[  by Dawne Belloise  ]

As a child, David Leinsdorf was fascinated with airplanes, cars, boats and trains, mostly because his father, Erich Leinsdorf, the renowned Grammy award-winning conductor, always traveled for his work in those modes, so David took an early interest in transportation. “I had a model plane with a U-control,” he says of the serious toy airplane with lines attached to an operator controlled handle. “You’d fly it around in circles until you were dizzy. They had a gas-powered engine, and you didn’t want to get your finger in the propeller because it would break your finger.” David’s interest in cars led the then 10-year-old to sneak off with the family vehicle and drive it up and down the driveway, which later progressed to slinking off with the auto for a cruise around the neighborhood at night when he was 12, “When nobody could see how old I was,” he grins, and adds that his parents never knew.

Raised in Larchmont, New York, a suburb of the city, David attended public schools. Despite his father’s talent and fame, David claims, “I played piano badly and briefly. I never had any talent, but my brother was a good violinist. He had more musical talent than I had but we both gave it up. My father pushed us way too hard. He wanted us to learn music because he felt it was important, but to make a career of it, you had to have a lot of talent and motivation and I lacked both. My mother was a music lover but not a musician.”

David laughs that his interest in high school was primarily girls, but he also skied quite a bit, mostly in Vermont at Stowe and Mad River resorts. “When I started driving legally,” he says, “I’d get in the car with friends and go skiing.” Before he turned 16, he’d buy the weekend tour ski trips offered by New York City ski shops that included transportation, ski pass and lessons at Catskill resorts like Belleayre and Hunter mountains.

David confesses that he wasn’t a terribly motivated high school student. He graduated in 1960, with no idea of what he wanted to do. He enrolled at Columbia College in Manhattan. “I was into jazz and NYC had wonderful jazz. The best job I ever had was after my freshman year in college. I was a waiter at the Jazz Gallery on St. Marks Place. I worked from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. That year, the summer of 1961, the Thelonious Monk quartet played for an entire month.” He also recalls seeing legendary jazz greats such as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane.

In other summers he traveled, visiting his father who was working in Europe. David tells the story of his father’s emigration from his homeland in Austria. “He emigrated in the late 1930s from Vienna when he couldn’t get work in Hitler’s Europe because he was Jewish. He was born into very modest circumstances, no assets or any real reason to stay in Europe, so he emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 24.” His father had warned his mother and aunt to leave, but the challenge of not speaking English dissuaded them. “In 1938, the Nazis came into the Jewish neighborhood, rounded up the women, took them up to the fancy neighborhood and made them scrub the cobblestone streets on their hands and knees at gunpoint. “Erich was right. We should leave,” David’s grandmother told her sister. They left Vienna and moved to New York. David’s dad went to work as an assistant conductor at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where he made his debut conducting Richard Wagner’s Die Walkure a few weeks before his 26th birthday. “His life’s work was always music,” says David.

“I really fumbled around as to what I wanted to do in college. I only decided on law when I struggled with physics. Pre-law was not a passion, it was by default,” he says, but he also realized that studying law would give him more options, “You could go into government, or to a law firm or go into business,” not to mention the number of different fields of law. David’s parents also encouraged political discussion at their family dinner table, which heavily influenced him. He received his political science bachelor’s degree in 1964 and entered Columbia Law School.

“Girls, jazz and skiing, those were my interests but you don’t have much time in law school to do much but study and for the first time in my life, I buckled down and became a serious student,” he says. Graduating in 1967, David recalls, “I was worried about the draft,” as the Vietnam War was raging, but mumps meningitis at 13 had left him deaf in his left ear which disqualified him from service. After taking the New York bar exam, David worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in the Antitrust Division. He enjoyed the work but after two and a half years, Ralph Nader hired him to research and co-author a book about Citibank. “A very boring book,” David says. “Burned out from working 24/7 on that project and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, I was a mess.” In June, 1971, he headed west to Telluride to visit some friends, and never returned to live in New York.

He moved to Crested Butte because Telluride didn’t have a ski area in ‘71 and David just wanted to ski. He had first discovered CB during one of the first Arts Fair weekends. “Give Me Shelter was playing at the Princess Theatre and I thought, this town is all right. There were 250 people living here. I liked Telluride better because I think it makes the rest of Colorado look like the flatlands but again, it didn’t have skiing.”
He packed up in NYC, moved to CB on Labor Day weekend 1971 and went to work doing construction. “I tied the rebar in the San Moritz condos foundation and it’s a miracle that it hasn’t slid down the hill,” he laughs. “I bought my first house at 223 Sopris for $16,000 in the autumn of ‘71.” The following year, he opened the first law office in Crested Butte. “At first I operated out of my home and Mary Yelenick, who owned the liquor store with her husband Frank, answered my phone when I couldn’t pick up.” Later, David moved into the Bullion King building above the Alpineer.

Back then, there wasn’t much law work so David continued in the construction trade for another year until becoming involved with politics. Hired as the town attorney, he resigned his position to run for Gunnison county commissioner. “I got involved in politics when Bill Crank ran for mayor in 1972. I worked on his campaign and he was elected. When there was an open seat on the county board, I went to Bill and said, ‘you ought to run for county commissioner.’ He said he was not interested, so I let him know that I would run if he wasn’t interested. Bill didn’t think I could win but I knocked on every door in the county. I stood in front of the post office, Safeway, City Market. I did a lot of campaigning. I ran against two opponents, Dick Eflin and John Rohde, and I ended up winning with 53 percent of the vote.”

David met Sandy Allen in 1976, a local ranch girl who grew up at Jack’s Cabin. Her great-grandfather homesteaded the family’s Allen Lane Ranch that’s still in operation under Sandy’s cousin Curtis Allen. “She was my insurance agent at the Verzuh agency working for Ron Coffey.” Although they didn’t start dating until 1982, Sandy worked on David’s 1978 county commissioner election campaign. “I won in ‘74, ‘78, ‘82 and ‘86. Rikki Santarelli ousted me from a fifth term in the 1990 election. As Myles Rademan told me, ‘In politics your friends come and go but your enemies accumulate.’” David and Sandy tied the knot in 1983. Their son Joseph was born in ‘85, followed by daughter Abigail in ‘88. “It was a very romantic proposal,” David says with a smile. “I said, ‘Sandy, our ski passes are no good this weekend, wanna go get married?’ She said ‘OK.’ We got in my plane and flew to Las Vegas. There was one paid witness at the We’ve Only Just Begun Wedding Chapel.” David learned to fly in 1973 in Crested Butte. “Ron Rouse taught me. He was the owner of Crested Butte Air Service, which ran commercial flights out of CB airport to Aspen and Denver.”
After his long service as commissioner, David turned his focus to his law practice, which then thrived. “And I became involved in school matters. In 1994, Joe Fitzpatrick and I spearheaded a ballot measure to split CB out of the Gunnison RE1J school district because we wanted a high school and the school board would not give us one. They said we didn’t have enough high school-aged students. So Joe and I worked together to put a measure on the ballot to separate the upper valley from the lower valley school district. We lost the battle but won the war—we lost the election because Gunnison didn’t want to lose the CB tax base but they agreed that we could have our own high school.”

David later went on to chair the school’s accountability committee, after Sandy had resigned, and served as chairman for several years, “One of the best accomplishments of that committee was hiring Stephanie Niemi as principal, who is largely responsible for making CBCS one of the premiere public schools in Colorado.”
These days find David taking three- and four-day weekends with his wife, frequently heading off to their Santa Fe casita. “But the reality is,” he smiles, “Sandy’s roots in this valley are so deep that if I wanted to leave, which I don’t, I’d have to leave alone. We do a lot of hiking and one of the nice things about Santa Fe is you can hike year-round. Regarding retirement, I cannot retire because the high point of Sandy’s day is 7:30 in the morning when I leave for the office,” he grins.

Fighting for sanctuary

[ By Dawne Belloise ]

For all the many times Susan Kerns has moved and all the places she’s lived in, Crested Butte has always seemed like home. With every move to warmer climes, she was drawn back here. And it is here that she is focused on bringing housing to working people because as she says, “having sanctuary is important.”

Raised in Marin County, California, and later Solano, she is the second eldest of four children. Her childhood in Marin was spent in a typical suburban neighborhood where the latest fascination of the era was tetherball. Susan recalls, “I was really into riding my bike and exploring the open land surrounding us,” where she remembers there were cows, pastures and fields. “When I was in sixth grade, mom decided she wanted to live in the country,” she says, so they moved to Suisun Valley in Solano, an agricultural region with fruit orchards. “Peaches and cherries are really the big thing there. I loved it,” she says. Her parents even bought her a horse, “And we had every kind of pet. We were all in 4-H and Gymkhana. It was all about gardening.”
1968 was the time of the Love Generation and Susan recalls, “I was a kid when the tumultuous Haight-Ashbury happened but I remember driving in the Haight with my family and thinking, I wanna be free too. People were running away, and there were free concerts in the park. I got to see Hair (the musical) live at Orpheum in San Francisco. I went to Fillmore West with my dad,” she says of the many concerts her father took her to.

All through high school, Susan had jobs so she could care for her horse. “I had to buy his food and pay for vet bills and horseshoeing. I did babysitting on a cattle ranch, which was super fun because they had horses that we could ride. Also, I was busy cleaning houses.” She had time for few other interests but did enjoy jogging and biking long distances. She graduated in 1975.

“I wanted to study ornamental horticulture. I loved gardening and plants. I had worked for a nursery when I was in high school,” so she enrolled at California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo, however the department she wanted was already filled. Instead, she declared fruit science as her major and planned her schedule around the sun. “We called it prime suntan hours. I’d ride my bike to the beach and then come back for afternoon labs.” Encouraged by one of her professors, Susan transferred to UC Davis in 1978 during her sophomore year. Having studied viticulture in her freshman year, she decided to dive into it again but the curriculum, as she says, “Kicked my butt. I had to learn how to study. I had to get tutored to learn how to learn. I flunked all my classes first quarter.”

