Drought Short Of Disaster For Farmer
Cancelled Pumpkin Festival - - Just One Impact

By Charmaine Ortega Getz

     Rows of young trees flutter green, big orange globes peek through a cloak of vines. From a distance, Charlie Nygren’s New Forest Farm on Airport Road seems to be surviving the drought pretty well.
     A closer look says otherwise. The leaves are crumpled, the trunks are too slender for this time of year  The respectable future jack o’ lanterns are far outnumbered by pumpkins that are “pitiful,” as Nygren puts it.
There won’t be a Pumpkin Festival this year. The annual October event that Charles and his wife, Melanie, a partner in  Premiere Mortgage Group, hold for their family, friends and business clients has been cancelled because of lack of rain. And snow. Only about a fifth of the seven acres of pumpkins has made it along so far. Precious water had to be diverted to the thousands of dollars worth of deciduous shade and ornamental trees slated for market.
     Another festival tradition, the field maze that delighted daughter Lauren, 10, and her brother Cole, 9, as well as thousands of other visitors last year, is also a no-show. The corn didn’t germinate. The Nygrens bowed to the inevitable and held a Fourth of July celebration instead.
     It’s not as easy to improvise with more than 67 acres of water-thirsty crops. “Commercially, [the drought] impacted us in that we didn’t get the growth on the trees we normally would have. It’ll take another season to get them to size. It’s probably added another season to the rotation, at least, or maybe two,” said Nygren, adding with an uneasy laugh, “Unless it’s added a whole bunch because they’re all dead come spring!”
     Nygren’s latest crop is his biggest since he started tree farming six years ago. He planted nearly 10,000 bare-root trees last spring; each requires copious watering until a root system can be established.
     The Nygrens sound philosophical, as they work together in their kitchen to prepare for a dinner gathering, but there’s an echo of anxiety harkening back to the early days of the drought.
     “There’s been loss…” Melanie Nygren tries for the right words. “I think just the fear, the stress of … Each time you water, you don’t know if there’s going to be water.”
     Even with rented, leased and donated water from farming neighbors who decided to forgo some efforts in the face of Colorado’s worst drought in decades, the situation is dire enough that Charlie Nygren sees long-term challenges ahead.
He’s looking into alternatives to flood irrigation, options to cope with the little water available if the drought continues. But Nygren still has to deal with the present, and, as with the Pumpkin Festival, he’s prepared to bow to the inevitable.
      “We’re canceling all the orders for spring, so we’re not going to plant a crop for next year. We’re trying to nurse what’s in the ground because there’s not much point in planting more if you can’t maintain what you’ve got,” Nygren said.
“Which really expands the impact of the drought like five years, because five years from now I won’t have a crop to sell because I didn’t plant a crop. So it’s not just an annual crisis, it’s probably turning into a decade-long crisis.”
Nygren was raised on a farm near Mead. He received his degree from Colorado State, and returned to farming after “trying a bunch of other stuff.” He cherishes the sense of roots farming gives his family. It’s not only the drought’s big impacts that cause him pain, it’s the small.
     “Perhaps one of the greatest things about the farm is just what it’s been teaching the kids,” said Nygren. “After the Pumpkin Festival is over, then the kids sell pumpkins from the patch on weekends. It’s so cute, ‘cause Lauren’s been using her proceeds for her savings account for a horse. And so she’d greet every car that came into the farm on Saturdays and explain that if she sold anything it went to her horse. She could turn practically anything into a $20 sale!”
So, have the recent rains brightened Lauren’s pony prospects?
     “The rains came too late to do much good for the seasonal crops like the pumpkins,” Nygren said. “A crop that’s shot is a shot crop. But there’s definitely been a reprieve from certain disaster for the trees.”
And for this farmer at this time, a reprieve is enough to go on.

