Threat of ACLU suit puts Web poster back in school
A high school junior who was suspended for posting derogatory comments about his school on a popular website was allowed back in class Tuesday after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to file a federal lawsuit against school officials.
The ACLU of Colorado said an agreement was reached with school officials on Monday evening, which averted a lawsuit defending 16-year-old Bryan Lopez’s First Amendment rights.
Littleton High School administrators suspended Lopez for 15 days and were looking into expelling him after he criticized the school on MySpace.com.
“The school’s authority is limited to the school grounds,” said Hugh Gottschalk, an ACLU cooperating attorney who worked on Lopez’s case. He said the school cannot regulate speech beyond its grounds without violating the First Amendment, which entitles Lopez to speak positively or negatively about the school, he said.
ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein said the comments were not posted on the school’s computers but at Lopez’s personal home; the comments were not accessible on school computers because of Internet filters; and the material was available only with a password.
Littleton Public Schools spokeswoman Diane Leiker could not be reached for comment, but earlier confirmed the suspension was for Internet postings on Feb. 19.
SUMMIT COUNTY
‘Boarder arrested after turning up
A 23-year-old snowboarder from Loveland who was the object of an 8½-hour search by rescue personnel at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Monday but was found with friends in Kremmling has been arrested on outstanding warrants from Arapahoe County, said Summit County sheriff’s spokeswoman Paulette Horr.
Dustin Harmon was extradited to Arapahoe County on Tuesday, Horr said. Harmon was wanted for failure to appear in court in two indecent-exposure cases.
Also Tuesday, the district court in Larimer County issued an arrest warrant for Harmon for failure to comply with a court order in a 2005 case where Harmon pleaded guilty to indecent exposure, inducement to child prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to state court records.
Harmon has a lengthy arrest record in Colorado dating back to 2001.
He had been reported missing at Breckenridge on Sunday night when he failed to keep a meeting with friends after they became separated on the ski slopes, authorities reported.
ARVADA
Sharp-eyed employee foils suspected bandit
Arvada police arrested a man Tuesday on suspicion that he is the “I’ll Be Back” bandit who could be responsible for nearly 18 armed robberies across the metropolitan area since last summer, police spokeswoman Susan Medina said.
Julio Ontiveros-Perez, who will be 27 on Friday, was arrested after an employee at the State Farm Insurance Co. office at 5220 Wadsworth Blvd. saw that he matched the bandit’s description and notified police.
“He did enter the business, but he did not rob the business,” Medina said.
The bandit’s method of operation has been to enter a business – primarily check-cashing stores – visit with a clerk and then leave. He returns later with a black-colored handgun to rob the business, Medina said.
Ontiveros-Perez faces a number of possible charges.
DENVER
Pedestrian dies after hit by pickup
A 47-year-old man was struck and killed by a pickup truck as he crossed a street Monday night in his wheelchair, authorities say.
Richard Boone was taken to Denver Health Medical Center in critical condition after the 7:30 p.m. accident at the intersection of West Vassar Avenue and South Green Court.
Boone was pronounced dead two hours later, according to Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman.
Police were investigating the cause of the accident Tuesday, Jackson said.
The wheelchair-bound man was crossing Vassar Avenue when a motorist in a pickup truck turned onto the avenue traveling westbound and struck him, Jackson said.
The driver went to his house, which was only a block away, and called 911, Jackson said. He then returned to the accident scene, he said.
“It’s an unfortunate accident,” Jackson said.
DENVER
High court won’t bar jury in Barton case
The Colorado Supreme Court refused Tuesday to block a judge from seating a jury to determine whether Terry Barton’s actions in setting Colorado’s largest wildfire were aggravated.
In March 2003, the former U.S. Forest Service employee was sentenced by a judge to the maximum aggravated sentence of 12 years in state prison for lighting the 137,000-acre blaze in June 2002.
The sentence was thrown out by the Colorado Court of Appeals in December 2004. The appellate court said only a jury – not a judge – could impose a sentence in the aggravated range.
But on Jan. 17, Teller County District Judge Tom Kennedy ruled that under a May 2005 Colorado Supreme Court decision, he could impanel a jury and have it decide whether aggravating factors were present when Barton set the fire. Then he would make a final decision on whether to sentence her to more than the normal range.
Barton’s lawyers appealed to the state Supreme Court, asking the justices to block Kennedy from impaneling the jury. They said the Court of Appeals explicitly said Barton could only be sentenced to up to six years, the maximum in the normal sentencing range.
GOLDEN
Son claims insanity in father’s slaying
Michael Fitzgerald pleaded guilty Tuesday by reason of insanity to the Nov. 8, 2004, murder of his father, Steven.
Fitzgerald will be sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute for an evaluation, and the case will be reviewed on June 29.
Fitzgerald, now 18, and Michael Tate, 17, were accused of killing Steven Fitzgerald, 41, by hitting him on the head with a shovel, stabbing him several times and hiding his body behind garbage cans in the garage of the family’s home in the 6400 block of West 114th Avenue.
