Episode 18 ~ August 20, 2020

Photo courtesy: Town of Rangely Thanks for listening to Rio Blanco County news. Here are highlights from the August 20 edition of the Herald Times. This week Herald Times staff visited White River Electric Association and hopped into a very shiny, quiet, and speedy new Tesla Model 3 for a test drive that at times felt more like a theme park ride. The vehicle is one of two EVs on loan to WREA from Tri-State Generation and Transmission, as part of their “Beneficial Electrification” program. Check out our Facebook page or Youtube channel to see a special video of the car and some parts of the drive, and read more about Tri-State’s promotion on the front page. Also on the front page this week we hear from Spencer Gates of Meeker, who’s on his way to state fair after taking home the title of Grand Champ. He won for market, breeding and showmanship with his Boer goat, Al. Gates shares lessons learned, plans for the future, the benefits of brotherly competition and more in this week’s edition. Meeker Resident Bob Tobin noticed smoke Friday afternoon as he pulled into his driveway near the top of Seventh Street, and sure enough a fire had broken out near two large water towers in the area, Tobin was the first on the scene and reported the fire. Within an hour Meeker and BLM firefighters had the blaze under control. The Pine Gulch fire near Grand Junction is reported at over 125 thousand acres after growing 30,000 acres overnight on Tuesday August 18th. It is now the second largest fire in Colorado history. The Grizzly Creek fire burning in Glenwood Canyon was reported just over 28,000 acres as of press time. I-70 remains closed, marking the longest closure of the stretch of highway in recent history. Photos of the 7th Street Water Tower Fire, Pine Gulch and Grizzly Creek fires are on pages 2A and 3A. With the addition of one new COVID-19 case in Rangely on August 17, Rio Blanco County’s total case count rose to 21. As of press time Wednesday, the county’s public health department reports 20 of those cases are r