchase their work and see the new space.

It’s truly a work of art.

Tenants of the new space are still evolving but here are a few to entice you to stop by and check out the space: • Sharon Abshagen: A Durango artist whom I’ve known for several years. Her plein air work is defined by its beauty. She’s a signature member of Plein Air Artists of Colorado and New Mexico and has been featured in numerous magazines.

• Thomas Bauer: An architect who spent 20 years with a large firm in Portland, Ore., designing sustainable projects for colleges and universities across the country. He

telegraph

arrived here and designs homes for clients who are committed to zero-energy solutions.

• Ray Martinez: After working in Durango as an accountant for several years and taking time off to travel, he is back showing us his true passion of telling stories through his unique style of photography.

• Bindu and Michael Hughes: The couple relocated to Durango five years ago from Jakarta, Indonesia, after completing a 30year professional career as middle school teachers in international schools. Previously creating in their garage, their new studio space showcases not only their great smiles but their talents through paintings, jewelry and leather crafts.

• Deb Rogers: With her pottery wheel and kiln, you can watch her create her environmentally inspired designs right in her studio space.

• Emily Lloyd at Violet Mae Upholstery: She brings color and fun to her creations – you won’t want to miss this one!

• Joe Schaefer: Inspired by the spiritual element of nature, Schaefer paints on sheet metal allowing for experimentation in mixed-media concepts from scraped, sanded, metals left to rust in the weather. In his work you’ll see canyons of the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains.

A complete list of artists with information will be available at the opening event on Thursday evening.

The Smiley Building is open daily and the Smiley Cafe serves up a mean cup of java, so I am going to encourage all to join this Thursday evening. And if you can’t make it, stop by, grab a cup of coffee and peruse the new space throughout the week.

MurderInk

Literature or cheap thrills?

European crime novel pushes genre to be taken seriously

by Jeffrey Mannix

W

e’re going back in time for one of the great French writers seasoned during the 1950/60s zenith of European crime fiction. It was a time when critics and pundits conducted heated disputes over whether genre novelists were encroaching on literature or simply dumbing down rich tradition for cheap thrills on boring train rides.

Sébastien Japrisot was born as Jean-Baptiste Rossi in 1931 in Marseille to an Italian immigrant family. His father abandoned them when he was 6 years old and he was sent to study with the Jesuits at the Ecole de Provence and later at the Lycée Theirs. There, he began writing his first novel “Les Mal-Partis” (Awakening), about a restive 14-year-old boy in a Jesuit school and his passionate love affair with a 26-year-old nun. The book was published in France in 1950 when he was 19, despite the salacious subject matter, or maybe because of it. The book was then published in the U.K. in 1951, then in the U.S. in 1952, where it sold 800,000 copies.

Japrisot then struggled to keep up with debt by working translating works from English to French, including several Hopalong Cassidy westerns, works by J.D. Salinger and advertisements. He even wrote and directed two short films. Owing substantial back taxes, his friend who managed the “Crime Club” at the still frontline Denoël publisher offered Rossi a big advance to write another crime novel. Not sure of success, despite the backing from Denoël, Rossi changed his name to Sébastion Japrisot, an anagram of his real name, so he wouldn’t be tarnished if his earlier successes were flukes and his new books turned out to be mediocre.

Within a short time at Denoël, Japrisot wrote “The Sleeping Car Murders” and “Trap for Cinderella,” which was awarded the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 1963. Both books were adapted into successful films, as were most of his future books. In 1992, Japrisot wrote “Le Passenger del La Pluie,” which was later translated into English as “Rider on the Rain” and published in the U.K. in 1999. On Oct. 5, the book was released for the U.S. market by Gallic Books.

Once again, our book savvy and expert independent book publicist in New York, Meryl Zegarek, sent along “Trap for Cinderella,” “Rider on the Rain” and “The Sleeping Car Murders” for Murder Ink habitués – prescient as she is that we Murder Inkers are getting tired of publisher conglomerates offering up books of 500 pages mimicking each other.

