Welcome to this week’s Canyon Echo. We’ll link you to all the published stories you may have missed and include some tidbits you won’t find anywhere else!

Highway 74/Evergreen Parkway is a challenge for speeding. Its four lanes and the wide spaces that surround much of it make many out-of-town drivers feel it’s safe to drive faster than the speed limit, unaware of not only how many stop lights there are but how much wildlife calls the area home.

And it’s not only the wildlife that are hurt (often fatally so) in a collision with a vehicle. The height and size of an elk often leave drivers and passengers severely injured, and vehicles badly damaged. Because an elk's heavy body is positioned above a vehicle's hood, impact often shatters the windshield, posing a fatal threat to passengers.

The average cost of an elk/vehicle crash typically surpasses $17,000 per incident.

Last weekend’s accidents had two other small victims: An unborn elk calf and a juvenile elk. The mothers of both were killed after hit-and-run crashes.

And Evergreen’s still reeling from the worst highway fatality of the year: Michael Longfellow’s still-unresolved hit-and-run death in March.

It’s all conspired to make some area residents take action. We’ll keep an eye on this issue to see if any changes are made as a result.

Holly Yetzbacher died in March after 47 years of an unexpected life. What made heer life in Evergreen special were those around her who cared for her, includng not just her family but the Evergreen community who knew her, including INSPIRE leader Maren Schreiber and the people who work and volunteer for her program.

Maren recalls Holly lifting her face to the sun as she rode, enjoying not only the motion of the horse but the sun’s warmth. Those were moments of pure joy, among several in Holly’s life.

It was those kinds of moments that taught those around her so much about what life is and isn’t and why everyone has value — something Maren has experienced repeatedly during the 30-plus years she’s run INSPIRE.

The Morrison Town Board, all volunteers who have jobs and families to boot, are in the midst of a tough journey. An unexpected financial crisis brought clearly to light by an outside firm would be a harsh test for any community, much less one so small and tight.

Little wonder that tempers may occasionally flare at board meetings.

After a particularly tense discussion, the board returned two weeks later to complaints from some of its residents about what they’d seen from their elected leaders and how disregarded they felt.

The board took note (or had already done so) and changed several policies to encourage public interaction. Nice moves from a group of folks doing their best to sail the town through choppy waters. We’ll be following as they hang onto the oars and aim to lead the town back to safe harbor.

Anybody who lives with a substance use issue or someone who has one knows it’s a tough road to travel, and an option that works for a friend may not work for them.

So welcome to the Evergreen Recovery Group, which uses a cognitive, meditation-based technique to those in any step of their journey. With decades of experience between them, the two women who run it know what they’re doing.

We couldn’t be there for the conclusion of Parmalee Elementary teacher Katie Offerman’s “Finding Neo” project, so she kindly sent us a short story to use. Read the names under the photo that goes with the story; these are students to watch!

Evergreen Cars & Coffee kicks off its summer season with a big party June 6 at Buchanan Fields. The opening event, from 9 a.m . to 5 p.m., includes food trucks and live music from Cactus Jack’s Radio.

It returns to its regular location at Country Day School behind Home Depot every Saturday for the rest of the summer. The only exceptions are June 27 and August 1; altearnative locations for those dates TBD.

Evergreen Cars & Coffee is one of the largest weekly automotive enthusiast gatherings in the U.S. During this family-friendly, non-competitive community event, owners and admirers gather to talk shop and view classic cars, supercars, hot rods, rat rods, and classic motorcycles. Stay up to date by following their Facebook page.

Evergreen’s Trail Race Series kicks off May 30 and continues with four more races through the summer.

These events aren’t necessarily about speed or pushing your limits. They’re also about adventure, endurance and connecting with nature as you run through some stunning scenery.

Kudos to Dave Killingsworth, who had major back surgery just a couple of weeks ago but was back at the Morrison town board meeting as he always is this week.

Killingsworth owns the Morrison Holiday Bar and typically harangues the board with amusing but pointed comments about the lack of parking, an issue he sees as impacting not only his business but all of Morrison’s shops and restaurants.

As much as he loves Morrison, Killingsworth is ready to sell his block of it and enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

The world doesn’t have enough characters, especially those with good hearts, and Morrison will lose one of its best when and if he goes. Meanwhile, roll on, Dave!

The Mountain Club Memorial Day Weekend Flea Market this Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. This event is a major fundraiser for the Mountain Club, which provides space for 12-step addiction recovery groups in the Conifer/Evergreen area.

I have two new things in my life: a puppy and fake fingernails. I also have, until recently, run an Airbnb in my home. It’s been rated five stars by everyone but my very first guest, who fell in the shower and grabbed the shower curtain so hard on the way down he yanked the rod partway out of the wall and then wrote a scathing review about my unsafe home.

Joey is worth every shoe, leash and board of home siding (so far about 10) he’s chewed. The fingernails are up for debate.

They are not made for gardening, dishes, walking on flat surfaces or sleeping. Like a wandering boyfriend, they stay attached for several days, their good looks so pleasing that I begin to hope that this time, they’ve given up their wanderlust.

Then, in the space of an hour, three will vanish.

Last month, one stole away while I was making an incoming guest’s bed. A fingernail in a bed is not just gross but potentially painful. I searched frantically, to no avail.

Later that week, I looked in the yard to see a red, white, blue and silky patch of fabric. It was a pair of my guest’s intact boxer briefs, lured into the yard by my pup.

I sent him an apologetic note, promising to leave the laundered, intact underwear in his bathroom.

Cleaning up after his departure, I remembered the boxers I’d forgotten to leave in the bathroom. And found the lost fingernail resting in an obvious spot on the bathroom counter.

I held my breath for Jordan’s review.

“Fantastic stay!” he wrote, awarding it five stars.

Jordan declined my offer to mail his patriotic silks to him. So they’re taking that long, final ride with Waste Management. What’s left of the fingernails just might be riding shotgun.

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