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Delta County residents can mark their 2017 calendars for early blood draws and health fairs in Paonia, Cedaredge and Delta, according to Patti Kalahar, manager of education/marketing for Delta County Memorial Hospital. Lions Club members in Delta, Cedaredge and Paonia and DCMH volunteers will be partnering in the annual community health fair events again this year.

The effort to bring high speed broadband to Delta County is moving much faster than anyone anticipated. Working with Region 10 and contractor TCS Communications, the City of Delta has seen installation of fiber optic cables throughout the city.

Harlan D. Watkins, 25, of Olathe was arrested and jailed on a warrant with a $750 bond.

Dennis J. Jameson, 21, of Delta was arrested and jailed for alleged resisting arrest and second degree assault on a peace officer.

The board of directors of Delta County Memorial Hospital has elected to opt out of Proposition 106, approved by the state's voters in November 2016. The proposition allows physicians to prescribe medical aid-in-dying medication to terminally ill individuals under certain conditions.

A grand jury has returned an indictment against Dustin Kolb, 38, of Delta, charging him with sexual assault on a child by a person in trust, with the victim being under the age of 15, as part of a pattern of abuse. The charge is a third degree felony.

During a time when most people are reflecting on their previous year and considering what they want to do differently for the year to come, HopeWest is offering an opportunity for people to find meaning and joy in the new year by becoming a HopeWest volunteer.

There are plenty of studies that discuss the benefits of marijuana use. New literature links cannabis to the improvement of many diseases, including the use of marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of nausea in chemotherapy patients.

Members of VFW Post 3571 were able to distribute over 1,000 pounds of non-perishable food to 24 veterans and their families in the Delta area, thanks to a cooperative project between the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Colorado Aviation Business Association (CABA).

CABA and the VFW worked together for the sixth year to make their Holiday Airlift a success statewide.

Members of Lee Marts Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3571 and its Auxiliary donated most of their day Saturday, Dec. 17, to honor and remember American veterans.

On Dec. 20, Delta resident Aaron Weedman was sentenced to a four-year sentence in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Weedman pleaded guilty to vehicular assault -- under the influence, a class 4 felony, and aggravated motor vehicle theft, also a class 4 felony.

I wanted to express my heartfelt thanks to all the kind souls who stopped to offer help, or agreed to make phone calls for me when my car broke down on McClure Pass on Christmas Eve,

Recent letters have discussed taxing internet purchases, funding ambulance services, the financial drain of golf courses, etc. So of course I want to put my two-cents' worth in!

I would personally like to thank the many volunteers who helped serve Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to over 280 members of the North Fork Valley. With your help and support you made many people very happy.

The City of Delta spent some $30 million on an overpass so that ambulances would not have to wait at the railroad crossing. The voters turned down an ambulance district request for additional funding so there would be no additional delays in ambulance response to an emergency.

I left home with a suitcase and a sleeping bag one day after graduation. No one helped me nor did I expect help -- even from my parents (who did NOT help me).

With Colorado prep sports programs exiting their Christmas break, the 2016-17 winter sessions will commence this week. Area wrestling teams have been honing skills in preparation for their runs to post-season competition.

Area wrestling teams have earned some top rankings, as have many athletes from Delta County Schools (Cedaredge, Delta, Hotchkiss and Paonia) and Olathe.

The Center for the Arts Crested Butte announces its winter season with a heavy-hitting roster in a wide-sweeping variety of genres. Blues, rock, bluegrass, reggae, indie-folk, jam and Americana will be featured on the Center Stage with established legends, Grammy-winning masters, and some of the festival circuit's hottest acts.

Bill Heddles Recreation Center offers weekly sessions of duplicate bridge, party bridge, cribbage, pinochle, Scrabble and chess. In addition, Tuesday Needlers meet every Tuesday morning.

The Blue Sage Concert Series is pleased to announce "A Musical Caravan" on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 7:30 p.m. featuring the Blue Sage's artistic director of world music and local percussionist David Alderdice, along with a host of other amazing musicians from Colorado, in the second world music concert of the Blue Sage's 2016-17 season.

The Delta Hubwheelers square dance club has scheduled square dance lessons starting Feb. 1 and ending April 6 in Delta. This is a great opportunity for those interested to join the growing square dancing fun locally.

The Delta Hubwheelers Square Dance Club has scheduled January dances on Saturday nights, Jan. 7 and 21, in the aerobics room at the Bill Heddles Recreation Center, 531 N. Palmer Street, Delta.

The Jan. 7 dance will feature guest caller Lamar Podbevsek from Clifton.

Gwen and John "Dude" Holybee will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary

Families visiting the forest is the goal of Outdoor Heritage Days. To encourage family outdoor adventures, the U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife partnered with the Outdoor Heritage Day sponsors to promote the "Families in the Forest" contest.

The world lost one of its most gentle souls on Dec. 27, with the passing of Constantino (Connie) Chairez. He was 99.

Earl Cabe of Crawford died Dec. 25, 2016. He was 66.

Longtime Delta resident Erma L. Bloom died Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, at her home. She was 75.

Hazel Pacheco Branom, a resident of Grand Junction since 1994, died Dec. 28, 2016, at her home. She was 97.

Helen Wakefield of Crawford died at HopeWest Care Center in Grand Junction Dec. 24, 2016. She was 74.

Longtime Delta County resident John Wilburn Hawkins Jr. died Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016, at Horizons Care Center in Eckert. He was 98.

Katherine "Kathy" Lucille Allison Geddes of Crawford died Dec. 30, 2016, at her home. She was 74.

Lynn Ann Hrabe died Jan. 3, 2017. She was 59.

Longtime Delta resident Pauline Newsom died Dec. 31, 2016, at Willow Tree Care Center in Delta. She was 95.

Sim "Scotty" Ashlock of Austin died Dec. 25, 2016, in Grand Junction. He was 70.

The choice for administrator for the Town of Paonia was whittled down again after interim town administrator Dan Dean accepted the position of administrator for the City of Kimball, Neb., last week. Dean was appointed interim town manager in September following the resignation of Jane Berry. Dean could not be reached for comment.

Paonia Police Officer Bill Hart was diagnosed with Stage 4 small-cell lung cancer and is currently undergoing radiation treatments at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction. Soon he will begin chemo treatments soon, which are expected to last about four months.

Mari McCarville, a former student of the North Fork Montessori School, was one of 42 young leaders recognized with a Boettcher Foundation Scholarship in May 2016. A graduate of Grand Junction High School, she is majoring in music and biology, with a concentration in neuroscience, at the University of Denver.

Palisade archaeologist Curtis Martin will present "The Archaeology of the Ute Indians and Their Final Years in Western Colorado," at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the Paonia Public Library.

Martin is principal investigator for the Colorado Wickiup Project, a program of the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group (DARG).

No snow today -- clear sky without a single cloud, and I always wonder, "How long will this last!" But after yesterday's storm, this change is most welcome!

The Cedaredge Town Board, acting on Dec. 8 and on recommendation of the Chief of Police, added language to its code of ordinances that outlaws urinating in open places of the town and that defines the length of the blades on "carry knives."

The town trustees took the action during their regular December business meeting.

Orchard City trustees are considering a town sales tax and other possible money raising ideas. Discussion of various ideas will begin at the town board's first work session of the year: Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m. according to town hall.

The new year is upon us and it is time that we resolve to use trees more wisely and give them the care they deserve. I am both a member of the Cedaredge Tree Board and a Colorado Master Gardener.