Craig Daily Press

Craig — What is the benefit of having the Moffat County Regional Airport owned and subsidized by the county?

According to county numbers, the airport costs about $80,000 and pulls in about $20,000 in revenue each year.

Looks like a drain.

But there are benefits, too.

Certainly, county subsidies guarantee the airport stays open, for one.

The Bureau of Land Management uses it for search and rescue and water drop missions, and it’s important those planes and helicopters don’t have to fly 30 minutes to get here.

Then, there’s the emergency crews that use the airport for flight for life carries.

Those jobs, which are truly the difference between life and death in some cases, cannot be forgotten.

Time can be everything for them. It’s important they have a close airport.

But why is the county resistant to selling the airport to a private company?

If there’s one out there, then sell it.

Sell it, take the money and put it into the Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden.

Moffat County has little to no presence there. Change that, and we’re a long way toward bringing people and business here.

The Moffat County Tourism Association is working on some ideas for remodeling what we do have, but a little extra money never hurt.

Besides, it’s about time we got a little more involved over there.

We don’t need to spend as much as Steamboat Springs, but let’s at least get some chips in the game.

Let’s at least spend our money where it will do the most good.

Right now, we’re spending it at the wrong airport.

A pat on the back

It occurs to us that our July 5 editorial left out one gigantic, important, gigantically important detail.

We want to applaud the recent efforts of Pine Ridge residents, who challenged an annexation and zoning proposal for land by their neighborhood.

Don’t be mistaken, we flatly disagree with their plans, ideas about community zoning and overall view of Craig, and we stated that last week.

However, it absolutely is refreshing to see people attend not only Craig City Council meetings, but Planning and Zoning Commission meetings, as well.

Perhaps the greatest thing these residents did was proudly state their name.

For some reason, the culture here has been stamped with an odd paranoia, that even the slightest whisper of displeasure will bring doom and misfortune.

Hopefully, more residents will look to the residents of Pine Ridge as an example that standing up and stating your name is not a death sentence, but a right.

A right we all should be proud to exercise.

We hope the community doesn’t take the wrong lesson from all this.

Although the residents did not get everything they wanted, they did encourage and get several compromises.

And there will be no repercussions for them.

The Council was impressed and happy that local citizens came out to speak their mind.

The developers, perhaps not as happy those residents came out, are nonetheless bound by a restrictive annexation agreement.

Not to mention the developers were flatly open to compromise and adding requirements to that annexation agreement, such as a stipulation that all apartment buildings would be limited to two-stories tall.

Even though we disagree, we still can discuss, reason and give credit where credit is due.

To the residents of Pine Ridge, we thank you for your civic involvement. This community should take note and follow your example.

We only hope it does.