…and on writing a significantly expanded update of that story. Last April, after a year trying to collect as much publicly available information as I could find, I started to write what ultimately became a 10,000 word account of one of Grand County’s most brutal crimes,…
For most of my time at The Times, Thursdays were my “wind-down” days, the one day in the week when I could relax a bit from production pressure, research my much-loved (by me, at any rate) Looking Backward column, and…
Yet another local landmark was recently torn down and wiped from the face of the Earth. Recently, for me, at least. In August, Tonya and I were driving to Moab from Monticello, on US 191, for the first time in a few…
Late in the afternoon of June 9, 2021, heavy smoke was reported along upper Pack Creek in San Juan County, just upstream from Pack Creek Ranch. As the fire began to move rapidly down the creek bed, the historic ranch and its…
There were a number of well-considered reader responses to the essay I wrote a couple of issues ago about the accelerating effect of Covid on growth in southern Utah. Some of the comments extended the conversation in new and interesting…
This piece is excerpted from from Cold Case Chronicles: Mysteries, Murders & the Missing by Silvia Pettem (©2021). The book is available on Amazon at this link. For a few months in 2009, twenty-first-century forensics seemed to resolve the mystery…
One of the truisms of life as a reporter, especially in a small town, is one always had to have access to motorized transportation. There was no predicting when or where a news event would take place, and, especially if…
In the mid-70s, Cisco, Utah was already being called a ghost town. It had boomed briefly during the Uranium Craze, but two decades later, it already had a deserted look and feel to it. One marginal exception was Ethel’s Cafe. Its…
Disclaimer: The following is a recollection of events that occurred in the early summer of 1988. An avoidable accident resulting in the death of a paying passenger was due to an unfortunate series of errors by ill-prepared staff and owners…
The June 9th Pack Creek Fire was deeply upsetting for those of us who know and love the La Sals. I discuss the fire, and its effects, in two stories this issue: Take it or Leave it: FUTURE “FIRES”… A…