The Independent Issue 52 by The Independent Student Press

The

Fort Lewis College News Magazine

Issue 52

FINANCIAL AID AND STUDENT

DEBT R E TA I L MARIJUANA RIVER OF LOST SOULS AND MORE...

December 2013 FREE

Stacye Heaton

Haley Pruitt

Ayla Quinn EDITOR IN CHIEF

LEAD PRINT DESIGNER

VISUAL EDITOR

Lindsy Fuller Livia Hooson Ciarra Krening Meagan Prins Cover photo by Hana Mohsin

VISIT US on the web for breaking news, daily campus and community updates, sports, and much more!

CHIEF COPY EDITOR

Aimee Gardere

Chloe Eckerman

Emily Fagerberg

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Deanna Atkins Madi Bates Bob Brockley Alexa Chance Taylor Ferraro Meghan Olson Julia Volzke

SOCIAL MEDIA

Emily Griffin

Hana Mohsin

Carter Solomon FINANCIAL MANAGER

PHOTOGRAPHY

REPORTING

LEAD ONLINE DESIGNER

SOCIAL MEDIA VISUAL EDITOR

Rise Fujita Livia Hooson Christian Bachrodt Anthony Martin

Allie Hutto

Graeme Johnston

Alie Pallat SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

Makenzie Rennick Shannon Roe Jaimee Souder

BUSINESS DIRECTOR

Andrew Mangiona

NEWS EDITOR

SOCIAL MEDIA COPY EDITOR

COPY EDITING

DESIGN

Trevor Ogborn

Editors & Staff

BUSINESS

PUBLIC RELATION DIRECTOR

www.theindyonline.com

Campus News History of the Ballantine Media Center

Dear Indy Readers,

Story by Deanna Atkins

Community News

Save Money

COVER

Health

Green

Entertainment

Host Family Program Story by Madi Bates

The College Budget: Eating Healthy on $10 a Day Story by Emily Griffin Federal Financial Aid and the Accumulation of Student Debt Story by Taylor Ferraro

Retail Marijuana Stores Coming Soon to Durango; No New Businesses First Year Story by Bob Brockley History, Health and Diversions of the River of Lost Souls Story by Meghan Olson

Horoscopes, Crossword, Album Review, Recipe, and Indy on the Street

As my time at The Indy grows short and the the end of the semester approaches, I am finally realizing how lucky I have been to be a part of such an amazing team. I never thought the end would be so bittersweet, but as I look back at all of the opportunities The Independent has provided me, all of the great friendships that have come about from being a staff member and all the hours I spent editing each and every word of every issue for the last 3 years, I can truly admit that I will miss it. I call The Indy a team rather than a class or a club, because it really is a team. We push each other to do better and better as each issue and each semester passes, and in my six semesters on staff I have seen a progression like no other. In just three short years, The Indy went from print, to launching an amazing online edition and now a broadcast edition covering the latest FLC news. I will miss the weekends I spend in the Media Center, a place I have come to feel to be my personal apartment, the late night text messages from Trevor about how a story has finally come in, and the multiple times I go through a proof with Graeme to make sure every single word is spelled correctly. But as I move on, I want to leave you all with one message. As corny as it sounds, cherish the times that you get to spend in college. Freshman - feel lucky that school isn’t too hard right now, and enjoy your down time and freedom. Sophomores - start getting a little bit more serious about your education, that is why you’re here. Juniors - don’t spend all of your time working and worrying about class and bills and rent or how you’re going to pay for your groceries this week (that’s what student loans are good for), and lastly, seniors - embrace these good times that you are given, surrounded by your friends and the people you truly care about, because once the real world hits, it’s a whole different ball game. Thank you to our dedicated readers, we appreciate you and we hope one day you may join our team. I can promise you you won’t find a better group to be a part of !

From the Editor’s Desk

CONTENTS

Adios and party on, Emily Griffin Chief Copy Editor

Connect with us!

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Campus News

History of the

Story by Deanna Atkins

he Ballantine Media Center, dedicated to Fort Lewis College by Richard Ballantine, one of the Center’s benefactors and chairman of the board at The Durango Herald, is home to several different student-run media organizations. The idea to add the Media Center came from the observations that all of the student-run media groups, KDUR, The Independent, Images Magazine and Intertribal News, were spread out across campus and needed to be centralized, said Michele Malach, the radio practicum instructor and an associate professor of English at FLC. Ballantine believed it would be helpful to get all of the publications in one area so that they could be connected and grow together, he said in a phone interview. The media center was also planned to utilize more space in the fact that all the publications could work out of one building instead of several where they would need their own newsrooms and computer labs, said Faron Scott, FLC Professor of English. “The trend at the time in journalism was to have a converged newsroom,” Scott said Planning for the Media Center went along with the plans to upgrade the Student Union Building and seemed like a good idea to bring the media together, Ballantine said. Ballantine, along with several other private contributors, gave the college around $5 million towards the Student Union Building and the Media Center, both of which opened on Sept. 6, 2011, he said. Ballantine said he is very pleased with the centrally located space and the possibility for the publications to be advertised through KDUR that reaches the public and announces pieces of news as well. Having a radio component to the publications is something Ballantine believes has not been done before at the campus and would like to see it happen and at some point a video component would be in place as well with growing the media, he said. Ballantine believes that news today is a complementary combination of print, audio and video, and because the several campus

