SandBox Comments: Customs and Border Patrol "Texas CBP Officers Seize $3.7 Million in Marijuana Disguised as Lettuce"

Read this one closely.

One has to wonder how long they've gotten away with this and what other kinds of fruit and produce is used in this detailed way to smuggle dope in from Mexico?

A ton and a half of pot, street value of $3.7 million dollars.

One semi and one bust.

"On Jan. 17, CBP officers at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge encountered a Sterling tractor and utility refrigerated trailer at the cargo facility. The tractor and trailer were referred to CBP secondary screening for further inspection. Examination by CBP officers in the cargo secondary screening area revealed 1,348 packages commingled within the manifested commodity of fresh cabbage. CBP officers removed the 1,348 packages from the trailer which had a total weight of 1,661.5 kilograms, or 3,662.98 pounds, of alleged marijuana.

 

The alleged marijuana from this seizure has an estimated street value of approximately $3,662,980. CBP officers seized the narcotics and the tractor-trailer.

	click for hi-res More than 1,300 packages weighing more than 3,600 pounds were found in the shipment.

“Finding unique modes of concealment used in an attempt to smuggle illicit narcotics into the country is a daily occurrence for CBP officers on the frontline. This is a large load of alleged marijuana that has been stopped and will not make it into our nation’s cities thanks to the hard work of our CBP officers,” said Efrain Solis, CBP port director for Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas..."

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Boarder, skier die in separate accidents"

Chad Abraham:

"Snowmass Village resident Keith Ames was killed in an avalanche Wednesday outside the Snowmass Ski Area, while Aspenite Gabriel Lee Hilliard died shortly before that after colliding with trees at Aspen Highlands.

Ames, 43, worked as a bartender at the Village Steakhouse in the Wildwood Lodge in Snowmass. A co-worker said authorities notified him that Ames had perished in an avalanche in the Burnt Mountain sidecountry of Snowmass Ski Area. Ames was scheduled to work on Wednesday but didn’t show up.

John Bender, assistant manager at the Wildwood, worked with Ames, who bartended at the inn five nights a week.

“I liked working with him, he was a good man,” Bender said Wednesday night. “It was very unusual when he didn’t show up for work today.”

An investigation done by the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office revealed three acquaintances had met at Snowmass Ski Area and decided to ski together. Witnesses to the incident, which occurred at about 1:45 p.m., reported Ames dropped in from a ridge above, knocking loose a section of snow. When Ames came to rest at the bottom of the 25-yard-long section, the snow caught up to him and buried him. Bystanders on scene had to dig Ames out from the under the snow, which took approximately 10 minutes, while others on scene contacted 911. Snowmass Ski Patrol arrived on scene at 2:18 p.m. while CPR was being administered to Ames by the bystanders. At approximately 02:50 p.m., Ames was pronounced dead.

 Personnel with Mountain Rescue Aspen acted as advisors to the Snowmass Ski Patrol because of the difficult terrain, said Alex Burchetta, a deputy with the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. Burnt Mountain is located outside of the ski-area boundary adjacent to the Snowmass Ski Area, and ski patrol does not maintain the area...".

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "City attorney John Worcester announces February retirement"

Maybe the answer does not lie in politics and the folks cleaning out the closets of local governments.

Maybe the key to salvation, relief and the hope for a better world and future lies in simply waiting until the problems become old enough to retire or term-limit themselves out of career politician roles.

Curtis Wackerle:

"John Worcester, Aspen’s city attorney for the past 19 years, announced Wednesday that he will retire next month.

Worcester set the date of Feb. 20, his 65th birthday and his last day on the job, as the target date for his retirement back in 2007, after he fell ill and was hospitalized, he said. He fully recovered, but the experience made him think about the next phase of his life, he said.

“I’m heading into the last part of my life and I want to do it close to my children and grandchildren,” Worcester said.

Jim True, special counsel for the city of Aspen since 2007, is expected to be named the new city attorney, possibly as soon as Monday’s City Council meeting.

The city attorney is one of two positions in Aspen’s municipal government directly hired and fired by City Council; the other is the city manager.

Worcester, whose annual salary is around $161,000, lives in deed-restricted housing on Cemetery Lane that is set aside for city employees. Although he owns the property, the deed requires him to sell the house back to the city within six months of the end of his employment. He will do that, and then move to Parker, Colo., south of Denver, where his daughter and grandchildren live.

“I can’t afford to live in this community,” he said, referencing the cost of buying a free-market property. He added that he has “mixed emotions” about leaving the town in which he has lived for the past 21 years...."

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "‘Pedal the Plains’ cycling trek planned for September"

"SUMMIT COUNTY — With all the hoopla over the annual Ride the Rockies and the new USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Colorado’s eastern plains may have been feeling a little left out of the cycling buzz.
But that will all change this fall, when the inaugural Pedal The Plains ride will celebrate the agricultural roots and frontier heritage of the Colorado Eastern Plains, according to Gov. John Hickenlooper, who announced the event this week in Denver.

The tour of the plains is a ride designed for riders of all speeds and sizes, Hickenlooper said.

The three-day ride will cover between 30 to 100 miles every day, stopping in multiple towns throughout each day and ending in a new host community each evening. Riders will pedal between entertainment and festivities, eat meals made with local produce, and stay in accommodations ranging from a tent to a bed and breakfast.

The ride is co-sponsored by Fort Morgan-based Viaero Wireless and the Denver Post...."
(Bob Berwyn)

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Morning photo: Painting with light"

All credit Bob Berwyn: