The stretch of miserable weather started just before Christmas, and continued into February. It didn't occasion much notice in Leadville and Gunnison, perhaps because they're used to harder winters than the rest of us, but the rest of the region sure noticed heavy snow, strong winds, and subzero spells.

At Hartsel on Feb. 2, winds of 60 mph created a white-out while pushing snow drifts to six feet high, and on the next day, "Everything that got plowed blew back in," said Susie Jones of South Park Mercantile there. She noted that the county road crew was working overtime on Super Bowl weekend, and just couldn't stay ahead of the snow and wind.

Park County had 27 reported highway accidents from Jan. 30 through Feb. 3, including rollovers, slide-offs, and stuck vehicles. There was one fatality, when a vehicle spun off an icy U.S. 285, then rolled and killed the driver. The first two December storms resulted in $17,100 worth of overtime for the county road crews.

Saguache County got its share of winter, too, but their Sheriff Mike Norris said "it has been a blessing" which "gives us a favorable outlook for the summer to come." All big storms cause problems, but "fortunately for us, our power stayed on, cattle were fed, and there were no medical emergencies complicated by the weather."

Across the Sangres in the Wet Mountain Valley, Custer County Sheriff Fred Jobe said the snow was "mighty pretty, but it does cause havoc." Clint Engelhart, county road superintendent, said that most of his crew "worked 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week since Jan. 3 in an effort to keep county-maintained roads open." He had already spent most of his 2007 budget for snow removal and overtime.

In Salida, where the municipal government has for years been encouraging residents to save water, the city has asked residents to waste water by keeping an indoor faucet running around the clock. Water meters were freezing in their pits, and the city decided it was cheaper to give residents 10,000 gallons of free water than to keep thawing frozen meters at $150 a pop.

Canine Carbonate Chronicles

While many cities, ranging from Estes Park to Alamosa, are concerned about deer and elk in the city limits, that problem has not been reported in Leadville. That might be on account of all the dogs that keep getting in trouble -- dogs, whatever their other faults, can discourage the presence of large herbivores.

However, they may also be discouraging people from visiting. Lake County Commissioner Ken Olsen observed that the current leash law was adopted in 1992. "Dogs haven't changed, but the community has." Recreation is now an important part of the economy, and loose dogs in places like the Mineral Belt Trail are deterring tourism. So the county is working on a new dog ordinance.

One pit bull was involved in three attacks last fall, resulting in injuries to two people; its owner voluntarily had it killed and pleaded guilty on Jan. 23 to two charges of ownership of a dangerous dog, a misdemeanor under state law.

The Letters section of the Leadville Herald-Democrat has carried many dog complaints in recent weeks. Jan Clune wrote that her dog, tethered in her yard, was attacked by a loose dog whose owner "did nothing to prevent this except call to his dog more than three times," and "the victim could have been an innocent child." (In 1977, a child was killed by a stray dog in Summit County, which inspired a serious crack-down there.)

Chris Lang of Leadville wrote that "I'm a runner and have been bitten by dogs twice in Lake County. Furthermore, I've had dogs run at me or chase me more than 50 times in the past five years.... the owner always shouts as his dog sprints away from his control, 'Don't worry, he/she won't bite. I often wonder if this is meant for me, or if it is said as their own prayer."

Not all Leadville dogs are bad, though. County Coroner Debbie Bailey was awakened by her dog, Bebe, early in the morning on Jan. 19, and that may have saved her life. The day before, her carbon monoxide detector had gone off, but she found it wasn't functioning properly. She bought two new detectors, but hadn't plugged them in yet.

After the dog waked her at about 3 a.m., she had dizziness and a headache, symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. She woke her husband, who called the fire department, which found a lethal concentration of monoxide in the furnace room -- 1,200 parts per million, and 200 is dangerous.

Bebe got a prime-rib dinner that Friday night.

Reality TV in the Rockies

Take some city slickers, put them on a ranch, and have them compete at cowboy activities (more or less; one contest involved putting panties on a cow) until there's only one left.

That's the formula for Cowboy U on Country Music Television, and the current eight-part series was filmed last summer at the M Lazy C Ranch near Lake George.

The press release didn't arrive here until after the deadline for our February edition, so most of the shows have already aired. The penultimate episode is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Standard Time (you'd think that for a show that was filmed in the Mountain Time Zone, they could list Mountain Time). As we went to press, the final installment was not scheduled, but you can check your local listings or the network's website (www.cmt.com) to find out when it's on.

Temper, temper

As the saying goes, whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting. In an effort to reduce some of that fighting, the state has set up roundtables to address water concerns in various basins. At a January meeting in Montrose, the Gunnison Basin Roundtable heard about a plan to study pumping water from Blue Mesa Reservoir to the Eastern Slope. And that is not a popular idea in the Gunnison Basin.

So.... Would Keith Catlin, the basin representative to the Colorado Water Conservation Board, fully express the opposition?

At least one citizen wasn't sure. Dennis Steckel said "Yes, there is some doubt," later explaining "I didn't think the message would get through."

At that point, Catlin's son Marc, who is director of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users' Association in Montrose, jumped up and pounded his fists on the table while announcing to Steckel that "I'm going to kick the *#%* out of you." Cooler heads then prevailed.

In Leadville, police were called to a wrestling tournament where an irate man was being restrained by referees in the locker room. Christopher David Hansen of Paonia said he was upset because his son was not allowed to wrestle, and the police officer had to put him in a headlock to get him out of the room. Hansen was charged with assault, menacing, and resisting arrest.

Decaying Buildings

Victorian architecture is handsome, but it's also old. One example is Edith Teter Elementary School in Fairplay, built in 1880 and the oldest continuously operating elementary school in Colorado.

However, a recent report pointed out that , "The heating system is an historical artifact and not functionally adequate. Ventilation amounts to opening and closing the single-pane windows. The wiring is an ineffective afterthought, since the building was built without electricity."

That helps explain why some parents are driving their kids over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge, with its new school. The district has established a Facilities Research Committee to plan construction or renovation.

In Salida, the Unique Theater has been closed by the fire department; on account of water seepage, the roof is in danger of collapsing, which could damage nearby buildings. The city and owner John Groy are trying to work something out.

That structure opened on Jan. 16, 1889 as the Salida Opera House. In 1909 at was remodeled to accommodate motion pictures, although there were a few live productions until 1936, when it was fully converted to movies.

Beyond stupid

It's fairly common for local law-enforcement authorities to work with a minor to find out which establishments are selling alcohol to underaged persons. Typically, the minor (who does not have a fake ID) tries to buy. The clerk or bartender will fail to ask for an ID, and the place gets in trouble. If the clerk or bartender asks, the kid presents a real ID, the clerk checks it, service is refused, and all is well.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department went through that drill in January, sending a 19-year-old male around to seven establishments inside the Leadville city limits, and five in unincorporated parts of Lake County.

Several places served him without checking his ID -- they were cited. Six checked and refused him service. And then there was the Leadville bar where he was asked for his ID, produced it (which showed he was under 21), and then was served anyway.

Cops have a term, "stupidity bust," for something like having to arrest someone who calls the police about a burglary when he's got a marijuana plant in his window. And that seems to fit for a bartender who checks the ID of a patron under 21, then pours a beer anyway.

Wild Life

For reasons still unknown, some deer in the Gunnison Basin have come down with conjunctivitis, commonly known as "pink eye."

It's a serious disease for deer, because it harms their eyesight and they cannot forage or see predators in order to run away. Four cases, all young bucks, have been found, either dead or ailing so badly that they were put out of their misery. If you see deer with symptoms -- like wandering around in circles -- contact the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Chaffee County Commissioner Jerry Mallett shot a cow elk in the Nathrop area during a late season on Dec. 29. It was in Game Unit 56. Mallett had a tag, which he applied for last March, for nearby Unit 481. He said that's where he usually hunts, and "I forgot that I did not have a tag for Unit 56."

He and hunting companion Bill Dvorak were charged and fined.

Observations

"He [George Leonard Blake] walked the streets of Leadville nearly every day of the last few years. Although his body and clothes and living space were not always clean, you allowed him to live amongst you on his terms, in safety and with dignity. Leadville is a special place."

Ellie Schoening in the Leadville Herald-Democrat, Jan. 18.

"We are so spoiled [when it comes to sunny winter days]. If it's cloudy for three days in a row, we get all shacky-wacky."

Mary Sasser in the Fairplay Flume, Feb. 9.

"I gladly paid the $120 [restaurant] bill. The four of us had a good time together. Here's where it got ugly. We got in the car and were pulling out of the driveway, when the owner came out and stopped us. She wanted a 15% tip. I informed her the menu says locals get a discount. I didn't get that either, so we probably broke even.... Well, I was told I was not welcome there and don't come back."

Keith Bellinger in the Chaffee County Times, Feb. 8.

"The county will maintain its practice of paying a $5 bounty for each pair of coyote ears turned in. There was a question about who would be collecting and paying for the ears since that was former commissioner Joe Alexander's bailiwick. Linda Joseph declined the position, so they fobbed it off on Road and Bridge director Randy Arredondo."

Doug Larsen in the Crestone Eagle, February 2007

"And let's look at the [proposed fall] film festival itself. Jamming Leadville and Buena Vista with a huge film festival is like feeding a homeless person a one-time twelve-course meal, and then letting him forage out of trash cans for the rest of his upcoming meals."

David Wright in the Leadville Herald-Democrat, Feb. 1.

"Buena Vista was still a relatively isolated mining town when I was a kid. It was a time before the Subway, before Bongo Billy's, even before the Pizza Hut. Cell phones and the Internet didn't exist. In fact, the phones were rotary and we had to dial only four digits to reach whom we wanted. We didn't have to dial the '395' beforehand. Primitive conditions, to be sure, but we did have one link to the outside world: television."

Ken Scar in the Chaffee County Times, Jan. 18

"To those of you who have been using our trash bins to dump your stuff, please immediately refrain. This is bad karma that you do not need."

Cheyenne Mendel in the Crestone Eagle, February 2007