With the one-year anniversary of the 28-hour power outage in and around Lake City coming up in early February, Lake City night owls were perhaps reminded of the importance of electricity during a brief power outage which occurred between 12:55 and 2:05 a.m. last Saturday, January 13.
Local linemen Brent Boyce and Logan Rhodes once again came to the rescue after being notified of the outage, the men identifying a breaker at the Ball Flats substation which had mysteriously opened, shutting off power to a total of 937 meters extending from the middle of Lake City up valley as far as Sherman.
Boyce and Rhodes checked local overhead lines on the chance a downed tree or heavy snow load had caused the breaker to open. Finding no interference, they returned to the substation and successfully closed the errant breaker to restore electric service.
No negative impacts such as frozen pipes were reported as a result of the brief outage.
By coincidence — and again during last weekend’s cold, snowy days — an OCR (Oil Circuit Recloser) on the C Phase electric line near Powderhorn failed on Sunday morning, January 14. Gunnison County Electric Lineman Dustin Cadwell responded to home turf and after checking the lines for any obstructions, re-energized the line after closing the circuit. The Powderhorn area electric outage lasted from 8:27 to 9:04 a.m. and impacted a total of three meters extending from Milk Gulch Ranch to Blue Mesa Subdivision.
Kathy and Harvey DuChene are back in town after two weeks in Belize with Silver Street summer residents Tom and Myreta Davis. After spending a day in Belize City, they took a one-hour water taxi ride to the Caye Caulker barrier island where accommodations were thatch-roofed bungalows near the beach. There are no automobiles on the Caye, only golf carts, but bicycles are part of the accommodation package so they were able to ride almost everywhere on the island. Highlights included multiple meals featuring rock lobster and ceviche (which quickly became favorites), along with the “occasional” pina colada or Belikan beer. After a few days on the Caye, another water taxi ride brought them back to Belize City where a hired a cab took them to Santa Elena on the west side of the country. Accommodations again were bungalows, this time in the rain forest at Maya Mountain Lodge. The rainy season in Belize was later than normal this year, and everyone quickly learned why it’s called a Rain Forest. The humidity was close to 100 percent most of the time.
Finding the cab driver who drove them to Santa Elena is an interesting story. On their first full day in country, they were visiting an old navigation light on the coast near Belize City where there is a monument to Baron Bliss, a British Royal who, in 1926, wanted to visit British Honduras but never got there. He died on his yacht before he made it to shore. He was fascinated with the Colony, so he bequeathed to it about 1 million British pounds on the condition that the money be used for the benefit of the people. It has been used as seed money for parks, libraries, schools and museums. Luis Rodriguez, a young Belizean cab driver and freshly licensed tour guide was at the Bliss Monument with his mother and niece and told the travelers this story.
Kathy and Myreta are masters at chatting people up, and before they knew it, they had tentatively arranged for Luis to pick them up after their stay on Caye Caulker and drive to Santa Elena. Luis, who lives in Santa Elena, became the couples’ tour guide and even invited the Lake Citians to his home to celebrate the New Year with him and his extended family.
Couples are shown relaxing at left and, above left, Myreta and Kathy posed beside a venerable Ceiba, sacred tree to the Mayans.
While in Santa Elena, the couples visited Mayan ruins of Caracol, paddled canoes through the Barton Creek Cave archaeological site and took a day trip to world-famous Tikal National Park in Guatemala. Tikal is a world heritage site and ranks in importance with the Acropolis in Greece, the Great Pyramids of Egypt and Machu Picchu in Peru. Other places are the Botanical Gardens of Belize, a Butterfly Pavilion, and the Belize Zoo.
All of this was accomplished while dodging frequent rainstorms and one especially heavy downpour which, fortunately, happened while they were under a pavilion having lunch. The frequent rains meant that a lot of time was spent avoiding mudholes and puddles and caused a proliferation of biting insects which feasted on the tender norte-americanos.
On the last day in Santa Elena, Harvey and Kathy took a cooking class and learned how to make
tamales (Belize style) and hot chocolate the way the ancient Maya made it. Chocolate was the drink of kings in the Maya world, and was not made for common folks. They drank it anyway. If a bunch of Maya warriors shows up in Lake City, they are probably looking for the local chocolate drinkers.
When the two weeks was over, all agreed that this had been an interesting trip. Abundant bug bites are persistent reminders of the experience.
Sympathies are extended to former county sheriff Ron Bruce whose 97-year-old mother, Doris Opal (Guffey) Bruce, has died in Sun City, Arizona. Mrs. Bruce, who was born in November, 1926, was a native of Vandalia, Illinois, and was the last in a large family which included four sisters and four brothers. Her husband, a Southern Baptist Minister at Columbia, Missouri, and later Casa Grande, Arizona, predeceased in July, 1971.
Following her husband’s death, Mrs. Bruce continued work as an elementary teacher at Tempe, Arizona. She later moved to Peoria, Arizona, which continued to be her home until her death.
In addition to Ron, her eldest son, Mrs. Bruce is survived by two younger sons, Dave Bruce and his wife, Barb, who live in Maryland, and Mark Bruce, a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Graveside services were planned in Tempe, Arizona.
Fourteeners’ home basketball games last week against the local heroes’ counterparts from Moffat and Center in the San Luis Valley were wisely called off as result of the inclement snow weather with
wind. For local boosters, the next home games will be Wednesday, January 24, when middle school girls take to the court against Center.
Upcoming birthdays starting this Friday, January 19, are 14-year-old Morgan Lee Hardy and Dakota Hudgeons, 29, followed January 20 by Ken Carter, 85, and Nancy Chambers with 66 candles ablaze on her birthday cake. Congratulations extended Sunday, January 21, to local resident Vito Nash, 69, and Ryan Heumann, 36, Vickers Ranch seasonal resident Gail Burrows, 74, and former residents Debbie Mock, age 77 in Montrose, Denver resident Ann Parker, and Noel Meredith Faris in Colorado Springs.
January 22 recalls champ canine judge Chris Carter, 74, Shannon Smith, 57, Idaho resident James Sweet, and top notch museum and library volunteer Karen McClatchie who is celebrating her 74th birthday.
January 23 birthdays bring to mind Highlander RV Park’s Scott Campbell, 56, Colorado Springs resident Mary Vader who kindly filled in at the newspaper several times last year, Linda Pavich’s eldest daughter, Sandra Martinez David, and Al and Joanie
Brown’s son, Michael Allen Brown, who is celebrating his 34th birthday at Sacramento, California. Mickey Arthur and Joanie Anastasion Brown, respectively 55 and venerable age 69, celebrate birthdays next Wednesday, January 24.
Rounding out the birthday list on Thursday, January 25, are Hans Nelson, 53, Grand Junction native Zenon August Killion Reece, 19, and long-time Lake City seasonal resident Judy David Johnson, 71.