I hadn’t the time to read “The Sleeping Car Murders,” which I will start once this review is filed, but I read the other two and strongly recommend you read “Rider on the Rain” first. It’s a tidy paperback of 152 respectful pages, and it’s a nail-biter just as the old-timers were able to achieve without the modern literary pyrotechnics.

Mellie Mau is visiting her mother, Juliette, as she often does, in the seaside resort of Le Capdes-Pins, between Toulon and Saint-Tropez, now deserted for the season. It’s raining in this strip of a town of shuttered summer homes and tourist attractions paralleling a sandy beach battered by the angry Mediterranean. A notable event every day that parallels the striking of five o’clock in the early evening is a bus that stops across the road. This daily bus never has even a single passenger in winter when it stops at the bus stop in view of Juliette’s home, except today, a day Mellie is visiting.

As the bus moves away, it reveals a passenger she had not seen exit the bus, now standing in the rain as if turned to stone. “He is quite tall, with a shaven head, and seems uncertain, like someone arriving there for the first time. He is wearing a grey raincoat and carrying a red travel bag – one of those canvas overnight bags given away by airlines. Outside, the man hesitates, paying no attention to the raindrops running down his face. He looks at the sea. He even takes a few steps in the direction of the departed bus. And then, thinking better of it, he heads back toward the centre of the village.”

After saying her goodbyes to her mother, Mellie scurries to her blue Dodge Coronet station wagon. She drives slowly out of town down the long, deserted main street of Le Capdes-Pins. Only a locals’ bar is open, and in front of this bar the man from the bus with his red bag is standing motion-

less in the rain on the pavement. Their eyes meet through Mellie’s rain-streaked side window, and in her rearview mirror she watches him begin to walk in the direction she’s headed. At the end of the road leaving the village, Mellie’s longtime best friend Nicole is seen in her lighted boutique.

Mellie stops. She tries on a white dress with crystal buttons Nicole has been saving for her, and as she poses in the mirrors, the wet, menacing man from the bus with the red bag is outside leering through the window.

I’m out of space, and I want nothing more than to lead you through this exciting and nuanced story. So, after getting home, relaxing from a tense, rainy drive with a light supper, the man from the bus with the red bag is standing in front of her with one of her stockings pulled over his head. I’m not spoiling anything – we’re only on page 22 – by saying that Mellie is beaten and sexually assaulted.

After coming to and composing herself with brave resolve, Mellie hears a noise in the basement, takes one of her husband’s shotguns off the rack, loads two rounds of heavy buckshot, goes toward the faint noise she may be imagining in the cellar, sees the man from the bus, and shoots him dead.

Instead of calling the police, Mellie decides to load the carcass into her station wagon and throw it off a cliff into the sea. And that uncharacteristic decision is what makes this book very good.

One more thing that should pry $16 from your wallet.

The day after the killing, a soft-spoken and very intuitive Harry Dobbs shows up to investigate the disappearance of a wanted escapee from a mental hospital for the criminally insane.

And apropos to the $16, don’t forget to ask Maria’s Bookshop for your 15% Murder Ink discount.

Open enrollment is around the corner.

Apply for health insurance starting Nov Nov 1.

1.

970.335.2028 ## ) %"

$ %"

!& )

!

)(" $&) ")&' ))$ !

telegraph

Nov. 4, 2021 n 11

StufftoDo

Dancing Earth performance, 7:30 p.m., FLC Community Concert Hall. durangoconcerts.com.

Thursday04 Opening celebration for the Smiley Building’s ArtRoom, a creative space hosting artists and other creatives, 5-7 p.m., featuring live music, beverages & snacks. 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

GA-20 and JD Simo play, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Sunday07

Friends of the San Juans fundraiser, featuring the film “Stoke the Fire.” 5:30 & 8 p.m. showings, Durango Arts Center, 802 E 2nd Ave.

Veterans Benefit Breakfast, 9 a.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave.

