2
50 C ents t rinidad C olorado 3URXGO\6HUYLQJ6RXWKHDVWHUQ&RORUDGRDQG1RUWKHDVWHUQ1HZ0H[LFRZZZWKHFKURQLFOHQHZVFRP ~ Vol. 138, No. 64 M onday M arCh 31, 2014 MARCH 31 ~Community Chorale MONDAY (6:15 p.m.) Rehearsals for the annual Spring Concert under the direction of Jireh Thomas are being held at the First United Methodist Church, 216 Broom St. Information: 719-846-3720. New members always welcome, no auditions necessary. ~TMS Parent Pride MONDAY (6:30 p.m.) The Trinidad Middle School Parent Pride organization will meet in the TMS Library. Information: 719- 846-4411. Today’s Quote “You can’t trust a man who doesn’t love horses.” - Will Rogers APRIL 1 ~Las Animas County TUESDAY (9 a.m.) Board of County Commissioners meeting is in the Las Ani- mas Courthouse, 200 E. First St., Room 201. Information: 719-845-2568. COUNTY COM- MISSIONERS: Gary Hill (719-845-2595), Mack Louden (719-845-2592), and Anthony Abeyta (719-846-9300). ~Art Exhibits Due TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (10 a.m. – 5 p.m.) Submissions will be due for the 13th Annual TALAS Art Show at the Corazon Gal- lery, 149 E. Main St. Information: Lora Nava, 719-680-8596. ~ArtoCade 2014 Workshop TUESDAY (6-8 p.m.) A fun program for anyone interested in “How to Make an Artcar or Kooky Conveyance” will be held at 149 E. Main St. (next to the Corazon Gallery). In- formation: Rodney Wood, 719-334-0087 or [email protected]. ~Trinidad City Council TUESDAY (7 p.m.) Regular session, Council Chambers, City Hall, 135 N. Animas St. Information: Audra Garrett, 719-846- 9843. PUBLIC SERVICE ~TDOG Park Organizers WEDNESDAY (6:30 p.m.) The Trinidad Dog Owners Group meeting will be at the Trinidad Community Center, 1309 Beshoar Drive. Information: Mary Rogers, 719-846- 6030. ~Peacock Ball SATURDAY (5 p.m.-Midnight) Join in the 11th Annual Peacock Ball to be held at the Sebastiani Gym on Animas St. Informa- tion: Lucky’s Fetching Finds, 719-846-8578. All proceeds benefit Noah’s Ark. ~Community Blood Drive APRIL 11 (Noon-4 p.m.) Help save a life! Bonfils Blood Drive will be held in the Pioneer Room at Trinidad State Junior Col- lege. Sign-up and information: Bonfils Ap- pointment Center, 800-365-0006 or www. bonfils.org. ~Calling all Choir Members APRIL 19 (3 p.m.) Anyone interested in participating in our “Singspiration” for Easter is welcome to join us at the Trinidad Seventh-Day Adventist Church, corner of Ai- ello and Strong Streets. Information: Lauryce Hecker, 970-901-2054. ~CRCC Scholarships AVAILABLE NOW: Culebra Range Community Coalition environmental scholar- ships are available for graduating senior ma- joring in any field that will benefit the environ- ment. Contact: Tom Perry at 719-846-8380. ~Vonna Parsons Scholarship APRIL 12 DEADLINE: Scholarships available to high school seniors in the Stone- wall Fire Protection District. Information: Charlie Hislop, 719-868-3660. ~Raton PBW Scholarship MAY 7 DEADLINE: A $500 scholarship for continuing education is available to any student or person in the work force in Colfax County. Information: Diane Dixon, 575-445- 2713. ~Calling all History Lovers MAY-SEPTEMBER: Anyone interested in volunteering for summer service at the Santa Fe Trail Museum please contact Paula Manini at 719-846-7217. It’s a great place to spend a few hours greeting visitors with some hometown hospitality. ~ArtoCade 2014 CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS: Anyone interested in participating in the Cardango Gala and all other events before and during the annual ArtoCade Festival please contact Rodney Wood at 719-334-0087 or artcar- [email protected]. ~SUICIDE/CRISIS HOTLINES: *ADULT HOPE: 800-784-2433 *TEEN: 877-968-8454 *GLB-YOUTH: 866-488-7386 *VET-2-VET: 877-838-2838 “When the world says, ‘Give up!’ Hope says, ‘Not today!” ~Unknown ~ ABUSE HOTLINES: *Domestic Abuse Hotline: In Trinidad call 719-846-6665 (24-hours a day). National Hotline call: 1-800-790-SAFE (7233). *Animal Abuse: Do your part and help put a stop to animal cruelty. Report animal abuse and dog/cock fighting at Crime Stop- pers anonymous tip line: 720-913-7867. t he F ine P rint W eather W atCh Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Breezy, with a W-NW wind 20 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph. Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. Light and variable wind becoming S-SW 5 to 10 mph after midnight. Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Windy, with a S-SW wind 10 to 20 mph increasing to 20 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. Windy, with a W-SW wind 20 to 30 mph decreasing to 10 to 20 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph. Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 60. W-SW wind 10 to 15 mph. Night: A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33. W-SW wind 10 to 15 mph becom- ing north after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Thursday: A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. North wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. r iver C all Purgatoire River Call as of 03/28/2014. Johns Flood ditch: Priority #5 -- Appropriation date: 03/20/1862. Trinidad Reservoir Accounting: Release 0..42 AF Inflow 31.87 AF -- 16.07 CFS Evaporation 11.45 AF Content 17,996 AF Elevation 6,180.79 Precipitation 0 Downstream River Call: Ninemile Canal: 05/10/1887. the C hroniCle n eWs ANNUAL CHARITY FUNDRAISER Women’s Exchange luncheon set to help community, provide laughs on April 12 By Bruce Leonard 7KH&KURQLFOH1HZV It’s one thing for people to get together to have a good time, and yet quite another for them to get together to do good. The Women’s Exchange, however, has success- fully blended these two objectives, and women in the community are invited to attend the charitable or- ganization’s annual Women’s Ex- change luncheon, called Venture Voila!, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 at Brix Sports Bar & Grill. The deadline to purchase the $45 tick- ets is April 4, and the women who choose to attend this gala event will almost certainly enjoy them- selves while raising funds to ben- efit worthy organizations. The Women’s Exchange was founded in 2005 by Kathy Top- ping