Norwood Teacher Named One of The Best

By Mason Osgood

Photo courtesy Norwood Public Schools

Rain clouds hovering over Norwood didn’t diminish the buzz of excitement inside the Norwood school. It’s Tuesday, September 17th, and a group of administrators and visitors gather to surprise second and third grade teacher Shelley Donnellon.

Emma Garrett Nelson is Chief Communications Officer with the Colorado Department of Education. For the past two weeks, she and her colleagues have been traveling around the State to announce the finalists of Colorado Teacher of the Year.

“We have this program called Teacher of the Year and we ask everybody in Colorado, we ask who are your favorite teachers, and we got one thousand nominations,” Garrett Nelson explains to students. “A thousand teachers in the entire state were nominated including your teacher, and out of those thousand we had ninety three teachers do an application process. It’s a very hard process, and oftentimes teachers don’t like to brag about their awesomeness and that can be kind of challenging for teachers to do. Out of those ninety three applicants we had seven finalists, and your teacher is one of those seven finalists”

It's a big deal. There are about 55,000 teachers throughout the state of Colorado, and as Garrett Nelson shares, Donnellon is one of the top seven. Garrett Nelson hands over a check for $1500 dollars for Donnellon to use as she likes, in addition, a $500 donation to Norwood schools on behalf of the Boettcher Foundation.

Gathered in Donnellon’s second and third grade classroom is the who’s who of Norwood. The Superintendent, Principal, School Board Members. The Norwood Town Clerk; even her husband, San Miguel Sheriff Deputy Michael Donnellon.

While the state is now recognizing Donnellon’s accomplishments in the classroom, for her students, it's no surprise. 

“She makes her teaching fun, she gets nice cool activities, fun and activities,” says one student.

“She lets us do fun activities, and she’s so nice and pretty and just makes us all happy,” chimes in another.

Donnellon and her extended family have been in Norwood for over four generations, and she's taught for eleven years. Garrett Nelson, is excited to be in the Norwood school district, and to meet Donnellon in person.

“We’re just really excited to be here, our teachers are absolutely phenomenal and extraordinary and especially in a District like this and when you have someone who is homegrown and who has made the choice to be here who just loves this district,” Garrett Nelson says, “she described herself as ‘Norwood through and through’ and I think thats something thats really really special about Shelley.”

Todd Bissell, Norwood’s newest superintendent of three months, already has high praise of Donnellon. 

“She has made so many contributions to the school over the years, I’ve only known her for about three months being new here but going into her classroom it's always engaging, students are on task, they’re having fun, smiles on their faces, and that's what we like to see,” Bissell says.

Donnellon’s giddy students gather around her for a group photo, as she holds her award and check for $1,500. The seven finalists will go through a second interview process, and classroom visits from the state of Colorado, before a final winner is announced in early October. 

But Donnellon says it’s incredible to make it this far. “I am shocked and honored, so I never in my wildest dreams thought that this was and option,” she says “I appreciate everyone, I couldn’t have done it myself, the kids here are great, the families here are great, the staff, the support, the town, I mean this is just really the best place”

As the celebrations draw to a close, staff goes back to work, and the students take their seats for the next lesson, standing at the front of the room is one of the top teachers in Colorado. 

The San Miguel Rodeo Saddles Up

By Eliza Dunn

Photo Eliza Dunn/KOTO

It’s a Saturday night in Norwood. The late summer sun is setting over the mountains, but in the San Miguel County Fairgrounds, excitement is rising. 

Over the loudspeaker, the announcer’s voice booms, “well, good evening rodeo fans, and welcome to night number two of the San Miguel Basin CPRA Rodeo.” 

The first event of the night is bareback riding. The gates open and a wild bucking horse charges out into the ring, kicking up dust and tossing the cowboy around like a ragdoll. The goal is to stay on the animal for eight seconds.

Next up are the roping events. Down by the grandstand, a few cowboys tie up their horses after their ride. 

Bryce Grant just finished the tie-down roping, a fast-paced event that requires both speed and precision from the cowboy. 

“It’s a single-cowboy event, where it’s just you and your horse and you’re tied on,” Grant explains. “So you have a calf and they get a head start. You go down rope, and then you get off and flank him and tie three legs.” 

As he rides into the ring, Grant says, he tries to block out everything around him: “I try to just focus on myself. I try to get myself really angry and really aggressive, because that’s something that I’ve really struggled with lately. So I just really focus on what I'm going to do right then and there. Get out good and just go do my job.”

Next up, the cowgirls take the ring. Breakaway roping is an all-female event that moves at lightning speed. In a matter of mere seconds, competitors attempt to chase down and rope a calf.

After her ride, Ashlin Spitzer explains that she does breakaway roping because “not only does it take horsepower, which is instrumental, but also the intelligence of the roper itself, and making sure that you make the right call at the right time. And you’re almost in sync with your horse. But it’s also just so beautiful to watch and to actually see someone rope sharp or the proper form. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things.” 

Photo Eliza Dunn/KOTO

Spitzer grew up riding horses, but didn’t start riding rodeo until recently. “I got into rodeo because it was…. COVID happened and it was time for change and to try something different and I had always been fascinated with rodeo and horses,” Spitzer remembers. “And so I decided to go to college and work for it and it’s paid off and it’s better than I could’ve ever dreamed.” 

Patting down her horse, Gopher, Spitzer says tonight wasn’t her best ride, but she’s okay with that. “Nonetheless, this is my hometown rodeo, and I absolutely love it here and I’m happy when my friends get to come out and see,” she says. “And if I miss, if I don’t, there’s always something I can take away from it. Of course winning’s great, but you can always learn something.”

Photo Eliza Dunn/KOTO

As the sun disappears behind the mesa, the competition rides on. One after another, riders take the ring, going up against bucking bulls and wild steers. It’s a dangerous sport, and sometimes competitors are only a few inches away from a stray hoof or horn. Still, Grant says, when he rides out of the box, he’s not afraid. 

“No, I enjoy it too much to be scared,” he says. “And then when you’re riding good animals who are your best friend, it makes it so much more worth it.”

That connection with your horse, Spitzer agrees, is key: “You know, your horse can feel every single feeling you feel. So they can feel when a little fly flies onto their back, they’re going to feel all the tension you hold. To me, as a rider, I think it’s important to be as calm and collected as possible so he can go out and do his job and I can do mine.”

As the last events draw to a close, the ring empties out and the animals get loaded up for the night. A band starts up and competitors and spectators alike gather under the stars, to celebrate another summer of rodeo in Norwood. 

Norwood Unites Against Proposed Solar Farm

By Julia Caulfield

A proposed solar farm just southwest of Norwood is drawing criticism from the community. This week, residents showed up for a meeting to express their disapproval. KOTO’s Julia Caulfield was there and brings this report.

The Lone Cone Library in Norwood is packed. More than 200 members of the community are meeting for a presentation on a proposed solar farm just outside of town.

The solar farm, called Wright’s Mesa Solar Project, is 100 megawatts built on roughly 600 acres over 4 parcels of land on Lone Cone Road. OneEnergy Renewables, the company proposing the project, was in Norwood to host the meeting.

“All this information has been public for ten days,” says Nathan Stottler, Associate Director for Project Development at OneEnergy Renewables, “We put out a little bit to get people interested, to get everyone to the meeting. We’re hoping to be as transparent as possible.

But, the welcome was less than warm.

“You’ve given us ten days, but how many days have you been working on it?” One man asks from the crowd.

Stottler replies, “Please hold your comments to the end. You can chew me out in about 30 minutes.”

Stottler says while he understands not everyone will agree, solar is an ideal renewable energy source in Colorado.

“Solar is a really great Colorado product, as everybody here knows, we get a ton of sunshine in Colorado, a really great solar resource, and one of the reasons OneEnergy chooses to work here,” Stottler says. “Colorado is also interested in reaching 100% renewable energy by the end of 2040 and this solar farm would certainly contribute to that.”

Stottler goes on to say, “Solar is also seen as a very compatible use with many rural areas, although I understand some folks here are going to disagree with me. It’s a nonpermanent use. At the end of the lifetime it’s going to be removed and the land is going to be very easily restored to the previous use.”

According to Stottler, OneEnergy is looking for a temporary permit for the solar farm, lasting 30 to 40 years.

When it comes to the Western Slope, Stottler says Tri-State Generation and Transmission has shown an interest in having renewable energy in the area, and there’s also the land. OneEnergy is working with one state owned parcel, and several privately owned parcels to build the solar farm.

“We’ve gotten some great suggestions from some folks on where we can stick our solar farm,” Stottler says, to laughs from the audience, “A lot of y’all suggested further west in San Miguel County, it’s open, no body lives out there. I agree. I would rather put it out there. We looked at that before we ever looked at Wright’s Mesa. We looked in Dolores County. We looked in Montezuma County and the wide open spaces out there. So much of that land out there is Gunnison Sage Grouse habitat which makes it unbuildable. As an endangered species, that land is untouchable for us.”

