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Denomy wins Colorado Mountain College trustee seat

John Colson/Glenwood Springs Post Independent

— Incumbent Colorado Mountain College trustee Mary Ellen Denomy, of Parachute, won re-election Tuesday night, garnering about 61 percent of the votes cast across the six-county college district compared with about 39 percent for challenger Jay Rickstrew, of Rifle.

The vote in the district, according to preliminary results available at about 11 p.m. on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website, came to 14,004 for Denomy to 8,909 for Rickstrew.

Denomy could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, but she had expressed surprise earlier in the evening when told she was leading by a wide margin in five of the six counties. In Garfield County, Rickstrew narrowly was winning.



“That’s what’s great about our system,” said Rickstrew, an officer overseeing Alpine Banks in western Garfield County. “Every couple of years, you have the right to vote.”

He said he hopes the trustees of the college “will continue to move forward” and maintain CMC as a “great asset to those of us who live here in the district.”



He said he is not sure whether he will try again in the future to win a seat on the CMC board, explaining, “I really didn’t have an ax to grind. I just wanted to help the district and see (the college management) through the windshield instead of through a rear view mirror.”

Two other trustee positions, held by incumbents Charles Cunniffe and Glenn Davis, were not contested, and the incumbents automatically resume their seats.

CMC, a junior college district created in 1967, covers six counties in the central Colorado Rockies, including Garfield, Routt, Pitkin, Lake, Summit and Eagle. The district encompasses 12,000 square miles of terrain and has 11 “learning centers” serving students.


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