Wall of Fallen gets new name
By Katherine Weadley
(Redstone Review Newspaper)

Tow truck driver Dennis DeVeny died at age 53 in the line of duty in Longmont on April 7th. He was driving a tow truck for Blue Sky Towing of Longmont. He will be honored at the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum (ITRHFM ) in Chatanooga, Tenn. and his name will be placed on a plaque on their “Wall of the Fallen” Saturday, Sept. 20th.

This wall, according to the ITRHFM mission statement, serves to “honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, to generate public awareness of the dangers involved in the towing and recovery industry and to permanently record and commemorate those involved in fatalities in the towing and recovery industry.” The wall was officially dedicated on Sept. 6, 2006. At that time 94 names were unveiled on brass nameplates. This ceremony was the first annual name unveiling and will continue to be held every year in Chattanooga on the third Saturday in September. DeVeny’s name will be on that plaque.

DeVeny was a graduate of Lyons High School and raised three children who also graduated from Lyons High School. His daughter, Missy Boone still lives in Lyons. His other two children, Tyson and Ashley DeVeny live in Wyoming, according to his sister, Deb Babler of Longmont. Babler is the Town Clerk of Lyons.

‘Died in the line of duty’ is a phrase often associated with firefighters and police. However, according to ITRHFM, the men and women of the towing industry assist the motoring public every day of the year, 24 hours a day in all types of weather and hazardous conditions. They risk their lives in everything from simply changing a tire to working complex recoveries at accident scenes. The ITRHFM calculates that upwards of 100 towing operators die in the line of duty annually.

Karen Marr is the office manager for both Tom’s American Towing and Blue Sky Towing in Longmont. She worked with DeVeny at Blue Sky Towing. “It’s a dangerous profession. Cars don’t slow down or get over anymore. Truckers even, they don’t get over. Years ago, you’d see flashing lights and you’d get over if you could. The guys are a target out there.” Marr thinks it is great that DeVeny’s name will be placed on the Wall of the Fallen. “He passed away doing what he loved to do. Any of the guys I work with would deserve it. He is greatly missed and always will be,” she said.

Dennis DeVeny was Deb Babler’s little brother. She says that DeVeny was driving a tow truck behind a tourist bus on April 7th in Longmont when luggage began spilling out of the compartments. “He wanted to help because that’s who he was. He was a nice guy,” she said. DeVeny flagged down the bus driver and they pulled over to the side of the road. “Dennis had a heart attack right there in the tow truck on the side of the road and died,” said Babler. “He had been a tow truck driver off and on his whole life and he really enjoyed it,” Babler said. “He died trying to help others.”

Park ranger receives national award
By Katherine Weadley

Hiking, biking, kayaking, hunting, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and fishing are some of the more popular things to do at Ridgway State Park, near Ouray. Just ask Montrose resident and Lyons High School graduate Johnathon Freeborn -- he’s a park ranger there. However, Freeborn’s not just any park ranger; he’s a Senior Park Ranger and was recently recognized as one of the top park rangers in the country.

A Web site dedicated to camping enthusiasts called Reserve America recognized Freeborn as one of the "country's top rangers who dedicate their careers to serving park visitors while preserving the country's public lands for future generations," according to one of the Reserve America web sites (www.thecampingclub.com).
Freeborn, along with four others received the silver medal. The national gold medal winner, the top honor for the year, went to Joseph Aniskiewicz of Darien Lakes State Park in the New York. Freeborn was nominated by another park ranger he worked with at Sylvan Lake State Park near Eagle before coming to Ridgway three years ago.
The entire states park division and the staff at Ridgway State Park should share the credit, according to Freeborn. “It’s the whole division that should get the credit,” he said.
Customer testimonials were included as part of the nomination process for the award. Camper Julia Parker wrote, "I have known John since he worked up at Sylvan Lake State Park as a park ranger. Johnathon Freeborn always followed the very necessary laws and rules of the park to a tee...but the exception to John is that he treats all people, including the people violating the rules with respect and compassion.”
Freeborn was born to Lois and John Freeborn in 1975. An only child he grew up in Lyons and graduated from Lyons High School in 1993. His dad said “He was always a leader. He played sports and took over the Christian Athletes program at the school. I’m not surprised at his success in the park system. He’s committed, determined.”

