- The Rico Hotel is purchased by the Telluride Ski and Golf Company for employee housing.
- Two men who organized a motorized protest ride through a southeast Utah canyon ordered to pay $96,000 in restitution.
The Rico Hotel, which has been shuttered since its owner died in 2014, has been purchased by the Telluride Ski and Golf Company for employee housing. Company executive vice president Robert Stenhammer tells KSJD worker housing has become such an issue that “we’re worried it’s going to affect our service levels” at the ski resort. He says buying the 16-room historic structure will “make a little dent” in the problem, and adds, “Telluride loves Rico!” Although the hotel will be used primarily for long-term housing, Stenhammer says it will also offer some nightly rentals, and the hotel’s Argentine Grill restaurant is expected to reopen as well. Town Manager Mike England says Rico welcomes the company and the chance to have “a few more people in town”. After remodeling, the hotel is slated to open before ski season begins.
Two men who organized a motorized protest ride through a southeast Utah canyon in 2014 have been ordered to pay $96,000 in restitution. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that, at a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer ordered San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman and blogger Monte Wells to pay the sum, based on the BLM’s costs for doing a damage assessment and stabilizing riparian areas harmed by ATVs. The men were convicted in May of two misdemeanors in connection with the ride through Recapture Canyon, which has been closed to motorized use since 2007. Nuffer took over the case after the original judge stepped down when Lyman’s attorneys charged he was biased and three other judges also recused themselves. Lyman then filed for a new trial, claiming the Recapture Canyon road was a historic route that could not be closed, but his motion was rejected. Lyman and Wells are scheduled to be sentenced on the criminal charges on December 18th.
