Courier View Pikes Peak
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 51, Issue 46
November 14, 2012
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Marijuana vote leaves questions By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
This collection of 10 autographed baseballs signed by past U.S. presidents, including letters of authenticity, will be sold at the Virtual Marketplace as a fundraiser hosted by the 2012 Tweeds Holiday Home Tour.
This electric guitar autographed by members of the Def Leppard band is up for grabs at the Virtual Marketplace, an online auction from Nov. 16 to Dec. 9. The auction is a fundraiser for Teller Senior Coalition, Woodland Aquatic Project and the Woodland Park Hockey Association. Courtesy photos
Holiday marketplace goes online By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com Six Brazilian cowhides, 10 baseballs autographed by U.S. presidents and an electric guitar signed by the rock band Def Leppard. These are just a few of the favorite things to be sold on the first online auction for the 2012 Tweeds Holiday Home Tour. A fundraiser for Teller Senior Coalition, Woodland Park Hockey Association and Woodland Aquatic Project, the auction is in conjunction with the home tour Dec. 1 and 2 and replaces the arts and crafts market of previous years. A new venture for the home tour committee, the Virtual Marketplace offers browsing and shopping from the comfort of home or office. “You get to the marketplace and can peruse the items,” said Cord Prettyman, who with Karolyn Smith spearheaded the new venture. “Or if you’re interested in art, you can click on ‘art work’ and there will be photos of every piece. The photos were taken by Sheena Harper.” During the auction period, the art
works will hang in the Eichman Gallery at Park State Bank & Trust from Nov. 19 to Dec. 9 when the online buyer may collect the purchase. To date, the marketplace features 78 items ranging from wedding dresses to a 1982 Corvette and a 2007 Pontiac Solstice, each in mint condition. The auction items present possibilities for weekend mountain sojourns, at the Edgewood Inn in Woodland Park whose owners donated the entire inn, or at Bronco Billy’s Hotel in Cripple Creek, which includes meals and gaming money. An overnight at Upstairs at the Swiss Chalet includes dinner and breakfast. For the quirky collector, the auction features six baseballs signed by political figures such as Fidel Castro. “There’s not going to be a whole bunch of places on the planet where a Fidel Castro baseball is going to be available,” Prettyman said. In the ooh-ah category is the lot at Paradise at Pikes Peak that comes with a retail value of $189,000 and a minimum bid of $150,000. “Every item has a verbal description,
a minimum bid and a buy-now price and where the item can be seen around town,” Prettyman said, adding that Paula Levy wrote the descriptions. While some of the donations are glamorous and dramatic, most of them have opening bids from $25 to $100. While most of the items were outright donations others, such as the autographed baseballs, were donated on a reserved-bid basis Acknowledging the technological challenge of implementing the site, Prettyman credits Matt Upton, of MNM WebWorks, for compiling the information. As well, Upton will monitor the bidding action. In a media splash for the Holiday Home Tour, which features six area homes, the Virtual Marketplace Online Auction goes public during Media Night Nov. 16 at Tweeds. The auction opens that evening at 5 p.m. and concludes at 10 p.m. Dec. 9. The site is at www.wphht.org. Click on “marketplace” in the tool bar and follow the directions. Payment is collected through PayPal.
When Colorado voters approved the legalization of recreational use of marijuana, not everybody was stoked over the approval. To date, marijuana remains illegal under federal law; if that weren’t enough of a downer, the state may not gain tax revenue if voters were to deny a ballot measure seeking an excise tax. In Woodland Park, Debbie Upton, coordinator of North Teller Build a Generation, is upset over the vote. “This will make my job and the coalition’s job harder. All the factors will be in place for increased use, not just for youth but for all…availability, price reduction and increased acceptance toward the substance and its risk,” Upton said. “Our local youth rate of marijuana use already increased in the last few years, so I can only imagine what the increase will be with the passing of recreational use.” Upton’s concern is echoed by Ernie Martinez, president of Colorado Drug Investigators Association. In an email, Martinez writes: “Last night we witnessed an event that will have significant impact on our state and country as well as could determine the future we pass down to our children.” Martinez cites the organization’s partnership with Healthy and Drug Free Colorado, Colorado`s police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys and other anti-legalization groups to oppose the measure. “However, this effort could not compete with the millions of dollars poured into the campaign to legalize marijuana from outof-state sources,” Martinez adds. For Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensminger, the vote leaves too many questions. “According to the Federal Drug Administration, marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, so how is legalization in Colorado going to work?” he said. “There are no legal guidelines for what level of THC equals the intoxication level of alcohol.” For law enforcement, the lack of scientific information about marijuana complicates things. “We don’t know how THC is ingested, what effect it has on the body and how the drug is eliminated from the system,” he said. “We don’t know how THC attaches itself it to the body, don’t know how long it stays in the body.” Questions continues on Page 5
County keeps nose to GOP grindstone Presidential vote replay of 2008 By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews. com President Obama won Colorado for the second time in his successful re-election bid, but as in 2008, Teller County went approximately two-for-one for the Republican candidate. Election results available from
the secretary of state’s office show few surprises for a county that has consistently sided with the GOP for decades. The tally was 7,909 votes for Mitt Romney to 3,894 votes for Obama — about the same ratio as when county voters went to the polls in 2008 and gave their support to John McCain. Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn handily won re-
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election in District 5. In Teller County he received 7,802 votes, outgunning his closest rival Dave Anderson (Unaffiliated) by more than 6,000 votes. There were five candidates on the ballot, none of them a Democrat. GOP candidate Polly Lawrence won the state House District 39 seat, beating Democratic candidate Carla Turner by a vote of 7,286 to 3,303 in the county. Libertarian Donna Price came in a distant third with 734 votes. All sitting judges kept their seats. Republican Brian Davidson failed in his run for the University of Colorado Regents at-large seat, losing to incumbent Democrat Stephen Ludwig, despite getting 6,847 votes in Teller County compared to 3,151 for the statewide winner. University of Colorado Regent for District 5 Kyle Hybl, a Republican, was re-elected with support from Teller County voters. Hybl is well known locally as vice
president and general counsel for the El Pomar Foundation. Northeast Teller County Fire Protection District won its bid for more money. Its mill levy increase was approved by fire district voters 4,282 to 2,022. In western El Paso County Commissioner District 3, Sallie Clark beat Democrat John Morris 34,276 to 25,557. There were a few surprises, however. One was the voter approval of Amendment 64, which legalizes the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Early returns showed it losing in Teller County but the final count showed the constitutional amendment squeaking by 6,140 to 5,769 — 52 percent to 48 percent. The
amendment won statewide by 10 percentage points. Another surprise for many was the strong approval of Amendment 65, which encourages campaign-finance reform. This one was approved by Teller County voters 8,266 to 3,176. At the end of the day, according to election consultant Al Davidson, the county still had slightly less than 100 provisional ballots to verify. These must be counted by Nov. 14. The final county canvass, which determines the official county election results, will take place on Nov. 16. Of the county’s 19,945 registered voters, 12,234 ballots were cast for a turnout of 61.34 percent.
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