Freeborn always wanted to work outside. “One of the glories of the job is being able to be outside,” said Freeborn. Originally, according to his dad, Freeborn wanted to be a division wildlife officer, but instead he made his mark in the park system. After high school Freeborn went to college at Colorado State University and received his degree in wildlife biology in 2001. During the winters he worked at a camping and gear store in Ft. Collins and in the summer he was a seasonal park employee. “He almost starved to death going to college but he got it done,” said his dad.

Winning this award hasn’t slowed Freeborn down. This week he’s in Boat Accident Reporting and Investigating training in Pueblo. He’s also in the process of taking First Responder classes. First Responders are just shy of an Emergency Medical Technician designation. “He has had to attend several motorcycles versus vehicle accidents around here lately. The motorcycle never wins,” said Rhonda Palmer, Ridgway Park Visitor Services Manager.

In addition, he and several other rangers took an ESPN sports television crew off-roading to film in Grand Mesa. “You can’t really see me in the shots, I’m too far away,” said Freeborn. He was the only park ranger from Ridgway to attend the ESPN shoot.

At the beginning of November, Freeborn and another Ridgway Park Ranger, Scott Rist, took two physically challenged hunters out to hunt deer in Ridgway Park. “They both had their bucks by noon,” said Palmer. According to Palmer the mobility impaired hunters from Utah got into vehicles, drove to the designated hunting spots, then got into their wheelchairs and went as far as they could. Then they got out and crawled. Rist and Freeborn were on hand to help them through the entire process.

Palmer says that these hunts aren’t frequent. You need to have willing park rangers plus it is necessary to get permission a long time in advance from the Department of Wildlife. “Freeborn is a sweetheart, he’s really just great. He does so much,” said Palmer.

Freeborn’s dad credits Freeborn’s success to discipline. “He never got in trouble. He probably had more discipline than I did. Plus, he’s a single guy and all of his time goes to the park, furthering his own education and making sure the park is a great place to visit.”

Tis the season for seasonal beers
By Katherine Weadley

Beer lovers wait all year for this time of year because this is the time for seasonal beers. Seasonal beers are beers with limited production and are released during a particular time of year. Julia Herz, Lyons resident and spokesperson for the national Craft Brewer’s Association in Boulder says “Seasonal beers and special release beers are the gems of the brewing world. They can come and go in a cyclical fashion, but can also be a one-time release.”

Examples of seasonal beers are pumpkin ales, harvest ales and Oktoberfest beers. According to Herz, seasonal beers focus on seasonal ingredients and highlight flavors that harmonize with the faire of the moment.

To help thirsty folk navigate the world of seasonal beers the Brewers Association has a new Web site dedicated to seasonal beer releases: www.seasonalbeerandfood.org. This site is unique to most beer Web sites because all postings come directly from the breweries themselves.

Seasonal beers are the number one selling craft beer style right now. Despite the economy, in a recent Brandweek article The Nielsen Company stated seasonal beer sales were up 29 percent in dollar sales. “Craft [dollar sales are] up 14 percent year to date, but seasonal is up 29 percent. What that is telling you is there is interest in different beer styles and variety and consumers are willing to experiment,” said Nick Lake a director at Nielsen.

An example of a seasonal beer is “Snowbound Winter Ale,” produced by Longmont’s Left Hand Brewing Company. According to the description provided by the brewer it’s a spiced strong ale brewed once a year to fight cabin fever. It uses all natural ingredients, including crushed cinnamon, chopped ginger, organge zest, cardamom and cloves. The food pairing suggestion is turkey.

Another example of seasonal beer is “Winter Warlock,” produced by Bristol Brewing Company in Colorado Springs. It is an oatmeal stout and the winner of the Silver Medal in the Foreign-Style Stout category at the 1998 Great American Beer Festival. The brewery suggest pairing this seasonal beer with dark chocolate, blue-veined cheeses and hearty winter stews.

