School In The Woods

There is a program here in Colorado Springs called 'School In The Woods'.  It started in 1999, until this year this program only took 52 4th graders, now it  has expanded to 78 4th graders.

The school is in Black Forest (this is an area in Colorado Springs and has been called this longer then I've been alive because of all the trees), anyway, the school has 640 acres that is used as a living classroom.

It's only for 4th graders and they learn everything about the environment. They check wind speed and temperature, they study insects and plant cycles.

It was designed to increase students knowledge of natural science. I really wish they would have had that when I was younger, it would have been so interesting.

If you want to read more about it, the article is by Kristina Iodice, 'Window To The Outdoors Will Push Open Wider', www.gazette.com

Larry The Cable Guy Comes To Colorado Springs

Larry the Cable Guy came to Colorado Springs for his series on the History Channel called "Only In America With Larry the Cable Guy"

The show will be airing tomorrow at 7pm MST. Larry went to 2 places. The first one is "Dragon's Man Museum".  This museum is a military museum, the owner is a 'Nam Vet and he has some interesting pieces from World War 2.

The second place they went to was the "Serenity Springs Wildlife Center". This is a refugee for leopards, tigers,lions,cougars and other large cat breeds. Here is a link if you want to know more about them 
www.serenityspringswildlife.org

take care everyone and just a reminder, I still cannot go to other blog sites. Am hoping that it will clear up and I can visit all of you :)

It Magically Disappears

picture courtesy of Disney

I was disappointed in the Colorado Springs voting. We had 3 issues to be voted on, it had to do with taxes. In the higher income districts, these 3 issues magically disappeared from the ballots.

One woman, came out from voting & wanted to know why these issues were not on her ballot. She was given a lame excuse but it sent them scrambling. Everyone of the ballots in these districts had these 3 issues missing

I guess they are not going to do anything about it, the issues passed & we are going to have higher property taxes. I smell a HUGE STINKY RAT!!! And I don't mind telling the world about it!!

So, after the disappointment of the elections, in the mail I got the renewal for our business license. It is not a biggy, the state use to send the notice & I would mail a check. Now, I have to do it by computer. There are 8 steps I have to go thru once I get to the site, then pay, then download a copy for myself. It was much easier when I just got to mail a check in (sigh)

Well, I feel a lot better now that I got to bitch, moan & complain.

Everybody take care :)

The Dark Cloud Has Lifted

picture courtesy of John Crossley

In 1972 a woman in California shared a dream she had of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A black cloud covered Pikes Peak and the whole city. What she did not know was at the same time, the city of Colorado Springs told the American Indians in the region, that they could no longer have their pow wow's at the Garden Of the Gods.

The Garden of the Gods had always been the sacred gathering place for the Indians for over 3,400 years. Complaints had come in from residents about the drumming and that the grass & flowers had been trampled. The drumming part is true, the other is not. To this day no one can find the names of those complaints. I know why those complaints were made and who was behind them but that is another story. Today, I tell the story of victory.

After 32 years, on September 25th (my wedding anniversary also), the Garden of the Gods had it's first pow wow. before the pow wow began, the American Indians had to make it sacred once more.

Eugene Redhawk lifted his gourd, shook it and moved across the dry grass in the dance of sanctification. Then came a procession of the American Indian flag of buffalo and eagle feathers, followed by other flags including the flag of the United States.

Once the the grounds were blessed they danced, the drums beat and healing of our land and city began. Sandy Turcotte, a Chippewa Indian said, "This is a healing step, its the first healing step I've seen in a long time." Sebrena Forrest, a Mohawk said, "This feels like coming home again."

Being born in this city and seeing what has happened to it, I dance the dance of VICTORY. To long have we been in darkness, a dark cloud covering our lands. The Garden of the Gods, is once more sacred ground where the American Indian can come with the song and dance of healing.

Our city will once more be blessed.

Queenie

Picture courtesy of PPLD

I would like to introduce you to Mary Lincoln Mellen Palmer better known as Queenie. She was Colorado Springs first school teacher.

Queenie came from a modest family, her father was a lawyer/coal miner/chauffeur. 1871 was a big year for her, she turned 21, married General William Jackson Palmer, gave birth to her first child and she and her husband founded the city Colorado Springs. The above picture was taken in 1871 a few days after her marriage.

