Estes Valley Voice Podcast

Book Review by Elisabeth Sherwin

It is a little hard to describe what Amy Kolen does with her book, “Inside Voices,” because she tries to make sense of two very different worlds: one a prison, one a hospital.

But she does it.

Kolen was an “outside singer” at Oakdale Prison, near Iowa City, in the prison choir; and she brought music to her mother’s room in an Iowa City health center when her mother required round-the-clock care following a massive stroke.

Early in November, Kolen, who lives in Estes Park, came to the library to give a talk on her newly published book: “Inside Voices:  A Prison Choir, My Mother, and Me.”

The talk was given to a full house in the Hondius Room and I attended over Zoom. I have not read her book yet, but it is on my list of must-reads.

“The very beginning of my book pulls the two stories together,” said Kolen, who read a short piece.

You might have correctly assumed that a graduate of the University of Iowa with an MFA in nonfiction writing could handle the task.

But it took her a decade.

Her mother suffered a stroke in 2012, one month after Kolen joined the Oakdale Community Choir in a medium security prison for men.  For 15 months, Kolen moved between the two worlds.

“I couldn’t think about one without the other,” she said.

The prison choir was made up of about 60 singers, half from the inside (inmates) and half from the outside (community members). There was no danger because everyone wanted to be there.

“I was happily an outsider in both places,” she said. “I always had to bring my best self. I had to be present.”

In both the hospital and the prison, music filled the gap.  But with some differences.

“Prison was a joyful and positive place but I didn’t feel that way when I was with my mother,” she said.

“I got gratitude and appreciation from the inmates but not from my mother. But music therapy for her was incredibly beneficial.”

Kolen had to move her mother to a private room away from a difficult roommate so she could enjoy quiet classical music.

In 2014 her mother died. It then took 10 years for Kolen’s memoir to appear.

“I needed a lot of time because it was so painful,” she said. “I knew there were parallels (in the two stories) but I didn’t know how closely it would parallel,” she added.

And while she was writing the book, something wonderful happened in her world.

Her son, Daniel, who had attended a prison concert open to the public, was so moved that he decided to make a documentary about the inside-out choir.

The film, “The Inside Singers,” was shown at the library’s event.

 We could hear the voices. The choir sang hymns to, in one case, an original inmate poem set to music.

The documentary focused on a concert open to the public. The inmate who wrote the poem had been released and came back to prison to attend the concert. He had no idea he would be listening to his poem. He cried from his seat in the audience.

“This motley crew produced a joyous sound,” one person remarked.

“Daniel was working on the documentary while I was working on the book,” Kolen said.

But this story ends on a sad note.

The warden who had enthusiastically supported the choir retired. The man who took his place did not think the prison could support the volunteer program. He ended it. Perhaps one day it will return.

Kolen’s  essays have been published in several anthologies, including Best American Essays 2002, and have appeared in a variety of publications. She was born in Ames, Iowa and graduated from Ames High School in 1969. She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. “Inside Voices” was published Sept. 24, 2024 by Ice Cube Press.

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

By Suzy Blackhurst

“Hey Suz. Where did we get this?” my husband asked as he held out a rather wicked looking tarnished brass knife-like thing we have used as a letter opener in a pinch. I did not really know; it might have been something from my mother’s family.

Hubby left my office and I thought maybe I’d find a clue in one of the “family history” files I keep meaning to clean out. Finding the photo of a grandfather I really never knew well has catapulted my memories through a lifetime of snapshots.

“That was my dad in WWI,” I remember Mom telling me, pointing to a rather heavyset young man in a trench coat posing stiffly for the camera. As I thumbed through the file, my mind began its time march through years of the men in my life who wore military uniforms and the mental snapshots of them that occasionally invade a good night’s sleep.

I see my father and his brother, World War II pilots whose planes were shot down over Germany three years apart, but who miraculously were held in the same POW camp before the war ended. The same uncle also served during the Korean conflict and their younger brother wore an Air Force uniform in Europe in the late 1950s.

Read full story and see photos here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/11/11/mind-travels-on-veterans-day/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Patti Brown

The Christian Church of Estes Park will mark its 30th anniversary Sunday with a worship service at 10 a.m. that will include a video retrospective.