By Rachael MacKenzie
     On Aug. 22 the City of Boulder Planning Board met to discuss plans for open space in the proposed Gunbarrel Town Center (GTC).  The board offered two options to resolve the current open space issue.  The first option called for the previously approved amendment to be sent to the city council.  This amendment would have cleared the way for zoning changes needed to lower the required amount of open space per residential unit.
     The second option required consideration of different methods for determining how to allocate open space.  As part of this option, the board must provide direction to the staff and hold a public hearing.
     After a lengthy debate between the planning board, the Gunbarrel Community Alliance (GCA) and GTC developer the O’Connor Group, the board finally decided to approve the second option.
The planning board will begin examining these  methods, and will also consider basing the open space requirements on the total amount of land area used for the site, rather than the space required for each residential unit.
 Members of the GCA are pleased with the outcome.  According to GCA member Chuck Simmons, the previously approved amendment allowed for a “drastic reduction in the amount of open space, allowed for greater number of residences, and there was no objective number agreed upon as a basis for reducing the requirements.”
     GTC developer Terry O’Connor added, “Things are going along smoothly. (They) were trying to be reasonable in how they determined open space requirements.  The problem was they weren’t given the direction from staff properly to make a decision.  We needed a choice, one way or the other.”  O’Conner also wanted the Gunbarrel community to know that, “when we completed the conceptual stage of the plan’s development, we will be sharing the plans with the neighborhood.”
     The planning staff now has one month to gather alternative options to resolve the open space problem.  Planning Board Director Peter Pollack has also called for an independent market analysis of the proposed GTC to review economic questions for the area, such as the viability of retail space.  This study, along with the planning staff’s new alternatives, was presented at the planning board meeting on Sept. 26.
 
 
 
 

By Charmaine Ortega Gets

     “Things are ramping up!” said Debbie Lammers, Niwot area representative for the St. Vrain Valley School District’s Community Bond Review Committee.
      Shortly after the 2002 school bond proposal was accepted by the Board of Education on Aug. 28, the
district-appointed citizens’ group shifted into campaign gear with a focus on the Nov. 5 ballot. That’s when Lammers took on her latest volunteer role as media coordinator for the campaign to educate voters.
     Lammers will be at a town forum to provide information and answer questions on the bond issue on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. in the New Commons Room at Niwot High School.
     For this former paralegal, now full-time homemaker and mother to three Niwot schoolchildren, Lammers’ role is as personal as it is civic. During months of work on the proposal, committee members asked repeatedly, “What would be the impact if the district was unable to fund this or that item?” The answers were often sobering.
     According to the latest enrollment figures issued June 27 by the SVVSD, 15 of the area’s 33 schools are already at or over 100 percent capacity, and the figures are expected to rise. That means more portable classrooms and split schedules.
Beyond that, the district’s schools are showing their age. There are leaky roofs and fire alarm systems that fail current building codes. Inadequate mechanical systems drive up power bills even as pupils shiver or swelter. Athletic fields have safety problems. Classroom computers are so outmoded, students may flunk current technology.
     It’s a familiar warning that last November failed to move voters to approve a $353,000,000, 10-year school bond proposal – the largest, longest school bond ever proposed in Colorado. But the Board of Education learned its lesson.
     In April the district set up a Community Bond Review Committee with a citizen representative for each the seven
high schools and told it to come up with a leaner, more focused proposal. The final result was a $212,900,000 price tag, detailed expenditures, and a plan to construct all new schools needed within four years.
     “I can’t think of a single frill,” said Sandi Searls, Niwot area school board member, after the proposal was approved by the board on Aug. 28.
     In general terms, money raised by the 2002 bond would be allocated with 78 percent for new school construction, 8.5 percent for remodeling and building code updates, 10 percent for building systems that handle heating and cooling, 2.8 percent for safety and security measures (such as updated fire alarms), 1.8 percent for technical needs (such as classroom computers) and 1.8 percent for athletic facilities.
     None of the bond money is earmarked for items now covered by current funding, such as teachers’ salaries and school buses.
     Lammers pointed out that Niwot schools benefited greatly from the last local school bond issue passed – in 1997. That means structures are newer, the needs not as many. Still, the 2002 bond would pay for necessities that current funding does not – such as a new roof for Niwot Elementary School.
     If the bond passes, the Community Bond Review Committee turns watchdog. “We have been asked to stay on, to become a citizens’ oversight committee and ensure that the bond projects are completed,” Lammers said.
The cost of a successful bond will fall on homeowners, who will see $45.75 per $100,000 of their residences’ market value added to their property tax bills for the duration it takes to complete all projects.
     For senior citizens on a fixed income this increase may be worrisome, but they may be able to qualify for a Senior Property Tax Exemption. Residents aged 65 and over who have owned and occupied their homes for 10 years can apply for the exemption to reduce the taxable value of their homes by half for the first $200,000. Homeowners can apply by July 15, 2003 for the exemption to kick in by 2004. An application form is included in the January property tax bill from the Boulder County Assessor’s Office.
     Specifics of the school bond, along with a list of answers to frequently asked questions, can be found on the SVVSD web site, www.stvrain.k12.co.us, or in “The Green Book,” a booklet available at district schools and libraries.
For a Spanish translation of the bond proposal, contact SVVSD headquarters at 303-682-7207, Debbie Lammers at 303-652-8939 or Merrill Bohaning, coordinator of the campaign committee, at 303-833-4028.

