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The I-70 Scout & Eastern Colorado News

Tag: Doug Clausen

  • Shed hunting restrictions remain in place through April; poachers face fines and suspensions

    Colorado Parks and Wildlife reminds shed hunters that the collection and possession of antlers or horns on all public lands west of I-25 is prohibited between January 1 and April 30 each year.

     

    Annual shed collection closures to protect wintering wildlife remain in place on all public lands west of I-25 through April 30. Fines and license suspension points are assessed for those violating the closures.

     

    This closure, in place since 2018, is intended to protect wintering animals from unnecessary human disturbance during the late winter months when ungulate body condition is at its worst.

    “The closure has been very successful in protecting wildlife during the late winter, however, there are still some who have ignored the closures,” said wildlife officer Garrett Smith. “The driving force for shed collection is money, and when you put a price tag on something, you will have people who will go to great lengths to exploit that.”

    This closure is for public lands only; the collection of antlers and horns on private lands is still permitted. However, permission to access private lands is always required regardless of the time of year.

    Due to a recently approved increase in wildlife-related fines, the possession of a single antler or horn will cost you $137 and 5 license suspension points. Accumulation of 20 or more points may lead to suspensions of hunting and fishing privileges in Colorado and 48 other states, which include all of Colorado’s neighboring states.

    As two people in Moffat County recently discovered, CPW is taking the closure very seriously. The two individuals were identified as Lucas Price and Bobby Higginbotham of Vernal, Utah. Both were convicted for the possession of 17 elk antlers in March of 2019 and have had their hunting and fishing privileges suspended for one year as of January 2020. Both individuals also received a fine of $1,233 for possessing the antlers. Price and Higginbotham were contacted by wildlife officials while on snowmobile in game management unit 10, an area that is managed for quality hunting opportunity by CPW. Wildlife officer Smith also stated that this area has seen a large amount of attention by shed collectors due to the size of elk and deer antlers known to be in this unit.

    In this case, the individuals were found to have collected the antlers on BLM land, while others have resorted to trespassing on private property to try and escape the closure rules. In conjunction with the closure, if a person is found to be in possession of shed antlers while trespassing they will be charged for the possession of those antlers as well.

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    CPW encourages people with information about illegal shed collection to call their local CPW office or the Operation Game Thief (OGT) hotline at 1-877-265-6648. Tips to OGT may earn you monetary rewards, individuals who call OGT may remain anonymous.

  • Step back to the 1800s at the 17 Mile House Farm Park

    Step back to the 1800s at the 17 Mile House Farm Park

    This Saturday, March 7, kids can enjoy crafts, make pinwheels, and learn the windmill’s history. It’s fun for the whole family!

    Visit the 17 Mile House Farm Park, a 155-year old farm, which served as an important resting stop for pioneers traveling on the Cherokee/Smoky Hill wagon trails in the 1860s. Experience what life was like from living historians, interactive interpretive displays and artifacts. Walk through time as you explore Arapahoe County’s original farm house.

    Saturday, March 7 | 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
    17 Mile House Farm Park
    8181 S Parker Road, Centennial

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  • CSU, Fort Collins making impact on world via Peace Corps

    CSU, Fort Collins making impact on world via Peace Corps

    Fort Collins ranks third nationally in per-capita Peace Corps volunteers, while Colorado State University once again ranks 15th among large universities (15,000-plus enrollment) in the number of volunteers currently serving in the Peace Corps.

    Those figures, released this week by the Peace Corps from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., continue the area’s strong commitment to the international service and outreach organization that has its roots firmly planted at CSU.

    “These rankings are a reflection of our history of involvement with the Peace Corps, which has led to the campus and community embracing this great organization’s mission as part of our heritage,” said Kathleen Fairfax, CSU’s Vice Provost for International Affairs. “We have faculty and staff who are former Peace Corps volunteers spread across campus, so our students benefit from active engagement with people who have already served.

    “Honestly, the Peace Corps is part of our DNA, and that is reflected in these rankings.”

    Fort Collins ranks only behind Charlottesville, Virginia – home of the University of Virginia – and Missoula, Montana – home of the University of Montana – in per-capita volunteers with 13.3 for every 100,000 residents. Fort Collins is the only Colorado city ranked in the top 10.

