A Craig man died Monday evening, in a one-car accident north of Maybell. Colorado State Patrol reports 19-year-old Hunter Roberts of Craig, was the only person in the car. The accident happened on Highway 318, about 30 miles north of Maybell. Corporal Bagley with CSP said the vehicle Roberts was in lost control on a corner, and rolled two and 3/4s times. Roberts was ejected from the car. Bagley says the cause of the accident is excessive speed, however they are still investigating.
The 8th annual 4th of July Parade is tomorrow, along Victory Way. Lineup starts at 10 a.m., at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4265. The best floats get prizes, and there is a community picnic after the parade.
Fireworks are still scheduled for tomorrow night at dusk. Craig Fire/Rescue will have a fireworks show at Moffat County High School, but it is still depending on the weather.
The Great Divide Fire is contained. It burned more than 5,000 acres. One house was destroyed but no one was hurt. The fire was about 32 miles northwest of Craig, near Moffat County Roads 7 and 5.
A wildfire burned about 15 acres south of Hayden late Friday. The Hayden Gulch Fire is mostly on Bureau of Land Management land. The fire has been burning in brush and grass.
The official word has not yet come down about fireworks in Craig on the 4th of July. They’ll happen if conditions allow. Here’s Craig Acting City Manager Bruce Nelson.
More fireworks have been canceled. This time in Frisco. The fire danger is just too high. Breckenridge and Steamboat also won’t have fireworks for the 4th. But Steamboat will have a laser light show on Howelsen Hill.
The fire danger is high. Moffat County Commissioners have put Stage 1 Fire Restrictions on open burning into effect as of today, in Moffat County. Stage 1 Fire Restrictions are also in effect in Routt County as of today, as well. Stage 2 fire restrictions have now gone into effect for unincorporated private and state lands in Garfield County.
Another wildfire is burning, this time in Grand County. It’s near the Sugarloaf Campground and Henderson Mill south of Kremmling. Summit County officials are ready, should the fire pass into Summit County. It’s called the Sugarloaf Fire, and it’s burning primarily beetle kill trees on Forest Service land. As many as 500 homes have been evacuated near the Grand Lake Golf Course, for the Grand Lake Fire which is also near Rocky Mountain National Park. Many of those homes are vacation homes.
A special mill levy is expected to be on the November ballot. It will ask voters to help fund the Museum of Northwest Colorado, Moffat County Libraries, and possibly Loudy-Simpson Park. The Moffat County Board of County Commissioners is expected to file a letter of intent for the initiative to appear on the ballot.
The construction project for the new medical office building for Memorial Regional Health is on schedule. One million dollars needs to be raised, and the hospital is closer to that goal, with well over $800,000. Jennifer Riley is the Vice President of Operations for Memorial Regional Health. She says the new building is very important to the community.
Riley says the new building should open in fall of 2019. Donations are still being accepted through the hospital’s foundation. Call 826-2424. Or visit www.MemorialRegionalHealth.com
The Bureau of Land Management is considering changes to oil and gas leasing. It is in a sage grouse habitat area. The amended plans would let oil and gas operators apply for exemptions so they could lease minerals in areas that are designated as priority grouse habitat. The change is estimated to add almost 225-thousand acres to leasing. There was a meeting this week in Craig. Now, the BLM is accepting public comment through the Colorado Bureau of Land Management website, until August 2.
A young Craig artist has won an award for her art. 14-year-old Winnie Li created digital art and she won the “One World, Many Voices” competition. It was held by the Colorado Department of Education’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education Academy. Winnie was born in New York City, but then her family moved back to China. They then moved to Craig in 2017 to open the Spicy Basil restaurant.
The warm weather continues in Northwest Colorado today, but it shouldn’t be as hot as it has been lately. Highs will be around 87 degrees with a few gusty winds in the afternoon. Saturday will cool off considerably with a high of 71 degrees, and maybe some rain in the afternoon and evening.
In Sports…
In softball, in the Craig Parks and Rec League, the A Kidz Dentist team won for the 13- to 18-year-old league. Western American Drilling won in the 8- to 12-year-old division.
In Craig Youth Baseball, the Hayden Outdoors Farm & Ranch Real Estate team of 8- to 10-year-olds won. In the 11- to 13-year-old division, it was Country Living Realty.
