Business Profiles

New restaurant, music venue in Louisville
Waterloo Icehouse looks to gain reputation for good burgers, music  10/31/2007

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Long and narrow, red brick walls, wood floors, bowls of pretzels on the bar, a small stage for live music and a patio in the back for warm summer nights complete with a bronzed-guitar fountain — The Waterloo Icehouse, located on Main Street in Louisville, has the feeling of an old watering hole that has been around for years.

However, the bar has only been open since September, but the familiar vibe can be traced back a few more years to owner Josh Karp’s youth in Texas.

While growing up, Karp’s father-owned a record store and managed and produced many local artists.

His father now lives in Colorado, but still has many friends and contacts in the music industry which has helped the Waterloo Icehouse book national talent. Karp says they book all types of musicians from singer-song writers to rock to bluegrass to country, just as long as they don’t play covers.

“We’re from Austin, where every night of the week you can see a show for two bucks or free,” Karp said. “Friends of ours would sit down and say it sure would be nice to have a neighborhood place to hang out at and we just figured we’d give it a try.”

Last New Year’s Eve was when Karp first seriously considered the idea of opening a bar.

“It’s chains, there are good chains, not a lot of locally owned spots,” Karp said. “Louisville got voted third best place to live and there’s nowhere to go.”

Karp had worked as a bartender in the past and figured he could handle that aspect of the business. He also knew he could save money on startup costs by doing all of of the construction and renovation on his own.

Also, Becky Hogan of Edge Consulting helped the City of Louisville provide business assistance for the Waterloo Icehouse based on generation of future sales tax revenue and utilization of existing vacant space.

“They’re a good Louisville company in terms of providing service to the community and an entertainment option,” Hogan said. “The city is pleased to have them.”

Last Thursday afternoon, the 28-year-old Karp, with closely-cropped hair, a goatee and stubble, looked relaxed as he worked in the bar dressed in jeans with holes in the knees, a white T-shirt, boots and black sunglasses. He even brought in his dog, Cash, to to keep him company as he completed a small project on the patio.

“I’ve owned a construction company which isn’t close, it’s easy compared to this,” Karp said. “This is all pretty new to me.”

For Karp, running a kitchen, hiring a quality staff, and figuring out what the clientele in Louisville desires has been the difficult part.

“When we thought about doing this place we thought about doing a bar with music and a really good burger, that was kind of going to be our thing,” Karp said. “Then we opened up and our clientele wanted more of a restaurant.”

As a result, the Waterloo Icehouse has expanded the menu to include more options and is adding a late night menu to be served after 9 p.m.

Karp says they’ve been doing a very good dinner business on Fridays and Saturdays. The bar has the ability to fit around 100 people at any given time and that on a good night 200-300 customers will come through.

The price of a burger at Waterloo Icehouse is either $10 or $11, which may seem high, but Karp, who tried to eat a burger at every place in Louisville before opening the bar, said he feels it’s priced fairly. Karp says that they only use Coleman beef and try to buy as much of their produce and ingredients from locally owned shops nearby, such as the buns they buy from the Marketplace Bakery that is located across the street from them.

“You can get a burger and get everything you want on it, a beer, tip and be out of here for 17 or 20 bucks,” Karp said.

Though home to a popular summer concert series, few would describe Louisville as a hub of entertainment and Karp is still not sure not sure whether live music in Louisville is viable three nights a week.

“To me, paying two bucks, even five to see a show is less than a tip,” Karp said. “But it seems like a lot of people would rather walk down the street and not pay two dollars and sit down and have a beer. It’s not worth it to them.”

One national act that came to the Waterloo Icehouse earlier this year was Dale Watson, an artist that Karp says sells out large venues in Austin for $25 a ticket. And while Dale Watson did draw a good crowd from all around Boulder and Denver, Karp said he was somewhat surprised at the number of people passing by who weren’t willing to pay the $5 cover charge.

One way the Waterloo Icehouse is looking to increase traffic for live music is by starting an open mic night on Thursdays, betting that many of the local musicians will bring their following of fans, friends and family.

The Waterloo Icehouse is hoping for a good turnout this weekend with Colorado’s elder statesman of the blues, 80-year-old Willie Houston and his band coming to Louisville on Friday, and The Indulgers, a Denver Based Celtic rock band, performing on Saturday night.

“We’re emphasizing high-quality food, service and music,” Karp said. “We think if we keep putting into it and supporting the idea, we’ll get a reputation and people will start coming.”

 

Go 4 It Services
Louisville Business is 4 Fast 4 Furious  12/5/2007

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Michael Pettiford’s office displays the popular poster “Justification for Higher Education” that shows a garage full of expensive cars.

