2010 year in review
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The Top Photos and Stories from 2010TRANSCRIPT
WE HAD A WONDERFUL YEAR WITH YOU NORTHERN COLORADO, SEE YOU IN 2011!
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03 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
It was a year of cold cases and CSAPs. Marijuana laws and haystack fires. Elections and energy.
All in all, 2010 was no different than many years on the news front in
Greeley and Weld County. We witnessed the wide spectrum of triumphs and tears, suc-cesses and tragedies.
One of the roles of a newspaper is to hold up a mirror and reflect all the events and emotions that ebb and flow through a com-munity during the course of a year. In this special section, you’ll see the photos and summaries of some of the stories that made the news in the past 12 months.
Schools were closed and consolidated because of a budget crisis. A 12-year-old girl went missing and later her body was found. A basketball coach was lost to a neighbor-ing university, and a local school set a state record for consecutive victories. A 33-year-old murder was solved, and a veteran sheriff ’s deputy was killed. New jobs were announced as the energy industry boomed, and a local woman went missing in Ne-pal. Haystacks were set afire, and the local district attorney came within a whisker of being elected to the U.S. Senate.
We hope you enjoy this look back at a year full of history that we recorded in our newspaper.
Randy Bangert, editor
2010: what we are leaving behind
ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] Rider Sue Marie Brown watches as fireworks light the night sky on Independence Day at the Greeley Stampede. The light show followed a concert by music legend Kenny Rogers.
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extraordinary confection that has made us the Best “Spudnut/Donut” (potato donut) in Colorado.
People are traveling from as far as California to the Dakotas to be re-united with a “Spudnut”.
On the wall of Red’s Dogs & Donuts in the University Square Shopping Center, 2608 11th Ave. is an old advertisement from The Tribune of the 1957 opening of a Spudnuts Shop in
what was then the West Fair Shopping Center located on 9th St. and 21st Ave.
The Spudnuts recipe, which has 27 diff erent ingredients is what make the “Spudnuts” stand apart from all other donuts and the afi cionados believed they were far superior to the normal everyday doughnuts. Made from scratch and hand-forged every day of the year, a lost art that you will only fi nd at Red’s Dogs & Donuts.
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Red’s would like to take this opportunity to thank Greeley and surrounding communities for supporting a locally owned and operated family business.
Red’s fi rst “Spudnut” Anniversary will be January 15, 2011, a Fun day fi lled with “Old Time Spudnut Deals”. Stop by Red’s for details. Open 5am 7 days a week.
Happy New Year!
04 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] Weiler, head chaplain at North Colorado Medical Center, talks with cardiac patient Maurice Lyons in Greeley. Weiler is a board-certified chaplain and director of pastoral care at NCMC.
ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected]’s first baby of the new year, Daniel Tellez, is held by his mother, Maria, and surrounded by his sisters Paola, 12, left, Yahaira, 6, and his father, Encarnacion, on Jan. 1 at North Colorado Medical Center. Daniel weighs 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Daniel was born by Cesarean section at 1:51 a.m.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] Eaton High School mascot painted here in the center of the school’s gymnasium was once again at the center of controversy when Sen. Suzanne Wil-liams, D-Aurora proposed a bill to make it difficult for schools in Colorado to use American Indian-themed mascots.
January31 years:
Mark Strodtman, who became the first person convicted in Weld County under Colorado’s orga-nized crime statue, was sentenced on Jan. 5 to 31 years in prison for his part in a mortgage scheme in 2006-07. He had been indicted in Mexico in March 2008 and extra-dited to Colorado to face trial. The case revolved around 11 home sales in the Gateway Lakes subdivision in Greeley, in which Strodtman was accused of giving buyers incentives to buy homes at inflated values, then falsifying closing documents.
Bonnie and Clyde: The FBI began a search on Jan. 6 for Greeley’s own version of the bank-robbing couple. The pair — Christine Drummond of Visalia, Calif. and Joseph Nieto of Gree-ley — was dubbed “Bonnie and Clyde” by the FBI, which offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their capture. The FBI said the couple was responsible for three December robberies and one attempted robbery in Greeley. The couple was arrested in February in California after Drummond applied for a job at Premier Cash Advance.
