Notes from your editor, November 19, 2020
If there ever is an emergency in town, or timely news needing to be distributed, you can trust the Lyons Recorder to put it online immediately.
Greetings my wonderful Lyons readers! This week we have a mix of informative articles and entertaining articles, most to prepare you for the COVID-19 restrictions and the Thanksgiving Holiday.
GENERAL NEWS:
So, let’s get started…
Many people I talk to have expressed a weight lifted off their shoulders, and feel a calm in the air this past week. The elections are over, and the political ads and phone calls are done. A new president was elected, and he is making progress in studying what is going on in the U.S. and the world, and coming up with plans for the new year. The current president is spending time checking the ballot counts; and, working off his stress by playing golf. We hear little from either of them. The silence is golden.
That’s good timing as we are now in the Second Wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many European and other countries going on Lock Down. Colorado has stepped up its restrictions this week (see the article), which mainly encourages everyone to stay home, unless doing something essential. Businesses, in general, have been reduced from using 25 percent of its space, to 10 percent. Restaurants can only serve food outside; and people should eat only with their “household.”
SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES: KDVR has a report stating that 79 percent of Colorado restaurants will not survive the pandemic. We’ve seen businesses close in Lyons. Write your congress person in Washington, D.C. and tell them to vote on the new Stimulus package NOW!
Our governor has called a legislative session to vote on a stimulus package for COVID-19 relief. They feel that they can use money found in the General Fund. It will help small businesses, housing and rental assistance, support for child care providers, expand broadband access for schools.
Support your local businesses by pre-ordering groceries or cooked meals for Thanksgiving. Or order alcoholic beverages and snack trays. And don’t forget to tip the workers who are mostly working part-time now. Also, Gift Certificates make great gifts from ALL Lyons STORES!
PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS: The Lyons Recorder is doing (1) a free list of Christmas items for sale locally (2) a $25 spot in a month-long Christmas advertisement, (3) low cost ad space for businesses. Contact LyonsRecorder.Editor@gmail.com – We have tripled our readership this year! Reach Lyons households and beyond!
A survey conducted this week shows that only 29 percent would agree to a total Lock Down. Our Colorado governor, as well as all across the nation, are doing everything they can to not order a Lock Down. Oregon and New Mexico has a ordered near-lockdowns effective last Friday, November 13. And, five European countries are in month-long Lock Downs (and the list is growing).
VACCINE: The good news is that three pharmaceutical companies have vaccines that are soon ending their Stage Three testing, and they will be submitting their reports to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a couple of weeks. Then the FDA will review it, and perhaps by the end of December, it will approve the distribution of one or more vaccines. Of course, the essential workers and First Responders will get the first doses – they take good care of us! There is hope that everyone will get the first round of two vaccines by spring or early summer. Another reason to feel another straw lifted off our backs.
THANKSGIVING: We will be celebrating Thanksgiving next week. There is always something to be thankful for. AAA’s usual holiday reports say that only one-third of Americans will be travelling that week, reduced from the usual two-thirds. Most governments are recommending that people not invite more than one other “household” to their holiday meal. Have you decided yet what to do?
QUESTION: A question was posted on Facebook, that is in the “Thanksgiving vein.” Perhaps you are feeling lucky that you have most of what you need in life, and want to share with others. The question was: “What do you have that you don’t need, and what do you need that you don’t have?” On the first day a whopping 100+ people responded! Clothing and shoes seem to be a popular response. One that one might think was a bit over the top was “a four-wheel drive car,” but it got answers from three people who were selling their car! There were some furniture and large appliance exchanges. And a funny person (Mark) said he wanted “Lysol spray and N95 masks!” The head of the school’s PTO Chastidee asked for some planter pots for the Elementary school, and got a dozen offers. There were a few beds with no mattress, and a few mattresses with no beds. The oddest one might be an inversion table, where you hang upside down to release back pain. And of course, there were several that just said how much they love this town for doing such things.
