City auditor claims deficit of truth in letter to mayor
A testy debate over a proposed restructuring of Denver’s financial system got more heated Wednesday when City Auditor Dennis Gallagher sent a scathing letter to Mayor John Hickenlooper.
The auditor’s latest letter criticized the process of the Mayor’s Financial Management Task Force.
Gallagher said he had not been dealt with in a truthful manner.
The Denver City Council is considering changes to the city charter that would move accounting and payroll functions out of the auditor’s control. The idea is to make the city function under what are considered “best practices.”
The two sides are supposed to be working toward an agreement on a plan to create a city chief financial officer before a meeting with the City Council on Monday.
A spokeswoman for the mayor said Gallagher had canceled a scheduled meeting Tuesday.
AURORA
Fire forces dozens from apartments
An apartment fire late Wednesday afternoon forced more than a dozen adults and children from their residences, Aurora fire officials said.
Three juveniles admitted to starting the blaze in an empty unit in the 1700 block of Chester Street about 5:40 p.m., according to a news release from the Aurora Fire Department.
Firefighters knocked down the blaze in about 10 minutes, and no injuries were reported. The American Red Cross is setting up shelter for the displaced families, the statement said.
CAÑON CITY
Ex-Quiznos executive to fight sex charges
A former Quiznos executive accused of trying to a lure who he thought was a teenage girl into a sexual encounter will “vigorously” defend himself against the charges, his attorney said Wednesday.
Scott Darrell Lippitt, 47, of Englewood faces charges of attempted criminal assault on a child, enticement of a child, Internet sexual exploitation of a child and Internet luring, authorities said. He is scheduled in court today.
Cañon City police say they arrested Lippitt on Aug. 2 after he drove there believing he was meeting a 13-year-old girl he encountered on the Internet. Lippitt’s attorney, Gary Lozow of Denver, said he will demand an evidentiary hearing requiring the state to provide evidence it used in developing the case. He said he will also eventually ask a judge to reduce the $250,000 cash bond Lippitt had to post last week to get out of jail.
“He plans to vigorously defend himself against these charges,” Lozow said.
DENVER
Man in forgery case not guilty, court rules
A man who had been convicted of forgery won’t have to repay $2 million of his employer’s money after a federal appeals court Wednesday determined he was charged under the wrong statute.
Gregory Vincent Hunt had been sentenced to more than five years in prison and ordered to forfeit $1.6 million and pay $2 million in restitution after being convicted on 65 counts of securities forgery and 41 counts of money laundering.
Under the ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Hunt is not guilty of the charges because he was an authorized agent on his employer’s bank account and he signed his own name on checks deposited into accounts under his control.
“Whatever else he has done, Mr. Hunt did not commit forgery,” a three-judge panel wrote.
It was unclear whether prosecutors planned to or were able to file different charges.
CREEDE
Mudslides from rain close Colorado 149
Crews cleaned up two mudslides that closed Colorado 149 between Creede and South Fork.
The slides, which occurred just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, blocked the road between mileposts 10 and 11 and between 12 and 13, Mineral County Sheriff Phil Leggitt said.
Leggitt, who was looking for slide-stranded motorists along a forest road in the area, was caught in a slide at 5:56 p.m. Tuesday. A rain-soaked bank collapsed on his vehicle and caused it to roll over, Leggitt said.
“The vehicle was damaged. But I’m OK,” he said.
Motorists experienced 30- minute delays.
DENVER
Daniels Fund grant to aid Sobriety House
Colorado’s longest licensed inpatient substance-abuse program – Sobriety House in Denver – this week received a $25,000 challenge grant to upgrade plumbing at one of its treatment centers.
The Daniels Fund grant matches donor dollars and will be used at The Gaylord, 1406 Gaylord St., a transitional home for recovering substance abusers. Cable television pioneer Bill Daniels established the fund in 1997.
Sobriety House was established in 1967 and annually serves more than 400 recovering, low-income and homeless, chemically dependent adults.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.
Resort announces new high-rise tram
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort announced plans Wednesday to build a new 100- passenger aerial tramway from the base of Teton Village to the 10,450-foot summit of Rendezvous Mountain.
The 40-year-old existing tram is scheduled to cease operations Oct. 1.
The new tram is expected to cost the independently owned ski resort $25 million to build.
With a vertical rise of 4,139 feet, making it the longest continuous lift in North America, the new tram is scheduled to open by December 2008.
AKRON
Beauprez lays out clean-energy policy
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez on Wednesday unveiled a clean-energy policy to a group of farmers and ranchers in Akron that emphasizes biomass, ethanol and wind energy.
Beauprez, speaking at the Washington County Fairgrounds, said his administration would triple the number of pumps dispensing the ethanol- gasoline blend E85, work to build more transmission lines for wind power and invest in commercialization of biomass fuels.
Beauprez’s Democratic rival, Bill Ritter, maintains the congressman lacks credibility on the issue because he supported funding cuts to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, said spokesman Evan Dreyer, noting that Ritter issued his policy in April.
“It’s another classic Both- Ways-Bob moment … to talk about renewable energy in light of his support of the NREL cuts,” Dreyer said.
