Meeker Volunteer Fire and Rescue members were out this week keeping their skills sharp. It’s been a quiet fire season thus far, but dry temperatures as we head into fall have elevated the fire danger to high and triggered red flag warnings. New volunteers are welcome to join the department.[Read More…]
Author: Niki Turner
Head-on collision closes Douglas Pass on Labor Day
RANGELY | A head-on collision Monday on Hwy. 139 (Douglas Pass) involving two vehicles—one carrying one occupant and the other carrying five—has resulted in one fatality, a brush fire, and a road closure. The condition of the other victims had not been officially released by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP)[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Campaigning and dating have a lot in common
We dwell in a representative democracy (as opposed to a direct democracy), in which we elect individuals to represent us according to geographical area or population distribution. So here’s a question: are your representatives really representing you? Are they representing your goals, your beliefs, your ideals, your moral code, your[Read More…]
Annual Ice Cream Social Sunday, Sept. 1
RANGELY | Baskin-Robbins may boast 31 flavors, but if you take all the flavors submitted in the annual Ice Cream Contest and Social sponsored by the Rangely Outdoor Museum since its inception, Rangely surely has them beat. From cinnamon, to coconut lime, to vanilla bean crunch, to vanilla marshmallow, to[Read More…]
New policy for building code exemptions
RBC | A week after a resolution to relax county building codes was determined to have been passed in violation of Colorado state statutes requiring review by the planning commission and a public hearing, the Rio Blanco County Board of Commissioners ended Building Official Jeff Kummer’s employment. County Attorney Todd[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Knowing where your tax dollars are going
Everyone likes to talk about who’s spending taxpayer money, but few taxpayers seem to know (or care) where their personal tax dollars go. We pay a lot of taxes, from income tax and sales tax and property tax, business taxes, payroll taxes, inheritance taxes, retirement taxes, capital gains taxes, excise[Read More…]
Firefighters continue suppression efforts on Elk Ridge Fire: expect increased traffic near Meadow Lake
MEEKER | Aug. 16, firefighters identified and began suppression efforts on a small fire approximately eight miles south of Buford. The fire is burning in difficult terrain with many dead and falling trees. Recent winds have made it dangerous for firefighters to complete mop-up operations because of falling and fallen[Read More…]
Recycling the recycling debate
MEEKER | Following a joint meeting between Meeker’s Board of Trustees and the Eastern Rio Blanco Metropolitan Recreation and Park District Board of Directors, town trustees met for their regular meeting. During the joint meeting, Sean VonRoenn, ERBM executive director, and board president Kent Walter updated the trustees on the[Read More…]
Higher landfill rates needed to balance budget
RBC | Rio Blanco County Road and Bridge Director Dave Morlan, who also oversees the county’s landfill and landfill administrator Jeni Morlan spoke to the county commissioners Tuesday in a work session about the necessity of raising landfill fees. “We’ve been running at a deficit for about three years,” Morlan[Read More…]
Livestock virus spreading across Western Colorado
RBC | Vesicular stomatitis, or VS, is a virus that primarily afflicts horses and but can also affect pigs, sheep and goats. Flies and midges are the primary vector for the virus, which causes mouth ulcers and can cause lameness if it affects the coronal band, among other symptoms. It[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Technology: tyrant or tool?
As a member of Generation X, in our lifetime we’ve witnessed a rapid acceleration in technology that has taken us from computers that were programmed by cassette tapes and used televisions for monitors and cell phones the size of bricks, to computers in our pockets that double as phones. Remember[Read More…]
Back to the drawing board for building code resolution
Resolution passed in July did not meet statutory requirements RBC | A resolution passed in July by the board of county commissioners “amending the building code to recognize the importance of private property rights” has been deemed null and void because the resolution failed to comply with a state statute[Read More…]
