3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

3rd From Sol

Tag Archives: Colorado

Road Less Traveled: How Craig, CO Was Orphaned

10 Tuesday May 2022

Posted by Paul Kiser in Colorado, Economy, History, Mining, Small town, Travel, US History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Colorado, Craig, Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, Governor Edwin Johnson, I-40, I-70, I-80, Interstate Highways, Main Street of America, roads, U.S. 40, Utah, Victory Highway

Craig, Colorado is a small town in Moffat County in the sagebrush of the high desert of northwestern Colorado. It is on U.S. 40, almost exactly halfway between Denver and Salt Lake. Up until the 1970s, its location made it a favored stopping point for travelers crossing the sometimes challenging roads over the Rocky Mountain passes.

However, like many developing towns across the country, Craig would become an orphan when one of the largest infrastructure Acts of the 20th century was passed in 1956.

Craig, Colorado

The First 60 Years

Moffat County opened up to homesteading in the early 1900s and became firmly established when the railroad reached the area in 1913. In less than a decade, Craig grew to over 5,000 people.

The first boom cycle for Moffat County was short-lived as average precipitation was too unpredictable to create a consistent living off farming. Most of the homesteaders eventually gave up and either moved into Craig or left the area completely.

However, Craig continued to survive and have moderate growth thanks to a few key industries. Cattle ranching and coal became the main revenue for the remote corner of Colorado. As roads improved, Craig was ideally located between Denver and Salt Lake City. That helped keep traffic flowing through the area and brought in tourist dollars from outside the county.

The Rollercoaster Population

Moffat County was carved out of Routt County in 1911. In 1910, only about 25% of Routt County’s population lived in the newly created county. There were about 2,000 people living in Moffat County when it was established.

By 1920, the population of Moffat County had more than doubled to 5,129. The population then dropped to 4,861 by the 1930 census but recovered in 1940 to a census of 5,086. It would continue to grow for the next twenty years to 7,061, only to decline in the 1970 census to 6,525.

A population boom in Moffat County’s first decade would seem to be linked to that inflow of homesteaders and the decline following that would be linked to homesteaders leaving the area. The steady growth from 1930 to 1960 would seem to be associated with the link that Craig had to Denver and Salt Lake as the halfway point between the two major cities on a major highway. That highway was U.S. 40 and was known as the Victory Highway and also the Main Street of America linking Delaware to the east to Salt Lake to the west.

The intersection of Colorado Street and Victory Way (U.S 40) in Craig, Colorado

The decline in the 1970 census seems to coincide with the impact of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. This was the legislation that created the interstate highway system. Essentially, it shifted most of the cross-country traffic from roads like U.S. 40 to interstate highways like I-80 through Wyoming.

The Rocky Mountain Reputation

There were multiple competing goals in the design of the new interstate highway system. Among them were:

  • Maximizing interstate highway usage by avoiding duplication of service
  • Minimizing costs by avoiding difficult geographical construction challenges
  • Expedited construction timeline
  • Service public and military needs
  • Link key population centers

To understand what happened in Colorado regarding the creation of the system, it is important to note that the decision-makers apparently had a healthy fear of the Rocky Mountains. The initial routes for the interstate highways avoided crossing the formidable mountain range by sending traffic north across southern Wyoming (I-80) or south through the more moderate climates of New Mexico and Arizona (I-40).

The original interstate highway map of 1955

The plan was to have one interstate highway (I-70) in Colorado, but it would stop in Denver and not cross the mountain passes. That would serve the population center of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and minimize the cost. It also would avoid slowing the completion of the interstate system by not taking on the task of building roads through the mountain passes.

Colorado Governor Johnson and I-70

One of Moffat County’s most famous citizens was Edwin Carl Johnson. Johnson and his spouse came to northwest Colorado on the advice of his physician who felt the climate would be more favorable after his recovery from tuberculosis.

He became involved in Colorado politics and twice, in 1933 and 1955, he served as Governor of the State. Eighteen months after Edwin Johnson took office for the second time, the massive highway Act was passed and he became a major advocate for Colorado’s interests in the interstate highway plan. He insisted that it would be unfair if the country’s major arteries were to be routed around Colorado.

Edwin Carl Johnson, former Moffat County resident and Colorado’s 26th and 34th Governor

The Interstate Sausage

Political compromise has been compared to making sausage. It is something that may be necessary but nobody should witness how it’s done. The alignment of the interstate highways is no exception. The interests and well-being of many small communities were sacrificed in an effort to accomplish the task. Craig was one of the casualties.

Although Governor Johnson had been a resident of Moffat County, his task was to convince the multiple stakeholders that Colorado must have an interstate highway that crossed it from east to west in order to not be isolated from the commerce that would be crossing the country. Had he been the decision-maker, I-70 would have likely followed the most direct route and Craig would have benefited.

Fortunately, Governor Johnson did have allies in Utah and they became key players in this effort. They wanted the I-70 extension to connect to Salt Lake City. This presented the opportunity for the new interstate to follow the U.S. 40 alignment through Craig or via the U.S. 6 route. Upon agreeing to this, Colorado and Utah presented a united proposal for bringing I-70 through Colorado and Utah.

Route options for the I-70 alignment from Denver to Salt Lake City

Sneaky Public Roads Commissioner

The Bureau of Public Roads (now the Federal Highway Administration) accepted the extension plan but the Department of the Army felt that it should be routed through southern Utah to connect to southern California. The route was changed and announced without any discussion with Governor Johnson or the Utah officials. The Commissioner of the Bureau admitted later that they intentionally did not inform anyone of the re-routing of I-70 in order to avoid any complaints.

This re-routing ended any opportunity for Craig to be a part of the economic benefit of the interstate highway system. While Craig remains on a more direct route between Denver and Salt Lake, it is slower than the longer routes that include travel on an interstate highway. It has had an economic impact and the lost revenue of the cross-country traveling public likely contributed to the decline in the population of Moffat County in the early 1970s.

Epilogue

It could be argued that Craig might have not gained much economically if I-70 had been routed near the town. Steamboat Springs is 42 miles east of Craig and would have been an option for interstate travelers to rest, eat, and/or refuel. It is likely that both towns would have benefited, but Craig needed the connection more than Steamboat Springs. Craig didn’t have the mountain town attractions that Steamboat Springs developed in the 20th century.

Because of Craig’s coal reserves, a boom cycle began in the 1970s when three coal-fired electrical power plants were built; however, after expending much of the readily available coal and because of the health and environmental threats, the units have been scheduled to be closed down over the next decade.

Today, Craig faces a bleak future with no reliable financial source for new employment and new tax revenue. Its situation is compounded by its remote location, hundreds of miles from the economic centers of major cities. Had I-70 been built along the U.S. 40 alignment, Craig’s future might be more hopeful than it is today.

GOP Political Syndicate Seizes CO School District

10 Thursday Feb 2022

Posted by Paul Kiser in Colorado, Conservatives, Education, Ethics, Family, Government, Health, Medicine, parenting, Politicians, Politics, Voting

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

campaign contributions, Colorado, DCSD, Douglas County School District - Colorado, Education, mask mandate, political syndicate, school board, schools

Four people are all it takes. Four people can take over the control of a school district of 67,000 students and implement a political agenda that has nothing to do with educating young citizens. It also requires a small, well-financed political syndicate to put those four people into public office. That is what happened in Colorado’s Douglas County.

The Faces of the Conservative Political Syndicate. The recently elected Douglas County School (Colorado) Board Directors

Last November, four new members were swept into the non-partisan seats on a unified conservative platform. The candidates were united in opposing basic health precautions during a pandemic. They also opposed teaching facts about United States history that make some caucasian people uncomfortable. It was a clear, partisan agenda.

Once sworn into office, their first move was to elect themselves as the President and Vice President. The vote was 4 to 3 with the newly elected members banding together to control the vote. The following week they held a Special Meeting where, on another 4 to 3 vote, they then made pandemic health precautions for students and staff voluntary.

The new Board members exposed faces indicate who voted to end mask mandates.

Their next step was even bolder. In a possible violation of open meeting laws, the new President and Vice President of the board met with the Superintendent of Schools and told him to resign or be fired. He refused to resign, so on 4 February, they called a special meeting and fired the Superintendent without cause on a vote of 4 to 3.

These unilateral actions have injected chaos and anger into the school district. The new Board members have followed a ‘Shock and Awe’ strategy to replace educational-based leadership with a politically-motivated dictatorship.

Four People Elected By One Campaign 

In June of last year, Mike Peterson, Becky Myers, Kaylee Winegar, and Christy Williams all filed as candidates for School Director of the Board of Education in Douglas County, Colorado. What is unusual about their filing is that all four candidates filed on the same day, in consecutive order, and all used the same mother/daughter team as their Registered Agent (Marge Klein) and Designated Filing Agent (Tammy Klein). According to NBC News, all four candidates also shared Holly Osborne Horn as their joint Campaign Manager. 

The people behind the Political Syndicate curtain

Marge Klein is the President of SWS Polifi, and according to LinkedIn, Tammy Klein (aka Tammy Ann Scott) is the Director of Operations of the company. The company is located in the small town of Ft. Lupton, Colorado, in rural Weld County. According to the website, the purpose of the company is to handle the management, media, finances, and reporting for political campaigns. SWS Polifi has been contracted by several Republican campaigns including the 2020 Congressional campaign for Lauren Boebert. The company received over $20,000 from that campaign.

The campaigns for all four candidates were registered under different campaign committees but were, in fact, packaged under one political syndicate titled “KidsFirstDCSD“. The KidsFirstDCSD website only lists the candidates’ names and not who is managing or overseeing the organization.

As part of the campaigns, the syndicate created slick, professional videos featuring each candidate touting their support for parents, teachers, and students. The candidates also had equal access to other media and publicity material normally reserved for a State or Federal office.

Who is the Syndicate’s Leader?

The orchestrator of the political syndicate is not obvious. Horn, the campaign manager, has no obvious background in mounting a political campaign prior to becoming part of the KidsFirstDCSD syndicate. It would seem that she lacks the experience to organize and lead a single campaign, let alone manage four campaigns at once.

Horn’s role with the syndicate may have been as simple as being the correct person, in the correct place, at the correct time. In December 2020, she gained the attention of the Denver CBS news affiliate by leading a small protest in Castle Rock over business restrictions during the pandemic. This public exposure may have led to gaining the attention of the political syndicate, which benefited by having a campaign manager that actually lived in Douglas County. 

Holly Osborne Horn at a small protest against health precautions during the first year of the pandemic.

When is this going to end? When is this going to stop? The data and the science are there…

Holly Osborne Horn
December 2020

Marge and Tammy Klein both are more likely to be the driving force behind the syndicate. Both have more experience as political operatives and connections to donors and conservative leaders in Colorado. Of the two, Marge Klein is the matriarch of the business and no stranger to Douglas County School Board elections.

Lessons Learned From 2017

The 2017 election school board election served as a dress rehearsal for conservative forces in Douglas County. Republican political operative Marge Klein also served as the Registered Agent for all four of the 2017 conservative, anti-public school candidates. Klein’s candidates raised $147,586 but they were defeated by opponents that raised $64,000 less in campaign contributions.

In 2021, Klein returned with four new conservative candidates and a pipeline of donor cash that was over one and a half times greater than 2017. The combined campaigns of the KidsFirstDCSD political syndicate raised almost $390,000. Eighty percent of that money came from seven donors that were filed as giving the same amount to all four candidates. 

Four-Way Split of Campaign Donations

The Big Seven

Who are the seven big donors? The list is an unusual group.

Eric Garrett – Total donations:  $120,000

Eric Garrett

Major donor, Eric Garrett is not a resident of Douglas County…or of Colorado. He is a resident of Indiana with business interests in many states, including Colorado. He is the Founder and President of The Garrett Companies. The company was founded in 2014 with small apartment projects and now has expanded into multifamily property development, construction, and other real estate ventures.

