by Valley Gadfly | Apr 19, 2024 | Valley Gadfly
Valley Gadfly
“It’s mad, it’s gay, a libelous display.” Yes, this ditty from the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot, written by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, celebrates the spring in our… steps!
New month, new day, new date, new chapter, new page, new wishes. The month of May is the essence of spring: Flowers are in full bloom, summer is near, making everyone motivated.
Come what “may,” here are our choices for shopping, dining, and entertainment as we close out the first two quarters of the year and look forward to a long, and relaxing summer:
Sprint into the month by attending the Denver Mini Derby at the Tivoli Quad on the Auraria Campus May 4, beginning at 1 p.m. Kentucky Derby party has a mini horse race, live band, open bar, and a BBQ. Information: 303-656-9595.
Be certain to hear Yo-Yo-Ma perform Elgar’s Cello Concert with the Symphony playing at Boettcher Concert Hall May 5, 7 p.m. Information: 303-623-7876.
Enjoy Australian blues rock band The Teskey Brothers from Melbourne, as they entertain at the Mission Ballroom May 11, 8 p.m. Information: 720-577-6884.
See designers, local boutiques, national brands, hairstylist, makeup artists, and models during Denver Fashion Week May 11-19. Information: 303-888-5455.
For the Love of Spring, swing to Colorado Gold Mart at 1124 S. Colorado Blvd. to sell, or pawn items of value. Best prices for gold, jewelry, watches, diamonds, more! Cash you need at the best possible value. Information: 303-955-5821.
Spoil Mom, the kids, grandkids, and extended family at the Monaco Inn Restaurant on Mother’s Day. Full, regular menu, plus specials sure to please everyone! Serving from noon until 8 p.m. Information: 303-320-1104.
See the 18-year-old British musician George van den Broek, known as Yellow Days playing the Bluebird Theatre May 12, 8 p.m. Information: 303-377-1666.
Don’t miss “Bad to the Bone” singer George Thorogood and The Destroyers at the Paramount Theatre on May 14, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-623-0106.
Enjoy band playing Ellington, Goodman, and Count Basie swing music and beyond at the Arvada Center May 18, 7:30 p.m. Information: 720-898-7200.
Catch the Celtic Women’s 20th Anniversary Tour of traditional & modern music singiing at the Paramount Theatre May 26, 7 p.m. Information: 303-623-0106.
Don’t miss the country duo of Brooks & Dunn as they play the Ball Arena with guest David Lee Murphy & Ernest, May 31, 7 p.m. Information: 303-405-1100.
For food, drinks and loads of great company, make plans to attend the Harm Reduction Action Center’s annual Spring Fundraiser at the Space Gallery 400 Santa Fe Dr., May 23, 5:30 p.m. Drug Policy Alliance’s Dr. Sheila P. Vakharia speaks. She also signs her new book, with proceeds going directly to the Harm Reduction Action Center. Staff and volunteers for HRAC have cleaned-up over 100 drug areas, and guided and assisted residents. Information: 303-572-7800.
May brightens the Cherry Creek Valley with its sunny skies and colorful flowers. Plus, the minute we can break out those spring clothes, makes us feel that we can conquer the world.
Spring is the season for getting lost in daydreams. How can anyone not expect to gaze longing out the window at the warm, welcoming weather? Spring has officially sprung.
All things seem possible in May. This month, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel totally alive. What did the tree say to heaven-sent spring? What a re-leaf.
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.
by Jessica Hughes | Apr 19, 2024 | Glendale City News
by Jessica Hughes
Ranching at Chico Basin Ranch. Photo credit: Ranchlands and Davey James Clark
Chico Basin Ranch. Photo credit: Ranchlands and Matt DeLorme
A recent decision by the Colorado Land Board to not renew a 25-year lease at Chico Basin Ranch has left a favorite Colorado family without a home for them or their cattle.
Located just southeast of Colorado Springs, the Chico Basin Ranch spans 86,000 acres of short-grass prairie and has been held in a trust for the good of Colorado’s K-12 schools. The land is leased and managed by Ranchlands, a family-ranching business run by Duke Phillips III and his children. They operate large-scale cattle and bison ranches in the American West and partner with conservation-minded owners to implement conservation programs that work alongside their ranching operations, all while preserving the ranching legacy.
The lease between the Colorado Land Board and the Phillips family business is due to expire at the end of this year. According to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, “to prepare for the expiration of the lease, the State Land Board evaluated different leasing scenarios that would achieve the goals of the School Trust to earn revenue and maintain exceptional stewardship.”
The Phillips Family: Duke Phillips IV, Madi Phillips, Duke Phillips III, and Tess Leach. Photo credit: Parker Fitzgerald and Ranchlands
To evaluate available options, the agency hosted 11 public meetings over 18 months and issued a competitive request for proposals. In November 2023, the Colorado Land Board decided to lease the land to another ranching operation that outbid Ranchlands by a hefty amount, despite Phillips and his family pleading with the board to consider more than just money for the new 10-year lease.
In this case, money spoke the loudest and the Phillips family was out-bid by a lot. Ranchlands offered 25% over asking and the new lessee offered 75% over.
“We offered a fair and consistent revenue for the renewed lease,” says Tess Leach, Duke’s daughter, and Head of Business Development at Ranchlands. “We thought that they would value our operations and the impact we had on the community over money.”
In this situation, it appears that money won, begging the question, what is the purpose of the Colorado State Land Board? As the second-largest landowner in Colorado, with 2.8 million surface acres and 4.0 million mineral estate acres, the board states its mission is “to produce reasonable and consistent income over time, and to provide sound stewardship of the state trust assets.”
Thus, the board has a mission to not accept the highest bid for a lease, which they just did, or accept profitable, yet damaging uses for the land it owns. State lands are leased for many different reasons, some of which Ranchlands won the bid for 24 years ago, including recreation, cattle grazing, and hospitality.
During their long-standing lease, Ranchlands was proud to provide a variety of educational programs, recreational activities, ranch stays, art shows, concerts, creative writing workshops, roping, and photography classes at Chico Basin Ranch for the community to enjoy. And to help the next generations of ranchers take hold, the Phillips also offered an apprenticeship program that helped train young ranchers with real-world experience, plus learn about ranching and conservation.
One of Ranchland’s most successful programs is the bird-banding station that they instituted — the oldest in Colorado. Because the Chico Basin Ranch is one of the largest uninterrupted stretches of prairie left in the United States, the ranch is known as one of the prime locations in Colorado for birding. In partnership with the Audubon Society and Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, the ranch maintains a bird banding station where visiting biologists band hundreds of migratory birds and is open to the visiting public to help assist in this process.
However, these programs face an uncertain future as the lease nears its expiration. According to Phillips, the new lease agreement lacks any provisions for public recreational access, implying that the land will be off-limits to the community starting in 2025. This reality threatens to dismantle the programs and initiatives that Phillips and his family have painstakingly cultivated over the years.
Phillips describes this as a huge loss for the Front Range of Colorado. “We have always had an open gate policy for people to come in and look at the ranch and enjoy it with hiking, tours, and other activities,” says Phillips. “Our biggest legacy at the Chico, is the community we have built. This is what we are most sad to be leaving behind.”
“I don’t think the land board values the community component as much as they do about money,” says Duke. “If we continue to value money over community, ranching will become a thing of the past if we don’t recognize the importance of conservation and community.”
Despite this devastating loss, the Phillips family is determined to continue its efforts to bridge the divide between rural and city communities. “People are becoming more and more isolated from nature,” says Phillips. “It has become a focus for us to try and bridge the gap between urban and rural communities.” Because of this, Ranchlands has initiated The Collective, a new organization focusing on developing a model, that sees ranching as an alternative to large-scale conservation in the U.S. The first-of-its-kind, a Collective membership will grant those who join a deeper access to Ranchlands and their mission of perpetuating ranching into the future with exclusive events, conversations, and experiences on working landscapes.
