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GamblerCelebrating 20 Years Serving Colorado’s Gaming Communitywww.coloradogambler.com coloradogambler cogambler

yr

Volume 20 • Number 46

ST. PATRICK’S DAYSt. Patrick’s Day traditions and

how they began Page 4

PROMOTIONSBlack Hawk & Central City

promos, giveawaysPages 6 & 8

ENTERTAINMENTMargarita Brothers to play at Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s

Page 10

WINNERSFitzgeralds pays out $70,000 jackpot

to lucky winnerPage 14

C O U P O N S • C O L O R A D O H I S T O R Y • C A S I N O G U I D E • G A M I N G • M A P • E N T E R T A I N M E N T

March 6 - 19, 2012

See cover story on pages 12-13

Check Out

Valuable Coupons

on page 11

Sports betting still on the horizon

Thanks to a recent letter I re-ceived pointing out the paper had suddenly dropped the royal flush to a four card hand, it takes that last 10 of hearts to make a royal flush. We’ll make the correction and thank you to a loyal reader for pointing out the lack of a fifth heart. We will get that last heart as a “river card.”

We have so many loyal readers that have stayed with this newspaper for 20 years. In fact, we have some who have saved every copy of the paper since the beginning. If you have every issue, you might let us know; we have a file but I’m not sure that we even have every edition.

Gambler files contain thousands of stories on Colorado history compiled by our wonder-ful assortment of writers who all have published books on Colorado history. We keep talk-ing about doing some Gambler history books containing these stories and one of these years watch for Volume l of early day history on min-ing towns that have seen a renaissance from gaming.

We have many casinos that continue to support this publica-tion and we appreciate them so much. The employees seem to love the paper as well. If you walk into most casinos, you’ll see the Gambler in a rack and on people’s desks. It is a good read and en-joyed by many.

Legislative season is almost over and there are no signs of any

bill or efforts being made to establish sports bet-ting here in Colorado. This would bring millions of dollars to Colorado government coffers if al-lowed. The Gaming Commission could vote to allow sports betting as an additional game to be allowed in existing licensed casino properties.

Sports betting would allow citizens to place legal bets on major sporting events from foot-ball, baseball, basketball, including the Final Four. The lines would come out of Las Vegas on the various events including the usual horse track events.

Go to Las Vegas and almost every casino now has a sports betting venue and it just com-plements the gaming industry.

Millions of dollars are waged on major sports and daily newspapers run the odds every

day; why bother if no one is betting, but they are by wiring money out of states to bookies and il-legal betting sites.

As a Mecca of sports teams and fans, it would just be good business for everyone to have a formal, legal betting system that would raise tax dollars and allow fans to place bets on favorite horses and players.

Horse tracks are attempting to gain video type slot machines at selected Colorado tracks, but these bills are usually killed by the gaming industry, as they should be. We have our moun-tain towns that have made huge investments in these communities that benefit parks, historic sites, state community colleges and state rev-enues.

Gaming is a huge tourist attraction to Colora-do and a major provider of an estimated 10,000 jobs in this state.

And to the Irish, a Happy St. Patrick’s Day – we’ll be looking for some corned beef and cab-bage and you will find it on the menu at Fitzger-alds, Red Dolly, Century, Famous Bonanza, and Easy Street on March 17.

Enjoy a green beer, maybe a Guinness pint or two and pray for the Irish, we have the luck but we need forgiveness.

And may you be extra lucky this month!

PAGE 2 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

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Must be 21 and a Key Rewards™ member. Management reserves the right to change or cancel promotions at any time. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700. © 2012 The Majestic Star Casino, LLC.

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2pM, 4pM, 6pM, 8pM & 10pMThree winners every hour will get to choose an envelope with a cash prize, then spin the

multiplier wheel to increase their cash prize amount up to 10X. If a winner chooses the envelope with a shamrock in it, they automatically receive $1,500!

Earn entries for every 100 base points earned March 1 – 17.

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The Luckiest place to be on St. patrick’s Day Weekend!

By Robert Sweeney

Publisher’s Column

Have some corned beef and cabbage March 17

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Fridays in March 4:30pm – 9:00pm

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Earn additional entries each Friday for every 10 unadjusted points.

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Beginning March 1, receive one free swipe per day and earn additional entries for every 30 unadjusted points earned.

Earn 25X entries every Tuesday.

Earn 100X entries March 1 & 17 and April 1!

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PAGE 4 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

St. Patty’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day traditions and how they beganBy Rosemary Fetter

n March 17, most Ameri-cans proudly wear green, even those lacking an an-cestral connection to the Emerald Isle. The holiday is celebrated with gusto

in the U.S. partly because America’s Irish population is the one of the country’s larg-est ethnic groups, second only to the Ger-mans. (For reasons likely dating back to World War I, Oktoberfest never caught on quite like St. Patrick’s Day.)

Irish-Americans number more than 34 million, more than eight times the modest 4 million souls who still reside across the sea. If the Scots-Irish and the Anglo-Irish are included, the numbers go even higher.

Americans love St. Patrick’s Day pa-rades, shamrocks, great music and green beer, but the details of the holiday are sometimes a little foggy. Here’s a brief look at St. Patrick’s Day symbols and traditions, and how they all began.

The patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick was originally a Welshman named Maewyn, born sometime around 375 A.D. Although both parents were Roman Catholic, Pat-rick admitted to being a heathen until age 16, when a group of marauders kidnapped him and took him back to Ireland. During the next six years of slavery, Patrick spent a lot of time alone and finally saw the light. After escaping to Gaul (France), he joined a monastery and determined to convert the green isle to Christianity. He became Ire-land’s second bishop; an apparent charmer who won converts by the score and traveled through the countryside founding monas-teries, schools and churches. By the time he died on March 17, 461 (or thereabouts), he had converted Ireland to Christianity. Al-though Patrick has been credited with driv-ing the snakes out of Ireland, the country was never troubled by this particular rep-tile. The legend likely refers to the serpent symbol of the pagan Druids.

St. Patrick used the three-leafed sham-

rock to explain the Holy Trinity, telling his flock how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

The bluestone block called Blarney Stone was set into the battlements of the Cormac castle in 1446. Kissing the stone suppos-edly endows one with “the gift of gab.”

The word, “blarney,” may have originat-ed in the 16th century, during the reign of England’s Elizabeth I. The Queen wanted all the Irish lords to swear allegiance to her, but Cormac McDermot MacCarthy, chieftain of Blarney Castle in County Cork, avoided commitment by flattering and pla-cating Elizabeth. She finally declared in frustration: “This is all Blarney!”

Anyone who wants to kiss the blarney stone (or at least give it a big hug) need not go to Ireland. Fitzgeralds Casino in Black Hawk has its very own blarney stone, and visitors are invited to drop by and pay their respects.

Leprechauns are “fairy folk” who usu-

ally take the form of cantankerous and mis-chief-making old men. Cobblers or shoe-makers by trade, they are supposedly the keepers of great treasure crocks. According to legend, if anyone keeps an eye fixed upon the leprechaun, he cannot escape; the mo-ment the eye is withdrawn, he vanishes.

In 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O’Gill & the Little People, which introduced America to a cheerful, friendly leprechaun more like the Keebler elf, a purely American invention that has become an easily recognizable symbol of both St. Patrick’s Day and Ireland.

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in New York City on March 17, 1766, and consisted mostly of a contingent of Irish soldiers. Today, the parade is tradi-tional in many cities, with the largest cel-ebrations held in Chicago, Savannah and New York City, respectively.

The town of Leadville has an interesting custom of holding a St. Patrick’s Day Prac-tice Parade in September, with bagpipers and Irish dancers led by a bright green fire truck. It’s a sight to behold.

Very few St. Patrick’s Day celebrations go by without some-one bursting into that great Irish-American song, O Danny Boy, leaving not a dry eye in the house. Actually, an Englishman, Frederick Weath-erly, published the song in 1913, using an old Irish aire, Londonder-ry Air. Popularized by Irish-American vaudevillians, the tune became an Irish favorite, often sung at funerals. Although some maintain the song deals with a fa-ther watching his son go off to war or leave the country during the famine, publisher’s notes reveal that, as many of us suspected all along, it’s actually about a woman bid-ding farewell to her lover.

A term believed to have originated in the United States, black Irish commonly refers to dark brown or black hair appearing in persons of Irish descent in contrast to the blond, light brown or red hair color usually ascribed to the Irish. According to a recent Irish study, dark hair is common in Ire-land: more than 40 percent of the popula-tion have dark brown hair, 35 percent have medium brown hair and another 3 percent have black hair.

On St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, the tra-ditional fare was Irish bacon and cabbage. Irish-American immigrants found bacon too expensive and substituted the less cost-

ly corned beef. Beer has always been an Irish fa-vorite, although, no true Irishman

would sully his stout with green coloring. This is strictly an American invention.

A sturdy reliable walking cane made out of Irish black-

thorn, the shillelagh’s sturdi-ness and resistance to warping,

chipping or discoloration made it a favorite of Europeans.

The basis of this relatively recent prac-tice is both religious and political: Irish Protestants, mostly in Northern Ireland, wear orange on St. Patrick’s Day and Cath-olics wear green. Ever since the Protes-tant King William of Orange (III) took the throne of Britain in 1690, Protestant Irish have been known as “Orangemen.”

Vintage St. Patricks Day Greetings bear the image of the patron saint of Ireland as well as the shamrock.

Americans may think four-leaf clovers are synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day, but that’s not the case. The Holy Trinity symbolism of the three-leaf variety makes it the preferred St. Patricks shamrock.

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PAGE 6 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

www.fitzgeraldsbh.com

Free St. Patrick’s Day GiftsSpend St. Patrick’s Day with

the only Irish casino around Saturday, March 17. We are beginning the excitement with 4X points for the entire gaming day. Also, be sure to enjoy FREE green beer as you play your favorite table game or slot machine. Our friendly staff will be distributing FREE beads and other prizes throughout the day starting at noon, while supplies last.

