A woman who was allegedly kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend in Fort Collins was freed by Colby, Kan., police after she passed a note to a clerk at a hotel, officials said.
Colby SWAT team members also arrested Mark Tuckel on Thursday night in Colby on a Fort Collins warrant for investigation of second-degree murder, burglary, kidnapping and domestic violence, officials said.
Jennifer Courtney, 35, called police Monday, saying that her ex-boyfriend was trying to break into her home to kill her, according to police.
On Thursday, a clerk at the Budget Inn Suites called police and said Courtney had given them a note asking them to contact her family, according to Rita Davis, Fort Collins police spokeswoman.
Courtney was taken to Citizen’s Medical Clinic, where she was treated and released, Davis said.
Fort Collins authorities are seeking to extradite Tuckel.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Teen faces murder charge in party death
David Miera Jr., 18, of Sheridan will be charged Tuesday with the murder of Johnathan Roman MacLagan, 20, who was shot to death in a fight at a party in unincorporated Jefferson County on Dec. 17.
A SWAT team descended on the home of Miera’s father in Denver on Friday, 9News reported, taking Miera into custody at 4103 S. Eliot.
Miera was arrested by Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies.
Witnesses said MacLagan had tried to break up a fight when he was shot. As many 20 shots were fired in the melee, witnesses told police. When deputies arrived, MacLagan was dead in the front yard.
MacLagan’s family issued a statement to 9News: “Roman was a young man who understood what ‘right’ and ‘fair’ really mean. He was a champion for all people, always standing up for the underdog.”
Memorial services for MacLagan will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. in the Church of All Saints at 2559 S. Federal Boulevard in Denver.
PUEBLO WEST
Townsfolk buried in tumbleweed blizzard
While the rest of Colorado’s Front Range got snow, residents in this town got tumbleweeds.
The blizzard Wednesday that dumped up to 4 feet of snow in the mountains blew in tumbleweeds that piled up 20 feet high in some places.
“I couldn’t see out the kitchen window, and it’s on the second story,” said Lisa Jackson, a resident who lives near the Pueblo West golf course. She and her husband were still trying to dig out from the tightly packed weeds Friday afternoon.
Neighbor Michelle Peulen drove through the storm.
“It was like being in a weird video game, dodging the tumbleweeds,” she said.
On Friday, residents digging out got help from crews from the Pueblo West Metropolitan District, a group of Pueblo West volunteer firefighters, and a “chain gang” of inmates from the Pueblo County jail.
Don Sailing, the metro district’s general manager, said the weeds piled up next to homes along U.S. 50, where homes are close together.
To get rid of the weeds, residents can get permission from the fire department to burn them, Sailing said.
COLORADO
Record 459 arrested for DUI last weekend
Colorado police made a record 459 drunken-driving arrests last weekend.
The record was set in the ninth year of the “Office Party Weekend” DUI-enforcement campaign, which this year lasted from 6 p.m. Dec. 15 to 3 a.m. Dec. 18.
“We’re hoping it’s not an indication of a negative trend of people making poor choices,” said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Forty-three of the 459 DUI arrests were in Denver. All of the arrests were made by cops on patrol; no sobriety checkpoints were used.
Of the 55 people who died on Colorado’s roadways in December 2005, 20 were alcohol-related. The holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is considered a dangerous time on the roads because of an increased number of drunken drivers, according to CDOT.
The next statewide DUI enforcement period will be over the New Year’s holiday.
BOULDER
City to charge some for open-space use
Guides who take paying clients on excursions in city of Boulder open space will soon have to start ponying up for the land use.
The Boulder City Council this week approved an ordinance finalizing the requirements that anybody charging others for trips, dog walks and other commercial activities on open space have a permit. Businesses will have to pay $300 a year.
Nonprofit groups will have to pay half that.
The city may also issue limited- use permits for groups that take out no more than 16 people at a time and no more than 50 people a year.
City officials said the permits are needed to better manage open space and to improve the experience of all visitors.
The permit programs begin Jan. 1. For more information, go to www.osmp.org or call 303- 441-3440.
