I have fond memories of that theatre, one that stands out was watching The Lord of the Rings in a down sleeping bag with a thermos of hot tea. Another had to do with a particular Spiderman poster John handed my two, very young, costumed clad sons as we left the theater one night.  It still hangs in our living room.

I’m sure if he were still here he’d be over at the high school job site on a daily basis just checking out the progress. These images are from the last week.

Salida High School Community Action Groups.

I have recently attended two Salida High School Design Action Workshops for the construction of the new high school. These meetings are a way for the community to learn about the current design phase, offer input and ask questions. Meetings are very interactive. At the January 12th meeting, new building plans were reviewed as well as a discussions on sustainable energy and building materials.

The district is very interested in what the community wants. From greenhouses and culinary arts to outdoor spaces, gyms, security, student commons, and technology. The current plan is constantly evolving in this early development phase. There are community design action groups forming. These groups are an important part of the process, and a great way for you to get involved.

The construction schedule is very tight and design decisions will be made within the next 6 weeks. Another meeting will be held at the cafeteria on Jan. 25th, at 6pm. If you have a student at the high school, ask if they’d like to get involved. Student meetings will take place during lunchtime. Both the architect and district’s builders representative have enjoyed the recent student interaction.

For additional information and action group descriptions and sign-ups please visit EducationSalida.com

Not only does the park cooler reduce trips across the street to raid water from the cafe (think Frogger), it also teaches one of those excellent lessons in community – giving.

At the end of the day, one of the kids takes the cooler back to the coffee shop.  The next day it’s filled with water and ready to go again. Dawn said when the kids came by, “they were always polite, saying please and thank you.” Additionally, we now know where to buy coffee for the Citizen’s espresso machine. There’s a lesson there somewhere.

Thank you Dawn and Phillip, we’re giving you a board slap on the coping. In the meantime, I bet you can’t wait until those rest rooms at the boat ramp are finished.

When we stopped by to thank them personally, the coffee gurus also announced  that they were coming onboard as an advertiser and supporter of the Citizen. It was a good day in java land.

Café Dawn is located at the intersection of 1st and F.

When the Salida School Board made their decisions regarding the alternative school programs they seriously weighed the long-term cost and educational advantages and disadvantages for keeping them a part of the district. These programs will need to be funded to a lesser degree next year and will be self-sustaining in the 2011-2012 school year. In the future, they are slated to bring in more money than their operating budgets. This information has been readily available, and presented in public meetings on several occasions.

Adding these programs to our district provides alternative educational opportunities to parents who might not otherwise have chosen the public school system.  They also make our district competitive with other school districts and reflect the progressive vision of a dedicated school board.

We all know that due, in large part, to a decrease in tax revenues, the State reduced school funding.

The Salida School Board has been tasked with a thankless, and very difficult job.  They approached it thoroughly and thoughtfully. The fact that they were able to keep our full-time teaching staff is a tremendous credit to the district’s mission and their concern for teachers and staff. The cuts that were made were those considered to have the least affect on our students’ educations. This is not the time to instigate mistrust, but rather, the time to rally around and support those who have to make these difficult decisions.

A scholarship fund benefit in honor of Mary Redfern-White will be hosted at the Boathouse Cantina, 228 N. F. Street,  on Thursday, March 5th from 5-9pm. All restaurant proceeds from the evening’s festivities as well as auction sales will go toward the Scholarship Fund.

“Mary and I talked about the scholarship fund,” said her husband Rob White,  “and we decided since she loved teaching third grade and her passion was writing, perhaps the best thing would be to set up a scholarship fund that would honor those things.”

The Scholarship will be awarded to a third grader who has shown excellence in writing.  The winner will be awarded the Mary Redfern-White Scholarship upon graduation from High School.

Mary taught at Longfellow Elementary for eight years.  She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in April of last year and has undergone four cycles of chemotherapy and spent 20 weeks in the hospital.  She decided to stop treatment and spend the time she has left in her home, surrounded by family and the people she loves.  Mary’s passion for teaching, her quick smile, and her heartfelt enthusiasm has touch countless students, their parents and her community of friends.

If you wish to donate items to the auction or would like to donate to the Scholarship fund, please contact LaVonne Meek at 539-5360 or lmeek@salida.k12.co.us All donations made by check to the Mary Redfern-White Scholarship Fund are fully deductible.