His involvement in the political syndicate that elected the four members of the Douglas County school board seems to be ideological. His Facebook page indicates a strong dislike for Democrats and includes a post of a Covid19 conspiracy theory.  

Mike and Andrea Slattery – Total donations:  $120,000

Mike & Andrea Slattery

Both Mike and Andrea Slattery are residents of Douglas County. Their source of money is not obvious. Mike is associated with Sierra Aircraft Sales, LLC, Jmjk Managment, Inc., and the Slattery Family Foundation, all in Florida. They own a 1,400-acre equestrian center in Sedalia, near Castle Rock and they recently purchased The Emporium in Castle Rock. Both are in their mid-30s and they have children.

 

R. Stanton Dodge – Total donations:  $50,000

R. Stanton Dodge

Donor R. Stanton Dodge is not who one might expect to be a part of a conservative political syndicate. He is an attorney and a resident of Douglas County. Dodge serves as Chief Legal Officer for DraftKings, the world’s largest daily fantasy sports platform, with its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of National Jewish Health and the Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Committee. He has supported Republican candidates for public office. Of note, he contributed to moderate Republican, Mike Coffman during his successful campaign to be Mayor of Aurora.  

Roy Klein – Total donations:  $8,000

The filed campaign report of donors states that Roy Klein is employed by Western Development Group in Denver and gives an address for him in Lone Tree. The company website only has a contact page and doesn’t offer any other information. It is unclear if he is related to Marge Klein of the KidsFirstDCSD political syndicate.

George Solich – Total donations:  $6,000

George Solich is listed on the filed campaign report as connected with Energy IV, LLC in Greenwood Village in Arapahoe County. He is also associated with FourPoint Energy and LongPoint Minerals. Solich a significant figure in the energy and mining industry.

In 2019, he was named as President of the Castle Pines Golf Club; however, it is unclear if he actually lives in Douglas County.

Ralph Nagel – Total donations:  $4,000

Ralph Nagel is has an interesting background. He seems to have little or no connection to Douglas County. He is listed as ‘Retired’ on the campaign donor report but Nagel also is noted as a visual artist in Denver.

Ralph Nagel and his spouse, Trish, were the named donors for a 356 room residence hall on the campus of the University of Denver that was completed in 2008. 

In the past three decades, Nagle has been associated with multiple organizations in Denver including the Nagel Foundation, Top Rock Holdings, inc., Arvada Meridian, LLP, Cherry Hills Meridian, LLP, Lakewood Meridian, LLP, The Vista Meridian, Ltd., Englewood Meridian, LLP, Hillcrest Meridian, LLP, Temple Meridian, LLP, Meridian Retirement Communities, LLP, Seventy-Three, Ninety-Three Partners, LLP, Ciga, LLP, Amani, LLP, Legan (sh), LLP, and Lumberjack Hill Apartments, LLP.

The Meridian properties were a chain of retirement homes. 

Leo Stegman – Total donations:  $4,000

Leo Stegman is also listed as retired and living in Highlands Ranch in Douglas County. He serves on the Board of Directors of Step Denver, a program to help low-income men with addiction issues. Like Roy Klein, Stegman maintains a low profile on the Internet. A Google search reveals very little information on his background.

Questions That Remain

There seems to be no legal restriction on allowing the ‘packaging’ of candidates by a partisan political syndicate for election to non-partisan office. This election and the sweeping power being used by the newly elected Directors of the Douglas County School District raise many questions. 

  • It is legal, but is it the intent of the election rules for non-partisan offices to be packaged and campaigned by a clearly partisan political syndicate?
  • Should a handful of donors be able to pump massive amounts of money into a local non-partisan school board to take control of a partisan agenda?
  • Who is/are the people behind the political syndicate that actually managed the four campaigns as one?
  • Since the amount donated is almost identical for all four candidates under the KidsFirstDCSD political syndicate, and since eighty percent of the money came from only seven donors, was some or all of the money coming from another source and channeled through straw figures?
  • Should there be a full investigation of the KidsFirstDCSD political syndicate and an audit of all of its records and communications, including the campaign manager and the agents of record? 

[A reminder about comments. Please read RULES ON COMMENTS.]

Colorado’s 17 Dying Counties

23 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by Paul Kiser in Colorado, Conservatives, Donald Trump, Economy, Education, Government, jobs, Mining, Politicians, Politics, Small town, Taxes, United States, Voting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Baca County, Bent County, Cheyenne County, Colorado, Conejos County, Counties, County, Democrat, Dolores County, Donald Trump, Hinsdale County, Jackson County, Kit Carson County, Logan County, Moffat County, Otero County, Phillips, Phillips County, Political ideology, Politics, Prowers County, Republican, Rio Blanco County, Rio Grande County, Sedgwick County, Yuma County

From 2010 to 2019, Colorado has enjoyed a 14.5% growth in population. Urban areas, such as Denver, have had more significant growth than rural areas. The growth has led to more jobs, more paid taxes, and a general boost to the economy of the State.

However, Colorado consists of 64 counties and many of the rural counties struggle to maintain a viable economy. A declining economy means fewer jobs, fewer jobs means less income for residents, and less income means a decline in the tax base for essential county services. It is the death spiral that a rural county suffers, leading to a collapse of its economy. When the 2020 Census is complete, there are seventeen rural Colorado counties that will likely show a decline in population. 

Colorado counties with population declines (2010 to 2019 est.) Percentages indicate the amount of decline, other numbers indicate the population of counties under 10,000. [Number colors indicate the last 40 years of political party support. Red-Republican, Blue-Democrat, Purple-Split]

Typical Economic History

Colorado, like many other U.S. States, established an economy on agriculture and mining. Also like many other States, as businesses became more centralized and industrialized, rural areas became outpaced by the income potential of urban areas. This conversion of the foundation of our economy left rural areas isolated from the economic benefits of newer industries.

Rural Colorado is isolated from the economic power that exists in Denver and other urban areas.

Arteries of the Economy

Geographic location has played a major role in the economic fortunes for Colorado counties. Most pioneers heading west avoided the difficult mountain passes of Colorado and traveled through Wyoming. It wasn’t until the trains came to Colorado that significant growth began. In the 20th century, paved roads allowed smaller towns to emerge along highways that could provide services to the traveler.

The completion of Interstate 80 (I-80) through Wyoming, and Interstate 70 (I-70) through Colorado, siphoned off the traffic that fed the economy of many smaller communities. Even communities located on I-70 found that faster roads and improved gas mileage hurt their economy. The result was a loss of jobs and revenue in small towns outside of urban corridors. By the end of the 20th century, many of Colorado’s remote communities began seeing stagnation and decline in their population. 

Off The Path

The counties experiencing population decline since 2010, indicate that isolation from Colorado’s central urban core is continuing to impact communities in the State. Thirteen of the counties experiencing a population decline are located on the Colorado State border. The other four are adjacent to a county located on the border.

Colorado has 26 counties that have a population under 10,000 (2019 est.) Most of these counties are also located at or near the State border. Eleven of the seventeen counties experiencing a decline in population also have less than 10,000 residents. This means that many of the counties losing residents are exacerbating the crisis for the county.

But not every county on the fringes of Colorado’s borders is losing population. Are there common traits of dying counties? The answer is yes, and the attitudes of the residents may be a factor.

Five Common Characteristics of a Dying Colorado County

1.  Small Population

The total population of all 17 dying counties is just over 130,000 people. That means that the average population for the counties is well below 10,000 people.

2.  Large ‘White Only’ Population

The average ‘White Only’ demographic for Colorado is 68%. The 17 dying counties have an average ‘White Only’ demographic of 73%.

3.  Fewer College Degrees…by almost half

Over 40% of Colorado residents have college degrees. In the 17 dying counties, only 21% have college degrees.

4.  Average per Capita Income is Less…about one-third less

The average per capita income for a Colorado resident is $36,415. The average for the 17 dying counties is $24,735.

5.  Strong Republican Support

Rural counties tend to be more conservative, but these 17 dying counties are diehard Republican fanatics. All of the 17 dying counties voted for Donald Trump in 2016 by an average of 71% of the vote. In addition, almost all of the counties have voted for a Republican candidate for President in each election for the past 40 years.

Table 1.0 – Colorado Counties Decreasing in Population. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau and Wikipedia]

Not All Small Counties Vote Red

It is easy to assume that all rural counties with a small population are conservative and vote Republican. That is not true in Colorado. Most of the 26 smaller counties do vote Republican, but there are eight small counties that have voted for the Democratic Presidential candidate a majority of the time during the last 40 years.

Those eight Blue counties with populations under 10,000 have a ‘White Only’ demographic slightly less than Colorado’s average, an average population growth rate of 8.5%, have a college degree rate of about 50% greater than the dying counties, and have an average per capita income that is about halfway between the dying counties average and the State average.

Table 2.0 – Colorado Blue counties with a population of less than 10,000. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau and Wikipedia]

Does Political Ideology Determine the Fate of a County?

The correlation between a county’s fate and the political leanings of its citizens does seem to exist, but does ideology determine the fate of a county, or does the county’s situation determine the political ideology? There is no obvious answer to that question.

Still, the political ideology reflects the attitudes of its citizens in decision-making and the fact that all of the counties in Colorado that are losing population, voted for Trump in the last election, and that the long term history of those counties has been to vote Republican, it would seem that the traditional political leanings of a county have an impact on the success or failure of a Colorado county.

Dying Counties Don’t Die

The tragedy of dying counties is that they don’t die.

Colorado has three counties with a population under 900 people each. These three counties have their own county commissioners, their own county administrative offices, and their own county sheriff’s department. All three of these counties are adjacent to each other and yet they exist as separate entities.

It would be logical to fold a failed county into an adjacent county; however, that is not what happens to counties that no longer are viable. These counties become wards of the State, dependent on State tax revenues to exist.

In the end, dying counties become dependent on the rest of the citizens of Colorado.

Moffat County Coal: Why Ignorance is Not Bliss

30 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Conservatives, Donald Trump, Economy, Education, Employee Retention, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Green, History, Honor, jobs, labor, Layoff, Mining, Politicians, Politics, Public Image, Public Relations, racism, Reduction in Force, Small town, Technology, US History, Voting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

coal industry, coal mining, coal-fired power plant, Colorado, Colowyo Mine, Craig, economic, economy, green energy, growth, Moffat County, natural gas, northwestern Colorado, power plant, solar power, stagnation, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, wind power

The Pity Party Regarding Moffat County Coal

A video about coal mining in northwestern Colorado suggests the people of Craig, in Moffat County, are having a pity party and they want everyone to join in on their self-inflicted suffering. Craig’s primary economic industries are coal mining, coal-fueled power generation, and tourism from primarily hunting and other seasonal outdoor sports. It is an economy that locals admit lacks diversity and resiliency.

Craig, Colorado:  Moffat County’s Only Significant Population Center

This month, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association announced that it would close all three coal-fired power units by 2030 and close down the Colowyo coal mine that supplies the three power plants south of Craig. Not surprisingly, local people are upset and many are turning their anger towards government regulations that they claim are killing their community.

This carefully crafted pity video published in 2015, by the American Energy Alliance, an energy industry-funded non-profit operated and directed by former House Republican staffers, is being used by at least one area resident¹ to use the news of the closings to renew anger at the government:

[SEE: The Perfect Storm Over Craig, Colorado]

The Ugly Reality of Coal Mining

Modern history lacks any examples of coal-mining dependent communities that have eventually gone on to become a great economic success. It just doesn’t happen. Mining companies have a reputation of ripping the coal out of the ground, shipping it away, selling it, reaping vast fortunes, and walking away from their mess. The coal industry has a legacy of broken workers, broken agreements, and always placing owner profits over every other consideration. In their wake is typically a shell of a community that is left in a cycle of poverty.

