Dear Editor: We would like to take this opportunity to thank Don Batchelder and John Peters for their faithful service to Ouray County. Both were good listeners and considered all sides before making decisions.

Dear Editor: Last week’s column by Mr. Richardson was more than distasteful.

Dear Editor: I join our school communities and communities-at-large in Ouray and Ridgway in a chorus of thanks to our district administrators, county health authorities, the Colorado High School Activities Association, school-specific tech wizards and our local print media for setting the stage in photos and script for Season B sports, primarily high school basketball at the moment, to take place. The article in the Plaindealer was extensive and informative.

Dear Editor: Willie Richardson wrote a column in last week’s Plaindealer about the time he “snuggled up with the Bear.” We had a hard time understanding its intent. Was it funny? It dehumanized the woman he used for sex — “she was a troll for sure” — “she was lookin’ at me, and that wine, the way a starvin’ hound looks at a T-bone” - “The Bear!” It honored his pals, who used hay bales to trap him with “The Bear,” and then cheered him for being “the man,” the “only guy who ever mustered the courage to face The Bear.” “I know I’m gonna hate myself tomorrow” the author writes, but he overcame his inhibition because “I was cravin’ some female companionship.” His craving was that important.

Dear Editor: This summer as I read my weekly Plaindealer online, my heart went out to the town, the county, and its people. Rude tourists flocked into Ouray refusing to wear masks, knocking items off shelves in stores angrily arguing with store owners, and Lauren Boebert being hosted.

Dear Editor: As she baselessly attacked November’s election at our nation’s Capitol last Wednesday, Rep. Lauren Boebert was no doubt unsurprised and unfazed by the ensuing invasion.

Dear Editor: These are three things I love about living in Ouray County: 1. The Mountain Rescue Team members who put their lives in peril to save others.

Dear Editor: Let me start by saying that I am a 59-year-old lifelong Republican raised by Republicans. I have voted in every election since 1982 and always for the Republican candidate.

Dear Editor: We sent Lauren Boebert to Congress. Are we pleased with her actions there? On the morning of the insurrection at the Capitol she tweeted “Today is 1776.” During the assault on the Capitol she announced in her speech, “My constituents are outside!” And then, as the doors were being broken open, she tweeted to her followers, as they were entering the building, the location of Nancy Pelosi.

Dear Editor: I think the residents of Ouray County would agree that it was a fortunate day when Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre became part of our community, assumed ownership of the Ouray County Plaindealer and became the co-publishers. They have done an outstanding job of keeping us up with all that is going on in Ouray County, despite the challenges of an ongoing pandemic! This past year they hired emerging journalist Liz Teitz from the organization Report for America.