All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
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It is with great sadness that we report that Courier Advertising Director Ann Whitehill passed away suddenly on April 10, 2022. Ann resided in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area for many years and worked for the Courier for over three years, helping the Courier and its advertisers navigate through the pandemic. Selene Luna, who worked closely with Ann on the Courier, expressed our thoughts well: "I will truly miss that special lady. We had some challenging times at the paper, but we worked through them...
On April 19, the Northrop Grumman Corporation received the U.S. Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific award to design a Relay Ground Station - Asia (RGS-A) in Guam. The award will provide a $99.6 million contract to design and develop missile-launch and missile-warning detection satellites in their Gunbarrel facility. The satellites and antennas will be constructed and deployed to Guam, to be remotely monitored and operated by the United States. “The award will bring about 24 new jobs to this facility as part of its plan to hire 1...
Plans for the Boulder County Library District have taken a new direction, and the proposed district boundaries no longer include Niwot. Though the Boulder City Council passed a resolution to move ahead with the plan to create an independent library district, the resolution was also contingent on sign off from the Boulder County Commissioners. After listening to more than four hours of public comment on April 7, the Board of County Commissioners tabled a vote on the resolution. Commissioners cite...
Although Colorado’s wildfire season typically spans May through September, extremely dry conditions paired with above average temperatures and high winds are changing the seasonal nature of fires. In the past month, there have been five fires in Boulder County which have prompted evacuation orders. As previously reported in the April 20th edition of the Left Hand Valley Courier, two fires, the Tally Ho fire and the Table Mountain fire, both in the Gunbarrel/Niwot area, occurred within a day of each other. The first fire on April 19, 2022, w...
On April 23, the Boulder City Council and the Boulder County Commissioners could not reach a consensus on finalizing the Boulder Library District proposal. The fate of the proposed district now likely depends on residents living in Boulder and some parts of Boulder county, during the November election. Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett and County Commissioner Claire Levy met to discuss a possible path forward after both governing bodies conducted a joint hearing earlier this month. According to Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, he and Levy had a good...
More than 60 people joined the County Commissioner’s virtual meeting on April 14 regarding a proposed makeover of Highway 119, commonly known as the Diagonal Highway. After introductions, the Planning Unit of Community Planning and Permitting started their presentation about the project. First, Planning and Permitting showed a video that gave statistics–it’s the second-most traveled highway in Boulder County, with almost 40,000 daily vehicles, and it’s the most dangerous, having more crashes than highways such as U.S. Highway 287 or even U....
The Boulder County Communications Center received a call regarding a grass fire near Tally Ho Trail at 1:12 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19. This is south of the Twin Lakes neighborhood in Gunbarrel. According to a press release, the grass fire grew to be just under 10 acres in size. Multiple homes in the surrounding area, including Carter Trail, were evacuated during door-to-door evacuations. Firefighters were able to quickly gain control of the fire, and fortunately, there was no structure loss and...
Longtime Niwot resident Stewart E. Poet died ThurApril 7, 2022, at age 90. A celebration of Stewart’s life will be held at Poet Farm later in the summer. Memorial gifts may be sent to Huddy’s Buddies fundraiser for CMV awareness through the National CMV Foundation. https://www.givesignup.org/hudson-wiorek. Longtime Niwot and Gunbarrel resident Ann Whitehill died suddenly April 10, 2022, at her home in Niwot. Ann was the Advertising Director for the Left Hand Valley Courier at the time of her death. She began her career with the Courier in 201...
On April 5, in a joint session, the Boulder City Council and the Boulder of County Commissioners (BOCC) held a public hearing on whether to create a library district which would include all city of Boulder residents as well as residents of unincorporated Gunbarrel and Niwot, and extend as far west as Jamestown. After more than seven hours of an online hearing in which speakers were limited to two minutes, the city council approved the plan by a vote of 6-3. The plan would include Gunbarrel and...
It is with great sadness that we report that Courier Advertising Director Ann Whitehill passed away suddenly last weekend. Ann resided in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area for many years and worked for the Courier for over three years, helping the Courier and its advertisers navigate through the pandemic. Selene Luna, who worked closely with Ann on the Courier, expressed our thoughts well: “I will truly miss that special lady. We had some challenging times at the paper, but we worked through them together. When we met a special challenge with success w...
