The Montrose High School logo featuring the letter M with two hanging feathers on the side will likely be scrapped along with the Indians mascot. The M-feather logo is on the tables in the cafeteria, the weight room wall, and other places around campus. The Montrose Press reports, after a meeting with the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs Friday afternoon, Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart, a voting member of the CCIA, explained the feathers on the logo resemble the feathers on the side of Native American war bonnets. Superintendent Carrie Stephenson made the case for keeping the M-feather logo because the new Red Hawk mascot is a bird with no Native imagery remaining, but Heart did not agree. The district is changing the Montrose Indians to the Montrose Red Hawks and changing the Centennial Middle School Braves to the Bears. A new mascot will still need to be selected for the Johnson Elementary Thunderbirds.
Emergency call volumes on the Western Slope reached record highs last year and 2022 is on a similar pace. Colorado Sun reports more visitors, the ‘Zoom boom’ with more part-time residents staying in vacation homes full time, and a steady increase in local populations are all stressing rural emergency services. The nature of calls is changing, too. Injuries are less common, but cardiac issues and strokes are up, according to the Telluride Fire Protection District. Emergency services are adapting and reorganizing teams to handle the shifting demand. They have hired more full-time firefighters, EMTs, and administrators. They are ramping up volunteer recruitment. Many districtshave asked voters for tax relief, allowing more revenue from property taxes.
The Community Resource Center in Denver has launched a healthcare initiative through Americorps, to place nascent health care workers in communities across the state. The CRC is offering benefits including a stipend, health, vision, and dental insurance, child care assistance, and an education award at the end of service. More info here.
Colorado lawmakers have taken steps to help more people with disabilities attend college. Eric Galatas has more.
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At last Thursday’s Paonia Board of Trustees meeting, while the town’s attorney was parsing definitions of the water moratorium that remains in place, some trustees and members of the public sought more data on the town's water supply, hoping to find a way to move past the restrictions. Kate Redmond reports.
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