by KEN ROBINSON, PUBLISHER

The Monroe Monitor and the Sky Valley has lost a friend. Steve Higgins, who wrote about local politics, government corruption, and illegal and destructive land-use issues, took his own life one day last week.

His death leaves a big hole in our hearts.

On a sunny spring day about 18 years ago, I drove to a property on Wagner Hill to meet a guy. I was after a story about a local horsewoman who lived there. Her husband had called to suggest the story. The details about that story are forgotten, but my first meeting with Steve Higgins is strongly embedded in memory. He was dunging out stalls in a small low barn. That’s where I first saw him, in barn boots speckled with manure, baggy jeans, and a T-shirt of many washings. Read story

Empty Seats: Incumbents leaving; candidates in short supply

BY POLLY KEARY, EDITOR

What if you threw an election and no one came? That is a scenario that is alarming some Sky Valley cities. With Friday’s election filing deadlines just days away, it appears that incumbents are leaving office in droves, and there are no clear indications that many will step forward to take their places.

Monroe

In Monroe, most incumbents seem prepared to run for election again. It’s just not clear in come cases which offices they might seek. No less than five incumbents face re-election, including the mayor and four council members: Mitch Ruth, David Kennedy, Geoffrey Thomas and Kurt Goering. Read story

Charges filed in animal cruelty case

BY POLLY KEARY, EDITOR

Jason and Serrena Larsen, both 37, of Gold Bar, face six charges each of first degree animal cruelty following the Jan. 16 raid of their home which resulted in the seizure of almost 160 dogs, many in debilitated condition. Last Friday, the couple pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Initially, the police searched the home in response to a complaint that two children were living in the home in deplorable conditions. A former schoolmate tipped police off after visiting Larsen and was horrified, he said, at the conditions in which two children stayed. Read story

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