San Miguel County Sheriff's Office Tweet Goes Viral

By Julia Caulfield

If Telluride is making the news, it’s typically for skiing, or maybe a summer festival. But on Monday, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office stole the limelight. K-O-T-O’s Julia Caulfield has more…

It all started when a boulder fell onto highway 145, blocking eastbound traffic.

Susan Lilly, Public Information Officer for the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, did what she typically does, and posted a warning on both Facebook and Twitter.

But there was a small mistake. NPR’s Steve Inskeep explained on Morning Edition…

“When a boulder fell on a Colorado highway, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office responded with a warning. A tweet said the road was blocked by ‘a large boulder the size of a small boulder’. They meant to say the size of a small car, but Twitter is unforgiving. One person offered thanks that it wasn’t a large boulder the size of a large boulder, and another named the rock, Biggie Smalls…” says Inskeep.

By Wednesday afternoon the tweet had been liked over 200 thousand times, with close to 40,000 retweets. That’s up from the 2 to 6 retweets Lilly says the Sheriff’s Twitter page typically gets for a post.

So what’s it like to be the person behind the viral tweet?

Lilly says, “At first I was embarrassed, ‘how could I do this? Oh my gosh’. I remember rereading and checking it, and of course my eyes say ‘small car’ not ‘small boulder’, so I thought all was good, until I realized it wasn’t. But now I’m just kind of entertained like the rest of you, but maybe in a slightly different way…you know, we wish we were that creative, to have used humor to get our message across, but it was, in fact, an error.”

The viral tweet inspired memes and witty retorts. One twitter user commented “Americans really will use any other system of measurement than metric, won’t they?” Another asked “Who would win in a fight? A large boulder sized small boulder or 20 small boulder sized large boulder?”

“I saw another that said, ‘I read it five times and every time I’m brought to tears laughing’. I don’t think it’s that funny, I think it’s kind of humorous, it’s kind of funny. But if you get pleasure out of that, then ‘you’re welcome’” Lilly says.

Looking for the silver lining, Lilly says the tweet has helped spread her original message.

Lilly notes, “Aside from providing people with cheap laughs, it was really an opportunity to push public safety information, like ‘watch out for boulders, watch out for obstacles in the road’. You know, we’re happy about that. If it reminds people to be a little more careful on the roadway, all is great. Especially since it came at no cost. No one was injured in making the tweet.”

Lilly says the Sheriff’s Office isn’t currently planning to memorialize the boulder in any way, but if you’re driving Highway 145 towards Telluride. Take a peek of the side of the road, and you may see a boulder. Known to some as Biggie Smalls.

Spanish Spelling Bee Has Telluride Students Buzzing

By Matt Hoisch

Fifth-grader Nico Cubero García (1st place) and fourth-grader Emma Dominguez de la Torre (2nd place) pose with announcer Vincente Artes Usero after winning the Telluride Intermediate School’s Spanish Spelling Bee. Image by Julie Bain

It’s a blustery winter afternoon with flurries of snow in the air.  But inside the Palm Theater, excitement fills the room. Students from Tellruide Intermediate School pack the venue, gathering for a spelling bee. On stage, 11 competitors ranging from third to seventh grade sit in folding chairs, nervously fidgeting and waiting to begin. But there’s one catch: the students aren’t spelling words in English, but in Spanish. 

Fifth grade teacher Zoe Gillett kicks off the annual Spanish Spelling Bee.

“¡Bienvenidos y bienvenidas! Welcome!” she says to the students. “¿Cómo están?”

“¡Bien!” they respond.

“Listos?” she asks.

They answer with an enthusiastic “¡Si!”

“Muy bien,” says Gillett. “Everybody ready to start?”

Not only are the students spelling Spanish words, but most of the competition is conducted in Spanish. The students competing are from the school’s Dual Immersion Program, which gives students the option to learn their subjects in Spanish from kindergarten to fifth grade. 

Telluride Intermediate has held the Spanish Spelling Bee for several years and has produced state and national champions.

Third grade teacher Susana Garcia Fernandez has been organizing the Bee for many of those years. She says she appreciates the power of a little friendly competition.

“I truly believe that spelling—the competition of knowing words, how to spell it—it’s something that drives many kids to get better at it,” she says.

According to Garcia Fernandez, many of the students are already good Spanish spellers because of the Dual Immersion Program. She notes the program includes both kids that speak Spanish at home and those who don’t.

“They know some of the patterns, they know some of the structures ,” Garcia Fernandez says. “So if they are good students, they know already how to spell many words.”

But even she admits a lot of the words in the competition are hard. She reads from a list of words that the students study from.

‘Ambivalencia.’ That one is hard because in Spanish we pronounce the ‘b’ and the ‘v’ the same way. ‘Abuhardillado‘ because it has an ‘h’ in the middle and remember in Spanish we don’t say the ‘h.’” She reads one more example. “So this one is not as hard as it looks but it’s super long: ‘Clorofluorocarbono.’”

Fourth grade teacher Vincente Artes Usero, or Mr. V, is the voice of the Bee. He pronounces the words for each contestant.

“Tu palabra es ‘Mejorado,’” he says to one contestant.

“Tu palabra es ‘Leotardo,’” he says to another contestant.

“Tu palabra es ‘Trazo,’” he announces to a third contestant.

Artes Usero says the competition is a great opportunity for the students to practice their Spanish skills.

“It gives the language that immensity,” he notes. “If you know how to spell properly, you how to write. But first of all you need to know and learn how to speak.

There is indeed an immensity to the competition. Like any spelling bee, there are jubilant cheers for correctly spelled words and somber sighs after the bell that signals an incorrectly spelled word. But sportsmanship is all around, with high fives and cheers for all the spellers—whether they get the words right or wrong. 

Out of the 11 contestants, fourth-grader Emma comes in second.

“It’s my first time in the Spanish Spelling Bee,” she says, noting that it felt “really good” to come in second.

KOTO couldn’t reach the first place winner, fifth-grader Nico, immediately after the competition. But, in an email statement, he says, “I felt great, very happy. I feel very proud of going to the state competition and represent our school.”

Students from the Telluride Spanish Spelling Bee will now move on to the State Spanish Spelling Bee. That will take place in Boulder this spring. Colorado will also host the National Spanish Spelling Bee in Denver this summer.

Congressional Candidate Names Climate Change as Top Campaign Issue

By Julia Caulfield

Root Routledge

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District has a history of flipping between Republican and Democratic representation – the seat is currently held by Republican Representative Scott Tipton. But Air Force veteran Root Routledge is hoping to move it back to the Democrats. Routledge spent Friday in Telluride speaking with voters. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield spoke with him to learn more about his campaign and why he’s running for Congress.

