This Week in History

10 years ago

• The Northern Colorado Regional Forensics Laboratory, a cooperative crime lab, held an open house to celebrate completion of the $3.8 million facility designed to improve the efficiency of local law enforcement by focusing on Weld and Larimer county cases. The 19,974-square-foot lab was finished ahead of schedule and more than $100,000 under budget, offering a place to immediately process evidence that otherwise would be sent to Denver with lab results often delayed. “We were experiencing some instances with 18-month backlogs,” Loveland Police Chief Luke Hecker said. “If you can imagine being a victim of a burglary and having the police officer in your living room telling you we will send this to the lab and maybe two years from now let you know if we have a result — that was unacceptable.”

• Laserforce International, a manufacturer of laser tag equipment, had opened its first North American assembly facility in Loveland at 399 N. Denver Ave. Staff were to assemble and test equipment and provide training and operational support for facilities across North America. The 25-year-old Laserforce was headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, where all of its manufacturing took place until the company branched out into Loveland.

• Someone stole a 46-inch Samsung flat screen television from the patio of the Associated Veterans Club in Loveland. “Stealing from a church is one of the worst things you can do, but to steal from a veterans club? To me that’s right up there,” said American Legion manager Sherry Woods. She said she suspected the perpetrator climbed onto the roof from behind the building and hoisted the television over the fence to an accomplice.

• The Loveland City Council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance to lift a ban on ice cream trucks in the city, giving ice cream truck operators access to temporary vending licenses. The change came after Mayor Cecil Gutierrez received a letter from 7-year-old Maddie Bellman, who wrote: “I wish Loveland had ice cream trucks because I think it’s cool from a truck instead of a store. I think kids in Loveland would really like to see ice cream trucks. I hope you change the law.” Other council members said they had received multiple requests for the change from other residents, as well, and from ice cream truck operators. The city never specifically aimed to ban ice cream trucks, but they fell under the category of mobile vending, which was banned in a municipal code enacted in 1985 and again adopted in 2020 aimed at door-to-door salespeople.

• Loveland attorney Troy Krenning announced that he would run to represent Ward 1 on the Loveland City Council, saying his desire to give back to a community where he was born and raised led to his decision to run. “Loveland has been good to me,” he said. “I absolutely see it as a way to serve back.”

• The Loveland City Council voted unanimously to ban any marijuana establishments from being licensed, located and operated within city limits, opting out of voter-approved Amendment 64. The amendment legalized retail sales of marijuana but also allowed for every community to make its own decision on allowing commercial sale and cultivation of pot through licensed establishments.

• Representatives from the House of Neighborly Service said they were planning to request $500,000 from the city of Loveland to help fund a Community Life Center to serve as a centralized location of social services that help alleviate and prevent poverty and homelessness. A capital campaign had raised $1.4 million toward the $3.5 million needed for the first phase of the three-phase project, including purchasing a 74,000-square-foot building at 1511 E. 11th St. and making the initial renovations to allow the House of Neighborly Service and its existing tenants, the Center

for Adult Learning, Neighbor to Neighbor and Hand Up Cooperative, to move there.

25 years ago

• Fort Collins police announced the arrest of Timothy Masters in connection with the 1987 murder of Peggy Hettrick. Masters was 15 at the time of the killing and 27 at the time of his arrest. He was later convicted and sentenced to prison, only to be exonerated by DNA after 10 years behind bars. Masters won a $10 million settlement for his wrongful conviction that also led to charges against a police lieutenant; two judges, who were prosecutors at the time, were eventually voted out of their jobs. The murder of Hettrick, who died at age 37, remains unsolved.

• Larimer County District Attorney Stu Vanmeveren cleared a Loveland Police Department corporal of any wrongdoing after the officer shot a man who had thrown a knife at him. Vanmeveren said the officer acted within the law, which allows officers to use physical force when necessary to defend themselves or others. A police review board had cleared the corporal previously.

• The Thompson School District Board of Education was considering asking voters for a mill levy override to prevent budget cuts across the district. The superintendent said the money was needed to buy books and pay for additional staffing in order to open a new high school for the 2000-01 school year. Voters previously approved a bond issue to build the school.

• Loveland resident Dan Cochran announced that he would run for Colorado lieutenant governor on the Libertarian ticket. He said his campaign would focus on education and tax relief.

