The Senior

VOICE December 2007

Local Attractions • Scenic Places • History • Money • Health • News

Famous
Frontier
Ghost
Trail
Town
Platte River
In inNorthern
North
Colorado
Colorado

Lindy in
Longs
Cheyenne
Peak
Charles
Lindbergh
Pioneer
in 1927
Climbers

Doc
Outlaws
Susie
In Early
Colorado
Pioneer
Doctor in the
Mountains
Skiing
Cover
Steamboat
Picture:
Springs
Geese Near
Longs Peak
2 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice

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Greeley Area Pioneers
By Bill Lambdin
T he South Platte River trail from
Greeley to Julesburg was one of
the great pioneer highways in the
West.
It was the route of the famous
Overland Stage Line and the location
of major Indian wars from 1864 to
1869. Early travelers along the river
saw many grave markers, burned-out
homesteads and other signs of how
dangerous the West was.
Thousands of covered wagons
rolled along in the dust near the
Platte’s banks. Most of Colorado’s
gold seekers and settlers followed the
river, which they described as “a mile
wide and an inch deep.” Although
shallow, the Platte’s quicksands could
swallow men and horses that tried to
cross in the wrong place.
Famous people using the trail
included Sacajawea’s son Baptiste
Charbonneau after the Lewis and
Clark expedition, explorers Stephen
Long and John Fremont, Buffalo
Bill Cody and Kit Carson.
The first white men known to
use it was a small group of Spanish
soldiers led by Pedro de Villasur in
1720. They came up from Santa Fe
to see if the French were settling in
what was then Spanish territory.
Instead of Frenchmen, they found
a band of Pawnee Indians who killed
Villasur and 45 of his soldiers, and
sent the remaining few running for
their lives back to Santa Fe.
French fur trappers were on the
river at least by 1739, and they
called it the Riviere Plat (shallow
river), which gave us the name
Platte. They also named the Cache
la Poudre River, the settlement of
LaPorte near later Fort Collins, the
Laramie River in Wyoming and
other landmarks.
At that time, millions of buffalo
still roamed what the Indians called
The Great Pasture on the plains
around Greeley. The Arapaho,
Cheyenne and other tribes followed
the herds, moving with the seasons.
The tribes lived free, in harmony
with nature, and they were proud of
it. In 1863, when Colorado’s first
territorial governor tried to convince
the Cheyenne to take up farming,
one chief replied: “We are not yet
reduced that low.”
But things changed.
Greeley in 1870, with its first irrigation ditch.
Photo Hazel E. Johnson Collection.
The few fur trappers who came
in the early 1800s didn’t disturb the
Indians. They built small outposts
like Fort Vasquez and Fort St. Vrain
south of Greeley in the 1830s and
traded with the tribes. They often
married Indian women and took up
the Indians’ way of life.
But the thousands of gold
seekers and settlers who began
arriving in the 1860s changed
things. They took the tribes’ lands
and introduced diseases the Indians
could not withstand. They killed
buffalo by the millions, wiping out
the tribes’ source of food, clothing
and way of life.
Between 1864 and 1869, the
Indians along the Platte River trail
fought back. They burned ranches
and forts, attacked stagecoaches and
did everything they could to regain
control of their hunting grounds.
At one point, all but two ranches
were burned along the South Platte
trail. Several times between 1864
and 1869 whites could not travel the
trail for fear of attack.
Pioneer George Bent said at
night Indian campfires along the
river glowed for miles. Drumbeats
echoed far across the plains, and the
fear of death was everywhere along
the trail.
But it ended.
Cavalry troops eventually
stopped the attacks, and the federal
government sent the Indians to
reservations. The Battle of Summit
Springs in 1869 northeast of Greeley
was the last battle with the plains
Indians in Colorado.
“It was over,” recalled historian
Nell Brown Propst. “Never again
would a Cheyenne maiden shyly lift
her tent flap to admire the plaintive
call of the flute. Not on the Great
Buffalo Pasture.
“Not there the heady triumph of
a buffalo surround—the gathering of
all the bands for the big summer
meeting. Not there the cozy warmth
of the lodge at night with the old
storytellers passing on the heritage
of the prairie people...”
The Old West was gone.
All that remains to remind us of
that pioneer trail is the river—shining
in the sunlight as it winds across the
vast, rolling prairie. The river stretches
farther than we can see, and farther
back in time than we can know.
________________
COVER PICTURE: Geese flying at
sunrise east of Mount Meeker, which
is next to Longs Peak near Estes
Park. Taken by Fort Collins profes-
sional photographer Gregory
Mayse. See his photos at Trimble
Court Artisans in Fort Collins, at
the Art Center of Estes Park, and at
www.gregorymayse.com. ■
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 3
The Senior
VOICE
Published Locally Since 1980
VOL. 28, NO. 1
email thevoice@frii.com
www.theseniorvoice.net
PUBLICATION INFORMATION
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published locally the first of each month
since 1980 for residents age 50-plus.
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Dr. William Lambdin, Publisher
4 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
Lindy in Cheyenne
By
Margaret
Laybourn
(Editor’s Note: Wyoming historian
Margaret Laybourn wrote the
following story years ago.)
C heyenne has been visited by pres-
idents, kings and dignitaries of all
kinds since its founding, but no other
visitor received the honor and enthu-
siasm poured out for Charles
Lindbergh when he landed his Spirit
of St. Louis at the Cheyenne airport
on September 2, 1927.
On May 21 of that year,
Lindbergh had made aviation history
as the first person to fly alone across
the Atlantic Ocean. To press for the
advancement of aviation, he under-
took a flight across the U.S.
Cheyenne was then an aviation
city, at the main division point of the
transcontinental air mail route with
one of the largest airports in the
nation. Residents felt they were at the
forefront of a soaring aviation
industry.
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All of Cheyenne was at the airport
that golden September day for the
scheduled 2 pm landing. At exactly
1:58 the world’s foremost flyer zoomed
into sight, circled the field several
times, landed and taxied to a hanger.
Lindbergh emerged from the
hanger ten minutes after touchdown.
Although he appeared tired, he was
impeccably dressed in shirt, tie and
leather jacket.
He was whisked into an automo-
bile for a parade, and the crowd
stampeded for Frontier Park where the
formal welcome was held.
When Governor Emerson intro- Charles Lindbergh in Cheyenne. Wyoming History Museum.
duced “Lindy,” the grandstands
exploded with a tremendous ovation On that day, he and my mother, man replied, “Lindy’s at the airport!”
that shook the stands. The young flyer Kathleen, were driving to Denver They raced out in time to see the
spoke for about 15 minutes, inspiring from Casper in a brand new Model A Spirit of St. Louis touch down.
the crowd and speaking especially to Ford to see the Denver Bears play a In telling this story years later, my
children. semi-pro baseball game. father always said it was a “three-base
My father, Royal S. Reed, had a They arrived in Cheyenne and hit.” He got to drive a new car, see
passion for airplanes, automobiles and found the town deserted. My father Lindbergh and watch his favorite
baseball. asked a man what happened, and the team in a winning game ■.
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 The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 5

Investing For See Your Best...

Your Retirement
By Scott Burns
Financial Writer
Q: Can you talk about the pros and
cons of creating your “Five-Fold”
portfolio vs. investing in a targeted
retirement mutual fund?
A: The Five-Fold portfolio is one
of the Couch Potato Building Block
portfolios. It is constructed with
inexpensive index funds or ETFs
and represents a moderate level of
portfolio risk that remains constant.
The target retirement funds—
now available from many mutual
fund companies—are an example of
how marketing replaces actual
thought in the financial services
you intend to use them. A worker
who will have a pension, for
instance, should be a more aggres-
sive investor than a worker who has
only a 401(k) plan. A worker who
retires without paying off a home
mortgage should be more cautious
than one who has no mortgage.
The cookie-cutter target funds
don’t take any of this into considera-
tion. That’s why I favor the
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wisdom, but a growing body of questions to: scott@scottburns.com. 669-2488 Specialist
research suggests it is wrong. ■
The assumption of the target
funds is that a cookie-cutter approach
will be appropriate for every person.
In fact, there are gigantic differences
between people during their careers
and at retirement.
How our savings are invested
needs to reflect the prospects of our
work and age. You can’t do that
with a cookie-cutter target fund.
Here are some examples:
In your 20s, you might be more
conservative with your investments
because your career is uncertain and
you are faced with expensive proj-
ects: paying for education loans,
getting married, buying a house, etc.
So it’s better to take a bit less risk in
your investments to support your
mobility and career uncertainty.
In your 30s and 40s you
normally should be most aggressive
with your investments because your
employment is relatively secure,
you’ve bought a house, and you
may be able to take more risk
In your 50s you might need to
dial back your risk because you are
more vulnerable due to possible
changes in health, marriage,
employment and career.
In your 60s the amount of risk
you take will depend on what retire-
ment resources you have and when
6 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
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Choosing a Part D Plan
H ow confusing is it for some
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Part D drug plan? Here’s what a
Lost Angeles Times reporter said
when he tried to choose a plan for
his 65-year-old mother:
“The more I studied the options,
the more concerned I became that
making a mistake could have serious
consequences. It can take days to
pick a plan that seems like the best
fit. The number of options and their
costs vary by region. In short, I was
drowning in choices.”
In spite of such difficulties,
Medicare officials advise partici-
pants to look at several Part D
insurance companies every
November and December, when
participants can change plans. For
2008, some companies will increase
their Part D premiums by as much
as 70 percent; and only one
company in Florida will cover brand
name drugs for the so-called donut
hole. Some others cover generic
drugs for that gap; some do not.
In Colorado, 55 different Part D
insurance plans are available; in
Sweepstakes Scam
By Barbara Read
I magine winning a sweepstakes
you didn’t enter and then being
told “not to tell anyone!”
The Better Business Bureau
serving northern Colorado and east-
central Wyoming has received a
number of calls recently from
consumers inquiring about a sweep-
stakes using a phony Fort Collins
address.
It turns out the sweepstakes is
originating out of Toronto, Canada.
The enclosed sweepstakes check for
$2,394 looks real and even carries
the name of a bona fide bank, which
has issued its own advisory on its
Web site. Recipients are asked to
cash the check and return a portion
of the funds to cover taxes and
handling fees.
It’s another phony sweepstakes
scam. How do you determine if a
sweepstakes is phony? In this case,
red flags are many.
The check and official notice of
winning comes from North
American Claims, Inc., 306 West
Wyoming, 52 plans. Monthly
premiums range from a low of
$13.90 to a high of $99.50 in the
two states.
That’s a lot of choices to
consider, say analysts; but some
participants might need to shop
around. About 20 percent of partici-
pants will see a $120 a-year increase
in premiums for 2008 if they remain
with their current insurance
company. Others will see a smaller
increase, according to researchers at
the Kaiser Family Foundation.
It’s not always a good idea to
choose the plan with the lowest
monthly premium, said Robert
Hayes with the Medicare Rights
Center. “Low premiums often go
hand in hand with high co-
payments for each prescription,” he
said.
More than 24 million people are
currently enrolled in Medicare’s
Part D drug program, which began
in 2006. They can change insurers
until December 31, 2007. After that,
they must stay with their insurer for
another year. ■
Link Lane, Ft. Collins, CO 80524.
No such company exists in Fort
Collins.
And people familiar with Fort
Collins will quickly discern that,
while there is a Link Lane, there is
not a “West” Link Lane; and the city
is known as “Fort” Collins, not just
Collins.
The letter urges the recipient to
call immediately for further instruc-
tions on sending a money gram in
order to receive the winnings—and
to “not tell anyone.” So what’s
wrong with this picture? Plenty,
according to your BBB:
Foreign sweepstakes and
lotteries are illegal in the United
States. If you didn’t enter, you
can’t be a winner. Real lotteries
don’t ask you to pay a fee. If you
have to write a check to win a
lottery prize, it’s a scam. Never send
any money for “processing fees” or
share any other financial informa-
tion in order to claim a prize.
Visit bbb.org or call 970-484-
1348 for further information about
consumer scams. ■

They Called Her ‘Doc Susie’
By Bill Lambdin
T hey called her “Doc Susie.”
She was Colorado’s most
famous, pioneer doctor—a beautiful
woman in a rough mountain town
full of lumberjacks and miners.
Susan Anderson was born in
1870 in Indiana and was one of the
few women then admitted to the
University of Michigan medical
school. After graduation, she came
to Cripple Creek, Colorado, to be
near her father and brother.
Then she moved to Greeley but
discovered she had tuberculosis and
decided to move to the mountains
and see if she could regain her health.
She chose the little town of
Fraser, a logging village north of
what is now Winter Park. In 1907
when Susie arrived, Fraser had
nearly as many saloons as houses. It
also had some of the most severe
winters in the United States, located
at nearly 9,000 feet elevation and
frequently recording the coldest
temperatures nationwide.
Susie first took a job as a grocery
store clerk, not telling anyone she
was a licensed doctor. The residents
soon found out, however; and she
began practicing medicine from her
small cabin, with virtually no equip-
ment and few supplies.
Her cabin had no electricity or
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running water. She didn’t have drugs
to ease patients’ pain. She said that, if
she kept drugs in her cabin, someone
would break in and steal them, and
maybe kill her to get them.
When one man cut his arm
badly, Susie told him: “You can
scream and cuss if you want,
because that’s the only pain killer
you’re going to get.” She hated
alcoholic drinks and wouldn’t give
patients whiskey for pain.
She also wouldn’t put up with
the crude jokes some men tried to
play on her, like the time a big
lumberjack walked into her cabin,
unzipped his trousers and said to
Susie, “Take a look at this.”
She asked what the problem was,
and he answered, “Nothing, but isn’t
it a beauty.” Susie replied furiously,
“This examination just cost you
$10—payable now!”
She usually charged $1 for an
examination. Or sometimes she
received a dozen eggs, butter or what-
ever the patient could afford to pay.
In the winter, she trudged
through deep snow and 30-below
temperatures to reach some patients,
wearing long underwear, long wool
dresses and miner ’s boots. In
summer, she wore cotton dresses
and button-down shoes.
Susie was a very attractive woman,
and locals said she had numerous
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The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 7
romantic affairs. But she never
married. When in her 80s, she told an
interviewer she could have married “if
I hadn’t flown off the handle so much
and said ‘pooh’ so many times.”
The local people loved and
respected her, even though she
became eccentric as she grew older.
Some said she became a fanatic
about saving things—pieces of
string, old magazines, even grape-
fruit seeds.
When she was nearly 80, the
University of Michigan honored her,
and Fraser residents took up a collec- Susan Anderson as a young woman.
tion to pay for her trip. She continued Colorado Historical Society.
to serve the little mountain town all
her life. She died at age 90. memory of this pioneer doctor alive.
A street in Fraser keeps the It’s named Doc Susie Street. ■
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8 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice

Wilderness Area
By
U.S. Senator
Wayne Allard

S enate Bill 1380 will designate nearly

250,000 acres as wilderness in
Rocky Mountain National Park.
This legislation is the result of more
than a year of negotiations between
members of the Colorado delegation. It
is a carefully crafted bill involving thou-
sands of hours of work with citizens,
local elected officials and the environ-
mental community.
The protection of water infrastruc-
ture is a key component of this
compromise legislation. If we do not
recognize and protect the water
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Mountain National park will be
managed so that future generations will
experience the park as we know it today.
The bill also allows for the
National Park Service to continue bark
beetle and fire mitigation efforts as
well as emergency response actions. It
ensures that wilderness designation
will not affect water rights connected
to the Colorado Big Thompson Project
or the Grand River Ditch. The bill also
allows possible construction of a bike
trail near Grand Lake.
A map showing the area proposed
for wilderness designation is available
on the Internet at http://allard.
senate.gov/_ files/RMNPbillmap.pdf.
________________
You can call Senator Wayne Allard’s
local Colorado office in Loveland at
970.461.3530, or email him from his
website: www.allard.senate.gov. You
can also get more information about
the wilderness designation at that
website. ■

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Fort Collins’
First Settler
(Editor’s Note: Fort Collins historian
Josephine Clements wrote the
following story years ago.)
By Josephine Clements
A ntoine Janis, the Frenchman from
St. Charles, Missouri, credited
with being Larimer County’s first
permanent non-Indian settler, staked a
claim in the beautiful Cache la Poudre
Valley above LaPorte in 1844.
He continued to roam the West as
a fur trader, scout and interpreter, well
known at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
In 1858 he returned to the Cache
la Poudre Valley with others from
Fort Laramie and founded the town of
Colona. The little town was soon
moved a short distance downstream
and renamed LaPorte.
On his claim on the river about a
mile west of the old trail that became
the Overland Trail of the 1860s, Janis
had a rude log cabin. Here he lived
with his Sioux wife, whom he called
Mary, and their children.
The next 20 years saw the routing
of Ben Holladay’s Overland Stage
Line through LaPorte and the progres-
sive destruction of the Sioux society,
ending with Custer’s defeat in 1876.
Following the Battle of the Little Big
Horn, the Sioux were forced onto
reservations.
Mountain men who had Sioux
wives faced the traumatic decision of
going to the reservations with their
families or parting from them. Nearly
all chose to go to the reservations.
Janis accompanied his family to
the Pine Ridge Agency in Dakota
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 9
Territory in 1878.
In 1937 my grandfather, John H.
Payson, rented the old trading post
building in LaPorte. In the old store,
he found a letter Antoine Janis had
written to E.N. Garbutt in 1879.
Garbutt was then postmaster and
storekeeper in the trading post. From
the letter, we must surmise that he was
in charge of Janis’ LaPorte property.
Janis wrote:
“Dear Sir, I have just received
your letter of July 30. You can sell the
hay for what you think is right. I am Antoine Janis, seated left in tuxedo and top hat.
glad you fixed the fence all right. I am Colorado Historical Society.
glad to hear you are all getting on
well. a letter to Ansel Watrous that is Sioux chieftains and friends. The only
“John Palmier, Morrisette and preserved in the Watrous 1911 date that can be assigned to the photo
Claymore are all well and wish to be “History of Larimer County, is “before 1877” as it was published
remembered. Palmier has lost a little Colorado.” in an 1877 catalog.
girl since he came here. I have just got The only known photo of Janis is Janis died at Pine Ridge in 1890
back from a trip up north. one from the old Fort Collins Pioneer and was buried there. But his memory
“Shall be glad to hear from you at Museum, now in the local history lives on in the Cache la Poudre Valley
any time so I can know how you all section of the Fort Collins Library. It that he called “the loveliest spot on
are. Everything quiet here. Everybody shows Janis, in top hat, with Oglala earth.” ■
busy freighting and haying. Yours
truly, Antoine Janis.”
The letter was written in ink, in a
fine flourishing hand. It was headed
“Pine Ridge Agency DT (Dakota
Territory), August 8, 1879.”
John Palmier was Janis’ son-in-law,
having married one of the Janis daugh-
ters. Palmier had a place in Pleasant
Valley. The little girl “lost” was Janis’
granddaughter. Morrisette and
Claymore were other French settlers of
LaPorte who had gone with the Sioux
families to Pine Ridge.
Other letters from Janis were once
in the possession of Larimer County
residents. In March, 1883, Janis wrote 667-0202
LOCALLY OWNED
FAMILY OPERATED
8426 Highway 287
Fort Collins
View online obituaries and send
condolences via the guestbook at
www.resthavencolorado.com
1525 Riverside, Suite-B
Fort Collins
10 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice

Questions About Estate Planning

By Ron Rutz
Legal Correspondent
Q. Do I have to pay taxes on gifts
that I make?
A. Yes, giving is a taxable event.
Any tax burden is on the giver, not
the receiver. Thus as a general rule,
the receiver does not have to include
the gift’s value as income. The giver
bears any tax liability.
But there are exceptions. One
spouse can give any amount to the
other spouse tax free.
But for gifts to anyone else
(including children), the first
$12,000 will not be taxed and the
giver does not have to file a gift tax
return to report any such transfers.
The $12,000 can be given to any
number of people with no limit as to
the number of recipients or the
number of years that the gifts are
made, as long as in any calendar
year not more than $12,000 of value
is transferred to each person.
It is possible to give a non-
spouse tax free more than $12,000
of value in any particular year, but a
tax return must be filed deducting
the excess over $12,000 from the $1
million lifetime exemption that each
giver has. Unlike the $12,000
exemption, there is no restriction on
the amount given to an individual as
long as no more then the cumulative
amount of $1 million is given away
in the giver’s lifetime.
For example, as long as a gift tax
return is filed, it is possible to give
away $1 million tax free to one
person immediately. But of course
this gifting possibility would there-
after be exhausted.
If a return is not filed, gift tax is
due. Then the giver would be
required to pay to both the Federal
Government and the State of
Colorado a total amount of approxi-
mately 43% of the value of the gift
in excess of $12,000.
The major disadvantage in using
this exemption is that, to the extent
that the $1 million exemption is
used for gifting, then the estate tax
exemption (currently $2 million)
will be diminished accordingly, thus
reducing the amount that can be left
tax free at death.
In theory, any transfer of value
would need to be added together in
determining whether the $12,000 tax
exempt threshold has been exceeded.
For instance, the cost of family
meals, birthday presents, tickets
given so people can come to the
giver, even the $5 to each grandchild,
etc., along with things like paying for
Coverage Gap in Part D Plan
I n 2007 over 4 million participants in
the Medicare Part D drug program
reached the coverage gap that requires
them to pay all of their drug costs,
according to research from Wolters
Kluwer.
Many of them switched to generic
drugs, different drugs, or just stopped
taking their medicines. The coverage
gap for 2008 begins when a partici-
pant’s drug costs reach $2,510. From
then until costs go over $5,726, a
another’s college tuition, church
dues, etc., would need to be taken
into account in order to determine the
total gifting. If all of these add up to
more than $12,000 for a person in a
year, then there is a gift tax issue.
________________
Attorney Ron Rutz will answer ques-
tions sent to 2625 Redwing Road,
Suite 180, Fort Collins, CO 80526,
email rutz@ronaldrutz.com, phone
223-8388. ■
participant must pay 100 percent of
the drug costs ($3,216).
Beyond $5,726, Medicare usually
pays 95 percent of drug costs. The
gap was intended to reduce costs in
the Medicare program and encourage
participants to be aware of costs.
It has prompted many to use
cheaper generic drugs. But it has been
a problem for those who must take
several expensive, brand-name drugs.
They often reach the gap quickly. ■

Joe Dombrowski, Rocky Mountain Standard Plan Member since 2004

“Doctors don’t hesitate when you tell them

you have Rocky Mountain Medicare.”
Coverage you can count on.
Joe Dombrowski lets everyone know that his doctors are as happy
with Rocky Mountain Health Plans as he is. “I tell lots of people to talk
to the folks there,” says Joe. “In fact, I can choose from a large network
of physicians, specialists, and hospitals and I don’t need a referral to
see the one I need.”
We offer a wide choice of benefit and price options, as well as local
people that pay attention to your needs and answer your questions.
We have several plan choices including our Thrifty Plan which is just
$24/mo., and we now also offer choices for folks who prefer a tradi-
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“Great service,” Joe emphasizes. “That’s Rocky Mountain.”

