Notes from your editor, 3/25/21
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.
It is a sad week in Colorado. A 21 year old man shot and killed ten people in a grocery store in Boulder on Monday.
It seems that there is no safe place now. There have been massacres in churches, schools, markets,… But we can’t hide in our homes forever. We need to seek out friends to confine in, mourn with, talk about better days.
We’ve been through a year with restrictive and threatening pandemic, nerve-wracking elections, scary close forest fires, an unimaginable insurrection, historic wind and snow storms, and now this massacre. They say that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, so does this make us Marvel Super Heroes?
Lyons is having a Vigil in Sandstone Park at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Please do make the effort to attend and feel the comfort of being next to your caring neighbors. Cherie from LEAF is offering mental health guidance. I have a list of a dozen places you can call for help and counseling in the “HOW TO HELP, OR GET HELP” page (which includes links where you can donate funds).
Today all I can offer to you is a hand to join you in praying for the souls lost, and their mourning families and friends. I’ve shed many tears, as you have. Let’s just be in the moment and send positive energy through our State of Colorado, lifting the spirits of people to see a better day on the horizon.
NOTE: While we publish on THURSDAYS, when there is Breaking News, we will immediately publish it. — We did so on Monday after the Tragic Shooting in Boulder.
Let’s get to the news…
GENERAL NEWS=====
====PLANET BLUEGRASS BEGINS SELLING TICKETS: COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK: Wow, that went quickly! We knew the demand for music was high and our ticket numbers were low, but we didn’t realize quite how it would impact our ticketing system. All shows sold out within minutes, and the website wasn’t able to refresh in a timely manner. Our apologies to everyone who was unable to buy tickets, or who experienced confusion in the process. Corrals are new for us, and we’re learning as we go. At this point, all Spring Grass shows are sold out. ……Thank you all for your patience and understanding! ……We have more music coming, so hang tight.
====MESSAGE FROM Lyons Community Foundation: Thank you for helping us reach our year-end goal! We are immensely grateful for the many generous residents who appreciate what we do and who helped us surpass our goal of $30,000 through their monthly and year-end contributions. You are our angels and we need all of you so that TOGETHER, we can improve the quality of life and encourage positive change in the greater Lyons area.===Thanks to your enthusiastic response when we asked for your help mid-year for the Lyons Share Fund as well as at the end of the year with our general appeal, our overall revenue for 2020 was $86,658. Together, we can make a difference right here in our community!
====United States Post Office = 3/23/21 = Longer first-class mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours across the country are among the changes embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced Tuesday as part of a 10-Year Plan to Achieve Financial Sustainability and Service Excellence. Aims to meet or exceed 95 percent network-wide, on-time delivery. Operates at break-even by FY2023 avoiding $160 billion in projected losses over the next 10 years. Here is a link to their 10 Year Plan: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/0323-usps-unveils-10-year-plan-to-achieve-financial-sustainability-and-service-excellence.htm
====St. Vrain Habitat Contributes $1 Million to Affordable Housing Internationally===Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley was recently recognized for surpassing $1 million in total contributions to the work of building Habitat homes around the world. David Emerson, Executive Director of St. Vrain Habitat explained, “One of Habitat for Humanity’s foundational principles as a Christian ministry is that we tithe 10% of our unrestricted revenue to partner countries. This helps build much needed housing in some of the most impoverished areas of the world. To date, we have funded 240 homes internationally in addition to the 113 homes we have built in the St. Vrain and Estes Valleys. With a small amount of money, we can make a huge impact.”
****ACTIVITY****
The Longmont Museum has fun events every Thursday that you can watch online, on their web site, or You-Tube or Longmont Tv – this week’s program is GARDEN LANDSCAPE: Whether your goal is to conserve water, promote pollinators, or just make your yard look better, you’ll want to join this landscape design conversation. Our panel of experts will explore beautiful, sustainable designs that feature native and well-adapted plants. https://www.longmontcolorado.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/40038/6032
March 28 – 7 p.m. Sandstone Park — VIGIL in LYONS to honor the victims, families and support personnel of the Table Mesa King Sooper tragedy. Live music by local musicians.
****Remember to go to FLASH NEWS to read about all the CLASSES == TALKS == DISCUSSIONS that are going on in town!****
COVID-19 NEWS=====
See our NEW MARCH “COVID NEWS” — MONTHLY article.
Throughout the month, look for the words “UPDATE”
People vaccinated in US = 13.7% — 25.3% at least the first dose
2.5million doses per day – 7 day average
People vaccinated in CO = 15.5% — 25% at least the first dose (population is 5,759,000)
3/20/21 3.2% of the WORLD has got the first vaccine.
