Hard Core Prosecution
A 72-hour hold for a suicide attempt delayed an ongoing criminal case in 12th Judicial District Judge Martin Gonzales’ court. Convicted thieves Carrie Dean, 50, and her husband, Richard Basinger, 67, were scheduled to appear for an already rescheduled sentencing date for knowingly possessing thousands of dollars of stolen property, but again skipped sentencing because of Dean’s suicide attempt. Her absence was accepted by the Court, as she was in the San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center (SLVRMC) in Alamosa, but Gonzalez issued Basinger a $50,000 cash bond failure to appear warrant despite pleas from his attorney, David Michael Lipka.
According to the Valley Courier, 12th Judicial District deputy attorney Crista Maestas said, “I object to the defendant not appearing. Mr. Basinger is not hospitalized at the moment.”
Victims Richard Slinko and Cam Benton will travel from Illinois and Texas to address the court, deciding to be present and not participate in the sentencing through video conferencing. Gonzales set the continuation for Monday, Dec. 3 at 1:30 p.m.
According to the Valley Courier, “My main concern is expediency,” said Benton, who had a tractor and other machinery stolen from his property. “With him running around our neighborhood, we have a cancer that is causing a lot of unrest.”
“This is a mess,” Judge Gonzales commented. “This is a case that has gone on way too long.”
Colonoscopy Crisis?
Back in August, over 60 people were notified that they may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis after medical devices used to perform colonoscopies tested positive for bacteria at the SLVRMC.
A recently-installed automated machine used to clean colonoscopy instruments was cited as the cause for the contamination. When tested on Aug. 13, some devices were found to contain E. coli. A week later, the sterilization equipment was working well, and no infections have been reported to date.
Medical Merger
SLVRMC and Conejos County Hospital (CCH) plan to become San Luis Valley Health, a single health system, by January 2013. San Luis Valley Health will bring the two hospitals, and the clinics in Alamosa, La Jara, Antonito and Monte Vista, under one organization. This includes all primary and specialty care providers from both systems. All 592 employees will have common benefits, pay practices and other policies. “It makes sense financially and clinically to integrate the two systems,” said Anne Holmes, vice president of the CCH Corporation Board.
A Records Check That Actually Worked
A Colorado man was arrested at a Mexico-Arizona border crossing – suspected in the 1997 shooting death of a farm worker in a Weld County onion field. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Consuelo Zavala, 35, as he tried to walk from Mexico into the United States in the pedestrian lane at San Luis, Arizona. After a routine records check showed that Zavala was wanted on a homicide warrant out of Weld County, he was arrested and turned over to the San Luis Police Department for extradition to Colorado.
Zavala is accused of murdering a fellow farm worker, Francisco Gasca, 28, in a field near Highway 66 and Weld County Road 19 on Aug. 25, 1997.
SLV Factoid
Writers and editors George and Catherine Wood established the San Luis Valley News at Fort Garland in 1907. They tried unsuccessfully to get the United States Geological Service to acknowledge that Mt. Blanca was 14,464 feet tall – as old 1895 maps indicated. That height would make Mt. Blanca the highest peak in Colorado (which was the designation at the time the town of Blanca was founded).