Though many have the same picture, few have a driveway that looks like Michael Pettiford’s — lined with decal-laden performance cars.

Pettiford started Go 4 It services 22 years ago in offering everything from basic driver’s education to high-end instruction and professional certifications.

In addition, Pettiford races both cars and motorcycles professionally.

“We're just trying to help people not get killed or have accidents in cars, motorcycles and buses. We have a system to do it, if you give us long enough we can teach it to you and it will work for you like it's worked for me,” Pettiford said. “I’ve been racing motorcycles since 1978 and never been seriously injured, and I haven't fallen down in a race in 20 years and I set a lap record last year on my Ducati. So it's not like I'm one of the old guys who used to go fast; we go faster every year.”

Pettiford said that racing professionally has kept him out of a lot of trouble.

“When I was a kid I had a lot of energy and did a lot of things I shouldn't have done on the street, and probably should've been killed on a daily basis, but wasn't,” Pettiford said. “So, for me, rather than paying high fines and always being in court, it's better to do it on the race track where they pay me to go fast. We switched it around and turned a negative activity into a positive activity.”

Go 4 It services has vehicles with cars in nearly every class. The fleet consists of Mazda Proteges, 6’s and Miatas; Pontiac Solstices; and, Chevrolet Camaros and Corvettes. Pettiford also has a good-sized collection of motorcycles with mostly Ducati 999R’s, but also a few gentler bikes for beginners to learn on.

“A lot of schools will give you cars that are watered down or set up so you can't possibly get in trouble. That's not how we do it,” Pettiford said. “The same car that I race and win and set a lap record in is the same car you can rent and see how fast you can be in it. Then we take you step by step to change your sequence to the correct sequence.”

Pettiford says that the Corvette is their top of the line vehicle because it offers the most “bang for the buck.”

“They give you the best performance, that's not even my opinion, that's provable,” Pettiford said. “Though, when I'm driving a Lamborghini, it's not like I'm not loving that, because I am.”

Pettiford has had the opportunity to test out the finest sports cars in the world.

“I get flown around to test different cars for manufacturers. We did a thing for Lamborghini, Ferrari, did testing for Speed Channel, I was on Speed Channel just the other day,” Pettiford said. “So it has really come full circle.”

Though specializing in one-on-one instruction, Go 4 It services also puts on team building seminars for companies.

“We blindfold the driver and put a co-worker in the passenger seat and have to set up some kind of communication system,” Pettiford said. “I think it's cooler than a ropes course or falling back and having someone catch you.”

Also, Pettiford and his team will do risk analysis for businesses whose drivers are having accident problems.

“We can usually find the problem and fix the problem,” Pettiford said, “because it always boils down to certain elements and once you get those elements corrected, people are going to be safer.”

With such a wide spectrum of services, Pettiford said the toughest part of the job is “Keeping all the balls in the air. There’s always a car that needs something, someone to call back, always more research to do, always testing. I'm never bored.”

Street instruction at Go 4 It Services runs $60 per hour for both motorcycles and cars.

“It takes about ten hours, our training is very high-level and rigorous,” Pettiford said. “You don't just cruise in and say 'got it' and head out.”

Instruction on an actual race track is offered for $600 per day on a motorcycle and $700 per day in a car.

“We have a lot of fun and we're trying to make a difference, like the commercial, trying to make the world a better place to drive, that's what we're doing person by person and we can make it happen,” Pettiford said. “We're not an insurance company. We don't sell cars, but we research about them. We end up being a very knowledgeable, non-biased, if-you-want-the-truth-talk-to-us place, and those are kind of hard to find in the world today.”

 

 

Local taxidermy shop a global attraction
No project to large or small  11/7/2007

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Whether or not most teenagers know it, there's a good chance they've seen a Jonas Bros. product.

Besides providing the mounted moose-heads for Abercrombie and Fitch stores, Jonas Bros. Taxidermy Studio has “brought to life” nearly every imaginable animal at its factory in the Louisville Tech Center.

Jonas Bros. Studio is the oldest taxidermy shop in the nation and will celebrate its 100th year in business this coming April. Rocky Losasso and his wife Sharron first became involved in the taxidermy business in 1969 when they began producing the plastic molds for the original family that owned the Jonas Bros.

“Then through the years as they started retiring or passing away, I started purchasing different divisions of the company,” Losasso said. “It was back about 16 years ago we ended up buying everything out.”

A little over six years ago, Losasso combined all aspects of his business into the current location in the Louisville Tech Center. In all, there are 53 employees and Losasso is hoping that number will continue to grow.

In addition to the taxidermy studio, Losasso also operates a supply company for smaller taxidermy shops that supplies all of the necessary materials such as the forms, jaws, chemicals, resin, paint, scalpels and knives. Losasso estimates they have close to $250,000 worth of inventory in synthetic eyeballs alone. They even have a drawer full of eyes for albino animals.