But history and context are typically not what local people care about or understand. They only see that a company is willing to come to their isolated community and offer them a Devil’s Bargain for jobs. Local communities are usually burned by the deal but rather than accept the consequences, many adopt the tactics of the tobacco farmers when the public became aware of the dangers of smoking. They scream, “It’s all the government’s fault.”

The Facts

Change Has Been Coming:  In the last decade, many aging coal-fired plants have been converted over to natural gas. The fuel is less expensive and cleaner than coal. Tri-State has stated that the decision to shut their Moffat County operations was a business decision based on operational costs.

The Road to Nowhere

The Craig Power Plants Units Already Slated For Closure:  Two of the three units were already slated to be retired. Unit One was to be closed in 2025 and Unit Two was to be retired in 2039. Unit Three was only four years younger than Unit One but no retirement date had been established. All three Units were facing decommissioning and the associated coal mine would become less relevant with each Unit closure.

Coal is More Expensive and Harmful:  The combined costs of building and operating coal-fired power plants, added to the cost of mining coal, the cost of restoring the damage (environmental, health, etc.) caused by mining coal, and the cost of the impact of the air, soil, and groundwater pollution of coal burning, makes the expense of coal-generated energy too high. With no mining, minimal pollution, and free fuel, solar and wind energy are less expensive and the green options don’t threaten the disastrous consequences of global warming caused by carbon-based fuels.

Alternative Energy is Becoming the Standard

Coal Generation Has Been On a 20 Year Decline:  In 1997, coal provided 52.8% of the energy generated at commercial sized units. By 2018, that had dropped down to 27.8%. No new coal-fired generating plants are being planned or built in the United States to replace old units scheduled to be closed. Coal is a dying industry and no one can say it’s a sudden death. [Source]

It’s the Mining Company, Stupid:  Mining has consistently replaced human workers with machines that are more productive, less expensive, and don’t complain or demand anything. The reduced size of the mining workforce in the United States has nothing to do with government regulation and everything to do with companies saving money by taking away mining jobs from their own workers.

The Person Standing On the Train Track

A person standing on an active train track has three choices. That person can, 1) step off the track before the train comes, 2) get up on the platform and hope the train stops to let him or her get on, or 3) continue to stand on the track and rant about the train until she or he is run over by it.

The video suggests that the people of Craig have chosen to take the third choice. There is no sudden change in the coal industry that is causing it to be phased out. Anyone who cared about their community would have known that coal was a bad bet in the economic sustainability game.

Moffat County, the Perfect Victims

Why is Craig the perfect platform to be showcased for a political agenda?

White Begats Red

Moffat County is Trump Country. It is 80% caucasian and overwhelmingly Republican. In the last 55 years, no Democratic Presidential candidate has obtained more than 40% of the vote in the county. Craig is happy to be the political tool of the white wing.

History of Being a Victim

Craig is located halfway between Denver and Salt Lake City. It used to be on the main route between the two major cities (US 40.) When Interstate 70 (I-70) was in the planning stages it was to terminate in Denver, but Governor Edwin Johnson, (a Moffat County native,) convinced the federal government to continue it through Colorado. The irony is that he ignored the existing US 40 route through his home town and proposed the interstate follow the US 6 route.

Signal Hill: The Faded Glory of Craig

That decision isolated Craig. Instead of being the perfect stopping point between Salt Lake and Denver, it became the town ninety miles south of Interstate 80 (I-80) and ninety miles north of I-70. The impact of that choice still affects Craig’s economy today.

Population Stagnation

While the population of every economically diverse community has been increasing over the last 30 years, Moffat County’s population hit a high of 14,541 in 1983 and today it has over 1,000 fewer people than 37 years ago. Every Spring, the high school graduates more students than the community has jobs. For decades, the need to diversify and expand Moffat County’s economy has been a topic of discussion…with no viable plan.

Imprisoned By Their Own Political Ideologies

One obvious opportunity is alternative energy. The transmission lines that connect Craig to the power infrastructure already exist with the terminus at the current power plants. A wind or solar farm in Moffat County wouldn’t have significant expenses in building transmission lines.

End of the Road in Craig

The problem is that alternate energy choices are exactly what many people from Craig have sworn to oppose. In their minds, solar and wind farms are a waste of time and resources. For a majority population of Trump supporters, accepting clean energy as a source of new jobs and revenue for the community is unthinkable. Better to fail and cry than admit their lack of foresight.

A Failure To Educate

Moffat County High School is one of the worst performing in the state. Those that graduate face the choice of few job opportunities in the community or leave and face difficult challenges in being competitive with better educated graduates. From the CollegeSimply website:

Moffat County High School has an academic rating well below the average for Colorado high schools based on its low test performance, average graduation rate and low AP course participation.

Moffat County High School students score less than a 9% proficiency in Math (State average is 33%,) and less than a 14% proficiency in Reading (State average is 42%.) Less than 9% of the students have passed one or more AP exams. [Source]

Whether Craig’s stagnated economy has led to poor education or poor education has led to a stagnated economy the result is the same, the future of the community is not in the hands of young people who can be expected to repair and build upon their parent’s lot in life.  

A Video For No Reason

All this may explain the attitudes and desperation of the people of Moffat County expressed in the video. They feel like victims and so rather than embrace new technologies and diversify the economy, they would rather hang on to the past.

This video is the perfect storm of ignorance, political game-playing, an attitude of defeat, and poor education. It exposes the city and county’s history of failing to be proactive. Instead of seeking a more diverse economy, a choice was made to seek pity. The community may never realize that a Devil’s Bargain has a price…and now they will pay.

[¹NOTE:  This video was posted on 29 January 2020 on the Facebook page of a former high school graduate of Moffat County High School who still lives in the region. The author of this article believed the video was published after the news of the closings; however, after this article was published the author became aware that the video was first published in 2015. Corrections to the text have been made accordingly. Also, the video embed link has since stopped working and has been replaced by a URL link. ]

White Racists: Always About Power Over Non-Whites

04 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Conservatives, Discrimination, Ethics, Government, History, Honor, Politicians, Politics, racism, Religion, Respect, Small town, United States, US History, Water

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Colorado, Craig, Massacre, Meeker, Moffat County, Nathan Meeker, Native Americans, Rifle, Rio Blanco County, Utah, Ute Indians, Utes

Racism has always been about power. The power to dominate another group of people is at the core of white supremacist groups. When the South formed the Confederate State of America, they were provoking a civil war in order to maintain their power and control over African Americans. Historically, racism has been the tool of the Caucasian race to threaten and intimidate non-Caucasians.

But African Americans were not the only target of white racists. 

Nathan Meeker:  Tool of White Power

In 1878, Nathan Meeker was appointed as the Indian agent overseeing the Ute Indians of northwestern Colorado. Meeker was not qualified, nevertheless, he was appointed.  He needed the job to pay off loans to the daughters of Horace Greeley. Meeker took out those loans to establish a religious-based utopian colony at what is now Greeley, Colorado. Meeker’s colony was a failure and he found himself in a financial bind when his loan was called due.

Nathan Meeker: Indian agent, racist

As the Indian agent of the White River Agency, Meeker saw the Native Americans as lesser people. In an article published shortly before his appointment he said:

…They are savages, having no written language, no traditional history, no poetry, no literature . . . a race without ambition, and also a race deficient in the inherent elements of progress. Vermin abound on their persons,… 

Nathan Meeker

Shortly after Meeker assumed his job as Indian agent, Frederick Walker Pitkin became Governor, in part, on a slogan, “The Utes Must Go!” He and others exaggerated claims of ‘Indian problems’ in an effort to justify a forced relocation of the Utes off of land with valuable resources.

Meeker was the tip of the racist sword as the Indian agent. Meeker decided it was his job to pound the Utes tribes into submission. His goal was to force the Ute Indians to adopt his agricultural and religious values. The Utes were nomadic hunter-gatherers but Meeker wanted to make them farmers. This resulted in tension between the Utes and Meeker that led to an altercation.

The Utes had created a place for gathering and competing in horse races. Meeker objected to this and decided to plow under the area. It was a racist move to provoke a reaction. He got it. When confronted by the Utes, Meeker claimed he was attacked by the Ute chief and severely injured. More reliable versions of the story say he was push and fell to the ground.

Chain of Tragedies

Meeker wired for military support and used the incident as cause for immediate action. On 21 September 1879, Major Thomas T. Thornberg led a force of about 175 men from Fort Steele in South Central Wyoming. The Utes knew or suspected that Meeker had requested troops to be sent to the area.

On 29 September, a band of Ute Indians attacked the White River Agency and killed Meeker and ten male employees. They then took some of the women and children as hostages.

By accident or design, the Utes met the incoming army later that day about 30 km from the White River Agency. The Utes pinned Thornberg’s force down and killed the Major and 13 of his men. The troops held out several days until 35 of the all-African American Buffalo Soldiers arrived from southwestern Colorado.

After rescuing the remain Thornberg forces, negotiations took place to gain the release of the hostages.

Aftermath of a Provoked Attack

There is no doubt that Nathan Meeker’s incompetence and aggression provoked the attack. There is no doubt that many white people settling in Colorado wanted the Native Americans out. There is also no doubt that the Ute’s involved in the attacks were wrong in taking a drastic action against the agency and the U.S. Army. It was a mistake for which their people would pay dearly.

The attacks were the perfect excuse to move the Ute Indians out of Colorado. Initially a deal was struck for one tribe of Ute Indians to remain, but eventually, the government renigged on the deal and forced all Utes to a reservation in Utah. Within three years after the attack, all Native Americans had been relocated.

The white racists of Colorado got what they wanted. Ranchers and miners moved in quickly. Soon after the turn of the century, homesteading began and hundreds packed up everything they owned to claim a new life in Colorado.

Postscript

It is somewhat ironic that all this resulted in little benefit to the incoming white culture in the area. The current population of both Rio Blanco and Moffat Counties in northwestern Colorado is less than 20,000 people in an area that is about the size of Massachusetts (12,800 km.) The population is almost the same as it was for the 2000 census. The economy is almost completely dependent on coal mining, an electric generating plant, and hunting/fishing tourism.

Should Federal Dollars Go To States With Low Taxes?

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, All Rights Reserved, Business, Conservatives, Donald Trump, Economy, Ethics, Government, Honor, jobs, labor, Nevada, Politicians, Politics, Reno, Taxes, Technology, United States, US History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

capital gains tax, Colorado, corporate tax, federal dependent states, federal money, income tax, low tax states, low taxes, Nevada, Sierra Nevada Corp., state tax, tax, tax fairness, taxes

Nevada has no income tax, no corporate tax, no inventory tax, and no capital gains tax. Should the rest of the country be taxed to give money to Nevada? The idea that some State and local governments can avoid taxing their citizens, but expect to receive federal tax dollars is a question of fairness and equity. Perhaps the federal government should base allocations to States based on their willingness to act fiscally responsible?

Virginia State Line

Some States Pull Their Weight

Low Taxes Myth

There is a myth that low State taxes attracts businesses, that in turn, attracts jobs for the citizens. In Nevada, the tax haven does attract companies, but only those that seek to dodge taxes. The Sierra Nevada Corporation is a prime example. They are a private defense contractor that, among other things, seek to become the next privatized NASA.

The Sierra Nevada Corporation sounds like it would be a major employer in Nevada. It is not. Currently, it claims to have over 3,500 employees in 33 locations around the world.  In 2014, about one-third of its employees were in Colorado and the potential job growth is at its Colorado facilities.

However, its corporate headquarters is in Nevada. The company was founded in Nevada; however, the State does not have the caliber of workers needed for the high technology jobs. So why not move the company to Colorado? Because the corporate staff and the company enjoy the tax immunity of Nevada.