Fitzgeralds St. Patrick’s Day T-shirt

The excitement starts at noon when we give out Fitzgeralds St. Patrick’s Day T-shirts. Earn 50 base points to receive a shirt, while supplies last.

Get Green on St. Patrick’s DayWin up to $1,500 at 2 p.m.,

4 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Saturday, March 17. We will draw three winners at the top of each hour to draw an envelope out of the barrel and spin the Multiplier Wheel to increase their cash up to 10X. If the envelope contains a shamrock, the lucky winner will automatically receive $1,500. All Key Rewards members receive one free entry; earn additional entries for every 100 base points earned from March 1-17. The deadline for the 10 p.m. drawing is 9:30 p.m.

$1,000 Sun Harley Party Pit Drawing

Every Saturday at 10:30 p.m., one lucky winner will be $1,000 richer. All Key Rewards members receive one free entry; earn additional entries by playing table games in the Sun Harley Party Pit.

50K Progressive The Progressive pot

is up to $45,000. Be at Fitzgeralds, Sunday, March 18, for our $50,000 Progressive sweepstakes and you could be $45,000 richer. At 8 p.m., 20 winners will be selected to choose from 240 pods. One pod contains the grand prize of $45,000. Each month the

grand prize is not picked, we’ll increase the pot by $5,000! Every Key Rewards member gets one free entry; earn additional entries with every 250 base points earned on your Key Rewards card from March 1 to March 18 at 7:30 p.m. Also, receive 2X entries when you play on March 18.

4X Points, Friday and Saturday

Every Friday and Saturday in March all Key Rewards members will receive 4X points all day long on slots. Point Multiplier does not apply to video poker or keno.

March Money MadnessWin up to $1,000 Saturdays,

March 10, 24 and 31. Two winners will walk away $1,000 richer at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and $500 richer at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. All Key Rewards members receive one free entry into the 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. drawing; earn additional entries with every 50 base points earned for the week. All you have to do to be eligible for the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. drawing is play with your Key Rewards Card.

This or That Hot Seat

Sundays, March 11 and 25, 2 – 6 p.m, there will be one winner every hour from 2 – 6 p.m. can pocket up to $1,000 cash just by playing with your Key Rewards card in your favorite loose slot.

Slots of LuckJoin in on the fun and play

the $1,000 Slots of Luck Slot Tournament Fridays, March 9, 16 and 23. Just earn 50 base points and register between 5 – 6:50 p.m. and the tournament begins at 7 p.m. Top score wins $300, 2nd place $200, 3rd place $150 and 4th-10th place will win $50.

Get a GiftReceive your Fitzgeralds Logo

T-shirt and Hat Wednesdays, March 7 and 21, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., or while supplies last. Earn 150 base points.

New to Fitzgeralds?Become a Key Rewards

member and get more than $40 in valuable coupons and a chance to win $1,000 Friday, March 30, at 8 p.m. Introduce a friend to our Key Rewards

membership and get rewarded with 4X cash back on the day of enrollment and a chance to win $500 in our New Member Giveaway.

Spin to Win MarchSpin the Point Multiplier

Wheel every Thursday in March, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., and you can multiply your cash back up to 10X. Be sure to stop by the host stand to spin the wheel before you play. Not valid on video poker or keno, multiplier begins once wheel has been spun and multiplier is established.

Monday Mania Slot Tournament

Reel in the cash with our new Monday Mania Slot Tournament every Monday. It’s easy and only 50 base points to sign up, not to mention a ton of fun! Register between 11 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. and the tournament begins at 1 p.m. Top score wins $200 and the next five places all win $100.

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Point Appreciation FridaysWhen playing on a Canyon

Club card every Friday in March all Canyon Club member will receive 3X points, VIP member will receive 4X points and Platinum member will receive 5X points on all slots and video poker. Points will automatically multiply as you play.

100X odds$1 craps is back at Canyon

Casino in March. Place multiple bets for only $1. Promotion runs through March, Monday – Thursday, 2 p.m. – midnight; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. – midnight.

$15,000 Raining RichesPlay your favorite slots at

Canyon Casino Saturday nights in March for a chance to win up to $3,000 playing $15,000 Raining Riches. Be one of seven lucky guests every Saturday night to pick a cash prize out of our Pot o’ Gold, and then have a chance to multiply your cash by spinning the wheel. Lucky winners will be selected at random times between 6 p.m.

and 10 p.m. To be eligible just make sure you’re playing you favorite slot or video poker with your Canyon Club card.

Canyon Grille Monthly Specials

For just $8.99, enjoy your choice of a BBQ pulled pork sandwich served with homemade coleslaw and fries, or try steak or chicken fajitas.

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Silver PromoEvery Wednesday, Thursday

and Saturday we do drawings every half hour from noon to midnight. We draw two names and they get to pick a ticket, the tickets have many different dollar amounts all the way up to $1,000. There are also tickets with a coin on them and they will win a silver coin and get to draw again for a cash prize as well.

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Car and Cash GiveawayWin a 2012 Cadillac CTS in

the Just Your Style Car and Cash Giveaway on April 21. Player’s Club members will receive one free entry daily and can earn additional entries with each 30 unadjusted points earned. Multiply your earned entries every Tuesday by 25 and by 100 TIMES on March 17 and again on April 1. Then, be here on April 21, when all those entries will be included in the drawings for Cash and the Cadillac. Visit the Player’s Club or Cashier Services for complete details.

Flat Screen Frenzy Guests will have the

opportunity to win a 60” LED TV every Friday in March. Drawings take place every half hour, 4:30 – 9 p.m. Fridays in March. Receive one free entry each promotion day and earn additional entries with every 10 unadjusted points earned. Winners will have the option to take $1,000 instead of the TV. Activate your entries each Friday beginning at 2:30 p.m.

$10,000 Jackpot Sweepstakes

Qualify now – March 24 to win up to $10,000 in the Jackpot Sweepstakes on Saturday, March 24. Guests of the Isle will receive one free drawing entry with each hand-paid taxable jackpot of $1,200 or more.

Bus Fare refundDo you ride the bus to Black

Hawk? The Isle will refund your bus fare up to $20. Earn 35 unadjusted points on your IsleOne card and present your return bus ticket to the Player’s Club or cashier services. Table games players will receive their bus fare back with four hours of consecutive play.

Paradise 50 Plus All guests age 50 or better

can join the new Paradise 50 Plus club Sundays and Mondays. You will receive 3X points on all slots, 2X points on video poker, a free soft serve ice cream and a Free Calypso’s Buffet after earning five unadjusted points. For complete details, please visit the player’s club.

Fantastic 40 Plus All guests age 40 or better

can participate in the Fantastic 40 Plus club on Thursdays. Guests will receive 4X points on their favorite slots, 2X points on video poker, a free buffet after earning five unadjusted points or earn 50 unadjusted points and receive $40 to Farraddays’. Visit the player’s club.

March at the Isle Poker Room

$100 High Hand – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in March, 10 a.m. and noon, the high hand will receive $100. The first hand of three-of-a-kind or higher made by any player will be posted as the initial high hand. Poker game must start by 11 a.m. to qualify.

Saturday Cash Squares – Players that are seated and playing in a live poker game by 1 p.m. on Saturdays will receive a square for cash drawings of $100 that will take place at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. and then $200 at 11 p.m. The cash drawings are progressive, so if no winner is found at the drawing the $100 will roll to the drawing next Saturday at the same time.

Big Sunday Freeroll Tournament - Qualify with just 5 hours of live play, Monday – Saturday, and play in the weekly Big Sunday Freeroll Tournament with up to $5,000 in prize money. The payout will be determined by the number of 10-hour qualifiers. The Big Sunday Freeroll Tournaments will take place on Sundays beginning March 11 at 3 p.m. Begin earning hours March 5.

Tournaments - Join in all the action on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. with the $45 Crazy Pineapple High/Lo tournament. On Thursdays at 10 a.m., there will be a $45 Omaha High/Low tournament. On Saturdays at noon sign up for the $150 No Limit Hold Em tournament with a $2,000 tourney bad beat. Registration for 10 a.m. tournaments begins at 9 a.m., sign up prior to 9:30 a.m. and receive a free buffet. In addition, all tournaments do have a dealer appreciation bonus available.

www.reddollycasino.net

Happy hour food & cashEnjoy Happy Hour food and

cash promotions, 4 - 7 p.m., Monday-Thursday at Red Dolly Casino in Black Hawk. Pizza and Sausage Sandwiches for active players are only $1.99. Additional cash prizes will be awarded throughout the week. Sign up today!

Hoops Madness Celebration Join us for our “Hoops

Madness Celebration” to cheer on your favorite team. Sign up for your chance to win cash and prizes. We will be giving away more than $7,000 in cash prizes.

Sunday races, cash prizes

Rev up your engines and join the Red Dolly in Black Hawk for Sunday races and your chance to win cash prizes from noon – 8 p.m.

St. Patrick’s Day celebrationEnjoy green beer, corned

beef and cabbage specials, lucky Pot O’Gold drawings and green beads giveaways at Red Dolly, March 17.

Indicates St. Patrick’s Day promos

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March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 7

Culinary Capers

When St. Patrick Day rolls around, one usually thinks of corned beef and cabbage as the typical Irish

food. My Irish friends, however, tell me that no meal today in Ireland would be complete without potatoes. A spirited Irish friend of mine visited Ireland recently and became a great fan of their “pub grub.” One of her fa-vorite dishes was Colcannon, a mixture of seasoned cabbage and potatoes cooked and mashed with lots of butter. The recipe is printed at right.

The lowly potato, a staple in Irish cuisine, has played a major role in Irish history. The diet and cuisine of the Irish was changed

completely by the introduction of one vegetable, the potato. Pre-Co-lumbian farmers in the Andes of South America first discovered and cultivated the potato some 7,000 years ago. Western civilization, however, did not come in contact with the potato until as late as 1537 when the Conquistadors tramped through Peru. It was even later (about 1570) that the first potato made its way across the Atlantic to make a

start on the con-

tinent of Europe.

