By Allison Forke and Vicki Maurer

Little did Courier sportswriter Bruce "Biff" Warren know that volunteering to help with the annual Niwot Youth Sports (NYS) Spaghetti Dinner would lead to one of the biggest surprises of his life. At the Dec. 5 event, Steve Jones, president of NYS, presented the 2003 Dick Piland Sportsmanship Award to Warren, who retired from the NYS board in 2002. In 1998, the NYS board of directors created the award to honor the contributions made by umpire Dick Piland and to recognize other NYS volunteers' commitment of time and sportmanship.

Past recipients include Mike Ratliff, Jon Bartley, Susan Warren, Phil Garcia and Vicki Maurer. According to Jones, Warren was chosen as the 2003 recipient because, "He's been more important in the lives of the children of NYS than anyone I've been involved with. NYS is what it is because of Biff. Biff is Niwot Youth Sports." The Sportsmanship award wasn't the big surprise. Jones announced that the ball field complex on Left Hand Water District property at 6800 Nimbus Road, previously known as Nimbus Fields, would be renamed the "Biff Warren Baseball Complex." The site consists of three baseball fields: Greg Hagen Field, Kevin Ritz Field and Columbine Field. Hagen Field was built as a memorial to Greg Hagen, a NYS parent volunteer who died in an auto accident in 1993. Ritz Field was built with funds donated by the Colorado Rockies and pitcher Kevin Ritz.

Columbine Field was built with a donation from an anonymous donor to complete the complex. Several speakers recounted Warren's contributions to NYS. Long time board member and coach Gregg Hangge said, "Biff will ensure that no one gets left out. He goes out of his way to make sure everyone in included." Hangge and Warren coached together when their sons, Joe and Michael, played NYS baseball.

"His integrity is of the highest standards." Hangge said. "He is the voice of reason that I turn to when I am faced with a challenge. If it weren't for people like him, I would not be as involved in NYS as I have been for the past 14 years." IBM Site Manager Larry Longseth, who servedas equipment manager for the NYS baseball program, recalled the old Johnson Fields at 83rd Street and Neva Road, where goathead sandburs had to be raked from the fields. Former NYS and current NHS softball player Dana Breyer remembered playing with Warren's daughter, Katie. Breyer said, "Biff coached our first competitive team when we were 12 and taught us the fundamentals. We still use a lot of the drills he taught us." Warren recalled that Breyer was one of his favorite players, "Maybe because we're both catchers," he said. NYS Basketball Commissioner Megan Roth remembered growing up with the Warren family, playing softball with his eldest daughter, Randi, including the first NHS "club" team.

She thanked Warren for being a great coach. "His cool demeanor carried over to his coaching style," Roth said. "He taught us strong fundamentals and helped each player develop their own talents." Roth told Warren, "My dad (Dennis Roth) helped start this program and you were always there to step in and keep it going.

You were always willing to do what no one else wanted to do." Sue Prahl, former executive director of NYS, spoke about Warren's contributions to NYS. She said, "Biff could be a rich man in terms of money, but chooses instead to invest his time in the community." Warren began coaching NYS teams in 1977, before he had children playing in the organization.

He served a total of 15 years as president of the organization between 1983 and 2001, and served as baseball director from 1987 to 1996. He negotiated with developers and Boulder County for the Left Hand Valley Grange Field at 83rd Street and Niwot Road, as well as the Monarch Park Ballfields located off Highway 52 in the early 1980's. When the Johnson Fields were lost to development, he worked with Jim Martinsen, Dan Knollenberg and the Left Hand Water District to build the complex on Nimbus Road in the early 1990's. He continues to work with the county concerning improvements to the Monarch Ballfields. When asked how he felt receiving the honor, Warren said, "I was very honored to receive the Dick Piland Sportsmanship Award because I know the people who have received it before me, including my wife, Susan, have made important contributions to NYS. And Dick Piland, who supports the organization financially and as an umpire, is one of my favorite people.