and Karen Malone, and this non-profit has raised funds for nu- merous organizations in the area, including the Harry Sayre Senior Center, Advocates Against Do- mestic Assault, Hope Pregnancy Center, the Fisher’s Peak Soup Kitchen and the Women, Infants and Children Program. The group also annually presents two $1,000 scholarships to non-traditional female Trinidad State Junior Col- lege students, one in an academic program and one in a technical program. The 120 women who attended last year’s Women’s Exchange luncheon helped to raise $8,500, more than half of which went to the Mt. Carmel Center’s summer- lunch program. Speaking of 2014’s projected at- tendance, Topping said, “We’re hoping for 150 this year.” “We’ve outgrown all of the ven- ues we’ve had, so we’re onto a new one,” said Addi Segers about this year’s host location, Brix. Segers is one of the dynamic women who work for six months to put on this annual event, and any women who have attended a previous Wom- en’s Exchange luncheon know that the organizers put a premium on quality. Keynote speaker Kay Evans, who is the director of massage therapy and holistic health at TSJC, will address the gathered women, who will be served a morning snack, beverages and a sit-down lunch. Martha Fitzgerald will teach the women “how to dec- orate a room,” and Grace Filkins will speak about how best to evac- uate, should that need arise. Chris Huffman will present a “Jewelry Blitz,” and Bree Pappan of Vintage Treasures will present a fashion show. DJ Stephanie Garcia will entertain the crowd, and Segers said, “It’s a fun day. We have crazy music.” In addition to listening to tunes, each attendee will receive a goody bag filled with special treats and will be able to experience “Des- serts from Around the World.” About 30 items will be included in a silent auction, which will fea- ture anything “from art to wine to spa baskets,” said Topping. The Women’s Exchange is still accept- ing donations for items for its si- lent auction, which will feature products, services and amenities worth more than $25, and a raffle will also be held that will give away numerous items worth less than $25. The three 2014 Venture Voila! beneficiaries are the Trinidad Community Chorale, the Trinidad Area Arts Council’s Children’s Art Program and the Carnegie Public Library’s Summer Read- ing Program. These three entities were selected by the Women’s Exchange from among the nine beneficiaries that applied, and the funds that Venture Voila! raises will be divided equally among the three beneficiaries. Businesses that would like to sponsor tables may still do so for a fee of $125. Last year’s beneficiaries will address the attendees, and this year’s beneficiaries have been en- couraged to do so. The event will “honor the wom- en who have passion,” accord- ing to Topping, who added that the more the community utilizes the worthy organizations around town — the kind of entities that are the beneficiaries of the Wom- en’s Exchange’s largess — “the more important they become.” “Things are being done,” said Segers. “There’s no lack of busi- ness people wanting to see some- thing happen.” And many of those female business people will soon attend Venture Voila! on April 12. People who want to purchase a table or to contribute to the silent auction or the raffle should contact Kathy Topping at 719-680-9509, as should women who would like to attend the event. More information about the Women’s Exchange is avail- able at ZZZZHWULQLGDGZHHEO\ FRP Photo courtesy of the Women’s Exchange From left to right in the front row are Karen Jo Agnello, Sally VanLanen, Kathy Topping, Karen Malone, and in the back row, left to right, are Bree Pappan, Peggy WestMoreland, a TAAC beneficiary, Chris Huffman and Addi Segers, all of whom will participate in this year’s Women’s Exchange luncheon. OUTDOORS TSJC’s Prator Shooting Range welcomes community to Grand Reopening By Steve Block 7KH&KURQLFOH1HZV Offering gun enthusiasts a commanding view of Colorado’s Eastern Plains, the Prator Shoot- ing Range, which sits southeast of Trinidad, now offers a fully equipped trap and skeet shooting range. Trinidad State Junior Col- lege will host a Grand Reopening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 to highlight the range’s re- cent improvements, which were made possible by grants and dona- tions. Trap and skeet shooting are both shotgun sports that were de- veloped by bird hunters who want- ed to practice their skills. Shooters try to hit a spinning clay disk, or clay pigeon, that’s mechanically launched into the air. In trap shooting the disk is launched in front of and away from the shoot- er, while in skeet shooting the disks are launched from the right and left and sometimes fly almost directly over the shooter’s head. TSJC began planning for a trap and skeet course at the 23-acre range in 2011, and trap shooting began in 2012. When the concrete was poured for the trap course, the skeet course’s distinctive spokes and half circle were included to save money later on. In recent months, a “high house” and “low house” were added and launch- ers installed, along with lights for night trap and skeet shooting. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., followed by a dem- onstration of trap and skeet shoot- ing by the new Trinidad State Clays Shooting Team. Following that, members of the public will get the chance to blast some clay pigeons out of the sky. Shoot- ing team members will provide safety training and coaching, and the Trinidad State Gun Club will supply shotguns. Attendees can pay $13 for 25 clay pigeons and 25 shotgun shells, then can go ahead and blast away. Free hot dogs will be available, and soft drinks and chips can be purchased, with the proceeds going to benefit the Gun Club. The Trinidad State Educational Foundation owns the facility and provides it with much of its finan- cial support, while the Gun Club Steve Block / The Chronicle-News Shooting Sports Director Dan Croghan, above, opens the gates of the Prator Shooting Range, which will host a Grand Reopening on Saturday. At left, a shooter takes aim as the sun sets. (Photo courtesy of Greg Boyce.) Continued on Page 2 ...

