From Span to Risley to East High to USC to Standford and now CEO

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/BRYAN KELSEN
Lawrence Hernandez, CEO of the Cesar Chavez Network of charter schools, smiles as he socializes at the El Pomar Foundation's 2006 Awards For Excellence Wednesday at the Broadmoor International Center in Colorado Springs. Cesar Chavez Academy was named the category winner for the Award for Excellence in Education.
By JAMES AMOSTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
COLORADO SPRINGS - Two nonprofit programs in Southern Colorado were chosen for special awards Wednesday night by the El Pomar Foundation.
The Cesar Chavez Network of charter schools in Pueblo, started and run by Pueblo native Lawrence Hernandez, won a prestigious El Pomar award for excellence in education.
Winning for excellence in special projects was the San Luis Valley Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program, based in Alamosa.
El Pomar is the state's premier philanthropic foundation, started in 1937 by mine owners Spencer and Julie Penrose. The $550 million foundation has given $320 million in grants in Colorado and another $35 million in stewardship programs in the state.
Cesar Chavez Network and the San Luis Valley program were among seven nonprofit programs or agencies in Southern and Southeastern Colorado to be named finalists for this year's El Pomar recognition awards.
Hernandez said he was delighted his charter school system was chosen for the award, joining an elite list of nonprofit entities to have done so.
"I'm overwhelmed," he said. "You struggle, and you wonder if anyone ever notices what you're doing."
Hernandez started the charter school system six years ago, using all of his $75,000 in retirement savings from teaching at Harvard University and another $75,000 given to him by Cherry Creek banker Donald Sturm.
The school now has a high school, a total enrollment of 1,150 students and 200 staff members. Academy officials like to note that almost all their students have scored at or above proficient levels on state education tests.
Hernandez said he was pleased his charter school network has become successful enough to become part of the distinguished group of programs and agencies honored by the El Pomar Foundation.
"It's incredible," he said.
Alice Price, executive director of the San Luis Valley Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program said she too was honored by the recognition.
"We were very, very overwhelmed and proud," she said. "We had many community volunteers over the years who helped make this happen." The 12-year-old program brings juvenile offenders and the people they have harmed together to heal and discuss how to make things right. The program has touched 800 to 900 juvenile offenders and trained 75 or more community volunteers to help mediate and facilitate.
Price said the program started small, with just her and a few others who wanted to create a program to bring people in the community back together.
The group received a $5,000 grant and, years later, can look back proudly. The program now has a staff of one full-time and two part-time people and also provides conflict resolution and leadership training to teenagers across the San Luis Valley.
"It's just great to be included in such a prestigious group," Price said of the award. "We were surprised to be a finalist."
El Pomar gave its Special Trustees Award to Gov. Bill Owens. Bill Hybl, chairman and CEO of the El Pomar Foundation, said Owens could not attend because he was meeting with other Republican state governors.
Owens was chosen for his long record of environmental stewardship, according to the foundation, including the preservation of more land in Colorado than any other governor and the creation of three state parks.
Governor-elect Bill Ritter also, like several other invited guests, could not attend because of poor weather.
But Hybl said he thinks Ritter will be a friend to nonprofit groups in the state.
"He has a genuine interest," Hybl said. "I think we have a real supporter."
Hybl also lauded all the agencies and programs chosen as finalists for the awards this year, saying they show what Coloradans are really about.
"The core of the state is what you do," he said.
Southern and Southeastern Colorado's other finalists in various categories were:
Valley-Wide Health Systems in Alamosa, for large health-care programs.
A Caring Pregnancy Center in Pueblo for small health-care programs.
Lamar Area Hospice in Lamar, also for small health-care programs.
Mi Casa Resource Center for Women in Pueblo, for self-sufficiency programs.
El Pueblo . . . An Adolescent Treatment Community, located in Pueblo, for youth development programs.

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Our Men fighting for us

The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Pueblo, Colorado U.S.A

The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Pueblo, Colorado U.S.A: "Sewage release in river greater than estimated
By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The amount of partially treated sewage released into the Arkansas River at the Pueblo water reclamation plant earlier this month was larger than originally suspected.

The release was estimated at 498,000 gallons, rather than the 374,000 gallons reported after the Nov. 2 incident, said Gene Michael, wastewater director, in a recent letter to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“The revised estimate is based on a finding that the fault in the vacuum line occurred earlier than was originally believed,” Michael said.

The release was caused by a chlorine gas injector that shut down when a brittle plastic pipe was broken by an employee who was cleaning, removing a vacuum from the line on a one-ton chlorine tank.

The valve that adds chlorine to the water shut down - as it is designed to in order to prevent the release of toxic gas - when the vacuum disappeared, causing water with elevated levels of E. coli bacteria to enter the river, Michael said.

As much of the flow as possible was diverted to aeration basins.

The discharge elevated E. coli counts in the Arkansas River to 4,000-24,000 colonies per 100 milliliters from a measurement of 20 per 100 milliliters above the treatment plant imme"

Roofer protest county bid denial

They should right out gave PPP Roofing the job. If they new they did not want then to bid then they should have stated that from the start. This good ol boy system needs to end.


Roofer protests county's bid denial
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A roofing contractor who was the only bidder on a new roof for the Pueblo District Attorney's office building protested to county commissioners that the contract should have been awarded to him.
Last week, commissioners said they would reopen the bidding on the job after Commissioner Anthony Nunez said PPP Roofing had been slow to complete a contract on reroofing the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center several years ago.
Dennis Paradiso of PPP told the board on Tuesday that he has done numerous roofing jobs for the county since 1998 "and we have never been told we were out of compliance with a contract. We believe the commissioners have violated the county's procurement rules based on false information."
County Attorney Dan Kogovsek said he thought the bid was reopened more because there was only one bidder than because of Nunez's remarks about PPP.
But Paradiso said he was basing his complaint not only on what he read in the newspaper, but what Nunez told him in a private conversation.
Commissioners said Paradiso is welcome to bid again on the current job, and Kogovsek said, "If you're the low bidder you'll get the contract."
- Margie Wood

East High sets dedication of Vietnam War memorial
East High School plans to dedicate a memorial next week to graduates who died in the Vietnam War.
The school’s junior ROTC has researched its archives and developed a list of names, but friends and family members aware of any who were omitted should contact the school.
The list currently includes David L. Blunn, Daniel J. Clevenger, Robert W. Ellsworth, Allen D. Ford, Ronald C. Katz, Patrick A. Lucero, Juan P. Martinez, Pete M. Martinez, Joe L. Mascarenes, Miguel E. Naranjo Jr., Michael P. Tomsic and Leslie W. Williams.
An assembly is scheduled at 10:20 a.m. on Nov. 10 in the school's auditorium at which time a marble memorial will be unveiled.
If family members of the fallen graduates would like to be present, there will be a special seating area for them.
Anyone who would like to add names to the list may call the East High School JROTC office at 549-7237 or Principal Alan Nelms at 549-7220

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