Happy bride wears veil, combat boots
Colorado Springs – The bride wore camouflage and combat boots and the groom, about 7,000 miles away in Qatar, forgot the ring.
Staff Sgt. Courtney Reynolds, who works at Peterson Air Force Base, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Bowden exchanged vows by teleconference Friday and both kissed the video monitors when a chaplain pronounced them married.
Reynolds and Bowden had dated for five years and, with scheduled and potential deployments threatening to keep them apart for several more months, they had decided to get married over the phone.
But 1st Sgt. Bryan Rainey arranged the teleconference ceremony after Reynolds told him of their plans.
He often attends international military teleconferences and thought the technology could be used for a happy occasion.
“I always said I was going to be untraditional,” said Reynolds, 26, who wore a white veil along with her uniform and combat boots.
She said she decided to forgo a wedding dress because she knew Bowden would be wearing camouflage.
“This is probably one of the happiest days of my life next to, I don’t know, Atlanta losing the Super Bowl,” Bowden, 25, said.
Bicyclists net a gator in downtown pond
Longmont – A 2-foot long reptile that three men said they found in a pond near downtown most likely is an abandoned pet, animal experts said.
Ann Elizabeth Nash, director of the Colorado Reptile Humane Society, saw photographs of the animal and said it is most likely an American alligator, native to southeastern coastal states but also Oklahoma and Texas.
It can grow to an average of 13 feet.
Three men said they spotted the reptile while riding bikes Tuesday.
They said they returned with a net Wednesday to get it, though they didn’t have any immediate plans of what to do with it.
“What we’ve run into in the past with exotic species like that is people buy them as pets, get tired of them or outgrow them, and dump them into ponds because they don’t know what else to do,” Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskfield said Friday. “In Sloan’s Lake in Denver, every once in a while we’ll find a piranha.”
The division discourages people from dumping non-native species into the wild, since the animals may not be able to survive, or the animal could challenge native species, Baskfield said.
Windi Padia, district wildlife manager for the division, suggested that the gator be placed with the Colorado Reptile Humane Society until arrangements could be made for it to live in the proper environment.
Three winners to share Lotto jackpot
Three people matched all six numbers to win a share of Wednesday night’s $4.8 million Lotto jackpot, Colorado Lottery officials said.
The winning numbers were 12, 15, 18, 29, 38 and 41.
Lottery officials said 18 people matched five numbers to win $497 each; 692 matched four numbers to win $48 apiece; and 11,329 people selected three of the numbers to win $3 each.
City settles suit over police officer’s actions
Colorado Springs – The city has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit filed after a police officer forced a man suspected of underage drinking to pose for revealing photos.
City officials agreed recently to pay $30,000 to Adam Kra licek of Thornton, said Shane White, a senior attorney in the city attorney’s office.
In return, Kralicek will drop his lawsuit against the Police Department and Chief Luis Velez.
“We didn’t feel the city, or the Police Department, or Chief Velez did anything wrong, but an employee at the Police Department at the time committed acts we believe were not right,” White said.
“Whether or not he violated anyone’s constitutional rights is uncertain. He shouldn’t have done what he did,” White said.
Charles “Chip” Broshous, a 14-year veteran of the department and the Colorado State Patrol, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor official misconduct last year and resigned.
Investigators said he illegally took Kralicek, then 20, to the downtown police headquarters on July 9, 2004, forced him to strip to a G-string and took pictures of him with an 18-year-old police cadet.
Kralicek’s underage drinking charge eventually was dropped.
Kralicek filed the suit in May, alleging Broshous violated Kralicek’s civil rights and that Velez failed to properly “train, supervise and discipline” Broshous, according to court documents.
Investigators also found about 100 photographs in Broshous’ home that he had taken of bare-chested men he contacted while on duty, according to investigation reports.
Broshous was stripped of his peace-officer certification in March, meaning he can never again be an officer in Colorado.
