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Storm
Mountain News
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Local News
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Monday
August 28th - Culex Mosquito Numbers Continue To
Rise...
In the last week, the chances
of getting bitten by a West Nile virus-infected
mosquito have been higher than at any time in 2004
or 2005, according to Larimer County’s West Nile
virus educator, Mike Doyle.
Doyle explains that in the
last week more mosquito samples have tested
positive for carrying West Nile virus in Fort
Collins and Loveland than they have since the West
Nile virus epidemic of 2003.
“We know that West Nile
will resurface strongly in some years,” said
Doyle, “Though this year isn’t nearly as bad
as 2003 so far, we shouldn’t mistake low numbers
of mosquitoes for having low risk of infection.
Actually it’s quite the opposite right now.”
According to data from the
County’s mosquito surveillance contractor and
the Centers for Disease Control in Fort Collins,
aggressive nuisance mosquito populations are
dropping fast, but the number of Culex
mosquitoes is near the highest it’s been all
year - and many of those are infected with West
Nile virus.
“Our natural instinct is to
look at the number of human cases, but that is not
useful for determining our risk right now,”
cautions Doyle. “This is because it’s often
several weeks to a month between the day an
infected mosquito bites someone and the day the
infection is reported to the health department.
On the other hand, our ‘mosquito sentinels’
can give us information far more quickly, from
just last week.”
Parts of Fort Collins present
more risk of being bitten by a Culex mosquito
than others - Fossil Creek area and Old Town Fort
Collins are the highest risk areas in the city.
Most of Loveland, except the Northwest quadrant,
continues to show an elevated risk of infected
mosquitoes.
“We have also trapped
positive mosquitoes in outlying towns such as
Berthoud, Timnath and LaPorte,” said Doyle.
“We need to make repellent
use, removal of standing water, and anti-mosquito
landscaping practices just a normal part of life
on the Front Range from now on.”
For more information about
West Nile virus prevention, visit www.larimer.org/health
or call Larimer County Department of Health and
Environment at 498-6752. To see detailed and
updated maps with locations of mosquito
populations and positive samples, visit Larimer
County West Nile webpage at www.co.larimer.co.us/health/cd/westnile.asp.
Additional Data :
- So far this year, 54
mosquito samples from Loveland and Fort
Collins have tested positive, compared to 1 in
2004, 3 in 2005, and 108 in 2003.
- The percentage of
mosquitoes carrying West Nile is two and a
half times lower than at this time in 2003.
- Some parts of the County
are showing West Nile infection rates in some
types of mosquitoes as high as 1 in 27. Specifically,
approximately 1 in 27 Culex tarsalis mosquitoes
caught in Southwest Loveland between August 14
and 18 were infected with WNV.
- 2 out of 3 mosquitoes
caught this week in Larimer County were the
type that can carry West Nile Virus.
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Sunday
August 27th - Photo Of The Week...
This week's photo features
one of more beautiful, yet less traveled trails in
our area, the Crosier Mountain Trail.
The Crosier Mountain Trail is
easily accessed via one of three trailheads
located on CO 43 (Devil's Gulch Road) between
Drake and Glen Haven. This part of Colorado is
always a pleasure to visit during hiking season.
As we all need to get out in nature once in a
while, the Crosier Mountain Trail is a good
choice. Not far from Fort Collins & Loveland,
you will find hiking along this trail is very
enjoyable.
Crosier Mountain is a
year-round destination for northern Colorado
hikers with the summit providing gorgeous views of
Longs Peak and the eastern skyline of Rocky
Mountain National Park.
During the summer, take plenty of water to drink
as Crosier Mountain is dry. The trails climb
steeply in many locations. No matter which
trailhead you use, you're in for a moderate to
strenuous hike.
If you hike the Crosier Mountain Trail during the
winter, be prepared for snow and ice on the trail.
Take a good topographical map, just in case you
become disoriented when crossing over ridges or
through valleys. In some places, snow can, and
will, obscure the trail.
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Friday
August 25th - Heavy Afternoon Rains Flood Loveland
Streets...
A late afternoon thunderstorm
brought heavy rains to the area, substantially
flooding the streets in some parts of Loveland
around 6:00pm on Friday evening.
The storm drifted off the
front range foothills around 5:30pm, growing in
intensity, and was reported as dropping rain at rates up to
2" per hour by the time it reached
Loveland.
Rush hour commuters battled
flood waters in some sections of town where the
streets looked more like rivers. Water depths
approaching two feet were reported in the area of
Wilson and Eisenhower, a major intersection.
A flash flood warning for the
area expired at 7:45pm. No injuries as a result of
the storm or flooding have been reported.
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Thursday
August 24th - Baby Faith - God Loves You...
"BABY FAITH - GOD LOVES
YOU", is the inscription found on a flat head
stone in a quiet corner of a Fort Collins
cemetery. This head stone marks the grave of
an unidentified homicide victim, a newborn
Caucasian girl, who was born alive on August 22,
1996, and found in the waters of Horsetooth
Reservoir on August 24, 1996, 10 years ago today.
Around 5:30 P.M. on August
24, 1996, two young Fort Collins boys who were
wading along the shoreline of Horsetooth Reservoir
at the north end of Dixon Dam found a plastic bag
floating just under the surface. They soon
discovered it contained the body of a newborn baby
and authorities were called to the scene.
Because she was born alive,
her death is considered a homicide. The
investigation was unsuccessful in determining the
identity of the infant or the identity of the
mother. As a result, the Larimer County
Sheriff’s Office named her Baby Faith and made
arrangements for her burial in a local cemetery.
Community members worked with the Sheriff’s
Office and donated the gravesite and the head
stone and many attended a memorial service held
for Baby Faith at Timberline Church here in Fort
Collins.
Despite a media supported
effort to locate anyone with information about
Baby Faith and her death, no one came forward to
reveal her identity. She is still known only
as Baby Faith.
At the same time in 1996,
Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office investigated the
recovery of a newborn girl found floating in the
Arkansas River below the Pueblo Reservoir.
Larimer County and Pueblo County authorities
worked together due to the similarity of the cases
which occurred at the same time. To date,
their newborn girl, known as Baby Hope, also
remains unidentified. Recently, Pueblo
County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Larimer
County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division
to make plans to resubmit evidence for DNA
analysis. Their hope is that modern DNA
analysis and comparisons with national databases
may aid in the identification of both girls.
Early comparisons did not link the two babies.
The Larimer County
Sheriff’s Office again asks the public for help
in this sad case. If anyone has information
that may help identify Baby Faith, please contact
Lt. Andy Josey of the LCSO Investigations Division
at 970-498-5161 or via email at joseyat@larimer.org.
Anonymous information can be shared through
Larimer County’s Crimestoppers program at
970-221-6868 or www.stopcriminals.org.
Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office can be contacted
at 719-583-6400 if anyone can identify Baby Hope.
For those who wish to visit
Baby Faith, she rests in the northeast corner of
the Garden of The Christus section of Roselawn
Cemetery at 2718 East Mulberry, Fort Collins.
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