NEW MILLENNIUM BANK BUILDING PLANNED | REAL E STATE 1B
LEASH LAWS REVIEWED
$1.00
SENIOR DAY
Dog owners push for pet parks
Sailors celebrate with shutout
ROUTT COUNTY 1D
SPORTS 1C
SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2009
VOLUME 122, NUMBER 40 • STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO • www.steamboatpilot.com
Funds divide banks Lenders disagree about using economic recovery dollars Tom Ross
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
A couple of Steamboat Springs bankers are enthusiastic about their plans to put federal stimulus dollars to work locally. Others don’t want to touch the government funds. “We did not apply for it; we have no desire to participate
ever. We don’t want it, can’t use it,” Terry Jost said. “We just don’t need the government more involved in our bank than they already are.” Jost is chairman of the board and CEO for all four locations of Mountain Valley Bank. In contrast to Jost’s position, Adonna Allen, president of Alpine Bank in Steamboat Springs, is optimistic her com-
pany’s 37 locations can leverage $70 million in federal investments to reinvigorate the real estate and construction industries in the region. “Our economy is so dependent on some of these industries,” Allen said. “We think we can help start the whole cycle MATT STENSLAND/STAFF again.” Alpine Bank in Steamboat Springs President Adonna Allen and mortgage
lender David High plan to use federal Capital Purchase Program dollars to underwrite some of the bank’s mortgage lending business.
See Banks, back page
Spring storm strands drivers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GOLDEN
Katie Oyan
DENVER
PAGE DESIGNED BY NICOLE MILLER
Active-shooter training prompted by Columbine P. Solomon Banda
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Colorado transportation officials Saturday reopened a lengthy section of Interstate 70 that was closed overnight, stranding hundreds of travelers, by a storm that dumped more than 3 feet of snow in the region west of Denver. A winter storm warning remained in effect for parts of the state, the National Weather Service said. More than 500 people had spent the night at three shelters in Idaho Springs and Georgetown after the closure of the 80-mile stretch of I-70 in the mountains, said Jim Rettew, an American Red Cross spokesman. The Colorado National Guard delivered two truckloads of cots, blankets and food to the stranded travelers. Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Bob Wilson said Saturday morning that the highway was reopened but cautioned drivers to expect heavy traffic and sloppy road conditions throughout the day. “It’s not the I-70 you know in a June afternoon,” Wilson said. After the highway reopened, the shelters were shut down Saturday. About 90 people spent the night at an elementary school in Idaho Springs, including people traveling from Alaska, Utah and Washington, D.C., said shelter manager Linda Broom. “They were really most appreciative and in good spirits because it was pretty late, and they had been sitting in traffic. They slept well,” Broom said. “One slept extremely well, as we could all hear.” The heaviest snowfall was in the foothills west of Denver, with 43 inches at Pinecliffe and 36 at Black Hawk, said weather service meteorologist Scott Entrekin. He said April sometimes could be one of the state’s snowiest months.
Police revise tactics
MATT STENSLAND/STAFF
Nine-year-old Kacie Babcock, of Hayden, walks a bull around the pen Saturday during the North Western Colorado Bull Sale. Kacie was helping her dad, Jody, who is foreman at the Coyote Creek Ranch Angus south of Hayden.
35 bulls auctioned
32 animals leave ring unsold at 7th annual event Saturday
R
anchers flipped papers, nodded, flicked fingers and practically winked their way into fresh livestock Saturday at the seventh annual North Western Colorado Bull Sale. “These bulls are going to be worth the candy today,” announcer Bill Gay assured the crowd at the Routt County
SUNDAYFOCUS STORY BY BLYTHE TERRELL Fairgrounds in Hayden. Folks shelled out $65,450 of the sweet stuff, buying 35 bulls for an average $1,870 each. But 27 bulls and 5 heifers left the ring unsold, which
was disappointing, said Marsha Daughenbaugh, executive director of the Community Agriculture Alliance. Consignors typically sell about 44 bulls at the show, she said. Last year, buyers picked up 47 bulls and 14 heifers for a total of $98,070. See Bull Sale, back page
The first officers on the scene had never trained for what they found at Columbine High School: No hostages. No demands. Just killing. In the hours that followed, the For more nation watched Columbine in horror as the anniversary standard police See page 7A procedure for dealing with shooting rampages in the U.S. proved tragically, heartbreakingly flawed April 20, 1999. Two officers exchanged fire with one of the teenage gunmen just outside the school door, then stopped — as they had been trained to do — to wait for a SWAT team. During the 45 minutes it took for the SWAT team to assemble and go in, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot 10 of the 13 people they killed that day. The killers committed suicide about the time the makeshift SWAT team finally entered. But the SWAT officers took several hours more to secure the place, moving methodically from room to room. One of the wounded, teacher Dave Sanders, slowly bled to death. “It was really frustrating,” said Marjorie Lindholm, a grief counselor and speaker at police training seminars. Lindholm was a 16-year-old student in a science classroom where two classmates used their T-shirts to try to stanch Sanders’ bleeding. “We were told ‘They’re on their way, they’re coming.”’ Ten years later, Columbine has transformed the way police in the U.S. deal with shooting rampages. See Columbine, page 7A
VNA ramps up health efforts Tough economy has more families seeking low-cost insurance Zach Fridell
For more
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
For more information or to enroll for low-cost or free health insurance, call Evette Simmons of the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association at 871-7616.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
JOEL REICHENBERGER/STAFF
Soledad Garcia and her 9-year-old daughter, Carolina, listen as Carol Sharp reviews eligibility and enrollment guidelines for a health insurance plan Thursday at the children’s health insurance fair at Yampa Valley Medical Center.
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Children’s Health Plan Plus and Medicaid, the two types of insurance offered through VNA services, assess only the current month. That short turnaround can help families with a parent who recently has been laid off and lost insurance for the fam-
DELIVERY PROBLEM?
VIEWPOINTS LAST WEEK: How many days did you ski or snowboard this season? Results/5A
Warmer. Clouds mixing with sunshine. High of 54.
THIS WEEK: Is the economy affecting your mud season travel plans?
Page 2A
NEWSPAPER
Qualifying for low-cost or free health insurance in Routt County is much easier than many families suspect, local nurses said during a children’s health enrollment fair Thursday. “People think, ‘I work, so I’m probably not eligible,’” said Diane Miller, access to care coordinator for the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association. Miller said applications for
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To report home delivery problems, please call 970-871-4250 on Sunday from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Missed papers will be delivered by 10:30 a.m.
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ily, even if the family previously had been secure. “Maybe last year, they earned some money or have assets but the insurance is based on income,” said Carol Sharp, a five-county Medicaid outreach coordinator for VNA. “They think of it as welfare instead of health insurance.” The economic decline has brought more families into the program to consider insurance options. See VNA, back page
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