It’s silly season, otherwise know as election time. And for the business community and municipalities throughout Eagle County and the entire state of Colorado, there is nothing sillier than Colorado ballot issues Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 and 61.
A quick review:
Proposition 101 is a statutory provision that would reduce state and local revenue sources including car registration, license fees, the income tax rate and phone bill taxes.
Amendment 60 is a constitutional amendment that would cut local property taxes in half without providing any mechanism for replacing those funds.
Amendment 61is a constitutional amendment that would prohibit state debt or loans of any kind and would make it more difficult for local districts to bond to build, repair or improve school buildings.
At first glance, these initiatives seem appealing – after all, who wants to pay automobile registration fees or reduce your property taxes? However, as eloquently stated by a citizen&#8217

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado – In recognition of National Suicide Prevention Week Sept. 5-11, two events are being held in Eagle County. A two-day training session called ASSIST is being sponsored by the Suicide Awareness and Prevention Coalition of Eagle County. Heartbeat, the local Suicide Survivors Support Group, will be holding its fourth annual balloon launch on Sept. 8.
ASSIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is a nationally recognized program providing practical training for caregivers seeking to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. Participants encouraged to attend include:
* Anyone concerned about family or friends
* Natural helpers and advisors
* Emergency Service workers
* Counselors, teachers and ministers
* Mental health practitioners
* Workers in health, welfare or justice
* Community volunteers
The emphasis of the ASSIST workshop is on suicide first aid, on helping a person at risk stay safe and seeking f

FRISCO, Colorado – Not surprisingly, health care, the economy and forest health topped the list of issues local voters wanted to discuss Thursday with Sen. Michael Bennet during the Democrat’s campaign stop in Frisco.
On those topics and others, Bennet said the country’s leaders will have to decide whether they want to find real solutions or allow partisan politics to thwart progress.
“I think there’s too much partisanship back there,” Bennet said of the nation’s capital. “I think once you put away the political stuff, people are much more interested in solving problems. And that’s what I hope to be able to do.”
Two attendees at the town hall meeting asked what Bennet would do to improve health care and ensure that Medicare payments will cover doctors’ costs.
“We have so much more we need to do to get control of cost in our health care system,” Bennet said.
Cost transparency and controlling costs in medical care are essential to reform, ac

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado – Labor Day weekend is all about laid-back picnics, leisurely hikes – and, potentially, sluggish traffic on Interstate 70.
The weekend tends to bring a spike in traffic on the highway, as Denver travelers head into the high country for a final hurrah.
“It’s the last traditional weekend of summer, and so you’ve got people who are going up and spending the weekend in the mountains,” Bob Wilson, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Transportation said. “We see it for hiking and biking and just getting out of the city before the snow flies.”
Given that, traffic might not be flying.
Matt Darpli, owner of a private car service in Avon called Eagle Vail Express, predicts traffic could be heavy on Sunday after 1 p.m.
“I would say it’s going to be busy on Sunday no matter what,” he said. “People are going to think they’re going to avoid the rush and go back to Denver and have Labor Day back there.”
I

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado – Fish are creatures of the water.
But once a year, they go airborne.
In the early morning hours this week, trout rained from the sky, dropping into alpine lakes in the Vail backcountry.
This is the strange journey of the fish you catch in the Holy Cross Wilderness and the Flat Tops.

‘Like riding a rapid’
Most pilots avoid flying into dead-end canyons.
“That’s stuff I taught people for years to stay the heck out of,” pilot Steve Waters said.
Sitting in the plush lobby of the Vail Valley Jet Center in Gypsum, Fellow pilot Al Keith agreed.
“And we do it for a living,” he said. “But it’s fun, to a degree.”
With many of the lakes in the Colorado backcountry impossible to reach by car and tough to access on foot, the Colorado Division of Wildlife enlists its pilots to stock them. This past week, four pilots stocked about 200 lakes within a 70-mile radius of the Gypsum airport. In total, the pilot stock about

GLENWOOD SPRINGS – Garfield County sheriff candidate Tom Dalessandri announced on Wednesday that he has picked former Republican candidate Doug Winters to be undersheriff if Dalessandri wins the November election.
In announcing the choice, Dalessandri described Winters as his “running mate” in the campaign to unseat two-term incumbent Sheriff Lou Vallario, who defeated Winters in the Aug. 10 Republican party primary by the narrow margin of 2,308 for Vallario and 2,230 for Winters.
Dalessandri is a Democrat and former two-term holder of the sheriff’s job, from 1994 to 2002.
The last time Dalessandri and Vallario met in an election, Vallario took the job from Dalessandri after a hard-fought campaign. Vallario won by a margin of 7,567 to 6,067, or 56 to 44 percent.
Following the recent primary election, Winters said his strong showing in the primary should send a message to Vallario that the “people are serious” about the issues Winters raised regarding t

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado – In recognition of National Suicide Prevention Week Sept. 5-11, two events are being held in Eagle County. A two-day training session called ASSIST is being sponsored by the Suicide Awareness and Prevention Coalition of Eagle County. Heartbeat, the local Suicide Survivors Support Group, will be holding its fourth annual balloon launch on Sept. 8.
ASSIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is a nationally recognized program providing practical training for caregivers seeking to prevent the immediate risk of suicide. Participants encouraged to attend include:
* Anyone concerned about family or friends
* Natural helpers and advisors
* Emergency Service workers
* Counselors, teachers and ministers
* Mental health practitioners
* Workers in health, welfare or justice
* Community volunteers
The emphasis of the ASSIST workshop is on suicide first aid, on helping a person at risk stay safe and seeking f

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado – Foxnut marks its final weekend open in their current Beaver Creek Plaza location this Labor Day weekend.
This Tuesday, Foxnut will close their doors to the public and begin the big move to their new slopeside location, set to open this winter season. It will move to the base of the Centennial Lift, adjacent to the Beaver Creek Chophouse.
The Flying Pig Sandwich Shop will be located in Beaver Creek Plaza, in the old Foxnut location.

AVON, Colorado – Starting Tuesday, Lake Street will be closed to through traffic for construction of the Avon Community Heat Recovery project. Benchmark Road will reopen and will be the primary detour. The closure of Lake Street will begin south of the recreation center entrance. Limited parking spaces will be available between the fire station and municipal building.
Pedestrian traffic will be accommodated to the north or south as the Lake Street sidewalks will also be closed in the project area. The road is expected to reopen on Sept. 16. Other interruptions are expected in Harry A. Nottingham Park as the project proceeds west through the park towards the Avon Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Call Jeffrey Schneider at 970-748-4134 for more information.

VAIL, Colorado – The town of Vail is seeking applications from community members to fill a mid-term vacancy on the Vail Commission on Special Events.
Applications are due to the town by 5 p.m. Sept. 21. Applicants must be a resident, property owner, business owner, or employee within the town of Vail. The Vail Town Council will conduct interviews during its work session on Oct. 5, with appointments to follow at its evening meeting. The term of the interim appointment begins Oct. 6 and expires Dec. 31. The new appointee should be prepared to attend the CSE meeting on the following morning, from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 6 in the Vail Town Council Chambers.
Duties of the CSE include hiring and overseeing a director and/or staff, as well as event producers and/or promoters; creating, funding and seeking special events for the Town of Vail; evaluating event applications and event success; submitting an annual budget for operations and events; coordinating the community calendar for spec