50 Centstrinidad Colorado

Proudly Serving Southeastern Colorado and Northeastern New Mexico • www.thechronicle-news.com

~Vol. 138, No. 90

tuesdayMay 6, 2014

MAY 6~Trinidad City Council TUESDAY (7 p.m.) Regular session,

Council Chambers, City Hall, 135 N. Animas St. Information: Audra Garrett, 719-846-9843.

~Las Animas CountyTUESDAY (9 a.m.) Board of County

Commissioners meeting is in the Las Ani-mas Courthouse, 200 E. First St., Room 201. Information: 719-845-2568. COUNTY COM-MISSIONERS: Gary Hill (719-845-2595), Mack Louden (719-845-2592), and Anthony Abeyta (719-846-9300).

Today’s Quote“Where the spirit does not work

with the hand, there is no art.”

~Leonardo da Vinci

MAY 7~Raton PBW ScholarshipWEDNESDAY DEADLINE: A $500

scholarship for continuing education is avail-able to any student or person in the work force in Colfax County. Information: Diane Dixon, 575-445-2713.

~Trinidad SchoolsWEDNESDAY (6 p.m.) The annual Aca-

demic Awards Presentations will be held at the Trinidad Middle School, 614 Park St. In-formation: 719-845-2048.

~Trinidad SchoolsWEDNESDAY (7:30 p.m.) Board of

Education will hold its regular session at the Middle School Library, 614 Park St. Informa-tion: 719-845-2048.

PUBLIC SERVICE~Help Save the Veteran’s PostURGENT: All interested parties who

would like to help the veterans save Trini-dad’s local VFW Post 984 from closing, please contact Commander John Rios at 719-846-6094. The Post is in desperate need of caring individuals to champion this organization that provides so many honor-able benefits to the community.

~ Library Volunteers NeededIf you want to volunteer at the Carnegie

Library’s bookstore, Novel Destinations, 132 N. Commercial St., please call: 719-846-8522.

~TDOG Park OrganizersTHURSDAY (9:30 a.m.) The Trinidad

Dog Owners Group will have a meeting at the Carnegie Library, 202 Animas St. Infor-mation: Mary Rogers, 719-846-6030. Every-one welcome.

~Adopt a City Planter FRIDAY DEADLINE: Individuals, or-

ganizations and businesses interested in participating in the City’s “Adopt a Planter” program, scheduled to run from May thru September, can contact David Esquibel at the Parks Dept., 719-846-7699.

~Senior Driving ClassMAY 15 (9 a.m.-1 p.m.) The AARP

Driving Class will be held at the Sayre Senior Center, 1222 San Pedro St. Registration and information: Anna Risley, 719-846-3336.

~ArtoCade Fiber Art WorkshopMAY 17 (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) Join in this

free and fun workshop for ArtoCade’s “Van De Los Muertos” entry at Oasis Studios, 216 E. Main St. Information: Susan Palmer, 719-422-8108.

~Celebrate National EMS WeekMAY 19-23 (4-9 p.m. each evening)

The public is invited to an open house at The Trinidad Ambulance District building, 939 Robinson Ave. Register to win one of four free gifts. MAY 24/SATURDAY (10 a.m.) Family Fun Day at Trinidad Catholic Football Field complete with a Firemen’s Challenge and Chili Cookoff.

~Calling all History LoversMAY-SEPTEMBER: Anyone interested

in volunteering for summer service at the Santa Fe Trail Museum please contact Paula Manini at 719-846-7217.

~Stonewall Fishing TournamentJUNE 7 (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) Join in the fun

at the 18th Annual Stonewall Fire Auxiliary’s Fishing Tournament at Monument Lake. Registration and information: www.stone-wallfireauxiliary.com.

~ArtoCade 2014CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS: Anyone

interested in participating in the Cardango Gala and all other events before and during the annual ArtoCade Festival please contact Rodney Wood at 719-334-0087 or artcar-fun@yahoo.com.

~From the LA County ClerkLicense plate renewal online. Go to:

www.colorado.gov/renewplates.

