Fountain Creek: United we must stand

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/FILE
The Fountain Creek as it flows through Pueblo. Pueblo County Commissioner-elect Jeff Chostner says Puebloans' best defense of waterway is a united offense seeking flood controls and better water quality.

Bring it on Springs and put a cork in it.

NEW STOMPING GROUNDS

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/CHRIS McLEAN
The Pueblo Zoo's African lion cubs are growing up and spending about an hour a day in the outdoor lion enclosure, weather-permitting. But they still rely on keeper Heather Smith for their bottle feedings and companionship. The cub on the left is 6-weeks old; the other two are 10 weeks old. They will live at the zoo for at least a year, possibly being introduced to the four adult lions, including their parents, when they get bigger.

Pueblo Chieftain News

Shiela Perez

By JOHN NORTONTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
When Shiela Perez led her third-graders to Spann School’s gym Thursday afternoon, she thought they were just going to enjoy a Christmas concert by the school’s young singers.
But after a brief musical performance, Lisa Medler of the Colorado Department of Education came forward to make an announcement - that Perez had been named Colorado's Title I teacher of the year.
This is the second year for the award and the state's plan was to name two teachers each year.
Medler said that Perez’s nomination was so outstanding, however, that state officials could not see having her share the award and named her as the sole winner for 2006.
In addition to a glass plaque, Perez will receive $5,000 from the state.
Perez was nominated for the award by Spann Principal Charlotte Macaluso and Reading First coach Tammy Neal.
They wrote: “Mrs. Perez motivates students through her own enthusiasm for learning and teaching. Her creative lesson planning, continual support of her students’ learning needs, interaction and relationships with both students and their families ultimately promotes positive student achievement.”
Perez decided to become a teacher while her own children were in school. She has spent her entire five-year career at Spann.
Macaluso and Neal also pointed out that “although Spann is a high poverty school, where 95 percent of all children receive free or reduced priced lunches, she focuses her attention on those things she has control over. She has control over the curriculum she delivers day to day; she controls how she interacts with and involves families.
“Mrs. Perez recognizes the importance of family partnerships in the education of each child in her classroom and the greater school community. She forms relationships with parents by continuously dialoguing with them regarding their child’s performance.”
Beyond those complimentary recommendations, Medler said the award is based on data that shows how the winning teacher has improved achievement, determined students’ needs and differentiates instruction based on those needs.
Winning teachers also stay abreast of new information and research within their subject areas and communicate well with parents and the community, she said.
During a reception following the award ceremony, Perez told her fellow teachers and family members, “I expect 110 percent of my students but they know that I give them 110 percent of me as well. I wouldn’t ask them to work any harder than I do.
“I set high expectations for my students and they always rise to meet those expectations. Kids will rise to the expectation you set for them - if you set low expectations that's what they will achieve - if you set high goals they will rise to or exceed them.”
Perez said she couldn’t accomplish what she does without the support of other people at Spann.
“I am fortunate to work with the best teachers in District 60. I have the best principal in Charlotte Macaluso, the best reading coach in Tammy Neal and the best Lindamood-Bell coordinator in Geri Lane. It’s because of the strong team at Spann that I am able to focus on helping my students succeed.”

http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1166198837/10

Flush the...

Colorado Springs again seeks an end to Fountain lawsuits
By ROBERT BOCZKIEWICZ
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
DENVER - Colorado Springs and the Sierra Club agree - for different reasons - that two Fountain Creek pollution lawsuits don't need a trial to be resolved.

They agree that U.S. District Judge Walker Miller should enter a judgment solely on the written arguments. They differ, of course, on what Miller's judgment should be.

In 40 pages of new court filings, Colorado Springs makes its argument and takes swipes against Pueblo County District Attorney Bill Thiebaut.

Last year's lawsuits by the Sierra Club and Thiebaut against Colorado Springs allege it has violated the federal Clean Water Act. The alleged violations are hundreds of spills of raw sewage, excessive chlorine and nonpotable water from the city into the creek since at least 1996.

Last month, the Sierra Club contended the fact that the spills have occurred is sufficient for the judge to enter a judgment of liability against the city.