"When they told me they were going to put my name on the ball field complex on Nimbus Road, I was in shock," Warren said. "This is such a nice thing for the NYS board members to do. I'm honored that they would even consider it. "There are lots of people I'd like to thank, starting with my wife, Susan, and my kids, Randi, Michael and Katie, who have supported my involvement in NYS," Warren said. "I started coaching before I was married, and before I had kids. My family knew it was something I loved to do, and they allowed me to continue, even though it took up a fair amount of time, because we all thought it was important that kids have a place to play locally." He continued, "I would also like to thank the people in my law office for their support. My partner, Rich Carlson, has been supportive of my efforts in NYS for a long time. We used the office on many occasions for meetings, registration and fund-raising. My paralegal, Vicki Maurer, also served on the NYS board and spent many hours doing NYS work at the office, after hours and at home. Nancy Mercer, our receptionist, has also helped with NYS administration over the years. And Tom Moore, an attorney in our office, has been a baseball coach for NYS for the past several years." Warren added, "I grew up in a small town in Nebraska where my parents were, and still are, very active in the community. I learned from their example the value of community service. The people I've met through NYS over the years are the finest people I've known. When you don't have a city to provide youth sports programs, the only way it gets done is by doing it yourself. I hope the Niwot and Gunbarrel community will continue to support the NYS board and make sure the programs we've enjoyed for over 25 years continue." Warren is a partner with the law firm of Warren & Carlson, LLP, located in Cottonwood Square in Niwot. He has practiced law in Niwot since 1975. When asked what he was going to do next, he replied, "I'm still hoping to go to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs in the World Series." Until then (which could be a very long time) we'll likely see him on the ball fields in Niwot.

Photo by Vicki Maurer
Biff Warren at the entrance to Nimbus Fields, to be renamed the "Biff Warren Baseball Complex."

Photo by Allison Forke
Gregg Hangge presents the Dick Piland Award to Biff Warren in honor of Warren's outstanding service to Niwot Youth Sports.

By Thomas George

With a City Council study session on the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan postponed until January, and a hearing postponed until February, Gunbarrel developers must keep waiting to see what the final plan will include.

The Gunbarrel Town Center, a development by the O'Connor Group, will probably not go before the City of Boulder Planning Board until after the Community Center Plan has its City Council hearing. Since a site review application has already been submitted for the Town Center, developers of that property have only to wait and see what happens.

Michael Tagliola, developer of the proposed Gunbarrel Flats project, is waiting as well, but says the delay has not been a big problem.

"We've had to make a few adjustments," Tagliola said of the hoped-for schedule, but also noted giving the City Council time to take an informed look at the plan was more important than a hasty approval."This plan has to work for everyone," he said.

Still, Tagliola said he was making the most of the time, working with his partners to be ready if and when the Community Center Plan is approved. He said the delay has not caused him to rethink his involvement in the development.

"We're definitely committed to our project," he said.

Council consideration of the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan, which gives direction for a retail and residential hub in the Gunbarrel community, was originally slated for November and December 2003, but a ballot counting snafu de-layed the swearing-in of the newly elected Boulder City Council.

The Gunbarrel plan, which had been on the agenda of the new Council's first meeting, was juggled and finally bumped to the new year.

When the City Council does consider the plan, some residents are hoping changes will be made. The Gunbarrel Community Association (GCA) is asking the council to remove language in the current version of the plan allowing buildings of up to four stories, which the GCA says would be inconsistent with Gunbarrel's semi-rural character.

Developers and city planners have argued that the taller buildings are necessary to achieve an optimum density for retail area.

A City Council study session of the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan is currently scheduled for Jan. 13, 2004 with a public hearing to take place Feb. 3, presuming the groundhog sees its shadow.

By Lisa Whitehead

By Ron Goodman

The Travel Channel - Here At Home Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003: It was early, early for me that is, about 8 a.m. and I was just rolling over and adjusting the pillow when the phone rang. It was Brad Langdon with a tip. I had to get up and out pronto. There were big doings in town. Five minutes later another ring, another tipster, another realtor, Pat Murphy saying to get "up and out. Get downtown." Duty called. I was quickly up and out. Second Avenue was blocked off from Murray to Franklin Streets. A sheriff's deputy stood guard and a small clique of locals huddled on the corner, sipping coffee. There were trailers galore, cameras, lights, gaffs, cable everywhere, men standing around, but not much action. I stopped an attractive young lady and introduced myself. Her name was Jeanne Kopeck. "I live around here and I used to go to Rev. Taylor's for breakfast all the time," she said. "I travel and direct a lot for the 'National Geographic' on the Nature Channel. This 'shoot' is for the Travel Channel." This "shoot" (notice how quickly I pick up the lingo), was for a new program called "Made in America." It will be aired on the Travel Channel, which is part of the Discovery Network. The program is about products made in small towns all over the USA. Looking in the direction of the camera, I noticed that the Niwot Tribune building window was suddenly full of handsome Gibson guitars. "They looked all over southern California for appropriate small towns," Kopeck said. "When I suggested Colorado and Niwot, they came, looked and loved it." While we spoke, the narrator of the series, John Ratzenberger, of "Cheers" was holed up in his trailer. "Studying lines" I was told; too busy to speak with the local press. They were also "shooting" in Prospect, in a north Longmont wheat field and at Highway 128 in Boulder.

By Gay Waterbury

Once again, my "good read leads" for another year. Here's wishing all of you the pleasure of discovering a good book and the time to savor it. Happy New Year!

A is for Australia to Armenia and home again in Joan London's arresting novel of friendship, family, and the search for home, "Gilgamesh."
B is for burrowing owls and bullies in Carl Hiaasen's novel for young readers, "Hoot," and for bush tea with Mma Ramotswe in Botswana in Alexander McCall Smith's "Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency."
C is for CO2 emissions and global warming, the environmental predicaments that inspired Barbara Freese's fascinating book, "Coal: A Human History."
D is for detestable Dolores Umbridge, the Defense of the Dark Arts teacher who makes Harry's life miserable in J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
E is for the Earl of Oxford, perhaps the true author of the works accredited to William Shakespeare, in Sarah Smith's entertaining and educational novel about sleuthing scholars "Chasing Shakespeares."
F is for feudal England, setting of Avi's Newbery Award-winning novel, "Crispin."
G is for "goodness," the single word written on a sign hung around a young mute panhandler's neck in Carol Shield's brilliant novel, "Unless."
H is for Hasidim, the ultra-Orthodox sect of Judaism scrutinized in Pearl Abraham's coming of age novel, "The Romance Reader."
I is for innocence shattered and a future illuminated in Laura Kasischke's highly original novel, "The Life before Her Eyes."
J is for "Jaguar," nickname of the young protagonist of Isabel Allende's first novel for young readers, "The City of Beasts," in which two teenagers join an expedition to penetrate one of the mysteries of the Amazon.
K is for Ken Kimble, a real lemon of a husband in Jennifer Haigh's "Mrs. Kimble."
L is for Little Red Riding Hood and a host of other fairy-tale characters who go "Into the Woods" in search of "happily ever after" in author/illustrator Hudson Talbott's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning musical.
M is for music halls and male impersonators in Sarah Water's evocative novel of the Victorian London's gay demimonde.
N is for Nureyev, the brilliant and troubled prodigy of the Russian ballet in Colum McCann's novel "Dancer."
O is for outlaws, Aussie-style, in Peter Carey's "The True History of the Kelly Gang."
P is for Perdita, a budding concert pianist studying in Paris in 1910, in Sarah Smith's "Knowledge of Water," a sequel to "The Vanished Child."
Q is for "quixotic," the word played across two triple-word scores that earned 284 points in Stefan Fatsis' intriguing look at the underground world of competitive Scrabble, "Word Freak."
R is for reclaiming things lost or forgotten in Dara Horn's imaginative first novel about Jewish history, culture and faith, "In the Image." Also for "Reasons to Survive November," one of Tony Hoagland's poems in his collection, "What Narcissism Means to Me."
S is for secrets encoded in a mother's cookbook and passed down to her daughter in Joanne Harris' novel set in WWII France, "Five Quarters of the Orange."
T is for Teatl to Tijuana again in Donna Gershten's novel of a young Mexican woman who makes her fortune in tejuino after an impoverished childhood.
U is for understanding and the hard truths uncovered when a jealous husband investigates a troubling photo he finds among his late wife's possessions.
V is for variety of voices-funny, despairing, poignant, angry-of Jincy Willett's characters in her stunning collection of short stories, "Jenny and the Jaws of Life."
W is for welfare, Wal-Mart, and waitressing in Barbara Ehrenreich's scathing "Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America."
X is for the xenophobic attitudes toward women in the "literary Dublin" of Nuala O'Faolain's "Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman."
Y is for youth and yearning in Ann Brashares' second Y.A. novel about four best friends, "The Second Summer of the Sisterhood."
Z is for zoologist Kate Morrison, who returns to her childhood home for a family reunion and comes to terms with a family tragedy in Canadian author Mary Lawson's "Crow Lake." Gay Waterbury works at The Yankee Doodler Bookstore in Niwot. She may be reached there at 303-652-3255.

Gail Anderson opened The Christmas Place in a small shop on Second Avenue in Historic Downtown Niwot six years ago. The business grew and after two busy years she moved into larger quarters, the historic Frank Bader on the corner of Franklin and Second Ave.

"Now, after six Christmas seasons we are closing." Gail said sadly. "We had to make a decision, running two businesses is to much. I'm going to focus on Curves. We are so grateful to all of our loyal customers for their patronage."

Kelly Anderson, Gail's daughter, who currently manages Curves, is graduating from CU with a Masters in public administration. "I'll be looking for a job in that field." Kelly said, "And mom is excited about Curves and its potential. It is doing well for now."

