ASPEN, Colo.—Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland says authorities took him to a safe location on New Year’s Eve after a note written by James Blanning threatened him.
Ireland says he was ready to help staff barricades Wednesday night to keep people from wandering into evacuated areas of downtown when Blanning’s note came to light.
Blanning placed homemade gasoline bombs around Aspen and left a letter at the door of The Aspen Times before taking his own life later that night. He wrote in the letter, “May Mike (Mick) Ireland rot in hell.”
The Times gave the letter to authorities, who quickly directed Ireland to a safe location.
Ireland didn’t say where he was taken, but said he agreed it wasn’t a good idea to stay home while Blanning’s whereabouts were unknown.
He says Blanning’s animosity for him began in the late 1980s, when Ireland was filling in for a Times reporter who was on a leave of absence. Ireland says he scrutinized Blanning’s procedures for obtaining mining claims in places like the back of Aspen Mountain.
As a Pitkin County commissioner, Ireland pressed for a county policy to contest Blanning’s ownership of scores of mining claims. He says it was always in the back of his mind that Blanning might take some type of action against county officials because of the dispute.
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Information from: The Aspen Times,