The environmental group and the district attorney point out that the spills are not allowed by Colorado Springs' sewage system permit and are therefore a violation of the act.

Colorado Springs' new filings say all sewage systems sometimes have spills. It cites a Nov. 2 spill of almost a half-million gallons from Pueblo's sewage system into the Arkansas River.

Colorado Springs also cites, among other spills in recent years, millions of gallons of wastewater into Fountain Creek from the Air Force Academy and Fort Carson.

In the filings, Colorado Springs contends the Clean Water Act and legal doctrine bar the lawsuits.

In addition, the city contends the district attorney has no legal authority to bring his lawsuit.

For those reasons, Colorado Springs is arguing that Miller should enter a judgment in favor of the city.
The city made those arguments in earlier filings asking the judge to throw out the lawsuits, and added to its arguments in its new request for a summary judgment.

The Sierra Club sought a summary judgment in last month's filings.

The judge is expected to decide next year whether to enter a summary judgment (a decision without a trial) or to conduct a trial.

In its new filings, Colorado Springs said the lawsuits are "an effort to second-guess (the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which) has taken substantial, intensive and ongoing regulatory enforcement action" on the spills.

Colorado Springs said the department's action is costing the city $400,000 in penalties and is requiring the city to spend "well in excess of $87 million in wastewater system improvements."

The city said the lawsuits are asking Miller "for new and different relief for the same alleged violations." The city contends the lawsuits are prohibited by a legal doctrine that bars consideration of lawsuits about disputes that already have been adjudicated. In this case, the department, the state agency with the primary responsibility to enforce the act, already has adjudicated the spills, the city said.

Colorado Springs also contends the lawsuits are barred by the act for two reasons. The city first argues that the act allows "citizen suits," such as Thiebaut's and the club's, only if the state agency has not begun an enforcement action.

The second reason is that the city contends the alleged violations are "wholly past," and the U.S. Supreme Court purportedly has ruled that citizen suits cannot be brought for wholly past violations.

Colorado Springs contends it is entitled to a summary judgment on Thiebaut's lawsuit for another reason, because Colorado district attorneys purportedly do not have legal authority or standing to bring this type of lawsuit.

Thiebaut and the Sierra Club in earlier filings have disputed the city's contentions.

The city's filings say Thiebaut, when questioned about his statutory authority to bring his lawsuit, "provided vague, non-responsive answers rather than respond with actual (legal) authority."

Colorado Springs says it searched diligently and has not found any Colorado law "that affirmatively authorizes a state district attorney to bring any action in the U.S. District Court."

It says that, in fact, a Colorado appeals court, in a similar issue in 1991, ruled that a district attorney did not have authority to enforce the state's hazardous waste act because legislators had given that authority solely to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment.

The city contends legislators made the department solely responsible for enforcing the Clean Water Act "to avoid the confusion of multiple state and/or local government officials taking inconsistent enforcement actions regarding the same events."

"Thiebaut simply disagrees with (the department's) actions, and seeks to set himself up as a separate (regulator) in competition with the state of Colorado," the Colorado Springs filings contend.

The filings assert that when city representatives questioned Thiebaut, he purportedly said he can bring any lawsuit to protect the community unless legislators have prohibited district attorneys from bringing a particular kind of lawsuit.

"In effect, Thiebaut asserts . . . he is empowered to act officially as a second attorney general on behalf of the entire state of Colorado in far-flung civil enforcement areas," according to Colorado Springs' filings. "This claim is absurd and without legal basis."

The city contends Thiebaut does not have the right to sue as an official because he has not asserted, as courts purportedly have required in similar situations, that he, personally, has been injured by the spills.
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1165903200/6

Toy Run Today

Pueblo Bikers United will hold its 29th annual Toy Run today, using a different route this year because of road construction in parts of the city. The event is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the South High School parking lot and bikers will proceed to the Outpost Harley Davidson store on the North Side.
Source

Fishing the tail Waters

Pueblo WestView photos/Bill Claspell Bait anglers will find plenty of success on the lower Arkansas River. My son Daniel likes the results he gets from fishing Fireballs under a splitshot.
Fishing the tail waters

This is prime time on the lower Arkansas
If I could pick just a few months out of the year to fish the Arkansas River, I would pick the months between December and April every year.
Yes, I know that those months span the winter and early spring months on the calendar, but here on the tail water, you won’t find a finer time to be on the river than now.
The Arkansas below Pueblo Dam is probably one of the very best tail-water fisheries in the state.