Telluride Commemorates MLK Day with Civil Rights Photography Exhibition

By Matt Hoisch

Among the images in the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art is the close-up shot of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that Time magazine used as the cover of its March on Washington 50th anniversary edition in 2013. Dan Budnik took the photo in the moments just after Dr. King spoke. Image by Matt Hoisch

On Monday, many across the country commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In Telluride, people have the opportunity to dive into Civil Rights history with a collection of photographs by Dan Budnik on display at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art. Former Gallery Director Bärbel Hacke was instrumental in the getting the images to Telluride. KOTO’s Matt Hoisch spoke with Hacke about the collection.

Bärbel Hacke  remembers when she drove to Tuscon, Arizona to the home of the photographer Dan Budnik. She and a friend were traveling to look through hundreds of his photos of the civil rights movement and select only 30 or 40 to bring back to the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art. 

“I mean that was a truly emotional process to be so close to the history of United States. Civil rights movement, always something what interested me but then—this is really witness of history, and it was an emotional process, yeah. It was not easy I tell you,” says Hacke.

Years later, the gallery has only a fraction of the images that Hacke brought back. Those remaining photos currently hang in a line along the gallery wall. They depict a range of events and people and emotions from throughout the civil rights movement: The 1958 Youth March for Integrated Schools. The 1963 March on Washington. The writer James Baldwin marching alongside the moviestar Marlon Brando. 

Hacke walks through the gallery and studies one of the images.

“Mahalia Jackson. Singing at the Lincoln Memorial. And here you see...do we see some white people? Yeah, white and black together. But for me looking at this one, knowing these people are all gone,” she says. “I look at them and see the joy in their faces. They’re smiling. It’s such a lively photograph of something. And seeing Mahalia Jackson only from back, knowing her gospel singing, and this so full of life! But right away, all these people are dead.”

As Malarie Reising Clark, the current Director of the gallery, notes, each image is one of a kind.

“These images from Dan Budnik are created in the dark room and it’s a totally analogue process,” she explains. “So he’s using purely light to create these prints; negative in the enlarger, light sensitive photo paper. And really every print comes out differently because of that process.”

Among the images is the close-up shot of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that Time magazine used as the cover of its March on Washington 50th anniversary edition in 2013. Budnik took the photo in the moments just after Dr. King spoke. For Hacke, the image captures an inarticulable instant.

“You need to look at it. There is nothing to describe!” she says with a laugh.

Bärbel Hacke walks through the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, looking at the remaining Dan Budnik photographs from the collection she brought back to Telluride years ago. Image by Matt Hoisch

Hacke felt compelled to bring the Budnik civil rights photos to Telluride years ago because of her own personal connection to the power of political engagement and activism. She was born in the former East Germany. 

“Being born after Second World War you be born with the guilt of what had happened in Germany, and you get raised and very being aware of politics and being political and speaking your opinion and really dig deep,” Hacke says. “So coming here and seeing that not so far ago with segregation—which I never could understand—and still what happens today.”

She feels that racism has many faces, but all are ugly. Seeing these photos, she hopes, can provide a sobering moment for gallery visitors in 2020.

“To hold for a moment still,” she says, “and reflect what happened only 50, 60 years ago and what is still happening today.”

The collection of Dan Budnik’s photos is up in the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art through February 9 and will be up during the February 6 Art Walk.

Sparks Fly with Mountain School Art Program

By Julia Caulfield

Perched on the side of the canyon above Sawpit, sits the Steeprock Joinery.

“The main building is a large wood shop and artist studios, as well as living space and working space upstairs” says Isabell Harcort. She owns and runs Steeprock. It’s a space for artists to work, live, and create.

But on this clear, December morning, the artists working here are kids. Highschoolers, from the Telluride Mountain School.

Daniel Kanow is the Head of the Visual Arts Department and a teacher at the Mountain School. He says part of the art curriculum is to introduce students to as many types of art making as possible.

Kanow notes, “we came up with this idea, ‘let’s incorporate making a welding aspect.”

In what looks like a small shed off of the main house, four 11th and 12th graders are wearing welding helmets and work gloves. Carefully they move a welder across two pieces of steal, while sparks literally fly.

Koko Waller is one of the students learning to weld, she’s in 12th grade, and making a small 3-D sculpture.

“It has some bent pieces in it, which took a long time. That was a learning curve, for sure, no pun intended. It’s going to be a lot of balancing things” Waller says.

This is Waller’s second year participating in the welding class. She says while she doesn’t plan to become a welder in the future, it’s nice to try something new.

“It’s just something different from what we’ve ever done, and what a normal art class would be normally doing” Waller says.

Plus, she sees how it could fit into her work in the future.

Waller adds, “I want to do theatre, and in terms of set building there’s a lot of welding to do, so if I ever need to build a set, I can weld. So it’s good experience and good skills to have for art, and the real world.”

Keith D’Angelo also likes that working with metal can push the students out of their comfort zone. D’Angelo is a professional artist, and welder based out of Steeprock. Along with Kanow, he works with the students on their projects.

D’Angelo says, “You know, at first they’re like ‘wow, this is a little scary. I don’t know what this is. It seems dangerous’ and then within two or three minutes of showing them how to do it, and saying ‘you can do this. You can make this shape. You can make this sculpture’, and their eyes light up and they’re like ‘oh my god this is so cool’. Whether they go with it or not, just for them to say ‘oh it was scary at first and then I could do it’. It’s been really great.”

This is the second year the Telluride Mountain School and Steeprock have teamed up to teach students welding. So far, close to 10 students have participated in the workshops.

Remembering Jenny Patterson

By Cara Pallone

Longtime Telluride resident and former council person Jenny Patterson died Sunday at her home. In the following tribute, K-O-T-O’s Cara Pallone shares details of Patterson’s life and legacy:

High School Exchange Program Brings New Perspectives to Telluride

By Julia Caulfield

Arthur Silveira (courtesy of Joanna Kanow)

Arthur Silveira is from a small town, at least by Brazil standards.

“It has 200,000 people living there, so it’s kind of a different experience being here, with 2,000,” Silveira says.

His town is in the southeast part of Brazil. It’s called Sete Lagoas.

He says, “it’s like, seven lakes, because of the lakes we have in town.”