The land also allows OneEnergy to join in with an already existing transmission line. “There are many transmission lines in the country,” Stottler notes, “very few on the West Slope, and those that are there, a lot of them, the energy capacity that moves along those lines are already spoken for.”

When it comes to local benefits to the community, Stottler points to nearly $8 million in property taxes to the county over the life of the project, influx of dollars while the project is being built, and lease money for the property going to Colorado schools.

But during public comment, lasting over an hour, residents of Norwood were not sold.

“OneEnergy has not handled a project of this size. We are not the place for you to learn how to do your business,” says one man.

“This community has been screwed more than once by the Eastern Slope. We don’t see that $9 million for our schools. We don’t see any of that stuff,” another woman says, “You can talk to us all you want about these big tax benefits. They don’t benefit us. Telluride will get the property taxes, and the Eastern Slope is going to get the school taxes. We won’t see it.”

One woman shares “The Town doesn’t have capacity to meet the needs. I don’t know what your traffic control plan is going to be coming up Norwood Hill. Where are you going to put your people? How are you going to get them here? And how are you not going to ecologically and economically devastate this community for large industrial benefit. It doesn’t benefit us. It benefits your pocketbook.”

Another man jokes, “I’m a citizen. I’m a father. Husband. Business owner. But really I’m the only person in here you need to worry about, because I just found out I identify as a Sage Grouse.”

“While solar farms undeniably contribute to mitigating climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is crucial to consider the negative impacts as well. Finding a balance between renewable energy generation and minimizing economic and public disturbance should be your priority,” says one man. “This project is pushed and desired by people on the east side of our county. But they do not want this project on the east side. They cannot even stand the possibility of affordable housing in the Telluride area. We are not their dumping ground.”

Finally, one member of the audience says the issue is not an ideological one. “If that was slated to be a coal mine, and they were going to strip mine that, all the same people would be in the same room opposed to it. It is not ideological. The issue that I see here is that you came into a community and came in here without our input.”

OneEnergy plans to submit its proposal to San Miguel County in the next several weeks. The project needs approval from the San Miguel Planning and Zoning Commission and the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners to move forward.

OneEnergy hopes to construct the solar project in the next 3 to 4 years.

The San Miguel Rodeo Rides Again

By Gavin McGough

San Miguel Basin Rodeo (Photo by Peter B Lundeen Photography)

Building on a long tradition of horse handling and ranching, the San Miguel Rodeo came through Norwood this weekend for its 117th year. While crowds traveled from across the county, rodeo competitors and workers came from all over the west. KOTO’s Gavin McGough brings an audio postcard from the event.

Down beside the grandstands at the San Miguel Basin Rodeo, competitors in Saturday evening’s barrel race are awaiting their turn to sprint around the ring. In a test of horse handling and athletic power, the steed and rider race in a cloverleaf pattern around four barrels set up in the arena. Coming out of her turn in the ring, Harley Zehnder, a barrel racer from Norwood, is unphased by what she says was a lackluster result.

“It wasn’t my best year, but sometimes that happens. It’s my favorite event of the year, everyone shows up and has a great time. They love watching the rodeo and it’s fun getting to see your family and friends. It’s a super fun event,” Zehnder says.

I ask another competitor, Taylor Hildreth, the secret to a good barrel race.

“Oh, I wish we all knew the answer to that! I train barrel horses for a living and I’m still trying to figure that out. I think the biggest thing is having one that has a lot of try and heart and wants to be a team player,” says Hildreth.

Harley Zehnder agrees that much of the magic comes from the spirit of the horse. She’s riding a speckled gray mare.

“My horse’s name is Penny, and she’s super gritty and tough and she loves to work,” Zehnder says.

Back in the grandstand, below a huge western sunset above the Norwood mesa, the final event of the weekend kicks off. One of rodeo’s iconic competitions, it's bull-riding. The animals, weighing it a ton apiece, rip out of the gates as cowboys hold on for life. The event is nail-biting, eight seconds of danger and suspense.

In the ring right beside the bull and the cowboy, rodeo workers are face to face with the action. Once the cowboy loses their grip and falls from the animal, their job is to corral the bull and separate the kicking beast from the fallen rider. After the event, the cowboy protection team Edward Huffman and Devin Cisneros say that an empty mind is key to working face-to-face with such danger.

Photo by Peter B Lundeen Photography

“Breathing helps big time. And adrenaline! Adrenaline is huge. It’s just such an adrenaline rush. To keep your cool while it’s happening and you’re in a situation is to pretty much turn your brain off. Don’t let it tell you you can’t,” Cisneros reports.

