Happy — I hope — Colorado Sunday, friends. I guess I jinxed the whole state last week when I suggested things would be cooling off a bit. So I’m just going to keep my thoughts and prayers inside my head this go-round and focus on that one time I went with my brother, husband and sister-in-law on an adventure in the Lower Arkansas River Valley.
The pictures from that day have us looking sunburned and maybe a little parched, but comfortable perhaps because three-quarters of our crew have ancestral roots in the arid towns east of Colorado Springs and Pueblo. But when our people got there 160 years ago, the would-be towns weren’t so arid and our great-greats maybe didn’t have to worry so much about how to irrigate their crops or graze their animals, or whether the water in their cups was safe to drink.
This week’s cover story by Michael Booth and Jerd Smith is an ambitious look at how the growth aspirations of big cities to the north are dramatically changing the fields and fortunes of southeastern plains communities that only have so much water left to give up.
Senior Editor
The Cover Story
Water moves in mysterious — and frustrating — ways
In a state where not enough water falls from the sky in the places where people use it, folks spend a lot of time, effort and money moving the water to where they want it.
We moved water under the mountains for distant cities and farms. We moved water from those farms back to the growing cities. This week, we’re lifting water back up to the mountains bucket by massive bucket to douse raging wildfires.
In the past couple of years, one particular movement — redirecting water from growing corn and wheat on the plains to watering lawns in the suburbs — has accelerated again. That may well be the highest and best use of some precious Colorado water, when 80% of the overall supply goes to farming arid land.
But shouldn’t we have a good debate about it first?
This Sunday, we’re trying to give voice to the less-powerful counties framing the Lower Arkansas River, from Pueblo to the Kansas line. Aurora, Colorado Springs and Pueblo want increasing amounts of those counties’ farm water to slake their thirsty suburban growth.
It’s happening. Is anybody who has the power to make it happen in a fair way paying attention?
After weeks of reporting, traveling and pleading with state officials for a meaningful interview rather than replies on paper, a certain kind of ennui became the theme. Everyone seems sympathetic. No one admits to being in charge.
Countless hours have been passed in sincere water conferences coming up with a plan to both preserve agriculture in Colorado and help cities get what they need. If we’re letting the cities win by indecision, let’s at least acknowledge that. If we agree farm economies are vital, let’s act like that.
Knowledge is power. We’re hoping to add a little more to the pool.
READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE
Michael Booth | Reporter
Jerd Smith | Fresh Water News
The Colorado Lens
The constant threat of wildland fires is a grim reality of living in Colorado. When fires occur, they can alter plans for weeks, or even a lifetime for those who lose their homes. This week, the photographers on the ground were there to create a visual narrative.
Hugh Carey | Photographer
Flavor of the Week
Olathe Sweet corn delivered to a parking lot near you
As connoisseurs of Colorado’s summer harvests know, there’s corn, like the kind you get from certain farms in, say, Nebraska, and CORN, like the kind you get from Olathe. And while the first might have the sweetness of, say, a Necco Wafer, the second is basically the definition of sweet.
Olathe Sweet corn kernels burst with sugary goodness thanks to crops grown at high-ish elevations under intense sunlight in Montrose County. Cool nights coupled with hot days bring out the flavor as only Mother Nature can orchestrate. If you think about it, you could say each bite of Olathe Sweet corn is a bite of Mother Nature bathed in sunlight. And if images of the ultimate pinup model aren’t coming to mind right now, then perhaps you don’t deserve to eat it.
But if you do possess the appropriate appreciation, you’re in for the butter on the ear of Colorado corn. Starting this month, the Harold family, growers of Olathe Sweet on their Tuxedo Farm since the 1970s, are expanding their direct-to-consumer reach with refrigerated truck deliveries to locations along the Front Range.
You might think of it as the old ice cream truck in the neighborhood model, with sunburned kids clutching grubby nickels. Except this is for foodies with $25 who don’t mind a little starch in their teeth.
Yes, you still can buy Olathe Sweet at King Soopers, or at the farm shed in Olathe. But for a month starting Wednesday, Tuxedo’s trucks will be making stops between Cheyenne and Pueblo. All you do is hit up the Tuxedo Corn website, place your order and arrive at the designated location at the designated time. The truck will be at Tractor Supply in Loveland on Thursday and China Buffet in Longmont on Aug. 21, for example. Or why not make a day of it by bowling at Highland Lanes in Greeley or eating a sub at Deli Dave’s in Pueblo West while you wait.
Tracy Ross | Reporter
SunLit: Sneak Peek
A secret liaison with a student led CU professor to live “Separate Lives”
EXCERPT: Mary Rippon was a groundbreaking professor at the University of Colorado as the first woman to hold that position at CU and possibly the first at any state university. She also harbored a secret — a student with whom she had an affair and a daughter — and proceeded to keep her private life hidden, in contrast to her renown as a professor. As Silvia Pettem’s biography shows, that was a particularly fraught proposition in Victorian-era Boulder.
THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Pettem recounts how primary documents helped her uncover many details about Rippon’s life and convince her that the story needed to be told. Here’s a snippet from her Q&A:
SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?
Pettem: It was Mary’s writings that allowed me to vicariously experience her life and times and try to imagine her life through her own eyes. To help achieve that goal, I wrote my first draft in the first person –– as if I were Mary, and as if I were writing my own memoir. Her diaries were very cryptic, and the process of deciphering them allowed me to “get inside her head.” In my attempts, I believe I gained insight into some of her very private thoughts, even a glimpse into her soul.
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH SILVIA PETTEM
Kevin Simpson | Writer
Sunday Reading List
A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.
🌞 It was a bad week in terms of fires. We’ve got you covered, though. In addition to daily updates, we have stories from the major fires, including news that the Quarry fire in Jefferson County is being investigated as arson. We also mapped every fire in Colorado for the past 15 years and it’s a big number. The smoke’s bad in a lot of places, so we talked to lung experts about how to cope. Smart people at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are figuring out how to use artificial intelligence to identify forest fires earlier than humans might detect smoke or flames. Fires are burning near sources of Front Range drinking water, so we asked about the implications. And hasn’t Estes Park suffered enough?
🌞 A new Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge opened this weekend, about 3.5 miles west of the old hospital. John Ingold explains why the new hospital is essential and how the transition to the new one was planned.
🌞 The fighting over management of the state Republican party has some real-life implications for GOP statehouse candidates. Jesse Paul maps out the strategies people running for office are using — minus support from the state party.
🌞 The trial started for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk facing felony charges related to her role breaching her own county’s election system. Nancy Lofholm is in the courtroom alongside Peters’ supporters, including child-star-turned-election denier Ricky Schroder. (Yes, really.)
🌞 At a time when sophisticated surveillance tech is everywhere it seems weird that the state Child Ombudsman Office even needs to ask, but the agency is demanding that the state Division of Youth Services collect audio along with video of staff interaction with employees and people who are in detention. Jennifer Brown reports that 70 kids and teens have reported they were mistreated while they were locked up.
🌞The state’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association may have been making bad assumptions about who is going to draw a pension, when and how much they were being paid in the key final years on the job. Brian Eason has some of the details and reports that the uncertainty may lead to a legislative oversight committee making even more changes to the troubled retirement plan.
🌞 Yes, you can surf in Colorado. And the surfing is really good this year in Salida. Jason Blevins went to check out “the best river wave in the world.”
Dana Coffield | Senior Editor
Thanks for the time this morning, friends. I hope you all are safe this week. See you back here next Colorado Sunday.
— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun
The Colorado Sun is part of The Trust Project. Read our policies.
Corrections & Clarifications
Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.