Residents of Niwot and Gunbarrel, long overlooked by the powers that be in Longmont and Boulder, have begun to do something about it. The LOBO Trail, which reputedly runs from Longmont to Boulder and back, and seemingly uphill both ways, was named for LOngmont and BOulder. But you can't actually get all the way to Boulder from Longmont on a trail, as sections are incomplete as the "trail" makes its way through south Gunbarrel. You can get from Longmont all the way to Niwot, and from Niwot to...
"Late November back in '96...' (to paraphrase an old Four Seasons song - December, 1963), seven of us got together to talk about creating a newspaper in the Niwot-Gunbarrel area. In alphabetical order - Karen Copperberg, Ron Goodman, Selene {Luna) Hall, Lori Lindemann, Mary Wolbach Lopert, Vicki Maurer and Bruce (Biff) Warren. None of us had any real newspaper experience beyond our high school years. We reached out to several people to see if they were interested in joining us, but in the end,...
On March 24, Northrop Grumman Corporation opened its newest facility in the Longbow Office Park in Gunbarrel with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The facility includes a radio frequency research lab, which will launch more career opportunities in the enterprise. The expansion includes 23,680 square feet of space in the Longbow II building, bringing the total to 82,815 square feet in three buildings on the Boulder campus, housing more than 400 employees. "This is the opening of our third building...
BASEBALL David Bote, son of longtime Niwot High baseball coach Bob Bote, was placed on the 60-day injured list by the Chicago Cubs on March 19 as he continues to recover from off-season shoulder surgery. Bote, an infielder, dislocated his left shoulder while reaching back to touch second base after a slide sent him past the base on May 30, 2021. He missed almost two months of the season, but returned on July 25, only to go back on the injured list with a sprained ankle August 28. He is expected...
The pandemic has been a devastating time within our personal lives and within our local and national governmental operations. Now that life is returning to "normal," the Boulder Library Champions, a grassroots group of local volunteers, are interested in making some changes to the way the Boulder public library operates. They're also in need of book donations, in case you're interested in contributing to the group. On March 8, the Boulder Library Champions held a community meeting at the Left...
The Dodd Water Treatment Plant of the Left Hand Water District and Dodd Reservoir are named in honor of the Dodd family, which has contributed much to the history and development of the Niwot area. Alva M. Dodd came to the Niwot area in the 1860s, and married Della Gould, a member of the pioneering Gould family. They had 10 children, nine of whom remained in the area after they became adults. One son, Hugh Dodd, lived in the small house on the northwest corner of the intersection of Niwot Road...
Many have seen the boldly printed signs alerting Gunbarrel/Niwot residents about a lost dog named Cinder. The dog escaped his newly minted owners on the same day he was adopted from Longmont Humane Society on Jan. 16. He was most recently seen just off of Oxford Road near an open field on Feb. 24. He's also been seen near 95th Street and Niwot Road. At this point, his adopters have moved on from looking for Cinder and one has even left the area. Experienced canine search and rescuer Wess Staats...
This is not an April Fool's "announcement.".... The Left Hand Valley Courier will mark 25 years of serving the Niwot-Gunbarrel community on Friday, April 1, with an Open House from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the courtyard outside the offices of Warren, Carlson & Moore, LLP, Attorneys located in Cottonwood Square. The community is invited to join the founders and current staff of the newspaper for a celebration outside the law office, where the staff meets once a week to plan each edition of the weekly newspaper. The Courier is the only independently...
A public meeting to discuss an issue that could be on the November 2022 ballot is coming to the Left Hand Grange (195 2nd Ave.) next month. On March 8, representatives from the Boulder Public Library will lead a town hall on a pending proposal to create a new library district in the county, and what it might mean for Niwot. "Because Niwot is currently included in the Boulder Library District proposal, I wanted to make sure that people in town have a chance to ask questions and express their...
Wildlife photographer extraordinaire Bill Ringer captured this bobcat on the hunt in the Gunbarrel area. There's wildlife all around us if you take the time to stop, look and listen....
