Home - News

Main, News...

Pushback grows over road plowing

Landowners seeking wintertime motorized access increasingly encountering opposition

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

April 2, 2025

Outrage over wintertime wheeled access on public county roads is resur...

Main, News...

County mulls stipend for planning commission

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

April 2, 2025

Ouray County commissioners are debating whether to offer planning comm...

Ridgway stands toe-to-toe with larger school

Feature

PREP ROUNDUP

Ridgway stands toe-to-toe with larger school

By By Matt Meyer Special to the Plaindealer

April 2, 2025

Editor's note: The Plaindealer is trying something new – publishing a ...

Main, News...

RALLY FOR THE REPUBLIC

April 2, 2025

News

School improvements slated for summer

By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com

April 2, 2025

The areas where Ridgway School District students gather to socialize, eat, study and host musical and theatrical performances will receive roughly $1 million of improvements this summer. Work at Ridgw...

News

7th District to receive additional judge

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

April 2, 2025

The 7th Judicial District, which includes Ouray County, will receive a sixth district court judge next year, after Gov. Jared Polis signed a Senate spending bill into law last week. The bill adds 15 d...

News

RALLY FOR THE REPUBLIC

April 2, 2025

Main, News...

OFF WITH THE LACES

March 26, 2025

Main, News...

Padgett: County should pay legal bill

Commissioner seeks reimbursement of $11,000; board to discuss request in April

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

Ouray County Commissioner Lynn Padgett is asking the county to pay nearly $11,000 for the attorney she hired after the county road and bridge superintendent filed a harassment complaint against her la...

Main, News...

Conduct policy talks marked by conflict

Commissioners approve guidelines after hours of tension-filled debate

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

Ouray County commissioners spent six hours debating two new policies – specifying how they should treat each other and the public – in meetings last week and this week that devolved into the type of c...

News

Library seeks support for expansion

New foundation forms to raise money for $1.6M Ouray project

By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

When Jerry Hellman wants to read a book, he buys one — he’d rather read it on his own time than have to rush to return it to the Ouray Public Library. His wife, Bonnie, though, is a loyal library patr...

News

County: Forest Service violated federal law

Letter alleges agency failed to follow proper procedures before Crystal Reservoir drawdown

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

Ouray County leaders sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service arguing the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it partially drained Crystal Reservoir and proposed permanently rem...

A favorite new haunt: Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

Feature

ROAD TRIP

A favorite new haunt: Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

By Tim Spangler Special to the Plaindealer

April 2, 2025

Editor's note: Log Hill resident Tim Spangler submitted our latest feature in an occasional series called "Road Trip," meant to highlight places and fun things to do within driving distance of Ouray C...

Calendar & Events, Feature...

April 3 – 17, 2025

CALENDAR & EVENTS

April 2, 2025

THURSDAY APRIL 3 MEETING: Ouray County Republican Central Committee monthly meeting, 6 p.m., Ouray County Land Use building, 111 Mall Road in Ridgway. More information at ourayrepublicans.com. SEWING ...

Feature

A THRIFT SHOP WALKS INTO A BAR

At homey Cahoots, shop for a vintage item, sip a unique cocktail and settle into a board game

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

When people walk inside Cahoots Tavern they sometimes double check with owner Crystal Tadlock to make sure they haven’t accidentally broken into someone’s home. There’s generations of art and tchotchk...

Feature

THE REBIRTH OF CHIPETA LODGE

Ridgway resort celebrates completing years of renovations, spa grand opening

By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

In Native American culture, seeing a white buffalo is a good omen – a sign of hope, renewal and good things to come. The sacred symbol is one that resonated with the owners of the Chipeta Lodge Resort...

Feature

Reimagining school lunch

Forget the box cutter and microwave — Denean Colby insists on cooking from scratch in the school kitchen. And Ridgway students are eating it up

March 19, 2025

By Ariel Hessler, Special to the Plaindealer Denean Colby arrives for work at Ridgway Secondary School at 6 in the morning, long before other staff members begin to trickle in. She makes the bread fir...

Feature

Bringing lyrics to life: ‘Stolen Seasons’ musical debuts

Local author partners with musicians to create 'Stolen Seasons' album

By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com

March 12, 2025

Joan Shapiro poured a lifetime of experiences — unsuccessful love matches, mistakes made, lessons learned — into 251 pages when she published “Stolen Seasons: Observations, Poems, Lyrics and Rants” tw...

Letters, Opinion...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Public shouldn’t pay lawyer fees

April 2, 2025

Dear Editor: I don't believe that Lynn Padgett deserves to have Ouray County pay her attorney fees, but if it will stop her Trump-like whining about how unfairly she has been treated I guess I am OK w...

Letters, Opinion...

Don’t kill the prairie dogs

April 2, 2025

Dear Editor: This is in response to the March 18 Board of County Commissioners’ meeting. The activity which initiated this was the Top of the Pines board's improper and dangerous poisoning of the Gunn...

Looking Back

LOOKING BACK

40 YEARS AGO

April 2, 2025

April 3, 1975 – "Kemmerer Coal Co. will proceed with coal development with or without water from the Dallas Project." That remark has been heard and published frequently in the past week, in quotation...

News

County rejects tax refund request

Owner of building without water, electricity irate after assessor classifies land as commercial

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

Ouray County commissioners refused a Ridgway property owner's request for a tax refund and asked him to leave the room for disorderly conduct during a meeting Tuesday. Brent Kimball lives in the 127-y...

News

Museums ask town for help with expansion, easement problems

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

March 26, 2025

Leaders of the Ouray County Ranch History Museum and the Ridgway Railroad Museum have asked the Ridgway Town Council for help moving along expansion plans on their shared property, saying they’ve reac...

Best of

Business and Real Estate

Summer Guide

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines