The University of Colorado at Boulder聮s Center for the American West will host a mock divorce trial between the urban and rural West on Wednesday, Sept. 27 in Telluride.
The program will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the San Miguel County Courthouse. The event is free and open to the public.
The mock trial will explore the complex relationship between the urban and rural interests in the West. The program is presented as a divorce hearing between Sandy Greenhills West (the rural West) and Urbana Asphalt West (the Urban West). The hearing will highlight many of the difficult issues facing the West today including water, pollution, support of and control over rural communities and the use of natural resources.
In the mock trial, Sandy Greenhills seeks to sever his relationship with Urbana citing irreconcilable differences ranging from "failure to support" to infidelity through flirting with foreign markets. The divorce hearing then is set into motion.
Local participants playing witnesses in the performance include Kris Holstrom, an organic farmer; Dr. Howard Donner, Telluride Medical Clinic; Seth Cagin, publisher, Telluride Watch; and Linda Rogers from the adjacent town of Mountain Village.
Dick Unruth, a local attorney, will play the part of the judge, and Bill Masters, San Miguel County Sheriff, will play the bailiff.
The performance will include Patricia Nelson Limerick, professor of history at CU-Boulder, as Urbana Asphalt West; Dr. Charles Scoggin, CEO and co-founder, Sage Medical Institute Inc. in Boulder, as Sandy Greenhills West; and Tamar V. Scoggin, an intern at the Center of the American West, as Suburbia Greenlawn West.
The mission of the Center of the American West is to explore the distinctive character and issues of the region and to help Westerners become well-informed, participating citizens in their communities.
For more information contact the Center for the American West at (303) 492-4879 or visit the Web site at .