If an individual who doesn’t reside in Grand Junction was asked to describe the city, they may recognize Mesa County and discuss the composition of the Grand Valley or Western Slope. Mesa County is also well-known for its scenic views at the Colorado National Monument and fruit growing throughout the valley (Palisade peaches).
However, there is much more to Grand Junction than meets the eye, and residents of the area are more in tune with the city than anyone. Many students (specifically women) find Grand Junction extremely frightening.
“Grand Junction is definitely where you want to be walking around alone at night,” CMU sophomore Miranda Gudaitis said sarcastically.
Gudaitis works at the Walmart off Rimrock Drive in Grand Junction and is accustomed to interacting with citizens of Grand Junction who are less than desirable customers. Working a later shift can often be intimidating and the later it gets into the evening, the stranger the customers can be.
As Halloween grows closer, Grand Junction grows creepier than it already is. Students living on the CMU campus are extremely self-aware and rarely allow friends to walk home alone. Especially considering CMU is a public campus, there is no standard for who is allowed on campus.
“I know I always feel anxious when I come home from work late at night and I have to walk through the parking lot and around my apartment, and I worry about creepy guys or homeless people sneaking up on me. I hear about it all the time,” CMU sophomore Megan Warkowski said.
Warkowski’s roommate, CMU sophomore Kayli Sarbaugh, said that she’s no stranger to feeling uneasy at night. Sarbaugh has a service dog, so she often goes out late at night to take her dog out.
“My roommate has been followed twice, both during the middle of the day and at night. It’s a really scary experience. I have to take my dog out and it’s super scary, especially at night because [Orchard Hall] is on the edge of campus,” Sarbough said. “Last night there were 3 cops in the parking lot and I had to walk past them to get home, and it just makes me anxious because you never know what’s going to happen, especially as a woman walking alone at night.”
Sex-trafficking is a scary reality and women in Grand Junction are all too aware of this. Adrianna DuPay, another sophomore at CMU, describes citizens of Grand Junction as “crackheads” and claims to be very precautious of who she interacts with here.
Many students also feel offset by the sheer amount of Trump support and, for minority groups, this composition of political ideologies could be detrimental and scary.
“It’s scary for [minorities] here because politics generally spark conflict and you never know when it’ll turn violent,” Sarbough said.
Many students also hold the consensus that drivers in Grand Junction are terrible. Living in the dorms, it’s common to look out the window to see an accident in the street.
According to KKCO 11 News in 2016, “CPS says they plan to increase efforts to combat drunk driving. GJPD says what they’re doing is working, and they don’t plan to cut back any time soon.” Despite the fact that Mesa County’s DUI rates are on the decline, the seriousness of injuries has increased due to the negligence of one’s seat belt usage.
Substance abuse is also an issue in Grand Junction and cocaine or heroin are the most prevalent. The Daily Sentinel released an article in 2019 describing a drug-bust that occurred in the city. “From the alleged primary supplier in the Denver area to the local heroin and cocaine dealers in Grand Junction, an extensive drug investigation by the Western Colorado Drug Task Force resulted in multiple arrests, thwarting what police described as a “drug trafficking organization,”” the article reads.
There is also an invisible threat that has been moving through Grand Junction as well as the rest of the country for the past few months. The COVID-19 pandemic, although not necessarily creepy, would definitely qualify as scary and is something to take into consideration during Halloween in Grand Junction.
“I am uncomfortable going into Walmart and stuff like that because I’m immunocompromised and I have asthma and it doesn’t seem like the businesses in the area seem to care about putting their compromised customers at risk,” CMU sophomore Maureen Martin said. “Especially the bigger chains. I think it’s because people can only be scared for a little bit before it starts feeling normal again. I think the reason it worries me is because I’ve had several relatives contract [the virus] and die from COVID.”
Gudaitis mentioned that work is especially dangerous right now, unlike many cities in the state, Grand Junction’s rules about face masks are inconsequential, meaning citizens often opt not to wear a face mask to Walmart even when they are physically offered one at the entrance. Due to inconsistencies in face masks, the virus is still a prominent issue Grand Junction must address.
Every city has its issues and Grand Junction isn’t special. It’s important to stay alert especially when you’re alone. Halloween will be extra scary this year in Grand Junction, between COVID and the upcoming election, tensions are high and we must remember that we are in this together. Despite the problems students might have with Grand Junction, at the end of the day many of them call this city home and enjoy living here.
“It’s a beautiful area and I think the outdoor activities that it offers is a saving grace,” Martin said.
Well done article Jessie. I just recently started following the Crite on FB for some nostalgia as back in ’65 when I graduated from Central High School and became the student publications photographer via a work-study program and spent 3 years photographing all aspects of Mesa, 3rd year I also edited the yearbook.
The reflections of Grand Jct. folks in your article held true back in the ’60s, but certainly not the extremes and bizarreness they are today. After leaving Mesa I joined VISTA and ended up helping create, pioneer, and direct one of the first 24/7 crisis intervention centers in USA, Traverse City, MI, a city similar to GJ as to population and being the largest service center for a largely rural region. Through that work, I came into contact with even more concentrations of elements of our societies “underbellies” and consequently am not surprised by what you discovered about GJ.
Constant education and information creating understanding that can lead to helpful actions seem to be our best course, continuing to slog along with excellent articles like yours. I have a lot of good memories of Mesa, it was the first year of the newly expanded journalism program, I got to design and help build the new darkroom, which also became a good place to take a nap at times, my job was like an independent study in photojournalism and I loved all 3 years I spent at Mesa. Keep up the great writing Jessie.