There are so many reasons to be thankful for our nation’s veterans that we should know to keep the men and women—past and present—of our U.S. Armed Forces forever in our minds, our hearts and our gratitude.
One doesn’t have to look far outside their windows to see what a beautiful, free and bountiful country in which we live.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, “Thank you for your service!”
There is one thing for certain we learned during the Nov. 4 election in Rio Blanco County. Republicans are in a strong majority around here.
That is not a surprise statement since GOP candidates did so well in Colorado and Rio Blanco County, but the percentages of Republican support are much stronger in this county than seemingly much of the rest of the state.
The first indication is that there were no county Democrats on the election ballot for the two main offices—those of sheriff or county commissioner. But there were no Democrats opposing the county clerk and recorder, the county treasurer, the county assessor, the county surveyor or the county coroner.
The only thing interesting about those races is the total number of votes that were cast for each one of those unopposed county candidates versus each other.
The total vote for a whole series of unchallenged candidates is traditionally a great indicator of the popularity among those running for office. If all the numbers are close, then those candidates can pretty well assume that people voted for them.
There are always voters who don’t care for a particular candidate and they won’t vote for them or others who won’t cast a vote when a candidate is unopposed. But when the number of votes for most candidates are close, then there is usually a clear message sent when one or two candidates trail far behind.
You can draw your own conclusions from this year’s candidate vote totals.
There were a total of 2,779 ballots cast. From top to bottom, the number of votes received by the seven Rio Blanco County unopposed Republican candidates were, as follows: County Clerk and Recorder Boots Campbell with 2,303 votes; County Treasurer Karen Arnold with 2,280; County Coroner Albert Krueger with 2,255; County Surveyor Jonathan “Leif” Joy with 2,240; County Sheriff Anthony Mazzola with 2,220 votes; County Assessor Renae T. Neilson; and District 1 County Commissioner Shawn Bolton with 2,002.
Regarding how Republican Rio Blanco County voters are, consider the votes cast for the Democratic versus Republican candidates for Governor, U.S. Senator, Representative for U.S. House District 3, secretary of state, state treasurer, attorney general, state boar of education from Congressional District 3; and state representative for District 57.
The winning candidates, with the exception of incumbent Democrat John Hickenlooper, who only won because he was running in a state race, were all Republicans. The number of county votes is listed below with each Republican candidate and the number of county votes received by Democrats are listed in parenthesis.
Needless to say, with the exception of Gov. Hickenlooper, it was a good day to be a Republican: In Rio Blanco County the Republican candidates all outpaced their Democratic opponents, whose numbers are in parentheses: U.S. Senator Cory Gardner with 2,085 votes (Udall 354); U.S. House District 3 winner Scott Tipton drew 2,298 votes (Tapia 241); gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez drew 2160 county votes (Hickenlooper 430); Secretary of State Wayne Williams drew 2,045 county votes(Neguse 352); State Treasurer Walker Stapleton with 2,043 county votes(Markey 421); Attorney General Cynthia Coffman drew 2,170 county votes (Quick 278); State Board of Education winner from District 3 was Marcia Neal with 2,175 votes (Roman 339); and State Representative from state House District 57 Bob Rankin drew 2,251 votes (Mero 247).
Those figures show that the statewide Republican candidates on the Rio Blanco County ballots outpolled the Democrats by a minimums ratio of four to one; sometimes as high as seven or eight to one.
That safely confirms that Rio Blanco County is firmly in the hands of the Republicans. So is much of the state, with the top state positions all going to the GOP except the governor’s position, and it took 24 hours after the polls closed on Tuesday evening for Democrat Hickenlooper, who did visit Rio Blanco County within the last two months, to be declared the winner over Republican Beauprez.
The votes I cast on the two state amendments and two state propositions were the same as Rio Blanco County and state voters cast their ballots, I am happy to say.
This was certainly one place where a vast majority of voters of both parties were on the same page. That is one of the promising things to come out of this past election.
