News from Neighbors
Local Payless one of 400 stores closing
STERLING JOURNAL-ADVOCATE, April 8 — Payless ShoeSource announced this week that the company is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to close nearly 400 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. On the list of “underperforming locations” slated for “immediate” closure is the Sterling store in the High Plains Shopping Center on West Main.
Trae Miller, executive director of Logan County Economic Development Corp., said the news of the impending closure is sad.
“The recent retail closings are hard on both our community and the economy. Not only are these closings impacting lives in the community with lost jobs, but they affect the shopping options for our citizens and the tax dollars generated to support city operations and budgets,” he said. “Unfortunately, there have been a lot of retail closings happening across the country and across many brands.”
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Suspect in Ogallala homicide in custody
THE IMPERIAL REPUBLICAN, April 6 — A man wanted in connection with a homicide in Ogallala, Nebraska, last week is now in custody.
Amedeus L. Leroux, 16, turned himself in to Colorado authorities in Denver last Thursday afternoon.
Leroux, who was wanted on outstanding Nebraska and Colorado warrants, will be charged with second-degree murder in the March 28 stabbing death of John Fratis, 25, of Ogallala.
According to a court affidavit filed by the Nebraska State Patrol, Fratis was allegedly consuming alcohol and marijuana in the home of Larry J. Derrera and Raylyn E. Garcia during the early morning hours March 28.
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Akron woman recalls 5 days stranded in snowy mountains
AKRON NEWS-REPORTER, April 5 — By now, the entire town, county, state and even country has heard of how an 85-year-old woman miraculously survived five days stranded in the mountains of Colorado. But for Ruby Stein, it wasn’t miraculous, just what was already embedded in the self-proclaimed farm girl.
With unusually warm Colorado weather on her side, Stein packed up her 2007 Nissan Sentra and with her cat, Nikki, at her side, set out from her home just north of Akron to make the 245-mile trip to visit her granddaughter, Alee Preuss, and family in Gypsum.
Even though it was a trip she’s made before, Preuss met Stein at the Gypsum exit at I-70 and drove her the rest of the way. “Alee got in and drove my car to her house, but I didn’t pay attention to the way she went. We just laughed, talked and visited the entire way,” Stein recalled.
On Tuesday, March 21, she headed back to Akron. Or so she thought. While she was supposed to be heading toward I-70, she made a critical wrong turn that instead began taking her into the LEDE Reservoir area of Eagle County. She knew she was in trouble when she ran out of decent road and the snow and mud became too much. Stein attempted to get up on some snow to turn around, but she slid right back down and was stuck.
“My first thought? Nothing I can do about it now. I knew I had to make the best of it and stay calm, and I did,” Stein said.
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