MEEKER | “Where did the Indians go?” continues to be a commonly asked question from first time visitors to this area. The White River Utes were removed to a desert reservation from their homeland in 1879 after Indian Agent Nathan Meeker and the other men working with him were killed.[Read More…]
Columns
Loose Ends: Sheepdogs and the end of summer
Most folks in the White River Valley were sure the dog days of summer were over until they either volunteered or attended another successful Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship. For the past 33 years, our community’s different kind of dog days—the Meeker Classic—has heralded the end of summer. Watching the handlers[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…]
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…]
Editor’s Column: It’s not all black and white
On occasion, the esteemed former editors of the HT seem to speak to me when I’m going through the archives, and their words of wisdom are always timely. This week it was a brief note from 100 years ago by Meeker Herald editor and proprietor James Lyttle. “Many a good[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Freedom demands responsibility
On the holiday each year when we hold our freedoms most dear, I get a bit frustrated that so many folks forget that with freedom comes great personal responsibility. Lighting illegal fireworks all night long is not you “exercising your freedom,” it’s just you being a selfish jerk. Those are[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Cannibals among us?
There’s a Bible verse that’s as applicable to small towns as it is to church congregations. It’s a warning: “But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” Small towns are notorious for “biting and devouring” one another, whether through gossip or manipulation[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: About those deadlines
Sometimes I wonder if we’re doing enough; particularly when someone hangs up on me in a snit because we didn’t print an article and photos that came in two hours before press time. There’s a difference between deadline and press time. Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. (Tuesday at 3[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Why? Because if you drop the basket, (or it leaves town or someone invents a better basket) all is lost. The firm hired by the Town of Meeker to “refresh” the town’s comprehensive plan, a municipal housekeeping task that needs to be done every decade or so, will get to[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: What do dogs think?
Having a puppy following me around the house paying super close attention to every move I make got me thinking… what do dogs think about their humans? Do they think changing clothes is just taking off one set of fur and exchanging it for another set of fur? Or do[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Troll fatigue
I’m tired. I’m tired because we just got a puppy and she’s on a baby’s sleep/wake schedule, but that’s a good kind of tired. Her name is Nellie (after Nellie Bly the famous journalist, not Nellie Olson from Little House on the Prairie). You’ll be hearing more about her in[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: About those rocks…
There are decoratively painted rocks all over Meeker, tucked into nooks and crannies and out in plain view. If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably seen them. If not, you may have stumbled upon (or stepped over or walked past) a painted rock and not known what it meant or what[Read More…]
