Police Also Recover Suspected Cocaine From Suspects' Vehicles Police recovered 9.1 pounds of processed marijuana and a little more than $20,000 cash from the room of [name1 redacted], the Fort Lewis College student who was shot and killed early Tuesday during a home invasion. The marijuana was in plastic bags and glass jars, and all the packaging was marked with product information, according to a news release issued Thursday by the Durango Police Department. "It is obvious from the packaging and through interviews that this is black market marijuana, and it was being illegally distributed," the release says. [continues 311 words]
With the proliferation of medical marijuana centers across Colorado, local drug-enforcement officials have adjusted their attitude when it comes to policing smoke shops that sell drug paraphernalia. No longer are authorities concerned about supplies used for smoking marijuana. Nor are they overly concerned about scales, stash cans or little baggies commonly used to package cocaine and methamphetamine, said Pat Downs, director of the Southwest Drug Task Force. "Nowadays, with the advent of the medical marijuana laws, that changes things a little bit because, technically, if you have a medical marijuana license, you can smoke marijuana in the privacy of your home, and you have the ability to have the paraphernalia to do that," Downs said. "It's not as much drug paraphernalia as it used to be." [continues 1140 words]
Sensible Durango Collecting Signatures For 2010 Ballot A group called Sensible Durango wants voters to decide in November 2010 whether to decriminalize marijuana - at least when it comes to the City Code. Sensible Durango is gathering signatures from city voters in an effort to force a ballot question that asks: Should the city of Durango adopt "An Ordinance to Establish a Sensible Marijuana Policy in Durango" that would remove criminal penalties from the City Code for the private possession and use of marijuana by those 21 or older? [continues 554 words]
The Durango City Council will consider a new ordinance tonight that governs medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the city, including a rule that requires clinics to install an alarm system with video surveillance. The proposed ordinance also addresses when, where and how marijuana providers can operate. In August, Durango Police Chief David Felice raised concerns about the lack of regulation and oversight of dispensaries in the city. In response, the City Council approved an emergency ordinance temporarily suspending the issuance of business licenses to marijuana providers until guidelines could be drafted. [continues 543 words]
Officers Try To Arrest 77-Year-Old; Intended Target Was Next Door Law-enforcement officers raided the wrong house and forced a 77-year-old La Plata County woman on oxygen to the ground last week in search of methamphetamine. The raid occurred about 11 a.m. June 8, as Virginia Herrick was settling in to watch "The Price is Right." She heard a rustling outside her mobile home in Durango West I and looked out to see several men with gas masks and bulletproof vests, she said. [continues 931 words]
As a sheriff candidate for Routt County, which includes the mountain town of Steamboat Springs, Gary Wall promised voters he would protect residents' civil liberties. And soon after winning election in November, he withdrew financial support from the region's drug task force. By the numbers Here's a look at how much money was spent in the last five years by the Southwest Drug Task Force. Those funds came from La Plata County and the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Traffic Area, or HIDTA. The HIDTA grants, from the federal government, made up about 36 percent of the funds (HIDTA numbers are in parentheses). [continues 1313 words]
A lockdown combined with another search for weapons and drugs with a trained search dog at Durango High School left some students rattled Friday. Officials at Durango High School learned a couple of lessons from the incident. One, students aren't bringing drugs and weapons to school. And two, practicing a lockdown while doing a drug search with dogs may not be the best idea. At 8:35 a.m., an announcement was made over the intercom of a lockdown at the school. Teachers locked classroom doors. Students congregated in the corners of the classrooms away from the windows. The lights were turned off. [continues 377 words]
One year ago, sheriff's deputy Julie Harris walked into Wal-Mart to order a specially made cake for Sunnyside Elementary School students who were graduating from TRACK - a law enforcement outreach program. Harris asked the cake decorator to put a TRACK logo on top, and the employee assured her it would be no problem. Harris had no reason to be concerned; after all, the store had prepared a similar cake for her before. But when Harris picked up the cake, instead of a TRACK logo, it had a picture of a running track. [continues 490 words]
Brandy Rascon holds pictures of her two children as she stands behind the door of her La Plata County Jail cell. Rascon says she does not want to be released from jail anytime soon because of her methamphetamine addiction. This La Plata County home was searched in summer 2001 by the Southwest Drug Task Force. Three children lived there. The home had no running water, and the toilets emptied into the basement. "These people didn't care enough about themselves, particularly their kids, to take them out of this environment," said sheriff's Sgt. Kelly Davis, task force director. [continues 1578 words]
One Durango man sexually assaulted three children. Another cultivated and distributed marijuana. The drug cultivator got three years in prison; the child molester got 90 days in jail. "How is it that a man who fondles ... three small children receives a 90-day jail sentence, and a man who is found with marijuana plants receives a three-year jail sentence?" asked Casey Eberle, a 28-year- old Fort Lewis College mass communications student, in a letter to The Durango Herald editor. [continues 892 words]