“This will only happen if we do it together,” says Phillips. “We can’t do it alone as ranchers and we will all have to come together to make this happen.”
Art programs at Chico Basin Ranch. Photo credit: Ranchlands and Avery Sass
Phillips and his family are on a mission to create a grassroots movement where the short-term gain of money isn’t the objective, and the long-term vision for the land is. “The whole idea of land being treated as a commodity that is bought and sold, is a foreign concept to someone like me as someone who lives on it, tries to take care of it, and use it,” says Phillips. “We want to start a revolution with The Collective that protects the land through ranching and not money and transactions.”
The Phillips family will soon leave Colorado and make a new home at Paint Rock Canyon on the west side of the Bighorn Mountains, in Wyoming. But the biggest challenge right now is finding another ranch to which they can move their cattle. While the family’s challenges are far from over, they are hopeful for the next chapter and the continued ability to uphold and share the legacy of ranching with the next generation.
“Life gives you a lot of bends and turns in it. We’re going to take the lumps and move forward and see where we land,” says Phillips. “But we are looking at the other side of it all and are thankful to have lived there. We are very appreciative of our time at Chico Basin Ranch.”
For more information, visit them at Ranchlands.com.
by Editorial Board | Apr 19, 2024 | Editorials
Editorial —
Senator Lisa Cutter
Representative Lorena Garcia
Representative Tammy Story
There is no more contentious issue in the country than the schooling of children. Public school union teachers are one of the most important cogs in the Democrat coalition with funds for Democrat candidates from dues and volunteers for their campaigns. The teacher unions have become more and more radicalized over the years.
The “Red for Ed” movement among unionized teachers has spread across America starting in Chicago, and spreading all the way to states such as West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma. The color “red” in this instance does not refer to Republicans but the earlier association with socialists/communists.
Conversely, educated during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents were shocked by what was being taught to their children and began pushing back. The fight was ratcheted up over the trans issues and in particular the position by some public schools that they would not notify parents while their children were given puberty blockers or beginning to transition from one sex to another.
Wealthy parents who could afford to send to private schools did so to escape the unionized teachers and other parents began homeschooling their children. Parents also began embracing the movement started in the 1990s of “charter” schools which are publicly funded but run by parents or even companies.
Unionized teachers uniformly dislike charter schools and do what they can to destroy them. Not a single charter school in Colorado has unionized teachers. That is where the Polis caper begins.
Democrat Representatives Lorena Garcia, Tammy Story, and Senator Lisa Cutter introduced HB24-1363 they said to reform and update the provisions for charter schools. They claimed to want to make charter schools more transparent and provide them with the same high standards as neighborhood public schools.
It drew high levels of support from a “who’s who” of progressive groups including the League of Women Voters, Colorado PTA, Colorado Working Families Party, Colorado Teachers Association, American Federation of Teachers Colorado, Servicios Sigue, Latino Education Coalition, Colorado Democratic Education Initiative, Advocates for Public Education, and Advocacy Denver.
No one supporting charter schools was fooled. American Federation for Children said that “30 years of charter school work could be undone.” Local charter groups said charter schools in Colorado “will suffer death by a thousand cuts.”
It would seem with strong support from Democrat groups and the state legislature having Democrat super majorities the legislation could not fail to pass.
Governor Jared Polis
But that was the big con. It was never intended to pass. No bill is introduced by Democrats that is not pre-approved by Governor Polis. He, in turn, has great aspirations to run for U.S. President with cross party appeal. He has almost comically labeled himself to be a small “l” libertarian. In his five years as governor, he has done nothing that did not mark him as a far-left politician.
Now was the time for the charter school caper. A true Sister Souljah moment.
When Polis first ran for governor in 2018, he claimed to be a strong charter supporter, having helped start one in Boulder, and appointed pro charter and even Republicans to his education team in 2018.
