• On May 2, sixth-graders in Terri Lindstrom’s Pirate Time advisory class released 75 rainbow trout fingerlings into the San Juan River.
Lindstrom’s class raised and released the fingerlings through a partnership with the Trout in the Classroom program and Trout Unlimited.
• The PSHS Lady Pirate soccer team ended its season with a 6-0 loss to Crested Butte in Crested Butte on May 3. The team finished the season with a 6-5-3 overall record and 0-3-3 league record.
• May 4 was a good day for the PSHS track and field teams, with both the Pirates and Lady Pirates taking first at the 10-team Terry Alley Invitational in Pagosa Springs.
• More than 7,300 La Plata Electric Association (LPEA) members lost power early in the morning on May 6 following high winds.
According to LPEA, there were widespread outages, with crews dis- patched immediately.
The crews isolated a broken cross-arm on a transmission line, as well as some scattered tree debris due to the high winds at the time.
LPEA’s website showed the power outages began shortly after midnight, with the message to members stating power was restored to all members by 6:18 a.m.
According to Pagosa Weather’s Shawn Prochazka, the peak wind at Steven’s Field airport was 51 mph at 12:55 a.m.
The peak wind at the Lobo over- look on Wolf Creek pass was 83 mph at 12:35 a.m., according to Pagosa Weather.
• The BoCC voted 2-1 to not move forward with appointing a negotiator for the renewal of County Manager Derek Woodman’s contract at a May 7 meeting, indicating that the BoCC would not be retaining Woodman beyond the December 2024 end of his contract.
Woodman departed county employment the following day, BoCC chair Commissioner Veronica Medina indicated in an interview.
• At its May 7 meeting, the BoCC also appointed Commissioner Veronica Medina as the negotiator for the renewal of County Attorney Todd Weaver’s contract.
• The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors Running Iron Ranch subcommittee and San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) board members held a joint work session to discuss potential options at the Running Iron Ranch on May 8.
Bill Hudson and Glenn Walsh attended representing the PAWSD board, while Rob Hagberg and Charles Riehm represented the SJWCD.
Discussion at the hour-and-a- half-long work session touched upon a variety of issues, including a proposed gravel lease extension, options for various activities to generate revenue on the property and the long-term positioning of both boards in terms of paying off the loans for the property.
• In May, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small announced $250 million to help at-risk communities protect their homes, businesses and infrastructure from catastrophic wildfire, made worse by the climate crisis.
The grant funding included nearly $9.9 million for The Nature Conservancy to protect communities in Archuleta County and watersheds that provide irrigation and drinking water to downstream users in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M., which get 50 percent and 90 percent of their clean water from these watersheds, respectively.
• Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser visited with members from the community on May 10.
The meeting lasted for one hour and was held at the Archuleta County administration building. The stop was part of Weiser’s tour across the southwestern portion of the state in which he met with communities to discuss current issues each community is facing.
• In May, students at PSHS came together to raise more than $1,000 for the year’s Make-A-Wish Colorado recipient, 6-year-old Brielle, who was diagnosed with leukemia and whose wish was to go to Hawaii.
• At a May 14 special meeting, the BoCC voted 2-1 to hire Jack M. Harper II as the interim county manager following the departure of previous county manager Derek Woodman.
Brown voted against the motion.
• At its meeting on May 14, the Archuleta School District Board of Education (BOE) voted unanimously to approve the first reading of the district’s new graduation requirements, which would take effect beginning with the class of 2025-2026.
• At the same meeting, the BOE voted unanimously to renew Superintendent Rick Holt’s contract for three more years.
• On May 14, the Pagosa Springs Planning Commission voiced opposition to the idea of installing a new permanent parking lot in a section of Town Park.
Town staff floated the idea for a potential parking lot, near the athletic field, to accommodate for the loss of parking downtown during the CDOT main street reconstruction project.
