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Thursday, May 8, 2008
FBLA members do well at state competition
By Emmi Greer
Special to The SUN
Twenty-two members of Pagosa Springs High School’s FBLA chapter competed at the state level April 19-22 in Vail. All the students pre-qualified in district competition and joined 3,000 other FBLA members at the state event.
Future Business Leaders of America is not only the largest student organization at PSHS, but also the largest such organization in the nation.
The individuals from our town who advanced to this level were Jordan Davey, Cameron Creel, Mike Schmidt, Pat Ford, Josh Laydon, Hilary Matzdorf, Julia Adams, Jacob Hanes, Mele LeLievre, Chance Adams, Danielle Pajak, Crystal Purcell, Emmi Greer, Jacyln Harms, Kenny Hogrefe, Jackson Walsh, Sarah Smith, Kailee Kenyon, Chase Moore, Casey Crow, Trey Quiller and Ashley Taylor.
Qualifying for Vail is an accomplishment, but out of all the students who went on the trip, nearly half placed in the top 10 in their events.
Recipients of these awards were Jordan Davey, ninth in Business Math; Jacob Hanes, ninth place in Computer Problem Solving; Casey Crow, eighth in Public Speaking. Trey Quiller placed seventh in Business Calculations; Kailee Kenyon was sixth in personal finance and the team of Emmi Greer and Jackson Walsh earned a fifth place for their participation in Digital Video Production.
Finally, our highest-ranking individuals were Hilary Matzdorf, who received a third-place award in Impromptu Speaking, and Chase Moore, with a third-place performance in Client Services. Congratulations to all these finishers.
Aside from competition, various opportunities were offered at Vail, ranging from inspirational tales from keynote speaker Ben Glenn, aka “The Chalk Guy,” to “Capitalism with a Conscience,” to college and career opportunity expos.
Sally Capistrant and Cynthia Toner, the chapter sponsors, accompanied the students on the trip. Principal David Hamilton traveled to Vail to join students for the Awards of Excellence program.
Overall, it was a chance to excel and an educational experience that was enjoyed by all.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Pagosa Imaginators 3 to hold bake sale fund-raiser
The Pagosa Imaginators 3 Destination Imagination Team will hold a bake sale on Saturday, May 10 at the uptown (west) City Market, starting at 9 a.m.
Purchases and contributions will support the team’s trip to the Global Finals at the University of Tennessee later this month.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Responders participate in mass casualty exercise
By Chuck McGuire
Staff Writer
If you were in the vicinity of Bayfield High School Saturday, April 26, you may have noticed a dramatic accident scene in the parking lot, involving two personal vehicles and an overturned school bus full of young passengers. Rest assured, things were not as they seemed.
That’s because local, bi-county and state emergency responders, medical facilities and various government entities shared in a mass casualty exercise that morning, which capped five months planning by 25 separate agencies. The overall purpose was to observe and evaluate collective responses, operations and communications among participating associations and members of the public.
Referred to as Operation Yellow Jacket, the mock catastrophe included roughly 150 personnel from 28 separate organizations. Among them, the Archuleta County Office of Emergency Management, sheriff’s office, coroner’s office, Pagosa Mountain Hospital, Upper San Juan Health Service District Emergency Medical Services, Pagosa Fire Protection District, Southwest Chapter of American Red Cross, Upper San Juan Search and Rescue and Mounted Search and Rescue were included.
A number of Bayfield, Durango and La Plata County institutions also took part.
Participants carried out the exercise as if it had occurred on Yellow Jacket Pass along U.S. 160, west of Pagosa Springs. Because there is no cell phone coverage in that area, the designed response came from entities within Archuleta and La Plata counties.
Incident management, patient transport, patient tracking and mass patient care were the primary focal points. While the action itself was months in the making, the element of emergency response went largely unplanned.
