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Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Two N.M. teens die on U.S. Highway 50
DELTA — Two New Mexico teenagers were killed and two other people were injured in a car crash near Delta on Wednesday.
The teen boys, ages 14 and 15, were killed when they were thrown from the backseat of a silver Kia sports-utility vehicle near mile marker 65 on U.S. Highway 50, said Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Scott Gardner.
Neither boy was wearing his seat belt.
The names are being withheld until authorities notify next of kin, Gardner said.
The SUV’s driver, a 17-year-old boy from Los Lunas, N.M., and its front-seat passenger, a 34-year-old man, were taken to Delta County Memorial Hospital with broken bones and internal bleeding, Gardner said.
The two in the front seat were wearing their seat belts, Gardner said.
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Accident north of Delta kills one
DELTA — One person is dead after a car crash north of Delta this afternoon but information is still sketchy, the Colorado State Patrol said.
The State Patrol got a call just before 4 p.m. about the wreck, which happened at U.S. Highway 50 and G-50 Road, a spokeswoman said. Troopers are also at Delta Memorial Hospital trying to find out the condition of one or more other people who were apparently seriously injured, she said.
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House votes to slow oil shale development
The U.S. House voted today to slow down oil shale development.
The amendment sought by Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall, whose 3rd and 2nd congressional districts, respectively, encompass the Western Slope, would bar the Bureau of Land Management from issuing any final regulations for commercial-scale leasing of oil shale and from offering any commercial oil shale leases during fiscal year 2008.
The ban is included in the Interior appropriation bill.
Current law requires BLM to issue regulations, and to move quickly to a full-scale commercial leasing program.
— Sentinel staff
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Body recovered from Gunnison River
Search and rescue teams have recovered a body in the Gunnison River about five miles downstream of where a Grand Junction woman’s body was found Monday.
Authorities said they won’t release the identification of the body until the Mesa County Coroner’s Office performs an autopsy, said Norma Mestas, a spokeswoman with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities were seeking 40-year-old Danny O’Lee Carpenter for questioning as the last person who had contact with Linda Louise Johnson, 37. Johnson’s body was found floating in the Gunnison River about three miles west of Whitewater.
Mestas said search and rescue teams scoured the river Tuesday and today for Carpenter’s body.
It’s unclear whether the body located at noon today is Carpenter, Mestas said. The body was found about a mile east of the Department of Energy building. Rescue teams recovered the body at 1 p.m. by taking it downriver in a boat to gain access to a road, Mestas said.
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Plea bargain in Rifle beating upsets girl’s father
GLENWOOD SPRINGS— The father of a 14-year-old girl severely beaten by a classmate at Rifle High School this past school year was upset at a plea bargain reached today between prosecutors and the 17-year-old girl who beat his daughter.
John Kuersten said after a short hearing in Garfield County juvenile court in Glenwood Springs today that the likely six-month probationary sentence Nancy Estelle Hernandez will receive is unfair compared with what his daughter has gone through.
“My daughter is the only one who has publicly apologized for what she said” to a Hispanic boy the day before the attack, Kuersten told The Daily Sentinel outside the courtroom. The girl also required extensive surgery to repair injuries to her face and head.
His daughter was cited into Rifle municipal court for disorderly conduct for making a racial comment to that boy and received six months probation, Kuersten said. Hernandez attacked his daughter in retaliation for that incident, he said.
“For the (district attorney) to do this is totally inappropriate because they were two different days,” Kuersten said. “What kind of message does this send to our community and our kids, that you can make a brutal, unprovoked attack on some one for no reason and get away with it?”
Hernandez was originally charged with second-degree assault and pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in front of Judge Paul Metzler. She is to be sentenced Aug. 8.
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UPDATE: Homicide suspect was victim’s uncle
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — A man arrested late Tuesday night in Clifton on suspicion of first-degree murder in West Glenwood Springs is the victim’s uncle, Police Chief Terry Wilson said.
Jesus Hernandez De Jesus, 33, was arrested in the shooting death of 20-year-old Ricardo Navarrete Prudencio of Acapulco, Mexico, in West Glenwood Springs on Monday night.
De Jesus, 33, with a temporary address in Clifton, was booked into the Mesa County Jail on $3 million bond, said Norma Mestas, spokeswoman for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.
Wilson said De Jesus was also arrested on suspicion of felony menacing. Prudencio died of multiple gunshot wounds, the coroner’s office said in a brief statement.
Wilson said the two men were uncle and nephew, but would not say what the motive in the shooting might have been. He said Tuesday that drugs were “absolutely” not involved in the incident.
“We have some theories on what might have led to this, but we can’t say” due to the pending criminal process, he said. “We had information from witnesses, neighbors and his family in Mexico. The (Mexican) Consulate in Denver helped us talk to his family and they had an idea where he might be.”
De Jesus was arrested at 3249 Lucille St. just as investigators from Glenwood Springs were headed to Mesa County to help locate the wanted man, Wilson said.