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 The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 11

Schulz and Peanuts: a Biography

By Peggy Hunt he initially titled “Lil’ People.” The Other Peanuts characters were He received many honors during
newspaper syndicate changed the title based on people Schulz knew. his life plus the Congressional Gold

T he Peanuts comic strip began

appearing in newspapers in 1950
and later made creator Charles
Schulz a very wealthy man.
Schulz died in 2000 at age 78 after
producing Peanuts for nearly 50
years. Writer David Michaelis
recently published the first extensive
biography of him titled “Schulz and
Peanuts.” It’s an interesting book that
will appeal to many Peanuts fans, and
it reveals the various sides of Schulz’s
personality and life.
He was born in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, in 1922, the son of a
barber. In World War II, he served as
a machine gun squad leader. After the
war, he took a correspondence course
in art and began doing freelance
drawings and cartoons for various
publications, including the Saturday
Evening Post.
Schulz knew from an early age
that he wanted to be a cartoonist. He
was quiet and reserved; working
alone and putting his own ideas on a
canvas suited him. Finally, newspa-
pers began buying his comic strip that
to “Peanuts.”
Schulz was a hardworking man.
He did not employ the usual assistants
other cartoonists used, preferring to
do all the work himself, including the
many books and TV shows.
He was the fourth most popular
American author of the 20th century,
even ahead of John Steinbeck, says
Michaelis. His numerous marketing
products earned over $1 billion a year
and personally earned him over $1
billion during his lifetime.
He lived briefly in Colorado
Springs but spent most of his adult life
in Santa Rosa, California. He was
married twice and had five children
with his first wife. He played hockey,
golf and tennis. And he had an affair
with a much younger woman—who
refused to marry him—before
marrying his second wife.
The Peanuts character Lucy was
based on his fist wife, who could be a
bossy person, said biographer
Michaelis. The character Charlie
Brown was based on Schulz himself,
said family and friends.
Biographer Michaelis said he was
usually very kind and shy, but some-
what egotistical; and at times he could
Medal, the highest civilian award
given by Congress, awarded soon
after his death.
be difficult to live with. Biographer Michaelis said Schulz
Apparently Schulz had the sensi- was not the “simple guy” he called
tivity of an artist but also the explosive himself. “How could someone come
personality that sometimes accompa- up with a complex comic and not be a
nies creative genius. An uncle complex man?”
nicknamed him “Sparky,” which The book “Schulz and Peanuts” is
friends and family always called him. published by Harper Collins. ■
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12 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice

Help Is Available For

Medicare Part D Drugs
By Michael Hollis 800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778)
Social Security Office, Greeley and ask for the Application for Help
with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

I f you’re a Medicare beneficiary who

has not enrolled in the new Medicare
Prescription Drug Program, you may
Costs (SSA-1020). Or go to the
nearest Social Security office.
To learn more about the Medicare
do so during the open season, which prescription drug plans and
began November 15 and runs through special enrollment periods, visit
December 31. www.socialsecurity.gov. ■
If you have limited income and
resources, you also may qualify for
help paying the premiums, deductibles
and co-payments for Part D. This
extra help—available through Social
Security—can pay part of your
monthly premiums, annual deductibles
and prescription co-payments. It could
be worth more than $3,600 per year.
To qualify for the extra help, you
must be receiving Medicare and have
annual income limited to $15,315 for
an individual or $20,535 for a married
couple living together.
Even if your annual income is
higher, you still may be able to get
some help with monthly premiums,
annual deductibles and prescription co-
payments. Some examples where
income may be higher include if you or
your spouse support other family
members who live with you and have
earnings from work; or live in Alaska
or Hawaii; and have limited resources.
Resources include such things as bank
accounts, stocks and bonds. We do not
count your house and car as resources.
Social Security has an easy-to-use
online application that anyone can
complete at www.socialsecurity.gov.
To apply by phone or get an
application, call Social Security at 1-

Put Perkins® on your shopping list.


Events and Exhibits
Holiday Gift
Weld County seniors can make a
free phone call to anywhere in the U.S.
from December 10 to 14, 9 am to
noon, at the Senior Resource Services
office at 1802 16th Street, #1, in
Greeley. No appointment necessary.
This holiday service is sponsored by
Senior Resource Services and New
Frontier Bank, according to DeeAnn
Groves. For information, call 352-
9348 in Greeley.
Red Feather Lakes Library:
• Ongoing events: Knit & Stitch group;
writers’ group; watercolor society.
• December 1, Santa visit at library,
11 am to 3 pm; plus holiday chil-
dren’s stories and live music.
• December 8, Dr. Janelle O’Boyle
discusses children’s projects., 2-3:30 pm.
• December 21, Christmas story hour
and crafts for children, 10:30-11:30 am.
• December 28, free movie “Star
Wars, the Phantom Menace,” 2 pm.
• December 29, free movie, “The
Santa Claus,” 2 pm.
• January, travel photography exhibit
by Cindy Metsker in Ruth’s Art
Gallery.
• The library is seeking volunteers for
new programs in 2008. For informa-
A treasure doesn’t have
to cost a fortune with...
Give the little girl in your life a gift that will
last forever. Pearl by pearl, inch by inch, an
Add-A-Pearl necklace creates a treasured heirloom.
131 South College • Fort Collins • 482-2205 • www.garwoodsjewelers.com
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 13
Factory Direct Prices - Up To 40% Off
tion on that and events, call Sarah
WALK-IN BATHTUB
Myers at 881-2664.
Historical Calendar
You can buy the Wyoming
Historical Society’s 2008 calendar by
emailing linda@dancewyoming.com,
or call 307-635-4881. It features
pictures of Wyoming women from
pioneer days to the present. Wyoming
was the first state in the U.S. to give
women the right to vote, and some
pictures celebrate that.
Greeley Libraries:
• December 7, movie and discussion,
“Sketches of Frank Gehry,” Farr MODELS INCLUDE:
Library, 6:30 pm. • Wide Inward-opening Door
• Anti-slip Floor & Anti-slip High Seat
• December 10, Centennial Park • Foot & Leg Massager • Bidet
Evening Book Club, Centennial Park • 168 Jets of Warm Hydrotherapy Helps
Library, 6:30 pm. Circulation, Stiffness & Pain
• December 18, Farr Afternoon Book • Therapeutic & Relaxing Deep Soak
• Handheld & Wall Mount Shower Head
Club, Farr Library, 1:30 pm. An Additional • Many Models, Sizes & Colors for ANY
• December 20, Lunch Bunch, Problem, ANY Space, ANY Décor
mystery novels discussion, Centennial • Lifetime Guarantee: Will NEVER Leak
• Installation Available in ALL 50 States
Park Library, 11:30 am. With this ad • FDA & ADA
• December 19, Farr Evening Book Expires 12-31-07 • May be Tax Deductible & Sales Tax-free
Club, 6:30 pm. For Details & Live Operator 24/7
• January 12, Erie Library grand Call NOW Toll-Free
opening, 10 am to 3 pm.
For information on events, call 1-866-560-2476
Kellie Johnson at 506-8560. ■
14 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
Pioneer House in
Windsor Still Stands
By Steve Fancy
T he oldest building in Windsor,
Colorado, is a small, two-room
wooden building that was operated
as an inn, saloon, and post office
along the Overland Trail linking
Greeley and Fort Collins.
It was the only house for miles
around when it was built in 1873 by
John Hilton, nine years before the
town of Windsor was established.
The trip by wagon between Greeley
and Fort Collins took all day in the
1870s, and the Halfway House at
Hiltonville, as it was called, became
a popular stopping point half-way
between the two towns.
John Hilton, a Civil War veteran
from Wisconsin who had been shot
in both legs and lost all of his teeth
during the war because of scurvy,
did not legally own the land on
which he built the Halfway House.
Beginning in November 1875, the
160-acre parcel that later became
the Jacoby Farm was homesteaded
by Julius Weller, who owned it for
13 years, and the place became
known as Weller’s.
Julius Weller died in 1888, and
his son Fred traded the 160-acre
farm to his friend and business
partner Robert S. Dickey.
Dickey rented out the different
farm parcels to various immigrant
families, including the Jacobys.
Jacob Henry “Old Jake” Jacoby, Sr.,
immigrated to Windsor in 1910 with
his wife Mary Katherine and his
infant son Jacob Jr. (called Young
Jake) from the village of Doenhof in
the Volga region of Russia. He
worked for a time at the Great
Western Sugar Company in
Windsor, as did many other
Germans from Russia.
After R. S. Dickey’s death, his
daughter Gladys and his grandsons
gave the farm to the Jacoby family
in gratitude for their many years of
friendship and assistance. Norman
Halfway House on the Overland Trail between
Greeley and Ft. Collins.
E. Jacoby, Jake Jacoby’s son, raised historical park where the Town of
sugar beets and other crops on the Windsor will tell the story of “Old
160-acre parcel where the Halfway Agricultural Windsor.”
House still stands. ________________
Norman died in 1995, and his The Windsor Library has a book that
widow, Margaret Jacoby Babcock, provides details and photographs
has a life estate on the remaining about the Halfway House and the
two-acre Jacoby Farm property four families who have lived there.
where the Halfway House and a The book is titled “Windsor’s Oldest
later farmhouse stand. The farm- Building: the 1873 Halfway House
house and other buildings will and the Four Families Who Lived
eventually become a cultural and There,” by Steven G. Fancy. ■
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Colorado’s First
Permanent Town
By Lois Hall
T he little mountain town of Gold
Hill west of Longmont and
Boulder was Colorado’s first
permanent mining community.
It was established in the fall of
1858 when a group known as the
Aikins party arrived from Nebraska
and found gold in the area. Soon
hundreds of prospectors crowded into
the canyon and swarmed along the
mountain stream called Gold Run.
By the following summer,
prospectors had taken over $100,000
worth of gold from the stream, and
Colorado’s gold rush days were
underway. In 1870 David Horsfal
discovered a rich vein and began
underground mining. The Horsfal
Mine became one of the most produc-
tive early mines at Gold Hill.
But the first mining boom did not
last long. By the early 1860s many
placer miners had discovered how
9/52 7!2-4(
/52 (%!4
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 15
hard it was to scratch out a living
from what little gold they could find
in streams or near the surface.
The big veins were underground
and required a lot of money and
equipment to excavate. Some miners
left to fight in the Civil War. Some
went into farming.
Then in 1872 a second boom
occurred at Gold Hill when telluride
was discovered there. Telluride is an
Gold Hill, in the mountains above Longmont.
ore that occurs in combination with
Colorado Historical Society.
gold and silver.
Early miners said that telluride many years, and it attracted some breakfast place, and the old building
was so rich in Gold Hill that, if they famous visitors during summer served the community for many
heated a piece of the ore on a cook- months. Famed attorney Clarence years.
stove, pure gold would bubble into a Darrow spent several summers there. Gold Hill eventually became a
pan. Poet Eugene Field was a frequent quiet residential community. Today a
It was during this second mining visitor in the 1870s. few of the original homes from the
boom that Gold Hill began to develop The name of the Wentworth Hotel town’s mining days are still
as a real community. The Wentworth was changed to the Blue Bird Lodge preserved.
Hotel was built in 1873, and the in 1921 after a group of young women But times have changed a lot since
Saline School opened in 1875. from Chicago used it for a summer those days when you could hear a
The Wentworth Hotel was the camp residence. Even later, in the pioneer shout, “I’m headin’ for Gold
center of Gold Hill’s social life for 1980s, the hotel became a bed and Hill!” ■
©  8#%, %.%2'9 ).#
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16 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
Treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy

“The entire staff at

Colorado Crosswords By Tony Donovan
Kirk Eye Center is so
caring. I have become
friends with everyone
here.”
— Claude Earl Kissack
Berthoud

E arl Kissack doesn’t let his struggle with diabetes keep him from
John W. Colvin, OD &
John D. Kirk, MD, FACS
3650 East 15th Street
Loveland, Colorado
669-1107
w w w. K i r k E y e C e n t e r. c o m
See me about
experiencing life. His home in rural Berthoud allows him to
enjoy gardening, farming and working with his horses. Making sure
that his eye health is taken care of is an essential and regular process.
Another eye doctor who wasn’t experienced to handle the problems
caused by diabetes referred Earl to Dr. Kirk. Once a month Earl
comes in to have his eyes checked. He also meets with another
specialist who comes to the Kirk Eye Center to help keep Earl’s ACROSS 54. Half a fly?
eyesight stabilized. 1. Weld County town founded by the Union 55. Colorado’s state tree is a blue one of these
Colony in 1876 56. Output at Leadville or Central City
“Dr. Kirk really takes time to get to the bottom of any problems that I 7. EMT’s skill 57. Electronics company taken over by GE in
am having. He has done several laser surgeries for me, and takes the 9. Avalanche goalie who helped team win two 1986. It’s slogan had been “The Greatest
time to make sure that I have the best eyesight that I can. The staff calls Stanley Cup trophies Name in Electronics”
to check on me regularly. The quality of treatment, the commitment to 10. Small Yuma County site between Wray and 58. Children’s toy and game fad begun in 1999
optical health and the respect for patients at Kirk Eye Center is Burlington involving trading cards, stickers and video
absolutely the BEST!” 12. Colorado shade tree whose varieties include games
Raywood, Marshall’s Seedless and Autumn
If you’d like to see your future more clearly choose Kirk Eye Center Purple DOWN
as your eye care provider. You’ll be glad you did. 15. Vigoda or Fortas 1. Mesa County site of the first sugar beet facto-
16. Theda Bara, for one ry in Colorado in 1899
2. With #9 across, a Scottish highwayman or
17. Hiking and biking locale’ near Arches and
drink made with Scotch whiskey
Canyonlands National Parks in eastern Utah
3. Center of a hurricane
19. Seasonal or replacement workers, slangily
4. Larimer County community which took its
20. Quaff for Marcello
name from the partnership of Adolphus
21. CSI evidence
Livernash and Stephen Moore, who built a
I am now carrying Medicare 24. Baseball family name
cabin as headquarters for their prospecting
prescription drug coverage from 25. Popular older hotel in Aspen
ventures
Humana®. Call me today to 26. “Mop ‘n ___ (Popular floor cleaner and wax)
5. A mild cheese produced in a round shape and
28. “No” in Dresden
sign up or if you have questions
about what’s right for you. 29. Prefix for “cycle” and “sex” 6.
coated with a red wax
River which runs through Steamboat Springs
30. Eric who hit the first home run in Rockies’

MEDICARE
MaryM.
Mary M Biggers,
Biggers, Agent,
Agent LUTCF 7. Berthoud neighbor which features a Seventh
1318 SS.College
CollegeAvenue
Avenue history Day Adventist school
Fort Collins,
Collins, CO
CO80524-4174
80524-4174 32. At no time 8. Transport for some small CSU squads?
Bus: 970-493-9336
970-493-9336 33. Ump’s call 11. Record types first produced by #57 across

PART D.
mary.biggers.b3pj@statefarm.com
mary.biggers.b3pj@statefarm.com 34. Group of 8 singers or musicians (abbr.)
36. Name of a river, town and county in the cen- 13. What laundry soap bubbles turn into accord-
tral mountains ing to animated ads
38. Friendly beginning? 14. Vietnam’s capital
39. New Belgium Brewery of Ft. Collins trade- 18. “It wa s___ ___ ___!” (Couldn’t be avoided)
mark brew: Fat ____ 22. Nuggets “one-named” star
Humana Prescription Drug Plans are offered by Humana Insurance Company, Louisville, KY, which is financially responsible for these prod- 42. Hat, slangily 23. Redford film of 1992 which won award for
ucts. No member of the State Farm family of companies is financially responsible for these products. Humana Inc., Humana MarketPoint, 43. Partner of rescue Best Cinematography: ___ ___ ___ Through
Inc. and Humana Insurance Company are not affiliates of State Farm. A Medicare approved Prescription Drug Plan available to anyone 44. Cross letters?
entitled to Part A and/or enrolled in Part B of Medicare through age or disability. Copayment, service area, and benefit limitations may It”
apply. Contact your State Farm agent for details on coverage, costs, restrictions and renewability. 46. Bering or Caspian 26. Small settlement along Hwy. 14 near
S5884_GH 19213 12/05
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company • Bloomington, IL 47. Musical composition often numbered Cameron Pass
P054039 12/05
48. ___ Field, home of the Rockies 27. Guitar forerunner
50. Weld County town named for homesteader 30. Berra of baseball fame
who warned a train heading for a burning 31. Waterway going through town of Vail
bridge 35. “___ Homo”
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It’s home to Adams State College
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RELAX, HEAL, RESTORE. ANSWERS
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Sports Injury • Deep Tissue 48.
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Fort Collins • East Harmony & Boardwalk