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50 Centstrinidad Colorado

3URXGO\�6HUYLQJ�6RXWKHDVWHUQ�&RORUDGR�DQG�1RUWKHDVWHUQ�1HZ�0H[LFR�������ZZZ�WKHFKURQLFOH�QHZV�FRP

~Vol. 138, No. 64

MondayMarCh 31, 2014

MARCH 31~Community ChoraleMONDAY (6:15 p.m.) Rehearsals for the

annual Spring Concert under the direction of Jireh Thomas are being held at the First United Methodist Church, 216 Broom St. Information: 719-846-3720. New members always welcome, no auditions necessary.

~TMS Parent PrideMONDAY (6:30 p.m.) The Trinidad

Middle School Parent Pride organization will meet in the TMS Library. Information: 719-846-4411.

Today’s Quote“You can’t trust a man who

doesn’t love horses.”

- Will Rogers

APRIL 1~Las Animas CountyTUESDAY (9 a.m.) Board of County

Commissioners meeting is in the Las Ani-mas Courthouse, 200 E. First St., Room 201. Information: 719-845-2568. COUNTY COM-MISSIONERS: Gary Hill (719-845-2595), Mack Louden (719-845-2592), and Anthony Abeyta (719-846-9300).

~Art Exhibits DueTUESDAY & WEDNESDAY (10 a.m. –

5 p.m.) Submissions will be due for the 13th Annual TALAS Art Show at the Corazon Gal-lery, 149 E. Main St. Information: Lora Nava, 719-680-8596.

~ArtoCade 2014 WorkshopTUESDAY (6-8 p.m.) A fun program for

anyone interested in “How to Make an Artcar or Kooky Conveyance” will be held at 149 E. Main St. (next to the Corazon Gallery). In-formation: Rodney Wood, 719-334-0087 or [email protected].

~Trinidad City Council TUESDAY (7 p.m.) Regular session,

Council Chambers, City Hall, 135 N. Animas St. Information: Audra Garrett, 719-846-9843.

