Posted: Friday, Jun 14th, 2013
VALLEY -- Colorado congressional leaders announced Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding this week for 55 Colorado counties that will receive more than $31.6 million under the program.
This includes nearly $2.5 million for the six San Luis Valley counties with about half of that going to Conejos County.
The payments will be used to help rural communities ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 14th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- Deloris Day needs your help.
Her rural Basalt Way home burned to the ground in February 2012, and today, the property is in violation of the county's anti-blight ordinance.
County officials say she's made some progress to clean up the land. But her property remains significantly blighted with inoperable vehicles, trailers and rubbish, according to ...more
Modified: Friday, Jun 14th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- Kids are hungry, but that could change if the Valley keeps up the good work and Denver keeps up its networking.
Representatives from the Colorado No Kid Hungry Campaign shared its mission, its resources and enabled a community conversation about getting food in children's bellies on Friday at Trinidad State Junior College. Above all, they praised ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 14th, 2013
VALLEY -- Creede, Moffat and South Conejos school districts now have state dollars in their corners to construct new buildings, but they won't be spent unless school district voters approve a match this November.
The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Division of Capital Construction announced on Thursday the Moffat, Creede and South Conejos School Districts were selected for the 2013-2014 ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 14th, 2013
MONTE VISTA -- A bomb threat was called into a Monte Vista clinic on Thursday leading to a police investigation.
Dr. Ricardo Velasquez, chief medical officer for Valley-Wide Health Systems Inc., confirmed that the Edward M. Kennedy Health Clinic was closed on Thursday due to the threat.
Law enforcement was quickly called in to handle the threat. ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 14th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- Crime in the Valley is on the rise, yet funding to prosecute defendants in criminal cases is on the verge of a sharp drop-off.
Twelfth Judicial District Attorney David Mahonee told county commissioners on Wednesday that state grant administrators recently denied his request for $75,000. As a result, his office is now in danger of ...more
Posted: Thursday, Jun 13th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- A brother and sister accused of multiple crimes are both in custody, following a months-long investigation into a string of alleged burglaries across southern Colorado.
The Alamosa County Sheriff's Office arrested George Ross Hanna for allegedly burglarizing the Mosca Pit Stop, while the Alamosa Police Department arrested him for attempting to cash fraudulent checks at ...more
Posted: Thursday, Jun 13th, 2013
SAN LUIS VALLEY, Upon completion of a review by the Department of Local Affairs, Alamosa County was awarded $300,000 in grant funds to assist in the creation of the Children's Advocacy Center of the San Luis Valley (SLV CAC), a multi-disciplinary program for responding to child abuse under local nonprofit Tu Casa, Inc.
Since 2011, Tu Casa and ...more
Posted: Thursday, Jun 13th, 2013
PONCHA PASS -- There was increased activity on the Ox Cart Fire on Tuesday, according to SLV Public Lands Center Public Affairs Specialist Mike Blakeman.
However, he said most of the smoke San Luis Valley residents noticed on Wednesday morning was probably from fires in New Mexico.
The Ox Cart Fire, begun by lightning on June 6, continues to burn ...more
Posted: Thursday, Jun 13th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- It's hard to prosecute defendants in criminal cases if their alleged victims are uncooperative or unwilling to come forward.
In the last week alone, the alleged victims in at least three unrelated matters have stymied the district attorney's office in its efforts to strengthen the cases against the accused.
Take the case of Nazzreth Deluna, ...more
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 12th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA COUNTY -- Valley certified potato seed is gearing up for Africa and beyond.
On Tuesday, a team of Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) delegates visited with local and state industry officials and toured Martinez Farms in Alamosa County on their trade mission to see for themselves if high-altitude potato seed has a place amongst ...more
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 12th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- For the last nine years, Theodore Haro has been averaging about one drunk driving-related conviction every 15 months.
But in the next three years, he'll have the chance to put that history behind him and work to get his alcoholism under control.
Twelfth Judicial District Judge Pattie Swift sentenced Haro last week to 36 months ...more
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 12th, 2013
Courier editor
ALAMOSA -- Current water conditions in the Rio Grande Basin are not the worst they've ever been -- but close.
"We are in trouble," Colorado Division of Water Resources Staff Engineer Pat McDermott told members of the Rio Grande Roundtable yesterday.
He said runoff peaks in other parts of the state were about the third week of May. ...more
Posted: Tuesday, Jun 11th, 2013
SAND DUNES -- Monte Vista pilot Richard Cutter, 69, died in a plane crash on Medano Pass at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve on Saturday morning, June 8.
Two passengers in the small plane were injured and evacuated to medical centers. Their names and conditions have not yet been released.
The airplane, a four-seat Piper PA-28, crashed ...more
Posted: Tuesday, Jun 11th, 2013
CONEJOS -- A suspect is currently on the run from Conejos County law enforcement agents following a break in that turned into a stabbing.
The suspect broke into a La Jara area home around 4 or 5 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, and stabbed one of the residents.
According to a Conejos County Sheriff's Office alert issued Monday evening, ...more
Posted: Tuesday, Jun 11th, 2013
PONCHA PASS -- A fire started by lightning on June 6 is being managed by the Rio Grande National Forest in a manner that allows it to play its natural role in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness.
The 10-acre Ox Cart Fire is burning in aspen, Douglas-fir and bristlecone pine approximately six miles southeast of Poncha Pass.
"Natural fire ...more
Posted: Tuesday, Jun 11th, 2013
Courier staff writer
VALLEY -- Unless voters statewide approve funding for a complete system overhaul this November, school districts both local and beyond will have to continue operating on tight budgets this coming school year.
Last month, Colorado legislators approved Senate Bill 13-260, which sets the annual basic funding for school districts while recognizing additional funding and special programs set ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 7th, 2013
Courier staff writer
SAGUACHE COUNTY -- "Critical habitat" is a phrase land managers don't often like to hear.
The impending Gunnison sage-grouse endangered species listing is bringing attention to the small bird that hasn't been seen displaying its feathers on a Poncha Pass lek - breeding ground - for some time. Should the Department of Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 7th, 2013
Courier editor
ALAMOSA -- Freshman Colorado Senator Larry Crowder, representing the new Senate District 35, reviewed his legislative successes, disappointments and challenges during an interview on Friday.
Although not pleased with some of the statewide legislation approved this year, including gun measures, Crowder said on a personal level he was happy with the number of bills he was able to ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 7th, 2013
VILLA GROVE -- An electrical storm started a fire on the Rio Grande National Forest approximately 1.5 miles northwest of Bonanza Thursday afternoon. An engine and 10 firefighters from the San Luis Valley Interagency Fire Management Unit responded to the 2-acre fire that is burning in grass, shrubs and ponderosa pine. The fire is expected to be contained by Sunday.
...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 7th, 2013
ALAMOSA -- Alamosa County Sheriff's deputies thwarted a trio of teens' apparent plan to break into a home on Blue Spruce Street on Wednesday.
Deputies with the Alamosa County Sheriff's Department were dispatched to a residence on Blue Spruce Street for an alleged burglary in progress and arrested three teens, two juveniles and 19-year-old Dimas Deleon-Avitia, according to Patrol Division ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 7th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- A woman who sold prescription painkillers to an undercover law enforcement agent for thousands of dollars won't be joining her husband in the state prison system.
Twelfth Judicial District Judge Pattie Swift on Wednesday placed Hollye Mitchell on probation for four years and ordered the 35-year-old Manassa woman to serve 90 days in jail.
Prosecutors ...more
Posted: Friday, Jun 7th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- Lynn Cotton is impressed.
The recently appointed Boys and Girls Club of the San Luis Valley Director can't get over how a community successfully raised $2 million to bring such a beautiful building to life.
"To do that, I am amazed," Cotton, 58, said in an interview earlier this month. "I have never experienced that before ...more
Posted: Thursday, Jun 6th, 2013
Courier staff writer
CONEJOS -- Ethan Rivaz is a free man.
A Conejos County jury on Wednesday acquitted the 23-year-old Romeo resident of sexual assault, bringing an end to a difficult and sometimes-disturbing trial.
Prosecutors alleged that Rivaz inflicted severe injuries on a 19-year-old woman on the night of April 4, 2011, and they relied heavily on the attending obstetrician/ ...more
Posted: Thursday, Jun 6th, 2013
By LAUREN
KRIZANSKY
Courier staff writer
VALLEY -- Wanted: Farmers and ranchers willing to make decisions in the name of agriculture.
This week, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) put out the call to producers to fill county committee seats throughout the Valley. The opportunity to serve on the rather unique government entity gives landowners, farmers and ...more
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 5th, 2013
CONEJOS -- The fate of a Romeo man charged with sexual assault and domestic violence is now in the hands of a Conejos County jury.
After one week of court proceedings, 12th Judicial District Judge Michael Gonzales turned defendant Ethan Rivaz's case over to the eight women and four men on the panel late Tuesday afternoon.
As of press ...more
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 5th, 2013
CREEDE, Seven firefighters were dispatched from the Streams Lake Fire to suppress a small fire near East Trout Creek approximately 15 miles southwest of Creede, Colorado. The fire was spotted by a helicopter pilot working on the Streams Lake Fire shortly after a line of thunderstorms passed through the area.
The East Trout Creek Fire is less than 1/4 acre ...more
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 5th, 2013
Courier staff writer
ALAMOSA -- A short agenda made for quick business Monday night at the regular Alamosa Board of Education (ABOE) meeting.
Although the ABOE did not take much time on the subject, several public comments were heard in regards to the second reading of the Alamosa School District (ASD) instructional time policy.
Last month, the ABOE took the ...more
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