Miller Camp watches election results come in at Miller's home on
Tuesday evening.
Wednesday
August 9th - Miller Wins Republican Nomination....
Steve Miller won the Republican
nomination for Office of County Assessor over
incumbent Larry Johnson by more than 2300 votes in
Tuesday's Primary Elections. Miller previously
served as Larimer County Assessor in 1984, and
again from 1989 - 2000.
With this win, Miller will now
face Democrat Barbara Liebler and Libertarian
Jesse Herron in a three way battle this November.
In the bid for District 51
Representative, Don Marostica edged out Kevin
McNaught for the Republican nomination and Jodi
Radke won over Becky Jay for the Democratic
nomination. The incumbent Jim Welker will be
stepping down at the end of this term, leaving a
vacancy in this seat.
Fire
restrictions for the unincorporated portions of
Larimer County expire on August 10th. Restrictions
first went into effect June 2, were extended July
11, and prohibited open fires/burning; the use of
fireworks; and, public firework displays.
Larimer
County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services says
citizens should still be cautious with fire. The
threat of wildfire remains in Larimer County
because fuels are dry and rainfall has been
sporadic.
The
United Sates Forest Service, local volunteer fire
departments and Larimer County Emergency Services
work together to quickly suppress fires. Larimer
County’s fire mitigation crew has been busy this
summer assisting a variety of Larimer County
organizations with fuels reduction and forest
management. Inmates from the Larimer County
Sheriff’s Alternative Sentencing Unit provide
assistance to the mitigation crew by stacking
trees and slash for future burning.
Listen to this article
Sheriff
Asks For Public's Help
Tuesday
August 8th - Sheriff Asks For Public's Help....
As of the
Tuesday afternoon, Larimer County Sheriff’s
Office officials have conducted several planning
meetings throughout the day to plan the continued
efforts in the search for two year old Shay Smith,
presumed drowned at Carter Lake.
Larimer County
Dive Team members continue to work with Shay’s
family and friends to determine the most accurate
“last seen point” in an effort to more
effectively deploy the resources necessary to find
Shay. It is imperative that members of the
public and any of Shay’s family’s friends and
associates contact the LCSO with all of the
information they have regarding where Shay was
last seen and the conditions under which any
observations were made.
The fact that
the family boat was moving across the lake makes
it difficult for any one person to know precisely
where Shay fell into the water. This is why
it is so important for anyone and everyone with
information about this tragedy to share what they
know with authorities so that the most precise
“last seen point” can be determined from a
variety of witness perspectives. With more
information provided by witnesses, a tighter
“triangulation” effort can be made that may
make all the difference in locating Shay.
Any small piece of information may be important.
Larimer County
authorities including the Larimer County Parks,
the Sheriff’s Office, the Dive Team, witnesses
and concerned civilians alike have been brought
together by this tireless effort to find Shay.
This effort is taking its toll. Many
searchers are reaching their limits of both
physical and emotional resolve in this effort.
Countless hours have been expended by many members
of these organizations without resolving Shay’s
fate. Our community can be grateful that so
many are willing to sacrifice to others in
critical need.
County
officials are now in contact with additional
nationally recognized resources to determine the
availability of new personnel and equipment that
may be enlisted to add to the search efforts.
These organizations and individuals will be
identified if they are able to help.
Again we ask
the public to call with any information witnessed
from the shore or from the water about the
disappearance of Shay Smith. Please call
Undersheriff Ern Hudson at the Larimer County
Dispatch Center at 416-1985.
Listen to this article
2006
Primary Elections Tomorrow
Monday
August 7th - Primary Elections Tomorrow....
Residents across the county,
state and nation will be heading to the polls on
Tuesday, August 8th, to cast their votes in the
2006 Primary Elections.
In Larimer County there will be
only two races on which to vote in this Primary
Election, the Office of County Assessor and
District 51 State Representative.
A lower than average voter
turnout is expected due to the lack of races on
the ballot. Another factor in the low voter
turnout is than nearly one third of Larimer County
voters are currently registered as unaffiliated.
Only voters registered as either a Republican or a
Democrat are permitted to vote in the Primary
Elections.
Registered voters in Larimer
County can cast their votes at any of the 24
"Vote Centers" throughout the county.
Below is a list of Larimer County Vote Centers and
their locations.
Frequently seen at feeders and
flowerboxes throughout the area, this week's photo
features one of our most popular and colorful
summer residents, the Rufus Hummingbird.
The Rufus Hummingbird (Selasphorus
rufus) is one of several species of
hummingbird found in our area during the summer
months. These colorful birds are migratory and
winter in Mexico and South America, returning to
our area each year in the late Spring.
