HUNTER RESCUED NEAR SUNLIGHT
Aspen—A Wisconsin man hunting near Sunlight Mountain had to be escorted back to his campsite earlier this week after a cold night in the back country. According to reports from the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, about 20 members of Mountain Rescue Aspen were called out to assist 55 year old Charlie Johnson who got lost Tuesday night after leaving his campsite. Friends of Johnson called 9-1-1 when he failed to report back by 11 pm. Johnson was found Wednesday afternoon in the Miner Basin area about 17 miles south of Sunlight.
FALL FESTIVAL DUI ENFORCEMENT
Undated—With Labor Day in the rear view mirror, autumn gives way to fall festivals like Oktoberfest and more reasons to tip back a few adult beverages. That’s why over 80 law enforcement agencies in Colorado will be turning up the heat once again with extra officers, troopers and deputies looking for drunk or stoned drivers. The enforcement period starts tonight at 6 and continues through October 24th. Last year’s fall festival enforcement period led to almost 15-hundred DUI arrests. Locally, increased patrols are in the works for sheriff’s offices in Garfield and Pitkin Counties as well as the Aspen Police Department. The Colorado State Patrol’s Glenwood Springs division will conduct saturation patrols. Fall festival partiers who need a safe ride home are encouraged to use C-DOT’s new R-U Buzzed smartphone app to test blood alcohol levels and to contact ride-hauling services like Uber.
AMENDMENT 69 OPPOSITION GROWING
Glenwood Springs—With less than two months to go until election day, the opposition to a Colorado constitutional amendment is growing. Notable Republican and Democrat leaders have voiced serious concerns about Amendment 69, the Colorado Care initiative including State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, Governor John Hickenlooper and his predecessor Bill Ritter. Western slope organization Club 20 is strongly opposed to Amendment 69. Club 20 Executive Director Christian Reece says the ballot language is vague and if it’s passed, everyone would have to pay into the system whether or not you have a health plan. Reece says Colorado Care would raise 25 billion dollars in new taxes and would also siphon the 13 billion dollars the state uses to pay for Medicaid. She says the amendment will also adversely affect the medical community and deplete the already shrinking number of physicians around the state. Reece says one of the most unsettling aspects of Colorado Care is the select group that would be running the show…a 21-member board of directors from seven districts. She says the only requirement to qualify for the board is to be at least 18 years of age. Reece says the board would be autonomous for the most part, members could not be voted out by citizens, they would get to vote on one another’s salaries and they wouldn’t be bound by TABOR, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Colorado Care/Amendment 69 was authored by former Democrat State Senator Irene Aguilar.
