The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 1

Grapplers go to the mat to make state SPORTS Page 1 Gun bills providing bitter debate REGION Page 3A Cancer eroding Louises memory Tigers earn a share of SWL title SPORTS Page ID Sunday, February 13, 1994 Grand Junction, Colorado Vol. 101, No. 87 $1 newsstand 40 pages Slow legal system offers little solace iW3'1 Lillehammer94 freed ex offender Shannon Smith, 21, is serving a six-year probation sentence in Mesa County for sex assaults that occun'ed in Glenwood Springs in 1991. He currently faces charges that he violated his probation by having repeated contact with two 1 7-year-old Mesa County girls rnl993. Sharyn Wlzda Daily Sentinel A sluggish criminal-justice system has left one Mesa County family angry that a convicted sex offender suspected of violating probation remains free to harass their daughter and, they fear, other girls.

They went to authorities for help after their 17-year-old daughter turned to them, terrified after what she says was more than four months of harassment, assault and threats by Shannon "Bear Smith who pleaded guilty last year to four counts of second-degree sexual assault far, they've gotten little in return. While the teen's allegations are under investigation, she and her parents have found themselves navigating a labyrinthine legal morass where no one is their advocate. Everything is geared to help him, said the girls mother The family spoke on con dition of anonymity. Nothing is to help us. Smith, 21, is serving a six-year probation sentence in Mesa County for the assaults the equivalent of statutory rape that occurred in Glenwood Springs in 1991.

Those incidents involved a group of four girls, aged 12 to 14, who authorities say he manipulated into sexual relationships. Before his sentencing in the Glenwood case, Smith said his relationship with the girls was misinterpreted. He said two of the girls fabricated a romance where none existed and that he had consensual sexual contact with the other two. He currently faces charges that he violated his probation by having repeated contact with two 17-year-old Mesa County girls between September and November 1993. Mesa County District Judge David Bottger granted him probation on the condition that he have no unsupervised contact with girls younger than 18.

Smiths case was switched to Mesa County after Garfield County judges excused themselves because they knew either him, his victims or their families He was assigned to Mesa County for probation for similar reasons, and also to remove him from the community in which he committed his crimes. He appeared Friday before Bottger for an initial advisement of his rights and, represented by Public Defender Matt Day-mon, is expected to enter a plea March 10 Holding back tears, Smith declined comment on his case after the hearing Day-mon also declined comment on the case. That proceeding was small comfort, though, for the girl and her family. She met Smith when a friend began dating him. Initially, all went well.

He seemed to understand her, even her worries and insecurities. Later, she found out how. Through my friend he got to know all my weak spots. He asked her all sorts of See System, page 10A a 19-year-old cross-country skier and guide who is almost blind. Nottingnes in turn took the torch to Norways Crown Prince Haakon, who touched the torch to the top of a tall cauldron and the Olympic flame burst to life.

And Tonya Harding will skate after all, her berth secured Saturday by a deal cut with the U.S. Olympic Committee hours after the opening ceremonies in Lille-hammer, Norway. For complete schedules, previews and more on the Winter Games, see Sports, pages 1 and 6D. Stein Grubem, left, a stand-in skier, jump-started the Winter Games with a spectacular leap Saturday, bearing the Olympic flame out of the night sky and into the midst of an opening ceremony that celebrated Norway's folklore. It was a wfcome start to an Olympics that will cost $1 billion or more to stage and had been plagued by a series of bizarre occurrences, from murder to mystery, in recent months.

As he landed on the flat of the stadium, the crowd cheered, and Grubem handed the torch to Cathrine Nottingnes, Would higher fees pay for park repairs? EDITOR'S NOTE One of the few personal contacts that many Americans have with the federal government is when they visit a national park. These days, the tourists are seeing fewer rangers and the rangers are seeing fewer federal dollars. This is the first in an occasional senes of articles examining the federal budget and its impact on national parks. Entry fees are charged at 136 national parks, monuments and historic properties. Fees range from $2 per person at Appomattox Court House and most other properties to $10 per carload at Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Grand Canyon national parks.

Some parks and national forests do not charge entry fees but charge for camping or other activities. Many other properties, such as the Gettysburg National Military Park and the Washington Monument, do not charge fees. The Clinton administration has not specified which fees it wants to raise or by how much. long-postponed repairs. Clintons budget proposal would raise entry fees and user fees at national parks and public lands by $32 million a minuscule part of his $1.52 trillion budget proposal.

It is one of the few items that would take money directly from people. Officials say the choice is simple: Pay a few more dollars to camp at or visit a national park or see closed trails, dirty restrooms and fewer rangers. Were strapped. right now for cash, and it costs us money to collect money that we cant keep, Miller said in a telephone interview. The administration has not yet determined where fees would be raised and by how much.

Fees of up to $10 per vehicle are charged at about half of the parks in the national system, Park Service spokesman John Quinley said. Legislation containing the specifics should go to Congress this spring. But Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, whose department oversees the Park Service, said federal facilities in cities, such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia or the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia, would still be free. That means the increases would most likely fall on visitors to some of the biggest rural attractions, such as Yellowstone National Park or the Grand Canyon, and campers in parks and national forests. Even if Congress approves the increase a similar proposal was rejected last year the extra money wont solve everything.

The presidents budget would give the National Park Service $1.4 billion. To fix everything in the See Fees, page 10A Associated Press WASHINGTON Last year, Ivan Miller collected $225,000 for the federal government but didnt get to keep a dime. This year, President Clinton wants Miller, superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake-shore in Michigan, to collect even more money. As an incentive, Miller can keep some and use it to fix dilapidated camping areas, fill potholes and make Babbitt on verge of redefining native West with reforms Scott Shepard Cox News Service WASHINGTON Bruce Babbitt's paneled office, with its inspirational view of the Lincoln Memorial, is the calm eye of a fierce political storm, headquarters for a modern-day range war against the mythical American West. If Babbitt is anxious about the tempest and its political consequences for the presidency of his longtime friend, Bill Clinton, his man- nerdoes not betray it on this wintry day in early February.

After a meeting with Mexicos ambassador and foreign minister to discuss cleaning up industrial pollution along thef U.S -Mexican border, Clintons secretary of the Interior contemplates the fate of the Monarch butterfly. i It is a perfect symbol of the interdependence of our two countries, Babbitt said during an interview after that meeting. The forests on the mountain in Mexico where the Monarch hibernates are being destroyed, he explained, and it is not at all clear that the butterfly can move or adjust to another location. And when theyre gone, so will one of the delights of American children the sight of Monarchs on milkweeds in the summer, he said. Its hard to imagine such concerns coming from James Watt, Manuel Lujan, or William Clark, Babbitt's development-oriented predecessors from the George Bush and Ronald Reagan years.

As secretary of the Interior, Babbitt is the landlord of Americas public domain of more than 500 million acres of parks, range land, deserts, forests, wildlife refuges and Indian reservations. But dont mistake Babbitt for just another tree-hugging environmentalist. His political acumen is impressive, the product of a career that included one term as Arizonas attorney general, two teims as its governor and a brief campaign for president See Babbitt, page 10A The Daily Sentinel is printed in large part on recycled paper and is recyclable For the recycling -r station nearest you, Cf call 241-2871. jy.