Freeloader States

According to WalletHub.com, the ten State governments that are most dependent on federal money are as follows:

  1. Louisiana
  2. Mississippi
  3. Arizona
  4. Kentucky
  5. New Mexico
  6. Montana
  7. Oregon
  8. Tennessee
  9. Missouri
  10. Alaska

These States are the top ten with the lowest taxes on their residents, (with the ranking of federal dollar dependency,) according to USA Today (Taxes on corporations are not included):

  1. Alaska (10)
  2. Wyoming (20)
  3. South Dakota (14)
  4. Tennessee (8)
  5. Louisiana (1)
  6. Texas (21)
  7. New Hampshire (31)
  8. Nevada (36)
  9. South Carolina (29)
  10. Oklahoma (26)

Three of the top five having the lowest State taxes are also among the top ten State governments most dependent on federal money. The residents of another three of the top ten States with low taxes are in the top fifty percent in dependency on federal subsistence.

Five of the top ten States (Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, and Nevada) with the lowest taxes have no State income tax.

Pulling Their Weight

Many States use federal money to supplement their own tax revenue. It is only fair that they should. It is unfair that some States tilt the tax revenue field and expect federal money to replace State revenue. Perhaps it’s time that federal money should be restricted from States that do not have an adequate local and State tax structure to provide a foundation for services for their citizens before federal money is given to them.

NRA is Not a Gun Safety Organization

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Aging, All Rights Reserved, Crime, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Gun control, Gun Extremists, Health, History, Mass Shootings, Mental Health, Nevada, Politicians, Politics, Recreation, Reno, United States, US History, Violence in the Workplace, Wildlife, Women

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Colorado, Colorado Division of Wildlife, FL, Florida, gun, Gun control, gun extremists, gun laws, gun lobby, gun rights, gun violence, Hunter, Hunter's Safety Course, hunting, mass murders, mass shooter, Mass shootings, Parkland, Student Protests

I obtained a National Rifle Association (NRA) card in 1967 (updated in 1975.) Actually, it was a hunter’s safety card. It was a new requirement for a Colorado Department of Natural Resources hunting license for anyone born after 1949. I earned it by attending a hunter’s safety course sponsored by the NRA. I was nine years old, and as I recall, I was among the first children to go through the course. That was when gun safety was important to gun owners and to the NRA.

Today’s NRA:  Put Guns In the Reach of Children

Now the NRA is a nonprofit group with a focus on increasing the profits of weapons manufacturers. Safety is in conflict with its primary mission. Now its goal is to propagandize weapon ownership and instill fear in the mind of the public. The concept of promoting safe use of firearms has been replaced with promoting unsafe firearm practices. Protecting the sale of assault-type weapons and putting a gun in a room of children, for example.

In 1967 good gun ownership included making sure guns were unloaded when coming back into town. Guns and people are never a good combination. In 2018 the NRA philosophy is driven by one concept…How can gun manufacturers sell more guns? The new philosophy can be seen in every aspect of NRA activity. Guns in schools, guns at home, assault rifle for everyone, no background checks, etc.

… the NRA is a powerful political organization that lobbies for gun rights and opposes the restriction on firearms by gun laws … the National Rifle Association has become one of the most powerful organizations that has great influence at the political level.

The National Rifle Association website

Voice of Common Sense

Today at 10 am, students around the country will remember last month’s mass school shooting that killed 17 people. Gun extremists are quick to focus on the minor transgression of students walking out of class and ignore the murder of children by a man with a gun that no one should own. If this protest was for the NRA, gun extremists would be voicing the right of Free Speech, but only a fool would protest for the NRA.

Voices of common sense about gun ownership are always seen as a threat to gun extremists. I once spent over an hour discussion common sense gun ownership with two gun extremists who were on a campus seeking to recruit more gun extremists. My debate with them became pointless. It was the same NRA indoctrination over and over. They have to defend themselves against an imaginary enemy. When I asked them what allows them to be judge, jury, and executioner, their retort was, “I have a right to defend myself.”

Assault-type Rifles Are To Kill People 

One of the demands of today’s student protests is to reinstate the ban on assault-type rifles. Anyone who has hunted knows that an assault-type rifle is not compatible with shooting game animals. The first step in discharging any firearm is to aim at your target, and be sure there is nothing in front or behind that might be hit by the bullet. Once fired, a gun will jerk and require it to be aimed again. An assault-type rifle is designed to spray bullets in rapid fire, and if configured with a ‘bump’ stock, or illegally retrofit to be an automatic rifle, aiming is not possible.

The comments I have heard from owners of assault-type rifles is that they are ‘fun to fire.’ This leads me to believe that the man who committed the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was on a ‘thrill kill’ that was triggered by having so many weapons of mass murder available. He simply wanted to use them for their intended purpose.

The NRA’s position is that assault-type rifles should be available for anyone who can afford one. Their reason is simple; more weapons instills fear in others, which in turn sells more weapons. There is no downside to mass shootings in regard to the NRA’s goals.

Am I Safe?

After finding my Hunter’s Safety Card I contacted one of the Colorado Wildlife offices and asked if my card from 1967 or 1975 was still valid. They are, but that doesn’t make me a safe gun owner. A card doesn’t make you a safe gun owner. Nor does a gun make you a safe gun owner.

Urban Coyotes

04 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Lessons of Life, parenting, Recreation, United States, Wildlife

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Colorado, Coyote, coyotes, coywolf, coywolves, Craig, lunar eclipse, Nevada, Peavine Mountain, Reno, urban coyotes, wildlife

I grew up in a small town in northwestern Colorado. It was in a rural area surrounded by sagebrush and dirt roads. As I grew up I heard coyotes often, but rarely did I see one. I knew what they looked like, but they had plenty of jackrabbits, bunnies (not the same thing,) and other small creatures as food outside of town. They didn’t need to come into town and it was a dangerous place to be with a gun rack in every truck. The idea of an urban coyote was contrary to common sense.

Coyote on our driveway last May

Urban Coyotes:  A Different Animal

For the last 23 years, I have lived in Reno, Nevada. Our house is two blocks from the University of Nevada. It is about a mile from the nearest open field and the slopes of Peavine Mountain. We have coyotes on our street on a regular basis. We live with a new type of coyote that is urbanized and we are in its hunting ground.

Until recently I didn’t understand that Reno is surrounded by packs of coyotes living off a human community. I knew pets often disappeared, blamed on a mysterious coyote, (NOTE:  The evidence contradicts this belief,) but I assumed it meant the pet had wandered too far out in an open field. My eyes were opened on the morning of 31 January 2018.

Coyotes Galore

Early that morning I went out to see the total lunar eclipse. At 4:30 am I drove to one of the highest subdivisions in Reno, built on the slope of Peavine Mountain. As the eclipse ended and Earth’s shadow left the Moon, the area exploded with coyote calls in every direction.

The volume of calls and the fact that they came from multiple directions forced me into a new realization. These were not a few random coyotes that wandered too close to town. These we part of the ecosystem of Reno. These are urban coyotes.

Last week this was concept was brought home to me, literally, when we had three sightings of a coyote in five days on our street. It is likely that we live in a corridor between the open space and a park that is overrun with squirrels. These are stupid squirrels, so I can understand the interest of the coyotes. I accidentally killed one with my bike a few years ago when it ran under me as I was riding down the pathway.

Human Attacks by Coyotes

Coyotes tend to avoid humans at all costs; however, under certain circumstances, coyotes will attack a small child. There have only been two recorded deaths by a coyote(s,) but in the northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, there is an animal known as coywolf that some say is more aggressive and others say is timid like the coyote. 

What I find interesting is that coyote and coywolf behavior seems to be evolving in a relatively short period. Most coyotes hunt at night and can easily be chased away, which has kept them as a low threat to humans; however, as they become more adapted to human environments they may begin to lose some of their shyness.

Urban Coyotes Do’s and Don’ts

Do

  • Be on the lookout for coyotes.
  • Yell at them and spook them away.
  • Keep a close eye on small children and pets, especially in unfenced areas.
  • Report any aggressive act by a coyote to the local wildlife authority.

Don’t

  • Try to lure them to you.
  • Feed them, nor leave food out, nor allow a food source to be available.
  • Let dogs chase them. (coyotes have been known to lure dogs away.)
  • Let cats out at night.

Housing Prices Edge Closer to Catastrophe

04 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Business, Crisis Management, Customer Service, Economy, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, History, Housing, Real Estate, Taxes, The Tipping Point, United States

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2007-09 Recession, California, Colorado, Disaster, economy, home prices, Homes, housing, investment owner, Massachusetts, median home price, Nevada, owner-occupied, real estate, Recession, recession of 2018, United States

For the last twenty years, the United States has been building a tower of paper wealth. Over time the paper value of homes on the market has far outpaced inflation and wage growth. The current realty market has little connection to reality and we are on the brink of a housing catastrophe.

Price With No Reality Check

The real estate market is inherently flawed. Some claim that it is a perfect example of supply and demand, but that is not accurate. Real estate is the perfect example of a capitalistic market where common sense and ethics are overlooked because greed has blinded the people involved.

Prices exceed the bubble of 2007

Home Prices Heading Toward a Cliff

Housing prices are not governed by a person’s (or family’s) ability to pay. They are governed by a real estate professional who has a financial interest in driving the price up, and an owner that wants as much money as possible. The buyer taking all the risk and if the housing prices don’t continue upward, they lose.

So why would anyone buy a house when prices are already too high?

The ‘Investment’ Loophole

Historically, the one house, one owner or owner-occupied concept kept a check on housing prices. If the buyer couldn’t pay the mortgage, he or she would lose their home. That was a big risk. Today’s investment buyer risks little if anything if they can’t pay a second home mortgage. She or he may lose the home if the investment fails but is a loss of potential future revenue and not a personal crisis.

Investment housing creates artificial shortages because one owner can own multiple homes, removing those from the overall inventory. The lower the supply, the higher the price. In 2016, the number of owner-occupied homes in the United States was 63.6%. California’s owner-occupied rate is 55.3% and at $524,000, its median home price is over double compared to $206,300 for the United States.

Median home price in four cities compared to U.S. average

Another 2007?

The current median price for a home in the United States is higher than it was during the housing bubble in 2007. Any shock to the economy would erase the paper home value and flood the market with another round of investment homes being dumped on the market.

It is a crisis that is easy to anticipate, but no one does. When the next recession hits the United States will once again suffer through a massive drop in housing prices as multi-house owners dump their investment homes and walk away.

[COUNT TO 500: 493rd Article in PAULx]

My Four Fathers

16 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, Communication, Ethics, genealogy, Generational, Management Practices, parenting, Pride, Public Image, Relationships, Respect, Women

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Barrick, Colorado, Craig, Depue, Family, family history, Henderson, Kiser, siblings, son, Vernon Kiser, Waner

(To understand the background of this story see, Familius Interruptus, the explanation of how I learned through a DNA test that my father was not my father, and that my mother had an affair with another man known to our family.)

I had four fathers. Two of my fathers were real, tangible people. Both were good men and both were good fathers. One of my fathers was my biological father. I knew of him, and people have told me about him, but I never really knew him. He died when I was five years old.

One of my fathers was my man listed on my birth certificate. He was the man I always knew to be my Dad. He raised me and until a few months ago, I was led to believe he was my real father.

But I have two other fathers. They are the two men who I never got to know. They are ghosts of my past. They are the relationships I should have had with both my biological father, and my Dad, but were kept from me in a shroud of secrecy, rumors, and shame.

My Biological Father
My knowledge of my biological father is limited. He was a business owner in Craig, a small northwestern Colorado town. Based on everything I can gather, he was an amazing entrepreneur, creating and maintaining a business in a market that was too small, and too poor for the quality and experience his company offered.

My biological father

I have never heard anyone speak a negative word about my real father. His tragic death when I was only five, kept me from having any kind of relationship with him, and the shroud of secrecy that was maintained prevented me from interacting with the people who really knew him. 

It is ironic and poetic that it is the next generation of my biological family that reached out to me after a DNA test proved the link between myself and their family. It was their actions that brought clarity and truth to my family history, and I am grateful.

