10 years ago
• High Plains Environmental Center announced plans to hold farmers markets during the summer with fresh produce grown, harvested, marketed and distributed by kids.
• Loveland City Council discussed a proposed two-year moratorium on fracking. After hearing and discussing a report from city attorney John Duval on the potential impact of a moratorium, the council members agreed to allow residents to be the ones to advance such a proposal.
• After heaping scorn on Fort Collins for what they said was a one-sided deal regarding expansion of the Foothills Mall, Larimer County commissioners praised Loveland for what they perceived as playing fair and said Loveland’s downtown urban renewal district that included the five-story, 72-unit Gallery Lofts would deliver what the county considered an equitable return on property taxes. The three commissioners signed their side of an intergovernmental agreement for the Loveland downtown urban renewal district. County manager Linda Hoffmann said the agreement followed many months of “open and fruitful” negotiations between the city and county. “The Loveland city staff was very cooperative,” she said. “They would go back and sharpen their pencils and come back with a better plan.” The county had been critical of a tax increment plan floated by Fort Collins to pay for redevelopment of the Foothills Mall, saying it left too big a gap between costs of county services and tax revenue lost by the county.
• The Novo Restoration Odyssey of the Mind team placed second in the world championship, earning two points less than the champion team from Singapore. The six-member team, consisting of students from Bill Reed Middle School and sponsored by Novo Restoration in Loveland, scored 312.69 points to Singapore’s 314.45 during the Odyssey of the Mind 2013 World Finals at Michigan State University.
• About 160 students from the Geometry in Construction program at Loveland High School helped build a home for Habitat for Humanity. “It’s just so important for the students and the families to work together and to build together,” said Gwen Stephenson, executive director of the Loveland Habitat for Humanity. “It teaches students the importance of giving back to the community. It teaches the homeowners that young people are phenomenal, they work hard and they care.”
• Larimer County Assessor Steve Miller said between 55% and 60% of property tax protest rulings were coming down on the side of the homeowners as the county entered the final week for protests. “It’s better odds than a Quick Pick,” Miller said. “If you think it’s too high, tell us. But give us something to work with. Don’t just come in and say: ‘This is too high. Now change it.'”
• Loveland High School’s Joe Etling, a two-time All-Area performer in both soccer and basketball, who in just one season on the track earned three state medals, was named the Reporter-Herald 2012-13 Male Athlete of the Year.
• Loveland High School’s Michal Bower, the Class 5A state diving champion and the first high school diver in Colorado history to win four state titles on the board, was named the Reporter-Herald’s 2012-13 Female Athlete of the Year.
• Twenty-year-old Loveland native Dillon Reimer was racing in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series in the pro buggy class, his first year at the professional level.
• The 77th annual Pet and Doll Parade featured children in costume with their favorite dolls, teddy bears and pets in the Loveland Lions Club tradition held on the last day of school to mark the end of another year and to welcome summer.
• Thirteen students were celebrated and received their diplomas during the second-semester 2013 graduation ceremony for Ferguson High School.
• Though work on the project had already started, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held for Gallery Flats at 541 N. Lincoln Ave. Mayor Cecil Gutierrez said it demonstrated the city was making a comeback. “Before a city is built, and before our downtown is rebuilt, it must be imagined,” Gutierrez said. In downtown Loveland, “there is a long-term vision; there is a long-term plan; there is a long-term strategy,” he said.
• Large purple traps that look like box kites were being hoisted into ash trees in Loveland to look for evidence of the emerald ash borer. The insects had not yet been seen in Colorado, but they had killed more than 50 million ash trees in the Great Lakes states.
• Five finalists had been selected from among 143 applicants who submitted proposals for an art piece to be placed at the Interstate 25/U.S. 34 interchange. The chosen artists were being asked to present quarter-scale models of their design idea at a Visual Arts Commission meeting on July 11. A decision was due in September.
• VanDyne SuperTurbo Inc., which had operated in Fort Collins since spinning off from Woodward Inc. in 2008, relocated to Loveland at the end of May. It moved into about 10,000 square feet in a building at 3755 Precision Drive in Centerra that once housed part of defunct Abound Solar’s operation.
