CREATE One Thing Everyone Needs

Everyone needs recreation as much as we need water! In 1953, a New England grandfather saw a need for his grandson to play ball. He went back to his shop and molded a plastic ball, put holes in it, made a long plastic thin bat, and invented a national pastime surrounding our national pastime — Wiffle Ball. Everyone needs recreation. FlingGolf Anywhere New England also produced a new take on golf. In college, a few guys who played lacrosse for their school were looking for something to do during

1 day ago

5:45

CORE Respondents Wildfires- Independence Day

As of 2PM on Friday, the 3rd of July, the Aspen Acres Wildfire is now increased to almost 77000 acres and evacuations for towns near Florence are in effect. Highway 67 from Florence to Wetmore is reportedly closed and anything west of Highway 67 in that stretch is on evacuation status. Since tge Federal Prison is on the east side of the highway, it is not being evacuated. Alternate route to Westcliffe is Highway 50 to Highway 69. For many years I felt that journalism needs a network of indepen

5 days ago

CREATE Audio Books and Music

Lowell Busenitz writes in his book, Soul Work. "My story. I was born into a family of six boys and one girl in rural Kansas, where my parents were grain and livestock farmers. By kindergarten age, I was bringing wood into the house for tomorrow's heat and helping in the garden with pulling weeds and harvesting potatoes before my playtime. My days started with my father calling up the stairs at 6 a.m. Boys, time to get up. If I was slow in waking up, my oldest brother would soon call to me, Lowel

12 days ago

CORE Performing Recording Arts and Broadcasting

Pete Seeger famously described Folk Music as "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue." In the big scope of royalties, streaming, podcasting, and broadcasting, going that route in presenting music is the only way to share music. Traditional songs in the Public Domain, and Original Music are the ingredients for creative success are the best ways for a performing musician in the performing and recording of music and literature, and that is a good thing. Music- Literat

13 days ago

Are You Being Served or Are You Serving Others?

"In a small town our strengths and our flaws slam together against the senses. In a small town our only cause is jam-packed into a basket for someone in need. Peripheral vision." — Richard Arnold Beattie All Generations In our bookend small towns, where one end is Silver Cliff and the other is Westcliffe, within the big Wet Mountain Valley, we are an aging population. If your community is not aging, then people are either leaving or dying. And so it is with community. If our community is not re

16 days ago

2:17

CORE Values

Today is Junteenth. The day of emancipation. To celebrate it's a good time to look at giving something back. We often look what our return on investment is. What about the people who were taken and stolen from their communities as slaves? What about the indigenous people who had their land stolen? And what of the land itself? Stewardship is returning the investment of the land to a lasting and richer state. A healthier state. This is a CORE Value of leadership. To CREATE Daily, in the communi

19 days ago

1:55

CREATE: The Spirit of 76

Writing on Trains (The Parent's of my Friends Back in High School) Down at Oakdale Station, I waited for the destination, going to the city with my friends, who were going to school at the Fashion Institute. And there were all the Wall Street Business Pursuits in their Brooks Brother’s Law-suits, going over the Journal, at 4:48 in the morning. They are the parents of my friends from High School. Change at Babylon, Change at Jamaica, Spare change from the Daily News and spare change- make or Br

19 days ago

CREATE A Story

When I close my eyes I can see it all again, the people, the places and stories of my friends, the same as it always was, coming home. Living here together, working arm and arm, Giving and receiving grace on the ranch and on the farm — Same as it ever was, from before I was born, Coming home as it ever was — Coming Home." — Richard Arnold Beattie, Portraits, Landscapes and Moving Sculptures Homestead Road This evening in our little towns I sing and play guitar songs that I wrote for a book tha

20 days ago

CREATE a Core Board

I am often accused of doing too much and not knowing my limitations. As the president of several organizations and a serial entrepreneur, there is a need to integrate my service. Through partnership with internet radio, press, podcast, affiliate, and a creative advertising network of Colorado journalists, authors, recording artists, musicians, and studios — in the communities we serve, through parks and recreation, education, arts/media, transportation, and entrepreneurship — there are more comp

21 days ago

4:43

CREATE Agrarian Core

"I've walked this way since before I arrived, I've talked this way without even trying, and when I got here, I walked this town for fifty some years, walking the same ground." — Richard Arnold Beattie On Thursday evening in Westcliffe, I will be working with Dick Jones as he reads from his book, "Walking the Same Ground," and I will be singing the songs I wrote, recorded, and perform — bringing me full circle from the rural community my grandparents experienced to "walking the same ground" with

