• Temperatures in Archuleta County continued to hover 10-15 degrees above normal as September gave way to October, with the area still waiting on its first cold front of fall.
• During its budget preparations in the fall, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) considered absorbing Archuleta Seniors Inc. (ASI) as a department to be run under the county.
During the board’s Oct. 1 work session, the BoCC heard from ASI Executive Director Rose Chavez in regard to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) being proposed which would have the county take ASI “under its wing.”
Chavez proposed the MOU, along with two other budget requests “in the event that the county does not necessarily think that you guys have the financial capacity to take on ASI as laid out in the proposed MOU.”
• Three Pagosa Springs High School (PSHS) Pirate harriers earned all-conference honors at the McGinn Memorial Cross Country Challenge on Reservoir Hill on Oct. 5, which also served as the season’s Intermountain League (IML) meet.
The Lady Pirates took fourth overall out of nine teams and third in the IML.
Sienna Rose took 12th out of 71 runners and Kaiya Lyons finished a fraction of a second later in 13th. Rose and Lyons finished eighth and ninth among IML runners, landing them on the all-conference second team.
Connor Thomas was the lead runner for the Pirate boys, finishing 16th overall and fifth among IML runners. Thomas earned first-team all-conference honors with the finish.
• The Pagosa Springs Middle School (PSMS) boys’ cross-country team celebrated numerous first-place finishes during its fall season, including its biggest win of the season so far at the McGinn Memorial Cross Country Challenge on Oct. 5.
• The PSMS B football team logged an undefeated season and won the San Juan Basin League Championship on Oct. 5 at Golden Peaks Stadium. The team defeated the Miller Angels 22-14 in the championship game.
• Elizabeth Smart addressed a local audience Oct. 8 inside the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts. During her talk, Smart recalled her 2002 abduction and her efforts since then to advocate for child safety awareness and sexual assault prevention.
Afterward, representatives from the Archuleta County Public Health Department, Rise Above Violence and the Cornerstone Project joined Smart to discuss local programs serving victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking and assault.
• PSHS Pirates Johnathon Smith and Tyler Dimond had “two really good days” at the 3A state golf tournament in Pueblo Oct. 7 and 8, according to coach Mark Faber.
Smith ended the tournament with his second all-state designation in as many years after tying for 10th with a two-day score of 147. Dimond ended the two-day tournament tied for 72nd with a 178.
• On Oct. 10, the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education heard that several of its campuses and classrooms are in need of improvements when early findings from a summer survey were shared during the board’s meeting.
Reviewing preliminary data collected by RTA Architects, board members learned how the elementary, middle and high schools fared when assessed for educational adequacy and overall facility conditions.
• The aurora borealis, or northern lights, were visible around Pagosa Country in October, with some of the more vibrant colors appearing late in the night on Oct. 10.
• The night sky provided more entertainment on Oct. 13, when Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) streaked across the sky.
• With a pair of wins on Oct. 12 and 15, the PSHS Pirate soccer team clinched the top spot in the IML for the season. The team had an overall record of 7-2- 3 and a league mark of 4-1-1.
• At a work session held by the BoCC on Oct. 15, more discussion took place in regard to the MOU being proposed by ASI that would have the county take on the organization as a county department, with a number of questions and considerations presented, such as things like the structure of the ASI board and whether ASI or the county would have the ability to hire and fire employees.
Later in the month, the commissioners questioned the county’s ability to increase funding from $280,000 to $610,000 to make ASI employees county employees.
• During the Oct. 15 BoCC meeting, the board unanimously approved a letter of engagement with Northland Securities to provide advice on funding for capital projects, including detailed information in regard to purchasing land and potential building costs for an administrative building.
• Archuleta County Combined Dispatch Director Devin Moffat resigned from his position on Oct. 2, County Manager Jack Harper reported on Oct. 15, with Elizabeth Blizzard appointed interim communications director.
• The dispatch board held a special meeting on Oct. 17 for the purpose of discussing budget requests for 2025 and a resolution giving oversight of the dispatch center to the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO).
An amended resolution was ultimately approved by a split vote, with Pagosa Springs Police Chief Bill Rockensock being the only opposing vote.
• On Oct. 17, the town council voted 6-1 against the idea of re-striping Hot Springs Boulevard to accommodate on-street, parallel parking.