I’ve dropped a lot of ink over the past few years proclaiming the merits of this section of river, and why not? It’s located in our back yard, is mostly accessible to the public, and has a big fish population that will rival most any other river in this state, regardless of the season.
The river here has grown in popularity over the years, but the winter fishing remains mostly a local secret; which, I suppose, is just as well for those of us who enjoy spending our days casting without competition with other anglers.
There are a number of reasons why this section of river fishes so well during the winter months, and chief among those is that the river is fed by the lower gates of the dam.
In the coolest months of the year, the surface temperature of the water behind the dam drops, sometimes to the extreme that ice forms in the coves and upper-river arms.
Subject to the elements of wind, snow, and cold nighttime temperatures, the surface may be as much as 10 degrees cooler than the deeper water that is not exposed to the weather, and it’s this warmer, deep water that feeds the river below the dam all winter long.
Fly anglers should be prepared with plenty of smaller flies that will match the numerous hatches that occur during the day.
Having all this warmer water to feed the river during the winter is a big plus for our fishery because warmer water means active insects, and having all those bugs to feed on throughout the year keeps the fish active and gaining weight all through the months when most fish in other rivers stay mostly dormant in the pools.
And now, with the winter-water storage program underway, the flows on the tail-water have dropped to a level that is consistently slow, making the river a virtual paradise for fly, lure, and bait anglers alike.
While the entire river, from the bottom of the dam to its confluence with Fountain Creek, will hold good populations of fish, on the coldest days the upper stretches reap the most benefits from the warm water discharge from the dam.
It’s these first two to three miles of river that attract my interest during the winter months and that have provided me with some of my best days on the water.
As is the case with most tail waters, the Arkansas River sees numerous hatches throughout the winter.
Unlike high country tail-water fisheries, though, our mild climate, combined with the warm-water discharge from the dam, contributes to massive hatches of insects during the winter months that normally aren’t seen in other places.
These hatches consist mostly of midges, but mayfly species, such as blue-winged olives and tricos, also can be found on most days.
Because of the diversity of the hatches that occur on the river on any given day, I keep a special fly box prepared that will help me to match whatever hatch is occurring.
This box contains all my smallest flies, from sized 18 WD-40s to sized 24 CDC midge patterns.
I also keep a healthy supply of small dries, like Adams mayflies, blue-winged olives, and trico spinners in my box that range in size from 18 to 24.
Bait and lure anglers also will find success on the river at this time of year.
The old standby, Pautzkey’s Green Label Fireballs, are my first choice for bait when the kids are fishing with me.
The lower river is home to plenty of big fish, like this nice cutbow.
Rigged on a size-10 snelled fishhook, with a couple splitshot arranged about 8Ð10 inches above the bait, the Fireballs can be absolutely deadly on trout.
It’s not unusual for my three kids to catch and release 20Ð30 fish in a day on this type of rig.
The bait rig can be fished nearly anywhere there’s water, but I really like the way that it performs near the tail ends of riffles, as the water drops into a deeper pool.
Trout will congregate in these areas and will quickly pounce on the bait as it bounces along the bottom.
For lures, I prefer using floating minnows on the tail water.
I like the Rapala 2 1/2 inch minnow in any kind of shiner or rainbow trout color.
These lures may appear rather large for trout, but I’ve caught some mighty big browns and rainbows by swimming the lures around slower moving pools or the tail ends of riffles.
These lures also can be fished around faster water and on short casts behind current breaks where rocks or logs emerge from the bottom to form back eddies.
Colder weather normally spells the end of the fishing season for many river anglers, but on the tail water there are as many reasons to be on the river now as there are ways to catch the fish that live there.
And whether you’re throwing flies, bait, or lures, the lower Arkansas is sure to provide you with plenty of action all winter long.
Pueblo West resident Bill Claspell is an avid outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman who also enjoys writing about his escapades.

He can be reached by e-mail at bnlrac@msn.com

Pueblo West View