Western Colorado’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender + (LGBTQ+) students have a new scholarship fund to boost their higher education aspirations, thanks to the thoughtful people who formed the Basinger Leadership Scholarship Committee. The Jeffrey Alan Basinger Leadership Scholarship was established to recognize beloved local resident Jeff Basinger, who died in May of 2018. Jeff was a strong advocate for western Colorado residents living with HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTQ+ community through decades of working with various community organizations, and as a volunteer. Jeff worked on the “Vote No on Amendment 2” campaign in 1992 and was a founding member of the Common Decency Coalition, which later became Western Equality. He belonged to the Grand Junction Downtown Association and other community organizations, had a deep working historical knowledge of the Grand Junction area, and a long and successful career working with the Western Colorado AIDS Project (WestCAP).
Tag: education
Aesthetics, Children, Economics, Education, Elections, politics, Safety, Security, Weird Grand Junction Stuff
Grand Junction High School photos
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• •In case you haven’t had a chance to tour Grand Junction High School prior to the November 5 election, the following photos were taken inside the school on a tour on Saturday morning, October 19, 2019. What the photos cannot relate are the odors in some of these areas, which were quite objectionable. Ventilation was lacking in many areas. Measure 4A on the Mesa County Ballot will fund construction of a new Grand Junction High School. The current building was constructed in 1956. AnneLandmanBlog urges a “YES” vote on Measure 4A for fund a new school:
Democracy, Education, Elections, politics
AnneLandmanBlog Voter Guide, 2019
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• •Wondering how to vote in the upcoming election on Tuesday, November 5, 2019?
Following are AnneLandmanBlog’s recommendations for how to vote in the 2019 Coordinated Election Ballot for our area for 2019.
I reached my conclusions by attending Q and A programs about the issues, touring Grand Junction High School, talking to Mesa County School District 51 School Board members, researching Secretary of State reports about the funders who are promoting and opposing the ballot issues and researching information related to the ballot issues (e.g. societal costs associated with gambling, the condition of the Las Colonias land with respect to mill tailings remediation there) and by taking into consideration what I know about local history that is pertinent to the issues.
Here are the recommendations on how to vote:
Economics, Education, Embarrassing Republicans
Mesa County blunders headline on economic development web page
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• •Way to rep the county, Mesa County Commissioners.
Mesa County’s website about economic development seeks to lure businesses to here and to “elevate the community profile,” so it doesn’t help when the county blunders the big headline of the page that seeks to do that. Commissioners might want to correct the glaring misspelling in the page’s headline. The error gives business owners the impression that education is unimportant in Mesa County, but that can’t possibly be true, can it?
Crazy Republicans, Democracy, Economics, Education, politics
Proposition CC on the state-wide ballot aims to end the failed TABOR experiment
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• •Proposition CC on the November 5 ballot, if enacted, will let state and local governments keep all the revenue they generate through taxes and invest it to improve communities. It would effectively “de-Bruce” the whole state and end what amounts to a failed conservative social experiment.
What is “de-Brucing?”
De-Brucing means ending the effects of the TABOR Amendment, a 1992 amendment to the state constitution that effectively created a permanent revenue shortage for the state. TABOR was essentially an experiment in tax limitation that took taxing power away from the legislature and put it exclusively in the hands of voters. Over the decades, it has damaged the state in many ways.
Activism, Corruption, Cronyism, Education, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Janet Rowland, politics, Republicans violating laws
Tim Foster’s political stumping as CMU president may violate laws
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• •[Update 8/14/19: Mesa County Commissioner candidate Janet Rowland pulled this ad from her Facebook page after this article was published].
People are questioning whether an ad that Mesa County Commissioner candidate Janet Rowland recently posted on her campaign Facebook page violates the law.
In the ad, Colorado Mesa University President Tim Foster endorses Rowland for commissioner in his capacity as president of CMU, not as a private individual as the law requires. The law says Foster is permitted to make such an endorsement, but ONLY in his capacity as a private individual; he is specifically prohibited from using his position as a state employee for politicking or attempting to influence an election.
The ad appears to violate two separate federal laws: the Hatch Act and the Fair Campaign Practices Act.
Technical guidance issued for state employees by the Colorado’s Division of Human Resources (pdf) on the implementation of these laws states,
CMU accepts federal funding, thus Foster is subject to both laws.
