Monthly Archives: September 2010

News Icon Passes

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Jan Verhoeff

In a world where icons of every sort are celebrated in their lives, in their passing and in the events that appeal to others, the news of former Lamar Daily News icon Fred Betz, Jr. passing from this life to the next is an announcement worthy of recognition. News written by Fred Betz, Jr. filled the papers for years, here in Lamar, as he kept up with local events and happenings. While some reported his writings as dry and indifferent, others recognized his writing as factual and unbiased. Although his opinions on various matters were well known, rarely did one find his opinion of an event, act or incident loudly purported in the newspaper. Rather, you would find carefully reconstructed news of the event, researched, measured, checked and rechecked for accuracy, most often rankling the nerves and attitudes of local officials who may have been in error. Betz centered his newspaper business in the Lamar area, but spread his wings to various other local papers in the area, sending the best of his staff to manage and supervise new acquisitions until they were stable enough to hand over to local management again. On Friday, September 24th, 2010, Fred Betz, Jr. read more…

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Anticipating Color Trails of Autumn

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Jan Verhoeff

When someone noticed a few days back that the trees were changing colors, I gasped in horror. Normally, I’m the one who notices the colors are changing. I looked around, realizing not only are they changing, but the cottonwood tree outside my back door is sprinkling leaves down on our back deck. Golden leaves carpet the green grass that still covers the back yard, and now, there’s a difference in the air. Cool air sparked with those brisk breezes dances across the horizon, filling blue skies with white fluffy clouds. The feeling that I need to sharpen pencils, buy paper and reorganize my school supplies overcomes me on a regular basis. Then, just as I get the urge to go buy more school supplies, I realize that I don’t really need them. We have hordes of school supplies saved up from years gone by, and my “students” are about to go off to college. Will I need school supplies then? Do you have a color trail of autumn that you anticipate each year? When I lived in Lamar, I remember driving specific routes as the colors changed to see the trees along the path. On 9th Street just past Cedar, read more…

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Santa Fe Trail – All Roads Lead Home

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Jan Verhoeff

At the heart of America, Lamar, Colorado sits resolutely on the Santa Fe Trail, a cross roads of sorts that brings all to the heartland. Did you ever wonder where you could go that literally brings all roads home? The Santa Fe Trail offers more than simply a trail upon which cattle were driven, wagons wound their way through vast grasslands to travel the trail westward home. From St.Louis Missouri to Santa Fe New Mexico, the Santa Fe Trail rolls across grass lands and prairie, mountain and hillside, leaving trenches where wagon wheels trod. The Chisholm Trail crosses somewhere near Lamar Colorado – from south Texas where cattle met the railroad and traveled east to feed the mass multitudes of people. No matter where you are in the United States, the bottom line is – Lamar, Colorado, where All Roads and Back Roads – they all lead home.

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Posted in Back Roads, Big Timbers Museum, History, Madonna of the Trail, Santa Fe Trail, Tourism, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment