June 9, 2026

Tamara Rollison

CDOT Traffic Safety Communications Manager

720-663-9552 | tamara.rollison@state.co.us

DMV Media Relations

dor_dmvmedia@state.co.us

Teen crash fatalities have increased by 91% in the last decade

CDOT provides safe driving reminders for teens as summer break kicks off

Statewide — As teens look ahead to traveling more while school is out for the summer, the Colorado Department of Transportation reminds them that their actions behind the wheel matter. Traffic fatalities among youth aged 15 to 20 in Colorado reached a tragic record high in 2025, with 86 drivers and passengers killed. The spike marks a 91% increase in youth crash deaths since 2015.

A bar graph showing Colorado traffic fatalities among ages 15-20, beginning with 45 fatalities in 2015 and trending up to 86 fatalities in 2025, a 91% increase.

The 100 Deadliest Days of Summer — known for a spike in crash injuries and fatalities — are from Memorial Day to Labor Day. During this time period last year, 225 people died on Colorado roadways, 16% of whom were between the ages of 15 and 20. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, teen crashes are the leading cause of death for teens 15 to 18 years old.

Teens face the greatest risk of crashing during the first three months after getting their driver’s license. Once they are driving on their own, studies show their general inexperience and increased risk-taking drastically spike their chances of getting into a crash. According to the Colorado State Patrol, the top factors for teen driving crashes in 2025 were distracted driving, speeding, lane violations, following too close, and animal-involved crashes. Nationally, teenagers consistently have the lowest seat belt usage of any age group, and in Colorado, 39% of teen drivers who die in crashes were unbuckled.

“CDOT cannot stress enough the importance of life-saving actions young drivers must take,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew. “We have seen some positive trends with teenage drivers who use good behaviors such as putting phones away, respecting speed limits, and wearing a seatbelt. When consistently used, these behaviors help to prevent crashes and fatalities. Driving a vehicle is an immense responsibility requiring safe driving behavior that parents and all adults should model for young drivers, so they observe, learn, and adapt good, safe habits from the very start. ”

Fatalities and crashes can be prevented if all drivers, regardless of age, heed the following:

• Always follow the speed limit. Speeding puts you and others at risk of a crash, especially in vulnerable areas like work zones and school zones.
• Pay attention while driving. Keep your hands off your cellphone and avoid other distractions while driving, including changing the music or eating.
• Wear your seatbelt whether you are the driver or a passenger.
• Never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In addition to the points above, teen drivers 15 to 18 must also follow the specific laws under Colorado’s Graduated Driver Licensing Laws, referred to as GDL laws. These laws are designed to keep drivers under 18 safe by limiting distractions and high-risk driving situations while they gain experience. Key points include:

• Teens with a learner’s permit must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or licensed adult 21 years of age or older in the front seat and buckled up.
• During the first six months of a learner’s permit, no passengers under 21 unless a parent or other licensed adult driver over 21 is also in the vehicle. Siblings and medical emergencies are exceptions.
• During the first year with a license, no driving between midnight and 5 a.m. unless accompanied by an instructor, parent, or legal guardian. Exceptions include driving to or from school or work and medical emergencies.
• Driver education is mandatory. For more information, go to CDOT’s FAQ page on teen driving.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, there will be new requirements for obtaining a learner’s permit in Colorado:

• A 30-hour driver education course for minors 15 to 17 years old (which may include an online course).
• Drivers 18 to 20 years old can choose between a 30-hour course or a 4-hour prequalification driver awareness program (which may include an online course).
• Those applying for a license under the age of 16.5 must still complete six hours of behind-the-wheel training.
• Individuals under 21 years old must successfully complete a motorcycle safety training program approved by Colorado State Patrol before being issued a motorcycle instruction permit.

Traffic Teens, be prepared when it’s time to get your permit!

This update, possible under HB24-1021, also improves the safety protocols and standards of driving schools and among driving instructors. To learn more about these new requirements and access resources, visit codot.gov/teeneducation. Since the passage of GDL laws in 2002, total teen fatalities have fallen by 35%, but crashes and fatalities go up once young drivers have completed their learner’s permit and are driving independently for the first time.

“Getting your license is an exciting milestone, but that freedom comes with responsibility: protecting yourself and your passengers,” said Colorado DMV Driver Services Director Benjamin Mitchell. “A single decision to text, drive unbuckled, or drive impaired can change lives forever. Let’s make this summer memorable for the right reasons—buckle up, drop the distractions and ensure everyone arrives safely.”

In March of this year, the Colorado State Patrol published a press release about the importance of earning and maintaining a driver’s license. It also covered the most common infractions among drivers aged 16 to 21 in 2025, which were speeding, careless driving and not wearing a seat belt.

Colorado Fatal Crash Data Dashboard

Colorado’s Fatal Crash Data dashboard represents the official and most current number of vehicle occupants and non-motorists killed in vehicle crashes on Colorado public roadways. Access the Fatal Crash Data dashboard here.

Crash Not Accident

Note to reporters: Crashes are no accident — they are preventable. We would appreciate you saying ‘crash’ instead of ‘accident’ when reporting.

About CDOT

The Colorado Department of Transportation’s mission is to provide the best multi-modal transportation system that most effectively and safely moves people, goods and information. CDOT maintains more than 23,000 lane miles of highway, more than 3,400 bridges, and 35 mountain passes. Our team of employees works tirelessly to reduce the rate and severity of crashes and improve the safety of all modes of transportation. CDOT leverages partnerships with a range of private and public organizations and operates Bustang, an interregional express bus service. Find more details at codot.gov.

