NEWS Briefs & NOTES from your editor, 9/29/22
Dear Readers,
Small acts of kindness make big benefits. In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, and in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that the “givers” consistently undervalued how much their “act” meant to the recipients. Even a quick phone call, or a text had the same results.
How would you like to make a plan to do one small act of kindness every day? Or, at least once a week? What day of the week do you see the most people? Mark that day on your calendar. Or, just go outside and interact with the mail person, or the barista, or your neighbor, or someone you see walking their dog. Give them a wrapped cookie, or a cold bottle of beverage, or complement something new that you see in them… It doesn’t take money, but a little time, and the sweet rewards will last far longer than those couple of minutes you spent interacting with another human being. Give it a try!
………Many Thanks, Kathleen Spring, your editor
Take our survey, if you haven’t done so already. It is posted for three weeks in September, during our anniversary, to help us make decisions on what the readers want.
==NEWS TID BITS==
WEATHER: We’ve had a week of milder “summer” temperatures, around 80 degrees, and now we are going into the new week with temps around 70 degrees, and chances of rain. The shorter days are now signaling the trees to turn colors. Enjoy!
WILDLIFE REPORT: Our wildlife report is AN ARTICLE in this week’s edition! – We have two fun videos that our Lyons neighbor Robyn Sloan captured on her wildlife web cam a couple of weeks ago of a mom bear and her two cubs splashing around in a metal tub in Robyn’s vast back yard acreage. Enjoy!
SEND OFF for Mindy & Sam Tallent at the Diner Bar on Monday night went very well. Lots of good wishes and hugs from folks!
ARTISTS SHOW YOUR STUFF! — LAHC looking for more artists: (1) Those LAHCers (past & present) who plan to participate, please email chrystaldecoster@gmail.com with the number of pieces you plan to submit (up to five ready-to-wall-hang / display on designated surfaces) & days / times you are available to meet at the Library (w/ your work) October 3rd, 4th or 5th for installation. (2) The Town Hall LAHC 4th Quarter Art Show’s theme is, “Thanks. Giving. ‘Tis the season!” Deliver up to 5 wall-hangable creations between 5-7 p.m. to Town Hall on Friday October 7th; (pick-up of 3rd Quarter art “Thirst” work is also at that time). See our ARTICLE.
Sports Parents – Watch out for these!
“We’ve had to delete 13 unauthorized posts from our Booster Club Facebook account & posts just yesterday! These scammers try to get you to pay to view our sport events.”
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159492892038271&id=294814128270
Longmont’s BOHN FARM: The Times Call has an article on the Longmont residents who live in Longmont’s Bohn Farm neighborhood raising concerns about a developer’s desire to build up to 75 townhomes on a nearly 6-acre property along Spruce Avenue.
ACCIDENT Saturday 9/24 – Two accidents really messed up people’s shopping and leaf-peeping plans. One was between Lyons and Longmont and the other smaller one near Apple Valley bridge. Traffic was backed up for MILES! Even Pinewood Springs saw a temporary back up, and all the way east to Rabbit Mountain (Two trucks in a rear end crash, just west of Longmont at North Shore and Hwy 66 eastbound.) *PLUS* it was a free day at RMNP, so that always backs up traffic! On highway 36. == someone in Estes posted on the “road news” page: FYI traffic inbound to Estes backed up to the Lyons gas stations
The Biscuit food truck will be in the Quilt store’s parking lot 7am – 11am on Friday, 9/30/22.
Gas at U Pump It this Thursday is $3.49/gallon regular.
