Woman’s birthday means gifts for GIs
Connie Rasmussen turned 60 this year, and that meant 800 soldiers in Iraq got all the gifts.
Rasmussen, of Broomfield, used her birthday party Nov. 19 to collect essentials for troops under the command of her son, Army Maj. Andrew Ulrich. Ulrich, who attended Broomfield High School, is serving his fourth tour in Iraq.
Rasmussen ended up collecting a ton of goodies – as in 2,100 pounds of snacks, toiletries and other items for the troops. “I was in tears most of the day,” she said. The donations were mailed off this past week.
“It was incredible. My garage was stuffed,” she said. “It took me 16 hours to pack it all.”
She got the idea for a collection from a radio station that did a similar drive. She asked friends to bring basics because the Army doesn’t provide items such as deodorant. About two dozen strangers who heard about the drive also delivered items.
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.
First Sgt. Bryan Rainey arranged the teleconference ceremony. 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.
Following the ceremony, Bowden cut into a cake surrounded by a heart-shaped ring of candles and Reynolds tossed her bouquet to her best friend, Staff Sgt. Barbara Brooks.
“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 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 most likely is 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.
The suit was filed 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.
