“Nothing But the Truth”

There should be something familiar about the high school play “Nothing But the Truth” for anyone old enough to remember the sitcoms of the 80s and 90s, says drama teacher Mo Hanna.
“Basically,” says Hanna, “It’s like a big Three’s Company episode, with lots of misunderstandings.”
These misunderstandings, however, take place on a boat in 1913, a year after the Titanic sank. Hanna says there are “lots of wacky characters and plot twists in the comedy/drama."
The play will be held April 30-May 1 at 7 p.m. in the old APR room at the Norwood Public School. Ten students are performing: Hollie Fritz is Mary, Kyle Rasmussen is David Jr., Kate Chelsea Montgomery is Kate, Jacob Montgomery plays Pete, Traci Crownover is Paulette Cartier, Ashley Setzer is Mrs. Elias, Daniel Richter plays Mr. Elias, John Palet plays Stanley the Steward, Skyler Hollinbeck is the Captain and Sandy Royer is the waiter.
“Everybody should come,” says Hanna. “It’s fabulous.”

Stand up and sing

Colorado Children’s Chorale group is offering workshops to elementary students on the Uncompahgre Plateau, at Dove Creek, Naturita, Paradox Valley and Norwood schools. The two-day workshops culminate in a performance, a free community concert which will feature local kids with the chorale. The opening act will be the Paradox Pickers, a bluegrass band from the Paradox Valley Charter School.
The CCC has been operating for three decades. In this workshop, students explore all aspects of performance, including singing, dancing, acting and stage movement with Chorale members and staff. The session provides lots of group interaction and emphasizes poise and self-confidence.
The workshops take place May 5-6, and Norwood students will train at 9 a.m. on May 6, and rehearse with the other students later that afternoon and early evening. The free concert is at 7 p.m. that same day at the Nucla High School gym at 225 West 4th Street in Nucla. Funding for the event is provided by Colorado Council on the Arts and EnCana.

Sterile fish stocked in Southwest Colorado reservoirs

The state’s Division of Wildlife is giving nature a nudge.
Walleye are a popular sport fish that have long been stocked in the Puett and Narraguinnep reservoirs near Cortez, but this year, DOW officials are instead stocking walleye made sterile by exposing the fertilized eggs to 9,500 pounds of pressure. The pressure alters the early cell division and adds an extra (female) chromosome, making them “triploid” or sterile. The aquaculture industry has already made triploid trout and catfish, according to the DOW.
The reason for sterilizing the fish is so that predators like the walleye will not compete with endangered native species like the Colorado pikeminnow, the razorback sucker and the humpback chub, although the DOW said it’s unlikely that the fish will ever reach the San Juan and Colorado Rivers from these irrigation lakes. If they were to reach the rivers where the native species live, they would pose less risk because they would die without reproducing, according to the agency.
"The switch to stocking sterile walleye is something new. It will be a couple of years before we know how the experiment to produce and stock sterile fish will work. The payoff for anglers is that sterile fish grow faster and reach larger size than their fertile counterparts,” said Mike Japhet, senior aquatic biologist for the DOW's southwest region.