Filed under: Silt, annexation, autumn ridge, betsy suerth, bobby hays, development, dogland, free speech, freedom of information act, gale carmoney, mayor moore, mayor pro-tem, meredith robinson, nicky leigh, public hearing, river park, tibbetts, town board, town government, trustee
We – meaning Tod and I – attended the Tuesday night (5/26) Town Board meeting. Tod had some unfinished business with the B&L Liquor Depot liquor license and I just tagged along so I could practice law without a license.
Tod testified at the Town Liquor Board hearing on the change of address for the B&L liquor license. The main point of his testimony was to inform the Board that the old liquor inventory from the 115 N 7th Street location had been removed from the premises without the Town’s supervision, as stipulated in B&L’s lawsuit settlement with the Town last November.
Tod requested that the change of address for B&L Liquor Depot be denied because they had violated the conditions of their current license. During cross examination B&L’s Attorney Charlie Wilman asked Tod whether he had “in fact filed numerous complaints” about B&L’s building permit at their new location, 710 Main Street. Tod said he had not filed any complaints and reminded Wilman that he could only question him about his testimony.
“This goes to character,” Wilman said. “I’m allowed to call into question your character.”
So Tod explained that he had filed a couple information requests to find out more information about the building permit.
Anyway the Board dismissed Tod’s testimony and ignored B&L’s liquor license violation and voted 5-0 (Mayor Moore abstained) to approve the change of address. In her comments, Board member Nicky Leigh wondered why they’d wasted an hour and a half.
Evidently in Silt when a citizen files a freedom of information request that automatically calls into question his character. And when a citizen testifies at a public hearing he’s just wasting everyone’s time. That’s something we also saw with the residents who will be impacted by the Mayor’s Autumn Ridge development. Whenever they took the time to testify, whether at a P&Z meeting or Board meeting, they were treated rudely and their comments and concerns were dismissed and ignored.
At the same meeting (5/26) the Board decided to keep the current number of Board members at 6 until the 2010 election because no one has applied for the seat that Tod vacated. Nada. Not one letter of application. At a previous meeting Mayor Pro-tem Robinson had wondered aloud why they can’t get people to serve on the Town Board.
Well duh. Look at how they treat people.
Since Tod resigned from the Board in April we have been amazed and heartened by the dozens upon dozens of people who have gone out of their way to approach Tod (or me, or both of us) and thank him for his service to the community. People have called on the phone, sent letters, emails, and gifts. They’ve stopped us on the street, in the park, and other public places. They’ve even knocked on our door. Many of these people we know and many introduced themselves to us for the first time. During the weeks just after Tod’s resignation, these encounters happened daily – not almost daily – but every single day. Now they still occur on a weekly basis. No one (except Trustee Bobby Hays) has criticized Tod’s decision. Many people said they wondered how he put up with “all the bullshit” for as long as he did.
Several people have expressed concern whether the status of River Park as an off-leash dog park could be in jeopardy since Tod is no longer on the Board. We have told them that we will always have to protect what we have worked hard to preserve, whether or not Tod was on the Board. We Doglanders are without a doubt the most organized and positive force in this Town. We have proven that over and over again through the years. So fear not, my friends, with a couple phone calls and emails, we can pack the Town Hall, should the need ever arise. And we still have the support of the Police Deparment.
Almost everyone told us how they feel about the current town government. These are people who pay attention to and care about what’s going on in their town. People who are eligible to apply for the vacant seat on the Board.
Below are some of those comments. Please note these are not my comments or Tod’s comments. I will not identify who said them because of the first comment.
“They retaliate against anyone who criticizes the Board or the Staff.”
“The Community Development Department is impossible to work with. The Staff is rude. They don’t know the rules and they make applicants jump through hoops.”
“The Board is just a rubber stamp for the Staff, and as a result many of their [Staff’s] actions go unchecked.”
“It’s no secret the Town is having financial problems, but the Board and Staff have no empathy for ordinary citizens’ financial hardships. They don’t cut anyone a break.”
