City golf chief resigns amid flap on workers’ other jobs
Denver Parks and Recreation’s golf director has resigned after accusations that four golf-division employees worked other jobs while on city time.
The Denver Parks and Recreation Department on Monday announced the resignation of Tom Woodard, who had worked for the city for nine years.
Department spokeswoman Tiffiany Moehring said Woodard was not asked to resign his $88,524-a-year post.
“He has chosen to do this,” Moehring said. “It was of his own accord.”
A telephone call to Woodard’s city phone line had a recorded message stating he had resigned, effective Friday. He could not be reached for comment.
News of Woodard’s resignation follows the disclosure that four golf-division employees were suspended for de-icing planes at Denver International Airport for a private contractor when they were supposed to be working at City Park Golf Course.
The employees said the outside employment was approved by their supervisor and their hours were flexible.
John Overstreet, the city’s deputy manager of parks and planning, will manage golf operations on an interim basis. Woodard will remain to assist with the transition and training.
ALBUQUERQUE
Enough explosives taken to level building
Authorities asked the public for help Monday after 150 pounds of commercial plastic explosives turned up missing from a private storage site, along with 2,500 blasting caps and 20,000 feet of explosives detonation cord.
“In the hands of the wrong person, this material can be very, very destructive,” Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White said during a news conference.
Wayne Dixie, resident agent in charge of the Albuquerque office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the missing material could level a building “if it was in the hands of the right people and they knew how to use it.”
ATF spokesman Tom Mangan said the theft occurred between Dec. 13 and Sunday, when it was noticed at 4 p.m. that the materials were missing. Two commercial-style containers, each stored inside two bunkers southwest of Albuquerque, were burglarized.
Dixie cautioned there was no evidence to suggest terrorism.
ASPEN
Hairstylist blames “misunderstanding”
An internationally known hairstylist on Monday said accusations that he stole Kevin Costner’s laptop, which contained photographs of the actor’s wedding, stem from a “misunderstanding” he is trying to resolve.
Pascal Bensimon, 44, appeared Monday in court, where a 9th Judicial District Court judge set a Feb. 6 court date and gave the hairstylist permission to travel to Atlanta on business.
Bensimon faces a theft charge for allegedly stealing a computer that contained private photos of Costner’s Sept. 25, 2004, wedding to Christine Baumgartner at the actor’s Aspen-area ranch. Bensimon had been hired to style hair for some of the guests.
Bensimon’s attorney, Lauren Wolpin, told Judge James Boyd she wanted time to conduct an investigation and obtain documents from prosecutors.
FORT COLLINS
Son gets 45-year term in mother’s murder
A man who told police he remembered nothing about the night his mother was beaten to death was sentenced Monday to 45 years in prison.
Jeremy Moss, 32, in October pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the June 5 death of Rosemary Borak, 52.
Prosecutors asked for a maximum 48 years in prison, saying Moss’ cleanup of the crime scene indicated he knew he had done something wrong. In sentencing, Judge Daniel Kaup also noted Moss’ history of violence toward his mother.
Moss’ defense attorney asked for a 20-year sentence, citing previously undetected brain damage that when combined with alcohol made Moss unable to control his actions.
Moss told police he was out drinking the night before, went home at about 2:30 a.m. and continued drinking until he passed out. He said he did not see his mother until about 12:45 p.m. when he found her body and called police.
DENVER
Suspect in bartender’s 2003 killing arrested
A man on the Colorado Fugitive Location and Apprehension Group’s 20 Most Wanted list has been captured in Detroit, the U.S. Marshals Service announced Monday.
Ruben Delatorre, 36, was arrested on a warrant out of Arapahoe County charging him with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon in the shooting of a Sheridan bartender, a statement from the marshals said.
Delatorre is the suspect in the murder of Humberto Mendoza- Casillas, who was 37 when he was killed May 18, 2003. Mendoza-Casillas was shot in his bar, Quick Draws.
Police said the bartender’s brother initially kicked the suspect out because he was too drunk.
About a half hour later, they say, he came back and shot Mendoza-Casillas in the chest.
DENVER
AG asks high court to end redistricting case
The office of state Attorney General John Suthers on Monday filed paperwork with the U.S. Supreme Court in the last case stemming from state Republicans’ 2003 attempt to change Colorado’s congressional boundaries to favor their party.
Suthers’ office asked the nation’s highest court to affirm a lower court ruling that dismissed the case, said spokeswoman Kristen Hubbell. The court has 10 days from receipt of the motion to decide whether to take the case, she said.
The plaintiffs argued that a lower court applied legal doctrine incorrectly and that provisions of the Colorado Constitution violate the First Amendment and other parts of the U.S. Constitution.
FORT MORGAN
Meeting on property rights, water pumping
Leaders of the property-rights movement will meet Wednesday with Colorado farmers who have been forced to reduce or shut off irrigation wells.
Wayne Hage, a Nevada rancher who claims in a pending lawsuit that the federal government illegally took his property rights, will address farmers at 7 p.m. at the Country Steak-Out restaurant in Fort Morgan. He will be joined by his wife, former Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth- Hage, in the restaurant’s meeting room.
A Colorado Supreme Court decision on groundwater pumping has forced many farmers in the South Platte River basin to replace water their wells consume or shut them down. The court forbade groundwater wells to continue taking water out of priority from those who hold senior rights on the river.
Affected farmers contend that the state, which permitted their wells for decades, took their property without compensation.
