The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 1

Weld County Sheriff John Cooke in neighboring, more rural Weld County voiced vehement opposition to President Barack sweeping plan to address gun laws. Cooke said he would refuse to enforce any part of it. not going to help him in any way. not going to enforce it because unenforceable and because I have the resources. The federal government have the Cooke told the Greeley Tribune.

Cooke said he disagrees with the president on every aspect of the proposal, aside from parts aimed at addressing mental health issues. The measures blatantly violate the Second Amendment detailing the right of citizens to bear arms, he said. Larimer County Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith backed off his hard-line stance against gun law enforcement on Thursday. According to the Loveland Reporter- Herald, Smith said later his comments were misunderstood and said he was not trying to determine which new gun laws might be unconstitutional. He previously said he would refuse to enforce unconstitutional laws, including gun laws.

He warned universal gun registration would lead the government to and prosecute law-abiding Americans who are simply exercising their constitutionally recognized right to keep and bear Larimer is the seventh most populated of 64 counties. Its county seat in Fort Collins. Your community news source since 1893 ALSO INSIDE GET NICE AND COZY WITH FELT DURING COLD WINTER MONTHS INSIDE: SHAWN MARSH TO COACH FOOTBALL AT CENTRAL SPORTS 1 893 2013 1893 2013 GJSentinel.com HOME PAGE OF WESTERN COLORADO High 34, Low 1 COMPLETE FORECAST ON 2A INSIDE Celebrations 8B Classifieds 1C Comics 5B Faith 6A Sports 1B Obituaries 6B Subscriptions: 800-332-5833 Main line: 970-242-5050 Vol. 120 No. 61 NOW USINESS CHRISTOPHER The Daily Sentinel A prairie dog digs out of the snow at the Walter Walker State Wildlife Area near Railhead Circle and Interstate 70.

Prairie dogs are named for their habitat and warning call, which sounds similar to a bark. The name was in use at least as early as 1774 by the French. President Barack call for improving ways to factor mental health into dealing with the threat of violence won nods of approval from western Colorado law enforcement officials. Even though strong emotions dominate both sides, guns out of the hands of the mentally ill ought to be one area where common ground can be Grand Junction Police Chief John Camper said on Friday. Working out the details of such policy without infringing on the Second Amendment could be difficult, Camper acknowledged, but, think if we could formulate answers for that, both sides could agree on something for a Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey touched also on mental- health issues in an essay he posted on the Facebook page.

am frustrated that the national conversation is focused more squarely on firearms than mental health Hilkey wrote, noting that the Mesa County Jail, like most in the nation, far too many people that cycle through with mental- health issues that are unad- dressed, undiagnosed, or have fallen through the Making improvements to the behavioral-health Top lawmen: Keep focus on mental ills By GARY HARMON Gary.Harmon@gjsentinel.com STAN HILKEY JUSTIN SMITH JOHN COOK JOHN CAMPER WASHINGTON Supporters of President Barack gun-control proposals are planning a methodical, state-by-state campaign to try to persuade key lawmakers that in their political interest to back his sweeping effort to crack down on firearms and ammunition sales and expand criminal background checks. To succeed will require overturning two decades of conventional wisdom that gun control is bad politics. The National Rifle Association is confident that argument sell. But with polls showing majorities supporting new gun laws a month after the Connecticut shooting deaths of 20 schoolchildren and six adults, gun-control activists say the political calculus has changed. Their goal in coming weeks is to convince lawmakers of that, too, and to counter the proven ability to mobilize voters against any proposals limiting access to guns.

The gun-control advocates are focused first on the Senate, which is expected to act before the House on gun proposals. How Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, proceeds will depend in part on what he hears from a handful of Democrats in more conservative states where voters favor gun rights. These include some who are eyeing re-election fights in 2014, such as Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska and Max Baucus of Montana. need to tell our members of Congress that got to stand up for sensible gun laws, Obama backers aim to outflank NRA on guns By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Mesa County wrapped 2012 with an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, according to data released Friday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The unemployment rate increased month-over-month in nearly two-thirds of 64 counties in December, in- Mesa County unemployment at 8.6% By EMILY SHOCKLEY Emily.Shockley@gjsentinel.com Note: It is mandatory to include all sources that accompany this graphic when repurposing or editing it for publication SOURCE: ESRIAP ALGERIA 2 011613: ADDS oil field satellite image; map locates Ain Amenas, Algeria where American hostages were taken; 2c 4 inches; with related story; ETA 5:30 p.m.