• Professional snowboarder Amy Purdy, who lost her legs at 19 years old to bacterial meningitis and became the best adaptive snowboarder in the U.S., spoke during Sierra’s Race, an event held in honor of local student Sierra Krizman, who died from meningitis, and held to raise money and awareness of vaccinations. A total of 1,850 people of all ages participated.
• One year after the Rialto Theater Center addition opened, the center did not come close to bringing in the revenue that was projected. Instead of the budgeted $135,000 in revenue in 2012, the Bridge Project brought in just $28,000. And of the total Rialto Theater Center, general fund support from the city taxpayers was $150,000 more in 2012 than before the addition existed. Council members said the numbers were alarming. Rialto officials said they still expected the project to reach its goals in the future and said that some of the issue was due to a delayed start that resulted in some office spaces still remaining vacant, among other issues. All told, the city spent $336,000 to fill the gap in the budget left by the Rialto Theater Center’s missed projections, but officials noted that they had not anticipated the late start or the late opening that would lead to nine months of operation in 2012 rather than the budgeted full year.
• The Art Advocacy Project installed six new sculptures in downtown Loveland to be displayed for a year, including a steel and aluminum sculpture titled Music Inside by artist Maureen Hearty that was placed near Fourth Street and Washington Avenue.
25 years ago
• For the first time in many years, the Orchards Shopping Center was nearly fully leased. Under a new manager, nine new businesses had located at the center, and the only remaining empty building was the former Orchards Cinema.
• Loveland City Council was considering a plan that would allow for limited public access at Green Ridge Glade Reservoir. The plan to offer just 600 permits would mean that only about 1.3% of Loveland’s 47,000 population would be able to fish and hike at the reservoir.
• A group of Larimer County residents began collecting signatures on a petition seeking to put a question on the November 1998 ballot to ask voters whether to buy 243 acres east of Loveland for a multi-use events center and fairgrounds.
• Developers of the proposed Indian Creek Ranch, west of Loveland, scaled down their plans from 661 residences to 68 houses on 35-acre home sites. “We all feel this is a better use for the site,” a broker associate explained. Neighbors said they were pleased with the change.
• Ken Knievel, whose 200 acres of farmland would be bisected by the proposed Berthoud bypass road, with his irrigation pond cut off from the rest of the farm, joked he had told the Department of Transportation that he had bought 100 Preble’s meadow jumping mice, which were considered threatened and their habitat protected, and turned them loose. “You’ve got to have a sense of humor about this or you’ll go absolutely insane,” he said.
• With 16 valedictorians, the 382 students of Loveland High School’s class of 1998 bid farewell to their school days at graduation. Across town, 311 students graduated from Thompson Valley High School at a ceremony that included advice from Martin Luther King Jr., Bugs Bunny, the Dalai Lama and Dr. Seuss.
• Loveland surgeon Dr. Denis Elo retired. He had performed an estimated 6,200 surgeries over his 25-year career, including more than two decades in Loveland.
• Berthoud High School Class of 1998 graduated 122 seniors during a ceremony in the high school gym.
• The Loveland City Council was deciding how to pay the estimated $16.5 million cost of a new public safety building. Officials were recommending it be constructed in two phases — fire administration, a fire station and a court in the first phase and a new Loveland Police Department in the second. The council was debating whether to ask voters for a tax increase, but decided to delay any decision for a month to consider all funding options for the proposed facility.
• The 75th annual Berthoud Days was held, a celebration that originally started as Flapjack Days and, that year, added a carnival and a draft horse exhibition to draw more people to the annual party.
• A second-grade student was suspended from Big Thompson Elementary School after sharing a Vitamin C tablet with a classmate. District officials cited a policy that forbids students from possessing or distributing controlled substances, including vitamins. His parents said they understood the reasons for the policy, but thought the ruling from the district was extreme in this case. The child too, after talking to his parents, understood the dangers. He said: “My mom and dad said not to give stuff because if somebody is allergic to it, they can get very, very sick.” The school board president said the district and its policy had to follow state and federal regulations, which did not give schools much flexibility to consider specific circumstances.