In the 1700s, the people of Ireland adopted potatoes as a rugged food crop. The primary reason for its acceptance in Ireland was its ability to produce abun-dant, nutritious food. Unlike any other major crops, potatoes contain most of the

essential vitamins. Perhaps more impor-tantly, a small amount of land of cultivat-ed potatoes could provide sustenance for many people. By the mid-1800s the Irish would become so dependent upon the po-tato that repeated crop failures would pro-voke a famine.

Great Potato FamineThe Irish Potato Famine of 1846-50 start-

ed with a black potato blight on acres and acres Irish farmland. The potato crop fail-ures continued for many years, which forced many of the Irish to leave the country in the mid 1800s. The famine took as many as 1 mil-lion lives from hunger and disease, changing the social and cultural structure of Ireland in profound ways. The famine also spurred new waves of immigration, thus also shaping the histories of the United States and Britain.

The late stateswoman, Mary Robinson, who served as Ireland’s president 1990 to 1997, described the potato famine as “an event which more than any others shaped us as a people,” she said, “it defined our will to survive and our sense of human vulner-ability.”

potatoes

Colcannon1 pound cabbage 1 pound potatoes 2 leeks, onions or scallions1 cup milk

Salt and pepper to taste 1 pinch ground mace 1/2 cup butter

In a large saucepan, boil cabbage until tender; re-move and chop or blend well. Set aside and keep warm. Boil potatoes until tender. Remove from heat and drain. Chop leeks, green parts as well as white, and simmer them in just enough milk to cover, until they are soft. Season and mash potatoes well. Stir in cooked leeks and milk. Blend in cabbage and heat until the whole is a pale green fluff. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter. Mix well and serve in bowls.

The

By Margaret Malsam

www.famousbonanza.com2X Mondays

Earn 2X points all day on all machines, including video poker. $1 = 1 Point

40 & Getting BetterFor those guests 40 and older, earn 2X points all

day on all machines every Wednesday. $1 = 1 Point. Earn 200 base points and receive half off one menu item at Millie’s Restaurant.

Join us on your birthdayCome celebrate your birthday with the Famous

Bonanza and Easy Street Casinos and receive 500 free points. Players older than 55 years of age will receive 800 free points.

New PlayersEarn just 250 points on your first trip and receive

a $10 meal voucher to either Millie’s or Stella’s res-taurants.

The ParlourLocated on the second floor of the Famous Bonan-

za Casino, we offer 2 Deck pitch Blackjack, Roulette and 3-Card Poker. $5 minimum to $50 maximum on 2 Deck pitch Blackjack and $3 minimum and all shoe games. The Parlour also offers Pool and Darts!

Biggest WinnerHit a jackpot of $150 or more and have a shot

at daily and weekly prizes up to $500. You will also receive entries for our Saturday Drawings between 3 – 9 p.m. That’s more than $3,200 every week!

St. Patrick’s DayStella’s Upstairs will be offering a special meal. A

limited supply of flashing pins will be available with 100 points earned on your Miners’ Club cards. And for a little extra luck remember to wear green.

2X MondaysEarn 2X points all day on all ma-

chines, including video poker. $1 = 1 Point

40 & Getting BetterFor those guests 40 and older, Earn 2X points all

day on all machines every Wednesday. $1 = 1 Point. Earn 200 base points and receive

half off one menu item at Millie’s Restaurant.

Join us on your BirthdayCome celebrate your birthday with the Famous

Bonanza and Easy Street Casinos and receive 500 free points. Players older than 55 years of age will receive 800 free points.

New PlayersEarn just 250 points on your first trip and receive

a $10 meal voucher to either Millie’s or Stella’s res-taurants.

Fun for KidsBring your children to the lower level of the casino

to enjoy a wide variety of arcade games for our under 21 guests.

Biggest WinnerHit a jackpot of $150 or more and have a shot

at daily and weekly prizes up to $500. You will also receive entries for our Saturday Drawings between 3 – 9 p.m. That’s more than $3,200 every week!

St. Patrick’s DayMillie’s Restaurant will be serving an Irish inspired

feast. A limited supply of flashing pins will be available with 100 points earned on your Miners’ Club cards. And for a little extra luck remember to wear green.

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3X pointsEarn 3X points, Monday

through Thursday, all day at Crystal Palace.

2X pointsEarn 2X points, Friday through Sunday, all day.

$3,000 Hot Seat RewardsFridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. – midnight and

Sundays, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Must be a Player’s Club member and use your club card to be eligible.

$5,500 Palace Putt for CashMonday through Thursday, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.,

must be a player’s club member and use your player’s club card to be eligible.

March BirthdaysPlayer’s Club members with birthdays in March

may receive 1,000 base points on their Player’s Club account or a Crystal Palace logo T-shirt or a Crystal Palace logo coffee cup (while supplies last).

New food on the menuTry out new food items, which include deli sand-

wiches, chili, hot dogs, soups, nachos and more.

Food specialsTuesdays through Thursdays, player’s club mem-

bers get a half sandwich and bowl of soup for only $1.99.

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$100,000 Cash Reserve Earn entries until April 1. Drawings are every Fri-

day and Saturday at 8 p.m. There will be 21 winners each night, which means 42 winners every weekend. More than $5,000 in cash will be awarded every weekend. There will be a $25,000 cash winner on Sunday, April 1.

Slot TournamentsJoin in the fun at the Reserve Casino Hotel on

Tuesdays and Thursdays in March in the Celebrity Zone for slot tournaments, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., daily; win cash at 5 p.m. See Player’s Club for complete details and rules.Free Bingo

Play bingo for free in the Lava Room every Mon-day and Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Table games promotionsWe are giving away two free 32-inch flat screen

TVs each Friday and Saturday night in March at 10 p.m. Earn entries on all games. Mondays through Fri-days, double all entries before 6 p.m. See table games area for details.

Poker parties every FridayPoker Parties every Friday at Reserve Casino

Hotel.

Reserve Grand Opening Week, March 26 – April 1

Celebrate the official grand opening of Reserve Casino Hotel, March 26 – April 1, with grand master of ceremonies Joe Piscopo.

www.central-citycnty.comSpring Bankroll Boost

We’ll fill up your pockets this March

with the Spring Bankroll Boost. Earn weekly entries for cash drawings for just 150 base points each starting Feb. 26. Every Friday and Saturday starting March 2, boost your bankroll with hourly drawings for big cash prizes. Fridays - $250 prizes from 4-9 p.m., $500 at 10 & 11 p.m. Saturdays - $250 prizes from 2-9 p.m., $500 at 10 & 11 p.m.

Earn a trip to ArubaYou can earn a free trip to the 15-acre Radis-

son Aruba Resort, Casino, and Spa in Palm Beach, Aruba. Play at Century Casino Central City and earn 450,000 base points from now through July, and you’ll receive the trip for yourself and a guest as our gift to you. This fantastic package in-cludes airfare for two, hotel, $500 spending cash for five days and four nights in this Caribbean paradise. Earn 10,000 base points now through July, and you’ll receive a discount rate for a hotel stay at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino, and Spa in Palm Beach, Aruba. Full details at the Century Casino Cen-tral City Player’s Club.

Party Cart The Party Cart is here, every Tuesday, from

noon to 8 p.m., at a random time within each hour, we’ll pick a lucky winner with a Hot Seat drawing, and before they know it we will roll up to them with the Party Cart, rockin’ and rollin’ with celebration mu-sic. Our lucky winner will spin the prize wheel on the cart, and win comp dollars, mystery prizes or even up to $250 cash.

Senior Celebration, Tuesday, Wednesday, plus bingo Thursday

Guests aged 50 or better can enroll at the club to receive 2X points on their play all day, 8 a.m. – 4 a.m., plus 50 percent off purchases (up to $25 in one day) at the Retro Deli or Mid City Grill. 50 percent dis-count will apply to purchases made with Insta-Comp too. Plus, Century Casino offers Bingo every Thurs-day, with a $100 PRIZE for each game starting at 11 a.m., running through 7 p.m. Players can pick up their bingo card at the Player’s Club one hour before each game.

St. Patrick’s day giveawayOn Saturday March 19th players can earn a lucky

Irish Angel Pin for just 50 base points played on their card that day, while supplies last.

St. Patrick’s weekend food specialsWe are offering a Corned Beef and Cabbage spe-

cial on March 16, 17 and 18 for the entire St. Pat-rick’s Day weekend. The meal includes corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and carrots, all for only $7.99 per person (no Player’s Club card required).

PAGE 8 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

118 Main St. • Central City 720-253-1669

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SPeCial $1.99 Half Sandwich& Soup tues-thurs

new FooD iteMSGlitzieSt CaSinoCentral City’s

$5,500 Palace Putt for Cash

Central City NuggetsIndicates St. Patrick’s Day promo

March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 9

Central CityCentral City a new twist in preserving

A Jazz Festival band performs inside Williams Stables, which received interiordesignation in 1992.

By Linda Jones

Back in the 1990s, the Central City Coun-cil and its preservation arm, the Historic Preservation Commission, pioneered a bold idea – legally protecting the in-

terior of a Historic Landmark building. Central City has been an established National Historic District for decades, but that protection only ex-tends to the exterior of historic buildings.

The impetus to preserve the first Victorian interior in Central City was the ongoing dis-mantling of the beloved Gold Coin Saloon. New owners were literally carrying away the memo-rabilia on the walls of the Coin and wrapping it for storage. The saloon, built in 1897, had looked

the same, with the same pictures and ads, the same swinging doors, the same bar, the same player piano and more, for a century.

The Phillip Zang Brew-ing Company built the Coin building in 1897 and leased it to Bart Parteli that year when he came here from Tyrol, Austria. He leased the building until 1906 when he purchased it and bought out his partner. After his death in 1922, his wife Mary contin-ued the business until 1943; although, during Prohibition it became a general store un-der the same name. In 1906, Bart had mortgaged the in-terior fixtures and they were recorded in the records of the Gilpin County Clerk & Re-corder; almost every single one remained where they were listed in 1912 into the 1990s.