I regret not knowing my real father and being able to know him as my father. I also am saddened to think of his sons and their mother. His death occurred when his sons were young adults. From what I know of my real father, he would have been proud of who they became, and of their achievements with their families, their work, and their church. My lack of a relationship with my real father pales in comparison to their loss.

My Dad
The man who raised me worked hard all his life. He was often up on Mondays before five in the morning and on the road to the job site, over an hour away. He often stayed at the job site during the week, living out of a camping trailer. He operated heavy equipment, and as a child the words, Cat, Maintainer, and Scraper described the three types of heavy equipment that my father used to build roads and reservoirs.

My Dad, and my Mother

I was the youngest of four sons to my Dad. I remember going with my family to see my oldest brother play high school basketball, my next oldest brother play high school football, but I don’t remember my Dad going see my next to youngest brother in plays, nor do I remember him coming to any of my school events. I suspect that when I was a child, my Dad was at the job site when our events were happening.

If my Dad knew, or suspected that I was not his son, I was not aware of it. I have indications that my mother and he had a strange marriage, but as a child, I had nothing to compare their relationship with, nor did I have any reference to compare my relationship with my parents. In hindsight, I knew I was not the child that my parents beamed with pride over, but I attributed it to being the last of four boys.

The Kiser brothers and me (on left)

My mother posted an October 1968, Erma Bombeck column on our family scrapboard about the Caboose Child that was ‘planned about as well as a headache.’ At the time, I had no idea that my mother was probably well aware of who my real father was, but I didn’t understand the statement she was probably making when she posted this single article on the scrapboard.

I suspect my father also knew, and that is part of the story that is amazing and tragic. Most people would shun the bastard child, but to my knowledge, he didn’t. Our relationship wasn’t close, but he could have justifiably shunned me, and he didn’t.

That is the Dad I didn’t get to know. The man who probably knew I was not his child, but raised me anyway. Regardless of what happened one day in March of 1957, he chose to be my Dad. I wish that before his death, I could have expressed my appreciation for living with the knowledge that few men would have had the character to move beyond.

My Dad wasn’t a perfect father, but he was a father to me, when he could have rejected me. I had a relationship with my Dad that I knew, and I wish I could have had a relationship with the part of my Dad who had to deal with the reality that I was as a son of another man.

I am too late, but I want to express gratitude to my fathers, and wish them a belated Happy Father’s Day.

Familius Interruptus: Lessons of a DNA Shocker

29 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Branding, Communication, Ethics, genealogy, Generational, Health, History, Honor, Internet, Lessons of Life, parenting, Politics, Privacy, Relationships, Respect, Science, Technology, Women

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ancestry.com, Barrick, bastard, birth certificate, Birthdays, boys, Colorado, deception, Depue, DNA, DNA testing, Family, family histoy, father, genealogy, Kiser, lying, mother, Warner

My Dad, and my Mother
My Dad, and my Mother
The Kiser Family in 1957
The Kiser Family in 1957

Last week I became one of ‘those’ people. 

Researching genealogy has relied on family stories, written diaries, and documents. Now it has the truth. DNA. DNA doesn’t lie, it just gives you the facts. Unbiased, unwavering, insensitive facts.

People talk about the dangers of using DNA to research genealogy. DNA might reveal that the stories, diaries, and documents sometimes lie. Sometimes, even a birth certificate lies because the people who created it were there for the birth, not the conception.

On 23 January 2017, I became one of those people who found out that the DNA test disproved everything I had been led to believe about who I was, and to what family I belonged. I found out that the man who raised me as his son, was not my father.

_dsc0018-2Six decades ago, my mother became pregnant with a man known to her and our family. I was born in December of that year. I looked enough like my mother, that it probably wasn’t too difficult to sell the idea that I was the legitimate child of my father. In addition, the man we believe to be my father was tragically killed in an accident when I was five, so I didn’t really have a chance to interact with him as I grew up.

If it were not for the DNA test, I would have never known…until one of my children took a DNA test. Truth can be relentless.

What Do You Say to the Half-Son?
The news was unreal, then surreal, then it got strange. There is no way to describe how it feels to have a fundamental truth about yourself suddenly proven wrong. The displacement of my reality was not a sudden shock, but a creeping wave of unrest and confusion.

Some people might have been hesitant to share this information with others. Those people hate me. I’m not a private or secretive person, and after I realized that I had lived a lie for almost sixty years, I was determined to end the secret as quickly as possible.

Most of the immediate family members of both families have passed away, so other than ‘honor’ of both families, and the memories of the people involved, this was a matter that impacted me and my children. While trying to be sensitive to both families, I posted the news on Facebook.

Mostly, the reaction was stunned silence. I found out later that many people had read the post, but what do you say to someone in my position? I’m willing to bet even Hallmark doesn’t have a card for this situation.

The reaction was typically positive and supportive. There was a suggestion that the DNA test might be wrong, and a couple of people began suggesting that the affair might not have been consensual. I gave a terse response to one of those comments and deleted it.

Who Knew?
One of the first questions that occurred to me was, “Who knew, and when did they know it.” It is somewhat of a pointless exercise because most people have passed on, and those still alive who may have known are not likely to implicate themselves in the deception.

I am confident my mother knew, or strongly suspected I was not her husband’s child. Several reactions and responses to questions about my family history seemed indicate she was deliberately vague and at times, almost disruptive to my research.

Among the most obvious oddities was her insistence that my fraternal grandfather was half to three quarters Native American. This was almost always followed by a reference that my coloring, (brown hair, brown eyes, and dark complexion) was Native American. The last time she made this reference, my brother had already proven that as far back to 1803, and beyond there was no Native American blood in the Kiser or Warner family.

The Brutality of Deception
Deception is an insidious malady. The bigger the deception, the more it infects a person’s sense of well being. I can’t imagine what my mother experienced during a lifetime of keeping this deception going, especially when the man who was most likely my real father died. His sudden death, mixed with the probability he was my father, could not have created a more chaotic mix of emotions for my mother.

As I became an adult I tried to analyze my mother and father’s relationship. It was clear that they were not in a positive emotional relationship. To me it felt more like they were performing the expected roles, but not with any emotional connection. It’s possible that was their behavior around me, but I suspect it was noticed by others.

My interactions with my mother were typically civil, but I would never have considered them warm. I don’t think she treated my brothers any different. That was who she was as a mother.

However, now I have to wonder if she saw me as the child that added complications in her life. Did my presence create a psychological conflict within her? Did she fear that other people might have known and were talking behind her back?

Moving Forward
I can’t imagine what would have happened if the truth would have come out when I was a child, and perhaps it was best for everyone that it didn’t come out, but the collateral damage of maintaining a deception likely affected my mother’s relationships with my father, with the family, and with me. I am disturbed that she didn’t respect me enough to tell me at some point. To deny me the truth was unfair to me and my children.

The lesson of this is that deception can be as destructive as the truth. My mother may have believed she escaped the consequences of her situation by lying and maintaining that lie, but I don’t believe she did. I think she created a hole in her life, and now a lot of people are falling in that hole. 

But now it is time to move forward. It is strange, but my last name feels like I am lying every time I say it. I feel I have to say, “My name is Paul Kiser, but actually I’m not a Kiser by blood.” I don’t think I’ll do that when I go through immigration next week, but still, the impulse is there.

Fortunately, my children, and the children of the other family are intrigued by the new family history. As offsetting as this is in the old world of hiding shame and embarrassment, the new world doesn’t end when someone’s decades old indiscretions come to light.

And this is where the story begins. 

Moffat County, Colorado: Story of Two Families (Part III-Another Radiator Springs)

12 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Education, Generational, Government, History, Lessons of Life, The Tipping Point, Travel, US History

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Barrick, Colorado, Colorado Street, Craig, Family, Frances Barrick, genealogy, Kiser, Maybell, Mike Kiser, Vernon Kiser

1940’s-Kiser/Barrick Merger
By 1939, both the Barrick and Kiser family had established themselves in Moffat County. The original two families had lived in northwestern Colorado for over two decades and the children born there were now old enough to start their own families. Vernon, the oldest son of the Kiser family and Frances, the eldest daughter of the Barrick family married on October 29, 1939. Both were first generation natives of Moffat County.

Vernon and Frances Kiser

Vernon and Frances Kiser

To support themselves, Vernon took jobs wherever he could in the 1940’s. He and Frances moved several times around northwestern Colorado to be where the work took them. World War II had little impact on Vernon and Frances as he had broken his arm as a child and it failed to heal properly.

His disqualification to join the military was a blessing as he became a father in 1945. Kenneth Clyde was born on July 10, and by that time Vernon had settled into a career as a heavy equipment operator. In 1949, Vernon began working for Henderson Construction where he would remain for the next 22 years.

However, World War II did have an impact on other members of the Kiser and Barrick family. Vernon’s brothers, Loren and Hubert Kiser and, the brother of Frances, George Jr. and two of her brother-in-laws, Lewis Hurlburt and Ed Annon served in the military during the war. All survived the war, but they, and their families, all relocated outside of Moffat County after they returned.

1950-70 The Hahn’s Peak Years
Vernon’s work with Henderson Construction was largely with a small mining company. One of their mining claims was Hahn’s Peak in nearby Routt County. The idea was that because gold had been found in a radius around the extinct volcano, perhaps there were veins of gold in the mountain. For many years Vernon was employed to build and maintain roads on Hahn’s Peak for the mining operations on the mountain. Almost all of the roads on Hahn’s Peak were carved out by Vernon.

Hahn's Peak - Roads by Vernon Kiser

Hahn’s Peak – Roads by Vernon Kiser

Vernon and Frances had three more boys during his tenure with Henderson Construction. Michael Warner was born in 1950, Roy Dean was born in 1953, and Paul Alan was born in 1957.

Because Hahn’s Peak was about an hour and a half from Craig, Vernon lived in a trailer house at the base of the Hahn’s Peak during the week. During the summer when school was out the family would join their Dad and live at the camp for the summer. Once a week Frances and the boys would come into town to wash clothes, shop, and maintain the yard at the house, then head back to Hahn’s Peak.

1960-80 677 Colorado Street
Much of the Barrick family had moved out of Moffat County during the 1940’s and 50’s; however, the Vernon and Frances built a home at 677 Colorado Street in Craig, and From 1958 until 1978, that house was the anchor of the Kiser family. All their boys attended school in Craig, played sports, and graduated from Moffat County High School while living in that house.

The Kiser Family in 1957

The Kiser Family in 1957 at the new house, 677 Colorado Street

Henderson Construction closed it’s doors in 1972, and eventually Vernon took a job at the Moffat County Road Department where he moved up to the Assistant Road Supervisor. By 1976, all of their boys had graduated and left Craig, so Vernon and Frances decided to move to Great Divide and manage one of the county’s remote road maintenance stations.

Of their four boys, Mike Kiser was the only one who returned to northwest Colorado to stay. He was a helicopter mechanic for the Army and was stationed in Germany. After his tour of duty he worked a couple of years as a mechanic for the City of Sandy, Utah. Mike married a woman he met in Utah and they moved back to Craig. In 1975, they had a daughter, Carey.

In Craig, he took a job with the Moffat County Road Department and later became a member of Craig’s volunteer fire department. Unfortunately, while Mike was in his 30’s he was stricken with a hereditary autoimmune disorder that put him in the hospital for weeks at a time and he had to stop working. Eventually, Mike moved out to Maybell where he lived for the rest of his life.

1980’s to 2015-End of an Era
Craig’s story is similar to the story of Radiator Springs in Disney’s fictional town in the animated movie Lightning McQueen, Craig is the town that saw its glory days when U.S. Highway 40 was the best route between Denver and Salt Lake City. Once Interstates 70 and 80 were built, Craig became more isolated even though the two-lane highway is shortest route between the two major cities.

