November 1, 2012
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A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourwestminsternews.com
Adams County and Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 68, Issue 2
Cities mixed on RTD vow
HALLOWEEN FUN
General manager says he’ll find $300 million to finish FasTracks projects By Darin Moriki
dmoriki@ourcoloradonews.com
Adrian Chavez has a stencil placed on his cheek while having a snake airbrushed on his face Saturday during a Halloween Carnival at City Park Recreation Center. Photo by Andy Carpenean
Teen faces 17 counts in Ridgeway case Sigg charged as an adult By Ashley Reimers
areimers@ourcoloradonews. com Austin Sigg, the suspect in the murder of Jessica Ridgeway, was charged as an adult Tuesday in a Jefferson County courtroom. He faces 17 charges including four counts of firstdegree murSigg der. The 17-year-old also faces two kidnapping charges, one count of sexual assault on a child and a robbery charge connected to the Ridgeway murder. He faces one count of criminal attempt of sexual assault and one count of criminal attempt of kidnapping connected to the attempted abduction of a woman running around Ketner Lake in Westminster. The former Arapahoe Community College student
Westminster Police officer T.C. Cunningham talks with another officer while blocking off an intersection at W. 102nd Avenue and North Moore Court where an investigation at the home of Austin Reed Sigg was underway Wednesday, Oct. 24. Photo by Andy Carpenean calmly walked into the courtroom nodding to his family members who sat behind him. As the charges were read, some of Sigg’s family members began crying. Eight members of Ridgeway’s family, including her mother Sarah, were in the court room all wearing Ridgeway’s favorite color, purple. Last week Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said Sigg will not face the death penalty because he is a juvenile. Storey said it’s a murky situation in terms of
POSTAL ADDRESS
whether Sigg could face life in prison without parole also because he is a juvenile. When asked if he’s worked on a case like this one before, Storey said, “I’ve been doing this for 25 years, I’ve seen a lot.” Ten-year-old Ridgeway disappeared on Oct. 5 while walking to Chelsea Park in Westminster to meet up with friends before school. Her body was found days later in the Pattridge Park Open Space area in Arvada. Police received a call last week from Sigg’s mother leading police to his arrest. Before attending Arapahoe Community College, Sigg attended Standley Lake High School in Westminster. Sophomore Adam Wil-
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liams didn’t know Sigg personally, but he did see him around school last year. He said after Sigg’s arrest was in the news it really hit home. “Once we found out that the kid who had done it had just left the school not only a year ago, a guy everyone knew or had class with, it really brought in a lot harder,” he said. “You wouldn’t expect that someone you were talking to about a math question last year would actually have done this to a little girl.” Westminster Mayor Nancy McNally said now that Sigg has been arrested, the community needs to also give support to the Sigg family, as well as continue the support for the Ridgeway family. She also expressed her appreciation to the law enforcement members for their continued work on this case. “I can’t say enough praise and gratefulness for our police force as they have worked tirelessly on this investigation,” she said. “I know each one of them are working hard to keep this city safe and to bring justice to Jessica. Each one of them think of Jessica as their own daughter.” Sigg remains in juvenile detention. The next hearing, a status conference, is set for
Northglenn and Thornton officials said they have mixed feelings about a commitment by the RTD general manager to find $300 million for multiple unfinished FasTracks projects. Regional Transportation Director General Manager Phil Washington made the vow during the RTD board’s Oct. 23 meeting and also hinted at a series of proposed cuts to other programs to come up with the funding. Washington said he will provide a list of cuts for the board to consider and a final decision on these cuts may be made as early as December. Thornton Mayor Heidi Williams said she is wary of the announcement and is concerned it could be yet another unfulfilled promise. “Quite frankly, it is going to be really difficult for RTD to come up with $300 million over the next several years particularly if that savings has to come about through service level adjustments,” Williams said in an e-mail. “Clearly the devil is going to be in the details about where the savings will come from, and that will tell us who will be impacted or could suffer for it — $300 million is not a small sum of money.” Brook Svoboda, Northglenn’s planning and development director, said it is premature to determine how RTD’s plans may materialize over the next two months. More recently, he said RTD officials have been working on concrete plans to build up to the proposed 72 nd Avenue station so they can apply for federal assistance. “I think there’s more information that needs to come out so we can take a closer look at it, but on the whole, I think the bigger issue here is that RTD is becoming more actively engaged with the north corridor communities and trying to solve and fund these projects,” Svoboda said. “It seems as if the tone has changed and there seems to be a more concerted effort now to try and solve this financial problem.”