Aaron Dorman, lead pastor of the congregation, said the 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning services will be combined Sunday morning so the entire congregation—some 200 people—can gather together for the celebration.

According to Dorman, the Christian Church, which has three full time pastors and several non-staff elders, looks for ways to serve both its members and the larger community. Within the next 10 years, the church plans to have its benevolent giving outpace its operational budget, Dorman said.

The church supports Crossroads Ministry and they have an active youth ministry. In addition to groups for middle and high school students and an annual Vacation Bible School program, the Praise Place serves younger children, and a mission service trip is being planned for March during Spring Break.

Additionally, to engage teens in a fun but mentored activity, Dorman, who coaches football, has developed a niche ministry where kids and adults get together to play Airsoft, a team-based action pursuit sport.

“I started it years ago with paintball. I am a football coach, and one day after practice, I saw there were more kids at the skate park than there were on my football team,” said Dorman, who coaches for the Estes Park Bobcats.

“I knew nothing about these kids, but they did not have any adults around. No one was there to mentor them. So, I showed up and started to get to know some of them, and it just broke my heart. So many of them just had some really rough situations in their lives. That is one of the reasons I like coaching because youth need to have the support of their community,” Dorman said.

He talked with the church elders about ways to reach out and engage the kids. One of the ideas was to host some paintball opportunities, “Our church has 10 acres, and we are right on the National Forest and boy, that took off,” said Dorman.

Kids began to come out twice a week for practice and to prepare for competitions. And just as the ministry was taking off, the technology changed with the introduction of Airsoft which uses soft plastic pellets rather than paint filled balls.

Dorman said the activity has been a fun way for teens, mostly males, and their dads to have a physical and competitive activity which provides opportunities for both camaraderie and mentoring.

“In our current culture, especially in Estes, most parents have to work a lot and often multiple jobs. We looked at the needs that a lot of these youth have, there is a lot of issues that teens today have to deal with that I certainly did not have to when I was growing up,” said Dorman.

The non-denominational church began in November 1994. It met for a while at the Inn of Estes then moved for a few years to the Masonic Lodge on S. St. Vrain Avenue. Some of the first ministers to serve the church were Brad Bowker and Scott Weber. In October 1999, when Frank Lane was ready to sell his square-dancing venue, the Dance Ranch, a 4,900 square foot venue on U.S. Highway 36 a few miles south of town, the Christian Church bought the building and moved in.

The church community also purchased several acres adjacent to the building for parking and with an eye on future expansion. Three years later, a two-story addition was added which included a kitchen, classrooms, offices, and a multiuse lower level.

Address: 4655 US Hwy 36, Estes Park, CO 80517

Phone: (970) 586-8586

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.ccep.life

Read full story here: 

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/11/09/christian-church-will-celebrate-30-years-of-ministry-in-the-estes-valley/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Hank Lacey

“Sunshine Laws are safeguards that the public’s businesses must be conducted openly and not in secret. Elected officials have to guard against secrecy.”

The Estes Valley Voice has sued the Estes Valley Fire Protection District Board of Directors, alleging that the board breached Colorado’s Sunshine Laws by selecting a new fire chief in a private meeting.

At the heart of the lawsuit is the Voice’s claim that the board’s decision to hire Fire Chief Paul Capo was made in a closed session, violating Colorado’s Open Records Act and Open Meetings Law – laws designed to ensure government transparency and accountability. The Voice filed the lawsuit in Larimer County District Court to enforce open-government practices in the EVFPD’s decision-making.

The EVFPD, a special district under Colorado law, provides fire protection and emergency services to Estes Park and surrounding unincorporated areas. Governed by a board responsible for significant policy decisions, including the selection of a fire chief, the EVFPD relies on local taxes for its funding. The Estes Valley Voice claims the board breached both CORA and COML by finalizing Capo’s hiring in an executive session on Oct. 9 without public involvement.

“This isn’t about who was chosen,” explained Patti Brown, editor and publisher of the Voice. “The Estes Valley Voice believes the public’s business needs to be done in public. That’s why we have the Colorado Open Records Act, to protect the public’s business.”

