Sincere thank you
Dear Editor:
We would like to express a sincere thank you to all who sent cards, flowers, e-mails, texts, visits and food at the time of our son Jeremy’s illness and passing. To all who attended the service-many from long distances, we thank you.
We had many, many compliments on the service. A special thank you to our brother Rodger, cousin Amorette and preacher Emery for that service. We saw with our own eyes the amount of concern and love for us and Jeremy.
A heartfelt thank you,
The Lancaster Family
Rangely
Library board president’s proposal on reserve budget
Dear Editor:
As a conservative member of the Meeker Regional Library District Board, serving the Rio Blanco County community that voted approximately 80% for conservative principles in the last election, I write to share insights from our latest working session.
The library board met on Tuesday, Oct. 14 to review and collaborate on policies and the 2026 budget. The Meeker Regional Library District has approximately $14M in reserves. Most of this is invested in Colorado Trust and a local bank. The details are in the monthly financial report available to the public.
We as a board are the fiduciaries of the library’s assets. Oxford’s definition of fiduciary is, “One who holds anything in a trust; a trustee.”
Collectively the board has the responsibility to hold the $14M, the building and the book stacks in this trust. This trust is for the taxpayers, of which the patrons are a smaller subset. As the fiduciary, the board’s primary question should be, “how should we responsibly manage our substantial reserves for our taxpayers?”
The board has engaged the counsel of Glory Schmidt CEGR Law to oversee legal issues and Paul Wilson of CLA Connect to bring more order to the finances. These professionals have been instrumental in the necessary creation of policies and procedures over the past year.
The current operating budget is approximately $700,000 for 2026. There is capital expenditure needed soon for HVAC and possibly roof replacement. Other improvements are also being discussed which will require capital outlay.
I propose establishing a reserve range; a minimum to ensure stability and a maximum beyond which we reduce the tax burden. This ensures we do not take from taxpayers simply because we can.
John Moffitt
Library Board President
Meeker
Thoughts on Christianity
Dear Editor:
The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk prompts my thoughts. He claimed to be and lived as a Christian. From the internet I get the following: “The primary function of ‘-ian’ is to denote belonging, association, or characteristic qualities of something. As an adjective, it describes something related to the root word.”
Therefore Charlie and by definition all Christians belong to Christ. Belonging infers being as much like the progenitor as possible.
Charlie received posthumously the highest civilian award presented in our country, the Medal of Freedom, for his efforts.
Being as much like Christ means going to the source revealing who He is, and modeling His example and instructions. That source is the Bible. From that we learn He was at the creation, Colossians 1:15-17.
As creator He knows what is best for His created beings and reveals what is necessary for them to have an abundant life. Moses was given the Ten Commandments and much later Paul gets real personal in Colossians 3 for our understanding.
Charlie along with a host of others proudly and obediently seek to honor that righteous heritage because he knew of the Proverbs 14:12 reality.
In our community I am grateful for the freedom to encourage others to accept, obey, and unconditionally serve Christ. And to value and abide by the truth revealed moral, ethical instruction for an abundant life by becoming a ChristIAN. Without that influence, Revelation describes the pandemonium resulting. From an old (84) man, thank you Christian leaders and citizens for your courage to seek for and live righteously as Charlie Kirk modeled.
Jim Pelley
Meeker