Lyons has remained at 68 cases for about 3 weeks.
By early March, the United States had started administering more than 2 million shots per day. The country surpassed President Biden’s initial goal of 100 million vaccines into arms in his first 100 days, reaching that tally by Day #58.
New: 3/24 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is extending the Affordable Care Act special enrollment period by three months to August 15, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.
New: 3/19 – The CDC revised its guidance on social distancing in schools, saying most students can now sit 3 feet apart instead of 6 feet so long as they are wearing masks.
==Phase 1B.4 went into effect 3/21/21. (See our COVID page for a breakdown and a CHART)
==This means those age 50 and above can get the vaccine; and restaurant workers; and more.
==Both Larimer and Boulder are in YELLOW Level.
==Boulder County positivity level the past 7 days is 3.6 percent. The state’s level went up to 4.1 percent.
==Restaurant workers can now get the vaccine. Larimer County set up a special vaccination program on Tuesday and gave it to 1,000 workers. Restaurant workers may be at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19 in their workplace because the virus is most likely to spread when social distancing is difficult to maintain or when masks cannot be worn, such as in times when eating or drinking are occurring. —-Data indicate that restaurant workers currently have the highest occupational unemployment rate in the community, at nearly 28%
MISCELLAENOUS WORLD NEWS
==The U.K. announced Saturday that half of all adults in the country have received at least the first coronavirus vaccine dose, reaching a new milestone for a country that has grappled in recent months. They have 9 out of 10 people 65 and over given their shot.
Israel has 80 percent of their population over 60 vaccinated. They lead the world. They have 10 cases a day.
==THIRD WAVE in EUROPE, with lockdowns happening due to rapid rises of the new variants — in Germany, UK, Poland and Italy — mostly through Easter.
==VARIANT continues to spread fast: 30% of cases in NY are the variant, and 30% in the US. Michigan and Florida have the highest number. 3/22/21 As the spread of coronavirus variants first identified in Britain and South Africa come to the US, scientists are finding a number of new variants that seem to have originated in the United States. WEAR YOUR MASKS!
FRIEND MESSAGES:
Farewell to Scott and Ruth Corwin who are moving to Oregon. They have lived here for almost 60 years.
This Week’s 18 Articles 3/25/21 ~ yes, that’s right, another record number of articles!
==WOMEN’s HISTORY MONTH
1. FINAL Women’s History Month article — Jane Valentine Barker wrote a series of history books on Boulder County == Historic Homes==Women’s History
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COVID-19 ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY – All Lyons related Articles! —
Monthly COVID-19 summary
INDEX page, with details about this week’s articles and the month of March
2. FINAL COVID 19 articles
(1) Pizza Bar
(2) Red Canyon
(3) St. Vrain Market
(4) Bluesologist
(5) Artist Magali
(6) Pastor’s Poem
(7) Cherie’s “Self Empowerment” ===
and the MAYOR’s and the
TOWN ADMIN wrap up of 2020!!
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Breaking News: published Monday: Table Mesa tragic shooting – how to help or get help
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1. Learn about “fats” good/bad for health (Stillwater Clinic)
2. Small Biz Loan INCREASE in April
3. Hwy 36 – its major construction is done
4. MARCH Town Board Meetings summary
5. Genealogy class/EP Museum/free
6. New Fire Chief Swearing In 3/25/21 & bio
7. FLASH News (classes, deadlines, more)
8. NOTES from Editor (town news; gov; covid; more
9. ABOUT TOWN (LaVern’s snippets news)
MY WEEKLY MESSAGE OF CARE:
Sometimes a BOOK can give us pause, and help us think out our concerns and worries and hope — Cathy Rivers said on her Facebook page: I am currently reading Francis Weller’s book “The Wild Edge of Sorrow”. Highly recommend. He has done grief counseling and healing rituals for years. I believe this quote comes from the book. It is so beautifully, compassionately and wisely written, showing how moving through, not around, our grieving process (for people, lost dreams, world/eco losses, etc.) we reach greater depths of our own humanity and inter-connectedness with all life on earth.
QUOTE from the author: “The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them. How much sorrow can I hold? That’s how much gratitude I can give. If I carry only grief, I’ll bend toward cynicism and despair. If I have only gratitude, I’ll become saccharine and won’t develop much compassion for other people’s suffering. Grief keeps the heart fluid and soft, which helps make compassion possible.”
~ Francis Weller
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Thank you for being steady readers of the Lyons Recorder. We hope you benefit from our articles each week, and have some fun, too! ………..Your Editor, Kathleen
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