Political campaigns - The Durango Herald

La Plata County candidates file financial reports

Money raised, spent ramps up as November election approaches

DATE: Jun 6, 2018 | CATEGORY: Local News

Democrats vying for county treasurer to debate Thursday

A debate between the two Democratic candidates for La Plata County treasurer – incumbent Allison Aichele and Tim Walsworth – will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Extension Buildi...

DATE: Jun 4, 2018 | CATEGORY: Local News

Republican candidate for House District 59 won’t appear on primary ballot

Joe Brinkerhoff was registered with wrong political party when nominated

DATE: May 31, 2018 | CATEGORY: Local News

State House and Senate candidates file financial reports

Next filing date is June 4

DATE: May 22, 2018 | CATEGORY: Local News

Conservation Colorado spends thousands to fight La Plata County commissioner’s recall

Conservation Colorado this month donated $20,110 to United Against the Recall, a group it formed to fight the recall of La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt. Campaign finance...

DATE: Mar 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Local News

They say all politics is local. Then export it.

It should come as no shock that research is showing our national political system to be more partisan and less effective than ever. And within that partisan divide, there is further imbalanc...

DATE: Oct 30, 2016 | CATEGORY: Policy and Politics Digest

Durangoans pose questions for Mike Pence

Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is set to speak at noon Wednesday at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. We asked more than a dozen residents Tuesday what they would like to ask...

DATE: Oct 18, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Proponents of minimum wage hike attacked over workers’ pay

Amended filing states paid campaign workers got at least $12 an hour

DATE: Aug 24, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Bernie Sanders has book deal; will reflect on campaign

NEW YORK – Just days after ending his campaign and endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing to take his message to the printed page. Thomas Dunne ...

DATE: Jul 14, 2016 | CATEGORY: Books

NAFTA a sore spot for some Democrats on Clinton in Michigan

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – Michigan is trickier than it may appear for Hillary Clinton, a Democrat whose party’s presidential nominees have carried the struggling manufacturing hub for decades. ...

DATE: Jul 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Obama campaign machine revving up to elect Clinton

WASHINGTON – The vaunted data-driven machine that twice got President Barack Obama elected is revving up to help elect Hillary Clinton, as Democrats look to recreate the tactical advantage t...

DATE: Jul 3, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Clinton, Trump angle for advantage in politics of gender

WASHINGTON – She has no stamina. She shouts. She’s got nothing going for her but being a woman. Donald Trump, after toying with gender politics off and on during the campaign, is ...

DATE: Apr 30, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

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