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Show Jf Sunmrnnimnit it Smunminniiit Is there death after Vail? THEkl TRAIL Vail Vail, a town known for its fun and games, is now starting to think about a grim necessity. The city does not have a cemetery. The issue was raised by the unexpected deaths of two prominent Vailites former mayor John Dobson and a city councilman, Chuck Anderson, who died at 42 of a rare disease. One of Anderson's friends said it was "criminal" the town had no graveyard. "I think we've been living in a fantasy world where Judge George Granata Jr. struck down the tax following a suit against Sun Valley by the Sun Valley Company. Ketchum. being sued ly the Wood River Lodging and Restaurant Association, is also likely to lose its revenues from the tax. In Ketchum, members of the Wood River organization said the budget cuts were aimed at hurting the tourism industry. One member said the city was using scare tactics, and another called for the mayor and city council to resign. Replied a councilman, "It sounds to me like they fought ... the tax, won the case and now don't like the conseauences." and, at times, infuriate" the board. In a letter to the council, the board members said they were not given cough influence during recent construction on the opera house. The council, they further protested, promised nothing would be done on lots adjacent to the Wheeler for at least a year and then told a veterans group it could use adjacent land for a veterans' memorial. (The veterans' plan has since been dropped.) And two opera house board members did not even receive the courtesy of being thanked after their terms recently expired. The opera house board asked the council for a work session so feelings on both sides could be aired. Following protests from local residents, the Vail Town Council voted 6-1 to oppose a land trade between the Forest Service and Lodge Properties Inc., owners of the Lodge at Vail. The trade would exchange Lodge property 385 acres of private holdings in a wilderness area five miles from Vail for 2.5 acres of prime real estate behind the Lodge and 40 acres at Spraddle Junction. Opponents say it will set a precedent for future trades leading to development on national forest land. everybody's under 40 and nothing's going to happen," she said. The town planning staff looked at file possible sites in 1978, but nothing came of it, and those five areas are now under development or planned for building. Two recent Vail-area news items helped to prove the current wisdom that we are a litigious society. A former teacher in the Eagle County School District filed suit, saying she was fired for teaching the First Amendment. Judith Watson was not offered a renewal of her contract in 1984, and since she was nontenured the school board did not have to give reasons for firing her. But the reason, said her lawyer, is an incident two years ago when her journalism class in the Eagle Valley Middle School printed a humorous article in the school paper criticizing then-principal Bob Torrie. The principal demanded a retraction, but the students refused after Watson advised them of their constitutional rights, said her attorney. In another court, developers Peter Blount and Steve Erickson, who own a parcel of land near Avon, are suing two other owners of the land for $300 million. They say that co-owner Debbie Roybal is blocking their plans for a commercial area hotel athletic club project, and further contend she violated an agreement by conveying land to a fourth owner, Scot Brown. THE ASPEN TIMES Aspen The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a five-year-old antitrust case filed by the operators of Aspen Highlands against the Aspen Skiing Company, which operates three other area ski resorts. According to the suit, the companies had arranged for nearly a decade to hold joint life ticket sales, but in 1978 the Aspen Skiing Company threatened to pull out of the deal unless Highlands agreed to take a smaller share of the profits. The plaintiff said this was monopolistic because Aspen Skiing is the larger firm. Highlands won its case before a federal grand jury and later in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Now the Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in the spring of 1985 and render a decision this summer. A Pitkin County deputy made an unexpected catch during a vacation in Arizona he recognized a fugitive escape artist who had once broken out of the Pitkin jail. Deputy Bob Braudis said he walked into a Scottsdale, Arizona bar and spotted David Sudduth, who hacked his way out of the Pitkin jail last March only CXPBC55 KetchumSun Valley Sun Valley and Ketchum are preparing for budget cuts after a judge struck down a local-option tax that supplied 44 percent and 24 percent, respectively, of their budgets. After holding . executive sessions together and separately, the cities announced cuts in public transit, snow plowing and emergency emer-gency services. A dispute has been waged over a local-option tax on lodge customers and bar visitors, which local businesses opposed on the grounds ' it discouraged tourism. Fifth District ".to be captured. eight. hours later. Sudduth was wanted after escaping from a Marin County, California jail in November. A citizens group is opposing the proposed budget for the Aspen Public School District. The All Citizens Action Committee (ACAC) said in a letter that tax dollars should be spend on projects that directly educate the students. The ACAC opposed such budget items as a proposed renovation of the school board meeting room, the purchase of four-wheel drive vehicles, and a raise for the school superintendent. They also opposed an "across the board" salary increase, asking instead for a merit pay system. Five members of the Wheeler Opera House Board are complaining that actions by the Aspen City Council continue to "puzzle, disturb |