For more suggestions on seasonal beers distributed in Colorado and their perfect food matches go to the Brewer’s Association’s Web site www.seasonalbeerandfood.org.

Fans flock to Paper Bird
By Katherine Weadley

If you ever meet the three charismatic vocalists of the band Paper Bird they seem like pretty objects that you want to put in your pocket and take out later to play with. However, when you hear them sing you want to set them free and let the world share in their ethereal talent. The crowd at the Wildflower Pavilion on the ranch at Planet Bluegrass agreed since the seating was nearly at capacity despite the downpour at the roofed but open-air pavilion.
The vocalists consist of Sarah Anderson, and sisters Esmé Patterson and Genevieve Patterson. Esme and Genevieve are sisters and both graduated from Fairview High School in Boulder. They are all in their early twenties. Last year they released their first album Nameless and Joymaking. Other members of the band include Tyler Archuletta on trombone; Caleb Summeril on banjo and harmonica; Paul DeHaven on guitar and Macon Terry on acoustic guitar
I didn’t actually hear them sing on stage but I did hear them warm-up backstage and if that was any indication of their talent, let alone the rest of the band, then this band is indeed a rarity. Brian Eyster, spokesperson for Planet Bluegrass, booked the band. “A friend of a friend randomly slipped me a myspace address for the band early last winter. I listened to 1 track and I was hooked – the vocal harmonies were totally locked, the songs sounded like nothing I’d ever heard, and they had a certain pazazz in their energy. Musically, they synthesize many styles – country, 1920s jazz, indie rock, Bjork – but it’s generally impossible to play “spot the influence.” he said.
Although two of the band members are actually sisters they talk about each other as family. “We really are like a family. We live together on our bus and there’s no room and we don’t care,” said Anderson. Eyster agrees “It’s refreshing to see a band that truly identifies themselves as a band. They won’t ever say who wrote what parts, or who arranged what. Everything they do was produced together as “the band.”
They all agree that the band came together easily. All of the vocalists had been in select choral groups in their high school choirs. “We came together as a band in one day. It was supposed to happen,” said Genevieve. “We just want to tell you to follow your heart.”
The bus Paper Bird drives around in is an artsy custom-built bus that runs on grease. They drive from town to town and call ahead to find out where their bus can fill up on grease. “We don’t have another place to call home. The bus is our home,” said Esme. The entire band is environmentally conscious about how they live.
Opening Act opens up
Gregory Alan Isakov lives just outside of Lyons and was the opening act for that night’s show, and I did get to hear him sing. Backstage he is a quiet and unassuming young man. He is comfortable with himself and smiles easily. Still, he doesn’t say a lot. “I don’t like to talk. I write songs and sing them. I get nervous in the grocery store,” he said. He did say, however, that he dislikes such musical labels as “folk” or “folk rocker” because he doesn’t write to any particular style.
He may be nervous in the grocery store but he’s not on stage. It’s as if his personality stores up as much energy as possible so he can give it all when he steps out in front of the microphone. He may even have two personalities: the quiet but happy easy-going fellow; and the intense, focused, emotionally laid-open performer on stage.
Isakov was born Johannesburg, South Africa, but grew up in the Philadelphia area with his family who immigrated there. He started touring at the age of 16 with his first band. He moved to Colorado in 1999.
Isakov garnered national attention when he won the 2007 Telluride Troubadour contest. On Sept.18th he’ll play E-Town, the live national radio show at the Boulder Theater that is heard on National Public Radio. Although Isakov has toured with such musicians as Rodrigo y Gabriela, Alexi Murdoch, and Fiona Apple he remains a local’s favorite. “Ask local musicians about Gregory and they light up,” said Eyster. Dan Rose, a local bassist who tours with his band Elephant Revival, says “Gregory really understands the moment of creativity – how to tap into it and how to preserve it.”
Isakov has toured both solo and with his band "The Freight.” They released an album called "That Sea, The Gambler" in 2007.

Great American Beer Fest will be hopping
By Katherine Weadley

Put on your pretzel necklace and get ready to navigate 1,884 beers from 473 different breweries. That’s a lot of beer. However, 46,000 beer lovers are expected to help drink that beer at the 27th Great American Beer Festival at the Denver Convention Center on Friday and Saturday Oct. 10 and 11th.

