Steamboat targets descent of manners on ski slopes
Steamboat Springs – Steamboat ski area will send more safety staff to the mountain this winter to try to curb reckless skiing and snowboarding.
Reckless riders will have their passes suspended for 30 days and could lose them for the rest of the season for repeat offenses.
“It’s to have the communication necessary to change the culture out there and improve the etiquette of skiers,” said Doug Allen, vice president of mountain operations.
Chris Diamond, president of the ski area, told the City Council that he was tired of riders who collide with people below them and blame it on others skiing unpredictably.
“We somehow got into this whole ‘He cut me off’ thing,” Diamond told the council. “It’s got to change. We will put a bigger team of (safety) volunteers on the mountain, and there are going to be consequences.”
The area will employ 12 paid, full-time courtesy patrollers, compared with eight last year. There will be 18 volunteers, up from four. They all will get special training.
“We don’t want this to come out like we’re out to get everyone’s (season ski) pass,” said John Kohnke, Ski Patrol director. “We want to enhance the comfort level of our guests. There’s a lot of angst out there in society. We’d like skiing to be preserved as a place to go and get away from that.”
HANOVER
Five pit bulls detained after attack on 2 teens
Five pit bulls that attacked two teenagers Saturday are being held at the Pikes Peak Region Humane Society, pending an investigation.
El Paso County sheriff’s Lt. Clif Northam said the teens, a boy and a girl, suffered bites on their arms. Both were treated at home.
Northam, who did not identify the owner of the dogs, said the owner will be charged with ownership of dangerous dogs if it is determined the animals were running loose and attacked without provocation.
DENVER
70-year-old fights off attacker in her home
A 70-year-old woman fought off an attacker in her apartment Friday evening in the 700 block of Dexter Street, police said.
The attacker somewhat fits the description of the serial rapist who has assaulted nine women and tried to attack others in Denver and Aurora, but he did not have a noticeable scar above his nose like the man described by other victims.
“We are not saying it was connected,” Denver police Detective Virginia Lopez said. “However, we are looking at each case independently to see what, if any, similarities there may or may not be.”
The woman screamed during the incident, and the man left the apartment.
Police said he drove away in an older two-door white car with a red horizontal stripe.
A similar attack occurred in the 600 block of Jersey Street on Oct. 25.
In that case, a woman fought off a man wearing a ski mask who tried to attack her as she got out of her car.
Denver police also have not linked the Jersey Street incident to the serial rapist.
ARVADA
Fireplace ashes in box start apartment fire
Fireplace ashes placed in a cardboard box on a balcony sparked a fire at an Arvada apartment complex Saturday, fire officials said.
All the residents of the 24-unit Indian Tree apartment complex, at 7815 Allison Way, were evacuated.
Eleven residents were displaced from their apartments, but no one was injured.
Ashes should be placed in a noncombustible container and doused with water before disposal, authorities said.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS
Reward offered in thefts from mailboxes
Postal inspectors are offering up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the theft of hundreds of pieces of mail near Glenwood Springs.
Most of the mail was advertising and junk mail taken from post office boxes along County Road 117.
Much of it was found discarded along the road.
GRAND JUNCTION
Patrol officer demoted in propositioning case
A State Patrol sergeant has been demoted to corporal for propositioning a woman in a car he had pulled over.
Trooper John Oreolt will lose $580 a month in pay.
The incident occurred during a country music festival near Grand Junction last summer.
The woman, Lynette Owens of Las Vegas, said she is considering a lawsuit.
