Steamboat Pilot, May 3, 2009

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HAYDEN CELEBRATES CENTURY OF HIGH SCHOOL | ROUTT C OUNTY 1D

FOCUSED ON BUSINESS

STILL IN THE GAME

Local workers look for ways to bring in jobs

Police officer reflects on baseball years SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2009

BUSINESS 3A

SPORTS 1C

VOLUME 122, NUMBER 42 • STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO • www.steamboatpilot.com

200 seek unity

Struggle with power Sustainability-minded candidates challenge YVEA board directors Brandon Gee

PILOT & TODAY STAFF

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS

Thinking the local electric utility is not committed enough to green business practices, a duo of Routt County women is vying for two of the three seats up for election this year on the Yampa Valley Electric Association Board of Directors. Current YVEA officials say the women’s claims are inaccu-

rate and unfair, and they point to recent survey results showing customers are satisfied with the utility and do not wish to pay higher rates to support additional investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Susan Holland and Megan Moore-Kemp are combining their campaigns and running on a platform promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. “I want to see YVEA become

more progressive about renewables and have more of a real plan about our future,” said Holland, owner of solar electric design and installation company Emerald Mountain Energy. In her third year vying for a board spot, Holland will challenge attorney Scott McGill in the race for the District 8 seat representing Steamboat Springs. Among her ideas, Holland See YVEA, page 8A

MATT STENSLAND/STAFF

Green energy advocates Susan Holland, right, and Megan Moore-Kemp think more can be done by the Yampa Valley Electric Association to increase the use of renewable energy sources.

Entering the real world Shrinking economy doesn’t hold back CMC graduates

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fter the last graduate from Colorado Mountain College’s local Alpine Campus crossed the stage Saturday, the real work began. Heading into a world with a depressed economy STORY BY and faced ZACH FRIDELL with the prospect of staying in a resort town with above-average cost of living, students are finding that answers aren’t coming easily. But several are realizing they may not need answers right away. Student Cody Spyker spoke during Saturday’s lively commencement, held in an overflowing ballroom at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel. Last week, Spyker said she finds herself ahead of the game. Spyker, from Glenwood Springs, graduated from high school a year early and finished her CMC coursework with an associate’s of the arts degree at the age of 19. “Even if I take a year off, I would be where I started off,” she said. Spyker said she’s looking at in-state, four-year colleges to finish her bachelor’s degree, perhaps after taking a year to study abroad or travel. The economy doesn’t factor heavily into her decisions, she said,

SUNDAY FOCUS

but “I am pursuing scholarships more than I would have a couple years ago.” “It’s better to be a student at this point in time than to try to get into the job corps,” Spyker said. Classmate Elise Kuczera, graduating with honors, said she also plans to continue her education, likely at a college in Maryland, where her parents now live. She said the economy is urging her to look for in-state tuition in Maryland, as well as additional scholarships. “I’m doing whatever I can to help my parents out and get scholarships, and work at a ski and snowboard shop or as a lifeguard,” she said. Kuczera earned an associate’s of the arts degree, as well as a certificate of occupational proficiency in ski and snowboard business.

Job security With jobs increasingly hard to find, graduate Ryan Fleming has a step up on the competition — he’s already employed in the job field he trained for. At age 33, Fleming knew he wanted a job in resort management. After three years at CMC, he graduated with an associate’s degree in resort management and a certificate in outdoor education, with honors. “I’m fully infected with the

JOHN F. RUSSELL/STAFF

Top: Ryan Fleming earned a degree in resort management, learning skills he already is applying as front desk manager at Pioneer Ridge. Bottom left: Cody Spyker, 19, got a head start by finishing high school a year early in Glenwood Springs and received an associate’s degree from CMC’s Alpine Campus on Saturday. Bottom center: Elise Kuczera graduated with an associate’s degree in the arts and said she plans to further her college education, likely in Maryland. Bottom right: Nicole Marcisofsky received an associate’s degree in outdoor education Saturday at CMC’s commencement ceremony.

See CMC, page 8A

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Immigrants rally for rights in Greeley Ivan Moreno

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GREELEY

About 200 people from across Colorado marched on the streets of downtown Saturday to call for immigration reform that would include the legalization of undocumented workers. Holding signs that read “Stop the Raids and the Oppression” and “Legalization Now,” the people marched to the county’s courthouse in a city where rally organizers say the Latino community is under attack by authorities. Greeley was the site of a federal raid at a meatpacking plant in late 2006, where 261 suspected undocumented workers were detained, and the district attorney has tried to pursue identity theft charges against dozens of others. “The day has come for the people waiting for us at the courthouse, the ones who call us undocumented and other names, to find out that unity exists,” Alonzo Barron Ortiz, one of the organizers, said to the crowd in Spanish before the march. The marchers, many of them Latino, began walking from Island Grove Park downtown as a Spanish song from a popular Mexican music group Los Tigres del Norte began to play, with the lyrics, “We’re more American than the sons of the Anglo-Saxons.” A few people at the courthouse met the marchers with signs that read “No Amnesty” and “American Jobs Are For Americans,” but there was no tension between the two groups. The afternoon march came a day after immigrants held similar rallies across the country. “We see the national problem of immigration reflected locally in Greeley. Greeley is the microcosm,” said Ortiz, an organizer with the immigrant advocacy group, Al Frente de Lucha, which means “At the Front of the Fight.”

Regional airport sees fewer passengers Season numbers better than expected; capacity to decline slightly for 2009-10 Blythe Terrell

PILOT & TODAY STAFF

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS

Yampa Valley Regional Airport experienced a season-overseason passenger decrease this year, but officials said they were pleased with how traffic shook out. December through March deplanements, or arriving pasPAGE DESIGNED BY STEVEN RECKINGER

sengers, decreased 14.7 percent compared with the same period in 2007-08. December through March enplanements, or departing passengers, decreased 12.5 percent. Officials expect the flight capacity to decrease for the 2009-10 ski season. Airport Manager Dave Ruppel hastened to say that 2007-08 was a banner season. “If we look at the last five

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years, (2008-09) was about an average year for us,” he said. Early in the season, YVRA officials expected the numbers to be worse than the final tallies showed, Ruppel said. “In December looking at it, we were thinking we might see those numbers up in the plus-20 area,” he said about the decrease in flight loads. “As things developed, we found that more peo-

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Cloudy with storms. High of 54. Page 2A

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ple traveled than what we had expected. The bookings just didn’t happen until right before people traveled.” Although traffic didn’t plummet, people’s spending patterns appear to have changed, Ruppel said. “The impact is felt more MATT STENSLAND/STAFF strongly on some of our conces- DeAnna Roberts unloads a bag from a United Airlines flight Friday afternoon at See Airport, page 8A

VIEWPOINTS LAST WEEK: Should the city relax its dog leash laws? Results/5A THIS WEEK: Should Colorado have a law requiring cell phone users to use hands-free devices while driving?

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Yampa Valley Regional Airport. Officials say they were pleased with the amount of traffic at the airport during the 2008-09 ski season given the state of the economy.

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