The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) recently announced that active construction of the Cottontail Trail north of Lookout Road and east of the Gunbarrel Estates would resume on Monday, Jan. 24. This section of the Cottontail Trail will be closed for the duration of the construction and is expected to re-open sometime in mid-April, weather permitting, pending the completion of the trail. The ongoing realignment and resurfacing project is part of a larger improvement effort...
Gunbarrel Estates residents received notice from Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting Department (formerly Land Use) that the Hillside Learning Center is requesting modification to an existing special review and site specific development plan for a new school building and the modification of the existing structure. HIllside, located at 7415 Lookout Rd. in Gunbarrel, has been in this location since 2017. The school provides half-day, small classes and individualized instruction for...
Though many didn't realize it at the time, last June there was a change to one of Niwot's longest-standing businesses. It's Only Natural Gifts, located next to Niwot Real Estate at the intersection of Niwot Road and 2nd Avenue, was sold. Karen Edwards began the business with Niwot resident Vicky Dorvee in 2008 and, in the years since, it has focused on presenting healthy and unique gift giving choices, and has grown dramatically. Diane Strong bought Dorvee's interest in 2017, but this year,...
At 5 a.m. on Jan. 12, meat and deli workers at the Gunbarrel King Soopers store (6550 Lookout Rd) walked off the job to begin a strike that could last up to three weeks. The strike was called by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 after negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with parent company Kroger, Inc., stalled earlier this month. Stores are remaining open, though some locations have reduced hours and services. Roughly 8,000 workers at King Soopers stores are on...
When the Marshall Fire devastated the communities of Louisville and Superior, Niwot community members were eager to help. In the immediate days after the tragedy, many went above and beyond. For others still wanting to do something positive, there are ongoing opportunities to make a difference. Below is an overview of what's been done already and what opportunities to help are still available. Local businesses offered housing and food Shelter was one of the most immediate needs for residents in...
Alleging unfair labor practices and violations of a collective bargaining agreement, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 voted to strike at King Soopers locations along Colorado's front range, including the Gunbarrel location at 6550 Lookout Rd. Starting at 5 a.m. on Jan. 12., meat workers at Boulder stores will walk off the job for three weeks, until Feb. 2....
Like it or not, 2022 is just around the corner, and if your plans for the new year involve bettering the world, there's no better place to start than your own community. The Left Hand Valley is home to dozens of non-profit organizations that are making a difference, and they need engaged volunteers to help them do it. No experience is necessary; there's a position for you. By volunteering, not only are you helping your community, you'll also reap the benefits from connecting with others, learnin...
We're in the home stretch of the holiday shopping season, and for those of you with a few names left to check off your gift list, be sure to consider one of the dozens of unique items from the artists, growers and crafters that call Niwot and Gunbarrel home. Gas up and grab a gift When you fill 'er up at the Niwot Conoco in the Cottonwood Shopping Center, don't just drive off - go inside where you'll find a treasure trove of charming gifts for your loved ones. You'll be stunned by the corner of...
On Dec. 7, Boulder County Commissioners approved the budget to fund 23 of 32 proposed Boulder County Parks & Open Space projects. The $1.5 million line item for the proposed Capital & Stewardship plan is funded by the county open space sales tax, money that is designated to support the acquisition of open space and pay for programs that help preserve habitat, provide educational and recreational programs and create and maintain trails. In addition to the sales tax funding, the county will utiliz...
Gunbarrel Estates resident Bill Ringer has eagle eyes and an eye for eagles. According to Ringer, both bald and golden eagles have been showing up more frequently. The two bald eagles pictured here were seen at sunset on Dec. 18 and a golden eagle was viewed just two days earlier. "There are always more in the winter, but they can be seen here any time of year," Ringer said. I grew up in Boulder and remember when a bald eagle sighting was front page news. The eagle comeback is a great success...
Behind any community event in Niwot, there is an unsung army of volunteers, handling details and logistics that most attendees overlook. Among them is the Niwot road crew, a group that has been dedicated to keeping the town's parades and festivals pedestrian-friendly since 2014. "We started with seven, and it blossomed from there," Dick Piland said of the group he founded as Niwot Community Association president nearly a decade ago. "It was amazing. We had people calling up insisting they get...
