Habitat for Humanity ReStore Sale
Habitat for Humanity is planning another ReStore Sale in order to divert usable building materials from going to the landfill and to help make home improvements more affordable for everyone. The sale will be held on Saturday, September 11th from 9:00 a.m. until noon at Apple Tree Storage on the 1800 block of State Avenue in Alamosa. All proceeds from every sale will go towards building Habitat for Humanity homes in the San Luis Valley. Habitat continues to accept donations of new and gently used building materials. Call the Habitat office at (719) 589-8678 for more information.

Traditional Folk Music With Modern Twists Coming To Alamosa
Traditional sailors’ songs from the days of wind-powered ocean travel might be a surprise to hear in a mountain valley at 7500 feet elevation, but Missincinatti are a band that delights in providing the unexpected with their unique take on sea shanties and other old-time music. They are sure to stimulate interest during their concert this Sun., Sept. 5 at 7pm in Adams State College’s Leon Memorial Hall, on Richardson Ave. near 2nd St. in Alamosa, CO, presented by the Alamosa Live Music Association (ALMA). Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for ALMA members, and $12 for the general public. Missincinatti cultivates songs with roots in the pre-industrial era and branches that point to a variety of contemporary musical practices. Undiscovered wonders of the world, maritime ghosts, and work in the mines are brought to life through sonic retellings that dim the lights on old melodies, while allowing their inherent drama to emerge from the shadows. Through lo-fi sound design, improvisation, and harmonically rich instrumentals, Missincinatti creates new work from old in an act of sonic reuse and repurposing.
Inspired by storytellers, this trio uses history to illuminate the present - provoking thought, often poking fun at ourselves, and reminding us of a time when there were bare spots on the map of the world, when folks told tales of mystical creatures, and when history was cobbled together through the spoken word. More information about supporting ALMA and about upcoming concerts is available at http://www.almaonline.org. Missincinatti also has concerts scheduled in Taos on Sept. 7 and Santa Fe on Sept. 8.

Public Land Clean-Up near the Ortiz Cemetery
The San Luis Valley BLM could use a hand on Saturday September 25th. The Bureau of Land Management has discovered that the public land adjacent to the Ortiz cemetery is being used as an illegal dumping site and would like your help cleaning it up. From inside the cemetery you can easily see dozens of unsightly trash piles, and as you walk around, it is obvious that the area is littered with burn piles, beer bottles, construction debris, discarded household items, and saddest of all, flower arrangements meant for loved ones. If you are interested in helping please join us at the Antonito Shell gas station (Main St. & W. 3rd) on Saturday September 25th at 8:30am. From there we will caravan to the work site which is located approximately 6 miles south of Antonito. Volunteers should expect to work from 8:30am until 1pm. The BLM will provide work tools, gloves, bags, dumpster, a porta-potty and plenty of work. What you should bring: • Work clothes – long pants that you don’t mind getting dirty • Sturdy shoes – boots are preferred due to the uneven footing • Water • Sunblock • Hat • Any personal medication • Friends and family • Something for lunch. Please register for this project here or contact Rob Santoro at (719) 852-6267 or rob@voc.org

National Public Lands Day at Kerber Creek
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) invites you to come out and lend a hand on Saturday October 2nd in recognition of the 17th annual National Public Lands Day celebration. This year we will be transplanting Chokecherry trees around the Kerber Creek to help stabilize the creek walls to prevent further erosion. With the help of many partnerships the BLM began the Kerber Creek restoration project in 2005. This important environmental project focuses on repairing damage caused between the late 1800s - mid 1900s from the Bonanza Mining District. Mine wastes containing heavy metals have had a remarkably disturbing effect on the creek, including the destruction of vegetation, erosion, decreased water quality and death of fish and other aquatic life. These travesties have occurred because the metals in tailing piles are mobile in water. The toxic metals are soaked up by plant roots with water, and cause the plants to slowly die. Without vegetation to support the structure of the creek, the creek freely erodes. To combat the negative effects of the erosion the BLM has started the process of phytostabalization, which is a method that uses lime, limestone, and compost to bind metals and make them less water soluble. This process keeps metals from being absorbed into vegetation. Since 2007, 60 acres of mine waste along the creek have been phytostabilized, 40 of those acres have been stabilized over the past two years. Partners have contributed over $1.2 million in aid for clean-up. In addition, these partners have contributed over 3,000 volunteer hours towards the project. If you would like to lend a hand please register online or contact Rob Santoro at (719) 852-6267 or rob@voc.org. We will meet at the Villa Grove Trading Post at 8:30am and then caravan approximately 9 miles to the worksite. Please be prepared to work the majority of the day. What to bring: • Water • Sunscreen • Work clothes you don’t mind getting dirty • Long Pants • Jacket (dress in layers according to the weather) • Rain Gear • Boots (no open toed shoes allowed) • Hat • Gloves (or will be provided) • Lunch and snacks • A friend or family member