50 years ago
• A total of 10,600 acres of sugar beets were planted and contracted in the Loveland sugar factory area.
• State Rep. Jim Lloyd, speaking at a Memorial Day gathering at Loveland Burial Park, said residents should exercise their civic responsibilities in memory of the war dead. “Freedom is not something we fight for only on the battlefield,” he said, “but something we struggle with every day. It is our responsibility to those servicemen to devote our time in individual effort for freedom.” He particularly called for individual efforts to eliminate cancer and pollution of the environment and “to use our time and talents wisely to benefit mankind.”
• A groundbreaking was held in Berthoud for an addition to the library-town hall building. Mayor Bruce Fickel said the addition of 1,200 square feet of space was being financed by the town of Berthoud and the Berthoud Woman’s Club, which regularly sponsored the library.
• Production of a new desktop calculator in the Loveland Hewlett-Packard plant was announced by the firm. The calculator would be marketed for $695.
• Voters soundly defeated the proposed $3.15 million bond issue to expand Loveland Memorial Hospital, with 446 voting in favor and 2,685 against.
• In a slight drizzle and chilly breeze, the Humane Society for Larimer County held a groundbreaking for a new shelter between Loveland and Fort Collins.
• Classes were dismissed before noon at Berthoud High School after a suspected bomb was found in the boys bathroom. It was determined to be a hoax, and experts from the FBI, the U.S. Treasury office in Denver and Fort Carson were called in. Thompson School District Assistant Superintendent Ray Patterson said it was the first such incident in district history.
• Eighty-one seniors graduated from Campion Academy, 57 graduated from Berthoud High School and 66 graduated from Estes Park High School.
• Dr. Earl Reum, activities director for the Denver School District and a magician, was the primary speaker at the 1973 Loveland High School graduation, incorporating some magic tricks into his speech. At Reed Field, 329 seniors participated in the evening ceremony. Senior Teri Allen was the student speaker, telling her classmates that they had no limits and simply needed to “decide what direction we will take: to grow or be stagnant.” In addition to the Loveland High graduates, 16 students from Loveland’s New School program also received their diplomas at the event.
• More than 600 area children participated in the annual Lions Club Pet and Doll Parade, led by the Bill Reed Junior High School Color Guard. The costumed children, with their pets and dolls, paraded the neighborhood around the junior high, enjoying an ice cream sandwich at the end of the parade.
• Helen Dewey, Liz Klassen and Brian Chambers, all members of the Loveland High School concert choir, were selected to be soloists in the Festival of Three Cities. They were among 15 musicians chosen to participate in the summer event in Vienna, Austria.
• Police Chief Pat Steele endorsed the creation of a Youth Services Bureau in Loveland, with Loveland, Larimer County and Probation Department officials seeking a $25,000 grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Agency to cover the cost of an administrative director and the rest of the costs being absorbed by the associated departments. Loveland was looking to follow other cities, including Boulder, with successful programs. The bureau would handle incidents in which youths came in contact with police, offering guidance and counseling for misdemeanor offenses in hopes of preventing the youths from progressing to more serious felony crimes.
• Lebo & Sons Inc. was offering a brand new 1973 three-cylinder Gremlin for sale for $2,377.
120 years ago
• “The Loveland whiskey and hellovatime club was formed on Monday evening,” the May 28, 1903, issue of the Loveland Reporter said. “Down at Arvada every member of the club in that town has been indicted for loose handling of booze. Better look out here.”
• “It is to be hoped that some legal steps shall be taken to prevent the use of automobiles on the new road from Loveland to Estes Park — unless it shall be that one day in a week be ‘auto day’ and devoted exclusively to that class of vehicles,” the May 28, 1903, issue of the Loveland Reporter said. “We put forth this idea to prevent a vast amount of trouble. It is known that thousands of horses used to take fright at bicycles — and now that a wheel has no apparent effect upon them along comes the auto. A runaway horse or team upon a mountain road is not pleasant to witness — nor the results agreeable to imagine. And if autos be allowed in common use there will be no safety for any driver.”
