The Senior Voice - January 2008

The Senior

I O C V E Januar y 2008

Local Attractions • Scenic Places • History • Money • Health • News

Frontier Ghost Life

Town In North Colorado

In Northern Colorado

Estes Park Longs Early Ranger InPeak Rocky Mt. National Park Pioneer Climbers

Cattle Outlaws Drives In Early Wyoming In the 1800s

Colorado

Cover Skiing Picture:

Steamboat Indian Ruins Springs

in Southwest Colorado

2 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

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The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 3

The Senior

Lost Places, Forgotten Words VOICE Published Locally Since 1980

By Bill Lambdin

VOL. 28, NO. 2

T

wo of my favorite books are “John Fielder ’s Best of Colorado” and his “Colorado: Lost Places and Forgotten Words.” Though published several years ago, they are still available and different from most of Fielder’s books because they contain not only great photographs but also comments from early writers who visited Colorado and more recent comments from people who want to protect the state’s natural beauty. Fielder quoted President Theodore Roosevelt on observing a mountain valley in springtime: “The green of the valley was a delight to the eye. Bird songs sounded on every side, from the fields and from the trees and bushes beside the brooks...the air was sweet with the springtime breath of many budding things.” He also quoted poet Walt Whitman, who visited Colorado and observed “...the chasm, the gorge, the crystal mountain stream...the fantastic forms bathed in transparent browns, faint reds and grays, towering sometimes a thousand feet high...mixing with the clouds with only their outlines, hazed in misty lilac.” Writer Hal Borland described a moment in his childhood on Colorado’s eastern plains when he and his father stopped to appreciate the beauty around them: “Father drew up the horses for a moment and just sat and looked...I looked at him, and I looked again at the distance, and I felt a kind of smile inside myself, and a sense of awe that made me not want to say a word. It was so big, so vast, so new, so wonderful.” Both of these books cover the entire state, not just the mountains, and reveal the beauty of places many visitors never see—deep hidden canyons on the western slope; vast prairie vistas on the eastern plains. In these books, Fielder wanted to do more than just present pictures. He wanted to help people realize how fragile Colorado’s

email [email protected] www.theseniorvoice.net PUBLICATION INFORMATION The Senior Voice newspaper has been published locally the first of each month since 1980 for residents age 50-plus.

ADVERTISING For rates, call 970-229-9204; or see www.theseniorvoice.net. Ad deadline is 20th of month.

Wolfgang Lambdin Advertising Director Associate Publisher Fort Collins (970) 229-9204

SALES OFFICES:

Ft. Collins and Greeley (970) 229-9204 Loveland and Estes Park (970) 482-8344 EDITORIAL DEADLINE Announcements and stories must be received by the 10th of the month.

Fielder’s photo of Rifle Falls near the western Colorado town of Rifle, from the book “John Fielder’s Best of Colorado.” natural environment is and how important it is to protect the “lost places” where we can go to find beauty, peace and solitude. That’s why he said, “In today’s age of catastrophes, ocean oil spills, destruction of the ozone layer...a look back in time generates questions we should ask ourselves. Toward what end are we taking our civilization?” And that’s why he quotes people like former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm, who said, “There must be lost places for mankind to keep its sanity. We must have ways to get away...for renewal, for rejuvenation and for worship.” Fielder knows that a picture is not worth a thousand words. In these books, he uses words to enhance his pictures and give them meaning. He recalled remarks

from one of America’s great conservationists, Stewart Udall: “There are today a few wilderness reaches on the North American continent—in Alaska, in Canada and in places of the Rocky Mountains—where the early morning mantle of primeval America can be seen in its pristine glory...where one can gaze with wonder on the land as it was when the Indians first came.” These books combine powerful photographic images with inspiring words and leave us with a greater appreciation of the place where we live. ________________ COVER PICTURE: Fielder ’s photo of the Lowry Pueblo in southwestern Colorado near the town of Cortez, from the book “John Fielder ’s Best of Colorado.” ■

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Senior Voice welcomes readers' letters and contributions. Enclose a self-addressed envelope and return postage to: The Senior Voice, 1471 Front Nine Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525, or email [email protected]. The Senior Voice assumes no responsibility for damaged or lost material submitted by readers.

© Copyright 2008 The Senior Voice EDITORIAL OFFICE:

1471 Front Nine Drive Fort Collins, CO 80525 (970) 223-9271 email [email protected] www.theseniorvoice.net No material may be reproduced by any means without permission of the publisher.

Dr. William Lambdin, Publisher

4 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Early Ranger in Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park By Bill Lambdin

J

ack Moomaw, born in 1892, was one of the early rangers in Rocky Mountain National Park, and his life was full of adventure. He was one of the first people to climb the sheer east face of 14,255foot Longs Peak. He rescued lost people and saved injured animals, captured poachers, faced death from winter blizzards, fought forest fires and dealt with people who did strange things in the mountains. His story was told in “Recollections of a Rocky Mountain Ranger,” edited by Lulie and Jack Melton, published by the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. Most of the book was Moomaw’s own writing, his recollections of humorous and unusual events that occurred during his long career as a ranger in the Park. The editors did a fine job of collecting pictures and information. They said Jack was born in a sod

house in Nebraska, and his parents brought him by covered wagon to Longmont in 1893. At age 13, he ran away from home and worked as a cowboy from Mexico to Wyoming. He graduated from high school at age 23 and married Lila Weese from Lyons, the small town west of Longmont. Her father was wealthy and left Lila enough money for her and Jack to buy a small farm. But Jack liked climbing mountains, not farming, and he spent most of his time then guiding tourists up the high peaks around Rocky Mountain National Park, which was established in 1915. In 1923, Jack became one of the Park’s first rangers. In those days, the job required great physical stamina. Jack was often sent to rescue people in extreme weather and under dangerous conditions. But he loved it. He especially liked the opportunity to search for artifacts of Stone Age people who had been in the Park thousands of years ago. He became a well known

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Jack Moomaw as a young man. Photo from the Melton’s book. amateur archaeologist, writing articles and amassing a huge collection of spear points and ancient tools, some dating back more than 10,000 years. Jack was not a model of decorum, however. When young, he bootlegged whiskey, chased women and sometimes drank too much. Although he was promoted and honored for exemplary service, his carefree behavior may have kept him from becoming superintendent of the Park, said the book editors. He retired in 1945 after 23 years of service.