Christmas Goose
By
Arlene
Ahlbrandt
I n years past, the goose was the
favorite food served at holiday
dinners, a tradition in England and
other old world countries.
On Saint Martins Day in France,
roasted goose is the traditional
menu. For the German yule feast,
the Michaelmas, goose is served.
It’s also served for the Jewish
Hanukkah.
In America, Thomas Jefferson’s
cook book had a recipe for roasted
goose. Julia Child also had a good
recipe for the big bird.
According to old recipes, it took
about two hours to bake an eight-
pound goose. It was usually stuffed
with sage and bread. In England it was
served with wassail and plum pudding.
Early American settlers raised
more geese than they did chickens.
Today in northern Colorado, we
 15 convenient locations for pick-up
 Serving Fort Collins, Loveland,
Greeley, Windsor and Longmont
 Door-to-door service also
available
have wild geese that do not migrate.
A man named Gurney Crawford
was behind the resident goose popu-
lation in Fort Collins. In 1957 he
and the state wildlife department
began working to start the flocks we
now have.
Raising geese is more important in
Europe than in America, especially in
Germany and France. Their domestic
birds are larger than wild geese.
The meat and eggs are prepared
in many ways. A pate called foir
gras is made from the livers of
fattened geese that are force-fed.
Goose grease with turpentine
applied to a person’s chest was an
old-fashioned remedy for colds and
the croup.
And the bird became famous as
the subject of Aesop’s fable, “The
Goose That Laid the Golden Egg.” ■
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 17
columbine cares for seniors
Lifestyle Centre
Health Club
Mind The Lifestyle Centre is dedicated to offering a
comprehensive wellness program that encourages
a life long commitment to a healthy lifestyle and
Body
provides the means necessary to improve overall
health and well being.
Soul 802 West Drake Road, Suite 133
Fort Collins, Colorado 80526
970-494-6446
Hospice
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305 Carpenter Road | Fort Collins, Colorado 80525
(970) 663-3500 | Fax: (970) 663-1180 | www.hlchospice.org
18 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
Questions About Retirement
By Scott Burns
Financial Writer
Q: My wife and I are 59 and about to
retire. We have a portfolio of $2.1
million. We currently own a water-
front lake house that is worth about
$350,000 with no mortgage, a house
for my mother worth about $75,000
with no mortgage, and our main resi-
dence worth about $300,000 with a
$100,000 mortgage.
We have found a new house close
to our daughter and her husband,
priced at $650,000. Our question:
Should we pay cash for the new
house? Or should we take a mortgage
and work from the interest on the $2.1
million?
Our financial adviser wants us to
take the mortgage, but we are very
unsure how we should go. He says we
can earn 10 percent, pay the mortgage
and still have money to use.
A: If the decision is between
borrowing or paying cash, the more
prudent decision is to pay cash. I’ll
explain why in a minute.
But the real decision is bigger than
that. It’s whether you should make
this change at all or whether you are
willing to sell your lake house along
with your primary residence and
consolidate into a more expensive
house close to your daughter.
You can understand by examining
the cash flow changes.
In moving to a more expensive
house you’ll be increasing your mort-
gage from $100,000 to $450,000. At
current jumbo rates, that would cost
about $2,883 a month, or about
$34,595 a year. In addition, you’d
have higher expenses for real estate
taxes, insurance and operating
expenses. You’re likely to find your-
self “house poor.”
Your investment portfolio of $2.1
million, meanwhile, can sustain a safe
withdrawal rate of 4 percent. Maybe 5
percent. Call it $90,000 a year. If you
withdraw at a higher rate, you have a
significant chance of putting yourself
in a downward spiral if there is a
significant market decline.
So if you withdraw at a safe 4
percent rate, the 7.7 percent a year
constant payment on the mortgage
(principal and interest) will cut deeply
into the income you have available for
other spending.
If you withdraw at a 7.7 percent
rate, at least for the mortgage
payments, there is a major chance
your portfolio won’t last as long as
the mortgage.
Your adviser is correct when he
says that your investments may return
10 percent a year. But you will have
to be 100 percent invested in equities
to do that; and that means more risk.
Meanwhile, you will have committed
to making 360 monthly mortgage
payments, rain or shine, up or down
market. That loads the deck against
you when you are retired.
A more prudent plan would be to
sell the lake house and your primary
house for gross proceeds of about
$650,000 and buy the $650,000 house
near your daughter.
Just remember that lakes don’t
move, but daughters sometimes do.
________________
Scott Burns is a longtime financial
writer for the Dallas Morning News
and other papers. You can send ques-
tions to: scott@scttburns.com ■
Rural Area
Health Care
Improved
T o improve rural medical services,
the Federal Communications
Commission announced it will
provide $417 million in grants to
create high-speed internet lines for
6,000 hospitals and medical providers
in rural areas.
The high-speed lines will allow rural
patients and doctors to gain access to
information from specialists and other
providers in urban regions. Such things
as videos of procedures, test results and
other things that could not be sent over
slow, dialup lines can be sent over high-
speed lines. It will also allow doctors
and hospitals with expensive equipment
not available in rural areas to monitor
chronically ill patients.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin said,
“Not only will a telehealth network
connect doctors to patients who have
never had access to medical treatment,
but they can have access to the top
resources on the other side of the
country.” ■

