To The Editor:

“In our lifetime, we will see a cure for cancer. Not because we wished for it, but because we worked for it.”

What can you say about Estes Park? Not only is it a beautiful place to live, but the community is caring, and supportive as well. The Relay For Life Leadership Team would like to say a big thank you for helping to make the 2010 Relay a big success. The 9th Annual Relay for Life of Estes Park was held on July 23rd and 24th at the Estes Park High School track. The theme this year was “Movie Stars.” The Relay Committee wishes to thank all of you for your sponsorships, donations, and support. The results of our fundraising efforts are finally in and with your help we were able to raise approximately $71,000. There were 860 donations from 34 states. This is amazing for a small mountain community that has this kind of reach, particularly in these difficult economic times. There were 72 survivors who participated representing 622 survivor years. The victory lap for survivors and caregivers along with the Luminaria Ceremony were particularly meaningful events at the Relay. What a way to add to the celebration of the 26th Anniversary of Relay For Life!

We want to give a special thank you to all the teams that participated in this yearʼs relay for their time and effort. You are indeed the heart of our Relay. Once again Small But Mighty with team captains Sue and Jerry Bergeron, and Bonnie Kershner was the largest fundraiser. Congratulations! Other teams and their captains are as follows: Bridging the Gap, Carrie Belt, Noah Pitsch, and Diane Perry; Camp Katie 1 & 2, Linda Hardin and Harriet Woodard; Candaceʼs Camp Courage, Candace and Rob Gordon; Cheerleading for a Cure, Ernie Hardin; Curvaceous Divas, Maritza and Jon Jaggers; Estes Park Medical Center, Carie Cutting; Estes Park United Methodist Church, Donna Patterson and Linda Bowie; Harmony Hoofers, Kristi Faraguna; Hugs and Kisses, Laurene Nicholl; Lonigans, Deborah and David Callahan; MedX of Estes Park, Debbie Holmes; Momʼs Group, Sarah Walsh; Mountain Golf Villas, Clark and Nancy Lupton; Rocky Mountain Health Club, Linda Salow; Team Blodgett, Ken McChesney; Team Estes Park, Lucy Cahill; Team Gaz, Gary Cahill; Team SOUL, Marcella Mailloux; Timberline Medical, Fiona and Katrina Cahill; Where Thereʼs a Will – Thereʼs a Way 1-5, Coralyn Steel and Pat Reed; and Yahoo Wahoo 1 & 2, Jim Hughes and Heidi Campbell. The Estes Park Marathon Teams include: Freedom Dogs, Major Mom, Weird Pole, and Your Pace.

We would like to recognize the amazing support given by our sponsors. Proud Title Sponsors are: Poppyʼs Pizza & Grill, Owners Rob and Julie Pieper, and The Rooftop Rodeo Top Hands Organization. The Proud Platinum Sponsor was Estes Park Community Thrift Shop. Proud Gold Sponsors are: The Egg & I and Estes Valley Quilt Guild. Silver Sponsors include: Estes Park Dental, Estes Park Medical Center, Estes Park Rent All, and McKee Medical Center. Bronze Sponsors were: American Legion Post 119, Brian Thibodeaux, Estes Park Lions Club, Estes Park News, Estes Park Trail Gazette, First National Bank of Estes Park, Kingstone Center, Lonigans Saloon – Nightclub & Grill, and Solid Sound Entertainment. Our Copper Sponsors are: Allnutt Funeral Services, Aspen Eye Center, Dadʼs Maytag Laundry & Showers, Estes Park Marathon, Estes Park Pet Lodge, Estes Park Pet Supply, Kearney & Sons Materials, Inc, KEPL 1470 AM Radio, Knights of Columbus, Mac Gregor Ranch, McChesney Photography, Mountain Time, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Starbucks, The Trading Post, Waste Management, YMCA of the Rockies, Subway, and Maryʼs Lake Lodge. We extend to you a heartfelt thank you. We couldnʼt have done it without these wonderful, supportive sponsors.