    Fairfax said a large number of Peace Corps alumni live in Fort Collins and meet regularly. They actively recruit area residents to serve in the organization.

    As for CSU, because of its many years of consistently ranking as a top producer of volunteers, the Peace Corps has designated two active recruiters on campus who work with both students and city residents. Erin Cubley, who served a two-year stint in Morocco from 2009-11, is working toward a Ph.D. in ecology at CSU while representing the Peace Corps.

    “We have a very strong alumni group in Fort Collins that fosters awareness of the Peace Corps. I work not only with CSU students, but with area residents interested in Peace Corps service,” Cubley said. “Fort Collins is a special community where people are very engaged, so I was not surprised to learn we are ranked third.”

    CSU, which currently has 48 students serving in the Peace Corps, ranks second in the state to the University of Colorado (12th overall) in the 2020 rankings; Colorado College ranks 13th among small schools (less than 5,000 enrollment). CSU is 11th all-time with 1,758 total students serving since the Peace Corps debuted in 1961.

    Since its creation by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps has been sending Americans with a passion for service abroad to work with international communities and create lasting change. CSU researchers Pauline Birky-Kreutzer and Maurice Albertson published a feasibility study that helped lead to the creation of the international development organization. To date, more than 220,000 volunteers have served in 60 countries.

    Information about CSU’s connection to the Peace Corps is available online.

     

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  • On eve of Super Tuesday, study sheds light on how people make choices

    On eve of Super Tuesday, study sheds light on how people make choices

    On Super Tuesday, Democratic voters from Colorado and across the United States will face a serious decision: Sanders or Warren? Biden, Klobuchar or Bloomberg?

    Now, a new study taps into mathematics to probe how people make those kinds of fraught choices—in particular, how hypothetical, and completely rational, individuals might select between two options as they navigate through a noisy social environment.  

    It turns out that not making a choice can sometimes be as revealing as picking a side, report researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Houston. When the people around you are indecisive, for example, that can have a big influence on your own choices. 

    “Say you have a friend who has been a staunch Sanders supporter in the past,” said Zachary Kilpatrick, a coauthor of the new study and an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at CU Boulder. “It’s the night before the primary, and they still have not made a decision about who they’re going to vote for. That suggests that they have received some evidence that’s in conflict with voting for Sanders.”

    Kilpatrick will present his team’s results remotely at a meeting of the American Physical Society. (The physical conference has been canceled due to public health concerns).

    His team’s research zeroes in on a major question in a field of study called decision-making theory: How people make choices based both on their own, private research—such as watching televised debates—and through their social interactions—say, checking out their friends’ posts on social media.

    Kilpatrick compared that goal to the classic battle of wits between Vizzini and the Dread Pirate Roberts in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. In that scene, the pirate claims to have poisoned one of two glasses of wine. Vizzini, a scofflaw of supposedly vast intellect, must choose the one he thinks is safe to drink. 

    It gets complicated.

    “What Vizzini says is that he knows what the Dread Pirate Roberts knows that he knows,” Kilpatrick said. “But he takes multiple loops through what we call a ‘common knowledge’ exchange before he makes the decision on the wine glasses.”

    To explore similar kinds of intellectual spirals, Kilpatrick and his colleagues used a series of equations, or mathematical models, to simulate social interactions of varying complexity. Their models didn’t revolve around real-life voters, or even pirates, but “rational agents”—theoretical deciders who always make the right choices based on the evidence available to them. 

    “We’re both watching the same news show, for example, and I look over to you to see if you’ve made a decision or not,” Kilpatrick said. “We have to account for our common knowledge multiple times until we’ve adequately squeezed all of the information that we can out of the fact that you haven’t made a decision yet, and I haven’t made a decision yet.”

    Eventually, it stops. One voter or group of voters in a network might finally receive enough information to feel confident about their choice

    Kilpatrick is quick to note that, of course, no voter is perfectly rational. But scientists can still learn a lot by studying where real-life humans fall in line with what theory suggests they should do—and where they don’t.

    People should also always try to be aware of the baggage that others in their social networks carry, he added. 