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Monday, May 18, 2026

Media Contact: Antonia-Mia Gallegos, Media Relations, 303-413-7299

bouldercolorado.gov

City of Boulder closures for Memorial Day holiday, May 25

BOULDER, Colo. – All City of Boulder administrative facilities and Age Well Centers will be closed Monday, May 25, for the Memorial Day holiday. The following facilities and services will be open:

• Recreation centers
  • Due to street closures associated with the BOLDERBoulder, the North Boulder Recreation Center will be open from 1:30 to 6 p.m.
  • East Boulder Community Center and South Boulder Recreation Center will be closed.
• Scott Carpenter Pool lap lanes and leisure pool areas will be open from 1:30 to 6 p.m.
• Spruce Pool will be open from 1:30 to 6 p.m.
• Boulder Reservoir will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the swim area open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Weekday permits are not valid on Memorial Day.
• Flatirons Golf Course will be open from sunrise to sunset for tee times, depending on weather conditions.
• Open Space and Mountain Parks trails and trailheads will be open. Plan your visit to Boulder’s trails and open spaces.

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, parking is free on city streets and in all city-owned lots and downtown garages. Paid parking is in effect at/near Chautauqua Park on the holiday.

The free Park-to-Park shuttle to Chautauqua runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and holidays beginning Saturday, May 23, through Labor Day, Sept. 7. For city parking information, visit the Parking Guide.

Community members should be aware that there will be heavy traffic impacts and road closures on Monday, May 25, due to the BOLDERBoulder. It is recommended to use alternative transportation and parking options during this time.

— CITY–

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The post City of Boulder Closures for Memorial Day 2026 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Monday, May 18, 2026

Media Contacts:

Aisha Ozaslan, Media Relations, 303-501-2318

Sydney Schieffer, Senior Transportation Planner, 720-948-9347

bouldercolorado.gov

Free Park-to-Park shuttle to Chautauqua begins 2026 season on Saturday, May 23

Service runs weekends and summer holidays through Labor Day, Sept. 7

BOULDER, Colo. – On Saturday, May 23, the City of Boulder begins service for the free Park-to-Park shuttle service to and from Chautauqua Park via several stops around Boulder, including downtown Boulder, University Hill, and along Broadway. The service includes free shuttle parking and is a convenient, fast, and stress-free way to visit Chautauqua while reducing impacts to the park and the surrounding neighborhood.

The shuttle runs every weekend and on summer holidays from Saturday, May 23, through Monday, Sept. 7. Included city holidays are Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, and Labor Day. Details include:

• The shuttle runs every 30 minutes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and picks up passengers from 19 bus stops marked with Park-to-Park shuttle signage. For real-time shuttle schedule and information, download the Transit app.
• Visitors can park for free at downtown city parking garages, where parking is always free on weekends and holidays. Special events and summer maintenance work may impact parking availability. The 11th and Spruce parking garage will be closed for construction this season.
• For $2.50 per hour from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the shuttle season, visitors can park along the Chautauqua Park green parking areas, on Baseline Road near the park, at the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage lot, and in the neighborhood north of Chautauqua Park. Download the ParkMobile app or pay at a nearby pay station. Paid parking during the peak season helps keep the shuttle service free to the public and reduces vehicular impacts to the area.
• Shuttles feature bike racks. Dogs, strollers, and hiking gear are also welcome aboard.
• City garage parking and shuttles are ADA-accessible for people using wheelchairs. Free accessible parking is also available in Chautauqua Park in the Ranger Cottage lot and around the Chautauqua Park green parking area.
• Visitors can speak to program ambassadors stationed near the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage for customer service support.
• The city also partners with BCycle and Lime to provide more travel choices to more people, including to support managing access to Chautauqua. The nearest Lime Grove, or mandatory parking corral, is located on Baseline Road, just west of Lincoln Place. A BCycle station is available on Baseline Road near the park. E-bikes and e-scooters are not allowed on any trails in Chautauqua Park, and these shared devices use location-based technology to manage operations and parking.

Park-to-Park is part of the city’s Chautauqua Access Management Plan (CAMP). With Chautauqua Park being one of Boulder’s most in-demand destinations, CAMP seeks to better manage access to the park while minimizing impacts to the neighborhood and the area’s natural and cultural resources. The shuttle is supported by the City of Boulder and Visit Boulder, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, and is operated by Via Mobility Services.

Boulder community members can also access many nearby outdoor destinations via bus or shuttle, including the free Eldo Shuttle to Eldorado Canyon State Park and the city’s Marshall Mesa, Doudy Draw, and South Mesa trailheads, the free Hessie Shuttle to the Hessie Trailhead, and the seasonal Bustang to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The Park-2-Park also connects with the Eldo shuttle at the 27th Way Park-n-Ride stop.

For more information, visit ParktoPark.org.

— CITY —

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Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

BOULDER, CO | May 14, 2026 – The Museum of Boulder officially announced the winning design in its Unofficial Boulder Flag competition during a public reception held Wednesday evening at the Museum of Boulder, concluding a months-long community initiative that invited residents, artists, and designers to imagine a new visual symbol for the city.

The winning design, titled Flatiron Sunrise Flourish, was created by designer Michael Stuart Trimmer and selected following multiple rounds of blind review, discussion, and refinement led by a diverse community Review Panel.

The winning designer will receive a $500 award, and merchandise featuring the final flag design will launch Memorial Day weekend. All submitted designs, including finalists, will also be displayed in an installation at the Museum of Boulder.

After receiving nearly 200 submissions from professional designers, students, artists, and community members, the Review Panel selected 10 finalist designs through a blind evaluation process before choosing the winning flag following a final round of review and refinement.

Finalist designers included Todd Pitman, Michael Stuart Trimmer, Mel Rose, Steven Chester of Narrative Designs, Joey Major, Carolyn McHale of Boldface Design Group, Berger & Föhr (Lucian Föhr and Todd Berger), Ethan Thomasset, and Guillermo Tirado. More information on the final designs HERE.

The competition was developed as an opportunity to spark conversation around Boulder’s shared identity, history, landscape, and future through the language of civic design.

“This is an opportunity for dialogue about Boulder’s identity, heritage, and history,” said Emily Zinn, the Museum of Boulder’s newly appointed Deputy Director for Community Engagement.