“Yeah, you just react,” agrees Huffman.

A far cry from the driven and well-groomed mares of barrel racing, the bulls have a personality of their own.

“When I stopped riding bulls — that was like the eighth grade — I just picked up fighting bulls right there,” Huffman says. He says he grew up comfortable around animals, but can only sometimes tell what’s going on in their head.

“They have a different mind; they show one thing and are thinking another,” Cisneros agrees.

“Their smart animals, that's for sure,” adds Huffman.

After Saturday night, the fairgrounds fall silent for another year. The rodeo company, however, bulls and all, move on to their next competition of the season. Cisneros says he’s already excited for the next one.

“It’s phenomenal. This is my first time fighting [bulls] with Ed, and I can’t wait for the next one,” Cisneros says.

Photo by Peter B Lundeen Photography

Sounds from the San Miguel Junior Livestock Auction

by Julia Caulfield

It is a hot and sunny day on Wright’s Mesa. At the San Miguel County Fairgrounds in Norwood, dozens of people fill in to the outdoor events center for the 2020 Junior Livestock Auction.

“Today is the culmination of about 34 kids’ hard work over the last year. They have taken on various projects ranging from beef, lambs, goats, we even have some turkeys, ducks, and hogs this year,” says Regan Snyder, President of the San Miguel Basin Fair Board.

All the young people participating are members of 4-H of Future Farmers of America – or FFA – programs working to get young people involved in agriculture and animal husbandry.

The auction is truly a community affair. Parents, and community members sit in bleachers, as the you people walk their livestock around a ring filled with sawdust, showcasing their animals. Little kids run around, a dog finds the shade under the bleachers.

As bidding gets underway, buyers are showing up for the young people. The first steer goes for $9,000. Most animals are upwards of $2,00 to $3,000.

Cimmy Alexander is the leader of 4 Stars 4-H Club in Norwood. She says this year is one of the best turnouts she’s seen in years.

“I think people realize it’s time to get back to basics, and go see where your meet is coming from. Go see where your freezer is being filled,” she says.

In a year when everything has been turned upside down, Alexander says having the auction, and filling your freezer with local meat is a nice way to bring some normalcy.

She adds, for the kids, raising animals helps them appreciate where their food comes from.

“My son is 16 years old,” she says, “and I remember when he was in kindergarten, they’d all talk about their lunches. They’d all be like, ‘I have a peanut butter and jelly’, ‘I have this’. My son would say ‘I’m eating pig’s butt’, which was a ham steak, but they know that comes from the side of the butt. From little, when we eat something, it’s ‘okay, where is that on our animal?’.

But in addition to a sense of normalcy for the buyer or knowing where your food comes from, Alexander and Snyder say the auction is also about supporting the young people, who have been working hard for the last 10 months to raise their animals.

One of the young people showing at the auction is Alexander’s daughter, Dylan. Dylan is 14 years old.

“I showed a steer and a heifer this year, but I just sold my steer. I won’t sell my heifer. My heifer will go out to the field to become a mom,” she says.

Dylan has been participating in the auction for five years. In addition to steer, she’s also shown lambs, rabbits, goats.

“I like the animals. The animals are fun to deal with and they teach you a lot of responsibility,” says Dylan.

Hailey Hibbert aggress.

“It’s a lot of hard work put into these animals,” Hibbert says, “and you build passion for them. For me, it’s going to be really hard to let go of my animals – as it is every year – but it teaches you time management and hard work on how to take care of, not only yourself, but you have two animals to take care of.”

Hibbert is a recent high school graduate. She’s 18-years-old, and headed to college in Grand Junction this fall. Like many of the young people, the money she earns from the auction goes right into a college fund.

Hibbert has been participating in 4-H for 11 years. She says she keeps coming back each year because she likes seeing the younger kids find their passion for raising animals.

“I would tell the younger generation to go out there and give it your all, and if you see passion in it, the buyers see that and they go for the people that actually care for your projects,” she says, “and the community support, they’ll always be there to make it happen.”

At the end of the day, all the animals are sold. They’re either taken home by the buyer to be put out to pasture, or on their way to a processing plant. A year’s worth of a work is over in a few short hours…but only for a moment. Come fall, the young people will be picking out their new projects and starting the process all over.

Jury Finds Mother Guilty in Norwood Homicide Case

By Cara Pallone

As Deputy District Attorney Rob Whiting stated Wednesday in his closing statements in Montrose District Court: The evidence in this case is clear.

