DUI - The Durango Herald

Memorial Day DUI blitz active until Tuesday

Arrests totaled 372 during last year’s campaign

DATE: May 26, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango trolley driver pleads guilty to impaired driving

Transportation employee involved in minor crash while on duty

DATE: Apr 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

St. Patrick’s DUI arrests up 33 percent from 2016 enforcement

Colorado law enforcement agencies arrested 607 impaired drivers during the recent St. Patrick’s Day crackdown, up 33 percent over arrests in 2016, the Colorado Department of Transportation s...

DATE: Mar 23, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Statewide St. Patrick’s DUI blitz in effect March 10-20

The Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado State Patrol and local law enforcement agencies will conduct “The Heat Is On” DUI enforcement from Friday to March 20 to keep Colorado roa...

DATE: Mar 9, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Kenneth Tozer III of Durango given probation for DUI, felony eluding

A Durango man who drove erratically, eluded police and surrendered after a brief standoff with a sheriff’s deputy was given two years probation Thursday in District Court. Kenneth...

DATE: Feb 16, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango Police make 11 DUI arrests during Snowdown weekend

Local agencies join statewide effort to nab the impaired

DATE: Feb 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Statewide Super Bowl DUI blitz to begin Friday

The Colorado Department of Transportation, in coordination with Colorado State Patrol and statewide law agencies, will conduct a “Heat Is On” DUI enforcement over Super Bowl weekend, from Fr...

DATE: Feb 2, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

DUI enforcement period begins Friday

More than 26,000 arrested annually for drunken driving

DATE: Dec 29, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Holiday cheer pours onto area roads

Drunken drivers keep police busy over weekend

DATE: Dec 12, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Erratic driver headed to behavioral health court

Durango man pleads guilty to DUI, eluding

DATE: Dec 12, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango city trolley driver arrested on suspicion of DUI

Minor crash occurred on Main Avenue

DATE: Dec 5, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Thanksgiving DUI enforcement stops 518 impaired drivers

Holiday enforcement began Dec. 2

DATE: Dec 2, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

‹ Prev
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Next ›

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s