Losasso says that they have over 7,000 different molds. Mannequins were once hand-made from materials like plaster and hemp. Over time, the standard mediums became paper and fiberglass. Today, artists first sculpt the mannequins out of clay and then they are turned into plastic molds that can be easily reproduced again and again. Losasso says that continuing to create new and innovative forms is key to driving repeat business.

“You start adding different ideas,” Losasso said, “and guys start realizing they need those, too.

Losasso estimates that only five percent to eight percent of their business is local. The rest comes from across the United States and all around the world. As a result, there are very strict regulations and precautions taken to ensure that they are not involved with stuffing any endangered or illegal animals. When the animal skins ares shipped in, often times from African safaris, federal agents are the first ones to open and inspect the packages.

“They're looking for disease, the skins have to be bone hard, can't be wet or have any fungus,” Losasso said. “The federal agents will also make sure there isn't any contraband. When they walk in they're full blown federal agents, no smiles, no 'how you doing today?' It's just like if you're under suspicion for arrest. There are no fun and games.”

In addition to the many exotic animals, Jonas Bros. Taxidermy does a lot of work creating novelty. Items such as lamps, rugs, even paintings on the inside of an elephant’s ear that are used by interior decorators and displayed in many offices and homes. Also, Jonas Bros. Taxidermy creates many fully-synthetic animals for people who want the look, but don’t actually want to use a real animal.

“We get a little bit of everybody, all the way from your once-a-year hunter or fisherman who goes out and gets his one-time five-pound rainbow and comes in and has it mounted,” Losasso said. “Then we have clients that we work with virtually year-round, that hunt extensively all over the world, who couldn’t care less what it costs. They want top of of the line, and whatever they hunt, mounted.”

There really is no project too small or large for Jonas Bros. Taxidermy. From the tiny salamander that sits in the office lobby to the fully-grown elephant mold that is currently being crafted in the workshop, they do it all. The total price of the current elephant project is close to $90,000 for the entire process and will be delivered using a Mayflower truck. Losasso said that the elephant is not headed for a museum, but is actually going inside the client's private home.

“Hunting is a passion like some people have with the golf course, they can't stay off of a golf course, these people hunt all over the world. That's how they spend their money. Those are the guys that pay the bills,” Losasso said. “It's not the guy who brings in a deer head once a year.”

Losasso acknowledged that there are many misconceptions about taxidermy shops, but stressed the technology, knowledge, craftsmanship and artistic talent that goes into each piece they create

“It's like anything, the more experience guys have, some artists are better than others, some mechanics are better than others,” Losasso said. “It's the same thing in the taxidermy world. I don't have a guy here with under 15 years experience.”

Education Reporting

ACLU protests some cell phone practices
Local schools grapple with new technologies, increased use of phones

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 The American Civil Liberties Union last week sent a letter to the Boulder Valley School District board of education contending administrators at Louisville’s Monarch High School committed felonies under Colorado law and violated students’ privacy by seizing their cell phones, reading their text messages and making transcriptions of the messages to place in students’ permanent files.

According to the ACLU’s letter, sent on Wednesday, Oct. 10, the searching and transcribing of students’ text messages violates a Colorado statute that was enacted to protect the privacy of telephone and electronic communications.

That statute makes it a felony to read, copy, or record a telephone or electronic communication without the consent of the sender or receiver.

The ACLU’s letter also explains that searches of cell phones at Monarch High School violate state and federal constitutional provisions that forbid unreasonable searches and seizures.

“The educators at Monarch High School need some education themselves about the law and students’ rights,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director. “They have reportedly told parents that their children have no rights of privacy at school and they have declared that they can search any cell phones and read any text messages they please.”

Many students at Monarch agreed with the ACLU and said they felt school administration crossed the line.

“I think your phone is kind of your own privacy,” said Jordan Leggett, a 17-year-old Monarch senior. “People have compared it to locker searches, but a locker is here on the premises. It’s their property, not yours. But a phone is your property. I think it’s an invasion of privacy to take someone’s phone on some suspicion.”

On May 24, 2007, the school’s security officer detained a then 16-year-old sophomore student who was accused of smoking in a parking lot.

The security guard delivered the student to the office of Drew Adams, assistant principal of Monarch High School.

Adams had the student empty his pockets and backpack, but no cigarettes were found.

According to the ACLU, the search should have ended at that point. However, Adams asked the student to turn over his cell phone.

The student protested, but Adams said it was so the student couldn’t text while detained in the principal’s office. Adams took the cell phone, read the phone’s text messages and found some messages that mentioned marijuana and that he characterized as “incriminating.”

Adams kept the cell phone over the Memorial Day weekend.

When the student’s mother recovered the phone on the following Tuesday, she discovered that Adams had drafted a text message and had tried to send it from her son’s phone to one of her son’s friends, according to the ACLU. The message appeared to be Adams’ attempt to engage the receiving student in a conversation.

Monarch High School authorities followed up with additional interrogations, seizures and searches of other students’ cell phones.

In conjunction with assistant principals Julie Wheeler, Mark Sibley and Principal Barbara Spelman, Adams used the names found in the first students’ text messages to call in more students, interrogate them, seize their cell phones, look through personal text messages and transcribe messages they deemed to be “incriminating,” according to the ACLU.

Silverstein said ACLU officials talked to 13 students the administration had called in and interrogated based on text message information obtained from the confiscated cell phones.

Though, Silverstein said they did not talk to all of the students involved and that he was unsure how far the net of questioning extended.

“The law provides a lot of leeway for administrators to investigate suspected violations of school rules,” Silverstein said. “When administrators have reasonable grounds to suspect that a search will turn up evidence, school principals can search a student’s backpack and can even insist that a student empty his or her pockets. But seizing a student’s cell phone and searching text messages is a much greater intrusion on privacy. Colorado statutes appropriately forbid the text message searches carried out by Monarch administrators and they are also unreasonable searches under the standards of the state and federal constitutions.”

In a press release issued by school district officials on Wednesday, Oct 10, BVSD director of communications Briggs Gamblin said: “The Boulder Valley School District supports the actions taken by Monarch High School administrators during the incident in question. Prior to confiscating the students’ cellular phones and transcribing text messages found on them, Monarch administrators contacted the BVSD Legal Counsel’s office and were told it was indeed legal for them to take the actions that they were then considering.”

The ACLU said the Monarch administration was in violation of the Fourth Amendment which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. In New Jersey v. T.L.O 469 U.S. 325 (1985) the Supreme Court explained that a search and seizure is reasonable only if it is “justified at its inception” and “reasonable in scope.”

The ACLU letter said: “No reasonable person could have believed that extending the search to the cell phone and its text messages would turn up evidence related to cigarette-smoking.”

Regardless of whether Monarch administration is in violation of the Fourth Amendment, Silverstein said that Monarch is still in the wrong.

Under Colorado Revised Statutes 18-9-303 and 18-9-309, a person violates the statute if he or she knowingly manipulates, reads, takes, copies, or records a telephone, telegraph, or electronic communication without the consent of the sender or receiver.

Last February, Douglas County Schools dealt with a similar situation and received complaints after confiscating students’ cell phones and reading messages. Currently, the Douglas County policy counsel is creating a comprehensive cell phone policy.

“Until now, it’s been a building-by-building policy,” said Larry Borland, Douglas County Schools executive director of Safety and Security. “But, because of the proliferation of cell phones, we are currently in the process of creating a district-wide policy.”

In the St. Vrain Valley School District, Erie High School principal Steve Payne said his school’s cell phone policy is geared toward ensuring the phones do not become a distraction.

“Cell phones and iPods, they’re taking over the world and we can’t ignore the fact that they’re here. We can fight it or we can find a way to keep it within reason. The key is that it doesn’t become a safety factor and interfere with the education of students,” Payne said. “We’re not using any information off of them unless a student brings it to us and says they want us to read what a student has written to them. Personally, I wouldn’t take a cell phone and use it, that’s just a personal thing.”

 

Superintendent orders another look at LMS
Design Advisory Team to re-examine all options  1/23/2008

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Thanks to the persistence of several community members, there is still a chance that the eastern facade of Louisville Middle School will be saved.

Boulder Valley School District Superintendent Chris King announced Friday, Jan. 18, in a letter to Louisville Middle School Design Advisory Team (DAT) members that he is requesting that they reconvene and review the proposed design plan for renovations to the school planned under the 2006 BVSD Bond Program.

King’s decision was prompted by recent community input given to the Boulder Valley Board of Education concerning the proposed demolition of most of the 1939 portion of the Louisville Middle School building.

One of those community members who spoke to the board was Jean Morgan, a Louisville resident of 35 years whose husband taught at the school.

“It's somewhat of an uphill campaign,” Morgan said. “What we did at that meeting — we weren't on the agenda — nine of us spoke on saving the facade. The board encouraged us, said they needed to get more information.”

Community members asked that the board intervene to stop and redirect the project. Instead, King decided to ask the school’s DAT members to reconvene, listen to historic preservation concerns and more closely examine the impacts of preserving the facade and then decide whether to amend their earlier recommendation.

DATs are composed of school community members including faculty, staff, parents, students and community members.