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/11/05/estes-valley-voice-sues-evfpd-district-over-alleged-breach-of-colorado-sunshine-laws/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Access to the corridor will be disrupted as major street work progresses over the next several months

Story by Patti Brown

A neighborhood meeting was called Friday morning at the Lumpy Ridge Publick House to provide area stakeholders with information about the Cleave Street Improvements Project.

Work on the street improvement project was put on hold in May to accommodate the summer guest season and it resumed Oct. 21.

Businesses on W. Elkhorn Avenue that use Cleave Street for back door deliveries and residents who live in buildings on the street can expect to experience access disruptions over the next few months as the street undergoes major infrastructure work.

People who attended the meeting, including Mayor Gary Hall, Trustee Mark Igel, who owns The Taffy Shop at 121 W. Elkhorn Ave., and Carissa Streib, owner of Simply Christmas at 129 W. Elkhorn Ave., stressed the importance of good communication so businesses and residents who need access to Cleave Street can plan around the construction.

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/11/02/cleave-street-neighborhood-meeting-stressed-need-for-good-communication/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Hank Lacey

The property will likely be redeveloped for mixed-use, high density workforce housing

The Estes Valley is likely to soon have another affordable or workforce housing option in the community.

Governing directors of the Estes Park Housing Authority approved last week a contract to purchase the property at 381 S. St. Vrain Ave., a site now occupied by a car wash facility, convenience store, and 15 small cabins.

EPHA may be looking at the property, located adjacent to Colorado Highway 7, as a potential mixed-use, high-density housing location.

“It’s really well-placed for an infill-style, little-bit-higher density project just because of its proximity to the seasonal transportation,” Scott Moulton, the organization’s executive director said in an interview this week. “It has walkability.”

“From a raw density standpoint, 24 housing units could be developed on the site, using the density bonus allowable under a Planned Unit Development (PUD) by utilizing the Residential Multi-family (RM) zoning allowances,” Moulton wrote in a July memorandum to EPHA’s development committee. “Realistically, as discussed and communicated to Town [s]taff in February, density of 32-36 p/acre units would be greatly beneficial to a site of this nature.”

The memorandum appeared to refer, in the last quoted line, to the per-acre density.

Moulton has indicated some uncertainty about the financial viability of the property.

In the July memorandum he wrote to the housing authority’s development committee, which was also shared with EPHA board members Pete Smith and Phil Frank, the agency executive wrote that the “[d]ensity allowance needs to be increased to make this more financially feasible” and that “[t]here is a speculative nature to a potential purchase of this property, predicated on a change to density allowance.”

During the Oct. 23 interview with Estes Valley Voice Moulton emphasized his belief that the property can hold significantly more homes.

“I think the site lends itself well to higher density than what is currently allowable under the code,” he said, referring to Estes Park’s development ordinances. Moulton suggested that 22 to 24 units may currently be permitted by the town.

EPHA agreed to pay a list price of about $2.3 million for the parcel. The agency anticipates a down payment of about $550,000, according to documents provided to the housing authority’s board of directors on Oct. 16. 

That down payment would apparently come from funds made available through Proposition 123, which established the State Affordable Housing Fund.

A contract that Moulton executed on behalf of EPHA on September 27 indicates that closing would not occur until late 2025. The housing authority would need to find and secure any necessary financing by mid-January.

At present the 1.52 acre site hosts families living in cabins constructed in 1939, according to a Coldwell Banker website that indicates listed properties. The convenience store on the site—Famous Eastside Food Store—has been open since about 2010, according to Buzzfile, and generates about $200,000 in annual revenues. 

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/10/28/housing-authority-under-contract-to-purchase-property-on-s-st-vrain/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Patti Brown

Ed’s Cantina and Grill and Bird and Jim’s both experience brief closures by Larimer County Health and Environment inspectors

In the wake of a recent outbreak of E. coli infections connected to many McDonald’s restaurants in the region, news surfaced that two popular Estes Park eateries were temporarily shut down in the past month by the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment for violations. Neither restaurant had issues with E. coli as a reason for being closed.