“Betsy [Town Administrator] doesn’t even live in Silt. It’s obvious she looks down on us. She treats us like we’re a bunch of hicks.”
“If you question the actions of a Police Officer you get a citation.”
“Nobody wants to do business in Silt because of this Board and Staff. As a businessperson, I can’t work with them.”
“Everybody knows what a mess the Town is in. And it’s all the fault of this town government.”
“I went to a P&Z meeting and Gale [Community Development Director] asked me why I was there. I mean it was a public meeting and I had to explain what I was doing there.”
“Even though they ask for public input but they don’t really care what the people think. Actions speak louder than words.”
“They’ve fostered an unfriendly atmosphere in the town, which makes people suspicious of town government. It’s like, what are they hiding?”
“Seems like they have quite a cozy little coup going where the Mayor’s development sails through while all the other new developments are bankrupt. Yet they can’t seem to handle a simple annexation like A-1. Really makes you wonder.”
I left out the mean-spirited comments like, “this Board doesn’t have a clue”, “Betsy’s the Wicked Witch of the West”, and “Gale is incompetent” because they don’t serve any purpose. Oops. Guess they slipped out anyway.
The point is the people have responded overwhelmingly. We’re so grateful for their support, and your support. We thank them and we thank you.
However their comments do reveal why no one has applied for Tod’s seat on the Board. So in answer to Mayor Pro-tem Robinson’s ponderings over why they can’t find anyone to serve on the Board, the answer is because the people are mad as hell.
Filed under: Colorado, Encana, Garfield County, Silt, chemicals, clean water, colorado river, cover up, divide creek, drill rigs, drilling, energy companies, environment, fracking, gas well industry, gas wells, impacts, lisa bracken, pollution, west divide creek
Last week on May 14, Lisa Bracken documented in photos and video how Encana workers botched the so-called clean up of a sludge pit full of fracing chemicals. Read the full story at Journey of the Forsaken.
Here’s the video:
As Lisa pointed out, the sludge pit is situated over an aquifer so the buried chemicals will continue to leach into groundwater, wells, and eventually West Divide Creek, and the Colorado River which supplies water for our valley and the western states. We have no way of knowing if our municipal filtration systems or our home filtration systems are capable of filtering out the chemicals because the energy companies will not tell us what chemicals they are using. We have to guess.
After watching the video, a tall cool glass of water will never look the same to me.
And some people still ask, “What’s the big deal about gas well drilling?”
Clean water. That’s the big deal.
Filed under: Akbash, CCD, Divide Creek Animal Hospital, Moab, alaskan malamute, canine compulsive disorder, cesar millan, clomipramine, crazy bitch, dog behavior, dog story, dog whisperer, dogland, dogs, drugs, lab, rehabilitation, river park, tibbetts
On May 12, Venus and I went to see Dr. Cheryl Pearce at DCAH. It was kind of a big day for us. Venus has been on Clomipramine and undergoing rehabilitation using Cesar Millan’s dog psychology method for six months. Dr. Pearce was really impressed with Venus’s progress. We had a good discussion about how far Venus has come and how far she still has to go.
“I’ve done some more research,” Dr. Pearce said. “And what I’m finding is that the dog needs to achieve normal, stable behavior on the drug and continue that way for six months.”
“Okay. Well Cesar says that play comes last,” I said. “Once a dog can socialize and play well with other dogs off leash, then the dog is showing stability. That happened for Venus in March. With Jodie and Hunter’s help she really crossed a threshold.”
I explained that since March we have seen even more progress. Last October Venus attacked Whitney, a White Shepherd, at Dogland. When she sees Whitney now, Venus is calm and just keeps on walking and sniffing. Whitney is still cautious around Venus but no longer fearful. Another dog Molly, a Pit Bull-type mix, did not get along with Venus. We had been leashing Venus when we saw Molly at the park. About a month ago Venus and Molly met on the trail but Venus ignored her. She was too busy playing with Hunter.