By Mary Wolbach Lopert

 There probably isn’t a more hot-button issue today than senior health care.  What happens if Mom or Dad falls?  What do I do about medication?  What kind of affordable senior care is available?
 While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, there are local professionals who can answer some of these questions, give aid to caregivers and search out care options.
 The common thread that these professionals emphasized is communication and community – communication between elder and family, family and physician and with care facilities, whether it is an institution or community related.
 No one has to be alone.  There is help for every income level.  Knowing how to communicate, planning ahead and being aware of community resources are all keys to making the quality of life better for everyone.

Managed Senior Care
 
     Gunbarrel resident Cindy Hammond has a special interest in helping the terminally ill and the elderly.  After receiving her RN in 1977, Hammond worked in ICU coronary care, the ER, as a flight nurse, in an outpatient hospice and in home care nursing.  From these experiences, she realized the elderly have progressive needs, especially if Medicare and/or home care are involved.
    As a result of these experiences, she founded Compassionate Care, Inc., to assist in navigating the health care system in a proactive, comprehensive and holistic manner, utilizing the model of private care management.
     According to Hammond, essential services for care management are consultation and care coordination.  These services can range from “consulting with a family and pointing them in a better direction (to) sometimes legal guardianship.  But the core services are ongoing care management, monitoring services in the home or in a facility.”
     If an elderly loved one remains in the home, families need to do background checks, screening and check references of potential caregivers.  “The home health care worker training has declined,” Hammond said. “Families have a choice to go through an agency or a private placement.  An agency is more expensive, but there is the [benefit] of being fully insured and it can provide backup in case a [worker] gets sick or leaves the job.”
     With a private care worker, Hammond strongly recommends getting the worker bonded and increasing home comprehensive insurance policy.  She also recommends writing down all directions.  Being as specific and as detailed as possible brings clarity to what can be a complicated situation.  “If there is a problem, then you can go back to the care plan and say what has or has not been done.”
     One of the most difficult decisions is whether a loved one needs to be in a health care facility.  Hammond offers the following criteria: “When picking a facility, look to see if it meets the medical, psycho/social needs of the patient.  Geographic location is a consideration for family and friends.  Is access easy for the family?  If you are going to drive to the nursing home every day, you don’t want to drive to Louisville if you live in north Boulder”
Hammond also suggests:

• Check the pay source – Is this a private pay, Medicare or Medicaid situation.  If rehab is necessary for a hip fracture, Medicare will cover 100 days with the first 20 days covered at 100 percent and another 80 days covered at 80 percent.  After that individuals or families must pay or apply for Medicaid.
• Long term care – If further care is required and families do not have the means to pay, it may be necessary to apply for Medicaid.  Families need to verify that a nursing home accepts Medicare payments.
• Assisted Living – Be aware that assisted living facilities do not have the same regulations that nursing homes do.  Some assisted living facilities may require the senior to be completely independent, while others may provide a “menu” of services where for an extra charge the facility would provide assistance with dressing or bathing.
• Check the “culture” of the facility – Try to match the care requirements of the senior to the services the facility provides.

Home Care
 
     Most seniors want to stay in their own homes and be as independent as possible.  One way to accomplish this goal is with a personal care provider.  Long time Niwot resident Maureen Miller has been providing this care for 10 years.
     Miller knows from personal experience that there is a great need for in-home care.   Miller stresses, “There has to be an understanding between the [senior] and the family, that the [senior] needs help.  That is something I would stress to all baby-boomers that, when a person says ‘You need help,’ listen.”
     A home assessment is vital.  “When you are bringing someone home with a major impairment, … you need to look at the basics like rugs on the floor, a toilet riser for the toilet, grab bars (and a seat) in the shower and to make sure that things are non-skid. …  Also try and clean the clutter, so that things don’t get in their way.”
     Miller suggests surveying the house area by area.  First, look at the home as a whole.  Do doorways need to be widened or ramps built for wheelchair or walkers?  Besides grab bars and risers, shower or bath facilities might need to be changed.  Miller suggests removing shower rims so there is nothing to trip over.
    In the kitchen, is there is an adequate, healthy food supply?  Make sure the elder can prepare the food.  If there is some physical impairment, there are special utensils and equipment, such as angled forks and spoons, easy grab can openers, to make independent living easier.  Consider having someone cook meals in advance or sign up for Meals on Wheels.
     Is there adequate and appropriate clothing for each season? Can the senior manage buttons and zippers?  There are lines of clothing with Velcro fasteners, to aid in independent living.
     “I have a lot of people who are just plain aging in their homes,” Miller said.  “That’s where it’s difficult.  There are things that they just don’t see and that they can’t do.  Sometimes you can’t get the families to see either.  It’s difficult because it is such a role reversal.  You can say to your 2-year-old, ‘Don’t touch the stove.  It’s hot,’ but it’s very hard to turn around and say to your parent, who is anywhere from 70 something to 90 something, ‘Mom, you can’t touch the stove anymore because you can’t see the dials or you can’t remember that you put something on the stove to cook.’”
     Miller also cautions that besides checking care providers’ references, it is best for family members to make unscheduled visits.  “Have someone who can go in at odd times to make sure that things are being done.”