For a person graduating from Moffat County High School, Craig’s career opportunities are limited and the community can’t absorb 100 new job seekers every June. A diploma for many graduates is an order to work for the family business, a signal to scramble to find a local job, or a ticket to pack and leave northwestern Colorado.

Since the Barrick family emigrated to Moffat County in 1913, at least 24 Kiser/Barrick family members lived in northwestern Colorado. By 1990 there were only five members living in the county. The rest left the area for military service, college, better jobs, or just to discover other places. 

The family members still living in Moffat County were Vernon and Frances Kiser, Mike Kiser, Virginia Barrick Hurlburt (sister of Frances,) and George Dean Jr. (brother of Frances.) Vernon had retired from the Road Department and he and Frances purchased a small ranch on the Yampa River west of Maybell. Mike Kiser and Frances’ sister, Virginia Hurlbert, also moved out to Maybell. The five survivors of the Kiser/Barrick family were all natives of Moffat County.

For several years Vernon and Frances enjoyed the return to life on a ranch until Vernon began having health problems. Vernon, the first child of the Kiser/Barrick clan to be born in Moffat County, died at Craig Memorial Hospital in 1996. He was 77. Virginia died in Maybell in 2004. She was 76. George Dean Jr. died in Craig two years later. He was 84. Frances, the last of the first generation of homesteader’s children died at her home in Maybell in 2008. She was also 84.

Michael Warner Kiser 1950-2015

Michael Warner Kiser 1950-2015

After his mother’s death, Mike Kiser remained at the home west of Maybell. He had been married twice, but he had been single for most of the last half of his life. Although he lived with chronic pain, he had been feeling healthier lately. Local people had seen him taking long walks near his home on Highway 318. He had been out on Thursday, November 19, 2015, but no one had seen him since. His brother, Roy, tried to call him on the weekend and when he couldn’t get ahold of Mike he asked the Moffat County Sheriff’s Department to check up on him. They found him dead of a heart attack in his home.

The Kiser/Barrick family line in Moffat County

The Kiser/Barrick family line in Moffat County

Mike’s passing ended a century of the Kiser/Barrick family in Moffat County. The Kisers and the Barricks that were born and raised in northwestern Colorado weren’t really noteworthy. None of them ran for political office, none of them were high-profile citizens, and rarely did you see their names in the local papers. They attended the local schools, worked at local jobs, were involved in sports in high school, and they quietly raised families.

This July the Kiser and Barrick families will come together at Hahn’s Peak to say goodbye to Mike, and say goodbye to our home in northwestern Colorado.

ALSO:  Part I – Pre-Homesteading

ALSO: Part II – Two Family’s Destiny Unfolds

Moffat County, Colorado: Story of Two Families (Part II-Destiny Unfolds)

11 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Generational, History, Passionate People, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Barrick, Colorado, Craig, Depue, Dust Bowl, emigrant, Family, family history, Frances Barrick, genealogy, Great Depression, John Wesley Depue, Kiser, Lucy Elizabeth Spicer, Mervin E. Barrick, Moffat, Moffat County, Vernon Kiser

Life on the Emigrant Car

Life on the Emigrant Car

The birth of Moffat County occurred in 1911, and it came with a wave of settlers who had been encouraged to claim homesteads in the county. Most travelled by train with their possessions in an emigrant car. The settlers would then hire wagons to deliver the household goods from the train station to the homestead. Both the Barrick and the Kiser families used emigrant cars to haul their possessions to northwestern Colorado.

Mervin Edward Barrick

Mervin Edward Barrick

1913-Barrick Family Emigration
The Barrick family came to Moffat County in April of 1913. 41 year-old Mervin E. Barrick filed for a homestead ten miles southwest of Craig. He, his wife, Lucy Elizabeth Spicer, and three boys, Buford (18), George Dean (12), and Floyd (8) rode the train from Boulder to the end of the line at Steamboat Springs. By that Fall, the track would extend to Craig, but now the family had to take the stage to Craig.

The family found life an adventure in the new country. In Craig they stayed in the Webb Hotel until the wagons with their belongings arrived. Once the wagons had caught up with them they were taken to their new homestead. The family written history gives a bleak description of arriving at their new home:

Lucy Elizabeth Spicer

Lucy Elizabeth Spicer

“We arrived about the middle of the afternoon and unloaded in the sage brush (sic) and grubbed out a place to pitch a tent and a place to cook and sleep until we could build a tent house. We carried our water for a mile for a couple of weeks until we could dig out a spring closer to home.”

The family worked on the track extension near Hayden that summer, with Mervin and Buford working on the grade while Lucy and the two boys prepared and fed a work gang of up to 20 men. The next few years were a mix of working at the Mt. Harris coal mine and continuing to work on the homestead.

1918-Kiser Family Emigration

Earl Leroy Kiser holding his daughter Velma June with his mother Arminda Nixon and his grandmother Anna McFadden

Earl Leroy Kiser holding his daughter Velma June with his mother Arminda Nixon and his grandmother Anna McFadden

Earl Kiser was 24, when he brought his wife, Mabel Warner and two year-old daughter, Velma June to Craig on April 24, 1918. They traveled by car for a week to get to Craig from Selden, Kansas.

Later Velma June, the eldest daughter recounted the events:

“April 17, Dad, Mother, June, Cecil, and Joe Sulzman started from Selden to Craig in an open Ford. We went to Aunt Orpha’s for dinner, took pictures and started on. We stayed with Uncle Dan Warner that night. We got to Uncle Ted Warner’s for late dinner Thursday and went to Uncle Art Warner’s that night. We left Art’s in a storm which lasted all day….” 

The family travelled through northeast Colorado to Ingleside, located northwest of Fort Collins. From there they headed north, probably on a road that was a predecessor of U.S. Highway 287. The narrative continues:

“…That night we stayed at Ingleside, Colorado. We did our own cooking, and an Indian made our coffee. Monday night we stayed at Hanna, Wyoming; Tuesday night, at Dad, Wyoming, and Wednesday night in Craig at the Armstrong Hotel.”

Their homestead was northwest of Craig, but shortly after arriving they decided to take land at High Mesa. The next year Vernon Kiser was born at High Mesa making him the first Kiser child to be born in the County.

The family written narrative lists the highlights of 1919:

“1919. We bought Bess and Bell, a gray team, from Mr. Ledford in the spring. Vernon Warner Kiser was born October 17, with Dr. Davenport in attendance and Mrs. Strailey as nurse. Nina Kinley was the first teacher at High Mesa. Raymond Warren Comstock died of diabeted (sic) September 18. We spent Christmas at home. June got a doll and Vernon a rattle (from) grandpa and Grandma Lizzie Kiser.”

1920’s-Barrick and Kiser Families Grow

George Dean and Leona Barrick

George Dean and Leona Barrick

In July of 1920, now 19 year-old George Dean Barrick married 16 year-old Leona Elizabeth Depue in Craig, Colorado. The Depue family had moved to the Moffat County from Weld County, north of Denver, sometime around or just before 1917. Leona was the youngest daughter of seven Depue children, two of which had died before she was born. Leona’s father, John Wesley Depue, died in Craig in 1917, at the age of 55.

George Dean and Leona Barrick had their first child in 1921, George Dean, Jr. In 1924, Frances Elizabeth was born, followed by three more daughters, Virginia Dale (1928), Lucy Mildred (1934), and Gladys Faye (1939). All the children were born in Craig.

Mabel Alta Kiser

Mabel Alta Kiser

Earl and Mabel Kiser would have two more sons, Loren Dale (1922) and Hubert Leroy (1925). They were both born in Craig. Vernon attended the High Mesa School until 1933, when he graduated from grade school. The next Fall he began attending High School in Craig; however, transportation to and from school was enough of an issue to warrant mentioning in the family history:

“Vernon drove our Ford part of the time and part time went with Byrl. Vernon played football, was right guard, No. 27.”

1936 Craig High School football team

1936 Craig High School football team

193o’s – End of Homesteading
By the 1930’s Moffat County was changing. In the 1920’s the cattlemen had literally fought battles against sheepherders and settlers under the belief that the land they had used for grazing belonged to them. At one point the Colorado State Militia had to be called in to restore the peace between the cattlemen and sheepherders. By 1920, they had lost the battle over ownership of the land and the cattle ranching industry faded dramatically.

Homesteading peaked and was fading in the 1920’s. By 1934, the government had shut down programs encouraging settlers to come the area. Many of those who had homesteaded gave up their land and either left or moved into Craig. In 1920, 25% of county citizens lived in Craig. By 1930, that percentage had increased to almost 30%, and by 1940, almost 42% of Moffat County’s population lived in Craig.

Percent of Moffat County population living in Craig

Percent of Moffat County population living in Craig

This trend of living in town might not have surprised early explorers who expressed doubts that people could live off the land in the high desert of northwestern Colorado. It is also possible the Great Depression and Dust Bowl played a role in moving into town where work of jobs and opportunities were more likely.

NEXT:  Part III – Another Radiator Springs

BACK:  Part I – Pre-Homesteading

Moffat County, Colorado: Story of Two Families (Part I Pre-Homesteading)

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Generational, History, Lessons of Life, Relationships

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Barrick, cattle ranching, Colorado, Craig, Family, genealogy, History, Kiser, mining, Moffat, Moffat County, northwestern Colorado, population, railroads, Steamboat Springs

On or about November 20, 2015, Michael Warner Kiser died in his home of a heart attack. He was 65. His death marked the end of a century of Kiser/Barrick family history in Moffat County. This is the story of those families.

Early Northwestern Colorado
To understand northwestern Colorado it is important to know the context of the political and cultural history that shaped its destiny. Until 1847, northwestern Colorado was part of northeastern Mexico. In that year the Mexican Government signed the Treaty of Hidalgo Guadalupe at gunpoint after losing the Mexican American War. Colorado did not become a State until 1876 and Moffat County did not exist until 1911. 

In 1847, Mexico was forced to relinquish all of Northern Mexico to the United States.

In 1847, Mexico was forced to relinquish all of northern Mexico to the United States, including what would become northwestern Colorado.

While Native Americans, primarily the Ute Indians thrived in northwestern Colorado, the opinions of early European explorers in the late 1700’s and 1800’s about the value of the area were not kind. In 1844, John C. Fremont said the country was nearly worthless. In 1869, John Wesley Powell came to the same conclusion, holding out that with massive irrigation the area might produce crops, but there wasn’t enough water.

In the 1860’s gold had been discovered in the mountain creeks west of Denver and men fanned out into the Rockies. In 1865, a group of men found small quantities of gold around an extinct volcano in northwestern Colorado. The primary discoverer, Joseph Hahn was apparently betrayed by one of his partners who left him and another man in the field while he allegedly was off to get supplies. He never returned and Hahn died in an attempt to reach civilization in April of 1867. The extinct volcano was named Hahn’s Peak in honor of him.

Hahn's Peak and the town after the Gold Rush

Hahn’s Peak and the town 40 years after the gold rush

Mining continued to expand in the late 1860’s in northwestern Colorado, but the lack of significant ore deposits and lack of access to and from the area brought an end to the fickle growth created by prospectors.

Farther west in the high desert of northwestern Colorado, Native Americans, primarily the Utes, maintained their traditional nomadic lifestyle; however, some western Europeans sought to retrain the indigenous people and make them adopt the western culture. The effort created conflict between the Native Americans and the caucasian invaders. In 1879, a minor incident of shoving an agent, Nathan Meeker, led to him requesting troops be sent to the area. Ultimately, both sides lost control of the situation and a U.S. Army detachment was attacked resulting in 50 men wounded or killed. An outcry for ‘justice’ led to the 1881 relocation of all Ute Indians from their Colorado lands into Utah. This opened the door for Congress to declare the vacated lands open to homesteading in 1882.

