Reading backwards, pouring lead, hanging on a Star

Comparing notes with other ink-stained wretches 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

My first paying job in the newspaper business was folding the Dolores Star as it came off the press when I was six years old. It didn’t pay much – unless you can count the experience and education.

A penny per paper comes to mind, but it may have been less. Even at that rate, with two or three others (usually bigger, faster, stronger, smarter) working the same 700-paper circulation, you were lucky to come away with a buck from the afternoon. I wasn’t in it for the money.
Longtime southwest Colorado resident Ellis Miller recently related to me similar experience, recalling the tools of the trade at the time.
“My uncle Tom Johnson was the owner/editor of the Dolores Star prior to the Pleasants. It was located in the brick building you mentioned and Shorty Lobato was the "printer's devil." I used to be fascinated by the Linotype machine. Uncle Tom typed with two fingers, very quickly and efficiently, I might add. I had the job of going to the newspaper office after school and folding papers. My tools were glycerin to put on my fingers to make handling the paper easier and a "bone" which was just that, a flat piece of bone, maybe 5" x 2" that was used to crease the papers. It was an exciting environment, indeed.”
But other jobs reared their ugly head from time-to-time in the busy paper environment. My long-time favorite was the scratch pad business. You literally could (with limits) decide how much you wanted to make, in a very short period of time.
Making scratch pads, I determined was an art. In the days before 3M came up with the “Post It,” we would salvage whatever paper came off trim-to-fit jobs and clamp it down in a nice, even-edged stack, trim an even tighter edge, then slather one-side with the bright green or red plastic padding compound. Then let it cure a day or so, and usually trim the stack again in the paper cutter and separate. The paper cutter, which was back near the rope-driven elevator platform, was a much-feared piece of equipment with a long lever, a tightening wheel-driven clamp, fence and a razor-sharp knife-edge. Given the right circumstances, you could of whacked off pretty much any body part if you weren’t careful. Being cautious and not trying to cut something too thin produced the desired product usually, resulting in … Viola! “New & Improved” scratch pads.
But the manufacturing process was only part of the fun for me. I liked the sales process. Remember these were the days before electronic calculators; so just about every business scribbled out calculations for sales tax, or used them to determine how many rolls of roofing to sell to cover seven squares of roof, or to draw pictures of the part they were trying to order.
When you had gathered the right amount of various sized pads, in various colors, thicknesses, paper weights, etc… it was time throw them in a box and hit the street.
I sold stacks of white 5 ¼ “ x 8 ½” pads to the hardware store, bundles of smaller pads at the garage where my Dad worked, heaps of scratch pads to the grocery stores, loads at the Forest Service building, and I was just getting started.
Another job at the shop that I eventually learned, was labeling the papers for the mail. Much more difficult and mechanized than it is today, the label machine usually required an ability to hold your face right to get the labeler to work properly. It had a series of hot type labels set in ‘stick’ of type that rode in a carriage above, and a gummed roll of two-inch-wide paper that would feed through, cut, and place the semi-wet label on the papers. You had to “air the papers out” a bit so the labels wouldn’t get knocked off until they were dry. It was a major pain in the butt.
Near the top of the food chain, at least in the Dolores Star office, was actually running the linotype, something that I never did more than casually. I remember that Dan Pleasant was considered the ace at the board there, perhaps ostensibly for his skill and ability to avoid “Widows and Orphans.”
Linotype keyboards were originally arranged by how frequent a particular letter would come up. There was a key for each letter in the alphabet: for upper case, and lower case, and a bunch of extra keys for numbers and symbols.
The first two vertical columns on the left side of the board read “ETAOIN SHRDLU.” When the person running the beast screwed up, it wasn’t easy to go back to delete it. You had to finish the line before tossing the slug and re-keying a new one. Because the bad line was going to be tossed back in the pot, the industry habit developed to do what was called a "run down", creating this nonsense phrase to signify the error. It was supposed to be easy to see a “run down” by those putting the pages together — but not always.
Thus, the practice sometimes resulted in the phrase accidentally getting in to print, instead of being tossed when the stick of type went to the compositors and eventually to lock-up. The error happened frequently enough in hot type days that “ETAOIN SHRDLU” eventually appeared in most dictionaries.
Several years ago I enjoyed discussions with another "ink-stained wretch" while comparing notes about the "old days" of hot type. The weathered newspaper veteran seemed to enjoy it as well.
"It was refreshing to hear words like "Elrod, Ludlow, type lice and one of my favorites, pouring pigs," noted Rich Leinbach, Director of Publishing Systems for the Goshen News in Goshen, Indiana. For the uninitiated, a "pig" was a lead casting used in Linotype typesetting machines. And, on hearing of our common reference points, he told the following story.
"This brings me to a fond memory of pig pouring, back in the late 70s. I was fresh out of high school and although our newspaper had already converted to offset, we still used a decent amount of hot type in our commercial printing department.
"It was late one day and I had the job of firing up the lead furnace to pour a fresh batch of pigs. I had the pot filled with molten lead, had skimmed off the dross and was just beginning to pour the pigs when the valve broke, in the open position.
"Needless to say, gravity took over and the entire pot of lead became one giant pig on the floor, in a matter of a few minutes.
"To make matters even worse, just after my masterpiece had cooled into a solid mass, the entire staff of "Big Wigs" came parading through, after a late meeting. There I stood, pry bar in hand, trying to get rid of the evidence before anyone could find out. Ah . . . those WERE the good old days."

Photo information:

1. A smaller job press, with circular platen, used to print cards.

2. Engraving art to drop in layouts. Assemble pieces of metal type, were gathered into words and lines using a Linotype, or even hand-picked and collected on a composing stick, which are then transferred to a galley,  before being locked into a forme and printed.

3.  The label machine usually required an ability to hold your face right to get the labeler to work properly.

Hold the fort and pass the ammunition

Protect against forces unknown, destination on map to rendezvous

  “A clear cold morning with high wind: we caught in a trap a large gray wolf, and last night obtained in the same way a fox who had for some time infested the neighbourhood of the fort.”

__ Meriwether Lewis


By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

That was before Colorado, of course, which was a wild place back then. Even 60, 70, 80, even 90 years later … a fort seemed like a good idea. Hold down the fort. Wall off the dangerous world for a time. It served as a place to trade, to protect oneself against the forces of the unknown, a destination point on the map to rendezvous.

At least seven locations in the state still bear the “Fort” name officially. Many more carried it for a time. Following is a quick list that I can think of pulled together with information from Geo. R. Eichler’s excellent book, “Colorado Place Names”, and “A Colorado History,” by Carl Ubbelohde, Maxine Benson, and Duane A. Smith.

• Fort Collins – Organized as a town in 1872, but before that it started as an Army camp connected to Fort Laramie in Wyoming with two companies of the 11^th Ohio Volunteer Calvary. Known as Camp Collins first, after Col. W.O. Collins, the commander for Fort Laramie at the time. Later it was known as Fort Collins and retained the name long after the military post was abandoned.

• Fort Lupton – Lancaster P. Lupton was a lieutenant for Col. Henry Dodge’s 1835 expedition to the Rockies. Taking a leave from the Army in 1836 or ‘37 and established what he called Fort Lancaster. The trading post was abandoned in the early 1840s but the surviving adobe building continued to be used as stage stop on the route from Missouri to Denver 20 years later.

• Fort Uncompahgre – On the Gunnison River, near what is now Delta, Antoine Robidoux built Fort Uncompahgre in the mid 1820s.

• Fort Davy Crockett – In Brown’s Hole in the extreme Northwest corner of Colorado, this fort provided a base for beaver trappers. This post was short-lived and so restricted in attractions that many of the trappers called it Fort Misery.

• Fort St. Vrain – About six miles northwest of the present town of Platteville, the Bent, St. Vrain and Company built a fur trading post on Platte and called it Fort Lookout. It was later changed to Fort George and then to Fort St. Vrain.

• Fort Jackson – Only 10 miles from Fort St. Vrain, this outpost was created by St. Vrain competitor Fraeb and Sarpy. In 1838, St. Vrain bought them out in the area and pushed fur business toward his own namesake.

• Fort Crawford – General R.S. Mackenzie, with six calvary companies and nine of infantry, moved into the Uncompahgre River Valley. The troops were there to help the Indian agents, if necessary, complete the removal of the Utes to reservations in Utah and southwestern Colorado. On Sept., 7, 1881, the last of Utes pass the junction of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. Congress declared former Ute lands public and open for filing in June of 1882, but many settlers had already moved in and plotted towns in anticipation of the San Juan silver rush.

• Fort Pueblo – In 1854, minor conflicts between Indians and white settlers erupted into what became known as the Fort Pueblo Massacre. On Christmas Day, a celebration at the fort became a bloody fight in which 15 settlers were killed and the Indians carried a woman, and two boys away. General John Garland, the commander at Fort Union in New Mexico, marched against the Indians, but relations improved with an unratified treaty negotiated by Kit Carson and New Mexico Governor David Meriwether.

• Fort Lewis – When first created in 1877, it was located where Pagosa Springs is now. Named after Lieutenant Colonel William H. Lewis, a descendant of Meriwether Lewis. It was moved to 12 miles southwest of Durango, but abandoned several years later. The school on the hill above Durango still sports the moniker.

• Fort Morgan – In 1865, the post that was first called Camp Tyler became Fort Wardwell but was renamed a year later in honor of Col. Christopher A. Morgan of the United States Volunteers.

• Fort Massachusetts – The original location of this post in 1852, was between two mountains and away from Indian trails. They found a more strategic location six miles south and west, at what became Fort Garland.

• Fort Garland ­– Its namesake, John Garland, commanded the military district when it was founded in 1858. Kit Carson was the commander here from 1866-67. The post was abandoned in 1883, but the name was retained for the surrounding community.

• Fort Lyon – Col. William Bent left his trading post on the Arkansas River and moved downstream about 40 miles and established Bent’s New Fort. When it was leased to the Army, it was renamed Fort Fauntleroy after a colonel of the First Dragoons. The government bought the site in 1859 and renamed it Fort Wise for Henry Wise, the governor of Virginia. It was later renamed Fort Lyon in honor of Gen. Nathan Lyon, the first Union soldier killed in the Civil War. In 1866, the river undercut the bank and the Fort was once again moved 20 miles up river. Kit Carson died here May 23, 1868, at the age of 58.

• Fort Carson – After World War II, with 60,000 acres in military reservation near Colorado Springs at Camp Carson providing training facilities for the 89^th, 71^st, and the 104^th divisions was of course named for frontier scout and military leader Kit Carson. In 1954, the Defense Department designated it as a permanent installation and renamed it Fort Carson.

Interestingly enough, Kit Carson has a lot more than forts named after him including the following:

• Kit Carson County, Kit Carson Peak, town of Kit Carson in Colorado • Carson City, Nevada • Carson Pass in Nevada and California • Kit Carson, city in California • Mount Kit Carson in Washington • Carson National Forest in New Mexico • Carson River in California and Nevada

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More than thrown on the wall to see what sticks