The final phase of the process included a live design forum hosted by volunteers from the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA), where finalist concepts were discussed and refined. The selected design was further refined in collaboration with NAVA volunteers with the artist’s permission and participation, before the Review Panel reached consensus on the final version.

Reviewers cited the flag’s bold geometry, dynamic movement, and distinctive use of color as key strengths, describing the design as reflective of Boulder’s innovative spirit, natural beauty, and energetic identity.

Reviewers also noted the design’s intentionally unconventional structure and strong visual distinctiveness. Unlike many traditional municipal flags, the composition uses angular movement and asymmetrical forms to create a sense of forward momentum and emergence.

“Like the country, Boulder has felt a little divided lately. My hope is that a clear, community-made flag becomes a rallying point that reminds us what we share,” said reviewer Katie Daniels. “Boulder has been my home for many years, and I look forward to many more years with a new shared way to show city pride.”

“A city flag can be a strong visual unifying symbol reflecting pride and shared identity and belonging in a place,” said reviewer Bob Morehouse. “The timing is right for Boulder to adopt a flag that captures the resilience, innovation, and natural beauty of our community.”

The Review Panel acknowledged that no single design would reflect every individual perspective on Boulder, but emphasized that successful civic flags often become meaningful symbols over time through shared public connection and use.

“The introduction of a city flag — official or unofficial — represents a milestone for the Boulder community,” said Christopher R. Taylor, Executive Director of the Museum of Boulder. “This flag encapsulates the spirit of who we are as a community, and I am eager to see it waving proudly, representing our collective aspirations and values for generations to come. Thank you to those who submitted designs and to our committee of designers and community leaders who came together to aid in the selection process.”

The winning design draws inspiration from Boulder’s defining landscapes, culture, and history, with many finalist submissions throughout the competition incorporating elements such as the Flatirons, Boulder Creek, open space, bluebird skies, mining heritage, the Boulder Star, and the city’s strong connection to the outdoors.

About the Museum of Boulder:

Founded in 1944 as the Boulder Historical Society, the Museum of Boulder is an arts and cultural institution that showcases the remarkable accomplishments of Boulder through innovative exhibits, programs, and social engagement. Located on the corner of Pine and Broadway at 2205 Broadway, the institution serves as a private nonprofit holding over 44,000 objects in its collection of Boulder’s history. The Museum features the AASLH National award-winning gallery, The Boulder Experience, highlighting the area’s innovators, scientists, athletes, artists, natural foods, and high-tech interactives. The venue offers event spaces throughout the building and on its scenic view rooftop, making the Museum a unique community hub and resource venue.

Museum of Boulder Hours of Operation:

Wednesday–Monday: 9 AM–5 PM

Closed Tuesdays

Museum of Boulder at Tebo Center

2205 Broadway

Boulder, CO 80302

303-449-3464

museumofboulder.org

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1966

In my frequent nightmares I was in a jungle in Vietnam, rifle bursts coming from all directions, the Vietcong slipping unseen and unseeable through the fetid night. My night sweats were jungle sweats.

I had been drafted and was in Army Basic Training, being schooled in the dark art of killing – exhorted to impale the gooks on my bayonet and to follow orders without question. I had been an indifferent and careless college student, but I was an engaged and skillful trainee.

Over the next nine months I was further indoctrinated into the craft of war, fluent in M14, M16, M60, mortar fire, hand grenades, calling for air support and shining boots and buckles to a mirror sheen. I earned a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant and wore my gold bars with the pride I had lost when flunking out of college.

For the next two years I served with neither risk nor distinction, lucky in my assignments and thereby avoiding the grim choices I had imagined. Had I gotten orders for Vietnam, would I have fled to Canada or been compelled to affirm my manhood and join a war I knew to be futile and immoral? I’ll never know, but I suspect I would have submitted to the latter, as did many of my friends, who didn’t live to reconsider.

A provocative column in the New York Times raises many questions about unjust wars, soldiers and how we honor the dead on Memorial Day. The piece, written by Phil Klay, an ex-Marine, offers cogent perspectives, worthy of Memorial Day reflection.

Among Klay’s observations is the use of social and economic immobility to ensure a steady supply of military recruits. Young men and women who see limited prospects are drawn into the military for useful training, secure employment and future benefits, including the possibility of reaching the elusive goal of a college education. For many it is indeed a step up, although the ladder is often unsteady, as deployment to a war zone may be the final rung.

Klay’s analysis misses what may be the most significant dynamic in sustaining the war machine.

A great many boys and men – perhaps all of us – crave respect and recognition. (I omit women from this analysis as they comprise only 17% of our military. For many of those women, the motivations may be similar.)

Our culture offers a competitive gauntlet, where race and privilege provide a head start to some, while impeding others. There are many avenues to self-worth that are pinched closed to the vast majority of ordinary folks. Even professions that should draw wide if not universal respect are unevenly appreciated. Nurses are underpaid and overworked. Teachers are too often blamed for the problems that are caused by societal neglect or political gamesmanship. The most noble work – on behalf of the unhoused, the neglected, the fragile environment and social justice –  is largely unnoticed or ridiculed by smug critics.

The two life choices that seem sure to bring universal affirmation are the military and first responders. First responders differ in the crucial reality that there are no, or very few, controversial missions to taint their social standing. Soldiers, by contrast, are called to do noble work for an ignoble purpose. As Klay contends, and I agree, every war in which we have engaged from Vietnam forward, has been highly questionable and ultimately futile. There are, to be sure, selfless, often heroic acts that deserve admiration and respect. But saving a fellow soldier or pulling a small child out of rubble we created does not erase the broader immorality of the wider conflict.

I know from my time, and Klay confirms the contemporary truth, that many soldiers are acutely aware of the political expedience that sends them on a deadly mission with no ethical or practical justification. But as I might have done, they soldier on nevertheless. The American concept of “being a man” requires it.

