Fire is beneficial to the range Dear Editor: I was very excited to read BLM Deputy Director William Pendley’s article in last week’s HT about the value of fire to our western ranges and his claim that the BLM was using fire as a land management tool. He even cited[Read More…]
Opinion
Editor’s Column: Conference calls?
We dwell in a county with what may be the very best broadband access in the state, and yet our remote access to public meetings is limited — with few exceptions — to conference call numbers with crazy feedback, white noise, and the inability to hear anyone who isn’t within[Read More…]
OPINION: Fighting western wildfires
RBC | It is the height of fire season in the American West, with temperatures at triple-digits across the Great Basin and lightning-ladened monsoons sweeping the arid landscape. Thus, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and interagency, state and local allies are fighting wildfires to protect natural resources, neighbors, and[Read More…]
OPINION: If you like birds and fish, hug a cow
RBC | You don’t hear this from former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt or the usual suspects whose goal is to end many water diversions from the Colorado River, but it’s true. Rural landscapes and wildlife need ranching and irrigated agriculture to survive. Without irrigation, think high desert. Without irrigation in[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: We don’t have to, we get to
I learned this week that an acquaintance in Denver, a fellow writer with whom I enjoyed a four hour dinner and conversation a few years ago, has been hospitalized with COVID-19. The news took me by surprise. Throughout the pandemic she’s been a self-described naysayer, doubting the danger posed by the[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor: Aug. 6, 2020
Resource Pantry under new management Dear Editor: The Rangely Community Resource Pantry is under new management. We would like to thank all of you who visited us in the past and hope you will continue to support the new management. A huge “thank you” from:René Harden, Brenda Hopson, Cindy Cramm,[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Virtual Baggage
Feel down? Vaguely depressed? Frustrated? Have you lost your self-confidence? Struggling to find your voice? Paranoid? Angry for no reason? Convinced everything is terrible and will never get better? You may be experiencing an acute case of virtual baggage caused by repeated exposure to keyboard bullies, the tone police (the[Read More…]
Letters to the Editor: July 28, 2020
Don’t let RBC become a statistic Dear Editor: So the county commissioners and a few of their citizen cohorts decided for the whole county that we will ignore (and “opt-out” of) the governor’s mandatory mask order. The governor of this state has made sensible, wise choices in combating the spread[Read More…]
Loose Ends: Back to School
MEEKER | Heading back to school this fall remains a big question all over Colorado. Some schools across the state have set dates and times for the first day and are offering parents a choice of either sending their children to school with masks or protective equipment, social distancing, and[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: July 28, 2020
I don’t know that I’ve ever been so grateful for teachers. I’m friends with a number of my high school teachers on Facebook and we interact fairly often. I respect what they have to say. They’re still teaching me. I think, if you’re a teacher, you can’t help it. You[Read More…]
Writers on the Range: The bomb and me, 75 years later
It’s been a decade since I reflected on radiation, both the kind emitted by nuclear tests and the radium inserted up my nose to shrink swollen adenoids. The nuclear bomb and I became senior citizens in 2010. But this summer’s 75th anniversary of this country’s first exploded atomic bomb —[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor
Thanks for obituary reprint Dear Editor: This is a belated letter of thanks to the Rio Blanco Herald Times for your generosity in printing the beautiful obituary for my mother, Ida Elizabeth Pahlke. However, it is more largely a note of appreciation for your responsible acceptance of ownership for mistakes[Read More…]