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Disappointment tears at the very fabric of life. And hope is about the only thing disappointment respects. Imagine, if you will, the disappointment Col. Nathaniel P. Turner felt when he realized that his crowning engineering achievement, the hanging flume above the Dolores River, was an exercise in futility. Imagine the despair when he found there was no hope for the project, and years of his life’s work were for nothing.
“In 1886, several companies were formed to work the placers at Mesa and Cottonwood Creeks, wrote Ben H. Parker, Jr., of Golden, in an unpublished doctoral dissertation in 1960, at Colorado School of Mines. “The following year the Mesa Creek placer properties came into the possession of the Montrose Place Mining Co. capitalized at $5,000,000.”
According to the Engineering and Mining Journal (1887, v 44, p 263,) this company claimed to have 600 acres of placer ground underlain by gravels 12 to 115 feet deep worth from 50 cents to $7 per cubic yard. In a feature article on the company’s operations, the Engineering and Mining Journal (1890, v 49, p 563-565) reported the following.
“… In the spring of 1888, the ground was prospected by the aid of streams of melting snow and trifling amounts of water afforded by the Mesa Creek, quite a small stream. The result, however, was so satisfactory that the company decided to build a ditch and flume to a point 10 miles above (on the) San Miguel River.
There was about half and half ditching and fluming … the total cost will be about $75,000 when finished, and it is expected to be completed within a few months … This work was commenced at the lower end where the greater part of the flume is (because) the forest from which the lumber obtained is located nearest that point. Now work is going on at the upper end…”
“The flume traverses the whole length of the Dolores Canyon, which is about four miles. It is fastened to the walls of the cliff … and for a long distance elevation above the river of 300 to 400 feet. It is very firmly built and has been fully tested to carry the volume of water, which will pass through it when finished… In getting the levels, the work was very dangerous, the man being lowered down over the cliff… marking in read paint the line to be followed by the construction gang. As the supporting timbers were put into place, the floor of the flume was laid and the derrick pushed out ahead, from which other supporting timbers were raised and secured to their places. Under favorable conditions, with a gang of 12 men, 250 feet per day have been erected. At one point on the line, nearly 200 feet long, the rock projects out, forming a sort of canopy, and is so shaped that it was impossible to support the flume on brackets, and is hung from bolts, driven in overhead, on which the flume swings … , “ reported the Mining Journal.
The flume was six feet wide and four feet deep; it was set on sills fastened to the cliff with iron pins and supported on the hanging end by posts or inclined timbers pinned to the cliff beneath. More than 1,800,000 feet of lumber was used to complete its construction.
According to Frank Hall in History of the State of Colorado (1895, v4, p235):
… The operative plant of the Montrose Pacer Mining Company, formed of St. Louis capitalists, and managed by Col. N.P. Turner, an experienced California miner, is one of the remarkable mining triumphs of engineering in our state…
The company owns six and half miles of mining ground on the Dolores River. To successfully work them by hydraulic process, it was found necessary to tap the stream thirteen miles above, and carry the water by ditch and flume the entire distance. For more than six miles this flume is supported on brackets from and overhanging cliff, ranging from 100 to 150 above the river and from 250 to 500 feet below the summit of the gorge. In places the cliff hangs over an angle of fifteen degrees and such water as escapes strikes the opposite side of the river 100 yards from its base. A wagon road was constructed along the cliff at the apex, from which workmen were let down by ropes for the purpose of drilling into the face of the cliff, inserting the iron brackets (pins) and setting the flume thereon,” wrote Hall.
“Col. Turner was engaged more than two years in perfecting this wonderful enterprise. It carries 80,000,000 gallons of water each 24 hours. Its grade is 6 feet, 10 inches to the mile and its cost is something over $100,000. At the placers the latest improved hydraulic machinery is employed, and the work of cutting and sluicing began in the early summer of 1891. Col. Turner’s lowest estimate of the gold contents of the ground is 25 to 30 cents per cubic yard and he washes down the great main sluice from 4,000 to 5,000 cubic yards daily. The gold is extremely fine, and can only be saved by the liberal use of quicksilver. At the time of my interview with him at Ouray, and afterward and Montrose in September, 1891, he had made no general cleanup of the sluices, but had taken from the head four our five balls of amalgam about the size of hen’s eggs, and a partial indication of the precious metal being saved. It was, of course, wholly impossible to determine the results of the season until the final investigation to occur at th close of the operations for the year, but he was very confident that large profits would accrue to the company for many years to come.”
August 8, 1891, the Engineering and Mining Journal (1891, v.52, p170) quoted local newspapers as reporting the company had just made a cleanup of $80,000 after a run of 6 weeks with one giant. (This conflicts with Halls report, however.)
Parker said he found no subsequent reports of operations or production by the Montrose Company except for a short news item in the Engineering and Mining Journal (1897, v. 64 p 345) which reported the operations were suspended in 1893. The gravel deposits below the mouth of the flume are much less extensive than the company’s reports indicated and their value probably proved only a fraction of the company’s estimates, he said.
According to author Kenneth Jessen, in his book Bizarre Colorado, “the placer miners who discovered the fine gold on Mesa Creek Flats had little difficulty recovering gold with their pans; however the gold was such a fine powder that it washed right through the sluice and remained suspended in the water. It became clear the entire investment in the flume was lost. Col. Turner became so disheartened over the complete failure of the project that he went to Chicago, rented a room. And shot himself though the head.”
Various efforts continued to try to make the project pay for several years after it completion. But according to information by Hanging Flume on the Uniweep-Tabaguache Scenic and Historic Byway, “The end of the venture was sealed with ‘The Panic of ‘93’ when Wall Street futures came tumbling down in 1893. Just like today, the effects of Wall Street encompassed the entire nation including Colorado’s western frontier. In the end, the Hanging Flume was considered a failure. It was left hanging on the sandstone canyon walls, and all that remains is what you see today.”
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Water tank site consideration prompts legal action

Homeowners association files suit against
Monument on possible water tank location

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan@yourpeaknews.com

In answer to a lawsuit filed in mid October in El Paso County District Court by a local homeowners association, the town of Monument's attorney denies that the Town would proceed with plans to build a water tank unless the proper authorization was obtained.