The price is high, but respect is earned. It is ubiquitous. “Thank you for your service” rings warmly in the minds and hearts of many who would otherwise be invisible. “Support Our Troops” is offered unconditionally despite the meaningless loss of life our blind patriotism perpetuates. With the very brief exception of the immediate aftermath of Vietnam, a military uniform is sure to draw thanks, praise, a smile and occasionally a free beer or two.

One does not dishonor the dead by noting the causal circumstances. On Memorial Day we can both grieve the lost souls and mourn the injustices that took their lives.

It should be a time to examine the cultural and political factors that perpetuate war and that unconditionally celebrate its collateral victims.

As a bumper sticker demands, “Support Our Troops By Ending War.”

The post If Not For . . . appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Contributed by Colorado Air National Guard Public Affairs — May 24, 2024

CONTACT: Colorado National Guard Public Affairs, 720-250- 1053, ng.co.coarng.list.militarysupport@army.mil or Colorado Air National Guard Public Affairs 720-847-9435, 140wg.pa.org@us.af.mil

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Colorado Air National Guard F-16C Vipers will fly over Colorado communities in honor of Memorial Day events Saturday, May 25, and Monday, May 27, 2024.

Flyovers serve as a powerful tribute to military personnel who have died in service to our country. F-16s in formation symbolize strength, vigilance and respect for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“Memorial Day flyovers are more than just a display of aerial precision, they are a solemn salute to our fallen heroes,” 140th Wing Commander U.S. Air Force Col. Jeremiah “Weed” Tucker said. “Each pass through the sky honors their bravery and reminds us of the high price paid for our freedom.”

The 140th Wing will launch jets from Buckley Space Force Base, Aurora, Colorado, around 10:00 a.m. and fly until 12:30 p.m.

On May 25, the 140th Wing will perform flyovers at the following event sites:

– Colorado Freedom Memorial, Aurora – 10:00 a.m.

– Silverton Town Park, Silverton – TBD

On May 27, the 140th Wing will perform flyovers at the following event sites:

– Linn Grove Cemetery, Greeley – 10:30 a.m.

– Parker Cemetery, Parker – 10:35 a.m.

– Veterans Memorial Park, Silver Cliff – 10:50 a.m.

– Homelake Cemetery, Monte Vista – 11:00 a.m.

– Western Colorado Veterans Cemetery, Grand Junction – 11:15 a.m.

– Grand Lake Memorial Day Parade, Grand Lake – 11:35 a.m.

– Ft Logan National Cemetery, Denver – 11:40 a.m.

– Olinger Highland Cemetery, Thornton – 11:50 a.m.

– University of Colorado Boulder, Folsom Stadium, Boulder – 12:07 p.m.

Flyover times are estimates and could also be canceled due to weather. The aircraft may also be seen between these locations as they transition between Memorial Day celebrations.

Event coordinators from these locations receiving flyovers requested support from the U.S. Air Force’s Aerial Events Office in Washington, D.C. Flyover times are coordinated with event staff and are conducted at no additional cost to the taxpayer. They serve as training for our pilots.

The post Colorado Air National Guard fly over Memorial Day ceremonies to honor our fallen appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Courtesy of The Post Chicken & Beer

Editor’s Note: Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Memorial Day BBQ Celebration at The Post Chicken & Beer, May 27

The Post Chicken & Beer’s culinary director Jimmy Giesler grew up in Georgia, where barbecue on Sunday afternoons is tradition. Now, he’s bringing his smoked meat expertise to the Post in the form of a fresh-from-the-smoker Memorial Day barbecue menu. The Post will serve a smoked rib platter, including slow-smoked meat, campfire beans, mac n’ cheese, crunchy slaw and grandma’s cornbread, for $30. For more information, visit postchickenandbeer.com.

Big Red F Restaurant Group’s Mental Health Awareness Month Partnership, May 1-31

Courtesy of Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar.

Restaurant group Big Red F is partnering with Envision:You — an organization dedicated to supporting and improving the mental health of LGBTQ+ individuals — to honor Mental Health Awareness Month. Throughout May, proceeds from one mocktail and one cocktail at all Big Red F restaurant locations will support the Envision:You organization:

Centro Mexican Tavern: Mango-Tajín lemonade (zero proof) and Desert Flower cocktail

West End Tavern: Hibiscus cooler (zero proof) and the mountain Manhattan

Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar: Martini is offered at all locations; zero proof options include the Nope-Aloma (Glendale), lavender lemonade (Boulder), cucumber-mint spritz (LoDo, Colorado Springs and FoCo)

The Post Chicken & Beer: Nice bunny cocktail (zero proof) and Sunny Lady beer

For more information, visit bigredf.com.

The Post Chicken & Beer’s Sunny Lady Beer Launch

This Post brew might be the only beverage that’s more refreshing than an Arnold Palmer on a hot day. Inspired by the delicious beverage, this 5.5% AVB ale is brewed with Azacca hops, Pekoe Sip House’s Sunny Green Tea (which has dried pineapple and papaya in it), lemon puree and local Colorado wildflower honey. It has a bit of astringency and dryness from the tea with a tart and refreshing finish — the perfect companion for brunch or lunch or simply sipping outside in the sunshine. Now on tap at all seven Post locations in LoHi, Rosedale, Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, Fort Collins and Estes Park. Learn more at postchickenandbeer.com.

Snooze A.M. Eatery’s Brunch — and Gift Card Special

Courtesy of Snooze A.M. Eatery.

This year, Snooze A.M. Eatery, is celebrating Mother’s Day with one perfectly packaged gift card. From April 10 through June 16, Snooze is offering a $5 bonus gift card with every $25 gift card purchased online at snoozeeatery.com. Guests can use their bonus card between June 17 and Aug. 11 for $5 off a pancake flight, eggs Benny or whatever breakfast classic they choose.

Celebrate Mom with brunch at Snooze, where she can indulge in spring menu favorites like the bread pudding French toast, the ricotta soft scramble and chilaquiles — plus bevvies like the strawberry martini mimosa and the loaded kimchi spice bloody mary.