Photos by Trevor Ogborn and Andrew Mangiona medias are now together in one room, this might be an option in the future, he said. Ballantine’s parents, specifically his mother Morley Ballantine, realized the changing nature in communications to provide more complementary work and provided money to start the Center of Southwest Studies followed by the contributions to the Media Center, he said. The committee knew the joining of the media on campus would be a good idea, the only decision left to be made was where the space would be and how big it would be, he said. During the plan for the remodel of the Student Union, the Media Center was one of the first ideas presented and was to be included from the start, Scott said. “The original Student Union was going to be in the quad, it was going to be a brand new building, but because of issues at the time they decided to remodel the existing one instead,” she said. With that decision, the planning for the media center needed to be downsized and room changes were made and taken out, she said. “Overall everyones space was going to be bigger and everyone had to downsize when we moved into the renovation instead of the new building because the renovation was smaller,” she said. There were several meetings with the architects from Boston who remodeled the Student Union to make a plan to fit the space that would work for each media, she said. “The plans were constantly changing,” she said. KDUR FLC’s radio station, KDUR, got its start as a club in 1975 when a group of students wanted a station on campus, Malach said. “Jim Vlasich started it because he saw a need for a radio station,” said Bryant Liggett, the station manager at KDUR. The students involved started with their own equipment and record players, Malach said.

“For the first few years, it was just a 10 watt radio station, which means it covered campus,” she said. According to Malach, after students asked for and received an advisor, KDUR became an official Registered Student Organization. As the group held fundraisers and were given money from the college, the station was able to bump their signal to 150 watts and then eventually 6,000 watts, Liggett said. Before the remodel of the Student Union Building in 2011, KDUR was first located upstairs by the ballroom, then moved to a corner room in the basement of the union, Malach said. KDUR continued to be run by students until 1987, when it received its first hired professional position, station manager, she said. “In 1994, we hired our second staff member, which was the program director,” she said. During the remodel of the Student Union, Malach said that KDUR moved to two trailers located next to the Mears apartments, next to the The Independent and the Environmental Center trailers, before finally moving to the new media center. “April 1, 2009 was my first day here and the day we moved from upstairs to the trailers by Mears,” Liggett said. According to Liggett, relocating to the trailers was hard because of so much equipment that had to be moved but KDUR had managed to remain on air the entire time. “We have 3,000 cd’s to move, so it wasn’t easy,” he said. Since then, the move to the Media Center has allowed for a larger, nicer, operation space with more visibility, Malach said. “We were able, with the new space, to get grant money and things to buy more equipment,” she said. The Media Center has provided KDUR not only with a bigger space, but two production rooms and a control room with three mics and staff offices, Malach said According to Malach, KDUR has four professional positions and all of its djs are a mixture of student and community volunteers who do music shows of all kinds. Because of the visibility that the Media Center provides, Malach said the student participation has seen an increase both in radio dj’s and the radio practicum class Images Magazine The student run Images Magazine is a literary work magazine that annually publishes a variety of students short literary work, including flash fiction, poems, song lyrics, pictures and more, said Kelli Knight, treasurer of Images Magazine, in an email interview. Knight said the earliest copy of the magazine in their office dates from 1996. Images is advised by Shawn Fullmer, an associate professor of English and is student run and organized, she said. Knight said Images holds all its meetings in the office within the media center and is able to look over their materials and submissions before publication. Images accepts entries informally through editors emails and the layout is designed by students, said Steve Meyers, visiting professor of English. “It has been understood to be the literary magazine of the col-

lege and it has always had illustrations,” he said. Images Magazine did not have a designated meeting area until the Ballantine Media Center was created, giving the magazine its first office space to work out of, Malach said. “We knew that Images has a cycle where they need to go through materials and need some locking doors so that they can look at their submissions and not have to pick anything up or leave it out on a table,” Scott said. The Media Center’s spaces provided a room for exactly that, she said. Intertribal News Intertribal News was a student-run organization that reported both general and Native American events on campus, local events and reviews, said Majel Boxer, a Native American and Indigenous Studies professor. Intertribal News has not been printing for the last two years since its advisor, Dr. Rick Wheelock, retired, Boxer said. “Prior to these last two years, it had been a print publication that Dr. Wheelock oversaw and it had been around for about 30 years,” she said. According to Boxer, Intertribal News operated out of the Center of Southwest Studies and was funded by the Ottens Foundation. It was planned to be included with the remodel of the media center from the start. “The Ottens foundation, in the past, is a grant through the Native American Center, so Yvonne Balinski manages the grant, and in years prior we were a budget line item within the Ottens Foundation,” she said. Boxer said Intertribal News started out as a lower and upper division level course, held within the American Indian Studies major, now called the Native American and Indigenous Studies, where the students were able to write articles, edit and put together the newspaper. The product of these students’ combined work was the Intertribal News, she said. “It was a specialty of Dr. Wheelock’s because his background is in journalism and, as a journalist, he had a special passion for intertribal news,” she said. Since Dr. Wheelock, Boxer said that a replacement position was hired, but their specialty was not in journalism. The Native American and Indigenous Studies department was then tasked in finding applicants with a specialty in journalism. But at the time, the department did not find an applicant to fit their needs, so Intertribal was not able to operate for the past two years, she said. But this may soon change, she said. “We have been approved to hire a new faculty member, a tenure track professor, for the fall of 2014,” she said. Even though the job description hasn’t been fully developed, the department is searching for someone that can work with emerging media, written and oral traditions, and Native American literature, she said. Boxer said the department would like to see an applicant that has the skills needed to start the publication back up again and even base it more online.

