James Foster named lifetime chairman
James Foster of Durango, chairman of Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting Network for the past two years, has been named lifetime chairman emeritus by a resolution of the organization’s board of directors.
He completes his two-year term as chairman of the board at the end of June, but remains on the board and executive committee for another year. He will have served on the board for eight years.
Foster is succeeded as chairman by Chad Hollingsworth of Denver, a senior executive of John Malone’s Liberty Media Corporation, a media, communications and entertainment company.
Human-resource managers to meet
The Durango Area Human Resources Managers will host a luncheon from noon to 1 p.m. July 16 at the Bank of Colorado, 1199 Main Ave., discussing the topic, “Due Diligence in Vendor Selection for Information Destruction.”
Scott Fasken with Colorado Document Security, will present information about new privacy laws, and the need for human resources managers to make compliance-driven selections of their information destruction vendor. The cost is $15 for members and $17 for nonmembers. Lunch will be provided.
To RSVP by Friday, email suzy@skabrewing.com.
Sorrel Sky Gallery announces hire
Sorrel Sky Gallery in Durango has recently added Becky Sparks to its full-time sales team.
Sparks, a Durango-area native, developed a deep respect and love for traditional western and Native American art as a child. Her uncle owned the trading post at Chaco Canyon, and he introduced her to the long lineage of Native American jewelers.
Sorrel Sky Gallery, at 828 Main Ave., is open seven days a week, and offers a fresh approach to Western art by presenting a select collection of contemporary and traditional fine art and jewelry.
For more information, visit https://sorrelsky.com.
Honeyville opens store north of town
Honeyville has opened its new store.
The fifth-generation Durango family owned-and-operated honey-bottling business has expanded the retail store and bottling facility to continue to offer Durango premium regional honey products. All Honeyville products are bottled at the new facility, which has a 16-foot viewing window for customers to watch production of the honey products or watch the bees move about in their new glass beehive. The retail store is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is 10 miles north of Durango at 33633 U.S. Highway 550.
For more information, call (800) 676-7690.
Coffee & Conversation to take place
The monthly BID Coffee & Conversation, hosted by the Durango Business Improvement District, will temporarily relocate its monthly meetings to the Strater Hotel’s Pullman Room, 699 Main Ave., beginning with its next meeting, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Friday.
The meeting will return to the First National Bank of Durango upon the bank’s completion of its remodel. The central topic will be “Downtown and North Main by the Numbers,” examining three metrics and where they intersect for the benefit of BID constituents. Pending time during the meeting, suggestions for merchants encountering parking complaints from patrons also will be addressed. Complimentary coffee and pastries will be provided.
The BID Coffee & Conversation is regularly held the second Friday of each month. For more information, call 375-5067. To sign-up to receive email alerts, visit www.downtowndurango.org/newsletter.
Visiting Angels receives awards
Chris and Michele Smith, owners of Visiting Angels of Southwest Colorado, just returned from a national convention in Austin, Texas, and were the recipients of two awards.
The Best Practice Award honors the Smiths for implementing life-care navigation best practice in their agency, focusing on palliative care training. This caregiver training has strengthened partnerships with home health and hospice, and other members of the care continuum.
The Smith’s received the Pinnacle Award for volume and growth of business. This places the Smiths’ local agency in the top 10 percent of all Visiting Angels Home Care Agencies in the nation, of which there are more than 450 independent franchises.
The local agency is based in Pagosa Springs, serving the Four Corners, the San Luis Valley, and Gunnison Country. For more information, visit www.visitingangels.com/southwestcolorado/home.
Pine River Physical Therapy opens
Pine River Physical Therapy has opened in Bayfield.
Paula Mooney, who holds a master of science in physical therapy, has opened a new outpatient physical therapy clinic at 480 Wolverine Drive, Suite 5, in Bayfield.
Mooney has been practicing physical therapy for the past 22 years. She has provided home health physical therapy services to patients in La Plata and Archuleta counties for the last 12 years. She is accepting new patients.
For more information, email pineriverpt@gmail.com or call 884-2956.
Nature Studies hires program managers
Durango Nature Studies announces the hire of two new program managers to its team of educators. Josh Hodorff started the position in March and Andrea Owens began in June.
Hodorff comes to DNS with a master’s degree in environmental education from Southern Oregon University and years of teaching experience at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Minnesota, Telluride Institute,and other Environmental Education Centers in Maine and Washington.
Owens joins the DNS team with a degree in elementary education and experience working outdoors as a sea kayak guide and naturalist in Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. Most recently, she has been working as a first-grade teacher in Dolores and helped to establish a new Montessori charter school in Cortez.
Both of these new program managers bring a wealth of knowledge, energy and expertise to DNS’ programs and curriculum.
For more information, visit www.durangonaturestudies.org.
Region 9 receives business loan fund
The Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado, Inc. will receive $580,000 through a new Community Development Block Grant contract between the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and La Plata County on behalf of the five counties in Southwest Colorado.
The grant is one of several sources of funding for the Region 9 Business Loan Fund program that provides “gap” financing to support job creation and retention in La Plata, Archuleta, Montezuma, Dolores and San Juan counties. In addition to larger loans of $100,000 or more, the grant program provides micro-loans to small business and entrepreneurs that can include up to $5,000 in grants for technical assistance.
For more information, visit www.scan.org, call Jenny Stollar at 247-9621 or email jenny@scan.org.
Herald Staff
