Courier View Pikes Peak
PIKES PEAK 1.23.13
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 4
Mine moves gallow frames
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
RPCC initiates recall By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
Using new technology to preserve the old By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews.com The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. has been moving historic mining equipment and structures out of the way of its modern surface mining operation for several years now and has learned a few lessons in the process. “We relocate any historic mining structures that can be relocated,” said Jeff Campbell, the mining company’s senior environmental coordinator. “But we’ve learned that structures we thought were beyond preservation can be put back together. The Rittenhouse gallows frame (headframe) was completely collapsed but a contractor was able to reconstruct it. It’s easier with an old photo of the structure.” He said the mine used to hire homemoving companies to move ore houses and other house-like structures but taller structures like headframes need more specialized movers. Some of these historic structures have been moved just a mile or two, while, at
January 23, 2013
The Rittenhouse Mine gallows frame, hoist and sorting house stand in a new location of Fourth Street in Victor after being rebuilt from a collapsed state. The site is just a stone’s throw from the Brian’s Park ice rink, home of the Victor Penguins. Photos by Norma Engelberg the opposite extreme, parts of several mines were taken apart and reassembled more than 40 miles away into a single composite mining exhibit for the Western Museum of Mining & Industry where the headframe also acts as a cell tower for the surrounding neighborhoods. Moving the old mining structures in neither easy nor cheap. The mining company recently spent $290,000 to move the Anchoria Leland Mine headframe, hoist and ore-sorting house from one part of Poverty Gulch to another where it won’t be in the way of the mining company’s Mine-
Life-Extension II. “The Anchoria will be easier to see in Cripple Creek in its new location,” Campbell said on Jan. 14 when Frontier Environmental started working on standing the gallows frame up in its new site close to the Poverty Gulch Trail. “We’ll probably move a spur from the trail closer to the Anchoria,” he added. The one-day frame raising took two days because the 85-ton crane that was supposed to work in tandem with a 40-ton crane had broken down in Woodland Park.
As Teller County’s Clerk & Recorder J. J. Jamison hangs onto her job by a thread, the Republican Party Central Committee has initiated the process for a recall election. “It would be best for the county if she would step down,” said Pete LaBarre, chairman of the RPCC. “She has already cost the county $160,000 and the recall will be another $30,000 to $40,000.” Jamison’s troubles began soon after she was elected to office when the Colorado Secretary of State stated in a report that, after 18 months of observing the office, concluded that Tell- J.J. Jamison er County was not prepared to properly administer elections. As a result, the Secretary’s staff arrived on site three weeks before the primary election in June. After a series of mishaps during the primary, Jamison was removed from her duties as the election official. As a result, November’s general election was handled by the Secretary’s representatives as well as Jamison’s deputies, Krystal Brown and Stephanie Fisher. The recall is a last resort for the Teller Recall continues on Page 9
Gallow Frames continues on Page 10
Coroner gets help in Jane Doe case New rendition of victim released in 1993 slaying By Rhonda Moore
rmoore@ourcoloradonews.com The Douglas County coroner gained new insight into an unsolved murder, with the help of an artist famed for her work as a forerunner in her field. Samantha Steinberg, forensic artist with the Miami-Dade Police Department, delivered a new rendition of the coroner’s only unidentified murder victim, about three months after the victim’s body was exhumed. Investigators hope the new clue helps identify the teenage girl who was killed nearly 20 years ago. “Jane Doe” is described as a white female whose remains were found on June 15, 1993, at the Rainbow Falls Campground in Douglas County, between Woodland Park and Deckers off Highway 67. She was about 5-foot-7, 150
pounds, had shoulder-length brown hair, and investigators believe she had died within the previous 72 hours. The girl was wearing a HarleyDavidson T-shirt and metal and stone jewelry. Investigators believe she was between 16 and 19 years old. The sheriff’s office declined to release her cause of death, citing the ongoing investigation, and the case was closed without naming a suspect. She remains the county’s only unidentified murder victim, and Coroner Lora Thomas hopes to change that. “Everybody has family,” Thomas said. “If one of your children disappeared and you never knew what happened to them, how would you feel? We’re just trying to figure out who she is in hopes we can tell her family where she is.” Thomas in October exhumed Jane Doe’s body to gather DNA evidence in hopes of reuniting the girl with her family. Chief deputy coroner Charles Brining hopes scientific advances will provide a
POSTAL ADDRESS
This Claymation image of an unidentified murder victim was released by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in 1993. Courtesy art
This artistic rendition of Jane Doe, who remains unidentified since her 1993 murder, was created via computerized facial reconstruction technology. Courtesy graphic
more detailed DNA profile. While she awaits the results of the DNA tests, which could take up to six months, Thomas is taking advantage of advances of an artistic kind. Thomas sent Doe’s skull to Steinberg, who uses computer technology to create renditions of victims to help solve missing persons and murder cases across the country. Trained at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., Steinberg has contributed to the resolution of hundreds of criminal cases. Her work has been featured on The Learning Channel, “America’s Most Wanted” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigations.” Thomas hopes her work helps trigger a memory that will lead to
the close of the Jane Doe investigation. Steinberg’s rendition of Jane Doe is vastly different from the clay model originally provided to the sheriff’s office and was created through facial reconstruction based on Doe’s skeletal remains. Steinberg combines gender, race and age profile markers with scientifically formulated skin tissue depth and width markers to re-create the victim’s cranial-facial landmarks.
Once those markers are laid over a computer image of the victim’s skull, the drawing can begin. “Once you have those depth markers placed in the proper locations, that determines contours of the face, like a connect-the-dots drawing,” Steinberg said. “The science dictates how it should look on the facial contours and proportions.” Investigators released Steinberg’s Jane Doe drawing in hopes someone will recognize her 1993 self and help lead to a resolution of the case. The investigation led to a 1993 motorcycle rally in the Woodland Park area and dead-ended there, said Tony Spurlock, Douglas County undersheriff. The rally hosted a group of Vietnam veterans and motorcycle enthusiasts from across the state, he said. “It’s important to try to identify this victim,” Spurlock said. “It’s virtually impossible for us to move forward on the homicide investigation without being able to identify her.” Anyone who recognizes Jane Doe or anyone with information about the case can call the sheriff’s office investigations tip line at 303-660-7579-or the Douglas County coroner’s office at 303814-7150.
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.