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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #19
August 4, 2000
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Dear Subscriber:

Driving back from Alamogordo yesterday I noticed the Forest
Service had raised the fire danger signs back to "high". It
seems to take weeks and weeks and inches and inches of rain to
bring the fire danger down, but only a heartbeat and a day or 
two of clear skies to bring it back up again. There has been no
indication of renewed restrictions in Forest Service campgrounds,
however.

I almost played hooky from my newsletter duties this afternoon.
Peg and I visited with Cheryl and Aubrey Decordova in their
beautiful condo overlooking The Lodge Golf Course. The Decordova
family decided to link their web page to Cloudcroft.com. As I
stood on their deck and watched the golfers come and go on hole
#8 at The Lodge, I came precariously close to going home,
getting my clubs, and joining the fun. With the rainy season
subsiding, Cloudcroft has been left with a greenness and 
freshness that makes it a cool summer playground paradise. I am
forced to enjoy that paradise through my office window as I sit
in front of this monitor screen which looks more and more with
each passing moment like a ball and chain. I'm sure I have the
sincere sympathies of all Cloudcroft Online Newsletter readers!

One correction of note: The Otero County Fair is August 16th
through the 19th. Last week we reported it as being scheduled
for the 13th through the 16th.

Don Vanlandingham

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
2. VILLAGE POLITICS
3. INSIDE THE SHOP -- THE SCRAP BASKET
4. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- SAINT FRANCIS DE PAULA
5. Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
6. COMING EVENTS
7. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8. CONTACT INFORMATION
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LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
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Perhaps it is the outside influence due to the impending county 
fair, the high school band and football teams taking part in 
pre-season practices, and football games on TV, but it does seem 
that there is a hint of crispness in the air as if fall may not 
be far away. Most of our days are warm though. Usually around the
upper-70s with nighttime lows still in the mid-40s. There were a
couple of rain showers last week, but it is raining less than it
was at this time last month.
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VILLAGE POLITICS
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Cloudcroft is serviced by Otero County with a dump site that
features two large dumpers that are emptied twice a week with
the refuse removed to a landfill in The Basin.

Because these dumpers are also used frequently by commercial
building contractors, they tend to fill up quickly and the dump
is often closed several days each week awaiting its regularly
scheduled clean-out.

This past month the Village of Cloudcroft passed an ordinance
restricting the use of the dump area to non-commercial dumpers
only, unless a special fee is paid.

Unfortunately, when the dump is forced to close due to full
dumpers, many impatient would-be patrons simply dump their 
trash next to the road outside the dump. This is a totally 
unacceptable practice that involves a costly littering fine if
a "perp" is caught. In this beautiful country, trash blowing 
around the area is as unacceptable as a plague of rats. The 
new ordinance is a step to alleviate the need to close the 
dump as often because of it being full-to-overflowing so often.
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INSIDE THE SHOP -- THE SCRAP BASKET
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If quilting ever becomes a lost art, it won't be because of the
Scrap Basket. Located in Artisan Alley on Burro Avenue, the
Scrap Basket will make quilts on commission, furnishes quilting
supplies, and holds quilting classes. For more information, 
email pdrake@pvtnetworks.net.
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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- SAINT FRANCIS DE PAULA
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This is an excellent example of the Mexican architecture that 
so influenced the area over the past 300 years. This church of 
massive adobe construction is also the focal point of the 
Christmas celebration in Tularosa. Bright luminaries light up 
the church on Christmas Eve. Would you like a tour? Call
1-505-585-2793. Saint Francis de Paula is about 35 minutes from
Cloudcroft, in the Basin.
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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - We know Cloudcroft is small and somewhat isolated. Does it
have public pay phones? We will rely on them to contact
relatives back home when we visit. Also, do cellular phones
function in Cloudcroft?

A - There are about a half dozen pay phones in the Village
(there is also an Internet hook-up in the convenience store for
those that can't wait to get back home to check their stocks,
email, etc).

The answer to your second question about cellular phones would
have been "maybe" a few years ago, but the cellular connections
here have improved considerably over the past several years and
outside of a few small isolated "dead spots," service here is
reliable. Many residents of these mountains in remote areas
not serviced by a regular phone line rely 100% on their 
cellular phones.
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COMING EVENTS
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August 3 thru 6 -- Gathering of Circles. For more information
see http://www.jps.net/trvlnell/goc/

August 16 thru 19 -- Otero County Fair. Alamogordo.

August 18 thru 20 -- Singing in the Clouds. High School
cafeteria.

August 19 (5-7pm) and 20 (11am-2pm) -- Mayhill Volunteer Fire
Department Enchilada Dinner. Mayhill Training Center

August 20 -- Governor's 10k Run.

August 26 -- Weed Reunion. Weed, New Mexico.

September 2-3 -- Labor Day Fiesta. Downtown Cloudcroft.

