WALSENBURG
Man commits suicide in attorney’s office
A man carrying a shotgun stormed into a Walsenburg attorney’s Main Street office about noon Friday and took his own life.
Attorney Garrett Sheldon and his assistant apparently saw the gunman coming and left out the back door. They were unharmed.
Walsenburg Police Chief Larry Baldonado said the gunman, whom he did not identify, then shot himself in the head. A motive is unknown.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
ID theft from artists leads to 22-year term
Nathaniel Harris, 29, was sentenced Friday to 22 years in prison for his role in an identity theft ring that stole personal financial information from artists in 2004 and 2005.
Harris was one of seven people indicted in August 2005 for stealing financial information from more than 30 people and businesses who paid deposits by check to display art at various exhibitions.
He was on parole for drug convictions in Denver and Adams County when he was indicted.
Harris pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 to racketeering and theft of more than $15,000.
CHAMA, N.M.
Scenic railroad draws 21% more passengers
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad officials are calling the 2006 season successful, with the train carrying 39,586 passengers – 21.7 percent more than last year.
The season began May 27 and wrapped up Oct. 15. However, the railroad also will run two Christmas-season train rides Dec. 2 and Dec. 9, and officials said that is expected to push ridership for the year to about 40,000.
The narrow-gauge railroad runs between Antonito and Chama, winding across the state line 11 times during the 64-mile trip. The train is owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico.
SANTA FE
Whooping cough cases unusually high
Santa Fe is experiencing an outbreak of whooping cough, with 24 cases reported in the capital city between August and October, state health officials said Friday.
The number is unusually high for a three-month period, said Deborah Busemeyer, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.
Whooping cough, formally known as pertussis, is an ongoing problem in New Mexico, Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham said.
Initial symptoms resemble those of a cold, but symptoms eventually progress to violent coughing fits. At the end of a coughing spasm, the person inhales sharply, producing the distinctive noise that gives the disease its name.
SALT LAKE CITY
Brigham Young rocking chair donated
Two great-great-great-grandsons of Brigham Young formally presented an heirloom rocking chair to the Mormon church Friday at a home where one of Young’s many wives likely sat in it to soothe their children.
Brothers Bob and Skip Young say the chair has been cherished by their family, but they felt its historical value would be better appreciated by the church and the people of the city founded by their ancestor.
The Youngs are descendants of Lucy Decker Young, one of the wives of the church president who led members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
Skip Young said he and his brother were reared as Episcopalians, but they were aware of their relationship to the man Mormons consider a prophet.