Retired astronaut Kent Rominger returned to his childhood home Saturday. During a community meet and greet Aug. 28 at the Rio Grande County Museum, citizens had the opportunity to listen to and ask Rominger questions regarding his experience with NASA.

Gubernatorial candidates Tom Tancredo and Dan Maes objected to the question of whether ballots should be available in English and Spanish, despite the fact that bilingual ballots are required by federal law in any county where at least 5 percent of the population speaks a language other than English. Maes, offering a suggestion that immigrants are akin to baby pigs, said immigrants will never assimilate “if we keep suckling them” by making necessary documents available in their native tongue. “To become a citizen, you have to learn English,” Tancredo agreed.

Hickenlooper said his campaign travels throughout the state have shown him that Spanish is the primary language in some households, and they should not be excluded at the ballot. “There are families that have been here for five or six generations in the San Luis Valley and they’re still speaking Spanish,” he said.

Quizzed about how to manage higher education in the state, which is likely to face deep funding cuts during the next two fiscal years, Tancredo took the most controversial stance by suggesting closing some colleges in favor of consolidation.

The westbound “San Juan Express #216” passenger train outbound from Antonito struck an Antonito track “tie crew” motor car occupied by two Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad employees shortly after noon Tuesday.

It wasn't all that long ago when the Antonito football team was considered everybody's punching bag, but now Antonito's football team rides rocket to respectability.

There's a potato bug going around, but it didn't affect the San Luis Valley so bad.

Saguache County commissioners will host an informal meeting in Center Sept. 14 regarding a proposed solar project. SolarReserve, a California company, hopes to build a pair of 100-megawatt solar plants on roughly 3,000 acres northeast of Center in the San Luis Valley and needs to secure the county's approval.

Read why Virginia Sutherland, a second generation rancher in her 80's, feels that Tessera Solar (or anything similar) must not be allowed to be built in the San Luis Valley!

It’s 5:59am, and today is my day. I’m in shape, there’s no rain in the forecast and the sun won’t set for fourteen hours. I have five quarts of water, a ridiculous amount of food and a topo map. When I sign into the Liberty Trailhead register at the southern edge of the Baca Grande, images of ghost towns flicker across the page. When I look to the south, mirage-like dunes beckon.

Read more...

MAC to host SLV Talent Show in September
The Monte Arts Council is excited to introduce the SLV Talent Show this fall. MAC is recruiting performers for both youth and adult categories for the Sept. 25 show at Richardson Hall on the Adams State Campus.
Auditions will be held Saturday, Sept. 11 at the Valley Christian Fellowship church at Third Avenue and Broadway in Monte Vista. For information, call Mary Richards at (719) 580-0164. The youth category will consist of all performers under 14. The adult category will be all performers age 14 and over.

All varieties of talent are encouraged to for this showcase of performers from all over the San Luis Valley. A panel of judges will award cash prizes for the best performers in each age group. If you would like to sponsors this event, call Mary at 719-580-0164. Call now to reserve your spot at the auditions!