In addition to King’s request to the Louisville Middle School DAT to reconvene, he also asked the project architect to put together detailed cost data related to the historic preservation options considered by the DAT and the architect. The data will also include schedule implications.

With the more detailed information as well as input from the historical preservation community, Dr. King is asking the Louisville Middle School DAT to then review its earlier decision to support a design that does not preserve the eastern facade of the 1939 portion of the building.

Giving Morgan and other community members hope that saving the original facade is a realistic possibility is the renovation of Casey Middle School. Last month, Casey, which will also undergo renovation through the same bond, was granted permission to save the south and west facades of the building. Mainly, Morgan is just hoping that saving the facade is seriously reconsidered.

“I don't want this to be something where they just placate the group. There is a huge ground swell in the community of people wanting to back this project,” Morgan said. “We have to work together to get the job done and get what the community wants and the school needs.”

Dr. King emphasized in his letter that he was not asking for another significant time commitment from the volunteer group. He anticipates that his requested review could be resolved within two to three meetings which should not negatively impact the Louisville Middle School construction schedule. The proposed meeting timeline will be developed in cooperation with the school’s principal, Adam Fels.

“It's always been the entry point into downtown from South Boulder Road,” Morgan said.

Morgan also feels that the facade holds historical significance to the town because it was a WPA project.

“I understand that the building is antiquated,” Morgan said, “but it's a beautiful building. The men of this town have their heart and soul and scars in that building. (The government) gave the men of this town a job to support their families. It would be such a shame to lose it.”

The school’s facade is 69 years old, but in Morgan’s estimation it is quite new compared to other great buildings.

“In Europe, they have the Parthenon and the Coliseum which are much older,” Morgan said. “Certainly we can figure it out.”

Local Stories of Interest

 

The End of an Era
After 32 years, Rusk retires from the department he helped start

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Joe Rusk milled around the back of the Erie Lions Club near a table covered by coolers of lemonade, iced tea and water last week.

When someone told him he needed to be up front in five minutes to start the awards presentations, Rusk seemed surprised and said: “Well, do what you need to do.”

On Friday, Sept. 21, the 64-year-old battalion chief with the Mountain View Fire Protection District was joined by more than 50 people as they celebrated his retirement.

Friends and family members filled the Erie Lions Club that was decorated with red, white and blue balloons and streamers to honor Rusk’s 32 years of service to the district.

Prior to the awards ceremony, members of the fire department helped serve chicken wings, pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad and slice the sheet cake that was decorated with a red fire engine, while Rusk spent time surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren.

During the ceremony, several firefighters shared stories of Rusk’s friendship and mentoring and presented him with gifts including a mounted fire badge, axe, bugle, matchbox, an old fire nozzle and a jointer for woodworking.

The beginning of Rusk’s fire career was unexpected and did not begin until his early 30s.

After being asked to help fight a fire near 119th Street and Jasper Road with the Niwot Volunteer Fire Department, Rusk realized there was a pressing need in the area to form a volunteer fire department.

He gathered 18 to 19 people and helped raise $7,000 to build a fire station. He then persuaded the fire district to buy a truck.

“It was a deal where it had to be done,” Rusk said. “The service to the people had to be there. When we started, it was all volunteer. We had six career firefighters who supplemented us, but the rest were strictly volunteer. If we didn’t go, nobody went.”

Firefighting soon became a family affair for the Rusks.

“Joe got involved and after so long of not seeing him I figured I should go see what it was he was doing — before I killed him,” said Judy, Rusk’s wife of more than 40 years.

Judy Rusk did more than just see what her husband was up to, she served as a volunteer firefighter for 23 years. Today, she serves on the board of directors for the fire protection district.

In addition to Judy Rusk’s involvement, the couple’s three children — 38-year-old Brian, 35-year-old Jeff and 29-year-old Chris — often visited the firehouse and were put to work helping clean and fix tanks.

In fact, children were such a consideration that the first engines purchased for the station had automatic transmissions so the youngsters couldn’t accidentally knock the trucks out of gear, Rusk said.

Last week, Rusk talked about the amount of time and dedication firefighting requires, especially volunteer firefighting.

On top of the long hours he put in at the fire station, Rusk also worked a full-time job at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. He retired from that post in 1995.

“It takes an awful, awful lot of time and they’re not being compensated for it,” Rusk said of volunteer firefighting. “Well, there is some compensation, about a buck, buck and a half per call, but when you stop to think that there were a lot of times we’re out on fire calls for 12, 16, 18 hours, I can remember one fire that lasted for six days.”

As expected with firefighting, Rusk had his fair share of scary moments which is why he always preached safety.