Margaret “Lin” Folsom Former Niwot resident, Margaret “Lin” Folsom, age 86, died Nov. 8, 2021, A Celebration of Life will be held on Feb. 19, 2022, at the Seafarers Memorial Park Bldg., in Anacortes, Wash. from 2 pm - 5 pm. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to N.A.M.I., National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. To share memories of Lin, please sign the online guestbook at www.evanschapel.com. Lois Ann Veneziano Lois Ann Veneziano, age 85, of Gunbarrel died Nov. 23, 2021 in Boulder. Services will be held Friday, Dec. 10, 2021 at 11 am a...
Heatherwood resident David Joseph Waters, age 39, was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder after Boulder County Sheriff’s officers responded to a report of a road rage shooting at around 6:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 24 near the south entrance to the Heatherwood subdivision off 75th Street in Gunbarrel. Dispatchers received a report from a caller that another driver shot at him with a handgun as the caller was passing him. A news release from the sheriff’s department indicated that deputies responding found a bullet hole in...
CROSS COUNTRY Lucca Fulkerson (Niwot), a freshman at Princeton University, helped her squad to a second-place finish at the Lehigh Invitational Sept. 3, when all five runners crossed the 6K finish line together, good for an eighth-place tie at 22:14.8. She followed with a fourth-place finish at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet Sept. 11, with a time of 16:28.3 for the 4800-meter race. At the Princeton Invitational she finished seventh with a time of 21:44.2 for the 6K. At the NCAA Mid-Atlantic...
The Niwot and Gunbarrel areas have their share of exceptionally talented chefs, some of whom have just opened or expanded restaurants in the past year. Each has expressed appreciation for working out of this community and serving those who live here. As a thank you, they've provided some of their favorite recipes as a gift for readers who might want to try something new for their Thanksgiving meal. Potato Jurasien Pie from Christine Carr of TipTop Pies This recipe is not only decadent and...
There's a meme which depicts two paths as to what your road of life may look like. One path shows a straight line going up at a steep angle labeled "What you thought your life would be like." The other path shows lots of spaghetti-like lines with the caption "What your life is really like." Gunbarrel resident Mike Hamers knows these two sides very well. What he's learned is when the road of life gets complicated, a map, dictated by the healing power of art, showed him the way home. The Kenosha,...
When it's time to purchase holiday gifts this year, you can always pull out your keyboard and order gifts from Amazon or purchase something from a chain retailer at the mall. But local stores here have a lot to offer. When you buy from area retailers you'll find gifts you can't get anywhere else in the world, and the money you spend stays in the community, something that's needed by many as they recover from the lingering impacts of the pandemic. Local food restaurants and purveyors Niwot and...
On Oct. 6, the City of Boulder announced the formation of the Library District Advisory Committee (LDAC). This committee is an advising body, rather than a decision-making body, and the council chose 12 representatives out of 37 online applications. The application process largely focused on applicants' demographic data (age, ethnicity, income), and asked questions about how applicants planned to best represent the various perspectives in and around Boulder. Joni Teter, longtime library...
Silence and Respect. Thus reads the first trail sign greeting visitors at the Sand Creek Massacre National HIstoric Site. Thirty Niwot-area residents, both young and old, traveled to the site on Saturday, Sept. 25, by bus exactly 17 months after the original excursion was derailed by the pandemic. What originally started as two busloads of Niwotians dwindled to a little more than half a bus, due to COVID concerns and the difficulty of finding a rescheduled date that fit everyone's schedule, but...
Though his induction into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame was delayed a year due to the pandemic, Niwot resident Cotton Burden was never at a loss for words when the time arrived Sept. 16 at the Embassy Suites hotel in Boulder. Burden accurately predicted that he would have trouble getting through his remarks without choking up, much as he did during soccer banquets during his 11-year tenure as Niwot High's head coach. He thanked his many supporters who were present. Among those Burden...
Niwot-born Bootstrap Brewing has once again medaled at this year's Great American Beer Festival awards. The brewery received a gold medal for Stick's Pale Ale, a win which placed it among 20 other GABF gold, silver, and bronze medal winners in Colorado. Although the festival portion of this year's event was canceled due to pandemic-related concerns, the awards portion of the ceremony proceeded in person. Brewers, many of whom were already in town for the Craft Brewers Conference, carefully...
