Rifle boom a mixed bag.

• Position: READERS RESPOND - Letter to the editor

(Response to "Back to boomtown," by Lee Buchsbaum, April):

Woody Woodrow - 4/9/2007

2:50:36 PM

I remember when EXXON shut down and locals had the area to themselves again. Businesses failed.

Sustained growth is good. Problem is, right now, Rifle is expensive for federal employees. Forest Service employees, for example, pay a lot more for housing in Rifle, and still don't get any "locality pay" to offset the area's higher costs. The system can never catch up with the times. First boom, then bust (1982). Now it is boom again, then sooner or later, bust--or at least slowdown.

The surrounding area has mediocre fishing, and hunting is just average for deer...