PUBLIC SERVICE~TDOG Park OrganizersWEDNESDAY (6:30 p.m.) The Trinidad

Dog Owners Group meeting will be at the Trinidad Community Center, 1309 Beshoar Drive. Information: Mary Rogers, 719-846-6030.

~Peacock BallSATURDAY (5 p.m.-Midnight) Join in

the 11th Annual Peacock Ball to be held at the Sebastiani Gym on Animas St. Informa-tion: Lucky’s Fetching Finds, 719-846-8578. All proceeds benefit Noah’s Ark.

~Community Blood DriveAPRIL 11 (Noon-4 p.m.) Help save a

life! Bonfils Blood Drive will be held in the Pioneer Room at Trinidad State Junior Col-lege. Sign-up and information: Bonfils Ap-pointment Center, 800-365-0006 or www.bonfils.org.

~Calling all Choir MembersAPRIL 19 (3 p.m.) Anyone interested

in participating in our “Singspiration” for Easter is welcome to join us at the Trinidad Seventh-Day Adventist Church, corner of Ai-ello and Strong Streets. Information: Lauryce Hecker, 970-901-2054.

~CRCC ScholarshipsAVAILABLE NOW: Culebra Range

Community Coalition environmental scholar-ships are available for graduating senior ma-joring in any field that will benefit the environ-ment. Contact: Tom Perry at 719-846-8380.

~Vonna Parsons ScholarshipAPRIL 12 DEADLINE: Scholarships

available to high school seniors in the Stone-wall Fire Protection District. Information: Charlie Hislop, 719-868-3660.

~Raton PBW ScholarshipMAY 7 DEADLINE: A $500 scholarship

for continuing education is available to any student or person in the work force in Colfax County. Information: Diane Dixon, 575-445-2713.

~Calling all History LoversMAY-SEPTEMBER: Anyone interested

in volunteering for summer service at the Santa Fe Trail Museum please contact Paula Manini at 719-846-7217. It’s a great place to spend a few hours greeting visitors with some hometown hospitality.

~ArtoCade 2014CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS: Anyone

interested in participating in the Cardango Gala and all other events before and during the annual ArtoCade Festival please contact Rodney Wood at 719-334-0087 or [email protected].

~SUICIDE/CRISIS HOTLINES:*ADULT HOPE: 800-784-2433 *TEEN: 877-968-8454 *GLB-YOUTH: 866-488-7386*VET-2-VET: 877-838-2838“When the world says, ‘Give up!’ Hope

says, ‘Not today!” ~Unknown

~ ABUSE HOTLINES:*Domestic Abuse Hotline: In Trinidad

call 719-846-6665 (24-hours a day). National Hotline call: 1-800-790-SAFE (7233).

*Animal Abuse: Do your part and help put a stop to animal cruelty. Report animal abuse and dog/cock fighting at Crime Stop-pers anonymous tip line: 720-913-7867.

the Fine Print

Weather WatChMonday: Mostly sunny, with a high near

61. Breezy, with a W-NW wind 20 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph. Night:

Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. Light and variable wind becoming S-SW 5 to 10 mph after midnight.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Windy, with a S-SW wind 10 to 20 mph increasing to 20 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. Windy, with a W-SW wind 20 to 30 mph decreasing to 10 to 20 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as

high as 40 mph.Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near

60. W-SW wind 10 to 15 mph. Night: A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33. W-SW wind 10 to 15 mph becom-ing north after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Thursday: A chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. North wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

river CallPurgatoire River Call as of 03/28/2014. Johns Flood ditch: Priority #5 -- Appropriation date: 03/20/1862.

Trinidad Reservoir Accounting:Release 0..42 AFInflow 31.87 AF -- 16.07 CFSEvaporation 11.45 AFContent 17,996 AFElevation 6,180.79Precipitation 0

Downstream River Call: Ninemile Canal: 05/10/1887.

the ChroniCle neWsANNUAL CHARITY FUNDRAISER

Women’s Exchange luncheon set to help community, provide laughs on April 12By Bruce Leonard7KH�&KURQLFOH�1HZV

It’s one thing for people to get together to have a good time, and yet quite another for them to get together to do good. The Women’s Exchange, however, has success-fully blended these two objectives, and women in the community are invited to attend the charitable or-ganization’s annual Women’s Ex-change luncheon, called Venture Voila!, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 at Brix Sports Bar & Grill. The deadline to purchase the $45 tick-ets is April 4, and the women who choose to attend this gala event will almost certainly enjoy them-selves while raising funds to ben-efit worthy organizations.

The Women’s Exchange was founded in 2005 by Kathy Top-ping and Karen Malone, and this non-profit has raised funds for nu-merous organizations in the area, including the Harry Sayre Senior Center, Advocates Against Do-mestic Assault, Hope Pregnancy Center, the Fisher’s Peak Soup Kitchen and the Women, Infants and Children Program. The group also annually presents two $1,000 scholarships to non-traditional female Trinidad State Junior Col-lege students, one in an academic program and one in a technical program.