YARD SALE put on by a few of the Lyons Seniors at Walt Self Housing, next door to the post office and across from Sandstone Park, on Saturday, 8 am to 1 or 2pm. Stop by when you get your mail. Support our seniors. (It will take place in the residents’ parking lot. Please park on the street)
SCHOLARSHIPS: No teens from Lyons Middle/High School are on this list, but I know that some Lyons resident students attend other schools in the district in order to take special lines of study, so I will print the names of all local schools, in case you know these youth and can congratulate them: Thirty-five Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley students have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. From Boulder High: Sebastian James, Zachary Larter, Kai Parker and Ian Soledade. From Niwot High: Henry Stauch, Marguerite Stokes and Angela Wu. From Silver Creek High: Grant Gaddis, Allie Hartman, Ashish Karipalli and Luke Xu. — These high school seniors will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million. Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
BIKE PATH from Boulder to Lyons just got a boost — Cyclist 4 Community presented a check for $30,000 (matching funds) to Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy, a proponent for new bikeways to be built across the Boulder County area. Cyclists 4 Community, an advocacy group founded in 2013, seeks to create safe roads for Boulder County cyclists and drivers alike. Gathering money for the project has been a long time coming, according to Cyclists 4 Community Board Member Mark Flolid. ==Matching funds were the first step to earning a potential grant to build the Boulder to Lyons bike path that cyclists have been petitioning for.== but wait… this is the first tangible funds donated to this cause. The group understands that there is still a long road ahead. They are promoting a tax measure on the ballot this November, Ballot Measure 1C, will extend the existing 0.01% transportation sales tax in Boulder County. It will help fund mechanisms for bicycling projects and transportation. Once county support is secured, the advocacy group will apply for funding at the regional, state, and federal level as programs open throughout late 2022 and early 2023. Look up their web site, and join them in their cause!
OkTOBERFEST has been going on in Lyons at MainStage Brewing. In Longmont people competed in the brat-eating contest during the Longmont Oktoberfest at the Lefthand Brewing Garden on Saturday. I can see hot dogs slipping down your gullet, but not those thick, multi-ingredient brats. Oh, my!
P-TECH school courses Gift: Google is donating $125,000 to St. Vrain Valley’s P-TECH, or Pathways in Technology Early College High School, program at Skyline High School. Some of our Lyons area teens attend P-TECH programs (outside of our town).
LIBRARY CHILD PROGRAMS – Adults must attend with their child. One parent was very upset that a dad left his little kid there, unattended, she says that it turns the event into a babysitting hour for the other moms there.
APPLE VALLEY BRIDGE: The construction crew got the bridge painted quickly, and they even had the road open 24 hours/day for 2 or 3 days, but then they came back to finish up some work, and it was closed again. The black is really black! Did you know that originally it was grey?
RIVER CLEAN UP – Thank you Salem McLaughlin for organizing the St. Vrain River cleanup on Sunday! Adults and kids joined in. Participate Eddy Teddy said: Thank you Salem McLaughlin for organizing a great event in the Lyons River clean up! Excellent donuts and a great group of people who showed up including our very own mayor. Someone mentioned about 30#s of rubbish collected! Thank you also to Mojos for hosting us after — for 50% off our tab and to Donovan, our fabulous server.
Tis Sports Season! We had the Buffs, Rams, Air Force, Broncos all playing home games this past week!
=====TOWN or STATE GOVERNMENT NEWS: ====
ADDED/UPDATE 9/29/22 7PM =CEMEX – 9/29/22 – During the last meeting, Bo Co Commissioners got about 60 comments, and did not have time to make a decision, so they scheduled another meeting for today. — Boulder County met today to decide on the 15 year mining extension for CEMEX, and decided to say “no.” This does not mean the plant will close; on the contrary, they still own it forever, and can bring in materials from other places, to process. === here is the article that we published – written by Bo Co, not Cemex (who some might worry would write a bias statement) – that explains what was being requested. — note, not everyone was against it, with some nice enticements, like early closing of the plant, some open space/trails, removal of the overhead funnel, and more. https://lyonsrecorder.org/…/cemex-mining-permit…/ === The Town of Lyons Board of Trustees was strongly against it and all voted “no” in their recommendation to the county. We asked them for a statement as to their reasoning, and did not get it. You can go to the Minutes of the meeting on the town web site. ==========4/14/22 article: CEMEX, Lyons, is increasing production of Portland limestone cement (PLC) at its plant in Lyons, Colo., with the environmentally friendly, lower carbon building material expected to become the plant’s primary product by this summer. https://lyonsrecorder.org/…/cemex-increasing…/=========
October 3, 2022: In 2020, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Day became the first state holiday named after a woman. Colorado replaced Columbus Day with Cabrini Day, and it’s celebrated on the first Monday of October in Colorado. She founded 67 missionary institutions (in Colorado and elsewhere).
MEET AND GREET: State Sen. Rob Woodward (R-Loveland) will make three meet-and-greet stops across the southern half of SDistrict 15 on Thursday, September 29. Members of the public are invited to meet Sen. Woodward and discuss local issues. Here is the schedule for Thursday’s LOCAL stop: 8:30 a.m. Moxie Mercantile, 641 Main St., Lyons
WATCH OUT – YOUR DISTRICT MAY Change – We received a “letter to the editor” from some people in the Boulder area, who wanted to share with you that you may be in a new district, and you should check it out so that you know who the candidates are who are running, so you can study them. We will print a map, or give you a link to that New District map shortly.
DARK MONEY: U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, among others, voted to advance the DISCLOSE Act, which would combat dark money in elections and improve transparency and accountability in campaign spending. The bill failed to proceed after Senate Republicans blocked it. Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, secret spending from outside groups in our elections has exploded. This dark money spending has increased from less than $5 million in the 2006 election cycle to more than $300 million in 2012 to over $1 billion in 2020. He has repeatedly introduced a constitutional amendment to address Citizens United by restoring authority to Congress, states, and the American people to regulate campaign finance.=========== Last year, he introduced the ZOMBIE Act to require politicians no longer running for office to close their old campaign accounts.====== In February 2021, Bennet sent a letter to the Department of the Treasury urging the reversal of an existing rule that allows certain tax-exempt organizations to avoid disclosing their major donors and the amounts they give to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). =======Previously, he has introduced the Close the Revolving Door Act to ban Members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, the Curtailing Lobbyists and Empowering Americans for a New (CLEAN) Politics Act to prevent them from soliciting campaign contributions from lobbyists while Congress is in session, and the Spotlight Act to require certain nonprofit organizations that engage in political activity to provide the IRS with information on donors who contribute more than $5,000. === DONATIONS: Senator Bennett does not accept PAC money / corporate political action groups; he does accept donations from people outside Colorado. As of August 2022, According to his campaign, Bennet received donations totaling $2.06 million from nearly 20,000 donors for the period, and 95% of the donations were under $200.
RMNP — 10/1/22: Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is temporarily closed at Rainbow Curve on the east side of the park and Colorado River Trailhead on the west side of the park due to snow and ice on the road at higher elevations. Old Fall River Road has also temporarily closed. Trail Ridge Road recorded status line (970) 586-1222.
*CONSTRUCTION* CABLE TOWERS on Hwy 36 === US 36 Tower installation Construction, between Estes and Lyons: The residents along this strip, and in particular Pinewood Springs where the trucks and lights have been stationed for weeks, close to homes, have been complaining about the noise, and in the past week, waits as long as an hour to get through. === On Tuesday 9/27/22 a resident posted a link to CDOT’s complaint page. Resident Adam Turner then posted this helpful comment: “I just had a nice conversation with the Region 4 Lead Customer Service Representative. She was very helpful. She informed me that the conditions that have been described to her were well outside of the the submitted traffic control plan for the contractor and that CDOT is taking our complaints very seriously. I was able to infer that this contractor has been shut down before for similar issues, though it was not explicitly stated.- As a quick reminder- I know this is stressful for everyone and it was quite obviously stressful for the CDOT representative I spoke with on the phone. Please do your best to remember that you are speaking with an actual person on the other end of the phone and be polite. I could tell that she has been hit with both barrels by some folks today. We will definitely illicit a more effective response by conveying our frustrations without resorting to anger.”
