News

• Telluride Discusses Town Council Ethics Code
• The Photography of Humanity and Climate Change

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Hikers Rescued from Via Ferrata

San Miguel County Search and Rescue responded to an incident on the Via Ferrata late Saturday, just before 10 p.m.

Two women in their early 20s, from Utah and Idaho, became stranded while descending the technical route after becoming “cliffed out.”

Responders initially attempted to guide the hikers down remotely but were unsuccessful. A search-and-rescue team was then dispatched to assist.

According to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, rescuers made contact with the hikers, set up a short rappel and descended with them back to the trail. The women were then guided to their vehicle. No injuries were reported.

The mission required six search-and-rescue personnel and lasted more than four hours.

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Telluride Discusses Town Council Ethics Code

Telluride’s Ethics Commission will be meeting for the second time in one year after a 19-year hiatus.

“Earlier this year, on February 9th, the clerk’s office received an ethics complaint involving Councilperson Kristen Permakoff. The town council referred the matter to the ethics commission, who met on May 18th to consider the complaint,” said Telluride Town Clerk Tiffany Kavanaugh, presenting before Town Council last week.

“The concern raised was that Councilmember Permakoff’s conduct during a public comment period was inconsistent with the town’s ethics code – specifically section 2-4-30 of the general guidelines of the ethics code – which emphasizes that the councilperson’s conduct must be ‘above reproach’,” Kavanaugh added.

Ultimately, the ethics commission determined that Permakoff had not violated the ethics code. But the commission noted that was largely because the phrase “beyond reproach” isn’t clear, and recommended Council create a more specific code of conduct for councilmembers.

“That’s, I think, what we were asking for our in our recommendation, to provide an explanation on what that means,” said Ethics Commission member Robert Mather. “Then we could make a better decision, to know that certain things are violations, other things are not.”

On the whole, Council isn’t fully sold that any change needs to be made. Mayor Teddy Errico highlights that with the exception of this on instance, there hasn’t been issues surrounding conduct.

“Everyone sitting here, outside of one incident, is extremely respectful to the public. I don’t see meetings devolving into more childish behavior, that we see a lot in other places in the country,” noted Errico. “I think we’re doing a pretty good job.”

Councilmember Ashley Von Spreecken, if anything, is concerned that the phrase “beyond reproach” is too harsh.

“It is saying that you have to be blameless, faultless, entirely virtuous, that no one can find a valid reason to criticize or fault with your actions or character. That’s saying you have to be pretty pristine,” Von Sreecken said.

For Councilmember Dan Enright, he’d like to see a small shift.

“I would suggest an additional rule in the code of conduct of ‘council must earnestly consider all sincere public comment’ something to that effect, because I think that was the issue, to me,” said Enright. “We want to have the trust of the electorate; we want to have the trust of the people. Part of that trust is a feeling that they can talk to us, they can give input, and we will listen.”

Town Council directed the Ethics Commission to meet once again to consider and provide recommendations on what updated language to the ethics code and code of conduct could look like. Town Council will discuss further based on those recommendations.

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The Photography of Humanity and Climate Change

Each year, a new mural appears on Telluride’s Main Street. This year features an enlarged photograph by photojournalist and filmmaker Ami Vitale. The photo, “Well,” depicts two women standing in front of an ancient stepwell in India.

A juxtaposition of a graphic, geometric structure with two women in bright saris highlights the shifting world in a changing climate.

KOTO News spoke with Vitale about the piece and the intersection of photography, humanity and climate change.

Julia Caulfield (JC): How did you get started in your work and what draws you to it?

Ami Vitale (AV): I actually, I started my career as a war correspondent, working in places, really kind of shining a light on the human condition.

As I got further along in that work, I began to really understand, at the backdrop of almost every single story I was sharing in conflicts around the globe, all of them had this one thing in common. It was the breakdown in our environment around us. When the natural world starts crumbling, whether it is issues of clean water, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, eventually that leads to more human suffering.

I realized at a certain point that I was almost focusing on the end of the story, and I wanted to back up and start including what is happening to the natural world around us.

JC: This might sound like a question with an obvious answer, but what do you think photos and visual can do differently as a way to tell these stories and build connection?

AV: I think one thing that was happening when I was starting my own career is that these issues were always separated. You always heard the human story or look at this cathedral of nature and beautiful wildlife images. you never saw the stories being connected. I realized pretty early on that we need to talk about how humans are a part of all of these stories, and once you do it changes how we see ourselves as a part of the natural world.

