From KUSA in Denver, this is 9 News, number one in Colorado.
Good evening, I'm Liz Exon.
And I'm Ward Lucas with Cliff Nicholson and Jim Benham, and thanks for joining us. Here's what's happening.
What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday it was sunny and 60 degrees. Today we were lucky if we hit the upper teens.
The streets are pretty icy right now, especially the side streets. Denver Public Works has six sandfrucks out this afternoon.
It's been snowing off and on most of the day, and the forecast for tomorrow doesn't offer much of a change.
We seem to have gotten used to the unusually warm January, but it couldn't last forever.
We're just back to a typical winter day here in Colorado.
Cliff Nicholson will be with us a bit later on with a complete weather forecast.
The defense rested today in the case against Denver Police Detective Larry Janssen.
He's accused of felony child abuse which resulted in the death of six-year-old Aaron Renteria in December of 1983.
Janssen was on the stand in his own defense today to deny he harmed the boy.
Yesterday, Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensics expert, testified that Aaron's injuries couldn't have taken place before Janssen went to work on the night of the boy's death.
The case is expected to wrap up Monday with closing arguments.
A Colorado Springs man will stand trial for first-degree murder in connection with the death of his three-week-old son.
An El Paso County District Judge ruled yesterday there was enough evidence to prosecute 19-year-old Stephen Dubs.
His infant son Joshua died of head injuries received on January 9th.
The prosecution alleges Dubs displayed a disparity of mind and heart on that day when he dragged his wife up the stairs by the hair,
hitting his children along the way as they hung on ceiling hooks used for plants and by stuffing socks in Joshua's mouth.
Today's cold weather has created another delay in the search for the body of a teenager killed in a plane crash on Carter Lake near Loveland.
Nick Carter was a passenger in a small plane that crashed on the lake a week ago.
His friend Dennis Brown was also killed in the accident. Brown's body was recovered from the water last Monday.
Divers have been searching the murky water ever since for Carter's body.
They had planned to search again today but called it off because of the weather.
Detectives who were digging for bodies on the McCormick Ranch near Stratton have called off their search for the weekend.
Late yesterday afternoon the searchers discovered a third body buried under about three feet of soil.
Police believe they may eventually find seven or eight bodies on the ranch.
All of the victims are believed to have been transients who were brought in from Denver to work on the ranch in the late 60s and 70s.
Police were taken to the suspected grave sites by this man, 29-year-old Mike McCormick.
He was then charged in connection with the disappearance of an Idaho trucker whose body was found buried in a field near Byers.
McCormick has reportedly told authorities he knew of the grave sites because he helped his father bury the bodies of ranch hands who'd been killed.
No one has been charged yet for the murders.
Many of the men who worked for Tom McCormick were transients, drifters, people who could disappear without anyone noticing.
That's what the owner of H&R Employment, the Denver agency that sent workers to McCormick's ranch, says.
Jerry Sellers talked to the company's owner today about Tom McCormick and the men who worked at his ranch.
Chances are you've never heard of the H&R Employment agency. It's a small father and son business.
Lots of farm and ranch hands know it though. Every year hundreds of workers find jobs through H&R.
I was just wondering how things are doing up there. You can use some extra hands right this time of year.
H&R Employment sent anywhere from 30 to 40 ranch hands out to Tom McCormick's ranch every year for about nine years.
Owner Jess Bentley says none were ever reported missing to him.
He often talked to the workers when they'd return from the job, but no one ever said anything really bad about Tom McCormick or his ranch.
The food was good, the housing was fair. Tom shouted a lot and that was about it.
So the news of the search and discovery of bodies there surprised him.
Just pure amazement. I really didn't believe it.
Well I believed it, but hard to give credence to it because the McCormick family is a good solid family.
Bentley says he never heard any of the rumors back then, but he's sure hearing them now.
I know Sherwood's went down there, but I don't know where they went to.
He's not putting much weight in the rumors.
How can you tell? People probably that didn't even associate with the ranch, you know, come up with a wild tale about who's doing what to whom.
Hindsight is a marvelous thing, you know.
Jess Bentley says he met Tom McCormick several times on business. Each time he was quiet and business-like.
He did, however, leave H&R Employment with an unpaid bill for almost $2,000. Bentley still works with two of McCormick's brothers.
He says they are the ones he worries about. This whole grisly search for bodies and the people who have already charged Tom McCormick with murder are causing a lot of pain for the family.
Sherry Sellers, 9 News.
This week a federal judge in Seattle sentenced ten members of the neo-Nazi group The Order on convictions of racketeering.
Three of them are suspects in the murder of KOA talk show host Alan Berg in June of 1985.
