50 YEARS AGO January 13, 1972 - Ouray can have smog, too. A temperature inversion headed Ouray into a very smoggy Sunday this week. Smoke collected over town so heavy that buildings and mountains were...

50 YEARS AGO January 6, 1972 - Hopes of beginning construction on a sewer system for the town of Ridgway by April or May seemed dashed Monday night, but the Town Council isn’t giving up the idea. For ...

50 YEARS AGO December 30, 1971 - Marvin Gregory had a painful accident last Wednesday while working with a power saw, and has now joined the club of butchers, carpenters, etc., who are minus fingers o...

Growing up here, I despised the cold and snow. At 6 a.m., 58 years ago, my stepdad Roger and I were driving the team toward the silage pit. The temperature was 15 degrees below zero and it was snowing...

50 YEARS AGO December 23, 1971 - EDITORIAL - Instead of the joyful affair it should have been, the special Christmas music program at Ouray School last Friday had all the overtones of a wake for many ...

As you read this, it’s only two short days to Christmas and nine to New Year’s Day, but the length of our winter days is subtly increasing. Two days ago, at the winter solstice, Earth’s star began its...

Dear Editor: In January of 2020, John Warren of Ouray, owner of Red Mountain Brewery, appeared before Ouray County Court Judge Zachary Martin on a rape charge. According to that charge, in December of...

50 YEARS AGO December 16, 1971 - Loads of trees and boughs moving on the highways remind us that Christmas will soon be here. All persons — even the family who plans to cut only one tree for their own...

Dear Editor: Last week, Judge Cory Jackson postponed – yet again – at the request of the defense, the trial in the case of defendant John Warren charged with three counts of sexual assault. Disturbing...

50 YEARS AGO December 9, 1971 - With the advent of excellent sledding conditions, kids have been observed all over Ouray, sledding in areas not particularly conducive to coming home alive. The Ouray C...

Thanksgiving is here – and we do need a respite from pressing issues. Given this latest COVID outbreak, the recent international agreement on climate change, our lingering drought and a second La Niña...

50 YEARS AGO November 18, 1971 - It was anything but relaxing and certainly a very different kind of “wilderness experience” for those who attended the lengthy hearings, Monday through Thursday this w...

An article on Page 2 of the Nov. 11-17 Plaindealer should have clarified that Ouray Silver Mines does not make the decision to open or close County Road 361. This decision is made solely by Ouray Coun...

Dear Editor: On behalf of our students, our staff, our school board and our entire Ridgway School District, we would like to thank the Ridgway voters for their support in the passage of ballot measure...

50 YEARS AGO November 11, 1971 - Police Blotter: October 4, Women’s outhouse was moved from Rotary Park to the swimming pool area on U.S. 550. Attempt to burn outhouse was made. People involved were l...

Dear Editor: Before the recent election, I was disturbed to receive a postcard from a kindergartner from Ridgway Elementary recently. This little one begged us to vote for 4A and 4B, then signed her n...

Dear Editor: 315 people voted for taxing tourists, out of nearly 900 registered voters. That does not sound like an overwhelming mandate when only 35% of the good people of Ouray wish to limit tourism...

50 YEARS AGO November 4, 1971 - Ouray, San Miguel and Montrose counties have come to an agreement to combine forces to obtain a full-time planner, whose services the three counties will share. Ouray C...

After three unusually hot summer months followed by a hotter than average September (days 3.8 degrees above normal, nights 2.1 above), October 2021 has been relatively temperate. By Tuesday the 26th, ...

50 YEARS AGO October 28, 1971 - The 10 percent drop in school enrollment this term is costing the Ouray School District R-1 about $12,000 in state aid under the 1969 School Foundation Act. In addition...