10 years ago
• The 46th annual Big Thompson Canyon Association Pancake Breakfast raised around $5,000, far exceeding the $2,800 collected in 2013. “It was nice to see everybody after what we went through with the flood, eating together at that table,” said volunteer firefighter Tim Brady, who said he think the flood had encouraged more people to come out. The fire department members had worked throughout the 2013 flood to keep canyon residents safe.
• The time was not right to designate a downtown Loveland former gas station as a local historic landmark, Loveland city councilors said, voting against giving the Art Deco style building at 123 N. Lincoln Ave. the designation. The building was in danger of being razed to make room for the city’s South Catalyst Project. Building owner Gene Stires had not accepted an offer from the city to purchase the building for the proposed development project, but said while initial discussions with the city were unfair, he was encouraged by more recent conversations that included the possibility of relocating the building.
• Buckhorn Canyon residents would have no relief from long detours until permanent repairs on flood-damaged County Road 27 were complete, Larimer County officials said. With the county unable to secure cooperation from landowners to build a temporary detour, commissioners unanimously approved a staff recommendation to discontinue efforts for a temporary fix to Buckhorn Road.
• A Loveland woman whose personal handgun had been turned into the Fort Collins Police Services, then not returned due to a technicality in recent gun transfer laws, was among the first people to get their guns returned after the police department worked the Fort Collins Jax Outdoor Gear to have Federal Firearms License, or FFL, background checks done that would allow the return of confiscated guns.
• A resolution opposing a ballot issue calling for a two-year moratorium passed a divided Loveland City Council on a 5-4 vote. The resolution stated passage of the moratorium would adversely affect the property of those who own mineral rights, that the costs of litigation that could occur if it were to pass were uncertain, and that passage would harm the Northern Colorado economy. “I think it betrays the public trust of the thousands of people who signed the petitions,” said Councilor Ralph Trenary, one of the four who opposed the measure. “I believe it’s important to send a loud and clear signal as to where this council stands,” Councilor John Fogle said.
• The school board got a look at the Thompson School District’s proposed 2014-15 budget that showed $148.7 million in revenues for 2014-15 and $154 million in expenses with a shortfall of $5.3 million. The district’s chief financial officer said the district would use its reserves to fund the difference.
• A variety of Memorial Day events were planned in the Loveland area, including a special ceremony at Loveland Burial Park, band performances at Resthaven Funeral Home and Memory Garden, and a salute to all who had served since Sept. 11, 2001, held at Spring Canyon Community Park in Fort Collins. The Loveland Burial Park ceremony would pay special honors to those who had served in World War I because it was the 100th anniversary of the start of that war.
• Loveland Parks and Recreation Director Gary Havener announced plans to retire in July, after 35 years on the job. “He will leave big shoes to fill,” City Manager Bill Cahill said.
• A thunderstorm stalled over Loveland on Friday night, May 23, 2014, delivering as much as 4 inches of rain to some neighborhoods, causing severe street flooding, damage to basem*nts and windows, and reminding some of the September 2013 floods that shut down the community for days. Several roads were closed as city officials urged residents to stay off the roadways, and some property owners on North Taft Avenue were reporting basem*nt flooding.
• City officials announced Fairgrounds Park and the Loveland Recreation Trail would reopen to the public Saturday, May 24, 2014, after damage from the 2013 flood was repaired. City parks manager Larry Callihan said that frequent users of the recreation trail, Fairgrounds Park and ballfields would find their favorite areas almost exactly as they last saw them — if not better. “I think the parks department has been awesome,” he said. “It’s been 8 ½ months of work, and I think the end result speaks for itself.”
• Just in time for Memorial Day, crews from Larimer County installed the signs designating County Road 17 between Loveland and Fort Collins as the Sgt. Isaac Palomarez Memorial Roadway. Palomarez was serving his second combat tour as an Army infantry soldier, in Afghanistan’s Kapisa Province, when his patrol came under fire and he was struck. He died May 9, 2008. The Loveland High School graduate joined the Army in 2004.
• Nearly 1,000 Thompson School District seniors turned their tassels Saturday during commencement ceremonies for all four high schools.
• Top-seeded Resurrection Christian defeated upstart Sedgwick County 5-1 to win their second 2A state baseball title in three years. “A special group of boys,” Rez coach Grant MacAlmon said. “They’ve been playing together a long time. It’s a game of failure, and we try and teach these guys about life. You can learn a lot from this game. It does make it easier when you win.”
