Commissioners Support Second Amendment, Approve Local Board Appointments

The Prowers County Commissioners unanimously reaffirmed their earlier straw poll regarding support of the second amendment with a vote of approval February 14, of a resolution in defense of the amendment regarding the right of a person to bear arms.  The resolution was passed locally earlier by the Lamar City Council and Holly Board of Trustees.  A public meeting regarding the second amendment has been scheduled by a group of local citizens and is set for 1pm, Saturday, February 23, at the Cultural Events Center. 

Several appointments were approved for local organizations in the county:  Gerry Jenkins, Lane Malone and Rick Wollert were re-appointed to the Prowers County Fair Board and Wynter Wollert, who coordinates the Sand and Sage Royalty Pageant, was also approved as a first time member.  Pat Palmer and Ruthie Esgar had their memberships to the Prowers County Lodging Tax Panel renewed for three year terms, there are still openings on that panel and Kim Fornier was re-appointed to a two year term to Lamar Partnership Incorporated and there are also two positions open for that organization.  John Sutherland, Lamar City Administrator was approved to serve on the Prowers County Emergency Telephone Authority Board and Tiny Silva was re-appointed to a new four year term.  The commissioners tabled approval for the agreement with Cooking Matters Satellite Partnership and tabled approval of the use of the fairgrounds for a monster truck event requested for this July. 

The commissioners agreed to administer a GoCO grant for Alta Vista Charter School.  Under terms of the agreement, the county will act as the agent for the $100,000 in funds to purchase new playground equipment for Alta Vista.  County Attorney John Lefferdink explained that because the charter school is a stand-alone, non-profit organization, they would not be eligible to receive the funds directly.  The commissioners also approved the contract which provides transportation services for area veterans to the VA hospital in Denver.  In a similar agreement, the county does not handle the funding for the annual grant as that is administered through the local VFW organization.  

Justin Lee, Director for Prowers County Public Health and Environment, provided a quarterly department update for the commissioners.  Lee reported that the final CHAP (Community Health Assessment Program) meeting was held this past week.  Of the nine health concerns listed in the assessment, the top two focus on teen pregnancy and obesity.  The study, organized by the Colorado Rural Health Center, highlights the community’s assessment of health needs in the county.  Lee said the last similar assessment was held in 2005 and a new report is due in April.  Lee said Seth Odette has been hired as the county’s Environmental Health Specialist, serving Prowers, Bent, Baca and Kiowa counties.  Odette will be responsible for commercial food inspections in these towns.  A search for a Deputy Director for the county’s public health department is still underway, Lee told the commissioners.  He also noted that a pro-active approach to flu vaccines apparently paid off for the county.  “There were only four flu cases reported in Prowers County in January,” he said.  At the start of the flu season, county health nurses gave out 1,730 flu shots.

By Russ Baldwin