Just hours before online bidding was to close on the purple massage table Mike Jones calls “the table where it all happened” with Ted Haggard, eBay removed the listing.
Jones said the online auction website sent him an e-mail Sunday afternoon saying the listing was removed for violating its policy for charity, an action he believes was prompted by complaints from a Delaware-based ministry called Transforming Congregations.
The group, on its website, had urged people to fax eBay about the listing. “If you contacted eBay to express your concerns or register a complaint, please contact them again and thank them for doing the right thing,” read a message on the site Monday morning.
Haggard was removed from his posts in early November after revelations of his visits with Jones, a former escort and masseur who claims Haggard paid him for sex.
Jones said he planned to give all money from the auction to Project Angel Heart, which provides services to people with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
Bidding on the table started at $400 and reached at least $1,275 before the item was taken off the site. Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay, said the item was pulled solely because it violated the site’s fundraising policy.
COLORADO SPRINGS
Mouse in school chips chewed its way in
After an inspection, it appears the manufacturer was not at fault in a middle-school student’s claim of finding a mouse inside a bag of chips purchased on a school lunch line, the Frito- Lay company said Monday.
It is clear the mouse chewed a hole in the bag and had been dead between a day and three days before being found Wednesday.
The product had been delivered to a school in Lewis-Palmer School District 38 on March 8, the company said.
An eighth-grade boy opened the bag of chips during his lunch period, and school officials interviewed the student’s parents and other children sitting at the boy’s table to determine that the incident was not a prank.
The district had temporarily pulled all chips from its vending machines and lunch lines.
DURANGO
Truck accident that killed 3 probed
The Colorado State Patrol is investigating the cause of a triple fatality just before midnight Saturday in which a 25-year-old Albuquerque motorist veered off Colorado 140, over a ditch and up a driveway embankment before hitting one of three parked vehicles.
Two other people were seriously injured.
The State Patrol reported that a southbound Ford F350 truck, driven by Eugene Chavez, struck a parked Isuzu Trooper in the rear passenger door, causing the ejection and immediate deaths of three occupants of the Trooper.
They were 16-year-old Carly Martin of Bayfield, 18-year-old Larry Romero of Durango and 13-year-old Raymond Millich of Bayfield. A fourth occupant, 11-year-old Samuel Romero of Durango, was ejected and seriously injured, State Patrol Sgt. Chad Martin said Monday.
A 33-year-old man who was standing beside a parked truck also was hit and injured.
Chavez was arrested and bonded out on three charges of careless driving causing death and one charge of careless driving causing bodily harm, police said.
GOLDEN
Ex-veterinary tech admits stealing drugs
A former veterinary technician has pleaded guilty to stealing narcotics and diluting the remaining drugs that were then given to animals in surgery.
Amy Lynn Kanzler, 26, of Denver was charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and deceit and aggravated animal cruelty. Court documents state that Kanzler stole morphine for her use by withdrawing it from sealed vials with a syringe and then replacing it with saline solution. She also took vials of morphine.
Kanzler, who entered the plea Monday in Jefferson County District Court, will be sentenced April 5. She faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
Allard introduces bill to allow elk hunting
The possibility of hunting in Rocky Mountain National Park received a boost Monday when Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., introduced a bill to allow hunters to help reduce the park’s growing elk herd.
The National Park Service is considering ways to reduce the number of elk – which they say is three times higher than the park’s capacity.
Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., in February introduced a similar bill into the House that would allow hunting in the park, which is against federal law and would require congressional approval.
LAKEWOOD
Public input sought on national park plan
Federal officials will meet with the public in Lakewood on Wednesday to get suggestions about President Bush’s $3 billion National Park Centennial Initiative.
The president’s proposal would provide significant new public and private investment during the next 10 years to reinvigorate and strengthen parks by the National Park Service’s 100th birthday, in 2016.
Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the interior, will be at the listening session from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel.
COLORADO
Gray snow mold shows up on lawns
As long-lost toys, shoes and keys emerge from the last of the melting snow, Front Range residents are finding a less sought-after treasure: gray snow mold.
The fungus, called Typhula incarnata, is rearing its ugly head on lawns around the Front Range, but it’s relatively harmless, according to experts at Colorado State University Extension Service.
In rare circumstances, it temporarily damages lawns, but the grass usually bounces back quickly, especially after a few days of sun.
Rake up patches of mold, suggested Tony Koski, a turf specialist with the extension service. Using fungicide is overkill and might not help at all, he and his colleagues reported.
LAKEWOOD
Bear Creek High classes canceled
Classes at Bear Creek High school will be canceled today and Wednesday because of damage from a fire in one wing of the school Saturday night. Classes also were canceled Monday.
School officials said cleanup efforts and a heavy smoke odor are keeping officials from reopening the school.
Students now will be required to attend classes April 2 and April 27 to make up for the classroom days lost because of the fire.
