Contractor guilty of attempted arson
Pueblo – A Pueblo West contractor who set his home on fire and was accused of trying to blow up four other houses built by his company has pleaded guilty to attempted arson.
Warren Sawicki, 52, reached a plea deal with prosecutors Thursday that dismissed charges of first-degree arson, criminal mischief and three more counts of attempted arson, according to court records.
He was scheduled for sentencing April 10.
Sawicki’s house caught fire Dec. 16, 2004. His wife told Pueblo County sheriff’s investigators her husband had threatened to burn down the house when she left home that day to review bankruptcy options with a lawyer.
A short time after a neighbor reported the fire, Sawicki called his wife from his mobile phone and said “everyone was taking everything from him and he wasn’t going to leave anything for them to take,” according to an affidavit.
Authorities tracked signals from Sawicki’s mobile phone and caught up with him after a chase that reached 95 mph in and around Pueblo.
A short time after his arrest, fire officials discovered extensive gas leaks at four homes built by Sawicki’s company, Front Range Builders.
Resort plans color election for council
Minturn – Four Town Council seats, including the mayor’s, are up for election on April 4 in a vote that will be driven by concern about a huge proposed ski resort development south of town.
Members Fred Haslee and Darell Wegert are not seeking re-election.
Mayor Gordon “Hawkeye” Flaherty and Councilman Bill Burnett are on the ballot.
The new council will decide whether to annex land to facilitate the Ginn Co.’s 5,000-acre ski area development.
“I think it’s a big deal because this next council will be the ones who deal most directly with the Ginn project,” resident Harry Gray said.
I-70 overpass damage causes 9-mile detour
Hays, Kan. – Eastbound traffic on Interstate 70 near Hays will have to endure a 9-mile detour, after a piece of construction equipment damaged a 45-foot section of an overpass.
Officials with the Kansas Department of Transportation expect an emergency repair of the bridge to be done by March 1.
The detour takes motorists along U.S. 183.
The bridge was damaged Monday when a backhoe being transported on a flatbed trailer struck the overpass. No one was injured.
Flier pleads guilty in assault on attendant
A man pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting an attendant on a commercial flight that was carrying some Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Jason Glen Tervort, a 27-year-old jockey, agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor assault charge in exchange for a sentence that includes no jail time, U.S. attorney spokesman Jeff Dorschner said.
Tervort had faced up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
The agreement calls for three years probation, a three-year ban on flying on commercial airlines, mental health treatment and restitution. Sentencing is scheduled for May 12.
Tervort, who said he had been prescribed an antidepressant, told investigators he was trying to reassure passengers on the Sept. 6 flight that the plane would arrive safely.
“I was delusional, your honor,” Tervort told U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham during a hearing Friday. “I thought, for whatever reason, I needed to let everyone know that the plane was going to get there, and I don’t completely understand exactly what my reasoning was because it was some clouded reasoning, your honor.”
Passengers, whom police said included Katrina evacuees flying from Houston to Denver, subdued Tervort after witnesses said he poked a flight attendant in the shoulder and chest and then began pushing and slapping her.