Mediterranean Sea Satellite Image of oil field 0 250 mi 0250 km Algiers ALGERIA LIB. SPAIN MOR. TUN. MALI Ain Amenas Militants attacked an oil field Hostages in Algeria At least two people were killed and another 41 people including at least seven Americans were taken hostage after al- Qaida-linked militants attacked a natural gas complex in eastern Algeria. Detail AFRICA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An unidentified foreign hostage speaks to the media in a hospital in Ain Amenas, Algeria, after he was rescued from his captors.

2 COLORADO SHERIFFS OF 2 MINDS Freed captives relay flashes of terror cluding in Mesa County. The county had an 8.4 percent unemployment rate in November. Mesa County added 513 more employees in December compared to November, but also stacked an additional 231 residents onto the unemployment roster. Suzie Miller, business services manager at the Mesa County Workforce Center, said 2012 was on track to be one of the best years for jobs since 2008 in Mesa County. But uncertainty about potential federal program cuts and tax increases plus the usual wintertime slowdown of business, especially for warm-weather-dependent jobs resulted in a disappointing fourth quarter.

think employers did slow down hiring because they were unsure what the fiscal cliff was going to look Miller said. fourth quarter open positions were down 10 percent, which is a significant indicator there were concerns about The workforce center posted more job orders compared to the three previous years all throughout 2012 until December. The year closed with 2,741 job orders three fewer than tally. Job orders had been so ahead until the final three months of 2012, the fourth quarter of 2012 had to post nearly 200 fewer job orders just to fall behind total. Still, Miller said there were some positive takeaways from 2012.

Every month in 2012 had a lower unemployment rate than the corresponding month in 2011 except for November, Fears of fiscal cliff may have hurt hiring The gunmen, dressed in fatigues and wearing turbans, stormed in well before dawn aboard pickup trucks, announcing their arrival with a burst of gunfire. Dozens of employees were eating breakfast at the time before heading off to the vast network of tubes and silos of the Ain Amenas gas field, where hundreds of Algerians and foreigners work to extract natural gas from the arid sands of the Sahara. is the gunmen cried as they arrived. It was the beginning of a terrifying ordeal one in which foreign hostages would come under fire from both the gunmen holding them and the Algerian government soldiers trying to free them. For many of the captives, it is an ordeal that has yet to end.

Some hostages were forced to wear explosives on their bodies. Others hid under beds and on rooftops, praying to survive but expecting death. One was shot in the back while his fellow captives looked on. Left by their captors with their cellphones, some phoned home with terrifying accounts of the horrors unfolding all around. These were among the chilling tales recounted Friday by some of the hundreds of work- By LYDIA POLGREEN The New York Times ers who managed to escape the national gas field on the eastern edge of Algeria that had been stormed by Islamist militants two days before.

The gunmen, fighters with a group called Al Mulathameen, said they were acting to avenge the French intervention in nearby Mali, Algerian officials said. But there were indications that the attack had been planned long before the French military began its offensive to recapture the northern half of that country from Islamist insurgents. The attackers appeared to know the site well, even the fact that disgruntled Algerian catering workers were planning a strike. know oppressed, come here so that you can have your the militants told Algerians at the facility, according to one Algerian former hostage. Another hostage said the fighters had asked about the plans for a strike.

terrorists were covered with explosives, and they had said a senior Algerian government official briefed on the crisis. He said the situation remained a standoff Friday, with few terror- The U.S. State Department confirmed Friday Day 3 of the hostage situation in Algeria that one American was killed and one was evacuated safely. The fate of other foreign workers, including an unknown number of Americans, is uncertain. See MESA page 5A See LAWMEN page 5A See TERROR page 5A See OBAMA page 5A Saturday January 19, 2013.