A Look Back...

Last New Year's Eve (2008), former Aspenite Jim Blanning planted four homemade bombs near banks in downtown Aspen. The incident closed down 16 blocks of downtown and several businesses suffered huge losses in revenue. The Aspen Police Department was also challenged to tackle an incident unlike anything they had dealt with before. They called in agencies from as far away as Grand Junction and Vail to help block off the area and dismantle the bombs. The evacuation order was lifted at 5 AM on New Year's Day, leaving businesses like restaurants empty-handed on one of their busiest nights.

Since the bomb scare, some restaurants have recovered, but just barely. Denise Walters with Social and Elevation restaurants says the evacuation kick-started a tough year, combined with the recession. The eateries lost 5% of their total revenue that night and the recession pushed revenues down 20 to 30% compared to the year before. Fortunately, the restaurants are nearly booked for this New Year's Eve and the staff is positive.

For the Aspen Police Department, the biggest success of their response to the incident was that no one was hurt and no major property damage was reported. But, the Department realized they needed more radios, as batteries died during the night. And, phone calls backed up so the Department expanded their phone and computer capacity. Officers also realized they needed to communicate with local media more during significant incidents.

Despite the lessons learned and hardships battled, the incident is now just a "foggy memory," according to Walters. Now, there's nothing more to look toward but the future.

Holiday Struggles

It seems the Holiday season brings out the best and most difficult circumstances in a community. Today I did a story about how the Toys for Tots charity in Basalt is struggling to raise donations for needy people in the mid-Valley. Organizers believe people are so strapped for cash, they are waiting until they buy their own Christmas gifts before buying some for others. It's hard to hear about the impoverished side of our community--people having difficulty paying rent or putting food on the table. Maggie Cruz of the Roaring Fork Family Resource Center at the Basalt schools says basic needs assistance has gone up. More people are applying for programs like Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus, which is a low-income insurance plan for children. More people are applying for Toys for Tots too--the number of families who asked for gifts this year was more than double what it was in 2007. Cruz says most of the poverty she sees is centralized to the trailer parks in El Jebel and Basalt, where large families often squeeze into small living spaces.

If you would like to donate to Toys for Tots, you can find donation boxes at Alpine Bank, Aspen Valley Hospital, Big "O" Tire, Basalt Community United Methodist Church, Novel-Tea Bookstore, Red Rock Diner, American Furniture Warehouse, Capo Tile, Christopher and Banks, Edward Jones and Moe's Southwest Grill. The boxes will be picked up on Friday.