News in Brief

Fire destroys trailer near RuediEAGLE COUNTY Eagle County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a mysterious fire that made ashes of a 40-foot trailer parked near Ruedi Reservoir Wednesday or Thursday.”It burned to the ground. A total loss,” said Basalt fire chief Scott Thompson.Sometime between 7 p.m. on July 18 and 8 a.m. on July 19th, the 40-foot trailer belonging to Edward Gill, a property manager for land near the Aspen Yacht Club at Ruedi, caught fire.The trailer was not hooked up to any utilities, and Gill was staying in a nearby home, Thompson said. There were no known witnesses.Gill used the trailer for weekend getaways and left it parked near the home where he was staying.”If anybody has information, contact the Eagle County Sheriff,” Thompson said.

Crews contain Silt fireSILT The Ram Lane Fire, located about two miles north of Silt, was listed at 100 percent contained Sunday night, said David Boyd, Bureau of Land Management spokesman.While there has been rain in the area, there was no rain on the fire, just a quick response and good work by the fire crews, said Susan Douglas of the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit.”It’s just the firefighters were on the ball last night and got the line dug,” she said.The fire started two miles north of Silt near the east end of Ram Lane (County Road 250), where it makes a 90-degree turn to the west.On Sunday ground crews totaling about 74 firefighters were working the blaze. The fire was listed at 45 acres by Sunday afternoon – about 75 percent of the land was Bureau of Land Management, with the other 25 percent on private land.A number of homes were at risk on Saturday, with the fire getting as close as 10 yards to one home, according to Boyd, but no structures have been lost in the fire. Douglas gives some of that credit to the Firewise program, which encourages landowners to incorporate defensible space around their structures.”The only damage was to the barbed-wire fencing,” she said. “The homeowners are doing the defensible space and following the Firewise program by keeping the fuels away from their homes.” (Glenwood Springs Post Independent)

Meadows’ Market Street still thrivesGLENWOOD SPRINGS Businesses continue to thrive on Market Street in the Glenwood Meadows shopping center despite recent closings of Gracy’s clothing store and Magoo’s Italian Bar and Grill, according to other local store owners. Some say the No. 1 concern of most seemed to be a lack of promotional signage around town and within the shopping center, which is part of the reason for the low walk-in traffic. So, without strong promotion, owners have had to get creative in how they market their shops.The combination of low foot traffic and high rent was part of the reason for Magoo’s closing, according to owner Myriah Blair. But vice president of leasing for Miller-Weingarten Bill McKernon said that the rents aren’t high in relation to the area and that the shop owners are always “charged a market rent.” McKernon said that with the closing of the two shops in June, Meadows has only three vacant spaces, and in his opinion, that is pretty good.”We’re still at 90 percent leased,” McKernon said. “None of our centers are at 100 percent leased.”But McKernon optimistically said that the other businesses at the center, such as Chili’s and Zheng’s Asian Bistro, have had a great year.Alisa Tillung, owner of Smoothy King, agreed with McKernon in that businesses succeed and fail for different reasons.”Anywhere you go there are ups and downs,” Tillung said. “Any of the businesses would be able to say the same thing.”Smoothy King has been open for almost a year and a half, Tillung said, and she indicated that one of the reasons her business has been successful is the fact that she looked to others for guidance.”I walked in with realistic expectations,” Tillung said. “I looked to others through the first year, and now I’m applying what I’ve learned.”Tillung said that customers were hard to come by in the first month of business, but since then she’s focused on educating the customers on what her business offers and getting involved with the community.”My challenges are of a new business owner,” she said. “They’re not because of the Meadows or the location.” (Glenwood Springs Post Independent)