Although she did better during the next semester she opted to take some time off to go to Paris to study French at the Sorbonne University. “It was a culture shock for the little blonde chick from sunny, friendly California,” she laughs. “I was 20 years old. I was hired as an au pair by a French family. I took a few cooking classes while I was there,” because, she laughs, she had no experience in cooking and those French children wanted sauces with their meals. “I grew up on PBJs.”

After the first semester, her romance with Paris ended. “It was cold. I was living in a tiny student room, a walk-up on the seventh floor, with no shower. I wasn’t happy.” So she returned to her west coast home where her brother had discovered skiing in northern California. “I went with him a few times and I was all about it,” Susan declared of her new love for snow. She spent that winter alone at the family cabin in Grass Valley, conveniently about an hour or so from Truckee and Sugarbowl ski resorts.

In the spring of 1979, Susan went back to school, and by the fall of the following year, she was in an internship at Englenook in Napa Valley, the wine company which was later bought by Francis Ford Coppola. In the summer of ‘81, Susan moved to Sonoma County for a job at Alexander Valley Vineyards. “Wine is really beautiful, it’s art, it’s science, it’s gracious living and microbiology. Wine making is very seasonal, and you have to be there, just like farming. I had to make a choice between being adventurous or being tied to the land.”

She decided to take a winter off to go live, work and ski in Aspen, noting that, ”In Aspen, you can work and ski, or work and party but you can’t do both. That’s how I eventually ended up in Crested Butte.” But at the end of winter she went back to Sonoma to work Clos du Bois, as a wine chemist for the fall crush. She eventually earned a BS in Fermentation Science in 1985.

When Susan married her then boyfriend, Bill Eskew, they moved to Venice, Florida, bought a boat and learned how to sail all summer. “And we learned how to baby,” she grins. “Lily was born that fall, after which, we packed up the van and moved to Crested Butte, Thanksgiving 1984. Our lives were really about skiing and sailing and I really wanted to live in a mountain town.” Susan got a job waitressing at the Plum Restaurant (now the upstairs of Talk of the Town), but her husband, she recalls, never really loved CB. “He wanted to be moving all the time. He was gone a lot with his three veterinarian clinics in California and one in Florida. People actually thought I was a single parent.” Still, she admits, “We had a pretty good lifestyle.”
They moved constantly for 15 years, from California to Florida and back to Colorado, keeping their home in CB. “We’d be here for six months to a year and then move again to spend time in the other places. CB was kind of the home base, even though we weren’t here full-time.” Their second daughter, Chloe, was born in 1988 in Santa Barbara.

With college expenses on the horizon for her daughters, Susan decided to continue her own education at Western State College in 1999 (now Western Colorado University) with the goal of becoming employed as a teacher. “I felt I had to support my girls for college so I enrolled in the teaching program as a secondary science educator.” But her daughter Lily began to have emotional issues in high school. “No one could put a finger on what was going on with her but I could see something was happening. We took a year off and sailed around the Bahamas,” Susan felt the change would be good for Lily. “But returning to Crested Butte, nothing had changed for Lily. She didn’t really want to come back and neither did her dad.” Susan returned to Western to finish her course work and the family once again moved, this time to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where Susan did her student teaching to receive her degree in biology, secondary licensure.

She was hired to teach earth science and biology in the little southern town of Edenton, however, between the southern culture and the destruction of hurricane Isabel, Susan was ready to move on. Lily had graduated and Susan returned to Crested Butte in 2004 as a full-time resident, with Chloe enrolled as a sophomore at the CB Academy and Bill moved to Florida. “What skiing and sailing have brought to me is that you have to be flexible and adaptable, you have to be able to pivot and change course, but perseverance and being present is half of it,” Susan felt of her changes.

Lily, who had been having emotional issues all through high school and college was diagnosed as schizophrenic. “She had been hearing voices. It was horrible. It’s a severe mental illness. To have someone that you love fall apart is unbelievable. I didn’t want to believe it. I went to the National Alliance for Mentally Ill, there were all these people with horrible stories and I thought, how do reasonable people cope? You can’t give up on people. The changes of waves and mountains of sailing and skiing is nothing compared to the challenges of the journey of a severe illness.” Lily’s learned how to cope with her mental illness but she still needs so much support, Susan says. Lily now lives in an assisted living facility in Grand Junction.

For the past decade, Susan has managed long and short-term rentals, “I have strong feelings about housing. In tumultuous times, having sanctuary is important. I still like finding housing for locals, people who work in local restaurants and teach skiing. I do have a handful of vacation rentals, the extended Crested Butte family who typically have been coming for years and consider CB their second home. I’ve seen kids grow up, go to college and come back with their spouses. I’d guess the flip side of earning a living from housing is to volunteer to help create decent homes for those who need a little help in the valley,” she says of her work with Valley Housing Fund (valleyhousingfund.org). My dream is to build housing where people could age in place among their friends and family. No one plans to get old, or injured, or sick, but it will happen to all of us, and that’s why I’d like to see housing designed to not only fit in architecturally, but with universal design for accessibility.”

Susan also volunteers with Adaptive, “Having the Adaptive Sports Center as a central part of our local scene is a shining light for inclusiveness. Volunteering with this group for a couple years really opened my heart, to shed the shame of illness and injury and move to adapting to a new reality to continue living our best lives when Lily became ill.”

Susan feels she’s had a lot of opportunity to do many different things. “I coached skiing, wrote for the different local newspapers, volunteered for CBMR guest services, worked for the Nordic Center, started the Trails Commission and was on the town planning board. CB gives you the opportunity to learn to do anything you want to do. That’s who we are — it’s the people, the community and the setting.”

Adds seat for Met Rec to STOR; one additional seat for planning commission in February

[ By Katherine Nettles ]

County commissioners made several appointments to county boards and commissions on Tuesday, January 26 following interviews they conducted last week on January 19. Several boards had more applicants than positions available, and commissioners encouraged those who did not get appointments this time around to stay engaged and consider reapplying in the future. Board member choices such as a Tourism and Prosperity Partnership (TAPP) seat that had more applicants than positions available came harder for the commissioners than others, and a surprise additional vacancy to the planning commission delayed part of that appointment process until next month.

Commissioners appointed Pam Montgomery and David Baumgarten to the Library District Board. Commissioners suggested that the two other applicants, Micah Russell and Heather Hughes both have programming skills that might be helpful down the road, making them potential additions to that board in the future. Susan Wyman was appointed to the Extension Advisory Committee, with Melody Roper and John Mugglestone re-appointed. Glo Cunningham was reappointed to the Land Preservation board, and Steve Otero was reappointed to the Veteran Services board. LeeAnn Mick was reappointed to the Historic Preservation board, with three additional north valley appointees: Shelly Popke, David Russell and Heather Thiessen-Reily.

TAPP
Wynn Williams and Bill Ronai were appointed to the two TAPP board openings. After last week’s interviews, all were in agreement that Williams was an asset based on his past experience on the board, especially since one open seat was being vacated by the board’s chair.

“Wynn’s been a steady hand on the wheel, and at the ICELab,” said commissioner Jonathan Houck. He also said the two candidates would bring balance across the valley as a whole. “Different people want different things from TAPP,” said Houck. “I see both Wynn and Bill stepping up to balance all those pulls in different directions.”

Commissioner Liz Smith commented that Ronai’s experience as a CFO would provide strong financial oversight, the need for which has been the subject of many conversations regarding TAPP in recent years.

“I believe that trying to keep these as apolitical as possible just gives additional credibility to the position,” commented commissioner Roland Mason, whose votes for Williams and Ronai were ultimately carried by all.

Former county commissioner candidate Dave Taylor and Mt. Crested Butte town council member Roman Kolodziej had also applied.

One of the reasons Kolodziej had applied was to have more representation from Mt. CB on the board. The Mt. CB town council has expressed concern that there is not enough representation and say from the the towns of CB and Mt. CB regarding TAPP’s strategy and budget.

Taylor had openly criticized TAPP during his campaign for county commissioner last fall. Mason said the financial critiques that Taylor brought up could be helpful, but affected “the good faith of people coming on the board.”

Smith agreed. “When I hear people saying that things are wrong despite the evidence…and when you look at what TAPP has done for Gunnison County, that success is undeniable,” she said.

Houck said that Taylor’s suggestions to establish mechanisms to audit and monitor TAPP are already in place, and Taylor’s suggestions to defund certain aspects were overly simplistic. “Those are simple answers to very complex things that TAPP has to contemplate,” he said.
The two TAPP board members who joined commissioners in the appointment process, Gary Pierson and Kelley Baer, were initially leaning in favor of Kolodziej.

Pierson is Dean of students at Western Colorado University (WCU) and represents WCU on the TAPP board, and Baer is director of sales at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) and represents CBMR on the board.

Baer said she agreed with appointing Williams to retain the knowledge he brings, since “coming out of COVID we know that things are going to be different,” she said. “What I sort of took away from this was Roman asked some really great questions,” she said, and was leaning toward him for the other spot.

Pierson said Ronai was his top choice. “I think he brings a different skill set and different set of eyes to the table.” But he struggled with choice between Kolodziej and Williams. “I saw a kinder, gentler Roman than I’ve seen in the past,” he said of Kolodziej’s interview and approach. Pierson said he also thinks more Mt. Crested Butte representation is important, but he did understand the commissioners’ perspective as well.

STOR Committee
All standing seats on the Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (STOR) committee were reappointed: Joellen Fonken representing the Upper Gunnison River Water District; Steve Guerrieri representing the Stock Growers Association, Roman Kolodziej representing Mt. Crested Butte; Mark Voegeli for CBMR; Brandon Diamond representing Colorado Parks and Wildlife; Matt McCombs representing the US Forest Service Gunnison Ranger District; and John Norton representing TAPP. Mallory Logan for the city of Gunnison and Mona Merrill for the town of Crested Butte were also reappointed pending their formal applications.

There were three additional at-large openings, which went to Jake Jones with the Crested Butte Land Trust, Tim Kugler with Gunnison Trails and Hannah Cranor, who is vice-president of the Stock growers Association.

As they discussed last week during an interview with Hedda Peterson of the Gunnison County Met Rec district, commissioners voted unanimously to amend the STOR charter to include an additional dedicated seat for Met Rec. They then appointed Peterson for that seat, noting that Met Rec’s recent deBrucing and restructuring would align well with STOR goals. Meanwhile, the Met Rec board voted at a board meeting last week to allocate $70,000 to the STOR committee.

