Top 5 most-read stories: Parents frightened after message in elementary school bathroom; ex-deputy accuses jail’s health-care provider of negligence
We’ve rounded up the top five most-read stories on Aspentimes.com from last week.
1.) Scrawled threat on Aspen Elementary School bathroom wall last week frightens parents
Some parents of Aspen Elementary School students said they are scared about sending their kids to school after a threatening message was written on the bathroom wall by a student last Thursday, Jan. 26.
According to one parent of an elementary student, who wished to remain anonymous for the safety of their child, this is not the first offense from the child who wrote the message on the bathroom wall.
The message, which was left on the stall in one of the student bathrooms, was not directed toward any individual or group of people, according to an email Friday, Jan. 27, from Aspen School District Superintendent Dave Baugh.
—Audrey Ryan
2.) Ex-deputy accuses Pitkin County jail’s health-care provider of negligence over assault, strangulation
A former Pitkin County deputy who was the victim of a violent attack by a jail inmate with a history of psychiatric episodes is suing a health-care provider for negligence over the incident.
Deborah Kendrick’s lawsuit alleges Denver-based Correctional Health Partners, or CHP, failed to ensure that an inmate was treated with anti-psychotic medication he required each month. The inmate was “suffering from a psychotic episode due to a lack of proper medical care by defendant Correctional Health Partners” when he strangled Kendrick, the suit alleges.
The Jan. 27, 2021, experience placed a physical and psychological toll on Kendrick, who stepped down from her career of more than 25 years with the Sheriff’s Office that December, the suit said. She suffered from headaches and an injured neck as a result of the attack, undergoing months of physical therapy and medical attention, the suit said.
—Rick Carroll
3.) Sallinen lands on X Games halfpipe podium in debut, Ferreira crashes out
A local kid got on the X Games Aspen podium on Sunday night, but it wasn’t the one most people expected. Even Jon Sallinen didn’t think he’d be taking home a medal.
“It was a little loose — the whole comp was a little loose — with a lot of crashes and a lot of people not landing their runs. But I got two pretty OK runs down, and I stayed in third place somehow,” he said. “I thought (Aaron) Blunck was going to take it for that last run but somehow managed to get it, and I’m super, super stoked.”
In his X Games debut, Sallinen finished third in the men’s halfpipe skiing contest that closed out the festivities at Buttermilk, behind silver medalist Birk Irving of Winter Park and Nevada’s David Wise, who won Aspen gold for the fifth time.
— Austin Colbert
4.) All remaining charges against Basalt chiropractor dropped
A district court judge Thursday dismissed the remaining criminal counts against the owner of a Basalt-based chiropractor office who had been under grand-jury indictment for allegedly cooperating with one of his massage therapists accused of sexually assaulting clients.
Dr. Dave Jensen, who was arrested in August on a 21-count indictment, no longer faces charges after the prosecution asked Eagle County District Judge Paul Dunkelman in a motion filed this week to throw out the case. Dunkelman responded with a written order dismissing the final charges.
“He’s innocent, and the case was mishandled by the authorities from the beginning,” said Kate Stimson, a Denver defense lawyer for Jensen. “And, thankfully, it’s over for him, and he shares that feeling.”
— Rick Carroll
5.) How a 1994 settlement determines what landlords charge Centennial tenants today
Tenants at the city’s oldest deed-restricted housing complex, Centennial Apartments, faced rent hikes as high as 30% in January that sent city, county, and APCHA officials into closed-door meetings with the relatively new landlord, Birge & Held.
At the center of the dispute is the interpretation of a 1994 settlement between Centennial ownership and local-government bodies that spells out how Centennial is permitted to raise rents.
Back then, Centennial-Aspen II Limited Partnership — the original owner of the complex — sued Pitkin County, the Pitkin County commissioners, the city of Aspen, the Aspen City Council, the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, and APCHA Board of Directors to increase the rent limititations.
— Josie Taris
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