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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Support sought to start up local med school program
Financially starting and sustaining the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine Grand Junction Clinical Branch Campus is a priority, which is why school representatives were in town today to gain support for plans to test their programs this fall and graduate doctors interested in rural healthcare by 2013.
The university needs a one-time donation of $2 to $2.5 million to help fund, among other things, faculty hires.
Eventually, $3 to $4 million will be needed annually so the medical school could fully implement its new curriculum with 48 students at the Grand Junction campus by 2012.
Without state funding that timetable likely would change. The University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine cannot financially support a branch campus, said Dr. Richard Krugman, dean of the School of Medicine at CU Denver, which is why he and other representatives from the School of Medicine have turned to state legislators for help in securing state funding for a clinical branch.
“If we get nothing then we will have to raise the money,” Krugman said.
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Two area schools recognized for achievement
The Colorado Department of Education on Tuesday named Orchard Avenue and Taylor elementary schools as among 39 schools statewide whose economically disadvantaged students out-scored the state average on the Colorado Student Assessment Program testing in at least two subjects for three consecutive years.
“Much of our success in this realm of meeting the needs of lower income kids is with our early intervention,” said Corey Hafey, principal of Taylor Elementary School. “We have people resources and monetary resources to meet the needs of those kids. It’s a team effort. The kids at Taylor are our kids.”
Read more in Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Sentinel.
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Lawmakers move ahead with paper ballots; scanners still in limbo
DENVER (AP) — Legislative leaders said Tuesday they’re moving ahead with a proposal to conduct this year’s elections mainly by paper ballot even though most counties still don’t know whether they’ll be able to use their optical scanners to count the ballots.
The bill assumes that most of the scanners will be recertified by the secretary of state but still would set aside $3.5 million to reimburse counties who want to buy more scanners so they can count ballots more quickly, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said. The price tag could rise if some of the scanners aren’t approved for use in this year’s primary and general election.
Plans for Colorado’s elections were thrown into confusion in December when Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertified most of the state’s electronic voting machines because of security and accuracy concerns.
Since then, lawmakers gave him permission to retest different fixes for the machines. He has recertified three kinds of touch-screen voting machines, which records votes, but is still considering what to do about two brands of optical scanners, which are used to count paper ballots.
Because of questions over the accuracy of the machines, lawmakers said switching to a mostly paper ballot election was the best way to ensure that everyone’s vote would be counted since the paper ballots would be available for recounts. However, they acknowledged that taking the low-tech approach could delay election results, which they said was less important than ensuring confidence in the process.
“Our job isn’t to make sure that by 7:15 everyone in Colorado knows who won,” House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder said.
Lawmakers said voters could help speed up the process by voting early or by mail, which would leave fewer ballots to count on Election Day. Federal law still requires that an electronic voting machine be provided at each polling place for any disabled voter and anyone else who wants them. The bill would require all voters be given a paper ballot at a polling place unless they ask to use an electronic machine.
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Touch-screen machines may still be in play
New legislation calls for statewide paper-ballot elections this year, but the bipartisan measure also would allow voters to vote on touch-screen machines.
The hitch is that the voter must ask for the electronic machine. Otherwise, they’ll be stuck with a paper ballot or ballot card.
Touch-screens “shall be used only by an eligible elector who affirmatively requests” them, the legislation reads.
That allows the state the negotiate between paper ballots and the high-tech voting equipment to which voters must have access under federal law.
Mesa County’s touch-screen machines were certified Monday by state elections officials.
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Glenwood area roads riddled with accidents
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — A combination of elk and ice on Highway 82 Tuesday contributed to three accidents that involved six cars and slowed the morning commute toward Aspen.
The accidents resulted in an elk being injured and a snowplow on a pickup truck slicing two other vehicles open, said Colorado State Patrol senior trooper Steve Nofziger. No one was injured in the accidents. But they forced the closure of the left lane of eastbound Highway 82 for nearly three hours at the Cattle Creek turnoff some eight miles south of Glenwood Springs.