    “When we’re determining how political leaders or people in our networks make decisions,” Kilpatrick said, “we should think hard about how those individuals are biased in order to figure out what we should take away from their decisions.”

     

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  • CROWN Act Banning Hairstyle Discrimination Passes Senate, Heads to Governor

    Denver, CO — The CROWN Act, which will explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles like dreadlocs, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, bantu knots, afros and headwraps, passed the Senate with bipartisan support and is now one step away from becoming law.

    “Colorado is just one signature away from passing the CROWN Act, which would ban the racist practice of hair-based discrimination in education, employment and housing,” said Rep. Leslie Herod (D-Denver.) “The signing of this bill will have a real impact on the lives of not only African-American people, but all people who have been told to change their natural hair to fit someone else’s standards of acceptability.”

    Sponsored by Rep. Herod, Representative Janet Buckner (D-Aurora) and Senator Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora), House Bill 20-1048 comes on the heels of nationally publicized incidents of hair discrimination including New Jersey student-wrestler Andrew Johnson, who was forced to cut off his dreadlocks to compete.

    “This bill is for every little girl, boy and non-binary youth who was forced to change their hair to fit in. Our kids deserve to feel safe, to feel proud of their culture and heritage, and to be celebrated for their self-expression,” said Rep. Herod.

    Colorado would be the fourth state to pass the CROWN Act, following California, New York and New Jersey. The CROWN Coalition, co-founded by Dove in partnership with the National Urban League, Color Of Change and the Western Center on Law, has taken a leading role in organizing support for the bill around the country.

    The bill passed 42-21 in the House and 23-11 in the Senate. It now heads to Governor Jared Polis to be signed into law.

    Pictured

    – Black Caucus Members at the CROWN Act Community Hearing. From Left to Right:  Rep. James Coleman, Rep. Tony Exum, Sr., Rep. Janet Buckner, Rep.         Leslie Herod, Sen. Rhonda Fields, Rep. Jovan Melton, Rep. Dominique Jackson

    – Rep. Janet Buckner (D-Aurora) speaks from the House Floor on the CROWN Act

     – Rep. Leslie Herod (D-Denver) speaks from the House Floor on the CROWN Act

     – Rep. Leslie Herod (D-Denver) and Rep. Janet Buckner (D-Aurora) present the CROWN Act during Committee

     – Senator Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora), Hashim Coates, and Erica Cobb testify on the CROWN Act in the State Affairs Committee

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  • Bennet, Gardner Applaud House Passage of Bill to Install Colorado Artist’s Sculpture Commemorating Women’s Suffrage in Nation’s Capital

    Bennet, Gardner Applaud House Passage of Bill to Install Colorado Artist’s Sculpture Commemorating Women’s Suffrage in Nation’s Capital

    Today, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D) and Cory Gardner (R) applauded House passage of H.R. 473, legislation to authorize Colorado artist Jane DeDecker to install her Every Word We Utter sculpture in Washington D.C. Introduced by Bennet and Gardner in the Senate and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO-2) in the House, the bill would establish the first outdoor monument to commemorate the women’s suffrage movement and would feature Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Stanton Blatch, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul, and Ida B. Wells.

     “I can’t think of a more fitting way to commemorate 100 years of women’s suffrage than with the first outdoor monument in honor of the suffragists in our nation’s capital. I see the suffragists as founders of our country just as much as the people who wrote the Constitution – they fought for over 50 years to secure the right to vote. They understood that their responsibility as citizens was to strengthen our republic,” said Bennet. “I’m grateful to Congressman Neguse for pushing this bill through the House and I look forward to moving it in the Senate so that we can pay tribute to the women’s suffrage movement accordingly.”

     “Colorado was the first state to approve women’s suffrage by popular referendum, and three women from Colorado were the first women ever elected to any legislature in U.S. history when they were elected to the Colorado House of Representatives,” said Gardner. “I’m proud that our entire congressional delegation is working to establish the first outdoor monument honoring the women’s suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. I look forward to the day where women from all over the world will be inspired by the sculpture in our nation’s capital honoring the generations of women whose determination guaranteed women the right to vote.”

     The text of the Senate version of the bill is available HERE.