Two weeks ago we met a Blue Heeler named Zip on leash on the trail. He was aggressive and immediately zeroed in on the lovely Venus. She was off leash. He snarled and lunged at her.
I spoke sharply, “Hey. Hey. Hey.” And I moved toward them with my hands on my hips.
Venus didn’t even curl her lip or growl. She backed away and walked a wide path around him. The pit bull settled down. We showered her with praise after that big test.
The following weekend, May 1-3, we went camping near Moab. In the past, travel and camping have been challenging for Venus. She used to get over-anxious and misbehave. This time was very different. She waited calmly during the packing up stage. She and Zeus shared the backseat of the pickup together without so much as a grumble. We camped on public land along Gemini Bridges Road. We didn’t have to tie her at the campsite. She staked out a perimeter and kept us in sight when she checked on things. She’s still a checker. She’s part Akbash after all.
Venus is checking for suspicious lizard activity
The real bonus of the weekend turned out to be Zeus. On Saturday afternoon, while we were hiking in the canyon, a storm rolled in complete with lightning, thunder, wind, hail, and torrential rain. Zeus hates thunder. At first he freaked out, panting and running. I caught up to him and snapped on the leash so he wouldn’t flee in blind terror. We took shelter under an overhanging tree. Venus sat calmly near Zeus to show him there was nothing to fear. Tod and I assured him everything was okay. But we didn’t pet him or touch him because it’s not good to give affection when a dog is fearful. Eventually he calmed down. The thunder lasted long after the rain had stopped. Zeus pulled himself together and hiked out of the canyon, unleashed, even as the thunder rumbled.
“Everything is okay, Zeus,” I said calmly
He snorted with disgust, stood up and walked to the camper door. Tod let him in and turned on the satellite radio.
Zeus is listening for unauthorized noises
While Zeus was chilling out in the camper, some guys on dirt bikes rode up to our campsite. As one of them turned his bike around, the engine stalled. Venus charged up to him and barked, then retreated calmly. Her reaction was perfect.
We celebrated Zeus and Venus’s big day with BBQ chicken – their favorite. To top it off they shared the table bed that night with no troubles.
Dr. Pearce agreed that Venus is showing all kinds of progress. “Let’s make sure she can handle all the summer activities and the changes in your schedule.”
I told Dr. Pearce about our neighbors. “We haven’t had any complaints or problems with them lately. But that doesn’t mean anything. We’ve gone for months thinking everything was cool with them and then they call the cops. They will be home more during the summer which means there will be a lot of negative energy directed at us and the dogs. So there’s that, too.”
“I think it’s best for Venus and everyone involved if she stays on the 75 milligrams,” Dr. Pearce. “In September we can re-evaluate her progress and maybe begin weaning her off the drug.”
The last thing we want is a re-lapse. Venus is still making progress on the Clomipramine, she’s learning and remembering what she’s learned. She knows how to calm herself down, she knows how to calm Zeus down. Now she needs to practice, practice, practice.
Since lots of people have been asking how the dogs are getting along, I’ll continue to post progress updates throughout the summer. I can’t wait to see how Zeus handles fireworks on the 4th this year. He usually goes completely insane.
Filed under: bioweapon, colloidal silver, horowitz, novavax, pandemic, swine flu, vaccine
The way this whole swine flu epidemic has played out seemed pretty suspicious to me. Dr. Leonard Horowitz put out a 10- minute video showing evidence that Novavax, a biotechnology corporation specializing in vaccines, may be connected to this latest outbreak of designer flu. Or maybe we should call it swine flu after all because it came from human swine of the corporate kind. We’re all just human guinea pigs.
At the end of the video Horowitz does a little sales pitch for Oxysilver. I don’t take that product. I take colloidal silver, which is less concentrated. We make our own from a kit we bought locally from Essential Sources. Like Dr. Horowitz, I believe flu vaccines are dangerous because they wipe out our bodies’ own natural immune defenses.