Traditional Folk Music With Modern Twists Coming To Alamosa
Traditional sailors’ songs from the days of wind-powered ocean travel might be a surprise to hear in a mountain valley at 7500 feet elevation, but Missincinatti are a band that delights in providing the unexpected with their unique take on sea shanties and other old-time music. They are sure to stimulate interest during their concert this Sun., Sept. 5 at 7pm in Adams State College’s Leon Memorial Hall, on Richardson Ave. near 2nd St. in Alamosa, CO, presented by the Alamosa Live Music Association (ALMA). Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for ALMA members, and $12 for the general public.

Missincinatti cultivates songs with roots in the pre-industrial era and branches that point to a variety of contemporary musical practices. Undiscovered wonders of the world, maritime ghosts, and work in the mines are brought to life through sonic retellings that dim the lights on old melodies, while allowing their inherent drama to emerge from the shadows. Through lo-fi sound design, improvisation, and harmonically rich instrumentals, Missincinatti creates new work from old in an act of sonic reuse and repurposing.

Inspired by storytellers, this trio uses history to illuminate the present - provoking thought, often poking fun at ourselves, and reminding us of a time when there were bare spots on the map of the world, when folks told tales of mystical creatures, and when history was cobbled together through the spoken word.

More information about supporting ALMA and about upcoming concerts is available at http://www.almaonline.org.

Marksmanship Classes
Hunters who are interested in sharpening their shooting skills and improving their chances of harvesting big game this fall are encouraged to sign up for one of three upcoming marksmanship classes.Rick Basagoitia, area manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife in the San Luis Valley, is teaching three classes during the next month: Sept. 7-9, one evening classroom session and two evening range sessions; Sept. 23 and 25, an evening classroom session and a morning range session; Oct. 4, a full-day class. “Good shooting is not a natural skill,” said Basagoitia. “By learning more about your rifle and ballistics you’ll be a better shot and a more effective hunter.”

There is no charge and each class is open to 10 people. Class participants should bring their rifles and know the caliber, barrel length, action type; specifications of their rifle scopes; and the type of ammunition that will be used while hunting. For the range session, participants should also bring 30-40 rounds of ammunition; appropriate clothing, lunch and water; shooting sticks, backpacks, bipods or sandbags — whatever is normally used to shoot off of in the field. Participants will not use the shooting benches. For more information or to register for the class, please call the Monte Vista DOW office at (719)587-6900.

Discrimination wasn't the primary topic of conversation at Friday's workshop about livestock industry competition, but several Hispanic farmers from Colorado said they attended the event at CSU to raise their voices about being disenfranchised by the federal government. Gomez worked for the Farmers Home Administra-tion and the USDA's Rural Development Administration in Alamosa for 30 years, serving for a time as the agency's district director. He said he witnessed within the agency routine and systematic discrimination against Hispanic farmers. Gomez said in a court document:

I observed that Hispanic farmers were not being given loans because they allegedly didn't have sufficient experience or because they had other nonfarming jobs.

The case, known as GUADALUPE L. GARCIA JR. v. TOM VILSACK, is a class action lawsuit which seeks to remedy years of massive and admitted discrimination against Hispanic farmers and ranchers who were denied access to United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA") loan programs in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ("ECOA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1691, et seq. The lawsuit also seeks to remedy discrimination against Hispanic farmers and ranchers in the administration of USDA farm benefit programs.

There's a reason much of Southern Colorado feels like home to many New Mexicans [and vice versa]. Many of the Spanish settlers who colonized New Mexico went on to do the same in places like the San Luis Valley, where a Spanish/Mexican land grant fueled much of the area's development.

A preliminary report indicates that repairing the burned trestle on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad line will cost around $2 million — more than five times the amount of insurance coverage carried on the structure.

The northern leopard frog was gone for 40 years. It's a mystery why they disappeared and how they came back. But this month, hikers led by park Ranger Patrick Myers stumbled upon a surprise: a colony of northern leopard frogs at the western edge of the park near the lakes, an area leased by The Nature Conservancy.

Trout Unlimited has signed a draft agreement with the federal government that would shield the group from liability in the cleanup of Kerber Creek in Saguache County. The agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would cover the group in its efforts to reclaim scattered tailing piles and waste rock on private land in a 17-mile stretch of the creek.

