WOLF CREEK PASS

Developer gets OK for road on public land at ski area

The U.S. Forest Service has approved construction of a road across public land to reach private property where a developer plans to build condos and restaurants at the Wolf Creek Ski Area.

The decision was the latest milestone in a three-decade battle between the developer and environmentalists over the proposed Village at Wolf Creek. Opponents said they were considering a challenge.

The developer, Texas-based Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, plans to build 1,700 to 2,000 housing units along with stores and restaurants at the base of the Wolf Creek Ski Area. The site is 175 miles southwest of Denver and 85 miles (135  east of Durango.

Environmentalists say the development would interfere with the migration of endangered lynx and damage wetlands and other sensitive habitat at the site.

Leavell-McCombs has been trying since the mid-1980s to build the Village at Wolf Creek, but the company first needed access across Forest Service land to connect its property to the nearby U.S. Highway 160.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GRAND JUNCTION

Transit workers agree to new contract

Union transit workers have accepted a new contract agreement, avoiding a strike at Grand Valley Transit, serving the Grand Junction area.

Union members at the transit agency approved the final offer from operator Transdev Services.

The two-year contract includes wages increases, two additional sick days and a $50 increase to the uniform allowance.

The contract affects 46 workers, including bus drivers, dispatchers and utility workers.

The union vote for the contract followed two days of negotiations with a federal mediator.

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1776 had unanimously voted in  February to authorize the union’s executive board to call a strike if negotiations failed.

DAILY SENTINEL

DURANGO

Nearly-century-old farm supply store closing

Con Kemple is closing Farmers Supply Mill after operating the business since 1971. He took over the mill and animal supply store from the Kroeger family.

The mill was originally started by F.W. Kroeger in 1926 as part of Kroegers Hardware, which began serving Durango and the Four Corners in 1921.

The business used to supply many dairies in the area, but the dairies have since moved to New Mexico. Many of Kemple’s clients now are smaller-scale ranchers.

“When I first came here, everyone I dealt with was a farmer or rancher running big operations,” he said. “Over the years, they’ve all been cut up.”

PARKER

Ex-prisons official pulled over workers after argument

A former Colorado prison investigator has been convicted of official oppression for following and pulling over fast-food workers after an argument about a restaurant price increase.

A jury convicted 61-year-old Gary Valko of the misdemeanor on Feb. 28 for the September 2017 encounter with Jack in the Box employees in Parker.

Prosecutors say Valko got into an argument while he was in the drive-thru in his work-issued car. He cursed at employees and claimed to be with the FBI.

Prosecutors say he later followed two employees, turned on his police lights and pulled alongside their car.

Authorities say he asked them, “What if I had shot you?”

The state Department of Corrections fired Valko following an internal investigation.

Valko is scheduled to be sentenced on April 11.

DENVER POST

LONE TREE

Police kill suspected armed shoplifter at mall

Authorities have identified a suspected shoplifter shot to death by police in Lone Tree as 34-year-old Kenneth J. Sisneros, of Westminster.

The shooting happened at around 8:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree as officers were responding to a theft at Macy’s.

The city says the man suspected in the theft “produced” a handgun during a brief foot chase. Officers fired at him and he died at the scene.

ASSOCIATED PRESS