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Sopris Sunthe

Volume 6, Number 38 | October 23, 2014

LOOK INSIDE:

PAGE 2Writers

PAGE 5Hop

PAGE 9Cattle

Carbondale’s community supported, weekly newspaper

The Sopris Sun asked you, the community, what kind of newspaper you’d like to open up and read every week. You responded during an open house. We’ve compiled the results onpages 2, 3 and 23. Please give those pages a look and let us know what you think at feedback@soprissun.com. Graphics by Terri Ritchie, photo by Jane Bachrach

News

Most newspapers focus on two things: putting out news and turning a profi t through advertising while doing so. At The Sopris Sun, we have a different mission; we aren’t just about publishing news as a vehicle for selling ads. Our purpose is to serve this community in all its facets -- the wider community of Carbondale and those who care about it. We do this by writing about and photograph-ing things that matter, sharing what’s going on in Carbondale, fostering

connection, and providing a platform for local non-profi ts, individuals and businesses. Any “profi t” we generate goes right back into improving and expanding our services as a non-profi t charitable organization.

This past summer we decided to focus some energy into hearing more from YOU, our readers, about how we could better serve this mission ... and you. We asked you, “What is it you love about The Sun, and what more can we do?” We organized a

Community Open House, conducted an online survey, and reached out to many of you through informal con-versations in order to hear and gather your ideas and thoughts.

In this issue we highlight some of the main themes we heard regarding the content we publish in the print edition of The Sun and online at www.soprissun.com. In future issues we’ll share ideas we received regard-ing the fi nancial health and well-be-ing of this organization and how you

think we can keep it strong.Please keep the ideas coming!

We’re always open to your feedback. If you think of more suggestions as you read through this issue, please e-mail us at feedback@soprissun.com.

The Sopris Sun Board & Staff:

When You Speak ... We Listen

What our readers LOVE about The

Sopris Sun...Ditt

y daz

zles

CR

ES st

uden

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lar R

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Wom

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Launch

pad: M

ission ac

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Students fuel d

rive for R

FHS solar a

rray

Tonic Juicery: Fresh squeezed, ready to go

Users love library; want more

Mountain bikers Shaka it

Lulu vanishes into SmokeCarbondale rises to challenge

Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three left s do

Bike race shuts streets; volunteers step up

Turning the big “65” Carbondale style

What’s wrong with “Bonedale?”

Hem

p proponents form coop

gras

sroo

tsIt tells stories that matter to Carbondale.

Turn to p. 23 to fi nd out what readers would like to see MORE of in The Sun...

Did you know...?

Sun Facts:

Bob AlbrightJane BachrachDenise BarkhurstDebbie BruellLynn Burton

Barbara DillsCraig FulmerSue GrayColin LairdTerri RitchieFrank Zlogar

2 • THE SOPRIS SUN • www.SoprisSun.com • OCTOBER 23, 2014

THE SOPRIS SUN, Carbondale’s community supported newspaper • OCTOBER 23, 2014 • 3

Commun

ity It keeps our community connected.

localIt helps us know our neighbors.

photos!

It’s fun!

It celebrates our community.In the past two years, The Sun has received generous grant sup-port from The Anschutz Family Foundation, Carbondale Rotary, the R.H. Crossland Foundation, and The Thrift Shop of Aspen.

The Sopris Sun relies on the gracious assistance of volunteer Lee Beck to proof read the paper every week.

The Sopris Sun distributes 4,500 papers each week.

The Sopris Sun is distributed from Aspen to Glenwood Springs.

Since our founding in 2009 we’ve never missed a single week of publication.

suggestion boxThe Sopris Sun

This summer we got some great suggestions from YOU, our readers, about what you’d like to see more of in The Sopris Sun. Below are some of those ideas, along with steps we’ve taken in response to many of those suggestions.

More features on individual community members.

Greater coverage of locally-relevant news.

More teen involvement.

More content by children.

Greater coverage of the arts.

More original creativity.

More about biking.

More classifi eds.

Include recipes.

Here are some other ideas we heard from you:(a Surreal Estate column, News of the Weird, a snarky advice column...)

Sopris SunTHE

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 23 • JULY 16, 2009

Marcelo Cruz and his “mount” seem to eye each other during the first round of bull riding last Thursday at the Carbondale rodeo.It looks as if Cruz wants to tell his bull not to buck him off and it looks as if the bull wants to tell Cruz to get off his back. Photo by Jane Bachrach

By Kayla HenleySopris Sun Intern

he metal corrals clank loudlyas massive bulls at the Carbon-dale Wild West Rodeo pacefrantically in their pens. These

bulls are known for maliciously throw-ing riders from their backs, into thehard, dusty ground and sometimescharging at the fallen mount with low-erd horns while the rider scrambles forsafety. They are creatures of awe-inspiring beauty and spine-tingling terror, with black eyes rolling wildlyfrom the commotion around them andhooves roughly pawing the earth below,turning sand to dust.

The bulls are led to a chute wherehumans are placed on their backs andthen released into the open arena. Furi-ous at having a gangly creature trying toride him, a bull will buck and charge,hurling 2,000 pounds of raging fleshinto the air, attempting anything to getthe rider off his back.

But this story isn’t about the menacingbeasts that dazzle us with such ferociousmovement. It is about the courageousmen who are associated with these bulls.What is it like to be the person whocomes between a bull and fallen rider?And what is it like to be the rider, grip-ping such an animal with your knees, onehand clutched fast to the bull and theother flailing wildly as you try to holdon? Your clutch on the rope around thebull slowly slackens, you slip off entirely,every sound muted as you descend to thesolid dirt of the arena. When you look up,the bull is towering over you, and youclumsily rush out of the arena to safety.

We see these brave people at the Car-bondale rodeo every Thursday, whethercoming in between a bull and rider as thebull fighter or competing in the bull rid-ing event.

Bull riders make their sport look easy,as they try to stay on through those in-credibly slow eight seconds. It’s hard toimagine what goes through the mind ofa bull rider as he spends mere secondsclinging to the animal. Though it varieswith each rider, most of them agreethere’s no time to think critically whenyou’re in such a situation.

“If you get to thinkin’ about it, youget in trouble,” stated Johnny Rebel, acowboy who’s been bull riding for 14years, five of them in the Carbondalerodeo. Rebel first began bull riding whena friend dared him that he wouldn’t geton a bull. He now trains by riding ninebulls a week.

For 22-year-old Cody Tesch, it’s a little

-eyeBull’s-eyeT

COWBOYS page 12

A glimpseinto the bull-riding life

What other ideas do you have? Please share them with us!Send your suggestions to feedback@soprissun.com

THE SOPRIS SUN, Carbondale’s community supported newspaper • OCTOBER 23, 2014 • 23