With this eloquent opening quote from the Thomas McGuane novel, The Longest Silence, Jay Hake, legal council representing CCFS, began his talk last night at the senior center.

Hake delivered a short and succinct outline for group discussion and laid out the options he felt were viable directions to continue.

The first option was to do nothing. He followed this by saying that perhaps now was the time to sit back and say we did our best, got a few things addressed in the 1041 permit that would not have happened without the involvement of the CCFS and move onto other projects.

The second option was a recall of commissioners. From a standpoint of Nestle’s water extraction operation this tack would have no impact at all. It wouldn’t undo where we were today and it wouldn’t halt Nestle. However, it would make a clear statement to commissioners about the public’s feelings on their decision.

Option three would be to request a Judicial Review of the Commissioners’ decision to grant the 1041 Special Land Use Permit. If the County Commissioners approve the draft of the 1041 Permit Resolution on Sept. 23 then citizens have 30 days to challenge. Such a request would be filed in district court and would examine such issues as whether the commissioners followed proper public process procedure and whether the resolution of approval exceeded their statutory authority.

Option four would be to join as an objector in district water court. While on rare occasions groups such as CCFS have participated in water court challenges, water court bases decisions on water rights. CCFS does not own any water rights.

John Graham, president of the CCFS, and Jay Hake both reiterated that these last options would require a serious commitment from the community of time and money. Although currently a local issue, Chaffee County’s battle with Nestle reaches far outside our valley and brings to the forefront the possibility of water extraction in other areas of the state. CCFS members were also informed that they were not alone in the fight and that several large national groups including Food and Water Watch had been following their progress and were willing to help.

After listening to Hake outline the options available to continue to resist Nestle’s efforts to harvest water in Chaffee County, those present agreed to help organize a public rally at the Chaffee County courthouse on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 9am., an hour before Commissioners are expected to review and formally approve the formal resolution giving Nestle the green light to harvest 65 million gallons of spring water annually. At the special meeting, Commissioners will also consider granting the water bottler permission for an easement through county property to construct the project infrastructure.

Rally organizers have a two-fold goal. They hope to both send a message to Commissioners that the community is unhappy with the decision to grant conditional approval to the project, as well as raise awareness within the community that there are still options to pursue to try to block Nestle from implementing its project. The county has outlined 44 conditions it feels should help Nestle satisfy the requirements of a 1041 permit.

To review the County’s final formal resolution on the Nestle project or to become a member of the Chaffee Citizen for Sustainability visit their website at www.ccfsustainability.org

The students arrived early Saturday morning and were paired with a volunteer who walked with them as they toured the extensive show. Twenty-four schools throughout the state were awarded the honor.  The students received $500 to buy art for Salida Middle School. Additionally, four schools, of which Salida was one, were granted $1000 to purchase a museum quality piece for the Cherry Creek Mobile Art Gallery.  “It’s been a lot more fun looking at the art knowing you have money to buy something,” said Ethan Coit. The students had four hours to tour the event, interview artists and make their decisions.  All of the schools reconvened in the afternoon before an ad hoc Art Review Board to “defend” their selections and answer questions about their choices. One person in the grand stands commented that calling upon students to give presentations in front of a panel and large crowd might have been more daunting than the actual art selection.

“The art was generally easy to pick because we all agreed that we pretty much liked the same art,” said Ethan Coit, “The hard part was trying to find the few artists we liked the most.”  The Salida students chose to split their money between a sculpture by Ken Peterson, and a watercolor by Vivian Wan-Nien Chao.  They selected a wooden vessel by Joel Hunnicutt,  for the mobile art piece.

The sculpture and painting will be on display at the beginning of the school year.

This quote was posted in the Salida Citizen by Nestle Waters North America. (Nestle Waters: For the Record, March 14th 2008). I question the comprehensive sustainability plan of a company who will produce over 490 million plastic bottles a year from the Nathrop spring alone.

This is not a company concerned with the environment. This is a company who takes pure spring water and turns it into garbage. If our County Commissioners are honest in their assessment of this project, they can rest assured that it does not fall within the guidelines of the 1041 permit.

Read about the massive amount of waste plastics produced each year in America and the fallacy of recyclable plastic water bottles.