Gary Watkins plays, 6-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Open Mic night, 4 p.m. every Sunday, Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Trivia night 6:30-8:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino Del Rio.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Open Mic, 1 p.m., Mancos Brewery.

The Movement, DNM & Vana Liya play, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Comedy Open Mic, 7 p.m., Olde Tymers Café, 1000 Main Ave.

Monday08

Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30-6:15 p.m. Online at: www.durangodharmacenter.org.

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

Beam Me Up Starlight Trivia, weekly 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Classic Movie Monday: Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), 6-8:30 p.m., Pine River Library, 395 Bayfield Center Dr.

Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 8-10 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.

There’s still time to catch DHS Troupe 1096’s production of “The Addams Family Musical,” a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family. The play is based on an original story about every father’s fear: Wednesday Addams, the 7 Rivers Farmers Market, 12 noon, La ultimate princess of darkness, has fallen in love with a “normal” boy. The Ad- Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave. Friends of the Library Book dams host a dinner for the boyfriend and his parents, and hijinks ensue. The Sale, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Durango show runs Nov. 4-6 and Nov. 12-13. For tickets, go to: troupe1096.weebly.com.

Bingo night, 5 p.m. every Tuesday, Public Library. All proceeds benefit Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Durango Public Library.

Friends of the Library Book Sale, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Durango Public Library. All proceeds benefit Acoustic Music Jam, 5-7 p.m., all instruments and Gary Walker plays, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Jean-Pierre Durango Public Library. styles welcome, 11th St. Station.

Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave.

Tuesday09

Friday05

“Addams Family: The Musical,” Oct. 29-Nov. 13, presented by Durango High School Troupe 1096. Tickets at: troupe1096.weebly.com.

Live music, 5:30-9:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon and The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave. “So The Thing That Happened Was…,” one woman show, showings at 7 p.m. & 8:30 p.m., Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr. Reeder & Spencer play, 7 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Saturday06 Hesperus Ski Patrol Ski Swap, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds. Gear check-in Nov. 4. Info. at: www.hesperusskipatrol.org.

#

"

! #

12 n Nov. 4 2021

"%

Girls on the Run of Western Colorado, featuring 5k run, 11 a.m. More info. at gotrwesterncolorado.org.

Durango COP26 Solidarity Rally for Climate Justice, 3 p.m., sidewalk outside Wells Fargo Bank, 200 W. College Dr. Live music, 5 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

Professional Women’s Network Inspirational Speaker Series with Heather Hooten, 5-6:30 p.m., Purple Cliffs Building, 1305 Escalante Drive.

Rotary Club of Durango, featuring La Plata County Commissioner Clyde Church, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.

Wednesday10

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Live music, 5 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Trivia night, 6 p.m., every Wednesday, Mancos Brewery.

Durango Tire Fire plays, 6 p.m., Fenceline Cider in Mancos.

San Juan Basin Archaeological Society, featuring Dr. Stephen H. Lekson on “Casas Grandes: Escaping Pueblo Space.” 7 p.m. More info. at SJBAS.org.

“So The Thing That Happened Was…,” one woman show, showings at 7 p.m. & 8:30 p.m., Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.

% $ !" !" " # telegraph

Zoso – The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience play, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

AskRachel

Corn-fused, road rage DNA & running w/scissors Interesting fact: “Can” is short for “canister,” so technically, any round container is a can, whatever the material. Any other shape is just a con.

Dear Rachel, Honey, I’m corn-fused. I have been jarring for more than 50 years my pickles, beets, corn and other veggies. Why do all you young folks keep calling it canning? I do not use a can and don’t even know why you call it that. Hope you can help me. Do you young’ins can or jar? Is there a video on using a can instead of a jar?

– Aunt Millie Dear Can’t-Do Attitude, Sweetie, the only thing jarring here is your sense of time. You can’t pin this one on the young’ins. Food preservation has always been called canning, and always will be called canning. You’ve been canning for a full 25% of the time since canning was invented, so you ought to know better. Canning is also called “putting up,” which coincidentally is what the kids these days do to people like you (and, increasingly, like me).

– Uncanny, Rachel Dear Rachel, Why do people feel the universal need to speed up when you try to pass them on the road? They were perfectly content going five miles under, until you affront them with the suggestion you might want to go the speed limit. That’s when they gun it. Then you end up

Ongoing After School Programs, thru Dec. 16 and starting again in 2022, Sunnyside & Ft. Lewis Mesa libraries. Info at: 375-3816.

Community Coat & Wool Sock Drive, thru Dec. 7, Outdoorsy, 934 Main Ave. Donations must be in good condition and clean.

Upcoming Green Business Roundtable, featuring Kent Curtis, CEO and President of First Southwest Bank, Nov. 10, 12 noon, Powerhouse Science Center.

Winter Artists Market, Nov. 12-13, 2 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave. Event takes place weekends in December “All Together Now,” cabaret show, 7 p.m. Nov. 12-13 & 2 p.m. Nov. 14, Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr. Electric Vehicle show & tell, Nov. 16, 1-2 p.m., Fort Lewis College’s charging stations at the south rim lot.

stuck in the passing lane in a dick-comparing contest with a tiny man in a big Ram until the oncoming semi forces you back into your lane.

Hypothetically speaking. Is there something in our genes that forces this behavior?

– Passing Fancy Dear Rarin, I’m reminded of the golden retriever my parents had when I was a kid. That dog would choke himself to be the one in front on a walk. Take him out by himself and he was fine – so long as he was in front of you. Take him out with another dog, and he would literally rather die of asphyxiation than fall behind, so long as he was in front when he kicked it.

– Man’s best friend, Rachel Dear Rachel, How are scissors handed, and why doesn’t it work when I try to cut a different direction other than straight ahead of me? It’s a simple mechanism. Two blades come together to cut something. It shouldn’t matter which fingers are doing it and which direction they’re pointing. But I couldn’t cut my way into a plastic bag just now, until I repositioned everything. What gives?

– Limping with Scissors Dear Rounded Tips, There are two types of people in the world: righthanded ones, and everyone else. Lefties using scissors ac-

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com tually push the blades apart, so they don’t cut clean and they don’t cut at all. I suppose it’s the same if you turn the scissors around. The only thing for it is to give up who you really are and teach yourself to do things with the world-dominant hand. I mean, unless you want to be the kind of person walking around with a muscly left hand and calling things “jarring” all the time.

– Cutting right to it, Rachel

Native American Heritage Month celebration, Nov. 17, 4-5 p.m., featuring dancers and singers, Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave. Holiday Bazaar, Nov. 20, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Riverhouse Children’s Center, 742 Florida Rd. Kid’s Winter Gear Consignment Sale, Nov. 20, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Riverhouse Children’s Center, 742 Florida Rd. Emily Scott Robinson plays, Nov. 20, 9 p.m., Sheridan Opera House, Telluride.

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

Email your stuff to: calendar@durango telegraph.com

The only algorithms we’ve got.

(And they’re not very good.)

Giving you the news the old-fashioned way since 2002

telegraph

Nov. 4, 2021 n 13

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): Are you still hoping to heal from psychological wounds that you rarely speak about? May I suggest that you consider speaking about them in the coming weeks? Not to just anyone and everyone, of course, but rather to allies who might be able to help you generate at least a partial remedy. The moment is ripe, in my opinion. Now is a favorable time for you to become actively involved in seeking cures, fixes and solace. Life will be more responsive than usual to such efforts.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The delights of self-discovery are always available,” writes author Gail Sheehy. I will add that those delights will be extra accessible for you in the coming weeks. In my view, you’re in a phase of super-learning about yourself.

You will attract help and support if you passionately explore mysteries and riddles that have eluded your understanding. Have fun surprising and entertaining yourself, Taurus. Make it your goal to catch a new glimpse of your hidden depths every day.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini novelist and philosopher Muriel Barbery says, “I find this a fascinating phenomenon: the ability we have to manipulate ourselves so that the foundation of our beliefs is never shaken.” In the coming weeks, I hope you will overcome any tendency you might have to manipulate yourself in such a way. In my view, it’s crucial for your mental and spiritual health that you at least question your belief system‚ and perhaps even risk shaking its foundation. Don’t worry: Even if doing so ushers in a period of uncertainty, you’ll be much stronger for it in the long run. More robust and complete beliefs will be available for you to embrace.

