The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 1

THE Western Colorados chronicle of record since 1893 Vol. 102, No. 97 Forecast for tomorrow: Partly cloudy High: 64 Low: 34 Friday, February 24, 1995 Grand Junction, Colorado 350 newsstand 48 pages SIX-PART SERIES LAST OF ut'WM' WipiJIU 1 A "'iV a "VI -t A I v'-i 'rlt't JT i -t- Vvv ,5. I i- i. Sloan defends search methods get ith 1,450 housing units dedicated to rental housing, the AspenPitkin County Housing Authority is light-years ahead of other ski-resort towns.

But in an outrageous real estate market where the average sale price of a home is $1.6 million, the authority still falls woefully short of meeting the housing needs of Aspens working class. Extremes Ron Damon, left; and Terry Vogel of TJ Concrete level gravel for the driveway of a new house in the Blue Lake subdivision near El Jebel. Middle-class resort workers will stretch to buy these houses, at $210,000 to $270,000, so they can live 20 miles from Aspen. titiLc 'People often walk out on tears' Housing needs are critical, but often go unfulfilled Jt- ft Ji -o Dana Nunn Daily Sentinel Grand Junction Police Chief Darold Sloan wants the community to know his officers do their jobs well despite criticism from the mother and stepfather of a missing 3-year-old girl. But Joanne Pearson, mother of 3-year-old Emilie Pearson Hardy, said she wishes they would put as much energy in finding Emilie as they are this little PR thing.

Its not my intent to set up and divide the community about what's going on here, Joanne said. As far as Im concerned the issue here is finding Emilie, not worrying about whose egos have been stepped on She said police told her lawyer that she and her husband, Charlie, were too unreasonable. Emilie is believed to have been abducted by ReJ6an Hardy, her father. The two have been Pearson missing since Jan. 29 when Hardy picked the girl up for a visit.

Jeanne and Charlie have complained that Kevin Imbriaco, the Grand Junction Police Departments lead investigator on the case, has been lax in keeping them informed. Sloan said thats typical of parents who have a missing child. No matter what process you do, no matter how much you do, if you dont come up with the child, youre not doing your job but I think the community needs to know their public agencies are not sitting on their thumbs, Sloan said. We will continue to work this case as hard as we can. The fact that the parents don't think were doing this right wont keep us from doing everything possible, he said.

Imbriaco said he has talked with either Joanne, Charlie, Joannes sister or the Pearsons lawyer an average of 4V4 times a week since Jan. 30. I have kept them apprised of everything Ive done, including running down leads from their use of two psychics, Imbriaco said. I can't call them every single time I get a piece of information, because then all of my time would be taken up calling them. Imbriaco was in training Feb.

7 through Feb. 10 and the case was assigned to a different detective for those days. He also has been investigating other cases, he said. The potential charge against Hardy is violation of a custody order. It is not a parental kidnapping.

There is no such thing in Colorado, Imbriaco said. Though the law doesnt consider the abduction a major crime, the police are treating it seriously, Sloan said. For Joanne, the main thing is getting her daughter home. She said she still feels uninformed about the investigation. A small portion of workers in Aspen find housing at the Centennial and Hunter Creek employee-housing project.

About 65 percent of Aspens workers commute to work'. Officials are aiming to reverse that so 60 percent of workers can live in town by the time Aspen is fully built. wifffyw 'i'4 Whats affordable bousing in Aspen Story: Hsathmr McGregor Photos: Christopher Tomlinson The Daily Sentinel Whenever an owner-occupied unit comes up for resale, there are at least 10 to 12 bidders. People often walk out of here in tears, said Dave Tolen, director of the housing authority. A 1992 survey revealed that 65 percent of Aspens workers commute to work Its critical I critical for any com- for any munity to have residences community to that people ha ve residences E5! people can people living afford.

If we here, we dont don't have haveacommu- nity life, people living Tolen said. here, we don't By tweaking have a the countys nave a stringent community life. Growth Manage- Dave Tolen ment Quota System, director, city and county AspenPitkin County officials plan to Housing Authority flip the figures so 60 percent of workers can live in town by the time Aspen reaches full buildout. We think growth control is a tool. It helps us use the remaining allowed development units as a reward for people who build the housing we think we need.

Its a Robin Hood deal, Pitkin County Commissioner Mick Ireland said. Heres how it works: Under growth quotas adopted in the 1970s, Aspen and Pitkin County grant building permits for just 145 dwelling and lodging units each year. In residential developments, 33 percent of the units must be affordable, deed-restricted housing. Or developers can contribute an equivalent amount of cash to the authority to build worker Monthly rental rates Average sale prices $55,000 to $170,000 Affordable $350 to $1 ,200 a month Condo: $390,000 House: $2 million Free market $975 to $4,500 a month Government subsidized employee housing BO Extremes SUNDAY Extremes Aspen's high-priced resort economy has shut out the working class. Other ski resorts are also learning the price of success.

MONDAY Morality Archbishop J. Francis Stafford injects morality into debates over resort development and fair treatment of the working class. TUESDAY Economic Tax laws. Aspen's fame and growth controls put real estate on a dizzy upward spiral. WEDNESDAY Latino Thousands of Latinos flock to the Roaring Fork Valley in search of good wages and a better life.

THURSDAY Commuting Priced out of Aspen housing, the working class commutes from home to job. DownvaJiey schools are bulging with students. TODAY Solution Pitkin County is light-years ahead of other ski resorts in building employee housing, yet the supply is stiH woefully short. Robert GarcfaDaily Sentinel Source Pitkm County Housing Aufronty rate and population cap goals, yearly allotments are limited to four free-market units, 58 affordable units and 11 lodge units. City and county officials also have established an affordable-housing zone that can be applied in any neighborhood.

It requires 70 percent of the housing to be affordable, but offers two incentives to developers: The project can be more dense than might otherwise be approved: and the free-market hous- See HOUSING, page 10A housing elsewhere in Aspen. Over the past two years, residents and planners have hammered out a community plan that changes the growth formula to meet three goals. They want 60 percent of the work force to live in they want to slow growth from 3.5 percent to 2 percent a year, and they want Aspens maximum resident and visitor population to be no more than 30,000 people. Its now 22,000. Proposed new regulations call for 60 percent of new housing to be affordable units.

To meet both the lower growth Shootout role nets Cothern 68 years Judge cites unrepentant attitude Record high hit Thursday, another could fall today C. Patrick Chary Daily Sentinel Grand Junctions temperature could break a record for the third day in a row today. Today looks like it is going to be warm, said Dio Musquiz, a National Weather Service forecaster. The record of 70 degrees was set in 1901 We may not break it, but we will be near it Thursdays high of 67 topped the previous high of 66 for that date, set in 1904. Wednesdays high of 66 topped the previous high of 65, set in 1958.

The warm and dry weather pattern is expected to continue into Saturday for both the Grand Valley and the mountains. By Sunday, some moisture and cooler temperatures are expected to move into the western part of the state, Musquiz said. Cothern out of the courtroom that day, was, The next time I attempt' to shoot a cop, Ill kill (him). Cotherns lawyer, Chuck Cole, argued that Cothern should get the minimum sentence because he didnt fire the Mag-num revolver he pointed at deputies. Mr.

Cothern did nothing more than drive the car, Cole said. The evidence was Mr. Cothern never pulled the trigger. Mr. Daniels is asking that he be sentenced as if he did.

Mesa County District Attorney Frank Daniels asked Bailey for a sentence of 108 years. Dana Nunn Daily Sentinel A Mesa County man today was sentenced to 68 yean in prison for bis role in the August shooting of a Mesa County deputy sheriff and an ensuing shootout with three other deputies. Nathan Leon Cothern, 21, won't be eligible for parole for at least 25 years. Cothern was convicted in connection with an incident that began about 2 a.m. on Aug.

19 when Deputy RuAigio Rosales Jr. was shot twice and wounded. Charles Elliott is charged with shooting Rosales. Cothern was what he had done was unacceptable, Bailey pronounced the 68-year sentence. She described, the Aug.

19 incident as vicious and ugly. Bailey also cited remarks that Cothern made after he was convicted as indicators of Cotherns unrepentant attitude, saying Cothern still sees himself as a victim. One of the statements Cothern made after his conviction, according to deputies who escorted convicted of helping Elliott attempt to flee the area. Cothern was also convicted Jan. 7 on charges stemming from a chase by police that culminated in deputies firing at least 40 rounds into the car Cothern was driving after he picked up Elliott.

Mesa County District Judge Amanda Bailey could have sentenced Cothern to as few as 40 years in prison or as many as 170 years. Saying Cothern deserved it and the world needed to know that SPORTS Around Ww region PPKR In today's Sentinel VHA3CS ON POIT1ER I ATTRACTED Nl BY DUST ROLE OX I inside 7A 2A 2B A 2A A Editorials 4A Obituaries A Getting right 3A People SB Horoscope A A Local news Television SA Markets Weather CENTRAL, FRU1TA BOYS WIN IN DISTRICTS See page 2B Index 1 4 I- 4- Comics tv.