Ed’s Cantina was shut down on Sept. 25 during a routine health department inspection. The restaurant was allowed to reopen on Sept. 27, and it passed a required reinspection on Oct. 16.

Bird and Jim’s Restaurant was shut down on Oct. 23 and was allowed to reopen on Oct. 24
after making immediate corrections to the violations. The restaurant has not yet had its required reinspection, a process which will take place seven to ten days after the initial routine inspection.

According to Nicole Aguilar, program manager for consumer protection for the LCDHE, during a routine inspection a retail food establishment is graded on 56 indices. A rating sale is used to determine if the business is in or out of compliance on things such as the good hygiene practices of staff members, the proper temperature for food storage, the proper use of utensils, working plumbing, available hot and cold water, adequate water pressure, and adequate ventilation and lighting.

The higher the score, the more serious the violations. A routine inspection also looks at whether a problem can be corrected on the spot during the inspection and if there are repeated violations of the same issue.

A passing score is 49 or fewer points. Reinspection is required if an establishment scores
between 50 and 109 points, and if more than 110 points are scored, the retail food
establishment is immediately shut down.

The inspectors can also shut down a retail food establishment immediately because of a high score in certain areas even if the score is under 109, or because of an imminent health hazard, however the number of points awarded in an inspection are not included in the report which is available for the public to review.

Aguilar said the decision to include the points on an inspection report is being debated at the state level because the numerical point system is not necessarily the most accurate way to measure the severity of a compliance problem.

Inspectors are not “food cops,” Aguilar said. Instead, they train to approach their job as a
partnership to help restaurants succeed. “If we’re being successful, they’re being successful, and vice versa. And that’s why we always take a partnership and education approach first, even though we are regulators,” said Aguliar.

“What we’re trying to do is set our businesses up for success so that we can have sustained compliance. There are so many establishments in Larimer County we can’t be everywhere at once,” said Aguilar.

When a large corporation has a problem, like McDonald’s, they will survive, said Augilar, but a small, independent business may not be able to. “And we don’t want to see that happen to our businesses,” she said.

To date, the county’s consumer protection team has conducted 1,629 inspections of retail food establishments in 2024 which includes restaurants, grocery stores, and food trucks.

The E. coli outbreak affecting McDonald’s

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/10/31/food-safety-issues-affect-regional-mcdonalds-and-two-local-restaurants/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Patti Brown

Melissa Westover is passionate about the work of the Estes Valley Restorative Justice Partnership, a local program that blends restorative justice services and proactive and responsive programs for youth and adults aimed at bringing the community together to resolve issues and build solutions.

Originally designed to help the police and courts deal with juvenile crime, the program works with both victims of crime to offer support in identifying the harm they have experienced and figuring out a system of repair, and offenders by providing a system of accountability.

Westover began as a caseworker for the program 14 years ago. She has an undergraduate degree in education and a graduate degree in counseling from Denver Seminary. She applies those in her work both with individuals referred to the program and in training volunteers who work with victims and offenders around the 6 Rs The six Rs of restoration: relationship, respect, responsibility, repair, reconciliation and reintegration.

For Westover, seeking win-win solutions to community problems such as vandalism and other misdemeanors is a mission, especially when an offender can repair the damage they have caused and, in the process, press a restart button. The EVRJP has not only reduced recidivism for offenders, but it has helped individuals to find healing from the experience of being a crime victim.

Grant’s book explores the critical art of rethinking one’s positions and biases on the issues of the day. Named one of The Washington Post’s best nonfiction book of 2021, “Think Again” invites readers to be more curious than certain about what they think they know. The library provided free copies of the book and hosted two discussion forums in October.

To kick off national Restorative Justice Month, the EVRJP is hosting a screening of the film “Undivide Us,” which challenges the idea that citizens who disagree are not capable of civil conversation.

The film will be shown on Oct. 30 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Fireside Theater at the Estes Valley Library. [Note: The location of this event has been changed from the museum to the library, and there is a waitlist for the program. To have your name added to the waitlist, click here.]

After the film, there will be a discussion led by Martín Carcasson, director of the Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation. Carcasson has come to Estes before to lead his Tackling Wicked Problems workshop which focuses on building local capacity to engage with difficult issues collaboratively and productively through the use of deliberative processes.