Early West Near Rawlins, Wyoming
By Bill Lambdin
“S he wore high-heeled shoes and
overalls—and she was mean as
all git out!”
That’s how pioneers described a
woman who lived at the Muddy
stagecoach station between Rawlins
and Baggs, Wyoming, after the station
closed in the late 1800s.
The woman, who went by the
name of Jerrie Snodgrass, was a lone
prostitute in the middle of nowhere—
in such a remote place that settlers
seldom heard birds sing, only the
wind howling incessantly across the
prairie.
Her most frequent customer was
Dad Corlett, for whom the little
village of Dad was named. It’s no
longer a village, only a few ranch
buildings; but it still appears on maps
north of Baggs.
Jerrie Snodgrass not only took her
customers’ money, she also stole their
cattle and horses. They did nothing
about it because “she had too much
on them,” said local people.
Baggs is one of the oldest towns in
Wyoming and, because of its remote
location, was a hangout for various
outlaws. Some early residents said
one gang rode in one day, got
liquored up and shot up the place. The
next day, they sobered up and paid for
the damages.
That was probably true. Outlaws
liked to remain on good terms with
local people, some of whom made
money supplying fresh horses to the
bandits when they were running from
the law.
Rawlins resident Peggy Hunt
remembered such stories and said
they prompted the high school sports
teams to name themselves the
Rawlins Outlaws.
Baggs was named for the first
homesteader in the area, George
Baggs. He arrived in the 1870s and
lived with his wife, Maggie. Actually,
she was probably his common-law
wife, said residents—and she was
more than George could handle.
Maggie had a roving eye for
cowboys who worked on their ranch
and eventually ran off with a young
red-headed wrangler. That was after
she and George sold the ranch and
split up.
Maggie got half of the money and
took off for California with the red-
head. When the money was gone, so
was he.
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 19
Looking northwest toward the Rawlins-Baggs stage route from the continental divide
west of Saratoga, Wyoming. Senior Voice photo.
The stage line from Rawlins to to Baggs, the line went to stations traveled—a high, lonesome desert
Baggs, Slater and other pioneer with colorful names like Perkins’ country with a silent, rugged beauty.
communities in southern Wyoming Dinner, Muddy Station, and Peach Just don’t get stranded out there in a
was very busy. Stagecoaches ran the Orchard Flats. storm.
route daily, as did freight wagons. The Old West is gone now. But if ________________
Communities in northwestern you drive the back roads between You can read The Senior Voice online
Colorado also depended on service Rawlins and Baggs, you will see the each month at www.theseniorvoice.net.
from the line because Rawlins was a same vast expanse of plains pioneers ■
transcontinental railroad station from
which supplies had to be obtained.
Some stagecoach drivers were
paid nearly $100 a month, a high
wage in those days; and they earned
it. They faced death from Indians and
freezing blizzards; they had to find
their way through blinding dust
storms, rain, hail and all the things
nature could throw at them in the
wide open spaces of Wyoming.
The stage driver was an absolute Receive a lump sum, line of
master, like the captain of a ship, and credit, or monthly payments
passengers had to do what he said. to use however YOU choose.
When they didn’t, there were conse-
quences.
One driver told passengers to get Use it for today’s bills and tomorrow’s emergencies
out and help push the stage through a – it’s a great way to prepare for the unexpected.
deep mud hole. They refused. He Free No Pressure, No Hassle Classes
unhitched the horses and rode one to
the next station, leading the other If you’re a homeowner age 62 or older, contact us
horses and leaving the passengers today to learn more.
stranded for some time.
Usually the drivers were seasoned
frontiersmen and overcame the obsta-
cles, but not always. One driver
couldn’t see where he was going on a
dark night and drove the stage into a
lake, drowning some of the horses and
scaring the passengers half to death.
Today, Twenty-Mile Road going
south of Rawlins follows the old stage Levi Sattler
123 N. College Ave. Suite 230
road much of the way to a spot on the
Fort Collins, CO 80524
map called Sulphur Springs, where 970-407-8288
there was a stage station. From there
20 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
MORRISON’S
MEDITATIONS
• A to-do list is helpful, but a don’t-do list is also needed.
Connection through Massage now for your childís future • Success comes from shifting from wishbone to backbone.
Mommy and Me • When someone says they spent $300 for groceries, are they bragging or
Family Fitness and Massage Therapy complaining? ■
Stimulate the mind/body connection through Fitness/Pilates
Focus on
!Family
!Future
Creating long lasting bonds
!Parents
Laughter Is Still
!Grandparents
!Siblings
!Caregivers
Connecting with our children for our health and theirs
the Best Medicine
ïGroup ïOne on One ïBaby
A preacher asked for volunteers
to sell bibles door-to-door so
the church could make some
Classes Bootcamp money.
Niki Panetti,CMT Jack, Bill and Ike volunteered.
Christy Theil, ACSM Fitness Instructor
The preacher knew that Jack and
Kacey Mcoig, AFFA Certified Trainer
nmommyandme7@gmail.com Bill worked as salesmen; so he
figured they would succeed. But
ïGift certificates available-Call for Holiday packages Ike was a farmer and had a speech
impediment; so the preacher had
doubts about him.
They met with the preacher a
week later, and Jack said he sold
20 bibles at $10 each, making
$200 for the church. Bill sold 30
for $300. Ike said, “I s-s-s-sold one
We wish you the gift of faith, the blessing of hope h-h-h-hundred.”
and peace during this holiday season and always. “What!” said the preacher.
“How in the world did you sell a
The Goes Family and Staff hundred?”
“I d-d-don’t know. I just said w-
w-would you like to b-b-buy this
bible, or do you w-w-want me to s-
s-stand here and r-r-read it to
482-2221 you?”
A blonde went into a
Starbuck’s and ordered a cup of
coffee. There was a peel-and-win
Governor’s Farm sticker on her cup. She peeled it
Apartments off and began screaming, “I’ve
won a motorhome! I’ve won a
701 6th Street • Windsor, CO • (970) 352-5860 motorhome!”
A waitress told her, “You can’t
Designed for people 62 years of age
win a motorhome. The biggest
and older, or disabled. prize is a free lunch.”
Governor’s Farm is located in a pleasant rural “But I’ve won a motorhome!”
community, offers affordable rent, one-bedroom insisted the blonde. “It says right
ground level apartments, laundry facility, free here, ‘Winabagel.’”
maintenance and small pets are welcome.
A 7 year-old girl ran up to her
USDA-RD
Equal Housing
Opportunity
grandfather, who was tinkering in
his workshop, and confronted him
By
Gaylord
Morrison
with the dreaded question, “What
is sex?”
He was surprised she’d ask
such a question at her age but
thought if she’s old enough to ask,
she’s old enough to get a straight
answer. He proceeded to describe
all the variations of human sexu-
ality, careful to impress upon her
all the joys and responsibilities.
When he finished, the little girl
stood frozen, as though nailed to
the spot, and looked at him with
her eyes wide in amazement.
Seeing she was overwhelmed,
he asked what caused her sudden
curiosity.
She replied, “Grandma said
dinner will be ready in a couple of
secs.”
A little guy was sitting in a bar
staring at his drink when a big
biker sat down next to him,
grabbed his drink and gulped it
down.
The little guy started crying,
and the biker said, ”Hey, man. I
was just giving you a hard time. I
didn’t think you’d cry.”
“This is the worst day of my
life,” said the little guy. ‘“I can’t
do anything right. I overslept and
was late to an important meeting,
so my boss fired me. When I went
to the parking lot, I found my car
was stolen and I don't have insur-
ance. I left my wallet in the cab I
took home; then my dog bit me.
So I came to this bar trying to
work up the courage to end to my
life – and then you showed up and
drank the damn poison." ■

Ghost Town in North Colorado
By Peggy Hunt
C olorado has many ghost towns
that are fun to discover when
you’re hiking or driving in the
mountains, and they can put you in
touch with the state’s colorful past.
The gold camp of Hahn’s Peak
was located 27 miles north of present-
day Steamboat Springs on Road 129,
at Steamboat Lake, where a small
resort community now stands.
Hahn’s Peak was named for
Joseph Henne, who pronounced his
last name Hahn. He died trying to
develop the mountain’s riches.
He first discovered gold here
about 1862, but the place was so
isolated that he left to organize a
group of miners and arrange for
supplies so mines could be devel-
oped. The nearest settlement then
was nearly 100 miles away.
In 1866, the group worked
during the summer but headed out
when winter threatened. Hahn and a
companion named William Doyle
SHOP WEDNESDAYS, WHEN THE
CURRENT WEEK’S AD AND THE
PREVIOUS WEEK’S AD OVERLAP.
ENJOY A DAY OF VIRTUALLY
TWICE THE AMOUNT OF SAVINGS.
All Natural Meat, Fresh
Seafood and Produce.
No Preservatives Added.
Consistently Checked
for Antibiotics.
Pharmacy and Post Office
at Our Store.
2601 S. Lemay Avenue
At Drake Road,
Fort Collins
Phone 282-8003
The early town of Hahn’s Peak. Colorado Historical Society.
decided to stay through the winter.
But they ran out of food and real-
ized they were going to starve to death
if they didn’t get supplies. Weak and
ill, they headed out during a lull in the
spring storms—trudging through deep
snow and mud slides for days.
Hahn died on the bank of a
stream. Doyle finally arrived at Hot
Sulphur Springs, snow blind and
nearly out of his mind.
Doyle said he had left Hahn’s
body 20 miles up a stream above
Hot Sulphur Springs. A search party
found it only a mile away.
Mini Stroke
Is a Warning
A bout 90 percent of the people
who have a mini-stroke do not
get treatment for it, and that’s a big
mistake, say researchers in a report
published in the journal Stroke.
Many people who have a mini-
stroke will have a major stroke within
a day or two. If they get treatment
immediately for the mini-stroke, they
are much less likely to die or suffer
disabling effects; and they might
avoid a major stroke if doctors are
able to give them clot-busting drugs in
time.
Mini-strokes usually are not
accompanied by pain; and that’s why
many people ignore them. But their
symptoms are easily recognizable:
Sudden loss of speech or the
ability to understand speech. Sudden
weakness or numbness of the face,
arm or leg, especially on only one side
of the body.
Sudden change in vision. Sudden
difficulty walking or maintaining
balance. ■
This tragic incident prompted
settlers to call the place Hahn’s
Peak, but few had much interest in
prospecting there after that. Later in
the 1870s, several miners did
venture into the area and found
some gold. But it was never a high
producing region, and certainly not
worth the price Joseph Hahn paid.
Hahn’s Peak had become a small
town by 1898 and even had a sheriff
named Charles Neiman. It really
wasn’t big enough to warrant a sheriff,
but this rugged region in northern
Colorado was outlaw country.
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The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 21
Brown’s Hole and nearby areas
to the west were known hideouts for
Butch Cassidy, the Hole in the Wall
Gang and other bandits.
One cold winter night when it
was nearly 30 below zero, Sheriff
Neiman caught two outlaws, Harry
Tracy and David Lant, and put them
in jail. They managed to get out,
beat the sheriff senseless and rode
out of town.
Today Hahn’s Peak is a pleasant
summer place. But you don’t want
to be lost in these mountains in
winter, as Joseph Hahn was. ■
Two Locations to Serve Your Needs!
622 N. College Avenue
482-2741
6204 S. College Avenue
225-1255
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22 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice
Remembering the
Singing Cowboys
By Bill Lambdin
G ene Autry and Roy Rogers were
among the biggest stars in
Hollywood during the 1940s and
1950s.
Rogers recalled, “Years ago,
when we were both at Republic
Pictures, the studio concocted a
publicity story that we were always
feuding. But the truth is we were
competitors, not adversaries. We
were always good friends.”
Autry was credited with bringing
the singing cowboy to the movies,
borrowing the flashy costumes and
style of a non-singing predecessor,
Tom Mix. Autry was the Western
box-office king in the early 1940s,
yielding to Rogers only after Autry
served for five years in World War
II.
Autry was among the biggest
box-office attractions along with
Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Bob
Hope, Gary Cooper, James Cagney,
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Rogers followed Autry in making
films for Republic Pictures and was
the top box-office draw in Westerns
for 12 years.
Later Autry’s “Melody Ranch
Theater” featured 65 Autry films
from 1935 to 1953 on the Nashville
Cable Network. “Happy Trails
Theater” revived some of the 91
films made by Rogers beginning in
1938.
People later knew Rogers as the
image man for a hamburger fast-
food chain. Autry later owned the
California Angels baseball team.
Though some laugh at the idea of
singing cowboys, Autry and Rogers
made an impact not only at the
movies but also in music.
Autry was born Orvon Gene
Autry at Tioga, Texas, in 1907. He
made the first phonograph record of
cowboy songs in 1929. He recorded
635 songs, including more than 200
that he wrote, and he sold over 40
million records.
In 1970 Autry was elected to
Nashville’s Songwriters Hall of
Fame. His “Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer,” which he first thought
was silly, sold 25 million records
and ranked as the second best-
selling record ever, behind “White
Christmas.”
Rogers, born Leonard Sly in
Gene Autry singing on his horse Champion.
1911 at Cincinnati, introduced two
film songs that became classics: of Roy Rogers fast-food outlets. His children. “Kids everywhere like
“Don’t Fence Me In” and “Jingle, comic books and strips were syndi- horses and animals,” he said. “The
Jangle, Jingle.” In most of his films, cated worldwide. He and Dale films focused a lot on animals.”
he appeared with the singing Evans broke dozens of box-office Although the films romanticized
cowboy group, The Sons of the records at rodeos and state fairs cowboys, they contained less
Pioneers, which he founded. He and nationwide. violence than many modern movies
his wife, Dale Evans, recorded over Commenting on the early for children. They also made clear
400 songs. cowboy films, Rogers said they cut distinctions between right and
Autry later divided his time were basically wholesome entertain- wrong that children can understand,
between serving as chairman of the ment and are still worthwhile for said Rogers. ■
board of the Angels baseball team
and directing construction of the
Gene Autry Western Heritage
Museum in Los Angeles. He also
owned four radio stations, four
music publishing companies, a
ranch in California and the Gene
Autry Hotel in Palm Springs.
Rogers presided over the opening
Roy Rogers kissing his horse Trigger.