25 years ago
• City officials had already approved the first 80-home phase of a development on the northeast shoreline of Boyd Lake, and developer Gary Kounkel of Big Horn Resources Inc. was preparing to unveil plans for another 200 homes at a neighborhood meeting. He had been trying to develop the lake’s east shore for more than four years. His first plan had called for 837 lots, but city officials rejected the plan for having too many houses, many of them too close to the lake, and had called for more open space and larger land buffers around wildlife habitat.
• Loveland City Council gave unanimous approval to let Immanuel Lutheran Church install two additional temporary classrooms at its location at 1101 Hilltop Drive. But a church representative said the church was looking for a site to build a new school by 2002.
• The city of Loveland made $315,000 available to 33 agencies working to improve the lives of Loveland residents.” Other cities don’t put up this kind of money,” Human Services Administrator Colleen Finnman said. “Our council is ahead of its time.” Disabled Resource Services got the largest grant, $25,620. Other grants of $20,000 or more went to the Boys and Girls Club, Alternatives to Violence and the Food Distribution Center.
• The Balanced Elementary Attendance Region task force made its recommendation to the Thompson School District Board of Education for redrawing elementary school attendance boundaries. Some parents were concerned about the proposal to send 53 Carrie Martin Elementary students to Truscott Elementary and to transfer 88 Sarah Milner students to Carrie Martin. The moves were aimed at relieving crowding at Stansberry and Carrie Martin schools while increasing enrollment at Truscott.
• For the third year, the two McDonald’s restaurants in Loveland were preparing for a promotion that would add Teenie Beanie Babies to Happy Meals. They could also be purchased for $1.79 with the purchase of any regular menu item. Restaurant owners said the promotion had been wildly popular during its first two years.
• The 17-year-old accused of killing a 14-year-old in Campion was ruled incompetent to stand trial. The judge ordered that he be returned to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. His status would be reviewed every six months until he was deemed competent to stand trial.
• City Clerk Vickie Sheneman retired after 30 years of working. A Loveland native, she had started working for the city in 1969. Her first job was delivering mail in the city administration department. She became deputy city clerk since 1981. “Back then, the council meetings were broadcast over the radio,” she recounted. “I used to listen even when I was not required to, because I wanted to keep up on what was going on in town.”
• A Loveland school bus driver told school officials he could not in good conscience take a group of Thompson Valley High School students to play laser tag in Denver — their reward for regular attendance and good grades — because it seemed wrong to expose them to that kind of violence just a month after the Columbine High School attack. “I just emotionally couldn’t do it,” the driver said. “I broke down and cried.” He asked school officials to stop the trip, but they did not. “It’s an activity that no one would have thought twice about a month ago,” the TVHS principal said. “Should we stop doing everything?”
• Torrential rains and a raging river had caused $158,000 worth of damage to city infrastructure on April 30, city officials said after they tallied the repair estimates. The recreation trail and the Mariana Butte Golf Course suffered the greatest damage.
• Larimer County commissioners and staff members discussed a November ballot issue that would allow the county to remove Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights restrictions, something the county budget manager said would add $1.9 million to the county’s budget for 2000, if approved. “People see the value of their house going up, and they think the county should be getting all these taxes,” County Manager Frank Lancaster said. “But because of (the) Gallagher (Amendment), we’re not.” The Gallagher Amendment required a statewide balance between the amount of property taxes paid by residential property and the amount paid on nonresidential property, and it had kept property taxes from rising as property values went up. (Colorado voters repealed the Gallagher Amendment in 2020.)
• Thompson School Board members were considering how much of a tax increase to ask for in the November 1999 election. The district had proposed a 6 mill increase in 1998, but voters turned it down.
• After a bill that would have allowed video lottery terminals or slot machines at greyhound racing tracks died in the state legislature, Cloverleaf Kennel Club officials announced they would sell 100 acres of land surrounding the track for development. The general manager, Joe Pardi, said the track near the Interstate 25-U.S. 34 exchange was continuing to struggle against the growing popularity of the state lottery and mountain casinos.
• City budget cuts could affect construction and development of future parks, Parks and Recreation Director Gary Havener said. “We won’t build parks if we don’t have the money to maintain them,” he said. The Loveland City Council had voted in March to set aside 10% of the city’s annual reserves to put in the capital reserve fund, and city departments were being asked to cut their budgets by 10%. Among the parks the department had hoped to develop were a 60-acre park west of Wilson Avenue between 22nd and 29th streets; 11 acres east of Wilson Avenue, north of Woodward Governor; and 12.8 acres at Monroe Avenue and 37th Street. Havener said the smaller parks could probably still be developed, but the larger park, to be named Mehaffey Park after the land’s donors, might have to be delayed.