The Rufus Hummingbird is
distinguished by the rusty orange (rufus) color
seen in the males. Females are very difficult to
distinguish from the Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus
platycercus), which is also found in our area.
The female in the photo above (more
photos) was identified as a Rufus only by her
close association with a distinctive male partner,
which is always nearby and is sometimes seen
feeding with her.
Adult
males have a non-iridescent rufous crown, tail,
and sides; back may be rufous, green, or some of
each; bright orange-red underbelly and white
breast. Adult females have a green back and crown,
white breast, streaked throat, rufous sides and
base of tail feathers, with white tips on outer
tail feathers.
The Rufus Hummingbird is the
most widely distributed hummingbird in North
America and has been observed in every state and
province except Hawaii.
Complete information on
hummingbirds, feeders, etc. can be found by
visiting www.hummingbirds.net.
Knowing that people have
contracted West Nile virus in your city is an
important reminder to be extra vigilant in
preventing mosquito bites. Knowing that
mosquitoes and birds in your own neighborhood have
tested positive for the virus should turn up the
volume on that wake-up call.
According to Mike Doyle of the
Larimer County Department of Health and
Environment, it’s hard to know where a person
was bitten by an infected mosquito since humans
travel from place to place daily. “On the
other hand,” Doyle said, “mosquitoes and birds
have a limited flight range. A positive bird or
mosquito means that there might be transmission
from birds to mosquitoes right in your
neighborhood.”
Based on tests of trapped
mosquitoes and a recent dead bird, several
neighborhoods in Loveland and Fort Collins have
been confirmed as having West Nile Virus-infected
mosquitoes.
On July 26, the same day that
the first two human cases in Larimer County were
announced, test results confirmed that West
Nile-positive mosquitoes were collected the
previous week at three locations in Fort Collins,
one location in Loveland, and one location
in the Larimer County section of Windsor.
All were Culex tarsalis, the most common
transmitter of West Nile in the western states.
In Fort Collins, positive
mosquitoes were trapped near the Environmental
Learning Center, near the corner of Drake and
Zeigler; near the corner of Carpenter and
Timberline Roads, and between City Park and Putnam
Elementary. In Loveland, positive
mosquitoes were trapped near the Super Wal-Mart on
U.S. 34. In Windsor, positive mosquitoes
were trapped between Ptarmigan Golf Course and the
River West subdivision.
Since that time, additional
mosquitoes have tested positive from Seven Lakes
Park in Loveland and near the corner of Timberline
and Carpenter in Fort Collins.
As for the bird -- a crow
collected on August 1 near the corner of 33rd and
Colorado (just north of North Lake Park) was the
first positive bird tested in Larimer County this
year.
The City of Loveland’s
contractor, Colorado Mosquito Control, sprayed the
North Lake Park area on the night of August 2 as a
precautionary measure and searched the area for
additional mosquito production sites.
“Just because we know that
there is West Nile in specific neighborhoods
doesn’t mean that other areas are safe,”
cautions Doyle. “It’s still important to
wear repellent everywhere. This is
especially true just after dusk and on cloudy,
overcast days.”
“My wife was bitten by a Culex
tarsalis at 2:00 pm in our front yard a few days
ago. You really can’t be too careful.”
Friday
August 4th - Search Continues At Carter Lake....
Larimer County
Sheriff’s Office Emergency Services and Larimer
County Dive Rescue met Tuesday evening, August 1,
2006, to plan further action in the recovery of
the body of Shay Smith. Shay was lost at
Carter Lake during a boat ride with his father on
July 15, 2006.
The recovery
plan at this time was to attempt to pinpoint
several targets in Carter Lake on Thursday during
the day and into the evening, depending on the
weather. If the teams are successful
locating the targets, a second recovery day will
be planned using the underwater cameras.
Based on the information gleaned from this
operation, further recovery efforts may be planned.
4:00 PM
Update:
Larimer County Sheriff’s
Office Emergency Services and Larimer County Dive
Rescue continued the process of searching for Shay
Smith in Carter Lake from 6:00 PM on Thursday
evening, until approximately 6:00 AM on Friday
morning. They plan on being at Carter Lake
again tonight.
The course of action consists of
moving markers closer and closer to each targeted
area. Once they feel they have pinpointed
these areas, they will start the process of
dropping the camera 130 feet down over that
target. If and when that camera image shows
a high probability of it being Shay, then and only
then will divers enter the water. Divers at
this altitude and at that depth of water will be
able be down for only two to three minutes with an
approximate rising time of one half an hour.
Also contributing to the difficulties of
this recovery effort is that the visibility is
approximately one foot in front of the divers’
mask and any searching must be done by touch.
