Music Festival redevelopment approved

by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

The Pitkin County commissioners gave their approval Wednesday for the $60 million redevelopment of the campus shared by the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Aspen Country Day School.

The commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the project, which will double total square footage of the buildings on the Castle Creek campus from 50,000 square feet to 105,000 square feet.

Neighbor feud out of court, for now

by Andrew Travers, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

A years-long feud between two Aspen neighbors will no longer play out in Pitkin County Court. The Knutson and Wilson families agreed yesterday to allow the mutual restraining orders they have against one another to expire.

This armistice comes after a flare-up in their bitter 15-year relationship last winter caused a series of alleged tit-for-tat strikes on one another. They included allegations of, in part: Urinating on and scratching of cars, intentional causing of sewage flood, loud shoveling of snow early in the morning, breaking windows, attempted bludgeoning (with a snow shovel), trying to run over neighbors with a car, fist-shaking, bird-flipping and cursing.

Seldin: Pre-emptive resignation no ploy

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Former Basalt Town Councilman Chris Seldin, a candidate for a newly created local judgeship, caused a stir when he resigned his elected post Friday.

Why would Seldin, halfway through his first four-year term on the board, quit his job before knowing whether he had won his next one?

NTSB issues first report in Maggert airplane crash

by Catherine Lutz, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

The National Transportation Safety Board has released some preliminary information about the plane crash that killed Carbondale resident Barry Maggert last week, including some details from the passenger’s who was injured.

The report did not disclose a cause for the accident — that could require between 12 and 18 months to determine — but it did say that the plane crashed to the ground and was destroyed “following a partial loss of power.”

OBITUARY — Shonda Gay Zeigel Cortez

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Shonda Cortez, 52, died peacefully in Carbondale, Colorado, from complications of breast cancer. She is survived by her husband of 33 years, Ed Cortez; her parents, Alan and Laura Zeigel of Denver; her sister and brother-in-law, Désha and Rick Davis of Edmonds, Washington; her brother and sister-in-law, Brad and Nancy Zeigel of Carbondale; and her cherished nephews and nieces, Ian and Mollie Davis; and Megan, Arick, and Alli Zeigel.

Shonda was born in Boulder, Colorado. She graduated from Boulder High School in 1973 and from the University of Texas at Austin in 1976 with a B.A. in Latin American studies. She majored in Spanish and minored in art history. She and Ed met in college and were married on Dec. 20, 1975. 

The sober side of the ’70s

by Jeremy Madden, Aspen Daily News Columnist
In the 1990s America fell back in love with the style and culture of the 1970s.

Once again, people hit the streets in platform shoes, bell bottoms and big sunglasses. Roller skates were back. “Porn Star” was plastered across tight T-shirts. There was a celebration of the seventies. Hollywood capitalized on the trend and made hits like “Boogie Nights” and “That ’70s Show.” The ’70s were back, and everyone loved it. Everyone but me, that is.

Which McCain would be president?

by Nat Hentoff
As the no-holds-barred battle for the Democratic presidential nomination mercifully nears an end, renewed attention is being focused on the several John McCains bearing the Republican armor. Having written that I cannot vote for Barack Obama because he is an extremist on abortion who refused even to save a sudden live baby resulting from a botched abortion, I also have concerns about the consistency of some of McCain’s positions.

The First Amendment’s being the foundation of our constitutional self-government, I recall McCain’s comment about the McCain-Feingold “clean elections” law that directly and significantly silences the opinions of a range of advocacy groups at crucial points during presidential campaigns.

Reconsider Sustainable Settings

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

It is unfortunate that the board of directors of Sustainable Settings has chosen to abandon their laudable mission in the Crystal River Valley. True enough, the educational farm can be moved and reconstructed in some other location, but it is in our community that we need local agricultural production.

Willful ignorance

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Steve Skinner’s column on “hold the religion” brings up the interesting question: (Is) such pandering to the willful ignorance of constituents actually representation?

Nothing like a bureaucracy

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Nothing like bureaucracy, red tape, and regulations to ruin a nice bike ride.

Energy future is now

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

Wind power, solar heating systems, geothermal heat pumps, photo-voltaics and other renewable choices are the promise of the future — not coal and not inefficient ethanol production.

Aspen Club thanks

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor:

As some of you have heard by now, this past Tuesday the Aspen Club received conceptual P&Z approval for our Aspen Club Living project by a 4-1 vote.