“Many MCI (mass casualty incident) exercises end up forcing the responders into pre-planned actions — we didn’t want to do that,” said Drew Petersen, emergency services coordinator for the Archuleta County Office of Emergency Management. “It was important that we run the incident without a planned response or set responder roles, giving us a better indication of how a regional MCI would naturally play out.”
An important part of organizing any emergency response is the designation of an incident commander. Often, it may be an experienced first responder of an agency having jurisdiction over the event location. During the April 26 exercise, Archuleta County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Sean Curtis acted as incident commander.
“I arrived on scene, looked inside that bus and saw about 40 young people looking right at me, holding their hands out and screaming for help,” Curtis reported. “Many of us have had a lot of ICS (Incident Command System) training, but nothing can fully prepare you for this type of incident. You have to think fast — tally your resources, get a mental grasp of the situation and set up the process.”
Responders conducted the drill on a “real-time” basis, during which bi-county emergency resources were dispatched to simulate real-time arrival at a remote location (Yellow Jacket Pass). In the process, various emergency services transported patients to area hospitals under the same real-time simulation.
Following the drill, responders met and discussed cooperative actions and an initial debriefing yielded vital feedback. Organizers promised a full training debriefing in the days to follow.
In all, 60 volunteer patients and family members included Bayfield and Durango high school students, Boy Scouts, medical reserve corps, EMT class students and search and rescue personnel.
Participating agencies and the Southwest Regional EMS/Trauma Advisory Council provided a combined $6,000 in funding for Operation Yellow Jacket. Mercy Regional Medical Center secured and provided an exercise-specific grant of an undisclosed amount; and Chinook Medical Gear, Inc., Wal-Mart, Albertson’s, City Market, Coca-Cola, Buckskin Towing and Bayfield High School also contributed to the affair.
chuck@pagosasun.com
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Enterprise zone workshops planned
Kevin Tilson, the Colorado Enterprise zone coordinator will be in Durango, Friday, May 30, for two community workshops at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. The presentations are for accountants, businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Southwest Enterprise Zone, which includes Archuleta, Dolores, Montezuma, La Plata and San Juan counties.
The Enterprise Zone Tax Credit program was approved by the Colorado State Legislature in 1986 to assist economically distressed areas of the state. In southwest Colorado, all of Montezuma, Archuleta, San Juan and Dolores counties are designated enterprise zone areas. La Plata County, however, is more of a checkerboard with some areas considered not distressed, and thus not included.
Businesses located in Enterprise Zone areas benefit tax-wise though job creation and capital investments. Information on business tax credits will be presented from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including a question-and-answer session.
Legislation also allows for designated Enterprise Zone Contribution Projects, where all donors making contributions to these state-approved projects to receive a 25 percent state tax credit on cash donations, and a 12.5 percent state tax credit on in-kind donations. Currently, there are 28 approved projects in southwest Colorado. A presentation for all project representatives plus a Q&A will be from 9-10:30 a.m.
Both presentations will be Friday, May 30, in the Pine Room at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. There is no fee to attend.
If you are interested in attending, or need more information about the Enterprise Zone training, please contact the Region 9 office at (970) 247-9621.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
LPEA ‘Time-of-Use’ off-peak hours adjust May 15
La Plata Electric Association residential customers participating in the WattWatcher® “Time-of-Use” (TOU) program are reminded that seasonal off-peak hours for the summer take effect May 15.
The TOU program is designed to help conserve energy and save customers money.
From May 15 through midnight Sept. 14, 2007, the “summer” off-peak hours are Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to 10 a.m., and all day Saturday and Sunday. To help remind customers of the summer TOU periods, LPEA will be distributing “memory magnets” for convenient posting in the home.
Time-of-Use rates take into consideration seasonal “peak” electrical use periods. LPEA’s wholesale power supplier, Tri-State Generation & Transmission, charges LPEA less for purchasing electricity in off-peak hours. LPEA then passes that savings on to customers who have signed up for the WattWatcher® program. The electricity used during the off-peak period is, therefore, billed at a considerably lower rate than the regular residential rate.
