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Minary: Conservatives could cause change if we would get involved, become informed, always vote and run for office
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Minary: Conservatives could cause change if we would get involved, become informed, always vote and run for office

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Americans, across the political spectrum, have become frustrated with the entire election process and feel that they are powerless. They feel their views and needs are ignored.  Consequently, they have unplugged from the very system which was designed as an effective way for them to manage their local governments, rather than vice versa.  It is a sad fact that the single largest voting bloc in Colorado and in many parts of the U.S. is unaffiliated.  That’s a clear indication that neither political party has engaged this group of voters. Republicans often use the word ‘conservative’, assuming the average person knows what it means.  They don’t.  Many Republicans don’t, either.  So, we on the polit...
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State’s failure to pass through federal funds to firefighting agencies is putting SW Colorado operations at risk
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

State’s failure to pass through federal funds to firefighting agencies is putting SW Colorado operations at risk

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Emergency responders and firefighting agencies in Southwest Colorado are sounding the alarm and calling for immediate resolution to unpaid invoices going back, in some cases, to July 2024, because of, some say, utter incompetence by the State of Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control’s (DFPC) billing processing office. In a Jan. 27 meeting at the Upper Pine Fire District in Bayfield, county emergency management personnel, regional fire district leadership teams, representatives from multiple counties and state and local officials met to discuss the dysfunctions that could lead to an all-out crisis as the 2025 fire season approaches, because of a huge backlog in getting collective invoices for payment processed. ...
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Devotional: Vision is not just a cliché, but requires action
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Devotional: Vision is not just a cliché, but requires action

By DRAKE HUNTER | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Vision is not just a buzzword, it's a crucial aspect of effective leadership — here, there, and everywhere. Let’s examine its true meaning and how it can empower us to lead with purpose and meaning. Unfortunately, vision has lost its meaning and purpose today; it has become clichéd. Phrases like “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” “You can't see the forest for the trees,” and the ever-popular “Where there is no vision, the people perish” are overused. People frequently discuss vision, but few truly understand its significance and power. Let's not underestimate the power of vision. It's not just a passive idea or a fleeting dream; it's a force that can empower us to understand and reason our purpose and meaning in life. When a...
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Walcher: Throw off climate suffocation and ‘shovel, baby, shovel’
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Walcher: Throw off climate suffocation and ‘shovel, baby, shovel’

By Greg Walcher | Guest Columnist, Rocky Mountain Voice, via GregWalcher.com My friend Amos Eno, one of the country’s leading conservation experts, spent a decade running the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and more recently the Land Conservation Assistance Network. His writing appears in all the right publications, and he is a popular speaker at conferences everywhere.  Writing about the old/new President’s endorsement of the almost-cliché adage, “Drill, baby, drill,” he added another related, but separate, concept: “Shovel, baby, shovel.” It is an apt way to describe what he calls an urgent need “to resurrect our mining of strategic and critical minerals and coal, throwing off the wet blanket of climate suffocation policies.” There is considerable attention and deb...
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Wolves will continue to be a ‘burden’ to livestock producers, Cattlemen’s Association says at Farm Show
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Wolves will continue to be a ‘burden’ to livestock producers, Cattlemen’s Association says at Farm Show

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice A little more than four years ago, voters statewide supported Prop. 114 to reintroduce gray wolves to Colorado. As long as it is the law, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are directed to implement it, cattle raisers are going to have to face the challenge, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Erin Karney said Tuesday in a lecture kicking off the Colorado Farm Show. "It is going to continue to be a burden to livestock producers," she said. She argues, though, what might be viewed as a Western Slope issue is a concern on both sides of the continental divide, noting the operations of Eastern Colorado cattle raisers, feedlots, sale barns and processing plants. "A lot of our members are directly affected," Karne...
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Durango school board doubles down on DEI and keeps their LGBTQ+ and BLM flags raised
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Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Durango school board doubles down on DEI and keeps their LGBTQ+ and BLM flags raised

