Courier View Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak 5-29-13
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 22
May 29, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Ensminger one of multiple plaintiffs By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensminger is one of 54 Colorado sheriffs suing the state of Colorado in federal court over two gun bills passed by the state legislature on March 20. At issue are laws that ban the sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds and require universal background checks. “I don’t think any sheriffs are opposed to keepings guns out of the hands of criminals,” Ensminger said. “But that’s not what these bills are geared to do. The criminals are laughing at us because these laws are geared to take guns out of the hands of lawabiding citizens.” Armed with statistics, Ensminger argues against two parts of the bill, citing the Violent Crime Control Act that banned assault weapons from 1994 to 2004. “During that 10-year period, there was an average of 7.1 deaths per 100,000 people in the nation from any kind of gun,” he said. When the ban expired, the ratio went down and, between 2004 and 2010 there were 3.2 deaths by any type of gunfire per 100,000 people. “Only two percent of deaths in America happened with assault rifles in 2010,” he added. The number-one killer of law enforcement officers is a .22 caliber gun, which is easily concealable, he said. “I don’t think any sheriff in this state is opposed to curbing criminal activity, especially for our own good,” he said. “But these bills don’t do that.”
Neither do the background checks. “If background checks were geared to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals I don’t think anybody in this country would be opposed,” he said. However, Ensminger opposes background checks that affect law-abiding citizens and their family members. To support his inclusion on the lawsuit, Ensminger throws out another statistic. “In 2010, we had 47,956 felons who attempted to possess, or possessed, a weapon,” he said. “Of that number, our Justice Department prosecuted only 44 cases, of which there were only four convictions.” Warming up, Ensminger continues. “In 14 years, we’ve had 51 deaths from shootings at Columbine, Sandy Hook and Aurora,” he said. As he has before, Ensminger cites the number of children’s deaths from brutalization by an adult. “In America today we lose five children a day to child abuse by non-lethal means,” he said. If not killed by gunfire and abuse, children die by inertia on the part of industry, citing the tornado in Oklahoma City that killed nine children May 20. “Those children died because they didn’t have a tornado shelter; they build them in homes in Oklahoma,” he said. “What is our responsibility as a government to the realities of what happens in America, instead of some political agenda?” In Ensminger’s view, the new laws are driven by politics rather than a desire to legislate effective policies. “We, law-enforcement officers, are here to look at sta-
Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensminger is one of 54 Colorado sheriffs who have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the state of Colorado in an attempt to reverse two guns laws passed by the state legislature in March. Photo by Pat Hill tistics and to curb criminal activity to the best of our ability based upon the reality of those statistics,” he said. “That’s what governs law enforcement.” In the meantime, the lawsuit has been filed in federal court; Colorado’s Attorney General John Suthers will argue the case for the state. In addition to the 54 sheriffs,
the plaintiffs include retired law enforcement officers, disabled individuals, civil rights and disability rights organizations, licensed firearms dealers, associations of law-abiding gun owners, hunting outfitters, the firearms industry and a manufacturer of firearms accessories. “We are a gun-toting state, no
matter which way you look at it,” he said. “We are a hunting state and have good responsible citizens. The people who have been involved in these shootings have had some type of documented mental-health issues, every single one of them. We need to address that.” Ensminger continues on Page 5
City considers local recycling center By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
Jay Baker, of Teller County Waste, has applied to the city of Woodland Park for approval of annexation of 1.84 acres and a zoning change, in order to open a recycling center on West Street. Photo by Courtesy photo
POSTAL ADDRESS
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.
Jay Baker and Teller County Waste are close to opening a recycling center in Woodland Park. If all goes well with the bureaucratic hoops, Woodland Park residents can expect to have free recycling by the first part of July. The center depends upon the company’s securing approval from the city for the annexation of 1.84 acres on West Street, the current site of TCW, as well as a zoning change from commercial to Community Commercial. “The city is recommending approval of the annexation and zoning,” said Sally Riley, the city’s planning director. “If approved, the next step is for Mr. Baker to obtain a conditional use permit for his contractor services and vehicle-maintenance facility.” As well, Baker will have to obtain a special-use permit for the recycling center, Riley added. This is Baker’s second attempt to host a recycling center. After a year of collection at the Woodland Park Walmart, when people put everything, including the kitchen sink, in the bins, Baker shut down the site in April 2009. This time around, Baker has built in safeguards to ensure that infractions don’t occur. “The recyclables are fully contained in a regular trash truck; the site will be staffed six days a week,” Baker said. “We’ll lock it in the evening.” In response to negative comments from a few neighbors, Baker is implementing an improvement plan to include: screening and landscaping, updated traffic flow, new location for vehicle parking, buffer screen, new grading and video surveillance. Baker, who declined to name an esti-
mate, has gone to considerable expense to open the recycling center. In addition to funding a drainage study and vehicle-traffic count, he has pledged to maintain the integrity of the county’s portion of the road from the site to U.S. 24. In opening the center, Baker is responding to customer demand, opinions gleaned from a survey. “Ninety percent of our Woodland Park customers said they would support a recycling center,” he said. “We take it straight down to Best Way recycling, no sorting, everything stays in the truck.” Recyclables are paper, cardboard, glass and plastic but not batteries, appliances or vehicle tires. Baker’s site is in response to the city’s strategic plan which includes goals to become sustainable and encourage recycling among the citizens. “Ninety-percent of what goes into these trash trucks that go to the dump are recyclables,” he said. Through the years, Baker has been a vital contributor to the city’s wellbeing. He and his company support 10 athletic teams and his beneficiaries include the Main Street Makeover, Habitat for Humanity, Choices and Help the Needy. In his spare time, he is the volunteer bus driver for the city’s senior citizens for day trips and some overnight outings, Cheyenne Frontier Days this summer, for instance. The recycling center, at 1000 and 1050 West Street, if approved, is free to the public and will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. “We will continue to offer curbside free recycling to Teller County Waste customers,” Baker said.