Copyright 1995 The Denver Post Corporation
The Denver Post
May 2, 1995 Tuesday 1ST EDITION
SECTION: DENVER & THE WEST; Pg. B-04
LENGTH: 610 words
HEADLINE: WESTERN EMPIRE
BODY: ARKANSAS
VALLEY
PUEBLO
BOMB SECURITY - People for the West has tightened security on the heels of the Unabomber attack that last week killed the California Forestry Association's president in Sacramento.
People for the West, a national, nonprofit group of property owners, resource producers and public land users, was launched in 1988 when the logging industry and spotted owl preservation forces clashed.
The mysterious Unabomber reportedly is a radical environmentalist who has maimed or killed several people after sending mail bombs over the past seven years. Gilbert Murray, who was the most recent killed, was a friend of the Pueblo-based group's founder and former executive director, Bill Grannell. The group has been talking with police and postal inspectors to protect its eight employees.
FRONT RANGE
COLORADO SPRINGS
AT&T TAXES WRONG - Tax crusader Doug Bruce has discovered AT&T Wireless Services incorrectly collected state sales taxes on air time from its pager customers over the past several years, and the state department of revenue has agreed to refund those taxes.
But Bruce says the tax refunds should cover five years, while the state says three.
Purchase or rental of pagers is taxable, but air time supplied by the company isn't, said Dorothy Dalquist of the department of revenue. "They (AT&T) collected the tax and paid it to the state. We were the ultimate recipient. We're obligated to get it to the proper people."
GREELEY
NEW PRESS CHIEF - Greeley Tribune Editor Ed Otte has resigned to become executive director of the Colorado Press Association, replacing Mark Thomas effective June 1.
Thomas will become executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association.
Otte, 47, will be the fifth director in the group's 117 years. He served on its board of directors and was chairman of its convention and journalism education committees. He joined the Tribune in 1980 and has been editor since 1989. He teaches at Colorado State University.
MOUNTAINS
LOVELAND
PROPANE CONVERSION - In an attempt to help improve air quality and increase engine life, Loveland officials are considering a plan to convert the city's vehicles to propane fuel - at a cost of $ 1,800 to $ 2,800 for each of the 300-plus vehicles.
Lakewood, Thornton and Fort Collins have made the conversion already.
NEW MEXICO
GALLUP
BODIES RECOVERED - The bodies of a Bluewater Lake man and his 12-year-old son were recovered within five minutes of each other yesterday at Bluewater Lake in eastern McKinley County.
Divers recovered the bodies of John Rubio Sr., 30, and John Rubio Jr. about noon. Rubio's 9-year-old son, who was wearing a life preserver, was rescued and in stable condition at Rehoboth-McKinley Christian Hospital in Gallup.
The Rubios were night-fishing early Sunday when their 8-foot-long boat capsized. Divers searched the lake from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday and were back in the water by 7 a.m. yesterday.
SANTA FE
CAT HAS PLAGUE - A cat from the Farmington area is New Mexico's second reported case of feline plague in 1995, state environment department officials said yesterday.
The cat became ill April 24 and is recovering after being treated by a San Juan County veterinarian. A field investigation was planned near the cat's home to determine the extent of plague in area rodents. Cats and dogs should be dusted with flea powder to avoid the contagion.
Cats usually get plague by eating infected rodents and rabbits. They can pass the disease to their owners through infected rodent fleas on cat fur, through draining abscesses from infected lymph nodes, through infected saliva and through coughing.