Then tragedy struck. Jack’s only child, his 23-year-old daughter, died of a cerebral hemorrhage while he and his wife were on a camping trip and couldn’t be found. The wilderness that had given him so much pleasure also caused him great pain. Jack died in 1974. His friends said he never got over the loss of his daughter. ________________ “Reflections of a Rocky Mountain Ranger” is available in Estes Park and some other locations. ■

New Test for Breast Cancer

M

any women with breast cancer may not need chemotherapy, and a new test should be able to determine which women do need it. That’s what researchers from Duke University and other cancer centers report. They say a new gene test can predict whether a woman will benefit from chemotherapy even if the cancer has spread to lymph nodes. The test, called Oncotype DX,

measures activity of 21 genes and has been used for several years for women with early breast cancers. The latest study using the test was conducted at Layola University in Chicago. Researchers said it might be hard to convince some doctors that chemotherapy is not necessarily the best treatment in all cases. That’s because doctors are reluctant to give up a treatment they have used for years. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 5

The Origin of Greeley in 1870 (Editor’s Note: Greeley historian Hazel E. Johnson wrote the following story years ago.) By Hazel Johnson

G

reeley pioneer Benjamin Eaton was one of the first settlers in northern Colorado. He was later a territorial legislator and an early governor. Eaton came to Colorado in l858 hoping to strike it rich in the gold fields. But like many others, he discovered the odds were against getting rich that way. After three years, he left the gold fields and settled on the Cache la Poudre River between Greeley and Fort Collins. He returned briefly to Ohio in l863 where he married Rebeccah Hill. With his new bride, he came back to his cabin on the Poudre

where he plowed the land and built an irrigation ditch. During the l860s, he sold his crops to mining camps west of Denver. In l870 he helped the Union Colonists select the site that became the town of Greeley. When Nathan Meeker and others were in Colorado looking for a site, Eaton suggested they settle along the fertile land where the Poudre and Platte rivers come together. He also told the colonists he would contract to build irrigation ditches for them. Thus it was mainly Ben Eaton who was responsible for Greeley being located where it is. He later owned much land in the area and became a major developer of irrigation projects. These made him far wealthier than gold mining probably ever would have. In fact, Eaton was typical of many Colorado pioneers,

Benjamin Eaton’s home in Greeley. Hazel Johnson Collection. who discovered they could make a better life by farming than mining. Eaton was elected governor in l884, four years after he built a

mansion in Greeley. Though the house is gone, the accomplishments of pioneers like Eaton are not forgotten. ■

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6 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Red Feather Lakes Settlers J

Editor’s Note: This story about Red Feather Lakes pioneers was written years ago by Evadene Swanson, author of the book “Red Feather Lakes: The First 100 Years.”

ohn Hardin had settled first near Laporte in 1864. His wife died that summer. Left with four small children, he found a second wife in Missouri and in 1869 brought them all to Colorado. The streets of Fort Collins were just being surveyed,

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The Red Feather Lakes store in the 1930s. Fort Collins Library. but already the timber in the mountains was needed by newly arriving settlers. Hardin built his cabin on South Lone Pine Creek in 1871. He began ranching and hauling lumber. His pretty daughters attracted other settlers. The oldest, Frances, married Henry Smith and settled in a cabin nearby. The first school house for the Red Feather area was built on Hardin’s ranch. The school census for many years was recorded in his firm hand, and right up to his death in 1911 at age 85, he epitomized the American pioneer, carrying his age lightly and doing a man’s work any day of his life. His daughter Amanda’s reminiscences are filled with details about life in the mountains in the 1870s. It took her father four days to make the trip down and back from LaPorte with poles and house logs he cut for people in the valley. Amanda went to her first dance at age 14 on July 4, 1876, at the Forks Hotel in Livermore. The affair, she thought, was “not much of a celebration...only three or four families there.” She loved helping her sister and recalled: “Many are the happy hours I spent in sister’s little cabin, alone with her and the children, when

my brother-in-law was away hauling timber. We would read to each other until late at night. One of us would read aloud while the other knitted stockings for the children.” The first trails in the mountains were opened by tie hacks sent by contractors building the railroad in southern Wyoming after the Civil War. Isaac Coe and Levi Carter had been supplying the Union Pacific Railroad with lodgepole pine for ties since the late 1860s. Near Hardin’s place was a dwelling claimed by George West. It was probably a summer home, for West was a Greeley businessman and had a big house there. His father, Henry West, was one of Greeley’s first settlers. Greeley was hot in summer and at that time was without trees. One contemporary wrote scathingly: “Don’t go to Greeley...It is a graveyard in which are buried heaps of bright hopes. It is located...on a barren, sandy plain.” Henry West took over the Elkhorn House southeast of the Hardin ranch (near Red Feather) and ran it for several years. This popular hotel served the traveling public, and it was well known to tie hacks, miners, cattlemen and vacationers until it burned in 1890. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 7

Property Tax for Retirees “P

roperty Taxes in Colorado are too high.” This is one thing I hear often, especially from retirees. I supported the Senior Homestead Exemption, a measure voters passed in 2000. The exemption gives retirees an exemption of 50 percent of the first $200,000 in value of their home if they have lived in that home for 10 years or more. While the exemption was suspended for three years during the recent recession, it is back in effect. And while it saves retirees about $70 million in taxes each year, it has one big problem, in my view. If you sell your home, you lose your exemption. Many retirees do sell their home to move into a smaller one. So while you may be forced to downsize your home to save money, your tax bill will likely go up. This is not fair. It is also not fair that this could happen to a person who has lived his whole life in Colorado, while another qualifying retiree could have moved here 10 years ago. The lifelong resident does not get the exemption, while the newer resident does. A couple of years ago, I tried to fix this inequity by extending the exemption to any retiree who has lived in Colorado for 10 years or more, but the bill was defeated. This year I am again introducing a referred measure to fix this problem. My bill would allow one move within a ten

year period. The bill will also allow retirees to receive an exemption if they are the widow of a disabled veteran or if their home was destroyed by natural disaster. I have bipartisan support for this measure and will work to lessen the burden of property taxes on Colorado’s retirees and to make this tax relief more fair. There are some other ways retirees can save on their property taxes. One is the Property Tax Deferral Program for the Elderly and Disabled administered by the Colorado State Treasurer. In this program, the state pays your property tax and places a lien against your property for the amount of the tax plus interest. When your property is sold, the state is repaid for the taxes it paid for you. You must be 65 years or older to qualify. Larimer County also runs a Senior Citizens Property Tax Work-off program where you can work temporarily for Larimer County to have your earnings pay off part of your property tax bill. You can get more information on these from the Larimer County Treasurer’s office at (970) 498-7020 or by stopping by the Larimer County Courthouse. ________________ You can email Sen. Johnson at [email protected], or call him in Fort Collins, 223-8045. ■

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8 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Cattle Drives in Frontier Wyoming By Peggy Hunt

I

n 1866 Nelson Story made the first major cattle drive across Wyoming when he brought over 1,000 cows up from Texas to the gold camps in Montana. He realized that a cow purchased for $5 in Texas would sell for $50 in Montana where miners were hungry for beef. So he hired 27 cowboys and headed north with the herd. At Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming, army officials tried to buy the herd, but they didn’t want to pay Story’s price. He bought extra guns and ammunition at Fort Laramie because he thought he might encounter Indians farther north. Sure enough, a few days later a band of Sioux stole some of the cattle and stampeded the rest. Story’s cowboys managed to round up the stampeded cows, and then they set out after the Indians. They found them, shot some of them, and got the cows back. At Fort Phil Kearny north of what later became Casper, the army told Story he could not go farther because of the Indian threat. He was ordered to camp with his herd a couple of miles away

A Wyoming cow camp in the 1800s. Wyoming History Museum. from the fort. One morning, the soldiers woke up to find that Story had taken the cattle north in the middle of the night. He made it to Montana, thus establishing the cattle industry in that area. Some say the little town of Story, Wyoming, near Sheridan, was named for Nelson Story. Cattlemen discovered that skinny Texas cattle would fatten rapidly on

the rich grasslands of the north. By 1883 up to 200,000 head of cattle a year were driven across the trails to Wyoming and Montana. A typical herd consisted of about 2,000 cows with a dozen cowboys. Some of the larger herds consisted of 15,000 cattle. One man said of the cowboys: “They had very little grub, and they usually ran out of that and lived on

straight beef. They had only three or four horses to the man, mostly with sore backs. They had no tents, no tarps and damn few slickers.” The diet of most cowboys would not have been beef unless they ran out of food. It was biscuits, coffee and beans—and more beans. Herds were often trailed to Ogallala, Nebraska, and then west to Cheyenne. Rancher Edgar Bronson remembered what Ogallala was like in those days: “…saloons, dance halls and gambling joints…lined up south of the railway track and formed the only street Ogallala could boast.” The town was packed with “wild and woolly longhaired and bearded, rent and dusty, lusting and thirsty…brush-splitters in from the trail outfits for a frolic.” Bronson said while he was in one of the saloons, a man named Bill Thompson walked through the door, pulled a gun and shot the saloon owner, Jim Tucker. Tucker fell, and Thompson thought he was dead. But he was not. He was only shot in the hand. Tucker grabbed a shotgun from behind the bar and ran outside where he spotted Thompson walking just a few feet away. Bronson said Tucker “leveled the gun across the stump of his maimed left hand and emptied into Bill’s back, at about six paces, a trifle more number-four buckshot than his system could assimilate.” Cheyenne, because of its railroad, became a major destination and shipping point for cattle drives. And for a while, it was as wild as Ogallala. But things changed after the long, devastating winter of 1887 when many of the cattle in Wyoming and Montana froze to death. Big investors withdrew, and the great cattle boom was over. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 9

Estate Planning Tips For The New Year By Ron Rutz, Attorney Legal Correspondent Q. Do you have any estate planning resolutions for the new year? A. If you do not have a Will, get one. For $200 or less, the Will designates who has the legal authority to be in charge to settle things and identifies who inherits. If you have a Will, but have not looked at it in the last two years, do so. Better yet, do so with your attorney. Most lawyers will not charge for such a review. It is amazing how often little things need to be adjusted. If you have a Living Trust, you should see an attorney every few years. It is critical to look at your assets to be certain that all assets are titled in the trust and that the beneficiary designations have been properly coordinated with the trust. Review your asset list, or if you do not have one, make one. That document will be the check list (the road map) that the personal representative will use as guidance to be

certain that all assets are identified and handled. The list should include the identification and the location of the various assets and documents and also identify key people to contact, such as the CPA, lawyer, etc. Consolidate important papers and original documents in one place where they will not only be safe but where the personal representative can easily locate them. As long as one of the people on a bank box signature card is alive, the box will not be frozen or locked. Everything should be held in joint tenancy or with the spouse as the named beneficiary. I would not add the children as joint tenancy or as back up beneficiaries. Let the Will direct asset flows. Too often the Will directs the residuary estate one way but the proceeds flow elsewhere because of different beneficiary designations, thereby causing the overall estate distribution goals not to be met. Finally, everyone should have powers of attorney in place. The marriage relationship does not always

give the other spouse the legal right and power to step forward and handle matters for both. I would recommend having four signed comprehensive (including medical), unconditional durable powers set up with several named agents. I feel that the maker should maintain possession of all executed durable powers of attorney but let the agents

know where the originals are. The foregoing will be a good start for your New Year’s estate planning resolutions. ________________ Attorney Ron Rutz will answer questions sent to 2625 Redwing Road, Suite 180, Fort Collins, CO 80526, email [email protected], phone 223-8388. ■

Inspecting Foreign Imports

A

presidential advisory commission has recommended that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) be given the power to require mandatory recalls of drugs, foods and other products that may be unsafe. The commission also recommended that the United States put more inspectors in countries like China that export many products to the U.S. Currently the FDA does not have authority to issue mandatory recalls. It can only ask manufacturers to recall

products. The U.S. also does not have nearly enough inspectors with Customs and other agencies to inspect products imported to the U.S., said the commission. For instance, less than two percent of imported foods are inspected. The FDA is supposed to oversee the regulation of more than $1 trillion in food, drugs and other products annually. Congress is considering whether to approve the commission’s proposals. ■

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10 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Early Cheyenne By Margaret Laybourn

M

ount Sinai Synagogue in Cheyenne was recently honored with an historic marker dedicated on the site of the first permanent Jewish Synagogue in Wyoming. The original Synagogue was built in 1915 by members of the Jewish community whose roots were put down in Cheyenne when immigrants from Europe came to the frontier town. They arrived with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1867. The immigrants became mainly successful merchants. A young reporter from the Chicago Tribune who was sent to Cheyenne to report on the emerging city wrote of being caught in a snow bank in town during a terrible blizzard and being dragged to safety by “a Jew who owned a store and put my frozen body between some Buffalo skins he was selling and thawed me out. Henry Altman was a displaced

person who came to Cheyenne and opened a store in 1870. He served on the Cheyenne City Council, Cheyenne Frontier Days Committee and was a pioneer in developing Cheyenne’s city park system. Max Idleman purchased the first liquor license issued in the State of Wyoming. He built a brick mansion featuring fine imported marble and rare wood. The Idleman Building in downtown Cheyenne is another monument to this intrepid immigrant. Between 1930 and 1950, half of the town’s merchants were Jewish. Maxi Meyer had a small hat shop on Carey Avenue where he sold Stetson hats. In 1925 he designed a hat for his friend Tim McCoy. It had a six inch brim and a nine inch crown. The Stetson Company had to make special blocks to form the hat. It cost $65 and it was soon worn by actors, cowboy contestants and politicians.

Historical marker recently placed in Cheyenne. Photo Margaret Laybourn. They all ordered the ten-gallon hat from Max Meyer, and his store became the Stetson Hat headquarters of the world. Todd Jewelers and Christenson Jewelry Store were offspring of pioneer merchants. So were B. Davis Furniture Store and People’s Sporting Goods. Martin Bernstein was a classical violinist who entertained all

kinds of social groups. Roslyne Kaufman, a member of Mt. Sinai for over three quarters of a century, said, “Seeking religious freedom is the gist of the whole thing—coming from impoverished situations to creating new hopes and being able to maintain our religious beliefs in Wyoming, the Equality State.” ■

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The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 11

Colorado Crosswords By Tony Donovan

ACROSS 1. 7. 10. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 19. 20. 21. 23. 25. 26. 29. 32. 33. 34. 37. 40. 41. 42. 44. 45. 46. 49. 51. 53. 55. 56. 58. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65.