31-year-old Bruce Carroll Pierce, the suspected trigger man in the Berg murder, got the maximum sentence, 100 years.
Self-proclaimed white supremacist David Lane got 40 years. He's believed to have been the driver of the getaway car the night Alan Berg was murdered.
And Jean Craig, a woman from Idaho, got 40 years. She allegedly tailed Berg several weeks before the murder and gave information to the hit team.
Denver DA Norm Early has said that he's not yet decided whether to prosecute the three suspects in the Berg murder.
He is joining us live tonight to talk about the possibility of bringing Pierce, Lane, and Craig to Denver for a trial.
Mr. Early, thanks first of all for agreeing to join us here.
But in view of the long sentences these three people have gotten, what would be the purpose at this point of bringing them here to try them for Berg's murder?
Under the federal scheme of things, when someone is sentenced as these individuals have been sentenced,
it appears that the only certainty is that they'll be in prison for at least 10 years. And after 10 years they would be eligible for parole.
I doubt very seriously whether they would in fact be given parole after a 10-year period, but that possibility still exists.
So the additional charges, if they were in fact convicted here on that, on the murder of Berg, would be to add a consecutive sentence to their 10-year term?
That would be our desire, yes.
Mr. Early, I know justice is your primary concern, but we know that it costs a lot of money to hold those trials in Seattle.
Is money a concern to you here?
No, it's not. I think that if we have a case that we believe that we can prove, we should in fact file that case.
And where the money comes from in order to prosecute the case is another issue.
Are you going to tell us now whether or not you will file charges?
What we're going to do is send a team up to Seattle. Hopefully those individuals will have a chance to talk to the jurors who tried this case,
because those are the people who have the best perspective on the evidence in the case.
In addition to that, we're going to talk to them about issues relative to the evidence, as if though some of it had not existed.
For instance, the federal authorities were able to charge Charles Matthews, the individual, excuse me, Robert Matthews, the individual who died on Whidbey Island,
and in doing so were able to get into evidence statements which he had made while he was still alive.
We will not be able to do that, and without those statements we want to see what the jury's impression of the evidence would be.
There are other evidentiary issues like that we want to discuss with them.
Of course, at this point we're dealing with these three only as suspects. Are you looking for anybody else in connection with the Berg murder?
Well, certainly Mr. Scutari is another target suspect in the case, but he is yet to surface.
No word on where he is right now?
No.
All right, again, thank you very much for joining us, Mr. Raleigh.
Sure, thanks, Ward.
Police in the metro area are being urged to be especially cautious this weekend.
An inmate at the State Penitentiary who has vowed to kill any police officer who messes with him is going to be paroled from Canyon City tomorrow afternoon.
Ronald Wayne Hovormale Jr. was involved in a shootout with Aurora Police and a high-speed chase almost two years ago.
Thousands of radio listeners heard the chase in progress when Don Martin and the KHOW traffic plane radioed developments in the chase.
It ended when Hovormale's car collided with several other vehicles on Federal Boulevard several blocks north of Bellevue.
Inside Hovormale's car at the time, police found two rifles and homemade explosives including a rocket, a pipe bomb, and a hand grenade.
Hovormale was convicted and spent more than a year in prison.
While at Canyon City, though, he sent this letter to the probation department in Arapahoe County.
It said in part, I have just begun to delve into the world of violence.
I am on the borderline of committing murder, and I hope that your SWAT teams have the necessary equipment to match mine.
Hovormale was in the Marine Corps, has some knowledge of weapons and explosives.
The letter also contained a threat against the assistant district attorney who convicted him.
Police say they're taking some special precautions this week to protect those who were threatened in the letter.
An Aurora officer told 9 News this afternoon that part of Hovormale's parole requires him to live in West Virginia with his family.
He should be going there from Denver in a few days.
Still to come in the hour, President Reagan reacts to the Graham Rudman Act being declared unconstitutional.
The people who work at the Loveland Post Office really love their work, and they've got a lot of work to do.
And we'll tell you about a treat that drives some dogs crazy.
We're coming up.
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President Reagan still vows to eliminate the budget deficit despite the court challenge to the federal law, which would force a balanced budget.
In his weekly radio speech, the president said he would go forward with plans to end the deficit in five years
and promised he won't cut defense or raise taxes in the process.
Mr. Reagan says $38 billion will be needed next year to bring the deficit in line with the Graham-Rudman law.
He says it can be done by cutting out Conrail and other businesses, which should be handled by the private sector and by cutting other federal programs.
Democrats say they have a job training program for people on welfare that's better than President Reagan's proposed welfare package.
The program is being used by welfare mothers in Massachusetts.