With the beginning of each school year comes the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and to celebrate making new ones. In that spirit, Niwot United Methodist Church (7405 Lookout Rd., Gunbarrel) is hosting a Back-to-School Extravaganza on Sunday, Aug. 29, from 12-3 p.m. Everyone in the community is invited to come enjoy an afternoon of free food, carnival games, crafts, and, most of all, fun, Pastor Emily Kintzel said. "We wanted to do something, especially in light of the last year and a...
From the time Cotton Burden was in the sixth grade, he knew he would be a lawyer. After a stint in the Navy as an aircrewman and a Bachelor of Science degree from the Leeds Business School at the University of Colorado, Burden accomplished that goal and graduated from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1981. It was during that time that he also obtained a real estate broker's license, setting him up for his current role as president and in-house counsel of Burden Incorporated, which...
Many residents in the area are well acquainted with Geof Sparks due to his passions, the genuine way he connects with others in conversations, and also because he works at a very popular retail store in Niwot. Here are a few tidbits about Sparks which give us insight into the man behind the familiar face. Left Hand Valley Courier (LHVC) – How have you become a familiar face in Niwot? Geof Sparks (GS) - Most people know me as the evening face of Niwot Liquor where I've worked for over 16 y...
Gunbarrel-based nonprofit Cultivate is focused on meeting the needs of our community's seniors. How this plays out is by way of seven programs: Carry-out Caravan (shopping/delivery), Fix-It (home repairs and upgrades), VetsGo (medical appointment transportation), YardBusters (outdoor clean up), SnowBusters (shoveling), RSVP (AmeriCorps Retired Senior Volunteer Program), and File of Life (documents for emergency preparedness). In honor of his volunteerism with the organization, Cultivate wanted...
Water goes down the drain. In Niwot’s early days, homes had a septic system with a leach field to collect wastewater. While these systems worked well, they could lead to contamination of groundwater and drinking water. Boulder County began requiring permits for septic systems and gradually imposed stricter regulations on wastewater systems, such as increased lot size requirements. As Niwot developed from a small unincorporated townsite surrounded by farmland and farm houses, into a community with subdivisions to serve the growing population, t...
Early farmers in the Niwot area relied upon wells and cisterns for a domestic water supply, as did the residents of Old Town Niwot. In 1960, as Colorado's population began to increase, they looked for a better system to supply potable water to the area. Because Niwot was unincorporated, there was no municipal water system, so farmers and residents formed the Left Hand Domestic Water Users Association, an unincorporated association and sought a $1.25 million loan from the FHA to finance the...
To paraphrase an old adage, "Man plans, the universe laughs." In Jim Eastman's life, at least two major events sent him off the expected path. Thankfully, the world is a better place, and Eastman would likely concur, that he's better as a result. A rollover car accident in 1990 caused Eastman to sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) which led to profound changes cognitively and, over time, physically as a result of stress. A decade later, he experienced another turning point - the discovery tha...
Barbara Angevine, longtime Niwot resident, passed away peacefully on June 1, 2021. She will be missed by her husband of 64 years, three children and two grandchildren. Peter Sprenkle of Boulder passed away June 11, 2021, of myelofibrosis at age 84. Pete began his storied softball career coaching for Gunbarrel Lefthand Valley Recreation Association (GLVRA), now known as Niwot Youth Sports and later founded the Boulder Valley Girls Softball Association. A celebration of Pete’s life will be held at Pine Street Church, 1237 Pine Street, Boulder o...
Ed Nuhfer has become a familiar face over his cumulative 17 years in Niwot thanks to everyday walks with Zion, his dog, and the time he regularly spends at local establishments such as Winot Coffee and Garden Gate Café doing work on his laptop. We wanted to hear a bit of Nuhfer's life story, so we asked him a few questions. Left Hand Valley Courier (LHVC) - Where are you from, and besides Niwot, where have you lived? Ed Nuhfer (EN) - I'm originally from a small town on the Ohio River,...