“Everyone I’ve worked with has heard me say that there’s no way you’re going to get me to go to your house and tell your wife, your husband, your kids that I hurt you or killed you,” Rusk remarked during his retirement party. “You’ve got to go ahead and get through the hard times or solid times or whatever times and take care of each other.”

Judy Rusk said she would rather not recall the scary moments.

But her husband remembered several such incidents. From being frozen to a roof during the winter, to going back into a fire to check for children and being blown out of the house from a backdraft, to falling through a roof, to having a roof fall in on him and be held up only by a refrigerator — there were more than a few moments that made him stop and think.

“When you look back on it you say: ‘Hey, I could’ve gotten killed,’” Joe Rusk said.

Rusk’s presence, dedication and knowledge will be missed by many volunteers in the district.

“Joe’s been a long-term mentor for all of the firefighters,” said Keith Serkes, a Mountain View lieutenant for Stations No. 5 and No. 6. “Joe did training and maintenance, basically a jack of all trades for many, many, many years around here. His presence was there hour after hour.”

The Rusks’ photo albums that circulated during the evening brought back many fond memories.

“There are too many stories,” Fire chief Mike Evans said. “There are 32 years of service there. Those years he averaged 400 calls per year. It’d be tough to sum that up.”

Besides being an integral part of establishing the fire department, Rusk also was key to the most recent Brownsville Fire Station addition where he put his master electrician and woodworking skills to good use.

“We did the framing. We did the electrical work. We did the drywall. We did the cabinets. We did the floors. We did it all,” Rusk said. “We finished the addition in 1995 for $37,000. If you looked at it, we maybe paid for 20 or 30 hours, the rest was strictly volunteer.”

“The Brownsville Station was probably 99 percent Joe’s doing,” Serkes said.

“It’s the end of era,” Deputy chief Mark Lawley said. “He had a big impact on my life and an impact on this organization.”

Perhaps the toughest adjustment to retirement for Rusk so far has been the sleep.

“Without my pager going off three or four times a night, I wake up and say something’s missing,” he said. “My subconscious tells me something is missing, but I guess I’ll get used to that.”

Not surprisingly, Rusk is finding ways to stay busy away from the fire department.

Later this year, he is planning at trip to San Antonio for a ship’s reunion to see old friends from his days in the Navy.

After that, Rusk is planning a trip to the University of Wyoming for this year’s homecoming and his 40th-anniversary reunion.

As well as earning a degree in electrical engineering while there, Rusk met his future wife during an 8 a.m. math class.

Also, Rusk is once again putting his construction expertise to use, and probably his new jointer, having taken on several projects in helping to build the new rectory at his church, the St. Scholastica Catholic Church.

“We see people at their best and we see people at their worst, but if we weren’t there and we weren’t doing it, then, it’d probably be worse than that,” Rusk said as he neared the end of his speech. “One thing I’d like you to remember if at all, approach every day with compassion for your fellow man and the people you work with. Treat those people just the way you want to be treated, I think that’s what really makes a difference.”

1/9/2008

Cheer Champs
Squad to compete in national competition in February

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 When they’re not cheering for athletic events throughout all three sports seasons, the Erie High School cheerleaders also compete — and do quite well.

In November, the cheer squad won the Patriot League title at Erie High School and last month at the Denver Coliseum, the Erie’s cheer squad won the co-ed division for 1A-3A schools at the 2007 CHSAA State Championships.

“They're incredible, they're 20 very dedicated, hardworking teenagers,” said head cheer coach Erin Brueggeman. “State was incredible, they worked so hard for it.”

Tryouts for the team occur in April and the season continues until mid-March with various camps throughout the summer and practices four or five days per week, in addition to the gymnastics and tumbling classes that most of the girls take.

“It's definitely not old-school cheerleading,” Brueggeman said.

Last year, the team competed in the girls division and placed seventh at state, though Brueggeman said they could have done much better.

“It was the first time they competed last year,” Brueggeman said. “With that disappointment, they went in wholeheartedly this year and nailed it — it was incredible.

Brueggeman, who is also the consumer and family studies teacher at Erie High School, said that the girls are the reason she gets up and comes to school in the morning.

“They're a strong, cohesive team. They really do get along really well. You always have your squabbles, but that happens with any team,” Brueggeman said. “They've really defied the myth of the cheerleader. They have so much fun together it's ridiculous — sometimes too much fun.”

The Erie cheer team is gearing up for the UCA National Cheer Competition on Feb. 7-11, where they’ll compete against teams from all over the country.

“We're going to go ahead and win nationals,” said senior captain Katie Ludwig said. “And we're going to come back tan.”

Brueggeman’s goal for her team is slightly more modest.

“Our goal is to place top 20,” Brueggeman said. “If you can walk off that mat and look me in the eyes and tell me you've given it everything you had, that's all I can ask. We get two-and-a-half minutes for a routine, and it has to be perfect.”

