Skiing and Snowboarding Resolution Swooshes to Senate
DENVER –State Representative Gwyn Green (D-Golden) isn’t the type of person you would expect to see with pink ski goggles around her neck while holding a snowboard.
The State Representative, a former skier, is known affectionately as the Fighting Granny around the State Capitol. The Jefferson County legislator is sponsoring House Joint Resolution 1008, making skiing and snowboarding the official winter sports of Colorado.
The idea became a reality after she received a call from one of her youngest constituents. Last summer, then 9-year-old William “Citizen” Kane contacted the lawmaker with an idea. During a Colorado history class at Dennison Elementary in Lakewood, it occurred to William that there was no official state sport designated in Colorado.
William quickly went to work to change that. An avid skier, William proposed that skiing and snowboarding should become the state’s official winter sports. He contacted Rep. Green, directly to ask for her help.
“I told him to gather some petition signatures to make sure there was support for the idea. A few weeks later he reported back to me that he had 70 signatures. I thought, wow, that is pretty good,” Rep. Green explained.
“I asked my fellow representatives, ‘How many of you have ever been contacted by a nine-year-old constituent before?’ I thought it was pretty neat that he felt comfortable contacting me. That is exactly what we hope for as elected officials; that the community feels comfortable calling us,” Rep. Green said.
William and his family, including his twin brother Matthew, and their entire fourth grade class from Dennison Elementary School in Lakewood, visited the capitol to watch the vote on the resolution.
“Skiing and snowboarding are synonymous with Colorado. The sports are a large part of our tourism economy,” Rep. Green continued.
Colorado has a long history associated with skiing which began when the 10th Mountain Division used Camp Hale outside of Leadville as their training grounds in preparation for fighting in the Alps during World War Two.
Skiers and snowboarders alike, usually passionate partisans, supported the House resolution overwhelmingly. The resolution will be voted on in the Senate in the near future. Resolutions do not require a signature of the Governor before being officially recognized.
If passed, skiing and snowboarding would join a prestigious list, which includes the state flower (White and Lavender Columbine) and state bird (Lark Bunting) among 17 others. Tomorrow, the Governor plans to sign Representative Cherylin Peniston’s House Bill 1017, making the Western Painted Turtle the Colorado state reptile.
-- Posted by staff
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