Local elected officials are asking Congressional leaders to investigate U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s actions in relation to riot last week, in which five people died. Boebert represents the Third Congressional District, a vast constituency including most of western Colorado and part of southern Colorado.
Carol Viner will resign her post as Ouray County attorney, saying the workload has become too heavy and the county would be better off hiring a fulltime attorney. Viner submitted a letter of resignation to county commissioners last month, but her planned leave-taking didn’t become public knowledge until this week, when the new board of commissioners met to discuss the process of recruiting her replacement.
A man who was arrested for assaulting another driver on Imogene Pass last summer has received a deferred judgment in the case, with three years unsupervised probation. Sammy Spaccamonti of San Diego appeared in court virtually this week to plead guilty in the case and accept the terms of the agreement presented by the district attorney’s office.
GUNNISON Utilities work at Gunnison Rising is set to begin this year, and the first building to rise up in the development will be a combined office building, warehouse and equipment yard. A contract signed by the federal government and a Littleton-based developer paves the way for the Gunnison Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management to relocate to the east edge of Gunnison city limits and for project partner Dick Bratton’s decade-long dream of locating a public lands office there to come to fruition.
Don Batchelder finished his second of two eight-year terms as Ouray County commissioner this week, departing the position again due to term limits. But even with nearly 40 years spent in appointed or elected positions in local government within the county, the 66 year-old is not committed to permanent retirement from public service. And he’s not opposed to sitting out for a while and jumping back in again.
As John Peters reflects on the conclusion of his four-year term as Ouray County commissioner this week, he urges citizens to check agendas, log into Zoom meetings and email their commissioners to let them know where they stand on issues.
It may be a newyear, but Colorado’s statewide drought will be baggage it carries well into 2021. More than a quarter of the state is in the worst level of drought, and with snowpack significantly below what’s expected this time of year — especially on the Western Slope — scientists are warning that it will take more than just a big snowstorm to alleviate this dry spell.
Ridgway and Ouray just completed one of their driest years on record, and the forecast for the first quarter of 2021 isn’t predicting much relief. Ridgway received just 11.53 inches of precipitation in 2020, roughly 51/2 inches below normal, making it the third-driest year since 1982, when official record-keeping began in the town, according to Megan Stackhouse, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
The family of a Longmont man killed in an avalanche safety class near Silverton is suing the guide, school and local rescue group as well as the maker of an avalanche airbag and its private equity firm owner. The lawsuit marks the second legal action involving avalanches in recent months based on research, interviews and reports gathered by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
A jury trial has been scheduled for the case involving John Warren of Ouray, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman who told police he assaulted her in December 2018 after serving her at his restaurant.