The post Memorial Day and Other Boulder F&B News! appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

By Kevin Simpson

The Colorado Sun (via AP Storyshare)

GRANADA — Mitch Homma stood on the weathered concrete slab that is all that remains of the barracks where his father and his grandparents lived 80 years ago inside the barbed wire of the Granada Relocation Center, a euphemism later shortened to Camp Amache to designate one of 10 incarceration camps for Japanese Americans hastily erected in the wake of the 1942 attack on Pearl Harbor.

In one hand, Homma held an old photograph of three siblings — Hisao Homma, the young boy who’d become his father, in the middle — posing next to a scrawny sapling. With the other, he pointed to the thick, towering trunk rising just a few feet away, leafed out in the warmth of a southeastern Colorado spring.

“That,” he said, “is this tree.”

On the weekend before Memorial Day, the annual window for Amache survivors, descendants and their supporters to make their pilgrimage to the site, the theme of enduring flora permeated a Saturday of steady traffic through the historic grounds. Visitors heard lessons about the trees that now tower above the cactus, coarse prairie grass and low brush on the choppy landscape, where a square-mile grid of stubborn foundations hints that more than 10,000 people cycled through the facility after being uprooted from their mostly California homes.

But while Amache closed after about three years and its buildings dissolved into the swirl of history, the trees still bear witness — as does a wild, so-called “Amache rose” that improbably took root in the inhospitable soil and, even more improbably, continues to bloom in a closely guarded location all these years later.

A Buddhist priest, Rev. Nari Hayashi , leads a prayer during the annual pilgrimage to the Amache cemetery to honor those who lost their lives during the concentration camp era, Saturday, May 20, 2023, at the Amache National Historic Site in Granada. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

Also bearing witness Saturday were the pilgrims, who this year arrived in unusually large numbers — about 250 strong, buoyed by the camp’s designation as a National Historic Site, which brings federal resources and oversight to what for decades has been a volunteer labor of love.

But this year, another theme emerged. Mingling among the Amache descendants, Dale and Bobbie Hamilton, with their 9-year-old daughter Nya tagging along, listened closely to the windswept land and its stewards telling their tragic story. They are descendants of Cheyenne and Arapaho victims of the 1864 Sand Creek massacre, which unfolded 46 miles away on a site that also features “witness trees,” as the oldest are known.

“We had similar treatment by the U.S. government,” Dale, a retired Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer, said as he joined the crowd gathered for a memorial ceremony at Amache’s cemetery. “There are so many parallels. We’re here out of respect.”

After prayers and chants by a Buddhist priest, Dale joined the queue to lean long-stemmed flowers against the cemetery memorial.

The couple has driven past the entrance to Amache at least once a year on their way from their home in El Reno, Oklahoma, to the Wind River reservation in Wyoming for Arapaho ceremonies. But they never turned in.

This year, they explored the idea of “shared identity” with the survivors and descendants of Amache, who welcomed them to a pilgrimage that added an activity to its usual itinerary: On Sunday, dozens of the Amache descendants planned to return the respect by driving to the Sand Creek site, where they could continue the dialogue.

“I have learned a lot,” Bobbie said during a massive potluck lunch Saturday at the Granada School between camp tours. “And it tugs at my heart, too, to know that the descendents are here. From what I saw today, their religious recognition of their ancestors is similar to what we do at Sand Creek. I think we have that connection spiritually with them even though we haven’t met.”

“As far as Sand Creek,” Dale observed, “it’s been over 150 years, but when descendants gather, there are always tears shed. It’s the same here. We still have that connection.”

New chapters opened

Carlene Tanigoshi Tinker stepped carefully across the terrain leading to the concrete outline of a former barracks building. Animal burrows, uneven footing and, later in the season, rattlesnakes pose hazards to those who tread across the grounds. But finally, Tinker stepped up onto the foundation and, like so many other pilgrims, felt the tug of family history.

She now stood in the same space where she spent the first three years of her life. This was not her first trip to Amache, but the visits never fail to be revealing for her — because, she said, we’re all more conditioned to look forward rather than back.

“But then you get sensitized by being out here,” Tinker said, “and you start thinking, ‘Wow, I do have a past.’ So that’s why every year I come, I get another chapter of my life opened.”

The addition of the Sand Creek descendants to the mix further expanded her understanding.

Amache Camp’s former prisoners, descendants, and supporters have a moment of remembrance during their pilgrimage to the Amache cemetery to honor those who lost their lives during the concentration camp era, Saturday, May 20, 2023, at the Amache National Historic Site in Granada. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

“And that’s another part of our history,” she said. “We were on their land, historically, and so that should form some kind of a bond, don’t you think? That’s why it’s important for me to go on Sunday.”

Vicki Shigekuni Wong, a Los Angeles-based film producer and entrepreneur whose father was incarcerated at Amache, was preparing to attend her first pilgrimage when she noticed in an email that it included a trip to the Sand Creek Massacre site. Unfamiliar with that portion of Colorado’s pre-statehood history, she started researching it online.

Although she’d already booked her travel and wouldn’t be able to make the Sunday side trip, the prospect of continuing an exchange with the Sand Creek descendants struck her as appropriate.

“I absolutely think it’s relevant to blend the two events,” she said. “Of course, one was by far more violent, with deaths. There can be no comparison as far as human life. But the general gist is that liberties can be just taken away at will by a more dominant, powerful party, just for greater political and economic greed.”

A connecting name

The throughline of Amache and Sand Creek extends virtually from the opening of the camp, when authorities sought to distinguish the post office for what initially was known as the Granada Relocation Center from that of the town of Granada. The name Amache referenced Amache Prowers, the daughter of a Cheyenne chief who married prominent cattle rancher John W. Prowers, eventually the namesake of Prowers County.

Amache’s father was among the 230 tribal members murdered at Sand Creek.

While that thin slice of history has long been known to many Amache descendants, there has been only sporadic formal public acknowledgment of common themes connecting the sites. In 2006, when Amache gained the status of National Historic Landmark, the speakers at the ceremony included Derek Okubo, whose father had lived in the camp.

Okubo, executive director for the Denver Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships, also sits on the board of the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation. In his speech at the time, he noted the irony of Amache’s proximity to the site of another government-sanctioned atrocity.

Later, teacher and school administrator John Hopper, whose local, student-run Amache Preservation Society has served with other organizations to not only maintain the former incarceration camp but also tell its story, noted in his remarks how the students’ stewardship had shifted local perception of the internees that, for many, remained mired in negative, World War II-era attitudes.

One of the people listening was Alexa Roberts, then working for the Park Service as the first superintendent of the Sand Creek site and now a board member of the nonprofit Sand Creek Massacre Foundation.

“I was thinking about how maybe there’s kind of a similar trajectory into the future that Sand Creek may have,” she recalled, “bridging communities with people that have been gone from the area for a long time — just creating new levels of understanding.”

In 2010, a joint conference of philanthropic entities from both the Native American and Asian American Pacific Islander communities met in Denver, and afterward attendees visited both the Amache and Sand Creek sites. Roberts remembers the “true connection” between the two groups that centered on the sacred nature of both sites and the healing that comes from connecting with their histories.

When Amache was more recently under consideration for National Historic Site designation, Roberts submitted a letter that drew on those experiences, laying out the connections with Sand Creek and highlighting the opportunity to amplify both stories.

Now that both Amache and Sand Creek have achieved historic designation under the same regional supervision, she’s hoping that the cultural exchange during the pilgrimage might lead to more formal and substantive engagement.

“We just think that there’s the opportunity for our two philanthropic partnership-support organizations, the Amache Alliance and the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation, to connect with each other and see how we can partner up,” she said. “It’s having an opportunity for descendants to continue a conversation, to meet one another and start a conversation, maybe carrying forward what had started in 2010.”

Tracy Coppola, Colorado senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, noted that individuals from both descendant communities have expressed an interest in exploring “a shared identity of displacement, ceremony, and other multigenerational experiences on both park landscapes” and want to inform the National Park Service’s interpretation of their stories.

“NPCA and our partners view this gathering as a promising first step toward honoring and interpreting the lived experiences of the Indigenous and Japanese American communities so critical to these park landscapes,” she said.

Okubo, whose father lived at Amache and was instrumental in keeping the early efforts to restore it alive, figures he probably first became familiar with the Sand Creek Massacre in the 1980s. But he started to realize some of the connections with his history as an Amache descendant as he developed relationships in the Native American community and through his work on the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation’s advisory board.

“One is definitely horrible. And the other one is horrific,” Okubo said last week by phone, as he couldn’t attend the pilgrimage this year. “Both happened to communities that had been targeted by the U.S. government and a lot of it was very much racial.”

Bridge building marks the first step in collaboration, he added, with learning and healing extending both within the two specific populations of descendants as well outside them.

“I mean, healing as a whole nation is something that we have to continue to strive for,” he said.

Conrad Fisher, cultural resource liaison to the Northern Cheyenne tribal president who also serves on the board of the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation, admits he knows little about the Amache experience, but he does see the parallels of government intervention. In a broader sense, he compares the idea of an incarceration camp to the infamous Indian boarding schools that sought to erase native culture.

“Boarding schools were where you were forced to cut your hair, you’re forced to become a non-Indian, forced not to speak their language,” he said. “So in that sense, I’m sure that those are similarities. I’ve never been to a concentration camp. But I bet I could learn a lot by talking to those folks and what they went through.

“This would be a worthwhile thing to pursue so you have a better understanding of what happened to a group of people there at Amache,” Fisher said. “And this is all part of Colorado’s history. That’s the other commonality we have. We have a dark history and that needs to be told.”

“You have to know what this is”

When Eric Leonard was growing up, his family often trekked back and forth between their eastern Washington residence and his parents’ former home in western Kansas. The trips, Leonard recalls, “were often not in a straight line,” and his parents used the frequent side trips to feed an enthusiasm instilled by a couple of transformative history teachers.

He recalls one trip when they swung by Bent’s Old Fort near La Junta, where the authenticity of a dirty, smelly atmosphere made it seem “like the people just sort of stepped away.” On another one of those educational detours, when he was in his teens in about 1990, his dad pulled the car off U.S. 50 and into the Amache site.

“You have to know what this is,” Leonard recalls his father saying.

In about two weeks, Leonard will move into the position of superintendent of the High Plains Group of historic sites in Colorado and New Mexico, a geographical region that includes both Amache and Sand Creek as well as Bent’s Old Fort, and the Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico.

His résumé prepared him well for his new job — he’s been tasked with managing and interpreting a variety of park sites with diverse and complex historical narratives. One park where he worked in Fort Smith, Arkansas, revolves around both 19th century U.S. policies on forced Indian relocations and capital punishment; the Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia known as “the deadliest ground of the American Civil War,” where the Confederacy managed a prisoner of war camp in which 13,000 U.S. soldiers died from malnutrition and poor conditions.

For five years, Leonard served as superintendent at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, which preserves Cold War-era U.S. Air Force assets, a launch control facility and a silo with an unarmed, unfueled missile once capable of wiping an entire city off the face of the Earth — situated against a bucolic backdrop of the South Dakota badlands replete with prairie grass, melodic meadowlarks and grazing cattle.

“And so you’re standing in a place where there’s sort of conflicting truths,” Leonard said. “There’s a beautiful prairie landscape and then a secretive hell. And there’s some relation there to Sand Creek Massacre and that site as well. Something terrible happened on that beautiful prairie landscape.

Jan Yamaguchi, left, an Amache descendant, and Bobbie Hamilton, right, a Sand Creek descendant, share stories during a potluck inside Granada High School in part of the Amache pilgrimage event, Saturday, May 20, 2023 in Granada. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

“These are stories of often great violence to great controversy that can require some nuance,” he added. “Everyone can find a way to relate to these. It’s just how do you get past the initial: What am I looking at?”

