Tuesday May 1, 2012

DEWEY STORIES
Convicted murderer Robert Dewey was has been exonerated.  Dewey was convicted of murdering a 19 year old Jacie Taylor, in Palisade in 1994.  Yesterday DNA analysis linked another man to the crime.  Dewey waited 15 years in prison before his release. A new suspect, 39 year old Douglas Thames, already serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a Fort Collins woman in 1989, is now the chief suspect in Taylor's murder.

51 year old Robert Dewey sat patiently in a Colorado prison for more than 15 years for a crime he didn't commit and now he's free.  Dewey was released yesterday after authorities say DNA evidence used to lock him up was wrong.  Dewey was convicted of murdering 19 year old Jacie Taylor in Palisade in 1994, but never backed down from his claim of innocence, and last week, DNA evidence proved that.  Dewey is free and a 39 year old man who lived near the Palisade murder scene has been implicated.  Douglas Thames, Jr. is already serving a life sentence for killing a Ft. Collins woman in 1989.

A 51 year old man in prison for 15 years, wrongly accused of murdering a Palisade woman in 1994 is a free man.  Robert Dewey walked out of the Mesa County Justice Center yesterday, exonerated after DNA analysis pointed to another suspect in the rape and murder of 19 year old Jacie Taylor in 1994. New DNA evidence has implicated another man already serving time for the murder of a Fort Collins murder five years before Taylor was murdered.


SPECIAL OLYMPICS TORCH
Local law enforcemnt are getting involved with Special Olympics this week with three separate events, the first one this morning.  The Grand Junction SWAT team is running the Special Olympics torch to Stocker Stadium to light the cauldron with the athletes, it happenes around 10:15.  A huge multi-agncy run is Friday over the Clorado National Monument. Then Saturday, The Mesa County SWAT Team will carry the torch from teh Sheriff's Office to Grand Junction High School where the regional games are set.

FILM JOBS
State lawmakers are hoping to create more film industry jobs in the state with the Film Production Activities in Colorado Act.  The measure would be the first of its kind in the country, increasing rebates for film makers from 10 percent to 20 percent.  Bipartisan backers say the creative industry is the fifth largest employment sector in the state, and one of the fastest growing in the country. The bill now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.

BOWIE MINE EA
The BLM has released a preliminary Environmental Assessment and unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact for public comment regarding the proposed coal lease modifications at the Bowie mine five miles northeast of Paonia.  The Bowie #2 Mine employees nearly 300 workers, the majority living in Delta County, with total direct economic benefits exceeding $60 million annually.  Comments on the EA are being taken in writing through the end of the month.

POWDERHORN PROGRESS
Powderhorn Mountain Resort says it didn't suffer the same fate other resorts did with a dismal snowpack.  Instead, the owners tell the Mesa County Commissioners skier visits were up 7 percent the past season compared with a 7% drop at other areas in the state.

OCCUPY AND OTHER RALLIES
Occupy Grand Junction is planning a daylong rally at Lincoln Park today.  The Daily Sentinel says the gathering falls on the foot heels of a Values Rally by the Heritage Foundation at the park yesterday, but says little about the Occupiers agenda.  This Friday, The Western Slope Conservative Alliance is putting on a Tea Party Rally at the same location with national speakers, music, food and a call to action.  That party is from 4 until 7.

GJ SEWER AND TRASH
Grand Junction city officials are looking at raising the price of sewer and water in light of a dip in the the services's enterprise fund.  City Council will take up the issue in coming meetings.