What a news week: Meeker’s first bank robbery in more than 100 years and an armed robbery of the Rangely Pharmacy. The good news is both robbers were caught and no one was hurt and the reverse 911 system works. The bad news is we had two robberies in a few days and poor decisions made by two young men.
News travels fast around here and although there is nothing funny about a robbery, there is humor to be found in the stories that began circulating.
I spoke with Tom George, who was honored by Meeker town trustees and Meeker Chief of Police Bob Hervey for his help apprehending the Meeker bank robber.
“First of all, I didn’t really do anything,” George said modestly. “I called Mike Joos and he told me to keep my eye on him.”
George said he did start running after the bank robber to keep him in sight but, “I did not follow him into the river and I didn’t tackle him.”
Meeker Elementary School principal Jason Hightower shared fifth-grader’s accounts of the bank robbery, based on what they’d heard from friends and family. Here are a few of their accounts.
He wrote a note to the banker and got money and ran by my uncle’s shop and my uncle tom followed him and he kept changing cloths. he followed he to circle park and the cops finally showed up and caught him and got the money back and he went to jail. ~ Megan
Jock Thacker was the culprit from Lousiana. When he entered the bank he was not wearing a mask just a cowboy hat and spurs. After he robbed the bank he was seen in the Cold Field Services courtyard. He was followed by an unknown witness, when the police arrived he hid the money behind a shed and swam across the river when the bridge was right above him he told them where the money was and he is being held in custody in Rio Blanco County. It was unknown was what used to rob the bank but it was closed until further notice. ~ Alex
That the robber wasn’t from here. He was caught at the Park. That he tried to blend in with like a cowboy hat, boots, spurs, Then when he got to the Park he changed to a hat and shorts and a red T-shirt. ~ Mariah
A man robbed the Mountain valley bank yesterday. My Aunt does all the police stuff. They caught him hiding in a log. The money was found behind the rustik. The log was in the middle of the river. ~ Ashlee
My dad told me that the man came into Mountain Valley Bank and passed the person at the front desk a note. The man DID NOT have a gun. My dad said that the man was from Wyoming. I think this is a rumor. The man was going to stay over night at someone’s garage. ~ Kassie
There was a lot of good news last week, too. More than 1,000 county residents attended the 9Health Fair sites in Meeker and Rangely and the county was informed they were awarded a grant of more than $100,000 for the Wagon Wheel OHV Trail system, more to come in next week’s edition of the Herald Times.
Good luck to Joe LeBlanc who will be competing in the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials this weekend in Iowa City, Iowa. A live webcast can be seen at http://www.nbcolympics.com/.
