The Weekly News Brief The Sopris Sun and the KDNK news department team up each week to discuss recent news from the Roaring Fork Valley. Catch the Brief on KDNK at 7:50 a.m. and at 5:50 p.m. on Thursdays, or find it online at KDNK.org.   

Olenick takes a gold

Carbondale native Peter Olenick triumphed in the final event of the 2010 Winter X Games in Aspen. In the skiing high air event, a new competition this year, Olenick (25) arced 24 feet and 11 inches above the rim of the superpipe. No other competitor broke the 24-foot mark. The runner up, Canadian Justin Dorey, flew to 23 feet, 9 inches.

Citizens sought for town medical marijuana board

The Carbondale Board of Trustees is seeking a diverse group of volunteer citizens to serve on the Medical Marijuana Facilities Advisory Group. The purpose is to research and discuss issues related to location and regulation of medical marijuana facilities, and report findings to the Board of Trustees. The group will not debate the merits of the product.
The trustees are forming the advisory board in response to the wide range of concerns and comments that they have received from the community.
Carbondale citizens interested in participating on the group can submit letters of interest to: Carbondale Medical Marijuana Facilities Advisory Group, 511 Colorado Avenue, Carbondale 81623. Letter may be e-mailed to community@carbondaleco.net. The deadline to submit a letter of interest is Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Town solicits comments on sports facility plan

The Carbondale Parks and Recreation Commission will be soliciting comments on the proposed community sports complex plan during its regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 10.
The plan would place new playing fields, tennis courts, volleyball courts and trails in the vicinity of North Face Park and Roaring Fork High School. A press release stated that the commission hopes the meeting will attract people with a stake in local youth and adult baseball, soccer, softball and tennis. The meeting will not just focus on the proposed facilities, but will also take up the agreement between the Roaring Fork School District and the town. Information from the meeting will be presented at later meetings of the town trustees and the school board. For more information, call Carbondale Recreation Director Jeff Jackel, at 704-4114.

Church sends health kits to Haiti

The members and constituents of Carbondale United Methodist Church have donated more than $3,000 to disaster relief including about $1,000 for health kits that contain a variety of items including a toothbrush, wash cloth, hand towel, bar of soap, finger nail clippers, adhesive bandages and more. (See photo page 6.)
On Jan. 24 and 31, a group of child and adult volunteers assembled the items into gallon-size bags. The kits, along with kits from the Basalt Community United Methodist Church, were taken to Grand Junction, then to Salt Lake to a distribution center of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, then flown to the Dominican Republic to be taken into Haiti to those in need. As of last Sunday, more than 25,000 kits had been sent from numerous congregations.
The church is still accepting donations. For more information, call 963-4461.

Final public flu clinics offered

Garfield County Public Health will hold a final, large-scale walk-in flu vaccination clinic on Saturday, Feb. 6. The health department will offer vaccinations for seasonal flu as well as H1N1. The clinics will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Public Health office in Glenwood Springs at 2014 Blake Avenue, and at the Rifle office at 195 W. 14th Street. The clinics are open to everyone. For more information, call Public Health at 945-6614 or 625-5200.

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