Water will fill reservoirs, lift spirits
Spring runoff will completely replenish three major reservoirs on the Gunnison River and hundreds more on Grand Mesa.
A dramatic improvement is on tap for Blue Mesa, the state’s largest reservoir. With 375,500 acre-feet of storage, the lake is 45 percent full. But meltwater from a snowpack estimated at a third more than normal will boost the reservoir to full capacity by July, according to the federal Bureau of Reclamation.
An acre-foot is roughly enough to supply two average families of four for a year. Two smaller reservoirs below Blue Mesa, the Crystal Point and Morrow reservoirs, also will likely fill.
But the big news, said Wayne Schieldt, an assistant engineer with the Colorado Division of Water Resources, is on the Grand Mesa, where 300 to 400 small reservoirs on the table-top mountain near Grand Junction will also fill.
“We haven’t had those fill up there for eight to 10 years,” he said.
While the extra runoff is raising reservoir levels, it has also lifted people’s spirits – coming on the heels of five years of record drought in the state, Schieldt said. “It helps our attitudes, that’s for sure.”
Child-porn suspect faces federal charges
A 53-year-old Colorado Springs man was indicted Monday on federal charges of child pornography.
Roger Deatherage is accused of inducing a minor to pose for sexually explicit photos in 2004, according to the indictment. He also is charged with possession of child pornography, including at least 17 images on a computer of minors engaged in sexual activity.
Deatherage had been the subject of a manhunt led by the Colorado Springs Police Department on related charges.
Police probe dismissal of caller’s concerns
A Denver police call center employee who neglected to respond to a caller’s concern about burglaries in an east Denver neighborhood has been reassigned until an internal investigation is finished, according to Denver police officials.
The employee, who works in the Combined Communications Center, “neglected” to dispatch a police car to check the caller’s suspicions about several men who had visited her residence and tried to sell her compact discs.
Six days later, an aggravated robbery occurred at the same residence. A suspect in the robbery has been arrested.
Man who tried to lure girl into car is sought
Aurora police are looking for a man they say tried to abduct an elementary school student Monday.
A 10-year-old girl said she was walking home from Paris Elementary School when a man asked her to get into his car.
After the man tried three times unsuccessfully to get the girl into his car, she said, she ran away from him and went into a park where several people were playing basketball.
The girl’s mother reported the incident to the school Tuesday – the third case of an attempted child abduction in three weeks. The man’s car has been described as a silver Ford Taurus. Anyone with information should contact Aurora Detective Vanessa Wilson at 303- 739-6067.
Jeffco DA to set up second grand jury
Jefferson County’s second grand jury will be impaneled June 10 at the request of 1st Judicial District Attorney Scott Storey, who said the existing grand jury does not have time to hear cases awaiting presentation.
Storey said Tuesday that a top priority is to tackle organized identity-theft rings. He said he views grand juries – with their subpoena powers for testimony and documents – as a good tool in such complex cases.
More than 95 percent of all felony cases in the county still will be filed by Storey’s office without a grand jury, he said.
Man pleads not guilty in death of toddler
Robert Edward Hill, 22, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges in the Dec. 8 death of his girlfriend’s daughter, 22- month-old Tivia Petefish. A trial has been set for Sept. 30.
Hill entered the plea Tuesday in Jefferson County District Court. He has been charged with first-degree murder, reckless child abuse resulting in death, and reckless child abuse resulting in serious injury.
Hill also has been charged as a habitual child abuser. In 2003, he was sentenced to three years’ probation in the beating of his 6-week-old daughter, Jessica.
After 861 laps, coaster champion crowned
After 52 hours and 40 minutes of twisting, winding and turning aboard a historic wooden roller coaster, a machinist from Thornton emerged Tuesday as the winner of The Fox 103.5’s “Alice Cooper’s Coaster – Go Till You Blow” contest.
Richard Dickson completed his 862nd ride as a final victory lap aboard the Twister II at Six Flags Elitch Gardens, traveling more than 756 miles over the course of three days.
He will receive a two-year lease on a 2005 Eclipse Spyder convertible from Quality Mitsubishi, as well as Six Flags Elitch Gardens season passes.
Dickson and 17 other contestants rode the Twister II almost continuously with few breaks starting at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Gas-line break spurs 4-block evacuation
Several homes were evacuated in northeast Denver on Tuesday afternoon after a large natural gas line sprung a leak.
Police and firefighters responded about 3:30 p.m. to East 36th Avenue and Holly Street, where a contractor punctured a 10-inch intermediate-pressure gas line.
A four-block area was evacuated. The line was capped by 6 p.m., an Xcel Energy representative said. At least 1,000 customers from Steele to Quebec streets and from East 38th Avenue to Interstate 70 were affected by the line break.
Suspect acquitted by reason of insanity
A man who told police he shot his stepfather in the head because he believed the man was an impostor plotting to take his 1-year-old daughter was found innocent of first- degree murder charges Tuesday by reason of insanity.
William Gallegos, 30, will be sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo.
Judge James Hartmann found Gallegos innocent of killing Edward Perez, 59, after a two-day judge-only trial.