The Democrats hope to expand the program to other depressed industries nationwide.
Ron Talley has a report from our Washington bureau.
Employment training in Massachusetts is altogether different than the traditional workfare concept.
Here, welfare mothers get extensive job training, up to nine months, in meaningful careers of their choice, like electronics or medical technology,
not makeshift public service cleanup, and that's why it seems to be working.
In two years, this statewide experiment has produced 23,000 graduates, like electronics tech Doris Peneo
and hospital med tech Ruby Sampson, who with 17 years on welfare between them are now wage-earning taxpayers.
My life has changed. I have a new family. My children are very happy. They're different children. I'm a different person. The old Ruby is dead.
My children don't have to listen to no, no, no all the time just for an ice cream. They can have more than one pair of shoes a year.
I don't have to hold my head down anymore.
We have found through two massive hiring programs that the best employees that we've received are the employees through the E.T. choices program.
Over 6,000 employers who have hired E.T. graduates know it works, and three million Massachusetts taxpayers know it works
because we expect to save about $107 million in taxes.
Dukakis and other Democrats brought this job training program to Washington to show the president there's no need for a year-long study of our welfare system
and to convince the White House it could help laid-off textile workers in the South, unemployed copper miners out West, even struggling farmers.
And there's no question in my mind that this is an idea that will work no matter who you're talking about.
Ron Talley, Nine News, The Washington Bureau.
The deadline was today to get those Valentine greetings stamped at the Loveland Post Office.
Every year the Post Office will stamp Valentine's with a special poem and the Loveland postmark for any romantics who want to impress their sweetheart.
A special staff of 10 postal workers and 50 senior citizens were busy today getting those last-minute Valentine messages in the mail.
Postal clerk Dana Reckling says up until yesterday it looked as if people were being a little less romantic than usual because they'd only received 100,000 envelopes.
But today we got a considerable amount in and we should come pretty close to 200,000 today.
So hopefully we should come real close to the 300,000 that we've hit the last two years.
According to Reckling, love has no bounds for some people. They average 100 Valentine's sent to foreign countries each year.
If you'd like to send your Valentine's something other than a written message this year, some May DNF stores in the area might be able to help you out.
The stores are offering to videotape your Valentine message.
You get three minutes to perform your Valentine message or you can write something yourself or use scripts that the store has prepared.
It costs, we were told, is $9.
A Denver couple is betting that you love your dog enough to shell out $8 to buy it gourmet dog treats.
Neal and Lois Alterman have come up with their own recipe for the canine snacks, which uses all natural ingredients.
They say the snacks are the only ones like them on the market.
Business editor Mike Feerberg says the way the treats are sold is as unique as the product itself.
There isn't much to distinguish this gas station on Leedsdale from any other until you see the sign on the window.
This is where you can buy Nooky's Cookies nowhere else.
They're not made here, of course. That's done in a small catering kitchen in Littleton.
The recipe is simple. Liver, flour, cornmeal, oil, water, and a pinch of garlic for flavor.
It's all mixed in a Cuisinart, of course. How else would you make gourmet dog treats?
It took Neal and Lois Alterman a long time to find the right proportions through trial and error.
They started trying because their dog Sam was hyperactive, but he wouldn't eat his food.
We did this for about a year and a half until we finally came up with a recipe that worked.
And the dog was crazy about it, and so he used to crumble it in the dog food and then he'd eat. Otherwise he didn't.
Now Sam will behave perfectly if there's a cookie within range of his nose.
It doesn't take much time to realize he loves these things, but to succeed commercially you need wider appeal, a diverse sample.
Are you ready to have us do the nine-opinion pole taste test?
Oh my gosh, yes.
Our unscientifically selected pole subjects, Clyde, the 11-year-old Spaniel owned by Ed Sardella,
Willie, a 15-month-old Lab Retriever mix, and Zach, a 10-year-old of Uncertain Parrotage,
both owned by photographer Jeff Simmons, and Humphrey, the occasionally well-behaved Basset hound
who allows this reporter to share his home.
We asked each dog whether he preferred his tried-and-true snack treat or Nooky's cookies.
All right, go.
Willie, here's Nooky's cookie and here's your treat that you like, okay?
Which one do you want? Which one do you want? Which one do you want?
He wanted his treat. Milk bone here, your favorite. Here's Nooky's cookies, okay?
Okay.
Not even close.
Okay.
Our opinion poll results, 75% favor Nooky's cookies, 25% like what they have now.
If you're encouraged and your dog is a finicky eater, remember the treats are $2 for a 4-ounce bag.
They have to be refrigerated and you have to buy them at a gas station.
But Sam and his family think they're on to a good thing, right?
