Columnists - The Durango Herald

What does it take to be an official service dog?

By Marcy Eckhardt Service dogs everywhere these days, aren’t they? And whether you love dogs or are afraid of them, it’s hard to know what’s allowed, practical or legal. Here’s a ...

DATE: Apr 20, 2018 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Krugman: The price of blocking technical progress on renewables is high

Peter Thiel, Facebook investor and Donald Trump supporter, is by all accounts a terrible person. He did, however, come up with one classic line about the disappointments of moder...

DATE: Apr 20, 2018 | CATEGORY: Paul Krugman

Social club ageist to daughter

DEAR ABBY: I am part of a small social ladies group. The eight of us range in age from mid-50s to late-60s. We get together once a month for lunch, a movie, dinner, shopping, etc. I look...

DATE: Apr 20, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

4-H invites community to Mental Health Mardi Gras

La Plata County 4-H’s CODY project would like to invite the community to a Mental Health Mardi Gras. This special event will take place at 6 p.m. May 2 in the Exhibit Hall at the La Plata Co...

DATE: Apr 19, 2018 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Brooks: The blindness of social wealth

Bob Hall was a rancher. In 1936, in the midst of the Depression, he was suffering from a cancer that was eating the flesh on the side of his face. His ranch had dwindled to nearly nothing, a...

DATE: Apr 19, 2018 | CATEGORY: David Brooks

Schlichtman: Colorado Journalism Week honors the people behind the bylines

To anyone who follows the news, it would appear the industry itself is under attack. Whether claims of “fake news” leveled by the President or cuts to already lean newsrooms, newspapers and ...

DATE: Apr 19, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Fiancée discovers opiate addiction

DEAR ABBY: My divorced 38-year-old brother is addicted to opiates. My wealthy, enabling mother constantly bails him out financially. My brother is engaged to a very kind woman – a mother...

DATE: Apr 19, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

At the U.N., shame in the U.S.

The whole world was there! Well, maybe not the whole world numerically, and maybe not the whole world even representationally, but it felt like the whole world was there. Last month, I had ...

DATE: Apr 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Thoughts Along The Way

Waldman and Sennott: The crisis in journalism has become a crisis of democracy

By Steven Waldman and Charles Sennott Shortly after starting as a newspaper reporter in the coal-fields region of eastern Kentucky, Will Wright wrote an alarming article about how...

DATE: Apr 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Are certain foods making you feel bad?

If you’ve suddenly found that you can’t eat certain foods you used to love, then you aren’t alone. You may be dealing with a food intolerance. It’s important to understand that a...

DATE: Apr 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

Accident does number on marriage

DEAR ABBY: Six years ago, my husband of 20 years was in a serious accident. He was placed on disability because of it. Because of the accident, he can’t perform sexually because his “goo...

DATE: Apr 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Kristof: The nation will pay if Trump fires Mueller

President Donald Trump resembles a Geiger counter: When he emits increasing howls, he is signaling that we’re approaching some radioactive or explosive truth. Trump is said to be ...

DATE: Apr 17, 2018 | CATEGORY: Nicholas Kristof

Photos: Vallecito flooding aftermath

‘It’s going to be weeks until this place resembles what it used to’First responders work to get evacuees back home, urge extreme caution to returning residents in Vallecito

VALLECITO – Jean Earp slept only four hours between Saturday and Tuesday, working practically around the clock to divert torrents of water from the neighborhoods lining Vallecito Creek as it rose to 6,980 cubic feet per second. according to the U.S. Geological Survey Earp, a resident of Vallecito and an employee of McCarty excavation, had been preparing in anticipation of the floods with his excavator and front-end loader, trying to strengthen levees and fortify riverbanks. On Saturday, the rains came hard and waters rose fast, he said. The river jumped the banks, turning roads and front yards into torrents as it flooded through the community.About 390 homes were evacuated, and two houses on the banks of Vallecito Creek had to be destroyed by crews before they fell into the river, where they could damage bridges and cause dangerous blockages. Both homes were destroyed with their owners’ consent, said Upper Pine River Fire Protection District firefighter Logan Mosher.

On Saturday, while waiting for La Plata County Sheriff’s Office deputies to arrive with their high-water rescue vehicles, Earp helped residents escape by loading them into the bucket of his front-end loader and driving them to safety. “Once the sheriff got here, people liked riding in the cab more,” Earp said on Tuesday while working to fortify a levee on West Vallecito Creek Road, preparing for the potential of another round of flooding.