___ Spring, was named for an Indian spirit and is now home to a fruitcake toss and festival each January Cable movie channel Samson claims to have slain a thousand men with the jawbone of one Massey of film Geller of telekinesis fame Racing letters Boulder neighbor named for Indian chief Pulitzer winner Sinclair (The Jungle) Rocky crag Cons partners Eastern county named for Plains Indians Where to start on the computer Sport coat sz. Resting spot for Noah? Attire not for a tomboy This Prowers County town was founded in 1886 on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Because of its close proximity to Boulder and Denver, this town, which straddles Boulder and Weld Counties, is a popular commuter’s home Relationship of jazz singer Diana Krall to Elvis Costello Main asset of Horace Tabor in the 19th century Bygone gasoline brand Wal or K follower Chou ___ ___ (Chinese revolutionary leader) Model ___ Campbell “Any ___?” (Question for gamblers or darers) Hawaii plays in this conf. This ski resort didn’t exist before 1963 Elbert County site probably named for rocks found in the area Morays Musgrave, for one (abbr.) ___ Dame Wedding dress material, often Bly of the Broncos Have title to Pungent Drafting agency during WWII Black or Dead

ANSWERS

Electronic Medical Records

O

nly about 5 percent of America’s hospitals and doctors have switched to electronic (computerized) medical records, but the recent experience with veterans’ hospitals suggests that all healthcare providers should make the switch. The VA now has the best healthcare system in the nation, and that’s because of its electronic records system, said a recent ABC Television report hosted by Charles Gibson. The system has resulted in fewer

errors, more effective treatments, lower costs and greater patient satisfaction for the 5 million veterans receiving treatment at VA hospitals. Just a few years ago, those hospitals had a reputation of giving some of the worst treatment in America. Without electronic records, many tests at hospitals are repeated unnecessarily, doctors cannot find patients’ records quickly in emergencies, handwriting on old records is misread and mistakes are made, said the report. ■

66. ___ ___ Valley is the southernmost of Colorado’s four mountain parks

DOWN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

18. 20. 22. 23. 24. 27. 28. 30. 31. 33. 35. 36. 38. 39. 40. 43. 45. 47. 48. 50. 52. 53. 54. 57. 58. 59. 60.

County home of Creede and Wolf Creek Pass Author of “Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee” Feminist group founded by Betty Friedan (abbr.) Be a part of (2 wds.) Tit for ___. 180 degree move Yurts, essentially “Hey,___ , what’s up?” Sty sound John Jacob ___. Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Abner___ was considered the patriarch of Estes Park and was immortalized with a glacier, pass, mountain and lake named for him in the Rocky Mountain Nat’l. Park area Cache la ___ River which follows Hwy. 14 into the mountains west of Ft. Collins Family member, often Arabic group Connelly who authored The Green Pastures Tiger’s tools Lubick’s lads Pass in southern Colorado or town in northern New Mexico ___ Canyon outside Ft. Collins Otero County town that honors the 1st mayor of Rocky Ford and later state senator in the 1890s All time points leader for the Broncos Where the water comes from in an irrigation reservoir Cape ___ (1962 thriller starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum) Kaiser Permanente and Anthem Blue Cross (abbr.) This might be “on wheels” Eagle County neighbor or Avon Hawaii, St. Thomas, etc. “___ the season...” Teen or golden follower Super heroes” accessories Guinness and Baldwin ___ Mills, the founder of RMNP Sicilian volcano Kitchen spice, to a chemist Be in debt ___ Miguel County in southwestern Colorado Broadway play honoring author Capote “3” on many grandfather clocks

Colorado Crosswords are created exclusively for The Voice by Tony Donovan, who lives in Loveland.

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Family Owned for Over 90 Years

12 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Should You Rent in Retirement? By Scott Burns Financial Writer Q: Our townhome will be paid for in two years. My husband and I will both be 61. If we sold at that time, we would probably walk away with $400,000 to $450,000. The townhome will be about 15 years old. I am sure there will need to be some repairs (new roof, siding, etc.) due to the age of the building. Why would it not be better to invest the money in a CD at 5 percent interest? That would yield about $20,000 a year without ever touching the principal. Then we could rent rather than own. I realize home ownership may eventually gain income, but homes also take a lot of money to maintain. The $20,000 a year would more than cover the rental, and our money would be safely invested. Even if we had to pay taxes on the interest income, we would still be in a fairly low tax bracket. Your comments? A: Very good idea, and ahead of the crowd. You are likely to find that

the rent and utilities will be less than the operating cost of your house. And since you’ll no longer have equity tied up in a house, you can put it to work to pay your rental expenses. I believe many middle-income Americans will discover that the equity in their home is the biggest single lever on their retirement standard of living. They will learn that they can either have a lot of shelter, or they can choose to have less shelter and more disposable income. The one revision I would make to your plan is to invest the money in a conservative portfolio that includes equities. If the money is all in CDs or other fixed-income investments, your interest income will remain constant— but your rent will rise with inflation. Eventually, there will be a significant gap. This is a virtual certainty. Invested conservatively, you could draw from your shelter nest egg at 4 percent to 5 percent. You would have a high probability of keeping up with inflation. Another benefit is that your dividend and capital gains income would be taxable at 15 percent.

I wish more people had your foresight. The most common problem older people have is being incapable of moving even when the house no longer suits their needs, is increasingly expensive, hard to maintain, and too large. Many people who do move from a house to an apartment discover that

they can live just as well in far less space. Many people who live in houses with 3,000 square feet, for instance, will usually have all the space they need in about 1,300 square feet. ________________ Send your questions to [email protected] ■

Dangerous Medicine C

hina is a major exporter of counterfeit drugs that sometimes kill people, according to a recent investigation by The New York Times. And some of the drugs are on the Internet for Americans to buy. Pharmaceuticals with Chinese ingredients have killed several hundred people in Haiti, Panama and other countries. U.S. officials recently uncovered a drug network selling counterfeit steroids and human growth hormone in 27 U.S. states; the drugs came from Chinese chemical companies. Chinese government officials know of the problems but do not bother to regulate or control the hundreds of Chinese companies that provide chemicals for pharmaceuticals, said The Times. One Chinese manufacturer was recently arrested in Houston, Texas, after he was fooled into meeting with U.S. undercover agents to close a deal for shipping counterfeit drugs to the U.S. In another case, agents seized over 3,000 fake Viagra pills a Chinese company shipped to Ohio. So far, U.S. officials say few such

drugs get on the U.S. market, except through the Internet. But Congressional investigators are not so sure. They say chemicals used in pharmaceuticals can pass through several companies that can be uncertified, unregulated and do not check for quality. That’s certainly the case with Chinese companies. The final drug manufacturer may not know the chemicals came from an uncertified chemical company. Investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently accompanied FDA officials on inspections of drug plants in China and India. They concluded that China has over 700 companies making drug products, but the FDA can inspect only 20 such companies a year. One reason China does not regulate chemical companies is that the government itself owns several companies. The state-owned CNSC Fortune Way exported a poison (diethylene glycol) in a cold medicine in 2006 that killed over 100 people in Panama, according to The Times. ■

Research on Energy Drinks

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o-called energy drinks might increase blood pressure and heart rates, according to researchers speaking at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida. Such drinks include Red Bull, Full Throttle, Amp and Rush. They contain high amounts of caffeine and an amino acid that can affect heart function and blood pressure, said the researchers. Healthy volunteers whose average age was 26 were tested while resting, not exercising. Researchers did not

test the drinks on older people or others while exercising. Volunteers consumed two cans of an energy drink daily for seven days. By the seventh day, their systolic blood pressure increased 10 percent; diastolic blood pressure increased 8 percent. Representatives from the American Beverage Association said the effects were minimal and that the drinks are safe. They would have no more affect on people than walking up a flight of stairs, they said. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 13