According to court documents filed Oct. 12, the Forest View Estates Neighborhood Association Filing IV, Inc. complaint says that at a Sept. 6 meeting of the Monument Board of Trustees, a expenditure of $204,000 was approved for the purchase of land for water tank site.  

"Monument purchased Lot 6 (in Forest View Estates) with the intention of constructing thereon a water storage tank for incorporation into Monument's water supply," the court documents filed by the homeowners association claim.

"The properties in Forest View Estates, Filing IV, including Lot 6, are encumbered with a Declaration of Protective Covenants ...  Lots shall be known and described as residential lots and shall be used only for private, custom, site-built homes."

Through counsel, Gary Shupp, in early November the town answered saying, "the matter is not ripe for judicial review as the (town) has done nothing beyond acquiring the land to preserve the price and presented a plan at an informal meeting. No formal plan has been presented to to the Association nor has any plan been formally acted upon by the association."

Further, counsel for the town suggests that the town could "elect to proceed through eminent domain in a separate action in which case, if successful, ... would be allowed to proceed without being barred by the covenants."

The town's attorney says "the lot is unique in that its elevation is the elevation needed for a water tank but the Town made the purchase to preserve the price of the land and proceed with the process to see if the tank could be constructed there after obtaining approval of the Association, possibly through amendments of the covenants, or an appropriate court order. The Town denies that it intended to unilaterally build a water tank on the site without the proper authorization."

Further, court records show, in answer for the town to the complaint, it "admits that some residents met with the Town Manager who discussed the possibility of building a tank at that site and who asked that he be allowed to present a concept to show how the tank could blend in with the development and benefit the residents by providing a source of fire protection." But "again denies that the Town would proceed with the plans unless proper authorization was obtained."

The matter was expected to be considered at the Monument Board of Trustee's meeting on Monday night, (Nov. 7,) after press time.

Sidebar Separate, but related story.

Photo information:

Miller says that a large Monument-owned, partially-buried tank at that location above Colorado State Highway 105 and railroad right-of-way, would not detract from Palmer Lake's views and charms.

Developer suggests alternative tank location

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan@yourpeaknews.com

In the meantime, Forest View Company's president Dave Miller, has suggested an alternate site for a possible water tank by the Town of Monument, in Palmer Lake.

Forest View Company is the developer of Forest View Estates multiple filings.

"Mr. James Fitzgerald indicates he would consider selling and using his vacant site in Palmer Lake for a new Monument water storage tank," say a letter to the town of Monument.

"This commercial property is substantially superior to Monument's recently purchased residential resale Lot No. 6 in El Paso County's Forest View Estates Filing IV custom home subdivision..."

Making his case to the town in a letter dated Oct. 26, Miller says:

• A large Monument-owned, partially-buried tank at that location above Colorado State Highway 105 and railroad right-of-way, would not detract from Palmer Lake's Views and charms;

• The overlooked joint water supply and delivery uses of this proposed tank for Monument, Palmer Lake and other Northern El Paso County water providers are substantial and unprecedented;

• This tank's connecting pipeline to serve Monument would also give Palmer Lake a no-cost, joint-use opportunity to serve its southeastern residential and commercial well users with high-quality, low-cost, renewable surface waters whenever available, from its originally-owned railroad reservoirs and water rights;

• Northern El Paso County's nearby Forest View Acres Water District's largely renewable surface water system from South Monument Creek could also be synergistically interconnected with a Palmer Lake to Monument storage and delivery system;

• A joint use water tank for Monument and Northern El Paso County is consistent with the original basic objectives of all Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority members, including Colorado Springs Utilities, to obtain sustainable, high-quality, surface water supplies for both human and environmental needs, as soon as possible, without adversely impacting Southeastern Colorado's farms and environments.

Miller has been a contract developer for the state Board of Land Commissioners since 1993, and water and energy planner in the state since 1985.

