NEWS

Since Delta County Commissioners gave conditional approval to Western Slope Layers’ cage-free chicken farm in August 2011, the hen-laying facility on Powell Mesa has been in and out of district court and the commissioners’ hearing room ten times. At issue: the compatibility of the facility with the surrounding neighborhood; its impact on neighbors’ health and real estate values; the ability of the county to properly monitor the situation; and what regulations actually apply to the facility. A similar hen-laying operation is proposed for Redlands Mesa.

Anyone familiar with Paonia knows that the streets are in bad shape, especially along one four-block stretch on Third Street between Grand Avenue and the public library.

It’s not only the streets that are bumpy in Paonia. The last year has been an up-and-down ride for Paonia’s mayor. From the BLM’s decision to offer and then withdraw lease parcels in the North Fork, to the guilty plea entered by the town’s former employee for embezzling some $400,000 from the public coffers, there has been no shortage of drama. But what about the streets?