Main, News...
Commissioners cite lack of justification for reimbursement; Padgett alleges process flawed
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
Ouray County taxpayers won’t foot Commissioner Lynn Padgett’s nearly $...
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News
Sergeant's retirement, sergeant's medical leave temporarily makes chief lone full-timer
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect the Ridgway Ma...
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News
By LIA SALVATIERRA 
April 25, 2025
Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd listened to concerns about public lands and other topics during a work session with Ouray County commissioners Wednesday. The conversation ended with the legislator in the hot seat, pressed for answers about recent immigration enforcement action and due process rights. The freshman legislator representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Ouray ...
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News
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
A Ridgway man suspected of hitting a liquor store building with his vehicle, driving drunk and leaving the scene also faces possible felony charges for allegedly spitting on a Ridgway marshal when he ...
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News
Owners of vacation home failed to rent for 30-day minimum
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
A Ridgway couple who failed to rent their home for at least 30 days in the last year won't be allowed to keep their short-term rental license. Ouray city councilors on Monday night unanimously rejecte...
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News
Woman released from ICE facility, drugs involved in fatal vehicle crashes, town signs water lease, town seeks info about statue vandalism, Blue Lakes trail to close
April 23, 2025
Ouray woman released from ICE facility A Ouray woman who had been detained since February in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora has been released on bond. After two months, 31-y...
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News
Home Trust's first new-construction project ensures two families can stay in Ridgway
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
For too long, the Patton family had too many discussions about changing school districts or moving away from Ouray County entirely. Now, at their new home on North Laura Street, they can ditch those h...
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News
New system atop Space to Create building ensures lights stay on in power outage
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
When a nearly countywide power outage darkened homes and businesses for an evening last week, the downstairs window at Ridgway’s Space to Create remained glowing with light. That’s because a solar mic...
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News
April 23, 2025
An article on Page 7 of the April 17-23 edition incorrectly attributed comments about property taxation to Ouray County Planning Director Mark Castrodale. Gold Mountain Ranch Operations Manager Keller...
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Main, News...
By By Natalie Skowlund KFF Health News 
April 16, 2025
SILVERTHORNE — When Adolfo Román García-Ramírez walks home in the evening from his shift at a grocery store in this central Colorado mountain town, sometimes he thinks back on his childhood in Nicarag...
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Main, News...
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
April 16, 2025
Federal funding slashes and freezes may mean emptier food pantry shelves, fewer library resources and cuts to public health, emergency management and environmental projects in Ouray County. The Trump ...
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Columns, Feature...
PREP ROUNDUP
By By Matt Meyer Special to the Plaindealer 
April 23, 2025
It’s probably no coincidence that the Ridgway High School girls’ soccer team has heated up on the field as temperatures have warmed up outside. In the sunshine, practices can focus much more on team p...
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Feature
Singletrack Addict encourages female mountain bikers to be playful, confident on the trails
By By Lia Salvatierra lia @ ou ray news, com 
April 23, 2025
It’s supposed to feel like summer camp — rooted in playfulness and empowerment — at Singletrack Addict, a new local female-focused mountain biking community and coaching business. Co-owners Jen Sawyer...
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Feature
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
Sonja Horn was looking for a way to retire from running her gift shop in Montrose when she got a call asking if she’d be interested in opening a second location in Ridgway. So rather than an “exit str...
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Feature
Hat bar, retail shop The Mercantile opens May 3
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
April 23, 2025
Tourists and locals alike can add a feather in their cap at The Mercantile Ouray, a new build-your-own hat bar and Western wear shop opening on Main Street in Ouray on May 3. It was the city’s vibrant...
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Columns, Feature...
PREP ROUNDUP
By By Matt Meyer Special to the Plaindealer 
April 16, 2025
It can be difficult for a coach not to oversee every aspect of an athlete’s training or competition during a given season. It’s also rough to juggle scheduling conflicts when an athlete competes in mu...
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Columns, Feature...
PREP ROUNDUP
By By Matt Meyer Special to the Plaindealer 
April 2, 2025
Editor's note: The Plaindealer is trying something new – publishing a sports column with information about local high school sports during the seasons for those sports. We don't have the resources to ...
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Letters, Opinion...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
April 23, 2025
Dear Editor: Although disturbing and sad, I was keenly interested in the anti-immigrant history lesson shared by columnist Carolyn Snowbarger in the April 10 edition. (“The forgotten – and shameful – ...
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Letters, Opinion...
April 23, 2025
Dear Editor: Why would a county commissioner need legal representation? As elected officials, county commissioners are afforded consid- erable protection from liability by the Colorado Governmental Im...
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Columns, Opinion...
By Karen Risch 
April 23, 2025
April, a notorious trickster of a month, has lived up to its reputation this year. Fine hot spells, not-so-good freezing temperatures, ample snow and, unfortunately, a continuing drought. It’s been a ...
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Looking Back
OURAY COUNTY
40 YEARS AGO
April 23, 2025
April 24, 1975 – In spite of cold weather and intermittently blizzardy conditions, Ouray School students participated in the Paul Revere Day fundraising, April 18. A group went out again on Sunday, wh...
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Obituaries
April 23, 2025
September 19, 1979-April 10, 2025 Ross Owen Williams, 45, died in his sleep on April 10, 2025. Ross was a proud son of the San Juan mountains, growing up in Ouray, Colorado, where he cultivated a love...
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