Three men rob Albertsons, tie up two store employees
Two Albertsons grocery store workers were found tied up Saturday after Denver police were called to the store in the 300 block of South Broadway around 1:20 a.m. after receiving a 911 call.
Police said two men and possibly a third may have been involved in the robbery.
One suspect was described as an Asian male with spiked hair who was wearing a yellow jacket; the second as a Latino male. Police did not release information about the third suspect.
Police said the men fled through a door in the back of the store with “miscellaneous items.”
Police ask anyone with information about the robbery to contact Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
COLORADO SPRINGS
Air Force Academy cadet injured in fall
An Air Force Academy cadet suffered serious injuries after falling about 200 feet on a mountain Saturday, academy officials said. Cadet Tom Avolio, of Des Moines, Wash., was on Eagle Peak on academy grounds with two other cadets when he fell, 1st Lt. John Ross said. It was not immediately known whether the three were hiking or climbing.
The other two cadets and three more cadets passing by climbed down to help Avolio, Ross said. A helicopter from the Wyoming National Guard took Avolio off the mountain, Ross said. Ross said Avolio was being taken to Penrose Hospital, where his condition was not immediately available.
BOULDER
Man gets 10 years for attack on CU student
A judge sentenced a 40-year-old man to 10 years in prison for attacking a black University of Colorado student and breaking his jaw last summer.
A jury convicted Phillip Martinez of second-degree assault last month, but exonerated him of a charge that the attack was racially motivated.
Boulder District Judge Carol Glowinsky said Friday during the sentencing that the fight probably wouldn’t have happened if the situation wasn’t racially charged, but that she respected the jury’s verdict.
Martinez, of Lafayette, broke Andrew Sterling’s jaw on June 3 when Sterling was walking home from a bar and Martinez drove by with some friends. Prosecutors said Martinez had been drinking and used racist language to instigate the fight.
DENVER
Women will appeal dismissal of CU suit
Two women who have seen their lawsuit against the University of Colorado dismissed by a federal court judge filed a notice Friday that they will appeal that decision to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lisa Simpson and another woman, both students at the time, said they were sexually assaulted at a 2001 party attended by football players and recruits. They had sued the university, contending the school fostered a hostile environment that allowed the assaults to occur.
But on March 31, 2005, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn dismissed the 2002 action before the trial was to begin. He said the women had not proven that the university was “deliberately indifferent” to the risk that players and recruits would assault women, according to the ruling.
COLORADO
Auroran seeks Nov. vote on smoking ban
An Aurora man has filed the paperwork necessary to ask voters in November to repeal the statewide smoking ban set to go into effect July 1.
Ben Doerflinger said he plans to ask volunteers to help him gather the roughly 68,000 valid signatures it takes to put the question on the ballot. He also plans to ask bar owners for help.
“I’m just your average Joe that got ticked off that they took away my smoking privileges without asking,” he said. “If I am able to get it on the ballot and it doesn’t pass, I win. Democracy ruled. If it does pass, I win. Either way, I win.”
The law bans smoking in most indoor public places except on casino floors and at cigar bars, smoke shops, small businesses, family farms and Denver International Airport’s smoking lounge.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CSU-Pueblo grad new Bush press aide
Dana Perino, a 1994 graduate of Colorado State University at Pueblo, was named deputy press secretary Friday to President Bush.
Perino graduated from what was then the University of Southern Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and a minor in political science and Spanish.
Perino worked in Washington for Rep. Scott McInnis as a staff assistant and for four years as press secretary for Dan Schaefer, the late Colorado congressman.