But for about the next eight months, Silveira is living and going to high school in Telluride. He’s an exchange student, part of the Rotary Club’s exchange program.

 “We exchange students usually in their sophomore or junior years,” says Patricia Kiernan, Youth Exchange Officer for the Rotary Club in Telluride. She says through the program, young people become “ambassadors of globalization”.

“They get to get a hands on experience living in these countries. Not just hearing the news or hearing the bad things. They’re living there, they’re seeing that everyone is actually pretty much the same. Food may be different, traditions may be different, but people are the same,” Kiernan says.

But how did Silveira get here? He says he wanted to come to the U.S., but he didn’t fully have a choice in coming to Colorado. According to Silveira, in Brazil students get to pick when state they want to go to, but by the time it was his turn, there was only one option left.

“When it came to me there was only the option to come to Colorado, so that’s why I’m here. But I think even if I had other options, I think Colorado is one of the best states here. Especially for people from other places. I think it’s the best one,” he says.

And when it comes to getting to Telluride, Silveira says that was completely out of his hands. But he says he’s glad to be here.

Silveira says, “I know some people who went to bigger cities and they have problems, like people don’t really like them because they come from other countries. Some people are not very supportive like here, because here, everyone is friendly and knows each other, it’s a small community. So everyone is nice to each other. I think it’s the best part of the town.

Over the course of the year, Silveira will live with several families in town. For his first few months, Silveira is living with Joanna Kanow and family.

Kanow says her family wanted to be a host family in part of pay forward experiences they’ve had while traveling.

“We travel a lot as a family, and it’s those experiences where someone lets you in to their home in a foreign country that are the most memorable experiences when you travel,” Kanow says.

She adds hosting Silveira has helped her see Telluride with a fresh perspective.

Kanow says, “it makes everything in a small town that we’ve lived in for a long time even more refreshing. Now, you get to see someone seeing snow for the first time, you get to climb him up his first mountain for the first time, we took him camping for the first time. Anywhere we take him, pretty much, is a new experience and it makes me realize how much I take for granted, or what I’m not looking at through new eyes.”

Since he got here a few months ago, Silveira says he’s already had a “very American” experience. He got to celebrate Halloween, he’s playing on the high school soccer team. He’s plans to take up skiing, and he’ll celebrate Christmas with snow for the first time.

But he says he’s also excited to help Americans see Brazil in a different light.

“Get rid of that stereotype that people have about Brazil only being violent, and full of criminals everywhere. It’s not like that,” Silveira says.

Silveira also recognizes that not everyone has the opportunity to have an experience like his, and he encourages anyone who’s able to participate.

“For anyone who’s interested in doing exchange, it’s the best experience you can get in your life, and it’s not something that everyone can do, so it’s a very good experience in your future,” Silveira says.

As for where a young person may want to go? Silveira has a suggestion.

He says, “Brazil is one of the best countries that you can go, because it’s a very different culture, and it’s much better than you think. It’s not like the stereotype you have.”

Silveira will be living in Telluride through the end of this school year. And while he’s here, there are two students from Telluride living overseas with the Rotary program. One in the Czech Republic, the other in Brazil, coincidentally just outside where Silveira is from.

The Housing Lottery: Part 2

By Julia Caulfield

It’s lottery day for the Longwill 16 and Silver Jack housing developments, and Rebekah Hall is buzzing. At the front of the room is a large golden, metal tumbler, like you’d see for Bingo. Beside it on the table are small red balls, each with a number on it. There are 93 households in the lottery – each with between one and three numbers. That means 193 balls, for 24 units available.

The Hall is packed, and beneath the nervous chatter you can hear as each ball is dropped into the tumbler.

Dennis Andrejko sits in the second row of seats. He and his partner, Shawnna Rice, are hoping to get a unit through the lottery so they can move in together. Rice is at work, but Andrejko took the day off so he could be here.

Just after 12 p.m., Town Council member DeLanie Young calls the meeting to order.

“At 12:02 p.m. I am calling to order the special meeting of the Telluride Housing Authority Subcommittee on September 12th, 2019…” says Young.

Council member Young notes that even if a number isn’t one of the first 24 drawn, that doesn’t mean a household is out of the running. Some lottery winners will decide against a unit, or the finances won’t come through. Young says anyone drawn in the top 30 have a good chance to get a unit.

Several more people provide remarks, and the lottery begins. County Commissioner Hilary Cooper reads out the numbers.

The energy is high. Even for those not in the drawing, you have to remind yourself to breathe.

Cheers erupt as the first numbers a drawn. But as the numbers inch closer to 20, 24, 30, the mood begins to drop.

Somewhere around the 50th ball being called, Andrejko decides to leave. Just as he steps outside, his number is called for the first time.

“Okay, cool. I guess I just called in the 55th or something…” says Andrejko.

His number was actually the 57th called.

Andrejko adds “I feel like a lot of people were kind of going for the same units. So, I don’t know, 50th, 55th, somewhere in there, it’s a little disheartening, but that’s how it is, I guess. Literal luck of the draw.”

Andrejko says the lottery doesn’t just indicate a need for more housing in the area. He says there needs more housing to buy, not just rent.

“People don’t want to rent. I mean obviously, the crowd in there and the number of people that signed up, people want to live here and own here, and be in this community and be a part of it, for as long as they can.”

At the end of it all, Andrejko’s feelings are still mixed about the whole thing.

“I looked around the room, seeing people cheering in the first handful of ones called. So I’m happy for those people. I’m jealous a little bit too. I’ll be honest. But I’m glad. It’s new families, it’s people that I know have lived here, that are living here,” He says.

Back in the Hall, numbers are still being drawn. But the crowed has thinned. As the final numbers are called, there are only a dozen or so people in the audience. No one is cheering.

And in what seems like a cruel twist, the final number called…is Andrejko and Rice’s.

The full results of the housing lottery will be available on the San Miguel Regional Housing Authority’s website on Friday. Winners of the lottery can expect to begin signing contracts next week.

The Housing Lottery: Part 1

By Julia Caulfield

Dennis Andrejko and Shawnna Rice

Dennis Andrejko and Shawnna Rice recognize they don’t have the typical housing story in Telluride. Andrejko works at the library, and has lived in town for about 12 years.

Andrejko says,“I am really fortunate in that the first couple years I was living here was only winter. So for four winters I lived in a different place. After that, I currently live in deed restricted housing, and I’m super fortunate that I’ve been able to do that.”

Rice moved to Telluride two years ago and works as the school district psychologist. She’s been in the same house since she got to town.

