News Now Blog

The Fremont County Commissioners on Tuesday adopted a new fee schedule for building and septic system permits and adopted a new policy setting out how property owners can make temporary use of unconstructed county road rights of way.

The Fremont County Planning Commission will resume discussion at its July 1st monthly meeting on amendments to the Fremont County Zoning Resolution. The Commission initiated consideration of various amendments to the resolution in June including creation of an 'Airport Zone District' intended to restrict development at the Fremont County Airport to aviation related uses. Other amendments deal with clerical issues and reorganizational items.

The Fremont County Commissioners voted to approve a controversial permit for uranium exploration in the rural Tallahassee area northwest of Canon City but postponed final adoption of permit conditions for another month.

The Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the conditional use permit for Black Range Minerals to explore for uranium on 8,169 acres of the Taylor Ranch along County Road 2. Black Range said most of their exploration will be confined to 3,000 acres near the center of the ranch property.

With the return of summer, state health officials again are warning Coloradans in rural parts of the state to avoid hantavirus exposure while cleaning cabins, buildings, sheds and barns that may have been closed up for winter.

Hantavirus is a serious respiratory disease carried by deer mice that are common to rural areas throughout the state. The virus can infect humans who inhale dirt and dust contaminated with deer mice urine and feces, when working in or cleaning out rodent-infested structures.

Zoning issues at the Fremont County Airport highlight the agenda for the June 3rd meeting of the Fremont County Planning Commission Tuesday evening. The Planning Commission is set to review several changes to the county's zoning resolution identified as the 26th amendment. Included in the changes is the creation of an 'Airport' zone district. An 'Airport' zone district has been under discussion by the Planning and Zoning staff with the Board of Commissioners for the past two years as a way to control development on airport facilities and the area immediately surrounding the airport.

A ceremony to dedicate the latest addition of veterans names on engraved bricks at the Fremont County War Memorial Park is set for tomorrow. Veterans Service Office Betty Hanawalt says the dedication ceremony for the newly engraved bricks will take place at 12 noon at the memorial wall at the Fremont County Airport.

Pastor Jack Crosby will deliver remarks for the dedication which will also include a flag ceremony by the Canon City High School ROTC and a jet plane flyover by Airport Manager Richard Baker.

Fremont County Nurse Clarice Little will leave her post at the end of May after leading the Fremont County Nursing Service for the past seventeen years. Little has decided to retire from her work in public health where she has worked for twenty-seven years. Little began with the Fremont County Nursing Service in September, 1981, performing home health service, operating immunization clinics, and a multitude of other duties.

Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker has imposed Stage One Fire Restrictions across all unincorporated areas of Fremont County. The Sheriff was preparing to put the restrictions in place when the county's first wildland fire of the season broke out Monday afternoon (May 12th) in the Copper Gulch area within the Deer Mountain Fire District. The fire was believed to have been ignited from a controlled burn that got out of hand and was spread by strong southwest winds onto BLM public lands. It quickly covered 200 acres by nightfall.

The Fremont County Commissioners Tuesday gave the Sheriff authority to impose a fire ban and approved a permit that will allow the former Broken Spoke arena at Penrose to reopen.