AVON

Shiffrin set for new year after record-setting 2018

Each day, there’s a new ski racing record Mikaela Shiffrin hears about that she’s either broken or close to breaking or on pace to eventually break.

“I mean, how many records are there in the sport?” joked the 23-year-old two-time World Cup overall champion from Avon.

Her name is certainly getting attached to plenty of them.

Shiffrin wrapped up 2018 with 15 World Cup wins – most ever for an Alpine skier in a calendar year – as well as an Olympic giant slalom gold medal from the Pyeongchang Games, becoming the most successful female slalom racer in the circuit’s history.

Her resolution for 2019 remains straightforward: Keep doing what she’s doing as she strives for that perfect performance.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CORTEZ

Montezuma County takes up eagles nesting on private land

The Montezuma County Planning Department is considering how to address golden and bald eagles nesting on private land.

Although the bald eagle was removed from the Endangered Species Act list in 2007, it is still protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which applies to public and private lands.

The issue came to the attention of the planning department from a wildlife watcher concerned about a bald eagle and nest on private land northwest of Cortez. The adjacent property was recently subdivided, and a new home is planned about quarter-mile away from the nest in a cottonwood tree.

County planner James Dietrich said landowners should be aware that they could be liable if their actions disturb or harm federally protected eagles.

CORTEZ JOURNAL

GREELEY

White nationalist group posts signs in Colorado cities

Police say Christmas signs posted on utility poles in Greeley by a white nationalist organization violate city ordinance.

Most of the signs that were taped to poles in downtown Greeley and near the Weld County Courthouse around Christmas Day by Identity Evropa have been torn down.

The signs displayed a white family opening presents around the tree and read “Merry Christmas! From Identity Evropa.”

The Southern Policy Law Center says Identity Evropa — founded in 2016 by an Iraq war veteran — is a “campus-based organization [that] focuses on raising white racial consciousness, building community based on shared racial identity and intellectualizing white supremacist ideology.”

Identity Evropa spokesman Sam Harrington says the signs were part of the group’s “right to peacefully, politically protest.”

Signs were also spotted in Fort Collins, Breckenridge, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Greeley municipal code does not allow notices or advertisements to be placed on property without the consent of the owner.

CRIPPLE CREEK

Berreth’s fiancé charged with first-degree murder

A Teller County man has been charged with five felonies, including first-degree murder and solicitation to commit murder, in the apparent killing of his missing fiancee, who disappeared from Woodland Park on Thanksgiving Day.

Patrick Frazee, 32, who had been jailed without bond in Kelsey Berreth’s disappearance and apparent slaying, went before a judge in Teller County District Court for a brief hearing Dec. 31, dressed in a green-striped jail jumpsuit.

Although Berreth’s body hasn’t been found, authorities say they uncovered evidence that she was slain in her townhome.

Frazee’s charges include two first-degree murder counts under different theories. One alleges that Frazee killed Berreth, 29, with intent and after deliberation. The other alleges that she died during a robbery. No further details are given in charging documents.

Frazee also faces three counts of solicitation to commit murder, but prosecutors declined to provide details on those either.

THE GAZETTE, COLORADO SPRINGS