Leonard believes parks work best when they enlist partners, and he sees the fact that both Amache and Sand Creek sites have retained strong descendant communities as a possible starting point for engagement. While he has definite ideas about marketing the regional sites, he pulls back when it comes to the details of how those descendant communities might come together in mutually beneficial ways.

“It’s a part of the story that doesn’t belong to me,” he said. “I’m an Anglo park professional and the manager. I think descendants should have the freedom to build a relationship. I see my role mostly to start to meet people and to just be present and to listen. I have a sense of the things I don’t know.”

Experiencing Sand Creek

While the sun burned off a light haze on the vast panorama at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic site, an assortment of Amache descendants, friends and supporters gathered beneath a canopy of trees around Dale and Bobbie Hamilton.

After Dale invited the dozens of visitors to silently pray in their own tradition, Bobbie held a braided length of dried sweetgrass to a lighter, creating wisps of fragrant smoke. One by one, attendees leaned into the vapor, drawing it toward them with four passes of their hands in a cleansing ceremony ahead of their hike onto sacred land.

Over the next couple of hours, park guides led the visitors along the gravel trail that winds from the on-site visitor center uphill to the high ground where the guides’ skillfully delivered narrative melds imagination with the sprawling landscape to recreate the timeline of the 1864 military slaughter of more than 230 peaceful inhabitants, mostly elders — including several chiefs — women and children.

For the Amache pilgrims, the tour provided the coda to a weekend of revisiting and memorializing the Japanese-American experience at the incarceration camp. But this parting field trip also expanded their knowledge and understanding of the people whose deadly encounter with government forces came generations earlier.

Arlene Acuna reached the top of the gentle rise and surveyed the landmarks described by the guide. She’s been aware of the devastation of the Native Americans since she was a young teen, she said, and hopes a collaborative approach can raise awareness of both groups’ experience.

“I think that Sand Creek descendants, sadly, don’t have the kind of community support that Amache has,” she said, noting the camp’s proximity to the town of Granada and the ongoing support of organizations like the Amache Preservation Society. “It would be wonderful if we could work together, to help cultivate this into more of a destination of education.”

Acuna’s parents met and married at Amache, where they lived for all three years that the camp operated. Arlene was born in Berkeley, shortly after the family returned to California, and grew up to become a teacher, where her specialty was multicultural education amid rapidly integrating schools.

Last year, Acuna visited Amache for the every-other-year archeological field study on the grounds directed by the University of Denver and, as her group got ready to return to Denver to catch their flights, they all agreed they wanted to stop off at the Sand Creek site. They walked the route and read the markers.

This year, knowing that there would be collaboration with descendants of the Sand Creek Massacre at the pilgrimage, she reread the historical account to prepare for the guided tour that would deliver even more details against a backdrop of the undulating plains and distant rows of trees that bore witness to the horrible events.

Like those trees, Acuna’s interest in Native American culture also has deep roots. Growing up in a TV landscape heavily influenced by depictions of the Old West, she absorbed the stereotypes but soon was cautioned against buying into them by her parents, whose own lives had been influenced by fear and racism that had coalesced into the internment camps.

That triggered her efforts to devour unvarnished histories of the government’s treatment of marginalized tribal groups.

“My parents gave me that kind of sensitivity,” she said. “I grew up with all the Westerns on TV, ‘Tales of Wells Fargo,’ ‘The Lone Ranger’ and all that. And my father always corrected me and said, the Native people who were called Indians of the time are not represented in a fair way. This is my father, who was a first-generation Japanese immigrant. But he was very politically astute. I was really fortunate.”

Mitch Homma had been to the Sand Creek site a couple times previously, and has thought a lot about how the Amache community might help spread its story. Because Amache’s recent designation as a National Historic Site remains a work in progress that continues to attract attention (the Sand Creek site was designated in 2000 and dedicated in 2007), he sees an opportunity to help spread the word about two important historical landscapes less than an hour apart.

“It’s about education, not just hey, we walked each other’s site and had ceremonies at each other site,” he said. “It’s more than symbolic. It’s a long-term education avenue that we need to journey down together. This won’t be the only time we come out. We’ll do it again after the next pilgrimage.

“This is Step One.”

—

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported news organization dedicated to covering the people, places and policies that matter in Colorado. Read more, sign up for free newsletters and subscribe at coloradosun.com.

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Even after 57 years it seems incomprehensible.  My high school friend and swimming teammate, Fred West, was killed in Vietnam, only a few weeks into his tour of duty.

Fred was a year behind me in high school and, as we were not particularly close, I was unaware that he had enlisted in the Marines immediately after graduating.  I’ll never know what led Fred to join the Marines. He was a gentle, genial, seemingly uncomplicated guy, and I knew no one else who joined the military.

The news of his death was a profound shock.  In 1965, the war was distant and impersonal, of minor relevance to my friends and me.  Fred’s death at age 18 closed that distance.  Little did I know that a year later I would be drafted into the Army and faced with the possibility that it could happen to me too.

I think of Fred on each Memorial Day as a tug on my conscience as I navigate the odd juxtaposition of Memorial Day’s true purpose and its cultural place as the symbolic, celebratory start to summer.  These two things can’t really be reconciled.

With my own induction, the war transitioned from an abstraction to a nightmare – quite literally.  I would occasionally dream of combat, the images informed by newsreels of firefights in dense jungles, muzzle flashes coming from all directions.  Then, in Basic Training, advanced infantry training and Officer Candidate School, the muzzle flashes came from my rifle and my bayonet was thrust into straw men made to look like the enemy.  We were taught, not too subtly, to hate the “gooks,” as we prepared to kill them before they killed us. It was a perversely effective process.

I lucked out and never saw Vietnam, except from the safety of 30,000 feet on my way to a posting in Thailand.  But many of the friends I made during a year of training weren’t so lucky.  My weekly review of Stars and Stripes would reveal another loss, printed in plain type; whole, complicated human lives gone, reduced to simple listings – alphabetized casualties of an immoral war.