Queenie stood shoulder to shoulder with her husband building the city of Colorado Springs. She took all the children and taught them no matter what race. She became a hero to the children and their parents. One woman she befriended, named her last girl child after Queenie. This woman was a Cheyenne Indian married to a white man. To Queenie, she was just another person making a life in the wild west, there was no racism in her heart.

Her heart was bigger then life and she was very much in love with her older husband. William Palmer was a good man and loved his wife. They built a beautiful home together here in the Springs, it is called Glen Eyrie. It's a wonderful castle.

By the year 1881, Queenie had two daughters Elsie 10 years old and Dorothy 1 year, with another child on the way. She packed her bags and moved to England. Colorado history books say she had heart problems and needed to live in a lower altitude.

Margery Palmer, Queenie's last child, was born in England. William loved Queenie and could not bear to be without her. In the early 1890's he went to England, he stayed so long his visa expired. In 1894, a member of his family died in the states, he applied for a emergency visa to return to America. His daughter Elsie, now in her 20's, went with him.

It was after this he told Queenie and his daughters things would be differant. I can find no record of Queenie returning but his daughters did. They found out things were not differant, only this time he had tied up the money so they could not leave. In 1906 fate made a call. While horseback riding on his land, William's horse threw him. The accident left him paralyzed for life, he ordered the horse shot. Many years later, his daughter Dorothy said "they should have shot him instead of the horse."

In March 1909 William Palmer passed away, Queenie followed in 1910. Their final resting place is here in Colorado Springs, the city they started.

I edited this story in April 2010 because some of the things that Dorothy had told me as a child were somewhat jaded. She did not have a good realtionship with her father but her father was a good man. He also had a gift of coming to an area and seeing what that area would become. He told his daughters things would be differant if they came back to the Springs, what he didn't know was that the men he was in business with were becoming more greedy and his money would be tied up.

Palmer was a good man that loved his wife above all and she loved him.

William Jackson Palmer Statue

Pictures courtesy of the State of Colorado and PPLD

Hi, guys! I need your help. These pictures are the statue of William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs. This statue has been redone and I am hoping that someone out there has an old picture of this statue with the hat in the hand. That's the way it used to be. And now the story behind the statue (you know me, I have to share the truth behind things).

Palmer died around 1906 and the people in Colorado Springs felt there should be a statue of him. That statue didn't come to be till 1926, two of his three daughters were there for the unveiling and they did not notice. Or if they did, they did not say a word.

Palmer had done a grave injustice to a friend of Spencer Penrose's. I do not recall what the injustice was but it was terrible enough for Penrose to go to the sculptor and pay a huge amount of money to have his own face put on the statue instead of Palmer's. And there it stood for many years, people thinking it was Palmer when it was Penrose. For Spencer Penrose it was a pay back for the terrible thing Palmer had done to his friend and every time he went by the statue he felt satisfaction.

The statue was redone and I do not know when. They took Spencer off the horse and put Palmer on it. The statue of Spencer, they put downtown. One person took a picture of it and said Penrose looks like he is taking a crap.

My husband laughed when he heard this and said "yes, the city sh-t on him and his daughters and now he's sh-tting back on the city" I agree with him. :)

My Dream

Picture courtesy of icindy (independent newspaper)





Okay, this is why this post was done. Darlene from Darlene's Hodgepodge posted she had a dream and I posted if she would tell me hers, I would tell her mine. She did and now here's mine.

Above is the main street of Colorado Springs, in the good old days looking at the mountains. In my dream I was standing in the middle of the street seeing what you see in the picture.

Coming towards me is my grandfather Penrose, only he is huge towering over the buildings. He is dressed in a white glowing robe
with a white glowing cowboy hat. He looks at me and tells me everything is going to be okay. I start walking in to the town and a river of blood stops me. The river turns into a red carpet and my grandfather laughs and says "I told you everything would be okay".


So, that's my dream.

Pikes Peak Library Pictures cont.

2.

ok, a little history here.

My parents had a # of 1.

houses. Picture #1 is the inside

of one of these houses. Now, the

library is saying that Picture #2

is the outside of picture #1.

