Class Reflections

Blogging assignments are a lot different than other assignments that I have previously had in my journalism classes. Unlike the other stories that we had to do, these stories were due at a deadline. Sometimes we would be assigned a blog , and it would be due later that day by midnight.

I did enjoy writing the blogs because it keeps me writing. As an aspiring novelist and writer, I am aware that people who say that want to write as a career do not continuing doing it. These blogs keep me writing and help me to master the skill even more.

What I learned in this class is how a city council works. The hours are lengthy and it is important to know what they are going to talk about beforehand, so that the topics make sense. It is important as a journalist to pay attention closely at these meetings. This is what I would have liked to have known before this class started.

Although there is nothing that I wish I would have learned, I would say that I learned how to keep up with school and deadlines. This class had loads of work packed on, and I managed to complete everything because I paid attention, went to class and did my work when it needed to be done.

My advice for incoming students would be to get ready to go the extra mile as a journalist in this class. In this class, it is required that students write a story that will get published in The Greeley Tribune. This calls for interviewing, calling people and possibly traveling.

Meet Me At the Car Wash

The construction for a new car wash was approved at Greeley’s City Council meeting on Tuesday Dec. 4.

            The newer project called Breeze Thru Wash will replace an existing and older car wash, located at 35 Ave. and 28 St., which has not been in business for two years.

            According to Deanne Frederickson, the planner and landscape architect of the project, the citizens of Greeley will be pleased with the new business being put in place.

            “The customers of Breeze Thru Wash like these car washes because they are fast and inexpensive,” she said.

            The car wash takes two to three minutes to go through at a cost of only three dollars. The site consists of a washing building containing an automated conveyor belt that pulls the occupied cars through the various wash cycles in the building, while the customers remain in the car.

            The wash incorporates new technologies as well, which will recycle 75 percent of the water being used.

            Construction and site placement were also planned accordingly to the surroundings in the project plan. Directly north and east of the site of the car wash are residential neighborhoods. But the business’ washing and vacuum sites are located on the west side of the area, meaning residents will experience less noise.

            Council member Robb Casseday said that he was pleased with the proposal of the project for more than one reason.

            “I’m really excited about the old facility being replaced,” he said. “I think the site planning was well thought out. They did a good job of mitigating any sound issues.”

            The car wash plans to open Nov. of 2013.

In the Red

The University Center ballroom at the University of Northern Colorado was packed with locals and students on Nov. 15 who waited to hear a presentation about an issue relative to Greeley and Weld County.

                The room erupted with applause after the event’s speaker, Josh Fox, took his position on the stage.

                “How many of you are actually stoned right now?” Fox asked to get the crowd energetic by referencing the state’s recent passing of Amendment 64.

                With a projector mapping out Greeley and Colorado to his left, Fox began to discuss the cons of hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”, a topic he documented in his Academy Award nominated film, Gasland.

                The term refers to the extraction of natural gas from shale rock underneath the Earth’s surface. The drilling involves sending down toxic fluids to release the gas by breaking the rock. Two to four million gallons of water is used for a single drilling, but up 60,000 gallons of chemicals are used as well. But what Fox says is most important is that these fluids can leak onto the surface and even in groundwater.

                 “No way would I want oil and gas drilling near me,” he said.

                Fox directed the audience’s attention over to the red blotches scattered across the map of Colorado.

                “All of these red areas are where these drillings take place,” he said.

                The area surrounding Greeley was covered in red.

                “I had no idea that so many drillings took place around us,” said Allison Quelch, a senior psychology major. “It’s very interesting to listen to, but at the same time it is shocking to know that the people within the community might all be affected by it.”

                The fluids involved in “fracking” are known to contaminant water as well as the air according to Fox.

             “'Frack' gas is worse gas for climate change, coal is better,” Fox said.

                That is because large amounts of methane, leak out from the ground and into the air. But the chemicals also contaminate the drinking water.

                Fox said that in his documentary, there is a famous scene where a man turns on his kitchen faucet and lights the water on fire.

                And what Fox says that he wants, is for people to be aware about an issue that is not widely discussed or even known. He says that he is concerned for the country’s public health.

                “You are in a position now where you can stand up and use your voice,” he said.

                Ali Horton, a sophomore criminal justice majors, says that she thinks Fox’s presentation could possibly be innovative.

                “You didn’t hear much talk about this during the election,” she said. “I think that if he continues to spread the word, the issue might become more political than it already is.”

                Fox is currently working on a follow-up to his documentary titled, Gasland 2.

The Time Has Come to Cast Your Vote

After months of political campaigns being aired across the state for the 2012 presidential election, it was now time for viewers to become voters and take their opinions to the booth. On Tuesday at the ballrooms in the University Center at the University of Northern Colorado, three young women planned on doing just that as they waited patiently in line.

            Being their first time voting, all women were eager to use their voice and opinions as their civic duty.

