Colorado’s sheriff – The Colorado Sun
Happy Colorado Sunday, friends!
San Miguel County is huge, covering broad expanses of geography, society and economics from the deeply liberal, massively wealthy, high-elevation Telluride with a ski resort as its backdrop on the east, to the committedly conservative, less well-heeled West End, snug up against the Utah border. One man has been in charge of policing — or peacekeeping, as he prefers to describe the work — this vast swath of western Colorado for 46 years. In this week’s cover story, Jason Blevins explains how Sheriff Bill Masters, a high-profile political chameleon, has managed the work and what comes after he puts his badge away for good.
For nearly 46 years, Bill Masters was the law in San Miguel County. He has stories.
I’ve been talking with San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters since the late 1990s.
Usually we talked about his rescue crews digging a body from avalanche debris in the steep Bear Creek drainage next to the Telluride ski area. He would speak frankly about the need for the ski area to move access gates to discourage unaware skiers from dropping into the dangerous terrain. He once tried to get the local DA to file criminal charges against rope-ducking snowboarders who triggered an avalanche that killed a man hiking near the creek far below.
He always returned calls and emails from a nosy reporter and spoke openly about threats to the safety of his community. That was a refreshing change from prying information from lawmen reluctant to share anything more than a vague statement.
But Masters has always walked his own path. Since he landed in Telluride as a young libertarian in the mid-1970s to today — where he’s about to hang up his badge after nearly 46 years as San Miguel County’s top cop — Masters has labored to keep the peace in his community as it endured seismic changes.
He wrote a book detailing how the drug war was “America’s #1 policy disaster.” He promoted peaceful policing versus hard-nosed enforcement of an ever-growing list of laws. He won 12 elections for sheriff, all of them by overwhelming margins. But lately, he’s growing weary.
He hates that he has to have his body camera every time he talks with someone on the street. He thinks those cameras make people less likely to call for help when they need it.
“I’m convinced now that this is just no country for old men,” says Masters, referencing his favorite movie and book. “I think the whole business is changing very rapidly, and I’ve been able to adapt over my long career several times. But now it’s gotten to the point where I can’t.”
Masters is the longest serving lawman in Colorado history. When he rides into the sunset next month, he will be closing a storied chapter in Western Slope peacekeeping. His stories — from solving four complicated and horrible murders to the challenges of police work in a town known for its festivals and good times — stretch back more than 50 years in Telluride.
“I worry that I’m going to miss being the sheriff. It’s been such a part of my identity now for so long,” he says. “And being the retired old sheriff, maybe there’s nothing worse than that. I don’t know. I’m gonna have to find that out.”
READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE
Are you ready for all the week ahead presents? Our photojournalists were on the scene when groups with large goals and individuals with big aspirations were preparing to give it their best.
Quiet on the set!
There’s a fake Western town on the banks of the Uncompahgre River that no one seems to know much about. It’s a prime little parcel jutting into the water, the kind of spot that a tourist town might turn into a water park.
But in Ridgway, the quiet, 1,000-person town downstream from Ouray, this piece of land is off-limits. A couple of gates and NO TRESPASSING signs block visitor access to the tiny fake town square bordered by a tiny church, a tiny bank, a tiny hotel and a very large teepee. A boarded-up example of the way that the West likes to cosplay as itself.
Which brings us to the Hotel Palomino.
Hotel Palomino is across the highway from the mystery set, and it, too, has the two-story facades of fictional saloons and mercantiles, second-story patios that no one can access, windows that open to the sky on both sides.
The website describes it as a “modern day hitching post,” and the rooms are decorated with an urban cowboy aesthetic — wool saddle blankets on the bed, a piece of rope shaped into the word “howdy” on the wall, with artwork by Robert “Bob” DeJulio, a local artist and set designer for the 1969 John Wayne Western “True Grit,” part of which was filmed in Ridgway.
There’s no lobby here; you receive a text with a room code the morning of your stay. It’s one of the ways that the motel cuts down on costs, according to its website. And it seems to be effective. Despite feeling like a boutique motel, it cost me about as much as I would have spent on a room at the Super 8 in nearby Montrose.