Amendment 67, the definition of a person and child, which would have changed the abortion picture in Colorado, was soundly defeated in the state as well as in Rio Blanco County. This points to the fact that the subject of abortion is not the pivotal theme of the election although the Udall camp seemed to make it a one-argument election until the last three weeks before the election. The pro-choice vote seems to have won out over those individuals who were backers of pro-life issues.
Amendment 68, which would have allowed full casino action at four racetracks in the state, was soundly defeated in the state and in Rio Blanco County. Too many questions, too many disbelievers and too few ties to Colorado.
Proposition 104, forcing school districts to carry out collective bargaining sessions in public, passed with county and state voters by very wide margins. That measure will force school boards to be much more transparent, and that is deservedly so in many districts, I am sure, in Colorado as well as around the nation.
Proposition 105, which would have made Colorado label all foods with their genetically modified past, regardless of whether it was directly modified or three or four generations away from being genetically modified.
It would have unjustifiably labeled many state products as genetically modified when indeed they were not and put up those state products with warning labels when sent outside the state, most likely tainting the beliefs of those outside Colorado to the point it would have cost Colorado producers millions of dollars when put on the shelves with other products that could be just as “modified” or more so than the Colorado products may have been.
Colorado has followed national guidelines for years, and this vote keeps Colorado on a level playing field with other states.
Huge congratulations go out to the Meeker High School Cowboy gridders as they easily defeated Rye in the second round of the state playoff system. The team has worked hard this year as a whole, and while it may seems as if two players have carried the team to victory week after week, be assured it has been a great team effort.
Cowboy senior quarterback Jake Phelan and running back T.J. Shelton have had outstanding seasons so far. But it is important to remember that there are several other players on the team who have kept the defenders away from Phelan or opened those holes for Shelton.
Coach Shane Phelan should be proud of his entire team because, as we have all seen, at any level of any team sport, to excel takes the entire team, and the Cowboys have excelled.
After two home playoff victories the Cowboys will be heading on the road to play Buena Vista, a tough team indeed, on Saturday. Again it will take a full team effort.
Congratulations on a great season so far, team, and the best of luck again this weekend. You can do it, and know all of Meeker is behind you.
It all looked a little shaky in the first quarter, but it was great to see the Denver Broncos come back against the winless Oakland Raiders and pass on to a 41-17 final.
After two dismal interceptions early by Manning, it was a huge relief to see the future Football Hall of Fame quarterback come alive and throw five more touchdown passes, adding to his record total of NFL career touchdown passes, which now stands at 518.
This weekend, the Broncos travel to St. Louis to wrap up their three-week road tour against the tough Rams. One of the major surprises of the season, the Rams are leading their NFC division and have proven to be a tough opponent for some good teams so far this year.
Good luck, Broncos. Let’s see that record jump to 9-2 and come home with another big win.
We have been incredibly lucky this fall with good weather and much warmer-than-normal temperatures. However, it looks like the inevitable is upon us and that this week and next might actually show us a return to winter.
We may have dodged the proverbial bullet this week with the extreme cold remaining on the Front Range, but all the forecasters say it is coming to us soon—possibly as early as next week.
Hey, winter is a reality in Colorado and particularly this northwest corner of the state. We knew it was coming; it may now be time to embrace it for the next five or six months—a much shorter time than we had to enjoy winter last year.
It was great weather and slow hunting for elk the first three seasons this year, and with the fourth and last season having started Wednesday of this week, that reality may remain.
Bill deVergie, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife area wildlife manager in Meeker, said that like last year, good weather has kept the elk in the higher altitudes.
He said there have been some excellent big elk bulls harvested this year, and the same is true with some very large bucks, but that the large number of elk has remained high in the “dark wooded areas,” making it tough for the hunters to find them.
The good news is that the harvest seems to be up with deer and bears in particular and that the high success rates for those critters cover the entire region for which he is wildlife manager.
“From the east to the high mountains and to the Utah line and valleys, the deer and bear numbers harvested have been much higher than we have seen in at least three or four years,” he said
And that, folks, will bring the hunters back to Rio Blanco County and add to the town/county coffers. It appears that hunting will continue to bring hunters and their dollars into the county.
It has been a great season for the area as most folks agree that there are as many if not more hunters in evidence this year. And that is a good thing.
