More beer, more rules

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Visitors to the Aspen Brewing Company will soon be able to consume the equivalent of about three beers, but they might want to bring their calculators with them when they do.

Aspen City Council on Monday night agreed to up the brewery’s on-site consumption limit from 16 ounces to either 36 or 40 ounces, depending on which ordering method is followed.

Residents rue dozens of trees felled at trailer park

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — While Kat Sing hurriedly dug up the plants in the narrow yard behind her mobile home along the Roaring Fork River on Monday, she watched as workers nearby felled a cottonwood into the river. It was the latest of dozens of trees the River Meadows mobile home park had removed as part of a plan to protect the homes from floodwaters during spring runoff.

Some residents complain that the efforts intended to protect their homes are instead destroying what they love about their place by the river.

Staffing turbulence at the control tower

by Catherine Lutz, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Fully certified controllers being replaced by trainees

With the change in seasons comes yet another change in staffing in the air traffic control tower at Aspen/Pitkin County Airport. Four more fully trained and certified air traffic controllers have left or are leaving their posts by the end of April, to be replaced by three trainees.

No COWOP yet for ZG plan

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Aspen City Council threw out the caution flag on the Zupancis-Galena development plans at Monday night’s meeting amid concerns that the concepts proposed for the site don’t have enough public acceptance.

The ZG parcel refers to a swath of publicly owned land surrounding the Pitkin County Courthouse where a “civic center” is being planned that would include a new county office building, a new Aspen Art Museum, expanded criminal justice facilities, expanded Aspen Chamber Resort Association offices, an expanded library and affordable housing.

OBITUARY — Edward F. Katzenberger

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Edward Katzenberger, helicopter pioneer, writer, and artist, died at the age of 91 with family at his side at Aspen Valley Hospital on Feb. 27, 2008. He was born May 20, 1916, in New York City to Edward and Emily (Bleimehl) Katzenberger. He met the love of his life, Alice May Maxwell, of Norwich, Conn., in 1939. They married and had two children, Jean, born in 1947 and a son, John, born in 1950.

Edward resided in Basalt, having moved there in 2004 from Ames, Iowa. Prior to Iowa, he lived in New York and then Connecticut where his children were born and raised. Edward was preceded in death by his sister, Emiline; wife, Alice; and daughter, Jean. He is survived by his sister, Helen; son, John; grandson, James; and granddaughter, Reina. He missed by several weeks meeting his great-grandson, Enzo S. Katzenberger.

Update from the Crystal River

by Steve Skinner, Aspen Daily News Columnist
January 2008. Morning. Crystal River. Not so secret location. Crunching through the snow to stand on the edge of what looks like a creek. Seeing this place in near-suspended animation. Snow right up to the edge. Then rounded, thick ice reflecting the sky. Thick enough to inch out on. Like a glass-bottom boat you could see into the clear water gurgling underneath.

An occasional air bubble would vent into the water from a hole or crack upstream. It wiggled and jiggled its way, blocked from reaching the atmosphere but still pushed by gravity. The bubble would eventually find another and another until eventually getting out through another hole or a crack. Or just get slowly frozen into another layer of ice.

White, black America separated by a common language

by Richard Cohen
George Bernard Shaw said England and America were two countries separated by a common language. Richard Cohen says that white and black Americans are in a similar fix. Statements that one considers innocuous, the other can consider offensive. Things have gotten to the point where Bill Clinton, a president once adored by African-Americans, is now being accused of racially insensitive statements. Shaw would understand. It’s not necessarily what was said, it’s the way it was heard.

To my (racially) tin ear, little that either Bill or Hillary Clinton have said this election season sounded ugly. These included the remarks that seemed to have started it all — Hillary Clinton’s crushingly banal observation that for all that Martin Luther King Jr. did, it took Lyndon Johnson’s presidency to enact a monumental civil rights act. The context was clearly her contention that despite Barack Obama’s soaring rhetoric, it took good old experience (like hers) to get the job done. Who could possibly object to that?

In memory of Lathrop Strang

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

I had some very sad news on Saturday, April 26. A lifetime friend and buddy lost his life the day before as he was attempting to ski down Mt. Sopris. Lathrop Strang, who was among the strongest skiers I have known, fell from his line and tumbled over 1,000 feet down a steep couloir. It was a line he had skied before and I am sure that Lathrop had every intention of skiing it again.

A thought about Wallace and Lathrop

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Even though I didn’t know Wallace or Lathrop, I do know their dads. My heart goes out to both of your families, Weems and Michael. And I’m pretty disturbed by the outcry concerning their deaths.

Aspen Police Department needs Hummers

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

In Saturday’s paper, we learned that the Aspen Police Department is having a dilemma while testing the Toyota Highlander as the next cruise fleet for its lack of adequate electric power. Instead of getting on the “hybrid” bandwagon superficially for “going green,” I suggest that you consult Roger Marolt’s column (Aspen Times, April 25, entitled “How Hummers are green”).

Time to take Aspen back

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

You’ve got to be kidding me! When I moved here in 1980, it was because you could pretty much do what you wanted to, everybody was happy. I don’t remember anybody being angry all the time about stupid things like noisy motorcycles. Aspen is not a quiet place anymore; with all the traffic and the construction there are rarely quiet days, maybe Sunday for a little while. This is what we wanted, lots of people, tourists coming in to give our city lots of money. Once the billionaires chased out the millionaires, it has been steadily going downhill. At one time, all of my friends (normal people) lived in Aspen and then the millionaires chased them out. There are a lot of people with a lot of money, some of them are motorcycle riders, living in and visiting Aspen and spending their money here. What’s next? I think we should ban airplanes from landing here, they’re pretty loud. I also think that big trucks should not be allowed, they are really noisy. And what about the noon whistle, I’m sure that it bothers somebody, too. Hey, you motorcycle riders, are you out there? Somebody needs to fight against this ridiculous new rule that they are trying to pass. I think that it’s time to take our Aspen back from these people that say they are trying to make it better.

Ban the douche bags

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Banning plastic bags, eh? Now there’s a weighty issue worthy of much hand-wringing and endless political debate second only to the decision of either voting for a warmonger or a welfare monger for president.