The four main criteria the City Council set were:(1) The landmark is identified with historic per-

sons or events.(2) It embodies distinguishing characteristics or

architectural style.(3) It is representative of the work of a famous

architect or builder.(4) It reflects the broad cultural, political, eco-

nomic or social history of the community, state or nation. To qualify for interior protection, the land-

mark must meet one of the four: the Coin met No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4. Two additional crite-ria required that the space has historically been available for public access and that the owner of the structure has requested its designation as a Victorian Interior landmark. The last two criteria were met and the bar’s accoutrements were re-turned to their historic places in the saloon. The Coin received the first Victorian Interior desig-nation in 1991.

The Coin still makes history annually as the site of the Bringing Down the Ceiling Party on

Lou Bunch Day. Walk through the swinging bar doors into the 19th century and look up. All those dollar bills stuck to the wooden ceiling have been launched by the Coin bartenders, along with a tack and a quarter. The donor of the dol-lar, usually a tourist, receives his quarter back, along with an invitation to attend the Bringing Down the Ceiling Party, when the drinks are free as long as the bills last. This year’s Bringing Down party will be given on June 21. The Coin is owned now by the Grimes family, which has earned high regard for their respect of Central City’s heritage.

The second interior designation came the next year. Williams Stables was built in 1876, but Sheriff Dick Williams purchased the stables in 1880 and it will forever carry his name. The owner, the Central City Opera Association, agreed to the protection of the interior rock and brick walls, the original ceiling and internal roof of the second floor, including the animal stalls on the second floor and the exposed wood beams. Yes, the horses were kept on the second floor and brought in through the ground-level door on that floor from East First High Street. The first floor was used to store the fine carriages, buggies, wagons, surreys and sleighs for rent.

Gilpin County owned Clark School when it was designated in 1992; now the Division of Gaming owns it. The first school building in Central City is located above Clark School; the two-story stone schoolhouse, now a museum, was opened in 1870, but by the late 1890s, the building could no longer accommodate grades 1 – 12. In 1900, Clark School was built as an ele-mentary school. Several interior features identify its use and are protected: the existing arches in the hallways, the main interior staircase with its banister and the railing around the stairwell, the windows and the load-bearing walls.

The Teller House (1872) was also designated in 1992 and the features to be preserved inside were listed: the Face Bar and its murals, bar, Face

on the Barroom Floor and painted ceiling, the entrance lobby and grand staircase and Minerva, the atrium area, the ceiling mural in the Eureka Room and the second floor museum space. Mi-nerva is the gold statue sitting at the bottom of the staircase and the legend has always been that rubbing her posterior brings good luck.

The first designation of 1993 was the Central City Opera House (1878). It hosted operas and plays until the town’s population and influence began declining; eventually it served as a movie theater. In the 1920s it hosted its last high school graduation. But a wonderful future was ahead for the Victorian jewel when in 1932 the current Central City Opera Festival was begun and its reputation spread internationally. This is the only Victorian Interior Landmark to be built by a not-ed architect, Robert Roeschlaub. The diminutive lobby is protected, as well as the stairs, ceiling murals, wall murals and seating area.

The last interior designation is the Coeur d’Alene Mine, which sits high above Main Street. The shaft house was constructed in 1894 and is the last surviving shaft house of the doz-ens that were once in Central City. The mine was operating into the 1940s, when the federal gov-ernment shut down all American gold mines in order to shift miners to strategic materials min-ing. It was donated to the Opera Association, which opened it as a tourist mine in the 1950s and ‘60s. When the shaft house collapsed in the winter of 1986/87, the Opera Association do-nated the mine to the Gilpin County Historical Society. The Society considered giving the title back, but fortunately kept the heap of rubble be-cause the shaft house was rebuilt in the 1990s with the generous help of grants from the City of Central and the State History Fund. The result-ing $100,000 rebuilt the attractive red landmark. A dozen interior landmarks are protected; some are the head frame and sheave, the elevated boil-ers, two stage air compressor, cistern, dry build-ing, powder magazine and hoist.

Tourists admire the Face on the Barroom Floor at the Teller House in the 1960s.

Photos courtesy of Gilpin County Historical Society

At the Gold Coin Saloon, memorabilia on the walls and some of the bills on the ceiling have been designated as a Victorian Interior landmark. Photo by Linda Jones

The railing around the stairwell and one of the interior arches are two things preserved at the Clark School.

Photo by Linda Jones

PAGE 10 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

Entertainment

Your guide to live entertainment and events at

Colorado’s casinosWhat’s Rockin’

www.reservecasinohotel.comIsle Casino Hotel Black Hawk

Crystal Palace

The Lava Room entertainment – all concerts are free, doors open at 8:30 p.m. (unless otherwise noted).

To purchase tickets: www.reservecasinohotel.com

March 9 – 10: The Atomic Drifters

March 16 – 17: Wendy Woo Band

March 23 – 24: Stero Clone

March 30: Jazz Band Hosted By Joe Piscopo, 8 p.m.

March 31: Stray Cats Featuring Lee Rocker

Reserve Casino HotelThe AtomicDrifters

TumblinngDice

Enjoy live entertainment on the Caribbean Cove bar stage each Friday and Saturday from 8 p.m. – midnight.

March 9 – 10: Tumbling Dice (country)March 16 – 17: JV3 (pop and rock)March 22 –24: Hot Lunch Band (R&B, rock)March 30: Back in the Day (R&B)

Enjoy live music every Friday and Saturday, 6 – 10 p.m., by “one-man band” Greg Richards.

www.crystalpalacecasinocolorado.com

www.black-hawk.isleofcapricasinos.com

Margarita Brothers set to play By Rosemary Fetter

The Margarita Brothers are coming to Fitzgeralds Black Hawk Casino on St. Patrick’s Day, so get ready for an Irish beach party and maybe even an Irish jig. Well-known in the metro area, the group plays a variety of musical styles, from California beach music to calypso, Motown and surf medley, Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet.

“I’m sure we’ll be playing Irish music on St. Patrick’s Day, particularly since we have a flute player,” said band founder Terry Burke (guitar). “We like to perform music people can dance to.”

Burke started the band as a sequenced duo (full band sound) seven years ago, and based on his success decided to form a full six-piece band. His original partner, Del Clark, now plays on cruise ships.

The six-member band in its current incarnation includes Burke, Mike Campbell (drums), Pete Noble

(keyboard and flute), Ron Alonzo (guitar), Pat Murphy (bass

and guitar) and Eddie Guion (percussion, sax and keyboard).

Band members hail from different parts of the country.

Burke is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but has lived in the metro area since 1973. Campbell comes from

Syracuse, N.Y.; Noble is from Colorado; Alonzo is from north Denver and Murphy comes from Chicago. The band has been together just more than a year in the present form.

“We like to interact with the audience,” said Burke. “We use props, even hula hoops on one or two occasions, and play the limbo. We want our audience to have fun, like a beach party.”

Fitzgeralds Casino is located at 101 Main St. in Black Hawk. Call 303-582-6100 or visit www.fitzgeraldsbh.com.

The Margarita Brothers will perform live at Fitgeralds Casino, 8 p.m. – 1 a.m., on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

Toe-tappin fun at Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day

March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 11

Limit one coupon per person. Can NOT be combined with other offers.

Valid 3-5-12 to 3-19-12 on day of signup.Must be 21 years of age.

Must be a New Canyon Club member. Management reserves all rights.

New membersget $5 and one FREE

monthly special.

Just earn 100 base points after signing up.

One Coupon per guest, per day, Mon.-Fri. only - Expires 03/19/12

for readers of The Gambler

Must be a Key Rewards™ Member. Key Rewards™ Membership is Free. This offer is good for one burger per day, per guest. Expires March 16, 2012.

Management reserves the right to change or cancel this promotion at any time. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-522-4700.

© 2012 The Majestic Star Casino, LLC.

free double cheeseburger

earn 10 base points and take this coupon to Key rewards™ to

receive a voucher for a free double cheeseburger

at the blarney stone Pub from 10AM-10PM! Valid March 6-16.

Here are some exciting coupons with valuable savings – compliments of these

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Kissin’ the Blarney

This rare stone is from Blarney Castle in County Cork, Ireland. The only other stones ever permitted to leave the legend-ary Irish landmark were used in the con-struction of the lucky forest exhibits inside Fitzgeralds Casino Hotels. In the best tra-dition of Blarney, some say rubbing this stone will surely make your day luckier.

to join the fun!fitz employees want you

here’s why ...

Photo courtesy Fitzgeralds Casino

Photo by Jeffrey V. Smith

Photo by Jeffrey V. Smith

Photo courtesy Fitzgeralds Casin0

Photo courtesy Fitzgeralds Casino

is the place to be St. Patrick’s Day weekendfitzgeralDS

Zvezdana (“Z”)Cocktail waitress/5 years at FitzgeraldsMost Memorable St. Patrick’s Day experience at Fitzgeralds:

My most memorable St. Pat-rick’s Day was about

three years ago when we had a great band play Irish folk music. It’s something I had never expe-rienced before. It was just so differ-ent, unique and very interesting.

What does St. Pat-rick’s Day mean to

Fitzgeralds employees?St. Patrick’s Day is the holiday theme

of Fitzgeralds. It’s the day when we all come together as one big family and all work together to create a fun atmosphere for everyone.Why should someone visit Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s?

The three B’s: Great beer, beads and babes! It’s the most fun day of the year for both guests and employees. Fitzgeralds is the place to be for St. Patrick’s Day; you can’t find that kind of enjoy-ment anywhere else.

MiquelSlot repair technician/17 years at FitzgeraldsMost Memorable St. Patrick’s Day

experience at Fitzgeralds:I love the music the casino

has hosted over the years. One of the

bands in particu-lar played tradi-tional Irish music that hit home for me, since I was born and raised in

County Galway in Ireland.What does St. Patrick’s Day mean to Fitzgeralds employees?

St. Patrick’s Day means a really busy day with lots of fun, great music, green beer and a chance to celebrate the day with all of our wonderful guests.Why should someone visit Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day?

Green beads, green beer and entertainment. Fitzgeralds is the only Irish-themed casino, so we go all out year after year on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s really a great time!

