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Opening night at the Broomfield Event Center was marred by traffic tangles and parking problems that kept some concertgoers from reaching the venue where Bonnie Raitt performed to a sold-out crowd.

Thousands of cars converged Thursday night on the center, near U.S. 36 and Colorado 287. Multiple accidents, a malfunctioning traffic light and insufficient parking were to blame for the traffic jams that tied up some concertgoers for more than an hour, said Trey Medlock, general manager of Broomfield Event Center.

“We had more cars than we expected last night,” Medlock said Friday. “But there’s not a building in the country on opening night that doesn’t have these issues.”

For Friday night’s hockey game, Medlock said police planned to direct traffic, and there was to be an overflow-parking lot with 500 spots in addition to the roughly 2,000 spots available adjacent to the building and in the parking garage. The Broomfield Event Center’s capacity is 7,500.

Despite the problems, Medlock said opening night was a success.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time, but we’ll make it work.”

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DENVER

Owens likely to sign roadless-area petition

Gov. Bill Owens, in one of his last major acts in office, is expected to sign a petition Monday asking the federal government to protect the bulk of Colorado’s roadless areas.

Owens has been contemplating a proposal put forth by a statewide task force that calls for putting most of the 4.4 million acres of roadless areas off-limits to development and new road construction, said his spokesman, Dan Hopkins.

The state-by-state policy, initiated by the Bush administration, has been in dispute, however, since a federal court put it on hold.

VAIL

MTV spinoff leaving mountaintop studio

MHD, MTV’s high-definition network, is quietly moving out of the studio on Vail Mountain and into new headquarters in New York.

“The studio in Vail was a short-term venue used to launch the network in a captivating environment,” said Eric Sherman, general manager of MHD.

Last year, Lt. Gov. Jane Norton joined Olympic skier Jeremy Bloom in announcing the opening of the studio atop Eagle’s Nest, a restaurant complex at 10,350 feet above sea level, in what Vail Mountain officials said would help market the channel to the coveted 18-to-34-year-old demographic.

“We had a one-year contract with MTV to host the studio at the top of the mountain and had a very successful partnership with MTV last year,” said Jen Brown, spokeswoman for Vail Mountain.

Mariana Agathoklis, MHD spokeswoman, said the network might return for a special concert.

“It’s definitely on our radar because it’s such an amazing setting,” she said.

High-definition television provides sharper pictures and better sound on HDTV receivers.

Among the projects that showcased the area were several scenes shot in the studio, around the mountain and in town by MHD video jockey George Oliphant.

The inside of the studio wasn’t accessible or visible to skiers on the mountain and the channel was not available in and around Vail until last month.

SALT LAKE CITY

Search for couple turns up 3rd person

The search for an Orem couple presumed to have drowned in Strawberry Reservoir has turned up the body of a third person.

The weather took a turn for the worse Saturday and suspended the search for Steven Roundy, 29, and his wife, Catheryn Springer Roundy, 23, who disappeared when their 14-foot aluminum boat sank Wednesday.

Authorities said the body they found Friday, using sonar in deep water, was that of another person who may have died years ago. They sent the body to the medical examiner’s office for identification.

Winds whipped up waves 3 feet high and cut short Saturday’s search at Strawberry Reservoir, about 60 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

“We just had a huge storm front move in and shut us down,” Wasatch County search volunteer Chris Epperson said Saturday from a command center at Strawberry Bay. “It’s the wind that kills us.”

The couple were fishing with Steven Roundy’s brother, Kimball Roundy, and a friend, Mike New, who made it to shore after waves swamped the boat. They struggled barefoot to a highway and alerted a trooper to the missing couple.

The sunken boat, which is believed to have gone down in water 80 feet deep, has not been recovered.

Strawberry Reservoir covers about 26 square miles in a saddle of the mountainous Uinta National Forest.

SALT LAKE CITY

Time-capsule hunt “a little treasure trail”

The University of Utah is searching for a 50-year-old time capsule.

A capsule buried in the Ray Olpin Union Building was considered a rumor. But the hunt began when officials found documents noting that a metal box had been placed under a statue on the porch.

Union Building director Whit Hollis wants to open the capsule and replace it with a new one in January, the building’s 50th anniversary. The capsule is believed to hold speeches and documents from former university president A. Ray Olpin.

An X-ray machine has been used in the search, but it found nothing. There are other hints.

A diary entry details how Olpin watched the capsule as it was buried in the reading lounge. Julie Mayhew, director of development, suspects it may be hidden in the fireplace of the lounge.

“It’s just kind of a little treasure trail,” she said. “It’s become the fun of just finding it because in all honesty, most time capsules are never as exciting as you hope they will be.”

GARDEN CITY, UTAH

City nearly cans own raspberry festival

The Raspberry Days Festival draws thousands of people each summer to the Bear Lake area in northern Utah.

Critics said that’s part of the problem.

“I would say do away with it,” resident Lana Hodges said. “It has grown to where we get thousands and thousands of people, and our infrastructure can’t handle it.”

The Garden City City Council voted to keep the festival, which is held the first weekend in August, but create a committee to keep a close eye on the event.

Bear Lake tourism director Judy Holbrook said ending Raspberry Days would destroy much of the tourism at a time when the lake usually is the warmest.

“If you discontinue this, I am going to have to discontinue my 1-800 number,” she said.