Credit Card Scam By Barbara Read

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hree digits on the back of your credit card (the personal identification number used as a security feature) are the target of a nationwide scam conducted so smoothly that consumers don’t realize they’re being scammed until their credit card bills arrives, says the Better Business Bureau in Fort Collins. Here’s how it works. The caller states his name and says he’s calling from the Fraud Department at VISA or MasterCard. He says your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern and he’s calling to verify the purchases. He asks several questions, including whether you purchased an anti-telemarketing device for $497.99. When you reply that you didn’t, the caller reassures you that a credit will be issued and a fraud investigation started. The caller then states he must verify you are in possession of the card and asks for the PIN

number. He encourages you to call back if you have questions, then hangs up. Following the conversation, the scam artist then places a charge costing under $500 to your card. The BBB says that credit card companies do not ask for information about your card because they already have that information in their files. If someone contacts you by phone about your credit card, ask the caller to provide his or her name, department and extension, then hang up and call the company using the phone number provided on your credit card or statement. For more information about consumer scams, go to www.bbb.org or call 970-484-1348 in Fort Collins or 800-564-0371 toll free. ________________ In 2007, the Better Business Bureau provided approximately 740,000 instances of service to consumers and businesses in northern Colorado and east central Wyoming. ■

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Frozen Shoulder Treatment

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rozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) is a condition that often strikes middle-aged women and makes it difficult to move a shoulder. The pain often wakes them at night or occurs when putting on a coat or making other movements. It is often mis-diagnosed as a rotor cuff injury, and physicians may recommend physical therapy that makes the frozen shoulder worse, say researchers at Rush University in Chicago. If the condi-

tion is treated early with a cortisone shot and the right therapy, it can be cured. But most people don’t get treatment soon enough, and it’s then difficult to cure. It’s caused by inflammation of the lining that surrounds the ball of the shoulder. Medical experts don’t know what prompts the inflammation, but in women it is probably associated with hormones. About 70 percent of the female patients are ages 40 to 60. ■

Research on Staph Infection

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he number of drug-resistant staph infections (Staphylococcus bacterium) seen in hospitals doubled from 1999 to 2005, but many were less serious skin infections that patients had before they entered the hospital. That was the conclusion of a recent study reported by the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers said staph associated with skin infections is not life-threatening. The study suggests, however, that such staph is becoming much

more common outside of hospitals, which other studies have also found. It also suggests that many patients are bringing staph into the hospital, not just acquiring it there. Researchers estimated that 127,000 hospitalizations were associated with staph in 1999. That number rose to an estimated 278,000 by 2005. A previous study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 19,000 Americans died from staph infections in 2005. ■

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14 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Died with Boots on, Bullets Flying By Peggy Hunt

I

n the late 1800s at Hot Sulphur Springs, south of Walden and Steamboat Springs, young Charlie Wilson worked as a ranch hand and dreamed of becoming a gunslinger. He got his wish, but it cost him his life. He was about 20 years old when he began swaggering into towns wearing a .45-caliber six-gun on his

hip, getting drunk and threatening the life of anyone who crossed him. He liked to be called Texas Charlie. People said he was a good shot with the pistol but a bad-tempered punk who was asked to leave several towns. In 1883, he wandered into Hot Sulphur Springs one day and attacked a miner named W.L. Veatch. Charlie pistol whipped him and threatened to kill him. Veatch finally

Two cowboys on the range in the 1800s. Colorado Historical Society. got away and staggered into Calvin Kinney’s office, the justice of the peace. Veatch’s head was a bloody mess from the beating, and he was in a rage. He asked Kinney for a gun so he could kill Charlie. Kinney talked him into calming down and swearing out a warrant for Charlie’s arrest. As they were working on the warrant, Charlie burst through the door, saw what was happening and shouted that he would kill anyone who attempted to arrest him. He grabbed the warrant from Kinney, tore it up and left town. A few days later, another warrant was prepared and so were the townspeople. Charlie rode into town, got off his horse and started walking past a vacant building. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and a bullet whizzed past. Charlie drew his pistol and looked for the gunman, but no one

was in sight. Another shot tore into his right hand and knocked his gun away. He picked up the gun with his left hand and stood trembling with anger and fear, still unable to see where the shots had come from. He cussed and screamed at the gunmen, his voice full of hate. Then he realized what was happening. The townsmen were hidden, waiting for him. He was surrounded and there was no way out. His mind ran wild, thoughts flashing like lightning: “This is it! I’m a gunman...but I’m going to die! I’m young and...” His thought never finished. A dozen rifles and shotguns fired simultaneously, slamming Charlie’s body to the ground. Newspapers later told the story, and records showed that no one was arrested for Charlie’s death. None of the townsmen involved were ever identified. ■

Mistakes Made in Surgery

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erhaps as many as 2,700 surgeries per year are done on the wrong body part or wrong patient, according to estimates from the Joint Commission that accredits U.S. hospitals. In one case, the wrong leg was amputated. In another, surgeons drilled into the wrong side of the head. In several others, the wrong patient received surgery. Experts recommend you talk to

the surgeon shortly before you receive any anesthesia and confirm what will be done, and where. Insist that the surgeon mark the incision site with a permanent marker (e.g. right knee, not left). Do not rely on nurses or other staff to mark the site. Each time you talk with nurses and staff, make sure they know what surgery you are going to have. Ask what procedures the hospital uses to avoid mistakes. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 15

He Made Skiing a Sport in Colorado By Peggy Hunt

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teamboat Springs has produced more Olympic skiers than any other town in the United States, and that legacy began in 1913 when a young Norwegian skier named Carl Howelsen arrived. Howelsen had won numerous skiing events in his homeland of Norway before he came to the U.S. and began working as a bricklayer in Denver. In 1913, he was attending a small skiing event in Hot Sulphur Springs northwest of Denver when a young woman, Marjorie Perry, told him about Steamboat. “You’ll find more snow and better skiing conditions there than in Hot Sulphur Springs,” she said. Marjorie knew what she was talking about. The daughter of a wealthy businessman who owned

a coal mine in Oak Creek south of Steamboat, Marjorie was one of the early skiers in Colorado—years before skiing became a popular sport here. Howelsen went to Steamboat that winter, cut a few trees and made a small ski jump. The local people were so enthusiastic about his ability to jump and make skiing fun that he returned the next year, bought some land, built a bigger jump and started Steamboat’s first Winter Ski Carnival. The local people had used homemade skis merely as a way to get around in winter, and they had not realized how much fun skiing could be—or considered it as a competitive sport—until Howelsen showed them. He organized cross-country and jumping events, and ran them for

Carl Howelsen came to Steamboat Springs in 1913 and built Colorado’s first professional ski jump. Colorado Historical Society. eight years in Steamboat. He built an excellent jump on what became known as Howelsen Hill, where several world-record jumps were made. Howelsen Hill is still used today, just across the Yampa River in downtown Steamboat.

