Employee dies in park crash
A 65-year-old Chatfield State Park employee died Saturday morning after he drove his car into a concrete wall, officials said.
The name of the employee has not been released.
Investigators were called to the scene about 7:30 a.m. after a bicyclist saw the wrecked car, said Trooper Gilbert Mares of the Colorado State Patrol.
The employee was driving near the Fox Run picnic area about 6 a.m. when he went off the left side of the road, went down an embankment and hit the wall, he said. A medical condition may have contributed to the wreck.
Fire displaces 10 at assisted-living center
A lightening bolt may have ignited a fire at a Commerce City assisted-living center in which 10 elderly people were displaced, authorities said.
Nine volunteer firefighters rushed to the Madonna Assisted Living Center, 6275 Kearney St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday and fought the smoldering fire in the rafters of the building, Assistant Fire Chief Ellis Howard said.
No one was injured, he said.
Initially, 50 residents were evacuated from the home while the firefighters worked from the inside because of a dangerous electrical storm, Howard said.
The fire damaged two units, and residents from eight units had to be moved to another facility, he said.
West Nile virus tally in Colo. reaches 216
Colorado health officials have reported 14 new cases of West Nile virus, though some of them were as much as a month old.
That brings the state’s total for the year to 216, including three deaths.
Utah has reported four deaths and 145 cases; Wyoming has reported 85 cases and one death; New Mexico has reported 18 cases.
September is often the worst month for the mosquito-borne disease.
Sunflowers-to-fuel plant set for area
Work will begin Saturday on a plant that will convert sunflowers into biodiesel fuel and other uses in this area known for its high-altitude pinto beans.
The plant is opening ahead of schedule.
“We figured it would take five years when we started to talk about the biodiesel plant in late 2004,” said Jeff Berman, general manager of San Juan Biodiesel.
He told the Durango Herald that the company has raised $4.1 million of $4.6 million needed to build the facility and buy this year’s crop of sunflowers. It will produce products for human and vehicle use.
San Juan Biodiesel has contracts with 41 growers from Alamosa to Price, Utah, for the production of 11,000 acres of sunflowers. Most of the acreage is in Dolores and Montezuma counties in Colorado and San Juan County in Utah.
Work underway on new state prison
Work has begun on a new state prison in Canon City to help relieve crowding that has forced officials to send some prisoners out of state.
The state needs the second ultra-high-security prison as a tool to help safely manage, “in many cases, a very dangerous population,” said Ari Zavaras, director of the Department of Corrections.
The administrative maximum-security prison was OK’d in 2003 at a cost of $102 million, but a lawsuit delayed construction.
The prison will have 948 steel cells in 450,000 square feet. Inmates will build the cells at the metal shop at the nearby Fremont Correctional Facility.
13 stores are cited in liquor-law probe
A liquor code compliance investigation by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office on Friday resulted in 13 stores being cited for allegedly selling liquor to minors.
Twenty-six stores were checked during a 4 1/2-hour investigation.
Clerks at eight liquor stores, four convenience stores and one grocery received summonses after underage volunteers bought liquor.
Police find woman dead, man injured
A man checking on his sister Friday found the woman dead and a man seriously injured in an Aurora home.
Police said they are treating the death as a homicide but have otherwise released few details.
The relative went to the home in the 1100 block of South Quintero Court about 4 p.m. after his sister did not show up for work. Aurora police spokesman Robert Friel said investigators aren’t sure of the relationship between the woman and injured man.
