Colorado wolf reintroduction – Part 2 Tension

Tension between lethal control and coexistence plays out in wolf-reintroduction efforts 

Colorado wolf reintroduction – Part 1 Perceptions

Perceptions vary as Colorado prepares for wolf reintroduction  

Opposition to the Uinta Basin Railway mounts…except for Garfield County, CO

Garfield County commissioners defend Uinta Basin Railway against local opposition

Carbondale PD investigation report withheld since 9/2021

Amy Hadden Marsh, March 1, 2021 (originally published in The Sopris Sun)

On May 26, 2021, the Town of Carbondale released a statement that the Town had “retained Powers Police Consulting and Investigations of Grand Junction to perform an independent administrative investigation of the Town of Carbondale Police Department’s handling of the arrest incident that occurred at City Market in Carbondale on the evening of December 24, 2020.”

Carbondale resident Michael Francisco was the subject of that arrest, whose charges of obstruction of government operations, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest were dropped on May 18, 2021 as part of a deferred sentence agreement. 

According to Town records, obtained by The Sopris Sun pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act and C.R.S. § 24-72-303(4)(a), the Town paid a total of $3,200 (including a retainer of $2,500 on May 21, 2021) to Natasha Powers to conduct the investigation. She began her research in June and finished the report by Sept. 1, 2021, which is when the Town paid her an additional $700 for her work. But, a year and a half later, despite assurances from the Town, the draft report of the investigation, which Chief Wilson welcomed and looked forward to reading, has not been released.

So, where is the report?

According to a summary from Town Clerk and records custodian Cathy Derby, who responded to the records request and who retired March 1, 2023, the draft report was provided only “to the Town’s attorneys in anticipation of litigation in this matter” including Mark Hamilton. The report is protected under attorney/client privilege so is off-limits to anyone else, including Carbondale Town Trustees.

The anticipated litigation part of this remains unclear. Then-Mayor Dan Richardson told The Sopris Sun in a recent email that the litigation warning came from Michael Edminister, who was Francisco’s attorney in 2021. But, Richardson would not comment on whether a lawsuit was imminent at that time.

On May 19, 2021, shortly after Francisco’s charges were dropped, Edminister told the Aspen Daily News, “Now that the case has been dismissed, it’s my position that we would be free to pursue a civil remedy, and I would advise my client to pursue those remedies against the Town of Carbondale.” Edminister did not make himself available to The Sopris Sun for comment, stating that he no longer represents Francisco.

The first — and so far only — lawsuit was filed in federal District Court against City Market and Tia Walker on Dec. 21, 2022 — 19 months after Francisco’s Carbondale case was dismissed and 15 months after Natasha Powers completed her draft investigative report. Francisco is now represented by Michael P. Fairhurst and Darold W. Killmer of Killmer, Lane, and Newman LLP, a Denver civil rights firm with an office in Carbondale. In a February 2023 interview, Fairhurst told The Sopris Sun that the lawsuit does not include the Town of Carbondale or the Carbondale Police Department.

Fairhurst explained that all legal claims Francisco has or might have against Carbondale and the police, stemming from the Dec. 24, 2020 arrest, will be part of a mediation. Claims include wrongful arrest and a First Amendment retaliation claim, excessive force and race discrimination when it comes to contracts. “It’s a statute from the 1800s civil rights law,” Fairhurst explained.

Under this law, Francisco has legal claims related to what would be considered a retail contract. “You have what’s considered to be a contract with the grocery store where they give you groceries and you pay them,“ he said. “The police interfered with that by removing [Francisco] from the store after he had picked up — but not yet purchased — the groceries.”

Fairhurst would not say who approached whom with the idea of mediation but he said that both sides agreed. Denver-based Leland Anderson, a retired Colorado District Court judge, will be the mediator via Zoom on March 9.

During mediation, explained Fairhurst, both parties will have separate virtual rooms. The Town of Carbondale and the police department will be represented by Denver-based attorney Eric Ziporin, who was hired as outside counsel in case Francisco sued the Town and whom Town records show also received a copy of the 2021 Powers report.

“The mediator will go back and forth between [the rooms] and attempt to find common ground when it comes to the terms of a settlement agreement,” said Fairhurst. “He has the ability to recommend that the sides do certain things but he doesn’t have the power to require anything.” It’s ultimately up to both sides to agree on a resolution.

Fairhurst did not discuss what a settlement might look like but stated, “We want to see [the police] take accountability for the serious harm that they’ve inflicted on Mr. Francisco by subjecting him to the blatant racism that they did.” He added that Francisco is prepared to litigate if mediation is not successful.

