Colorado - The Silver World Newspaper

Fire District Seeking Sales Tax Support

Board agrees to ask voters for 1.25 % bump — By Chris Dickey Leaders of the Lake City Area Fire Protection District are preparing to do something they haven’t done since 1982: Ask voters to raise taxes in order to fund ongoing operations of the organization.The proposal is different this time around, however. The district was initiated more than 40 years ago with a nod from Lake City residents to assess themselves a property tax dedicated to fire services. This fall, local voters will be asked to approve a 1.25% increase in the sales tax rate.The decision to seek more money was reached by a consensus of the district’s board of directors in January. Last Wednesday, April 16, during a special meeting, the board voted unanimously in favor of seeking the 1.25% sales tax initiative.If approved, the sales tax would generate approximately $375,000 annually, based on the current level of local retail sales activity, according to Fire District Secretary Michelle Warren Pierce. This year, the district’s property tax mill levy is expected to bring in $121,285, which is divided amongst its general fund, capital reserve and contingency budgets.“We haven’t asked for money here in 40-something years,” said outgoing General Manager and Fire Chief Bill Hagendorf. “The worst thing we can do is come back in three or four years asking for more. At 1.25 percent, you’d be very solvent for the next 15 years.”Fire district leaders point to a multitude of factors driving the need to seek more funding. Retail transactions in the Town of Lake City currently are assessed a 7.9 percent sales tax (comprised of 2.9 percent to the state, 4 percent split between the town and Hinsdale County, and 1 percent for the Lake Fork Health Service District. If the fire district proposal were approved by voters, this overall rate would jump to 9.15 percent.For example, a $100 purchase at a local restaurant, bar or retail outlet would increase from $107.90 in total cost, including tax, to $109.15.The sales tax rate in the City of Gunnison, by way of comparison, is 8.9 percent.District leaders opted to pursue a sales tax initiative, rather than property tax, because they believe it is a fairer way of spreading costs out amongst visitors as well as locals. Firefighters respond to a lot of vehicle and ATV accidents, in addition to the rare structure fire.“We see this as a way of sharing the burden with people who come to visit us in the summer too,” Pierce explained.District leaders noted the sensitivity citizens have to tax increases, but hope to state their case to local voters before the November election. They’ve budgeted $10,000 for a campaign that could include a mailer, presentations to local groups and other means of demonstrating the need to individuals.“No, people are not fond of tax increases, but they are fond of the thought that somebody is going to put a fire out at their house, or that volunteers are going to be well trained and equipment is going to roll out of the station and operate like it’s supposed to,” Pierce told the Silver World.“It’s about the level of service,” board member Crystal Brown said at last week’s meeting.“This has to pass,” added board member and volunteer firefighter Evan Milski. “We have to make this pass.”Some concern was expressed at last week’s meeting that this may not be the only tax-related question local voters face this fall. Hinsdale County Commissioner Greg Levine addressed the possibility that a proposal to increase the local lodging tax may be in the offing.“I would say the status of the County Lodging Tax increase is close to entering the deliberation stage,” he told the Silver World. “In my opinion, the county is facing other, more pressing issues.”Representatives of the Lake Fork Health District told the Silver World that they were not moving forward with a tax-related ballot issue this year.

