Larimer County

Reader: Second Amendment meant to fight tyranny, not kill burglars

A post yesterday featured the Independence Institute's Dave Kopel talking about a lawsuit targeting Colorado's new gun-control laws -- and featuring the support of Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith and 54 of his colleagues around the state. As you can imagine, this topic fired up folks on both sid ... More >>

Marijuana: Kaleb Young suing for pot plants improperly seized and killed by Larimer County

Back in December 2011, we told you about Kaleb Young, a marijuana caretaker who'd been acquitted of three felonies. But while the Larimer County Sheriff's Office gave back some of the items seized during a raid the previous year, 42 marijuana plants weren't returned -- because they had died. Now, Y ... More >>

Marijuana: Amendment 64 causes problems for drug dogs with a nose for pot

How useful is a drug dog trained to go after something that is now legal in two states? Since it's no longer a crime to carry up to an ounce of marijuana in Colorado, the mere fact that a drug dog has detected marijuana isn't reason enough to search someone. And because a dog is trained to detect ... More >>

Galena fire photos: 1,000 acres burned, 75 percent contained, but not dead yet

Given concerns about below-average snowpack and already-announced watering restrictions in various Front Range communities, it's no surprise the first significant wildland blaze of the season arrived in March. Dubbed the Galena fire, the Fort Collins-area conflagration in Lory State Park, just beyon ... More >>

Photos: Top twenty most wanted fugitives in Larimer County

The Larimer County Sheriff's Office is looking for a few (allegedly) bad men -- and a handful of women, too. Look below to see the twenty most wanted fugitives in Larimer County, complete with mug shots and information about the charges against them. If you see anyone you recognize, contact Larimer ... More >>

Gary Lee Holman: Woman and toddlers must be decontaminated after meth and pot bust

When Larimer County Sheriff's deputies responded to a Fort Collins home this past weekend, they thought they would be investigating a domestic violence case. But they got much more than they bargained for in relation to Gary Lee Holman -- including a pot grow and enough meth to require a woman and h ... More >>

High Park fire update: Mishawaka Amphitheatre reopening symbol of blaze's defeat

Update: The High Park fire near Fort Collins is 100 percent contained, and while it's not officially dead yet, the blaze is no longer the threat it was to life, limb and property. A symbol of its de facto defeat? The reopening tomorrow of the Mishawaka Amphitheatre, a beloved landmark that managed ... More >>

Bob Apodaca takes fall for Colorado Rockies pitching: Will others follow?

Denver blogs posts are fire-resistant. Purple Row's Jeff Aberle on the "reassignment" of Colorado Rockies pitching coach Bob Apodaca, and the possibility that his head won't be the last to roll due to the team's current, disastrous season. Colorado Peak Politics says the Larimer County GOP is a fo ... More >>

Reader: Pit bull mixes bit -- so why fault the pit bull and not the mix?

Our recent post about two biting incidents involving pit bull mixes in Larimer County continue to generate comments. Here's one from a reader who wonders why the pit-bull part of the equation is always singled out for blame in situations like this one.

Medical marijuana: Do Joseph Montante, Dallas Williams busts mean doctor fraud's rampant?

On March 22, two doctors practicing in northern Colorado were arrested by the Larimer County Sheriff's Office on charges of writing false medical marijuana prescriptions for undercover officers. If the charges against them are true, does that make them typical of MMJ physicians? Or the exceptions?

Kaylin Schimpf ousted as Larimer County Fair queen: Legit beef or Toddlers & Tiaras?

Judging by the photos on her Facebook page, Kaylin Schimpf would never be mistaken for a diva -- and she denies having behaved rudely during her reign as queen of the Larimer County Fair. Nonetheless, she's been stripped of her title, as has her lady in waiting, Kayla Myers, reportedly amid disagree ... More >>

Heather Speicher allegedly impersonated someone attacked by a police impersonator

Big photo below.​The prospect of being stopped by what you think is a police officer, only to discover too late that it's actually a vicious criminal, helps explain why Larimer County Sheriff's Office took Heather Speicher's report about being sexually assaulted by a cop impersonator so seriou ... More >>

Behold Adams County, the "unquestioned epicenter of ethics problems"

