Old West party

The Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce celebration and fundraiser Saturday night featured a healthy dose of showdowns, shootouts, duels and gambling that would have made Cortez outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid proud. A full house of 300 town folk took advantage of the open bar, card tables and roulette table. Somehow, business was done, and after the dust settled, Cortez had a new Citizen of the Year – Keenan Ertel, known for his political work as well as his earlier work at the town funeral parlor. See story on Page 1B.