Several injured in pileup on U.S. 6
A multi-car crash Saturday afternoon in Clear Creek Canyon injured several people, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
The accident, involving at least five vehicles, happened just before 6 p.m. on U.S. 6 about six miles west of Golden, said Master Trooper Ron Watkins.
Injuries ranged from minor to serious, and some victims were taken to metro-area hospitals, Watkins said.
The road, which can be heavily traveled on weekends by gamblers from nearby Black Hawk and Central City, was closed in both directions.
Pilot error blamed in fatal air-show crash
Santa Fe, N.M. – A stunt airplane that crashed during an air show at Santa Fe’s airport, killing the Colorado pilot, was caused by his failure to control the craft, federal investigators say.
Richard Bobbitt, 46, a former Navy pilot from Parker, died Oct. 2, 2004, as hundreds of spectators watched at Santa Fe Municipal Airport.
His single-engine 1993 Sukhoi SU-29 was working properly before it crashed and burst into flames, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Bobbitt was performing a maneuver called a torque roll under clear skies at about 1,500 feet above the ground, the NTSB said in a probable cause report released Oct. 27.
He apparently waited too long to try to recover after the airplane stalled, went into an inverted spin and spiraled nose-first into the ground, investigators said.
In a torque roll, an airplane pulls into a vertical climb at full throttle. As it runs out of airspeed, torque from the engine and propeller turns the airplane, which then falls off in one direction, nose-down. The pilot then flies the craft out of the dive.
Attorney still seeks spot on recall ballot
Aspen – An attorney who hopes to replace 9th Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden in a December recall election came up 19 signatures short of petitioning to have his name on the ballot.
But Martin Beeson, a former assistant district attorney under Truden, said he still thinks he can get on the ballot by correcting petition mistakes and challenging some of the rejected signatures before Thursday.
“We’re too close to just lay down and give up,” Beeson said.
He collected 1,243 signatures, but 262 were found not valid by the Colorado secretary of state’s office. He needed 1,000 signatures to have his name placed on the Dec. 13 ballot that also will ask voters if they want to recall Truden.
Truden, who took office in January, is the first Colorado district attorney to be targeted for a recall since 1978. If recalled, she would be the first in Colorado to be removed from office.
Truden was targeted for recall after Beeson and other attorneys who resigned from her office criticized her ethics, management style and lack of prosecution experience.
Truden has vowed to fight the recall and denies all allegations made by her former employees.
Meteor shower offers dazzling displays
Sky watchers around the world have reported dazzling fireballs and shooting stars streaking across the sky the past few nights.
The blasts of light are probably brighter-than-normal meteors associated with the Taurid meteor shower, NASA officials said Friday. The shower is not normally a showy one, sending a few dim meteors through the sky each hour.
Meteor showers occur when Earth’s atmosphere slams into a trail of dusty debris left by a comet – Comet Encke in the case of the Taurids, which occur in late October and early November.
Scientists suspect that this year, Earth is moving through a patch of pebble- and stone-size debris, larger than the more typical dust- and pea-size objects. NASA suggested looking for shooting stars originating in the constellation Taurus, which rises in the east about sunset.
Pastor charged with sexually abusing teen
A 72-year-old pastor has been charged with sexually assaulting a girl.
Allan Miller of Williamsburg, pastor of Victory Apostolic Church in Florence, was charged this past week with three counts of sexual assault on a child. He was being held in the Fremont County jail in lieu of $100,000 bond, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said Friday.
Miller was arrested Oct. 29 after the girl made the allegations to her grandmother and Miller’s wife, according to an arrest affidavit.
The 15-year-old girl, who lived with Miller so she would have an easier commute to a church school, said the sexual abuse began when she was 14, according to the affidavit.
The girl told investigators that Miller sexually assaulted her after performing a fake wedding ceremony with her in August, the affidavit said.
Authorities arranged a phone call between the girl and Miller, who allegedly referred to the abuse, according to the affidavit.Miller is scheduled to appear in Fremont County District Court on Nov. 15.
Hunters must get mountain-lion smarts
In response to hunters and wildlife advocates, the Colorado Wildlife Commission has mandated hunter education on the not-so-obvious differences between male and female mountain lions.
The goal of Thursday’s action is to prevent hunters from killing female mountain lions that may have litters of kittens, which would die without their mother’s care. Training rules kick in Jan. 1, 2007.
Details will be considered once the program is developed.
Among the differences – males are larger and have bigger paws and longer strides.
The commission received petitions supporting the program from Sinapu, a Boulder-based wildlife advocacy group; the Colorado Outfitters Association; and the United Houndsmen.
Advocates have argued that wildlife managers don’t have much information about the cat’s population and don’t do enough to protect the animal.
