Top five most-read stories last week

Stories in this list received the most page views on aspentimes.com from Oct. 27-Nov. 3

1. Corner identifies family killed in fatal October 1-70 crash 

Three people died in a semitractor-trailer crash the morning of Sunday, Oct. 12, on Interstate 70 at mile marker 208 east of Silverthorne.

Summit County Coroner Amber Flenniken released the identities of the three decedents, who were a family from West Palm Beach, Florida. Demario Torres, 39, Erlande Torres, 37 and their daughter Abigail Israel, 9, died in the crash.

The crash occurred around 5:42 a.m. Oct. 12 when the semitractor-trailer veered off the road to the right while approaching a curve to the right then came back onto the road, struck the center concrete barrier and rolled across the road, according to a Colorado State Patrol news release.

-Kyle McCabe 

2. Aspen man dies after bike crash on Castle Creek Road

Aspen’s Gideon Isaac Kaufman, 77, died on Sunday morning following a bike crash about nine miles up Castle Creek Road, just outside of Aspen.

The death was ruled a single bicycle crash and the cause of death was blunt force trauma, the Pitkin County Coroner’s Office said in a press release. 

“And the manner of death is accident,” the release states.

-Skyler Stark-Ragsdale 

3. A billionaire, a land swap, gold medal fishing, ‘dinosaur’ trout and a permit proposal anglers are calling a ‘bait and switch’ in Colorado 

Just months after the federal government closed on a land exchange with a billionaire, a proposal to institute a permit system on the Blue River has ignited a conversation about river access and fishery health in Colorado.

Blue Valley Ranch, a more than 2,000-acre property owned by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II, and the nonprofit Friends of the Lower Blue River say a permit system is necessary to manage the negative impacts of increasing fishing pressure.

On the busiest days in recent years, the Lower Blue River — stretches of which are designated as Gold Medal fishing — has seen up to 45 boats on the river, according to data provided by Blue Valley Ranch. Meanwhile, the ranch’s data also show that fish mortality has increased while the number of fish per mile has dropped significantly in recent years.

-Ryan Spencer 

4. Federal officials tells Colorado Parks and Wildlife to stop importing Canadian wolves. What happens now?

Greg Lopez was pleased when he read the recent letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service directing Colorado Parks and Wildlife to stop importing wolves from Canada.

“When I read it,” said Lopez, who is a Republican gubernatorial candidate for Colorado, “it made sense to me.”

He added that this is what federal agencies are supposed to do: to monitor and ensure that any representative that is acting as an extension of the agency — in this case, Colorado Parks and Wildlife — is operating within its designated parameters.

-Jonathan Bowers 

5. Aspen Snowmass’ newest avy dog is building his confidence 

For Louise Zemlicka, she knew right away that Benji was going to be Aspen Snowmass’ newest patrol recruit and future avalanche dog.

“There’s just something about Benji,” Zemlicka said of the first time she saw him at the breeder’s, sporting a green collar. “He kept coming back to me. I just had this connection with this dog.”

Now, 12-week-old field golden retriever Benji is already deep in his training to join Zemlicka, originally from Sweden, on the slopes of Snowmass with ski patrol. Zemlicka told The Aspen Times that after 10 years training horses for police, she moved to Aspen and joined ski patrol because of the opportunity to be part of the on-mountain canine program.

-River Stingray 

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