======BUSINESS NEWS======
CHAMBER SOCIAL: Join the Lyons Colorado Area Chamber of Commerce for their Fall Networking Social at the A-Lodge’s new Rock Garden, on Main Street. It is open to anybody in town. Members get two free drink tickets; others can purchase a drink. Get to know your business owners in town!======= RSVP for this free event here: https://bit.ly/3dpNv0F
Special Deal for AUGUST: Members who RSVP and bring a non-member guest will be entered to win an amazing prize package (of a free year of beer), and there will be some great giveaways for all. Just dont forget to pre-register! See their web page or Facebook page for more details.
ATTENTION BUSINESSES: You may know that there will be a RADIO “play” put on October 21-22 in town. Like in the olden days, the radio shows often had short, cute “advertisements” in between acts. If you would like to submit a few lines for an ad, and make a donation, please contact Barney Dreistadt as soon as possible to talk it over, and make it happen! A fun way to reach many dozen people in Lyons! bdreistadt@me.com
BEST veterinarian: someone posted on Lyons Happenings/Facebook a request for a recommendation of a “competent, kind, down to earth and fair.” Vet, and she got about 20 responses, and there was no clear winner! Of course, our local Lyons vet was listed. But it’s good news to know that there are so many kind talented vets in the Front Range.
MARIGOLD restaurant and chef “review” and background story this week! See ARTICLE.
=====CONDOLENCES========
The family of Jesus Vasquez thanks folks for the outpouring of loving wishes. They will have a Celebration of Life in the near future. Contact them for more information. Condolences.
The Celebration of Life, and Service, for Zeke Little is this Saturday, October 1st, at 1 p.m. See the Lyons Community Church web site for more information, as there will also be a Zoom connection offered, as they expect a large group attending, as well as, some live far away..
====FUN EVENTS====
See our THINGS TO DO page for a couple dozen events each month, and their links.
LYONS COMMUNITY GARDEN: Support your local growing community garden plot by attending their fun event in the forest garden this Sunday – speakers, live music, food and drinks included in the ticket price. Contact Adrean at lcfproject@gmail.com to REGISTER and pay. There will be food, and rhythm and blue live music, and other speakers, included in the $25 donation. See our ARTICLE for more details, including the history of the Project.
REDSTONE MUSEUM: Last week to visit your local history museum. They close for winter season, after Saturday, (9:30 – 4:30 p.m.), Sunday, October 2 (12:30 to 4:30p.m.).
ARTISTS STUDIO TOURS: over 150 Boulder County artists’ STUDIOS.
Opening Reception September 30, 2022, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. ===Studio Tours: October 1 & 2 // Oct 8 & 9 // Oct. 15 & 16, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Reception is a free event to attend all food and beverages will be available for purchase onsite. But you need to Register. See our article for a list of which of the artists come from Lyons.
SKYGAZING: Larimer County has information on bi-monthly “stargazing” events with Northern Colorado Astronomical society in Open Space. Go to this page to see dates and locations: REGISTER Skygazing with Northern Colorado Astronomical Society
LYONS RADIO THEATER: live in person performances of the “Allen & Burns” -and- “Dragnet” old time radio shows. Mark your calendars October 21 at p.m. and 22 at 3 pm, courtesy of the Friends of the Library and Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission. (note this was previously advertised on a different date in October, so be sure you have the right date on your calendar) While there is no fee, they hope that people will make a donation to support the two groups. MORE INFO TO COME. Barney says, “The major objectives are to both raise some donations for the sponsors and also to promote interest in live theater in Lyons. All of the performers are local.” Come and support the Arts!
RAVE TO GRAVE: full information on our “events calendar” page – you MUST register this year!!! You can pay the full price of $25, or donate what you can afford.
………..you came here and read all these Goodies?! Pass on the Word… tell people what they are missing!
2 year anniversary, September 2022: Please make a contribution to the Lyons Recorder for this year’s articles, if you found many useful and/or entertaining articles! Thank You! We are savings Lyons “everyday history” for posterity.
Go to THINGS TO DO for details on Activities and Events, listed by date
