AFA grad offers to drop suit if proselytizing prohibited
A Jewish graduate of the Air Force Academy who filed a lawsuit alleging officers and cadets at the school illegally imposed Christianity on others has offered to settle the suit if the Air Force bars proselytizing.
Mikey Weinstein told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wants the Air Force to stop wasting “time, effort, blood, sweat, tears and money” and agree to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
Sam Bregman of Albuquerque, Weinstein’s attorney, asked the Air Force on Tuesday to agree to a stipulated order in federal court that no one in the Air Force, including a chaplain, will “in any way attempt to involuntarily convert, pressure, exert or persuade a fellow member of the USAF to accept their own religious beliefs while on duty.”
Bregman also asked that the service not permit or advance one religion over another or over no religion.
Air Force spokesman Capt. David Small said the offer had been referred to the Department of Justice and that a response would come “at an appropriate time and by appropriate means.”
Cement shortage may delay local projects
Public works projects in and around Denver could face delays due to a cement shortage following Hurricane Katrina, city officials said Tuesday.
Cement imports from the Gulf Coast, down 15 percent to 20 percent since Hurricane Katrina, combined with a temporary closure of a cement plant in Florence in August, means the material used to make concrete is in short supply.
“Every project that involves concrete is affected,” said Bill Vidal, Denver Public Works manager.
City officials are uncertain how cement shortages will affect future plans, including a $14.1 million flood-control project on the South Platte River slated to begin in November.
Education bills tackle special ed, early ed
The state’s School Finance Interim Committee on Tuesday approved several bills it plans to propose in the next legislative session in 2006.
Among them are a bill to create a special education funding pool to help pay for the education of disabled students with severe needs, a bill that will allow school districts to ask voters for a mill-levy increase to fund full-day kindergarten, and the creation of a council to look at how early childhood, K-12 and higher education communities can work better together.
The state funds half-day kindergarten.
Salazar urges states
to ban “rebirthing”
Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar co-introduced a Senate resolution Tuesday calling on states to outlaw “rebirthing,” an unconventional form of therapy that led to the suffocation in Colorado of Candace Newmaker, 10, of North Carolina five years ago.
The resolution, which is not legally binding, passed unanimously in the Senate as Newmaker’s grandparents, David and Mary Davis of North Carolina, watched from the gallery. They had asked Salazar and North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr to take action.
Candace died in 2000 in Evergreen after being wrapped in a flannel blanket and covered with pillows to simulate a womb, from which she was supposed to fight her way out. The procedure was supposed to help her connect emotionally with her adoptive mother.
Two Coloradans are serving 16-year prison sentences in the case.
Parents, son arrested
in immigration raid
Federal immigration authorities on Tuesday arrested three Hudson residents on charges of transporting, harboring and employing illegal aliens. During the pre-dawn raid, agents also found 17 Mexican nationals and one person from Fiji, all of whom were employed as farm workers; and $120,000 in cash.
Moises Rodriguez, 64; his wife, Maria Rodriguez, 59; and their son, Javier Rodriguez, 39, were arrested at their 9-acre farm in Hudson without incident.
Library keeps its spot at No. 3 among largest
The Denver Public Library has stayed at its No. 3 national ranking of large library systems for the second year in a row, primarily due to budget cuts, librarian Rick Ashton said Tuesday.
After three consecutive years at No. 1, Denver again comes in third after Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio and Oregon’s Multnomah County Library, according to Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings released earlier this month.
Rankings are based on many factors, including data about library use and where financial resources are funneled.
Presbytery employee suspected of theft
An arrest warrant has been issued for the treasurer of the Denver Presbytery, whom authorities suspect of taking $310,000 from the church. Police are looking for Gary Lee Campbell, 51, who in 2001 was hired as a paid part-time bookkeeper and accounting consultant by the church.
Investigators allege in court documents that during a 16-month period in 2003 and 2004, Campbell issued 22 checks on the Presbytery’s checking account, totaling $770,000, to RWI contractors, where Campbell is full-time controller. However, only $317,000 was repaid to the church. The last payment by RWI was on April 4, leaving an outstanding amount of $310,000, investigators said.
Lawyer Tate named to city’s water board
Mayor John Hickenlooper on Tuesday appointed Denver lawyer Penfield Tate to the Denver Water Board.
A former state legislator, Tate is now a partner with the law firm Trimble, Tate, Nulan & Evans. He is the former executive director of the Colorado Department of Administration and was once an aide to former mayor Federico Peña.
The Denver Water Board is made up of five commissioners, appointed by the mayor, who serve staggered six-year terms.
Ex-coach pleads guilty to molesting girl
A former high school athletic director and girls’ basketball coach pleaded guilty Tuesday to repeatedly sexually molesting a 17-year-old girl he coached in his summer basketball program five years ago.
Craig DeBiase, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust.