Thank you to the following donors, performers, and volunteers who helped make the Relay a success. Relay wouldnʼt be possible without your support; Inspire Hair Salon – Jessica Kingswood, Georgia Ballard, Jan Carpenter, Loren Johnson, Maryʼs Lake Lodge, Miss Q T Pie the Clown – Judy Deringer, Molly Bʼs, Reel Mountain Theater, Peaks Hallmark, Safeway, St. Margaretʼs Church, Sweet Basilico, Town of Estes Park, Unink Printworks, Wheeler Group, Fort Collins Pipe Band – Jason Hoffman, Carol Smid, Christann Higley, Pam Becker, and Eagle Rock School.

Everyone enjoyed great food and drink supplied by Brian Thibodeaux (tasty Cajun food), Lonigans, Poppyʼs/Mama Roseʼs, Starbucks, Maryʼs Lake Lodge, The Egg & I and Estes Park Ice. For serving breakfast with a smile, we thank the Knights of Columbus.

This year we had many exciting pre-Relay events. In May, we held a Dog Walk where canine cancer fighters and their owners walked and barked around Lake Estes. In June, we partnered with Estes Park Marathon to raise additional funds. We participated in the Rooftop Rodeo Parade and partnered with Rodeoʼs Top Hand Organization to hold a Golf Tournament.

For all of your dedication and hard work that is making a difference in our fight for Cancer we thank the Estes Park Relay Leadership Team. The team members are: Event Chairs (who put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to make Relay a success), Gary and Katrina Cahill; Accounting and Registration, Dwayne Ballard; Advocacy, Education and Special Projects, Nancy Hughes; Cancer Survivors, Diane Yoblin and Sara Maypole; Food and Beverage, Nancy Yearsley; Luminaria, Dennis and Ann Starbuck and Loretta DeWitt; Publicity. Kathy and Wayne Young; Relay Store, Donna and Brandi McCleary; Rodeo Parade Float Coordinator, Jim Hughes; Sponsorship, Mike Oline; Team Development, Maritza and Jon Jaggers; Website, Grant Cahill; and our invaluable American Cancer Society Staff Partners, Susan Scott and Sara Forsythe.

Why is Estes Park Relay for Life such a huge success? It is because of people like you! There are not enough words to express our appreciation. We hope that all of you will continue to help us to celebrate more birthdays, remember and fight back.

To The Editor:

After heavy snow and hot weather, Estes Park experienced an exceptionally heavy spring runoff in early June. Although we are accustomed to runoff, community members and our Town government had to respond quickly in order to minimize the impact of the unusually high rivers to our community. Although I was out of the country, I was kept informed and was reassured and proud to see the prompt and coordinated responses of the Town staff, our supporting agencies and our local residents.

I would like to thank volunteers from the Estes Valley Fire Protection District for being available at a moment’s notice to respond to the emergency and assist with sandbagging. Additional volunteers from the Community Emergency Response Team and the Estes Park Police Auxiliary also quickly responded to fill sand bags to help residents protect their properties from flood waters. Many of these volunteers even brought family members to help. We appreciated the additional assistance from Larimer County Emergency Services and the Red Cross.

When waters were cresting and crews were filling sand bags late into the night, local restaurants including Sweet Basilico and Poppy’s brought food and drinks to keep everyone going. Other local businesses also supplied food without leaving their names. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. The volunteers greatly appreciated your gifts as the night wore on.

You might be interested to know that the Town of Estes Park, with assistance from Larimer County, supplied 43 individuals and organizations with enough materials to make nearly 3,000 sand bags for use in protecting their property. The Town operated the sand bag facility on Elm Road whenever it was needed and assisted the public with filling and loading bags – free of charge. The Town also used around 2,000 sand bags to fortify the banks in public areas.

My thanks, also, to the Town staff, particularly those from Public Works, the Police Department, Communications Center and Public Information, for their tireless efforts to monitor the safety of our Town and assist our community members in every possible way. We can rest more easily knowing that these public servants are looking out for our community’s safety and welfare 24 hours-a-day.

Congratulations and thanks to all. You showed how we can come together as a community to respond to local emergencies.