Community Resources
 
     Chris Kanowitz is Boulder County’s Niwot-area community care coordinator.  Working for the county’s Aging Services Division, she provides information and assistance concerning community services.
     “I go into the home and describe to the elder how I can work with them and their families in our community.  We try to focus on the family’s strengths and the elder’s strengths to help identify goals.  We determine the strategies that they’ve used in the past that have worked in their lives,” Kanowitz said.
     Kanowitz helps the elder to decide on their goals and how to achieve them based on a network of resources.  Often, the goal means staying in the home or downsizing an existing home.
     She also provides program information to the community.  “This year we are focusing more on government programs that are out there and available to people and income guidelines,” she said.
    From her office in the Eagle Place Community Building, Kanowitz works closely with the Niwot Senior Advisory Council (NSAC) in providing scholarships to cover costs for annual membership fees for Prestige Plus clinic, funds for some over-the-counter medications that some elders might not afford or a punch pass for the Special Transit Bus.  She stressed that everything is confidential.
     Kanowitz also works with the Center for People With Disabilities, Friends of Man, the Hynd Blind Fund and the Boulder County Housing Authority.  She can also assist families with elders who live out of state.  “Whatever we need to do, we’ll do,” she said.
    For more information contact the following:
Cindy Hammond, Compassionate Care, Inc.  4490 Clay St. Boulder, CO 80301, phone 303-530-7299, fax 303-530-7274, website www.compassionatecareinc.com
     Maureen Miller home health care professional, 303-652-3369. or at Professional Home Health Care 303-444-1981
Chris Kanowitz,  Boulder County Aging Services Division community care coordinator phone 303-652-3850, email <cskag@co.boulder.co.us>
 
 
 

     Steve Reycik, 52, never expected to purchase long term care insurance at his age.  But when his wife Susan’s parents ended up in a nursing home costing over $12,000 per month, Steve was shocked to see how quickly his in-laws’ assets were depleted.
     Susan’s dad had a serious stroke, and his nursing home care costs nearly $6,200 a month.  After Susan’s mom fell and broke her hip, she entered the same nursing home.  With signs of dementia, her care costs another $6,000 a month.
The Reyciks contacted Peggy Pannke, an independent specialist in long-term care insurance and president of the National Consumer Oriented Agency, Inc., to discuss their options.
     After comparing prices and details of over a dozen top-rated long-term care insurance plans, the Reyciks decided on combination policies with lifetime benefits for home care, housekeeper and live-in companion.  They opted to pay off the policies in 10 years.
     “The type of policy I recommend is based on a person’s age, health and needs,” Pannke explained.  “Younger couples generally prefer the ‘combination’ policies which include home care, assisted living and nursing home benefits.  At their ages, 5 percent compound inflation protection is a must.”
     Medicare does not pay for long-term care.   If a person is hospitalized for three medically necessary days and enters a skilled nursing facility within 30 days after leaving the hospital, and requires skilled-level or rehabilitative-level care, Medicare will pay for 20 days of short-term care.
     Medicare pays nothing for custodial, intermediate or long-term care.  Many people find this out the hard way.
Long-term care insurance has been around for more than 35 years. Today, long-term care policies pay for livein home care, adult day care, hospice care, respite care, assisted living and nursing home care.  No hospital stays are required.  The policies pay for custodial care, intermediate care and skilled care.
     Some policies have much better language in the fine print than others.  In the better long term care policies, the “trigger” for receiving benefits can be as liberal as needing “stand-by” assistance with two activities of daily living (eating, bathing, getting out of bed, etc.) or “reminding” due to any cognitive problem.
     Stricter long term care or “tax qualified” policies include language requiring a person to be certified as “chronically ill” for “over 90 days” and “unable to perform” activities of daily living without “substantial” or “hands on” assistance.  These policies won’t pay until a person has a “severe” cognitive problem.
      Depending on age and health, a good basic long term care policy can cost as little as $125 per month, but the more benefits added, the higher the cost.  “However, compared to the cost of trying to pay for care out of pocket,” Pannke continued, “long term care insurance remains an incredible bargain.”
     For a free folder of information on long term care insurance, contact the National Consumer Oriented Agency, Inc., at 1-800-554-1996.
     Peggy Pannke is president of the National Consumer Oriented Agency, Inc., a nationally recognized independent agency specializing in long term care insurance since 1986, with local offices in Boulder and Cherry Creek.
 