BeverlyFood server/4.5 years at FitzgeraldsMost Memorable St. Patrick’s Day experience at Fitzgeralds:

My first St. Patrick’s Day was my most mem-orable since I met three men from Ireland who were singing to guests in the casino.

What does St. Patrick’s Day mean to Fitzgeralds

employees?Serving green

beer and Irish food, listening to Irish music and guests trying to win their pot of gold.Why should someone visit

Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day?

Great food, great entertain-ment, green beer and good times.

MarcusCage manager/8 years at FitzgeraldsMost Memorable St. Patrick’s Day experience at Fitzgeralds:

I remember how on every St. Patrick’s Day the atmosphere in the casino is so festive and enjoyable. Everyone is always having such a great time, and it’s always a holiday I look forward to working.

What does St. Patrick’s Day mean to Fitzger-alds employees?

It’s the luckiest day of the year, and the hope is that luck spreads to all of our guests.

Why should someone visit Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day?

Guests can expect an exciting environment, live entertainment and an overall great time.

AmberBartender/14.5 years at Fitzgeralds

Most Memorable St. Patrick’s Day experience at Fitzgeralds:

St. Patrick’s Day is memorable for me due to wall-to-wall people in the casino. Live bagpipe music is also something special I remember from previous St. Pat-rick’s Day events.

What does St. Pat-rick’s Day mean to Fitzger-alds em-ployees?

St. Pat-rick’s Day means it’s a day to celebrate the luck of the Irish.

Why should someone visit Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day?

The best reasons to come to Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day is the green beer, corned beef, jackpots and friendly guest service.Compiled by Jeffrey V. Smith

Photo by Jeffrey V. Smith

‘Luck of the Irish’ not required to win at Black Hawk casino, but helps

By Jeffrey V. Smith

While the phrase “luck of the Irish” has meant dif-ferent things to different people over time, it has special meaning to Col-orado and Fitzgeralds

Casino Black Hawk. Its origins in this part of the world came from the days of gold exploration in Western states where a high number of Irish miners struck it rich, finding their proverbial “pots of gold.” Other, presumably jeal-ous, miners attributed these riches to luck. These days, however, the phrase means only one thing in these parts: You’re winning at Fitzgeralds Casino.

Even though Fitzgeralds Casino is already “Your Kinda Place” for the lat-

est slots and exciting table action, there is no better place to be on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The ca-sino already offers its guests more than 580 games, two restaurants, a newly expanded table games pit featuring $100 limits and nine new flat screen TVs, craps with 10X odds, the best dice dealers in town along with roulette, black-

jack, three-card poker and “the

most rewarding player’s club in town.” On St. Patrick’s Day, however, the gam-ing excitement is even greater.

On St. Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17, Fitzgeralds Casino offers several promotions to make a fun-filled day even more exciting and rewarding. To kick things off, the casino is offer-ing its guests 4X points on its Key Re-wards Players Club cards for the entire day. Also, free green beer is offered to patrons while they play table games or slot machines, and the casino’s friendly staff distributes free beads and other exciting prizes, while supplies last, throughout the day beginning at noon. Also, at noon on St. Patrick’s Day, the casino will give out special commem-orative Fitzgeralds St. Patrick’s Day T-Shirts. Anyone who earns 50 base points will get a festive shirt, while sup-plies last.

Guests can go home with cash in their pocket, just for showing up to Fitzgeralds on St. Patrick’s Day. Win up to $1,500 at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on March 17. Three winners will be drawn out of the bar-rel at the top of each hour. A multiplier wheel will also be spun to increase the cash prize up to 10X. Additionally, if the envelope contains a shamrock, the lucky winner will automatically receive $1,500. All Key Rewards Members re-ceive one free entry but additional en-

tries can be earned for every 100 base points earned from March 1-17. The deadline for the 10 p.m. drawings is 9:30 p.m. Also, at 10:30 p.m. every Sat-urday in March, including St. Patrick’s Day, one lucky winner will get $1,000 in the Sun Harley Party Pit. Every Key Rewards member gets one free entry and additional entries can be earned by playing table games in the Sun Harley Party Pit.

The special promotions and of-fers are not just on St. Patrick’s Day. Fitzgeralds Casino has something spe-cial going on all weekend long. During St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and all Fri-days and Saturdays in March, all Key Rewards members receive 4X points all day long on all slots other than video poker or keno. Slot players will also be able to join the $1,000 Slots of Luck Slot Tournament on Fridays, March 9, 16 and 23. Guests must earn 50 base points and register between 5-6:50 p.m. for the 7 p.m. tournament. The top scoring guest wins $300; second place gets $200; third place takes home $150

and fourth-tenth place win $50 each. On Sunday, the day after St. Pat-

rick’s Day, come back to the casino for a chance to win its $50,000 progressive sweepstakes. At 8 p.m., 20 winners will be selected to choose from 240 pods, one of which contains the grand prize of $45,000. Each month the grand prize is not picked, the pot is increased by $5,000. Every Key Rewards mem-ber gets one free entry and additional entries can be earned with every 250 base points earned on a Key Rewards card from Feb. 1 to March 18 at 7:30 p.m. Guests also receive 2X entries when they play on March 18.

With a festival atmosphere, free green beer, live music and numerous ways to win big, luck is not required to come home happy after spending St. Patrick’s Day weekend at Fitzgeralds Casino Black Hawk, you simply need to just show up.

All promotions are subject to change. Contact the casino for complete details and information.

PAGES 12-13 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

Nestled along the mountainous, tree-lined terrain of Black Hawk, Fitzgeralds might just remind you of the Emerald Isle. Step inside the casino building and more reminders — from the food to the Irish artifacts — will have you dancing a jig.

Cover Story Cover Story

PAGE 14 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

Russ won $8,000 playing video poker at the Guitar Bar at Reserve Casino Hotel.

Ray won $2,413 playing Hot Peppers at Canyon Casino.

Michael won $200, Mary won $100, Jerry won $500, Mai won $100 and Karen won a huge $1,000 in the 9 p.m. Pick Your Presidents Giveaway at Fitzgeralds Casino.

Deborah won $12,141 playing a $1 Double Gold slot machine at Isle Casino Hotel Black Hawk.

Cathie won $70,000 playing a 5X Pay slot machine at Fitzgeralds Black Hawk Casino!

March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 15

Aquamarine is the treasure of sea mermaids and is as attrac-

tive as the mermaids seen in stories. It owes its name to two dif-ferent Latin words: “aqua” and “mare,”

which means “water” and “sea,” respectively. When both words are joined together, it creates a new name meaning, “seawater.” Most of the properties of this semi-precious gemstone relate to sea, including color, clar-ity, etc. It belongs to the fam-ily of beryl gemstones (which includes emeralds). It shares the birthstone with bloodstone for those born in the month of March. The basic color of aqua-marine is light bluish, but is found in all possible shades of seawater. Bright light-blue color with full transparency is the most popular.

It was believed this trendy gemstone protects all from sea danger, as it symbolizes safety at sea. (I wonder how many passengers were wearing aquamarine on the cruise-liner that capsized.) Mariners in ancient times used to trust this gem could pacify fuming and brutal storms; hence why they always carried it before sailing. In the past, some people associated it with good eye-sight and sound sleep. At present, in some parts of the globe, it is believed that this gemstone assists the wearer in living life with fun and bliss. It helps in augmenting the intellect level, improves communication skills and prompts an active lifestyle.

Aquamarine signifies compas-sion, faith, harmony and friendship. Due to these features, astrologers suggest this stone for married couples that are experiencing prob-lems in their relationship. It’s suppose to create a strong bond between the duo that only death can tear them apart. To avail maximum effects and powers before using, it should be immersed in water for a couple of hours. Water in which aquamarine had been immersed was said to cure eye troubles and hiccups.

The largest aquamarine specimen ever found in North America was mined on Mount Antero in central Colorado (where your author once combed the summit but found no aquamarine gems). Steve Brancato found it in the summer of 2004. The specimen contained more than 100 aquamarine crystals, plus dozens of pieces of feldspar, mica, garnets and black quartz. At the dinner celebration was then Mayor John Hicken-

looper (now governor), who was a geologist be-fore opening the popular Wynkoop Brewing Co. The specimen can be seen at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The prime source of aquamarine is found in Madagascar that produces this dazzling stone in dark blue to light blue shades. Brazil is next to of-fer large quantities of high quality stones. Other sources are from African countries, namely Ke-nya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Nigeria. It is also obtained from Sri Lanka, India, Russia and

the United States.Bloodstone, also called helio-

trope, is a dark-green gemstone spotted with red. The word “heliotrope” comes from two Greek words meaning “sun” and “direction.” The stone re-ceives its name from the red

specks, whose appearance re-sembles drops of blood. Bloodstone

is a semi-precious stone and is used for carvings, cameos, seals, men’s rings or other ornamental objects.

During the Middle Ages, some Christians be-lieved the red spots represented the blood shed by Christ while on the cross. The legend of the origin of bloodstone says it was first formed when some of the drops of Christ’s blood fell and stained some jasper stone at the foot of the cross. Medieval Christians often used bloodstone to carve scenes of the crucifixion and martyrs, lead-

ing it to also be dubbed the martyr’s stone.Bloodstone was once used as an amulet in the belief that it could stop

bleeding. It was supposed to give the wearer clairvoyance while preserving his facilities and health. It was thought to be used

to revitalize and stimulate dream-ing. It was also said to impart cour-

age to the wearer. In order to receive the good health imparted by its many powers, bloodstone was to be worn continually. It is a good medita-tion stone. It suggests a connection between the red lifeblood of animals and nurturing powers of the green plant world. Bloodstone is said to be a powerful tool for warding off the evil eye, as well as driving away night demons. Bloodstone was well known to the Aztecs that used it to regulate blood flow. Even today, finely powdered blood-stone is used as a medicine and aphrodisiac in India.

Bloodstone can be found mixed in with other minerals or as pebbles along riverbeds. It is most commonly found in India, Brazil, Uruguay, Aus-tralia and the United States. Bloodstone alternates with aquamarine as the birthstone for March.