Bill Pinkham, Mayor

To The Editor:

The business owners formally of the Park Theatre Mall would like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to the many in our community who have generously made donations on our behalf and kept us in their thoughts and prayers since the fire destroyed our businesses on October 19th, 2009. This week we received your donations and are once again touched by your generosity. Your contributions will have many uses as unique as our businesses themselves.

We would like to recognize and provide a special thanks…

… to  the Estes Valley Partners for Commerce for orchestrating the Bucket Brigade efforts

… to our fellow downtown businesses for placing collection jars at their locations

… to the Estes Park Middle School students for their generous collection drive

… to the Estes Area Lodging Association for hosting a benefit dinner on our behalf

… and last but far from least, to the many concerned people who made individual donations.

Your contributions, thoughts and prayers let us know how much you care and that is truly appreciated.  Please contact the Estes Park Visitors Center for updates on store reopenings and relocations.

Sincerely,

From the following

Park Theatre Mall businesses:

14ers Cafe

Hiking Hut

Home for the Holidays

Intrigue Gift Shop

Madame Vera

Memories Old Time Portraits

Mountain Blown Glass

Music Box Collection

Rocky Mountain Memories

Spectrum

Sharon Seeley & Family

The Last Outpost

Wynbrier Wildlife Gallery

To The Editor:

Now that the slate of candidates for the Town Board has been determined, it is time to find out where these folks stand on issues important to the voters. Some already have a record (be it good or bad) and they and new comers need to be questioned as where they stand.

It seems to me that a good Town Board member (or any government official) needs to be connected to and have a pulse of those who they represent. The recent EPURA controversy with the Town having to be forced to listen to the people when such a majority felt it should end is a sad example of disconnect.

It is all too easy for elected officials to become secondary to their staff. Staff’s management authority should in my opinion have very limited decision power.

Transparency is often talked but seldom walked. The recent outside evaluation of performance shows how bad the Town-Citizen Relationship is. This will probably not improve until there are major changes in both elected officials and staff.

I believe it is time to re-evaluate what the primary function of Town Government should be and establish priorities accordingly. In recent years because there has been excess funds we have gotten carried away with projects that don’t show a return and personnel has expanded beyond what’s reasonable.

I think we are in for hard economic times and it is time to focus on basics. People today come to Estes Park for the same reason they did 100 years ago and we need to do what works.

Let’s have open debates and try to improve a situation that needs improving.

Bill Van Horn

Estes Park

Dear Editor and Estes Park voters:

We here in Estes Park are fortunate to have three diligent, highly-qualified, and well-prepared candidates for Town Trustee -Mark Elrod, Paul Fishman, and Wendy Koenig. Each will bring fresh insight and creative thinking to our Town Board.

It’s time for change! For twenty years our Town has been subject to hop-scotch checkerboard development without a master plan and lacking fore-sighted consideration for maintaining open space and also adequate parking facilities for visitors.

In these tight economic times Town Hall has continued to add administrative staff personnel and to spend lavishly on capital projects such as miles of concrete “trails” and now the proposed construction of a “Multi-Purpose Events Center” on Stanley Fairgrounds and the multi-million dollar “renovation” of green restful Bond Park into a mini-combination of Disneyland and Skateland, resulting in the removal of much-needed downtown parking space.

At the same time, because of lack of funds, our School District has to release teaching personnel, and our children and families become the “losers.”

Enough of “Big Government” thinking and spending! Let’s elect new faces with energetic and genuine concern for Estes Park citizens, visitors, and small businesses.

Vote for Wendy Koenig, Paul Fishman, and Mark Elrod. “You’ll be glad you did!”

Tom Ewing

Estes Park resident

To the Editor:

I was happy to see that we will have two opportunities to see, hear and ask questions of the candidates for the Tuesday, April 6 vote for Town Board seats.

The traditional League of Women Voters (LWV) candidate forum is set for Thursday, March 18, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Town Hall Board Room. I understand it is to be covered by EPTV Channel 8 for those unable to attend.

Then, following that, and giving due deference to the LWV, the Association for Responsible Development (ARD) has scheduled a second candidate forum for: Wednesday, March 24, 7:00-10:00 p.m., also in the Town Hall Board Room. I understand this will also be covered by EPTV Channel 8.