The KDUR studio, one of the media outlets located in the Ballantine Media Center.

Community News Story by Madi Bates

Graphics by Rise Fujita

Photo courtesy of Ryan Mullen

Charles Burnham (left) initiates his host student, Ryan Mullen (right), into the Mount Madison Volunteer Ski Patrol.

he Host Family Program at Fort Lewis College helps to connect new students at FLC with families from around town, and as word spreads about the great connections made between host families and students, even students who are not freshman or transfer are joining in. The program is the brainchild of Charles and Mary Sue Burnham, who are both members of the Professional Associates of FLC, said Kriss Larsen, the assistant to the vice president of student affairs and liaison with the Steering Committee of the Host Family Program. Both Burnhams agreed that the program would be a good idea to implement at FLC, Charles Burnham said. Glenna Sexton, FLC vice president for student affairs, approved their program proposal and agreed to help get the program started, he said. 28 student participants are international, predominantly from Japan, Larsen said. Japanese students come from Waseda University, where the program is extremely well known, Larsen said. Students of Waseda hear about the positive experiences that the students who went to FLC had, and often want to go as well to participate in the Host Family Program, she said. Forty-four students come from within the United States, using the program to get to know the Durango area more, Larsen said. “Even a student from Farmington can feel far from home,” Chuck Carson, a member of the Professional Associates of FLC and part of the program, said. The program’s goal is to create friendships with locals for students who are unfamiliar with the area, Carson said. The program was implemented in the fall of 2008, and now has 72 new students enrolled in the program, Larsen said. About 90 host families participate in the program. Forty-five host families took in new students this fall, while the rest continued to maintain relationships with older students, Charles Burnham said. “A reason we started it was to help retention – to give students who are a long way from home a little sense that somebody in town cares about them,” Carson said. “And hopefully, indirectly, if Fort Lewis is a good fit for them, will hopefully stay.” Around 12 of the 90 host families are FLC alumni, Charles Burnham said. Chuck Carson has been a member of the Professional Associates for 10 years, which is a group of accomplished volunteers who bring their expertise to assist the college through mentoring students and helping out with programs on campus, Larsen said. Chuck and Cheryl Carson, also members of the Professional Associates, are on the program’s Steering Committee which helps to plan activities, resolve problems and match students to families, Chuck Carson said. The program sponsors many events for students and host families, including a program table at the convocation picnic which gives parents and host families a chance to meet, Larsen said. They have a reception two weeks later for host families and students, as well as events at Family Weekend, which provides another opportunity for host families and the student’s families to meet, Larsen said. This is a good opportunity for host families and students to create the relation-

ships, as it is the program’s job to facilitate communication between host family and student, Larsen said. Aside from these events, it is up to the host family and student to plan times to get together, Larsen said. Host families often take their students to explore the town and the Four Corners Area, Carson said. The Carsons plan many activities for their students, including pumpkin carvings, dinners at home or at a restaurant and trips to Mesa Verde, he said. Additionally, host families can be support for their students, Carson said. Host families may serve as a local resource if they need medical help, have car problems or need a place to store their bookcases over the summer, Carson said. Paige Hickman, a junior, dislocated her shoulder twice in her freshman year and called her host family to take her to the hospital, Hickman said. “They provided a support system that I could call if I was in trouble or needed anything,” Hickman said. Al Harper, owner of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, maintains a friendship with the college and donates to the program a train ride up to Cascades and back, Larsen said. “Many of us who care about the college are interested in students, in student contacts,” Carson said. The program gains great amounts of its notoriety through word of mouth, which is how most of the host families became involved, Burnham said. “Often when we do something with a host student, we get friends of the host student or roommates that come along,” Carson said. “We end up then with contacts of students who aren’t even in the program, and they become friends of ours on campus.” Barbara Shore, a host for the program, heard about the program through her neighbors, who encouraged her to participate given her history of hosting foreign exchange students, Shore said. Shore is one of many host families who like to create meaningful connections with students. Every Thursday night, Shore has her host students over for ice cream and to watch television, she said. This tradition started when her students asked to come over to watch Greys Anatomy on her television. “It was never awkward,” said Shawnee Kessel, a sophomore who was Shore’s host student. “It was always just a part of the family.” Kessel said that she looks forward to going to Shore’s house every week. “I am in my 80s, and it keeps me young,” Shore said. Shore builds lifetime friendships with her students and it often becomes a reciprocal relationship, she said. When she was in Germany, an old student who was involved with the Host Family Program played host to her by showing her around different parts of Germany, Shore said. Sometimes relationships do not always form well between students and host families, while other relationships blossom into life-long friendships, Burnham said. “The host family program connects you automatically with students,” Carson said. “That relationship may or may not build, but the ones that do build explode like crazy.”

Save Money

The College Budget:

Story and Photos by Emily Griffin Graphics by Graeme Johnston

Shopping list:

e all know that eating healthy while in college is not exactly the easiest thing to do, and more often than not, it seems easier to just pay for food at a restaurant then take the time to sit down and cook a meal. Eating organic on top of being healthy seems like a feat that is too difficult to try. Throughout my undergraduate career, I have gone from eating out every meal to eating packets of rice every meal, they are only 99 cents, so it seemed like a good idea. But eventually, eating that way becomes extremely unsustainable, both health wise and financially. When I ate only rice, I was consuming mass amounts of caffeine because the food I was taking in was not sustainable for my body and my lifestyle, and when I ate out every day, my bank account wasn’t very thrilled. Once I began working at a health food store and became more and more educated on how my poor eating habits were affecting my livelihood, from my education and health to my overall happiness, I slowly started making the change to a mostly organic, home-cooked (minus the occasional sushi run) healthy lifestyle. At first, it was too expensive. I wouldn’t plan out my meals, and I would go to the grocery store almost every other meal, running a $15 bill multiple times a day. Talk about even more unsustainable. Finally, I pushed to make it work on $10 a day, and now I eat 95 percent of my meals at home, and they are roughly 70 percent organic. Are you up for the challenge? My tricks of the trade are as follows: buy in bulk, buy only what you are going to eat, plan out your meals, and utilize the leftovers as much as possible. For me, a standard day starts with a sprouted english muffin with almond butter, a banana and some type of berry (raspberries are my favorite.) Lunch is usually a salad or a wrap. In my wraps, I use the leftover of the night before if it makes sense, and add some extra fresh veggies in with it. On Sunday nights, I make a crockpot full of soup, which I eat for a few dinners and lunch as well, if my roommates don’t get to it first. This week I made 15-bean and vegetable soup, check out the Indy Online for the recipe and photos. Dinner is where I really indulge. This week I made veggie fajitas, quinoa stuffed bell peppers with sauteed mushrooms and arugula salad, soup, and homemade ramen noodles with tofu and vegetables. I snack throughout the day, usually on carrots and hummus (which is occasionally homemade as well), apples, and raw almonds. How much better do these meals sound than a dollar menu hamburger that doesn’t fill you up? You can see my grocery list here, and I only had to go to City Market and Natural Grocers. I encourage you to change your lifestyle, I guarantee you will feel much better, work a lot harder and feel fuller and more sustained throughout the day.

Veggie Fajitas: 1 can refried black beans (organic) ½ Red Bell pepper and ½ Green pepper Cilantro, Onion, garlic, olive oil, avocado tomato and sprouted tortilla (used leftovers for a wrap the next day) Ramen Noodles: ⅓ package ramen noodles Vegetable Broth Celery Chopped Carrots Green Onions Chopped garlic

Stuffed Bell Peppers: 2 Bell peppers quinoa basil olive oil chopped garlic cherry tomatoes

Cover Story

Federal

FINANCIAL AID and the Accumulation of

Story by Taylor Ferraro

he substantial increase in tuition costs across the board have contributed to the accumulation of student debt. Through private student loans and federal aid, students seeking financial support are able to acquire funding needed to cover tuition fees as well as living expenses. The Office of Financial Aid helps students plan, financially, before coming to school at Fort Lewis College, Tracey Piccoli, an Interim Director at the Office of Financial Aid, said. The Office of Financial Aid helps make sure students will be financially stable through the semester, she said. “We can help the student fill out the FAFSA, look into private sources for loans, fill out the paperwork for a parent loan, and finally we can help find private scholarships offered by clubs and organizations that they may be associated with,” she said. The Office of Financial Aid is also trying to push financial literacy and teach students how to plan for the four years spent in college, Piccoli said. “We are also really trying to encourage students to graduate in four years because the cost of an extra fifth or sixth year can be huge,” she said. Loan debt is something that needs to be considered. It is easy to look short term and borrow $5,000 per year, but after four years it adds up and the student eventually has to pay that debt off, it’s something to keep in mind, she said. “As with any debt, you will have to pay it back, it’s a bill that you have and could affect your eligibility for buying a car or house depending on how high that debt is,” said Barbara Martin, the associate director of Admission and

Graphics by Graeme Johnston Advising. “The other side of that is that sometimes student debt is the first debt a student has and it actually helps establish a credit rating.” To become financially literate, students need to be aware of their current situation, understand their individual finances, and budget accordingly, she said. To be eligible to receive financial aid on the federal, state, and college level, students need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. “If students are wanting to take out federal loans and receive financial aid, they have to fill out the FAFSA to determine their loan eligibility,” said

Information on Federal Student Aid. Students who complete the FAFSA are eligible for financial aid and automatically considered for Stafford Loans, she said. The FAFSA is used to determine the amount of the student’s Expected Family Contribution. The EFC is based on the specific financial situation of the student and of the student’s family’s financial situation as well. The FAFSA will also determine whether the student is eligible for the Federal Subsidized Loan, the Federal Unsubsidized Loan or the Federal Perkins Loan, she said. A Federal Subsidized Loan is subsidized by the federal government meaning that the government pays the interest on the loan while the student is in school; this also applies to the Federal Perkins loans, Piccoli said. Federal Perkins Loans have a fixed interest rate of 5 per-