The 120 women who attended last year’s Women’s Exchange luncheon helped to raise $8,500, more than half of which went to the Mt. Carmel Center’s summer-lunch program.

Speaking of 2014’s projected at-tendance, Topping said, “We’re hoping for 150 this year.”

“We’ve outgrown all of the ven-ues we’ve had, so we’re onto a new one,” said Addi Segers about this year’s host location, Brix. Segers is one of the dynamic women who work for six months to put on this annual event, and any women who have attended a previous Wom-en’s Exchange luncheon know that the organizers put a premium on quality.

Keynote speaker Kay Evans, who is the director of massage therapy and holistic health at TSJC, will address the gathered women, who will be served a

morning snack, beverages and a sit-down lunch. Martha Fitzgerald will teach the women “how to dec-orate a room,” and Grace Filkins will speak about how best to evac-uate, should that need arise. Chris Huffman will present a “Jewelry Blitz,” and Bree Pappan of Vintage Treasures will present a fashion show. DJ Stephanie Garcia will entertain the crowd, and Segers said, “It’s a fun day. We have crazy music.”

In addition to listening to tunes, each attendee will receive a goody bag filled with special treats and will be able to experience “Des-serts from Around the World.” About 30 items will be included in a silent auction, which will fea-ture anything “from art to wine to spa baskets,” said Topping. The Women’s Exchange is still accept-ing donations for items for its si-lent auction, which will feature

products, services and amenities worth more than $25, and a raffle will also be held that will give away numerous items worth less than $25.

The three 2014 Venture Voila! beneficiaries are the Trinidad Community Chorale, the Trinidad Area Arts Council’s Children’s Art Program and the Carnegie Public Library’s Summer Read-ing Program. These three entities were selected by the Women’s Exchange from among the nine beneficiaries that applied, and the funds that Venture Voila! raises will be divided equally among the three beneficiaries.

Businesses that would like to sponsor tables may still do so for a fee of $125.

Last year’s beneficiaries will address the attendees, and this year’s beneficiaries have been en-couraged to do so.

The event will “honor the wom-en who have passion,” accord-ing to Topping, who added that the more the community utilizes the worthy organizations around town — the kind of entities that are the beneficiaries of the Wom-en’s Exchange’s largess — “the more important they become.”

“Things are being done,” said Segers. “There’s no lack of busi-ness people wanting to see some-thing happen.”

And many of those female business people will soon attend Venture Voila! on April 12. People who want to purchase a table or to contribute to the silent auction or the raffle should contact Kathy Topping at 719-680-9509, as should women who would like to attend the event. More information about the Women’s Exchange is avail-able at ZZZ�ZHWULQLGDG�ZHHEO\�FRP�

Photo courtesy of the Women’s ExchangeFrom left to right in the front row are Karen Jo Agnello, Sally VanLanen, Kathy Topping, Karen Malone, and in the back row, left to right, are Bree Pappan, Peggy WestMoreland, a TAAC beneficiary, Chris Huffman and Addi Segers, all of whom will participate in this year’s Women’s Exchange luncheon.

OUTDOORS

TSJC’s Prator Shooting Range welcomes community to Grand ReopeningBy Steve Block7KH�&KURQLFOH�1HZV

Offering gun enthusiasts a commanding view of Colorado’s Eastern Plains, the Prator Shoot-ing Range, which sits southeast of Trinidad, now offers a fully equipped trap and skeet shooting range. Trinidad State Junior Col-lege will host a Grand Reopening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 to highlight the range’s re-

cent improvements, which were made possible by grants and dona-tions.

Trap and skeet shooting are both shotgun sports that were de-veloped by bird hunters who want-ed to practice their skills. Shooters try to hit a spinning clay disk, or clay pigeon, that’s mechanically launched into the air. In trap shooting the disk is launched in front of and away from the shoot-er, while in skeet shooting the

disks are launched from the right and left and sometimes fly almost directly over the shooter’s head.

TSJC began planning for a trap and skeet course at the 23-acre range in 2011, and trap shooting began in 2012. When the concrete was poured for the trap course, the skeet course’s distinctive spokes and half circle were included to save money later on. In recent months, a “high house” and “low house” were added and launch-ers installed, along with lights for night trap and skeet shooting.

