Page 18 - December 2017 The Castle Pines Connection

18 CastlePinesConnection.com
Letter to the editor: Wildcat Lore
e Connection
gets a makeover
By Terri Wiebold
The upcoming January 2018 issue of The Connection will have, among other things, a new look.
After nearly a decade of being the voice
of the 80108 community, The Connection enters into its tenth year of bringing “a little good news” with a fresh masthead, more vibrant colors and fun new fonts. Even our signature double pine cones will have a contemporary air!
Our team of local writers, photographers, designers and account managers continue to be dedicated to our mission of cultivating positive community relationships by sharing inspiring stories and relevant news and information with our readers in the greater 80108 (ZIP code) area.
We believe this new look is representative of our inquisitive, collaborative, knowledgeable and creative personality – while preserving and upholding our pillars of trust, respect, consistency and community mindedness.
Other changes to watch for: The January 2018 food & dining guide insert will be renamed the “E” Guide and will be expanded to include eating, entertaining and events. It will be your go-to guide for Everything!
By Lynne Marsala Basche
The Castle Pines Connection’s “Wildcat Lore” series began in September 2016, and the segment has become increasingly popular with readers. Each month, writer Joe Gschwendtner takes readers on a journey about local settlers, explorers and colorful characters who traversed Douglas County with captivating and sometimes surprising accounts.
The challenge with history, of course, is that
it is often di cult to track down information. For the Lore series, Gschwendtner researches stories by speaking with local historians, visiting the Douglas County Library History Research
Dear Editor,
Center, reading books and contacting homes associations. Despite the diligence required to write articles like the Lore series, it is tricky when reputations are involved and the main characters are no longer living. As is often the case, no two people see an event the same way, and sometimes it is left open to interpretation, especially when family and friends are involved.
We received a letter to the editor regarding the November 2017 Lore article “Surrey Ridge: The rest of the story” and are publishing it to share with our readers:
I would like to say that I normally enjoy The Castle Pines Connection and appreciate the wonderful articles that you include in the publication.
Today I am writing to express my disappointment with the misrepresentation and defamatory statements that were published in the November issue of The Connection. The piece by Joe Gschwendtner on Surrey Ridge is full of misrepresentations and inflammatory comments. As a friend of the Ceresa family, I found the statements and innuendos concerning Luzie Barthel Ceresa offensive. The story Joe wrote was originally published in the March 1999 Surrey Sentinel, Vol. 6, Issue 2,” and [parts were] taken close to verbatim from the original. The original article received negative response from the family, and in October 1999, the family’s account was published. Following is the family’s account of the events:
‘... One of our neighbors forwarded our historical accounting to Leonard and Carol Dietz in Commerce City. Mr. Dietz is the nephew of Art and Mary Ceresa. Leonard spent a great deal of time with his Uncle Art on the Happy Canyon Ranch. He graciously provided these corrections on [the] Ceresa family history:
Herman Miller (Art’s cousin) who ranched the eastern side of I25 at today’s Exit 190 was nearly blind and about age 80 when he was found dead. The family believes Herman took his own life because he was having increasing difficulty with his progressive blindness. On a trip home to Switzerland, Art and Mary Ceresa hired Luzie, an East German, and brought her to this country to help Mary with household chores. Luzie was a hard worker in the house and around the ranch. Following Mary’s death, Luzie married Art and took excellent care of him until his death at about age 95.’
I knew Luzie from 1975 until she returned to Switzerland after Art’s death. She was a strong woman that would speak her mind. She took great care of Art. She was not the woman that was portrayed in the current piece. I also knew Herman. My mother and I would bring him a special German cake every Easter. When I knew him, he was a quiet man that spent most of his time taking care of his ranch. These two historical figures do not deserve the defamation of character that was published in The Castle Pines Connection. I would strongly urge that these misrepresentations be retracted and the family history be written as it occurred.
I have lived in the Surrey Ridge area since 1975. I live in the original Kroll homestead house on the west side of I-25 between Surrey Ridge and Oak Hills. This is the home that Art and Mary Ceresa lived in from the 1930s until their ‘new’ home on 9017 Clydesdale was completed sometime in the late 60s.
Renate Nieman
As with every story The Connection publishes, we strive to be factually correct and editorially unbiased. We welcome input from our readers and, when appropriate, take care to share both sides of the story. Our goal is to celebrate the people and events in the greater 80108 community, and as part of this endeavor, we appreciate feedback. Contact editor@castlepinesconnection.com to share your thoughts or visit www.castlepinesconnection.com and type “mink” into the search function to add your comments on the story blog.
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