!

14 n Nov. 4, 2021

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In her book “Mathilda,” novelist Mary Shelley (17971851) has the main character ask, “What had I to love?”

And the answer? “Oh, many things: there was the moonshine, and the bright stars; the breezes and the refreshing rains; there was the whole earth and the sky that covers it.” I bring this to your attention in the hope of inspiring you to make your own tally of all the wonders you love. I trust your inventory will be at least 10 times as long as Mathilda’s. Now is a favorable time for you to gather all the healing that can come from feeling waves of gratitude, even adoration, for the people, animals, experiences, situations and places that rouse your interest and affection and devotion.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Our memories are always changing. Whenever we call up a specific remembrance, it’s different from the last time we visited that same remembrance‚ colored by all the new memories we have accumulated in the meantime. Over time, an event we recall from when we were 9 years old has gone through a great deal of shape-shifting in our memory, so much so that it may have little resemblance to the first time we remembered it. Is this a thing to be mourned or celebrated? Maybe some of both. Right now, though, it’s to be celebrated. You have extra power to declare your independence from any memories that don’t make you feel good. Why hold onto them if you can’t even be sure they’re accurate?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft. His flight marked the first time that NASA had ever used electronic computers. Glenn, who was also an engineer, wanted the very best person to verify the calculations, and that was Virgo mathematician Katherine Johnson.

In fact, Glenn said he wouldn’t fly without her involvement. I bring this to your attention, Virgo, because I believe the coming months will be a favorable time for you to garner the kind of respect and recognition that Katherine Johnson got from John Glenn. Make sure everyone who needs to know does indeed know about your aptitudes and skills.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): “If we’re not careful, we are apt to grant ultimate value to something we’ve just made up in our heads,” said Zen priest Kosho Uchiyama. In my view, that’s a problem all of us should always be alert for. As I survey my own past, I’m embarrassed and amused as I remember the countless times I committed this faux pas.

For instance, during one eight-month period, I inexplicably devoted myself to courting a woman who had zero interest in a romantic relationship with me. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because I’m concerned that right now, you’re more susceptible than usual to making this mistake. But since I’ve warned you, maybe you’ll avoid it. I hope so!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn author Asha Sanaker writes, “There is a running joke about us Capricorns that we age backwards. Having been born as burdened, cranky old people, we become lighter and more joyful as we age because we have gained so much practice in wielding responsibility. And in this way we learn, over time, about what are our proper burdens to carry and what are not. We develop clear boundaries around how to hold our obligations with grace.”

Sanaker’s thoughts will serve as an excellent meditation for you in the coming weeks. You’re in a phase when you can make dramatic progress in embodying the skills she articulates.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to an Apache proverb, “It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.”

If you act on that counsel in the coming weeks, you will succeed in doing what needs to be done. There is only one potential downfall you could be susceptible to, in my view, and that is talking and thinking too much about the matter you want to accomplish before you actually take action to accomplish it. All the power you need will arise as you resolutely wield the lightning in your hands.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): As author Denise Linn reminded us, “The way you treat yourself sends a very clear message to others about how they should treat you.” With that advice as your inspiration, I will ask you to deepen your devotion to self-care in the coming weeks. I will encourage you to shower yourself with more tenderness and generosity than you have ever done in your life. I will also urge you to make sure these efforts are apparent to everyone in your life. I am hoping for you to accomplish a permanent upgrade in your love for yourself, which should lead to a similar upgrade in the kindness you receive from others.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): To encourage young people to come to its shows, the English National Opera has offered a lot of cheap tickets. Here’s another incentive: Actors sing in English, not Italian or French or German. Maybe most enticing for audiences is that they are encouraged to boo the villains. The intention is to make attendees feel relaxed and free to express themselves. I’m pleased to give you Scorpios permission to boo the bad guys in your life during the coming weeks. In fact, I will love it if you are extra eloquent and energetic about articulating all your true feelings. In my view, now is prime time for you to show the world exactly who you are.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You have at your disposal a prodigiously potent creative tool: your imagination. If there’s a specific experience or object you want to bring into your world, the first thing you do is visualize it. The practical actions you take to live the life you want to live always refer back to the scenes in your mind’s eye. And so every goal you fulfill, every quest you carry out, every liberation you achieve, begins as an inner vision. Your imagination is the engine of your destiny. It’s the catalyst with which you design your future. I bring these ideas to your attention, dear Pisces, because November is Celebrate Your Imagination Month.

