By Caleb Stento
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It's been two years since Mike McLeod was elected and accepted the role of captain of the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team (OMRT). Now that his term as skipper is up, another very capable team member has been elected to take his place—Tim Pasek.
MacLeod has been on the OMRT for about six years and, after serving out his two-year term, is ready to turn in his clipboard and “put my helmet back on and do whatever it takes to get a rescue done,” MacLeod stated. “My role is pretty straight forward. I get to go back to being just a regular old rank and file member.”
The official hand-off date isn’t until Jan. 1, but Pasek said he’s now fully into the transition and doing “about 90 percent of the stuff.”
According to Pasek and MacLeod, the OMRT captain represents the team and becomes the public face and voice of the team. In addition, the captain is responsible for management, fundraising and of course incident response.

by Mary Pat Haddock
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At their Dec. 18 Christmas program, the Woman’s Club of Ouray County named Mary Ellen (M-E) Spirek 2012 Woman of the Year. Nancy Rule wrote the poem which was read to introduce Spirek. Early stanzas described Spirek’s character:
“What we know of this female powerhouse will fill many lines from here,
The passion and perseverance she shows, to make her ever so dear.”
Spirek’s contributions to Second Chance, the Elks Club, Christmas Eve Santa visits and bathroom remodels were highlighted next. The final stanza described Spirek’s current community endeavors.