Wrong, picture #2 belongs to

either the Tutt's or C.L. Tutt's

secretary, Merton W. Bogart

(I'll be doing more on good ole

Merton, he was Tutt's secretary

not my dad's and I have hard copy proof of this)

So, back to the houses. Julie wanted to live at the Broadmoor Hotel, she had friends that lived there. I heard this argument every single day. Her and my dad would argue about it, my dad would tell her "I am not living where I work." She would not let it go, she was like a pit bull. After my dad's death, she had a part of the hotel redone for her apartment. This is what she had wanted for a long time but it wasn't what she thought it would be.

She lived in fear the whole time she was there. Her phone calls were monitered and she only got a very few. This was by order of the Tutts (remember this was the time of calls going thru the hotel switchboard). She would not eat any of the food prepared for her from the hotel kitchen. When it was delivered to her apartment rooms, she would have the waiter eat the food in front of her. She was deathly afraid she would be poisoned.

So much for wanting to live at the hotel.

So Much To Say, So Little Time to Say IT

So, much going on in the news lately. First, Obama having a beer with Prof. Gates and the cop. Good for him, but the Prof. has more problems then that. Has anyone ever thought about the neighbor who called this in? What she didn't recognize her own neighbor! Give me a break! She has hired a lawyer, yeah because we all know she called the cops on a fake burglary and she knew it. Looks like the Prof. Gates has a neighbor problem if you ask me.

There's a new school in Vegas for women, its called Stiletto Spy School. Its fantasy training to make a woman feel empowered and confident in the world. Well, if you need fantasy training, you have more problems then a "Spy School" can help :)

Outdoor magazine has said Colorado Springs is the #1 city to live. No, people we are not. We don't have any jobs for anyone. The housing market sucks, the only houses being sold are under $250,000 and they are rare. There is a bidding war going on for these houses. Our roads are packed with traffic, this town was not built for growth and we are seeing it with full impact. Plus we don't have the water for any new people, we'll be lucky to have enough for ourselves! I'd like to give that magazine a swift kick!

Amelia Earhart was in the news, seems they have found the island that she was on. A compact from the 30's and hand lotion was found on the island. They are sifting thru the sand for more stuff. She is one of my favorite people and I have always wanted to know what happened to her. One story was the Chinese found her and kept her a prisoner because she was spying for the good ole u.s. of a. To tell you the truth this is the one I believe but maybe, just maybe we will find out the real truth.

Have a good one!

The Cost Of War

I don't know if any of you caught CNN doing a story about Fort Carson or not but I have to put in my two cents. For those who do not know Fort Carson, it is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, my home.

The paper here (The Gazette) has been really busy taking down the curtains and showing the truth. I never thought I'd see the day!

But, they did a really good story on Fort Carson and what is happening to the men that come back from Iraq. And what is happening to the innocent people living here. I will share only one story.

In Oct. 2007 three men had come home to Fort Carson from Iraq, they were driving down the street. Louis Bressler, 24, was driving, his passengers, Bruce Bastien, a 21 year old medic and Kenneth Eastridge, 24. They saw a woman walking to work, Bressler swerved and hit her with the car. Bastien, the medic, jumped out of the car and stabbed her over and over. Eastridge stayed in the car and watched.

This is a clear picture of why war is not a good idea, the government is not helping our people when they come back. There is countless stories of abuse on military wives. War not only costs us money, there is the cost of innocent Americans being murdered, there is the cost of our men and women who come back with mental problems.

This is too high a cost and we all know, "they" want war because "they" make money. I think we should have a town that every senator, congressman, politician, businessman who voted and wanted a war, should live in. Then when any military comes back from that war, they have to live in the town with the senators, congressman, politician, and businessman. Let one of their family members get murdered. I bet you, we would not have any more wars.

When the decisions that our politicians make, start hitting their families then we will see a difference.

So, there you have it. One of my beefs: I hate war. I say, let the leaders duke it out and the rest of the world can stay home.

The Broadmoor Hotel Printing Press

Did you know that the Broadmoor Hotel had it's own printing press. They printed their own menus, brochures, books etc well after 1992.

There was a big joke around the hotel when the Tutts were running it, that they were printing their own money.

So, if you are into antique collecting, here's how you can tell if it's real:

Anything that says it is after 1939 and says the late Spencer Penrose, that's a fake and remake by the Tutt family and the Broadmoor Hotel printing press.

Anything that says it is after 1959 and says the late Spencer Penrose, that's real.

Good Ole Colorado Springs

Well, the city council had their meeting about the coyotes. They put it on the back burner stating that they had more important issues to deal with right now. So, for now they will be left alone.

I love looking at the "back pages" of the paper, this is where they tell you what happened 100, 75 and 50 years ago. If it's interesting I always check up on it to make sure its accurate, just call me the history police :)

Today it had a blurp on the naming of animals at the zoo (we do that a lot here, have a contest for naming a new born animal). The first zoo here, started in 1906 by John Coughlin by 1916 the zoo was made into an auto camp. In 1926 was when my father started what people know today as The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. My father loved animals, the year the zoo opened a marjar from India gave my Dad a white elephant called Empress. I do not know if Empress and Tess were the same elephant or if they were two different elephants.

My dad taught Tess to throw tires, this was great fun until Tess was in a parade and she went after cars trying to throw the tires :)
Tess died in 1936 and she is buried in a pet cemetery on the out skirts of the city. My little mini doxie that died 2 years ago is buried in the same cemetery as Tess.

The last thing in the "back pages" was in 1959 a Gene Vories published his book "Arrowhead Ranch". It's a turn of the century fiction book but the Walsenburg, Colorado ranch is real and was owned by his family. I thought I'd try and find the book, sounds like an interesting read.

Take care everyone.

Things Going On In Colorado Springs

Today the city council are voting to shoot coyotes, the coyotes have to be vicious and you have to have a permit plus you can only shoot them after dusk and before 4:00 a.m. The town is going to h-ll in a hand basket. We will see if it passes, it more then likely will.

The Gazette paper is going after a few institutions, Memorial Hospital was one, they even went to court where the Gazette won. The paper wanted to see some financial papers, the hospital said no. The hospital should have read the new law, they know it now plus they have to pay all legal fees. Now the paper is going thru the police department but just the last couple of years. I wish they would go back to 1959. There was a police officer that was murdered on Monument St. but his car and body was found one street over on Dale Street. There's not a scrap of reporting on it, I had a lead on it a year ago but the person clammed up on me and refused to talk to me about it (I come up against this a lot trying to find out more things about my dad). I'd like to know the officer's name, he saved my life which cost him his.

We'll see how far and long the paper will keep doing this, they just got a new CEO. Will he keep up the good work or put a lid on everything?

Half of the country's state attorneys are coming here, they are going to talk about the country's drug traffic and a few other things. My guess is that they are up to no good but I always feel that way when people who have power get together :)

That's all I've got to say for now, take care everyone

It's A Wild Life Or Is It Wildlife

We live in beautiful Colorado Springs, on the southeast side. It's more of the plains but we have a beautiful view of the mountains. The west side is closer to the mountains and wild animals are always coming down.

It's not unusual for a bear to roam the golf course of the Broadmoor, deer are always grazing on your lawn and we have a moose that likes the creek by Colorado College. Out on the plains you know that there are antelopes, foxes and coyotes. The antelopes are the ones you usually see. Growing up here you believe that it is as natural as the sun coming up.

But, the last few months we have had a fox and a coyote in our back yard. The fox got one of the neighbor's cats, bummer. But, yesterday a young bear got lost and found himself at Wal Mart, he didn't bother with the Citadel Mall which was a hop, skip and a jump from there. He also wandered in a few yards (not ours, thank goodness). The wild life people captured him and took him back to the mountains.

My dogs wouldn't go out yesterday without us, now I know why. Poor Galileo, he just wanted to sit in my lap and he shook the whole time. Just the smell of the bear scared him. This is unusual, for the wildlife to come in so close on the south side. It shows me that they have built far too much and food is getting scarce.

It's a wildlife here :) hope everyone has a good week end!

Charles Leaming Tutt

Today is my birthday and as a treat to myself, I am breaking a

silence about the family that has hated the Penrose's for over 4
generations, the Tutt family. They have printed and paid people

to print untruths and half truths about

us. To the right, pic of 4 men, my
Uncle Spencer is the one wearing the
hat, C.L. Tutt is man at end with both

hands in pockets picture taken in 1894. Next pic is my dad in the 1920's, small pic is my dad, taken
around 1894

Charles Leaming Tutt, called C.L., had a father who died in the Civil War, he was a doctor who studied in Vermont and then became a doctor under my grandfather in Penn. The war broke out and my grandfather went to Sutterlee Hospital, Tutt went elsewhere. With his father dead C.L. and his mother lived with her father, who was a merchant and lived about 4 blocks away from the Penrose house. This is how he met my Uncle Spencer, who was a year older then he was. C.L. and my Uncle liked to wheel and deal, they were gamblers at heart. C.L. came to Colorado Springs around 1884, he had relatives here. He wanted my Uncle here because my Uncle was a millionaire due to his mine in AZ, which was netting one million dollars a year.

When C.L. came to Colorado Springs he got into real estate, he was not a lawyer but he ended up in a lot of court cases concerning wills and ended up with the decease's property (this runs in the family because this is what they did to me.) C.L. died in 1909, I had a person say to me that he was murdered. I joked back and said if he was murdered then it was one of his mistresses. So, I looked up his last year on earth and found out, he was in another court case concerning a will where he was going to end up with all the money. If he was murdered then it most likely had to do with that.

So, C.L. has one living son C.L. Jr. who is married to Eleanor, they move to Calif where they have 3 sons C.L. the 3rd born in 1911, William Thayer born in 1912 and Russell Thayer born in 1913. C.L. Jr comes back often to Colo Springs to see his mom, mistress and business. He is an investment lawyer and becomes my dad's lawyer. He has a daughter by his mistress born in 1912, her name is Josephine. I don't know what happened to her mother but Eleanor, C.L.'s wife, accepts Josephine into the family as her own. They change her birthdate to 1919, making her younger then she really was (this had to be hard on her, I know because they did the same thing to me but made me older and it was hard on me.)

Josephine is not the only illegitimate kid, there was Karl who was my fathers chauffeur and Susan who was my dad's secretary daughter. All the while C.L. was going to church and saying what a good man he was. Then he would say my dad was the "ladies man". Not true, I was there the day C.L. asked my dad if he would tell everyone that five year old Susan was his daughter. My dad said, "NO, I've always claimed my own and you need to claim yours. You just want everyone to think I am a S.O.B. when you are the S.O.B. (my dad used the words, not the letters). There was also another son by his second wife, all of them worked at the hotel except the eldest.

The Tutts have always used the Penrose's as their scapegoats, this is because Russell and William always wanted to be Penrose's and knew they were not. C.L. Jr was my dad's investment lawyer, do you know in 1930 my dad, who had 20 companies made only $8,000.oo while C.L. made $18,000.00. You can see how he was stealing my dad blind. My dad didn't trust the Tutt's but he trusted the Guggeinheim's. The only reason that the Tutt's were around was because of Julie, she handled some of the finances and she soon learned that trusting them was a mistake but it was too late for everyone.

Russell Thayer Tutt is the man that murdered my father, he came into our house and shot my dad twice then turned the gun on me. A friend of my father's took the bullet for me, he lived but Tutt would try again two more times and those people did not live. They stopped trying to murder me because they kept screwing up and they paid out money to hush people up, it was getting too expensive. So, they forced a family to take me and keep me out of sight.

During that time the Tutts spread gossip that I murdered my father, then it was I was retarded, the next lie was I was a lesbian, the next lie was that I liked children. The lies were a screen to make people hate me so no one would talk to me and find out the truth. Friends were hand picked and paid, so they were not really friends. All the while Russell stole and stole.

The Tutts are a lot of things and one thing they are not is honest. They are best friends with Bush Jr., they ran in the same crowd as Cheney (Cheney didn't like them), they let Hoover bug the hotel. Every man who ran for the white house and stayed at the hotel became President. In the 1960's when the Denver police department was cleaned out because of ties to the mafia a lot of money was spent to keep the Tutt name out of the connection with the criminals. I would not be surprised if, on his death bed, Russell Tutt said he didn't kill my father. His friend Jack Ruby made a death bed confession too and it was a lie. Birds of a feather flock together.

Yes, the Penrose's and Tutt's go back a long way but they are not friends. The Tutt's never do the right thing, they lie to cover up their wrong doings, they always blame someone else and they believe you can buy yourself any person on the planet. I am not the only one they have wronged, there have been many others. A legacy that started in the 1880's and still going. Gee, isn't that something to be proud of.