April 24, 2025 No Comments

All-Hazard Fund Reimbursement to be Paid by State

There was an audible sigh of relief prior to the start of Hinsdale County Commissioners’ Wednesday, April 9, meeting with announcement by County Finance Officer Lynn McNitt that long-awaited reimbursement funds are being paid by State of Colorado.As previously reported, the county’s financial reserves were severely depleted as the result of a lag in reimbursement payments from the state based on the county’s All-Hazards Team Program. Under terms of the program, the county retains an administrative fee and is reimbursed for up-front costs, including salaries and related expenses of personnel who are deployed to wildfire emergencies throughout the U.S.Under terms of the sponsorship contract, Hinsdale County retains its administrative percentage — amounting to $2.4-million since the start of the program as of February 2025 — and then is promptly repaid for upfront costs, typically within 60 days.The financial rub, however and consequent depletion of county reserves, began in June last year when reimbursements from the state slowed to a truckle.Commissioners engaged legal counsel and scheduled several executive sessions as they conferred with County Attorney Michael O’Loughlin and private counsel on a strategy to obtain delinquent payment to refill county coffers. County Finance Officer Lynn McNitt is typically demure in her financial reporting but at the county board’s meeting last Wednesday bordered on the giddy as she told Commissioners Borchers, Hurd, and Levine that state reimbursement checks for the All-Hazard Team repayments will begin to flow as early as this week.A total of $3,925,783 in documented paid All-Hazard Team expenses is owed to the county by the state. In financial terms, McNitt explained to commissioners that the total amount owed to the county is separated into five separate categories based on review and approval for repayment through the state’s Division of Fire Protection & Control.As of Wednesday last week and expected in hand on Monday this week, McNitt says $837,665.25 has been approved for repayment, “but the state has been working on our invoices and updating the payments.”A second phase of the repayment schedule, as explained by McNitt is the “eligibility checker” in which an additional $2.5-million in owed funding is set to be repaid “within the next few weeks.”Additionally, according to McNitt, and foreseen slightly further down the line, is an additional$235,674 to be paid to the county by the state which is “coded in-process for approval”, and — finally — a further reimbursement payment amounting to$253,037 which is in the state’s payment system but not yet approved.State payment of the reimbursement funds may have an impact on the county’s hoped-for 2025 start of construction on the long-awaited County Operations Center which was reported at length in last week’s WORLD. Reported in last week’s edition of the newspaper was a lengthy discussion on interest rates and repayment schedule if the county seeks interim funding for the $4.3-million operations center which includes $1-million from Hinsdale County.A planned meeting between the commissioners and financial representatives Kutak Rock and Piper Sandler & Co., originally scheduled this Friday has now been moved to a special meeting on Wednesday, April 23.In other agenda items at the county board’s workshop and regular meeting on April 9, commissioners were unanimous as they reluctantly voted to more than double the per-yard transfer station charge for tree limbs and slash.For years the county has utilized a drastically reduced, money-losing per yardage fee for tree debris as a wildfire mitigation incentive for landowners in the county.Without financial assistance from either Town of Lake City or a succession of state fire prevention grants (which were denied), Commissioners will now increase the per-yard transfer station fee from. $6.10 to $12.75 effective May 1.Tree limb and slash disposal at the transfer station — although viewed by the county as a pro-active incentive against wildfire — has become an increasingly costly proposition requiring an annual subsidy from the county. Slash and debris were collected at the transfer station, and the county in turn rented an industrial-grade tub grinder to transform the natural timber into mounds of chips for landscaping and soil stabilization.Even the grinding process proved a challenge, however, with added expense one year when the grinder was inadvertently damaged and required repair. Disposal of the increasing mounds of pulverized wood was also slow, with a suggestion from Road & Bridge Supervisor Don Menzies earlier this year to budget for trucking the chips to the landfill in Gunnison.In 2021, according to Finance Officer Lynn McNitt, total revenue based on the county’s moderate per-yard fee for organic materials amount to $7,066, while expenses for rendering the organic material amounted to $24,688; similar discrepancies between revenues and outgo for tree debris was noted in 2022, income $8,000, expense $24,315; 2023, revenue $9,469, outgo $38,834 with grinder repair; and 2024, income $11,342.85 and expense $23,350.58.The move to immediately increase fees on organic material came with regret, Commissioner Hurd expressing his view “we can no longer subsidize the program to this extent; we must cover ourselves,” and Commissioner Levine concurring, “we’ve got to cover ourselves.”During open discussion last Wednesday, Commissioner Hurd said he has spoken with local Colorado Parks & Wildlife wolf reintroduction expert Max Morton with confirmation that a traveling wolf with radio collar has been confirmed 10 miles south of Blue Mesa Reservor. The solo animal is apparently a “great traveler,” according to Hurd, since this same animal has also reported in such diverse areas of the state as Eisenhower Tunnel at I-170, the Grand Junction area, and Salida.Possible modifications to the county’s yet-to-be passed amended OHV Ordinance will be on the Commissioners’ meeting agenda Wednesday, April The ordinance calls for hours of OHV use to be limited to between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Both Commissioners Hurd and Levine are now expressing concern over the hours of operation, Hurd saying he would be in favor of an extended time “cut out” for hunters using OHVs in the fall and Levine noting he is receiving phone calls from concerned constituents. Levine stated “we might want to yank the time limit entirely,” Commissioner Borchers countering that she,