Next month’s birthstone for April: Diamond.

March birthstone:

S ome people are morn-ing people. Some people are night people. And some people are only

people for a few minutes right around suppertime. I happen to be a morning person, though I do cheer up considerably at the thought of supper.

Unfortunately, families and workplaces are made up of all types, and this inevitably leads to conflict. Let me give you some examples.

Night people love to stay out on New Year’s Eve. Morning people

prefer to be up early on New Year’s Day. You

can see how this could cause ten-sion in a relation-

ship. If a morning person sees the New Year in at all, it’s because we woke up at mid-night to use the bathroom.

A night person told me his early bird wife had, on more than one occasion, attempted to make their bed while he was still in it. Even I think that’s inconsiderate. She should at least tell him to get his carcass out of bed first.

Morning people think more clearly in the morning. Anyone who knows me will tell you it’s true; I don’t think very clearly at all in the afternoon and evening. But that’s just when the night people I know start making sense – to each other.

How did it come to this? We all started out the same. As infants, we woke up at all hours of the night – and saw to it that our parents did too. Eventually we slept through the night and started waking up early in the morning, espe-cially on weekends. Then we became teenag-ers, and as you know, there is no such thing as a teenage morning person. Their biology would have them going to bed after 1 a.m. and not up until the lunch dishes are washed and put away, and not just because they don’t want to do the dishes.

Night people do not progress beyond this point. But morning people continue to evolve. That doesn’t make us better people – well some of us are better people. But mostly what it makes us is tired. As the years go by, what we call morning continues to retreat into night. Eventually, we’re getting up about the same time the night owls are going to bed.

When I was a teenager, one of my first jobs required me to serve breakfast to morning people who, at that point in my life, seemed far more enthusiastic than the time of day called for. I can’t re-member what time I had to be at work, and it doesn’t matter. Back then, I thought anything before 8 a.m. was still night. I was a night person trapped in a morning per-son’s schedule.

My father, the early bird, woke me up for work. He was always up by 4 a.m., and he was not sympathetic about my need for sleep; witness the fact that he routinely rototilled the garden at sunrise.

All these years later, I’m the one who’s up at 4 a.m. – not rototilling, but contemplating. That’s more considerate of the night people in the house. It’s also easier. And what I’m con-templating today is how night owls and early birds can live together. For starters, we proba-bly shouldn’t rototill at 4 a.m. – or 11 p.m. But we should also look for the value in each other. If there were no morning people, who would make the coffee? If there were no night people, who would watch the infomercials?

And we must stop thinking we’re superior because of our sleep habits. You know what I’m talking about. Night people, can be a little smug, thinking us morning people are old fud-dy-duds who sleep through the action.

But morning people can be a self-righ-teous bunch too. You’ve heard that rot about, «Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.» Only a morning person would say that and even they know it’s not necessarily true. As a morning person, I may be healthy, but I’m not particularly wealthy. And if I’m wise at all, it’s only for a few hours in the morning.

(Contact drosby @ rushmore.com, but not after 8 p.m.)

HUMOR GEMSTONES & MINERALS

Early birds and night owls:Can we get along?

By Dorothy Rosbydrosby@rushmore.com

By Ray LundinGemologist

Aquamarine or bloodstone

Aquamarine

Bloodstone

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PAGE 18 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

Buying into table games with hundreds of dollars is simply unrealistic for a majority of

players.Some people are fortunate to af-

ford $100 for an evening of casino gambling. As most of us know, that $100 can evaporate mighty fast if you catch a cold streak. What’s a “low roller” to do? There are ways to fight back by using optimum playing strategies.

The object of the game of blackjack is to take advantage of favorable situations when they develop. Getting the opportunity to double down and split, not to mention the fact you are paid 3-2 for blackjacks, is what makes the difference between making money and just playing to stay even.

Another way to increase your profit potential is to increase your bet. But how do you do it and when? I’ve seen players push a stack of chips into the betting circle strictly on a whim. I’ve seen them win, but I’ve also seen them lose. Making big bets on a “feeling” is not what I’m talking about.

Surely the wisest time to in-crease your bet at the blackjack table is if you utilize some system of card counting and you know when the shoe is tilted a bit in fa-vor of the players. This is a solid way to take advantage of the game. It’s an educated guess and worth playing the percentages. There are no guarantees, but it’s better than increasing your bets on an unedu-

cated guess.Short of that particular strategy,

you may want to use a form of pro-gression betting that I’ve used with success on occasion. I don’t advo-cate progression betting because it can get you in trouble, too. But this is a relatively harmless method for average players if it is employed prudently:

The series starts by making a $5 bet. If you win the hand, you dou-ble the bet to $10 on the next hand. If you win that one too, you take $5 back and bet the remaining $15 on the next hand. What you’ve done is take back your original investment and bet the $15 profit you’ve made on your two winners. If you win your $15 bet, you take $25 profit and start a new series with a $5 bet.

There are some pitfalls using this system. First, in order for you to pull it off, you have to win three straight hands. Sounds easy, but as we all know it isn’t. However, when you do, it’s a nifty way for a $5 player to make a little more money than he would have made betting a single $5 chip on those hands.

Also, after winning the first two hands and risking your $15 profit on the third, you will be back to even if you lose that third hand. But that’s the chances you are tak-ing in return for taking a shot at greater profit potential.

An added plus is the fact that you can take better advantage of splitting and double down situa-tions. If you get a double down hand when you’ve got a $15 bet out there, you increase your bet to $30 and suddenly have the poten-tial for a nice little hit. It also in-creases the excitement of the game for an average $5 player, knowing there’s a $60 “swing” riding on winning or losing.

Thinking About Poker: A Most Memorable Hand

I n the last article I mentioned riv-ering a Royal Flush; the first one I’d had in more than 15 years. I was up against another player, who I’m sure had the same

Ace-high straight as I until the exact card needed for the Royal arrived. I begged everyone’s pardon, and then slow-rolled the Royal Flush. Every-one “oohhed” and “aahhed,” then all too quickly the pot was awarded, my cards collected and that was the end of that. I think it was Napoleon Bonaparte who said, “All glory is fleeting.” Well, at least that was a glo-rious albeit fleeting moment.

I recall another hand many years ago at the old Harvey’s Casino in Central City. At the time, they were the uncontested poker destination. Both Friday and Saturday nights was a zoo; one had to arrive early to as-sure a seat lest the waiting list get too long. I arrived in time to get a seat at their last table. This was back in the rammin’-jammin’ $5 limit days when every pot was capped (at $30) before the flop and one or two pots, when you won them, could make your night. Y’all remember those bad old Good Old Days? We weren’t playing poker; we were playing wild-ass bin-go with a deck of cards. Those were crazy times…

Anyway…I resolved to not get involved until

and unless I had something that could withstand a bet and five raises before the flop, then hit the flop in some way to proceed on to the river. I was fol-lowing part of the old poker maxim. “When everyone plays loose, tighten up.” The corollary to that is if every-one plays tight, you should loosen up; but that set of concepts might best be served in another article. I played tight and threw away hand after hand for what seemed like hours. I would win a smaller pot occasionally when I finally did enter the game, as not everyone was oblivious to what I was doing and how I was playing. (BTW: I play different nowadays, for those of you who think they can get a line on my play J.)

The hand I refer to in the title ar-rived: Actually, it was three consecu-tive hands; that was the primary rea-son of why this was so memorable. From late-middle position I looked down at K-2 offsuit, promptly tossing them away. As always, the hand was capped at $30 prior to anyone seeing any cards and I believe the winner eventually ended up with top pair, top kicker. A pretty weak holding for such action from so many. The next hand was dealt and I looked down at the very same hand, another K-2 offsuit; it went the way of the first - right into the muck. Again the pot was capped prior to the flop and as before, another paltry holding scooped the chips. Looking back on these hands and the action in these games, I can only shake my head in disbelief as to how we played poker back then. It really wasn’t poker per sé, just a…well…it

just wasn’t poker. The third consecutive hand was

now dealt and I looked down to find – can you guess? I held K-2 suited in clubs. I sort of weirded out think-ing the poker gods were telling me something, so I called the raised pot, throwing in my $30. I almost fell off the ground when the flop came K-2-2. I flopped a Full House; for the last hour the best hand winning a pot I had seen was trips. When the betting came to me, I called all the raises and the pot ultimately was capped. The turn brought a middle card; I called the raises again to stay in another capped pot. What amazed me was there were five or six players still in the hand, so 6 x $30 = $180 x flop & turn = $360 in the pot, plus blinds and miscella-neous bets left for dead.

Then the river came: the case Deuce! I now held the absolute, un-contestable, freaking mortal nuts – Quads! And I was the one to cap the final round of betting. As it turned out, I was up against pocket Jacks, pocket Queens, two Ace-King holders and an unknown hand. When I turned over my lowly K-2 suited to win the pot, the table darn near erupted. It took me almost a half-hour to stack that $600 pot…and that was in a $5 limit game! Something like that wouldn’t happen again in a million years, but at least it happened once…to me. Certainly a most memorable hand; it made my night.

If you have had a really memo-rable hand, send me the details with your name and phone number care of this paper and I’ll see about sharing your story. In the meanwhile, keep thinking about poker.

Getting the most from $5 blackjack

FULLHOUSEBy Drew Chitiea

Gaming

W henever I’m on a radio show, I’m inevitably asked what is the big-gest mistake most players make. That’s a toughie because most players make so many mistakes.

That’s akin to the question I’ve gotten from so many players at my hundreds of public appearances nationwide over the last 15 years: “What should you do if there’s a bad player at the table? Will they mess up the ac-tion?”

And I have to laugh. Because most play-ers, from my vantage point, are bad players. At least they’re not expert players. And, as such, they make plenty of mistakes.

Blackjack is being played at many levels in the casinos across the country. Like anything else, you have the beginners and then...well, you mostly have beginners and intermedi-ates. The advanced players (who like to call themselves “advantage players”) and expert professionals are few and far between.

It’s a rich game and like any challenging

pursuit, most of those who attempt to beat it never rise above a certain low skill level.

