Brrr, the weather has gone from 65 degrees this past weekend to below freezing this week. Colorado has great diversity in weather and the best news of the week is large amounts of snow falling in the mountains so we can water lawns this summer.
The Olympics ended Sunday with an elaborate closing ceremony and it appears to have been a large success. Certainly a showcase for the Chinese hosts who spent billions on preparing the elaborate event.
If you watched the programs the Americans were very patriotic, and fought hard for medals in very tough competition. World athletes came to China to win and did, Norway sweeping the most medals, including gold.
While the Olympics were underway the Russians increased pressure on Ukraine, surrounding the country with troops and tanks.
Putin is putting great pressure on his old country; he wants it back.
While the United States sends military weapons, President Biden is still wise enough to stay out of the Russian/Ukraine civil war. The Ukrainians so far are brave in their defense and perhaps diplomacy may bring some sort of alliance for the two countries with common racial heritage. Ukrainians have thrived on their independence and democratic freedoms for the past 30 years since the USSR dissolved under President Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
It is somewhat of a reminder of the great American Civil War tragedy with the North against the South with 700,000 dead Americans. President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves forever.
Sanctions won’t stop the Russians because they have everything that they need, they just want this fertile part of the old USSR back. The Ukraine is rich in agricultural products and minerals.
What may stop Putin is his own government and citizens who may not want to engage in another brutal war and lose many of their husbands, sons, and daughters and the high cost of warfare.
At this writing there is another meeting in the wind between Biden and Putin and only time will tell the outcome for war or peace.
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On the home front Denver and Colorado bid adieu to Joe Blake who passed away February 15 at his home in Denver. He has the longest obituary I’ve ever read in The Denver Post. He earned every word and he was a great ambassador being one of the early architects and developers of Highland’s Ranch four decades ago, then years with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. He spent more years in higher education, becoming the Chancellor at CSU in 2009. He was an Eagle Scout and graduated from East High School. He earned a law degree from CU in 1961.
I first met Joe back in his real estate career at Highland Ranch when we were first publishing The Villager. We both belonged and attended a “Rump Club” of rowdy middle-aged Republican men where we dined, drank, made speeches, and told jokes at The Denver Athletic Club during an evening of fellowship. The club was organized and operated by Dick Sargent, then Golden mayor and state Republican character, who believed in putting humor into politics that has been lost today.
Joe was simply Joe, always a smile and handshake from his warm personality, brilliant mind and willingness to reach across the aisle serving on countless boards and always willing and eager to listen to everyone.
Joe should have been governor; he would have been great at the job and maybe he even surpassed that high office in his skill and devotion to Colorado. Others like Pat Grant, Bill Daniels, Bill Hybl, Steve Schuck and Dennis Gallagher all walk in shoes similar to Joe Blake. I can’t forget Nancy Sharpe, former mayor of Greenwood Village and now term limited as Arapahoe County Commissioner. Governor Sharpe would be a nice title for this outgoing dedicated public servant, or Lt. Governor.
Colorado has been blessed by Joe’s life, his family, and he has written a large chapter in Colorado history and public service to this state.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 4 at 2:00 at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver. Gifts in Joe’s memory may be directed to Boy Scouts of America, Judi’s House, Montview Presbyterian Church, and best of all to the Blake Leadership Scholarship program at CSU that will instill Joe’s lasting leadership skills.