April 17, 2025 No Comments

‘Tremendous Strides in Professionalism ’Credited as Hagendorf Leaves Fire Post

Directors of Lake City Fire Protection District acknowledge they are at a crossroads and admittedly have big shoes to fill in the wake of the resignation of the district’s multi-tasking General Manager, Bill Hagendorf, who has filled the dual roles as both Fire District Chief and Fire Marshal on an as-needed basis for the past 13 years.Above and beyond that, the retiring Hagendorf, who now lives near Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley, effectively filled a variety of other fire district-related roles, including mechanic, maintaining the first district’s fleet of fire fighting equipment and — perhaps paramount — grant writer, whose efforts augmented the fire district’s meager financial coffers with literally hundreds of thousands of dollars (see separate box, page 3).“He was our Unicorn,” says fire district Board Chairman R.E. Hall, “he literally brought the fire department to a very professional level and showed us how a fire department should operate.”Hall’s praise is mirrored by the fire district’s four-decade-tenured secretary, Michelle Warren Pierce, who, speaking to WORLD on Monday this week, sums up the situation with Hagendorf’s departure, “it’s a sad day and we’re struggling now to keep things operational.” A former fire chief in Texas, Hagendorf’s dedication to Lake City Area Fire Protection District manifested itself shortly after he and his wife, Bernadette, moved to Lake City. He first attended a fire district meeting on January 25, 2012 and events rapidly transpired thereafter: he was named Lake City Fire Marshal in March, 2012, following the retirement of the former marshal, Ed Nettleton. The late Pat Holley resigned as Lake City Fire Chief on October 12, 2012, and Hagendorf applied and was named as his replacement. Hagendorf’s work as Fire Marshal entailed inspections of newbuilds, restaurants, lodging and residents — the largest of which was a myriad of safety inspections he conducted for the expansion of Lake City Community School with gymnasium; as Fire Chief, he continually worked to upgrade equipment and gear, and instituting weekly training sessions for firefighters. The result of his work as both Fire Marshal and Fire Chief, as described by Hall, “was greater safety for both community and firefighters.”Thirteen years later, Hagendorf submitted his letter of resignation as District Manager, Fire Chief and Fire Marshal at last Wednesday evening’s fire district board meeting. His resignation becomes effective April 30 and the dilemma of finding an individual to fill the multi-faceted position will be discussed at a special fire district meeting called for that purpose starting 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at the Henson Street fire station.At their meeting with SILVER WORLD earlier this week, R.E. Hall referenced his comparison of Hagendorf as the fire district’s lucky “Unicorn” with multiple talents ranging from grant writing, training, keeping abreast of ever-changing fire code regulations, and his work servicing and repairing both fire station and its fleet of emergency equipment.Hall posed the question, “can we possibly find someone capable of all the duties he performed?”Pierce thought for a moment and sighed, acknowledging “probably not.”As described by both board chair Hall and board secretary Pierce, Hagendorf’s tenture with Lake City Area Fire Protection District has been nothing short of “miraculous,” says Pierce, “literally bringing the volunteer department up from nothing to, now, a professional, well-staffed and equipped basis which is recognized throughout the state.”Principal discussion topic at the special meeting April 16 is a hoped-for answer to the question, “how can we maintain the current level of fire district operations until we can fill Bill’s position?,” says Hall.Also on the mid-April meeting agenda is the potential of a voter-approved sales tax increase benefiting Lake City Area Fire Protection District.Months prior to Hagendorf’s departure, fire department directors and staff had begun to address possible financial remedies for the cash-strapped fire district, including the potential of a ballot question in this November’s Coordinated Election asking county residents to approve an as-yet-to-be-determined sales tax increase.A sales tax boost — rather than a more complicated and difficult to achieve property mill tax increase —is preferred owing to the fact consumers as a whole, including the influx of summer visitors, shoulder the burden and, according to Hall, “reap the benefits.”Currently in Hinsdale County, a 7.9 percent sales tax is imposed consisting of 2.9 percent which goes to the State of Colorado, 4.0 percent which is split by Town of Lake City and Hinsdale County, and 1.0 percent sales tax to Lake Fork Health Service District.If approved, the resulting cash influx could result in a salary attractive to an individual applying for the multi-tasking General Manager, as well as allowing the fire district to continue with the detailed equipment replacement schedule developed by Hagendorf. The added income, says Hall, “will keep us running in the black.”Among the retiring fire chief’s talents was seeking out and writing successful state and federal funding applications which, among a long list, allowed upgrades to equipment, routine weekly training, and — vital in terms of firefighter recruitment — a moderate $25-per-firefighter stipend which is paid for each call and training session.Partially as a result of that incentive, Lake City Fire Dept. now enjoys a full complement of 12 firefighters after “struggling for years,” says Pierce, with a minimal staff of just six to seven firefighters.The present full roster consists of Patrick Tubbs as Deputy Chief, Evan Milski and Mike Ralph sharing duties as Captains, and firefighters Mike Tuttle, Willy Merfeld, Greg Levine, Crystal Earley, Nathan Wuest, Justin Thompson, Jared Sledge, Ben Walker, Lannea Walker, and Joel Collins.Significantly, funding for the firefighters’ stipends comes as the result of a four-year Federal Emergency Management Agency no-match SAFER (Staffing, Adequate Fire Emergency Response) grant drafted by Hagendorf and implemented starting in 2022.Over four years starting 2022 and ending 2026, the FEMA SAFER grant provides a bulk sum of $84,323 allowing for the $25 per firefighter stipend.Successful fire district grant funding applications during Hagendorf’s tenure combined both federal funding through FEMA, as well as state funds through Colorado Division Fire Prevention and Control, the latter used primarily for fire fighting equipment and

