Holly – Gov. Bill Ritter has asked the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans for people affected by last week’s tornado in Holly.
The governor also issued an executive order authorizing up to $1 million in state funds for recovery efforts in the small southeastern Colorado town.
The March 28 tornado destroyed 48 homes and damaged more than 100 others. Eleven businesses were also destroyed.
Additional local news briefs:
DENVER
School social worker held in sexual assault
A 47-year-old social worker at East High School was arrested Wednesday on allegations of sexually assaulting a child in the mid-1990s, Denver police said.
Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said allegations recently came to light that connect Eugene Summers, also known as Eugene Barksdale, with the sexual assault of a child between 1992 and 1996 while Summers worked for DPS.
He faces a charge of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust with a pattern of abuse, Jackson said.
The district would not comment about Summers.
GREELEY
GI killed in Baghdad was West High grad
A 1990 graduate of Greeley West High School was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Shane R. Becker, 35, of Helena, Mont., died Tuesday in Baghdad when his unit came under small-arms fire, military sources said.
Becker was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.
Becker’s wife, Crystal, and his two daughters live in Alaska, 9News reported.
His stepfather, Bob Jorgensen, a longtime Greeley-area firefighter, told 9News that Becker’s loyalty to friends, family and country was “absolutely unquestioning.”
WELD COUNTY
Driver killed as dump truck, tanker collide
A tanker truck collided with a dump truck Wednesday morning on Colorado 392 about 10 miles northeast of Greeley, killing the dump-truck driver and spilling oil and fuel on the highway, the Colorado State Patrol reported.
The dump-truck driver, whose name was withheld, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was not wearing a seat belt.
The tanker driver was identified as Robert Gissendanner, 31, of Cheyenne. Gissendanner, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered moderate injuries and was transported to Northern Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.
DILLON
Denver Water’s cup to runneth over
Denver Water officials say the Dillon reservoir is certain to fill this spring after a winter of heavy snow.
The reservoir already is 95.6 percent full and only 3.5 feet below the spillway, which is the highest level for this time of year since 1984.
Marc Waage, manager of raw water supply, said reservoir operators will begin increasing flows to the Lower Blue River to offset the runoff coming into the Denver-owned reservoir.
LITTLETON
Town’s voters to have their say on Wal-Mart
Registered voters in Littleton will mail in ballots about whether to rescind zoning for a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on South Santa Fe Drive.
The ballots will be counted and results announced June 19, the City Council decided Tuesday night.
The council granted zoning for the new Wal-Mart store in January on a 4-3 vote.
LA PLATA COUNTY
Feds give OK to drill for coal-bed methane
Two federal agencies have given final approval to a plan to drill more than 100 new coal-bed methane wells in the northern San Juan basin, including portions of the HD Mountains.
Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service say they will deny industry plans to drill in certain areas of the HD Mountains that have steep slopes and unstable soils.
Also off-limits is drilling near the Fruitland Coal outcrop in La Plata County.
Under the plan, operators will be required to install technology to reduce air pollution.
ROUTT COUNTY
Voting problems put county on watch list
Routt County has been added to the secretary of state’s “election watch list.”
Secretary of State Mike Coffman said county officials underestimated the number of electronic voting machines needed, and some voters may have been turned away during November’s elections.
The county will remain on the list until at least the 2008 general election.
ASPEN
Dutch man who died skiing is identified
A 51-year-old man from Holland who died over the weekend after skiing into a tree at Aspen Highlands was identified Wednesday as Wilhelmus Verdonck.
He is the sixth person to die of trauma on Colorado ski slopes this winter.
