50 Centstrinidad Colorado

Proudly Serving Southeastern Colorado and Northeastern New Mexico • www.thechronicle-news.com

~Vol. 138, No. 139

MondayJuly 14, 2014

JULY 14~Mesa Cowboy ChurchMONDAY (7 p.m.) Service with re-

freshments to follow is held every second Monday at New Hope Ministries Church, Historic Wagon Wheel building on High-way 160 east of Trinidad. Information: 719-846-8590.

Today’s Quote“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing —

that it was all started by a mouse.”

~Walt Disney

JULY 15~Las Animas CountyTUESDAY (9 a.m.) Board of County

Commissioners meeting is in the Las Animas Courthouse, 200 E. First St., Room 201. Information: 719-845-2568. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: Gary Hill (719-845-2595), Mack Louden (719-845-2592), and Anthony Abeyta (719-846-9300).

~Trinidad City Council TUESDAY (7 p.m.) Regular session

will be held in Council Chambers, City Hall, 135 N. Animas St. Information: Au-dra Garrett, 719-846-9843.

PUBLIC SERVICE~Branson Junior ClassFRIDAY (5:30 p.m.) BBQ supper

with Bingo and silent auction fundraiser will be held in the Branson School Caf-eteria. Information: Kimberly Schor, 719-946-5555.

~Calling for donationsThe Noah’s Ark pantry is low on dog

and cat food supplies used to help elderly and in-need residents maintain their pets. If you’d like to make a donation of food or funds stop by the animal shelter at 224 N. Chestnut St. or call 719-846-8578.

~Free Summer Lunch ProgramTHRU AUGUST 8 (11 a.m.-1 p.m.)

All kids (18 and under) can eat a free lunch Mon.-Fri. at the TMS Cafeteria, 614 Park St. Adults can join in for $3. Informa-tion: 719-845-2051.

~ Carnegie Public LibraryCALLING ALL ARTISTS who want

to exhibit their 2-dimensional artwork at the Library. Information: Mallory Pillard, 719-846-6841 or stop by the Library at 202 Animas St.

~2014 ARTOCADECALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS: Any-

one interested in participating in the Sep-tember ArtoCade please contact Rodney Wood at 719-334-0087 or artcarfun@yahoo.com.

~ Books & MoreThe Carnegie Library’s bookstore is

located at 132 N. Commercial St. All pro-ceeds benefit the public library. (Open noon-4 p.m., Monday-Saturday.) Vol-unteer information and book donations: 719-846-8522.

~ Volunteer FiremenAnyone over 18 interested in becom-

ing a volunteer fireman for any of our area fire protection districts, please call Buddie Curro at 719-859-1535. Any donations of food, water and funds for our area fire dis-trict volunteers call 719-846-4074.

~RECYCLETerra Firma Recycling (Mon.-Fri.

9 a.m.-5 p.m. & Sat. 9 a.m.-Noon) at 2400 Nevada Ave. (The Water Station) will recycle paper, cardboard, tin can and plastic #1-#7. Information: Kelli Van Ma-tre, 719-859-3998.

~From the LA County ClerkLicense plate renewal online. Go to:

www.colorado.gov/renewplates.

~SUICIDE/CRISIS HOTLINES:*ADULT HOPE: 800-784-2433*TEEN: 877-968-8454*GLB-YOUTH: 866-488-7386*VET-2-VET: 877-838-2838“When the world says, ‘Give up!’

Hope says, ‘Not today!” ~Unknown~ ABUSE HOTLINES:*Domestic Abuse Hotline: In Trini-

dad call 719-846-6665 (24-hours a day). National Hotline call: 1-800-790-SAFE (7233).

*Animal Abuse: Do your part andhelp put a stop to animal cruelty. Report animal abuse and dog/cock fighting at Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line: 720-913-7867.

the Fine Print

Weather WatChMonday: A 40 percent chance of show-

ers, mainly after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 83. Light and variable wind 5 to 10

mph. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch. Night: A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. E-NE wind 5 to 10 mpht.

Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of show-ers mainly after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. S-SW wind 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Night: A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly before midnight. Mostly

cloudy, with a low around 59. SW wind 5 to 10 mph. New

Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. W-NW wind around 10 mph. Night: A 30 percent chance of show-ers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday: A 30 percent chance of show-ers. Partly sunny, with a high near 81.

river CallPurgatoire River Call as of: 07/11/14 / Hoehne ditch: Prior-ity # 20 / Appropriation date: 10/07/1865.

Trinidad Reservoir Accounting:Release 138.55 AFInflow 137.66 AF -- 69.40 CFSEvaporation 15.11 AFContent 13,145 AFElevation 6,172.39Precipitation 0

Downstream River Call / High-land Canal: 05/31/1866.

the ChroniCle neWs

a thousand WordsA bucking bronco kicks up a little

dust while trying to throw off a deter-mined cowboy at the recent 36th An-nual Raton Rodeo.

HONORS

Trinidad Named Best Town to Live InBy Steve BlockThe Chronicle-News

Neighbors often look after each other’s properties, but now local residents have a special reason for watchfulness. The Trinidad Police Department has responded to 17 burglaries in the past six weeks, which is a major increase from the first five months of 2014, when po-

lice responded to 14 burglaries, 11 of them being at businesses. The police made five arrests in those cases.

