The Bedrock Bulldogs push their Bedrock-et entry at a run as they race down East Aspen Avenue toward the finish line during Saturday’s Bed Race at the Fruita Fall Festival.

LA musician Jimmy Quintana, who is originally from Montrose, entertains people at Long Family Park recently.

Sgt. Stan Ancell tracks license plates while driving around Grand Junction. Some officers are paid to work license-plate reader shifts

Grand Junction Police Department Sgt. Stan Ancell adjusts one of the three cameras on a police car before demonstrating how they collect data from license plates.

This is the laptop local police agencies use to collect license plate information.

Tim Menger, right, Libertarian candidate for House District 54, talks about the size of the district as other local members of the Libertarian party listen during a gathering at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1274 in Grand Junction.

Republican candidate Jared Wright, left, delivers his opening statements during a debate against Libertarian candidate Tim Menger, right, during the Redlands Rotary Club’s meeting on Friday at the Redlands Mesa Golf Course clubhouse. Both men are running for the House District 54 seat.

Artist Stephen C. Datz recently went window shopping on Grand Mesa but instead of a new pair of shoes or even a new set of paintbrushes, Datz drove Colorado Highway 65 looking for one thing: an idyllic autumn scene to paint “en plein air.” “En plein air” is a French expression that means painting in the open air, and it has been Datz’s preferred method of working since he took a 1995 workshop with artist Skip Whitcomb to learn the art of plein air painting with oil.

Artist Stephen C. Datz recently went window shopping on Grand Mesa but instead of a new pair of shoes or even a new set of paintbrushes, Datz drove Colorado Highway 65 looking for one thing: an idyllic autumn scene to paint “en plein air.”

Rebecca Mullen reads a poem about her experience at the Department of Youth Corrections at the “Poetry in the Streets” event in downtown Grand Junction Friday evening sponsored by the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum.

Bindi, a 4-year-old sheltie, waits patiently as her owner Michelle Miller prepares her for the ring.

Jim Caros suffers from West Nile and has to walk with a walker.

HIV-positive “Angel” (Lane Heinz) cuddles with “Collins” (Tony Klava), a professor who is also HIV-positive and in love with the drag queen during Colorado Mesa University’s production of “Rent,” a modern-day musical based on Puccini’s opera “La Boheme.”  The musical is R-rated, according to director Jeremy Franklin.

A crew from M.S. Concrete Construction, Inc., connects Holy Family Catholic School on Friday to a new water line that the company had installed along 26 1/2 Road earlier. Although the connection work had been scheduled to take place later on a day when students wouldn’t be in school, the crew decided to do the work after the school was closed due to a misunderstanding that a water main had broken because the school was without water after staff arrived early Friday morning when, in fact, the water had been shut off temporarily for construction reasons.

Justice Kuper, 8, of DeBeque stripped off his cowboy boots and shirt in finding a great way to play in a ditch on G Road. His mom was refereeing a soccer game at Canyon View. Justice said he doesn’t play soccer, he plays football.

Bundled up against a brisk wind and lower temperatures, Windi Serrano hoses down the west bleachers at Stocker Stadium as she cleans the stands after a weekend of football games. Serrano is an employee of the Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Department.

Palisade vs Battle Mountain.

Tyler Rogers and Tony Polzin were passing through Grand Junction Thursday selling Romney campaign stickers downtown.

R-5 student Dennis Page, 16, reads from an e-reader in a classroom at the school.

A bicyclist braves the rain on Main Street Wednesday as seen through a rearview mirror as the monsoon rains continue in the valley.

An SUV traveling westbound on North Avenue failed to make the turn onto 16th Street and made the front door bigger to Petes House of Spirits Liquor Wednesday afternoon.  The driver was taken to a hospital with non life threatening injuries. No one inside was hurt. GJPD are investigating the possibility alcohol or drugs influencing the driver.

092712 2a daycare

The body of an elderly person was found after authorities were called to an early-morning fire at a Grand Junction assisted living facility. Firefighters who responded to a room inside Eagle Ridge of Grand Valley, 2425 Teller Ave., found a staff member had already extinguished a small fire and one patient dead in a bed, according to Grand Junction Fire Department spokesman Mike Page. Investigators were unsure if the patient died as a result of the small fire, or before the fire started.

United Way of Mesa County Campaign Co-Chairs Jerome Gonzales and Karen Troester announce the results of the 35 Pacesetter companies that pledged $457,325 for the new fundraising campaign at the Lincoln Park Tower Hospitality Suite today. In the 125th year of the organization, United Way Mesa County has set a goal of raising $1.25 million.

A pedestrian finds a novel way to protect the hairdo from getting wet while crossing the street in the 300 block of Main Street Tuesday.

Fresh snow in the Colorado high country in the Uncompahare National Forest near Silver Jack Reservoir as the fall colors are at its peak.

Winemaker Nancy Janes at Whitewater Hill Winery on Orchard Mesa punches down the cap of skins on a vat of shiraz grapes fermenting at her winery. Punching down keeps the cap wet and allows the wine to absorb flavors and color from the grape skins. Photo Courtesy of Whitewater Hill Winery

With their guns drawn, Grand Junction police officers and a police dog search campers in the lot of Rimrock RV Parts & Accessories, 2541 U.S. Highway 6&50, for a man who robbed Check into Cash, 2546 Rimrock Ave., at gunpoint on Monday.

Linirgor Macallan, owned by Sandy McFarland practcing the retrieve over the high jump, one of the obedience exercises he will be required to do in the advanced class of the Grand Valley Kennel Club’s AKC Dog Show to be held the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th of September at the Mesa County Fairgrounds.

A crescent moon over the Grand Valley. The Moon is thought to have formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago, not long after Earth’s formation. Craters are formed when asteroids and comets collide with the lunar surface. There are estimated to be roughly 300,000 craters wider than 1 km on the Moon’s near side alone.

Mammatocumulus clouds hang above downtown Grand Junction after this morning’s rainstorm. Such clouds are harbingers of severe weather. Today’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies with a high near 79 degrees, and a 30% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms, particularly after noon.

Masseuse Jill Whinnery, left, works on Christine Gallagher by using Thai yoga massage at Journey to Wellness, 551 Grand Ave.

Pigeon breeder and racer Steve Bowen of Grand Junction displays the two bands on the legs of one of his performance racing pigeons in the birds’ coup.

Ron Standing of Grand Junction listens to the music as he holds a lit candle in front of one of two quilts commemorating loved ones who have committed suicide during a candlelight vigil and walk at Sherwood Park by members of Heartbeat, a survivors support group, and others involved in suicide prevention on Sunday.

Fall colors

A wide array of fall colors is shown in this file photo on Pinon Mesa.

Kelly Chamberlain, the operations manager for TWI Oilfield Fabrication, works in the new shop at 1560 River Road in Fruita.