April 4, 2025 No Comments

Town Manager Reports Lake City Directly Affected by Frozen FEMA Program

Town Manager Lex Mulhall attended a Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) funding freeze meeting last month, where questions were answered about all federal funding freezes mandated by Trump’s executive orders. On this call were over six hundred attendees from town and county governments, schools, special districts and non-profit organizations, all of whom were being affected by the freezing of federal funds.Mulhall asked about the state revolving loan fund that will be used to fund the construction of Lake City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), set to begin this spring. He was told that funds that have already been rewarded are in possession of the state, but that no new funding is available and it is unknown when additional funding might become available.Further, Mulhall was informed that 35 lawsuits have been filed against Trump’s executive orders, and two judges have ruled frozen funds are to be released immediately until the matter is settled in court. Despite this, most federal funds are still frozen and intended recipients of those funds are unable to submit reimbursement requests. In his Town Manager report submitted at the March 5 Board of Trustees meeting, Mulhall informed Trustees, “The Trump administration is ignoring the court rulings” at this time. Mulhall went on to say in his report, “we have been directly affected, having received notice on February 25 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program has been frozen and is currently undergoing review, and that they will not be able to help us until the program is up and running again.”According to Mulhall, supporting documents that DOLA was assisting the Town with for the FEMA BRIC WWTP generator sub-application have been received, along with some of the documents for a FEMA BRIC Ball Flats Slope Flood and Debris Flow scoping project.The state deadline for the FEMA BRIC applications has been pushed back from March 1 to March 12, and Mulhall and staff will be submitting both sub- applications in case the program does wind up being funded.For the $900,000 supplemental loan for the WWTP from Colorado Water Resource and Power Development Authority, Mulhall was asked by Audit Firm Butler Snow to calculate how much the new sewer rates would have brought in if they had been in place in 2024. The firm requested this information because they need to verify that the Town will be capable of repaying the additional debt service for the loan.In January/February of 2024, the Town generated $61,242 in water revenue and $65,129 in sewer revenue. In January/February of this year, $64,091 was generated in water revenue and $92,478 was generated in sewer revenue. That places water revenue 4.6% higher in 2025 compared to 2024, the percentage amount which the water rate has been raised. The sewer revenue generated is 42% higher than in 2024. Using that percentage, Mulhall calculated the estimated 2025 revenue by multiplying the total revenue from 2024 by the percentage change from January and February of 2025.If total 2024 water revenue of $402,405 is multiplied by 4.6%, then 2025 estimated water revenue would equal $420,405. If total 2024 sewer revenue of $407,052 is multiplied by 42%, then 2025 estimated sewer revenue would equal $578,013. Therefore, total estimated 2025 water and sewer revenue with the new rates will equal $998,418.Mulhall added that this calculation does not include the expected additional revenue that will come from changing the excess usage calculation rates, which is expected to generate an additional $10,000 – $20,000.“This is looking good in terms of what we need to pay the additional debt service and to fund the water and sewer capital improvements fund sufficiently,” Mulhall said. “We budgeted $410,000 for water and $575,000 for sewer to ensure we could cover it.”Mulhall’s calculations have been sent to Butler Snow, and according to Mulhall, they should now have everything needed to generate and execute the loan documents.“Hopefully,” said Mulhall, “these funds have not been affected by the federal funding freeze.”

