Back to Mountain Standard Time. With it comes the first forecasted snowstorm of the season come mid-week. Election Day looks sunny, but then watch out. More below:
1. Election Night
On election night and into Wednesday morning find your way to AlamosaCitizen.com for all the local results. We’ll publish vote tallies for county commissioner races, state legislative races and local and statewide ballot initiatives. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
2. Potato workers file lawsuit
Three workers bused in as labor for Mountain King potato facility in Monte Vista and Alpine Potato Company in Hooper have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver seeking wages owed to them under the U.S. Fair Labor Act. Both companies are named as defendants along with J&T Harvesting of Uvalde, TX, which, according to the lawsuit, originally hired the workers through the federal H-2A visa program but then bused them to Center to work. Under a H-2A visa, a U.S. company can hire foreign workers for a specific location where the company can’t find American labor, but it cannot outsource the labor to another employer. We’ll track the lawsuit brought by plaintiffs Armando Rubio Flores, Alfonso Angeles Hernandez, and Israin Hernandez Jacobo. They brought the lawsuit individually “and on behalf of all others similarly situated.”
3. San Luis Peoples Market aims for late-November opening
The San Luis Peoples Market has gotten a clean bill of health following mold abatement work that was completed in October and asbestos and lead cleanup that was completed in August. Next comes work to get the store ready for a late-November reopening, said Devon Peña, who is leading the project for The Acequia Institute. The work includes replacing the ceiling firewall between the floors above the grocery store, and then pouring an acid-washed floor. Then comes a resetting of the interior of the market with new gondola shelving, fruit and vegetable stands, an 18-bin bulk dispensary, a new checkout stand, new freezers and a 40-bird rotisserie oven, among other features. The market has been closed since July 6, 2023, to address the environmental remedial work. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment awarded The Acequia Institute a $200,000 grant to cover the cost of the asbestos abatement and lead-based paint and mold removal.
4. Valley-Wide breaks ground
Robert Watts was surprised by the turnout. Way more community members for The Valley-Wide Health and Wellness Center groundbreaking than anything Watts has seen in his construction career. He’s the superintendent on the job site for Nunn Construction, which has been hired to transform the old Alamosa County Courthouse across from Sacred Heart Church. He and his crew have temporarily relocated to Alamosa from the Durango office to take on the depression-era WPA building for renovation. As last week’s groundbreaking unfolded, Watts marveled at the interest in the project and remarked about the challenge the interior of the buildings will present to his crew. “She’s got some interesting features inside” – like the old courtrooms and jail cells that come with their own set of challenges once you tear into them. Yes, it’ll be a project the community is paying attention to if only because of the fascination with the old place.
5. Author’s inspiration: Valley’s supernatural beauty
Like others, Matthew Lyons found his way to the SLV during the COVID period, seeking more space and finding a “supernatural beauty” that would inspire his next book. Lyons’ new horror novel “Mask of Flies” draws on the San Luis Valley’s oddness. In this weekend story ‘It’s something about the secrets underneath the thing,’ the author talks about his discovery of the Valley and how the lands drew him in.
6. The Valley Pod: Romain Legendre
Romain Legendre understands the task at hand – return Adams State men’s cross country to the front of the national pack. The French-born runner talks about his 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men’s individual title and how his style of running at the front of the pack will set the pace going into this weekend’s NCAA Division II South Central Regional race at Washington Park in Denver, and then the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Sacramento, CA, on Nov. 23. Legendre is fun to talk to. Listen in.
7. The Sports Page
The Colorado State High School football playoffs begin on Saturday, Nov. 9. Sierra Grande High, unbeaten in the regular season, opens as one of the favorites in the 6-man division playoffs. Other Valley schools in the state playoffs are Sanford High in the 8-man division playoffs; Centauri High and Monte Vista, Class 1A playoffs; and Alamosa High in the Class 2A playoffs. Here’s how the regular season ended:
Weekend High School Scoreboard
Monte Vista 36, Centauri 26
Center 41, Trinidad 24
Alamosa 14, Pagosa Springs 8
Sanford 41, Dove Creek 18
Sangre de Cristo 22, Custer County 16
Mancos 60, Sargent 6
RMAC Football:
Fort Lewis 27, Adams State 17.
In state cross country over the weekend, Alamosa High’s Elizabeth McQuitty finished second in the Colorado Class 3A girls state cross country championships held in Colorado Springs.