By the time I might have been sent to Vietnam as a platoon leader, I had considered refusing, or deserting.  The futility and questionable purpose of American involvement had become clearer and it hardly seemed cause for self-sacrifice.  Looking back with more honest perspective, I don’t think I would have refused or deserted. We males are socialized to be brave and stoic.  Despite intellectual and moral clarity about the war, the conditioning toward unquestioned duty and the need to prove myself would likely have prevailed.  Only in subsequent years did I know that true bravery would have been to refuse.

We should have learned from Vietnam, but we have not.  Nearly every military action since then has been fraught with the same hubris and deceit.  Just as it is impossible to justify Fred West’s death as “in a good cause,” no life lost in Iraq or Afghanistan has been “in a good cause.”

So how does one reconcile this tension?  I suppose the only reasonable way is to hate the war and honor the warrior, yet that is a terribly painful process for loved ones.  It is, naturally, easier to accept the loss of life in a noble cause.  This is why veterans are honored for defending our freedom, even when nothing about our freedom was really at stake.

On Memorial Day we must honor every lost life with reverence and respect.  Like my friend Fred, every man and woman who dons a uniform does so with noble intent, no matter the ignobility of the politicians who send them to war.  Service should be honored, but it is our profound responsibility to insure that no lives are lost in vain – for political vanity.

The greatest honor we can bestow on our troops is peace.

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PRESS RELEASE: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we are now publishing some press releases in whole.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Joann Cortéz: Office 303.650.7644, Cell 303.358.3838

Water World to Open Memorial Day Weekend!

Colorado’s Community-owned Waterpark Receives Official Thumbs Up to Open

FEDERAL HEIGHTS, COLORADO – April 7, 2021: Hyland Hills Water World will open for the season on Saturday, May 29, 2021, as it has traditionally for the Memorial Day weekend – but with reduced attendance capacity and pandemic cleaning and operational protocols in place. The park was given an official go-ahead from Adams County and the Tri-County Health Department after submitting a comprehensive operational plan for consideration in March. 

“We are excited to open and grateful that our plan was reviewed and approved as written, yet we know there will likely be adjustments as it is actually put into practice, because, as always, the safety of our guests will eclipse all other considerations,” said park spokesperson, Joann Cortéz.   

               The park plan includes pre-visit ticketing, reduced attendance, health and safety protocols for team members and guests, including social distancing and mask wearing when not in the water or on an attraction, greater food safety procedures, enhanced ride cleaning by a designated clean team and much more to keep people safe.

“Covid-19 has altered our lives in many ways, and the waterpark experience is no exception. We just ask that guests be patient as we navigate through the opening of our unique family entertainment venue” Cortéz continued, “We will not hesitate to make needed adjustments as they present themselves to keep everyone safe.” 

Water World plans to keep an open, respectful, ongoing dialogue with health officials to remain on course and to collectively anticipate any operational changes that might be required.

“Water World is such an icon in the Adams County community and we are looking forward to having it open this year,” said Eva J. Henry, Adams County Commissioner and Board Chair. “With proper protocols in place, and limited capacity, families can once again get out and enjoy the water and sun this summer.” 

“We appreciate all the thought and consideration that went into Water World’s reopening plan,” said Jennifer Ludwig, Deputy Director of Tri-County Health Department. “They clearly prioritized health and safety for their employees and attendees. We are glad they are able to open this summer and to be a part of the planning process.”

The park website has a “Know Before You Go” page that offers more park details for guests preparing for a visit and is updated regularly: https://www.waterworldcolorado.com/explore/know-before-you-go-2021/

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For this adults-only road trip, your first stop is Fort Collins, where you’ll check into the Armstrong Hotel, a cool boutique hotel that hovers above Old Town coffee shops, restaurants and stores.

Walk to Old Town Square to check out a bike at the bicycle library and head out for an afternoon of cycling and beer. Make a reservation for a tour at New Belgium Brewing ahead of time and get an inside glimpse of this über green brewery and their Belgium-inspired beer. Go east along Lincoln and hit up Odell Brewing, the brand-new Fort Collins Brewery facility, Funkwerks, which took over the old Fort Collins Brewery facility, and then back into Old Town for a pint at the new Equinox Brewing.

Find a downtown restaurant—we suggest Austin’s American Grill for stellar ribs and rotisserie chicken or Tasty Harmony for funky vegan creations—and if you’re still up for it, catch a foreign film or independent flick at the tiny locally owned theater just down the road, Lyric Cinema. The next day, head up the intimate and picturesque Cache La Poudre Canyon and find your camping spot along the river at the Ansel Watrous campsite. You’ll want to check out the beefy Grey Rock trail or the more meandering Youngs Gulch path before you find a spot at the Mishawaka Amphitheater, a famed outdoor music venue that edges up to the Poudre River, for a show (Toad the Wet Sprocket, Keb’ Mo’ and Sam Bush are already lined up for the summer).

Head back to your campsite for s’mores and songs by the campfire. The next day, hit the road and continue up the canyon. You’ll reach Cameron Pass, gloriously hanging between the Never Summer and Medicine Bow Mountains. Check out the amazing view and find one of the many trails that offer challenging hikes (you’ll see trail signs up down the road; Michigan Ditch is an easy trail that provides postcard-perfect views of the Nokhu Crags). Get back on Hwy. 14, and keep heading west until you hit the quiet little town of Walden, the “moose viewing capitol of Colorado.” Grab a room at the Antlers Inn, which has Western luxury in spades, and grab dinner at the River Walk Café. Savor the sheer unfussiness of this tiny town.

Road Trips – And Countless Adventures on the Open Road

• In Search of Rapids
• Southern Exposure
• A Grand Journey
• Jack Dempsey’s Knock-Out Tour
• Into the West
• Northern Lights
• Utah Bound
• Middle America History Tour

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