But is cheerleading a sport?

“Yeah it is a sport, that pisses me off,” Ludwig said. “You can't go out and be ditzy and win a state title, you have to go out and work your ass off.”

Junior captain Juliana Grinel also said that cheering is about more than “football and basketball games and mini-skirts.”

To help cover the $20,000 cost to get to nationals, the cheer team will host several fundraisers in the coming weeks. During the Erie boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 15, there will be a silent auction. The cheer team will sponsor a spaghetti dinner at the boys basketball game on Friday, Jan. 18, and a Chik-Fil-A fund-raiser night on Wednesday, Jan. 23.

“We’re the first cheer team at Erie to win state,” said fellow junior captain Sarah Roberts, “and it won't be the last — we're coming back next year.”

Local Government Reporting

New trustee named in Erie
Colin Towner to fill vacancy left by Callahan

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Mayor Andrew Moore enjoyed a snack-sized bag of potato chips as he waited for the 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 11, meeting to start.

Trustee Harry Pink arrived at Erie Town Hall after the roll was called.

And, Trustee Tom Van Lone, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt after working at his job as a contractor, finished a sub sandwich and cracked open a soda under the table as the first Town of Erie trustee candidate made his opening remarks.

Resumes aside, the Erie Board of Trustees wanted to ensure that whomever they selected was keenly aware of the time commitment involved as a trustee.

The board received nine applications for the open trustee position vacated by David Callahan, who resigned from the board in September after moving to Denver to be closer to his job. The nine applicants were narrowed down to three candidates for interviews.

After much thought and deliberation, the trustees last week appointed six-year Erie resident Colin Towner by a vote of 4-2.

The 44-year-old Towner’s resume included experience as a civil-engineer, U.S. Navy submarine designer, work at a water utility and extensive time spent as a consultant at Ernst & Young.

Towner also has been a small-business owner in Erie for thee years, operating the pet bathing and grooming store, Tidy Paws.

Towner’s experience dealing with the unique economic challenges facing retail owners in Erie, experience on the Erie Economic Development ad-hoc committee and his vision for the town impressed the board.

“I don’t know if it’s five years out or 50 years out, but a lot of people think of Erie as a bedroom community for other places,” Towner said. “I’d like other places to be a bedroom community for Erie.”

The other two votes went to Chris Jensen, a commercial real estate broker in Boulder and a member of the Erie Economic Development ad-hoc committee.

A major concern for the board was the number of potential conflicts of interest and times Jensen would have to recuse himself from voting since his company has several projects in the Erie area.

The third candidate the board interviewed was Robert Paradine who was on a business trip and conducted the interview via teleconference.

Near the end of Towner’s interview, he asked what should be carried on in the spirit of Trustee Callahan. Overwhelmingly, the board said that Callahan was irreplaceable.

Though, they were more than willing to offer up advice for success on the board.

“Early on, there’s a learning curve,” Trustee Pink said. “It takes some time to get up to speed. Spending the time to really understand the background and putting in that extra bit of effort when you’d rather be doing something else is what it’s all about.”

Towner will serve the remainder of Callahan’s term that is set to expire in April 2008.

 

 

Mystery surrounds sale of Sun campus
Old StorageTek property acquired for $55.6 million

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 Last week, Sun Microsystems sold off its 432-acre campus that was formerly home to StorageTek.

However, the party on the purchasing end of the $55.6 million transaction remains a mystery.

“It's my sense that they're doing their due diligence,” said Louisville Mayor Chuck Sisk. “The ultimate purchaser will show up. People have a right to do their investigation; when it's necessary we'll all know who it is. When you have a transaction of this size, certainly it will have impacts on many other people. I don't know what the reasons for the secrecy, but I respect them.”

Sisk said that he would like to see a retail component combined with a corporate campus along with open space and trails on the property.

If a retail component is added, Sisk said sorting out transportation and access issues to the campus would be a priority.

As part of the sale agreement, Sun will lease back a portion of the campus during 2008 while they transition the approximately 700 employees over to its Broomfield location.

“I think one of the things Sun will tell you is that we did all we could to keep them there,” Sisk said. “We did not want Sun to leave, but once they make the decision, you go to ‘plan B.’ Now that it's closed, I think it’s a very positive step for Louisville. The purchaser invested a significant amount of money to bring something to Louisville.”

Sisk also talked about the transition of the campus from StorageTek’s “heyday” when it had over 3,000 employee to its current point and acknowledged losing any company of Sun’s size would have a significant impact.

“We've had a gradual transition, probably sense it less, less of a jolt, not as though they pulled all people out at once,” Sisk said. “We've been able to absorb it and absorb it pretty well.”