I vote because I can, and to make sure it stays that way

 Voting rights cannot be denied or abridged

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

By the time you read this, like millions of Americans, you have already waded through the long list of judge retention, obscure suggested amendments, and pulled the lever (so to speak) for your choice for  running the local government, and other important races.
You don't see them as much as you once did, but certainly, you have earned that "I voted" sticker that once was popular. The incredibly long and troubling campaign season is, for all intents and purposes, over.
Your mission now, should you decide to accept it, is to reflect on why it was important.
Following is my own personal rationale.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution did not originally define who was eligible to vote, allowing each state to determine who was eligible. Early on, only white male adult property owners could vote in this country, for the most part. Not until 1856, were even all adult male white men open (without the property requirement) to the polls and five states still had poll taxes then.
In one of the more troubling aspects of American democracy, Native Americans were not recognized universally as persons until 1879, in the Standing Bear trial in Nebraska. It would be years later, in 1924, before we actually allowed that members of the tribes were United States citizens.
By definition, born within the national boundaries of the United States, those on reservations were considered citizens of their own tribes, rather than of the United States. They were denied the right to vote. In some cases, they could become citizens if they gave up their tribal affiliations after 1887, under the Dawes Act. This still did not guarantee their right to vote. In 1924 the remaining Native Americans, after preceding European settlers by most estimates by 5,000 years, finally became United States Citizens. But, many western states continued to restrict them after that.
Four United States Constitutional amendments, in particular were ratified to extend voting rights to different groups of citizens. Within these extensions, basically voting rights cannot be denied or abridged based on the following:
• "Race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (15th Amendment, 1870)
• "On account of sex" (19th Amendment, 1920)
• "By reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" for federal elections (24th Amendment, 1964)
• "Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age" (26th Amendment, 1971)
I personally vote because I can, and to make sure it stays that way.
Perhaps we all should follow that lead.

Photo information:
1. In 1924 Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship when Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act. It gave Native Americans the right to vote.
2. In 1948, after years of legal challenges, Native Americans in New Mexico gather to register to vote.  

Timing for student paper's endorsement results in trial by fire

In the news game, timing is everything.

Student journalists at Palmer Ridge High School involved in producing the October monthly edition of The "Bear Truth" found out that in best way possible — trial by fire.

When "The Bear Truth" editorial board made the decision to endorse Hillary Clinton for president, it knew it would get some response.

"We weren't sure what would happen," said Evan Ochsner, one of two co-editors-in-chief. "We weren't trying to be divisive. We weren't out to attack anyone. We felt, however, it was important to voice an opinion."

He said he did hope the board's writing would have impact.

"When you publish something controversial, you expect some feedback." But a month earlier,  he noted, with an editorial on global warming, the "Bear Truth" didn't get any comments.

"Writing is my passion and I do enjoy a real conversation about issues. Discussion is a chance to change and shape the narrative," Ochsner said. He plans to make journalism a career.

Fellow co-editor-in-chief, Anna Schnelbach, who is considering law school, also sees it as a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience.

"I definitely, in some way, want to have an impact," but in this case, it was jarring.

"When it first appeared, and the early response was negative, I felt I had been sucked into this tunnel, this rabbit-hole of controversy and intense attention," she said.

In the interest of timing, the editorial was a long time coming.  More than a year ago, under a previous editor, "The Bear Truth" had decided it would be important to make political endorsements, particularly with the national elections waiting in the wings.

To that end, they established a nine-person editorial board that included each of the section editors, co-editors in chief, and business manager. They produced editorials, including other endorsements, in previous editions in the warm up to the main event — the selection of an endorsement for the office of the president of the United States.

They met on three different occasions to consider a presidential endorsement, and had, as a group, followed the election season from the beginning. At the final one of those meetings, a straw poll among the nine, was pretty decisive, though there was dissent.

The students also didn’t expect to make national news after originally publishing the endorsement in the Oct. 12 issue.

Soon after the endorsement was published, it exploded with comments on two local parent Facebook pages, and their own site.

"The Bear Truth’s website was overwhelmed with comments about the editorial, as website traffic increased 2000 percent. Administrators and school board members received numerous emails regarding the editorial,” the paper reported.

The Colorado Springs Gazette was the first to break the story, when it published an article about the editorial and the stir it caused. The Gazette article appeared on their website on October 18, and ran on the front page of their Oct. 19 issue.

On Wednesday night, The Denver Post picked up an AP version of the story. KRDO featured "The Bear Truth" on their evening news that day, as did KOAA, and Colorado Public Radio.