cent, where the Federal Subsidized Loan has an interest rate of 3.6 percent for undergraduates and 5.41 percent for graduates. All students who have filled out the FAFSA are eligible to apply and receive Federal Unsubsidized Loans because it is not a need-based loan. For Federal Unsubsidized loans, the student is responsible for paying interest on the loan from the date the loan is disbursed, she said. The average FLC undergraduate borrows $12,500 throughout their college career, Piccoli said. For the 2012-2013 school year, 56 percent of the undergraduates at FLC borrowed through federal loan programs, said Richard Miller, the executive director of Institutional Research. This excludes all institutional, state, private alternative loans and parent loans, he said. The funding for student loans comes from the federal government. There are also private loans outside of the FAFSA process that students may apply for, Piccoli said. The Stafford and Federal loan programs are all federal loans, meaning that the government provides the funding, she said. “The federal government provides and facilitates most student loans, work-study, and parent loans,” Miller said. This year, FLC met 90 percent of the demonstrated financial need, he said.

are willing to work with the borrower. In the end, it is more expensive for the lender if the student defaults on the loan, Piccoli said. One option that the servicer can provide the borrower with before defaulting on the loan is forbearance, she said. “If you don’t get that great paying job six months after graduation, you can get forbearance which allows you a delay on making payments,” she said. Students who default on student loans risk federal aid for future students at the school, she said. Federal funding for FLC is based on a default rate that is published every year. The higher the rate, the more sanctions or penalties the school receives, meaning that the default rate for FLC is increased, Piccoli said. “FLC’s default rate is fairly low compared to the average,” she said. The current default rate is based on students who have defaulted on student loans over a period of time. The government publishes a three-year default rate, she said. “We just received the 2010 default rate which is what our funding is based on for the 2013-2014 school year,” she said. Student awareness and managing debt is very important because it directly affects federal funding for current and future students, she said.

Paying off student loans.

Past Funding

Students do not have to start making payments on federal loans until six months after graduation, Piccoli said. “A student borrowing $12,500 would have approximately a $140-$150 payment per month,” she said. “When you reach your last semester and have applied for graduation, any student that has a student loan is required to do student exit counseling,” Piccoli said. The Office of Financial Aid offers student exit counseling online, individually or at the countdown to graduation fair, she said. “Once students have gone through exit counseling, they get all of the information on their loans and find out who their servicer is,” Piccoli said. The student is automatically set up on a 10-year repayment schedule but there are other payment options as well, she said. “We try and emphasize the importance of staying in contact with your servicer,” Piccoli said. “If you are having problems making payments or you need a new plan, they are willing to work with you before you default on that loan.” After so many months of not making a payment on a federal loan, the student goes into default, she said. Before defaulting on a loan, talk to the lender. The lenders

The loan programs are much different than they were 24 years ago, Piccoli said. “When I first started working here, the maximum amount of money a student could borrow per year was $2,625,” she said. If the student was over 24 years old, he or she could borrow an additional $4,000 to the $2,625 traditional students were offered, Piccoli said. At that point, there was not the option to take out a subsidized or an unsubsidized loan, it was just one Stafford program, she said. “The cost of getting an education has become more expensive, but I’m not sure if it has changed how the student feels about their college experience,” she said. As a whole, families have to consider cost when looking at different colleges, and it has become a major consideration, she said. “Whether change in cost has made a huge impact on the college experience, I wouldn’t know,” she said. “ But, students really have to weigh the pros and cons if they are looking at going to college out of state.”

Health

MARIJUANA

Stores Coming Soon to Durango; No New Businesses First Year Story By Bob Brockley

Amendment 64 allows for four distinct types of businesses to be licensed, including cultivation, testing and labeling, product manufacturing (edibles and extracts), and retail. Of these, Smith is recommending only that only retail be permitted within the city limits. “We just feel that retail is plenty,” said Smith to the Council. Under the recommendation, commercial growing in the city would be limited to the one grandfathered cultivation business in the Tech Center, and there would be no licensing of testing facilities. MAIN AV

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edicinal marijuana dispensaries in Durango may be selling pot to the general public this summer, ending a temporary ban that Durango governments imposed to study the implementation of Amendment 64. The Amendment permits Coloradans to legally purchase and possess up to an ounce of marijuana without a prescription. Durango and La Plata County officials have been creating guidelines for licensing the new businesses it will create. “We are walking down a path that no one has ever walked before. There will be some challenges and new situations to arrive,” said a City Councilor Sweetie Marbury in a phone interview. At the Nov. 12 City Council Special Study Session, David Smith, Durango City Attorney, recommended that the Council initially restrict retail recreational marijuana licensing to the nine existing medical marijuana dispensaries, and also adopt the current restrictions on medical marijuana dispensaries from opening within 1000 feet of any school, licensed day care, counseling service or park. “Our current ordinance on medical marijuana mandates 500 feet from parks, and this would kick it to 1000 feet,” Smith said, pointing to a poster map indicating the space where new retail marijuana businesses would be available, at the study session. The Colorado Department of Justice has already enacted a 1000-foot mandate, which led to the only dispensary closure in Durango, Smith said during the study session. The Amendment requires medical marijuana stores to segregate their sales between medical and recreational customers, since 18 to 20-year-old patients are allowed to purchase medical marijuana with a prescription, but do not qualify for recreational possession under Amendment 64. Existing dispensaries will need to build a wall, and have two entrances, explained Smith. “Our position is that, if they want to co-locate, then we allow that to occur,” he said. “It’s only if they want to do separate locations, then that second location should comply with this map.” Keith Brandt, Durango City Councilor, said he doubts that existing medicinal marijuana dispensaries will relocate, since they are licensed through grandfather clauses in areas that wouldn’t comply with the 1000-foot mandate. “The location in the alley on Second Avenue, for example, is a super location that is grandfathered in,” Brandt said. “They need to keep up on their rent, because if they ever lost the business they would never get licensed there again.”