This is good stuff. At a time of increased public interest in the political process, a second informative go ’round before we vote is just what the doctor ordered: “Take two forums and vote better in the morning.” As a town resident, I thank ARD and the LWV and plan to attend both sessions before I make up my mind.

Jim Cope

To The Editor:

It is estimated that Colorado will rank 42nd in the nation in per pupil funding for K-12 education during this 2009-2010 school year. With the budget cuts currently contemplated by our Legislature, some fear we will rank at the very bottom for 2010-2011. Colorado will spend almost $2,000 per student less than the national average, and nearly half of some eastern seaboard states. Lest one claim that the ‘east coast’ is a different world, this year Wyoming spent $7,750 more, Nebraska spent $3,250 more, Kansas spent $2,275 more, and New Mexico spent $1,450 more, per student than the State of Colorado on K-12 education.

Ten years ago, frustrated with the Legislature’s inability to adequately fund public education, exacerbated by TABOR, the voters in Colorado approved Amendment 23 to the Colorado Constitution. This amendment required K-12 spending to be increased by inflation plus one percent each year for ten years, and then by at least inflation thereafter. The intent was to ‘catch Colorado up’ by 2010-clearly it did not work. Why?

The amendment even included a clause establishing and maintaining a ‘State Education Fund’ to ensure that money would be available to fund K-12 spending, in the event of a turn-down in the economy. So why didn’t it work?

It turns out that our legislators are playing a ‘shell game’ with education funding. The legislature is ‘funding’ the required amount of monies to the school districts statewide, on paper. However, the actual money does not come to the districts until the end of the year. Essentially, by the time the funding should arrive, it’s not all there. Funny thing though, the legislature is telling districts in advance that this is going to happen, and estimating the amount of the shortfall for them. (For the Park R-3 District alone, this ‘shortfall’ is projected for 2010 to be over six hundred thousand dollars). In effect, everyone knows that K-12 funding is being cut, but a game is played to ‘meet’ the requirements set forth by the public ten years ago.

This is an astonishing and deliberate end-around the constitution of this state! The voting public in Estes Park proved that it cares about public education by passing the bond issue in 2006, substantially improving our schools and programs. How can anyone honestly expect our youth to adequately rise to the challenges they have before them in a highly competitive, rapidly changing, global economy if our message to them is that we don’t want to spend money on their education?

Please show your support once more by writing to your legislators, State Senator Kevin Lundberg, and State Representative B.J. Nikkel, and ask them to honor the Constitution, avoid handcuffing our schools with drastic budget cuts, and support the development of the future citizens of our state. (It’s very nice here; they’ll probably want to stay…)

Signed:

The Park R-3 District Advisory  Committee

Steve Lane

Sherami Payne

Ardene Barth

Stacy Ferree

Tisha Goodemote

To The Editor,

Almost 200 years ago, James Madison wrote, “A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps, both.” His words remain a call to action today.

Given the gravity of the issues facing our nation, the need for public access to governmental decisions and policies that affect all American is greater than ever. Access to this information allows citizens to hold their government accountable at the local, state, and national level.  Whether it is to track how federal stimulus dollars are being spent or to attend a local government meeting where land use or school funding decisions are being made, “sunshine laws” afford us access and create government transparency.

However, these laws are only as good as we, the people, demand that they be. During his first year in office, President Obama has made a commitment to creating a more transparent, participatory and collaborative federal government.  Now, it is our responsibility as residents of Estes Park to ensure that this same commitment is made here.

March 14-20 is Sunshine Week (held around Madison’s birthday), a national initiative to promote the importance of open government and freedom of information. I encourage everyone to attend a local government meeting or visit the Estes Park’s website to learn more about what our government is doing. As members of the League of Women Voters of Estes Park, we are continuously answering Madison’s call to action: we are working to keep our community fair, vibrant and strong–starting with having an open and transparent government.

Sincerely,

Sue Pinkham

President, League of Women Voters of Estes Park

Estes Park, Colorado