The GABF is the American brewing industry's top public tasting and competition event. Held in the Denver-Boulder area every year since 1982 it was created by the Boulder- based National Brewer’s Association. Julia Herz of Lyons is a spokesperson for the Brewers Association and has attended the festival since the early 90s. “This is the preeminent beer event. Over 1,900 beers are available to taste by the public and many of the brewers staff their own booths,” said Herz. Each brewery gives out one ounce samples of their brew to attendees.
In April, a Times magazine dubbed Denver “the Napa of beer.” Beer plays an important role not only in the taste buds of Coloradans but in the economy as well. According to BeerServesAmerica.com the beer culture in Colorado contributes to 67,918 jobs and $3,051,014,419 in annual wages. Colorado is also the largest beer producing state with $12.4 billion contributed annually to the state’s economy.
While the biggest celebration of American beer is just a bus ride away to Coloradans people attend from a variety of places including Europe, Hawaii and Alaska. “This festival includes international brewers, international media, and of course international beer lovers,” said Herz. “We love traveling the 3,300 miles to Denver each fall to participate in GABF and share our "Liquid Aloha" with 46,000 beer aficionados,” said Rich Tucciarone, Vice President of Brewery Operations for Kona Brewing Company on the big island of Hawaii.
While internationals may attend, the festival itself is only for American brewers. Any American brewery making commercial beer can enter. This includes large brewers such as Coors and small craft brewers such as Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales of Dexter, Mich. Every year the GABF is the largest collection of American beer ever assembled.

Over 100 professional beer judges from the United States and abroad will evaluate more than 2,800 beers. Gold, silver and bronze medals in 75 beer-style categories will be awarded. “If a brewer gets a gold medal it means they make the best example of that beer style in the United States. It’s very hard to get a medal,” said Herz. New to this year’s event are three new styles of beer including: Fresh Hop Ale, American Belgo-style Ale, and Leipzig-style Gose.

Oskar Blues Brewery of Lyons is a featured sponsor of the GABF. Every year they sponsor a tasting booth as well as the popular silent disco. According to Marty Jones, spokesperson for Oskar Blues, the silent disco has become a surprise hit and a cult favorite of the GABF. “We used to sponsor live music but it would flood the convention center with music. So we thought of a way we could allow people to dance off some beer in a quiet but hilarious way that didn’t interfere with people’s discussions about the beer tasting,” he said.

This is the third year of the silent disco. Oskar Blues sets up a club atmosphere, complete with disco ball and roped-off dance floor. They hand out 50 headphones at a time. Once dancers put on the headphones they hear the music but the onlookers don’t. “This is one more way we have of fulfilling our main purpose at Oskar Blues, and that’s spreading joy. Beer is simply the primary tool we use to spread that joy,” Jones said.
Nancy Johnson, Brewers Association Event Director is in a new position this year of sustainability coordinator. “For years, we’ve recycled the glass beer bottles and run the lights at 50 percent (turning them up to 100 percent for last call). We purposely hold the event in an area with excellent public transportation access, and additionally we’ve requested that the venue use compostable or biodegradeable serviceware at all of the concession stands,” said Johnson. This year100 percent of the GABF energy will be offset with renewable energy credits according to Johnson. “All of these things are small steps we can take to do our part in minimizing the environmental consequences of the event,” she said.
Herz suggests purchasing tickets early. “Last year the event sold out in advance and we expect the same for this year,” she said. “It’s the best chance to try beers that aren’t distributed in Colorado. If someone appreciates beer and the finer things in life this is the event for them.”

Lyons-area CSA grows more than vegetables

by Katherine Weadley

CSA is a new term for an ancient idea. Individuals and families join Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) farms by purchasing weekly shares of produce as members of the farm. CSA members share the costs of farming, as well as the bounty or losses of the growing season.

In older, agricultural-based societies CSAs were a well-established principle. Today, CSAs are growing in popularity as people realize the health and environmental benefits of eating locally grown, fresh organic produce.

