Blanding

Chart provided by San Juan County Attorney's office showing the alarming rise in sexual violence cases in the county

Sexual violence cases amongst teens growing at alarming rate in San Juan County

The San Juan County Attorney’s office reports an increasing trend of reported sexual violence and the vast majority of victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes in the county are underage children, mostly teenagers. From 2000 to 2010, the county averaged 4.1 reported cases of sexual violence per...

Schools throughout San Juan County, included pictured Monticello Elementary, will delay their start by two days

San Juan School Board finalizes plans for start of year

San Juan County School Board finalized plans ahead of the start of the academic school year later this month. Key items passed include 100 percent remote learning for students in the south part of the county for the start of the year. The district moved the first day of school for students from...

Young San Juan High School football team set to kick off 2020 season with August 14 opener

A lot has happened in the nine months since the 2019 San Juan High School football season came to a premature close at the hands of Region 12 opponent Richfield on October 25, 2019. It could even be said the bitter taste of the 41-20 loss to the Wildcats in the first round of the 3A state...

Awakening to the subtlety of sound

Because Oggie is a rescued dog, we don’t know her ancestry, but we do know she was bred for high altitudes and cold weather. She’s miserable when we hike in the canyons during the summer, but she has strategies to survive. In Westwater, despite the fact I’ve bought her a cooling vest and carry...

Fourth of July 2020

Images of “Free to Be Me” Fourth of July celebrations in Blanding. When the city was unable to sponsor the traditional annual event due to COVID-19 restrictions, Blanding residents and businesses banded together to organize their own festivities. Chalk art photo by Daniel Jolley; all other photos...

San Juan graduate will continue basketball career in Washington

San Juan High School graduate Tasiah Little is heading northwest from Blanding to continue her basketball career with the Peninsula College Pirates in Port Angeles, WA. She was recently awarded an athletic scholarship, signed a letter of intent to attend the two-year school, and will begin pursuit...

Cheatgrass and cow-killer lessons

Cheatgrass is the bane of Oggie’s life. On the Westwater trails it’s mostly beaten down by foot traffic, but she still picks up the seedpods on her feet. Whenever she stops and frantically chews on her paws, I try to pull out the bristles, also called awns, but our progress is slow and the walk...

Fourth of July to be honored in Blanding

by Rhett Sifford Staff writer A group of Blanding residents and businesses, led by Toniee Lewis, have banded together to organize a private event that will celebrate American freedom, stand against a loss of freedom, and ensure that a big Fourth of July party won’t be missing in Blanding this year...

Blanding City Council discusses airport, Transient Room Tax collection, city projects

It was business as usual at the June 23 meeting of the Blanding City Council. The council interviewed local airport fixed base operator (FBO) applicants Shelby Seely and Kasper Pedersen. The other applicant, Jason Nay, put his support behind that of Seely and Pedersen. Councilmember Cheryl Bowers...

Blanding residents will celebrate freedom in private Fourth of July events on July 3 and 4

When the Blanding City Council decided on May 26 that the City of Blanding would cancel the annual Fourth of July celebration due to COVID-19 restrictions, it immediately set off a flurry of activity that put a new celebration on the Blanding calendar for July 3 and 4. A group of Blanding residents...