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KSJD Newscast - September 9th, 2015

  • Positive news on Cortez District Re-1 school budget and glowing reviews on new high school.
  • Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office DUI checkpoint set up in McElmo Canyon finds no drunk drivers.
  • BLM Tres Rios Field Office plans to begin prescribed burns about seven miles east of Dove Creek.

Good news at the Tuesday night meeting of the Cortez District Re-1 school board. Superintendent Alex Carter says the district will be rolling back as much as half a million dollars into the general fund this year, as compared to a mere twenty-nine-thousand-dollar surplus last year. The savings are the result of low health-care costs, additional revenues, and a frugal budget. But he warns not to expect the welcome windfall next year, as the state is set to cut funding to schools because of TABOR limits. The new Montezuma-Cortez High School is getting glowing reviews from teachers and students. The building is being praised for its windows, new bathrooms, spaciousness and quiet. There have been just a few complaints – one of which is the lockers are too small. 

And in other good news, a Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office DUI checkpoint set up in McElmo Canyon for two hours on Saturday night found no drunk drivers among the 17 vehicles that were randomly contacted. However, there were five vehicles that made U turns before the checkpoint. The sheriff’s office says activity over Labor Day weekend was “relatively steady with various calls for service which included a physical assault, warrant arrests, noise complaints/disturbances, two hit and run crashes and miscellaneous traffic contacts.”

And expect to see a little smoke in the skies of Dolores County in coming days. The  Bureau of Land Management’s Tres Rios Field Office plans to begin several prescribed burns about seven miles east of Dove Creek as early as Thursday, or as conditions allow. Recent precipitation, cooler temperatures, and below-average fire danger have prompted the agency to start the prescribed burns, which will treat 509 acres of ponderosa pine and Gambel oak. The burns are part of a larger project to reduce hazardous fuels and improve wildlife habitat and range conditions.
 

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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