22 days ago

5:06

Getting Down to Business CO-Lab

It is Friday in our little towns in the Big Wet Mountain Valley. The farmers market is bustling and the Rotary Van is taking folks around the Cliffs to the Bluff and to their appointments. I was thinking about a story I read about other Main Street communities and how the communities used to have that same old bustle. And what one Mayor on the eastern plains is doing to face reality. "We used to be a bustling town, now we are a crumbling town." How did it happen? The folks died out, the bus

26 days ago

2:12

CREATE TAG Team Coverage

Integral parts take integral partners. "Yes Hillary, it takes a Village," or moreover it takes a Community — with emphasis on community. We are often helpless when we read that less than two hours away a wildfire breaks loose — until it hits our immediate area. As a lifelong journalist and a Colorado citizen since 1978, I have covered wildfires and I have had to evacuate. That gives me some credibility in speaking to those who are in danger right now. On Wednesday, June 10, 2026, a wildfire kno

28 days ago

3:55

CREATE Community: Building a Vibrant Downtown in Westcliffe and Silver Cliff

Jordan Hedberg is the editor of The Wet Mountain Tribune, an honest-to-goodness weekly newspaper that addresses the past, present, and future of the community where I live. In the latest edition, Hedberg published a cautionary tale reminiscent of suburbia — homes built on the outskirts of downtown, far from Main Street. But his caution wasn't aimed only at cities and urban sprawl. It was a realistic look at the neighborhoods being built on the edges of rural towns like Westcliffe and Silver Clif

about 1 month ago

3:14

That's So Old School — Occupy Home, Work and Community

Westcliffe, Colorado | Friday, June 5 In our two little towns in our big Mountain Valley, there is an old stone schoolhouse that was built during the Victorian Age. The building was restored in the 1980s and is home to Valley Parks and Recreation, which serves both of our towns. In 1996, I was hired by Stan and Irene Francis to run the Parks and Recreation programs for the summer. Since then, thirty years of youth have graduated from Custer County High School, gone off to college, found careers

about 1 month ago

5:39

The Art of Integrating Media

Ready, Aim, 4, 3, 2, 1. For 56 years, I have written, spoken, sung, and created messaging for print, broadcast, stage, and studio. The art of integrating journalism, advertising, music, theater, acting, directing, producing, audio, video, and performance with responsible entrepreneurship is something I call Media Integrity. Journalistic integrity was a hallmark of CBS — from Murrow to Pelley — until the human element of getting the story right became compromised. It all begins with preparation:

about 1 month ago

3:17

Staying Home for Education

I was planning the summer sessions for Valley Parks and Recreation this afternoon and I thought about the students who graduated from Custer County High School last week. I met with my board at Valley Park and Recreation and the Old Westcliff School House. As I walked in for the first time in thirty years, the last time I was the Director, the schoolhouse was operated as a Museum and Parks and Recreation Center. Nowadays a Christian School has taken it over. I entered my old office, in the great

about 1 month ago

3:26

On the way Homestand!

Fifty years ago I walked across a platform and shook the hand of the principal at Connetquot High School, who handed me my diploma. By Monday, I was on the 4:40 AM train to New York City and, along with my classmates' fathers, became a commuter. It is not that I didn't have dreams. I sat on the train with my "Arty" friends who were enrolled in the Fashion Institute of New York, with my guitar, pen and paper. I read the trades and Rolling Stone, went to auditions, played at showcases and Manhatta

about 1 month ago

4:43

CREATE The Rest of the Story

Here are remarks I made today at The Wet Mountain Valley Rotary Club meeting about my work as a community leader in Colorado for the Leadon Family Foundation, Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting and Valley Park and Recreation in Westcliffe. This is the first TAG meeting event. I am writing the Rest of the Story, the sweat of experience runs off my brow, Adjust the light to give you the glory, starting from here and from now-Oh Wow, the rest of the story. Richard Arnold Bea

about 1 month ago

4:14

Become a Cohort of Co-Arts

There are so many things that are happening in the state of Colorado. Yesterday, I met with the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Department of Local Affairs, and two small connecting town mayors. I also had a long meeting with Denver Botanic Gardens and CSU Extension on demonstration gardens. I share the vision of a Town Center in Silver Cliff and a partnership with the Emergent Incubator College, and I will be mentoring next-generation entrepreneurs in my work at Valley Parks and Recreation at the O

about 1 month ago

2:37

Create an Open Organic Campus

With the drought we are facing this summer and another graduating class behind us, a new tourist season begins on Main Street. We honored those who made the ultimate sacrifice with Memorial Day observances, and we thought about those in our communities and families. It brings into focus how difficult it is to make adequate, sustainable choices — and what that means for our little towns in the big mountain valley. A Home-Work-Community One thing is sure: we all need to make sacrifices to sustain

about 1 month ago

3:29

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