Planning commission
At the time of the Planning Commission interviews last week, there were three regular openings and two alternates. Since then, board member AJ Cattles announced he was resigning due to a busy schedule and some significant projects coming online. So with an additional open seat, commissioners decided to reappoint Vince Rogalski and appoint two previous alternates, Andy Sovick and Scott Cox, to become regular members, and re-open the process for one more regular board appointment and two alternates. Interviews will be held early next month, and appointments will follow. Those who applied as new members will still be considered, and new applicants are also welcomed.

“We’ve got a lot of good applicants but we’ve got a whole different scenario than we did,” explained Houck. He also said the commission could use more up-valley members to balance it out.

“I appreciate living in a community where people want to be involved in these boards and committees,” said Houck. He noted that many other counties struggle to find applicants, or struggle with applicants who have an ax to grind and have personal vendettas or political motives. “We tend to have a lot of people who passionately and from a place of service want to be involved.”

It is election season and two of the Gunnison County Commissioner seats are up for election with two candidates running for each position. The Crested Butte News will be asking the local candidates for their views on issues for the next several weeks. We have requested they keep their answers to 500 words or fewer.

If you have a burning question for the candidates, feel free to email it to editorial@crestedbuttenews.com. We are starting the questions early this year because it is expected many people will get their ballots the week of October 12-16 and send them back as soon as possible.

Remember, all qualified voters in Gunnison County get to cast a ballot for one candidate in each district.

And everyone is invited to the Crested Butte News Candidates Forum being held on Sunday, October 11 at 6 p.m. at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts. Given the public health orders, there will be limited seating in the theatre but there is opportunity to attend and watch the debate. It will be broadcast on KBUT Monday evening, October 12.

—Mark Reaman

 

Liz Smith

District 1 candidate

Can a rural Colorado county with a ski area at 9,000 feet that depends on tourism (which at the moment includes jets, vehicles and fossil fuels) make a difference with global climate change? Does it matter? What would you do to make an impact on climate change as a commissioner?

Gunnison County can make a difference. We may not produce the emissions of densely populated areas, but everyone has to do their part. And, as John Hausdoerffer explained in his letter to the Times last week, we are: Gunnison County has been a leader in harnessing geothermal energy in county buildings, and work is underway to figure out how we can increase our goals for 20 percent reductions to 40 or 50 percent by 2030. Reaching the county’s goal of 85 percent methane flaring or capture in the North Fork is critical. In terms of impact, the greenhouse gasses from this initiative alone are equivalent to [approximately] 90,000 cars.

Beyond that, implementing a composting program would reduce methane emissions and preserve limited landfill capacity. How can we make this happen? Some of the cheapest homes and rentals in the county come with massive energy price tags for financially vulnerable residents, and the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority GV-HEAT program has been an incredible asset for improving efficiency. At the same time, I’d like to explore how we can incentivize better energy efficiency in new buildings without placing undue burden on buyers who find our housing market outpacing their resources.

Some second homeowners and business owners made a splash this spring and summer with the GV2H Political Action Committee that made mention of raising $3 million to help elect like-minded people to political positions and monitor local government boards to ensure their interests are being addressed. What is your take on the GV2H PAC?

It’s important to listen to concerns from people in the county who don’t necessarily vote here such as second homeowners and students at Western. They’re part of our community and their voices are vital. I think most people agree.

The GV2H PAC is where agreement ends, and it’s unfortunately become a wedge issue within the second homeowner community. My priority in this campaign has been to share my message of unity and what I stand for. I have refrained from mentioning my opponent in ads or campaign content (though he mentions me frequently and seems to like my platform). Since he is being publicly supported by GV2H, however, I think a comment is warranted.

For weeks, the only item listed under Dave Taylor’s platform was a letter to the editor he submitted in response to a letter critiquing his affiliation to GV2H. He asked, “Tell me what second homeowners want that we don’t all want” or that “is antithetical to the common good?”

Where to begin? As second homeowners Mikki Couch and Peter Esposito have indicated in letters to the Times and Crested Butte News, this PAC can’t be described as “apolitical” or the voice of second homeowners. For those who can’t access the group’s private Facebook page, just look at GV2H founder Jim Moran’s Twitter to see what kinds of ideas are driving this organization (and why so many second homeowners have been kicked out or left).

Dave claims he doesn’t have an “agenda,” but GV2H has one. They want to leverage the wealth of second homeowners who are still with them and were upset by our county’s decision to close when we had the third highest infection rate in the nation. They want to establish a permanent presence to “represent our interests” in local politics. The “our” in this statement channels some of the most extreme partisan viewpoints of non-residents. We don’t “all want” this or PAC money influencing our elections.

As of last week, GV2H put up their first signs supporting Dave on Main St. in Gunnison. No candidate can claim to stand for unity while accepting the support of this organization.

We’ve heard rumblings that some people feel non-elected officials wield too much power in local governments and should be reined in or even replaced. Do you share that perspective? If so, specifically where? If not, is everything perfect?

Joni Reynolds has received heavy criticism, but the fact is she’s done an incredible job managing our local response to COVID-19 and leading the state along the way. I’ve had several conversations with John Norton of TAPP, both one-on-one and during BOCC meetings, to discuss strategy and talk about increasing transparency. TAPP has been successful, but south valley tourism has taken a harder hit this year. We also need to protect our resources and trail systems essential to the north valley tourism, which has been overrun this summer. I think it makes sense for the chambers to be part of these discussions too.

If you could wave your magic wand and see one fundamental change in Gunnison County four years from now, what would it be?

Apart from the pandemic magically disappearing? I would say housing. When the workforce is priced out, it hurts businesses and erodes the essence and character of our community.

What’s your last best ski run?

I love skiing with our son Jacob, who just turned 6. It’s so rewarding to see how fast he’s picked it up. (Shout out to Carolyn, his amazing Cruisers teacher!) Right before CBMR shut down, mogul runs like Twister and Resurrection were in heavy rotation.

You get eight minutes to ride the Silver Queen or 18 minutes to ride up the Rec path. What three people (past or present) do you want to hang with?

Ruth Bader Ginsberg and author Toni Morrison. As a former collegiate runner, I’m a huge fan of Emma Coburn and have seen her around while running but haven’t had the chance to officially meet. (Hi there, Emma!)

Social media platforms you use: Facebook? Instagram? TikTok? Snapchat? YouTube? Twitter? Others?

Facebook and Instagram: @lizforgunnisoncounty.

 

 

Dave Taylor

District 1 candidate

Can a rural Colorado county with a ski area at 9,000 feet that depends on tourism (which at the moment includes jets, vehicles and fossil fuels) make a difference with global climate change? Does it matter? What would you do to make an impact on climate change as a commissioner?

The ultimate conundrum and the ultimate controversy wrapped up together.

Gunnison County, via TAPP, spent $2,700,000 in 2019 to attract visitors to our valley. I own an RV campground and my business is at record levels. I can see private aviation parking from my front yard, and anecdotally, I see more private aviation than ever in the past. Gunnison County has received $26,000,000 to enhance our airport, theoretically to attract more air travel.

Attracting more bodies to our county is detrimental to the environment in some way. Hypothetically, if we could raise our prices for everything 20 percent and have 10 percent less people come here, we would make progress both environmentally and economically.

I wish it could be that simple; it is not. We must maintain the fabric that makes us a community and accommodate growth at the right pace.

We are human (worldwide) and the world population grows every day. Humans are driven by their self-interest to survive and improve their lives, which is antithetical to the health of our planet. We have overpopulated our planet to what some believe is the breaking point; we will adapt and improve technologically, but we will survive and thrive.

I will advocate for our county to grow, and promote growth in an environmentally responsible way. Financially, we should focus on getting the most from our environmental efforts and use our taxpayer dollars efficiently.

Some second homeowners and business owners made a splash this spring and summer with the GV2H Political Action Committee that made mention of raising $3 million to help elect like-minded people to political positions and monitor local government boards to ensure their interests are being addressed. What is your take on the GV2H PAC?

Poor communication and disregard for property rights was the catalyst for GV2H. I believe I was the first to address this issue with John Messner on April 12, 2020. My letter to John was published in the Times on April 16.

It has been told that the letter was sent from Health and Human Services without the approval or review from the BOCC. Really? While HHS had broad power during the pandemic, it is inconceivable that the BOCC did not request to review out-going county communication.

Gunnison County property owners all have the same property rights, be it their second property or their 10th property. Most would have respected a logical plea to stay away because of our limited capacities. For some, Gunnison County could have been the safest place for them to be (vs. New York City or New Jersey).

Now, some are offended that property owners are upset, when it was county leadership who were responsible for upsetting them.

We all have the right to peacefully protest, be it through a GV2H PAC or walking the street for our cause. My message is the same as last week: Treat others how you expect to be treated and promote compassion, equality and inclusivity to all.

We’ve heard rumblings that some people feel non-elected officials wield too much power in local governments and should be reined in or even replaced. Do you share that perspective? If so, specifically where? If not, is everything perfect?

The elephant in the room is not hard to identify: Matthew Birnie.

I believe that Matthew knows more about our county government than anyone else. His knowledge is very valuable. With knowledge comes power, and I believe Matthew is inclined to exert his influence as a strong-willed individual.

I am equally strong-willed, and if elected, I will use my intellect to equal Matthew’s knowledge and together maybe it will work well. Plus, I can sell our ideas better than Matthew’s abrasive manner.

The baby will not go out with the bath water. I will treat all in county government with respect and will earn their respect in return. I have been told that Matthew will take on the character of his BOCC; if elected, I hope that is true.

If there is a problem with Matthew it rests solely on the shoulders of Jonathan Houck and Roland Mason. I do not hold my opponent Liz Smith responsible.

If you could wave your magic wand and see one fundamental change in Gunnison County four years from now, what would it be?

Different question same answer: Compassion, equality and inclusivity for all.

What’s your last best ski run?

Have to say ski runs. Skied a triple, triple (three runs three times) on the Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek 30 years ago. Time goes by—don’t waste it!

