Dec 17 Newscast ~ Rio Blanco County News #34

Here’s our community newscast for the week of December 17, 2020 Twenty-year-old Colten Fritzlan, a rodeo star with Rio Blanco County connections, finished third in the National Finals Rodeo this year. It was his first time competing at the national event. Fritzlan netted more than two-hundred-forty-one-thousand dollars in season earnings. Photo and Zapcode video on page 1B. A special report from the HT’s Lucas Turner investigates oil and gas wastewater spills in the Piceance Basin. More than 700,000 gallons of produced water, a hazardous waste byproduct, was spilled in the basin in 2019. More on PAGE 1A. The HT continues the CoLab On Edge mental health series with the story of Janay Barfoot, a Lakewood resident who discusses the stigma associated with sharing mental health struggles. Read her story on PAGE 2B. Watch for more coverage, and features from Rio Blanco County residents, in the coming weeks. Whatever you’re going through, crisis counselors and professionally trained peer specialists are always available to help. Call the Colorado Crisis Services hotline at 1-844-493-TALK (8255). There is no wrong reason to reach out. The state moved Rio Blanco County to Level Orange on their COVID dial framework Monday, Dec. 14, according to the CDPHE website. This further reduces capacity rates for various small businesses and makes the county ineligible for new variance requests. More on PAGE 1A. Rio Blanco County’s COVID dial movement has been a bit chaotic. The county was Level Green for several weeks, then CDPHE informed the Public Health Department they’d be moving to Level Red. Instead, RBC was moved to Level Yellow. It took five days for the CDPHE to update the dial dashboard to reflect that. RBC was supposed to be in Level Yellow for three weeks, but was moved to Level Orange early. (You don’t have to use this, I just need to blurt it out. Cuz it’s RID-IC-U-LOUS.) The United States hit 300,000 COVID-related deaths Dec. 14. Locally, however, case counts were down in both Meeker and Rangely last week. Mor