Hello! My name is Sean Flannelly and I'm the summer Journalist Product Manager for the Montrose NABUR site. I'm here to help everyone in Montrose have better, more informed conversations that help service the local community. Feel free to reach out to me anytime.
Do you have questions for Sean Flannelly?
Log in to ask Sean Flannelly questions publicly or anonymously.
Montrose County election officials are moving forward with a required recount in the District F school board election, which will need to be completed before the end of the day on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
Kelley's opponent, Dawn Schieldt, is the only "conservative slate" candidate still technically in the race, with her two running mates losing to Alice Murphy and Sarah Fishering.
Per Staff Writer Anna Lynn Winfrey's reporting: "MCSD has approximately $20,000 budgeted for election-related costs, but it is unclear how much money has been spent in this election cycle so far." The county clerk isn't certain how much a recount will cost just yet.
Unlike the other five candidates, Eric Kelley did not engage in any campaigning because he objected to spending money on a non-partisan, volunteer position.
What do you think about the recount? Are you hoping for a different result?
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will offer free entry to all Colorado state parks on Fresh Air Friday (A.K.A this Friday)! This year marks the seventh-annual Fresh Air Friday event that encourages people to take some time over Thanksgiving weekend to create new outdoor memories and live life outside.
To begin planning for Friday, visit the Colorado state park finder or use the free Colorado Trail Explorer (COTREX) app to discover local parks, trail systems and open spaces.
With Fresh Air Friday in mind, I'm wondering -- what's your favorite Colorado State Park?
We'll soon be putting up flyers and suggestion boxes in a few places around town with that question. While there, you can write down your question, drop it in the box and our reporters will follow up.
We're putting those boxes up to advertise NABUR and its purpose -- connecting the community and the MDP newsroom. But since you're already here, I wanted to pose the question to you too: What questions do you have about Montrose?
Montrose Community Dinners needs more volunteers to hand out its meals come Thanksgiving Day.
Volunteers need only to commit to two-hour shifts. Help is most needed Monday, Nov. 22, and Tuesday, Nov. 23, in food prep and on Thanksgiving for boxing meals. Help is needed between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. all days. People who volunteer on Thanksgiving can take meals home with them.
Anyone who can pitch in is asked to call 970-318-6724 or visit montrosecommunitydinners.com as soon as possible.
Have you volunteered here before? Are you helping out this year?
DMEA reported a "targeted effort" Sunday to access its data. The company said it's not working with any law enforcement currently, but it also declined to answer about any ransomware or ransom requests.
For customers, this attack translated to an inability to pay bills online, meaning in-person drop-offs were required. The bill pay system, Smart Hub and a lot of convenience items are not functioning, but the power and internet are still working. Even today, DMEA's website returns an error.
Did the DMEA attack cause any problems for you? What's your take on the whole situation?
Full disclosure: DMEA is a sponsor of the Montrose Daily Press.
Specifically, how should BLM use the land near the river in Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area? The current proposal includes designating campsites, establishing a reservation system for designated campsites, and providing equitable allocation of commercial use along the Gunnison River corridor as it flows through the D-E NCA.
Public comments must be received by Dec. 15.The public’s input will assist the BLM in the development of the alternatives in the draft environmental assessment.
The school district has been working towards planning the mascot changes for Montrose High and Centennial Middle, but a letter from the state told the district that Johnson Elementary, whose mascot is the Thunderbirds, needs to be changed as well.
In response, the district sent its own letter contesting the change, Staff Writer Anna Lynn Winfrey reports.
Superintendent Carrie Stephenson argued that changing the Thunderbird mascot does not align with requirements specified in the new law, as the thunderbird is a multicultural mythical creature that is not a dehumanizing depiction of Native American people. She also argued that changing the mascot would be too expensive.
Thunderbirds are primarily associated with Native American culture, but mythical birds certainly are represented in other cultures as well.
What do you think about the district's decision? And what do you make of the state making this request?
Because of the case surge in Montrose County, Walmart shut its doors in order to sanitize and clean.
This is not a county or city decision, but rather a decision made by Wal-mart based on Montrose County's case rates. The company evaluates COVID-19 data in the counties of each location, and when a threshold is reached, they try to get ahead of the curve by shutting down and cleaning.
On the New York Times' COVID-19 case tracker, Montrose County is listed as having the 11th highest case rate per 100,000 people in the country. Montrose is the second most populous county among those 11 top counties.
State data on Montrose County incidence rates are slightly lower than the numbers the Times reports, which can be attributed to differences in reporting methods and times of reporting. For instance, as the NYT explains, “jurisdictions typically count cases and deaths based on a person’s residence, rather than the location where they tested positive or died.”
Still, state data shows Montrose as the fifth highest case rate in the state and in the “very high” region, as shown on the map below.
As case counts and hospital capacity surge throughout the state, the Colorado Hospital Association responded on Wednesday to recent concerns about rising hospital capacity by activating Tier 3, the highest tier, of the Combined Hospital Transfer Center operation in order to manage patient transfers on a statewide scope.
To learn more about the recent surge in Montrose County, check out reporter @Cassie Knust 's latest article.
This news comes at the same time that the FDA has recommend vaccines for children ages 5 to 11. Dr. Greg Suchon, a provider at the Pediatric Associates of Montrose, says there’s likely to be an initial rush of parents and children signing up, but that it will likely wane in the same way the adult vaccine demand did. Here’s Suchon speaking with reporter @Anna Lynn Winfrey about his expectations:
Suchon said he and his practice will be reiterating the importance of the vaccine for children. Although children are less susceptible to hospitalization and death than elderly patients, at least 791 kids have died of the disease in the U.S. Thousands have developed a severe inflammatory response that has led to hospitalizations.
To learn more about where to get young children vaccinated and the local process, read Anna Lynn’s article.
Lastly, senior writer and assistant editor @Katharhynn Heidelbergreported on how public entities are reacting to the COVID-19 uptick. For instance, Delta-Montrose Electric Assosciation went to remote work until Nov. 29, starting Nov. 3. Montrose County and the City of Montrose are maintaining their existing precautions and taking cues from the state of Colorado, which so far has not reimplemented previous mask mandates.
The school district considers any mitigation strategy to keep schools safe “on the table,” but is not at present contemplating a universal mask mandate, Matt Jenkins, public information officer, said.
Read Katharhynn’s full article to learn how other entities are considering changing things up in response to the surge.
What's your reaction to this new information? Do you think Montrose has the situation under control? Do you have questions related to any of this?
In the past seven-day period (Oct. 26 — Nov.1) the county has reported 152 new cases for a total of 4,097 since reporting began.
As of Monday, Delta Health reported 12 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 83% of ICU beds occupied. Statewide as of Friday, Oct. 29, 90% of ICU beds were in-use, 89% of total available medical/surgical beds were filled and 89% of acute care beds in-use.
