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Sunday, October 25, 2009
Volume 123, Number 15 • Steamboat Springs, Colorado • www.steamboatpilot.com
700 proceeds during petition Development’s project manager says signature drive was not a surprise Brandon Gee
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Danny Mulcahy continues to host breakfast meetings and methodically attempts to build support for Steamboat 700 throughout the community. But don’t expect to see any major campaign efforts promoting the project while a group of citizens tries to col-
lect enough signatures to challenge the Steamboat Springs City Council’s annexation of the development. “We’ve always known a petition was an option of the electorate, and we respect that,” said Mulcahy, Steamboat 700 principal and project manager. “It wasn’t a surprise. … We’ve accommodated it, actually.” A referendum issue on this fall’s ballot seeks to lower the
city’s referendum threshold to match the state’s requirement that petitioners collect signatures from 10 percent of registered voters. As part of Steamboat 700’s annexation agreement, the current City Council and Steamboat 700 developers agreed that the 10 percent threshold, as opposed to the city’s charter requirement of 20 percent, would be sufficient in the event of a peti-
tion drive. The city’s annexation agreement with Steamboat 700 also requires that the developer pay all the costs of a referendum election, if it occurs. Steamboat 700 is a 487-acre annexation approved by the Steamboat Springs City Council on Oct. 13 in a 4-3 vote. It proposes about 2,000 homes and Matt Stensland/staff 380,000 square feet of commer- Let’s Vote committee member Tim Rowse watches Steamboat Springs resident Eugene Buchanan sign a petition Saturday to put the Steamboat 700 annexation to a vote. Petitioners must collect at least 829 signatures to trigger the referendum process.
See 700, page 7A
Reviving a dream
Steps taken vs. flu
Retired drama teacher Rusty de Lucia heads for Peace Corps
I
n 1965, Rusty de Lucia received an acceptance letter from the Peace Corps inviting her to teach English in Thailand. The day before that letter arrived, she signed a contract to Story by teach English Margaret Hair at a middle school in New York. De Lucia put the Peace Corps on hold for her succeeding 40-plus-year career as an educator, but she never forgot her adventurous dream. Not long after her second retirement in June 2008, de Lucia started filling out her second Peace Corps application. “I don’t know what it’s like to sit still,” said de Lucia, who retired to Steamboat Springs in 1997 before spending 10 years teaching English and theater at Steamboat Springs Middle School. She first came to Routt County in 1955 to study acting at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp with her mentor, Charlotte “Kingo” Perry. De Lucia got a final accep-
H1N1 virus declared national emergency Philip Elliott
The Associated Press
sunday focus
WASHINGTON
Matt Stensland/staff
Rusty de Lucia, a longtime Steamboat Springs resident who has been active in the theater community throughout the years, will join the 5 percent of volunteers who are older than 50 in the Peace Corps’ approximately 7,500-person force. She is appearing in “Kimberly Akimbo” at 7 p.m. today at the Depot Art Center.
tance to spend the next two years assisting young teachers in the landlocked South African nation Lesotho at the end of the summer, and she leaves Steamboat on Nov. 1
for training. A 67-year-old native of the Bronx borough of New York, de Lucia will join the 5 percent of volunteers who are older than 50 in the Peace Corps’
approximately 7,500-person force. Energetic and eager to pursue the “thrill and adventure of traveling” that kept the service organization on her mind for more than four
decades, de Lucia said she’s prepared for Lesotho’s most rugged living conditions. The Peace Corps assign See de Lucia, page 10A
Stablemen lead food drive Brothers hope to collect 1,000 pounds of food for LIFT-UP Brandon Gee
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
As former construction workers, brothers Ron and Victor Medina know firsthand the struggles many are facing during the recession of Steamboat’s construction- and real-estate-fueled economy. With gratitude for their steady jobs today as foremen John F. Russell/staff Ron Medina, left, and his brother Victor Medina have led a food drive at the Sidney at the Sidney Peak Ranch Peak Ranch after being inspired by efforts at the Steamboat Christian Center to raise a Equestrian Center, the two men are leading an effort that ton of food for LIFT-UP of Routt County. Page designed by Laura Mazade
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there’s horses, we’ll have a job.” Last year, the equestrian center and its boarders collected food, animal litter, toys and money for the Steamboat Springs Animal Shelter. This year’s food drive was suggested by Ron Medina, who was inspired by Steamboat Christian Center’s efforts to raise a ton of food — literally — for LIFT-UP. “I figured, why don’t we do something to help out?” said Ron Medina, who said he was See Food drive, page 7A
DELIVERY PROBLEM?
LAST WEEK: Do you plan to vote for Brian Kelly or Bill Kennedy for the District 1 seat on the Steamboat Springs School Board? Results/5A THIS WEEK: Should the Steamboat Springs City Council sign a three-year lease with New West Inns to operate the Iron Horse Inn?
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has two large water troughs overflowing with rice, cereal, oatmeal, peanut butter, pasta and other groceries to be donated to the LIFT-UP of Routt County Food Bank. “I’ve had to have people help me in the past,” said Victor Medina, who previously worked in Denver but has been with Sidney Peak Ranch for about two years. “Now that I’m fortunate enough to have what I have, I think it’s appropriate for me to give back to the community. … As long as
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President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients. The declaration, signed Friday night and announced Saturday, comes with the disease more prevalent than ever in the country and production delays undercutting the government’s initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses of the vaccine could be available by mid-October. Health authorities say more than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the strain of flu known as H1N1, and 46 states have widespread flu activity. So far, only 11 million doses have gone out to health departments, doctor’s offices and other providers, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials. Administration officials said the declaration was a pre-emptive move designed to make decisions easier when they need to be made. Officials said the move was not in response to any single development. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius now has authority to bypass federal rules when opening alternative care sites, such as offsite hospital centers at schools or community centers if hospitals seek permission. Some hospitals have opened drive-thrus and drive-up tent clinics to screen and treat swine flu patients. The idea is to keep infectious people out of regular emergency rooms and away from other sick patients. Hospitals could modify patient rules — for example, requiring See Obama, page 10A
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