Coyote Gulch

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Edwards for President?
Political Wire: "Noting his recent trip to Iowa talking about his anti-poverty crusade, David Yepsen says former Sen. John Edwards faces a dilemma: 'Can he stand up to Democratic constituency groups and tell them things they may not want to hear about fighting poverty while still courting them in another bid for the White House?'"
USA Today: "Leaders of conservative Christian organizations plan to jointly interview Republican contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination, perhaps even endorsing one of them - steps that could expand their already considerable political influence."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
7:03:24 AM

Beauprez for Governor?
Mike Littwin writes about Bob Beauprez's comment about "Mexican Time" in today's Rocky Mountain News [June 16, 2005, "Littwin: Beauprez hurries to take back 'Mexican time' line]. From the opinion piece, "Beauprez has vacationed in Mexico. He knows about Mexican time. It's just the amount of time - and I've clocked it - it takes for Beauprez to figure out he has made a terrible mistake. You see, our little dramatic invention is brought to you by the Bob-Beauprez-for-governor campaign. It comes via the first gaffe in that campaign, which arrives before the campaign even officially begins."
Colorado Pols: "Questions for former Denver District Attorney and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter will be accepted through this Friday, June 17."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
6:58:16 AM

Referendum D
There will be a final vote today for the transportation plan attached to Referendum D on the fall ballot, according to the Denver Post [June 16, 2005, "Mayor: Transport plan shortchanges Adams"]. From the article, "The city of Thornton has raised last-minute complaints that a massive amount of transportation funding scheduled to go before the voters for approval in November grossly shortchanges the north metro area. Today, the Colorado Transportation Commission will vote to approve the slate of projects that will be attached to Referendum D, which goes before voters in November. The plan provides $1 billion to 57 transportation projects around the state. The metro area will get about $504 million out of that. But Thornton has complained that Adams County, which has roughly 15 percent of the metro area's population, will get only about 6 percent of the funding."
Category: Denver November 2005 Election
6:43:21 AM

1965 South Platte Flood
The Denver Post is running a story about the 40th anniversary of the 1965 South Platte River flood [June 16, 2005, "The fury and the fears"]. They are running a nifty slide show. From the article, "After lunchtime on June 16 - 40 years ago today - the coal-black sky delivered a rainstorm so furious that people in Douglas County said they labored to breathe. A rancher put a washtub in his yard to measure the rain, and it quickly overflowed. The National Weather Service recorded 14 inches - a year's worth of rain for the region - in a little more than three hours near Larkspur. The storm drove a 20-foot wall of water from Douglas County to downtown Denver that evening, taking at least 21 lives, devastating 15 counties and leaving mountains of mud and $540 million in damage - $3.2 billion in today's dollars."
A young Coyote Gulch was living near Clear Creek out in unincorporated Jefferson County at the time. We left our townhome and went up to my grandmother's house in North Denver (Berkeley Hill) to high ground. In the years before the building of Chatfield Reservoir and Bear Creek Reservoir the South Platte use to roil through Denver in the spring, fallen trees and other debris being carried along north, towards the plains.
Here's an article from the Denver Post about the possibility of another flood of the same magnitude [June 16, 2005, "Engineers rally around reservoirs"]. From the article, "Colorado could very well see the same amount of rain that produced the 1965 deluge, but state engineers believe they're ready. A lot has changed in 40 years. Since the 1965 flood, Chatfield and Bear Creek reservoirs were built for flood control, giving metro Denver three places to hold back a storm surge, counting Cherry Creek, which was completed in 1950 after a series of floods in the 1930s. All three are designed to accommodate more than 2 feet of rain, more than the 1965 storm dished out, said state engineer Hal Simpson."
The State Water Quality Board sidestepped new temperature standards for streams this week, according to the Denver Post [June 16, 2005, "Water panel hedges on temperature standards"]. From the article, "Colorado Water Quality Control Commission hedged on adopting water-temperature standards Wednesday but pledged to work toward putting binding rules in place by 2007. Saying the science was far from perfect, the governor-appointed commission adopted a set of temperature standards that are slated to take effect at the end of 2007."
Category: Colorado Water
6:29:29 AM

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