Brief by Marcia Darnell
San Luis Valley – November 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
No Body
Several days of searching led nowhere for Costilla County officials following the hand-drawn map of confessed serial killer Richard Paul White. During his interrogation in Denver for another crime, White happened to mention that he killed several women, one or two near his former home near Mesita. No bodies have yet been found in the Valley.
Meanwhile, Rio Grande County officials say there’s no connection between White and the disappearance of a Monte Vista woman over two years ago. Danice Day, an 18-year-old waitress, disappeared the evening of Jan. 9, 2001. A single mother, she lived with her boyfriend in Monte Vista.
Sheriff Brian Norton said her case is still open, and a task force meets weekly. A reward has been offered for information leading to Day’s whereabouts.
Monte to Meter
Monte Vista will take a $600,000 loan from the Dept. of Local Affairs to install water meters at city residences. Colorado requires all cities to have meters by 2008.
Water Waste?
Also on the water front, Alamosa reports that the voluntary 20% water use reduction plan resulted in savings of a whopping 1 percent. “Next year, we are going to have to do something a little different,” said City Manager Mike Hackett. City Councilor Josef Lucero pointed out that growth might account for some of the disparity between 20 percent and 1 percent.
Mining Gold
The Phipps Foundation, owner of the long-dead Midwest Mine near Creede, has donated the old mine site to the town. Near the tourist attraction Bachelor Loop, the mine could prove golden to Creede. Several groups are coöperating to clean up the old site and its surrounding land. They say the buildings are in good shape and full of samples from the 1920s, when the Midwest produced silver.
House Homeless
The Hunt House, the last remnant of Alamosa’s founding in 1878, needs a new home. The structure, former home of territorial governor Alexander Cameron Hunt, served as the Alamosa Senior Center until the completion of its new building this year. The structure was slated for demolition Nov. 15, but an appeal by the Alamosa Uptown River Association gave it a reprieve until Feb. 1, when AURA must show financial ability to move the house so the seniors can make a new parking lot. Fundraisers are in the offing.
Valley Loss
Dr. Lynn Weldon, educator, author, philosopher, and civic leader, died at 73. He was a teacher at Adams State College, and visionary writer of “The Future: Important Choices.” Husband and father, he found time for volunteer work and service on the Alamosa City Council. He once said he’d have to live six more lifetimes to do everything he wanted to do. We can only hope.
Brief Briefs
* < Creede Mayor B.J. Myers says she will not run for a second term.
* Heinz Bergann, from Pueblo, is the new head of Southern Peaks Public Library in Alamosa.
* Settlement discussions have tentatively begun between the city of Monte Vista and officials of the Ski-Hi Stampede, the PRCA rodeo in the Valley. Financial disputes between the parties are slated for trial Dec. 15.
* Geologists from the U.S.G.S. completed a study of the Sangre de Cristo Fault to determine when earthquakes have occurred in the past, in order to predict them in the future. The fault runs from Poncha Pass to Taos.
* Hospice del Valle has its first permanent home. The hospice will move into a storefront in downtown Alamosa in January.
* The Monte Vista Boys & Girls Club needs more publicity and $25,000 to stay open.