“It couldn’t have happened at a worse time because of the volume of traffic at that time,” Nofziger said.
He said the accidents began when a Ford Ranger pickup came across a couple of elk, lost control on the icy road and hit one of the animals before going into the median and rolling on its side.
A Volkswagen Passat that slowed down behind the accident was struck from behind by a Toyota Tacoma, blocking the left lane. Then a Dodge pickup with a snowplow went between a Mazda Protege and Dodge Caravan as they were slowing, slicing the two vehicles with its plow, Nofziger said.
He said the driver of the Dodge pickup was “driving way too fast” and was cited for careless driving. The driver of the Toyota was cited for following too closely. Nofziger would not release the drivers’ names.
He said the CSP had contacted the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which was going to check on the injured elk to see if it should be destroyed.
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Big-game applications now available online
Applications for the 2008 big-game hunting season are now available online and at DOW offices and license agents statewide. Hunters who applied for the 2007 season will be mailed a 2008 brochure and application.
A printable version is available at www.wildlife.state.co.us.
Changes for the 2008 season include reduced-price doe licenses in northwest Colorado, including game management units 11, 12, 13, 22, 23, 24, 121, 211 and 231. In those units, a resident will pay $24 (including various fees) down from $34 last year. A nonresident doe license in those units will be $79 compared to $319 elsewhere.
Changes for this year also include more hunts are being offered for white-tailed deer in eastern Colorado, new restrictions for muzzleloading rifles and some changes in transportation regulations for CWD units.
Hunters are encouraged to apply for big game licenses online at the DOW Web site. This will save time, money and reduce errors. All applications must be postmarked before midnight of April 1.
Information: DOW customer service, 303- 297-1192 or online at wildlife.state.co.us.
— Sentinel staff
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Accused coach resigns
A Central High School coach accused of sexually assaulting a student resigned Monday in a letter to School District 51, administrators confirmed today.
Jeff Kirtland, spokesman for School District 51, said Matt Lindholm’s one-sentence letter announced his resignation. Kirtland said Lindholm’s resignation is effective immediately.
Lindholm, 32, was arrested last week after Mesa County Sheriff’s Department investigators learned he might have kissed and had other inappropriate contact with a student starting at the end of the 2006-2007 school year.
Investigators, according to Lindholm’s arrest affidavit, also uncovered letters, e-mails, text messages and gifts showing the teacher’s romantic feelings for the student.
Lindholm had been the Central varsity girls basketball coach for seven seasons, but he resigned Feb. 11, citing family issues. His team was ranked among the top high school women’s teams in the state and was on a dozen-game winning streak at the time of his resignation.
Lindholm, who is currently free on $10,000 bond, will be charged next week.
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Ice, snow delay opening of Highline Lake
With approximately 10 inches of snow and ice still remaining on Highline Lake, the opening of the lake to boating has been delayed. Instead of opening on the traditional date of March 1, the lake will open as soon as conditions allow, State Park officials announced today.
Mack Mesa also will remain closed until conditions allow.
Information: 858-7208 or www.parks.state.co.us.
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Affordable housing vacancy rate climbs
The vacancy rate for affordable housing in the Grand Junction market rose to 4.1 percent in the final three months of 2007, according to data released this morning by state housing agencies.
That was up from 2.7 percent in the third quarter of 2007, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority and Colorado Division of Housing reported.
At the same time the median rent for affordable housing or apartments, decreased to $631.19 from $635.11.
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153-mile pipeline from Meeker area to Wyoming eyed
MEEKER — The federal government is seeking comment on a proposal to build a 153-mile pipeline from the Meeker area to Wyoming to transport natural gas liquids.
The Overland Pass Pipeline Co. wants to build a 14-inch-diameter pipeline from the proposed Willow Springs Plant 20 miles southwest of Meeker to the Echo Springs Pump Station near Wamsutter, Wyo. The line would cross Rio Blanco and Moffat counties in Colorado, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said in a news release today.