Why? Some players are lazy. They don’t want to

have to invest much of an effort to play the game. And blackjack is not for the lazy. At least if you want to win (and win big).

The lazy ones memorize a faulty old basic strategy chart (which any casino will gladly sell you, if you’re foolish enough to want to play that way) and then wonder why they lose so much. These players don’t read any books, and they don’t’ take any courses or seminars. They’re destined to be losers. They’d do better off playing the slots or rou-lette or any other games of chance because they’re playing blackjack in such a way they’ll only win on rare occasions when the cards they’re dealt just happen to have more pat winning hands than losers – with no deci-sions required – or when a recklessly large and stupid bet (against the odds) pays off be-cause the least-likely cards are dealt.

Other players are impatient. They read good books but they do so on a quick-once-through basis (never re-reading the books or taking notes) and they don’t practice. They think they can avoid doing the studying and practicing necessary to getting good at black-jack. Wrong. If you’ve ever read books or seen movies on blackjack, you’ll see that even the old schoolers, playing the faulty methods of the 1950s and ‘60s (the dual basic strat-egy/card counting approach - which writers today sell you as being “easy”) practiced for hours, days and weeks before they went into

a casino to ply their trade. At least the serious ones did.

And that brings me to the next category of player who’s not very good – the player who’s really not that serious – but they curiously enough have a sense of entitlement (they feel that they should win simply because they think they’re smart or something). If you want to do well at anything, you must be se-rious about it.

When it comes to blackjack, for instance, you need to watch all the cards that have been dealt – to everyone – in order to make the most accurate card and betting moves, and therefore, in order to win to the max. Yet most players come to the table looking to socialize. They don’t watch the cards. They gab. They look around. And when it comes to their turn, they’re clueless because they haven’t studied the table. Yet – go figure – they then get pissed off when they lose. How can they not?

Maybe that’s the biggest mistake most players make – they don’t watch the cards that are dealt, or factor them into their cru-cial card and betting strategy decisions.

And the card counters? They sadly don’t realize how very imperfect all the “card counting” methods are. In principle, card counting - the name of the method - sounds like a correct approach. You do need to keep track of the cards to do well. Everyone’s known that for centuries.

But all of the methods “card counting” - every one of them - are so inefficient (to be kind) as to be worthless (especially against

multideck games - games of more than two decks). Even the books that introduced those methods - as I’ve shown you before, in my columns, books and seminars - admit to their deficiencies, if you read the fine print. They admit to not testing the betting strategies they recommend, to only using 1-player situ-ations in their research, to using computer simulations instead of real cards handled as they do at the casino, and to having a very low return (at best) - even against 1- and 2-deck games. In fact, in the now-antiquated The World’s Greatest Blackjack Book (1980), Ju-lian Braun warned that the Old School card counting methods were worthless against games with six decks or more. And he should know. It was his research that fueled most of the Old School blackjack books of the 1960s through 1980s and beyond - including Ed-ward Thorp’s Beat The Dealer (1962), upon which every other Old School book is based.

Go back and read the fine print.And that’s another common mistake

of today’s players...not totally their fault, though. Instead of reading a cutting edge blackjack book, based upon the latest card-based blackjack studies and a modern under-standing of card behavior, they read books that peddle the faulty methods of the 1950s and ‘60s. Can’t blame the reader. Those books don’t come with a warning label. They should.

Send them to rharvey2121@netscape.net. For more info see http://www.blackjackto-day.com

March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 19

P eople’s opinions and views of movies depend on what generation they are from. Thus – when perusing the list of my top five poker movies below please remember it’s a list from the

‘80s genre, which means corny, loud and en-tertaining. If Howard the Duck or The Last Action Hero had a poker scene – I would have included those as well.

The best “vintage” poker movie may be The Cincinnati Kid from 1965 with the ven-erable Steve McQueen and the gorgeous, in her prime, Ann-Margret. This movie has a surprising ending climax scene and is fa-mous for the line: “That’s what it’s all about, doing the wrong thing at the right time.” If you haven’t seen it – take a look, good movie.

Another one is The Sting from 1973 with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. While

this isn’t a poker movie, the poker on board the train is classic and you have to love the two stars and their interaction.

A decent (there haven’t been many) recent poker movie may be The Grand from 2008. It featured stars Woody Harrelson and Ray Romano along with many professional poker players led by Doyle Brunson. This fast-pace flick attempts (and succeeds up to a point) to show the up’s and down’s of the fast pace world of professional poker.

With that said – here is my list of the “Top 5 Poker Movies.” My criteria is simple / they have to be entertaining. Here we go:

5) Maverick (1994) starring Mel Gibson and Jodi Foster. Seemingly it’s a continua-tion of the 1950’s TV show of the same name, even having the original Maverick as this one’s father. This movie is a comedy, with the stars playing up the roles more than the poker but the final poker scene is a testament to faith. Love the moment Mel Gibson’s char-acter flips over the final card in sloooow mo-tion / great scene.

4) Oceans 11 (2001) starring George Cloo-ney and Matt Damon. Ok, not a real poker movie but the scene where Brad Pitts char-acter Rusty is teaching the Hollywood actors (Holly Combs and Joshua Jackson among them) is hilarious. Come on – the line from the Brad Pitt character Rusty as he rubs is

forehead and says, “You’ve got 3 pair, you can’t have 6 cards in a 5 card game” cracks me up every time. Also – when the teen heart throb turns over five red cards (hearts and diamonds mixed) and says, “flush” with a smug smile is classic and I know I’ve seen a player do that in a live game.

3) The Gambler (1980 – made for TV) starring Kenny Rodgers. Is stereotypical ‘80s corny PG type of movie while telling the Old West story of an aging gambler. Of course, it’s based on song of the same name and is famous for its line, “You’ve got to know when to fold em, know when to hold em, know when to walk away, and know when to run” sung by Kenny Rodgers.

2) Honeymoon In Vegas (1992) star-ring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan. The storyline is a bit of a stretch but combines high stakes poker (putting your fiancé up as a bet), traveling to Hawaii (have a friend that was an extra in the golf course scene) and multiple Elvis’s (including Cage) skydiving onto the strip in lighted suits and you have an entertaining poker movie. While the poker was not a huge part of the movie – the entire movie was based on the results of the game and it is a perfect testimony why it pays to be careful with 2nd nut.

1) Rounders (1998) starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. This is the movie that

made poker mainstream and acceptable. Somehow Matt Damon, as Mike McDermott, makes his character’s weaknesses, many moral failings (also with moral wins and a strong discipline) and final grasping victory endearing. The movie has great characters (personally I really like anything John Tor-turro does – playing the grinder Joey Knish), and fun poker scenes. An often quoted line from this movie, “Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.”

A few obscure but interesting poker mov-ies include The Shade from 2003 – with Sylvester Stallone and California Split from 1974 – with Elliot Gould and featuring Ama-rillo Slim.

Upcoming poker movies are a bit thin but one is Shark City (came out back in 2009 but no-one saw it / DVD soon) with the trailer online looking decent. There is also a Leon-ardo DiCaprio untitled poker movie heading to DVD that the critics are saying is not too bad.

Remember – play your game, watch some good movies and have some fun.

Why most blackjack players lose

My top 5 favorite Poker Movies of all timepokertalk

BYLARRY

JOHNSON

By Richard Harvey

Gaming

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RED = NEW LOCATIONS

Muriel Sibel Wolle

March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 21

Trail’s End

With Wom-en’s History Month upon us, let’s take a look at a little lady who captured the im-age of hundreds of Colorado’s de-clining mining camps and dis-tricts, preserving them on paper before, one by one, these pictur-

esque places were lost to fire, flood, avalanche, vandalism, mining expansion – or even ram-pant growth.

For nearly a half century, Muriel Sibel Wolle prolifically depicted the Rocky Moun-tain West’s historic mining scenes during the industry’s waning years. An art profes-sor during the school year, Wolle took to the road in summer to photograph, sketch, paint, research and write about the dwindling mountain towns, eventually publishing her handiwork in four popular books. She left a large legacy conserved at the Denver Public Library’s Western History Collection – 3,000 photographic images, as well as field notes, scrapbooks, journals, maps and various man-uscript drafts. The Norlin Library archives at Colorado University in Boulder hold a consid-erable amount of Wolle’s creative materials, as well.

How did a petite, persistent, sophisticated art teacher become one of the West’s most dedicated ghost town hunters? Muriel Sibel came to the university in Boulder at age 29. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., April 3, 1898, she

graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1920 with diplomas in ad-vertising and costume design. She instructed art at the Texas Women’s College, which had a summer program in Colorado Springs where she discovered the fading Cripple Creek Min-ing District.

In 1927, Wolle came to the University of Colorado where she soon became the head of the Department of Fine Arts, a position she held for 20 years. While at CU, she received an M.A. in English Literature, which served her in her side career as a ghost town histo-rian.

Each summer, she traveled into dozens of deserted mining towns to sketch the remains of the vanishing communities. She rambled, first all over Colorado, then all over the Rocky Mountain West, sniffing out mining towns, districts and relics. Usually someone else did the driving – a friend, a student or, later, her husband. She often scrambled onto horseback or laced up her knee-high hiking boots and tramped up trails to reach the high-mountain heights where settlements and camps had blossomed, faded and then died.

Her artwork and her writing helped re-cord these “ghost towns” of Colorado and the American West, and also helped fuel a ghost town craze. Both Coloradans and tourists headed into the hills for glimpses of crum-bling buildings and picturesque mining struc-tures.

Wolle’s sketchbook, paintbrush and cam-era captured streetscenes, mining landscapes and other views. Her artistic plan was to “catch the mood and quality of the town with a sympathetic and dramatic interpretation.” With hundreds of “on–the–spot” drawings,

she captured the vacant places depicting them as “a picturesque and courageous part of our national heritage.”

Professor Wolle’s pen, pencil and type-writer brought to life the pioneering pros-pectors. Weaving together vivid stories, she rustled through faded newspapers and stacks of dusty pamphlets. Searching for clues, she interviewed old-timers, as well as waitresses, store owners and filling station attendants.