March 14, 2025 No Comments

Klondike Snowslide Blocks Henson Creek, Briefly Strands Capitol City Residents

An annual rite of high country spring, the once or occasionally twice-per-season running of the Klondike Snowslide, occurred late last week.This year’s slide once again blocked a narrow section of Henson Creek midway between Nellie Creek and the Capitol City Townsite, depositing heavily compacted snow an estimated 25’ deep cross both County Road 20 and the blockaded creekbed.The blocked road, including impounded Henson Creek water 3” to 4” deep above the slide, temporarily inconvenienced one Capitol City resident, Ron Hefty, who rode his side-by-side OHV down to the upper side of the slide on a reconnaissance mission. The OHV promptly became bogged and then frozen overnight in the water and snow slush and was later retrieved. In addition to Hefty, also briefly snowbound as a result of the snowslide was Capitol City homeowner Bill Matlack.As a safety precaution with snowslide danger in mind, Hinsdale County Road and Bridge seasonally closes County Road 20 to Capitol City and beyond with a locked gate at Nellie Creek. Recreationists and up valley landowners are, however, allowed to park at the gate and at their own risk traverse the unplowed portion of CR20 beyond the gate on foot or via snowmobile.After learning of the Klondike Slide last Wednesday, and trapped Capitol City residents above the slide, Hinsdale Road & Bridge Supervisor Don Menzies says he walked to the slide to assess the situation. After allowing the snow to settle and ascertaining no further slide activity was imminent, Menzies instructed Senior Foreman Gavin McNitt and road dept. workers Tom Hamel and Travis de Christino to begin clearing the slide on Monday this week utilizing the county road crew’s backhoe, front end loader, and Komatzu bulldozer.Menzies said he expects the snowslide to be cleared after a full day’s work on Monday, although upper Henson Creek road access will remain closed at the Nellie Creek gate. The Klondike Snowslide has been known in the past to have occasionally run twice in a season and several traditional snowslide routes — the Big and Little Casino Slides — have yet to run this year.Despite occasional suggestions for year-round plowing of CR20 to Capitol City, Road Supervisor Menzies is adamant that the county “will never keep the road open” in winter and early spring beyond Nellie Creek owing to extreme snowslide danger.County Administrator Sandy Hines emphasizes that despite increasing Capitol City development, the county has historically not plowed upper portions of CR 20 beyond its intersection with Nellie Creek owing to snowslide health and safety concerns. She adds that in the future, Commissioners may revisit and clarify exemptions which have allowed snowmobilers to utilize unplowed portions of the road at their own risk.Informal discussions between the county and Capitol City landowners took place in September and October last year in relation to County Road 20 traffic, first requests for highway surface improvement and later a request for increased signage in terms of speed limits.Commissioners were also requested to work with Hinsdale Road & Bridge to ensure that private vehicles parked at the Nellie Creek Road closure were not plowed in.In separate road & bridge news, and now interrupted by work clearing the Klondike Snowslide, Hinsdale Road & Bridge Supervisor Don Menzies reports that on Henson Creek, and above the locked gate at Nellie Creek, road worker Zairick Waddington had used the county’s D7 bulldozer clearing snow as far as Whitmore Falls near the base of Engineer Pass.Until Wednesday last week on the Upper Lake Fork, Tom Hamel was at work on the Komatzu bulldozer opening County Road 30 on the approach to Cinnamon Pass as far as Grizzly Gulch at the start of Burrows Park.Last Wednesday’s Henson Creek snowslide, together with intermitant early spring snowfall last week, may delay further high-country road openings until mid-April.

March 13, 2025 No Comments

New Trustee Wuest Sworn in, OHV Noise Considered at BOT February 19 Meeting

During the February 19 Town of Lake City Board of Trustees meeting, newly appointed Trustee Nathan Wuest was officially sworn in by Mayor Dave Roberts. After taking his oath, Roberts congratulated Wuest, who thanked him in return. .Trustee Jodi Linsey spoke first in the workshop portion of the evening, saying that she had received an email from David Cherry dated January 31, addressed to the Mayor and Trustees. While Linsey did not read the letter, she deemed it “thoughtful and well-written,” and asked that it be included in the next meeting’s correspondence received.Town Manager Lex Mulhall stated that many emails had been received since the joint Town and County meeting and asked if all of those emails should be included, noting that nearly everyone has an opinion on OHVs and the volume of correspondence can become overwhelming.It was agreed upon, across the Board of Trustees, that in the interest of transparency any letter or email addressed to the Mayor and Board of Trustees should indeed be included in correspondence received to be available for public review.Turning the conversation to the matter of OHVs, Mayor Roberts said that he “wanted to keep the conversation going” ahead of the summer season, “because summer will be here before you know it, so the sooner we can have things in place and have information out there for people, the better.”Mayor Roberts directed Trustees to look over the Stay the Trail Off Highway Guidelines pamphlet, saying, “I think [the pamphlet] covers the question of excessive noise, and while it all comes down to enforcement, that’s a reason to have the Sheriff involved in that conversation. What irritates me is when they’re coming down Crooke’s Hill – I remember being a teenager and whoever had the loudest stereo ‘won’ – some [of the OHVs] are so loud you can hear them from town. They don’t need to be that loud.”The pamphlet states that vehicles manufactured after January 1, 1998 register at 96dB(A) [A-weighted decibel] and vehicles manufactured before that date register at 99dB(A).Trustee Diane Bruce pointed out that there is no way to measure this when an OHV is travelling on the road, especially when there are other vehicles around, and that the verbiage in the potential ordinance the Trustees are considering is “unreasonable or excessive engine noise or blower noise. The only way [to determine] it would be to have them rev their engine, stationary. Also – we don’t want vehicles up on the Loop – or driving around town for that matter – without their spark arrestors.” Bruce also cited the hours of operation proposed in the ordinance as 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m., with restricted operation of OHVs outside of those hours.”Mayor Roberts said, “I think we’re doing what we can, and I’d just like to get it done, so we can get the word out before the masses arrive.”Bruce added “it’s important to stay proactive and doing things in the direction of improving the situation, so let’s continue to do that.”