Graphics By Livia Hooson

JVS, 11/8/2013, G:/home/sanfordjv_maps/MedicalMarijuanaMap.mxd

MedicaltheMarijuana Dispensaries & Grow A map detailing areas (beige) where dispensaries canOperation be built.

Graphic provided by City Attorney David Smith

“Testing and labeling scares the daylights out of us,” Smith said. “If you license somebody like that and they don’t do it correctly, then liability comes right back through the hose and there you are.” Wes Drobney, the manager of Animas Herbal Wellness Center on South Camino del Rio, was present at the study session and said that he felt the city attorney’s liability concerns associated with testing were unfounded. “I wasn’t sure what the liability issue was that the city attorney was referring to, since it’s a pretty black and white test,” Drobney said. “They are hung up on how good the brownies are. Well, we know how good the brownies are because they are tested and limited at 100 activated milligrams. That standard is out there but they are still concerned about how that is going to look.” Without a local testing and labeling facility, Drobney said that retail marijuana stores that cultivated their product locally would need to incur the expense of shipping their product to a testing facility in Denver. Drobney thinks the city would save a lot of time with some input from an expert, but he said that overall he approves of the planning and progress towards implementation being made by the city. Drobney agrees with the council’s decisions to limit marijuana dispensaries within the Central Business District to the one existing alley-accessed store, and he supports its stance not to impose a new local sales tax on recreational marijuana.

“We are walking down a path that no-one has ever walked before, there will be some challenges and new situations to arrive,”

-City Councilor Sweetie Marbury

At Marbury’s suggestion, the council agreed that they should revisit their plan one year after it is implemented to review the effectiveness, market demands, and interest among potential entrepreneurs. Both councilors, Marbury and Brandt, said in interviews that the decision to limit new businesses from entering the retail market could be revisited after the first 12 months. “It’s not an attempt to preclude new retail businesses from opening, once that backlog of grandfathered existing businesses is cleared,” Brandt said. Marbury suggested at the study session and in an interview that if the city ever did open the doors up to new marijuana businesses, that a planned industrial zone south of Durango would meet the criteria for new locations that comply with 1000-foot restrictions. “La Posta Road is a new industrial complex that the city is annexing, and it is going to be another potential growth area for new business,” Marbury said. “That would give more entrepreneurs an opportunity to have a business out there and

still be a part of the city of Durango.” At the study session, Smith also recommended prohibiting the creation of multiple marijuana businesses within 1000feet of each other. City Manager Ron LeBlanc expressed concern over the possibility that a certain area could become a “pot block.” Durango City Council responded, saying that they felt this aspect of the recommendation was unneeded, however, and it was removed from the plan. Council members voiced support for another provision within the recommendation, which would reduce the number of plants allowed within a home in a residential area to six. Under the current law, adults are allowed six plants per person. “In a home with six roommates, that could mean 36 plants,” Marbury said. “At that point it’s not really personal use, its commercial.” A violation of the proposed limitation to six plants per residence, as well as any of the other regulations discussed within the plan, could result in a code violation punishable by a $1000 fine and up to 90 days in jail, Smith said. County Officials Working to Remove Their Own Amendment 64 Ban La Plata County officials are currently having their own discussion with regards to the temporary, unrelated, ban on Amendment 64 implementation within the county. A review session is scheduled for Monday, and commissioners interviewed voiced a desire to get an implementation plan in place in time to lift the ban before its Dec. 31, 2014 termination date. Like the City of Durango, the commissioners said their implementation priorities will begin with the existing medicinal marijuana businesses. La Plata County Commissioner Bobby Lieb said he hopes to have regulations in place by the middle of 2014. “We’ve asked the staff to expedite creating regulations so that existing medicinal marijuana growers can transition their licences into recreational marijuana,” he said. Commissioner Julie Westendorff echoed this sentiment, and said she wants to see implementation by March, in response to requests she has received from existing local dispensary owners who are planning for increased demand with Amendment 64 implementation. “They need that lead time to have product ready to sell in Durango come the middle of the summer, when Durango anticipates lifting their ban on retail,” she said, in a phone interview. In contrast to the stance that the City of Durango is presenting with regards to Testing, Product Manufacturing, and Cultivation Licensing, both county commissioners interviewed said that they are open to the idea of permitting these businesses within the county. Lieb noted that the current county regulations for medical marijuana prohibit growing within a three-mile buffer zone from the cities of Bayfield and Ignacio. The commision is awaiting response from both cities, and Lieb said new La Plata County regulations would likely honor any requests for a similar buffer zone for recreational licenses.

