Ocean Journey closing for final stretch of renovations
Ocean Journey Aquarium will be closed to visitors because of construction beginning today until July 14.
Landry’s Restaurants, which purchased Ocean Journey in 2003, is closing the complex to complete renovations that began eight months ago. The final stretch of construction necessitated the closing, according to a news release.
Scot Hulgan, general manager of Ocean Journey, said the facility will close temporarily so visitors are not inconvenienced by construction. The cost of the renovation is $12 million, according to a spokeswoman.
Renovations include a new underwater-theme restaurant, a bar, and the addition of more than 250,000 gallons of exhibit space.
Staff will continue to be hired and trained during the next couple of weeks for the reopening.
GILPIN COUNTY
Man killed as truck crashes into creek
A 1-ton pickup truck crashed into South Boulder Creek near Pinecliffe on Tuesday afternoon, killing the driver, said Trooper Eric Wynn of the Colorado State Patrol.
The victim was identified as Russell Childs, 41, of Golden.
Childs was westbound on Colorado 72 in a Dodge 3500 pickup when the truck went off the road and into the creek about a mile west of Pinecliffe about 4:25 p.m., Wynn said.
DENVER
Pueblo man gets life for drug convictions
A 36-year-old Pueblo man who had been found not guilty of a 1999 drug killing was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison on related drug charges.
After a six-week federal trial in 2003, a jury did not convict Christopher Holyfield of shooting alleged crack-cocaine user Dusty Thomas.
But jurors found him guilty of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and possession of cocaine – charges that gave prosecutors the potential of putting Holyfield in prison for 30 years to life.
During the trial, prosecutors said Holyfield was a member of a large crack cocaine ring and killed Thomas over unpaid drug debts.
Prosecutors contend Holyfield moved to Colorado in 1998 as part of a conspiracy by the Pomona West Side Mafia Crips, from Pomona, Calif.
DENVER
$2,000 reward offered to find cat attacker
The Dumb Friends League is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot a cat in the eye with an arrow two weeks ago.
The cat was the third animal in the Denver area to be shot with an arrow within the past two months.
The 2-year-old male gray tabby cat was brought into a Planned Pethood Plus on June 9 by its owners with an arrow lodged in its right eye.
The owners could not afford the veterinarian bills to remove the arrow, so they handed the cat, Dartanian, over to Planned Pethood Plus for adoption.
Planned Pethood Plus removed the arrow, which blinded the cat in one eye.
“Surprisingly, he is in otherwise good physical condition, and we hope to place him with a new family as soon as possible,” Planned Pethood Plus spokeswoman Courtney Morris said in a news release.
In May, a black cat was shot with three blow darts. One of the arrows, lodged in her head, barely missed her eye and brain.
Earlier this month, a Siberian husky was shot in the leg with a blow dart.
The Dumb Friends League has not related any of the incidents.
“Although there are similarities, we don’t think there’s a connection between them,” Dumb Friends League spokeswoman Judy Calhoun said. “We’re hoping the publicity of the cases would encourage someone to report the person who is doing this cruel act.”
COLORADO
More funds sought to fix benefits system
Asked to pour another $8.2 million into the state’s beleaguered welfare-benefits computer system, lawmakers responded Tuesday with a few questions of their own.
Members of the Joint Budget Committee put off until today a decision on the request.
The money would pay for 34 additional state employees to help straighten out the Colorado Benefits Management System, which has already run up a tab of nearly $200 million.
But Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, said she was unhappy the state was being asked to pay for the additional employees, and to chip in on more office space to house them.
“We’re bringing in people to straighten this out, and they have the nerve to charge us rent to house these people?” she asked.
Electronic Data Systems, the contractor on the CBMS project, should have to shoulder some cost, she said.
Bill Ritz, spokesman for EDS, said the state asked that all project staff work in the same building.
“There is no more room in our office. We have to lease additional space,” Ritz said. “EDS is not making a penny on this.”
CBMS has been riddled with problems since its debut Sept. 1. An advocacy group for the poor sued the state over the system’s defects, and an audit of the system found that inadequate staffing and management contributed to the widespread problems.