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  • Thousands of Colorado 17-year-olds can vote on Super Tuesday

    Thousands of Colorado 17-year-olds can vote on Super Tuesday

    Thousands of 17-year-olds are eligible to vote in Colorado’s upcoming presidential primary for the first time under a new state law.

    The law allows 17-year-olds to cast ballots in spring primaries if they turn 18 before November’s general election. At least seven states and Washington, D.C., have similar laws.

    According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, about 24,000 teens are eligible to vote in the March 3 primary under the change, a small number in a state with 3.4 million voters, the Sentinel Colorado reported.

    “Chances are that turnout won’t be very high among this group, since it tends to be low among young people in general, and probably a lot of them aren’t aware they can vote now,” said Seth Masket, a political science professor at the University of Denver.

    However, the new voters could help Bernie Sanders’ candidacy and that could make a difference in a tight race, Denver pollster and commentator Floyd Ciruli said. The Vermont senator has benefited from support among Generation Z and millennial voters.

    Three Overland High School students who were interviewed about the new law said they did not know about their ability to vote until a few weeks ago and figure most of their peers were not aware either.

    Kyle Siple was the only one among the three who had registered to vote so far but all said they planned to cast ballots. Voters can register to vote and vote in person at polling locations posted online by the secretary of state’s office.

    Siple said many Hispanic students at the school, considered one of the most culturally diverse in the nation, have lost faith in the electoral process because of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric.

    “Some of them just think it is hopeless, they won’t vote,” said Siple, who is white.

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  • Defendant in 40-year-old murder pleads guilty

    Defendant in 40-year-old murder pleads guilty

    “Guilty.”

    With that one word, the family and friends of a 21-year-old woman killed by a stranger ended 40 years of waiting.

    On Friday, James Curtis Clanton, 62, pleaded guilty to murdering Helene Pruszynski on Jan. 16, 1980. Her body was found in a vacant Douglas County field in what is now Highlands Ranch.

    It took 40 years of persistence by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and advances in technology to identity a suspect in the murder.

    “Because of the unrelenting and outstanding efforts of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and United Data Connect, the resolution of a horrible sexual assault and murder in a desolate part of our county four decades ago ended within 15 minutes inside a courtroom this morning,” said District Attorney George Brauchler. “Coloradans should know that having the ability to consider the death penalty on this case helped lead to its resolution. The legislature should think again about taking this tool away from elected prosecutors.”

    Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock was also satisfied with the outcome.

    “While we were prepared to go forward at trial, we are pleased that Mr. Clanton made the decision to plead guilty. I am very proud of all the hard work and dedication that was put into solving this case,” Spurlock said. “We sincerely hope that this brings closure one step closer for Helene’s only surviving sibling as well as the many friends she had.”

    Investigators with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office utilized forensic genealogy and tracked Clanton, who had legally changed his name in the decades since the murder, to Lake Butler, Fla.  They worked closely with the members of the Union County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and other law enforcement partners, including the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit of Chief Deputy District Attorney John Kellner and Senior Deputy District Attorney Chris Wilcox. The partners worked hand-in-hand to bring Clanton to Colorado in December 2019 to face the charges he had evaded for decades.

    Clanton pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder after deliberation.  This is a Class 1 felony that carries a sentence of life imprisonment in the Department of Corrections.  However, due to the laws in place in 1980, Clanton may apply for parole after serving a period of 20 calendar years of his sentence.

    Sentencing is set for April 10 at 2 p.m.

    photo credit: MGN

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  • THIRTY INDICTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

    THIRTY INDICTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

    photo credit: MGN

    Lead defendant charged under the Federal Drug Kingpin Statute

    United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn, along with federal, state, and local partners, today announced that 30 defendants were indicted in two federal grand jury indictments for trafficking drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.  Of the 30 defendants indicted, 24 have been arrested and one is in state custody on a separate charge.  Four others are in Mexico and one is at large in the United States.  The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Douglas County Sheriff and the Aurora Police Department all joined in the announcement.

    According to the indictments and other court documents, following an investigation that began in late 2018, agents seized approximately 400 pounds of methamphetamine, 5 pounds of heroin, 4 pounds of cocaine, and 15,000 fentanyl pills, which were disguised to look like prescription oxycodone.  