You get eight minutes to ride the Silver Queen or 18 minutes to ride up the Rec path. What three people (past or present) do you want to hang with?

My Mom (deceased), Martin Luther King Jr., Jim Nance (sportscaster).

Social media platforms you use: Facebook? Instagram? TikTok? Snapchat? YouTube? Twitter? Others?

Only Facebook.

 

 

Jonathan Houck

District 2 candidate

Can a rural Colorado county with a ski area at 9,000 feet that depends on tourism (which at the moment includes jets, vehicles and fossil fuels) make a difference with global climate change? Does it matter? What would you do to make an impact on climate change as a commissioner?

Yes, we can and we are making a difference, yet we have plenty of urgent work to do. Yes, it matters! The Draft Gunnison Valley Climate Action Report gives specific policy recommendations that we have been implementing and will continue to do so under my leadership. If the whole of the county (Towns, WCU, CBMR, GCEA and County) act urgently and with purpose we can reduce our GHG emissions by 50 percent by 2030 from our 2015 baseline assessment. See more at vote4houck.com.

Some second homeowners and business owners made a splash this spring and summer with the GV2H Political Action Committee that made mention of raising $3 million to help elect like-minded people to political positions and monitor local government boards to ensure their interests are being addressed. What is your take on the GV2H PAC?

Let me start here: After many conversations with seasonal residents, it appears that many of second homeowners do not align with the stated goals or approach of the GV2H PAC. Many of them stated that when we take care of the needs of full-time residents (workforce housing, transportation, etc.) by extension their time, investments and experiences while here are enhanced. When the GV2H chatter started, I spent 1.5 hours on the phone with Jim Moran. We have different perspectives for sure. He pushed me to lean on manager Birnie and Public Health director Reynolds to open Gunnison County completely; this was late April. When I stood by the decisions we were making it was made clear that I would be in the crosshairs of him personally and the PAC. I have been privy to the social media postings in the GV2H group and the “Save Our Gunnison County’s Summer and Businesses” group that Moran actively engages with. They accomplished their goal, which was to beat the bushes to find a candidate who would carry their torch and plant their flag. That person is my opponent Trudy Vader. She is their chosen candidate and they expect her to carry their agenda forward. She has stated that she has met with them numerous times. GV2H has endorsed her. What is the GV2H plan? I quote directly from their website their plan:

“In short, we will win by: setting up a permanent organization, engaging in local and state elections, supporting or opposing candidates, engaging legal representation of our interests (as the rules are being made) and fighting the rules through litigation (or the threat thereof) whenever our interests are disregarded, ill-considered or abused.”

I choose not to buckle to their threats of dark money and influence but rather have stayed the course of keeping the health and safety of everyone at the heart of my decision-making. Many second homeowners and seasonal residents have reached out to me offering support of my decisions, support of my re-election and thanks for making the often-difficult decisions so they could eventually return feeling safe and enjoy the place they equally care about and love.

We’ve heard rumblings that some people feel non-elected officials wield too much power in local governments and should be reined in or even replaced. Do you share that perspective? If so, specifically where? If not, is everything perfect?

Based on some calls and emails I have received over the last eight months, I believe this question is mainly aimed at our Public Health director. In 2006 the State Legislature passed legislation with very clear language that gave, in a declared public health emergency, the county PH director far ranging authority to make decisions without the influence of politics. Joni Reynolds, with a career full of relevant education and experience was able to guide us with leadership and expertise to make the hard and often heart-wrenching decisions outlined in the public health orders. It was never lost on her the parallel economic emergency unfolding simultaneously and those impacts weighed heavily on her, too. I was directly informed, involved and entrenched in the decisions. I supported doing what was necessary, despite vitriol being hurled at us by folks who discounted the seriousness of COVID. I believe our quick, immediate and science-based actions saved lives. Our economy has recovered quicker and outpaced other Colorado resort counties who were more timid in their response.

If you could wave your magic wand and see one fundamental change in Gunnison County four years from now—what would it be?

Workforce housing built to a level that more folks were housing-secure and living where they work. Currently, Gunnison County is facilitating the building of the largest workforce rental housing project in county history. You can count on me to put more units on the ground in the next four years!

What’s your last best ski run?

After 40+ days of continuous work at the start of the pandemic, my wife Roanne forced me to take a few hours away from the response work. We did a BC ski tour near Carbon Peak. Safe, low-angle glade skiing—that was my last best run!

You get eight minutes to ride the Silver Queen or 18 minutes to ride up the Rec path. What three people (past or present) do you want to hang with?

Really only one person—my mom. She died by suicide when I was 8 years old. I never had a chance to have an adult-to-adult conversation with her. I sure would like that opportunity.

But, if I had to add two more it would be Thomas Jefferson to chat about what he envisioned the West could be after hearing the reports of Lewis and Clark, and Bruce Springsteen, well, because he is the Boss.

Social media platforms you use: Facebook? Instagram? TikTok? Snapchat? YouTube? Twitter? Others?

Just Facebook. My teenagers would die if I were on their platforms!

 

 

Trudy Vader

District 2 candidate

Can a rural Colorado county with a ski area at 9,000 feet that depends on tourism (which now includes jets, vehicles and fossil fuels) make a difference with global climate change? Does it matter? What would you do to make an impact on climate change as a commissioner?

Yes, it matters. Large-scale renewable generation of electricity is at the center of decreasing Gunnison’s carbon footprint. The question that needs answered, will Gunnison County have the courage to truly address the issue. We have three natural renewable resources that could have a real impact on our carbon foot: geothermal, pump storage hydropower and solar. Geothermal is my preference. It has near-zero carbon emissions and “among the smallest land surface footprint per kilowatt (KW) of any per KW generation technology,” according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). A Stanford University study, Global Climate and Energy Project compared the energy stored on investment (ESOI) of hydropower and solar. The ESOI is the calculation between the amount of energy created by a technology divided by the cost to build it. Hydro had a score of 210 ESOI, meaning it is able to store 210 times more energy over its lifetime than it is required to build. Solar depending on the battery had an ESOI score of 2 to 10. Geothermal was not part of the study but I would venture to say it would match or have a better ESIO than hydropower.

Some second homeowners and business owners made a splash this spring and summer with the GV2H Political Action Committee that made mention of raising $3 million to help elect like-minded people to political positions and monitor local government boards to ensure their interests are being addressed. What is your take on the GV2H PAC?

People are frustrated with the three like-minded county board members. Three un-like-minded leaders can bring different viewpoints, talents and deep meaningful discussions to make better decisions for the whole community. I feel that creation of the GV2H PAC lies directly on my opponent’s doorstep. The other ski towns’ counties asked their second homeowners to leave or stay away, rather than mandating and threatening them. Our leadership created a potential lawsuit liability for the county and motivated the second homeowners to create the GV2H PAC. I feel poor governance leads people to find new ways to be heard by elected officials and that is exactly what happened in Gunnison County.

I have listened to the second homeowners and… hourly wage workers, salaried professionals, small businesses and restaurant owners, building and construction contractors, realtors, ranchers, county, state and federal employees, homeowners and potential homebuyers. I have been abundantly clear with each group that as an unaffiliated county commissioner I will not make decisions based on political ideologies, agendas, special groups or cronyism, but rather the priority needs of the community as identified by data and information. A simple look at my platform at www.VoteTrudyVader.com will clarify exactly what my commitment will be as county commissioner: building housing, supporting local businesses, addressing climate projects and community outreach.

We’ve heard rumblings that some people feel non-elected officials wield too much power in local governments and should be reined in or even replaced. Do you share that perspective? If so, specifically where? If not, is everything perfect?

Oh yes, there are rumblings. In fact, I would say in most of the conversations with community members this issue is brought up by them, and it happens throughout the entire county. Why? Is it true? And what leadership accountability does my opponent have regarding this issue? From those conversations that I have had I feel my opponent demonstrates two weak areas of leadership ability.

The first has to do with not being a visible, active, communicative leader. Prior to COVID-19 not many people were familiar with the role of county health departments. So, why would they give any credibility to our county health director, especially when she has been left standing alone so often without our top county leader present. It gives a very confusing message. We have seen leaders across this country at the local, state and federal levels present with their health personnel. Communicating together about COVID-19. My opponent has been missing in action. It has created a perception of a power vacuum. And as the saying goes “perception is reality.” As your county commissioner I will stand with county workers in crisis situations and be visible and present for businesses and community members.

The second rumbling has to do with the county manager. I feel my opponent’s lack of formal training or any real experience managing and evaluating employees’ performances has contributed to the mixed messaging of “who is the boss.” I managed 30 to 80 employees for eight years and have performed well over a hundred formal evaluations. I have worked for, with and on governing boards. I know the protocol for those who report directly to the board. In all fairness to the county manger he needs to be evaluated by a sound performance tool rather than in the court of public opinions. I will request an annual 360 performance evaluation of the county manager and attorney. This researched-based evaluation provides actionable feedback about an employee through researched based survey questions given to people that he/she professionally interacts with.

If you could wave your magic wand and see one fundamental change in Gunnison County four years from now, what would it be?

Fix the housing crisis. It is the keystone to the stability of the county. It impacts businesses’ ability to hire qualified staff. It impacts workers’ ability to live a balanced life. It impacts first time homebuyers’ ability to buy a home and begin building personal wealth.

What’s your last best ski run?

I can’t remember but it was a great day with my kids.

You get eight minutes to ride the Silver Queen or 18 minutes to ride up the Rec path. What three people (past or present) do you want to hang with?

My mother, father and brother who have all passed away. I would tell them that I love them and give them a hug.

Social media platforms you use: Facebook? Instagram? TikTok? Snapchat? YouTube? Twitter? Others?

Facebook, TikTok and You Tube.

 

 

Town will explore options outside of Crested Butte

By Mark Reaman

It is understandable that no one relishes living near an RV dump station, even if you live near a wastewater treatment plant, and that sentiment was made clear to the Crested Butte Town Council Monday night.

Residents of the northeast part of town strongly encouraged the council to close the RV dump station located at Eighth Street and Butte Avenue, or at a minimum relocate it so that summer RV traffic is mitigated. Council will have staff pursue conversations with Gunnison County and the Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (STOR) committee to see if another location in the north valley is feasible.

“There is no good answer to this issue,” Crested Butte public works director Shea Earley told the council in a memo. “It is the town staff’s opinion that we, as a community, have a responsibility to provide a location for people to deposit their septic waste.”

Earley said providing such a service helped protect the environment from people who might choose to dump their waste in the nearby backcountry and gave people a safe place to deposit their waste. He said to extend sewer services out of town at, say, Avalanche Park would be very expensive and to fill a large tank that was then pumped into the town wastewater treatment system was not physically feasible.

Gunnison County commissioner Roland Mason said that while the county owned 14 acres south of town, there has been no discussion on what to do with that property. To use a space near the county shops south of town would likely involve the Colorado Department of Transportation and expensive road improvements. “Being tied to a sewer plant is important for the environment,” he said.

Town manager Dara MacDonald said the staff had been looking at alternative routes to and from the RV dump station that would alleviate some of the traffic issues that have popped up recently with an increase of use. The traffic issues, she said, brought safety concerns, congestion and occasional confrontations.

“I have heard from people that we are a resort town and we should provide amenities for people who come here,” said mayor Jim Schmidt. “I assume some of the people using it come into town and buy things and go to our restaurants. The other option would be in the south end of the valley, perhaps near the airport.”

“When it was first put in in the 1990s there wasn’t a neighborhood there,” said council member Mona Merrill. “It will just get more congested as that neighborhood continues to grow. I am not entirely convinced it is an amenity we need to offer if the county can help us. The solution five years from now is not to keep it there. We don’t want people dumping waste in the backcountry so we need to collaborate with the county for a solution.”

“I really would like to see our neighborhoods preserved,” added council member Mallika Magner.

“I live two blocks away and that neighborhood is dealing with a lot as the town grows,” said council member Will Dujardin. “I know the need for it but it came to a boiling point this summer with all the congestion. I think in the short-term it might be a signage and communication issue while we work to find a better place outside of town. I recognize it is by the wastewater treatment plant.”

“I think it is a topic we need to address with STOR,” said council member Chris Haver. “My thought is to start the conversation with the county and look at a long-term solution and do community outreach for next summer.”

“If the council wants to say you will decommission the dump site, then say it,” advised MacDonald. “There will be no motivation for another entity to work toward a solution otherwise. And if that’s the case where in two years or five years you close it, I don’t recommend building additional infrastructure on that site.”

“I’m not prepared to put a sunset on that site tonight,” said Dujardin. “It feels like there is a large demand for this.”

“There is a demonstrated need,” said MacDonald. “The town collects thousands of dollars every summer in contributions from people who use it. But that waste will go somewhere if this is closed.”

“Reaching out to the county to see if they can offer assistance is important,” said council member Candice Bradley.

“STOR is a great place to have this conversation for the long run,” said Mason.

“And winter is the perfect opportunity to have the discussion with our partners,” commented Haver.

Citizen Kent Cowherd said the RV dump was an amenity the town should keep providing. “If it is closed there will be an impact on the environment,” he said. “Look for solutions and I suggest going with your suggested option 3 even though it is the most expensive. Move the dump and loop the RVs so they come in, use it and exit off Pyramid Avenue.”

“We understand the need to keep the dumping out of the backcountry but I would encourage the council to preserve the quality of life in that neighborhood,” said Heather Seekatz. “There’s the cell tower issue and this and river access. It feels like we in that neighborhood get shit on.”

“The council seems more concerned with issues outside of town than the people inside of town,” said Tom Cosgrove. “You don’t have to solve the world’s problems all the time. Focus on town. There are 150 people who signed a petition saying they don’t want a dump station in that neighborhood. Listen to the people.”

“I don’t really think people with RVs will be dumping in the backcountry if this is closed,” said Johnna Bernholtz. “But I’m tired of us having to provide everything for the county up here. Thanks for reaching out to them.”

“Down the road I see perhaps a station outside of town but keeping the town facility open as well so there are two places,” said Mason. “That is way down the road but the STOR committee is a good place to start.”

MacDonald said she and Crested Butte STOR representative Mona Merrill would approach STOR about the issue and pursue a solution outside of town. If that doesn’t go anywhere they will look at in-town mitigation possibilities with lots of input from neighbors.

By Dawne Belloise

Amid blue metal panels of multi-colored blinking buttons, switches and flashing lights of enormous machines that seem to have been transported from the set of the original Star Trek, Brian Carney is part of the team of superheros who control the drinking water quality for Mt. Crested Butte. He moved here three years ago and swears, “I never owned a pair of skis or a snowboard until seventh grade, when I got my first snowboard. I still snowboard to this day,” a big factor in his move to the north end of the valley.

Brian grew up in Arvada, where his dad was a airline mechanic for United and his mom was an elementary school nurse. Throughout school days, he played a lot of sports, like roller hockey and basketball. “As a teen, I spent a lot of time coming up to the Roaring Fork Valley to visit my uncle, aunt and cousins. I’d spend every summer in Basalt, inner-tubing and just getting on the river quite a bit,” he recalls. His uncle owned a painting company that put him to work painting. On days off, “We’d take the boat out on Ruedi Reservoir, wakeboarding and water skiing.”

In high school, Brian played football and baseball, ran track and pole vaulted. “I wasn’t the fastest so I didn’t win any races,” he says of his short-lived track career, “But no one wanted to pole vault so I just started doing it. I wasn’t good at it, if you’re talking technique. If you’re doing it correctly, the pole will bend and fling you over the bar but I would just run and do a double death spin and I would get over it. The highest I got was nine feet, five inches but if you’re good you’re doing like 14 feet,” he laughs. However, he excelled at football, which earned him a scholarship at Western State College (now Western Colorado University) in 2007. He says, “I had no idea what I was going to do and the only reason I went to college was because I had a scholarship to play football.”

He arrived with his parents during a recruiting weekend, and says, “We went out partying until 3 a.m. with a bunch of the football kids. The next day, I smelled like a classic brewery and looked like hell when I met with the coaches.” However, they apparently figured Brian would fit right in and gave him the scholarship. “It was winter and it was so cold,” he remembers his first frigid reality in Gunnison. “There’s no valley that’s colder than Gunnison, but it was the only school that gave me a scholarship.” It took him a year before he came to the conclusion, “This is the best place.”

Unfortunately, two months into playing football, before regular season even started, a skateboard accident changed Brian’s course. “I was longboarding past Taylor Hall and a dude rode in front of me on his skateboard. I was cruising down that hill at maybe 25 mph and we collided. I remember being about four feet away from him and then I woke up in a Denver hospital.”

He was airlifted out of Gunnison after having seizures from a badly fractured skull and subdural hematoma. Back home from the hospital, Brian had to adjust to the healing process, and recalls, “Any lights would give me the most intense headache so I lived in my parents’ basement. I slept for 16 hours a day for the first two weeks.”

Once he was able to return to Gunnison for classes, Brian says, “I thought I would be so far behind missing two weeks of school but it could have been a lot worse. I had been failing all my classes and if this hadn’t happened, I would guarantee I would have dropped out but when I returned, almost all my teachers were supportive and I got good grades.” He was no longer able to play football, so instead he played on the club baseball team. Brian graduated from WSC in 2012 with a business degree with an emphasis in land and resource management and a minor in economics.

Having been told he could make good money in the oil industry, he set that as his goal. “My bro Bob was making a ton of money as a petroleum engineer, and I wanted to make a bunch of money and have a bunch of things too, because I’d been told that in the end, the man with the most things wins.”

He was hired as data entry for an oil company in Denver. “I was awful at it and it was the most boring job,” he confesses. “I don’t know how people do it. I was sitting there thinking, so this it, and then I’m old. I lasted for six months and I pretty much got fired. They called it ‘laid off’ but I was the only one who got laid off.”

So, he headed down to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, where his aunt was living two blocks from the beach. “I’d get up and swim and snorkel every day. And I got certified in scuba diving.” When Brian got a call from another oil company, he took the job researching legal documents. “And that was horrible too. I left in a month. My brain doesn’t work like that,” he finally concluded.

Brian moved to Carbondale when his buddy offered a “super cool cheap place to live. I did a million jobs there. I got a job at the Limelight Hotel in Aspen as a bellman, while painting for my uncle and delivering Domino’s Pizza twice a week. So in a month’s time, I went from making really good money with the oil companies to delivering pizzas for Domino’s… but I was stoked,” he laughs. “I’d never been so happy. Just being outside was such a life change for me as opposed to being in a hellhole office.”

Ski season was under way and as a Limelight bellman, he also picked up guests from the airport. “I didn’t like the job but I’d go skiing during my four-hour break, just enough time to run Highlands Bowl.” After one season, he got a job in property management.

Brian had met his future wife, Christine Kelly, at WSC in 2009. She was the work-study librarian. “I couldn’t write a paper at all and I asked her to help me. She wrote the whole paper for me and it’s been sweet love ever since.” She had the legitimate job as a third grade teacher in Breckenridge so he moved there in 2015. Brian says, “I worked as a shuttle driver from Breck to DIA and back, driving the worst drive in Colorado on a daily basis, sitting in dead-stop traffic for eight hours on the weekends, but I could snowboard every day.”

He scored a summer job with the town of Breckenridge Parks and Recreation and snow plowing with the town in the winter. “I didn’t mind it. I was making way better money and boarding three days a week. But I ended up working at Breckenridge’s sewer treatment plant. Nobody thinks about what happens when you flush your toilet but there’s so much biological activity that breaks down the waste and it’s absolutely insane. It’s basically a biological reactor. It promotes intense bacteria life and growth, microorganisms that feed on the waste. It was mind-blowing. It was more like working at a laboratory. I loved it—it was awesome and amazing. I really loved working there but I saw a job opening at the waste water plant in Mt. Crested Butte.”

With his experience, he was hired in April 2017. When there was an opening at the water treatment plant, he decided to switch. “Every day is a new experience and challenge to figure out. We do so much stuff. We go back into the East River, behind Crested Butte Mountain Resort, with its breathtaking views. We’re getting a new pump house and a new pipeline and we’re getting a whole new water plant as well. The technology is mind-blowing. It’s state-of-the-art,” he says excitedly.

One of the main reasons Brian and Christine wanted to get out of Breckenridge was affordability. “There was no possible way to own a home or anything. A 400-square-foot studio apartment was $280,000 with $650 monthly HOA. It’s changing for sure here in Crested Butte. We were able to buy our condo in Buckhorn a year ago and since then similar condos have increased 20 percent. We feel lucky. This is perfect out here. There’s no place that I’ve been to like this. This is the most beautiful place. Coming up valley it’s like a wonderland.”

Man of the cloth, community and the mountains

By Dawne Belloise

As a little kid having to move a lot, Joe Fitzpatrick says it was a challenge and his childhood memories actually start in third grade. Joe was born in Waynesboro, Va., and his father moved the family quite a bit for work—from Ohio, Washington state and Kentucky, to Minnesota, where Joe finally had the chance to have a childhood with friendships, playing in the park. In those days, Joe recalls, “The boys took their trucks and spent a lot of time in the sandbox.” 

Joe was skiing on the Laurentian Divide in Minnesota by the time he was 12. “It was about seven miles from us and it had the first chairlift in Minnesota. That was my sport passion,” he says. In middle school, the ski area developers enticed the kids with talks and ski movies and Joe and a buddy were hooked. “That first year I bought a season pass. Opening day, we got a group ski lesson and we were the only two in the group because it was about 10 degrees below zero but we skied all day,” he recalls.

Joe got a summer job working at that ski area when he was 12, and when he was 13 they gave him a chainsaw to cut swaths of trees for new ski runs. He was also a summer liftie. As a high point in the state it was a summer attraction for the view. Joe was more than happy to work for just a season pass. In high school Joe’s interests were running track but it was all about skiing for him.

After graduation in 1963, Joe attended the University of Minnesota for engineering. “I was strong in math and science but I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up,” he smiles. “By the end of my second year, I was really over differential equations so I took some time off.” 

However, the Vietnam War was raging and leaving college meant getting drafted, so he enlisted in the Air Force to train as an electronics technician for fighter jet automatic flight control systems. When he completed his year-long schooling, he was sent to Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. 

“I fought the cold war,” he says. “This airbase had B52 bombers and KC 135 tankers, a refueling jet. We would send bombers full of atomic bombs to fly the Arctic Circle in case we needed to bomb Russia. I was with the Air Defense Command, who were there to protect the airbase and the bombers,” he says. “There were very few people in my career field that were trained in my particular job so my squadron commander blocked all my orders to Vietnam because he didn’t want to lose me.”

While still in the service in Grand Forks, Joe enrolled in night school at the University of North Dakota, receiving his BS/BA in business administration in 1970. He took a job in Minneapolis with Investors Diversified Services (IDS). “They set me down with a bunch of VHS tapes and said you’re going to learn to be a computer programmer,” and he began working with IMB main frames. 

“It was science and math stuff so I really enjoyed it,” but, he says, “I didn’t enjoy the big corporate atmosphere,” with too many regulations and buzzers, so in 1975, he switched jobs to work for a small company doing data processing for doctors and dentists. 

During the time he was working at IDS, he’d ski on weekends and decided to start a ski club for company employees. He would sign people up and completely organize the trips to different ski areas in upper Michigan and northern Minnesota. “On one of my trips, I had 42 people—40 of those were ladies and I have been married to one of those ladies for 43 years now,” he says of his wife, Beverly.

In 1966, Joe was taken by the movie The Sound of Music. “I had never been to the mountains but after I saw that movie I thought, I’ve got to move to the mountains!” It influenced him to the point that Joe joined the National Ski Patrol and became a volunteer night-time ski patroller at Birch Park, a small ski area outside of Minneapolis. “My goal was always to get a pass. I ended up becoming the ski patrol director with 80 people under me. I also became a first aid instructor for the Red Cross. I taught patrollers advanced first aid.”

To support himself while he was living in Minneapolis in the mid-70s, Joe managed and maintained apartment buildings. It gave him a free place to live and the experience he’d need to land a job at a ski resort, along with Bev’s degree and experience in hotel management. 

They set their sights on Snowmass. “We had skied there previously and loved it,” but when one of their tenants suggested Crested Butte, they added it to the list, which also included Telluride. 

They headed to Crested Butte first, in July 1978. “We drove into Crested Butte in the evening and as we’re coming down the valley, it just blew us away. We found the Nordic Inn, ate dinner at the Artichoke, got up in the morning and went to the Skicrest Lodge, just to see if there were any jobs for the winter.” 

They were sent to Ptarmigan Mountain Properties where they met Glo Cunningham, dropped off resumes and discovered that Columbine Condos needed an onsite manager for maintenance, front desk, reservations and dealing with the HOA. The position included a two-bedroom condo to live in and a ski pass. 

They took off to Snowmass and Telluride, where they were offered jobs at both resorts, but the call came in with the job offer for Columbine and they snagged it because, Joe says, “I got a ski-in ski-out condo to live in and what could be better?” 

“It was a dream job,” Joe recalls. “If you look at the snowfall records, 1978-79 was one of the biggest snowfalls we had here. It’s January and I’m shoveling snow over my head from the walkway. We did earn our keep. At the end of the ski season, our boss gave us a 30-day vacation and we went to Hawaii and Florida,” he says about the days of real off-seasons. 

Joe was promoted to work in the main administrative office doing accounting, but when the snow didn’t fall in the winter of 1980-81 and the resort was dead, they moved to Wisconsin with new baby Katherine, and Joe helped a friend there start a laser machining business. “It was fun getting that started but I wanted to live in the mountains.” 

Columbine’s HOA offered the couple a job managing the building and the small family returned in May 1981. Their son, Christopher, came along in 1982. Joe and Bev started their own management company, Solutions, Inc., and Crested Butte Accommodations. When they sold the company in 2001, they were the largest property management company in the valley, with 11 HOAs. 

Joe also started a small construction company, Capstone Custom Builders, with his brother-in-law, Vince Rogalski, primarily installing cabinets for Thurston Kitchens. They dismantled the company in 2004, about the same time the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council asked Joe to be the interim town manager, which he accepted and began in July. By August, they hired him permanently. Joe had served on the Planning Commission for Mt. Crested Butte in the early ‘80s, was elected to the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council in 1984 and in 1986 became the mayor for eight years. “I loved the community and I wanted to get involved.” 

Joe has held the town manager position for 17 years; however, he says, “I’m retiring September 2. It’s an important day in my life since it’s VJ Day and I was born that day.” 

Joe’s faith led him to Catholicism and he became an ordained deacon in 2007. “Becoming a deacon is part of the steps of becoming a priest but there’s a branch, you can become a permanent deacon or take the next step to becoming a priest. Most deacons are married,” he explains and adds, “The main reason I converted to Catholicism is the Eucharist. In the Catholic church, the church Christ began, the Eucharist is believed to be the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Once I learned that and studied the church history, I asked myself whether this was true—and it is.” 

Retirement from town government was a tough decision for Joe because, he says, “I’ve always been extremely active and always loved the town and loved being in this position. I’ve loved being involved with everything going on in town, the future, keeping things running day to day, working with the council. I have a fantastic staff of dedicated people and it’s just been really enjoyable.”

From teepee to techie

By Dawne Belloise

Dan Jones sits framed by a small forest in his front yard. He seems to be as tall as the aspens that surround him. He tells the story of how his grove of quakies grew from seedlings planted by the now-exiled Amax mining company. “These were put in a cavern under Mt. Emmons as part of Amax’s reforestation project, that grew into little trees and when they pulled out, Amax put all the seedlings on two flatbed trailers and took them down to the Four-way Stop. Jeff Siefried and I took all the plants we could, sold them, gave them to friends and everything that looked like it was too weak to make it, we put in our yard. And as a result, I have 54 trees.”

Dan arrived from Aspen in the dusty little ski resort of Crested Butte in 1974. When he and his partner/companion, Jeff, bought the house on Second Street in 1976, Dan recalls that the yard was nothing but sagebrush and a 1954 Mercury up on blocks. It was the far northwest end of town with no houses beyond their property, just pasture and views.

Born and raised in Seattle, Dan says, “It was fabulous. I grew up on Sunset Hill above the water. I was lucky enough to be in a big house with a big family, three sisters and a house full of German shepherd dogs. It was a three-story house and there was usually a pack of dogs everywhere.” All his grandparents hail from Sweden and when he was young, his parents took the family to the motherland. Dan says, “We drove all over searching for family records in churches,” and he got to meet his family there.

At 6’4”, Dan played basketball in high school. He graduated in 1966 and emphasizes, “I got so angry at my country for the Vietnam War that I left the country after graduation and lived in Switzerland for a year,” working as trail crew at a ski resort in a small town like Crested Butte. “I was skiing around all day with a shovel. There were German shepherd avalanche dogs all over. I was in love,” he smiles.

When he returned to the United States, Dan attended the University of Washington, graduating in 1970 with a BA in English literature. While in college, he was on the rowing team but after graduation he realized, “All I wanted to do was ski my butt off. My parents had started me skiing when I was a child and that’s all I wanted to do.” He eventually became a ski patrol.

Dan was in San Francisco in 1971. “I love San Francisco, it’s the ancestral motherland of homosexuals,” he laughs. He was a gypsy taxi driver even though he couldn’t pass the test, which was mostly a geography test and he didn’t have a clue as to where anything was in the city, “but they handed me the license anyway.” The calls for fares would go to a phone booth behind a Sinclair gas station but the only way to make money, Dan says, was to hang out at a hotel and wait to take customers to the airport.

Following the snow, Dan was a houseman at Sun Valley tasked with driving the maids around all day, carrying their vacuum cleaners upstairs for them and bringing firewood into the condos. As he recalls, “And then, we’d break into other condos and drink all their liquor.” Dan had moved to Aspen in 1973 because the skiing was so good. He landed a job at the prestigious Refectory restaurant, a chain of high-end eateries. It was in Aspen that he met Jeff Siefried, and having hit it off over an offered slice of pizza, the two skied up to Crystal the next day, where Jeff was living in a teepee in the middle of the river on an island. The couple then took off to travel Colombia, South America.

