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Young essayists outline mayoral ambitions

Patrick Kelly
Craig City Council hears comment from temporary Mayor Slater Durbin, 11.
Patrick Kelly

Tuesday night’s Craig City Council meeting sparkled with ambition when sixth-graders Slater Durbin and Alexa Neton temporarily assumed Ray Beck’s position as mayor to inform the city what they would do if they had his gig.

Their teacher, Vicki Blomquist, watched proudly from the audience.

The young students were victors of the “If I Were Mayor” essay contest, with Neton taking the gold, Trayton Reed, who wasn’t able to attend Tuesday’s meeting, coming in second, and Slater Durbin, finishing off the top three.



As a prize, the three students from Craig Middle School received the opportunity to read their essays at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Beck gladly gave up his seat at the council bench so Durbin and Neton could have the proper platform to address the city of Craig.



“I’d like you to take my seat, sir,” Beck told Durbin as the young man joined Craig City Council.

Durbin asked attendees to image if Craig was on par with Denver in terms of recreational activity and infrastructure.

“If Craig had a recreational center, it would make Craig immensely more popular,” Durbin said. “People would come to our recreational (center) all the way from Maybell to Steamboat.”

Neton expressed a similar vision.

“Craig should get a new rec center because Meeker, Colorado, a town of 2,000, has a rec center and every weekend many Craig citizens travel to swim and exercise in the Meeker rec center,” she said.

Another suggestion Neton volunteered for attracting more positive attention to Craig was improving pavement and sidewalks.

“You can’t change a first impression, so I think that town of Craig should improve potential citizen’s first impressions and reach the level of curb appeal that attracts people when they drive through our small town,” she said.

The two students received boisterous rounds of applause.

“I think they have a career in local politics,” Beck said.


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