By Donna Currie

        Is your mouse hurting you?  Monitor drying your eyes or causing neck pains?  Keyboard crunching your wrists?  If you’re feeling uncomfortable, what about your kids?  If you have kids at home, chances are that they spend more time on the computer than you do.  However, they may not complain for fear you will limit their computer time.
      During the summer, great weather, sports, and hanging around with friends offer alternatives to surfing the ‘net and playing computer games.  But when the weather gets cooler and schoolwork requires it, computer time increases.
      When I was a kid, I browsed encyclopedias, chatted on the phone with friends and wrote my homework in longhand.  Nowadays, kids browse the Internet for research, chat online and type their homework on a word processor.  And for fun, many kids have  computer games they play at the end of the day.
      All that computer time can take its toll if comfort is not part of the computer setup.  Thus was born the industry of computer ergonomics.  Go to any computer store, office supply store or furniture store, and you’ll see various computer products labeled as ergonomic.  Search the web and you will see designs for setting up your workspace, simple exercises you can do to ease strains and pains and tips for how often to take breaks.
      In a nutshell, ergonomics can be costly or common sense.  I have seen some products touted as ergonomic that make no sense in everyday use.  I’ve seen, and used, dozens of styles of mice, trackballs and keyboards looking for the most comfortable combinations.
      After all that experimentation, countless hours using a computer, and some frankly painful setups, I can offer some advice.
      First, if it hurts, change it.  Just because a device says it’s ergonomic, it doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.  Mice, especially, are a personal preference.  Hands come in many sizes and mice have almost as many sizes, and a lot of different designs.  Buttons are placed differently, some have wheels or rollers.  Trackballs, which perform the same tasks as a mouse, offer a completely different feel.  Then there are tablets and touch-pads.  There are enough choices that it would be almost impossible for everyone in a family to prefer the same device.
      Second, move.  When you sleep, you move around, when you watch TV you get up during commercials or squirm a bit to find more comfortable positions.  But many people will sit at a computer for hours on end without moving much more than fingers and eyeballs.  No wonder your neck cramps and your wrists ache!
      At my house I have two random-break reminders – my dogs.  If I’ve been working too long, one or the other will nudge me or drop a toy in my lap.  Sometimes it’s time for a romp in the yard, other times a few ear-scratches are enough.  Enough for them, and enough to give me a short break to move and stretch and re-position myself.
      No matter what you use to remind yourself, it’s important to stop now and then, even for just a minute or two, or you’ll find yourself so intent on your task that you won’t notice the discomfort.  Oddly enough, an eye doctor told me that people even blink a lot less when using a computer. So that gritty, grainy feeling in your eyes isn’t really eyestrain – it’s just that your eyes dry out from not blinking enough.
      Third, rearrange things, if you need to.  You don’t need a fancy computer desk, but you do need enough space to sit straight in front of your computer.  A lot of people arrange their desk with the keyboard directly in front of them, but the monitor off to the side.  Use that configuration, and you’ll have a nice kink in your neck before long.
      Your keyboard should be at a comfortable height, and your mouse should be handy, without having to reach.  If you can afford it, it’s nice to have a keyboard tray that can be raised or lowered to suit different family members – and to let you change position now and then.  If that’s not in the budget, the other option is an adjustable chair.
      When it comes to keyboards, some people like the split design, others can’t get used to it.  And there are super-adjustable ergonomic designs as well.  Another consideration is the numeric keypad, usually on the right side of the keyboard. If you seldom use those keys and you’re right-handed, you might consider a keyboard without those keys, so you can move your mouse closer.
      Athletes may “play through the pain” but you don’t have to do.  If your computer setup isn’t completely comfortable – for everyone who uses it – change it!
      Donna Currie owns B.C. Computer, 633 Frontage Rd, Longmont, CO. 80501.  Phone: 303-651-7433, Fax: 425-799-5042.  Email: donna@computertoyz.com.  Her web site is: www.computertoyz.com