Fifty Years Ago This Week: Editors at the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel told The Denver Democrat that they were absolutely opposed to laws that would force businesses to close on Sunday and stated the laws were as “silly and pointless as the idea of legislating holiness.”

Opponents of the Sunday blue laws argued that although the laws were usually unenforced or unenforceable, they still, at least in spirit, penalized and handicapped businesses that depended heavily on tourism or Sunday sales for their livelihood.

“The unwary are stabbing their own freedoms in the back to save dollars for somebody else,” Sentinel editors said. “If they succeed, it will be a long, expensive business to re-establish the freedom they have relinquished – and we’ll all pay the bill.”

In other news, under President Richard Nixon’s administration, federally orchestrated outdoor programs were helping to put unemployed people back to work while also helping landowners earn extra income. Nearly 5,000 unemployed people in Colorado and around the nation were going back to work on new state projects, including clearing land for camping and picnicking, installing campfire grates and working on building tables and chairs, thanks to the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Accelerated Public Works Program being given the green light.

Through conservation projects, the Department of the Interior had already created more than 1,700 new jobs under the program, coordinated with the Department of Commerce and the Rural Areas Development program.

Additionally, loans available from the Farmers Home Administration were allowing farmers and rural residents to convert some of their land into different recreational uses including campgrounds, riding stables, vacation cottages, nature trails and hunting preserves.

A representative from the FHA said the programs were a win-win with many farmers happy they were able to aiding the public while at the same time earning them extra income from fees for the use of their land and facilities.

Twenty-Five Years Ago: After announcing that she was interested in seeking the office of state treasurer, which was about to be vacated by Gov.-elect Bill Owens, state Rep. Jeanne Adkins, R-Parker, had mysteriously all but dropped off of the political radar.

After much searching, reporters located Adkins at nearly the very end of the year, and she told The Colorado Statesman that she had held a large fundraiser in December and was planning an official campaign kickoff bash in the first week of January.

Adkins told The Statesman that she hadn’t been very active in the metro Denver area but that she’d spent the time touring other parts of the state. Adkins, then state House Judiciary Committee chair, said that she’d just returned from a road-trip that included El Paso, Weld and Larimer counties. The visits, according to Adkins, were well-received by local Republicans. She’d also had the chance to do initial work organizing her campaign in those communities.

In the race for the Republican nomination, Adkins was set to face a tough challenge from fellow Republican state Sen. Mike Coffman of Aurora, who was chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Coffman had already returned from visiting every county in the state as a part of his effort to review welfare reform efforts.

Other candidates rumored to be exploring bids for Colorado treasurer were state Rep. Paul Schauer, R-Littleton, and Westminster City Councilman Glen Scott.

The Democrats, in contrast, were approaching the race with the view that less was more; Jim Polsfut, former aide to Denver Mayor Federico Peña and head of GE Capital’s Colorado office, was the Democrats only announced candidate.

Meanwhile, a contentious 1998 legislative session seemed all but guaranteed as Senate President Tom Norton, R-Greeley, and House Speaker Chuck Berry, R-Colorado Springs, broke with tradition to hold separate press conferences to discuss their diverging priorities for the upcoming session of the General Assembly.

In addition to the dual press conferences, statements by Democratic legislators prompted Gov. Roy Romer to say that he might have to serve as the arbiter of many legislative disputes in the coming year.

But Berry and Norton agreed on one thing, that Romer – with his record of 27 vetoes the previous year – could prove himself the source of a few political conflicts himself in the upcoming legislative battles.

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.