They returned to Aspen for a short while, then moved to Vail to work on Avon’s sewer system until they heard about this crazy little ski town called Crested Butte. Dan and Jeff were hired to help build the Irwin Lodge and Dan remembers, “We lived in a teepee down at Ruby Anthracite with Linda Baker. We’d hike the mile and a half up the river to work. We were young and tough. We’d go work and then hike back down to the teepee. It was a great lifestyle. We’d build little pools to jump into. We had pet trout. We made sweat lodges by bending willow branches and then we’d put blankets over the branches. I still feel Irwin is my neighborhood.”

Later, in 1974, he and Jeff opened the very popular restaurant, The Vineyard, serving fondues of meats, bread and chocolate. They sold the eatery a decade later and went their separate ways.

After the restaurant sold, Dan left for Pennsylvania, working as finance director for a Democratic congressman, who later moved him to the Washington, D.C. office. He had worked in Dallas on the Carter/Mondale campaign, having learned computer software when his college rowing coach got him a job at a Seattle bank as a programmer.

Dan was not thrilled when his boss sent him to Texas. “I didn’t want to go to Houston but somebody had to go and I was the one who was the most techie.” He was in the Lone Star State from 1985 through 1991, until, “My partners were tired of me whining about wanting to go back to Crested Butte,” so they sent him home to work remotely.

Back in Crested Butte, when the CF&I mining company decided to sell their land on Gibson Ridge and the town of Crested Butte couldn’t come up with the $2.1 million to purchase, Dan and a group of friends realized the gravity of not having control of potential development land surrounding town. The property was bought by a developer who then built exclusive homes on what was once the coal mines overlooking town. Dan, Jim Starr, John Hess and Norm Bardeen took the initiative in creating the Crested Butte Land Trust in 1992 in order to have a plan and funding in place for the next time strategic property came up, “To preserve the present for the future. We begged, borrowed and everything up to stealing,” Dan says of their fundraising efforts. Then they convinced the town to enact the real estate transfer tax, which takes 3 percent of all real estate sales in town, “and that’s when the Land Trust was able to really start. It gave the trust a source of funding that without it, we’d never be able to conserve land,” Dan says.

Dan was an avid rower, spending his days out on Lake Irwin, Long Lake and Blue Mesa and he laughs, “I’m pretty sure I was the highest rower in the world, in every sense of the word,” but continuing issues with his legs and knees forced him to quit. “It was clear that my rowing career was closing so I decided to drive my old blue Bronco as far as it would go from Seattle. I was hoping for Patagonia,” and he took off to San Francisco. “I thought if I made it into South America and the car died, I could leave it in some village and they would love it because they would take care of it and fix it and they’d all be happy and I’d go home and start doing something else. But I didn’t make it that far.”

His ex Jeff asked Dan to stay in his San Francisco apartment for a few weeks while he flew off to Hawaii. A few weeks turned into a few months, and he took computer programming temp jobs. He discovered Vivid Studios, the cutting-edge tech firm and web developer at the time, and went in to apply for a job, donning his business suit. “There were Frisbees flying, wildly dyed hair, dogs running around and computers everywhere. Everything that you think about when you think of San Francisco, Vivid Studios was emblematic of all of that and more.” He just turned around and left, completely intimidated. Returning another day, in casual dress, he made them an offer to work for free for a month and if they liked him, they could pay him. He went on to become the vice president of the company, from 1995 to 2001, when he retired.

Back home in Crested Butte since, Dan feels, “I love the mountains, what’s not to love? I love this town and always have. This is my home, this community first and foremost. I just want to be here.”

There are lessons in the past and always hope in the future. The pandemic has certainly thrown a wrench into both history and what lies ahead, so there is no shortage of things to anticipate in the coming days. The key is to learn from history and make good decisions based on past outcomes. That is true whether deciding how to open the schools this fall, figuring out how affordable housing can be built in the valley through cooperation instead of sniping, or determining best practices to get the ski lifts spinning this winter. Here are a few things to keep an eye on in our immediate future.

—Vail Resorts closed two of its three Australian ski resorts last week. Falls Creek and Mt. Hotham in Victoria were closed after local restrictions were put in place. Vail is obviously taking a conservative approach and keeping safety of employees and guests at the forefront. It is something for us in Crested Butte to certainly keep an eye on. “In this moment, with all that is going on in the world, we feel Labor Day is a much better time to have a conversation with our pass holders about next season,” said Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz on an earnings call with investors at the end of April. As more and more is learned about this virus, the actual skiing part is probably pretty safe. The other stuff that is part of tourism skiing—the restaurants, the buses, the planes getting here, the bars at night—present the problems. We all need to keep an eye on how we can help a winter ski season happen in this ski resort community.

—Here’s one idea from Donald’s administration: The director for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, this week pleaded with Americans to put on a mask to slow the spread of COVID-19. He said that if that happened, then “over the next six weeks we could drive [the virus] into the ground.”

Heck, I honestly have no idea if that would work. But to do a six-week experiment that seems a bit inconvenient but relatively easy for most—and that might hit a homerun so we can see the results before Labor Day when the head of Vail Resorts wants to talk ski season and kids want to be back in the classroom shouldn’t be a divisive, culture war type decision.

—The money response to the coronavirus and what future response is made could be interesting. Local employers have said to me that it is harder for them to get people to work this summer since the federal unemployment subsidy has made a pretty good paycheck for people who would rather ride their bike than wash dishes (that might include me, by the way). That $600 per week on top of state unemployment money has had an interesting impact and business owners are keeping an eye on that to see if it is renewed.

Meanwhile the Colorado Sun compiled a list of all the businesses in the state that received the PPP loan that might be more of a grant than a loan. When the list was published, a few people asked me why one of the largest awards in Crested Butte went to a business called Nations Best Holdings that had the address of a house near Totem Pole Park. I emailed the CEO and founder, Chris Miller, from the company website that listed its headquarters in Dallas. He responded and explained, “The reason our PPP loan was done in CB is because that is where my corporate office was established at that time. Our operations consist of hardware stores and lumberyards in Texas and Oklahoma, and we just recently established a new corporate office in Dallas.”

—Anecdotally I hear how the coronavirus crisis has shown people how they can work from home, and this valley makes a mighty fine home to work from. So I totally understand that people who would rather be here than in say, Houston or LA are figuring out they can make a living surrounded by pretty peaks where they can hike with the kids instead of dealing with hot concrete and long commutes while watching their children’s birthday parties on social media. It will be interesting to see if that theory of more lone eagles or those on the corporate track with their bosses’ okay figure out that life is more than making tons of money—it is more about time and experience. Keep an eye on that potential change and what it means for our community.

—Had a pleasant conversation with Gary Gates this week over a cup of coffee and he is stoked to finally be actually building an affordable housing project in the valley. It is not the Corner at Brush Creek but it is basically the show model to perhaps get there. The “Paintbrush” project on the north side of Gunnison will crank into high gear this week and he hopes to have local workers living in the 77 units in well under a year. He invites people to keep an eye on Paintbrush so he can prove that many of the concerns voiced by people about the proposed Corner at Brush Creek won’t come to fruition and he can prove that his group can pull off a quality project that houses members of the local workforce. If there’s one thing I’ve seen with Gary over the last few years, it’s that the guy is a grinder. He doesn’t give up easily. The Gunnison housing project is something to keep an eye on at his invitation and I’m sure we all will.

—According to the Associated Press, protesters who have clashed with authorities in Oregon are not just confronting local police. According to the AP, “Some are also facing off against federal officers whose presence reflects President Donald Trump’s decision to make cracking down on ‘violent mayhem’ a federal priority. The Department of Homeland Security has deployed officers in tactical gear from around the country, and from more than a half-dozen federal law enforcement agencies and departments, to Portland, Oregon.

Using federal troops to police Americans doesn’t seem all that … American. That is definitely something to keep an eye on as Donald is in his comfort zone with mayhem and distraction.

—The North Village project in Mt. Crested Butte is reaching the point where the Town Council gets to decide whether to move ahead with real dollars committed to the process. They’ll be talking about it Tuesday. It seems there continues to be future opportunity for a real public-private partnership that could result in significant workforce housing, parking at a currently congested trailhead, recreation opportunities and a pretty low-impact and low-density development. The devil is always in the details but watching from the 30,000-foot level, there appears a chance to strike a good partnership and see how collaboration can result in the proverbial “win-win” for everyone.

—The upcoming Gunnison County commissioners’ election will be interesting. As it is still early, everyone involved is pledging it will be a respectful, clean, issues-oriented race and I always take people at their word until they break it. The new GV2H PAC has made it clear it wants to play a role in the race so it will be interesting to watch how this all shakes out, as I am sure the PAC won’t be spending its money and influence on the people currently sitting on the board. This is something all voters will be keeping an eye on between now and November.

There is no shortage of issues that lie ahead. Pandemic, drought, elections, keeping local workers living near their local jobs, making sure the country doesn’t slip into authoritarian dictatorship. You know, the little things.

Here’s to once again being fortunate enough to live in interesting times.

—Mark Reaman

by George Sibley

Bob Teitler died April 8 of the current plague, a month short of his 80th birthday. This is not an obituary, but a remembrance of him and the time when he lived in Crested Butte, the 1970s—both unusual enough to deserve recall at his passing.

As is the situation for most past and current inhabitants of Crested Butte, Bob Teitler’s life began elsewhere, and after a time he left the Butte, but the Butte and the years here were formative and pivotal for the life that followed elsewhere, and was lived with a larger awareness nurtured by the years here.

Bob was born and raised in Brooklyn (while the Dodgers were still there), and lived there his first 30 years, working in New York City and Philadelphia as a salesman of sophisticated adding machines; he married there and had two sons. A typically promising start on a typical American career—and in 1971, he threw it all over and moved to Crested Butte.

In the spring of that year, he and his wife, Helene, and sons David and Kenny came to the Butte to visit Bob’s friend since grade school, John Levin, part of a consortium of New Yorkers who had bought the Grubstake Restaurant in 1970. By mid-summer, the Teitlers had completely relocated to Crested Butte; Bob left his career and his suits without a backward glance, bought a big red tow truck and began a new life hauling vehicles out of winter snow, spring mud and summer bad judgment.

