NEWS Briefs & NOTES from your editor, 12/1/22
Dear Readers,
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving day, with great food and company!
We have an image in our head as to what a family Thanksgiving dinner looks like, (eg, a Norman Rockwell painting – a long table with relatives of various ages sharing a turkey feast) but I found that it may no longer be true for many people.
One friend of mine visited his son and they had ham “for a change;” another friend bought a cooked turkey breast for her and her husband (alone); another friend went to a free community dinner with thousands of people; one friend had turkey at her nursing home lunchroom (no family); another delayed the feast a day because her son got caught driving home from college in some bad weather…
But, no matter, the number of people, or place, or entre, people were seeking the comfort of a traditional Thanksgiving day with family (or friends). It’s a great American tradition to have.
………Many Thanks, Kathleen Spring, your editor
==NEWS TID BITS==
Weather:
It seems winter is upon us, with sporadic snow fall now. How does this compare to last year? At this time in 2021, we had no snow! Matter a fact, we set a record for 232 days without snow! This season we have had 9.2″ plus the Tuesday snowfall. It was 59 degrees on Monday, and only 22 degrees on Tuesday! On Monday night (11/28), our area got 4″ to 6″ of snow and the temperature dropped down to 10 to 15 degrees. Per Channel 7 news, Tuesday night at 10p.m. Greeley was the coldest spot in the state with 5 degrees below zero. I’m glad to see the temps coming back near 50; but we still have snow predicted on Friday (12/2) and Monday. Looks like we are in for a snowy winter.
Reminder: November 19–20, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. – Our prayers go out to the LGBTQ community. Donate to help the families and survivors: COLORADO HEALING FUND To learn more about the History Colorado Museum’s permanent LGBT exhibit, go to our ARTICLE (last week). == For suicide or crisis help, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255; 24 hours. For emergencies, call 911.
SUPPORT YOUR SMALL BUSINESSES – shop downtown Lyons this Holiday Season! I’ve been in these shops and they address all price ranges! and have some very unique, high quality items for sale. From $5 shot glasses or greeting cards to $500 paintings or leather goods.
HOLIDAY EVENTS: I have put together a few activities in December to celebrate the Holidays with; but also have links to a full page of DENVER events, and BOULDER events. See Things to Do. Note, these out of town activities are NOT on our MONTHLY calendar. We only list Lyons events there.
==Dec. 1st – Talk on “Frank Lloyd Wright & The Prairie School” in Longmont — cancelled due to illness.
==Pinewood Springs residents who support the Cherry Company should check with them about a special, small, thank-you event they are putting on for locals only.
==Reminder: SpiritHound is having a 10 year anniversary “1920s costume” party Dec. 3rd.
==Final 2022 Senior Bus trip is planned; see a new Christmas movie.
See Things to Do
==Weekly List of Books for “Holiday Giving” — we are doing our lists again, starting this week; books by local authors!
FIRE DEPARTMENT GRANTS: We listed some BIG Grants given to Lyons & Pinewood Fire Departments; and we now have an AMAZING list from Pinewood (see ARTICLE), including some photos. (We are still awaiting a response or list from Lyons fire department.)
TICKETED EVENTS in Lyons? == Partly because of the pandemic, people in Lyons were getting use to not paying to see concerts in town because restaurants were desperate for customers. But things are settling down, and we’ve seen at least two events that required a ticket. The first one was a well-known Celtic singer at Moxie’s (a few months ago), and this week, a sell-out of a Taylor and Bonnie Sims concert at MainStage. Both of the businesses say that they will continue to offer top-notch entertainment that requires a ticket.
COVID / RSV (virus, with no vaccine) / Flu – the TRIPLE THREAT! Colorado is #4 out of 13 who are marked as “HIGH” number of cases by the CDC. Pediatric hospitals are admitting 3 to 4 cases PER MINUTE! 78% of pediatric beds are full! COVID is still producing 3-400 DEATHS each DAY. — only 70% of citizens have got the two doses; and only 12% have got the recent UPDATED BOOSTER. You are vulnerable every day you are in crowds or with strangers. It takes two weeks for the Booster to take full effect, so get it now before Christmas celebrations! Send please/and/thank-you notes to those who will be coming to visit you.
COLORADO GIVES DAY is December 6th. You can “pre” donate now, and it will go into effect on that date. Your money will go further because there are usually other entities that add to, or double, or match your donation. It’s also an easy way to see LOCAL nonprofits names! – give to our Humane Societies vs. national ones; give to our museum vs. national ones, etc. You can do a search on their page for Lyons nonprofits, too.
WARNING: Two people in downtown Lyons reported someone trying to steal their catalytic converters — Lyons Valley Park & Reese at 4th Street — I’ve warned about this in this newspaper a few times — now it is “HERE IN LYONS”! == We are the #1 state for car theft, and top for catalytic converter theft. — see our ARTICLE for details, and tips on how you can save our car.
WILD TURKEYS: Last week we had a photo spread of snow and turkeys. Robyn now states that she has now counted 64! of them in her yard, and neighbor Cindy says that she has to sometimes shoo members of the large groups off her deck. “Unfortunately they know I’m not going to hurt them.”