Activism, Children, Education, Ethics, Ethnic/Minority, Human rights, Intolerance, Propaganda, Violence
Free digital literacy resources available from Southern Poverty Law Center
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• •Are you a teacher looking for ways to teach kids how to tell the difference between real and “fake” news, how to determine whether an online source is legitimate, reliable and fair, and how to engage in social media discussions responsibly? Are you looking for ways to help kids negotiate topics in the news, like immigration, civil rights, race and gender identity?
Well, here’s your answer.
The Southern Poverty Law Center now offers free Common Core-compatible classroom materials and resources that can help kids discern malicious online fare like propaganda deployed by hate groups to recruit new members, false conspiracy theories and racist lies. It will also help kids become more sophisticated consumers of news and social media and navigate topics like race and ethnicity, religion, variations in ability, immigration, class, bullying and bias, gender and sexual identity and rights and activism.
And did we mention it’s all free?
SPLC’s, program, “Teaching Tolerance,” includes K-12 lesson plans that align with Common Core standards and offers professional development tools that will help teachers increase their own online savvy. Teachers can access a multitude of resources, like lessons for different grade levels, student tasks, lesson plans, teaching strategies for different grade levels, film kits, printable posters and other classroom materials, and they are all available at no cost by visiting Tolerance.org.
Children, Education, Ethics, Health care, Human rights, politics, Religion, Secularism, Separation of Church and State
Colorado bill would prohibit teaching religious doctrine in public school sex ed curriculum
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• •Delta County School District, are you listening?
Colorado State Senator Don Coram, a Republican who represents Montrose and Ouray counties, is a sponsor of HB19-1032, “Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education,” a bill to prohibit sex ed instruction in K-12 public schools from “explicitly or implicitly teaching or endorsing religious ideology or sectarian tenets or doctrines, using shame-based or stigmatizing language or instructional tools, employing gender norms or gender stereotypes, or excluding the relational or sexual experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals.”
The bill would appropriate least $1 million annually for a grant program to carry out the new law, and it would give highest priority for the grant funds to rural public schools.
Why is this bill needed? Because of the Delta County School District.
Democracy, Education, Separation of Church and State
Local students win essay contest awards of $500 and $250
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• •An awards ceremony will be held tomorrow, Sunday, March 31 at 1:15 p.m. in the Monument Room of the downtown Mesa County Public Library to announce the winners of Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers‘ 2018 Student Essay Contest.
The contest, announced last September, was open to all middle and high school students in Mesa County. The topic for submissions was the importance of separation of church and state to our country, and our democracy.
A student from Grand Junction High School won the high school award of $500 and a student from Redlands Middle School won the middle school award of $250.
Climate change, CMU, Education, Embarrassing Republicans, Environment, Extremism, Weird Grand Junction Stuff
CMU hosts climate change denier this evening
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• •This article is reprinted in with permission from the author, Erik Maulbetsch, of the ColoradoTimesRecorder.com.
Colorado Mesa University is hosting climate change denier Steve Goreham this evening, for a speech titled “Energy, Climate Change & Public Policy.”
Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese promoted the event on her Facebook page.
Atheism, Children, Education, Secularism, Separation of Church and State
Local atheist group puts on student essay contest! Top high school student gets $500, top middle school gets $250
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• •Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers (WCAF) is holding it’s first-ever student essay contest this fall.
The contest is open to all Mesa County middle and high school students, whether they attend regular public school, a charter or online school, or are in a school district outside the Grand Valley, like in Gateway, Plateau Valley or DeBeque.
Students are asked write on the topic of “What is separation of church and state, and why is it important to maintaining our democracy?”
Essays should be a minimum of 700 words and a maximum of 1,000 words.
The winning high school student gets $500, and the winning middle school student gets $250.
Consumer advocacy, Democracy, Education, Equal rights, Ethnic/Minority, Hate, Health care, Intolerance, politics, Separation of Church and State, Worker advocacy
Liberals, be very proud of who you are
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• •Right wingers often disparage political liberals in western Colorado with nasty names like “libtard” and “snowflake.” Some even claim without foundation that liberalism is a “mental disorder.”
But being politically liberal is a profoundly positive thing.
Why?
Because liberals have made most of the progress in American society.