In 1921, Howelsen went back to Norway, married and did not return to Steamboat. But by then, he had helped make skiing a major sport in Colorado and launched the careers of some early Olympic skiers. ■

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16 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Laurel and Hardy By Bill Lambdin

L

aurel and Hardy were one of America’s best loved comedy teams in the 1920s and 1930s. Stan Laurel (the skinny one) was born in England in 1890. His father owned a vaudeville theater, and Stan knew from childhood that he wanted to be a comedian or comic writer. By the time he was eight, he had an impressive collection of jokes. Unlike the dimwitted character he portrayed on the screen, Stan was in real life quick-witted and able to find humor in anything. In fact, after he suffered a paralyzing stroke later in life and his ability to work was in doubt, he quipped, “Tell them I’m available, but I can only play statues.” Stan came to the United States in 1910 with a vaudeville troupe headed by Fred Karno, who was also Charlie Chaplin’s mentor. Stan made his first movie in 1917, and he was involved in his films not only as an actor but also as a writer and director. He had little patience with critics who attempted to find social or political meaning in the Lauren and Hardy films. “They think deep down that we put some kind of bloody message in our films,” he said. “They are wrong. We were just trying to make people laugh.” His sense of humor remained even late in his career when the movie contracts ran out and Laurel and Hardy films were seen only as TV reruns. One day in a store, a clerk thought he recognized Stan: “Say, aren’t you...” “Oliver Hardy,” said Laurel. “That’s right,” said the clerk. “Whatever happened to Laurel?” “He went balmy,” said Laurel. Oliver Hardy (the heavy one) was

born in 1892 at Harlem, Georgia. He loved music as a child and toured the South as a boy soprano with a minstrel troupe. He became interested in acting at 18 while working at a movie theater in Georgia. He said he was so appalled by the comic acting he saw that he decided he couldn’t do any worse. So in 1913 he went to Jacksonville, Florida, where one of the early movie companies was located. In three years (1914 to 1917), he made over 100 comic films. By the time the Great Depression set in, Hardy was a celebrity making $2,000 a week, a huge amount then. He spent a lot of his money at horse racing tracks and casinos. Golf was another of his passions, and he won dozens of trophies. He also liked to cook—and eat— though he was sensitive about his weight. He was six feet, two inches tall and apparently it took more than a dainty dish to satisfy him. One restaurant owner said Hardy’s favorite meal was a 32-ounce New York steak with two dozen potatoes fried in pure ham fat. Hardy had a good singing voice and on several occasions gave impromptu concerts with his friend Bing Crosby. He also enjoyed hunting, until he shot a deer. He was so saddened by the dying animal’s expression that he gave up hunting. Laurel and Hardy made their first film together in 1922, “The Lucky Dog.” The magic clicked and they soon became America’s favorite comedy team. For years, the two sensitive, unassuming characters gave America comic relief from war, economic depression and political turmoil. They made 105 films, many of them clas-

Oliver Hardy, left, and Stan Laurel. Maturity News Service. sics, and helped establish the American comic tradition. Their films are occasionally still enjoyed on TV by millions. What made them so popular? A good answer came from biographer Randy Skretvedt, author of the book “Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies.” “Stan and Ollie are believable, human characters,” said Skretvedt. “Their comedy comes out of their personalities, not from jokes. They are closer to real people than the other great clowns.” The characters they portrayed, added Skretvedt, “want to fit into the world, but they are too innocent. They are as we were, before we were corrupted. We all start out as trusting, guileless, optimistic people. Somehow

Laurel and Hardy held onto those qualities.” America grew up and lost its innocence, and so did the movie industry. By the 1940s movie moguls were no longer interested in Laurel and Hardy’s kind of humor, and few contracts came their way. They retired quietly, though a few public appearances came their way, especially in Europe. Hardy had a stroke in 1956 and died the next year. Laurel lived comfortably in California for another eight years, surrounded by friends like Danny Kaye, Peter Sellers and Dick Cavett. Laurel was awarded an Oscar in 1961. He was grateful for the honor, saying he only wished it had come when Hardy could have shared it. ■

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The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 17

Laughter is the Best Medicine A

little boy asked his mother, “Where did my intelligence come from?” The mother replied. “You must have got it from your father because I still have mine.” A man was recovering from surgery, and a nurse asked how he was feeling. “I’m ok, but I didn’t like the fourletter word I heard the doctor use.”

“What was that?” “Oops.” An American man and his nagging wife were vacationing in Jerusalem when she suddenly became ill and died. A local undertaker told him, “You can have her body shipped back home for $5,000 or bury her here for only $150.” The man thought for a moment and said, “I’ll have her shipped home.”

Scams Concerning Social Security By Michael Hollis Social Security Office, Greeley

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ecently, we have heard of a number of scams where people posing as Social Security employees call and ask for personal information like your name, Social Security number and bank account information. The caller alleges that Social Security needs such information so we can issue you additional funds or rebates, or they allege that because of a computer glitch your personal information has been lost. Another scam used an email that was designed to look like it came from Social Security. It provided information about the annual cost-of-living-adjustment and directed readers to a website designed to look like Social Security’s site so people could “update their information.” This gave valuable information to identity thieves and criminals. In an effort to combat such scams, we want to make one thing perfectly clear: Social Security will not send

you an email asking you to give us your personal information, such as your Social Security number, date of birth, or other private information. If someone saying they are from Social Security does email you requesting information, don’t respond to the message. Instead, contact your local Social Security office or call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-3250778) to see whether we really need any information from you. Whatever you do, don’t give out your personal information. Social Security and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) take these scams very seriously. We do everything we can to stop the perpetrators and educate the public. To report suspicious activity, please call the OIG Hotline at 1-800269-0271 There are times when Social Security may contact you to update your information. At such times, you will always receive prior notification from us by mail or telephone before a personal visit is made.. ■

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“Why would you spend all that money to do that?” “A long time ago, a man died here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I can’t take that chance.” Two old men, John and Sam, met each day to sit on a park bench and reminisce. One day, Sam didn’t show up. John figured he had a cold or something. But a week, then a month went buy and still no Sam. John didn’t know where Sam lived; so he couldn’t inquire. Then one day, Sam showed up. “Where have you been?” asked John. “In jail.” “What in the world for?” “Remember that cute waitress at the coffee shop? She filed a rape charge against me. At age 90, when I went to court, I was so proud that I pleaded guilty. The judge sent me to jail for lying.” A cowboy went into a bar, ordered three mugs of beer and sat down. He

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drank sips out of each mug. When he finished them, he ordered three more. The bartender said, “You know, a mug goes flat soon after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time.” The cowboy said, “I have two brothers that live far away. When we left home, we promised that we’d drink this way to remember the days we were together. I drink one for each of my brothers and one for myself.” The bartender said it was a nice custom, and the cowboy became a regular, always ordering three mugs. One day he came in and ordered just two mugs. All the regulars took notice and were silent. When the cowboy ordered a second round, the bartender said, “We don’t want to intrude on your grief, but we want to offer our condolences on your loss.” The cowboy looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “Oh, no, everybody’s fine. It’s just that I joined a church and had to quit drinking. Hasn’t affected my brothers though.” ■

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18 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

