The Meeker Herald
125 years ago
– On Saturday evening, Dec. 30, 1893, to the wife of David Smith, a daughter. Mother and child are doing nicely, while David is being besieged with the usual congratulations, in which The Herald most cordially joins.
– Bill George of Powell Park, is now a full-fledged member of the bear hunters’ club, having killed one of the largest specimens of the bear family (a few days ago) ever seen in this county, thereby asserting his right to membership in the above named organization. We also learned that Bill is somewhat of a lion hunter too, having killed one in a novel way the other day. He followed the puma up a tree and grabbing its tail wrapped it three times around the trunk of the tree, in which position he held the candal appendage until he could reach his revolver when he dispatched the lion. C.L. Walrad, who witnessed the contest, says it measured 13 feet 9-3/4 inches from tip to tip.
The Meeker Herald
100 years ago
– Our battleships literally eat paint. The initial-color requirements for a new battleship cost about $25,000 which is the price of about 100 tons of the kind of paint the navy uses. In addition to this, it is customary to repaint the different parts of a ship two or three times a year. This brings the annual outlay in paint for the entire fleet to $1,000,000.
– The present king of Sweden is said to be the only monarch ever known to wear eyeglasses on state occasions. In point of fact, both eyeglasses and spectacles are very rare among royalties of today. This certainly is true of our own royal family, says the London Chronicle, no living member of which employs any aid to vision. There was a time when Queen Victoria would not allow anyone wearing spectacles to appear before her at court.
– It is youth and not learning that usually make young people smart–—in their own estimation.
The Meeker Herald
50 years ago
– 1968 will go down in economics histories as “the year of the great boo-boo.” Early it was recognized that the economy was overheating…that a cooling off was necessary to prevent runaway price boosts and the inevitable aftermath of recession. The government opted for a fiscal “wet blanket” to smother the inflationary fires…and belatedly the surtax on personal and corporate incomes was enacted, effective mid-1968. But the boom rolled on.
– Jim Cook, senior quarterback of the 1968 Meeker high school champion football team, is one of the 101 football players named to the North and South squads for the annual All-State games in Pueblo in August. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. K. James Cook.
– Next Tuesday afternoon, Rio Blanco County’s two new County Commissioners will take their oath of office and join Commissioner Hugh Caldwell as the three men who will guide the county along its path of progress the next four years. The public swearing in ceremony will be performed by County Clerk and Recorder Sue Mantle at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Jan 6, in the county commissioner’s room. Charley Bloomfield, commissioner district No. 3, and Jay Rector, commissioner district No. 2, were elected to their first four year term of office in last Novembers general election. The two men replace Bill Murray and Ivo Shults, present county commissioners. Murray declined to run for office while Shults was defeated in the primary race. The third member Mr. Caldwell will be starting his 31st consecutive year as commissioner for Rio Blanco County.
The Meeker Herald
25 years ago
– Twenty members of the Meeker Chorale sang in Denver on Dec 18, participating in the annual Victorian Christmas Walk. Meekerites traveling over included sopranos Rhonda Hilkey, Raeanne Crawford, Lila Cox, Ethel McCarthy, Bobbie Jo Tucker, Lee Ann Merritt, Bonnie Coryell and Rosemary Hilkey; altos Melanie McKee, Pat Robinson, Mary Strang, Lee Jirak, Elaine Jordan, Mary Washburn, and Stacey Hoyes; basses Art Cox, Ed Jirak and Van Merritt; and tenors Stan Cook and Barbara Doneker.
– Since the Division of Wildlife area deer management plan has been made available to the public a few local guides and outfitters have expressed concerns the DOW was intending to drop the deer population below what the area has been able to sustain in past years. In the Data Analysis Unit D-7 plan, DOW officials decided to change their current objective of a 75,000 deer population to 67,500-or to what the current population has been for the last year or so. Another objective of the DOW is to change the sex ratio from the current 17.4 buck to 100 does and 50 fawns per 100 does, to 20 bucks per 100 does ad 60 fawns per 100 does.
– Although the total pupil count for the district has dropped this year, large numbers of students in certain areas are causing a few headaches for the Meeker School District. Grouped into two sections this year instead of three as in previous years, third-grader teachers find themselves working with 27 students apiece at present, and when crowded into the small elementary school classrooms, “It’s not the best of situations,” explained building principal Bill Ertmer.
Rangely Times
50 years ago
– Hailey Smith was recently awarded a scholarship to attend the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. The scholarship was awarded by the U.S. Space an Rocket Center, on the basis of teacher recommendations, grades and student essay. Hailey also received a first-place award in the National Math Olympiad. Hailey is 11-years-old and lives in Sandy, Utah. She is the granddaughter of Faye Thompson Real and the great granddaughter of Stella Thompson of Rangely and the late Carl Thompson. She is also the great-granddaughter of Dorothy Real of Rangely and the late James Real.
– “Historically, winter is the most hazardous time for coal mine explosions,” said Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich. “This winter we are redoubling our efforts to reach every mine operator and mine in the country with the message: these tragedies can be prevented.” Last December, eight Virginia miners lost their lives in an explosion. Recently, a mine explosion in Kentucky claimed another miner’s life.
Rangely Times
25 years ago
– For the world at large the prospects for a happy new year in 1969 are at least no worse than they were a year ago. For many they would appear to be even brighter. Insofar as Rangely is concerned, this is a prosperous, busy community, a pleasant place in which to live. With prospects for a new post office, city-county building, plans for oil shale development and the nuclear test during the next 12 months, we can look forward to an even happier 1969.