A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., followed by a dem-onstration of trap and skeet shoot-ing by the new Trinidad State Clays Shooting Team. Following

that, members of the public will get the chance to blast some clay pigeons out of the sky. Shoot-ing team members will provide safety training and coaching, and the Trinidad State Gun Club will supply shotguns. Attendees can pay $13 for 25 clay pigeons and 25 shotgun shells, then can go ahead and blast away. Free hot dogs will be available, and soft drinks and chips can be purchased, with the proceeds going to benefit the Gun Club.

The Trinidad State Educational Foundation owns the facility and provides it with much of its finan-cial support, while the Gun Club

Steve Block / The Chronicle-News Shooting Sports Director Dan Croghan, above, opens the gates of the Prator Shooting Range, which will host a Grand Reopening on Saturday. At left, a shooter takes aim as the sun sets. (Photo courtesy of Greg Boyce.)

Continued on Page 2 ...

Page 2: Tcn 2014 03_31_final

Page 2 Monday, March 31, 2014 The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado

General ManagerAllyson Sheumaker

[email protected]

Advertising

Sales-Adam [email protected]

Classified- Kyla [email protected]

Design & Legals- Krysta [email protected]

News Room

Editor: Bruce [email protected]

Features Editor & Fine Print Catherine Moser

[email protected]

Reporter: Steve [email protected]

Circulation: Kaylee [email protected]

Business Hours:Monday - Friday

8 AM - 5 PM

USPS #110-040200 West Church Street

P.O. Box 763, Trinidad, CO 81082

�����������������)D[���������������Member: Associated Press, Colorado Press Association

Periodicals Postage Paid For At Trinidad, CO.Published Monday - Friday

w w w.thechronicle-news.com

Subscription RatesEffective Aug. 1, 2013

Home Delivery Trinidad1 Month ................$7.003 Months.............$21.006 Months.............$42.001 Year....................$84.00

Las Animas County Mail1 Month................$12.003 Months..............$36.006 Months..............$72.001 Year...................$144.00

Outside County Mail1 Month................$18.003 Months..............$54.006 Months............$108.001 Year...................$216.00

JENNIE MARIE SANCHEZ

-HQQLH�0DULH�6DQFKH]������GLHG�0DUFK ���� ������ �$ �PHPRULDOVHUYLFH �ZLOO �EH �KHOG �)ULGD\�$SULO ��� ������ �DW �� �SP �DW0XOODUH�0XUSK\�)XQHUDO�+RPH�&RPSOHWH�RELWXDU\�WR�IROORZ�7KH �IDPLO\ �KDV �HQWUXVWHG0XOODUH�0XUSK\�)XQHUDO�+RPHZLWK�WKH�DUUDQJHPHQWV�

runs the operations.

The Educational Foun-dation recently installed a 1,500 square-foot, three bedroom, two-bath modular home, and a fulltime range director, Dan Croghan, has been hired. Croghan is also a student in TSJC’s Gun-smithing Program.

The Prator Shooting Range also features a rifle and pistol range with dis-tances up to 100 yards. Many

local law enforcement of-ficers keep their shooting skills sharp by practicing there. The 100-yard range has four lanes, with eight lanes at 80 yards. The pistol range has movable targets for various distances. The rifle and pistol range will be unavailable for shooting during the Grand Reopen-ing.

The shooting range is also a place where 4-H and other youth groups can

learn how to use firearms safely. Gun clubs in the area can also utilize the range for shooting practices and events.

The shooting range was originally built back in 1976 and named for Bill Prator, the founder of the TSJC Gunsmithing School. Once a prime local attraction, the range had fallen into disre-pair in recent years, how-ever.

Last year marked the 65th Anniversary of TSJC’s Gunsmithing School, and the improvements to the shooting range were a fea-tured part of the anniver-sary celebration. The club-house is being remodeled and features an indoor bath-room, shower and class-room space.

Croghan moved here with his wife two years ago from Portland, Ore. and said they’re both enjoying the wonderful Colorado sunshine.

“We want to get people out here,” Croghan said. “We want the community to be involved in it. We just built some new things at the rifle range, including 25- and 50-yard berms. We’re redoing the clubhouse with

new paint and flooring, so that it looks a little better and we can have gun-safety and concealed-carry classes out here. We’ll have some law-enforcement officers out here next weekend get-ting their shooting quali-fications. I would also like to get some rifle programs going out here. My phone number is 719-680-7236, so if anyone wants to come out and shoot, just give me a call.”

Shooting can be a fun and rewarding experience for people of all ages, and the Prator Shooting Range is open to the public for a nominal fee, with annual memberships available. Currently, the range is open from noon until 5 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

People can easily get to the range from downtown Trinidad. From East Main Street, they should turn south onto Grey Creek Road, which is also County Road 24.6, then travel for six and a half miles.

