On Saturday, after 26 years as editor of the Herald’s editorial pages, Bill Roberts picked up a shovel on Cathy’s and his acreage on the Florida Mesa.
As he was fond of saying recently, he will be spending his golden years as a ranch hand. Come summer, look for him in irrigating boots. The Roberts’ property is at the end of a section of ditch, and Roberts will be dealing with either extra water or none at all rather than the Herald’s numerous letter writers.
Today, we welcome Ellen Stein as Bill Roberts’ successor.
Stein brings a multifaceted background in media and community development and outreach in Colorado, with a stint in the Peace Corps. She enjoys bringing people together for an exchange of opinions and ideas, knowing that is how issues are more likely solved and progress made.
Rural community development, community-based resource management and environmental health and sustainability are the basis of her interests. Agriculture is included, as in Steamboat Springs she led the Community Agriculture Alliance, which helped newcomers appreciate the history and value of Yampa Valley ranching and wool growing.
As an executive director and grant writer, Stein knows the importance of income and expense management. She has practiced, as she says, “making the world a better place, at the community level.”
Stein was also the development director of KDUR community radio at Fort Lewis College, a volunteer disc jockey at KOTO in Telluride, and helped start the low-power FM community radio station in Silverton. She has a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Colorado College and a master’s in public policy from Tufts University. Stein organized the Herald’s pre-election pro and con forum on several of the statewide ballot questions, and solicited and edited similar pro and con opinion pieces in print for the Herald. She enjoys the exchange of opinions.
Stein is eager to re-establish in the coming weeks the Herald’s popular monthly community conversations, which give readers a chance to meet for conversations with members of the editorial board. And, an editorial board advisory panel is in the works. Those participants will offer, on a more regular basis, their suggestions about community issues and how to respond to them.
Continuing on the editorial board are Gregory Moore, a former sportswriter and outdoors editor for the Herald who has many eclectic interests and is able to address a wide range of topics, and Suzy Meyer, the former publisher of the Cortez Journal. Meyer thoughtfully writes about Montezuma County issues, and serves to add to the view from La Plata County.
Others are Doug Bennett, Ballantine Communications, Inc., CEO, and former BCI board chairman and publisher Richard G. Ballantine. Bennett provides pro-business and less-government perspectives to the board, while Ballantine draws on his many years in the community.
We look forward to continuing to provide strong opinion pages under Stein’s leadership, pages created with a large degree of community participation.