As the Utes were moved out, the cattle ranchers moved in. This created a pressing need for better transportation to the area to ship cattle to Denver; however, a centralized gathering point had to be established to move cattle in and out of the area and many of the existing towns lacked the geographic qualifications needed as a cattle and transportation center.

In the late 1880’s, the founding of Steamboat Springs created a target for those who sought to create a transportation link to northwestern Colorado. It also had the benefit of being near the Oak Creek area where new coal deposits were discovered.

Almost simultaneously, the inflow of homesteaders coming from the Denver side of the Rocky Mountains created the need to build roads and rail lines over the high altitudes and steep terrain of the Continental Divide, but the challenges would take years.

The

The railroad challenge was to build a mountain railway that would access all points west.

It would not be until 1909, that the railroad would reach to Steamboat Springs, and almost overnight Steamboat Springs became the largest cattle transportation center in the country. Had the railroad ended in Steamboat Springs, the town might have become twice as large and hindered the growth of any other communities in northwestern Colorado, but the plan for the railroad had never been to end in a community just on the other side of the Rocky Mountains.

Knowing the railroad was coming farther west, William H. Tucker established a townsite about 40 miles west of Steamboat Springs. One of his primary financial backers was Reverend William Bayard Craig, and so he named the town Craig. The first census of Craig in 1910 was only 392 people; however, with the completion of the railroad to Craig in 1913, the town would triple in size by the 1920 census to 1,297 citizens.

Population growth of northwestern Colorado

Population growth of northwestern Colorado

In 1911, the State legislature created Moffat County by carving out the western two-thirds of Routt County and made the three year-old town of Craig the new county seat. Growth in Steamboat Springs flatlined for decades after Craig and Moffat County were established and even with the development of one of the nation’s premier ski areas in 1963, Steamboat Springs remained Craig’s junior until the late 1990’s.

Two years after Moffat County was established, the Barrick family came to homestead. Five years after that the first Kiser family would follow them. That would begin a century of intertwining history of these two families that would end with the death of Michael Kiser in 2015.

NEXT: Part II – Two Family’s Destiny Unfolds

ALSO:  Part III – Another Radiator Springs

Colorado By Any Other Name

19 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Communication, Generational, History, Recreation, US History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Colorado, Colorado river, name origins, Spanish, Spanish names

Colorado

The sign may have accidentally got the origin of the name correct

Growing up in Colorado I was drilled in the origin of the name. From elementary school to adulthood I was told over and over that Colorado is Spanish for “color red.” It sounds logical because Colorado sort of sounds like Color Red. The rest of the tale is that it is based on the red in the Colorado River. Again, it almost sounds logical, so it must be true. Even today, a Google search of the origin of the State’s name will usually refer to the same story.

The problem is that “color red” in Spanish is “color rojo” which doesn’t sound quite like Colorado. If that was the real story the name of the State would be Colorojo, or Coloroyo considering how we English-speaking Caucasians butcher other languages.

In addition, rivers in the West can be reddish, but only for relatively short periods of time.

Now that I’m learning some Spanish the origin of Colorado would seem to be logically from the word, “coloured” or “colored,” which, in Spanish means many or multi-colored. Only in Spanish it is pronounced color-ed and if you properly enunciate the final consonant it sounds like “eda.”

The Spanish word for ‘many colored’ would seem to be a more logical explanation for the origin of the name “Colorado,” because if you have actually seen any significant river in and around the West, the colors change depending on season and runoff.

In the Spring and after a thunderstorm the runoff will often put the red, iron laden soil in the river, which can make it reddish; however, that is not the typical color of rivers for the rest of the year. Rivers like the Rio Grande and the Colorado are often a green to deep green color on a summer or fall day, and steel-gray in overcast skies and during winter.

Many Colored Colorado, or Color Red Colorado?

Many Colored Colorado, or Color Red Colorado?

Many colored is not only a more appropriate description of the Colorado river, it is a better description of the State in general. Perhaps we need to stop repeating the tales of early settlers who often made up stuff to impress people on their wisdom and knowledge, and instead used common sense to find the truth about the origin of names, places, and things. 

How to Choose Your Favorite Son or Daughter

20 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Lessons of Life, parenting, Pride, Relationships

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

children, Colorado, daughter, Denver, Favorite child, love, Nevada, offspring, parent, Parent Development, parenting, Reno, son

And the favorite child is?

And the favorite child is?

Every family that has more than one child faces a question as to which one is the favorite child. When asked, a parent will typically say, “They’re all my favorite,” which is BS and we all know it. Every parent should be able to know which child is their favorite, even if they can’t be honest about it.

Evaluating Your Offspring

Trying to determine which is your favorite is not as easy as it sounds. Flight attendants giving the pre-flight safety briefing on Southwest Airlines sometimes encourage parents of flying with more than one child to determine which child has the best earning potential in case they have to choose one to give oxygen in the event the cabin depressurizes. This is funny the first 20 times you hear it, but that doesn’t stop  them from delivering the joke 100 hundreds of times.

However, earning potential is a poor criteria for determining a favorite child…unless you have a binding contract that gives you a kickback as a quid pro quo for favorite child status. Quite frankly, successful adults often start out as horrible offspring, so I would not use earning potential as a factor.

Ease of child-rearing is also not a reliable criteria. Often it is the badly behaved child that teaches us the most about ourselves and our skills as a parent. Bad children can also become grateful adults, although one shouldn’t bank on that either.

Children who are ‘Mama’s boy’ or ‘Daddy’s girl’ should not be considered as an indicator of favorite child status. Sweet young children can become Satan’s spawn as teenagers, leaving the parent to wonder what they did wrong…as if the parent is at fault.

Children who remain in constant contact, calling their Mom or Dad daily, may seem like candidates for the favorite child, but this stalking technique is illegal in most states, so it doesn’t seem prudent to consider it as a factor?

So how does a parent determine the favorite child?

I have two adult daughters and a nine-year-old son. My daughters have successful lives, wonderful children and selected husbands that are more intelligent than their (my daughter’s) father. My son works hard to do his best and constantly impresses me with his development out of conservative it’s-all-about-me behavior into liberal, make-the-world better behavior. It would seem I would have a difficult time choosing the favorite….

….but I don’t.

The secret to choosing your favorite child is remembering that life is made up of moments. Every moment (in person or by phone or text) with one or more of my children is a moment with my favorite child or children. Our offspring don’t often understand why ‘family gatherings’ are so important to parents because they don’t realize that it is a time when a parent is rich with favorite children.

This doesn’t mean any of our children fall out of favor just because they are not with the parent at any given moment. Children are part of a parent’s life at all times, but when we have the opportunity to interact with our children, the moment is special.

Children are our legacy and we can move on in our lives reassured that we have accomplished all we needed to when we have raised a child. Our offspring become the painting of life we create as parents.We are artists and when we spend time with our children we can admire the grace and creativity of work that we did without a manual, training or degree. We can’t take credit for everything our children become, but we can smile and be content in that role we played in their lives….even if they don’t realize it.

This holiday season, remember to enjoy your favorite child and know that you are not limited to just one. Happy Holidays!

9 Most Violent States In the U.S. of the Past Decade

04 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Crime, Government, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, FBI, Florida, Hawai'i, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Statistics, Tennessee, Uniform Crime Reports, Violent Crime

USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype: 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, New Mexico, Maryland, Nevada, Louisiana, Delaware, and Alaska are America’s most violent States¹ during the last ten years according to FBI statistics². Violent crime is on the decline in most States; however, these nine have averaged over 600 violent crimes per every 100,000 in population in the last decade. There is an 85 point gap between the tenth highest State (Illinois) and ninth ranked Alaska, which is a significant separation considering that there is only a 116 point spread among the top nine (see TABLE 2.0.)

Graph 1.0 - The 10 Most Violent States of the Past 10 Years and other example States

The good news is that five of the of the top nine States have made major progress in decreasing violent crime during the last ten years. Florida dropped almost 255 points from its 2001 rate to its 2010 rate. Maryland and New Mexico dropped 235 and 192 points respectively. South Carolina and Louisiana both dropped over 100 points during the decade.

Four States still had rates in 2010 that were over 600 violent crimes per 100,000. Two of those States (Delaware and Tennessee) have made little progress over the decade and the other two (Nevada and Alaska) have lost ground from where they were in 2001.

Table 2.0 - 10 Year Violent Crime Averages (per 100,000 pop.)

Nevada began the decade with a violent crime rate below California’s, but the rate jumped in 2006, peaked in 2007, and has slowly declined. Despite the decline, the significant drop of other high ranked States has placed Nevada as the most violent State for the last two years.

Graph 1.0 shows the average violent crime rates over the last ten years for the eleven highest ranking States, plus five other States that are representative of borderline, middle, and low ranking States. Two of the eleven highest ranking (Illinois and California) were ranking relatively high in 2001, but dropped rapidly during the first three years of the decade and ended up with violent crime rates that were just over the United States average.

NOTES

¹ The District of Columbia was excluded from this report as it is not a State and is more representative of an urban area.

²The violent crime statistics are from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, Table 4, years 2001-2010. The information can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr.

This article first published as
Nine Most Violent States of the Past Decade
on Technorati.com

Two Barbecues and a Wedding

08 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Recreation, Relationships, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

American values, Bhakti Chai, Blogging, Blogs, Boulder, City of Boulder, Colorado, Family, Flatirons, Flatirons Catering, Longmont, Management Practices, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Social Networking, The Buff Restaurant, Value-added, Weather, Wedding

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

I’m not a ‘big family celebration’ type of guy. I have about a two-hour threshold of family socializing and then I’m good for a year or two. It’s a family cultural thing. As my three older brothers and I moved out of our childhood home we didn’t make it a priority to keep close contact we each other, and in my case my parents moved out of my hometown when I went to college …., maybe that was meant to be a message.

Alexander was not impressed with the pomp.

So when it was announced that one of my spouse’s second cousins was getting married the day after the 4th of July and that all the family would be going to Colorado for a major weekend of celebrating, I was not the first one to pack my bags. It’s not that I don’t like the my spouse’s family because they are a very caring and intelligent group of souls, but I like control in my life and traveling and living in mass is about as out of control as it gets for me.

My spouse and her mother understands this character flaw of mine, but ‘no’ was not an option in this case. Initially I resisted the idea of being part of the Reno delegation but the final incentive was to add a couple of days to the trip to spend time with my daughters in Colorado. That got me to join the party … that and the potential ramifications of being a lone holdout for the event. The plan was finalized and tickets were purchased.

I was going to a family wedding in Boulder, Colorado … did I mention I don’t like family get-togethers?

A Perfect Backyard Wedding

So last week we flew to Colorado for some quality time in my home state. I prepared myself for what was to come … but I had no idea what to expect.

We spent a busy, but fun day-and-a-half with my daughters south of Denver and then drove up to Boulder for a gauntlet of family oriented parties. We were staying with one of my spouse’s first cousins, who live outside of Boulder on a ranch.

House in the Grove - Near Boulder

Sweet Home Colorado
My apprehensions about staying in someone else’s house were blown away when we got to their ranch. It was like page out of Better Homes and Gardens. We shared a ‘cottage’ with my brother/sister-in-law and their daughter. The cottage consisted of two bedrooms and a bath over a kitchen/living room. Her cousins have only lived there a little over a year, but they have done a tremendous amount of work to the main house and the cottage to make them comfortable and beautiful living spaces.

The property was among a grove of multiple types of trees with a stream running through it. In addition to the trees the landscaping showed the care and attention of thousands of hours of planning, planting, and maintenance. Across the creek and beyond the trees were horses and chickens to complete the experience for any child under 10. Did I mention the two zip lines? Well, suffice to say it was a joy to spend several days there.

(Zip Line – Wikipedia definition)

Our hosts held an excellent catered barbecue (Flatirons Catering) on the 4th of July with about 80 people attending and except for the late afternoon thunderstorm it was a one of the many highlights of the trip. Later that night some of us even rode the zip line across the stream in the dark…not advised when inebriated, but fun regardless of the state of sobriety.

