“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” ― Aristotle With Labor Day just passed, I’ve been mulling over the outrageous value of the thousands of hours of volunteering and other unpaid work and service that keep our society functioning. The presence — and necessity[Read More…]
Opinion
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – September 5th, 2024
Thank you to the Meeker Fire Dept. Dear Editor: We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all of our neighbors that helped us put out a hay fire on our property on Sunday afternoon. They were so helpful while we waited for the Fire Department, and we[Read More…]
GUEST COLUMN: Mountain Valley Bank Summer Festival Pie Baking Contest raises $3,400 for HopeWest
HopeWest thanks the Mountain Valley Bank Summer Festival and all who participated in this year’s pie baking contest. The fundraiser netted $3,400 to support the programs of HopeWest – providing compassionate care and comfort to patients and families in Rio Blanco County during some of life’s most difficult moments. Eight[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – August 29th, 2024
“I’m tired, boss… Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other.” ― “The Green Mile,” Stephen King Can you relate? If you still have a smidgen of decency left in your soul, I think you do. Maybe it’s always been this way, or maybe the ugliness has become[Read More…]
LETTER TO THE EDITOR – August 29th, 2024
Thank you to the community from the Watt family Dear Editor: The Watt family would like to extend their deepest gratitude for the opportunity to have served the community of Meeker for the last 69 years. Tom and Liz Watt bought the grocery store in 1955, and it has been[Read More…]
MUSEUM MUSINGS: Letters from history, No. 63
White River Agency, Colorado. July 11, 1879 Sir: Jack a principal Ute chief, wishes to inform you that Rainbow (Sarap) died 8th instant, after a long illness. Rainbow was a chief of such influence that formerly he visited Washington among the Ute delegation, and he received a silver medal from[Read More…]
GUEST COLUMN: Flying cars
On Saturday morning cartoons in my childhood, we watched the Roadrunner and the Jetsons. The Jetsons started each episode by introducing George Jetson as the breadwinner in a futuristic world where everyone has a flying car. George’s job at Spacely Space Sprockets was titled “digital index operator.” George pushed buttons[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – The ‘Othering’
“You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms with the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.” ― The Breakfast Club Othering is[Read More…]
GUEST COLUMN: Youth Zone
Special to the HT B ack-to-school season is an interesting time in our communities. Transitioning between the long, empty days of Summer and the shorter days of Fall – which are packed with sports, extracurriculars, and academic obligations – can be positive for some and challenging for others. Each[Read More…]
LOOSE ENDS: Careful communication
Using nouns as verbs and verbs as adjectives are only two of the glaring changes in the English language. In a tense and highly-charged presidential election year, one word of choice that continues to be popular now is overwhelm. Previously it merely was used as a description of a feeling,[Read More…]
GUEST COLUMN: Book titles that will never be printed
Everyone has a book in them just waiting to be written. Some of these might not make it past the censors or editors, but we all have enough stories or insights to fill a book. I’d like to encourage you all with some suggested titles—subjects that need a book, if[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN – What if our emotional energy is the latest commodity for sale?
“Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.” ― Vincent Van Gogh I was horrified by the 1977 book “Coma,” where unsuspecting hospital patients are rendered comatose and their healthy organs harvested for sale. A similar premise[Read More…]