September 2 -- James Canyon Fire Department BBQ and Auction.
Dinner served at 5pm. Red barn -- Cloud Country Estates.
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For an online calendar of area events, click the Events Calendar
link in the left column of our home page:

http://www.cloudcroft.com/index.html

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Dear Newsletter:

After a trip to your area last summer (late July), I absolutely 
fell in love with your town. I have spent the last year trying 
to figure out how to move out there. I hope that by the time my
daughter is out of school here that I can make that dream come 
true. I look so forward to receiving your newsletter every week.
Your correspondence during the fire was wonderful. Keep up the 
good work and I will see everyone next chance I get to come out. 

Susan Ayers
Boyd, TX

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Dear Newsletter:

Hello again, I could not help myself but to put in my two cents 
worth on Sharon and C. A. Swanson's comment regarding what Ms. 
Kemp sent in the week of 7-21 on the new housing developments in 
and around Cloudcroft.

As just a warning, this could get lengthy. Myself along with a 
lot of others I am sure feel the same way as I do. There is no 
need to destroy the mountain's beauty by building more 
subdivisions when there are existing places already for sale that 
have more character than any new home. I too have a dream of one
day living in that area, however, I do not have nor would I want 
to have a new subdivision in order to do so, an older home would
be just fine and would not take away from the beauty that is 
already there.

That's the problem with this country now. We go and clear out 
the forest and open lands to build new places for people to live
in, and let the old vacant areas that no one wants to be around 
continue to just sit there rot and fall apart. Now that's what 
will happen here too; just think about what I said in the last 
sentence again. Yes, I may make every developer in the area
who reads this upset, but that's too bad, because it's true. 
It's all about MONEY. Think about it, you know the old saying 
money makes the world go around not true, that's what has 
continued to destroy this country. In this case, it takes away 
what everybody goes there for, as was said by Sharon. (We come 
to this place to "escape" as do many others), and I feel, also, 
we come here for the peace, the quietness, and the smell of the
mountain, and not the smell of further development. What has 
destroyed so many other beautiful places?, "Further Development" 
MONEY. Don't anyone say or think that it is "inevitable", that's 
just a meaning use to benefit those who prosper from the changes
that are made.

Now if this is truly what is happening to this area I feel 
somehow, some way, something should be done to keep this from 
coming true. It's like the buffalo and the wolf, and I know this
one may hit some wrong, but oh well the Native Americans of this 
country too were in the way of progress or further development 
(MONEY) and were either removed or destroyed to the point of non-
existence. I have said enough for now; again, as always, thank 
you for such a beautiful place to come to, lets do what it takes
to keep it that way.

Thank you,
K.C.H.G.

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Dear Newsletter:

Well, I have been enjoying reading for the past couple months, 
so thought I'd jump in with my 2 cents worth. My husband and I 
are looking forward to coming down from Oregon this fall and are 
looking for a place to live now that the kids are all grown.

I grew up in a little mountain basin in the Wallowas of Oregon, 
so Cloudcroft sounds like home without the 30 degrees below zero
in winter. I garden a lot, especially roses and lavender, and 
ride dressage and eventing with 2 thoroughbreds. I would love a 
pen pal or two to learn more about the folks there. Not sure how
to go about it, but there it is.

Thanks for such a nice personal newsletter, and the opinions. 
I have seen my home town of 450 people become a tourist Mecca 
with 18 art galleries and fancy palatial homes popping up on 
every 5 acres and I must tell you it is sad to see. The entire 
community has changed, there is a war at almost every city 
council meeting and the majority of landowners are now big city 
folk with no appreciation of a good piece of farm ground.... OK,
that's enough, and the biggest question is: how is it that I can
move there and think I can close the gate behind me? Won't I be
just part of the problem moving down??? 

Sincerely, 
Cynthia

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Dear Newsletter:

With great sadness we left Cloudcroft on Saturday to go home. 
Each year now we spend a week in the summer to enjoy your 
wonderful hospitality and to escape the Texas heat. We have 
always believed that if you are sad to head for home then you 
have had a very good time. That is how we always feel when we 
leave Cloudcroft! We are already making plans to stay a month 
next year.

As soon as we got home we read your latest newsletter and 
enjoyed your comments about air conditioning and the humidity. 
We were exclaiming all week about how low the humidity seemed 
to us even after it rained.

One last comment. One reason we love Cloudcroft is that it is
a small, slower paced community with friendly people who go 
out of their way to make us flat-landers feel at home. We hope
Cloudcroft never attempts to grow to the size of a certain town
to the northeast. :-)

David and Sandy Hanebutt
Stephenville, Texas

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Dear Newsletter:

I visited there for the first time in May. I was only there for 
a few hours because we were just taking the scenic route from 
Albuquerque to Roswell. Do you know just that few hours I was in
Cloudcroft made me want to live there? Of course, that is not 
something that is possible right now. But I have been trying to 
convince my fiancee to go to Cloudcroft for our honeymoon. So 
after a lot of begging and groveling I will be there in October.
I am counting down the days!!!!

Kristi Luther
Dallas, TX 

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