Detectives conducted multiple interviews after the earlier ar-rests, executed multiple search warrants and located some of the stolen property, which had been heisted from businesses in Trini-dad, Aguilar, Walsenburg and out-

lying areas of Las Animas County.The 17 recent burglaries have

occurred during daylight hours, primarily at unoccupied residenc-es. The thieves have entered the properties through open windows or unsecured doors in some cases, while thieves broke windows or forced open doors in other cases. There were 15 residential burglar-ies, one at the Carnegie Public

Library and one at an empty busi-ness location.

Burglaries have occurred in the past week at homes whose oc-cupants had only been gone for a short time, leading police to be-lieve that the thieves had been watching the homes to find out when residents were gone. Jew-elry, tools, firearms and small electronic devices were among the items reported stolen. Some area businesses have reported the theft of copper wire and copper pipe in recent months, according to a police department press release. Police have gathered evidence and sent some of it to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for test-ing, which could lead to further arrests. Police Chief Charles Glo-rioso suggested that residents be cautious and look after each oth-er’s properties.

“I urge everyone to pay atten-tion to the people in your neighbor-hood,” Chief Glorioso said. “Most of the time, you know your neigh-bors’ routine, what time they go to work, what time they come home. You know what kind of car they drive. Police patrol the city all day long, but the officers don’t know your neighbor’s routine and hab-its like you do. Call 911 and report anything that seems suspicious or out of the ordinary.”

Anyone with information re-garding these burglaries should contact police on the TIPS line at 719-845-TIPS.

Police provided a list of tips for homeowners, caretakers or renters to help them protect their properties. Those people living in residential properties should cre-ate and maintain an inventory of their belongings, including se-rial numbers, and take photos of items without serial numbers.

Tim Keller / The Chronicle-News

. . . a thousand words Continued on Page 2 ...

EDUCATIONTSJC’s ArtoCade T-Rex high-lights College for Kids programBy Steve BlockThe Chronicle-News

The tyrannosaurus rex was one of the most deadly predators that roamed planet Earth during the age of the dinosaurs many millions of years ago. Welding-program students from Trinidad State Junior College (TSJC) made a scale model of the legendary T-Rex last spring, and on Thursday TSJC graphic-design students were busily painting a pickup truck that will carry the T-Rex along the streets of Trinidad dur-ing the 2014 ArtoCade parade on Saturday, September 13.

Students Mike Millard and Raven Paiz were applying acryl-ic paint to the pickup in a very colorful jungle scene, and they received help with the paint job from younger students who were attending TSJC’s College for Kids program. The kids were also learn-ing about the dinosaur age from Loretta Martin, director of TSJC’s Louden-Henritze Archeology Mu-seum. Paiz said the T-Rex, which doesn’t have an official name yet, would remain unpainted.

“We’re painting the truck but not the dinosaur, because we don’t want to mess it up,” Paiz said. “It’s too awesome. The welders did a great job, but the truck needed a little bling.”

The jungle scene will feature a few lakes and trees, but no other animals.

“We want all the focus to be on the T-Rex. We don’t want anything that detracts from that,” she said. “Right now, we’re letting the kids from the College for Kids program add a few splashes of paint.”

Paiz said she would be in town for the ArtoCade events, and thought the T-Rex would make quite a splash in the art-car pa-

rade.“Of course he will! I mean,

look at him. He’s a dinosaur. Di-nosaurs rock. I think all the kids will be happy to see him in the big parade,” she said. “Look! His tail even moves, and it’s nice to have some movement. We’re still try-ing to figure out a name for him. I think the paint job will turn out just fine. We’re doing it in thin lay-ers, so it doesn’t take very long for it to dry. All this white is going to be gone. It will look like a moving jungle scene.”

Millard said Vilas Tonape, head of TSJC’s Art Department, would probably make the final decision on the dinosaur’s name.

In the museum, Martin was ex-plaining to the kids what a mosa-saur was. She said the mosasaurs were marine reptiles, rather than dinosaurs, because they had flip-pers instead of feet. She said a fos-

silized mosasaur had been found near the Purgatoire River in Trini-dad several years ago, and a scale-model replica of the mighty beast

was right there in front of them in a large display case. She said the mosasaur lived approximately 70 million years ago, during an age

when the entire Trinidad area was part of a large inland sea, and Fisher’s Peak had probably not even been formed yet.

Martin said that archeologists don’t know that much about how the mosasaur lived and have to make informed guesses through new fossil discoveries. She showed the kids a book filled with the field notes of an archeologist who had found dinosaur bones in this area. She said it was a valuable tool to show them all of the hard work archeologists do and the kinds of things they’re looking for dur-ing field studies. The kids seemed pretty impressed by the museum’s many displays, as they were by the mighty dinosaur sitting on the truck outside. The museum is located on the lower level of the Freudenthal Memorial Library and charges no admission fee. It’s open to the public from 10 a.m. un-til 3 p.m., Mondays through Thurs-days.

The hands-on experience of splashing paint on a pickup truck and the fascinating tour of the museum’s displays provided the children in the College for Kids a fun-filled and interesting learning experience on the TSJC campus.

Photos by Steve Block / The Chronicle-NewsLoretta Martin, director of TSJC’s Louden-Henritze Archeology Museum, above, talked about the world of dinosaurs with students from TSJC’s College for Kids program. Trinidad State Junior College graphic-design students Mike Millard, below, and Raven Paiz paint a truck on Thursday, with a glowering T-Rex looming above.