But now, Rice is losing her housing at the end of November. Plus, she and Andrejko want to move in together. Which leads them to be one of the 93 applicants participating in this year’s housing lottery – 99 applied, but 6 applications were deemed unqualified.

“It’s just stressful because there aren’t really any other options. We don’t really have a backup plan. I have to move out of my place on November 30th. So it’s like, ok, if this doesn’t happen…where am I going to go?” says Rice.

It’s mid-August, and Andrejko and Rice are taking a sight walk of the Longwill 16 project on the west end of Telluride.

The Longwill 16 is one of two new affordable housing projects in Telluride. The other project, call the Silver Jack, is on the upper floors of the SMPA lot, across from the library. In total there are 26 units, although two have been reserved for town employees, which leaves 24 units up for grabs. The units range from single bedrooms, all the way up to four.

To be entered in the lottery, households go through an extensive application process, and provide all kinds of documentation including “past tax returns, or W-2s, or in some instances, people showing that they graduated from Telluride High School.”

Melanie Wasserman, is the Interim Executive Director for the San Miguel Regional Housing Authority, the organization managing the lottery. To be part of the lottery, applicants needed to complete all the paperwork, and submit it during an appointment with the SMRHA. Wasserman says her role at the SMRHA can be difficult. The SMRHA isn’t in charge of deciding the qualifications, they administer the rules decided by the Town.

“On one hand it’s very black and white, and then on another hand, you come across these people, individuals, couples, families, who are just so wonderful and you really want them to end up in housing,” says Wasserman.

After getting all the application paperwork in, it’s mostly just a waiting game.

Rice says, “getting all the application materials was super stressful. Once we were done with our application, then I’ll just be like, ‘ah, okay, we’re done.’ And then we just wait to see if we’re lucky, or not.”

“Then it’s just literally luck of the draw,” adds Andrejko.

For everyone that enters the lottery, that luck of the draw could be the difference between having a home in Telluride, and potentially having to move. Rice says that brings up some conflicting emotions.

“It’s one of those things where you’re really excited if you get it, but then people who don’t get it that have to move out of town, that’s going to be really sad,” Rice says.

And while the nature of a lottery means some families will win and some will lose, Andrejko says at some point you have to accept that it’s all up to chance.

“It’s not a competition as far as, ‘if I’m faster or stronger, then I can get it’. It’s literally ping pong balls pulled out of the hat or whatever. I think whoever gets it is deserving,” says Andrejko.

After making it through the application process Andrejko and Rice were granted three numbers in the housing lottery. The drawing will take place at Rebekah Hall on Thursday at noon.

Colorado Senator and Presidential Candidate Visits Telluride

By Julia Caulfield

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet

Walking around town during the Telluride Film Festival, you might see a movie star or two. But if you were on Main Street on Friday, you may have also caught a glimpse of a Presidential candidate.

Colorado Senator and Presidential hopeful Michael Bennet was in Telluride for a book signing outside Between the Covers.

Speaking on Main Street as people and trucks rumble by, Bennet says the issues he sees facing rural Colorado and the Western Slope are similar to the concerns he hears from people across the country.

“I think people are deeply concerned about making sure we protect our public lands. That we protect rural infrastructure, like rural hospitals and keep them open. That we make sure rural schools have the opportunity to attract teachers and keep them in their districts. And so those are similar issues that I’m hearing around the country,” says Bennet.

Bennet is currently one of 20 Democrats vying for the Democratic nomination for President. He has not qualified for the upcoming democratic debate in Houston at the beginning of September – qualification is based on a mix of polling and donations across the country. But he says a slow start in the campaign doesn’t worry him.

Bennet says, “We’re really in the early stages of this. I know that the voters of the early states really have not yet made up their minds. They’re trying to figure out who the best person to beat Donald Trump is. Most of us are polling in the single digits, I’m at 1% and I think twelve other people in the race are also at 1%. But if history is any guide, the leading candidates are not the ones that will win. Usually it’s somebody who comes from single digits who ends up winning the race. So we just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

But he notes, if he doesn’t win the primary, or general election, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.

“If the Presidential stuff doesn’t work out I fully anticipate running again for another term. And I do think that it’s because of the people I’ve had a chance to work with, local leadership, on the Western Slope of Colorado, we have been a really strong voice for Colorado’s values in the Senate when we’ve needed it most,” says Bennet.

Senator Bennet’s current term as Senator is up in 2022. He is currently the only Coloradan running for President. Earlier this month, former Governor John Hickenlooper dropped out of the race and has now announced he will run in the Democratic primary to challenge Republican Senator Cory Gardner next year.

AmeriCorps VISTA Program Brings Young Professionals to Telluride

By Amy M. Peters

VISTA stands for “Volunteers in Service to America.” These volunteers are part of AmeriCorps, a national service program designed to alleviate poverty founded by President John F. Kennedy. For one year, VISTAs work where they’re needed across the U.S. to support a community organization’s mission and capacity.

Several local organizations – like the Telluride Foundation, Tri-County Health and Sheep Mountain Alliance – are putting VISTAs to work. 

April Montgomery, Vice President of Programs at the Telluride Foundation, says that they’ve managed seven, qualified, smart, passionate VISTAs in as many years.

“You get very high caliber people to do the work that it would cost us to hire a full-time person for. It just seemed like a great idea,” says Montgomery.

The Foundation hires VISTAs who’ve recently graduated from college and then exposes them to as much training, opportunity and experience as possible.

Montgomery says “We have to apply -- it’s a three-year commitment – to have a VISTA.  We have to create an exact work plan. It’s an easy match to have them work on our Strong Neighbors initiative, which is mostly focused around the rural communities of Rico, Nucla, Naturita and Norwood where there are more issues around poverty. VISTA is also very interested in the economic development component of it because that’s the way to eradicate poverty.”

Kody Gerkin, Community Outreach Manager at Tri-County Health Network, says they employ three VISTAs: one in marketing, one in data and reporting and another to assist behavioral health and mobile programs.

Gerkin says, “In general, I think the role of VISTAS is to help strengthen how our programs operate. So they’re behind the scenes, creating work-flows, improving our processes, creating internal mechanisms so that we can do the work that we do more efficiently and really to deepen our impact.”

VISTAs are often motivated to apply to the government program not just to help alleviate poverty but to gain work experience and professional skills.

Like Telluride native Sheamus Croke, who graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2017, and now serves as a Strong Neighbor Initiatives Coordinator at the Telluride Foundation.

Croke works on the West End “Pay it Forward” and “Lone Cone Legacy” Trusts, on food initiatives and on West End trails development.