February 28, 2025 No Comments

Snowshoe racers at Saturday morning’s starting gate and the line of both 5K and 1K racers and walkers disappearing across Lake San Cristobal…

Top right and left: snowshoe racers at Saturday morning’s starting gate and the line of both 5K and 1K racers and walkers disappearing across Lake San Cristobal; center right, first place 5K snowshoer Doug Eby on the final leg of the race and, left to right, first and second place 1K winners Tracey Henson, from Colorado Springs, and Tickfaw, Louisiana, snowshoer Trey Tycer and, in second place, Jim and Staci Brown from South Fork; Lake Citians Rick and Allison Wetzel raised arms in victory after completing the 1K. Above, left to right, Monte Vista racer Landon Crowder — with multi-generation Howard family Powderhorn ancestry — was directed across the finish line by Greg Olson; victorious Lake Citians in Saturday’s snowshoe race were Becky Daniels and Melanie Merrell, and Campo Caceres, all barely out of breath as they completed the snowy trek. Below, clockwise from right: top place 5K women, Amy Crowder (38 minutes, 23 seconds), Faith Crowder (40.20), and Geri Howard (42.47) and top flight men, Darren Hardy (40.51), first place Dan Eby (31.03), and Landon Crowder (38.07); notable outfits were snugly attired Tony Rackham from Pagosa Springs, Jess Howard with first place 5K canine, the 2-year-old Argentinian dog Otto, and first place cannibal-inspired costume to Linda Drain, from South Fork, who works in Doc Howard’s vet clinic at Creede; door prize winners Monica Irons, Marcia Carl, and Jackilyn Gleason; Hannibal Lecter-inspired Blue Mesa cannibals Monica Irons, Reiley Jones, and Kim Jones; 4th and 5th generation Powderhorn ancestors, snowshoe athletes Amy Crowder, Landon Crowder, and Faith Crowder.