I also love film and photography because I think that it is so universal. If you have this universal message, it doesn’t matter where you come from, what language you speak, religion – If you have a religion – whatever it may be. When you see something that resonates, that connects us all, we all understand it. it just gets beyond language. It’s its own beautiful language. that has been what has attracted me to photography and filmmaking. I love the power of it.

JC: Can you share a little about the photo “Well” that’s in Telluride now?

AV: I lived in India for five years and really did see a lot of the impacts of a changing world, a changing climate. one place that really struck me was near Jaipur, India. this is this picture of this ancient step well. It used to hold abundant water. Today so many of these wells, around the world actually, are drying up. as the climate changes and droughts intensify, water scarcity is just everywhere. We all know that.

there are two women in this photo. I really wanted to symbolize that it is really women and girls who often bear the greatest burden. They walk farther each day to collect water. so many women I know spend their entire days walking, collecting water.

This basic task is robbing them of their time, of education, of safety and opportunity.

So, the stepwell is beautiful. The architecture of it is stunning and the image is really graphic, but there’s a much deeper message to it.

JC: For folks who are walking down the street, what do you hope folks feel by seeing this mural?

AV: I think the power of photography is I just want to make people stop and look and reimagine each of our own roles in these larger stories. They may seem so far away and have no connection to us at, but if you look a little more deeply, you realize that we are all so interconnected. that is the beauty not just of these images, but of the stories and the message behind them.

A mural of photographer Ami Vitale’s photograph “Well” is located outside Telco on Main Street in Telluride.

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Poet Laureate Paulo Munguía Leads Talking Gourds Stories and Poems Night

San Miguel County Poet Laureate Paulo Munguía will be the featured poet at the Talking Gourds Stories and Poems event.

Munguía will present his work and answer questions from attendees. Participants are also encouraged to bring a poem to share, whether it is their own or written by another author.

For those seeking inspiration, this month’s poetry prompt is “Cinco de Mayo.”

The June Stories and Poems event will take place at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, at the Wilkinson Public Library.

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Utah Sen. Lee Effort to Overturn Monument Plan Faces Setback

Efforts by Utah Republicans to overturn the management plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument have encountered a significant hurdle.

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee introduced a resolution under the Congressional Review Act seeking to nullify the plan, which governs conservation, recreation and cultural resource management for six tribes across nearly 2 million acres in southern Utah.

The resolution required only a simple majority vote in Congress, but action had to occur within 60 legislative days of its introduction. With that window now closed, Lee would need to secure 60 votes in the Senate to advance the measure.

Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said efforts to overturn a resource management plan through the Congressional Review Act are unprecedented.

“What it probably would have done is created a lot of fighting and uncertainty, and that’s bad for everybody, no matter where you fall. Supporting more grazing or less grazing, more off-road vehicle access or less. Stability is important. That’s what would have gone out this window if this thing had passed,” Braden said.

Braden said public opposition played a key role in preventing the resolution from reaching the Senate floor.

He credited constituents who contacted their congressional representatives and opposed the proposal, making it difficult to secure a vote on what he described as an unpopular measure.

Lee had not responded to a request for comment by broadcast deadline.

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Chronic Wasting Disease Detected in Wyoming

Chronic Wasting Disease, which is fatal to elk, has been detected in Wyoming.

While there are no known transmissions from elk to humans, public health officials in Jackson want to know if residue from sick elk can build up in the water supply.

As KHOL’s Jenna McMurty reports for Rocky Mountain Community Radio, each winter, 11,000 elk congregate in close quarters near the edge of town at a feed ground at the National Elk Refuge. That’s also where the town pulls some drinking water.

Those stats mean that a positive test of chronic wasting disease here is not like others around the state.

Teton County’s Public Health Director, Travis Riddell, is exploring what tracking CWD would look like in the town’s water supply.

“You know, people can choose to eat or not eat elk that may be contaminated with this, but your choice of where you get your public drinking water is a, a little bit of a different scenario.”

Hunters are discouraged from eating meat from an elk that carried the disease.

Biologists have found infectious traces in the soil at various state-managed feed grounds, but that doesn’t mean it will show up in the water.

“The chance that this could become, like, an actual health threat to humans is, is quite low, but it’s a new and emerging problem.”

Wildlife managers have found chronic wasting disease at six of 21 feed grounds in Wyoming.

CWD was confirmed in Grand Teton in 2020.