“I’m not only learning about what these programs do and arguing for them, but I’ve been doing grant reports, grant applications, all things grants. Along with coordination of meetings, pull in resources and pull in all these people from different parties, getting everyone together working for a common goal,” says Croke.

Corrine Cavender graduated in April from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and now works as one of the VISTA’s at Tri-County Health. As the Public Health Marketing Coordinator, SHE assists with campaigns, develops marketing materials, generates social media content and tracks and budgets for grant reporting.

While VISTAs are paid a very small stipend, Cavender says poverty is relative.

“They pay is under the poverty line but I have a lot of social determinants that enable me to be successful,” says Cavender.

Mason Osgood, who graduated in 2017 from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, is the first VISTA to work at Sheep Mountain Alliance. He works as a Community Outreach Coordinator and lives in Telluride’s new Boarding House. He says VISTAs are paid enough to get by and live a good life in Telluride.

“I’m actually fortunate that I got a good spot – there are actually three other VISTAS who live in the Telluride Boarding House.  Shameless plug: They’ve been a great asset to the community and it’s been an amazing place to live,” says Osgood.

A year-long commitment may not be a lot of time for VISTAs to realize the goals of eradicating poverty and serving as catalysts for change. Tri-County Health’s Gerkin admits that the short tenure can present challenges.

“Right about the time they start hitting their stride – they’re usually young professionals – their term expires with us,” says Gerkin.

Even so, Cavender intends to find satisfaction in her year-long VISTA role.

Cavender says, “We’re working for some pretty heavy social justice. And those aren’t going to be resolved in a year. But just knowing that every day I can show up to work and if I help just one person to do work, I think that’s where I’ll feel satisfied.”

To learn more about VISTA and to apply for positions visit my.americorps.gov.

Former Obama Ambassador Sets His Sights on the U.S. Senate

By Julia Caulfield

Dan Baer

Candidates running for U.S. Senate in 2020 are making their way around the state. There are over a dozen Democrats running in the primary to challenge Sen. Cory Gardner, and one of those is Dan Baer. Born and raised in the Denver area, Baer is a former ambassador in the Obama administration, was a member of Gov. Hickenlooper’s cabinet. Last week, Baer was in Telluride to meet with voters. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield sat down with him to talk about the importance of empathy in politics, and why he’s running for Congress.

Julia Caulfield (JC): I’m going to start off with an easy question. Why are you running for Senate?

Dan Baer (DB): I’m running, I think for the same reason a lot of people around our state are getting involved in different ways than they were two or three years ago, and I actually think it cuts across party lines that there’s a deep sense of anxiety that the foundations of our democracy are under attack, that we’re not living up the values that our country was founded on, and I think a lot of us have been moved in different ways to get involved in different ways. For me, having represented our country overseas in the Obama administration, as an ambassador for President Obama, I was always proud to be an American diplomat and it’s deeply alarming to see the erosions of our democracy here at home, and it felt like the biggest risk that we face is that we give up on the project, that we give up on staying engaged, and fighting for the progress that we know we need.

JC: Much like the Presidential Democratic race, there are a lot of people running in the primary for this Senate seat. What sets you apart from everybody else who is running?

DB: I think what sets me apart from many of the other candidates is that I’m not a career politician – I haven’t held elected office before – but like many of the people who won House seats in 2018, many of the people who were able to flip swing seats, were people like me, who had a record of public service, particularly in foreign policy or national security, but who hadn’t held elected office and weren’t career politicians, and who were able to raise a Progressive coalition, that were focused on making the changes that we need in order to make our democracy sustainable; but were also able to reach out to disaffected, moderate Republicans who were also disgusted by what’s going on, and Independents and win the votes we need to win the seat.

JC: You’ve touched on some of these big ideas that I think a lot of Democrats ran on in 2018 about our democracy in general, but there are also issues that folks are dealing with on a day to day basis. On the Western Slope of Colorado, healthcare is a big one, and not just in affording your insurance, which is obviously a part, but also in having access to services in general, how do you plan to address those if you become a member of the Senate?

DB: I think it’s really important that you highlight the way that distance and time make challenges that people talk about across Colorado and indeed across the country, like healthcare, they manifest themselves differently in a place let Telluride. And I think one of the things I’ve been focused on in this campaign is, as I’ve gone through the first few months, I’ve been trying to spend more time listening than talking, and one of the ways I’ve done that is by shadowing people on the job and hearing about the challenges they face and obviously healthcare is one of the challenges people raise, affordable housing is another one that comes up. Obviously affordable housing is a problem in Telluride, it’s also a problem on the Front Range. The solutions may look different, but it is a theme that I hear over and over again. I think the most important thing for somebody representing us in Washington to do is to be committed to listening over the long run. Because you won’t be able to provide the kind of nuanced representation, and make sure that when the next major piece of healthcare legislation comes in front of Congress that you are ready to negotiate on behalf, not just be there to cast a vote when the legislation is delivered on your desk, but be there to negotiate on behalf of your constituents if you haven’t been listening.

JC:  You’re from Colorado, from Denver. Through your work in both the Obama administration and the Hickenlooper administration, you’ve lived in big cities, had arguably high profile jobs. Given that background, how are you able to represent people from a potentially very different background from your own?

DB: I think that’s a question that anybody who’s seeking to represent a large number of people in Washington has to be able to answer. When I was at the State Department one of the things that I would do when I was traveling the world on behalf of the U.S. Government is, in every place I went, I insisted that the embassy organize a round table discussion as one of my first meetings with local civil society representatives. And what I found was in those meetings I did much more listening than talking, and I think that’s the kind of approach that you need to take if you seek to represent people in Washington. You know ask me often, does it matter that I’m gay? And I say, ‘obviously it matters to me, but it needn’t matter to the average voter, and indeed the qualifications that I’m running on have nothing to do with that fact that I’m gay or not’. But I do think, that I grew up gay in Colorado in a very different time, it wasn’t that long ago, but it was a very different time, and that speaks to the progress that we’ve seen here. I think when you’ve lived on the other side of hate, you’ve lived on the other side of being left out or left behind, that can produce a number of emotions or sensibilities in you. I suppose it could make you angry, and understandably so, but another thing it can do is help you learn empathy. I hope that the experience that I’ve had in my life – the variety of experience that I’ve had in my life – make me a better representative of people because I know what it’s like to be left out and left behind. I understand that it’s not the same to grow up a fifteen-year-old gay kid in Littleton, and to be a single mother in Pueblo working three jobs, or to be a farmer in Yuma trying to figure out how you’re going to make ends meet with the tariffs, or to be somebody who’s watching a coal mine shut down, I get that those are different things. But I think an attention to the experience and the pain points that other people are feeling is valuable when you’re seeking to do this. As well as an understanding that we’re all in this together, and we have to hang together, and we have to have leaders who are committed to seeing the whole and committed to representing every single Coloradan, including those who don’t vote for them, and I’m committed to doing that.