Red alert: State Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, introduced a bill in the state Legislature aimed at stop-ping schools from using American Indian-themed mascots for their sports teams. The bill would have required schools to get permission from a tribe, change their mascot or forfeit state funding. After a fire-storm of controversy, she withdrew the measure.
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05 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
FebruaryTragic day:
Northridge High School student Karla Mendoza-Gonzalez was killed Feb. 2 when the car her brother, Francisco Mendoza-Gon-zalez, 16, was driving collided with an Eaton school bus. The crash happened in the 3900 block of F Street. Francisco Mendoza-Gon-zalez and a passenger in the car, Nehimiah Pizarro, 14, were both taken to North Colorado Medical Center where they were treated and released. Mendoza-Gonzalez, who did not have a driver’s license or learner’s permit, pleaded guilty in June to careless driving resulting in death, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a year’s probation, 40 hours of community service, safe driving classes and restitution, if any is claimed. He was also fined $100.
School shuffle: Citing a deep budget crisis that threatens to slash millions from next year’s budget, the Greeley-Evans School District 6 Board of Education voted unanimously Feb. 22 to consolidate eight schools and a small alternative program — a move that affected roughly 2,000 children, but helped the district cut nearly $2 million a year from its budget.
Weld ties: A gunman from Hudson wounded two students at a suburban Denver middle school Feb. 23, but the situ-ation could have been much worse had it not been for the quick action of a math teacher with a Greeley connection. The incident occurred at Deer Creek Middle School.
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JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] Valley’s Clay Flot raises his arms in victory moments after beating Lamar’s Josh Jaime to claim the 125-pound Class 3A state title at The Pepsi Center in Denver. This was Flot’s first ever state title.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] pedestrian crosses 8th av-enue and 9th street as blowing snow and cold temperatures hit the Greeley area on a Febru-ary afternoon. Several minor traffic accidents caused temporary road closures in Weld County as the storm quickly made its way through the area.
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] owner Lazarus Pino continued his fight to remain open for business even after receiving 45 citations up to $300 a day within December 2009 and January 2010 at his medical marijuana dispensary in Windsor.
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ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] Vance Fulkerson, center, is placed in handcuffs as his attorney, Alexander Rarlin, talks with him on March 3 in Weld District Court in Greeley. Fulkerson was sentenced to four years in prison after plead-ing guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] May, 6, of Greeley, praises Jesus during the Xtreme Kids program held at the First Assembly of God church in Greeley. Nearly 400 kids were bused to the church to focus on ways to offer instruction and spiritual guid-ance .
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] Rietema, left, reads pas-sages from the Bible with Tom McMillen during a prayer session at the Loved-ones Against Meth Ministries House of Rest in Greeley. Rietema is recov-ering from an addition to meth-amphetamine, which drove him to attempt suicide about seven months prior.
MarCHA $2.2 million shortfall:
Aims Community College an-nounced it would close an annex section of the Loveland campus, the Downtown Center in Greeley, the Monfort Early Childhood Education Center and the flight center at the Greeley-Weld Airport because of a $2.2 million defect in the 2010-11 budget. This was a result of a decrease in state funds. The closures were estimated to save the college $8,000. These closures were also projected to affect 10 full-time job and 40 part-time jobs.
Hot air: The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted unanimously to extend a vehicle emissions testing program from the Denver metro area into parts of Weld and Lar-imer counties. Residents in these areas driving are now required to pass emission tests before registra-tion renewal. Air quality officials said northern Colorado was not in compliance with ground-level ozone standards and this would be a way to remedy that. Weld County Commissioners and other local of-ficials disagreed, but the testing was implemented anyway.
Missing: Greeley Police Department began the search for Kayleah Wilson, 12, after her mother reported her missing on Mach 28. Wilson left her home on a Sunday afternoon to attend a friend’s birthday party but never made it to the party. Police were unable to put out an Amber Alert because the case did not meet the exact criteria. Wilson‘s family began distributing fliers with her photo and information on it.
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07 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] of the Union Colony Fire/Rescue Au-thority search the bottom of a small pond near U.S. 34 and 35th Avenue behind the Home Depot for missing 12-year-old Kay-leah Wilson. The search continued in remote areas for the girl who had been missing for nine days before.
