ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEDIA GROK

The Heat Is On In Colorado Country

By Chris Lombardi, 4-14-06

If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the news today. The headlines are toasty around the Rocky Mountain West, but particularly in Colorado Country, where fire experts today predicted scary fire conditions along Colorado's Front Range. While the Colorado mountains have a hefty snowpack, the eastern Plains and southern areas are bone-dry, creating fire conditions on par with 2000 and 2002. Meanwhile, small fires are already burning in New Mexico and Wyoming. No fire injuries have been reported, unless you want to include a Wyoming teenager who set himself on fire while trying to siphon gas from a firefighter's car. Apparently, he spilled gas on his pants, and then struck his lighter so he could see just how much gas he spilled in the dark. Bright.

Hot enough for ya? Just wait. A Colorado College study released today warns that global climate shifts could cut Colorado snowpacks by more than half by 2085, bringing into question the viability of the state's ski resorts. Aspen Skiing Co. CEO Pat O'Donnell is quoted as saying that a shorten ski season would be an economic disaster for the Colorado ski economy. Ski it while you've got it, kids.

And Denver International Airport is on fire, figuratively and fiscally speaking. The DIA jumped from No. 6 to No. 4 in the rankings of the nation's busiest airports in the past year, setting records for traffic for 10 months running. Increased competition at the airport, created mostly by the arrival of Southwest Airlines, have driven down leisure fares 18% in the past year, making Denver one of the cheapest destinations in the U.S. The DIA also made news this week when a drunk and disorderly passenger, singing and chanting and casting 'hexes' on the plane, pilots, and passengers, forced the Las Vegas to NYC flight to divert and land. "Not good, plane crash, all die," the woman was reported to have said in broken English. She sobered up in a Denver jail. No report as to whether aircraft safety engineers successfully reversed the spells.

Zap 'em, cowboys: Attempts to restrain a cow that got loose near the Spokane Valley Mall got a little out of hand. Sheriff deputies tried to taze and restrain the bull on a freeway on-ramp, but when the bull escaped its leather restraints, the deputies tasered it until it died. Well-done, men.

And add another one to the home-owner laws gone awry files. Megan Forbes, a homeowner in Boulder's historic preservation district, ended up in jail over a garage door that did not meet standards for the neighborhood. Forbes was apprehended on her way to church on Sunday morning for failing to appear before a court to settle the matter.

Santa Fe and Las Vegas, N.M. will be host to film crews starting May 1st. The Coen brothers, along with star Tommy Lee Jones, will begin shooting a film adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men. The combination of the dark comedic genius of the Coen's, the dark, spare, biblical style of McCarthy, and the crazed old tyme Bible-thumper hiding deep inside Tommy Lee Jones, has this film fan shaking in his boots in anticipation.

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