Friday October 26, 2012

A serious reminder of using caution while driving in snow and ice.  The State Patrol says a man was seriously injured around 5:30 yesterday when he lost control of his pickup pulling a trailer on I-70 at Vail Pass. It spun and hit a station wagon. The driver of the pickup and two passengers were taken to hospitals, one passenger in critical condition. The other driver was not injured. The patrol says snowy icy conditions appear to have been the cause.

If there was any doubt about how important the state of Colorado is to the Presidential candidates, they're putting it to rest.  President Obama, coming off a stop in Denver Wednesday has now planned a stop for next Tuesday in Colorado Springs.

The number of people who have voted early or by mail in Mesa County is up to 23,000, nearly 31% of all active voters.  There are five early voting polling places right now.  There will be ten polling places the day of the election November 6th. More information on the Mesa County Clerk's website.

All kinds of Presidential polls are coming out and right now, a number of them show the President and Mitt Romney in a dead heat 48-to-48%. This information gathered from an NBC News poll and NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll.

The Colorado State Patrol is beginning its Halloween DUI enforcement tonight at 6:00 and continuing through November 1st at 3am. Historically October is one of the deadliest months for alcohol-related traffic crashes, 10 people killed last year and 17 in 2010.
100 agencies across the state, including Grand Junction Police are taking part in saturation patrols and DUI checkpoints.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife are reminding hunters to make sure they know what animal they're shooting at, especially during the busiest hunting season of the year.  The Division is making it even easier to identify the differences between elk and moose through a video posted on their website.

If you  purchase drugs over the Internet or by telephone, the DEA says "watch out for a scam".  Criminals call victims and identify themselves as DEA agents and claim the purchases are illegal and enforcement action will be taken unless they pay a fine. The DEA says it's an old scam making its way back to the Rocky Mountains.  They say no DEA agency will never contact members of the public by telephone to demand money or any form of payment.

A bill signed into law last April makes it more difficult to charge a youth as an adult, and the 17 year old suspect in the killing of Jessica Ridgeway will likely be the first high-profile teenage defendant to test the law.  According to the Denver Post, the law revered the ability for DAs to file adult charges directly, requiring a reverse transfer from juvenile court. Mesa County DA Pete Hautzinger fought the bill, calling it a waste of money.