According to Town records, the 2021 Powers report also contains “administrative investigation information involving [the Carbondale Police Department] that could be contrary to the public interest if disclosed.” It is likely, since both Hamilton and Ziporin received copies of the report in 2021, that they knew about this information before agreeing to the mediation. Hamilton declined comment due to attorney-client privilege. Jay Harrington and Chief Wilson also chose not to answer any questions.

Carbondale, CO resident Michael Francisco has filed suit against City Market and Tia Walker but will enter mediation on March 9 with the Town of Carbondale and the Carbondale police.

Uinta Basin Railway opposition unites Colorado towns, Utah backcountry residents 

Not Voting is a Selfish Act

I have heard the “I’m not a political person” excuse for not voting for as long as I have been going to the polls – about five decades now. My response has shifted over the years – from confrontation to shoulder-shrugging to attempts at meaningful discourse. More people don’t vote than vote, at least here in Garfield County, Colorado. Most turn out every four years to vote for US President. For example, out of 36,618 registered voters, 13,974 votes were cast in the 2022 primary election. That means less than 38% voted in the primary. What will happen in November is anyone’s guess.

cartoon by Nick Anderson

Well, I live in Garfield County and I’m voting. Here’s why…

First, our incumbent CD3 representative appears to be moving in the direction of fascism. Signs of fascism, according to one source, include “powerful and continuing nationalism”. Here’s one Boebert example:

Another sign included in the list of twelve is “religion and government intertwined”. Boebert states “the church is supposed to direct the government”. What… is she stupid? Perhaps. But, I prefer to think she’s been brainwashed by her misaligned religious convictions. She is one of those end times politicians who believes in the Book of Revelations and the second coming of Christ. Dangerous stuff when it is, after all, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Smug, so-called Christian, politicians who believe in this stuff seem to talk/act/vote in ways they think will hasten those end times. And, patronize those who believe differently (ie: the “woke left” as Boebert puts it). Yet, she is quick to strap on her gun in the name of freedom. God, guns, and guts. I’m so sick of these Jesus Freaks and their pompous claim to know what’s good for everyone.

President Harry Truman invoked the Christian god in his August 9, 1945 speech after the Potsdam conference and after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

We must constitute ourselves trustees of this new force — to prevent its misuse, and to turn it into the channels of service to mankind. It is an awful responsibility which has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/harrystrumanpotsdamconference.htm

As if God gave the atomic bomb to the US as a service to mankind.

As if God had a purpose for this ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

I guess the end times politicians would agree. Would you?

Last summer, some Colorado Democrats were so worried that Boebert would win the Republican primary that they urged fellow Dems to change their party affiliation to vote against her. I was one of those who changed my affiliation so I would have the choice, if it came down to it. I didn’t vote Republican. I hope I never do.

But, I voted in the primary and I will vote in November. And, I have this to say to those who don’t vote for whatever reason:

Not voting is a selfish act. Everyone is a political person – it’s our responsibility as citizens of the US. If more people voted, results would be unimaginably different. It would make a huge difference.

It’s selfish to ignore the needs of your community or your nation and not engage in the most important right we still have.

It’s selfish (and dangerous) to blinker yourself against your own ignorance, to live a life that puts the power of decision in other people’s hands.

It’s selfish to turn your back on your fellow citizens. We need everyone’s voice in order for this democracy to work.

Proposed Uinta Basin Railroad Could Bring Waxy Crude Through Colorado on Way to Gulf Coast

Heated oil cars heading west through Glenwood Springs. AH Marsh photo for Aspen Journalism

I recently wrote a piece for Aspen Journalism on the proposed Uinta Basin Railroad (UBR), an massively expensive idea meant to increase oil production in Utah’s Uinta Basin and take that crude to Gulf Coast refineries. I hope you’ll read the story and maybe take a look at other stories on the recent USFS approval to build a portion of the 88-mile railway through a roadless area on the Ashley National Forest – like this one from Jason Blevins for The Colorado Sun and this editorial from the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

The Post Independent’s readers’ poll on July 14, 2022 features the UBR.

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Please subscribe to my blog (it’s free) for more on the UBR – the railroad and the roadless area – coming later this summer. Thank you and stay tuned…

Jordan Cove Redux or La Ensenada del Jordan

What are the Garfield County (CO) Commissioners up to? On Monday, March 21, 2022 at the very beginning of their regular meeting, according to the agenda, they plan to approve an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and $5,000 for the Western States and Tribal Nations Natural Gas Initiative (WSTN), of which Garfield County is already a member. From Western Colorado assumes (bad, I know) that this $5,000 is an annual membership fee.

