Dear Editor: In 2019 the position of poet laureate was established by the Board of County Commissioners for Ouray and I was honored to be named the very first one! I have been pleased to serve the com...

Dear Editor: I expected it might happen. I hoped it wouldn’t happen. But sure enough it did happen. I posted a Trump/Vance sign (correct size and location), primarily to let the many other conservativ...

Dear Editor: The Plaindealer’s Sept. 26 story about the plight of Ridgway’s businesses got me thinking. The interstate highway system made travel faster — but at a price: Hundreds of small towns throu...

Dear Editor: Driving around the county and the city of Ouray you will find two homes each with two political yard signs – one for Mike Perkovich and one for Kamala Harris. It struck me that this is ab...

Dear Editor: One year ago, on a Tuesday — Sept. 19 of last year — I faced the life-changing experience of brain tumor surgery. The tumor was massive and, thankfully, it was benign. As I look back on t...

Dear Editor: When reviewing this latest short-term rentals ordinance from Ouray County, it’s hard not to feel concerned about its direction. The dense legal language could leave the average resident u...

Dear Editor: Currently, Ouray County has a good balance of three commissioners who are taking on more challenging issues than ever before. It’s my opinion that Ouray County needs all three that have e...

Dear Editor: A year ago, I addressed the Ouray City Council regarding the approximate 65% increase in residential property assessments in Ouray County (published in the Plaindealer in July 2023). Base...

Dear Editor: Last July I sent the four questions listed below to the Ouray Board of County Commission candidates Padgett, Niece and Perkovich and also to Commissioner Nauer. Padgett, Niece and Nauer r...

Dear Editor: Recent letters and ads supporting Mr. Perkovich have asked “where did the money go.” The innuendo, of course, is that the current commissioners, and Lynn Padgett in particular, have done ...

Dear Editor: Many years ago before short-term rental regulations, I ran an STR. I self-managed, ensuring HOA guidelines were enforced. Many inquiries were denied because it wasn’t in the neighbor’s be...

Dear Editor: With very little warning, Ridgway has just had its beating heart ripped cruelly from its tiny chest. We lost our patron saint and the poignant reason that many of us felt welcome when we ...

Dear Editor: I thoroughly enjoyed the humorous letter from a Ridgway resident regarding commissioner candidates in Ouray County. I laughed out loud when I read about "our bare-bones county government....

Dear Editor: Lynn Padgett deserves the vote of Ouray County citizens. She is the most experienced commissioner and has a thorough knowledge of the key issues important to those of us who live in Ouray...

Dear Editor: As an unaffiliated voter, previous Democrat, I am voting for Mike Perkovich to become the next county commissioner for District 1. Mike does believe in the “... sanctity of the election p...

Dear Editor: The Democratic National Convention last week was remarkable for its open, optimistic and forward-looking messages. The convention was inclusive, charting a path forward for all Americans,...

Dear Editor: I am writing to endorse Ellen Angeles for the District 3 representative to the State Board of Education. As a former teacher and principal for 32 years, I would like to see Ellen fill thi...

Dear Editor: I want to thank the county road department for the dust control method used this year on County Roads 23 and 17. The new material works very well and seems quite durable. I was somewhat c...

Dear Editor: The 2024 National Night Out celebration in Ridgway deserved much more coverage than a single photo of a child on a Bump 'n Jump on Page 11 of the Aug. 8 issue, while the tale of two meand...

Dear Editor: My grandson, who lives with me, returned from Florida with COVID and within a week I had it. My form transmuted into something called long-term COVID, which meant I could not taste anythi...