STRONG WIND GUSTS on Friday night were in the 40s and 50s in the Lyons area. It reached 80 mph in Pinewood Springs! It hit Longmont hard too, as the power was out for a few hours at the WalMart. Some people said they couldn’t pick up their prescriptions as the computers were down. Plus, people were made to wait outside.
Mark Browning reported that “Neither strong, gusty winds nor cold temperatures can stay the Lyons Lions Club or Lyons Leos Club from their semi-annual Highway 7 cleanup. Trash was picked up between Town limits and Hall Ranch by a team of dedicated professionals … well, actually, enthusiastic amateur volunteers, but we got it done. Support your local Lions and Leos!”
SOME ACTIVITY UPDATES:
VETERANS: We posted a list of approximately 150 veteran names in last week’s issue. We have received maybe another 20 names to add. If your or a family member name is missing, please contact us.
LIBRARY DOORS CLOSED: Because of the new COVID-19 restrictions, the Library has closed its doors to “book browsers and computer users.” All others services are still being offered. We have a full article about the latest news coming from Bill Palmer.
AUTHOR: About 73 people attended the ZOOM meeting with Colorado author Pam Houston. She told her fascinating life story and what made her a ranch owner in Creede and a writer of many novels. She read a chapter from one of her books. Her descriptions of ranching life, and, in particular, of what it feels like to be caught in a lightning storm put us all on the edge of our seats. = I will be starting a regular column on COLORADO books. If you have published one, please send us the information. If you like reviewing books, contact us to discuss that. Thanks.
TOWN CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: The construction on High Street will be completed within the “next week or two,” according to Town Hall representative Tuesday. And the Second Avenue bridge construction will start maybe in a month. All facts will be posted here: www.townoflyons.com/bridge.
SCHOOLS: One case of COVID-19 was reported in the Lyons Elementary School last week, and taken care of. See our “COVID NEWS” report from last week. Dr. Haddad and the SVVSD Board of Education hosted a board meeting November 18, Wednesday evening in order to come to a decision about the next steps for student learning during the Pandemic. The event was live streamed via the school district website.
In preparation for this possibility, the Elementary School has scheduled a Materials Pickup event this Friday, November 20, from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Should the decision be made to return to Virtual Learning, each family needs to come by the school to pick up materials critical to your child’s success at home following the Thanksgiving Holiday.
CHRISTMAS DÉCOR: The Town has been putting up Christmas/Holiday Decorations in town this past week. They plan to do some “float/scenarios” around town, so that people can drive by. Instead of having a parade that moves pass you –you walk or drive by the float on your own.
THIEVES: There have been some postings of theft in Lyons over the past couple of weeks. Someone had their motorcycle cover cut away from its anchoring and stolen earlier this month. And, this week, someone had their truck stolen. Yes, it did have its keys in it (sweet Lyons), but it’s still wrong! The holidays often experience increased theft, so be sure to lock your cars, garage doors, and house doors, and make a plan for those boxes that will be left on your porch.
For my favorite story of the week, I end with a link to an article that was not published in the Lyons Recorder, but was about a small time journalist, from a small town, who got exposure on British radio during the November election.
QUOTE: Kemp’s all-night coverage was public service journalism in its purest form. Physically and mentally exhausted,…Kemp spent nearly a day inside the stout government building where officials were counting votes. At that moment, it wasn’t just her county that needed a local reporter — her country did, too.
QUOTE FROM ARTICLE in Washington Post: A British radio station wanted her “on air” to talk about the presidential election in Clayton County, *GEORGIA*, where she lives and works. Could she be ready in, oh, 30 seconds? It took her (a while) to realize that the world wasn’t just watching her state. It was watching her.
Kemp, an indefatigable 56-year-old reporter who started her news site after the local paper laid her off in April, was the only journalist to watch all 21 hours of Clayton County’s marathon tabulation of absentee votes, from about 9 a.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday. During that span, a record number of absentee ballots helped Biden close the statewide gap with Trump. And it was votes from Clayton County —the heart of the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis’s old district — that pushed Biden into the lead.
