Reis' (Gov Polis' husband) swampy phone call for his friend Kessler. Remembering the role of the judiciary in rising crime. Moffat County will get a "hydrobattery"?
Hey Governor Polis...A quick question. Why is your husband on the phone with police asking about bond for your former appointee while she was being arrested?
I.e. why is the spouse of one of the most powerful men in this state involving himself in an arrest?
Perhaps more importantly to me, if I get arrested, could I get the governor's husband to speak with the cops? Can you give me a number so I could call? I could just dial up and hand the phone to the cops.
Swampy sir. Swampy.
Remember that it isn't just soft on crime policies from the legislature that result in crime, the judiciary also plays a role.
The story linked first below was sent to me by a friend. It doesn't end well; in fact, it ends with the needless death of a young woman after a judge was (in the opinion of my friend--and it's one I share) way too soft on a defendant who he had already sentenced to jail.
I'll leave it to you to read up more on the details, but a quote from the article sums it up decently:
"For years, Duncan [Shayna Duncan--the first victim of Jacob Shadler who was convicted of sexual assault on her and stands accused of murdering another young woman], 23, had fought tooth and nail to have him face consequences for his actions and even though he was convicted of sexual contact with no consent, there were delays and motions in the court system that postponed his jail time. And less than a week before he was supposed to turn himself into jail, he allegedly killed a woman."
I have trouble squaring the idea of justice with the details here. It does appear as though the judge would hold this young man to account in the sex assault case (in terms of the sentence handed down), but then you turn around and the judge was allowing way too much leeway for this young man or his attorneys to argue about it and hold hearings.
What I mean is, I don't want to give you the impression that the judge completely coddled the defendant before or after his verdict. It's more that he kept giving (undue in my opinion) consideration to the various calls for lenient treatment by the court.
At some point, this judge should have stopped allowing motions and delays. Why was it not, "he's in jail today or we're going to hand down more consequences"? Why was it not, "He was convicted of sexual assault. I understand he has some nerves about going to jail, but when you break the law this is what happens"?
If the judiciary's role in the bump in crime in this state frustrates you like it does me, there is something you can do.
Contact your local District Attorney and ask him or her to fight like the devil against PR bonds.
Pay attention to the decisions your local judge makes re. criminals and write him or her a letter to express your thoughts.
Read up on initiatives like #70 (see the op ed by Brauchler, a former prosecutor) and vote yes so violent criminals don't get parole as easily as they are now.
https://www.denver7.com/follow-up/adams-county-homicide-suspect-was-days-away-from-serving-jail-time-in-sexual-assault-case
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/truth-in-sentencing-initiative-is-common-sense-brauchler/article_0a24ca8a-331d-11ee-83bd-ff2d72735104.html#:~:text=Colorado%20deserves%20better%2C%20and%20under,before%20re%2Dentering%20our%20neighborhoods.
What do you think? Particularly if you’re from the area, will this be a boon or no?
The article linked below outlines a proposed hydrostorage battery that would be placed in Moffat County near Craig, CO.
If you’re not too familiar, I put a little quickie video below so you can get the overall idea of what a hydro- (or pumped storage) battery would look like and work schematically.
There weren’t a lot of details but it appears as though this one won’t be quite on the scale of the proposed battery in the Unaweep Canyon (see the second link), nor as much of it will be above the surface.
It was also hailed as something that will replace the jobs that the forced closure of the coal plant there will be taking away.
I would love to hear from someone in the area what they think. If that’s you, please add to the comments below.
From what I could tell way far away on the Eastern Plains, it looks like it would bring some life back into the economy over there, but I question how useful it would be in the grand scheme of things.
The numbers I could find were that the Craig Station Power Plant (the coal plant that is being shuttered) produced about 1,300 or so megawatts of power. The hydrobattery would produce (according to the article) 600 megawatts of power over eight hours.
So, roughly half the power output, over 8 hours, in a state where we have winter storms that may block the sun and nights that can go as long as 11 1/4 hours compared to something that could continuously provide power regardless of weather or sun.
Know what you’re getting for your money Colorado.
Oh, and one last thing. I will be curious to see just how much environmentalist pushback there will be here.
Merely saying the word “dam” (no N please!) around an environmentalist in the past 20 years has been enough to start petitions circulating. If you even DREAMED of something like this near the Front Range, there’d be protests in the streets. Even if the project was “climate friendly”.
I wonder how many environmentalists would protest this project, however. Beings as how it’s out there in Craig where it wouldn’t mar their views.
https://www.craigdailypress.com/news/1-5-billion-hydropower-development-pushes-forward-in-moffat-county/
https://coloradosun.com/2022/01/24/unaweep-canyon-hydro-power-xcel/