Features

Angelique Malet’s birth record reflects that her father, Leon Malet, claimed a nice chunk of native grasslands in Buffalo Park by 1862. Included were meadow hay fields that have been producing and feeding stock for 150 years. They are fields still being harvested today, if the Lord is willing, and if it starts to snow soon. Meadows whose edges provided prime timber for Malet and his fellow French-Canadian neighbors, Samuel and Aszine Veznia, Antione Roy and John Riopelle.

A Colorado governor whose courageous support of civil rights during World War II is now honored with a tall, rose-colored monument on Kenosha Pass.
Some 264 miles of U.S. 285 was officially renamed the Ralph Carr Memorial Highway on Sunday in honor of the former governor, who opposed the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

By Virginia Grantier

She knows about challenges: Brenn Lea Pearson, 64, who lives alone with her two dogs, is a longtime graphic designer in Evergreen who has been trying to regroup in this economy since her New York and San Francisco book publishing jobs went overseas and local work became scarce.

They know about challenges: This group that waits in their chairs and wheelchairs on Wednesdays for Pearson. They have a range of issues: Some have Alzheimer’s; others are recovering from strokes or other debilitating physical conditions.

“… The Hussars let loose their horses. God, what power! They ran through the smoke and the sound was like a thousand blacksmiths beating with a thousand hammers.”
— Henry Sienkievich, describing
a 17th-century battle between
Polish Hussars and invading Swedish forces

While on hiatus from a career as a commercial real estate developer, Bill Valaika of Evergreen is using the down time to embellish guitars that are being auctioned off for worthy causes.
Using a secret-formula glue and thousands of Swarovski crystals, Valaika turns a plain guitar face into a colorful, flaming logo light show.
“It’s unbelievable to see on stage, Valaika said. “The crowd loves it.”
Each guitar takes 40 hours to produce and is worth about $2,000 in materials.

Editor’s note: Local paleoclimatologist Peter Link embarked on a trip to South America earlier this year with his trusty camera in hand. His account of the trip follows, accompanied by stunning photos.

By Peter Link
1It was January, the dead of winter — time to break for South America.
And so, Scott from Shreveport, my brother Andy from Houston and I boarded an overnight flight to La Paz, Bolivia, 12,001 feet above sea level. OK for me, living at 8,100 feet; not so sanguine for Scott and Andy. They did survive.

Not everyone can see beauty in a stack of weather-beaten, sun-bleached wood. But in the hands of Tommy Banaszek and Jeanne Sullivan, salvaged wood turns over a new leaf and is transformed into handmade furniture.
KnoT New WooD, located in Kittredge at 26030 Highway 74, is the brainchild of Banaszek and Sullivan, who created the business to showcase wood repurposed into elegant, rustic or highly polished custom designs.
“People come in here and want to touch all the different woods,” said Sullivan.

Dave Voth has woodworking in his genes. His great-great-great-grandparents’ relatives were woodworkers in Prussia. His great-grandfather was featured in a book on Mennonite furniture making. The aged black-and-white photograph shows Voth’s ancestor standing next to the wooden house that he built by hand in Minnesota.