Radiation Treatment S

ome people wonder if they have received too much radiation during cancer treatments and other procedures, and that concern is shared by medical researchers like Dr. Fred Mettler, a representative to the United Nations for nuclear radiation effects. Mettler is also the principal investigator for a new report by the National Council on Radiation Protection. He says CT scans give patients very high doses of radiation that could possibly be harmful, maybe even cause cancer, if not properly monitored and controlled. Some cancer patients receive regular CT scans for extended periods of time. A CT scan of the chest will give a patient about the same radiation dose as 10 to 20 mammograms, said Mettler. Because diagnostic radiation machines are not regulated in the U.S., patients usually have no idea how much radiation they get. Such machines are regulated in Britain and other countries. Mettler believes U.S. patients should be told about the possible risks of too much radiation. A few hospitals like Virginia Mason Medical Center

in Seattle are reluctant to use radiation machines. “We generally don’t use CT scans unless there is a life-threatening condition,” Virginia Mason specialist Giao Nguyen told New York times investigators. Researchers have found that the amount of radiation that patients receive can vary greatly, depending on the machines used and the technicians operating the machines. Some technicians administer ten times more radiation than others. Mettler believes that is too much variation. That’s why he would like to see the FDA involved in regulating radiation doses. The FDA could at least pressure machine manufacturers to use lower radiation doses and monitor the machines’ uses closely, he said. Part of the problem stems from the increased use of CT scans in recent years. Since 1980, the number of such scans given patients has increased from 3 million to over 62 million. When health providers have the machines, they seem to want to use them—sometimes perhaps when they should not. ■

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The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 19

Wyoming Historical Society Offers Gifts By Linda Fabian

T

he Wyoming State Historical Society has limited edition prints, books, membership and calendars featuring aspects of Wyoming history Two historically accurate prints by Wyoming artist Dave Paulley depict important military events. “Floral Valley” is based on the 7th Cavalry’s trek through Weston County in the summer of 1874. The other print, “Midnight Ride,” portrays John Portuguese Phillips’ arrival at Fort Laramie on December 25, 1866. Phillips was carrying a message from Fort Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie requesting reinforcements. The prints, suitable for framing, are ideal for both home and office. “Parkman’s Trace” by Harrison

S. Cobb is a true guidebook for Oregon Trail enthusiasts. It is based on Francis Parkman’s book “The Oregon Trail” written in 1849 as a “how to do it” guidebook for those who wondered if they could make it to California. Cobb retraced Parkman’s journey and presents detailed maps for the modern traveler. Also available in limited quantity is “Wyoming: A Pictorial History,” a beautiful coffee table style book first printed for the state’s centennial celebration in 1990 and recently reprinted in commemoration of the Historical Society’s 50th anniversary. The book features over 250 pages of informative text and photographs from Wyoming’s rich history. The Calendar of Wyoming History, now in its twenty-fifth year

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This was true even though some of the women had regained an average of 11 pounds a year after they started to diet. They originally went on a fivemonth low-calorie diet. On average, they lost 68 percent fat and 35 percent muscle. But the muscle loss did not seem to affect their strength. Their aerobic fitness improved; they were better able to walk and do ordinary things. ■

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ome mature people are reluctant to go on a weight-loss diet for fear of losing muscle and becoming weaker, but that should not be a problem, says a report from the American Geriatrics Society. Researchers at Wake Forest University who studied a group of obese older women found that those who lost weight by reducing calorie intake were more active and able to perform better after they lost an average of 25 pounds.

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20 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

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Q: I am retired, age 61, with a $35,000-a-year pension, no debts and $300,000 in a 401(k). The 401(k) is in a stable value fund. A certified financial planner (CFP) advises me to roll the 401(k) over to a self-directed IRA and invest the money in “life settlements” and equity-indexed annuities. Is this a good plan? A: You should check whether this person is actually a Certified Financial Planner. You can do this at the Web site:www.cfp.net/default.asp. Given the recommendations, I find it difficult to believe that your planner has done the work for the CFP designation. The certification CFP means the person devotes time each year to update his or her knowledge and, most important, agrees to abide by a code of ethics. That is no guarantee of moral perfection, and most CFPs regularly deal with the conflict of their commissions vs. their clients’ best interests. The recommendations given you, however, are 100 percent commission-driven. They have absolutely nothing to do with your needs. “Life settlements,” otherwise known as viatical settlements, are the purchase of life insurance death benefits from an insured person who is terminally ill. In theory, you purchase the death benefit at a discount that is based on the insured’s much-reduced life expectancy.

You become responsible for making certain that the policy remains in force until death. The problem is that your return can be much diluted by the large commission paid to the middleman, your CFP. Second, equity-indexed annuities sound good, but the sales reps seldom detail the fine print. While there is great variety in annuity contracts, virtually all have some provision setting the maximum return you can have in any given year, limiting your return. Virtually all equity index annuity contracts offer a high commission to the sales rep. I’d bet the commission burden on this proposal is in excess of 10 percent—$30,000 of your money. A CFP who tried to deliver good investment options for his clients might direct your $300,000 toward the American Funds group. While the commission on small purchases of front-loaded “A” shares is 5.75 percent, the commission rate is reduced as the purchase increases. For purchases over $250,000, the commission rate is 2.5 percent. That’s $7,500. While the rep does not receive 100 percent of this amount, the amount he receives should buy you 50 hours of $150-an-hour professional planning advice, or 25 hours of $300-an-hour professional planning advice. Either way, a real financial planner can guide you to an investment plan with low annual costs and a good track record while being well compensated. ■

Research on Thyroid Disease

M

ore than 27 million Americans— mostly women—have thyroid disease, and half of them don’t know it, according to researchers with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The thyroid is a small gland at the base of the neck that regulates metabolism. An underactive thyroid, the most common type, affects many middle-aged women and makes them feel tired and gain weight. Their metabolism is low, and they feel

constantly low on energy. An overactive thyroid can cause weight loss, rapid heartbeat and bulging eyes. Those who have it have a lot of energy, but the condition can cause heart palpitations and serious problems. Thyroid disease is easily treated with a pill. It affects four times as many women as men. All women over age 35 should get the simple blood test for it, but many do not, say researchers. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 21

A Wild Irish Rose in Early Colorado Editor’s Note: Wyoming and Colorado historian Margaret Laybourn wrote the following story years ago. By Margaret Laybourn

“W

e have come to capture Miss Gonne,” cried three boisterous miners from Cripple Creek as they surrounded the beautiful young woman leaving the stage of a Denver theater near midnight on November 28, 1897. Maude Gonne was an Irish patriot who came to Colorado over a century ago. She was 31 years old and had just finished a speech in Denver exhorting a capacity crowd to muster support for Irish independence and prisoner amnesty. The six-foot-tall beauty had come from Ireland to the United States in the interest of Irish political prisoners who were being held and tortured in

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English prisons. Her remarks apparently fired up the miners to take Miss Gonne back with them to Cripple Creek so the Irish there might see this wild Irish rose for themselves. Earlier in the evening, Colorado Governor Adams had introduced Maude Gonne as “the Irish Joan of Arc,” saying, “She has not come in glittering armor of steel but with a tongue of eloquence and the witchery of a beautiful woman.” In a voice eloquent with sweetness and clarity, she began, “Deep in the heart of the Celt is a wild love of liberty which the Saxon cannot understand. Centuries may pass, but as long as there is one Irishman living, there will be a struggle to break the chains that shackle us to England.” When she finished her speech, the audience went wild with applause. Ladies in the theater flung their flowers to her, and gentlemen near the front leaped onto the stage to take her hand. The Denver Post reported, “The maid of Erin was clad in a closely fitting broad-cloth dress, which set off her long, lithe figure to advantage.” The reporter was struck more with her appearance than her message, and that was not surprising, for Maude Gonne was one of the great beauties of the Victorian age. In Ireland, poet William Butler Yeats fell under the spell of her beauty and immortalized her in his poetry. He wrote of their first meeting, “I had never thought to see in a living woman so great beauty.” Born into the aristocratic Cook family, she was part of the industrial class that ruled Britain in the 19th century. She was disowned by her family when she chose to champion the Irish peasantry in their battle with British rule. During Queen Victoria’s reign alone, the population of Ireland was reduced from 8.5 million to 4 million, and one million of those starved to death. Maude Gonne had seen Irish tenants evicted from their homes and left to freeze, and she had never forgotten it. Little wonder that this unconventional woman would forego supper with Denver’s finest to ride off into

