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Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 17
April 24, 2013
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A Colorado Community Media Publication
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Bartron to film in Colorado By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com In a whiz-bang and whirlwind lifestyle, Bonné Bartron, 28, emits star power. With a magnetic personality, enthusiasm to burn and a dashing smile, Bartron is compelling enough to snag the attention of her target of the moment. Currently, it’s the general public, specifically, potential donors for her first film, “Out There . . . ,” to be shot entirely in Colorado. By April 30 Bartron hopes to raise $200,000 in an online campaign via kickstarter.com. “It’s a way to fund a movie without a studio,” said Bartron, who grew up in Woodland Park and lives in Los Angeles. “If your movie doesn’t have any publicity it disappears.” From $1 to $10,000, online donors are eligible for prizes as well as bit parts. “I want people to feel ownership in this movie,” she said. “As soon as the Kickstarter is funded, I’m flying back to Los Angeles to pick up our crew and the rest of our cast. We have one role specifically for a local person.” Written and directed by Bartron, “Out There . . . ” stars Kimberly Brown and Daeg Faerch; Alex Burke wrote the music. The movie is a “bra-mance,” Bartron’s term for romance and intrigue. The main characters are two college girls who encounter mysteries, from cattle mutilations to people disappearing. “What happens at the end is way more terrifying than any of the theories they’ve come up with,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun until it’s terrifying.” Passionate about her work, Bartron pushed her way into the California industry at the age of 20. “Nobody would give me a chance,” she said. In desperation, she took up begging, zeroing in on director Chris Moore and his latest project, “The Funeral Director.” While Moore was less than enthusiastic about the call, or the caller, Bartron made her pitch. “You don’t understand; I’m going to be the greatest director Hollywood has ever seen and I need your help to get there,” she said. “I told him I’d do anything to work on the set, clean up garbage, babysit, anything.”
Bonné Bartron, founder of Angry Puppy Productions, plans to film her movie in Colorado, including Woodland Park. Bartron has initiated a fundraising campaign that ends April 30. Donors will have a chance to be in the movie “Out There.” Photo by Pat Hill It might have ended right there, with Bartron rejected along with millions of other Hollywood hopefuls. However, given three days to shine as an errand-runner, it was Moore’s demand for four cartons of fake cigarettes that sealed her entry into the industry. “You can’t just get these `dummy’ cigarettes anywhere,” she said. Starting with the Yellow Pages, Barton raced from the film site in Pasadena to Hollywood and returned victorious. “Chris became my mentor,” she said. Over the years she learned every aspect
of film production and today, while raising funds for her first movie, plans to write and direct, “Heaven May Hold it Against Us.” The story springs from seven months in 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, where she served the troops as an activities director and morale booster. “The day I landed we started getting pelted,” she said. “It was an intense time but I got the feeling I was actually helping people.” Emotional about the experience, Bartron today wears combat boots that complement her sense of panache and style. “I’m wearing combat boots until our sol-
diers come home,” she said. Confident the campaign will be successful Bartron is scheduled to start shooting the film at the beginning of June. “We’re editing while we shoot so we’ll be finished quicker. Five years ago this would be impossible,” she said. After the world premier in October in Denver, “Out There . . ” will be released on DVD. As her career takes on oomph, Bartron credits Cindy Gannon at the Woodland Park High School for changing the direction of her life. “I was going to be a lawyer,” she said.
Clark seeks resolution for embattled GMF mayor By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark made an effort to calm the waters in Green Mountain Falls regarding lack of communication between the mayor and the town’s trustees, which erupted over a $14,046 check received from El Paso County on July 26. Photo by Rob Carrigan POSTAL ADDRESS
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In an effort to do damage control, El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark publicly defended Green Mountain Falls’ Mayor Lorrie Worthey to the board of trustees. At issue was the verbal scourge Worthey received from trustees Mac Pitrone, Howard Price and Ralph LoCascio at the board meeting two weeks earlier on April 2. Inflamed about a lack of communication from the mayor, the trustees erupted over a $14,046 check she received from El Paso County July 26. As Worthey insisted she had communicated with Pitrone as well as Mayor pro tem Jane Newberry, the former denied the claim while Newberry made reference near the end of the meeting. The check covered the town’s emergency expenses incurred by the police and public works’ departments during the Waldo Canyon Fire. Without the paperwork as a reference, the trustees charged Worthey with placing the town in debt to the county. To date, the debt remains. In her favor, however, Worthey was told by the county budget office that the town could repay the $14,046 upon receipt of a FEMA grant. In a further mix up, Worthey did not sign the grant application. “The mayor approached me as she was ready to sign the application for the FEMA funds and was concerned about some of the numbers and wanted to make sure they were accurate,” Clark said.
“So she chose at that time not to sign the application.” If things weren’t in enough of a mess, by the time the town finally did submit the grant, FEMA rejected the application. “When we first contacted FEMA they said that the Green Mountain Falls’ application had already been processed,” Clark said. “We came to find out that it was the fire department, not the town, so it was a comedy of errors that wasn’t funny.” Speaking of debt, the county is also on the hook for expenses relating to the fire in June. “We certainly learn how we do things but the county has not received its reimbursement,” Clark said. “We are out millions and millions of dollars in our budget and are just holding steady until we get our money from the federal government. It takes about a year.” Pitrone got his last digs in before conceding that the town valued its relationship with the county. “I’m still upset that the whole issue has gone around the board of trustees and I will remain upset about that for some time,” he said. “We work real hard to balance our budget, unlike a lot of the governments around us.” Mayor pro tem Jane Newberry was a bit softer in her assessment. “It was quite a breakdown in communication; some of the things that are pretty common-sense didn’t happen,” she said. “But in the end, the FEMA grant is turned in, it’s done. And all the rest of this is water under the bridge and I’d like to just move forward.”