• Two truck drivers who worked for the Loveland Walmart Distribution Center were headed to the national competition of the American Trucking Association after placing first in different categories at the state contest. Gary Plant placed first in state in the tank-truck class, while Rick Caylor topped the five-axle sleeper berth class. The previous year, Plant had placed third in the national competition.

• Economic officials said Loveland turned into a boomtown with the Larimer County Fair, Sculpture in the Park and the Sculpture Invitational drawing thousands to the city on the same weekend. Businesses across the county, from the outlet mall on the eastern edge to downtown, reported increased sales and hotels were full.

• A national news account pointed out that the 44,603 people killed while traveling in the U.S. in 1996 was equal to the overall population of Loveland, Ocala Fla. or Lafayette, Ind.

• Jim Alderden, Republican candidate for Larimer County sheriff, defeated sitting Republican Sheriff Richard Shockley by a 2-1 margin in the primary election with 10,138 votes to Shockley’s 5,830. There was no Democratic candidate running for sheriff, so the vote secured the seat for Alderden, who attributed his win to a campaign based on principles and values.

• The Loveland City Council decided to pursue putting a sales-tax increase on the ballot to pay for a 120-acre youth athletic complex to include baseball, soccer and football fields along with lighting.

50 years ago

• Rocky Mountain National Park officials agreed to refund nearly $16,000 in fees after a complaint by a camper led to a ruling that a $1 increase for campgrounds, instituted that June, was in violation of an economic directive of the Nixon administration. The money was to be refunded in two ways — those with a receipt showing they paid the increased fee could get $1 per night refunded, and the park also decided to charge half the current rate per night until the entire overcharge was paid back to the public.

• The Thompson School District board of education was considering increasing hot lunches to 40 cents for elementary students, 45 cents for secondary students and 55 cents for adults. Even with the increase, schools were looking at ways to change district menus due to tight budgets; the district was expecting to receive less in federal funding. A cafeteria manager said she expected fewer hamburger dishes and more items like tacos and lasagna that require other ingredients such as beans and cheese.

• The Thompson school board decided to begin offering structured physical education classes to all elementary students during the 1973-74 school year. Most elementary schools had not participated in any physical education. But with the opening of new schools and addition of staff, there was expected to be enough space and resources to offer physical education to the younger students, too.

• The theme for the Larimer County Fair Parade was “Do you remember when!”

• A lawsuit aiming to rescind a permit for a quarry west of Berthoud was thrown out by visiting Judge Earl Wovington in district court in Fort Collins. Members of a group called People Resisting Industrial Destruction of the Environment, or PRIDE, had filed a lawsuit against the Larimer County commissioners, hoping to force a public hearing on a rezoning and use permit that had been approved for a quarry west of Berthoud. Martin Marietta of Denver, which was developing the site, had been stripping topsoil from the location for two weeks and was also named in the suit. The judge ruled that regulations that had been altered after the permit was approved were not retroactive; he also said that special review was not required at the time of approval but that the county had, in fact, gone through that procedure.

• The Larimer County commissioners found that most of the county’s wages were in line with those paid by other area governments except for employees of the road and bridge department. So, the commissioners voted to give those 105 men a raise, retroactive to the first of August; some employees received a pay bump of 20% more.

• Loveland officials announced that the city had purchased sound-measuring devices capable of measuring decibels emitted by vehicles, as well as industrial noise and other sounds, to be used when the city began enforcing noise ordinances in September. Training on how to use the measuring instrument was underway, with plans to certify two officers to operate the noise meters.

• A Loveland man, who had testified before a grand jury investigating organized crime in Denver, filed a complaint against the Rocky Mountain News, claiming its reporter called to let him know he had a copy of a transcript from the secret grand jury hearing and threatened to reveal the witness’s address if he spoke to other news agencies about his testimony before the News had published its story. Loveland police confirmed the complaint and said it was being investigated. Angered by the threat, the man said he called the Denver Post to break the story ahead of the News. He also pointed out that: “No one will want to testify before a grand jury if they know that their testimony could be in the newspapers.”

120 years ago

• The Aug. 6, 1903, issue of the Loveland Reporter stated that the newspaper had a limited number of maps of the United States, 4 feet by 5 feet in size, “colored by states, with practically every town in the Union shown,” and it was offering them for free to subscribers who paid in advance for one year.

• After having formed a company of National Guard members, Loveland residents turned toward forming a regimental band. “If the Loveland band should be made a ‘regimental band’ it would be a move toward great advancement,” the Aug. 6, 1903, issue of the Loveland Reporter said.