Crystal Palace to reopen as restaurant

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Aspen’s Crystal Palace, which closed its doors as a dinner theater at the end of the ski season, is planning to reopen for at least a year as a restaurant.

Aspen’s Liquor License Authority board granted a transfer of the old Crystal Palace’s liquor license to the Crystal Palace Grille.

One-way streets a go for summer

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Aspen City Council signed off on a plan to one way three blocks of downtown Aspen in order to create more parking spaces.

At a work session Tuesday, Aspen parking director Tim Ware told the council that the original plan to one way an additional three blocks — from the “restaurant row” section of Hopkins Avenue up Mill Street and around the Wheeler Opera House on Hyman Avenue — would not work because the street is too narrow. But Ware said a one-way experiment on Galena Street south of Hopkins Avenue, continuing along Cooper Avenue until Hunter Street was worth trying. The one ways will be in place by mid-June.

Two doctors easily win hospital board seats

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Dr. Barry Mink earned a second four-year term on the Aspen Valley Hospital board of directors, while Dr. Mindy Nagle won her first, in last night’s board election that saw seven candidates running for two seats.

Mink, the only incumbent who ran, received the lion’s share of the votes, 944, while Nagle earned 604 votes.

Car barrels through Carbondale liquor store

by Andrew Travers, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

A car drove through the storefront of Mr. C’s Liquors in Carbondale on Monday night, taking out its front window, a cooler and bottles but not injuring anyone inside the store.

“The damage was fairly extensive,” said Carbondale Police Chief Gene Schilling, whose department responded to the crash at 7:50 p.m. on Cinco de Mayo. “It wasn’t minor.”

‘The Boys’ informant identified to lawyer

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Prosecutors released to defense attorneys on Tuesday the name of the confidential informant who lies at the center of more than 30 drug cases that drug officers say are connected to a drug ring known as The Boys.

Prosecutors didn’t make the name public, but they did release it to public defender Garth McCarty in the case of Larkin Marvin Harris, a Rifle man accused of selling marijuana to an undercover investigator through the informant in January.

Basalt councilman may have to step down

by Troy Hooper, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Chris Seldin one of three nominated for new district judgeship

Basalt Town Councilman Chris Seldin is one step closer to the bench. But if Gov. Bill Ritter were to appoint him as a 9th Judicial District judge, he would have to vacate his political post with a little under two years remaining in his first term.

Snowmass developer acquires property management firm, hires former reporter

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Snowmass developer Related WestPac has added a property management firm to its growing list of local holdings, the company announced yesterday.

Related WestPac, which is developing Base Village and owns most of the Snowmass Mall and the Snowmass Center, said that it has acquired Village Property Management.

DA’s office weighs more evidence in Carbondale fire

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cheney said it may take two more weeks before he decides if he will file charges in the wildfire that scorched 1,000 acres near Carbondale last month.

Cheney said he has read a report by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the criminal investigation of the fire. But he is also reading a set of reports prepared by the Carbondale Rural Fire Protection District, which handled the blaze.

OBITUARY — Arthur Dennis Egan

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Correspondent
Arthur Dennis Egan died on Monday, April 21, 2008, at Wesley Gardens Nursing Home in Rochester, N.Y., at age 61. He was born Feb. 24, 1947, in Ithaca, N.Y.

Denny was the son of Arthur D. and Theresa (Tobey) Egan. He was a well-loved member of the Carbondale community and appreciated for his generous and uplifting nature. Typical of his character, Denny participated in many Mountain Fairs performing, helping as an electrician or just volunteering for the night watch. He was an extraordinary musician, playing with The Silver Bullets with Howard Berkman, The FM Band, Kool Ray and the Polaroids and Sneaker to name just a few.

Floating money

by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

As snow is to the ski industry, water is to the rafting industry — tourism dollars follow both.

Skiers obviously like snow, which was found in record amounts this winter at Colorado ski resorts, and skier visits were up as a result.