Bob later reflected that three things had primed him for that kind of life change: the musical Hair, which he saw in New York; a drive up California Highway 1 after a business conference on the West Coast; and marijuana. His Brooklyn family had sent him to straighten out a younger cousin at college they’d suspected of experimenting with marijuana. The cousin confessed, but challenged Bob to try it, which he did—“I’ll try anything once,” might have been his life motto—and it became part of his life thereafter, even after it became legal.

With a nod to his former cultural conditioning—the business of America is business—Bob also bought the Sunshine Garbage Company soon after arriving. Within a year he had replaced the pickup for hauling trash with an actual garbage truck, and was growing the business—but then he sold it. When asked why he had sold a business just becoming successful, he said, “I didn’t want to spend the next 20 years hauling garbage.” And that was the end of a conventional business career; he was here for something else.

Authority figures tended to chafe him, whether abstract and national or knocking at the door, and running the tow truck put Bob in frequent contact with the various police presences in the valley. But he came to appreciate Crested Butte’s marshal at that time, Kemp Coit.

From the late ’60s into the early ’70s, Crested Butte went through half a dozen marshals. When new people, mostly young, began trickling into town in the ‘60s with the advent of the ski resort, the old timers who had remained after the closing of coal mines were cautiously glad to see them, continuity for the town. But when the trickle turned to a flood in the early ‘70s, the old timers circled the wagons and petitioned the town council for a marshal to “clean up the town.” The newcomers, on the other hand, favored a “peace officer” over a “man of law,” someone sensitive to the nuances of things locally acceptable if not legally so. These were the town’s “King of Hearts” years: most of us newcomers thought of the Butte as a kind of experimental asylum, even though it was getting hard to distinguish between the growing influx of hippies pretending to be new-wave entrepreneurs and the infiltration of old-wave entrepreneurs pretending to be hippies.

After some wild extremes with marshals, the town actually found a reasonable balance in the person of marshal Kemp Coit, who had no formal police experience but who could be even-handedly tough when needed, and had good instincts about keeping provocative things off the streets. During the tow truck years, Bob petitioned Marshal Coit to take him on as an unpaid volunteer deputy because he thought people were driving too fast in town. He thus became one of Coit’s “rogue deputies”; he credited Bob with teaching him “love’s role in law enforcement,” although what that meant hasn’t been explained.

While there was definitely a cultural tension in the ‘70s between the old timers and the newcomers, on a more one-on-one basis there were some good relationships between the two groups. One of Bob’s more impressive achievements was to gradually work his way to acceptance in the group that assembled daily around the big stove in Tony Mihelich’s Conoco and Hardware (now the Mountain Heritage Museum).

Some of Crested Butte’s other male old-timers met daily in Frank Starika’s and Tony Kapushion’s bars, but the Conoco stove group avoided the bars. They were far harder to infiltrate for a newcomer—you couldn’t buy them a beer—but Bob drew on his Brooklyn background to shed their guff while appreciating their stories, and gradually he was accepted—not as an old timer but as an acceptable newcomer. Bob knew he’d made it when a towing customer tried to stiff him by saying he couldn’t pay unless Bob could accept a credit card, and Tony—who disliked credit cards—offered to run the card to get Bob’s cash.

Bob’s most unconditional love was children, which most children returned as unconditionally. Marie McHale Drake, who grew up with Bob’s sons, remembers Bob looking out for all the town’s “feral children.” This included educational night tours of the Grubstake or Tailings when a band was playing he thought they should hear. It also included Saturday morning softball, a pickup game for anyone eighth grade or younger. Bob was pitcher for both sides. Eventually the kids were allowed to have a team—Bob’s Cats—in the women’s softball league.

In 1973, Thatcher Robinson, a social scientist and “rogue educator,” started an alternative school in his house, and Bob became an enthusiastic patron and participant, enrolling both sons and helping however he could. The curriculum was progressive and experiential; one history lesson was conducted on a hike to the abandoned coal town of Floresta. David and Kenny remember “building things” at Thatcher’s school, including a complicated water-powered clock that was displayed at the third Summer Arts Festival.

Thatcher’s school lasted only one year; then it was back to the public school for the boys. At that time, Crested Butte only had the grade school; since “consolidation” in 1967, Butte students had been riding the bus to Gunnison from seventh grade to graduation. Butte parents in the early ‘70s, citing growth, began the long process of petitioning, appealing and harassing the consolidated RE1-J school district board into returning the middle and high schools—a process not finally successful until the 1995 bond election created the K-12 Crested Butte Community School. Bob participated in that process as long as he lived in town, and they did succeed in getting the seventh and eighth grades back in time for his sons to finish that part of their education in Crested Butte.

As has often been the case, the Teitler’s marriage did not survive the radical transformation, and after he and Helene split, Bob engaged in some creative “alternate living.” As numerous others were doing for affordable housing, he fixed up an old shed, on the banks of Coal Creek behind the Atchley house. “The River Condo,” his sons called it. And for summer living he acquired a tipi, which for a couple years he pitched on an old mining claim in Virginia Basin high above Gothic.

Bob always had horses, even when he and the boys had precarious living circumstances, and they frequently commuted between town and Virginia Basin on the horses, rain or shine. Bob also took the boys on pack trips into the mountains with the horses when they were still under 10. Some of his success with—and enjoyment of—young people may have to do with the fact that he seemed to treat them more like partners, co-conspirators, than as children. This was not everyone’s idea of responsible parenting today, but it is probably every boy’s dream.

He also challenged the boys at times. Kenny told about a moonlit summer night when he was only 8, and he and Bob got a late start back to Virginia Basin on the horses. Bob pointed out to Kenny how the places on aspen trees where branches had broken off looked like eyes under the moonlight. Then he asked Kenny, “What would you do if I got hurt when we were out alone like this?” “I’d go for help,” Kenny said. And Bob said, “Okay, let’s imagine that has happened; you ride on ahead like you were going for help.”

“So there I was,” Kenny said, “an 8-year-old alone on a horse at night in the woods, with all those trees watching me.”

That challenging attitude was another side of Bob—as it was of many of the post-urban and post-Vietnam newcomers then, who were not constantly mellow peace-love-and-joy. Bob’s roots were Brooklyn, where in-your-face was local culture with kids, and Bob could be pretty confrontational and challenging—especially the shaggier he got. That occasionally manifested itself dramatically—as when the town council decided a big old ramshackle Kochevar relic next to the Atchley house on Elk Avenue had to be torn down, along with related outbuildings along Coal Creek, because too many local artists were using them as unauthorized affordable housing. But when a local contractor approached with his backhoe to destroy the old building, he was confronted by Bob and one of the artists, both with rifles. The contractor retreated for the moment. The building eventually came down anyway, but Atchley’s “Foundry” and the River Condo survived and no one got shot. You could take the man out of Brooklyn, but you couldn’t take Brooklyn out of the man.

Another ‘70s Butte activity that rang Bob’s bell was the Hotshots, Crested Butte’s 1970s wildfire crew. I first got to know and appreciate Bob when the Forest Service flew us to Idaho for a big project fire. At that time, the Hotshots represented a significant piece of the town’s summer economy. There were not many summer jobs yet; and for those not attracted to steady work anyway, an intense week of 12-hour shifts paid for a fair amount of fishing, camping and loafing time. The Crested Butte Hotshots developed a great reputation for hard work on the fireline, but a bad reputation for hard play in the bars off the line, and the Forest Service stopped calling the crew in the late ‘70s. By then the summer economy was beginning to coalesce around construction and resort work, with steadier if less stimulating jobs, and the Hotshot era ended.

All of that happened in Bob’s life between 1971 and 1976. In 1976, he started to leave Crested Butte, although he returned often (and the Butte never left him). He bought a remote piece of land in a small valley off the Cochetopa Canyon, in the far southeast corner of the Upper Gunnison Basin, and that summer he moved the tipi and the horses there. He built a cabin, with help from the boys, visiting family members and Cochetopa jack-of-all-arts George Page, and he was moved in by the winter of 1977, apparently retiring to a reclusive life.

But in the mid-’80s, with both boys graduated from Gunnison High and off pursuing lives of their own, Bob transformed again, into a kind of cosmopolitan bohemian—shaggier than ever—and began wintering in Belize, where he fit into the local culture as seamlessly as he’d managed to do in Tony’s Conoco and Hardware; he found a friend who became like a brother and taught him to sail; he bought a boat to live on there, and made sailing forays to Guatemala, where he began buying up handmade sewn and embroidered goods that he brought back and sold at fairs around Colorado.

He met two intriguing women in Guatemala. One was Manuela Macario, a street vendor selling hand-knit hackysacks. He sensed opportunity, bought out her entire stock, and within a few years every major sporting-goods store in the West had a candy jar on the cash-register counter filled with hand-knit hackysacks, and “Manuela Imports” was supporting a whole Guatemala village as well as Bob.

The second intriguing woman he met in Guatemala was Maya Kartha, a young cosmopolitan who had grown up in Bermuda and was there scouting out travel options for a Canadian travel company. Even though she was roughly half his age, she was as fascinated by “Rasputin,” her name for Bob, as he was by her, and when he came back to Colorado for the summer, she came with him. They married in 1998, and a few years later had a daughter, Sophie. They bought a house in Gunnison when it became time for Sophie to go to school, and also to handle the ever-growing volume of business for “Manuela Imports,” and the Cochetopa cabin became the summer home.

Tragedy struck the family in the mid-2000s, when Maya contracted an incurable cancer; in 2007 she died, and Bob—in his late 60s—became a single parent for Sophie. She is now an honor student junior in Gunnison High and a talented dancer. Bob’s one concern was that, given his age, he might not be able to see Sophie through her school years and into her own life, and he took steps to make sure that Sophie would be okay in that eventuality—which now has happened. Possibly his best preparation for this, however, was that “partnering” kind of relationship he’d had with his sons and continued with Sophie, now a young woman mature beyond her years.

And so, to Bob, from Bob’s example, T.S. Eliot’s words: “Not fare well, but fare forward”—a man who would try anything once, and lived a rich and varied life trying as much as possible. A life that turned, like the stars around the Pole Star, around his life-changing years in the unusual place that was Crested Butte in the ‘70s.