February 28, 2025 No Comments

2024, A Year in Review

At his death in January, 1874, pioneer Pueblo, Colorado, attorney, journalist, and past territorial lieutenant governor George Aaron Hinsdale, 1), had no intimation his memory would be revived in 2024 as Hinsdale County celebrated its sesquicentennial marking 150 years since its creation with neighboring LaPlata and Rio Grande Counties. As part of the ongoing celebration, Assessor Sherri Boyce and her deputy, Sarah Tubbs, 2), presided over refreshments in their courthouse office on August 1.In addition to the county’s formation, 2024 was also notable as 150th anniversary of Town Founder Enos Hotchkiss building Lake City’s first cabin, August 16, 1874, and — less savory — Alferd Packer consuming fellow prospectors in late winter/early spring 1874.On an upcoming note, notable anniversaries continue in 1875 with 150 since creation of Town of Lake City’s predecessor, the Lake City Town Company, and — on a journalistic note — 150 years since first issue of the original SILVER WORLD Newspaper, June 19, 1875.Also notable in 2025 is 50th anniversary of Phillip Virden’s Mountaineer Movie Theatre.Superlatives in Lake City Recreation Department’s February 3 Ice Climb were repeat wife-and-husband winning team from Golden, Colorado, Kristin Felix, 3), with rapid vertical ice ascent two minutes, 16.39 seconds in the Top Rope competition, and her husband, Todd Felix, 4), who was once again first among men in Lead Rope, inspiring 54.82-second ascent. Denver ice climber Jaren Summer, 5), was among the women contenders in this year’s event (photo by J.T. Stratton). Local climbers in the annual ice event were Sam Fyler and J.T. Stratton.Supervised by Rec. Dept, Leader Ben Hake, climbable ice on Henson Creek continues to expand, Hake with assistants including Danny File and Christian Hartman dousing an added section of challenging vertical cliff across from the Devil’s Kitchen cave with 1,350 additional feet of water pipe this fall for added ice climb challenge.Local girl Buffy Hurd Witt, 6), achieved notable success and was responsible for significant advances during her four-years as Hinsdale Emergency Medical Service Director starting December, 2019, and continuing through December, 2023, when she announced her intent to resign. Witt received a state-wide honor in December 2023, with Best EMS Director Award.Witt’s replacement as EMS Director effective March 25 was eight-year Lake City resident Katherine Heidt, 7) a familiar face among local emergency medical responders who was accredited as EMT in 2020 and worked closely with Witt as EMS Coordinator, Heidt was also certified as Wilderness EMT in 2023.Simultaneous with Heidt’s appointment as EMS Director, Amanda Hartman and Dan Humphreys were named EMS Captains charged with ambulance staffing, ensuring ambulance response is sufficiently staffed with responders on a 24/7, year-round basis, and overseeing ambulance supply restocking and vehicle maintenance. Also continuing as an immense asset to Hinsdale EMS was the return of Brad Jones on a part-time basis as Chief Paramedic.Seth Withrow once again headed up Hinsdale Search & Rescue’s February 19 Ice Fishing Derby at Lake San Cristobal, 8), this year’s lunkers plucked from beneath the ice 22-1/8” lake trout by John Warren, first place, second and third place honors respectively Nicole Schulties, 19-7/8”, and Sam Pankratz, 19-1/2”.Seven Lake City area students commenced an intense five-month Emergency Medical Technician class, 9), on January 9, four of the students — Kelly Elkins, Sarah DeCristino, Grant Loper, and Danny Oge’ — completed certification for an awards ceremony which was held on June 13.Lifesaver Awards signifying teamwork, professionalism, and excellence of care were bestowed by Hinsdale Commissioners to local emergency responders in March, recipients posed with Ann McCord, 10), including Amanda Hartman, Buffy Witt, Richard Williams, Jordan Kaminski, Kelly Elkins, Katherine Heidt, Melody Crump, and Rachel Moore.11), Greg Olson received his oath of office as newest board member of Lake Fork Health Services District from board chairman Lynn McNitt on February 16, joins fellow board members McNitt and Katie Elkins, together with Jordan Kaminski and Hector Gomez, the latter two resigning near year’s end creating two vacancies on the health board.Dr. Ann Treisman, 12), was named Medical Director at Lake City Area Medical Center on January 1, Treisman taking the place of Gunnison physician Dr. Bill Gattis who had served in that capacity — and who was credited as a “stabilizing force” during a significant period of change — since 2020.Dr. Treisman’s tenure at Lake City Area Medical Center dates back to summer, 2014, when she worked at the center when she was a medical student. She interned at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Denver, and was awarded her Doctorate of Medicine Degree from University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2017.Lake City’s Fourteeners middle school girls’ basketball team enjoyed a tremendous season, ending play after advancing to Consolation League Tournament in Alamosa, Colorado, in February where teammates, 13), Carson Shepherd, Aven Humphreys, Morgan Hardy, Brylee Elkins, Cora Kaminski, Nadya Kaminski, and Blake Tubbs walloped their Ortega Middle School counterparts in a down-to-the-wire nailbiter.In addition to a fine season by Lake City middle school girls, also ending successful seasons in February, 2024, were Fourteeners’ middle school boys’ team coached by Doug Eby and Kelly Elkins, 14), Brantley Votruba, Rhys Phillimore, Quan Lemon, Henry Shepherd, Dax Elkins, Daniel Hays, Elliott Hartman, and Joseph Tubbs; older high school basketball team, Mace Elkins, Dean Brown, Silas Hartman, Levi Hartman, Micah Humphreys, and Peter Loper, 15), and Fourteeners’ high school girls, Rowan McNeese, Lucy Hays, Kadance Simmons, Mackenzie Phillimore, Priya Hartman, Eva Wingard, Ingrid Piltinsgrud, and coach Sarah Eby, 16).HUB networking office sponsored by DIRT and Visionary Broadband upstairs in the bank building was enlivened in January with artwork by Lake City school alum Sophie Borchers and Nick Arbogast, 17).Hinsdale Ski Team coached by Henry Woods had a successful showing against counterpart downhill skiers from Pagosa Springs and Silverton, Colorado, during the annual Matt Milski Memorial Ski Race at Lake City Ski Hill on March 2, superlatives with hands raised in victory, 18), first and second place finishers Henry Shepherd, completing the slalom 35.21 seconds, and Elijah Wuest, 37.21 seconds; competing for Lake City on the hometown team and dressed for the

