December 20, 1973 – Harold Walker of Ouray had his vehicle stolen from the 4J Trailer Park Friday night, from where he had parked it. The car was found Monday morning by Jack Clark, parked in front of the Citizens State Bank. Walker had taken his keys from the ignition, but had put them in the glove compartment, where they were found and used. The car had been driven approximately 100 miles. Sheriff Art Dougherty reports that there have been several similar car theft incidents in the past few weeks, where someone takes a car, drives it a few blocks and parks it to be found later. In each case, keys have been left in the ignition.

Dougherty reminds everyone to please remove their keys when parking their cars to prevent such occurrences.

40 YEARS AGO

December 22, 1983 – Last Saturday night about 6 p.m., State Trooper R.A. Jones of Ridgway was patrolling along Highway 550 just south of the Ruby Walls area south of Ouray when he discovered a Ford Pinto with New Mexico plates stopped on the road. Jones saw that the occupants of the vehicle, which also held small children, were struggling to put on their tire chains and he stopped to assist them.

While Jones was assisting the travelers, he said, there was a minor bank slip which spilled a two-foot depth of snow across the highway. Jones said that the Pinto wouldn’t have been able to plow through it, so he used his patrol vehicle to attempt to punch a hole through the snow to allow the Pinto through. The patrol vehicle became stuck, and Jones got out to put on his own tire chains. Jones said that he no sooner got out of the vehicle when another slip broke loose and piled down over the car and Jones himself, who hung on to the patrol vehicle in the hope he wouldn’t be swept away. Jones was uninjured and the patrol vehicle was undamaged by the slip, but it was another two and a half hours before Department of Highway crews could work their way to him and free the vehicle.

30 YEARS AGO

December 23, 1993 – It looked like Christmas outside, as a winter storm dropped ankle-high fluffy white snow on Ouray Sunday night. And it sounded like Christmas inside the Historic Western Hotel as area musicians performed on everything from the cello and flute to a hand saw. The occasion was the third annual Community Christmas Concert, sponsored by Ouray Performing Arts Guild. The concert’s repertoire was as varied as the musical instruments: the songs ranged from traditional Christmas carols to those written in the 14th and 16th century to a spoof, “Throw the Yule Log on Uncle John.” The musicians played to a full house.

20 YEARS AGO

December 12, 2003 – Editor: An open letter to the citizens of Ouray. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the citizens of Ouray who have openly and privately supported my endeavor to become the next chief of police. Regretfully, I must inform you that I have withdrawn my application for personal reasons. In the future, I would be very proud to serve the city of Ouray and its citizens in the capacity of chief of police, but at this time it is not feasible. I will continue to be a member of the department as sergeant and will serve this community with all the professionalism and integrity as I have for the past 12 years. Thank you for your support and respect that you have given me; I greatly appreciate it. Tony Chelf, Ouray

10 YEARS AGO

December 19, 2013 – Ouray County Emergency Medical Services will be offering its ambulance membership program to interested county residents for the 2014 calendar year. As an annual membership, the program is designed to protect residents, visitors and workers of Ouray County from incurring the costs of a “medically necessary” ambulance transport or resuscitative efforts. Even if uninsured, members will not incur any out-of-pocket expenses and OCEMS will absorb the actual bill for the services.

This week OCEMS will be sending out information and applications specifically to people who have been transported to medical facilities within the last couple of years, said OCEMS representative Colette Miller. She added that the program is totally voluntary and is a way to help residents in the county with service costs. A typical OCEMS bill can range from $950 to $1,800 depending on the level of care and procedures required, in addition to mileage to the receiving facility, which is usually Montrose Memorial Hospital.

“We realize that these are tough times financially for many, so our membership fee will remain as low as we are legally allowed based on Medicaid/Medicare rules,” the membership letter reads.