4 treated after drug shared at school
Four students at Wheat Ridge Middle School were taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation Thursday when one of them collapsed after ingesting a prescription anti-seizure medication brought to school by another one, said Wheat Ridge police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall.
A 14-year-old boy became disoriented and then collapsed after taking Topamax, Stigall said. The medication was brought to school by a 14-year-old girl reportedly to throw it away, she said.
Two 13-year-old boys also ingested some of the drug, but only one of them displayed visible effects, Stigall said.
The girl could face charges of reckless endangerment, Stigall said.
Rick Kaufman, spokesman for Jefferson County Public Schools, said all four of the teenagers will face disciplinary action.
City manager’s pay passes $200,000
Lakewood City Manager Mike Rock, whose compensation was criticized during last year’s sales-tax election, has received a $8,824 pay hike retroactive to March.
Rock now earns $204,926, up from $196,102. His 10-year contract, signed in 2000, includes an annual 4.5 percent raise each March.
Rock said Thursday that he deferred his pay hike last year because of the city’s ailing finances. After voters approved raising the city’s sales tax from 2 percent to 3 percent in November, Rock received a $6,448 lump- sum payment that covers the March-to-December period.
In just more than a month, Rock’s pay will rise to more than $214,000 under his contract terms. Rock’s salary remains a controversial issue.
“It would be easy to say he makes too much money,” said Councilman Bob Murphy, who has served six years. “But you’ve got to look at the big picture.”
Rock has been instrumental in bringing developments such as Belmar and Colorado Mills, Murphy said.
Climber killed after fall in state park
A 25-year-old Boulder man was killed in a climbing accident Thursday evening on the “Rincon Route” in Eldorado Canyon State Park, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim, who was rappelling down the face of the cliff about 6:15 p.m., fell an estimated 20 feet. He was not wearing a helmet and suffered serious injuries when he landed on his head, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The unidentified man was declared dead as he was being evacuated from the canyon.
DNA helps convict man in 1992 rape
A nearly 14-year-old rape case, solved with the help of DNA testing, resulted in the conviction Thursday of John Allen Ricks for second-degree sexual assault. Ricks, who denied involvement in the sexual assault in the 3900 block of West 10th Avenue, faces a possible maximum sentence of 16 years for the July 10, 1992, attack. He will be sentenced in April.
The victim, who was 17 at the time, came back to Denver and testified during the trial. Prosecutor Bonnie Benedetti called the victim the “hero” of the case.
In 2005, Denver authorities were looking at cold cases and were able to match DNA left by the rapist with Ricks’ DNA. The DNA obtained from the rape kit taken in 1992 was entered into a national databank and matched Ricks, who was on parole for robbery.
Hookah coals linked to blaze at condos
A fire in Boulder that torched a condominium complex and left more than a dozen people homeless was probably started by the discarded hot coals of a hookah pipe, though investigators can’t say for certain that was the case.
The fire started about dawn Sunday at 2990 Shadow Creek Drive, in the Gold Run condominium complex. The blaze began on the glass-enclosed deck of a third-floor unit, fire investigators believe, and then spread to other units.
Officials believe the fire started when somebody placed the hot coals from a hookah pipe into a pot containing organic potting material, according to a news release.
Low birth weight may set off child diabetes
Being underweight at birth may trigger the onset of Type 1 diabetes, researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and five other study sites have found.
The finding surprised the researchers, who went into the study thinking they would find a link between childhood obesity and Type 1 diabetes.
Instead, they found that obesity was a factor in only the most severe cases, while low birth weight seemed to contribute to an earlier diagnosis in almost all cases.