Over the past year, Sun had contemplated keeping a presence in Louisville, which Sisk would have liked, but he also said that other corporations he spoke to over the past year felt it was better if a single company could have control over decisions made on the campus.

“It will be a very pivotal moment for Louisville,” Sisk said, “but keeping in mind that we have stressed anyone coming in needs to understand the environment of Louisville.”

 

 

 

Council increases 2008 budget
$34,000 allocated for Shop Louisville program

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 The Louisville City Council approved a resolution Tuesday, Jan. 15, increasing the general fund budget by $34,000 to continue the Shop Louisville program it started in July, 2007.

Shop Louisville is an organized effort to raise awareness about the positive impact Louisville residents have on the city when they shop locally.

The city’s hope is that the program will increase sales tax revenue, thus providing more funding for services and events.

The success of the program is going to be monitored through the number of merchants that sign up for the program, citizen awareness and merchant willingness to fund the program in following years.

“We’re planting seeds,” said Mayor Chuck Sisk. “We’re not going to be able to cultivate this immediately.”

Other council members also acknowledged that it will be tough to measure the effectiveness of the program.

“We don’t anticipate that this program is going to increase sales tax revenue in a way that we can actually measure by the end of this year,” said council member Hank Dalton. “We need to make sure that folks understand this program isn’t necessarily going to pay for itself. That’s a hope, but we’re going into it with the idea that it will make people aware of the choices they can make in spending their retail dollars, so that when given the opportunity to go out of town or spend the dollar here, they spend it here.”

Some council members were less sure of the program than Sisk and Dalton, but did warm up to the idea.

“I think it’s hard to look at a $34,000 increase in the budget when there are other things we had to cut out,” said council member Frost Yarnell. “It was a very difficult decision to come to this place of support. I do support this program and think it’s very important.”

Sisk said that some community members have asked him how they could make a $34,000 expenditure when other items were cut or not considered. Sisk maintains that it is important to send the right message to people in “the business community and people looking to do business here.”

Though the city’s sales tax revenue has increased during the past six months — since Shop Louisville’s inception — Dalton tempered his excitement.

“There’s no silver bullet with regards to raising sales tax revenue in this town,” Dalton said. “This is one piece of a number of things we’re trying to do to improve the business climate in Louisville.”

 

 

Revenue sharing report analyzed
Trustees doubtful about implementation

By Ryan Want 
Colorado Hometown Newspapers

 In November, consultants working on a way to share sales tax revenue within Boulder County presented municipal officials with four preliminary plans of action.

At the Superior Board of Trustees meeting Monday, Jan. 14, Mayor Pro-tem Karen Imbierowicz reported back to the board with the latest developments.

The group of municipalities include Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville, Superior and Erie. Each government contributed $7,000 toward the $49,000 study, with Boulder County making up the difference.

The first approach involves looking at allocation of incremental sales taxes based on populations of those communities in the revenue sharing pool.

Another plan would focus on the economic spending power of the communities.

A third approach that consultants looked at was based on a consumer leakage-adjustment rate. For that approach, consultants would determine what percentage of sales tax is “leaking” out of a community due to residents spending money in other municipalities.

A final idea and the one favored by trustees was regional land banking, which involves a contribution of future retail development sites from each participating community. The community would then receive a portion of the sales tax generated on those sites, based on the percentage of land contributed.

The main problem Imbierowicz had with the study up to this point is that it was only modeled on taking one-percent of sales tax from each municipality.

“They felt that it was the safest amount they could take from each town and it resulted in a really small amount of sales tax, something like $500,000, which is too small to motivate anyone to do anything differently,” Imbierowicz said.

Before the next revenue sharing meeting on Thursday, Jan. 24, Imbierowicz hoped to determine what amount of money would make revenue sharing an interesting prospect for the town.

Trustee Jeff Chu speculated that “20 percent of operating costs is probably where it becomes interesting for us.”

With the 1-percent sales tax revenue sharing figure being so far away from a number that would interest the town, Mayor Andrew Muckle wasn’t optimistic about the plan being implemented.

“My take-home message from this is that nothing is going to happen,” said Mayor Andrew Muckle. “We're talking miniscule dollars that aren't going to affect planning at all.”

He said that land banking would make the most sense, but that Boulder is essentially built-out, and a town like Erie that still has considerable development potential would be unlikely to sign onto any plan sharing the revenue of future development.

Muckle said that it might be possible for Superior and Louisville to work together on a similar revenue sharing effort, but that this wasn’t a regional solution.

“I've been a big proponent of revenue sharing because of the issues it brings up, unfortunately this is not going to solve that,” Muckle said. “This is a state problem that requires a state solution.”