The arrest occurred nearly 24 hours after the shooting, an “amazingly fast” time given the seriousness of the crime and parties involved, Wilson said.
— Mike McKibbin, with Amy Hamilton
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GJ jobless rate lowest in the state in May
Grand Junction had the lowest unemployment rate in Colorado last month at 2.7 percent, according to data released today by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That was down more than one percentage point from 3.8 percent in May 2006. Of note, the local unemployment rate was 2.8 percent in April.
Boulder had the second lowest jobless rate in the state last month at 2.8 percent. The Fort Collins-Loveland area notched the third lowest rate at 2.9 percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent in May, down from 4.3 percent in May 2006. Data are not seasonally adjusted.
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Cigarette believed cause of Rulison fire; man arrested
A 26-year-old man is in custody today after a 160-acre fire swept through the Rulison area of Garfield County, about five miles east of Parachute.
No one was injured in the blaze, which was reported to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday. One structure was threatened during the course of the firefight, but it was spared.
Nicholas Hatcher was taken into custody by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department, suspected of starting the fire by carelessly discarding a lit cigarette, said Tanny McGinnis, community relations deputy for the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department. He was booked into jail on suspicion of fourth-degree arson and could be extradited for unrelated warrants dealing with several drunken driving offenses, McGinnis said.
Assisting in the firefight were the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Grand Valley Fire Protection District and Rifle Fire Protection District.
“We assisted with a number of engines last night and a helicopter, and crews worked until about 1 o’clock in the morning,” said David Boyd, spokesman for the BLM.
Crews were still working the fire at first light today, extinguishing lingering hot spots before they get a chance to flare up again during the midday heat.
“We sent out a hand crew of 25 firefighters today,” Boyd said. “You have to really patrol it well to make sure it doesn’t flare back up again.”
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GJ gas prices ease about 2 cents per gallon
The average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Grand Junction fell about 2 cents to $3.112 per gallon this week, according to a fuel survey released today by AAA Colorado.
Last week, the average price for regular unleaded gas was $3.135. One year ago, the average price for regular unleaded gas in Grand Junction was $2.839, AAA Colorado reported.
Colorado Springs had the lowest price in Colorado this week at $3.075 per gallon, followed by Pueblo at $3.086. Denver and Greeley rounded out the top three at $3.093 per gallon, respectively.
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Suspect in Glenwood shooting arrested in Clifton
Jesus Hernandez De Jesus, 33, was arrested late Tuesday in Clifton on suspicion of shooting a Glenwood Springs man a day earlier, according to Terry Wilson, chief of the Glenwood Springs Police Department.
De Jesus was booked into the Mesa County Jail and is being held on $3 million bond, said Norma Mestas, spokeswoman for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.
De Jesus was arrested at 3249 Lucille St. by the Sheriff’s Department just as investigators from Glenwood Springs were headed to Mesa County to assist in locating the wanted man.
“We had a team of investigators on their way down when we knew the arrest warrant was going to be executed,” Wilson said.
The homicide, which occurred outside a cabin at a West Glenwood Springs lodge, was the first in five years in Glenwood and the fourth in the last 14 years.
“Unfortunately, we have grown up size-wise and business-wise that we would just as soon stay sheltered, but it is the real world,” he said.
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Planning board OKs development along Patterson over objections
The Grand Junction Planning Commission unanimously approved early this morning a plan to develop 20 acres of land along Patterson Road, despite a chorus of objections from neighbors worried about the additional traffic they say the project will create.
The board voted in favor of the preliminary development plan for the first phase of the Corner Square planned development, a mixed-use development that will be built at the southwest corner of First Street and Patterson Road.
The first phase will include the construction of four commercial and office buildings that will front Patterson, as well as the roadways and infrastructure within the development. The second phase will include up to 110 housing units.
Commissioners commended the project and said they are confident the developer and city traffic engineers will address any potential traffic problems that could arise from the development.
“I know no rule of law that says once I’m here, I can close the gate and nobody else can come to Grand Junction,” Commissioner Tom Lowrey said.
The vote came at 1:45 a.m., nearly four hours after the hearing on Corner Square began and nearly seven hours after the Planning Commission meeting began. Seats in the auditorium at City Hall were nearly full when the hearing began. About 30 people remained when the vote was taken.
Roughly 30 people addressed the Planning Commission about the project. Two-thirds of them spoke in opposition to it.
Most opponents complained the development would pack more vehicles into an already congested area, making it more difficult for people living and working in the area to leave or return to their homes or businesses.
“It’s just not feasible. Something different has to be done,” said Jodie Behrmann, who lives across First Street from the project. “I’m not trying to stop development. But I want to be able to get in and out of my home, too.
Others, though, said developer Bruce Milyard should not be held responsible for addressing city traffic problems that extend beyond First and Patterson. They said the infill, multi-use development should be a model for other projects.
“This is the type of project city has been trying to get people to do,” said Doug Simons, the president of Enstrom Candies who is partnering with Milyard on a project at Seventh and Main streets.
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