“Electricity, once it is produced, is something that can’t be stored, so it helps the entire system — because electricity is in increasingly shorter supply — to shift demand for power to the ‘off peak’ periods,” said Mark Schwantes, LPEA director of corporate services, noting that the cost per kilowatt-hour to an average residential customer not participating on the WattWatcher® program is 10.1 cents. “Time of use, off-peak, is 4.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, so it can make a marked difference in a customer’s electric bill, while helping the efficiency of the grid.”
Currently more than 4,000 LPEA customers in Archuleta and La Plata counties are participating in the TOU program.
“Population and industrial/commercial growth continue in our area, presenting new challenges — how do we at La Plata Electric, meet the growing demand for electricity?” said Greg Munro, LPEA CEO. “Not too many years ago, LPEA’s mission and goals focused on how to increase our sales of electricity. Now, our mission and goals center on energy efficiency and using the electricity generated more effectively. The time-of-use program is one way we all can benefit.”
To take full advantage of the TOU program, customers are urged to use those appliances that draw the most power — such the dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer or self-cleaning oven — during the off-peak hours. Installing timers on water heaters or changing out the home heating source to electric thermal storage (ETS) units, maximizes the TOU benefit.
For further information, TOU customers or those interested in signing up for the cost-cutting program are encouraged to call 247-5786 or visit www.lpea.coop.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Summer Community Corps program in Pagosa
By Erin Thomas
Special to The SUN
The Southwest Conservation Corps is gearing up for this summer’s Community Corps Program in Pagosa Springs.
The Community Corps Program engages 14- and 15-year-old local youth in a summer work, service and education program that addresses key public needs and builds civic pride, employment skills, personal growth and team building. The Community Corps Program will work with Pagosa Springs Parks and Recreation Department to complete conservation projects in the community.
This is SCC’s third year offering this successful program to local youth. The program will run for four weeks, Nune 2-26, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each week. Upon completion of the four weeks, Community Corps participants receive a $350 completion award.
Youngsters interested in joining SCC for Community Corps are invited to contact Erin Thomas by calling 259-8607, Ext. 9, or by sending an e-mail to erin@sccorps.org.
Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) employs a diverse group of young men and women to support its mission of completing important conservation projects on public lands. Founded in 1998 to continue the legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, SCC’s employment and educational projects are sponsored primarily by land management agencies and municipalities throughout the southwest region of the U.S. The organization is headquartered in Durango, with locations in Alamosa, and Tucson, Ariz. For more information, visit www.sccorps.org.
For more information about how to apply, visit www.sccorps.org or call Erin at 259-8607, Ext. 9.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Open house will honor Pam Thompson
Staff at the Archuleta Combined Court office invites everyone to an open house on Sunday, May 18, from 1 to 4 p.m..
The open house is a celebration honoring Pam Thompson, following her recent retirement as Archuleta Combined Clerk of the Court.
The open house will take place at the Archuleta County Courthouse, 449 San Juan St., in the second-floor courtroom.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
PSHS Class of 1998 to hold reunion
By Nicky Black
Special to The SUN
Attention Class of 1998: It is time for our 10-year class reunion.
Save the date — Saturday, July 5. The reunion will take place in the afternoon and evening. More details will be e-mailed to you.
Please send your updated contact information to pagosa1998@yahoo.com.
Discounted accommodations apply at the Pagosa Lodge. If you would like more information, e-mail pagosa1998@yahoo.com . If you are planning on attending, please R.S.V.P. to pagosa1998@yahoo.com. Include the number of people you plan to bring. You must also include your e-mail address, mailing address and phone number. Also, indicate your interest on Pagosa Lodge accommodations and information will be e-mailed to you. We will send updated 10-year event information as it comes. We hope everyone can make it.
If you have a local business and would like to help sponsor this event, e-mail pagosa1998@yahoo.com to find out how.
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