Stonebridge Farm, a CSA just east of Lyons, was established in 1993 by John Martin and Kayann Short long before eating locally was in vogue. Martin likes math puns and growing organic vegetables, but not necessarily eating them. Short likes knitting and composting. When they aren’t teaching at the University of Colorado they run their organic CSA. Martin is a math professor and Short is a professor of women’s literature and writing.

Stonebridge offers seasonal memberships of organic produce, herbs, and flowers. Every Saturday from early May to late October members come to the farm for their share of the vegetables picked fresh that morning. Offerings may include such items as cucumbers, carrots, basil, beets, and kale and a variety of beans, Jerusalem artichokes, dragon-tongue beans and heirloom tomatoes “Heirloom tomatoes look so different, but they taste great” said Short.

Short and Martin use seasonal workers to help pick their produce early Saturday morning before members arrive. However, these seasonal workers are locals who exchange their labor for a share of food. “We have about 25 people who barter for us. We had heard about the bartering system from CSAs in the 1970s. We have long term barterers,” said Short.

Stonebridge not only grows vegetables for CSA members but for the Eagle Rock School in Estes Park. Eagle Rock is an alternative school for kids, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Recently Short and Martin taught the class “Farm, Food and Forgiveness,” at Stonebridge for Eagle Rock students. “The kids were impressed by the fact that you could pick a vegetable directly from the ground and eat it. Now they are helping us rebuild our herb garden,” said Short.

Also on the farm next to the community building, the straw-bale outbuilding, a wood castle and many swings, stands a newly built stage. Country-rock musician Coyote Joe built the outdoor stage so he could have a concert there to celebrate the 15^th year of the CSA at Stonebridge last summer. Eco-folkers Jimmy Sferes and Jennifer White often grace this stage. “We usually have one or two concerts a season and they are open to the public,” said Short.

Short, who has 25 years experience teaching writing, life-writing, and women’s literature is developing the genre of eco-biography as a bridge between her writing, teaching, and farming lives. This May she plans a three-day workshop on the grounds of the farms. According to Short “an eco-biography may even be within an urban, rather than rural or wilderness, setting and may challenge the dichotomy of human versus nature.”

Along with providing food, Stonebridge also works to educate the public about the organic food production and its place in a healthy community. “Members not only discover the pleasure of eating seasonally, but also help sustain agricultural land and preserve family farms in Boulder County,” said Martin. “We emphasize the ‘C’ in CSA and we want the farm to be a place for people to spend extra time, to learn about farming,” said Short.

Another example of a CSA is the Pachamama Farm in Longmont. Pachamama is Quechua for “earth mother.” Quechua is a Native American language of South America. Pachamama also sells their produce at the Boulder’s Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays. The cost to join the Pachamama CSA is $450 for a regular-size share and $650 for a large-size share. Pachamama, unlike Stonebridge, does not offer a barter system or a discount for people who work on the farm. Both Stonebridge and Pachamama have waiting lists for their CSAs.

Not all CSAs offer exclusively organic produce. Miller Farms, located in Platteville on 300 acres, just recently added 10 acres to grow organic food to offer to their CSA members. Miller Farms, which is open to the public, sells their produce at over 25 farmer’s markets in Colorado.

Short says that CSAs are not in competition with each other. “We’re glad that people have found out about CSAs and are eating locally. We hope that Boulder County will help new farmers develop CSAs in this area. We’re all full. We’re not competing with each other,” she said.

Lyons resident Betsy Burton works for the environmental non-profit Green Heart Institute in Boulder. Last year her organization and another non-profit organization, Boulder County Going Local! helped put together the three-day event “Renaissance of the Local” on the Planet Bluegrass ranch in Lyons. This event highlighted environmental practices, including CSAs and farmer’s markets.

While Burton isn’t sure if there will be another “Renaissance of the Local,” this year she and her partner Mike Whipp are having a farmer’s renaissance of their own. Starting in the middle of July they began a small farmer’s market on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. on their self-named “Lyons Farmette” at the north-east end of Lyons.

Their farmer’s market offerings include basil, dill, peas, beans, squash, beets, onions and fresh eggs among other produce. “We have the farmette; it is doing great and producing a lot so we thought ‘why not?’ So here we go. This is our first year and we view ourselves as more of a farm stand than a farmer’s market,” said Burton.

