Ear to the ground

“Arriving … Make that arghhh ... This damn phone … I need a drink.”

– A series of texts sent over a 90-second period just days after the local AT&T takeover

Banking on dank

Two different shades of green are currently at odds in Southwest Colorado. Alpine Bank, a Glenwood Springs-based banking institution, recently filed suit against Alpine Dank, a medical marijuana dispensary in Telluride. The bank, which has branches in Durango and all over the Western Slope, is seeking a court injunction to block the Alpine Dank name and logo.

In the suit, Alpine Bank charges that Alpine Dank stole its identity from the financial institution. On Feb. 25, the bank’s attorneys demanded that the dispensary cease and desist. However, Jefferey Lessard, founder and owner of Alpine Dank, isn’t backing down. In response to the request, he said that it would take a payment of at least $1 million to put Alpine Dank to rest.

On March 8, he wrote, “The word ‘Alpine’ is certainly not owned by Alpine Bank and in fact is a prized word used by many high country businesses throughout Colorado. The word ‘Dank’ is used in the marijuana industry to describe the quality of products whether it’s marijuana or the products associated with it therein. The fact that bank and dank are similar and they even rhyme is merely a coincidence that I’m sure your client regrets not being able to have been present for, when the English language was first being created.”

In its lawsuit, Alpine Bank claims its reputation has been damaged by Alpine Dank and that the dispensary also stole the font, shape and design of its logo and merely swapped out its pine tree for a pot leaf.

The suit seeks a jury trial and an unspecified amount of damages.

A drink of Durango

The local landscape has helped to inspire a global movement. Acclaimed alpinist Jake Norton recently kicked off Challenge21 to call attention to the global need for potable water.

“I was running above Durango in a downpour, when it finally dawned on me how I could leverage my career in climbing to draw more eyes to something critical that’s lacking throughout many parts of the world – water and sanitation,” explained Norton, a resident of Golden.

Norton hopes to be the first to climb the Triple Seven Summits, or the three highest peaks on each continent, by 2014. Along the way, he plans to call attention to the 1 billion people in need of safe drinking water and the 2.6 billion people without adequate toilets. The philanthropic goal of the 21-peak expedition is to raise at least $2.1 million and get 2.1 million new people to rally around the global need for safe water and sanitation. For more information, visit www.challenge21.com.