~SUICIDE/CRISIS HOTLINES:*ADULT HOPE: 800-784-2433 *TEEN: 877-968-8454 *GLB-YOUTH: 866-488-7386*VET-2-VET: 877-838-2838“When the world says, ‘Give up!’ Hope

says, ‘Not today!” ~Unknown~ ABUSE HOTLINES:*Domestic Abuse Hotline: In Trinidad

call 719-846-6665 (24-hours a day). National Hotline call: 1-800-790-SAFE (7233).

*Animal Abuse: Do your part and help put a stop to animal cruelty. Report animal abuse and dog/cock fighting at Crime Stop-pers anonymous tip line: 720-913-7867.

the Fine Print

Weather WatChTuesday: Sunny, with a high near 81.

West wind around 15 mph. Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. SW wind 10

to 15 mph.Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near

76. Breezy, with a S-SW wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the af-ternoon. Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. Breezy, with a W-SW wind 20 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the evening.

Thursday: A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon.

Partly sunny, with a high near 65. W-NW wind 10 to 15 mph. Night: A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 38. NW wind 5 to 10 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. W-SW wind 10 to 15 mph. Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. W-SW wind 10 to 15 mph.

river CallPurgatoire River Call as of 05/05/2014. Johns Flood ditch: Priority #20 -- Appropriation date: 10/07/1865.

Trinidad Reservoir Accounting:Release 364.75 AFInflow 102.21 AF -- 51.53 CFSEvaporation 12.46 AFContent 16,474 AFElevation 6,178.38Precipitation 0

Downstream River Call / High-land Canal: 05/31/1866.

the ChroniCle neWsAMERICAN DREAM

National program helps people build own homesBy Steve BlockThe Chronicle-News

Families who are struggling fi-nancially sometimes have to live in substandard housing because they can’t afford anything better. Some of those families, however, may now be able to build their own new homes through the Self Help Housing Program, sponsored by the Community Resources & Housing Development Corpora-tion (CRHDC).

Two CRHDC representatives have been in Trinidad for the last two weeks seeking applicants for the Self Help Housing Program. CRHDC plans call for the build-ing of 12 new, affordable homes for families who qualify for financial assistance through the program. The homes are planned for an area of northern Trinidad called City View Heights, which is near the northern end of San Pedro Street. CRHDC built 14 new homes in the area in the 1990s.

CRHDC has helped more than 1,600 families build their homes in 30 different Colorado counties through its mutual self-help pro-gram, which allows new home-buyers to take an active role in the construction of their own homes. In this program, par-ticipants contribute significant “sweat equity” towards the construction of their home, bring-ing down devel-opment costs and producing a more affordable home. Each family con-tributes a minimum of 30 hours of labor per week towards the homes for approximately six to eight months, according to the website www.crhdc.org.

Homeowners are trained in

various building skills, such as pouring concrete, carpentry and installing drywall. Each home-building project is assigned a con-struction supervisor to make sure the project gets done correctly. Three- and four-bedroom homes are planned for the Trinidad proj-ect.

The Self Help Program requires applicants to be employed, to be U.S. citizens and to have a rounded credit score of at least 600, though the program has a counselor avail-able to help those people who can’t reach that score. People who qual-ify through the program can use their own labor in exchange for a down payment. The homeown-ers get to choose from a variety of floor plans, choose the color of their new home, the landscaping, the type of driveway, cabinets and much more. All the single-level houses will be built on concrete slabs, and homeowners can choose either a one- or a two-car garage.

Emily Strasel, a CRHDC mar-keting associate based in Ala-mosa, described the process that prospective homeowners had to go through to attain a home of their own. CHRDC receives most of its funding for the program from the

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Pro-gram.

“Before we can start this pro-gram we need to have interest,” Strasel said. “We need to have ap-

plicants. Then we’re going to ap-ply for the grant to purchase the

subdivision land, which is part of the mortgage loan the applicant will take out. An average mortgage will be in the price range of $135,000 to $145,000, but along with that, with no down pay-ment, we also offer payment assistance

through the USDA, which defers your interest. So once you’re mort-gage is paid off, then you pay your interest off, so that helps keep your payment down.”

