News in Brief

FBI, SWAT team nab suspected bank robber

BLUE RIVER - Federal agents and local police apprehended a man believed to be the "Mr. Magoo" bank robber suspected in two dozen Front Range bank robberies in an early Saturday morning raid on a Blue River cabin.

Agents from the FBI and Summit County SWAT team surrounded the cabin at 0321 Quandary Road at about 4 a.m. After a short search for the cabin's occupant who had attempted to conceal himself inside, according to Summit County Undersheriff Derek Woodman, the joint operation arrested Tyler Timothy Hamilton.

Hamilton, 43, of Littleton, was wanted on a federal arrest warrant for bank robbery and a felony larceny arrest warrant from the Denver Police Department. He is suspected in a spree of robberies on the Front Range since December, including at least 24 bank robberies and four other armed robberies.

"We still consider him a suspect until conviction, but if it was him, he was rather prolific," said FBI Special Agent Dot Wehrly.

The suspect in the bank robberies was dubbed "Mr. Magoo" because of the thick glasses he wore during the heists.
<i>(From the Summit Daily News)</i>

Wolf Creek developer plans to push ahead

DURANGO (AP) - The developer of a planned new base village at the Wolf Creek ski area plans to begin construction this summer after the failure of a settlement conference with opponents.

"The project remains on track and on schedule," said Bob Honts. "We're pleased with the progress we're making and plan to begin actual surveying and geotechnical work this summer."

Hont and representatives of opponents, including and the ski area's owners, met Friday in federal court in Durango. The private, four-hour meeting was moderated by a federal judge in an attempt to resolve a month-long impasse between the Pitcher family, operators of the ski area, and Texas-based Honts and his partner, billionaire Red McCombs.

The developers want to build Colorado's newest - and highest - resort community, the Village at Wolf Creek, on a 288-acre meadow above the ski area.

The meeting did not seem to reduce the conflict.

"We've been seriously damaged by breach of contract and any (settlement) offer would need to include some compensation for that," he said, referring to the pending lawsuits directed at the project.

"We are still willing to consider looking at some kind of reasonable proposal from the ski corporation," Honts said. "(But) we would not be willing to agree to anything that would downsize the (project's) phase-one plan" - which encompasses some 70 acres and about 400 or 500 residential units, he said.

"Unfortunately, the parties were unable to reach resolution of their differences today," said Andy Spielman, a Denver-based attorney who represents the Pitchers. "But we hope to continue talking."

The Village at Wolf Creek project is designed for more than 2,100 residential units with a quarter-million square feet of commercial development to be built at 10,300 feet in elevation.