News highlights: 1997

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

Brownie and Fum McGraw of Fort Collins were honored as Citizens of the West at festivities during the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The award is made to community leaders who exemplify the spirit and determination of the western pioneer.

Northside Health Center, owned by Poudre Valley Hospital, opened in February at 114 Bristlecone Drive to serve the uninsured and underinsured.

County commissioners appointed a permanent agricultural advisory board and directed its first members to work on a right to farm and ranch policy for the county.

The Abbey of St. Walburga in Boulder on May 9 took ownership of 253 acres in Virginia Dale, just four miles south of the Wyoming border, as a first step to relocating the Benedictine abbey.

Larimer County celebrated 50 years of professional rodeo during the August fair in Loveland.

The Red Feather Lakes Library celebrated its 10-year anniversary in the building at 71 Firehouse Lane.

Heavy rains that devastated Fort Collins in late July cause little damage in most of northern Larimer County. The exception was in the vicinity of County Road 54G and North Taft Hill Road where one house was surrounded by a foot of water.

County commissioners prepared two versions of the 1998 budget. Budget B, with $1.15 million in cuts and $490,000 in revenue increases, would be adopted if citizens failed to pass two sales tax measures in November. Budget B threatened to cut funding to community libraries, reduce 4-H programs and eventually shut down county extension services. Many citizens called it blackmail.

Mildred (Clark) Moen of Virginia Dale died Sept. 13 at age 104. She came to Virginia Dale in 1915 and filed homestead claims on two 320-acre parcels. She married John Moen in 1922.

The North Forty News expanded its circulation to include areas south of LaPorte. Total circulation topped 10,000 in October.

Election returns: County voters narrowly supported two county sales taxes issues for new courthouse projects in Fort Collins and Loveland and expansion of the county jail. The courthouse issue passed by just 99 votes. Support for the jail expansion was slightly higher. Almost 69 percent of Livermore area voters approved creation of a tax-supported fire protection district.

The Wellington Boys & Girls Club celebrated a successful remodeling venture that more than doubled the size of its building. Volunteers contributed 80 percent of the labor.

Members of Morning Star Community Church moved into a new building on Red Feather Lakes Road in December. Volunteers started building the new church in October 1996.