Prator Gun Range grand reopening

... Continued from Page 1

Trinidad Triggers Seeking Host Families for 2014Host families provide bed and board for players and receive several perks from the team for their services, such as: Season passes to Triggers’ home games

For more information or to sign up to be a host family, contact the Triggers’ Director of Business Operations, Kim Schultz, at 719-859-1008.

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the Good old dAys

By Don KingerySpecial to The Chronicle-News

Jelly has been around, it seems, forever. Peanut butter was invented in 1890. The first bread-slicer wasn’t invented until 1928. So nobody knows when the first kid ate the first peanut-butter-and-jelly sand-wich.

Whenever it happened, it really started something.

The National Peanut Board claims that an average kid eats 1,500 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches before she or he graduates from high school.

It’s called a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich in America, and a peanut-butter-and-jam sandwich in England, Canada and Australia. Either way, it’s easy to make. Any child knows how to use a table knife to spread peanut butter on a slice of bread, then use a spoon to cover the peanut butter with jelly. A second slice of bread on top, and the sand-wich is done.

A peanut-butter-and-jelly sand-wich travels well because it has no perishable ingredients. It’s a stan-dard item in paper-bag lunches.

Companies have made “butter” from various nuts such as almond, cashew, soybean, sunflower or ha-zelnut, but nothing has tasted better than peanut butter.

Other ingredients have also been tried in place of jelly. Honey, syrup, marshmallows, raisins, bananas, creamery butter, marsh-mallow fluff and different kinds of dried fruit have been tried. Peanut

butter seems to go fairly well with ripe bananas or honey, but there’s more conversation about the kind of jelly that goes best with peanut butter than there has been about the use of other in-gredients.

There have been attempts to find a nickname for pea-nut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, the way that “BLT” means a bacon-lettuce-toma-to sandwich. Pea-nut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches have been called PB&J, Peanut Butter and J, and even Blood and Mud, the latter name dreamed up in Canada. No nick-names caught on. A peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich is still called a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.

Attempts to capitalize on the name peanut butter and jelly have not been successful. In the TV se-ries “Seinfeld,” in an episode titled, “The Friar’s Club,” Kramer came up with the idea for a restaurant called PB&J’s, which would only serve peanut-butter-and-jelly sand-wiches. In 1998, a restaurant named Peanut Butter & Co. opened in New York City. A cafe named PB&J’s opened in a Boston food court in 2005. During his presidential cam-

paign in 2000, President George W. Bush, then a candidate, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and said his favorite sandwich is peanut butter and jelly on white bread.

It was inevitable that someone would decide to grind up peanuts. In 1890, a food-products company made ground-peanut paste as a pro-tein substitute for people with bad teeth who couldn’t chew meat. But it was 1908 before an Ohio company called Krema Products of Ohio be-gan selling peanut butter to the pub-lic. Krema is still in operation.

Swift & Company started E.K. Pond peanut butter, then renamed

it Peter Pan in 1928. In 1955, Procter & Gamble entered the peanut-butter business. They introduced Jiff in 1958 and now operate the world’s largest peanut-butter plant, produc-ing 250,000 jars a day.

There’s no sign that anything will be found to replace peanut-but-ter-and-jelly sandwiches. As long as it’s so easy a child can do it, nobody is going to try to change it.

Write Don Kingery, c/o American Press , Box 2893, Lake Charles, LA 70602, or e-mail [email protected].

Peanut Butter & Jelly —A sandwich for the ages

Rural residents confront higher health care costs By KRISTEN WYATTAssociated Press

DENVER (AP) — Bill Fales want-ed a new baler and a better irrigation system for the 700-acre ranch where he raises grass-fed beef cattle, but he scrapped those plans when he saw his new health insurance premiums.

His Cold Mountain Ranch is in western Colorado’s Rocky Moun-tains, a rural area where outpatient services are twice as expensive as the state average. Fales recently saw his monthly premiums jump 50 per-cent, to about $1,800 a month.

Health care has always been more expensive in far-flung communi-ties, where actuarial insurance data show fewer doctors, specialists and hospitals, as well as older residents in need of more health care services. But the rural-urban cost divide has been exacerbated by the Affordable Care Act.

“We’ve gone from letting the insurance companies use a pre-existing medical condition to jack up rates to having a pre-existing zip code being the reason health insur-ance is unaffordable,” Fales said. “It’s just wrong.”

Geography is one of only three de-terminants insurance companies are allowed to use to set premiums un-der the federal health care law, along with age and tobacco use. Insurance officials say they need such controls to remain viable.

“If premiums are not allowed to keep up with underlying medi-cal costs, no company is going to survive,” said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman with America’s Health Insurance Plans, a Washington, D.C.-based industry group.