telegraph

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 www.durangotelegraph.com 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

Classes/Workshops

BodyWork

Spanish Classes Now accepting students for in-person beginner thru advanced Spanish. Call 970-309-5966 or visit the website at www.espanolahora.net

Lotus Path Healing Arts Offering a unique, intuitive fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue & Acutonics, 24 years of experience. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-201-3373.

ForSale

Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.

Announcements 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 AmeriCorps Role - Cooking Matters We are seeking to hire an AmeriCorps Program Coordinator to work with our team in Durango. The Cooking Matters AmeriCorps member will work with staff across Colorado to implement and support programs that teach parents and caregivers of children age 0-5 with limited food budgets to shop for and cook healthy meals. Submit your resume and cover letter to Laura Cornwell at lcornwell@strength.org or apply directly: https://bit.ly/2ZT50iP Ex. Assistant / Desktop Support Seccuro Group, offering complete managed IT services throughout the United States. Supporting the client’s IT department or working with their existing staff to provide network, security, and Help Desk support, including hardware/software, and application support. Seeking an individual for in-office executive assistant and/or Tier 1 & 2 desktop support. Please send resume to jobs@seccurogroup.com Work and Live near Pagosa Springs Tara Mandala Buddhist Retreat Center in Pagosa Springs, CO has 2 jobs open: Maintenance Staff and Resident Cook.

Apply online. No phone calls. https:// www.taramandala.org/connect/employ ment-opportunities/

massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 18/19/20. Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984

CommunityService

1993 Red Saab 900S Needs a loving home. Classic. Runs great. 34 mpg. 5-speed. Fun to drive in the mountains. $500.b Linda 970-7492995

2022 Youth Music Ambassador New Music in the Mountains Youth Ambassador Scholarship sponsored by

HaikuMovieReview ‘Nobody’ Eek! Loved this so much!

It has one of the best bus beat-down scenes ever – Lainie Maxson Bank of Colorado is an opportunity for junior and senior high school students with the desire to expand and enhance their musical knowledge and talent to win a scholarship worth an estimated $3,000/student. As a Music in the Mountains Youth Ambassador Scholarship recipient, students will receive a weekly private music lesson for 16 weeks, a monthly virtual lesson with one of the festival musicians and perform at a Music in the Mountains event. For info. go to: www.musicinthemountains.com

NewspaperOrigami

Blue Massage Table Gently used with head piece, cover, linens, $150. 970-382-2594.

Reruns Home Furnishings New inventory including nightstands, higher-top bistro tables, bar cart, side tables, nice rugs, dresser and several bookcases … Come in today! 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

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

Services RSE Handyman Service Home repair yard work odd jobs 970903-0449.

Harmony Cleaning and Organizing Residential, offices, commercial and vacation rentals, 970-403-6192.

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.

telegraph

Nov. 4, 2021 n 15

Work Where You Play FT & PT Positions Available

Receive a FREE season pass, buddy tickets, access to real deal, on-mountain discounts & more! ‹‹ Scan to view open positions.

Get ready to lose yourself.

Issue 18 of The Gulch is coming soon.

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

To find out about advertising opportunities or get a subscription, email: steve@gulchmag.com

16 n Nov. 4, 2021

telegraph