Thirty Years Ago This Week: While only a few people testified before the Colorado General Assembly’s House Judiciary Committee on House Bill 94-1340 and the legislation was expected to pass swiftly through the House Appropriations Committee, two Democratic Party committee members were vehement in their opposition to the measure.

HB 1340 called for the addition of 2,700 new prison beds over the next five years, which would carry a fiscal impact to the state of $92 million for capital construction and $360 million in operation and building expenses.

Rep. Wayne Knox, D-Denver, one of the two Democrats who voted against the bill, said it was “a lot of money poured down the rathole” after previous prison spending.

“It would be nice,” Knox said, “if we took at least half of that money and put it into prevention and intervention.”

Rep. Dorothy Rupert, D-Boulder, who also voted against the bill, concurred with Knox. Rupert said that the House Judiciary’s vice-chair Rep. Shirleen Tucker, R-Lakewood, told her that “we would prefer putting the money elsewhere but prison overpopulation must be considered.”

Tucker presided over the meeting because the committee chair, Rep. Jeanne Adkins, R-Parker, was the bill’s prime sponsor.

Among the few who testified before the committee was Clarke Watson of the Black Professional Businessman’s Association who said, “Latino and African-American males make up the bulk of prison populations.”

“It is rural economic development at the expense of people of color,” Watson said, noting that prison facilities were primarily located in rural areas. “The idea of building more prison space is terribly offensive.”

Barry Frye, a former prison inmate and director of a youth program called Reconstruction, told the House Judiciary Committee that there was no rehabilitation in the prison system, and that “this bill is just another emotional decision by legislations.’

Twenty Years Ago: Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton returned to Colorado to formally mark the transfer of over 5,000 acres at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Once the large-scale clean up was complete, another 10,000 acres would be added to the National Wildlife Refuge.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program had spent 12 years cleaning the contaminated site to ensure that the highest health standards were met to return the Arsenal for reuse as a wildlife refuge.

“The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge has a rich past and a promising future,” Norton said. “In celebrating this important milestone and the establishment of the Refuge, we also must remember the history of this site, its role in national defense and the valuable lessons learned here.”

Norton grew up in Thornton and said that she remembered hundreds of earthquakes in the area which, as rumor had it, were the result of chemical waste being injected into the ground.

Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment Geoffrey Prosch said the Army was proud to turn the land over to the Department of the Interior “for the public to enjoy its abundant resources for generations to come.”

U.S. Senator Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who, along with U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-CD1, had sponsored the original legislation mandating the creation of the refuge, said it was an extremely exciting day for Colorado and the United States.

“After twelve years … I am proud to be here today for the transfer of this site,” Allard said. “We have taken land that had been contaminated by decades of chemical and incendiary weapons and turned it into a premier wildlife refuge. In doing so, we have set the standard for future reclamation projects across America.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.