DEADLY ACCIDENT NEAR RIFLE
Rifle—A man was killed last night in a single vehicle accident on Highway 13 north of Rifle. According to reports from the Colorado State Patrol, the man, whose name has not been released, crashed near mile marker 15 around 6:40 last night and died at the scene. Highway 13 was closed for several hours. Authorities have not said if drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash.
CARBONDALE MAN KILLED NEAR McDONALD’S IDENTIFIED
Glenwood Springs—The man that was hit and killed by a car early Sunday morning while crossing Highway 82 near McDonald’s was highly intoxicated. According to reports from Garfield County Coroner Robert Glassmire, 25 year old Edwin Omar Ventura of Carbondale had a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit at .346. According to measurements, that is considered alcohol poisoning. Ventura was hit just before 1 am Sunday. His death was ruled an accident and no charges will be filed against the driver.
REGIONAL BROADBAND STUDY
Glenwood Springs—One of the drawbacks of living in beautiful Western Colorado is that spinning wheel on our computers…our painfully slow computers. Garfield and Mesa County formed a partnership last year to try to bring high speed broadband service to this part of the state. Diane Kruse with NEO Connect of Glenwood Springs went before the Garfield County Board of Commissioners with the results of an extensive and exhaustive study of internet access in the region. The research included speed tests with homeowners and business owners. They were able to create a map of counties in Western Colorado where there was inadequate broadband coverage. She says the minimum definition of broadband is 25 megabits per second in download with the goal of reaching 1,000 megabits per second. Rural Garfield County was measured at 3 which she calls “pitiful.” Kruse says while merging onto the broadband superhighway won’t be cheap, the county could avoid huge costs by installing conduit and fiber optic cable along existing pipelines. The normal cost to dig for new lines would run 25 to 30 dollars per foot. Kruse says using a so-called ‘shadow conduit’ would bring the per foot cost down to 3 to 5 dollars. The plan is get the project going by 2018 but Commissioner Tom Jankovsky says there’s no time to waste. He says he’d like the county to get started on it this year.
