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Storm
Mountain News
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Local News
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Friday,
May 18th - Suicide At Detention Center...
On Thursday,
May 17th, at approximately 11:52 P.M., Douglas
Wade Russell, an inmate at the Larimer County
Detention Center, was found by deputies to be
unconscious and unresponsive, and hanging from the
top bunk of his cell by a T-shirt. The
deputy was able to get Russell down, called for
help and CPR was immediately begun.
Paramedics responded, continued CPR and
transported Russell to Poudre Valley Hospital.
He was pronounced dead at 12:25 A.M. at PVH.
Russell had
served time at Department of Corrections for
cultivation of marijuana and had been on parole
for that charge. He was arrested by parole
officers for violation of that parole based on a
Third Degree Assault charge issued by Fort Collins
Police Department on May 9, 2007. He was
brought into Booking as an “Uncooperative,”
was given “Red Tag” status, and was placed on
various watches due to drug withdrawal protocol.
He was currently being housed in the intake area,
where two pods are separated by glass, with 29
inmates on one side and 10 on the other.
Nineteen of those inmates were on watches of
different sorts. Two inmates were in
lockdown and one inmate was in protective custody.
Two deputies were assigned to the pod, one having
been brought in on overtime due to staff
shortages. At the time of the incident, one
deputy was on his 30-minute lunch break.
Russell had an
extensive criminal history of drug and assault
charges both in Colorado and other states.
At the time of the suicide, he had been cleared by
counselors and was no longer under any watches.
In the course of our investigation, it has been
discovered that Russell had made suicidal
statements to family members through telephone
conversations which were not brought to our
attention.
In 2006, three
deputies received Life Saving Awards from Sheriff
Alderden for thwarting suicide attempts by
inmates. So far in 2007, deputies have
interrupted three suicides attempts. The only
other successful suicide that authorities are
aware of occurred in December of 2003.
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Tuesday,
May 15th - Nationwide Gas Out Today...
Consumers across the nation have
organized to fight back against the current record
high fuel prices by refusing to buy any gas on
Tuesday.
This is one of several movements
currently underway to express consumer anger over
the currently outrageous gas prices and the oil
monopolies outrageous profits year after year.
Another action consumers are taking
is to avoid buying any fuel at all from
Exxon/Mobile stations until prices drop
substantially.
With no true oil shortage or
threat to the oil supply, oil monopolies are now
using "The dog ate my homework" type
excuses to justify the high prices. However, if
the increases were actually needed for refinery
repairs as the oil monopolies claim, then their
profit margins would not continue to grow at
record rates. For some reason, unlike most
businesses, oil companies profit from disasters,
wars and other problems.
Area prices for a gallon of
regular unleaded fuel on Monday ranged from $3.09
in Loveland to a whopping $3.47 in Estes Park.
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Sunday,
May 13th - Photo Of The Week...
Above average temperatures and
regular rainfall last week have led to an outburst
of local Spring wildflowers like the Golden Banner
featured in this week's photo.
Golden Banner (Thermopsis
rhombifolia), is also known as "false
lupine" and "golden pea". It is a
western plant that has been collected as far east
as Logan County, North Dakota. The plant is a true
plains dweller, being found from Alberta to
western Nebraska and Colorado.
Plants are perennial and about
10 inches tall. Up to 6 stems grow from a slender
taproot. Leaves are parted into three leaflets.
Each stem may branch above and bear a half dozen
golden-yellow flowers nearly an inch long. Long
curved pods (legumes) with slender tips form at
maturity.
Golden Banner prefers clay soils
and seem to be mostly avoided by cattle. This
could be due to untoward internal reaction as a
closely-related species in the Ukraine is used
medicinally as an expectorant. Golden pea has been
reputed to be poisonous to humans and livestock on
rather tenuous circumstantial grounds.
Golden Banner is a member of the
economically important bean family (Fabaceae).
Fab means "bean" in Latin. The
generic name is from the Greek thermos,
"lupine," and opsis
"appearance." The specific epithet rhombifolia
means "rhombic-leaved" in botanical
Latin, in reference to the shape of the leaflets.
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Wednesday,
May 9th - Abundant Area Wildlife...
Wildlife in the Estes Park area
has been extremely abundant the past week with
both tourists and locals alike getting amazing views and
photos.
Our good friends Gary and Kris
Hazelton at Estes Park News were kind enough to
send us some of the great wildlife photos they got last
week and it is our pleasure to share them with all
of you.
A Coyote in town, a mother Red
Fox with her kits and a Moose with her yearling
calf are featured in the slide show below. On a
very sad note, the yearling Moose was tragically
struck and killed by a vehicle last Tuesday
evening. The photos below are now a memorial in
tribute to this beautiful, majestic creature.
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