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected]. Hill, left, has had the opportunity to watch and learn for four season under former University of Northern Colorado head coach Tad Boyle. Hill now has the chance to begin his own winning program.
ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] woman walks down 10th Street as wet snow falls on an April morn-ing in downtown Greeley.
aPrILColonel kerfuffle:
Greeley native, Lt. Col. Terry Lakin posted an online video asking President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate. Lakin said in the video he would not deploy to Afghanistan for his second tour of duty until the president did so. Lakin eventually pleaded guilty to one of two charges at his court-martial.
Partners in health: Greeley Medical Clinic and Poudre Valley Health System agreed to an alignment. Patients feared this merger would force them to switch doctors or travel farther for their health care. The move also fostered more competition between Fort Collins-based PVHS and Banner Heath, which manages Greeley’s North Colorado Medical Center.
45 in a row: The Eaton baseball team reclaimed a state record for most consecu-tive wins with its 45th consecutive win. The victory came in a 12-0 win April 9 against Estes Park. The team tied the record that the 1998-99 Eaton and Niwot teams shared. The Reds went on the break the record with a 46th win against Val-ley High School. The steak began in 2008.
Boyle says goodbye: Following one of the most suc-cessful seasons of the University of Northern Colorado basketball team, head coach Tad Boyle left to take the job at the University of Colorado. In his last season, Boyle — a Greeley native — led the Bears to a school record of 25 wins and a second-place finish in the Big Sky.
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08 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] of the Union Colony Fire/Rescue Au-thority and Weld County Coroner Investigator George Roosevelt remove a body after it was found in a drainage ditch along 35th Avenue and 29th Street on the morning of May 19. The body was found within a half-mile of the home of Kayleah Wilson, 12, who has been missing since March.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] Sacco, father of Aubrey Sacco, looks over a map of the Langtang National Park where his daugh-ter Aubrey disap-peared while in Nepal. The family continues to keep the search alive.
MayMissing in Nepal:
Greeley Central graduate Aubrey Sacco, 23, disappeared in Nepal. The experienced traveler, who had gone to Japan and India by herself on previous trips, did not return home as scheduled on April 29. In early May, her family began a fran-tic search for her. Despite signifi-cant search efforts, which included the FBI, her family has been unable to find her. She has not returned home and has not been found.
Body found: After more than a month of intensive search and investiga-tion efforts, Greeley police found 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson’s body. Her body was found on May 19 in an irrigation ditch near 35th Avenue and the U.S. 34 Bypass. Two days later, Kayleah’s 18-year-old former boyfriend, Robert Laurencio Montoya, was arrested on sexual assault charges because of his relationship with the slain 12-year-old girl. Police did not call him a suspect in the case, which remains unsolved.
On ICE: Greeley’s new Immigration and Customs Enforcement office opened on May 26 after a long path to becoming a reality since being proposed by Weld District Attor-ney Ken Buck in 2005. The office would play a key role in large-scale investigations — human traffick-ing, gangs, drug and weapon sales, identity theft and work-site viola-tions — a regional ICE official said. Latino activists have criticized the office as being a waste of money and a facility that will harass Lati-nos in general.
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JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] sophomore Corey Dyer raises his helmet as he cel-ebrates with his teammates after hitting a home run while playing against Valley in La Salle. The Reds made history after winning its 46th straight game to break the Colorado state record.
09 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
MIKE PETERS/[email protected] and Eric Gill wade into the backyard of their home on Weld County Road 388 just north of Kersey as water from the South Poudre River con-tinues to rise.
JuneGreeley’s Rambo:
Former Greeley resident Gary Faulkner was detained in the mountains of Pakistan on June 15 where he told authorities he was hunting Osama bin Laden. Authorities found Faulkner, 51, carrying a sword, pistol and night-vision goggles as well as a small amount of hashish, enough for a single joint. Those who knew Faulkner in Greeley described him as an unusual person. “He was a weird guy,” Greeley barber Hugo Corral said. “He really didn’t talk too much.” Faulkner’s brother, Scott Faulkner, said his brother is “doing something that we would all wish to do.”
Those darn cats: Authorities set traps and removed more than 60 cats June 25 from the north Greeley home where an 85-year-old woman had been keeping them for several years. Because of the odor and health conditions of the home in the 400 block of 16th Avenue, the house has been con-demned and marked “unsafe for human occupancy” by city building inspectors.