And don't get me wrong, they did do some good. You see their believe is for every 5 people you murder then you do a good thing for 5 people.

So, I've aired my feelings and I know I need to forgive these people for what they have done. I find it diffcult, maybe somebody has some words of wisdom for me. I keep thinking of that Rod Stewart song, Forgiveness. maybe someday I'll be able to forgive.

Newspaper Man

Took a few days off, then started in on more research for my book because a few
things bothered me. That thing was, The Broadmoor was put into receivership in 1932 and bought by my dad's foundation, wellll El Pomar Foundation was established in 1936 (it used to be called El Pomar Investment
Co.) but none the less dates don't match. Soooo, I found an interesting thing!
that thing is:

My dad used to own the Colorado Springs Gazette Newspaper, he bought it in
1923, his partners were C.C. Hamlin and C.L. Tutt Jr.. Hamlin was the publisher and ran everything. He passed away in 1940 and El Pomar got all his stuff (they gave his house to Colorado College). This left C.L. Tutt and my dad the owner of the Gazette. By this time ALL of my dad's businesses (and there were A LOT of them) were in the El Pomar Foundation.

Now, Hamlin had a stroke in 1939 so he was not running the newspaper at that time. I know my dad wasn't running it, so that leaves one person and his family running the newspaper. That's right, the Tutt's and isn't that just weird, that this is the time the fake obit of my dad is printed! (Makes me wonder how long they had been planning on murdering him.)

My dad and C.L. Tutt Jr. sold the newspaper in 1946 to the Hoiles family. So, I thought it was a
great gem that I found (by accident, which most of my gems are) that my dad was a newspaper owner. The picture is my dad. Now, back to my manuscript.

They Walk Among Us

I get really pissed off at the newspaper here sometimes because they don't always print the truth or they don't print it at all.(PBS here and the Pikes Peak Library fall in there too). But once in awhile a rouge reporter will slip in the truth.

So, I have been working on my book and needed to look at some old newspaper clippings I have and found this story which I am going to share with you. No, its not about aliens. :)

On Dec. 7, 1961 a phone call is made to the Sheriffs office that a G.I. was holding a number of civilians at gun point at Petersen Field (Pete field is an Air Force base). The Sheriff, deputies, military police and CID (criminal investgation division) go top speed to the place. It appeared that the Army was engaged in a security operation and no one was informed.

Henry Wood of Kensair Corp who had offices on Petersen Field tried to leave his office and was told at gunpoint to get back in his office or he would be shot. He and his employees (the number goes from 21 to 40) were held for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The Army operation involved an aircraft which was standing outside Woods office. It had been there since last night. The Army went into the denial thing, then the next day Dec. 8, 1961, the Army apologized for it's gestapo tactics and all was forgotten.

On July 18, 1976 another rougue reporter uncovers what was going on and they printed it! Since 1958 the CIA had been training Tibetains for guerrilla warfare here in good ole Colorado. They would fly them into Pete field, bus them up to a training camp near Leadville, train them, bus them back to Pete field and fly them home. Henry Wood and his employees got caught in the middle of a transfer because the bus hit an icy road and was late.

I have always known that the CIA has been around here in Colo Springs, even long before I was born. They would stay at the lodge, do what they were suppose to do and disappear. My father's second cousin was a CIA operative, he taught at the university in Beruit in the 60's. They walk among us and yes, Virginia you too can grow up to be a spook! :)
Maybe, I should've saved this for my Holloween story. Oh, well I didn't, so here you have it folks another day in Colorado Springs in the year 1961.

This Statue IS NOT A Death Certificate

The statue of Spencer Penrose stands in

front of the Norris-Penrose Stadium. It was
made in 1957, Spencer Penrose was still

alive.
The below pictures are
what the statue use to

look like. This statue and plaque use to stand outside the
El Pomar Foundation when it was connected

to the Broadmoor Hotel, that was way over 10
years ago. El Pomar is now located in the
Penrose house. The plaques are gone, along

with the untruths on them.

Anyone can make a statue and put any date

they want on it, that does not mean that is the
year that the person was born or died.

A headstone for a grave, by law needs a
death certificate. Spencer and Julie Penrose have no headstone, though Spencer Penrose picked out one in the 1950's, I was there. I appreciate the people involved for removing the plaque from my father's statue and placing the statue in front of the Norris-Penrose Stadium.