The Mighty Dogs Volleyball Camp is July 16 through 18 at the high school. It’s hosted by the Moffat County High School volleyball program.
Registration is open for the 32nd annual Silver Bullet Ladies Golf Classic. It’s July 14-15 at Yampa Valley Golf Course.
The Elkhead Reservoir Fishing Classic continues at Elkhead Reservoir until Sunday.
The primaries are over in the state, and several Moffat County candidates are in, because they ran unopposed. Here are some of the results, after 3,352 residents of the county voted.
Moffat County Republicans have chosen Donald Broom as their candidate for District 3 Moffat County Commissioner. No democrats ran, so Donald Broom will be the next county commissioner, unless there is a last-minute unaffiliated write-in candidate.
Tammy Raschke won for the Republicans for Moffat County Clerk and Recorder, and there were no democrats in the race, so she will likely keep that position as well.
Three people were arrested after being pulled over on Rabbit Ears Pass, and they now face felony drug distribution charges. An arrest affidavit states that an officer with the All Crimes Enforcement Team drug task force followed a suspected drug dealer from Craig to a high crime area in Denver, and then followed the car back to the Steamboat Springs area. The officer called Colorado State Patrol who pulled the car over for speeding and having an illegal window tint. Murray, the drug sniffing dog, detected drugs in the car. The affidavit states suspected methamphetamine and heroin was found, with a street value of around $18,000. Those arrested and being held are Derek Ralph Kettle of Craig, John Stanley Henderson of Denver, and Hailey Celeste Allen of Denver.
An historic red barn in North Routt County, south of Clark, burned down Monday. The barn on Circle Bar Ranch was off Routt County Road 129. Two fire crews responded to try to put the fire out but it burned too quickly. No one was in the barn, and no animals were hurt.
A Craig man has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies. 36-year-old Jonathan Alexzander Waugh allegedly attacked his aunt, Susan Reeves. And she says he tried to start a fire in her mobile home at Cedar Mountain Trailer Park. It happened last Thursday. Reeves was able to get out of the home and call police and fire who put the fire out and took her to the hospital. She said her nephew did it, so police started trying to find Waugh. He was hiding in a garage at a home in the Shadow Mountain Village Mobile Home Park. The owner came home and called police, after the two got into a fight. Waugh is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree arson, two counts of second-degree assault, felony criminal mischief, second-degree burglary and attempted first-degree assault.
The Craig Press said goodbye to a longtime employee, though a familiar face is stepping in to the open role. Shannon Moore will be working in the advertising section for the paper. Moffat County is getting a new brand. The logo looks clean, including a circle with a river flowing through a canyon, the words Moffat county, and the date that Moffat county was established, nineteen eleven. Primary turnout has been low in Moffat county this year, with only twenty-three percent of folks turning in ballots. Amanda Tomlinson, the Clerk and Recorders office chief deputy said that twenty-three percent for a primary isn’t a bad number, though they anticipated more with this being the first year that unaffiliated voters could automatically participate. The Memorial Regional Continue reading →
There has been a break-in at the Craig Pool complex. It happened sometime after 10 p.m. Tuesday, before 6 in the morning on Wednesday. Here’s Captain Bill Leonard with Craig Police.
Captain Leonard also says a city vehicle was also damaged. Anyone with information is asked to call Craig Police at 970-824-8111.
The autopsy report is in on the man who died in Steamboat Lake last Friday. 64-year-old David Bass from Kansas died from drowning. Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg says there weren’t any heart issues and that Bass was a healthy man. He had gone into the water to get a boat that started drifting away. He went under and never came back up.
Moffat County United Way has received a $15,000 grant from Operation RoundUp. It’s part of a project with Yampa Valley Electric. The money will go to the Community Impact Program and the Bridges Out of Poverty initiative, which means education classes offered to different groups including social services, local law enforcement, elected officials, non-profits, businesses, and school district employees. Those interested in taking some of the classes can email Kristen@UnitedWayMoffat.org One of the ways money is raised in Operation Round Up by Yampa Valley Electric is members have the option to round up their bills to the nearest dollar each month, and that extra money is granted to community organizations each year.