A presentation power point, included in the agenda, takes a look at all kinds of things, including the WSTN and something called ECA LNG. ECA stands for Energia Costa Azul. LNG is, of course, liquid natural gas.

It seems that the BOCC is interested in a project in Ensenada, Mexico that hopes to build a natural gas liquifaction plant in order to ship LNG overseas, particularly to Asian markets. (“Ensenada” means “cove” in Spanish.) The export terminal already exists but the liquifaction plant and the infrastructure needed to get natural gas from the Western US (IE pipelines) do not.

Sound familiar? Well, to anyone who followed the Jordan Cove boondoggle, it should.

But, a couple differences are apparent right off the bat… The first one, obviously, is that the ECA LNG project is in Mexico, not Oregon. Secondly, the terminal itself already exists – no need to start completely from scratch. The terminal opened in 2008. The LNG plant received permission from the US DOE in March, 2019 to export US natural gas to Mexico and to re-export LNG to FTA and non-FTA countries. By late 2020, ECA had the construction permit in hand for the LNG plant, seed gas from Total and Mitsui, and the investment decision to move ahead with the project. Something like that. It’s a little complicated. (DISCLAIMER: this is the first time we’ve seen this so details may change or be corrected as the story progresses…)

But, so, now, representatives (read: lobbyists) are on the prowl for more gas sources and they’re looking at Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Map from Browning’s power point presentation to Garfield County.

Pipelines have yet to be built.

This is all in Phase II so not at the very beginning but definitely in the speculation, could-be-a-boondoggle, or are-you-kidding-me stage.

From Western Colorado is interested in some of the players and how they are connected. Let’s start with the Garfield County Commissioners. They are members of the WSTN, which has an address in Houston. WSTN principle founder and president is Andrew Browning who is also a lobbyist for HBW Resources LLC (and author of the aforementioned power point presentation on the BOCC’s website agenda). The address for HBW Resources’s Houston office matches that of WSTN. Browning is also seen in this photo (from the power point presentation), giving a talk about WSTN at Jetro Houston, another lobbying group that helps US companies connect with Asian markets. (Note the guy sound asleep in front of Browning in that position we all used in high school to mask nap-taking in class…)

From Western Colorado does not yet know the meaning of these connections but thought people should know about this cadre.

It’s apparent that Garfield County has not abandoned the idea of selling Piceance Basin natural gas to Asia. I guess the question I have is… what happened to reducing the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions (we’ll talk about the hydrogen idea later) or, at the very least, reliance on homegrown energy to avoid having to disconnect from Russian energy imports during a war? Drill Baby Boebert would probably be in favor of sending Colorado natural gas to foreign markets. Her recent Ukraine Assistance and American Energy Acceleration Act seeks to open up all avenues of energy development in the US, including drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and supports exports of LNG.

Garfield County residents need to keep an eye on how much taxpayer money is spent on the ECA project, which county fund it comes from, and how accountable the BOCC will be.

Thanks for listening…

Book Train, Book Train Goin’ So Fast…

I purchased the last book I will ever buy at Book Train in Glenwood Springs today. Since they were having a “Lost Our Lease” sale, I also purchased a lot of magazines that will be hard to find elsewhere in the Roaring Fork Valley.  Another bookstore bites the dust in Glenwood.

We lost Through the Looking Glass in 2011, after 33 years, which made Book Train and Book Grove the only two left in town. Book Train has been serving customers for 42 years. Now, it’s gone…or will be by the end of this month.

I have fond memories of Book Train, such as the chocolate kisses I won for guessing the source of the daily quote, written on the chalkboard in the window.  The elegant green awning. The cats. The wonderful window decorations, reflecting the seasons or Banned Book Week or International Women’s Day or Martin Luther King Jr Day or Harry Potter. My friend, Stacy Linman, used to do the window dressing for the store. If she were alive today, she’d be really peeved that the store is closing.

I actually won a contest at Book Train several years ago. I can’t remember what the contest was about but I remember getting the phone call that I’d won something, which ended up being a hardbound, coffee-table book about travel. I was so excited and remember that the women who worked there were excited, too. They were always excited to talk to customers and share music tastes and favorite authors, happy to recommend books; willing to make those special orders. I was told that the book I purchased today was probably the final special order they will ever do.

You could buy newspapers there – not only local papers but the New York Times and the Denver Post. Great greeting cards. Great kitsch, like Harry Potter gummy creatures (!) or those wind-up dentures that hop. And, the magazines! From People to those esoteric European photography magazines that are more like books. Adbusters, the International Socialist Review, the Sun, as well as countless fashion and gardening rags. Anything you wanted in the magazine world, Book Train usually sold it. It was a real-live newsstand, just like in the old days.  We can still go to the library for magazines but the only place to buy them is City Market. No more newsstands.