Case closed: The man who’s had two trials in the April 2002 murder of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend was denied a third trial this year after a closed hearing in front of retired Weld District Court Judge Robert Lowenbach. He was the original judge in Allen Bergerud’s two trials. He ordered on June 14 that Bergerud was not entitled to a new trial after successfully appealing his conviction to the state Court of Appeals last year.
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JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] West pitcher Brian Richie goes into his pitching motion while pitching late in a game against Northridge in a Legion B game on June 3 at Butch Butler Field in Greeley. Greeley West made it to the Legion B finals, where the Spartans lost 12-7 to the Eaton Reds in August.
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] remains of an experimental aircraft rest in a field about 4 miles northeast of Fort Lupton after the aircraft crashed about noon June 23. Witnesses reported seeing it perform tricks in the air before crashing.
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10 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] group of flowers sits at a makeshift memo-rial on July 12 at the location where a pickup crashed through the Visionworks at the Greeley Mall on July 10, killing Kimberly Fletcher, 32, and Jennifer Hudgens, 23.
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] Ehrlich of Greeley smiles as he hangs on to a sheep while rid-ing in the mutton Bustin’ contest at the Stampede Arena on July 3.
JuLyDetective indicted:
News that a Larimer District Court Grand Jury handed down an indictment against Fort Collins police officer Lt. Jim Broderick, who was accused of lying to secure a conviction of a man police be-lieved killed a Fort Collins woman in 1987, broke at the beginning of July. Weld District Attorney Ken Buck presented his case against Broderick to the grand jury. He was an investigator in the case against Timothy Masters, who in 1999 was convicted in the 1987 murder of Peggy Hettrick. Masters spent almost a decade in prison before a judge overturned his conviction in January 2008 when DNA evidence pointed to another suspect.
Tragedy at Greeley Mall: Two people died July 10 when a pickup truck careened into Visionworks in the Greeley Mall. Kimberly Fletcher, a 32-year-old customer in the store, died after being struck by the truck. Vision-works employee Jennifer Hudgens, 23, also was injured in the crash and died later at North Colorado Medical Center. Peter Wesley Lain, 29, of Evans, drove the truck. An investigation determined Lain was not at fault.
Vestas victory: Major regional employer Vestas Wind Systems announced in July it would add 1,000 new employ-ees in Colorado: 750 in the next year to staff the company’s new wind turbine blade manufacturing company in Brighton, 100 more at the Windsor blade manufacturing plant and 167 more to the Pueblo tower manufacturing company.
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Joshua Scheide/Special to the TribuneYesenia Matta, 26, sweeps her porch at 1319 Tom Green Ave. in Odessa, Texas. In June, The Tribune told you about a portion of U.S. federal immigration law called the U Visa, a little-known program that seeks to encourage illegal immigrants to help prosecute criminals. Matta hoped to get her U Visa approved.
11 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] firefighter wipes his brow from the heat of a large haystack fire at Weld County roads 42 and 53 on the morning of Aug. 23. The fire started about 10:30 a.m. at the Hanscome Dairy and spread to four haystacks amid strong winds, burning about 1,000 tons of hay.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] group of field workers harvests cabbage in the 90-degree tem-peratures in a field on U.S. 85 and U.S. 392. According to the Department of Planning, fertile fields of green can be found in every part of Weld County. Every year, more than 875,000 acres of cropland are planted.
auGuSTSandoval guilty:
The longest criminal trial in Weld County history concluded Aug. 5 when jurors returned a guilty verdict in the first-degree murder charges against John Sandoval in the killing of Kristina Tournai-Sandoval in 1995. Jurors returned the verdict after seven hours of deliberations. Sandoval was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Though authorities extensively investigated the case in 1995, prosecutors then wouldn’t touch the case because Tournai-Sandoval’s body had not been found.
Buck wins: Weld District Attorney Ken Buck beat GOP rival Jane Norton to win the Republican nomination for Senate. The win marked the peak of an extraordinary campaign season for Buck, who rose from virtually unknown candidate to win the nomination, besting the well-fund-ed former Lt. Gov. Norton.
