ASPEN, Colo.—Aspen is waking up to a relaxed New Year a year after bomb threats shut down holiday revelry.
Last year, the ski resort was cleared and fireworks were canceled after a former resident planted four gift-wrapped bombs around downtown. Seventy-two-year-old James Chester Blanning was found dead of suicide a short time later.
No one else was hurt in the bomb scare, but the bombs prompted a mass evacuation of downtown Aspen on what is typically the highlight of the resort’s social season. City officials estimate the scare cost the town 1 percent of its 2009 annual sales tax revenue.
Aspen businesses are hoping that this year marks a return to excess and spending in the ritzy resort.
———
Information from: Aspen Daily News,
