The Meeker Herald ~ 125 years ago
◆ A light fall of snow mantled mother earth in this valley in the early part of the week and it looked winterish for a few days, but — as usual, we just caught the tail end of what was a storm east of the range.
◆ The delinquent tax list will shortly be published. Pay up if you wish to keep your name out of the paper.
◆ The more bread the baker makes the more he kneads.
The Meeker Herald ~ 50 years ago
◆ Visitors have been asking if we have this kind of weather here every fall. Sure!
◆ Yesterday was the day we were supposed to clean up the school house and around the buildings. The first thing we did was move the desks and chairs and tables out of the school house. Then we got three or four pails of water. We put on the stove to get hot; with it we washed the windows, window cases, map board, doors and blackboards. With the rest of the water we scrubbed the floor. When it was dry we took the floor oiler and oiled it well. Then we moved the desks, chairs and tables back in their proper places. When we were through with school house we began to clean up the yard. We packed a lot of rocks and put them out in front of the school house for a walk. We piled all of the stuff up and burned it. When we were thru with the clean up we went home. ~Lester Smith, 8th grade, Petrolite
The Meeker Herald ~ 50 years ago
◆ Rio Blanco County’s annual invasion of armed visitors — friendly type — started last week and the hills are full of them this week as the 1972 deer hunting season swings into its final week.
◆ Receiving the coveted “I Dare You” awards were Tom Ruckman and Janet Cook, who were the outstanding 4-H boy and girl for 1972. Parents are Mr. and Mrs. Jim Ruckman and Rev. and Mrs. Elmo Cook.
The Meeker Herald ~ 25 years ago
◆ At a recent county commissioners meeting, an angry Strawberry Road (CR 7) resident, complained that the county should rename the county road Tobacco Road, after and Erskine Caldwell novel about a rural southers slum in the 1920s. The idea has apparently fired some imaginations and Tobacco Road signs have sprung up along the roadway.
◆ “I’m writing to give my opinion of the ‘new’ Rangely times. It was a terrible disappointment when I read it. First of all I had to sift thru all the Meeker news and advertising to find a little Rangely news. Myself and those I have talked to want our Rangely paper back.”
Rangely Times ~ 50 years ago
◆ Rangely retail sales for second quarter of 1972 accounted for 55.2% of the county business. Meeker sales were 36.7% of total sales in the county.
◆ To take a great load off your mind try discarding your halo.
◆ Democracy is a system under which a fellow who didn’t vote can spend the rest of the year kicking about the candidate the other fellow elected.
Rangely Times ~ 25 years ago
◆ The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cited Chevron Production, Inc. for brine water spills from injection lines at the Rangely oil field. Federal notices of violations were issued last week for more than 160 spills that released more than 4 million gallons of brine water into drainages that empty into the White River.
◆ Just 5 miles east of Rangely lies Kenney Reservoir, 500 acres of watery recreational opportunities for Rangely citizens and visitors to enjoy. It was built in the early 1980s in the hope that it would attract new industry, be a back up water source during droughts, keep floods at bay, and boost the economy for attracting water sports enthusiasts to the lake. But today, barely 13 years after the reservoir was formed behind the dam built in Taylor Draw, Kenney Reservoir is facing a crisis, and the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District is turning to taxpayers for help. Kenney Reservoir is filling up fast with silt and sediment.