CSAP scores on the rise: For the second straight year, Greeley-Evans School District 6 elementary schools showed large improvements on the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests, but declines in middle schools, high schools and all levels of writ-ing tests had district officials con-cerned in August when CSAP re-sults were released. The percentage of students who scored proficient or advanced increased in reading, math and science, but it was the district’s elementary schools that brought the averages up, with 88 areas improving, 59 areas declining and three areas maintaining.
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ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] Sandoval shakes hands with public defender Ken Barker as he is placed in handcuffs after being found guilty of first- degree murder Aug. 5 in the Weld County Courthouse in Greeley.
Giving...
12 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] huge crack in the road in front of Our Lady Of Peace Catholic Church on 14th Avenue and 3rd Street is one of the many areas around the city of Greeley that is in need of road repair.
ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] police stand at the scene after they stopped an allegedly drunk driver in a stolen police car on Sept. 9 near the intersection of 23rd Avenue and 29th Street. The man had been handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car in the 2500 block of 35th Avenue. When the officer went to check on the passenger of the stopped car, the man slipped into the front seat of the Greeley police car.
SePTeMberJBS in court:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed lawsuits against JBS USA, alleging the meat company created a hostile work environment for Somali and Muslim workers because of their race, national origin and religion. Two lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, both stemming from complaints about worker mistreatment during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in September 2008.
Chase that cop car: A Greeley man managed to twist his handcuffed hands from behind him to the front and then allegedly stole a Greeley police car on Sept. 9. Police said Adam Lee Segura, 32, led them on a short chase on U.S. 34 on the south edge of Greeley until he stopped on 23rd Avenue near the Greeley Mall.
Those darn cats part II: A Greeley man’s home was sealed off Sept. 21 as unsafe after animal control officers removed 90 cats from his home and found 85 more dead cats in plastic bags in his house and backyard.
On fire: September was a month for wild-fires. Early in the month, a blaze burned out of control near Boulder. At one point, it forced the evacua-tion of parts of the city. Fire crews from the Platte Valley Fire Protec-tion District, among others, went to help battle the fire known as the Four Mile Fire. Later, a man-made fire burned out of control near Loveland. Toward the end of the month, a fire burned 1,000 acres of grassland near Gilcrest.
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JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] Animal Control Officer Leslie Schmidt prepares to transport one of the more than 90 cats that were captured inside a house at 810 26th Ave. in Greeley on Sept. 20. There were also 85 dead cats and two skunks found in the residence.
ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] a long note, applied trumpet professor John Adler plays with Lab Band II at the Garden Theater on Sept. 22 on campus at the University of Northern Colo-rado.
Giving...
13 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] Lyons of Greeley strikes a pose in her belly dancing outfit as the scar on her right arm is visible from battling a rare aggressive bacteria last year. Lyons spent two months at the hospital fighting the aliment but now has returned to dancing.
JIM RYDBOM/ jrydbom@my windsornow.comThis is an aerial photo of the Kodak Colorado Division looking to the north taken in 2008. Most of the buildings on this huge amount of land will be demolished to help in the sale of the property.
OCTOberMore fires:
The seventh suspicious haystack fire in October in Weld County burned as much as 500 tons of hay. The blaze caused hundreds of thou-sands of dollars in losses. Colorado Bureau of Investigation and federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were at the scene of the fire, about three miles south-west of Hudson in southern Weld County. Although investigators did not say it was an arson fire, they confirmed they were treating the area as a crime scene.
Evans death: A 20-year-old man died early Oct. 18 in an apparent homicide in Ev-ans. At 1:30 a.m, police were called to a stabbing in the 3400 block of Montrose Street. The victim, Casey Korgan, 20, of Evans, was taken to North Colorado Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. The Evans Police Department and the Greeley/Evans Gang Unit named a suspect, Roque Colin-Tapia Jr., of Gill, in November. A nationwide bulletin was issued for Colin-Tapia, 19, a known gang member who is known to carry a knife. Police have been unable to find him.
School days: Greeley-Evans School District 6 got word from its annual head count of students in October that its enrollment had increased several hundred students compared to the previous year and what was projected during budget meetings. The increase prompted the district to close enrollment at one of its elementary schools as well as hire additional teachers.