• Loveland’s Downtown Development Authority was set to cease to exist in 2000, and voters were going to be asked in November whether to create a business improvement district to replace it. Downtown property owners were trying to determine what it would cost them. “I don’t think the BID is going to turn Loveland around by itself. But hopefully it will show the city that people who own buildings down there are willing to foot the bill,” downtown property owner Barry Floyd said “I’ve got my life savings in downtown Loveland. I’d like to see a vibrant downtown, but it’s doomed to fail if the city doesn’t step up,” he added.
• After a three-month ban on sex shops locating in Loveland, the city planning commission reviewed a new land use ordinance that would permit sexually oriented businesses in restricted locations. “We tried to write the ordinance so that it protects the city without infringing on anyone’s First Amendment rights” City Attorney Jane Brautigam said. The proposed ordinance would prohibit such businesses within 1,000 feet of churches, schools, homes and other sex shops. The planning commission voted to explore a stricter ordinance with a 1,500-foot buffer, and to add parks, trails, recreation areas, private schools and licensed day care facilities as other places that sex businesses could not be located near. The city’s current planning manager said the first proposal would have limited the shops to only about 10% of the city’s 26 square miles. The new proposal would cut that to 2%, he said.
• Work was underway on Loveland’s first skate park, to be located at Junior Achievement Park, 1010 W. 10th St. The Loveland Rotary Foundation and the Loveland Parks and Recreation Foundation had come up with the last $1,800 needed to purchase the quarter pipe.
• Thurman “Fum” McGraw visited Colorado State University to see the new athletic center named for him. “It brings a tear to the eye,” he said. “I never dreamed there would be a building with my name on it.” McGraw had been the first All-American football player at CSU and later a coach and the athletic director in a 50-year association with the school.
50 years ago
• With gas supplies short, the Reporter-Herald wrote a series of stories about alternate fuels, including electric heat, propane and even manure. Public Service Co. was looking at limiting new connections for natural gas service because of short supplies. “We would like to sell more gas, but we don’t want to get in the situation where you, our present customer, would wake up some morning without a supply,” the district manager said. According to the series, a plant to produce methane gas from cattle manure was proposed in the Gilcrest area. A manager at Canyon Valley Electric Co. said he was getting calls about electric heat options.
• A delay in delivery of materials was delaying completion of the Loveland Electric Department’s new substation and switch station west of the city. John Deines, department superintendent, said customers would have to be careful about usage of power during the summer, as heavy use of air conditioners could strain the existing system.
• Loveland City Council voted to rezone an area between Sixth Street and 10th Street, and Harrison and Franklin avenues on the west and the alley between Grant and Garfield avenues on the east. Zoning went from C (high density) to A. One resident who spoke in favor of the change said when the council had rezoned the area from A and B zone to C in 1968, many residents had not understood what it meant. They felt C zoning would create higher density and traffic problems.
• B.F. Kitchen Elementary School won a fourth place State Environmental Award, presented by the governor. The school had entered its nature center in the contest.
• A South Platte River Basin Water Quality Management study was unveiled for Larimer and Weld counties. The study said that waste flows along both the Big Thompson and Poudre rivers would double by the year 2000, and the existing sewage facilities would not be able to handle the influx. It recommended Loveland’s two sewer plants be consolidated into one. Loveland’s sewage and water superintendent said the city already had plans underway to do that.
• Trail Ridge Road was set to open for the season on Saturday, May 25, 1974. With 30% less snow atop the road, it was the fastest opening road crews could remember. It took only five and a half days to “hole through” from east to west.
120 years ago
• “Ray McCreery was up from Longmont Thursday evening to meet with the building committee of the United Presbyterian Church,” the May 19, 1904, issue of the Loveland Reporter said. He was chairman of the group raising funds to build the church. The organizers expected to build “a very large and a very fine building — strictly modern in its construction” on Fourth Street.
• The school board voted to discontinue kindergarten classes in the 1904-05 school year, the May 19, 1904, issue of the Loveland Reporter said.
• Loveland authorities were seeking bids to install gutter next to the sidewalk on one block of Fourth Street to carry away rainwater. If it appeared effective, “all streets in town will gradually be treated in the same manner,” the May 19, 1904, issue of the Loveland Reporter said.
