Pfish pfans stay pfunctional
TELLURIDE, Colo.—Pfish came, gave two shows in Telluride, each of them drawing 9,000 "phans," and a good time was had by all.
Or mostly that was the case, reports The Telluride Watch. Certainly, there was no Armageddon—though law enforcement and medical officials had prepared for the worst.
The Watch notes that preparedness began last winter, and not entirely without cause. Pfish shows have a history of attracting people tripping, much as Grateful Dead shows used to.
As such, Telluride created its first ever "trip tent" to provide a soothing, calm sanctuary where the "phans" could ride out bad trips. In fact, while LSD, mushrooms and other drugs were certainly in evidence at the show, the trip tent was just as helpful to nursing mothers wanting privacy or parents trying to entertain small children.
"It was very, very mellow the entire festival," said Emil Snate, chief paramedic.
At the medical tent, insect bites and coughs were the big problems.
"Maybe the hype got the better of us, but we really planned for a lot worse event than it turned out to be," said Bill Masters, the San Miguel County sheriff.
Truckee plans to allow hens
TRUCKEE, Calif.—There wasn't much clucking about a proposed code revision in Truckee that would allow backyard chicken coops in larger-lot homes. The Sierra Sun says the proposed code now going before the Town Council would allow up to six hens on lots larger than 10,000 square feet.
Landslides get attention in the West
WHISTLER, B.C.—From the report in Whistler's Pique Newsmagazine, it was a miracle that nobody died when a landslide thundered down a nearby mountain, creating a flowing wall of mud that had campers in their pickup trucks gunning their motors to escape to higher ground.
The landslide was the second largest ever recorded in Canada. It started with an avalanche near the top of Mount Meager, then streamed down Capricorn Creek.
The Jackson Hole News&Guide also had news of a landslide, but it occurred in 1925. Called the Gros Ventre Slide, on the east side of Jackson Hole, it had been preceded by many small earthquakes. That same general area this year has again had a surge of seismic activity, with 160 smaller quakes since Aug. 4, six of them somewhat larger in magnitude.
Indictments in carbon monoxide deaths
ASPEN, Colo.—The morning after Thanksgiving in 2008, a family of four died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a vacation house near Aspen. It was a snowy night, and an outdoor sensor detected the snow, activating a gas-fired boiler to melt the snow on the outside walkways and patio. The malfunctioning boiler was located in the home's mechanical room, underneath the guest suite occupied by the parents.
In recent weeks, charges were filed by the district attorney against the plumber who installed the boiler and two building inspectors. In addition, relatives of the dead family have now filed a lawsuit, reports The Aspen Times.
The family members were "innocent victims of so many problems and failings by so many people," said Frederick Feuerbach, the father of the Caroline Lofgren, 42, one of the victims.
The suit names the plumber and also building inspectors for the city of Aspen and Pitkin County.
The suit claims five missteps by contractors, inspectors and the homeowner led to the deaths.
