Durangoan Tim Turner and a bunch of friends are held up by a no-vote, no-float quandary.
It means that the 16-day raft trip Turner’s group planned in the Grand Canyon is on hold until a partisan squabble in Washington, D.C., dealing with health care and federal spending is resolved and full funding flows again.
Right now, Grand Canyon National Park is among the federal parks, campgrounds and monuments closed for lack of money to pay employees. So Turner, owner of Zia Taqueria, and 15 friends from Durango, Montana and New York remain on dry land.
It’s one of many perhaps unforeseen effects locals are seeing from the government shutdown. Earlier this week, Tri-County Head Start seemed to be headed for a shutdown-related financial crisis. Veterans who have questions about the shutdown must rely on the local Veterans Affairs office for help.
Turner’s group was set to launch from Lee’s Ferry and camp along the Colorado River when the National Park Service, which operates Grand Canyon National Park, closed it.
Each member of the party had paid $1,200 to a Flagstaff, Ariz., outfitter for the trip. Some of the out-of-staters have returned home, and Turner returned to Durango to make tacos.
It’s ironic, Turner said Thursday. The permit holder for his party had been on the lottery list for Grand Canyon river permits for 18 years.
She is entitled to reschedule a river trip with her choice of dates until 2016, Turner said. But no one answers the phone at the National Park Service office so the new dates can be set, he said.
Head Start funding scare
Leaders of Tri-County Head Start in Durango fared better, but they had a scare.
The organization, which provides preschool for 267 children from low-income families, starts its fiscal year in September.
“We felt good,” said Fred Schneider, the new director of Head Start in Durango. “But when we tried to access our money Oct. 2, we couldn’t get it, the same as many Head Start offices across the country.”
Only federal services and personnel deemed essential remained available after midnight Sept. 30.
There are more than 2,000 Head Start centers in the country under the Administration for Children and Families, Schneider said.
The Durango-based Head Start office, which serves La Plata, Archuleta and Montezuma counties, needs an average of $195,000 a month to meet expenses, which includes staff salaries, Schneider said.
“Unavailability of the money would create a ripple effect,” Schneider said.
“If the children couldn’t attend class, perhaps a parent would have to stay home and miss work,” he said.
Officials at First National Bank of Durango, where Head Start has its account, saw trouble ahead and approached Head Start to offer help.
“They were outstanding,” Schneider said.
He and retiring Head Start director Charlotte Pirnat met with First National CEO Mark Daigle and Steve Emrich, the vice president for business banking.
“Mark said, ‘This is not acceptable,’” Schneider said. “We worked out an arrangement by which Head Start can get a low-to-minimum-to-zero loan to keep the doors open,” Schneider said.
During the past weekend, Head Start offices learned they would have official funding available. But just in case, the First National offer and conditions still stand if needed, Schneider said
“So we have a fall-back plan,” Schneider said. “First National stood up for Head Start.”
Veterans office still open
The Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington announced this week it is putting 7,000 employees on furlough and closing all its 56 Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices.
The Veterans Service Office in Durango is open for business, Martha Johnson, assistant director of human services for La Plata County, said Thursday.
The veterans office is not dependent on Washington, she said. It is funded by the county. Service officer Richard Schleeter takes applications for services, but they go to the Veterans Affairs office in Denver for action, she said.
Schleeter also can refer former military personnel to services provided by local veterans organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, Johnson said.
daler@durangoherald.com
