Tag Archives: Tourism

Licensing your vehicle will be more expensive…

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Jan Verhoeff

If you allow your vehicle license to use the existing grace period before you update the license it will cost you. $25.00 per month, to be exact, to a maximum of $100.00 per vehicle license. The State of Colorado needs revenue, so they’ve begun to charge it out on the backs of residents already taxed to the maximum possible tax in the state using non-Bruce limitation tax fees. License plates, speeding tickets, land use fees, property fines (as per the city code inspectors’ definition of violation), and any other fees the local government entities can figure out how to charge local citizens. Tourists? Perhaps you think you’ll be sacred this year, since you’re bringing revenue into the state? Don’t get cozy with that speed-limit, since coming back for the hearing will be unlikely, it will cost you more than twice what the same violation would have cost you last year, same time, same place. I’d like to promote tourism to the area. To be honest, I love when tourists come driving through my town. I love sharing local history with them, showing off various sites around the community. I’ve even been known to offer my personal vehicle and time as read more…

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Posted in Tourism, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Power Plant: Kill Radius 1 MILE

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Jan Verhoeff

This radius includes ALL of LAMAR. After tonight’s 15 minute blast of heart pounding explosions, I’m rethinking prior comments about the plant’s safety ratios. This is the third time I’ve been awakened past the midnight hour to the sound of loud pounding, sirens and blaring noise from the power plant, and I’m at the edge of the one mile radius. I can’t imagine the fear and trembling with which those across the road from the site bare each day of their lives. I waited out the first five minutes of the noise in sheer panic, turning on the radio and listening for an announcement as to the cause of the blasting noise. None came. I called the police department and was asked to hold. I did. They never came back on the line. This power plant project began after the citizens of the community turned it down – BY VOTE – three times. And yet, still the community leaders, shall we call them City Council, insisted on installing the plant. Do they awaken in the wee hours of the morning scared breathless by the wham, bang and clang of whatever strange obnoxious noises are striking fear into the citizens of read more…

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Posted in City Council, City of Lamar, Economics, Power Plant, Tourists | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Rivers of Wind – Arkansas Valley Clangings

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Jan Verhoeff

Last night I picked up a book off my headboard by Gary Penley. It’s been hanging out there for a while. I’d lent it to a friend, and when it was returned, I laid it on the headboard. The title of the book is “Rivers of Wind” which always reminds me of the power of wind across the prairie. The wind here is ever changing. Clouds generally arrive on the western horizon, a benefit of living east of the Rocky Mountains, and drift across the land in a predictable fashion. Wind, however, comes from every which direction and is ever changing. In the book, Gary speaks of his grandfather, George Blizzard and a fight he had with Hank Stoner, a man known around these parts as a bully in the early 1900′s. George Blizzard wasn’t necessarily a fighting man, but he stood for something of quality and value and didn’t mind taking a blow or two for his cause. He had purpose in life and he pursued that purpose actively. When bullies like Hank Stoner attempt get in the way of a man like Blizzard, they tend to fall. Once again, the rivers of wind along the Arkansas Valley are read more…

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Posted in Challenge, Commentary, Economics, Home Improvement, Jan Verhoeff, National News, Stuff Happens, Tax, Tourism, Tourists, Urban Renewal | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment