Top five most-read stories last week
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Stories in this list received the most page views on aspentimes.com from September 8-15.
1. Trail dismissed, all charges dropped for former Aspen coach
Over 60 prospective jurors filed out of the Pitkin County Courthouse on Monday morning after former Aspen High School assistant basketball coach Chris Woodring saw his trial dismissed and his charges dropped.
“I am just very, very blessed to be able to clear my name and finally be able to move forward in my life,” Woodring said in a prepared statement after Monday court proceedings.
Woodring was accused of going to a local bar, The Sterling Aspen, with three underage individuals — a Skiers’ player, who was 17 at the time of the alleged incident, a former player, who was 19, and a 20-year-old — on the night between March 15 and March 16, 2024, according to a police affidavit. Aspen Police said they attempted to pull over a Ford-F150 around 2:37 a.m. on March 16 for rolling through a stop sign. Police reported the Ford sped off when they attempted to stop it, leading officers on a vehicle chase west of downtown.
-Skyler Stark-Ragsdale
2.Details released surrounding Aspen’s Castle Creek Road Bike death
A 64-year-old woman was involved in a bicycle accident on Castle Creek Road that resulted in her death on Monday.
Michelle Mulrooney Jackoway, an attorney who split time between Pitkin County and Beverly Hills, California, was biking back from lunch at Pine Creek Cookhouse on an electric bike when she lost control of her bike and crashed into the embankment on the side of the road, according to Sheriff Michael Buglione with the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. Jackoway was riding with a group.
“It was a tragic accident,” Buglione said.
-Colin Suszynski
3. Coyote or gray wolf? How to tell the difference in the Roaring Fork Valley
As hunting season gets under way, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is warning those with coyote tags to be aware of the differences between coyotes and wolves.
Currently, the federal Endangered Species Act and state law protect gray wolves in Colorado. Coyotes are managed as furbearers, meaning “species with fur having commercial value and which provide opportunities for sport harvest,” according to the Colorado Secretary of State, and can be taken with a small game license. Other furbearers in Colorado include mink, pine marten, badger, red fox, gray fox, swift fox, striped skunk, western spotted skunk, beaver, muskrat, long-tailed weasel, short-tailed weasel, bobcat, opossum, ring-tailed cat, and raccoon.
CPW warns in a press release that, despite their different statuses, coyotes and gray wolves can look similar from a distance.
-River Stingray
4. Snowmass Balloon Festival still on, despite grounding
Event officials reminded the Snowmass community that this weekend’s balloon festival will carry on despite the lack of air time.
Snowmass Tourism announced last week that hot air balloons at the 50th Snowmass Balloon Festival would not be airborne due to the wildfire risk posed by the balloons as the area sees extreme drought. Sara Stookey Sanchez, public relations manager for Snowmass Tourism, said that apart from the flying, the 50th anniversary will carry on with an event-packed weekend.
“Even though the balloons are doing a static inflate and not flying, this is still our 50th anniversary year,” she wrote in a prepared statement.
-Skyler Stark-Ragsdale
A group of 29 agricultural groups, hunting organizations, and county commissioners is asking Colorado Parks and Wildlife not to release any more wolves until next winter.
The entities submitted a citizen petition to the agency on Sept. 5, marking the latest attempt to pause Colorado’s voter-mandated wolf reintroduction as concerns percolate about rising costs, livestock losses, and a feeling of unpreparedness to deal with wolves on the ground from some communities and producers.
“Ranchers are doing everything we can to co-exist, but the state has not held up its end of the deal,” said Tim Ritschard, representing one of the petition’s signing organizations, Middle Park Stockgrowers, in a news release. “When wolves kill our cattle, our families pay the price emotionally, financially, and generationally. Until (Colorado Parks and Wildlife) can demonstrate it can manage the wolves already here, adding more is irresponsible.”
-Ali Longwell
Coyote or gray wolf? How to tell the difference in the Roaring Fork Valley
As hunting season gets under way, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is warning those with coyote tags to be aware of the differences between coyotes and wolves.
