News across Custer County
In a stunning act of kindness, mortgage of fallen Custer paramedic is paid
Snow in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in October is not rare, but these first snows often bring wet snow falling onto warm pavement, making roads surprisingly slick. These early winter conditions on the morning of October 19, 2024, were what drivers faced as they headed to work,…
Apocalyptic blockbuster based in Colorado screens at Jones
Most likely, many Valley folk have read Colorado author Peter Heller’s debut 2012 novel, The Dog Stars. The post-apocalyptic tale follows widowed pilot Hig, surviving a pandemic in an isolated Colorado plateau with his dog Jasper and Marine veteran Bangley. Developments have him…
Wetmore Fire Department fundraiser is Saturday, September 26
For at least the fourth time in the past 30 years, the Wetmore Volunteer Fire Department jumped into action to battle a major conflagration; this time, it was in July to fight the Aspen Acres wildfire and help protect the small communities of Wetmore and Greenwood from…
Seeing the oldest galaxy in history“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”
I suppose one of the compelling aspects of science fiction is that it allows us to attain a kind of comfort level with the otherwise imponderable. Of course, space scientists deal with the “imponderable” as the everyday working tools of their craft. The long reaches of the…
Businessman Trent Stafford joins school board
Local business leader and former Custer County High School Basketball coach Trent Stafford is Custer County School District’s newest Board of Education (BOE) Director. The BOE unanimously selected Stafford at the September 3 special meeting to fill the vacancy and at the…
Laurie Yarger selected to lead Custer Elementary
Custer County School District’s (CCSD) Elementary School will be led this year by Laurie Yarger. The Elementary School was previously led by Sydney Benesch. Benesch’s recent promotion to CCSD Superintendent created the elementary principal vacancy. Yarger has served across the…
Letters: Why can’t we change after a hundred years, POW MIA Recognition Day
Why can’t we change? Theo Cockerell arrived in “West Cliff” by train in July 1887, and for the next three or so years he recorded his observations in letters that he posted to friends, colleagues, and family back home in England. And almost 140 years later, evidently, the…
Another lawsuit filed blaming southern Colorado electric co-op for starting Aspen Acres fire
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, 7 Pueblo County residents say a piece of San Isabel Energy Association’s power line was found on the ground near the fire’s ignition point with signs of arcing
VALI Assisted Living closing greatly impacts community senior care
The perfect storm of circumstances that have forced the closure of dozens of assisted living facilities in Colorado has arrived in Custer County. Like many before them Valley Assisted Living–VALI, 30 East Main Street, Silver Cliff–has made the painfully necessary decision to…
Scams galore: FCC alerts grandparents, again
There are a lot of grandparents in our aging community, this writer among them. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently updated its online warning to vulnerable elders under the heading “‘Grandparent’ Scams Get More Sophisticated” (fcc.gov). Years ago,…
Labor Day climb of Crestone Needle turns into a dangerous but successful alpine rescue
The weather was fine for hiking on Labor Day Monday for dozens of people who aimed to complete the grueling summit of the Crestone Needle before the icy hand of winter gripped the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Yet the day took a turn at 11 a.m., when hikers called 911 to ask for…
Alla Prima Westcliffe’s unique style of painting lures artists to the Wet Mountain Valley
From the towering Sangre De Cristo peaks to Westcliffe’s charming downtown to every picturesque ranch in between, Sangres Art Guild’s 17th Alla Prima Westcliffe Plein Air Event (APW) is about to take the Valley by storm. Translated as “at the first attempt,” alla prima is an…