Blanca Fest
Blanca Fest is a FREE event, Aug. 21, in Cole Park, Alamosa, Colo hosted by Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), which is a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving Colorado’s beautiful outdoors and connecting hikers, climbers and adventure enthusiasts. Blanca Fest is a FREE all-day event with hiking tours followed by food and beverages and live music. A portion of the proceeds are donated to the reconstruction of Como Lake.

Summer of Live Music in the SLV Still Going Strong
There’s plenty of great live music coming up in the San Luis Valley. The Alamosa Live Music Association (ALMA) is doing its best to help. Blanca Fest is an all-day communal get together for hikers, families, and nature enthusiasts organized by the Colorado Mountain Club, Sat. Aug. 21 in Alamosa’s Cole Park. After a day of hiking, attendees can kick back and relax with an evening of entertainment including food and beverages provided by the San Luis Valley Brewing Co., live acoustic musical performances by singer/songwriters Emily Robinson and Alison Kitchen and master fiddler Matt Schildt presented by ALMA, and more between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Admission is free, and any Blanca Fest proceeds will benefit the restoration of trails and the natural environment of Como Lake and Blanca Peak. To sign up or get more details about Blanca Fest, visit http://www.cmc.org. Featuring great artists like Boulder Acoustic Society, Drew Emmit (from Leftover Salmon) and his band, Mountain Standard Time, and The Grant Farm featuring Benny Galloway, among many others, Rhythms on the Rio returns to a beautiful outdoor venue on the Rio Grande in South Fork Sat. Aug. 21 and Sun. Aug. 22, courtesy of the South Fork Music Association. Admission is only $5 plus a canned good for the SLV Food Banks, and music runs from about 11:30am until 10pm on Sat. and 10:30am until 7:30pm on Sun. More information is at http://www.rhythmsontherio.com/.

Blending the heartiest world rhythms with jam-band passion, while muddying the lines between Americana roots music, disco, funk and bluegrass, six-piece band the Last to Know, from Taos, electrified the Fri. night crowd at the Crestone Music Festival in 2009. This year, they help welcome back Adams State College students during a free luau Thurs., Aug. 26, 6pm, on the corner of First and Stadium on the ASC campus. The general public is cordially invited to join the ASC community at this concert, which ALMA is partnering with ASC Student Activities to present.

The Valley Farmers’ Market, organized by the Alamosa Uptown and River Association, at Centennial Park, between Main and 6th streets and between State and Hunt avenues in Alamosa presents live music with support from ALMA. Michael Brill plays acoustic country blues, guitar and vocals, Sat. Aug. 21 from 10am until noon.

Moira Smiley and VOCO wowed an Alamosa audience last spring, and now the cellist from that band, Jessica Catron, brings her band MISSINCINATTI to Alamosa. This trio tells seasoned stories through chamberesque compositions, field recordings, and timeless arrangements of old melodies. The show is Sun., Sept. 5, 7pm in Leon Recital Hall, at Richardson and 2nd, on the ASC campus. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for ALMA members, and $12 for the general public. More information about supporting ALMA and about upcoming concerts is available at http://www.almaonline.org.

Faith Hinkley, 23, was buried with full military honors for her service in the United States Army, but her burial was riddled with drama. Westboro Baptist Church, an Independent Baptist church and hate group known for its anti-homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag, planned to protest her burial. A plea on reddit.com from one of her friends stationed in Iraq to counter this protest resulted in 1700 comments and the participation of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group initially formed to shelter and protect the funerals from protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church.

Jigar Shah, the Founder of SunEdison, chimes in about a Denver Post op-ed that claims that because of "uncertainties involved in Xcel's attempt to expand solar power generation, now isn't the time to press forward" and Shah says the Post screwed up again.

Almost one year to the day after kicking off the first round of the Building Excellent Schools Today (B.E.S.T.) financing, Colorado State Treasurer Cary Kennedy announced the completion of the first of several new schools in the San Luis Valley funded through the B.E.S.T. program.