    The arrests included more than two dozen suspected members of a Mexican drug trafficking organization based in Denver, including one, Candelaria Vallejo-Gallo, who is being charged with operating a Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE), otherwise known as being charged as a Drug Kingpin.  To be considered a Drug Kingpin, the individual has to violate the Controlled Substances Act as part of a series of related or ongoing violations.  Additionally, the defendant must be an organizer, supervisor, or manager of at least five other persons connected in the same activity, and obtain substantial income or resources from the series of violations.  If convicted of being a Drug Kingpin, Vallejo-Gallo faces not less than 20 years, and up to life in federal prison.  Vallejo-Gallo is a Mexican national.  

    In addition to the drug trafficking charges, at least one defendant is charged with carrying a firearm in furtherance of the drug conspiracy. 

    “This is a very significant operation that took a massive amount of drugs and a large number of drug traffickers off our streets,” said United States Attorney Jason R. Dunn.  “I want to commend the work of the FBI for their outstanding investigation, as well as for their tactical operation last week in apprehending this large number of defendants without incident.  I also want to thank the other law enforcement agencies that participated in this operation and the arrests.  Colorado’s law enforcement community is second to none in terms of our ability to work collaboratively to ensure that criminals are apprehended and that the best interests of the public are always our controlling objective.”

    “The combined efforts of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado State Patrol, Aurora PD, and a multitude of other law enforcement agencies resulted in the FBI OCDETF Strike Force Group taking a significant drug trafficking organization off the streets of Denver and Aurora,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Dean Phillips. “Thanks to these partnerships, our community and children are safer.”

    “This indictment reflects the hard work of our special agents and law enforcement partners who worked diligently over the last year to investigate the Vallejo Drug Trafficking Organization and bring them to justice,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, Denver, Stephanie Lord Eisert.  “Homeland Security Investigations remains committed to targeting the flow of money which fuels transnational organized crime, and we will continue to aggressively pursue those that enable the flow of deadly narcotics into our communities.”

    “IRS-CI has and will continue to investigate drug traffickers by pursuing sophisticated, high profile, income tax, currency-related, and money laundering charges against these criminals,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge, Amanda Prestegard. 

    This investigation was handled by the FBI, the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Douglas County Sheriff, the Colorado State Patrol, and the Aurora Police Department.

    The defendants are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cyrus Chung and Zachary Phillips.

    The charges contained in the indictments are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty.

    CASE NUMBERS:  20-cr-0028 and 20-cr-0025

     

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  • GOVERNOR’S AG FORUM WELCOME RECEPTION MAKES A MOVE TO THE COLORADO HISTORY CENTER FOR FIRST TIME IN 29 YEARS.

    GOVERNOR’S AG FORUM WELCOME RECEPTION MAKES A MOVE TO THE COLORADO HISTORY CENTER FOR FIRST TIME IN 29 YEARS.

     For the first time in 29 years, the welcome reception for the Governor’s Forum on Colorado Agriculture will not be at the Governor’s Mansion. On Feb. 25, from 5:30p to 8:00p, the Welcome Reception for the Governor’s Forum on Colorado Agriculture will be held at the History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway, Denver, Colo. 

    This year marks the 29th year for the Governor’s Forum on Colorado Agriculture. This change in venue will allow the forum reception to welcome a greater number of guests and allow a stronger opportunity for networking and engagement. With a theme this year of “Brand it Agriculture”, CALP Class 14 hopes to cover a diverse range of agricultural issues and topics in an attempt to create solidarity among all agricultural industries. Registration is open through 1 pm at the event, Feb. 26, 2020 at the Renaissance Stapleton Hotel in Denver.

    For more information or to register, go to governorsagforum.com or contact Dani Traweek at (303) 547-5963. Speaker biographies available on-line and interviews may be arranged through Dani. 

    About Colorado Agriculture Leadership Program (CALP)

    CALP is an intensive, two-year agriculture leadership program, focused specifically on developing high caliber leaders for Colorado agriculture who are well-versed in the complex and diverse issues of food production, agriculture policy, and the converging interests of rural and urban populations in Colorado. For more information, please visit www.coloagleaders.org. 

     

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