I hear an ice cream and sweet shop will fill that space. How many ice cream and sweet shops does Glenwood have now?  Way more than there are book stores. I realize it was a perfect storm of circumstances that forced Book Train to close – no one person is to blame – but an ice cream store replacing an institution that has been in operation for 5 decades?

I was tempted to count restaurants, ice cream/sweet shops, tattoo parlors, dispensaries, and empty storefronts today while I was in town but held back. Too depressing now that there will be no more book store on Grand Avenue. I don’t understand what makes Glenwood Springs the Most Fun Town in America. Seriously, and my apologies to the Glenwood Chamber Resort Association, but what’s fun about a town without a homegrown bookstore?

I like towns with bookstores, and I don’t mean Barnes & Noble. I mean small towns with unique places to peruse books, used and new. Moab has Back of Beyond. Aspen has Explore. Basalt has Bookbinders. Denver, Tattered Cover. Lisbon has the Bertrand, the world’s oldest bookstore, open since 1755. Then, there’s the Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, with the world’s longest line.

Glenwood Springs once had four – two that sold new and two that sold used. Now, the city has one that sells used. Sheri Scruby does a great job with her comfy, neighborhood Book Grove and perhaps she’ll add a section of new books so former Book Train customers or tourists who want more than thrill rides, beer tastings, marijuana, and ice cream for vacation options won’t feel starved.

I, for one – and I know I’m not alone – will miss Book Train and the culture and intellect it added to a faded Glenwood Springs downtown. And, I’ve already started ordering books from Sheri. I feel like I need to support the town’s bookshop hold-out lest we end up with a bricks-and-mortar Amazon Books in the Glenwood Springs Mall. Or even worse: no bookstore at all.

Thanks for listening…

 

Neighbors

My 40-something neighbor is outside playing with his remote-controlled car. At first, I thought, “That’s different; a 40-year old man with a remote-controlled car.” It gave me kind of an odd feeling, like when I see that birthday card with the diaper-clad baby with beard stubble.

But, then I realized things could be worse. He could be shooting guns off or curing dead animal heads in the refrigerator crisper. That describes the male who lived next door a few years before the remote-controlled car guy and his wife. The gun guy really did shoot his rifles off out back. And, one day, I said something to him, which led to a conversation about gun control and AK-47s, which led to his inviting me into his house to look at his gun collection.

It was an arsenal.

A couple of shotguns, a high-powered rifle of some sort with a scope on it, and an AR-15. Semi-automatic, I think. He also owned a high-powered bow that looked like a torture device. He was cleaning his guns on the carpet. He told me he often strapped on one of the long guns and went for a walk in the hills across the road. In camouflage no less. Why, I asked.  Just for fun.

It was difficult to sit and pretend I was impressed by the firearms or carry on a pleasant conversation when all that was running through my brain was Sandy Hook and “GET OUT OF THERE”.

He was also a second-rate bull rider and liked to work on his truck in the garage (echo chamber) with music blaring. I mean blaring. So loud he couldn’t hear me when I’d ask him to turn it down.

ME: It’s too loud!

HIM: WHAT?

After he moved out, rent-delinquent and jobless – oh, did I mention his dog that liked to jump through the windows while the screens were in them?

Anyway, after he moved out, the landlords went in for the usual between-renters clean-up and remodel. This is when they found the deer head in the crisper.

But, it could have been worse.

A few renters prior, a couple lived there. She worked. He shot guns…at small animals out back and inside the house.  One day, he was shooting out back but close to my house and I ran outside, pissed off. I hate hearing gun shots less than 50 feet from my living room window. I live in western Colorado, in the mountains. Typically, not a war zone.

So, I ask the guy to stop shooting. He says “I live in the country; I can do anything I want!” I said – so fumed that I ignored the fact that he had a gun in his hand – “The hell you can, you son of a bitch!” And, ran off to talk to the landlord, who thought it was funny. After the couple finally moved out, the landlord was doing the between-renter thing, which was when he found the bullet hole in the washing machine.

Then, there was the con man who still owes my landlord $4,000 and dumped all the used cat litter out the back door, thinking somehow it would magically dissolve into the earth.  Not.

Don’t get me wrong: the current neighbors are some of the friendliest, kindest people I know. So, I guess I’ll turn a blind eye to the remote-controlled car…unless he starts to work on it in the garage with the music loud or mounts a tiny machine gun on the hood.

Thanks for listening…