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No. 2 top story of 2020: Voters oust sheriff in county’s first recall
Former Ouray County Sheriff Lance FitzGerald used this photo as part of his campaign to retain his job, after a tumultuous year in which he was arrested for alleged DUI and involved in various alcohol-fueled domestic incidents. Facebook photo
News
By Mike Wiggins, on December 29, 2020
No. 2 top story of 2020: Voters oust sheriff in county’s first recall

In Ouray County’s first recall election in its 143-year history, voters overwhelmingly chose to oust Sheriff Lance FitzGerald, concluding he was unfit to serve in office after a series of legal and personal troubles in late 2019 that carried over into early 2020.

They replaced him with Ouray’s former police chief and city administrator, Justin Perry.

FitzGerald won office in 2018 by just 11 votes. A little more than 18 months later, just 196 out of 2,527 people voted to keep him in his positio...

Will Coloradans choose the ‘right to hunt’?
Main, News...
AMENDMENT 83
Will Coloradans choose the ‘right to hunt’?
Proposed constitutional amendment asks who should dictate wildlife policy
By Chart Riggall 
October 14, 2026
Colorado’s vote next month on whether to amend the state Constitution by codifying the right to hunt and fish has intensified debate among hunters, conservationists and legal experts over exactly who ...
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Main, News...
City hit with another police suit
Ex-admin assistant claims Ouray lost personal info, violated policies
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
October 14, 2026
The city of Ouray faces another lawsuit from an ex-employee of the police department. In a complaint filed last week in district court, former Ouray Police Department administrative assistant Lucy Ree...
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Main, News...
County OKs police deal
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
October 14, 2026
Ouray County commissioners approved a revised contract Tuesday that would make the Ouray County Sheriff’s Office the full-time provider of police services in the city of Ouray — but at a higher cost t...
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News
In light of budget cuts, Padgett takes 10% salary reduction
By James Hanlon 
October 14, 2026
Ouray County Commissioner Lynn Padgett will take a voluntary 10% salary reduction next year in a show of solidarity with other departments that took cuts for the 2027 budget. Padgett said budget reduc...
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News
School district to sell workforce unit
Pay raise bumps Ridgway staff out of affordable housing income bracket
By James Hanlon 
October 14, 2026
The Ridgway School Board plans to sell the school district’s last affordable housing unit and rejected a land donation that could have been used to build more housing at a board meeting Oct. 8. No sta...
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Runner’s strong season continues
Feature
Runner’s strong season continues
By David Emory 
October 14, 2026
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Editor Picks
Ridgway soccer falls to league rival Telluride
Feature
Ridgway soccer falls to league rival Telluride
By Joel Priest 
October 14, 2026
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Letters, Opinion...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
No, my mother didn’t paint Beaumont pink
By Jenny Lee Phillips 
October 14, 2026
Dear Editor: Comparing MTN Lodge to the Beaumont Hotel is as absurd as comparing Ouray to Ridgway. John Kuijvenhoven's scurrilous, out-of-the-blue letter was an attempt to damage my mother's reputatio...
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Letters, Opinion...
Commissioners betray Log Hill Village
By Austin Ray 
October 14, 2026
Dear Editor: I saw this in the Plaindealer article regarding the Ouray County budget crisis: “Besides reductions, commissioners are considering a radical one-time revenue source that could make up a s...
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News
CORRECTION
October 14, 2026
An article in the Oct. 8-14 edition, “Ridgway seeks input on water supply plan,” misstated the date that the Ridgway Town Council is expected to vote on the water supply element of its master plan. Th...
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Letters, Opinion...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Election notice misstates tax increase
By Dave Beckhardt 
October 14, 2026
Dear Editor: Regarding Ouray County ballot issue 1A that proposes a sales tax increase, the FOR summary in the TABOR Election Notice flagrantly understates the proposed tax increase. That summary stat...
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Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines

Ouray County Plaindealer
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Ridgway, Colorado 81432
970-325-4412

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Ridgway CO 81432

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