So why didn’t Polis tell the three legislators that they could not introduce the legislation. That would not work because he would not have gotten credit for killing anti charter school legislation backed by many progressive groups. Alternatively, he could have waited to veto the legislation but by then numerous people would have become attached to the legislation and a veto would ruffle feathers.
So after being introduced and sent to a committee, Polis announced his opposition to the cheering adulation of pro charter advocates. The bill was then killed in committee by a 7 to 3 vote. Polis was a hero to people that normally dislike him and his status as a possible presidential candidate with broad support enhanced.
It is said that most people can be fooled most of the time and Governor Polis has proved that he is very adept at doing so.
— Editorial Board
by Peter Boyles | Apr 19, 2024 | Blasting with Boyles
Blasting With Boyles
OPINION
How did this great hatred emerge between Iran and the United States? Always remember that when you get a degree in history you get an arts degree, you don’t get a science degree, because history is interpretive. And you can’t interpret two plus two equals other than it’s four, it can’t be five and it can’t be three. But in history two and two can equal five, or for that matter 105. So why do the Iranians hate the United States of America?
There is a short answer and there are long answers. But if you go back into the end of the Second World War, the Shah’s father was considered pro Germany. And he was overthrown by the Soviet-British movement. After the Second World War British Petroleum moves into Iran.
There as a democratically elected prime minister in 1953. His name was Mohammed Mossadegh.
There were enormous environmental crimes taking place in Iran around the oil. The Nazi Shah’s son was being placed back on the throne by an overthrow of the democratically elected government and the American CIA, British intelligence. The oil multinationals overthrew him and installed him again, through the eyes of history some say, with a brutal dictator, the Shah. For 27 years the Shah ran Iran. He was diagnosed with cancer, the United States said give him asylum, while the Iranians wanted to try him for his crimes. If you consider the reasons that the Iranians see the U.S. as a bully in the Middle East, ask yourself what would you or the U.S. do if a foreign power treated our country in that manner. Why is Iran our enemy?
After the arrival of the Ayatollahs and the Shah flees, then comes the Iran-Iraq War. Beginning in September of 1980 through August of 1988 some people believe the war continued off and on for years. It was triggered when Saddam invaded Iran. The United States, when Saddam was a good guy, supports Iraq giving Saddam several billion dollars in aid which included Bell helicopters. We now know through declassified CIA documents that the U.S. knew Saddam was using chemical weapons. Iranian death estimates are between 100,000 and 250,000 and the United States was helping pick targets for Saddam. And as I’ve said before you may not know much at all of this but the Iranians sure as hell do. That friendship was one of the green lights for Saddam to invade Kuwait thinking the U.S. was his ally.
Again, the country that I love engineers a coup against a democratically elected, mind you, secular government, and imposed a monarchy on the country for all of those years.
It’s important to remember Iranians are not Arabs. They consider themselves Indo Europeans and they are Shia Muslims which has set them on course against other Muslim countries.
My experience is most Iranians love our country, but the real issue, pretty much like everyone else, is with the government.
Following 9/11, George W. Bush, arguably the worst president in my lifetime, when now we all know that Saddam had nothing to do with that terrible day as well as Baby Kim in Korea, and they put Iran on what they call the axis of evil. I’m not defending them but none of those countries had anything to do with the terrible attack on our country on 9/11. The real perpetrators were the Saudi Arabians. And as history tells us December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. As we all know December 8th FDR declared war against Japan. But in his stead George W. declares war against Saddam. That’s not lost on the power in the middle east. It may be lost on you and I, but for the so-called man in the street in the Middle East, it’s not lost on them. So, what’s the way out?
I come back to those moments that historians have said there are places in the world where there is no tomorrow it’s simply yesterday repeating itself.
You gotta ask yourself why are we there? And now we seem to have a host of enemies that could have been avoided. The Iranians that I have met are very generous people and what do you do when they say they want to defend the honor of their people? And the killing continues.
Thanks for taking time out to read this. I remain as puzzled as you are.
— Peter Boyles