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JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] employee at A New Dawn Wellness Clinic in Windsor weighs out to be what is close to an ounce of medical mari-juana at the local dispensary. Medi-cal marijuana was a controversial issue throughout Weld County in 2010.
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To � nd out more about all our programs, visit www.buildinghealthymarriages.org or call (970) 304-6578, ext. 7903.
Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, ACF, Grant: 90FE0134. Any opinions, � ndings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily re� ect the views of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, ACF.
14 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
nOVeMberBuck falls short:
After leading Colorado’s U.S. Sen-ate race against Democratic incum-bent Michael Bennet much of the summer, Weld District Attorney Ken Buck came up short in one of the nation’s closest races. A series of campaign missteps — calling being gay a choice on a nationally televised debate and implying he thought global warming was a hoax — cost the GOP candidate. The race was so close, the winner wasn’t known until the morning after Election Day — Nov. 3 — but when it was said and done, Bennet beat Buck 48 percent to 47 percent.
Downing out: With a 9-47 record, University of Northern Colorado football coach Scott Downing was fired Nov. 17. The Bears won just five games against Big Sky Conference opponents under Downing. The move came on the heels of one of the biggest victories since Down-ing, who made $95,000 last season, began coaching the Bears.
Tragic day: Weld County sheriff ’s Deputy Sam Brownlee died Nov. 23 when he was shot with his own gun while attempting to arrest Rueben Reyes, 20, a Fort Morgan gang member, who had fled Morgan County deputies and led police on a high-speed chase. Reyes reportedly was involved in a domestic dispute and stole a car before leading police on a chase. Thousands gathered at Brownlee’s memorial service to honor the fallen officer. Brownlee became the first Weld sheriff ’s deputy to give his life in the line of duty since 1940.
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ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] senatorial can-didate Ken Buck watches returns in his hotel room on Election Night in Greenwood Village.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] junior Mariah Brandly, right, has her shot blocked by Valley sophomore Brynn Eckhardt while playing in Eaton on Nov. 21. The Reds lost in three straight games to give the Vikings the Patriot League championship.
JIM RYDBOM/[email protected] Wayne Neumann stands guard next to the American flag during the begin-ning of the Veterans Day ceremonies at the Veteran’s Memorial in Greeley on Nov. 11.
15 | The Tribune 12.31.2010
DeCeMberCharter questions:
The Greeley-Evans School District 6 Board of Education denied one of two charter applications while conditionally accepting the other Dec. 13. The board denied Union Colony’s application, which asked to expand its current sixth- through 12th-grade charter school to include a kindergarten through fifth-grade track. But it accepted West Ridge Academy’s application for a new kindergarten through ninth-grade school, with nearly a dozen conditions.
Finally, justice: The convicted murderer of Mary Pierce, the woman who was killed 33 years ago west of Greeley, will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, even though the law demands he can apply for parole in less than 20 years. Marcello Mal-donado Perez, 52, was found guilty Dec. 16 of the murder, kidnapping and rape of Mary Pierce. Because of 1977 laws, Judge Marcelo Kop-cow said the most Perez could get was the life sentence with the pos-sibility of parole in 20 years.
Energy jobs: Noble Energy Inc. plans to build a 66,500-square-foot field of-fice in west Greeley that would house at least 300 executive and field-worker positions, a further sign the company is ramping up operations in the Wattenberg Field in northeastern Colorado. The company has submitted site plans to build on 23 acres it’s purchasing in the HighPointe Business Park, on the east side of Colo. 257 and just south of U.S. 34. Noble has an office in Platteville.
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ERIC BELLAMY/[email protected] by more than 2,000 law enforcement officers, Weld County sheriff’s deputy Sam Brownlee is carried from Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion after a memorial service for the slain officer on Nov. 29. Thousands of law enforcement officers and members of the public filled the arena to pay their respects to Brownlee.
JIM RYDBOM/ [email protected] Mike Med-hurst home at 354 50th Ave. in west Greeley is al-most overwhelm-ing with the amount of lights surrounding the house. The home is nicknamed the “Greeley Griz-walds.”
MIKE PETERS/[email protected] Maldonado Perez is on the witness stand of his mur-der trial as his attorney, Andy Gavaldon, asks questions.
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