Strasel said the mortgage loans had to be paid off in a time period

of between 30 to 32 years. Local applicants can get their applica-tions pre-approved by CRHDC’s Alamosa office, but final approval depends on USDA Rural Develop-ment, with the loan process taking one week to three weeks.

“We don’t have anyone ap-proved yet,” she said. “We’re just starting to get applications, but we’ve only been advertising here for about two weeks. We’ve got about four or five applications.”

Local building-supply compa-nies in the Trinidad area would supply the materials for the home-building projects, Strasel said. Most of CRHDC’s newly built homes, she said, were Energy-Star

Steve Block / The Chronicle-NewsEmily Strasel of CRHDC is looking for people in Trinidad who would like to help build and own a new home of their own.

Continued on Page 2 ...

ACHIEVEMENT

Trinidad State to honor more than 100 graduatesBy Greg BoyceSpecial to The Chronicle-News

Trinidad State will highlight

two outstanding students during commencement ceremonies on May 9, as diplo-mas and certifi-cates are award-ed to more than 100 graduates.

Shelby Walk-er has a perfect 4.0 Grade Point Average in her two years at Trinidad State. She started as a Pre-Veterinary major but dis-covered a love of chemistry, so she switched to Pre-Pharmacy. “I really enjoyed taking chemistry here, and that’s what initiated my degree path,” said Walker. She’s been accepted at the School of Pharmacy at Tex-as Tech, where she will continue her education in the fall.

It will take four more years

for her to become a pharmacist, but she already has a head start. She said most people spend three years in college before getting into a pharmacy program, but she was

able to do it in two at Trinidad State.

A standout on the Trini-dad State Vol-leyball Team, Walker cred-its her sports participation with helping to build her sense of teamwork and to develop her leadership skills.

A m a n d a Sturgeon has a 3.97 grade point av-erage, and she will graduate with an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing. A resident of Denver for the last 25 years, she chose Trini-dad State’s Nursing School for two reasons. “In Denver, there’s a five-year waiting list to get into nurs-ing programs,” said Sturgeon.

“Partly for that reason and partly because my father lives in Cimarron, New Mexico, so I was com-ing down to this area to be near him — I want-ed to be some-where near my father.”

S t u r g e o n plans to take the Registered Nurse tests this summer and hopes to land a job in the area to start gaining some work ex-perience. She started taking

online nursing classes at the Uni-versity of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) in January. With-in the next year and a half, she hopes to graduate from there with a Bachelor of Sci-ence in Nursing.

“It’s been great,” Sturgeon said of Trinidad State. “Small, not big classes, get to know your teach-ers — so it’s been good.”

Jay Cimino, President and CEO of Phil Long Deal-erships, will speak at the graduation ceremony. Cimino is a Trinidad na-tive and Trinidad State alumnus. He has been instru-mental in inspiring growth and change in the local commu-nity through the es-tablishment of the Trinidad Com-munity Foundation, Phil Long Toyota of Trinidad, Phil Long Ford of Raton, Mt. Carmel Health, Wellness, and Community Center, and recent plans for La Puerta de Colorado, a proposed downtown revitalization development that

is slated to include a classic car museum, a brew pub, a restaurant and other attractions designed to bring tourists to Trinidad. He also funds scholarships for Holy Trin-

ity Academy concurrent-enroll-ment students and students plan-ning to attend Trinidad State after graduation.

Commencement will begin at 10 a.m. at Trinidad State on May 9 in the “Pit,” a grassy amphithe-ater located just west of Scott Gym.

Photos courtesy of Greg Boyce Graduate Shelby Walker, above, has been accepted to the pharmacy program at Texas Tech. Amanda Sturgeon, below, is continuing her education in nurs-ing at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Jay Cimino, left, will deliver the keynote address at Trinidad State’s graduation ceremony on May 9.

“Owning your own house, especially when you’ve put your own sweat equity into it, has to be very satisfying.”