I did manage to grab it at a spring discount price, and the weekend I stayed brought a snowstorm one day and clear blue skies the next — perfect weather for a place like Ridgway, with hot springs only a 10-minute drive away on the chillier days, and the spectacular trail system around Ouray for the warmer, dry days. You’ll also find the Ridgway Area Trail system, or the RAT, just north of the hotel, a seemingly stellar network of mountain biking trails. (They were still closed for wintering wildlife when I went by.)
While there is no front desk, there is an on-site restaurant, Greenwood’s, which serves up Southern-style dishes six days a week. I didn’t end up eating there, but heard from at least two locals that they serve a killer lunch menu.
If you’re looking for a stay in a truly historic, “authentically” Western building, you’ll find that up the road and for twice the price in Ouray.
But the Hotel Palomino is fun, comfy and Western, if only in that John Wayne sort of way — the way of obvious costumes and false fronts, the way of suspended disbelief.
“Personal Demons”: Sharing a body with the supernatural has its perks
EXCERPT: In the sequel to L.R. Braden’s previous book, “Demon Riding Shotgun,” protagonist Mira Fuentes — a human inhabited by a demon — and a fully human partner investigate a series of strange, perhaps supernatural, disappearances in her hometown. While her demon invests her with certain magical powers, it also makes her a pariah in search of acceptance.
THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Braden steps outside her personal experience to create characters and describe cultures she learned about through research. But it all adds up to exploring a very diverse cast and one overarching message. Here’s a portion of her Q&A:
SunLit: What’s the most important thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book?
Braden: That everyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done, is deserving of love. … As a rifter — a human magic-user possessed by a demon — (Mira) is considered an abomination by pretty much every other race that inhabits her world. Add to that a personal history of trauma and the fact that when she loses control of her magic she is a danger to those around her, and it’s no wonder Mira isolates herself.
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH L.R. BRADEN
LISTEN TO A PODCAST WITH THE AUTHOR
A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.
🌞 A Colorado Sun investigation that lasted nearly a year revealed that former U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo twice appeared to attempt suicide in situations witnessed by staffers. Former aides told Jesse Paul they felt traumatized by their experience working for Caraveo, who is running in 2026 to reclaim her 8th Congressional District seat.
🌞 Time’s running out in the 2025 legislative session, but the intransigent problem of school finance seems no closer to being solved than when it started. Erica Breunlin reports that lawmakers are considering reducing BEST Grant Program funding and that maybe the solution to the finance problem is right there in the accounts of the State Land Board, which exists to support schools. And ICYMI, Erica convened an interesting group for a panel discussion on the school finance problem. You can watch it on our YouTube channel.
🌞 It looks like property values were flat or declined a bit for the latest valuation period, eight metro county assessors said last week. Brian Eason reports that it will be a minute before we learn how that influences property tax bills.
🌞 A group of Colorado River experts whose names are likely familiar to readers of The Colorado Sun got a policy paper together they hope will persuade people negotiating new rules for managing the river to acknowledge that all seven states in the basin must share in painful cuts. Shannon Mullane has the details.
🌞In other river news, Greeley has big plans for the stretch of the Cache la Poudre River that flows through the city. Dan England reports on the project, which is designed to reduce flooding, improve habitat and better the connection humans have with the waterway.
🌞 Leafy spurge is out of control along the Yampa River in northwestern Colorado. Parker Yamasaki checked in with a novel program that sends volunteers to collect hungry, hungry beetles in Idaho and set them loose on the invasive weed.
🌞 There’s been a lot of talk about how if U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet becomes governor in 2026 he intends to handpick his successor in Washington. Jesse Paul reports on how that process went back in 2009, when U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar was tapped to lead the Interior Department and Gov. Bill Ritter went with Bennet, a political unknown.
🌞 Thirteen deaths followed accidents on Colorado ski slopes this season. This grim report by Jason Blevins almost makes you glad skiing is mostly over for the year.
🌞 The week ahead: A U.S. District Court judge Tuesday will hear arguments for and against continuing work to raise Gross Dam. Jerd Smith sets up the fight with a look at what’s at stake on both sides of the Continental Divide.
That’s a wrap for us this week. Did you bet on Journalism yesterday in the Kentucky Derby? Probably not. But it’s not too late to go all in on our journalism. Your gift to support free, unfettered access to reporting done with transparency, accountability and credibility is a gift to help nurture democracy and improve public trust: coloradosun.com/join
— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun
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