• On May 15, Tyler James Intermaggio, 39, of Pagosa Springs, was sentenced to 24 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections by 6th Judicial District Chief Judge Jeffrey Wilson after entering a guilty plea in March to a charge of criminal attempt to commit murder in the second degree. Intermaggio was sentenced in two cases.
The first case involved criminal attempt to commit murder in the second degree and stemmed from a Jan. 4, 2023, incident in which Intermaggio pointed a firearm at Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Bill Lucero and pulled the trigger before being neutralized by Deputy Hayleigh Brown.
The second case involved criminal attempt to commit assault in the first degree and stemmed from a Jan. 1 incident in the Archuleta County jail that involved a detention officer.
• Fourteen Pirate athletes competed at the state track and field championships beginning May 16: Colton Lucero, Creede Dozier, Jeremiah Jones, Harley Armijo, Laner, Gavin Carter, Carr, Rose, Jordan Lindstrom, Campbell, Abigail Nehring, Parker, Aspen Pitcher and O’Donnell.
The Pirate athletes brought home medals in 11 events at the state track and field championship in Lakewood. The Lady Pirate team finished 12th in 3A at the event, while the Pirates boys finished 21st.
• The Pirate baseball team drew the regular season to a close in mid-May and entered the 3A playoffs as the No. 28 seed.
The Pirates then took on the No. 5 Coal Ridge Titans for regionals.
The Titans were victorious in the affair, defeating the Pirates 13-3 be- fore later defeating the Montezuma- Cortez Panthers by the same margin.
The Pirates ended the season 11- 11 and 4-4 in league play.
• Three Lady Pirate soccer players were named to the all-conference teams for the IML for the 2024 season: Elizabeth Currier and Adison Johnson were named to the all-conference first team, and Ximena Garcia was named to the second team.
• In mid-May, it was announced that Laura Lewis Marchino, executive director of the Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado, was re-elected to the National Association of Development Organizations Board of Directors for a two-year term. Marchino was first elected in 2009.
Marchino is the only board member from Colorado.
• At its May 21 meeting, the BoCC voted to award $18,000 in Conservation Trust Fund monies to the Four Corners Flyers to support the construction of concrete tee pads at the Cloman Park disc golf course.
• On May 23, the town council approved town staff’s recommendation to move the town’s annual Fourth of July Parade off of U.S 160 to Hot Springs Boulevard.
• Members of the community and Town of Pagosa Springs welcomed participants in the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run at Town Hall on May 24. The runners were participating in a relay across the country, passing a flaming torch along the way as a symbol for peace and promoting their motto of “Peace begins with me.”
• A pair of Memorial Day ceremonies were held in Pagosa Springs on May 27. The first took place at Hilltop Cemetery, with a luminaria ceremony taking place in the evening at Veterans Memorial Park to honor and remember those who died defending American freedom.
• Several Pirate track and field athletes earned all-conference and all-state honors for the spring season: O’Donnell (all-conference in the 4x200-meter relay), Nehring (all-conference and all-state second team for discus), Carr (all-conference in the 100-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay and 4x200, all-state honorable mention in the 4x100), Campbell (all-conference in triple jump and the 4x100, all-state honorable mention in the 4x100), Pitcher (all-conference for the 4x100 and 4x200), Armijo (all-conference in the 4x200), Dozier (all-conference for the long jump, all-state second team for the high jump), Carter (all-conference for the 4x200), Lucero (all-conference for the 100 and the 4x200) and Laner (all-conference for the 4x200), Rose (all-conference for the 400-meter dash, 4x100 and 4x200, as well as all-state honorable mention for the 4x100) and Parker (all-state honorable mention for the 4x100).
• Five members of the Pirate baseball team received IML honors for their work during the spring season: Zach Pouyer (first team), Riley Laugel (first team), Chris Young-Martinez (first team), Kyler Henderson (honorable mention), Hunter Pouyer (first team) and coach Ben Garcia, who was named the league’s coach of the year. Laugel also earned all-state honors.
