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The San Luis Board of Trustees signed off on an intergovernmental agreement this week that gives the Costilla County Sheriff the authority to provide police coverage to the town. The agreement covers both patrol services and criminal investigations and comes just before the start of the festival weekend for Santa Ana and Santiago. The agreement does not set any financial burden on the town, however, Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Gomez did offer the sheriff financial assistance from the town if he needed to bring in more officers. San Luis cut its police force at the end of June in an effort to reduce what was a $52,000 deficit. Gomez said that bringing back the police force wouldn’t happen until the town closed its deficit. The town did get good news this week in that the deficit has dropped to $32,000 since the cuts.

Water experts discussed the valley’s diminishing water supply this summer at the Rio Grande Water Conservation District meeting on Tuesday. Colorado Division of Water Resources Division III Engineer Craig Cotten announced a zero curtailment for irrigators on both the Rio Grande and Conejos River systems, primarily because no water is flowing and Colorado’s obligation to downstream states has been adjusted accordingly. Cotten said he has lowered the projected annual index for the Rio Grande to 530,000 acre feet, 5,000 less than the projection at the beginning of July and considerably less than the 575,000-acre-foot forecast on June 1st. Cotten also decreased the projected annual index on the Conejos River system by 5,000 acre-feet, or 290,000 acre-feet. At the beginning of June, the forecast was 315,000 acre-feet. Cotten said that the state is storing some compact water at the Platoro Reservoir and will probably not need to release that this year to meet the compact. Cotten explained that stream flows on the Rio Grande and Conejos were tracking average until about June 10th, when they dropped significantly.

The South Fork Farmers Market will be held every Friday at the South Fork Visitors Center on Friday mornings from 8am to noon during the months of July and August. The market features and promotes products produced and grown in the San Luis Valley and surrounding areas. The market also features vendors selling a variety of locally grown vegetables, cheeses, sausages, as well as homemade pastries, artisan breads, jams, jellies, fresh fruits and craft items. The South Fork Farmers Market at the visitors center, held every Friday from 8am to noon.

Lathrop State Park west of Walsenburg on us 160 will offer two programs this weekend. On Friday, musician Dennis Rains will present “Songs of the Past” beginning at 7:30pm. Then on Saturday, join local historian Jon Sudar for a coal mining history of the area entitled “King Coal” at 8:30pm. All programs are free, but all vehicles entering the park must have a valid parks pass. All programs will be held at the Pinon Campground amphitheater. In the event of poor weather, programs will be held inside the visitors center. Call 719-738-2376 for more information.

Habitat for Humanity will hold another Restore Sale to divert usable building materials from going to the landfill and to help make home improvements more affordable to everyone. The sale will be held on Saturday, July 31st, from 9am until noon at Apple Tree Storage on the 1800 block of State Avenue in Alamosa. Habitat continues to accept donations of new and gently used building materials. Call the Habitat office at 719-589-8678 for more information.