Green

History, Health and Diversions of

The River of

A look at the sunrise over the Animas River. Story by Meghan Olson History of Mining at the Animas River:

Environmental Impact:

ive miles from Silverton is Animas Forks, where the headwaters of the Animas River that make it’s way through the San Juan Mountains, through Durango, and eventually connects to the Colorado River. “Mining in Silverton, which was historically called Baker’s Park, began in the summer of 1860,” said Andrew Gulliford, a FLC professor of history and environmental studies. Mining activity stopped during the Civil War and resumed afterwards, so mining has taken place in the Silverton area since the 1860s and possibly earlier by Spanish miners, Gulliford said. The ore would come down from Silverton on the train, and be dropped off at the mills in Durango. The mills were in existence during WWII, and eventually the mill that crushed silver was used to crush uranium, he said. The uranium crushed at Smelter mountain, which is now the dog park, and material from that site was highly radioactive, he said. “It became a superfund site a decade ago, so they dug it all up and got it away from the Animas River, but they just put it on the top of the hill.” Now, that radioactive material lies in between the Animas River on the other side of Smelter mountain and Lake Nighthorse Gulliford said. “It was radioactive enough that they wanted to move it away from the river, and now it’s still in a place where it could easily slide down the hill and easily damage the new reservoir,” Gulliford said. Radioactive material can seep through the ground and through groundwater, and intake pipes for Lake Nighthorse are only around 60 yards from the outtake pipes of Durango’s sewage system, he said.

Greg Cairns, a former FLC student, produced a documentary in 2012 called The Current: Source to Somewhere, a film that followed four men on a raft journey from the headwaters of the Animas River to the Colorado River and into Lake Powell. According to Cairns, Red and Bonita Mine located in Silverton were abandoned many years ago, but the environmental impact on the river from these mines can be seen today. Cement Creek, near the mines, leaks arsenic, lead, zinc, and copper into the Upper Animas. Since 2004 the health of the Animas River has worsened and there have been unnatural amounts of hazardous materials increasing along with the loss of three species of trout in the last three years, Cairns said. Nobody really paid attention to the environmental effects in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Cairns said. “The word ‘environment’ is not a 19th century word,” he said. “You used a river any way you needed to; things were dumped into rivers.” “In the past, we were not very careful about how we took care of our river corridors through cities, and so they often became dumping grounds for unwanted trash and waste, and cities often ‘turned their backs’ to the river,” said Cynthia Dott, an assistant biology professor at FLC. Since then, there has been an environmental paradigm shift in the community. “We are so fortunate to live in a community where the river is seen as a valuable asset and a focal point for recreation and preservation,” she said. The biggest focus is now on understanding river flow and looking at the water quality of the Animas.

Photos by Anthony Martin

Dott, who has expertise in riparian ecology, has done research on both the Animas, Dolores and San Juan Rivers, focusing mostly on how changes in river discharge affect the vegetation growing along the river banks. “I am especially interested in how prolonged drought and river diversions or dams affect the delivery of water to these sensitive ecosystems, which are critical habitat for something like 80 percent of all wildlife species in the state of Colorado,” she said. Dott has collaborated with Gary Gianniny, an FLC professor of geosciences, along with several biology and geology student researchers to understand how a river flows and how groundwater interacts to drive changes in the depth of the water table, which in turn impacts the survival of native trees like the cottonwoods which grow along much of the Animas River Trail through town. “We’re also interested in how native species are able to compete with non-native invaders into the habitat like tamarisk and Russian olive trees,” she said. Dott said that the main concern regarding water quality in the Animas River is the heavy metals that leach out of highly mineralized rocks in the Silverton region, as a result of acid mine drainage. “To explain how this works really well, you would need to have a good understanding of chemistry so that you could convey it to a broad audience,” Dott said. “But the result is that the highly acidic runoff from mine tailing piles liberates heavy metals from the rock, and carries them in solution into the river.” According to Dott, heavy metals like lead or cadmium are hazardous to aquatic life, and accumulate in greater quantities as they are passed up food chains. With the Animas River watershed, we are fortunate that much of the high acidity we see in waters by Silverton is naturally buffered or neutralized by the outcrops of limestone that the river flows across on its way downstream, Dott said. “The pH of Animas River water here in Durango is usually close to neutral, pH 7, which helps explain why it can support a gold medal trout fishery, but I am not aware of what the current heavy metal loads are like in the Animas here in Durango, as this is slightly difficult to measure,” she said. North and south of Durango, the main sources of pollutants are agricultural runoff in the form of fertilizers and manure/animal waste. But bigger impacts are due to water diversions for irrigation above and below Durango, which impact the river’s flow regime, Dott said. “I have heard raft guides and fly fishermen comment that they think there is more algae growth on the riverbed now than in the

The turbulent rapids of the Animas River.

past, but I have not seen any data to back this claim,” she said. More algae growth could possibly be related to recent very low river flows and more clear water allowing for more algae growth. It could also be a possible indicator of increased nutrient loading in the stream, but Dott hasn’t see the data for this “I think native vegetation is thriving more now than in the past as the city has worked to actively remove exotic trees like Russian olive and Siberian elm, and the occasional tamarisk, from the river corridor, and to plant native cottonwoods and willows in places that needed to be revegetated,” she said. “We do live in a city, so what wildlife can survive here is of course limited,” she said. The Animas River nonetheless supports a healthy beaver population, flocks of Canadian geese and a small population of bald eagles, which rely on fish from the river as an important winter food source, Dott said. The Animas La Plata Project created a diversion to take water from the Animas River to the Lake Nighthorse, a reservoir. First proposed in 1968 and finally finished in April 2003, according to US Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation, it eventually would transport water to New Mexico, to satisfy the Colorado Ute Tribes water rights settlement agreement of 1986.