That's a good boy, good boy.
Mike Feerberg, 9 News.
Jim Benham is joining us. The Interstate Bank Cup is going on at Winter Park.
Yeah, it certainly is and Tom Green is up there giving some of these world-class gears, a few pointers.
You know, they're probably a little bit rusty, but Tom's trying to whip them into shape.
We'll go live to Tom Green via Skylink 9 when we come back.
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Casimiro Borello was a politician.
He was first elected to represent the residents of Los Animas County in Colorado's territorial legislature
and continued to serve them without interruption for the next 40 years.
Borello was one of the original framers of Colorado's constitution
and among the first senators to convene in the state Senate chambers.
In those early days, Casimiro lobbied to publish all laws in Colorado's three official languages,
English, Spanish, and German.
He was elected to a term of President Pro Tem of the state Senate in the 1890s.
Midway in his political career, Borello changed party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
But it didn't matter. He was re-elected with ease.
Casimiro Borello's chosen profession as Colorado's perpetual senator spanned more than half a century.
He believed that political and civil service were the most important jobs anyone could do.
He served us well.
With Pride in Colorado, I'm Linda Benzal.
Jim's lucky to have indoor duty tonight.
Poor Tom's up there freezing at one apart.
Tom's up there shivering, but boy, I tell you, he was treated, I'm sure, to just some dynamite skiing.
We talked to some of these skiers earlier as they toured Denver earlier this week.
And although it's a pretty cordial group, they're very friendly, they travel together a lot.
You know when the dough's on the line that they really come out skiing,
this weekend will be no different.
You know, the snows have returned to the high country and the timing couldn't be better.
It's the weekend of the Interstate Bank Cup at Winter Park.
And many of the world's finest skiers are on hand.
Channel 9 KUSA is pleased to be co-sponsoring the event,
which annually is the largest single fundraiser for Winter Park's Handicap Ski Program.
On our Time Out segment today, we go live via Skylink 9-2 Winter Park.
Standing by is Tom Green with more on today's giant slalom event,
which really turned out to be quite the family affair, did it not, Tom?
It did. It's so nice of you to talk about me when you're talking about the world's greatest skiers.
I didn't know you knew I was in the Pro-Am, but that's very nice of you.
I really didn't want to toot my own horn, but thank you very much, Jim.
That's real nice of you.
Getting down to serious brass tacks today, they did have the giant slalom finals today.
There were eight racers when they started today, and when they finished,
one man stood atop the leaderboard, and it was Jarley Halznuss.
And, Jarley, you beat your brother, which is no secret here.
I'm looking at the leaderboard, and the two of you have just dominated the standings this year.
It's been a great year for you both.
It's been a very good year for us both.
We started out very good, being first and second in the first race already.
And we have faced each other five times, you know, so...
And, well, looking at today's race, here's the finish coming up.
It was quite controversial, or at least dangerous.
That's you on the left and your brother on the right.
He almost came over and knocked you over. He got a little out of control at the end.
I had a very good first run against Edwin.
I had a little edge on him, like.1-something.
So he did go 100% for it.
And he got to do that?
Well, he was going a little bit too straight because he wanted to catch me up, you know,
and he couldn't do it.
But a big win for you nonetheless.
Now, you look ahead to something like you go to the Pro-Am later in the afternoon.
How do you get that? You know, you race in a Giant Slalom.
You're racing for points and money.
Then you race in a Pro-Am with a lot of people having some fun.
Is that a lot different for you?
Well, racing the program here, the handicap program, and the Pro-Am thing is very much fun.
We really enjoy it. I'm looking forward to it.
They're hoping to raise $100,000 this year.
I mean, you've been here before. You've seen the work they do.
It's a good cause, isn't it?
It's a good cause, and I think it's nice that racers can participate in things like that.
And when they raise $100,000, you know, it's a big thing.
Quickly, you got a prediction for tomorrow's slalom.
You're predicting yourself to win?
Well, you never know, but right now I'm looking very good.
I'm skiing very good, and you never know.
Slalom here is very tough, demanding, long hill, about 50 gates.
It's going to take about 40 seconds.
So if you meet five opponents, you have to go 10 runs, and that's going to kill you.
Well, good luck to you tomorrow.
Yarley Halzner is today's winner of the Giant Slalom and the first interstate bank cup here at Winter Park.
Reporting live via Skylink 9 from Winter Park, Tom Green, Nine Sports.
All right, Tom, thank you.
And we will look forward, Tom, we'll have more on that action up there a little bit later on in sports.
All right, sounds great. Ward?
Cliff Nicholson says our weekend is going to stay white.
We'll talk to him in a moment.
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