JC: Before we take off, Telluride as a community, we’re a big fan of music. You, on the campaign trail, I assume are jetting around the state. Is there any music that you can’t get out of your head right now?

DB: We’ve been listening to a lot of Lizzo, who I think is wonderful not only for her music, but also for her voice. I think in a time like this, her voice, first of all, she highlights social justice issues often, and she presents a sense of defiant optimism that I think should be our guiding star right now, so I’ve been listening to a lot of Lizzo.

Barb Gross, 2019 Citizen of the Year, Encourages Community to Give Back

By Julia Caulfield

Barb Gross (center left) with her husband and daughters

It was a chance encounter that brought Barb Gross to Telluride, and thank goodness for that.

She moved to Telluride in 1984 after meeting the person who would become her husband.

“I was on vacation, getting ready to move back to the east coast, and I was on vacation in Hawaii.”

She met her future husband on the beach.

“I said ‘hey, if you get to San Diego in the next couple days, come look me up’.”

And he did. Gary, that’s Gross’ husband, visited her in California and asked her if she’d give him a ride back to Colorado. To Telluride. The rest you could say is history. Gross did spend a few months on the east coast, but quickly moved back to town.

Gross raised her children here, worked and volunteered, and earlier this summer she was named the 2019 Citizen of the Year by the Telluride Foundation.

“I actually had to sit with it for a couple days to actually process it. I had no idea I was even nominated. I feel really honored. I feel really honored.”

According to the Foundation, the purpose of the citizen of the year award is to “honor individuals who unselfishly make extraordinary contributions to the region’s quality of life.”

Gross has been serving the community for over 35 years. Although her education is in geriatric social work, she began working in Telluride at the Rainbow Preschool.

“We literally competed to who could have the best idea that day, for the kids. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work. But I loved every moment of it.”

Elaine Schroedl nominated Gross for the award. They met when their kids were at Rainbow together in the 1980’s and have known each other ever since.

Schroedl points to all the hours Gross has spent volunteering for the community as her reason for the nomination.

“She’s just and extraordinary person. When you hear about people having won the award, or whatever, for years I thought ‘Barb deserves that’. I don’t know anyone more deserving than Barb.”

In the years since leaving Rainbow Preschool, Gross has taken up the role as head of the Angel Basket’s Food Bank in Telluride. In that role, as a volunteer herself, she manages 25 volunteers to staff the food bank, coordinate deliveries with local businesses, and distribute food each week.

But despite all her work, Gross make sure to note that the award really recognizes all the people who work to make the food bank possible.

“I was unloading a truck and there were two people who sometimes come to the food bank, and I said ‘hey can you help me unload this?’ Boom. Stop. Do it right away. So it recognizes a lot of people.”

And at the root of it all, Gross just wants people to take time to volunteer in the community.

“Give back, if you can. Give back to this community and you will get back into your own life. You will feel more involved in the fabric of the community, and you’ll truly – in any way you volunteer – you’ll truly be helping.”

As part of the award for Citizen of the Year, Gross gets $5,000 to donate to an organization of her choice.

There will be a celebration in honor of Barb Gross at the Ah Haa School for the Arts on September 18th.

Colorado State Representative Makes a Bid for the U.S. House

By Julia Caulfield

State Rep. Donald Valdez

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District has a history of flipping between Republican and Democratic representation – the seat is currently held by Republican Representative Scott Tipton. But Colorado State Representative Donald Valdez is hoping to move it back to the Democrats. He is one of two Democrats currently running in a primary to challenge the Republican candidate. Valdez currently serves as the Representative for District 62 in the Colorado State House of Representatives, and spent a few days in Telluride this week to talk with voters. He sat down with KOTO News to talk about his campaign and why he’s running.

Julia Caulfield (JC): Thanks for being here and chatting with us today. First question, hopefully an easy one, why are you running for Congress?

Donald Valdez (DV): Well, thank you, Julia. You know, here in rural Colorado we need a voice now more than ever – for rural education, for infrastructure, broadband, but also more importantly is our water. Our water’s precious – all the way from the top peaks on the continental divide, all the way down into our communities and to the agriculture industry. Water is essential. It’s our life blood, not only to us, but also the next generation.

JC: You’re currently serving in the Colorado State House. You were first elected in 2016, and re-elected in 2018. Why are you now making the jump to go from the state legislature to the federal House of Representatives?

DV: You are correct. I am the state representative for House District 62 which covers eight counties … this is essential to get out and voice for rural Colorado, because each and every one of our communities has uniqueness, but also the culture, the history, and the home for so many – whether it be our veterans who we need to advocate for each and every single day. Healthcare needs from young to the very young, and the elderly and the wisdom that they have, we need to gain that and pass it on to the next generation now and engage the next generation to be leaders in our community.

JC: The 3rd Congressional District is very large, running from the very northern parts of the state to the southern parts of the state. If you are elected, how do you balance the needs of folks who are living across a very wide range of land?

DV: My current district I cover eight counties and the 3rd Congressional District covers 29 counties from Craig, Steamboat all the way south into Cortez, and Towaoc, and Ignacio, and the dynamics are interesting but we all have the same issues. Economic development is a key issue to continue growth in our communities. With that we need quality and quantity of our water, make sure our soils are healthy, so we continue to grow our food and the agriculture aspect, knowing where our food comes from. Agriculture is a huge, leading industry in the state and the 3rd Congressional District does cover more than half the state of Colorado – but the beauty of the 3rd Congressional District is heaven. The beauty of the majestic mountains, the dynamics of the people, the heritage, the culture, and that’s one of the reasons that I’m running – because we need a voice for rural Colorado. One of the major issues that is affecting our communities is addiction. The heroine, the meth, and the opioids have taken almost two generations, and it’s sad and we need to stand up, enough is enough. We need to get more prevention and education and treatment for those who are battling.

JC: You’ve mentioned agriculture and water as being some of the issues that are really important to you – also education, support for veterans, affordable healthcare, and economic development. These are big issues, some of them are going to be more bipartisan than others, but none of them are small, easy issues to find an answer for. How do you start addressing those issues if you’re elected?

DV: Well, you address those issues one at a time. They’re all issues that affect our communities and affect each one of us, especially healthcare. Healthcare, the cost of healthcare, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of visiting a doctor, whether you decide to put food on your table or pay for a procedure or surgery that you desperately need to continue to engage and be that persona that you need to work or your livelihood.

JC: Before we leave, I’ll ask a more fun or easier question. I assume you’ve been traveling all over the 3rd Congressional District, and we’ve mentioned that it’s large, when you’ve been traveling in the car or on flights has there been any music that’s really been speaking to you?

DV: The music of the mountains. The mountains keep calling me. And On the Road Again with Willie Nelson, every single day.

Local Recalls Woodstock Experience as 50th Anniversary Nears

By Cara Pallone

The original Woodstock was held in Bethel, New York, Aug. 15-18, 1969. Almost half a million people were there, including local resident Chris Bonebrake. This August marks 50 years since the original legendary music festival took place, but Bonebrake remembers it clearly.

Well, as clearly as someone who attended the original Woodstock should remember it…

The Sheridan Arts Foundation’s mini Woodstock to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the legendary music festival is this Thursday, Aug. 1, with “Kiss the Sky: The Jimi Hendrix Re-experience.” And Friday, Aug. 2, with “Just Like Janis.”

Doors are at 8 p.m. with the show at 9 p.m. Tickets are $25 general admission and $35 reserved seats in the balcony. Two-day passes for GA tickets are $40. Go to sheridanoperahouse.com for more info.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Jeff Hanna Talks 50 Years and Counting

By Cara Pallone

For 50 years, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has been bringing its American roots music to stages across the globe, including in Telluride. And on Friday, the band will return to the valley and will grace the stage at Club Red at the Telluride Conference Center. KOTO News spoke with Jeff Hanna, a founding member of the band, about how he never intended to be a musician, what it’s like touring with his son, and the secret to the band’s enduring success…  

That was Jeff Hanna with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which will take the stage at Club Red this Friday, July 26th. Doors are at 7:30. For tickets and more info, go to clubredtelluride.com.

Former Colorado Speaker of the House runs for U.S. Senate

By Julia Caulfield

There are nearly a dozen people running in the Democratic primary to challenge Cory Gardner for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020. Among those is Andrew Romanoff. He is a former Colorado State Speaker of the House and President and CEO of Mental Health Colorado. Earlier this week Romanoff spent the day in Telluride talking with voters. KOTO ‘s Julia Caulfield sat down with him to talk about why he’s running and some of the issues facing Colorado and the West End.

Jury Finds Mother Guilty in Norwood Homicide Case

By Cara Pallone

As Deputy District Attorney Rob Whiting stated Wednesday in his closing statements in Montrose District Court: The evidence in this case is clear.

On September 8th, 2017, police responded to a property in Norwood. And on this property, they discovered two dead girls in a vehicle. In connection with those deaths, five adults were arrested and charged. One of those people was the victims’ mother.

Nashika Bramble

The jury decided that Nashika Bramble did act knowingly with respect to her conduct, and that she was aware her conduct would practically be certain to cause a result.

In this case, it was knowing that her two daughters were in a hot car in in with no food or water. And the result, is that they died. 180 pounds of food was found on the property afterward.

Bramble, and African American woman in her late 30s, was convicted of two counts of first degree murder Wednesday. Her sentencing is scheduled for October first in San Miguel County. A change of venue was granted in the case, which is why the trial was held in Montrose County.

What unraveled after the discovery of the bodies of Makayla Roberts,10, and Hannah Roberts, 8, on that Friday, September 8th, 2017 is a bizarre story about a group of travelers who were invited back to the Norwood property where they were awaiting the end of times. The alleged ringleader, a Haitian woman named Madani Ceus, reportedly sent the two girls to a vehicle and told the others to withhold food and water because the girls were impure and it would hold them all back from achieving what they referred to as “light body.”

Bramble’s trial began on the 8th and lasted a week and a half. It took the jury about an hour to hand down a guilty verdict.

Anywhere from a dozen to two dozen people were in the audience throughout the day. Bramble, dressed in a black suit with her hair in braids, swayed side to side at times in her seat and remained outwardly composed when the jury returned the verdict.

While the prosecution argued that Bramble was a person in a position of trust who took part in isolating and starving her children, Bramble’s defense attorney, Harvey Palefsky, argued that the case is about the illusion of free will. He told the jury that Ceus was the only person who had free will on that property, describing her as “evil, vile, a witch, and a master manipulator,” and that everyone had to bow down to her. Palefsky stated that everyone feared her, and that while it may seem ridiculous to us, we didn’t live in that reality.

Yet, as Whiting argued: once her girls were dead and it became apparent that the end of times was not going to take place, Bramble saved her own life. She left the property, got a bus ticket and only when she saw herself on the news did she turn herself in. 

In a video played during the trial, Bramble told investigators that she made the decision to quote: “leave or end up dead.”

She was pregnant at the time of her arrest and delivered a child while in custody.

Following closing arguments, KOTO News asked for comments from the prosecution and defense teams.

Deputy District Attorney Rob Whiting commented that he felt his team was able to effectively present the evidence they intended to present over the course of the trial, his first case as Deputy DA involving a homicide.

“Procedurally, disagreement is an inherent part of the system and that’s the point of having two different lawyers. And Judge Yoder is really clear, she keeps things moving, she respects people’s rights and I think all of that was showcased in the past week and a half.” 

Bramble’s defense attorney Palefsky said even when his client wasn’t communicating with him over the past almost two years since her arrest, he continued to work for her, saying it would be unprofessional if he just gave up. Past experiences he commented. have proven the importance of the phrase: innocent until proven guilty. 

“I’ve had enough cases where it turned out, especially with another double homicide, that the guy was not guilty and someone else was convicted. I just realize, I wasn’t there, I don’t know the situation. Look at the Central Park 5. I have a job to do, the DA has a job to do. Hopefully if we both do our jobs, there will be some justice in the case.”

Bramble is the second of the Norwood five to stand trial. Ashford Nathaniel Archer of Haiti was convicted in March on two counts of child abuse resulting in death and an accessory charge. His trial lasted nearly three weeks. In June, he was sentenced to 24 years in the department of corrections, with credit for time served.

Sheriff Bill Masters was in attendance Wednesday, as he has been at most of the court proceedings for the Norwood 5. He commented that it is still impactful for him to be in the audience watching the videos and listening to testimony nearly two years later.

