LA Junta Tribune
Some street projects are under way while park projects idle as the city waits for warmer weather to become the norm, city manager Rick Klein reported at the Monday La Junta City Council meeting.
The north corner of 10th St. and Barnes Avenue underwent a curb and gutter replacement that improved that gutter s ability to intake water.
The project included re-pouring of cement for the curb and gutter. The city and county split the costs for the gutter repairs. The site sits before the location of the planned intergenerational Brick and Tile Park that the city secured around $1 million in grant funds for.
LA Junta Tribune
La Junta City Council voted unanimously its Monday meeting to issue a one-time donation of $1,000 to the Arkansas Valley Court Appointed Special Advocate organization, which is a nonprofit in the valley that serves abused and neglected children.
Cynthia Sollenbarger of Arkansas Valley CASA attended the council meeting to request a donation as part of a round of fundraising she is participating in for the organization.
Sollenbarger said that despite a very challenging year due to limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has been the valley court-appointed advocate group s most successful year since its start in 2017.
In 2020, Arkansas Valley CASA served 43 children. The group had to turn away 35 others, but 2020 marked the first year that the organization served more children than it had to turn down.
La Junta tourism board chair rebuts calls for resignation
LA Junta Tribune
The La Junta City Council spent time at its Monday meeting rehashing calls for Tourism Board Chair John Yergert s resignation.
Yergert attended Monday s City Council meeting to address concerns raised at the Jan. 19 council meeting predominantly by council member Ed Vela. Mayor Jeffri Pruyn apologized to Yergert for the discussion that unfolded at the previous meeting when Vela called for Yergert s resignation.
Yergert said he felt blindsided by a lengthy discussion at the previous council meeting after Vela raised concerns about transparency from the tourism board and suggested that Yergert resign from his volunteer position as board chair.
Monday marked the second anniversary of the death of La Junta man Anthony Chaparro, 31, who was found allegedly beaten in the street at the intersection of Raton Avenue and Seventh St., about a block away from the La Junta Police Department in one direction and his apartment in another on Jan. 20, 2019.
A call was placed to the police department around 6:30 a.m. Jan. 20, 2019, about a male that was severely injured by what appeared to be an assault after an unidentified person came across Chaparro in the street, according to police news releases.
Chaparro was taken to Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center and transferred from there to Parkview Medical Center where he died Jan. 25, 2019. The La Junta Police Department said the 31-year-old s death was suspicious in a news release to local media.
LA Junta Tribune
The City of La Junta hosted its first council meeting of the new year on Jan. 4 via a Zoom meeting.
The meeting started with mayor Jeffri Pruyn and other council members paying tribute to former La Junta mayor Ardeth Sneath, who passed away on Jan. 2.
It then passed an ordinance making supplemental appropriations to the general fund, internal services fund, water fund, waste water fund and conservation trust fund for the year 2020. It was approved unanimously.
The council then filled the seat of planning commissioner, which was previously occupied by Jim Goodwin. Council member Paul Velasquez was offered the seat, which he accepted. The council approved his appointment unanimously.