Five years ago, after more than two years running a preschool, the Grand Lake Metropolitan Recreation District decided to get out of the child care business. The district’s board of directors voted to approve a resolution to close down the High Mountain Adventure Early Education Center. Grand Lake town officials said they were attempting to attract a medical doctor to the community and wanted to offer the center’s building as a physician’s office.

– The Grand County Board of County Commissioners gave its blessing for a three-year special use permit to the High Altitude Sports Riders Club to construct and operate a motocross track south of the Granby landfill. Although five letters were on record opposing the project, commissioners said they contained no concern that was not addressed in the permit application.

– Using a development plan approved by the town of Grand Lake, the Grand Lake Lodge launched a mission to create a National Park-style village on its 71.5-acre property. It would be complete with mixed-use development ranging from private, single-family homesites to condominiums, town homes and additional lodging.

– Grand Recycles gave a tour to students from the kindergarten class at Granby Elementary School on Earth Day. More than 75 people showed up to hear stories and live music at the Granby Library during TV-Turnoff Night. White supremacist flyers were distributed to many offended Fraser Valley residences stating that white people were the most endangered species on earth. And, friends and family members of the late Gladys Heckert gathered to plant a Colorado blue spruce tree in her honor near the town park pavilion, where she and Louie always ran the summer bingo games.

Ten years ago, the Grand County Planning Commission adopted the Grand County Master Plan and a new level of work on efforts to manage growth in the county began. Key elements of the plan were intergovernmental agreements to be drafted between the county and the towns. The plan also included maps, guidelines and definitions to be used by town and county governments to guide future zoning, subdivision and land-use decisions.

– Acting on a recommendation of its Snowmobile Advisory Committee, the Grand Lake Town Board approved a change in its snowmobile regulations. An amendment changed the existing snowmobile ban to between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. (rather than from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.).

– In other Grand Lake news, five candidates were running for three seats on the board of directors of the Grand Lake Metropolitan Recreation District, with the election set for May 5. Candidates were Michael Carmody and Ed Peterson, and incumbents D.W. Schlosser, Bernie McGinn and Wally Albright. One of the main issues was whether to allow smoking inside the clubhouse.

– Welsley Selby, 12, won the Snocross Circuit’s junior champion title. The Greater Granby Area Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 50-year anniversary with a wagon ride and four-star dinner. The Grand Lake Bulls’ third and fourth grade basketball team celebrated their victory in the Grand County Basketball Championships. About $2,500 in damage was done at the Willow Creek Dam. And, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office received report of four strange, colored objects hovering and moving quickly in the sky over Byers Peak.

Twenty-five years ago, the Granby Board of Trustees’ hopes to annex a parcel of prime commercial land along Highway 40 west of Granby were dampened after it couldn’t decide what to do about an easement required to run through the property. A developer intended to buy the one-acre parcel (between the A and W and Sargeant Pepperoni’s) and build an 8,000-square-foot building to accommodate a rental store, office space and apartments. He wanted the property annexed because he wanted town water for the building.

– The Granby Board of Trustees also delayed forming a Special Improvement District so it could poll affected property owners about a scaled-down proposal on a new sidewalk plan. Rather than move ahead with forming the improvement district, which would have given the board authority to tax Agate Avenue property owners for a portion of the upgrade, the board wanted to poll property owners to gain an unofficial accounting of the attitude toward the new, less expensive proposal.

– The town of Fraser wanted AMTRAK to stop in town. Judge Larry Petersen told the Fraser trustees he was upset the railroad company was not planning to stop in the town, and he had been on the telephone to company officials to find out if something could be done. The company apparently said it was more than willing to look at a request for a stop there, but it had to come from the town.

– Greg Buchheister and Helen Fortik posted the fastest times in the Golden Bunny Race at Winter Park ski area, winning $50 savings accounts from the Bank of Winter Park. Fourteen-month-old Mary Kathryn McPherson would model toddler’s fashions at the Grand County Historical Association’s “Essence of Spring” fashion show. And, a Three Lakes Sewer District employee estimated a sewage spill at the north end of Lake Granby adjacent to Dillie Docks Store resulted in about 10,000 gallons of raw sewage entering the lake.

Fifty years ago, voters would go to the polls in East Grand School District No. 2 to select six school board directors for six districts. The field had 15 candidates for office.

– West Grand School District No. 1 electors went to the polls to make their selection of candidates to serve as their representatives on the first school board of the new district. The all-male board was composed of Lee Brown, Ernest Ciriani, Lawrence Pellini, Leonard Wood, Fay DeBerard, W.R. Leroux and Karl Knorr. Seven write-ins received 1-3 votes each.

– Directors of the Kremmling Sanitation District retained Denver engineers to prepare a more complete preliminary survey so that prompt action could be taken in preparation for a bond election. If electors approved the bond, construction bids would be asked and construction of the system was estimated to be undertaken in two months.

– Larry Fischer of Hot Sulphur Springs was elected state president of the Colorado Young Citizens League at the state convention in Denver. He and others also enjoyed the City Park, zoo, museum and seeing Union Station while they were in the capital city.

– Jerry McMillon stayed at the Wilbur Olsen home while his mother recovered from surgery. W. “Dale” Clark would take the place of Earnest “Gun” Clark who resigned as janitor at the Grand County Courthouse for health reasons. And, John Holzwarth returned to his Grand Lake home after a three-week tour of Chicago, Ill., Boston, Mass., and from New York City he took a freighter to Havana, Cuba (he returned by plane to Texas and also visited in Oklahoma).