“It certainly is, it’s a case that’s going to be with us for a long time. We’ve spent a lot of time on it, investigating this to the proper degree and presenting it to the district attorney and preparing for trials. It’s going to go on still for quite some time.”

The next trial is for Madani Ceus and is scheduled for four weeks in January 2020. She remains at the San Miguel County Jail.

The remaining two people involved in the case, Ika Eden of Jamaica, is in the custody of the state hospital and has been deemed incompetent to stand trial. And Frederick Blair, the only Caucasian person of the five, was offered a plea deal in exchange for his testimony. Two counts of felony child abuse were dismissed.

He also is currently lodged at the San Miguel County Jail and is scheduled for a status conference on August 29th.

Highlights from KOTO's Live Broadcast of the 8th Annual RIDE Festival

By Cara Pallone

KOTO Radio’s Live Broadcast Team posts up in Town Park for the summer festivals to bring you music, interviews and more. The following is a highlights reel from the 2019 RIDE Festival!

Amy Peters interviews Thunderpussy in the KOTO Media Tent

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit close out the festival on Sunday

Jamie Catchpole interviews Commonheart in the KOTO Media Tent

Immigration, ICE, and the Effects on a Mountain Town

By Julia Caulfield

Immigration continues to be a major topic of conversation across the U.S. But while the focus is widely concentrated on border states, KOTO’s Julia Caulfield reports on one man’s experience with ICE and the greater effects on a small community.

In December 2018, Diego Hernández was coming out of the courthouse building in Telluride after running an errand.

“As I left there was a man near the benches by the bus stop…”

Hernández says the man asked him for his name. Three other men came up to him and asked if he had documentation to show legal status in the U.S.

“I told them ‘no’, but I had a pending case for a U Visa, and I had those documents in my backpack.”

According to Hernández, whose name has been changed for the purposes of this story, the officers didn’t give him the time to show his visa paperwork. They asked him if he had any weapons or drugs on him, he said “no”, and they handcuffed him and put him in the back of a van.

Hernández says he has no criminal record.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Colorado, say they aren’t allowed to comment on a specific case without a signed privacy waiver from a detainee. Hernández declined to sign the waiver but ICE officials say with their “finite resources” they focus arrests and detentions on those who pose a threat to the community or are national security threats. But they add that it’s their duty to “carry out the arrest, detention, and removal” of any person in the U.S. without proper documentation.

According to Nelly García, Hernández’ story is not surprising. García is the Western Slope Organizer for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition – a statewide non-profit organization aimed at improving the lives of immigrants and refugees in Colorado. She’s based in Grand Junction and says in the past few years on the Western Slope they’ve seen an increase of people getting detained regardless of their criminal record.

“Back ten years ago we didn’t see ICE in Grand Junction, and especially in rural areas, it’s really scary especially because ICE, they’re not following the procedures they’re supposed to be following. Again, they’re detaining people with no warrant, and then they’re not making sure that they’re not criminals, they don’t have any criminal record. They just suspect that they’re undocumented and taking them. So it’s been quite a change.”

Claudia Garcia-Curzio, a DACA recipient and member of the Latino Advocacy Committee in Telluride, agrees with Garcia.

“ICE does come to town, frequently, which is scary. And by law they’re not supposed to profile.”

She says LAC works with people so they know their rights if they encounter ICE.

According to members of the Latino Advocacy Committee, in Telluride, ICE often approaches people in front of the Court House.

Hernández was born in Mexico. He moved to Telluride when he was 25, that was 15 years ago. At first he would come and go during the off seasons. Hernández says the moment he moved here he started working on assimilating. He took classes to learn English. He filed his taxes. He says he did everything he could to be part of the community. Once his son was born, he and his wife made Telluride their home full time.

On the day he was arrested, he says he dropped his son off at school, and told him he’d pick him up at the end of the day. But he never made it. Instead, Hernández was taken into custody. He says he was put in a van and ICE officers took him to Grand Junction.  There, he says the officers took his fingerprints and interviewed him about his past.

“Afterwards I waited until 11 at night and they loaded two of us into a van, me and another man they had arrested in Montrose. They put the same cuffs around our ankles, waist and wrists and loaded us into an old, ugly van with a driver and another guard.”

From there Hernández says he and the other man were taken to the detention center in Denver. He describes the processing center – the place he was kept before going to the detention center – like a maximum security prison.

“We were completely alone in a small cell with no contact with anyone. There was a small sink, a toilet, and a table with two chairs. If we needed anything or asked any questions they spoke to us through the door as if we were criminals…During my time there, right hand to God, I have never been through anything like that in my entire life.”

Once in the detention facility Hernández says he was held with around 80 other detainees, split into cells with four people each. He says they were allowed outside for a short time each day.

“Most of the time we sat crowded watching television waiting for the time to pass or for the next meal time.”

Hernández also recounts helping other detainees get the medical care they needed. He says unless you spoke English it was hard to get medical attention.

Reporting in recent months from multiple news outlets has also raised questions about the quality of medical care provided at the detention center in Denver, including the death of a detainee at the center in 2017.

According to ICE officials, ICE takes “the health, safety, and welfare” of detainees seriously.

After three weeks at the detention center in Denver, Hernández was released on bond. He’s back in Telluride with his family, but says the experience has changed his experience in the community.

Organizer Nelly García says the fear of detention can have broader impacts on a community, including underreporting crime. She says it’s important for the immigrant community to start building trust with local law enforcement.

“We’ve been working with a lot of sheriffs in the area. We had a meeting with the Montrose Sheriff and he assured us that he’s not working with ICE and he’s not sharing information, and that they don’t want to work with them because it breaks the trust between the community and them. So we’re having those improvements where our local police don’t want to have anything to do with immigration, with ICE.”

Claudia Gracia-Curzio says locally, Telluride is working to be more open about conversations surrounding immigration.

“I think more people are reaching out, and I’ve even worked in the courts and with the DA, can we do a call in instead of having the fear of coming into the courts. I feel like we’ve opened the door in terms of conversations that I don’t feel shy or scared to ask these questions.”

But Garcia-Curzio says that’s not always enough.

“We’ve worked through a lot of things; we’re still working on them. But I don’t think the fear is ever going to go away.”

In 2018, ICE arrested over 400,000 people in the U.S. and deported over half of those arrested. Around 6,000 of those arrests happened in Colorado. From January to March of 2019, ICE and Custom and Border Patrol arrested over 60,000 people across the United States.