New fire chief looks to future of volunteerism

by Carolyn Sackariason, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

As Rick Balentine settles into his new position of Aspen fire chief, he is looking to the future of the volunteer department and focusing on how to recruit more young firefighters.

The all-volunteer fire department is aging, with some firefighters having been there for 30 years or more. Balentine, a 24-year veteran of the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department who was elected chief on Jan. 9, said he expects a few firefighters to retire this year.

Plans to boost mental health services now include a ‘med cafe’

by Chad Abraham, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

In further efforts to improve the upper valley’s mental health services, the Aspen Counseling Center is planning to offer a cafe-style program in which people can discuss medications and other issues over coffee, while the judicial system moves closer to implementing a mental health court involving alternatives to incarceration.

With a new detoxification center set to open on Monday at 7 p.m. in the Schultz Health and Human Services building, the programs add up to perhaps the highest level of service the Aspen area has been able to offer to people with issues that can include addiction, mental illness, or both.

Man dies at Aspen Valley Hospital 
after collapsing on Aspen Mountain

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
A man collapsed on Aspen Mountain on Monday afternoon and was pronounced dead at Aspen Valley Hospital.

A Pitkin County Sheriff’s deputy and Aspen Ambulance responded at 2:52 p.m. to a report of ski patrollers performing CPR on the man, said deputy Alex Burchetta.

COMMUNITY BRIEFS

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Ajax Cup earns $265K for AVSC
The Ajax Cup, Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club’s primary fundraiser, netted $265,000 for scholarships from this season’s event, the biggest and most competitive race in the cup’s three-year history.

Local Alex Ferreira qualifies to compete in Winter X Games

by , Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Local skier Alex Ferreira, 18, has qualified to compete in this year’s Winter X Games after he won first place in a halfpipe competition at the North Face Park and Pipe Open Series in Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia on Thursday.

Ferreira, who is a senior at Aspen High School, won a gold medal for a clean, technical run, he said. 

Season got off to a slow start with skier visits

by Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Skier visits at the Aspen Skiing Co.’s four mountains were off about 8 percent from opening day through Dec. 31, while statewide resorts saw 11.5 percent less traffic than last season, according to industry officials.

While every resort in Colorado struggled with poor snow conditions in November and early December — which caused Aspen Highlands to open six days later than scheduled — Aspen/Snowmass outperformed the state as a whole, SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle noted.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

by Steve Skinner, Aspen Daily News Columnist

No rest for the wicked. Working for the dark and conspiratorial mainstream media like this independent newspaper and KDNK community radio in Carbondale has its plusses and minuses. On the plus side I never have to think for myself because the agenda is all set. I do not have to think independently, just toe the liberal line.

On the minus side, time stops for no one and sometimes those deadlines for columns, news stories and radio shows fall on holidays, birthdays, Christmas and even the last day of the world. So here I sit. While the rest of you are celebrating the solemn legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., arguably America’s most eloquent spokesperson ever, I am hunched over my sole source for all information, Wikipedia, looking for things to present to you as fact.

The necessity 
to act in Syria

by Richard Cohen, Aspen Daily News Columnist
There are two kinds of wars, we are told — wars of choice and wars of necessity. The former is to be avoided and the latter fought with appropriate reluctance. World War II was a good and necessary war but Vietnam was not. The war in Iraq was a matter of choice (also of imbecility) but Afghanistan was not — although it now may be. Wars can change over time. The one in Syria certainly has. It has gone from a war of choice to a war of necessity that President Obama did not choose to fight. A mountain of dead testifies to his mistake.

More than 60,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians. An estimated 650,000 refugees have fled across Syria’s various borders, about 142,000 to Jordan alone. They live in miserable conditions, soaked and frozen by the chilling rains of the Mediterranean winter, caked in mud. Children have died. More children will die.

Gallery owner: Keep messy vitality alive

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

(This letter was originally addressed and sent via email to Mayor Mick Ireland.)

Bank responds to skimming

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

The bank would like to clarify a few points concerning the article “Thousands stolen from local bank customers,” posted on Jan. 18.

A must-read for locals

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

Anyone who considers themselves an “Aspen local” must read the first offering by true local Tom Elder, “It’s All About The Timing.” Following the “Quiet Years,” it fictionally chronicles, sometimes scathingly, the change of old casual Aspen into the complex mega bucks resort it is today.