The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation recently rated the Colo-rado region where Fales lives as the nation’s priciest, based on rates for the lowest-priced “silver” plan, a mid-level policy. In this part of the state, a region that includes Aspen, the cheapest mid-level plan is $483 a month. In Denver, the same plan is about $280 a month.

Other insurance price zones on the most-expensive list include rural areas in Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin and Wyoming. But the cost differ-ences between densely and sparsely populated areas shouldn’t come as a shock, Zirkelbach said, because it’s simply more expensive to deliver care in such communities.

“That’s not new at all. Health insurance premiums track the un-derlying cost of medical care. This was true before the ACA, and it’s true now,” he said. “Hopefully, the exchanges will shine a spotlight on the variances that exist in the cost of medical care.”

States have only one option to re-duce the premium divide between their urban and rural areas. They can set a single statewide rating zone, an option that would reduce premiums for those in rural areas by shifting costs onto more-populated regions.

It’s something officials in all but the smallest states are reluctant to do. Only six states — Delaware, Ha-waii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont — chose a single rating zone, in addition to Washington, D.C., according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

“There’s always been geographic variance in insurance,” said Craig Garthwaite, an economist at North-western University’s Kellogg School of Management who has studied the economic consequences of the new health care law.

The difference now, he said, is insurers have fewer levers to ad-just premium pricing. Garthwaite also said the health care law makes it easier for rural health insurance

shoppers to see what city residents are paying.

“That’s forcing them to confront the market, which is a new thing,” he said.

It’s a bumpy confrontation for many in rural areas who earn too much to qualify for premium subsi-dies but not enough to easily afford premiums that can approach or ex-ceed $1,000 a month.

“I have people mad enough to bite a nail in half down here, saying, ‘Why are my prices so high?’” said David Hardin, an insurance broker in the southwest Georgia commu-nity of Albany, in another of the na-tion’s priciest private health insur-ance zones.

“Either they’re mad as all get-out, or I can hear them crying on the phone. It just breaks your heart,” said Hardin, whose customers are seeing monthly premiums that cost at least $500 a month more than if they’d lived in Atlanta. “I think there was the idea that it might reduce costs, and now they’re seeing that it’s not.”

Some are even considering mov-ing to avoid the premium increases.

In Gardnerville, Nev., about 50 miles south of Reno, freelance writer Tim Plaehn is considering moving to Uruguay, where he and his wife lived for a time and still have friends.

Plaehn pays about $400 a month in premiums but expects his tab to rise above $1,000 when his current plan expires. He makes too much to qualify for insurance subsidies but isn’t sure he can afford the jump.

“I’m hoping something will change in the law to make it more affordable, because otherwise, some-thing’s going to break,” he said.

Some premiums in Las Vegas are about $600 a month cheaper, but he said he doesn’t want to live there.

Colorado Insurance Commission-er Marguerite Salazar has traveled to several rural regions to explain the rates to angry customers.

At the meetings, state insurance officials pass out the actuarial data

behind the premiums, including details from Colorado’s All Payer Claims Database, which lists hos-pitalization rates and other factors used to determine the cost of health care in a region.

Salazar then walks residents through the differences and says that state officials cannot lower rural rates without driving insurers out of the market.

“They’ve got to have rates that will allow them to pay the doctors,” Salazar said at a November meeting in Greeley, a northeastern Colorado town where rates are higher than Denver.

Salazar recently announced a task force to review the rating zones, but added in a public statement that any changes would have to be based on new data.

Her spokesman, Vincent Plymell, said there is nothing state regulators can do. There are no easy short-term fixes to reduce costs in rural areas, where everything from MRIs to baby deliveries costs more, he said.

“Costs are higher like they are for housing or food or everything else. Health care costs aren’t something we have the ability to control,” Plym-ell said. “It’s easy to kind of point the finger and say it’s the big, bad insur-ance companies, but it’s a lot more complicated than that.”

For now, health advocates in ru-ral Colorado say they have few an-swers for patients who want to buy insurance, but simply can’t afford it because of where they live.

“People really see the value of in-surance up here, and they’re mysti-fied about why our premiums are so much higher,” said Tamara Drangst-veit, executive director of the Family and Intercultural Resource Center in Frisco, Colo., about 25 miles east of Vail in the heart of the state’s ski country.

“They want insurance,” Drangst-veit said. “They don’t want to break the law and get a fine, but they live in a certain area and they have no choice.”

“Come, ye

disconsolate,

where’er you

languish,

Come at the

shrine of

God fervently

kneel;

Here bring

your wounded

hearts, here

tell your

anguish –

Earth has

no sorrow

that Heaven

cannot heal.”

~Thomas Moore