by Patty LaTaille
Murderers Nabbed In Alamosa
On May 6, 2011, Jerry Roberts of Arlington County, Texas, was reported missing.
According to The Valley Courier, “Investigators found a bloody chair at Roberts’ home, and his refrigerator and truck were missing.”
On July 4, “a man and his son were out in a rural part of Ellis County, Texas, with metal detectors when they came across a taped up refrigerator. They removed the tape, opened the door and found a body, which has now been identified as Jerry Roberts.”
On June 7, a man driving the missing Roberts’ truck flagged down an Alamosa patrolman and asked for the location of the local parole office.
The Arlington, Texas, Police Department were notified that the flagged license plate had been checked in Alamosa. The Alamosa Police Department was contacted and instructed to pick up the man and hold the truck.
They provided a description of Thomas Dunham, 43, and Erin Leanne Williams, 38, also known as Erin Leanne Guthrie, a woman who was traveling with him, and noted that the two were persons of interest in a suspected homicide.
Dunham was arrested by Alamosa PD officers later day. Dunham initially provided a false name and a stolen driver’s license, but later admitted he lied.
Williams, who also allegedly used a false name, was arrested at the La Puente shelter. There was blood found in the back of the truck.
Good-bye to Saguache, hello to Vail and Leadville in Senate District 5
The state Senate district including Aspen might be dropping the San Luis Valley and adding Eagle and Lake counties, according to a plan passed by a special state commission. According to the Aspen Daily News, “Keeping “communities of interest” together is a crucial tenant of redistricting, according to state law. The reapportionment commission also aimed to draw up more politically competitive districts.”
State Senate District 5, represented by Democrat Gail Schwartz, includes Pitkin, Gunnison, Delta, Chaffee, Hinsdale and Mineral counties, plus the five counties (Alamosa, Conejos, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache) of the San Luis Valley. A plan approved on Sept. 19 by the Colorado Reapportionment Commission, (which convenes every ten years to redraw state legislative district boundaries based on new census figures), potentially drops Mineral County and the five counties of the San Luis Valley and adds Eagle County and Lake County.
The reapportionment committee believed it was important to package the San Luis Valley with other portions of southern Colorado containing large Hispanic populations and agricultural interests in common, Schwartz noted.
Saguache Hosts Rural Philanthropy Days
Tours of downtown Saguache, an open house at Hauck/Pedersen Fine Art Gallery and a Reception at the Ute Theatre were all part of the event billed as “The Networking Event of the Year” here in the SLV this past September. Rural Philanthropy Days are held in the San Luis Valley every four years.
Representatives from 15 charitable foundations, such as the Anshutz Family Foundation, Boettcher Foundation, Bonfils Stanton Foundation, Caring for Colorado Foundation, The Colorado Trust, Daniels Fund, and El Pomar Foundation, were available at over forty tables for roundtable sessions.
Each non-profit organization seeking grants had representatives visiting a chosen five tables to make their pitch to the most relevant foundations.
According to The Valley Courier, “Rural areas are recognized as the most under-funded when it comes to foundation philanthropies. Statistics from the Council on Foundations show that large foundations only award about one percent of their grants to rural entities, even though rural counties outnumber urban counties two to one.”