Irish Patriot Maude Gonne. Colorado Historical Society. the night with Irish miners. The wild ride through the mountains to Cripple Creek took nine hours, and she often recounted it as the most wonderful ride of her life. It was a bright moonlight night, and the carriage crossed creeks and climbed cliffsides along the edge of dark precipices. In Cripple Creek, a woman from County Mayo welcomed Maude to her small wooden house and gave her a breakfast of bacon and eggs and a cup of Irish breakfast tea “strong enough for a cat to walk on.” Maude went into the mines and gave the men the latest news from Ireland. When the shift changed, she climbed aboard a wagon and spoke of Ireland’s opportunity to break free of

England’s grasp. When she appealed to the patriotism of those poor miners so far from the Emerald Isle, the effect was electric. The lads, most of them poor beyond belief, chipped in for the prisoners at home. Maude’s Colorado adventure ended with another exciting night ride down the mountain. She later recalled: “I spent the happiest days of my whole American tour in those mining villages. In their hard, exciting lives, those people never forgot Ireland.” Maude Gonne devoted her entire life to the cause of Irish independence. She lived to be very old—indomitable in her activities to feed children and aid the poor. ■

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22 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

The Battle of Beecher Island By Bill Lambdin

I

n 1868 the Battle of Beecher Island occurred on the plains east of Greeley, near the present town of Wray, when 50 soldiers were attacked by several hundred Cheyenne warriors. A 19-year-old boy, Jack Stillwell, was considered one of the heroes of that battle. Maj. George Forsyth brought the soldiers to the area in an attempt to stop Indian raids against settlers. Most of the troops were hand-picked, seasoned frontiersmen experienced in Indian warfare—buffalo hunters, trappers and mountain men. One observer described them as “hard-bitten fighters...dressed in buckskin and nondescript uniforms— the most careless, irresponsible, hard-riding, straight-shooting company of scapegoats that ever set out under the United States flag.” They didn’t expect to encounter such a large band of warriors when someone shouted “Indians!” and the prairie filled with screaming Cheyennes thundering toward them. Forsyth led his men to a sand bar in the middle of the Arikaree River, located near the present town of Wray. On this sand bar, the handful of men managed to hold off the attack for nine bloody days, shooting from behind their fallen horses, which they also ate to avoid starvation. Half of Forsyth’s men were killed or wounded, including Lt. Frederick Beecher, for whom the battle was named. On the first night, Forsyth decided someone had to try to sneak through the Indians and reach Fort Wallace about 100 miles away. Young Jack Stillwell and an old trapper named Henry Trudeau volunteered. Throughout the night, Stillwell and Trudeau crawled on their hands and knees along the river bank. During the day, they hid in tall weeds, lying motionless in the hot, blistering sun. During one day, they had to lie next to a rotting buffalo carcass. On another, a rattlesnake crawled toward them. They dared not move. As the snake was about to strike, Stillwell spat tobacco juice at it. Luckily that scared the rattler away.

Stillwell and Trudeau finally reached Fort Wallace. The few survivors at Beecher Island were saved, and they honored Stillwell’s heroic effort—though most historians forgot him. Stillwell later studied law and became a judge in Texas. He also came to know George Armstrong Custer, Wild Bill Hickok and other frontiersmen. The commander at the battle, Maj. George Forsyth, later wrote about it and the bravery of his men: “Howard Morton lost one of his eyes by a bullet that lodged just behind it, but wrapped a handkerchief around his head and fought on...Harrington, with an arrow point lodged squarely in his frontal bone, never ceased to bear his full share in the fray... “We were out of food...the meat cut from the dead mules and horses had become putrid, and although we boiled it and sprinkled gunpowder upon it, it was not palatable. One of the scouts succeeded in shooting a little coyote...the head was boiled three successive times to extract the last shred of nutriment it contained...” After six days, Forsyth told the soldiers who were not wounded they might make a run for it and escape. He said: “Those of us who were wounded must take our chances. If relief came in time, well and good. If not, we were soldiers and knew how to meet our fate. “For a few seconds, there was a dead silence, and then rose a hoarse cry of ‘Never! Never! We’ll stand by you!’” A few years later, Forsyth met one of the Indians from the battle and asked him how many warriors were killed: “The chief held up his two hands seven times together, and then one hand singly, which the interpreter told me signified 75...Just as he started to go, he stopped and spoke to the interpreter again. ‘He wishes to know whether you did not get enough of it.’ “Tell him yes, all I wanted, was my reply. How about himself?...He gave a grim, half-humorous look and then, unfolding his blanket and opening the breast of his buckskin shirt, pointed to where a bullet had

An early artist’s depiction of the battle. Colorado Historical Society. evidently gone through his lungs. (He) nodded, closed his shirt, wrapped his blanket around him, turned and stalked quietly from the tent.”

Forsyth was promoted to brigadier general before retiring in 1890. A historical marker still stands near the Beecher Island battle site. ■

Local Events and Exhibits Greeley Libraries Free classes on computer basics, Internet, Windows, online genealogy, and web email will be offered at several Greeley libraries in January. Each class is two hours. For information, call 506-8518. Other events at the libraries include movie discussion groups, book discussions, lunch-and-learn meetings, and knitting classes. On January 12, the new Erie Library will open as the latest addition to Weld County’s libraries. The library is located at 400 Powers Street in Erie.

Red Feather Lakes Library Ongoing events include sewing group, writers’ group, watercolor society, and library board of trustees. For information on these and the following, call Sarah Myers, 8812664. Travel photography exhibit by Cindy Metsker through January in Ruth’s Art Gallery. Mixed media exhibit by Ralph Imhoff in February. Free movie, computer lab, writers’ workshop, free computer class, story hour for children, a presentation on global warming. ■

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

S

ome people receive a steroid shot for carpal tunnel pain, but that may be of limited value, according to research reported by the Cochrane Collaboration. A corticosteroid injection might relieve some pain for one month; but for a longer period, the shot may be no better than oral anti-inflammatory medicines or wrist splints. And if the first steroid shot doesn’t provide relief, another probably won’t either, said researchers.

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international group that evaluates medical research. Carpel tunnel syndrome is caused by pressure on a nerve that runs through a narrow passage (the carpel tunnel) in the wrist. Inflammation of soft tissue near the carpel tunnel puts pressure on the nerve that results in pain, numbness or weakness in the wrist, fingers or hand. In severe cases, a person may suffer a permanent loss of feeling. ■

The Senior Voice • January 2008 • 23

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24 • January 2008 • The Senior Voice

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