On September 8th, 2017, police responded to a property in Norwood. And on this property, they discovered two dead girls in a vehicle. In connection with those deaths, five adults were arrested and charged. One of those people was the victims’ mother.

Nashika Bramble

The jury decided that Nashika Bramble did act knowingly with respect to her conduct, and that she was aware her conduct would practically be certain to cause a result.

In this case, it was knowing that her two daughters were in a hot car in in with no food or water. And the result, is that they died. 180 pounds of food was found on the property afterward.

Bramble, and African American woman in her late 30s, was convicted of two counts of first degree murder Wednesday. Her sentencing is scheduled for October first in San Miguel County. A change of venue was granted in the case, which is why the trial was held in Montrose County.

What unraveled after the discovery of the bodies of Makayla Roberts,10, and Hannah Roberts, 8, on that Friday, September 8th, 2017 is a bizarre story about a group of travelers who were invited back to the Norwood property where they were awaiting the end of times. The alleged ringleader, a Haitian woman named Madani Ceus, reportedly sent the two girls to a vehicle and told the others to withhold food and water because the girls were impure and it would hold them all back from achieving what they referred to as “light body.”

Bramble’s trial began on the 8th and lasted a week and a half. It took the jury about an hour to hand down a guilty verdict.

Anywhere from a dozen to two dozen people were in the audience throughout the day. Bramble, dressed in a black suit with her hair in braids, swayed side to side at times in her seat and remained outwardly composed when the jury returned the verdict.

While the prosecution argued that Bramble was a person in a position of trust who took part in isolating and starving her children, Bramble’s defense attorney, Harvey Palefsky, argued that the case is about the illusion of free will. He told the jury that Ceus was the only person who had free will on that property, describing her as “evil, vile, a witch, and a master manipulator,” and that everyone had to bow down to her. Palefsky stated that everyone feared her, and that while it may seem ridiculous to us, we didn’t live in that reality.

Yet, as Whiting argued: once her girls were dead and it became apparent that the end of times was not going to take place, Bramble saved her own life. She left the property, got a bus ticket and only when she saw herself on the news did she turn herself in. 

In a video played during the trial, Bramble told investigators that she made the decision to quote: “leave or end up dead.”

She was pregnant at the time of her arrest and delivered a child while in custody.

Following closing arguments, KOTO News asked for comments from the prosecution and defense teams.

Deputy District Attorney Rob Whiting commented that he felt his team was able to effectively present the evidence they intended to present over the course of the trial, his first case as Deputy DA involving a homicide.

“Procedurally, disagreement is an inherent part of the system and that’s the point of having two different lawyers. And Judge Yoder is really clear, she keeps things moving, she respects people’s rights and I think all of that was showcased in the past week and a half.” 

Bramble’s defense attorney Palefsky said even when his client wasn’t communicating with him over the past almost two years since her arrest, he continued to work for her, saying it would be unprofessional if he just gave up. Past experiences he commented. have proven the importance of the phrase: innocent until proven guilty. 

“I’ve had enough cases where it turned out, especially with another double homicide, that the guy was not guilty and someone else was convicted. I just realize, I wasn’t there, I don’t know the situation. Look at the Central Park 5. I have a job to do, the DA has a job to do. Hopefully if we both do our jobs, there will be some justice in the case.”

Bramble is the second of the Norwood five to stand trial. Ashford Nathaniel Archer of Haiti was convicted in March on two counts of child abuse resulting in death and an accessory charge. His trial lasted nearly three weeks. In June, he was sentenced to 24 years in the department of corrections, with credit for time served.

Sheriff Bill Masters was in attendance Wednesday, as he has been at most of the court proceedings for the Norwood 5. He commented that it is still impactful for him to be in the audience watching the videos and listening to testimony nearly two years later.

“It certainly is, it’s a case that’s going to be with us for a long time. We’ve spent a lot of time on it, investigating this to the proper degree and presenting it to the district attorney and preparing for trials. It’s going to go on still for quite some time.”

The next trial is for Madani Ceus and is scheduled for four weeks in January 2020. She remains at the San Miguel County Jail.

The remaining two people involved in the case, Ika Eden of Jamaica, is in the custody of the state hospital and has been deemed incompetent to stand trial. And Frederick Blair, the only Caucasian person of the five, was offered a plea deal in exchange for his testimony. Two counts of felony child abuse were dismissed.

He also is currently lodged at the San Miguel County Jail and is scheduled for a status conference on August 29th.