(Flatirons Catering website)

View of the Flatirons over Boulder, CO

American-Values Oriented
I also spent a few free hours in Boulder and I came to appreciate the beauty of the city and the warmth of the people. People in Boulder care. They care about the environment. They care about quality of life for all. They care about politics. All of that care is translated into positive, happy people who love life.

Much of our country is infested with a group of disgruntled, bitter, sarcastic people who blame everyone else for all the country’s ills. Some people have gone as far as making up problems so they can be unhappy about them.  That’s not Boulder. Boulder is a no-excuses, we’re-in-this-together, make-lemonade type community. Boulder is an American-values place that kept true to our founders ‘United We Stand’ attitude. Don’t get me wrong, the city has had its share of problems and is not immune to failure, but a simple drive around the streets show that they have dealt with adversity and triumphed where other cities have failed and given up. I didn’t realize what a breath of fresh air a community of positive, happy people could be until I spent some time in the city at the foot of the Flatirons.

The Buff Restaurant in Boulder, CO

In The Buff
Boulder is a creative place with high standards in business. In America the definition of bad food is any restaurant on the property of a motel. However, in Boulder
The Buff Restaurant has leased its space from a Best Western motel since 1995, and it was one of the most pleasant eating experiences I’ve had in a long time. I had the Baja Benney which was a version of Eggs Benedict with avocado, artichoke hearts, and tomatoes. They also had Bhakti Chai tea which is made by a Boulder-based company, which was the best chai tea I’ve ever had..and I’ve had a lot of chai tea. In Boulder, customer expectations are high and the business owner who is looking to sacrifice value-added service and quality for profits is not going to be around long.

Father of the Bride greets the guests

(The Buff Restaurant website) and (Bhakti Chai Tea website)

Weather to Enhance Any Occasion
During my fifteen-year absence from my home state I forgot about Colorado weather. A typical summer afternoon includes a thunderstorm to cool things down in the afternoon followed by clearing sky and a pleasant evening. It’s perfect weather to spend time outdoors … a lot.

The Main Event

The weather was a factor for the main event of the week, which was of course, the wedding. It was an intimate, but beautiful event held in the backyard of the parent’s of the bride. The vows were sincere and funny and the entire ceremony was under crystal blue afternoon skies. There was a slight breeze that made the leaves sound like gentle applause to the event being held in their midst. For a July outdoor wedding it was a perfect combination of people, weather, organization, and ambiance.

In all, the trip was a great success. I could go on about the place we stayed, the preparation and work that the Colorado families made for all of us, Boulder, the wedding, my daughters, or how exhausted we all were by the time we got home, but suffice to say it was a fun experience.

I’m still not a fan of big family get-togethers, but I’m glad I went on this one.

More Articles

  • Foul Play: FIFA shows what less regulation offers to business
  • Rotary New Year: Retread or Renaissance?
  • The Shock of the McChrystal Story: The story is over before the article is published
  • Tony Hayward: The very model of a modern Major General
  • Rotary@105: A young professionals networking club?
  • One Rotary Center: A home for 1.2 million members
  • War Declared on Social Media: Desperate Acts of Traditional Media
  • Pay It Middle: The Balance between Too Much and Too Little Compensation
  • Mega Executive Pay Leads to Poor Performance
  • Relationships and Thin-Slicing: Why the other person knows what you’re really thinking
  • Browser Wars: Internet Explorer losing, Google Chrome gaining ground
  • Rotary@105:  What BP Could Learn from the 1914 Rotary Code of Ethics
  • Twitter is the Thunderstorm of World Thought
  • Signs of the Times
  • Rotary Magazine Dilemma Reveals the Impact of Social Media
  • How Social Interactive Media Could Transform Higher Education
  • How to Become a Zen Master of Social Media
  • Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service
  • Death of All Salesmen!
  • Aristotle’s General Rules on Social Media
  • Social Media:  What is it and Why Should You Care?
  • Social Media 2020:  Keep it Personal
  • Social Media 2020:  Who Shouldn’t Be Teaching Social Media
  • Social Media 2020:  Public Relations 2001 vs Social Media Relations 2010
  • Social Media 2020: Who Moved My Public Relations?
  • Publishing Industry to End 2012
  • Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & LinkedIn?
  • Fear of Public Relations
  • Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…Oh My!
  • Does Anybody Really Understand PR?

America’s Hostile Takeover of Mexico

12 Wednesday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, History, Lessons of Life, Random, Rotary, US History

≈ 37 Comments

Tags

Alta California, Arizona, Blogs, California, Colorado, Hispanic, Illegal Immigrants, Immigration, Mexican Cession, Mexican Immigrants, Mexican-American War, Mexico, Nevada, New Mexico, Nuevo Mexico, Texas, US/Mexican Border, Utah

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Arizona recently passed a law directed at people of Mexican descent in an effort to rid the State of ‘non-Americans’. For many Americans this topic is centered on claims of how ‘illegal’ immigrants are responsible for stealing jobs, increasing crime, and threatening to destroy almost every aspect ‘American’ life. If you want to find the person who has a raw nerve about the issue of Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal) one only has to say, “Press one for English” and that person will launch into a tirade about illegal immigrants and how they have destroyed ‘our’ country.

It is easy to forget that less than 165 years ago the United States of America “obtained” 55% of Mexico’s territory at gunpoint. The Mexican-American War was not a war as much as it was a mugging.  It is now recognized that most of the rationale for the declaration of war by the United States on Mexico had little to do with defending US citizens or property and a lot to do with our designs on seizing northern Mexico.  We had offered to buy much of the land prior to the war and Mexico rejected it, but after the war we paid fifty cents on the dollar.

Mexico 1847

There is a reason why the northern borders of California, Nevada, and Utah fall on the same latitude of 42 degrees North.  It is because that was the northern border of Mexico after they won independence from Spain.  Until 1847 the sovereign country of Mexico owned the land that is currently claimed by the States of California, Nevada, Utah, southwestern Wyoming, western and southern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the pan handle of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Before the US takeover, northern Mexico consisted of Alta California, Nuevo Mexico, and Tejas. Many of the names of the geographic features, such as the Colorado River, retain the Mexican name still today.

How We Took Northern Mexico
After Mexico won its independence from Spain it allowed settlers to immigrate into their country, providing they agreed to become Catholics and abide by Mexican law and policies. In what is now Texas, the Americans moved into Mexico and then objected to the laws that outlawed slavery, restrictions on what crops could be grown, and becoming Catholics. Eventually the Americans declared their independence from Mexico in 1836 and a minor war ensued.

Mexico had few resources with which to fight the white illegal immigrants and restore Mexican law. After a few minor defeats the Mexican government stopped sending their army to battle with the trespassers; however, they never relinquished the land to the Texans.  The white illegal immigrants then claimed to be an independent country known as the Republic of Texas. Knowing that Mexico would eventually gather enough resources to reclaim the land, the immigrants then petitioned the United States for statehood and protection of the US Army. In 1845 the United States accepted Texas’ petition to become a State and sent troops to secure the territory.

US States that occupy Mexican land (in white...ironically)

Mexico objected to the occupation of Texas or ‘Tejas’ with U.S. troops and in 1846 attacked Fort Texas. In response the U.S. Congress, under a doctrine of ‘Manifest Destiny’ (i.e.; the United States was destined to control the land from the Pacific to the Atlantic) declared war on Mexico with the intent of not only securing the Texas territory, but California as well. Meeting little resistance the United States occupied northern Mexico, including California by January of 1847 and by September had captured Mexico City.

The United States then dictated the terms of Mexico’s surrender with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty forced Mexico to ‘sell’ most it’s country to the United States for $15 million, half of what had been offered before the war.

As we consider the issue of immigration ‘reform’, it would be helpful to remember that it was the United States that aggressively took the land from Mexico in the first place and that ‘Manifest Destiny’ was a disguise for the conquest of northern Mexico.

More Articles

  • Selling watered-down beer: The best spin campaign in advertising
  • Rotary@105: Grieving change
  • Communication: Repetition of message does not increase awareness
  • Millennium Hotel: Go away, spend your money elsewhere
  • Is it time to fire yourself?
  • Up in the air down in Texas
  • I mow my lawn because…
  • Rogue Flight Attendant shows his arrogance, Airlines dislike for the customer
  • Nevada I-580: An Interstate by any other name
  • How Rotary can..must..will plug into Social Media
  • Physics in 2010: The more we understand, the less we know
  • Nevada’s oldest brewery opens a Reno location
  • Rotary Membership/Public Image Challenge
  • 2Q 2010 Social Media Tools: Facebook/Twitter sail on, LinkedIn/MySpace don’t
  • Epic Fail: PR ‘Experts’ don’t get Twitter
  • King of Anything: Social Media vs Traditional Media
  • Rotary PR: Disrespecting the Club President is a PR/Membership issue
  • WiFi on Southwest Airlines: Is it ‘Shovel Ready’?
  • Starbucks makes a smart move: Free WiFi
  • Two Barbecues and a Wedding
  • Foul Play: FIFA shows what less regulation offers to business
  • Rotary New Year: Retread or Renaissance?
  • The Shock of the McChrystal Story: The story is over before the article is published
  • Tony Hayward: The very model of a modern Major General
  • Rotary@105: A young professionals networking club?
  • One Rotary Center: A home for 1.2 million members
  • War Declared on Social Media: Desperate Acts of Traditional Media
  • Pay It Middle: The Balance between Too Much and Too Little Compensation
  • Mega Executive Pay Leads to Poor Performance
  • Relationships and Thin-Slicing: Why the other person knows what you’re really thinking
  • Browser Wars: Internet Explorer losing, Google Chrome gaining ground
  • Rotary@105:  What BP Could Learn from the 1914 Rotary Code of Ethics
  • Twitter is the Thunderstorm of World Thought
  • Signs of the Times
  • Rotary Magazine Dilemma Reveals the Impact of Social Media
  • How Social Interactive Media Could Transform Higher Education
  • How to Become a Zen Master of Social Media
  • Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service
  • Death of All Salesmen!
  • Aristotle’s General Rules on Social Media
  • Social Media:  What is it and Why Should You Care?
  • Social Media 2020:  Keep it Personal
  • Social Media 2020:  Who Shouldn’t Be Teaching Social Media
  • Social Media 2020:  Public Relations 2001 vs Social Media Relations 2010
  • Social Media 2020: Who Moved My Public Relations?
  • Publishing Industry to End 2012
  • Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & LinkedIn?
  • Fear of Public Relations
  • Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit
  • Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…Oh My!
  • Does Anybody Really Understand PR?
  • Rotary@105:  April 24th – Donald M. Carter Day
  • Rotary@105:  What kind of animal is Rotary International?
  • Rotary:  The Man in the Yellow Hat as the Ideal Club President?
  • Rotary@105:  Our 1st Rotary Club Dropout
  • Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win
  • Rotary: All Public Relations is Local
  • Best Practices:  Become a Target!

Other Pages of This Blog

  • About Paul Kiser
  • Common Core: Are You a Good Switch or a Bad Switch?
  • Familius Interruptus: Lessons of a DNA Shocker
  • Moffat County, Colorado: The Story of Two Families
  • Rules on Comments
  • Six Things The United States Must Do
  • Why We Are Here: A 65-Year Historical Perspective of the United States

Paul’s Recent Blogs

  • Dysfunctional Social Identity & Its Impact on Society
  • Road Less Traveled: How Craig, CO Was Orphaned
  • GOP Political Syndicate Seizes CO School District
  • DNA Shock +5 Years: What I Know & Lessons Learned
  • Solstices and Sunshine In North America
  • Blindsided: End of U.S. Solar Observation Capabilities?
  • Inspiration4: A Waste of Space Exploration

Paul Kiser’s Tweets

What’s Up

March 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Jun    

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,651 other subscribers

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

 

Loading Comments...