After more than a decade, Blue Maize shuts its doors

by Damien Williamson, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

When Blue Maize shut its doors on April 27, few knew that the Latin-infused eatery, which has stayed perched at its 308 S. Hunter location for more than a decade, wouldn’t reopen come high season.

Owner Richard Chelec decided to call it quits after 11 years in the Aspen restaurant business, partly to try something new but also because the economics of running a restaurant in the upper valley without owning his building was becoming a bit of strain.

News Brief

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Face time: Our weekly profile of a local business community member

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Jim Ingram
Aspen Whitewater Rafting owner

Movers & Shakers

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Resort report: What’s happening in other resort communities

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
JACKSON HOLE: FEWER SALES, HIGHER PRICES

While the median sale price for homes in the Jackson Hole area rose 86 percent in the first quarter compared to the year before, the number of those real estate sales dropped 25 percent, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. The Jackson Hole area now has 805 real estate agents, nearly double the number of properties for sale. A local broker estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the agents are “hobbyists,” (divorcees, retirees) rather than fully committed Realtors.

A loving couple’s legacy

by Ted Rall
There is a poignant significance to the passing of Mildred Loving at a time when a biracial senator leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Their stories are connected by time, skin color and a Supreme Court decision.

Basalt Rec. offers scholarships, summer programs

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

It’s a great time of year when the crocuses poke out of the snow, the songbirds fill the morning quiet, and Basalt Recreation Department’s spring/summer brochure hits your mailbox. We offer many fun activities for the youth of the Roaring Fork Valley and we want all the youth of the valley to be able to take advantage of these healthy opportunities. The Aspen Elks Lodge financial support helps us provide recreation to everyone by providing scholarships to families who are less able to afford recreation programs for their children. We would like to extend a big thank you the Aspen Elks Lodge for their continuing support of recreation in this valley. Recreation shouldn’t be a burden on a family and with Aspen Elks Lodge’s generous donations every year we can be sure it isn’t. So grab that brochure, call us at Basalt Recreation and get your child involved this summer. 

Is this Carbondale?

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Is this Carbondale? As I ride my bike down First Street on a sunny Sunday afternoon, two diesel pickups decide not to slow as they pass each other and myself at the same time, almost pushing me into a parked vehicle. What is so important on a Sunday afternoon that someone can’t tap a brake?

Retain oil shale moratorium

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Last Thursday, Colorado Senator Wayne Allard and New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici introduced a bill that would repeal a one-year moratorium on approval of final regulations for commercial oil shale leases on federal land. The senators see the bill as an immediate answer to our high fuel prices, yet the BLM doesn’t expect commercial oil shale development to begin for at least 10 years.

Bush and Cheney, war criminals

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

As Laurel and Hardy would often say, “What a fine mess.” The present situation in Iraq/Afghanistan would not be believed if Laurel and Hardy had written the script. No president could be so stupid as to start a second war halfway around the world without winning the first war in Afghanistan. A war started by a sneak attack that killed 3,000 Americans. It is quite clear that Bush and Cheney have violated their oaths of office to protect us from “foreign enemies” by straining and draining our military with 4,000 killed in Iraq and a $1 trillion taxpayer cost. Behind closed doors, the commanders in Iraq told Bush recently of their “worries” in the face of Iraq’s new attacks and Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan.

Thrift Shop open for business

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Just a quick Aspen Thrift Shop update: We have successfully moved to our new location down the street from the Wheeler Opera House at 312 East Hyman, next to the former Crystal Palace Theatre. We will be in this location for however long it takes us to build our new building.

Petition against Bidwell remodel

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Recently the Paradise Bakery corner on Cooper and Galena was voted as one of the best gathering places in Aspen. 

Legal industry serves itself with TRIDENT bust

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

The biggest drug bust in Western Slope history, or an exercise in self-aggrandizement by Sheriff Lou Vallario and TRIDENT? Great police work or one undercover Judas setting up friends for the drug cops?