Dylan Garbino, three fellow cons charged with starting feces-squirting jail riot

Big photos below.​On a Sunday night in November, four Larimer County Jail inmates allegedly squirted feces and urine at deputies using shampoo bottles, flooding part of the facility and starting what officials called a riot. Now, the four men in question have been identified and charged with n ... More >>

Feces and urine attack at Larimer County Jail bigger than usual but not uncommon, rep says

On Sunday night, four Larimer County Jail inmates allegedly squirted a feces-and-urine blend at deputies using shampoo bottles, causing a significant flood in the process. Unprecedented? Not according to Larimer County Sheriff's Office public information officer John Schulz, who says such coordinat ... More >>

Medical marijuana retail ban passes in Fort Collins despite union help fighting it

​Update: Steve Ackerman, president of the Fort Collins Medical Cannabis Association and owner of the Organic Alternatives dispensary, notes that the final count in a vote to ban MMJ retail operations in his hometown won't be released until noon today. However, he sounds resigned to defeat and ... More >>

Larimer County Republican Party target of new complaint from Colorado Ethics Watch

​The Larimer County Republican Party faced massive fines for not filing campaign-finance reports in 2010 -- but last month, the Secretary of State's office reduced the bill from $48,000 to $15,000, leaving critics agog. Now, Colorado Ethics Watch has issued a complaint about what it sees as ad ... More >>

Summer 2011: All's fair in Colorado this summer

Crystal fire in Larimer Cty.: 95% contained, 13 homes burned, but what was cause? (VIDEOS)

Videos below.​Update: Finally, the Crystal fire in Larimer County is just about spent. According to the most recent feds' latest report, the containment level is at 95 percent, with some crews moving on and those that remain concentrating on mop-up. More good news: the number of homes destroy ... More >>

Heaven Fest on the move again from Longmont to Loveland

​ After an enormously successful outing last year, Heaven Fest, which reportedly drew more than 25 thousand fans last year, is on the move again. Last summer, as you might remember, the Christian-centric festival moved from its original location at Northern Hills Christian Church just west of ... More >>

Larimer County GOP worked up $100,000 in campaign fines from the state -- and here's how

​The Larimer County Republican Party has managed to rack up $100,000 in fines for failing to file campaign finance report filings during the 2010 elections. Now, ousted party chairman Larry Carillo is admitting that he never even opened the multiple delinquency notices sent by state officials. ... More >>

Psychic Kay, aka Kathy Adams, found dead near Estes Park: Arrest warrant for John Marks Jr.

Larger photo below.​Update: From the beginning, John Marks Jr. was the top suspect in the death of his common-law wife, Kathy Adams, better known as Psychic Kay, whose body was found near an Estes Park ravine. But now, the Larimer County Sheriff's Office has formalized the search for Marks, i ... More >>

Hot babe has a lust for carrots -- and she'd like everyone to know about it

Healthy.​We've found three Denver blog posts, and linked them here. Denver Egotist reveals a Boulder ad firm's sexy new ad for carrots. And that's not all, folks! Colorado Pols sums up the latest fundraising totals for major Colorado candidates. John Hickenlooper is in the money! And Dan Mae ... More >>

Tea Party duo split over Carl Bruning, unite over Rachel Maddow and badass fife & drum

John Weins & Mel Hilgenberg.​Yep, it's another cable news moment that's all but indistinguishable from a bit on The Daily Show. This one comes courtesy of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who this week played host to John Weins and Mel Hilgenberg, a fife and drum duo called the Liberty Leaders who were ... More >>

Carl Bruning: Sheriff candidate wants probe into online critic saying true things about him

From the Stop Carl Bruning Facebook page.​You thought kinda/sorta-plagiarizer Scott McInnis was a thin-skinned politician? Get a load of Carl Bruning, who's running for sheriff of Larimer County. He reportedly asked current Sheriff Jim Alderden to investigate an online critic whose disparaging ... More >>

Killing Osama Bin Laden: Gary Brooks Faulkner makes Colorado's (anti) terrorist beat

Larimer CountyWhere's the latex mask?​Colorado's reputation as a breeding ground for gun-toting xenophobes and religious fanatics got a nice boost today when a Greeley man -- armed with a pistol, a forty-inch sword and some hashish -- was detained in northern Pakistan after he tried to cross o ... More >>

Tim Tebow worship proof that ESPN is becoming a joke?