More on Medicare Part D
H ere are some things to consider
when shopping for a Medicare
Part D drug plan, say consumer
advocates:
Make sure a plan covers the
drugs you need. Some plans require
you to get an affidavit from your
doctor and plea for a drug. Some
limit the quantity of pills you can
get. Some require you to try a
cheaper drug and prove it doesn’t
work before allowing the one you
need. Read the fine print.
Consider co-payments and other
costs, not just the premium. A low
premium might mean high co-
payments, cost sharing and other
expenses you don’t want. Be sure
the plan works at your pharmacy.
See what coverage the plan
offers for the so-called donut hole
(coverage gap between $2,400 and
$3,850). Many people reach this gap
and have to pay for 100 percent of
their drugs until their costs go over
$3,850 and Plan D’s catastrophic
coverage kicks in. Some plans cover
the gap; some do not.
There are at least 50 different plans
The Boomers
Have Arrived!
Colorado has had a 65% increase
in residents over age 50 in the past
seven years — the largest increase
in the nation. (U.S. Census Bureau)
The Senior Voice has served
all of Northern Colorado
and Southern Wyoming since 1980.
The largest senior publication in the area.
Fort Collins/Greeley (970) 229-9204 • Loveland/Estes Park (970) 482-8344
available in Colorado and Wyoming.
Get help in choosing the one that’s
right for you from local senior centers
and other groups. They have people
who can use computers efficiently to
find the plan right for you.
Here are some helpful websites
and information sources:
• Medicare’s website (Medicare.gov)
offers the most comprehensive help.
You can enter the drugs you take and
then see the amount each Part D plan
charges for premiums, co-payments
and deductibles.
• BenefitsCheckup.org website from
the National Council on Aging helps
you determine if you’re eligible for
government subsidies that will pay
for your drugs. The site also helps
you find a cost effective drug plan.
• The Medicare Rights Center
website lets you compare drug plans
available at your local pharmacy.
This group also provides free infor-
mation and counseling on all
Medicare issues.
• Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs
includes affordable treatment alter-
natives. ■
Letters
Longs Peak Named for Relative
Thanks for the Longs Peak article.
I’ve always considered Longs Peak to
be “my” mountain because it was
discovered by and named for my great,
great, great grandfather, Col. Stephen
Harriman Long.
Col. Long also was the fist person
to take a steamship up the Mississippi
River. That ship had a dragon’s head
bow, which expelled steam and scared
the Indians.
Thanks again for the article. I will
be keeping it among my Longs books.
Lu Hart
Cheyenne
Michelangelo Book Signing
As a long-time Senior Voice fan, I
thought your readers would like to
know about a book-signing event
December 13 at 7 pm. I will be
signing books at The Reader’s Cove
Bookstore, 1001 East Harmony (by
Ace Hardware).The title is
“Michelangelo: In the Footsteps of the
Master.”
The book is the fruit of two and
one-half years of research and writing
that summarizes the artist’s life and
The Senior Voice • December 2007 • 23
To The Senior Voice
1471 Front 9 Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80525
E-MAIL: thevoice@frii.com
describes where to find his art works
in Italy. It is designed for travelers to
Italy, Renaissance fans, students, art-
history buff and arm-chair travelers.
Maps and pictures are included in the
book as well as an extensive bibliog-
raphy and index. My phone is
226-5493.
Charles Washington
Fort Collins
Oral History Project
“Here Today, Gone Tomorrow:
Wyoming’s Boom and Bust Cycles,”
is the Wyoming State Historical
Society’s theme for its annual Oral
History Project. Anyone interested in
participating in the 2008 Annual Oral
History Project can obtain information
by contacting Cindy Brown at 307-
777-7036 or via e-mail at
cbrown1@state.wy.us.
Collections will be maintained by
the American Heritage Center and the
Wyoming State Archives. Other
members of the committee are Lynn
Houze, Cody; Barbara Bogart,
Evanston; and Laura Lake, Casper.
Cindy Brown
Wyoming Historical Society ■
24 • December 2007 • The Senior Voice

• Convenient Fort Collins Location

• Homes From the Low to Mid $100’s

LID A Y • Wide-open Spacious Floor Plan

HO ES • Exceptional Kitchens
N T IV
INCE l for
• Walk-in Closets
• Large Outdoor Patios
Cal • Beautiful Covered Front
det ails! Porch
• Two Car Attached
Garage
• Landscaped Front Yards
• Grass Mowing
• Snow Removal
• Clubhouse With
Activities/Group Functions
• Fitness Center
• Pets Allowed
• No Rentals

GRAND
STERLING KEYSTONE
DURANGO II
2 bedroom 2 bedroom
2 bedroom
2 bath 2 bath
2 bath + den
approx. approx.
approx.
1169 sq. ft. 1282 sq. ft.
1586 sq. ft.

1/2 mile east of I-25 on the south side of Mulberry

www.sunflowercolorado.com • 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Daily • 970-493-5646