Westover hopes to bring Carcasson back to Estes early next year for the more extended Tackling Wicked Problems workshop before the community begins to address updates to the Estes Park Development Code in 2025, a process that is expected to generate a lot of passion by community members who may have very different views about future development in the Estes Valley. 

Wednesday evening’s event is presented in partnership with Estes Valley Restorative Justice Partnership, KUNC Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and Above the Noise a statewide initiative of the Colorado Press Association, Colorado Media Project, and Colorado State University’s Center for Public Deliberation, and Rocky Mountain Public Media.

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Dawn Wilson

Screening coming to the Historic Park Theatre Nov. 1 and Nov. 2

National Geographic, along with Plimsoll Productions, has once again produced an adventure documentary that creates a narrative that is inspiring and harrowing all at the same time.

On Thursday, Oct. 17, “The Devil’s Climb” premiered on National Geographic and started streaming on Disney+ and Hulu the next day. The two men featured in the film are world-renowned climbers known even by those who do not scale rock walls – Alex Honnold, 39, and Tommy Caldwell, 46. The latter man grew up in Estes Park where he still lives and has climbed the rugged terrain of the surrounding mountains his entire life.

The two climbers, who have been friends and climbing partners since early in Honnold’s climbing career, set out on an adventure to be the first to climb 9,077-foot Devil’s Thumb and its four nearby peaks in one day. Devil’s Thumb, part of Alaska’s Stikine Icecap, rises sharply from the other surrounding jagged peaks along the Alaska-British Columbia border and can be seen from the Richardson Highway.

The Devil’s Thumb is considered by many in the climbing community to be unclimbable. Several climbers have died trying, and only about 50 have made it to the top.

Adding the additional four peaks of the Devil’s Thumb massif – the two Cat’s Ears peaks and the additional spires of the Witches’ Tits – to conquer the traverse was a unique challenge not tackled by many climbers. Honnold and Caldwell would be the first to do it in a day if they succeeded.

And just to make the whole challenge a little more of an adventure as well as an eco-friendly pursuit, they biked, kayaked, sailed, and hiked 2,600 miles from Caldwell’s home in Estes Park to the start of the climb.

This adventure was also Caldwell’s first big climb since rupturing his Achilles’ heel in 2022.

Would they make it? Would modern-day climbing celebrities, who are also fathers to young children, achieve yet another seemingly impossible feat?

National Geographic brought their cameras along for the journey, following the climbers from day one on their bikes out of Estes Park to day 55 when they start the impossible.

The film is coming to Estes Park, playing at the Historic Park Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2. Tickets are available at the Estes Park Mountain Shop. The tickets are free but a donation of $15 is suggested to help support the Estes Park Education Foundation.

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com

Story by Hank Lacey

Colorado Filmmaker Don Colacino will present his film "Trusted Sources" Monday night as part of the Estes Valley Voice's Civility in the Public Square initiative. Credit: Don Colacino / Colacino Productions

Estes Park residents depend heavily on trusted news. Wildfires, the state of the community’s tourism-driven economy, the functioning of the institutions that govern it and provide services – those and other important concerns mean that good journalism is essential to the quality of life. 

But Americans have a complicated relationship with the news media. Polls show that only a fraction of the country trusts it.

Colorado-based filmmaker Don Colacino’s new documentary, “Trusted Sources” delves into the roots of Americans’ distrust in journalism and explores how consumers can identify credible information..

Colacino explained the motivation behind his film: “We’re living in a time where people are more likely to believe that journalists are manufacturing stories than telling the truth,” he said. “The whole notion of ‘fake news’ has become pervasive.”

Why Americans distrust the news—and what can be done

The Edelman Trust Barometer found this year that 60% of Americans believe journalists “are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.” And Gallup, Inc. found this month that public confidence in the nation’s news media has reached historic lows, with only about a third of Americans expressing it. Some surveys show that only a quarter of respondents view the news media favorably...

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/10/26/media-trust-on-trial-filmmaker-colacino-brings-trusted-sources-to-estes/

Visit Estesvalleyvoice.com