What are the environmental effects from the La Plata Project Diversion near Santa Rita Park? “The Animas-La Plata diversion to supply Lake Nighthorse has limited capacity to pull water from the Animas River at Santa Rita,” Dott said. “The maximum pumping volume, as I understand it, is 258 cfs, cubic feet per second, and this maximum pumping volume is only supposed to be employed during high flow periods,” Dott said. “However, there has really not been much research done on the downstream impacts of this diversion,” she said. “It certainly has less impact than an in-stream dam, and maybe by itself this removal of water would have minimal impact on the health of riparian and aquatic habitats downstream, but since there are a lot of other factors at work it’s hard to know the extent of the impact.” Several years of severe drought, resulting in low flows in the Animas River, have caused issues. There are likely dropping water tables in the floodplains downstream. “Unfortunately, as far as I know, no one is studying this aspect of the river system downstream of the ALP pumping station, so it’s kind of a big uncontrolled experiment at this point,” Dott said.

Entertainment

Capricorn~ December 22- January 19 You are going to be faced with an important and possibly life-changing decision soon, and should be careful making it. Consider all the outcomes as best you can. Aquarius~ January 20- February 18 You’re going to start feeling lucky soon, and don’t be afraid to let yourself have fun! Try new things, meet new people, and enjoy life!

Horoscopes Pisces~ February 19- March 20 Things will slow down for you in the coming weeks, and you’ll have time to catch up on activities you’ve missed out on. Enjoy the respite while it lasts.

Leo~ July 23- August 22 The final weeks of classes are bound to be hectic for you—but once you’re done, you’re done! Go ahead and relax, and enjoy your well-earned time off !

Aries~ March 21- April 19 Your love life is headed for an upswing. Either you’ll meet someone, or your existing relationship will strengthen. Remember that there’s no wrong time to give your special someone a gift.

Virgo~ August 23- September 22 You’re headed for some personal troubles soon. Friends will be of great help to you, and remember that any misfortune will not last.

Taurus~ April 20- May 20 You’re going to have a lot to deal with soon, and the workload may threaten to overwhelm you. Just be methodical and patient, and things will work out fine.

Libra~ September 23- October 22 You’re feeling restless and active, and can’t wait to get moving. Go ahead and explore the world! Go anywhere, do anything, and be bold. It’ll be worth it.

Gemini~ May 21- June 21 These coming weeks will be restful for you, and things will start to go your way. You’re headed for good balance in your personal life, social life, and academics.

Scorpio~ October 23- November 21 This will be a distracting time for you, and many different obstructions will be vying for your attention. Try to focus on what’s important, and let the stragglers fall behind.

Cancer~ June 22- July 22 You’ve been feeling argumentative lately, and are apt to lash out at people without considering their feelings. Try to keep a cool head, and matters will resolve.

Sagittarius~ November 22- December 21 You’re feeling trapped and claustrophobic lately. Remember that there are people who love you and want the best for you, and come out of your shell!

Music Review Drag the River -

“Drag the River”

- Last Chance Records

Four years have passed since Fort Collins alternative country have graced fans with new music. The band, which serves as a vehicle for songwriters Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass, hasn’t kept a consistent rhythm to its releases, its touring, or staying together. Attempts at breaking up have failed; at times when they’ve been the most predictable in touring is when it’s just Price and Snodgrass on the road minus a band. Yet the 2 frontmen shine with a band, as they do on their new self-titled release, a 10 song collection of textbook country rock. While much of the catalog is similar to this record, fans will revel in the fact that Drag the River’s sound has remained solid; up beat numbers and country ballads celebrating the downtrodden and road worn. Price and Snodgrass remain great story-tellers, and those story’s sound best while told over a full country band dripping with pedal steel.

Review by Bryant Liggett

Recipe

Gimme-More Apple Pie Recipe & Photos by Livia Hooson

2 Deep Dish Pie Crusts (1 is for the pie top). 4-5 peeled and diced apples ½ cup unsalted butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour ¼ cup water

½ cup white sugar ½ cup packed brown sugar 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract Cinnamon & Nutmeg for extra flavor

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a large pot. Stir in flour to form paste. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add diced apples (bite-sized pieces) to sauce in pot and toss until apples are coated. Pour into piecrust. crumble second pie crust evenly on top of pie. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 1 hour or until apples are soft and crust is cooked through. Let cool for 2-3 hours. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream for extra deliciousness.

Crossword Indy on the Street What is your favorite movie quote and why? Megan Longtain 18 Exercise Science West Linn, Oregon

“I told you I’d find you,” from the movie Taken.

Aaron Velasquez 19 Business Administration Bayfield, Colorado

Across 2. A winter sport involving a board 5. A crystalline form of precipitation 6. Water and snow-proof footwear 8. The coldest of the four seasons Down 1. Special days spent with loved ones 3. Fine, dusty snow desirable when skiing 4. Warm outerwear 7. A winter sport that ranges from green circle to black diamond

Rocky, “But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” Porsha Harrison 23 Exercise Science Shiprock, New Mexico

“You play ball like a girl,” from The Sandlot.

Photos by Anthony Martin

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