So, the next time someone says or you read that Spencer Penrose died in 1939 and Julie Penrose died in 1956, remember that is an untruth and the people saying and writing those things have done it for money. They care not for truth or justice, they care only to feed the greed in their bottomless soul.

The True Story of the Broadmoor

The Broadmoor Hotel started out as a hotel and casino. Count James Pourtales owned the hotel and casino, he was an old family friend of the Penroses and the house in Philly was always open to him. My grandfather loved it when the Count stopped by. The Count also was a partner in the Commonwealth Mine in AZ. My Uncle Richard sold his shares of the mine to the Count and those shares made the Count a VERY wealthy man.

The old Broadmoor was purchased and a new one built, 1918 was the year it opened. There were 100 Colorado Springs citizens who were investors in The Grand Dame but I only know a few: Spencer Penrose, Charles M. MacNeill, Charles L. Tutt Jr., A.E. Carlton, B.H. Hopkins, Clarence Carpenter and E.P. Shove. Not all of them put in the same amount of money, the biggest investor was Spencer Penrose. One by one the investors died or sold their shares so by 1937 receivership of the hotel was sold, in 1942 Spencer Penrose had his foundation The El Pomar Foundation buy the Broadmoor. So the foundation owned 100% of the hotel.

By 1959 Spencer Penrose was planning on selling the hotel to the Gaylord's, Mr. Gaylord had always wanted to buy the hotel and my father was going to sell it. The plan was to sell the hotel and go to Africa (I don't know why Africa, I know my dad had friends there. I was going to be sent to a school in Europe and I was very excited about it). That plan never happened. So, in 1992 what my dad had planned for the hotel came to be, The Grand Dame was sold to the Gaylord's.

When she was built her capacity was 600, W.S. Dunning was her manager. It was operated on the American Plan (I have no idea what that means) and it had "a la carte" restaurant, the swimming pool's water passed through a violet ray machine to destroy bacteria. The Grand Dame was fireproof, you could play golf, hike or go horseback riding. To make a reservation, you had to write in.

The first time I walked into her lobby, my father said, "I built this." I always called the Grand Dame, the house my daddy built and worked in.

She is a beautiful hotel, she stretches her arms out to give a traveler rest and comfort. She feeds, clothes and cuddles a person as you would a newborn. For me, she has always had a life about her. When the Gaylord's bought her, they gave her much needed care, a facelift and put the crown back on her head. She looks a tad different but still beautiful and she will be here long after we are gone, still giving shelter, warmth and food.

"Silver Skates"

On June 11, 1928 a shooting star was born
On March 11, 2007 that star took its rightful place
in the heavens above us.
This is a tribute to my half sister Jeanne "Jinx" Clark.

The first time my father took me to see my sister, I
was three years old. She was practicing at the
Broadmoor Ice Palace. She was on the ice when we
arrived and I have never seen anyone so beautiful and graceful in all of my life.

She took me backstage and in front of a huge lighted
make up mirror we played as she put make up on me
We giggled and she cupped my little face in her hands
and said, "we are going to be best of Friends."

My father's plan was for me to go live with my half sister but it didn't work out that way. Before I could go live with her, a man tried to shoot my father and myself, because of this my father felt if I went to live with my sister, it would put her and her mother's life in danger, so I did not get to be with her.

My sister started skating when she was nine and she was a natural. She had no professional training but at the age of seventeen she had signed a contract with "Sonja Henie's Hollywood Ice Review". From the late 1940's thru to the late 1950's she was in the Ice Capades. In the early 1960's she performed in Florida. She was called the Silver Skates, people could not take their eyes off of her when she was on the ice. She and her skates were one and she was awesome!

By the late 1960's Jinx and her mom came back to Colorado Springs. They opened a tavern called "Jinx's Place". My sister was a very caring person and often helped the elderly in our community. She married, no one could remember how many times, some said 2, some said 4. I think it was 2 but that's just me. She never had any children.

By 1978, the people who stole our inhertiance started harassing my sister, using the gutless city council they closed down "Jinx's Place". It took them till 1990 to close it but they succeeded. My sister was heartbroken and moved to Lamar, Colo.
She was involved in this small community till her death.

You are forever in heart, Jinx!