Compromise reached for late flights

by Catherine Lutz, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Federal Aviation Administration officials have decided on a compromise that will avoid closing the Aspen airport’s control tower two to three hours earlier each night, but it will shift some responsibilities to a radar control center in Longmont.

The change, which goes into effect Aug. 1, means that one air traffic controller will be on duty in the Aspen tower from 8-10 p.m., rather than the two that are there now.

Murder-for-hire case could end in mistrial

by Andrew Travers, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

A woman convicted last month of hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband in Aspen may have another day in court, as her defense attorney is facing questions as to whether he is, in fact, an attorney.

Gwen Bergman, 52, was tried and convicted in a Denver federal court for conspiring with an online security firm to murder her ex-husband, John LaCouture of Aspen, and mailing money across state lines to pay for the hit. Convicted on both counts, she is to be sentenced in October.

Paraglider pilot OK after crash

by Troy Hooper, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

NORTH STAR NATURE PRESERVE — Aspen paraglider pilot Thomas Brinkmeyer was soaring through Aspen’s serene skies Monday morning when suddenly the wind ripped past him and began to blow him backwards.

Eyeing his landing, he pushed his apparatus’s speedbar forward to cut through the wind, but as he approached the ground part of the paraglider’s canopy deflated.

Pitkin County eyes Emma Store property for $2.65M

by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

The Pitkin County commissioners this week are expected to approve the purchase of 12 acres of land and the old Emma Store buildings near Basalt.

The Pitkin County Open Space and Trails board has endorsed spending $2.65 million for the land along the Roaring Fork River and the resolution to approve the deal is on the consent agenda for Wednesday’s commissioners meeting.

Broken pipe floods half-million-dollar council chambers

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

A pipe failure in City Hall caused two separate flooding incidents in the newly remodeled council chambers, which reopened two weeks ago after a two-month closure and $450,000 worth of upgrades.

Sunday afternoon, a broken pipe caused many gallons of water to pour from an adjacent maintenance room into the council chambers. Water had completely saturated the new carpet. A water removal crew had the room cleaned up that evening, but the same scenario repeated itself again before Monday morning.

Cigarette smoldering in flower box causes scare

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Aspen police and fire department officials responded to a report of a smoldering cigarette fire in a flower box at the Centennial affordable housing complex on Monday morning.

The fire was quickly put out, but the scenario was eerily reminiscent of a similar situation two weeks ago that destroyed 10 apartments at the Castle Ridge housing project. That fire was also started by a cigarette improperly extinguished in potting material.

After police stop, hot cars pull out of town

by Elise Foley

Drivers in Bullrun, an exclusive rally for luxury cars, stayed in Aspen on Sunday night before continuing their weeklong trek from Calgary, Canada, to Scottsdale, Ariz.

Where they will go next is a closely guarded secret.

THE SCORE — A listener’s guide to Britten’s ‘The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’

by Tom Buesch, Aspen Daily News Guest Writer
While listening to the Aspen Festival Orchestra’s stirring performance of the overture to Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” on Sunday, a work largely inspired by a dangerous sea voyage Wagner endured while traveling from Norway to Paris, I was reminded of Benjamin Britten’s long voyage back to England in 1942, after he had spent three years in the United States. It was on this voyage that he composed the lovely “A Ceremony of Carols,” based on a set of Middle English poems.

On Wednesday we have the pleasure of hearing the Sinfonia perform Britten’s best-known piece, “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” written in 1945 for the BBC film “Instruments of the Orchestra,” designed to acquaint children with the symphony orchestra. It is a wonderful tour through the tone colors of the various instruments, starting with the woodwinds and moving on to strings, brass, and percussion.

Rifle imposes watering restrictions

From the From The Associated Press
RIFLE — Increasing demand and problems with a treatment plant have forced Rifle to impose watering restrictions for the first time.

Residents may water only on every other day from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., starting Monday.

Toddstock wraps up in Kauai

by Steve Skinner, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Mayday! Mayday from Hawaii! It’s all over but for the swabbing of the decks with holystones. This will not be an easy thing considering the amount of vodka being tossed down the collected hatches last night.

The barnacles came out of the woodwork as the Rundgrens presented the finale to their “Toddstock” celebration. The weeklong party featured food, drink, Hawaiian activities, and last night, a 60th birthday celebration for Todd and concert debut for his new album, “Arena.”

Obama can learn from McCain’s bottom line

by Richard Cohen, Aspen Daily News Columnist

In politics, we’re having a Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr kind of year. It was Karr, a French writer, who coined the phrase “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” which means, as Barak Obama has shown, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. N’est ce pas?

Oui. And the same principle holds for John McCain

This is Missing Children’s Week

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Editor:

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation, in cooperation with the Missing Children Task Force, is pleased to announce June 23-29 as Colorado Missing Children’s Week. The week’s events will promote a heightened awareness to this issue, as well as raise money to assist the Missing Children Task Force in locating and recovering missing children.

City Council is an embarrassment

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Editor:

People look to City Council to lead their community. To date, council has yet to display the skills, maturity, or level of professionalism that we as a community expect of our leaders.

Efficient mass transit

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Editor:

Paul Andersen’s “Fair Game” column of May 26 in The Aspen Times entitled “Riding the rails” was a very good capsule history of rail in the valley, giving our bikers a background of the bike trail and “what might have been.”