            Amber Rea, a senior audiology major said that she felt excited voting for the very first time and chose to vote for is Republican Mitt Romney.

            “I found that Romny’s beliefs and personal experiences align more with mine, more than they do with Obama,” Rea said. “I am specifically interested in military affairs because I come from a military family. Romney is pro-military and is not willing to cut its benefits like Obama is.”

            Whereas Rea says the other factors that play into her decision to vote for Romney are the economy and unemployment, another voter, Karena Cooper, a senior elementary education major thinks about her own future.

            Since learning how to become a teacher at UNC, Cooper says that she has also learned how politics may affect her job. As she moves a step further in the line, she says that Democrat Barack Obama will be more generous to Cooper and her profession than Romney.

            “As a future teacher, we need a society that gives our children the proper education they deserve,” said Cooper. “Obama seems like he is for issues like this as well as jobs. Relatively to education, Obama supports having a smaller classroom size which allows more teachers to have and keep their jobs.”

            But although Cooper and Rea are voting for opposite candidates, they both disagree on the passage of Amendment 64.

            While Rea voted no because she felt uneducated about the program to even vote yes, Cooper says that she doesn’t think her voice would be very valuable in this instance.

            “What’s the point of voting for this law when it could be reversed by the federal government?” Cooper said.

            However, Mackenzie Francis, a junior elementary and Obama voter said that the law should be passed not only because she thinks that tax revenue from the plant could help schools, but because it allows people to be individuals.

            “People have the right to do what they want with their lives without other people caring what they do,” Francis said.

            Along with her pro-marijuana belief, other liberal views that she considers while walking only inches in front of the entrance to the ballrooms include gay marriage and abortion.

            But although Francis, Cooper and Rea all take their different views with them as they enter the ballrooms to cast their ballot , each of them becomes a new voice to be heard by the American public.

Mattresses for Sale!

            A Greeley resident sought permission from the city council on the Oct. 16 meeting, to use signs advertising a fundraiser to support her son’s varsity baseball team.

            The signs are only permitted on the grounds of the sale, according to the city. But Sherrie Peif thinks that that the city would allow her permission to use the signs on commercial intersections, even though the council did not give her an exact answer at the meeting.

            “I think that it’s an interpretation of one person and I don’t think the city council will take away fundraising from a non-profit school fundraiser,” she said. “Funding education today is a hot topic, and I can’t imagine a city council anywhere that would limit a parent’s ability to help fund the ‘extras’ of school such and extra-curricular stuff.”   

            And these extras, Peif explains, are expenses used for tournaments and traveling for not only the University High School Bulldogs baseball team, but for the school’s cheer leading team as well.

            The parents’ of these teams, like Peif, have organized for a mattress sale in the school’s gymnasium through a company in Estes Park called Front Range Unique Fundraising, LLC ,to help pay for the teams’ expenses on Nov. 10.

            Kane Ware, a Greeley resident, also supports Peif’s call to action for the advertising of the fundraiser.           

            “It promotes the school and the usage of the signs seems harmless,” said Ware, a soldier in U.S. Army Reserves. 

Crime Rates Have Dropped, Yet Jail Might Expand

A member of Greeley’s City Council expects the council will vote on the fourth part of the expansion for the Weld County Jail at the Council Chambers of the Lincoln Park Annex during Tuesday’s meeting.

            But according to member, Sandi Elder, the jail’s expansion is not being proposed because of the increase in crime within the Weld County area. Instead, the expansion is being pushed because the facility is too small.

            “We have asked our legislators not to release felons,” she said. “We ask them to allow them to finish their sentence, but because of overcrowding, they release.”

            Chief of Police, Jerry Garner’s statistics on crimes in 2012 show that murder, rape and robbery have all reduced since June of 2011.

            “The mission (for the release of statistics) is to improve the quality of life for Greeley citizens by reducing their fear of becoming a victim of crime,” he said.

            The expansion of the jail will include the construction of a three-story building with a total floor area of 160,000 square feet. If the proposal were to be passed, the property would increase its area to 377, 568 square feet, and the number of beds for inmates would increase from 780 to 1,153.

            The item was pulled at last week’s meeting because the County Commissioners wanted to be there to answer any questions, and also because the Community Development director was out sick.

Getting Started

My name is Peter Szaraz and I am a senior at the University of Northern Colorado with a major in journalism and minors in communication studies and political science. The purpose of this blog is to cover local issues in Greeley by attending city council meetings, and national issues like the 2012 presidential election.

Blogging to me is an excuse to write more, but not a bad one. My passion is to write and at the same time, this course gives me a chance to expose my work to the public. Nothing really scares me about blogging. In fact, I am confident that I will do well blogging about topics like the election. I have been paying close attention to it within the past year by watching debates and speeches.

Blogging is different than other college assignments because in a way it feels like social networking. This art allows me to write seriously about things you're passionate about and vent your feelings like in a journal.