Kent Obee (second from right), chairman of the Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS) city agency, holds the annual Citizen of
the Year trophy – festooned with a red rock – that was awarded this year to the Red Rock Canyon Committee by the Manitou
Springs Open Space Advisory Committee. Also in the photo are others who were active with the committee (from left): Chris
Lieber, trails coordinator for the Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Department; citizens Don Ellis and Joe Fabeck; and
Terry Putman, Parks Department manager of design and development (including TOPS). According to Fabeck, former
committee chairman, the trophy is being passed among key committee people “with the intention that it should have a final resting
place in a Red Rock Canyon visitor/interpretive center.” The committee, now disbanded, worked with TOPS to bring about the
city’s purchase of Red Rock Canyon as open space last year. The photo was taken at the city’s April 14 public meeting to help
frame a master plan for the 788.1-acre property south of Highway 24.
Westside Pioneer photo