"I think the coverage mix is just about right."​When bloggers write about Denver, we take notice -- as these three items prove. Bleacher Report's John Stitz thinks ESPN's becoming a joke -- and the first bit of evidence he offers is its "worship" of Tim Tebow, "a guy that most people don't ev ... More >>

Guns on campus: CSU faces lawsuit in wake of court tossing CU's concealed-carry ban

​As promised, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owner's Club has filed suit against Colorado State University for its board's recent ban of concealed weapons on campus. With the suit filed on the same day as a Colorado Court of Appeals decision to throw out CU-Boulder's similar ban, it might have more am ... More >>

Timothy Masters wins $4.1 million payment from Larimer County judicial district -- and there's probably more where that came from

Timothy Masters, as seen in a 2008 Channel 4 report, is finally getting paid for time served.​Timothy Masters, whose 1999 murder conviction was tossed following revelations about DNA-shaped holes in the case reported by the Denver Post and other news organizations, will receive $4.1 million fr ... More >>

Larimer Sheriff Jim Alderden wants guns on campus -- and he's not the only one

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden​Emphatic Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden -- the target of new complaints from Balloon Boy lawyer David Lane about restitution charges -- is the latest to join the fight to prevent a gun ban at Colorado State University, which previously allowed concealed ... More >>

Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene pleads guilty, wants to look for work in New York and L.A.: reality-TV producers await with bated breath

As you can see by the Associated Press footage above, Balloon Boy parents Richard and Mayumi Heene weren't forced to do a perp walk when turning themselves in to Larimer County authorities, as their attorney, David Lane, had feared. Instead, the process was orderly and low key, unlike pretty much ... More >>

Fast-track this: Five untapped Colorado energy sources

Thar she blows: The Penry-Huttner Geothermal Project.​The Department of the Interior just designated six renewable energy projects, including a 400-megawatt solar tower, as "fast-track" developments deserving of the highest priority. All six of the projects happen to be in California. Hard t ... More >>

Balloon Boy family lawyer David Lane: Child-abuse-investigation release breaks the law

David Lane, attorney for Richard Heene, has got some fancy lawyering to do. And he's ready.​David Lane, attorney for Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene, says he doesn't have enough fingers to plug all the info leaks coming from the office of Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden. On Friday, Alderden ... More >>

Balloon Boy family's craziness may be contagious

The latest developments in the Balloon Boy case -- i.e., Larimer County authorities declaring the whole thing to have been a hoax -- seem to have frayed the nerves of the Heene family's Fort Collins neighbors. Clips like this one from Friday, in which a woman defends the clan ("This was not a joke! ... More >>

Another Balloon Boy mystery: What happened to Richard Heene's hair?

Another indication that Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene wanted to make the most of the media attention he got in the wake of the desperate search for his not-quite-airborne son Falcon: Over the course of the past few days, his hair seems to have gotten a trendy makeover. Throughout an appearance on t ... More >>

David Lane ties himself to the Balloon Boy case

David Lane hits the national airwaves -- and doesn't have to talk about Ward Churchill.​Attorney David Lane tends to take cases that have Big Picture, constitutional issues at stake: His clients in recent years have included Carol Kreck, who was arrested for protesting a John McCain campaign a ... More >>

The Westword.com Blog Shortcut, August 11 Edition

Is Roger Hoffmann Serving Spam at His Barbecue?

Rocky High

A photographer looks over the terrain of his adventurous career

Bite Me

Cow Country

Farmer on the Dole

Urban cowboys cash a surprising number of federal farm-subsidy checks.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

These cops have a beat, but can you dance to it?

Nickel- and Dime-Bagged

Since no one sent the cops an invite to the Bongathon, they had to crash the party.

Strange but True

Children of the Corn

The swets brothers' trippy, ten-acre walking maze is stalked by controversy.

Strange but True

Leader of the PAC

THE BREAKS OF THE GAME

THE HISTORY OF A TAX LOOPHOLE--AND HOW IT GOT PLUGGED.

TAKING HIS MEDICINE

OSCAR BRAVE EAGLE APPEALS HIS CONVICTION IN THE MOONWATCHER RAPE CASE.

HUNTING SEASON

A NEW MAGAZINE TOUTS REWARDS FOR NABBING CRIMINALS.