ARTICLES THIS WEEK
SEE FLASH NEWS for detailed information and dates for:
- Colorado Health Insurance Open Enrollment
- Annual “Cut Your Own Christmas Tree” in State forests
SAFER AT HOME, “RED” LEVEL: This includes the new “Dashboard” and a list of all the restrictions for Boulder and Larimer County. I try to keep all the COVID-articles focused mostly on our two counties. == Next week I will have a big article with facts, links, and frequently asked questions – a “reference article” that you can use to study the virus now and in future months.
SPACE-X SHUTTLE: We have an article on the spaceship launch last Sunday, November 15. America is back in the game! Many of our Lyons residents work in the aerospace industry in nearby cities. Colorado has the second largest aerospace industry in America! Go to CBS news’ page for lots of details.
TOWN BOARD MEETINGS: I’ve copied out of LaVern’s articles her summaries of board meetings, and agendas for future meetings, and placed them on a new page. This way they will be easier to find in the future, than going through dozens of About Town.
COLORADO HEALTH INSURANCE: This contains the deadlines, rules, and tips on getting low-cost health insurance through the State of Colorado.
CRAFT: PAINTING Thankfulness Stones. We have a new column of crafts for the family. This one invites you to paint stones with images of things that you are thankful for. You can make a game out of it, and you can share the stones as gifts. It will be a fun thing to do on Thanksgiving day if you end up not having outside family over to visit. Thanks to new writer Rebecca Batson!
PHOTO FEATURE: Our photos this week are of the construction work being done on High Street. The businesses are open and trying to operate, despite all of the noise and dust! It’s quite a production!
SELF-CARE: This is a subject that I touched on in my last “NOTES” in the “Message of Care” section. Cherie Maureaux, LEAF’s mental wellness counselor, has written an article about how the Holidays give us a splash of fun and laughter, but some may be drowning in depression, stress, confusion, defensiveness, indecision, loneliness, and more. She takes our hand and walks us through a path to recognize that it’s ok to feel these things – even during the Holidays – and, when we recognize that, we can do something about it. – I told her that I wish I could print this EVERY WEEK between now and Christmas!
SENIOR NEWS: This is a monthly column focused on seniors. It offers (1) what’s happening for seniors in town (2) fun things to do at home (3) health news (4) reports on past events, and more.
SCHOOL SPORTS: Sorry about the delay in the article. We hope to have it for you soon…
ABOUT TOWN: LaVern loves to share town news in quick bites.. thousands of bites! to read.
My Message of Care, for the Week:
Earlier this month, Hurricane Eta caused more than 130 deaths as it triggered flash floods and mudslides in parts of Central America and Mexico. The storm also left tens of thousands homeless in Honduras, which reported 74 deaths and nearly 57,000 people in shelters, mostly in the north. A second hurricane, Iota, arrived Monday evening with winds of 155 mph, hitting nearly the same location as Hurricane Eta two weeks earlier. By early Wednesday, Iota had dissipated over El Salvador, but the storm’s torrential rains remained a threat. Parts of neighboring Honduras were still under water from the last hurricane Eta. In Guatemala, many inhabitants in the village of Quejá remain missing due to a landslide.
Iota was the 30th named storm of this year’s historically busy Atlantic hurricane season. It also developed later in the season than any other Category 5 storm on record.
Thousands of people are stranded: “We are facing an incredible emergency,” Wood said. “There is no food. There is no water.”
Please donate to these charities, who work “on the ground” to help the citizens in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and more. These organizations have been vetted by Charity Navigator. The Roman Catholic Bishop said they were immediately sending priests to the areas. In Lyons, during the 2013 flood, the Catholic Relief Services helped residents. It has consistently dealt with projects directly related to Emergency Response and Recovery .
Americares supports 4,000 health centers in the United States and around the world. Last year it spent $32 million on Emergency Response Programs. Americares is the world’s leading nonprofit organization for delivering donated medicine and medical supplies to health programs around the world, providing over $900 million in quality medicine and supplies to more than 90 countries every year.
(Note: click on their names to go to their “review” web page)
Stay well, and stay informed! Keep reading the Lyons Recorder!
See you next week! Kathleen Spring, Your Editor
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