By Mary Wolbach Lopert

Lookout Road in Gunbarrel has a very ecumenical feel. The Boulder Jewish Day School (BJDS) is taking its place alongside Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran, Niwot United Methodist and Vinelife Community Churches.

As for the school's move to Gunbarrel, Secular Director Myrna Cooper said the property the school had been leasing on Kalmia in Boulder from the Jewish Community Center "lost permission to have as many young children as we have." The school had been planning to relocate, but not until 2004.

"School space is rather limited," Cooper said. "It has to be appropriately zoned, down to how many parking spaces we have." When the old Children's World building became available, the school was able to buy it. Besides finding adequate facilities, Cooper believes the move to Gunbarrel will be good for the BJDS because more young families are moving east and north of Boulder where housing is more affordable.

When it came to the county approval process, "Our neighbors have been wonderful," Cooper said. Both homeowners in Gunbarrel Estates and the Niwot United Methodist Church gave nothing but positive comments.

"The (Methodist) church has been very supportive. We share a parking lot. They have been kind enough to offer us their big room downstairs on bad weather days to have events there. We even share garbage collection with them." The merchants in the Gunbarrel Shopping Center and the Vine Life Christian Church also have been helpful in getting BJDS established.

Zoned for 110 students in classes from preschool, kindergarten and first through fifth grades, the school currently has 40 children. According to Cooper, as a community day school, BJDS serves all aspects of Judaism, orthodox, conservative and reformed, and works hard to serve families that want to retain their Jewish identities. The school, Cooper stressed, respects everyone's customs.

The curriculum is designed to develop both analytical thinking and creativity. "We want to develop both the left and right sides of the brain," Cooper said. "The low student teacher ratio (1-to-6) gives the students an amount of attention to their individual needs that you're probably not likely to find at many other schools. Teachers work well with individual learning styles." Most students are working at one to one and a half years above grade level.

Secular curriculum is based on Colorado state standards and there are several after school programs including Hebrew and Spanish. Cooper said that they are adding an art program in the near future.

The Boulder Jewish Day School is located at 7415 Lookout Rd., Longmont, CO 80503. Contact the school at 303-449-5569 or BJDS@quest.net. Fax number is 303-440-5578. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

By Gay Waterbury

The Niwot High School cheer team made school history by ranking 4th at this year's CHSAA state championship competition at the Denver Coliseum on Dec. 13. The Cougars were up against over thirty other school teams in the 4A division.

According to team co-captains Brittney Eaves and Annie Waterbury, the team's goal was to make it into the final cut. "Last year they took the top four teams," explained Waterbury. "We were sixth, and it was a big disappointment to get so close and not make the finals. This year they took the top six teams. We were ranked fourth after the first round, and we held on to that."

Eaves said the competition was tough. Last year's state champion, Pueblo South, was edged out by Glenwood Springs. Broomfield High School took the third berth. Mullen and Sand Creek rounded out the top six. Niwot is one of the smaller schools in the 4A division.

The Cougars competition squad placed sixth at the United Cheerleading Association's regional championship on Nov. 22 at Englewood High School in Denver, earning a bid to compete at the national championship in Orlando, Florida, Feb. 6 - 10, 2004. This is the third consecutive year the group has qualified.

Cheerleading is an 11-month sport at NHS. The squad for the following year is selected at tryouts in the spring. Members must demonstrate ability in six categories: jumps, tumbling, cheering, dancing, stunting and overall attitude.

"Cheerleaders have kind of a crazy schedule, and we work really hard," says Eaves. "School is our first priority, but we practice three to four times a week and attend gymnastic classes, as well as cheer two to four times a week to support our fellow varsity teams. It's all worth it, though, when we see the results on the competition mat."

In addition to cheering at NHS athletic events, the squad performs and competes several times during the year: at UCA summer camp in Boulder, at Elitch's and Park Meadows cheer competitions in the fall, and at the CU Cheer Competition at the University of Colorado, coming up on Jan. 24, 2004.

The members of this year's squad are Aszur Antonelli, Kylie Arters, Gange Betancart, Haley Biddle, Shanon Borchardt, Brooke Chandler, Taylor Clemons, Samantha Davis, Brittney Eaves, Christine Etter, Ashton Gansar, Madie Heidemann, Candace Howerton, Heather Manley, Cora Masson, Ruth O'Loughlin, Mandy Perras, Gini Philipp, Stephanie Ramsey, Nicole Samuel, Aden Simonelli, Selen Sonuparlak, Annie Waterbury, and Jennifer Wingerberg. Cathy Greene has coached the team for the past seven years. Renee Pavlik is assistant coach.