Hickenlooper visits Fruita and the Western Slope

The new Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper, made
Fruita one of his stops in the midst of a four-day, eight-stop
tour of Colorado, Jan. 15, 2011.

Hickenlooper was asked many questions
to determine his position on items of
concern.

The meeting room in the new Fruita Community Center was filled
with representatives from at least 11 Colorado Counties. Business
and Council members as well as many other interests were present.

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Fruita Mayor, Ken Henry, presented a Mike the Headless Chicken
T-shirt and beer mug as he welcomed the Governor to Fruita.

With open arms, the community of Fruita welcomed their new Governor, Jan. 15, 2011. A new Governor and a new Community Center were welcomed with the new year. Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper seems to have made bi-partisanship one of his keys to success. 

In his talk to the crowd, he introduced members of his new team that represented all political parties.

"In light of the Tucson tragedy, the idea of all sides working together is even more important," said an observer.

Hickenlooper noted that the state needs to grow its businesses. He also noted that government regulations already in place should not be cut at the expense of the environment or consumer protection.

One of the points he made about business growth is the fact that clean air and safe water also help attract businesses to the State.

Showing his strong support for business, he told the story of his own struggle and hard work in starting his own businesses.

"We want to make sure we don't go out and reduce the safeguards in place,we want to make sure we preserve them and at the same time we need to dramatically support our business communities," he said.

As the invited reps of the 11 counties addressed their concerns, the promotion of tourism, boosting coal and natural gas production, improving broad-band connections for rural areas, were topics mentioned.

The Gunnison rep noted how very important their college is to their region. The possible closing of parks was described as helping no one.

At a dinner in Grand Junction, the governor was quoted as saying that "We're past the point that we can afford to be bickering on small points. We are going to set a new standard in how people work together."

Time will tell as to how this idea works.