The river had carved a new channel around a foot bridge after a log jam had diverted its course. “Without 10,000 trees jamming everything up, the water would’ve flowed along its regular path,” Earp said, shaking his head. “We’re making up for lost ground.” This could be a cutline

Earp was one of many over the weekend who stepped up to defend houses and evacuate residents to safe ground, including personnel from the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, the Red Cross and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue, Road and Bridge and public health departments. On Monday, Gov. Jared Polis declared the flooding and ensuing evacuations to be a natural disaster, which helped quickly mobilize mutual aid from state agencies.

By Tuesday, the flooding had mostly subsided. But in the wake of the storms, about 90 homes in Vallecito had been damaged, along with roads and bridges, according to a Monday news release from La Plata County. But that was not all, Mosher said. The Vallecito, Grimes and Los Pinos creeks had eaten away at their banks, creating undercuts that appeared stable, but would collapse under a person’s weight, plunging them into the water. And, he said, many trees in the area had become prone to falling over, even without wind. “The danger is not past,” Mosher said. “We still have super-unstable conditions, especially around any moving water. The shoreline is super waterlogged, super loose. We have trees that are still falling regularly, even without high wind.” What’s more, he said, is that as residents return and utility companies begin turning propane and electricity back on, there is a risk of electrical fires and propane explosions. “With power coming back on, utilities coming back on, gas coming back on, we have huge risks for structure fires in these residences when (residents) come back and try to turn on (their) utilities,” he said. At a Monday night meeting at the Bayfield Intermediary School, Upper Pine Fire Chief Bruce Evans advised evacuees to be extra cautious as they return to their properties.

“We shut off a lot of peoples’ power and propane,” he said. “When we turn it back on, stay in the house for a significant amount of time, have a fire extinguisher on hand and if you see any smoke, call 911.”Evans asked residents to coordinate with their utility providers and the authorities to ensure that propane is turned on correctly to avoid tank explosions. Additionally, he said, residents should give stream banks a wide berth because they could be undercut. The odds of survival if someone fell into a river because an undercut collapses are low because of how fast the current would be moving. “If you fall in, the only place we may be able to get you out is the strainer downstream,” Evans said. A strainer is a stack of logs and debris horizontal to a river’s current that can trap a person in the current and cause them to drown. The Vallecito, Grimes and Los Pinos creeks were riddled with strainers after the storms caused hundreds of trees to fall and washed debris downstream.

Theresa Anselmo, director of La Plata County Health, said residents should anticipate having to get their drinking wells and septic systems tested for contamination. The floodwaters likely caused damage to both, and could have sent harmful bacteria into drinking water. Her department has been working alongside the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “When you are returning and if you have a septic system, make sure you’re minimizing the water in that system,” she said. “Sewage could seep out of the system and into the groundwater.CDPHE Director of Environmental Health and Protection Patrick Cummins said his agency is working to make sure public water and sewage plants were not damaged. Luckily, he said, those systems were spared, though technicians were still monitoring them closely. “Either through good planning or good luck, none of the systems were impacted by the flooding,” he said. According to a Tuesday news release from La Plata County, evacuation orders in Vallecito are expected to be lifted Thursday. However, the release said that beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday, residents may be escorted to their homes by deputies for important needs, “such as medication access or other urgent issues.”

The release said the decision to lift evacuations relies on a number of factors: ensuring private roads are passable and safe, water and sewer are accessible, propane tanks are safe to turn on, and debris is managed correctly. “Emergency responders and damage assessment teams from La Plata County and (UPRFD) need time to assess the safety of the area prior to lifting evacuations,” the release said. The road to recovery in Vallecito will be long, officials said. Mosher said the cleanup of the community will be difficult, and complicated by the onset of winter. “It’s going to be a rush, because we will likely have snow coming by the end of the month,” he said. “A lot of these people need to get into their homes and repair any of the damage from the flood before snow hits the ground. It’s going to be weeks until this place resembles what it used to a week ago.”Mosher said the weekend was the busiest three days of his firefighting career. He said he had never seen the water in any of the three creeks rise that quickly.

“ (It was) super unique to have it here at my home district,” he said. “I’ve been working up here for three years and have never seen the water even close to this high.”Earp agreed, recalling how quickly the water in Vallecito Creek rose as 5.2 inches of rain fell locally within a 2½-day period, according to the National Weather Service. By 12:30 p.m. Saturday, he said, the creek had risen to 6980 cubic feet per second from only a few hundred. For contrast, he said, the creek had merely been a trickle in August and September as the area was experiencing high fire danger and drought conditions.sedmondson@durangoherald.com

First responders work to get evacuees back home, urge extreme caution to returning residents in Vallecito

Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s