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice "Flags do not harm kids. Hateful words and hateful people harm children." This was the message delivered by Terry Kopack, a local parent, during the Jan. 28 Durango 9-R School Board meeting, where school board members voted unanimously to approve two resolutions supporting LGBTQIA2S+ and IBPOC (Indigenous, Black, and People of Color) students, staff and community members. A public comment session preceded the board’s vote, with all speakers voicing support for the proposed resolutions. The board limited public comments to 10 speakers, before moving into discussion and voting on the resolutions. Among those who spoke, one mother took direct aim at the Colorado GOP.  “I want the Colorado Republican Party to open their...
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Cattle rustling, labor and tariffs among concerns for ranchers, Cattlemen’s Association tells Farm Show audience
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Cattle rustling, labor and tariffs among concerns for ranchers, Cattlemen’s Association tells Farm Show audience

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice There's some similarity in a 19th century problem, which led to the beginnings of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, and today's environment for cattle raisers. Founded in 1867, the Colorado Cattlemen's Association predates statehood and helped form the National Western Stock Show in 1899, the Colorado Brand Board in 1902, and the Colorado Beef Council in 1956. "We are still focused on the same issues today — we are still dealing with cattle theft," said Erin Karney, the organization's executive vice president during a lecture kicking off the Colorado Farm Show. A year ago in Rifle, there were 150 or more head of cattle stolen. Just recently, there were 160 or more head of cattle stolen from a handful of landowners in Montrose, she note...
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Colorado’s GOP U.S. House members reject state GOP’s proposed bylaw changes, as Williams wants a debate
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Colorado’s GOP U.S. House members reject state GOP’s proposed bylaw changes, as Williams wants a debate

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In what some denounce as an attempt to consolidate power for GOP Chairman Dave Williams, the Republican Party has proposed a last-minute change to the organization's bylaws on Jan. 30. Colorado Congressional Republicans, supported by state Senate Republicans, have written an open letter rejecting these changes. “As Colorado’s four Republican members of Congress, we write to express our united and unequivocal opposition to the proposed bylaw amendments under consideration by the Colorado Republican Party.  As a party, we should not be taking votes to radically change our rules under a lame-duck administration, additionally, these changes threaten to undermine our ability as a party to focus on the issues that matter most...
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Stories of struggle, hardship fuel Rep. Ryan Gonzalez’s push for practical state solutions
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Stories of struggle, hardship fuel Rep. Ryan Gonzalez’s push for practical state solutions

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice What makes a leader relatable? For newly-elected Rep. Ryan Gonzalez, R-Greeley, representing the 50th District in Weld County, it’s growing up in a household where sacrifices weren’t optional, but survival. Gonzalez knows the struggles of everyday Coloradans. As the son of a single mother and a domestic violence survivor, he has lived through them. “When I was 12, my sister ran away. She was gone for three weeks. And I was out putting up missing signs everywhere,” Gonzalez said. “My mom couldn’t eat or sleep. A mother’s worry is, is my daughter safe? Will I find her in a ditch somewhere? The whole time, my dad knew where she was and was covering it up.” For Gonzalez, these moments reflected his mother’s enduring streng...
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Longmire resigns Douglas Co. planning post in protest of treatment Commissioner Thomas received
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Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Longmire resigns Douglas Co. planning post in protest of treatment Commissioner Thomas received

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor's note: This is a developing story and may be updated. Jay Longmire quit the Douglas County Planning Commission this week, protesting what he called years of alleged "bullying, antagonization, abuse, and slander" of Commissioner Lora Thomas by fellow commissioners George Teal and Abe Laydon. "Effective immediately, upon the conclusion of this planning meeting, I’m submitting my resignation as a commissioner on the Douglas County Planning Commission. I find that I must stand on principle. I’m resigning in protest to the way former Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas has been treated by Commissioners George Teal and Abe Laydon over the past several years," Longmire said. He accused Teal and Laydon of stripping...
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