LOOSE DOGS: Multiple people have either lost or found dogs in the Lyons area in the past two weeks. Someone suggested that we should delegate a Dog Detective. Be sure your dogs have clear ID tags.
NO MERGER YET – Albertson (Safeway) and Kroger (King Sooper) met on November 29th to discuss the proposed merger between the two conglomerates, but no final agreement was made. Employee unions are the loudest to protest the merger. We will have an article about what this means. It still has to be approved by federal lawmakers.
from Joycelyn Frankhouser: Hey Lyons, many of you know Katie Fankhouser runs for Ft Lewis College. Ft Lewis is in the toughest Region in the Country. She has qualified individually all the way to D11 Nationals!! She runs Friday morning in Tacoma, Wa. Love to see her showered with Lyons love and encouragement. We are incredibly proud of how hard she has pushed herself, her body and her team.
BLACK FRIDAY – Sales increased by 2% this year; not much, but still an increase. However, CYBER MONDAY had 22.3 BILLION in sales! The BIGGEST of ALL TIME!
CHRISTMAS GIVING TREES are now up at 4 locations in town. Pick a paper ornament off the tree, which contains an anonymous request, and buy a gift for a “less fortunate person.” This is sponsored by LEAF. For many of these people, this is the only gift they will receive this year. — see the full ARTICLE for more details. === LEAF is also greatly in need of donations of cash and food!
PORCH PIRATES: do you know what that is? If not, you’re lucky! People are blatantly walking up to porches and stealing packages that have been dropped off, in greatly increasing numbers. –we will have an article about this, including TIPS on how to prevent it. — if it’s happened to you in LYONS, let us know! — The arrest rate is only 3.5% — If you videotape someone doing in on your porch, send it to contact7@denver7.com and they are showing these criminals ON TV!
========ANNUAL EVENTS (click here for more details)=======
ARTISAN MARKET this weekend! 10a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, December 3-4, at the Lyons elementary school gym (park behind the school). Support these local Colorado small businesses — you’ll see some of your neighbors selling unique, top quality items! Santa will be visiting 2 p.m. Bring a camera!
December 3, 6:30 – 8 p.m. – Parade of Lights, down Main Street. Lyons Community Church will be offering chili supper 5:30-7p.m. (or till its gone!) Foothills Church will offer drinks/and cookies. See CALENDAR page. — NOTE: NO fireworks — we are now a “year round fire zone.” Also, no “Never Fail Fudge” from LaVern. — The Polar Bears will be marching!
FIREWORKS:
The Town of Lyons posted: The Town of Lyons, in cooperation with the Lyons Fire Protection District, have decided that our changing climate does not make it conducive to have fireworks in the foothills, surrounded by open space following the past three years of wildfires bearing on our town. The town is planning to add music with the lights in Sandstone Park, hoping to grow that over the next couple of years.
There were multiple comments on a Post on Facebook stating that people were mad that the fireworks were cancelled — that we have a good fire department that could handle a fire — that it’s cancelled because of dogs — that we have snow on the ground — that people are quick to point at the environment when it benefits them, and not when… — overall, some pretty mean things were posted, and mostly not well thought out points,… so I’m not quoting them. You will recall that it was at the end of December 2021 that we had the Marshall fire.
==FEMA newly approved $1.5 million toward the recovery efforts in Boulder County, due to the Marshall Fire. That makes it $37 million total. (11/29/22) Many of us residents who experienced the Great Flood of 2013 know all about how long it takes FEMA to approve funds!
US & WORLD Government NEWS:
==Ukraine is nearing its 1st year of war with Russia. The current goal by Russia is to cripple Ukraine’s power grid. They currently have below freezing temperatures in most of the country, and no clean water. But workers quickly restored 50% of the power, and have it online, and most people have 4 hours of power. Fears of bombing damage to their nuclear plant has caused them to put all nuclear power offline; but they still need water to keep it cool.
==The US Senate passed a Respect for Marriage Act 11/29/22 to protect both gay and interracial marriages; to prevent any disaster caused by a possible 2023 ruling by the US Supreme Court. Next the House needs to approve it. There seems to be a positive bipartisan agreement on passing it; and it may be on the president’s desk by next week.
==A special meeting on 11/30/22 in US Congress produced a Bill that would force all freight rail unions to accept the compromise agreement that was initially drawn up. Despite a discussion and negotiation in September between the union reps and the US president, a few of the unions still have not approved it. They wanted to hold out for sick pay; so Congress included a separate Bill for 7 paid sick days. It appears that both House and Senate will agree to it, and send it to the president in a few days for signature. This kind of action can only be taken if there is a national emergency. A nationwide, massive freight railroad strike could happen as soon as 12/9/22; and it would freeze up the economy and greatly increase prices of gas and food, and delay products (for the holidays).
………..you came here and read all these Goodies?! Pass on the Word… tell people what they are missing!
Please make a contribution to the Lyons Recorder for this year’s articles, if you found many useful and/or entertaining articles! Consider 25 cents a week — Thank You! We are savings Lyons “everyday history” for posterity.
Go to THINGS TO DO for details on Activities and Events, listed by date