Town staff considered adding parking along Hot Springs Boulevard to offset an expected loss of downtown parking during the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) U.S. 160 reconstruction project slated to begin in 2025.
• The Pirate soccer team finished out its regular season Oct. 18 and 19 by picking up two more wins, bringing its overall season record to 9-2-3 and landing the Pirates as the 19th-ranked team in the state’s 3A Selection and Seeding Index.
• Eleven DUST2 athletes qualified for the Colorado High School Cycling League State Championship in Glenwood Springs Oct. 19 and 20: Rylie Carr, Sophia Alexander, Gianna Shaeffer, Adelyn Hittle, Kaylee Hensle, Van Halterman, Aaron Sowle, Jackson Chaney, Weston Phillips, Justin Sewell and Eric Smith.
Nine racers ultimately competed at the event, and the DUST2 team placed 15th among all Division 2 teams (team scores can include 10 riders).
Coach Janine Emmets won the Yeti Skills Course Female Coach award.
• Wolf Creek Ski Area became the first ski area in North America to open for the 2024-2025 season on Oct. 22, kicking off the ski area’s 85th season.
The ski area opened following a storm system that delivered 26 inches of snow and left a midway depth of 16 inches.
• The Pagosa Youth Soccer Rangers all-girls U12 team won the Socctoberfest championship in Farmington, N.M., in October.
Other Rangers teams also shined at Socctoberfest, with the U10 team clinching the championship title in its division.
The U15 and U12 boys’ teams earned silver in their respective divisions.
• In October, it was announced that the Archuleta County Road and Bridge Department’s Deanna Hibbert had recently been invited to speak at the American Public Works Association conference in Loveland, Colo.
Hibbert’s presentation, “Keeping Cool While Plowing Snow,” was so well liked she received a call from the director of the Iowa State Conference asking her to do the same presentation at that state conference.
• Tensions between the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) and the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) continued to grow over their jointly owned Running Iron Ranch in October.
At meetings, board members of both organizations criticized the other, the PAWSD Board of Directors voted to file for declaratory judgment concerning its ability to sell the ranch and the SJWCD Board of Directors voted to release a public statement concerning the ranch.
The actions followed meetings where PAWSD voted to take steps toward selling the Running Iron Ranch, including engaging in consultation over the sale with the SJWCD and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), and obtaining an appraisal for the property.
PAWSD, the SJWCD and the CWCB are the parties to a 2015 three-way agreement concerning the reservoir project and the responsibilities of each organization concerning the parcel.
• For the third year in a row, Rose earned the chance to represent PSHS at the state cross-country meet when she finished 14th at regionals.
Rose ran a time of 20 minutes, 56.03 seconds to earn her way to the season’s final meet and beat her PR by one second.
• PSMS eighth-grader Rylan Ash was the first to cross the finish line at the middle school state cross-country championships on Oct. 26, becoming the school’s first-ever state champion in the sport.
The boys’ team placed eighth at the event.
• In late October, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced it had arrested a father and teenage son for the July 2 murder of the boy’s mother, Chrystal Snow, in Pagosa Springs.
Charles Christopher Martinez, age 43, and his 17-year-old son, Hevon Martinez, both of Cortez, were both booked on the count of first-degree murder, according to CBI.
The teen will be charged as an adult, according to CBI.
• La Plata County unveiled its new weather radar system during a special work session held by the La Plata County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 29.
The radar is located at the Durango- La Plata County airport in the cell- phone waiting lot and has been operating since August. The station helps fill in a radar gap.
• On Oct. 29, ASD kicked off a series of community meetings on its facilities master plan.
At the meetings, the district provided an update on the progress and outlined the next steps in the facilities master plan, and invited discussion about the plan.
• The Pirate soccer team traveled to the Front Range on Oct. 30 for its first-round playoff matchup against the Aurora West College Prep Academy Spartans.
The Pirates entered the matchup as the 20th-ranked team in the state’s 3A division with an overall record of 9-2-3. The Spartans entered the match- up as the 13th-ranked team with an identical overall record.
The Pirates fell 1-0 to the Spartans, bringing their season to an end.
• The PAWSD board continued to move forward with a potential sale of the Running Iron Ranch at its Oct. 30 meeting.