Not only do they sell produce but they also give it away. “Fifty percent of what we grow goes to the Boulder Homeless Shelter,” said Burton. Whipp, who has a background in agriculture, and Lyons resident Peter Rousseau are the main farmers. Burton, along with Lyons resident Carol Conigliaro call themselves the “chicken chicks,” and are in charge of the eggs. “We also have almost 60 free-range chickens, three peacocks, sheep, and one duck named Ping,” Burton said.

At the moment only produce from the Lyons Farmette is sold at their farmer’s market. However, Burton says they would welcome other growers to be a part of it. “It will take community support for this to work and we’ll see how it goes this summer and fall. It is all about local sustainability and fresh wonderful food – we feel that is important,” said Burton.

The original hand-canning "facility" at Oskar Blues

Oskar Blues begins brewing in Longmont

By Katherine Weadley

A batting cage to the left, a basketball hoop to the right, skateboards here and there and in the back sit big shiny metal vats full of beer-to-be. This is what the inside of the new Oskar Blues canning and brewing facility in Longmont looks like. “Our brewers are excited because they have new toys to play with,” said spokesperson Marty Jones referring to the brewing equipment and not the actual toys.

There are five brewers on hand and around a dozen employees at the 36,000 square foot Oskar Blues Longmont facility. “Some of the employees rotate between Lyons and Longmont,” said Jones.

The new brewing facility on Pike Street in Longmont officially put out its first batch of beer on Friday, April 4^th. According to Marty Jones, spokesperson for Oskar Blues the new facility will produce 30,000 barrels of beer annually and can 250 beers a minute. Last year the facility in Lyons produced 12,409. “Considering how small the Lyons facility is that’s actually an amazing amount,” he said.

A law in Colorado states that one person can’t own two breweries so Dale sold the Oskar Blues brewpub in to his wife Kristi Katechis. So now there are two Oskar Blues entities. One is the Oskar Blues Brewing Company which produces the beer in Longmont. The other is Oskar Blues Grille & Brewery which is the brew pub in Lyons. One of his long-time employees, Wayne Bowers, also owns a piece of the brew pub through profit sharing.

“I have no interest in selling Oskar Blues brew pub now or in the future. It’s the heart and soul of everything I do. I love that restaurant and hope my kids run it some day,” said Dale. Although his major brewing and canning facility is now in Longmont, Dale has no plans to stop brewing in Lyons. “By shifting the canning production to Longmont we’ll be able to make different beer in Lyons. We haven’t been able to brew some of the other beers we wanted because we’ve been so focused on producing our three canned beers: Dale’s Pale Ale; Old Chub; and Gordon’s.” Dale said.

Dale bought his original brewing facilities in Lyons from the Great Divide Brewing Company. “Now we’re going to find someone like us, who is small and wants to grow and sell them our current system in Lyons,” said Jones. “We’ll sell our current brewing facilities but buy something smaller and more efficient to use in Lyons.” Dale plans to expand the beer line in the restaurant and play around with some of the recipes. "Some of those beers could possibly become canned beers in future," said. Also in the works is an attached tasting room to the Longmont brewery. Jones said that people in Longmont don't have a place to taste Oskar Blue's beer and they've been asking for it. "Lyons already has a tasting room. It's called Oskar Blues," said Jones.

This article was published in the Redstone Review in April, 2008

Three "festivarians" enjoy a beer at Planet Bluegrass

Th

Planet Bluegrass reduces waste by limiting plastic bottles

Planet Bluegrass sends message in a bottle

By Katherine Weadley

Planet Bluegrass is getting off the bottle. The plastic water bottle, that is. In their on-going efforts towards carbon neutrality Planet Bluegrass banned the sale of plastic water bottles from their most recent festival event, The 35^th Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They intend to do the same for their upcoming RockyGrass and Folks Festival and the music schools attached to each event.

Steve Symanski, vice-president of Planet Bluegrass recently spoke about this process on National Public Radio’s “Living on Earth,” radio show. “Living on Earth” is a weekly environmental news and information program distributed by Public Radio International. Every week approximately 300 public radio stations broadcast the show that focuses on a broad range of ecological issues.

