GW ARTS CENTER NEEDS TO MOVE
Glenwood Springs—The Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts is searching for a new home. Last night the city council held a special meeting and voted 5 to 1 to end the 10 dollar a year rental agreement of the old hydroelectric building. The center has until the end of the year to vacate. The council also agreed to pay several teachers 20 thousand dollars in back pay. Most of them haven’t seen a paycheck since April after former director Christina Brusig was fired over mismanaged funds. Councilman Jonathan Godes cast the dissenting vote. He says the government shouldn’t be involved.
HANGING LAKE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Glenwood Springs—Limiting the number of visitors on the Hanging Lake Trail to 615 per day during the busy summer months may be a bit drastic according to some officials. Right now the increasingly popular, one-mile hike to the pristine waters attracts twice that number of people. Garfield County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky says cutting the number in half is too much and will make it tough to pay for the shuttle service the White River National Forest wants to use to take visitors to the trailhead. Glenwood Springs Mayor Mike Gamba says a more realistic number of visitors would be 750 to 800 per day. In addition to a mandatory shuttle service from May 1st through the end of October, forest service officials are suggesting a fee-based reservation system. The Hanging Lake Management Plan won’t be finalized until public comments are considered. The deadline to submit a comment is September 21st. A special public meeting is scheduled next Wednesday, August 30th from 5 to 7 pm at the Glenwood Springs Library.
ASPEN COUPLE DIES IN FALL ON CAPITOL PEAK
Aspen—The young Aspen couple that tragically fell to their death last weekend while climbing Capitol Peak was identified as Carlin Brightwell and Ryan Marcil. Authorities say both of them were in their 20’s and according to friends, had been dating for about six months. They ventured out to climb the 14 thousand foot Capitol Peak last Sunday and were reported missing when they failed to return. Their bodies were found and recovered by a helicopter Tuesday afternoon. Pitkin County Sheriff’s Commander Jesse Steindler says it looks like Brightwell and Marcil fell from the summit. Their deaths are the third and fourth on Capitol Peak this summer.
HICKENLOOPER SAYS NO TO PIPELINE MAPS
Denver—An online mapping system for oil and gas pipelines in Colorado will not be offered due to security concerns. Governor John Hickenlooper says instead, the state will expand the familiar “Call before you dig” service that allows people to have trained workers mark the location of underground utilities on their property. The governor says some people were understandably worried about theft and security if a map were available online. He says three months ago, a pipeline map would’ve been useful after an explosion in Firestone killed two people. Investigators blamed gas leaking from an old pipeline that was believed to have been abandoned.
