JEFFERSON COUNTY
2 Arvada men killed
in crash on dead end
Two Arvada men were killed when their Mercedes convertible sped into a dead end early Saturday and crashed in a residential neighborhood in Jefferson County.
Adam Campbell, 22, and Justin Westdal, 25, died after the vehicle Campbell was driving in excess of 100 mph crashed just before 1 a.m. into a “T” intersection in the 15000 block of West 58th Avenue, Colorado State Patrol officials said.
The vehicle went through a stop sign and collided with multiple rocks, trees and a fence, troopers said. The car then went airborne about 120 feet over a ditch, where it came to rest.
Campbell was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected. He was rushed to St. Anthony Central Hospital, but died a short time later.
Westdal was wearing a seat belt, but died at the scene. Police had not determined whether alcohol was a factor in this crash.
DENVER
Mexico to extradite
suspected cop killer
A Mexican official says his country will extradite Raul Gomez-Garcia so the 20-year- old can face charges in the May 8 shooting death of Denver police Detective Donald “Donnie” Young.
“The Mexican government wants to see Mr. Gomez-Garcia face justice appropriately in the United States,” Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico’s foreign secretary for North America, told 9News. “Bad guys should be behind bars.”
The extradition request filed by Denver prosecutors will now go through the Mexican courts. Gomez-Garcia can fight extradition, and if he loses, can appeal the decision to send him back.
If Gomez-Garcia files an appeal, the process could take more than a year. If he does not contest the decision, he could be back in Denver in a few months.
COLORADO
Mystery company to attract 600 new jobs
Colorado has attracted a company that will bring 600 new jobs to the state, Brian Vogt, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, said Friday.
Vogt declined to name the company but said details will be released Tuesday.
“It has been a very exciting four-week run,” Vogt told members of the Colorado General Assembly’s Interim Committee on Economic Development.
A total of 1,275 new jobs have been created in the past month with the help of $2.1 million in tax incentives, Vogt said. Their total payroll will top $91 million.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Probe: Cadet jumped from dorm window
Air Force investigators on Friday said they found no evidence that anyone pushed or threw an Air Force Academy cadet who broke his back in a fall from a dormitory window.
Nicholas Khan, a freshman, fell at least 30 feet from the dorm on March 13. His father, Charles Khan of St. Louis, has said his son was pushed by a senior cadet who was angry because Nicholas Khan, 23, accused the senior of making unwanted advances toward a female cadet.
The Khans did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said the investigators had considered the possibility that Khan was pushed and determined “the only way he could have landed where he landed was if he jumped.”
Whitaker said investigators tried to recreate the incident based on Khan’s allegations that he was thrown out the window.
Investigators used a “mannequin kind of thing” similar to what firefighters use to practice with.
“They were unable to recreate the trajectory and landing point and everything, even using two people to throw the mannequin out the window,” Whitaker said.
He said there were inconsistencies in cadet Khan’s statements, and they conflicted with the statements of some witnesses.
Charles Khan has said the senior who allegedly pushed his son out the window is now a second lieutenant assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The alleged attacker’s name has not been released.
GRAND JUNCTION
3 western counties grow by 10 percent
Three western Colorado counties’ populations grew at a rate of about 10 percent between 2000 and 2004, U.S. Census Bureau figures show.
Garfield County, in the midst of a natural-gas boom, grew 10.7 percent to 48,503.
Montrose County grew 9.7 percent to 36,674 and Mesa County grew 9.5 percent to 127,253.
Weld County, in northeastern Colorado, was the fastest-growing county in Colorado and the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation, at 16.8 percent, the Census Bureau said. Weld County’s population is more than 211,000.
Diane Schwenke, president of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, said Mesa County’s growth rate may be poised to speed up.
“I think in-migration is increasing,” she said.
The figures suggest the county’s population will double in population in 20 years, Mesa County Administrator Jon Peacock said.
Kathy Hall, who works with the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and is a former Mesa County commissioner, said the county’s steady growth rate may explain why its economy did not suffer a downturn after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
“In that time, the rest of the state was in a downturn,” Hall said. “Mesa County and Grand Junction were the only places in the state that saw sales-tax increases.”
DIA
Testing to continue on jet-wake sensor
Flight Safety Technologies Inc., based in Mystic, Conn., has received a $9.8 million contract from the U.S. Department of Transportation/Volpe Center for continued work on wake vortex sensor technology, which it is testing at Denver International Airport.
It has been testing technology aimed at developing a reliable sensor for wake turbulence as part of a wake vortex advisory system that air-traffic controllers would use to safely separate planes during takeoffs and landings.