Bruce Gellerman interviewed Symanski about Planet Bluegrass’ environmental strategy. According to Symanski, Planet Bluegrass used an easily-composted corn plastic water bottle in 2004 as a viable alternative to the plastic water bottle. In his radio interview he says, “Part of the thing is we've really been mandating at the festival now is everything in the festival grounds must be recyclable or compostable. We were touting it off, look at us, we're cool, we have the ability to throw this in our compost pile,” Symanski said.

Symanski continued, “We've come to realize through lots of reading and other dialogues we've had that bottles, no matter what you're doing you still have a waste stream, you still have to drive it somewhere, you still have that carbon footprint, so why not get rid of the bottles entirely? That's kind of one of our new initiatives this year is to really go back to drinking local water so we're pretty excited that we're going to have a wonderful, free filtered water station for all our audience and they can bring a reusable bottle and let's not have any plastic at the festival.”

Planet Bluegrass will set up water stations for people to use during Rocky Grass Festival in July and the Folks Festival in August. According to Brian Eyster of Planet Bluegrass the water initiative worked really well at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. “In the audience, we served 10,160 gallons of water. We have about 10,000 people per day in Telluride, so that’s about a bottle fill-up per person per day. That amount of water dispensed from the station is the equivalent of 3,387 cases of 16oz water bottles,” Eyster said. In our post-festival online surveys, 72% of the festivarians said they used the water station at “every possible opportunity.” And 94% of the festivarians said they used it at least once.

In an effort to send the message to the audience and beyond Planet Bluegrass provided their artists with Kleen Kanteens. These are reusable stainless steel water containers made from the same steel that is often found in brewing industries. According to the Kleen Kanteen Web site the containers retail for about $20. Planet Bluegrass will sell Kleen Kanteens at their Country Store during the festivals.

Eyster said that their sustainability initiatives came together really well. “The artists really did use their stainless steel Klean Kanteens and vendors only sold one-liter or larger bottles of water.

Oil is used to make and transport water bottles, which contributes to the environmental impact of the water bottle. Also, despite the fact most water bottles are recyclable very few of the bottles actually get recycled. According to Doug James of Cornell University it is estimated that in 2005 alone approximately 30 billion plastic water bottles were purchased, with only about 12% recycled.

Also contributing to the environmental concerns about the use of water bottles is the toxic chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA). It is used in the creation of plastic water bottles, plastic baby bottles and many food containers. According to a press release from the Federal During Administration the FDA recently formed an agency-wide BPA task force to facilitate cross-agency review of current research and new information on BPA for all FDA regulated products.

As part of the evaluation, the FDA Task Force is reviewing the concerns presented in the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Draft Brief published on April 14, 2008 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The press release states “Based on our ongoing review, we believe there is a large body of evidence that indicates that FDA-regulated products containing BPA currently on the market are safe and that exposure levels to BPA from food contact materials, including for infants and children, are below those that may cause health effects.”

However, BPA can be released from plastic into food when heated, washed, or exposed to acidic foods according to a study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives which is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Plastic water bottles aren’t popular at Planet Bluegrass and their hope is that not only that people don’t choose to bring plastic water bottles to the festival but that people everywhere start drinking locally using environmentally friendly containers for their water.

This article ran in the July 2008 issue of the Redstone Review.

CEMEX, the cement plant east of Lyons ,says it is working on the future. Its past is riddled with environmental fines.

CEMEX receives Citizen’s Notice of Violation at protest march

Plant manager Goodrich focuses on change

By Katherine Weadley

Plant Manager Steve Goodrich of the cement factory CEMEX finally has a chance to speak his mind. He was hired in May of 2006 but all official corporate communications from the multi-million dollar international corporation came through the headquarters of the CEMEX U.S. operations in Houston. Now they’ve given Goodrich the green light to speak up and out about the past, present and future of CEMEX.

Goodrich is upbeat about the future of CEMEX in Lyons, “As a company we’ve recognized that it is important to frame our story and we think we have a good story to tell.” CEMEX does a lot for the community, according to Goodrich. They are proud of that CEMEX Lyons employs about 108 people. Of those people Goodrich says about 16 employees have Lyons addresses and about two-thirds of the employees live in Boulder County.

Not only is Goodrich proud to supply locals with jobs but he’s proud of the diversity of employees as well. “We have engineers from Jamaica, Italy and one who is originally from India,” he said. “Also, we pay very competitively; an entry-level unskilled position starts at over $16 an hour. They aren’t unskilled for long because we teach them skills and promote from within,” he said. Goodrich said the payroll at the cement plant runs about 8.5 million annually in Lyons.

CEMEX takes a supportive role in the community. CEMEX provides financial support for the annual Parade of Lights, the Community Barbeque, and Good Old Days. “We also provide donations for larger projects from time to time as requested, for example we donated to the Town of Lyons’ Fifth Avenue project. We provided all the material for the sidewalk and underwrote the concrete costs, and last year we provided one of the multi-purpose weight racks for the Lyons Middle-Senior High School.

CEMEX is also a member of the Lyons Chamber of Commerce at the Cornerstone level, which means an annual payment of $1,500. A typical business membership is $125 according to the chamber Web site. The next chamber social is July 17^th and is hosted by CEMEX at their plant.

Volunteer firefighters receive paid time off while fighting fires according to CEMEX policy. “Right now we’re working with the Hygiene Volunteer Fire Department on providing them with space for training,” said Goodrich. “We look for ways to support our employees and our community,” he said.

Goodrich has big plans for CEMEX in Lyons and is looking forward to reaping the results of the all the changes for the better he and his environmental compliance team is making at the plant. The past, however, is riddled with fines from state and federal agencies. The latest fine came just this June 17^th from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. They issued a notice of violation (NOV) to CEMEX, alleging various violations of state air quality regulations and operating permit conditions.

“We are concerned that CEMEX continues to operate this facility without direct and consistent focus on compliance with air quality regulations and the facility’s permit,” said Paul Tourangeau, director of the department’s Air Pollution Control Division. “We expect this plant to be operated in compliance with the law, and will continue to take the actions necessary to produce that result.”

Since 2000, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has entered into four separate compliance orders on consent with CEMEX over alleged noncompliance issues at the Lyons plant. This notice of violation is the latest in a series of enforcement actions taken by state and federal authorities against CEMEX during the last several years, including a state action in 2006 that resulted in a $1.5 million penalty. The 2006 penalty was the second-largest penalty ever assessed by the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division.

In addition to the state actions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its own notice of violation in March 2007 that has yet to be resolved. These are just some of the reasons that a protest march was held Saturday, July 12 according to march organizers. The march began at the Stone Cup Café on High Street in Lyons and ended at the CEMEX plant east of Lyons on Ute Highway.

Speakers included Jeremy Nichols of Rocky Mountain Clear Air Action and local area activists Richard Cargill and Lois Hickman.

At the end of the march Goodrich was handed a Citizen’s Notice of Violation (CNOV). The CNOV was created collaboratively between the environmental groups St. Vrain Watchdogs, Mothers Against Burning Tires, Colorado Citizens Campaign, and Friends of the St. Vrain River Valley.

Julie Smith, a health practitioner and Lyons local helped write the detailed CNOV which runs about two pages. “The state has been issuing them NOVs. I think they have received seven NOVs in the last year eight years. They pay and pollute. It’s cheaper for them to pay the fines rather than make the changes. That’s why we issued them a Citizen’s Notice of Violation.” Citizen signatures for the CNOV were collected at the Stone Cup Cafe before the march.

Nonetheless Goodrich is still optimistic about the plant and its future in Lyons. “It’s a complicated business, we have a complex permit. We’re trying to achieve 100 percent compliance. Our objective is to meet all those standards and meet the permit requirements and the community expectations as well. It’s our challenge and our opportunity,” he said.

Smith says that she just wants them to come into compliance with their permit. “They are operating unlawfully. Maybe Goodrich likes to paint a rosy picture but reality is bleak.”

This article ran in the July 2008 issue of the Redstone Review.