2022 Year in Review FEBRUARY

Here are some new events highlighting events which had an impact on residents of Prowers County

Gotto and Robbins

100th Anniversary Banquet for Lamar Chamber of Commerce

Teamwork was the central theme for the Lamar Chamber of Commerce banquet held Friday, January 28th at the Lamar Eagles Lodge.

The banquet was notable for several reasons, the first being the observance of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the chamber for Lamar and the second, as the first banquet held after a two-year hiatus due to social distancing restrictions due to the Covid pandemic.

Mason Miriles, Lamar High School student, offered a heartfelt description of Lamar High School teacher, Tammy Lindquist-Benabides as the 2021 Citizen of the Year.  Quoting Shai Reshef, “When you educate one person you can change a life, when you educate many, you can change the world.”

The Chamber’s “Humanitarian of the Year” award was presented by Rick Robbins to George Gotto, stating, “He has chosen to live his life in service to others in his occupational choices, passions and pastimes.” Robbins noted his 30 years of service to Wiley in his positions on the council and for almost that many years as the town’s mayor.  Gotto’s involvement in the Lamar Rotary goes without saying, however, he has served as that organization’s president on three occasions in over 30 years of service.  He has also supported Prowers Medical Center as a board member, a founding member of PMC’s Foundation and a member of the Lamar Area Hospice Board for 15 years.

The chamber board selected two businesses as the recipients of the 2021 Business of the Year award.  New board director, Joe McCaleb, presented Jonathan Suarez, owner of UFL Elite Training, with his award, noting the level of community involvement he has shown with his physical fitness center on North Main Street over the past several years.  Board director, Ashly Melgosa, presented Joe Gruber and Karen Moreno with their plaque for the Buzzard’s Roost’s years of support of the community-at-large and chamber activities including developing numerous musical events which bring tourists to the area, to offering the Buzzard’s Roost and the Buzzard’s Nest for various fund-raising activities.
By Russ Baldwin

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Camp Amache Main Entrance

Bennet, Hickenlooper, Neguse, Buck Celebrate Senate Passage of Bill to Add Amache National Historic Site to the National Park System

Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D), along with Colorado U.S. Representatives Joe Neguse (D) and Ken Buck (R), celebrated Senate passage of legislation to establish the Amache National Historic Site, a former Japanese American incarceration facility outside of Granada, Colorado, as part of the National Park System. Bennet and Hickenlooper introduced the bill in the U.S. Senate last year. Neguse and Buck introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed by 416-2 in July 2021.
Amache was one of ten Japanese American incarceration facilities across the country. During World War II, nearly 10,000 Japanese Americans passed through Amache and over 7,000 lived there between 1942 and 1945. According to the National Park Service (NPS), today “the cemetery, a reservoir, a water well and tank, the road network, concrete foundations, watch towers, the military police compound, and trees planted by the internees still remain.” Amache is currently a National Historic Landmark maintained by the Amache Preservation Society, established by John Hopper, a social studies teacher who is currently the principal of Granada High School, and powered by student volunteers from the high school.

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Lamar Council Okays LCC Foundation Request for Future Housing

The student population at Lamar Community College continues to increase, due in part, to the recent development of a future soccer team.  The college and the LCC Foundation have joined economic forces in the past for additional housing, such as the Prowers House dormitory, which was built in 2016, according to councilwoman, Anne-Marie Crampton.  Now, there’s a need for more space and the Main Street View Motel was recently purchased for conversion to hold 75 more students.  LCC President, Dr. Linda Lujan asked the Lamar City Council for assistance in that transformation during its February 15th meeting.

Dr. Lujan said she appreciated the efforts of the Foundation to help attain a goal that was set in 2017 to establish a soccer program at the college.  She noted the assistance the city offered on the recent development of Escondido Park in a first-class soccer field for use later this year.  Dr. Lujan said the city could help in a variety of ways, from providing trash roll-offs to helping repave the parking lot with college purchased asphalt.  In light of the many ways a new soccer program at the college would help benefit the economic climate of Lamar as a host city to future games, Crampton explained that the new dorm would not be earmarked primarily for soccer-oriented students, but open to all LCC students who attend the college.
By Russ Baldwin