January 3, 2025 No Comments

WORLD Receives Five Awards in State Press Competition

Lake City SILVER WORLD has received a total of five awards — four first place and one second place — in Colorado Press Association’s 2023 Better News Contest.Competing among weekly newspaper in Category 4, small weeklies under 2,000 circulation, in writing and design categories which were published in calendar year 2023, the Lake City newspaper was awarded both first and second place honors for Best Series/Sustained Coverage, with a first place award for multiple articles which were written about fiberoptic broadband installation in and around Lake City extending from January through November, 2023, and a second place award for a series of interviews with Continental Divide hikers highlighting motivational insights, personal discovery, and favorite foods which were written for the newspaper by Mia Dougherty.Dougherty, age 13 at the time and granddaughter of Lake City seasonal residents Gary and Kathy Koehn, interviewed and photographed a series of Divide hikers at the Presbyterian Church Hikers’ Center in August 2023.Visiting Colorado Springs journalist Mary Vader received a first-place award in the Best Business News/Feature category for an article which she wrote in January 2023, highlighting positive economic impacts of the town’s ice climbing wall.First place for Late Breaking/Deadline news went to a series of articles in a single issue of the paper written by Grant Houston detailing a February 2023, electric outage which “plunged the town into icy darkness.”In the newspaper layout and design category, Lake City SILVER WORLD garnered a first place Best Page Design Award for a two-page photo collage in February 2023, highlighting “Ice Thrills” at the annual Henson Creek Ice Climbing Festival.

October 18, 2024 No Comments

Inspiring Borealis Light Display Above Lake City… While Dry & Warm Conditions Dominate Early Autumn Here

by Phillip Virden Many Lake City folks were able to marvel at a dynamic light show last week. The “show” was the result of a highly active Aurora Borealis. The Aurora Borealis, known as also as the Northern and Southern lights, are a result of a strong surge of energy and particles from our Sun. This phenomenon, commonly known as the “solar wind” begins on the Sun’s outer atmosphere. At times, huge explosions of energy take place which are known as “coronal mass ejections or CME.” CMEs eject energy out into our solar system and, as a result, some solar winds take a direct path towards Earth. When they arrive here, Earth’s magnetic field shields us from much of this storm. However, some are so powerful that some particles journey down the magnetic field lines and into Earth’s atmosphere. When this occurs, a glow of colorful (red, green, violet, blue) light can be seen on Earth; the Aurora Borealis can only be seen in upper latitudes of such places as Alaska, Iceland, Scandinavia, Canada, etc. However, a powerful CME was strong enough to cause sightings throughout the United States and as far south as Texas! In Lake City, the CME was especially powerful on the evenings of October 9 and 10th. Several Lake Citians posted their Aurora experience on Facebook. Kathleen Whinnery, Michelle Cogger, Amanda Hartman, Katie Elkins, Michael Underwood, and others took beautiful pictures of the Aurora with most showing the dominating color of red. The Aurora was so strong that it could be seen not only in the north but also in the west, east, and southern skies. Our Sun goes through cycles of calm and stormy activity. This year, the stormy activity has been quite vigorous. As early as April, the Aurora was seen by the Elkins family at Windy Point. Forecasts for more energetic CMEs are for the phenomenon to continue through this year and all of 2025. The downside of Auroras on Earth is that they can play havoc with satellites, radio communications, and electronics. Blackouts can shut down cities for hours. There are many sources to get more information and forecasts for the Aurora Borealis such as www.spaceweather.com, www.swpc.noaa.gov, www.spaceweather.gov. www.spaceweatherlive.com. If you go out to see the Aurora, you may notice a bright white glow but no colors. This is because our human eyes are limited in detecting colors at these times. Fortunately, a cell phones camera can pick up these colors. The best photos are placing your phone on a stable surface, turning off the flash, and setting exposure of about 3 seconds. Is This The “New Normal” No measurable precipitation for three weeks…no low temperatures below 32 in September…average median temperature for September, 2024 was two degrees above the historical average…flowers still blooming and grass still green this month…aspens were brilliant this year but were latent in taking place but lasted well into October…and, for this October so far, our average high is 72 compared to 59.5 historical average and 36 low compared to 25.6 historical average! As a National Weather Service observer for four decades, this trend is not surprising to me as I have witnessed this gradual warming up of September for the last several years. Additionally, we have seen these long stretches of three to four weeks of little or no precipitation. Will this trend continue? If so, should the Lake City business and the Chamber address this by actively promoting early fall tourism through mid-October? Unfortunately, I do not have the crystal ball for such a long-term outlook for our weather. Nevertheless, based upon my observations (especially over the last fifteen years), there is a change in our September and early October climate.

October 18, 2024 No Comments

Tag: Colorado