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SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2009
VOLUME 123, NUMBER 7 • STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO • www.steamboatpilot.com
Officers looking for clues Police review cases for connections to kidnapping case Paul Elias
Experts dispute crisis Scientists: Global warming conversation is one-sided Blythe Terrell
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Part of the problem with the climate change debate, William Gray said, is that it isn’t a debate. Gray, a professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at Colorado State University, said the conversation has become intensely political and has left no room for dialogue.
He and Patrick Michaels, a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute, spoke about climate change Saturday morning at the Steamboat Institute’s Freedom Conference. The Freedom Conference is the first for the Steamboat Institute, which supports limited government, lower taxes, free markets, strong national defense, and individual rights and responsibilities.
Gray said the global warming issue has developed into a hoax. “Scientific objectivity on this topic has long ago been suspended,” he said. That’s partly because scientists compete for government grants to do research. The young scientists who don’t believe the hype aren’t speaking up for fear of not getting See Climate panel, page 10A
MATT STENSLAND/STAFF
Patrick Michaels, senior fellow in environmental studies at The Cato Institute, talks about climate change Saturday at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel during the Steamboat Institute’s inaugural Freedom Conference.
Taxes close event
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANTIOCH, CALIF.
Police on Saturday searched the home of a California couple charged with kidnapping a little girl 18 years ago, looking for evidence linking them to other open cases in the area, including the unsolved murders of prostitutes. The investigations are “preliminary,” said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for Phillip Garrido the Contra Costa County Sheriff ’s Department, east of San Francisco Bay. He declined to discuss what cases were being reviewed. Police in PitNancy Garrido tsburg are investigating whether Phillip Garrido, whose home is in nearby Antioch, is linked to several unsolved murders of prostitutes in the early 1990s. Antioch police also also looking into unsolved cases but declined further details. About a dozen agents scoured the modest house and the acre of land it sat on Saturday afternoon as the temperature soared into triple digits. Residents on the once-quiet street complained about the media circus that has engulfed their working class neighborhood since the arrest of Phillip and Nancy Garrido on Wednesday. TV trucks were parked on both sides of the street and about a dozen journalists paced in front of the home, which was cordoned with yellow, crime-scene tape. Phillip and Nancy Garrido are in jail, suspected of abducting Jaycee Lee Dugard 18 years ago and subjecting her to nearly a lifetime of torment in a squalid backyard compound. They See Kidnapping, page 11A
Speaker: Protests can ease pressure on politicians Blythe Terrell
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
with the remainder from the U.S. Department of Education and the Small Business Administration. Statewide, recovery money averaged $194 per person. According to the Governor’s Economic Recovery Team, the total amount of money coming to Routt County as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is more than $7 million.
Grover Norquist closed out the inaugural Freedom Conference by encouraging participants to form an “exoskeleton” for their politicians. Through raising their voices at taxpayer tea parties, rallying and speaking up at town hall meetings, conservatives can strengthen their politicians against the pressures of Washington, Norquist said. The president and founder of Americans for Tax Reform spoke during lunch Saturday at the conference put on by the Steamboat Institute at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel. The Steamboat Institute’s five core values are limited government, lower taxes, free markets, strong national defense, and individual rights and responsibilities. Norquist focuses on lower taxes. He framed conservative groups as people who want the government to leave them alone. Liberal groups, he said, are the “takers” who want to steal money from others to serve their purposes. “In the United States, there are two teams,” Norquist said. “This is partly because there’s only two directions to move in, toward more liberty or less liberty.” He advocated a flat tax on income or spending. Lawmakers would have only one way to tax citizens and would have to be upfront when increasing taxes, Norquist said. He noted that Republicans have succeeded by branding themselves as the party that won’t increase taxes. Norquist used the analogy of Coca-Cola. If one person found a rat head in a Coke, word would spread, and the Coke brand would take a hit.
See Stimulus, page 12A
See Conference, page 10A
JOHN F. RUSSELL/STAFF
Transportation on U.S. Highway 40 in western Steamboat is a major component of a potential annexation agreement between the city of Steamboat Springs and Steamboat 700 developers, who would be required to provide a wider road, improved intersections and increased public transit.
Traffic impacts
Steamboat 700 effects on road patterns weighed, debated
T
raffic concerns are among the many issues being debated as the Steamboat Springs City Council nears an October vote on the multi-faceted Steamboat 700 project that is seeking annexation. By the developer’s own estimations, the project west of city limits that proposes about 2,000 housing units on 487 acres will generate 17,600 vehicle trips a day on surrounding roads, at build-out.
SUNDAYFOCUS STORY BY BRANDON GEE That number increases to 21,900 daily vehicle trips if large-format retail, or big box, stores are included. And some suspect those numbers are low because of aggressive assumptions regarding Steamboat 700’s future residents’ ten-
dency to ride bikes, walk and use public transportation. Some argue that those numbers alone are reason enough to deny the development, but Steamboat 700 Principal and Project Manager Danny Mulcahy asserts just the opposite. “Traffic is a concern today with or without Steamboat 700,” he said. “The See Steamboat 700, page 11A
Stimulus funds under the radar Routt County got $78 per person, but not all programs are apparent Zach Fridell
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Routt County received $78 per capita thanks to the economic recovery funds from the federal government, but Routt County commissioners said that money MATT STENSLAND/STAFF may not be immediately apparent Rogue Resource owner Mike Miller uses a Timbco to cut down a to most residents. tree June 5 at the Seedhouse Campground in North Routt County. Routt According to the independent County has received $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. journalism Web site ProPublica. PAGE DESIGNED BY AMANDA MAIN
ROUTT
To see funds allocated to Routt County, visit: ■ http://projects.propublica.org/recovery/ locale/colorado/routt ■ www.colorado.gov/recovery ■ www.colorado.gov/recovery/ RecoveryMapping_2/index.html
org, Routt County has been directly allocated $1.8 million. More than $1.6 million of that came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
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