Activism, Atheism, Diversity, Education, Religion, Secularism
Atheist billboard graces entrance to Grand Junction at Easter, 2018
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• •Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers (WCAF) has a new digital billboard up in front of Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A at Rimrock Marketplace on I-70 B just in time for Easter. It shows a child with a shocked look on his face holding a book that looks very much like a Bible. It says “Belief without proof is gullibility.” You can see the board as you are heading west on I-70 B.
WCAF wanted their spring billboard to have an educational component this year. The group wanted to emphasize that people deserve proof before believing what they’re told. They also want to urge people to come to logical conclusions based on verifiable facts rather than on lore, mythology or pure faith.
WCAF’s mission is to educate the public about atheism, promote acceptance of atheism as a rational belief system and preserve and promote the wall of separation between church and state.
The board is up through Tuesday, April 4. WCAF says anyone who takes their photo with the billboard and posts it on WCAF’s Facebook page will get a free package of M&Ms. To donate to more billboards like this, go to WCAF’s Donation page.
Education, Elections, Human rights, Legal marijuana, politics
Rep. Jared Polis to open Grand Junction office Sat., Jan. 6 at 10:00 a.m.
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• •House Rep. Jared Polis is running for Colorado governor and will officially open his Grand Junction office this coming Saturday, January 6 at 10:00 a.m. at 421 Colorado Ave.
Polis is a new-age candidate. He is an entrepreneur who started several successful internet businesses. He is the first openly gay parent in Congress and a champion of education. Polis has served on the Colorado State Board of Education, and served a single six-year term until his district was eliminated. He created a foundation that gives annual Teacher Recognition Awards. In 2004, Polis established the charter school, “New America School,” a high school that primarily serves older immigrant youth ages 16–21.
Children, Crazy Republicans, Economics, Education, Grand Junction Chamber, politics, Religion, Separation of Church and State
The Grand Junction Area Chamber, a master of contradiction
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• •Children, Education, Elections, Grand Junction Chamber, politics, Weird Grand Junction Stuff
Grand Junction Chamber backs scary candidates for the contested seats in School Board election
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• •It’s no surprise that in the contested District 51 School Board races, the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce is endorsing candidates who are demonstrably the worst of the pack. That’s par for the course.
What IS surprising is that you can figure this out from reading the Chamber’s very own “Mesa County Valley School District 51 Voter Guide,” (pdf) in which the chamber endorses Thomas Keenan for District E and Dusti Reimer for District D.
For the voter guide, the chamber asked each candidate to answer four questions. Apparently the chamber printed the candidates’ responses verbatim, without editing.
The results are pretty damn scary for the two candidates they endorsed.
Thomas Keenan, the District E candidate, had a hard time putting together a coherent sentence. Below is a screenshot of Mr. Keenan’s answer to the chamber’s Question #4: “Why should members of the Grand Junction Area Chamber vote for you?” Immediately beneath his barely-comprehensible answer, the chamber endorses Mr. Keenan:
Education, Ethics, politics, Worker advocacy
CMU Staff and Students Unhappy with School’s Odd, Oppressive Administrative Structure
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• •Colorado Mesa University staff members are expressing frustration with the school’s unusual, flat administrative structure, which seems strategically designed to eliminate staff input into school operations, and prevent empowerment of the staff on campus.
CMU President Tim Foster over the years has reshaped CMU’s administration to eliminate the normal avenues of communication between staff and administration that most other universities have, employees say. Instead Foster has substituted an odd, flat administrative structure that eliminates staff’s input into school operations and serves as a firewall against opposition to the administration.
Children, Economics, Education, Elections, Grand Junction Chamber, politics
Now’s Our Chance to Help School District 51 — Finally!
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• •First the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and downtown business owners like Doug Simons of Enstrom Candies told city residents they needed to pay an extra sales tax to fund an event center downtown. People panned the idea and voted it down by a huge margin. A common criticism was, “A tax to build an event center? But what about our crumbling schools?” Then the chamber, Simons and CMU proposed waving a magic wand and changing the names of North Avenue to “University Boulevard,” and 12th Street to “Maverick Way,” saying this will be really great. People again panned the idea for the cost and inconvenience. A widely-expressed sentiment about the proposed name change has been ”Change the name of North Avenue? But what about our crumbling schools?”