FRIDAY ❖ MARCH 14, 2014
MOFFAT COUNTY BOYS HOOPS OUT OF RUNNING FOR STATE, SEE PAGE 9
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VOL. 113, NO. 137
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Minor damage to Mathers’ Bar after blaze
MOFFAT COUNTY’S FAMOUS EQUINE
By ERIN FENNER DAILY PRESS WRITER
nancy roberts/courtesy
PICASSO, WILD MUSTANG STALLION of the Sand Wash Basin, stands tall. The wild horse is a favorite and famous wild horse of Northwest Colorado. Nancy Roberts captures his majestic beauty.
Fireworks show in danger City, county budget restraints stifle 2014 4th of July display By ERIN FENNER DAILY PRESS WRITER
CRAIG — Fireworks are one of the key elements to celebrating the Fourth of July for most Americans. Unfortunately, Craig, America will likely not see any friendly explosions for this year’s Independence Day. City budget constraints
mean many financial adjustments, including not paying for the annual city fireworks show, said City Manager Jim Ferree. “It was just part of a large number of cuts that were made,” he said. The city usually sponsors the show; putting down $4,000, and Moffat County supports
the fireworks by paying another $4,000. But, since the city’s budget is too tight this year, the county also had to back out. They couldn’t handle paying the full $8,000, said Moffat County Commissioner Chuck Grobe. “If Craig doesn’t have the funds to do it, we don’t have
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the funds to do the whole show either, and we don’t want to take over the whole show,” he said. Grobe expressed disappointment, but said the current economy put the city in a bind, and tough decisions had to be made.
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CRAIG — Mathers' Bar, located at 420 Yampa Ave., caught fire Thursday night. “The fire department’s the one that found it,” said Moffat County Commissioner Tom Mathers, who owns the bar. Firefighters took action quickly because they noticed smoke coming out of the building, Mathers said. The flames started in the false front of the bar, right above the business’s neon sign. Nobody was hurt, and the damage was minimal, Mathers said. The cause of the fire was a spark from the sign on the front of the building, Fire Chief KC Hume said. “The neon lighting on the facade malfunctioned,” Hume said. “The (fire on the) exterior burned into the structure.” The call came in at about 9:30 p.m., said officer Josh Martinez, of the Craig Police Department. Within 30 minutes, the blaze was contained, but the fire department continued to work. Firefighters were lifted up to the flames with the fire truck’s basket so they could cut away at the front of the building to make sure everything was extinguished completely. The fire was entirely out by 10:30 p.m., but crews continued to work. During all of this, Mathers was relaxed and laughing. He took phone calls from people checking in on him and his business. But overall, he was at ease because everyone was OK, and
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