Her first published efforts were booklets on Central City (1933) and Leadville (1934). She eventually authored and illustrated four lengthy books about these vacant places, in the process becoming a nationally known au-thor.

Together with Colorado authors, including Caroline Bancroft and Robert Brown, Wolle helped create the ghost town mystique. She categorized five types of ghost towns – still alive, partly ghost, true ghosts (deserted), gone (nothing left but foundations) and mod-ern cities. Her haunting scenescapes were typically unpeopled, even though some high altitude towns were trying to boom again us-ing tourism to rescue their withered econo-mies.

Her first book, Stampede to Timberline, was published in 1949. She rounded up sto-ries of 240 Colorado mining camps, tales of “the men who swarmed to the mountains ... combing the gulches, scrambling over the passes and climbing the peaks.” The book also served as a “guide book for the adventurous” giving tips to novices on how to reach ghost town ruins by car, Jeep, horseback or on foot.

Meanwhile, Muriel’s art career paralleled her publishing success. With four other CU art faculty members, who called themselves “The Prospectors,” she exhibited in 22 states. She also had one-woman shows in Maryland, Montana, Iowa and throughout Colorado.

Muriel soon followed up with Bonanza Trail — Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of the West. Published in 1953, it embraced the rest of the Mining West, a book rich with images and information from her summer pilgrimag-es to a dozen western states including Califor-nia, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Idaho, Utah,

New Mexico, Washington and Oregon. Montana Pay Dirt, published in 1963, fo-

cused exclusively on the “Treasure State.” Wolle’s final book, Timberline Tailings, came as a follow-up volume to Stampede to Tim-berline, after years of receiving letters from people who related their own stories, direc-tions and data about Colorado mining camps.

During this time, Muriel’s campus life thrived too. She was a beloved art profes-sor and an important part of the CU theatre community – designing sets and costumes for more than 70 theatre productions. Her friendship flourished with her colleague Fran-cis Wolle, an English professor and drama coach at the university, finally culminating in matrimony. The middle-aged couple wed in 1945 after 18 years as CU faculty members. Stepping down as chair of the Fine Arts De-partment gave her more time for her writing, publishing and art shows; she finally fully re-tired in 1966.

Boulder was their home. The Wolles were staunch members of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, where Francis became an ordained perpetual deacon following his 1959 retire-ment from the university. Muriel remained active in numerous civic organizations, in-cluding the Boulder Artist’s Guild, and she re-ceived many honors and prizes for her profes-sional work. She was chosen as the Research Lecturer for CU in 1947, the first woman to be thus honored. In 1976, she was named one of CU’s 12 alumni of the century.

Muriel Sibel Wolle died on Jan. 9, 1977, but her works live on. Her books have gone into reprint again and again. Much of the ghost town architecture and most of the min-ing landscapes that she documented has dis-appeared altogether or are changed beyond recognition.

Ironically, the campus building that bore her name became a ghost too – demolished a few years ago for a modern expansion. So, one of the strongest connection to this artist/au-thor is at the Muriel Sibel Wolle Gallery at St. Aidan’s Church, which exhibits some of her art and provides a place for university artists – students and faculty – to display their work.

With her pencil, during the quiet decade of the 1930s, Muriel Sibell Wolle captured this neighbor-hood street with two of Lake City’s four churches.

Professor Muriel Sibel Wolle creating one of her hundreds of on-the-spot sketches, being filmed by a youthful Bob Palmer. Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library,

Western History Collection

By Cathleen Normanprespub@earthlink.net

Ghost Town Stalker

PAGE 22 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years March 6 - 19, 2012

Horoscope

Contact Mary Nightstar at marynightstar@yahoo.com and type “horoscope” in the subject line.

PISCES - (Feb. 20 - March 20)Things are uncertain but your will, persistence and endurance will help you overcome these difficulties and you’ll emerge the victor. You’re going to be busy if you want that success. Get your rest, conserve your energy and prioritize your important activities first. You’ve started a new chapter in life.Lucky Numbers: 4, 24, 31, 50, 54, 80 ARIES - (March 21 - April 20)Enjoy the kindness and the smiles of other people. Your willingness and desire to share good fortune and success with others will assure it will be reciprocated at a later time. You may be in an upward swing when it comes to finances. Save it, don’t blow it, you have some far distant you’ll need to pay.Lucky Numbers: 1, 13, 27, 39, 52, 70

TAURUS - (April 21 - May 21)You’re willing to do whatever it takes to share your life, heart and spirit with loved ones. You need a good pat on the back when it comes to cooperation and a sense of commitment. The universe may throw you a curve ball this week. You have enough fortitude to support change and come out unaffected. Lucky Numbers:  3, 22, 32, 44, 53, 67, 72

GEMINI - (May 22 - June 21)Everything seems to be running according to plan. You may begin to reap the success and rewards of your endeavors and extended efforts. This will give you a feeling of happiness and security. You are now in a position to appreciate any obstacles you’ve mastered. Long desired self-sufficiency is at hand.Lucky Numbers: 12, 19, 25, 37, 49, 61

Cancer - (June 22 - July 22)Apply your great mental skills in a precise calm and prudent manner. You possess a social nature and the strength of mind to calm and master any destructive force. Avoid aggression and use the rules of diplomacy. Logical thinking will win the day along with a smile. Being too strict or harsh will only back fire. Lucky Numbers: 6, 18, 29, 48, 48, 59, 63

LEO - (July 23 - Aug 22)With attentiveness, some doors could open in your career and you’ll help reduce your stress levels. The universe will provide you some needed job opportunities and you may end up working for a financial company or doing something creative. Begin a new diet regime. You may have to start over but you’ll succeed. Lucky Numbers: 7, 17, 34, 38, 60, 70, 73

VIRGO - (Aug. 23 - Sept. 23)You may assist your company or a common cause by moving into the digital future. This will be an exciting time to update a number of electronics or communication contracts around your house. Put your imaginative ideas to work with confidence and passion towards a new goal. Remember to spend time with family. Lucky Numbers: 2, 16, 33, 40, 62, 69 LIBRA - (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23)You’re being pulled in every direction again still trying to fulfill the expectations and obligations of others. It may take some effort for you to say no, but get in the spring spirit, and if you have children, make it a time to enjoy and make the small things count, they add up and they’re the best type of legacy to give. Lucky Numbers: 10, 19, 28, 41, 58, 66

 SCORPIO - (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)Something should bring much happiness and you’ll have good reasons to celebrate. Plan to celebrate in a non-toxic way or quiet way for St. Patty’s Day. Check out a movie or a show you’ve wanted to see. This year, a new influence improves your home conditions and a willingness to cooperate.Lucky Numbers: 8, 21, 30, 46, 67, 78 SAGITTARIUS - (Nov. 23 - Dec. 21)It may be time to make a significant and difficult choice between two loves in your life. Choices should not be made lightly, as there is more at stake than you may realize. This could be concerning people, your career or spiritual path. Once made, your life will seem to change for the better. Meditate than make your choice. Lucky Numbers: 5, 23, 32, 43, 68, 75 CAPRICORN - (Dec. 22 - Jan. 20)You may be beginning a new job that seems routine but really has excellent prospect of great growth. Patience will help you to make a success of things this time. Conscientious and hard work will bring the results you want. Being practical is the ideal to cultivate if you want financial and material success.  Lucky Numbers: 10, 20, 26, 45, 51, 79 AQUARIUS - (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19)Trust both your intuition and choice of path. You’re on the threshold of some major and wonderful changes and you’ll be experiencing them for a long and lucrative time. Look forward to success and happiness stemming from your home or career. A friend or relative will need your astute and sagacious advice. Lucky Numbers: 11, 14, 23, 38, 45, 77

RECIPES FROM: KEllEy Sous chef at Fitzgeralds Casino

Kelley has been working with Fitzgeralds Casino in the Food & Beverage department for close to a year. She started as a line cook and has moved up to sous chef. Prior to working as a sous chef, Kelley studied at The Inter-national Culinary School of the Art Institute of Colorado where she obtained a degree in Culinary Arts.

According to Kelley, “Fitzgeralds is the place to be on St. Patrick’s Day. You can not go wrong with delicious Irish food and green beer.”

This will only be her second St. Patrick’s Day with Fitzgeralds but she can assure you it will be a great time for both the guests and employees.

Send usyour recipes!

To be featured in Rollin’ in the Dough: Send us a recipe, your name, a little about yourself, why you chose that recipe, a little about your cooking style, and of course your phone number in case we have questions. Email gambler@villagerpublishing.com or mail to 8933 E Union Ave., Suite 230, Greenwood Village, CO 80111. Questions? Call Sharon at 303-503-1388.

Potato Leek SouP1 cup diced potatoes1 cup diced leek1 oz minced garlic1 oz chicken base

2 oz butter1 qt heavy creamTo taste salt To taste white pepper

1 oz butter 1 oz flour

Melt 2 oz of butter in pan. Sauté leeks and garlic until leeks are soft. Add the other ounce of butter and whisk in the flour to make a roux. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream. Add the chicken base and potatoes. Cook until potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper.

SPicy LobSter PaSta7 ea 16-20 shrimp4 oz lobster claw meat ½ tsp minced garlic½ tsp minced shallots2 oz diced tomatoes

2 oz white wine1 oz lemon juice4 oz heavy cream1 oz Srirachapinch Red pepper flake

to taste Kosher saltto taste Black pepper12 oz linguini pasta (cooked)pinch Chopped parsley2 tbsp shredded parmesan

Sauté shrimp in olive oil. When you flip the shrimp add the garlic and shallots. Deglaze with white wine and lemon juice. Add heavy cream, Sriracha and red pepper flakes. Reduce by half or until sauce consistency. Add tomatoes and lobster to warm through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss in pasta and serve. Top with Parmesan and parsley.

Featured at Don B’s Steakhouse

in theRollin’ Dough

Featured in the Shamrock Cafe

March 6 - 19, 2012 THE COLORADO GAMBLER – Celebrating 20 Years PAGE 23

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