A nationwide continued slump in new housing construction and a depressed price for plywood has caused the closing of the Montezuma Plywood Company factory here in Dolores according to General Manager Ken Cook. Some operations have already shut down including layoff of the woods workers and all production will cease on Thursday, Oct. 31. Current inventory of logs in the yards is 6.7 million board feet, which would last about 3 months under normal production. There are also about 4.5 million board feet of logs cut and ready to haul still in the woods. This means that should plywood prices and demand improve, the mill could start up and operate on sort notice. However, Cook said, they expect to be closed down for a period of approximately three to four months. Effected are 145 workers in the factory and 125 workers in the woods.
Elk kill was up this year according to Bill Fischer, local Division of Wildlife officer, but this may be due to more hunters rather than more game. Also on the increase is the number of violations. One local area rancher has been found with five cow elk and two deer and had a penalty assessment of $1400 after local game officers and the District Attorney's office made the charges and citation.
The White House has notified Senator Peter Dominick that President Gerald Ford will make a campaign swing through Colorado and will stop in Grand Junction for a rally at the stadium.
Franklin Edwards of Dolores was not injured in a one vehicle accident on Oct. 16 according to a report from the Colorado State Patrol office. Edwards was southbound on the Lebananon road at 7:55 a.m. when he lost control of his 1966 Ford and skidded off the road into a retaining wall and mail box.
Walkie talkies and CB radios can come in handy while out in the woods as a hunter from Pennsylvania found out while hunting on Taylor Mesa last Thursday. Keith Ferrick of Cortez and John Sturdevant of Stoner and visiting the hunting camp of a friend, Jim Christensen, and had started back to their own camp several miles distant. Keith and Jim were testing their CB radios to find their range. Through his walkie talkie a Pennsylvania hunter said he was on Taylor Mesa, was lost, and where was the road? Upon questioning him as to his location, the description of the surrounding area, they were able to determine his position and told him to start walking, keeping the moon to his right while continuing to talk on the small radio. By the time he had made his way out to the road, Keith and John were there to meet him and transported him back to his camp.
It was a wet, cold night for Betty Sissons Monday after she became lost in the Mancos Hill area. Mrs. Sissons, a resident of Dove Creek, had been on a prospecting expedition with her husband and the couple had driven six miles northeast off Highway 160 before walking about a mile down a trail. Mrs. Sissons became tired and decided to return to her vehicle and was then not heard of for several hours after she wandered off the trail. Her husband returned to the vehicle about noon to find her missing, searched for awhile and then notified the authorities of her disappearance. It was snowing hard in the area. She was found by her husband about 11:30 that night, wet cold, tired and hungry,b ut in good condition when found.
Joe Edward Lawson left last Tuesday to go to Washington, D. C., where he will be employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a fingerprinting clerk.