All but 15 to 20 miles of the conduit would follow existing pipeline rights-of-way, and 84 miles would cross federal or state land, with the rest being built on private land.
The line would provide for the transporting and processing of liquid petroleum products that must be removed from natural gas during its production.
The BLM is seeking comments to identify possible concerns about the pipeline before a draft environmental assessment is released for public review and comment. Comments are due March 14.
More information may be found at ONLINE or by calling the BLM’s White River Field Office, (970) 878-3800.
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Polygamist leader Jeffs in custody of Arizona authorities
PHOENIX (AP) — Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs is now in the custody of Arizona authorities to face charges in the marriages of two teenage girls to older men.
Authorities said today that deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Department have taken custody of him from Utah officials.
He’s scheduled to make an appearance in court Wednesday, 2½ years after prosecutors in the northwestern Arizona county filed charges against him and he went into hiding.
Jeffs was arrested in August 2006 and was convicted last year in Utah of rape as an accomplice in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.
He was sentenced in Utah to serve two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison there.
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Senate panel give nod to oil and gas commission nominees
A narrowly divided panel of state senators approved of six of Gov. Bill Ritter’s nominees to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission despite protests from Republican lawmakers that they were not given enough time to interview the candidates.
The Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee gave its blessing today in a party-line, 4-3 vote to Grand Junction ecologist Richard Alward, Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Houpt and four other nominees to the state’s chief oil and gas regulatory panel.
Their nominations could come up for a vote from the full Senate as early as later this week.
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Fire station flags lowered
In a show of solidarity among firefighters the Grand Junction Fire Department is ordering flags lowered to half staff after the death of Fire Captain Shane Stewart of the Ault-Pierce Fire Department, which is located near Fort Collins.
Stewart was killed in an accident while responding to an emergency call, according to a press release issued by the Grand Junction Fire Department.
Flags will be at half mast through Thursday and some firefighters may also be wearing badge shrouds.
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Raked the wrong way
According to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department a woman doing some after snow clean up in the 3200 block of Bunting Avenue came upon something mysterious and called deputies around 9:20 a.m. Monday.
“She was cleaning her backyard and found a homemade plastic bong,” according to a Sheriff’s Department report. Cops responded and confiscated the bong (a water pipe commonly used for smoking marijuana).
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Ohio teens assault disabled woman ‘for kicks’
CINCINNATI (AP) — Two teenagers hid overnight in a house and spent more than six hours torturing a disabled woman after her mother left in the morning, authorities said.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said the teenage boy and girl tied up the 18-year-old woman, clubbed her, kicked her, shaved her head and soaked her with water before making her walk barefoot outside in the snow.
They also ignored pleas from the woman, who had undergone brain surgery, not to hit her in the head, investigators said.
“This is one of the worst crimes I’ve ever seen,” Jones said Monday. “They are sick animals, apparently just doing this for kicks and no other reason.”
Cheyenne Blanton, 17, and Joseph Nagle, 16, both of Hamilton, were arraigned Monday on juvenile delinquency charges that include aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felonious assault and vandalism, according to juvenile court officials.
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Storm dumps 9 inches at Beaver Creek, 7 at Vail
DENVER (AP) — A winter storm over Colorado’s high country dumped 9 inches of snow at Beaver Creek, 7 at Vail.
A winter storm warning remained in effect until 6 a.m. Tuesday for the southwest and central mountains, including Aspen, Vail, Crested Butte and Telluride.
Most of the state’s major highways were open, though some of the higher mountain passes, including Loveland, were closed.
Up to 20 inches of snow could fall above 9,000 feet through this morning, with gusts up to 50 miles per hour.
The statewide snowpack this week was at about 133 percent of the 30-year average.
Up to 3 inches of snow was predicted for the Front Range, including Denver.
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