"On Thursday, "The Bear Truth" attended Journalism Day at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, an annual convention put on by the Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA). During the opening ceremonies, adviser Tom Patrick and co-editors-in-chief Evan Ochsner and Anna Schnelbach were called up to the stage, where CSMA executive director Jack Kennedy presented them with a black, peace armband signed by Mary Beth Tinker of Tinker v. Des Moines fame.

Mary Beth Tinker is an American free speech activist known for her role in the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District Supreme Court case, which ruled that Warren Harding Junior High School could not punish her for wearing a black armband in school in support of a truce in the Vietnam War. The case set a precedent for student speech in schools.

"The armband is an icon of free speech, and was presented to “The Bear Truth” as a special recognition from CSMA," the Bear Truth reported online.

That same evening, Ochsner addressed the D-38 School Board on behalf of the editorial board during public comments.

Friday, the Denver Post lauded the student paper's efforts in an editorial of their own. National and local media outlets were continuing to contact the paper last week with additional interest.

As far as news game, not-at-all bad timing, considering most of this took place during "Free Speech Week," a yearly event to raise public awareness of the importance of free speech in our democracy and to celebrate that freedom.

###

Photos and story by Rob Carrigan

Photo Information:

Photo 1: Last week “The Bear Truth” was hard at work on another edition for November. From left: adviser Tom Patrick and co-editors-in-chief Anna Schnelbach and Evan Ochsner, at the front table.

Photo 2: Jack Kennedy, Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA) executive director, presented co-editors-in-chief Anna Schnelbach and Evan Ochsner, and adviser Tom Patrick with a replica of the Vietnam peace armbands made famous by the Tinker v. Des Moines supreme court case. The armband was signed by Mary Beth Tinker. Nearly 1500 student journalists and educators paid tribute with an ovation.

Photo 3: The entire student staff of "The Bear Truth" experienced some of repercussions of the endorsement.

Photo 4: White board in “The Bear Truth’s” classroom plans content for the November edition.

Additional links

• Bear Truth Editorial Policy

http://www.lewispalmer.org/cms/lib010/CO01900635/Centricity/Domain/1833/The_Bear_Truth_Editorial_Policy.pdf

• Colorado Student Free Expression Law

http://colostudentmedia.com/first-amendment/state-law/

We all should bone up on literacy, in the truest sense

Truth is in trouble, no matter where you stand with individual candidates

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

It makes sense that I am big advocate for literacy — the ability read and write, and the related skills used in search of truth.  It was pretty much the hallmark of my very existence as newspaper guy. As the "X Files" taught us, "The truth is out there."
Others have taught us some with their writings, too.
“Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path,”said Carl Sagan, astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator.
But anyone following the current election cycle can see that the truth is in trouble, no matter where you stand with individual candidates.
Writer James Patterson, who himself has written more than 147 novels that have sold more than 300 million copies, puts it this way.
"We are becoming a nation of functional illiterates scattered along the tracks, incapable of pursuing a train of thought for more than minutes at a time," he says. 
"We have let our standards fall so far that this year's first-time voters are, on average, in the habit of reading for personal interest less than 10 minutes a day," according to Patterson.
Citing information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people 75 and older read about an hour a day. "The habit drops off through each 10-year bracket below that until you get to people ages 35 to 44 years old. They are reading 12 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays, and less than 10 minutes during the week. Younger than that, it only gets worse."
Patterson says, "We are becoming a nation of distracted nincompoops who don't have the patience to bother finding out if lies are lies — because we have lost the mental capacity to do otherwise — are forced to judge issues on the basis of style and delivery rather than substance and accuracy."
He is not the only one complaining that political debate has become unhinged from reality. And politicians have never had the reputation of being too closely associated with the truth. 
After all, "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap,” as noted by Napoléon Bonaparte.
But people were at one time, better equipped to call 'baloney' on trickery, deceit, and hogwash.
I actually quoted a politician, accused of not knowing the facts in one instance,  saying,  "I guess I'll have to bone up on that."
Quit staring at the posts, Memes and Tweets on the phone, and think about literacy. 
"Not the literacy of being able to sound out the words above a Facebook post. Not the literacy of knowing what LMAO means in a text message. Not even the literacy required to read the instructions on your College Boards," as Patterson notes.
Maybe we should all hit the books, volunteer at the library, and read newspapers.