Local News

Idaho Springs resident Joseph Dykstra, 34, pleaded guilty in district court on May 15 to a felony and two misdemeanors in connection with a hit-and-run accident that led to a standoff with the SWAT team earlier this year.

Dykstra was charged with a class 4 felony of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury and with two misdemeanors, driving under the influence and child abuse not resulting in injury.

The Idaho Springs city council will vote May 28 on whether to create a paid deputy treasurer position to help the city treasurer if an inexperienced candidate is elected in November.

Council members are concerned that an inexperienced city treasurer would not be able to handle the duties and obligations of the post. However, Mayor Jack Morgan believes a deputy treasurer is unnecessary, and that Idaho Springs residents don’t support the move. City voters have twice rejected converting the elected position into a hired one.

For its 58th season, Georgetown’s Hotel de Paris Museum is opening two rooms that previously were closed to the public to make the building’s history come alive for visitors.

The hotel opened May 17 to give officials from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Georgetown Inc., History Colorado and other organizations a peek at the two previously off-limits areas.

Museum director Kevin Kuharic, who was hired in 2010, has worked to make the museum a more interactive experience.

With a leash-straining lurch and a cacophony of barking, more than 100 dogs and as many runners jerked forward to begin the Canine on the Creek 5K Run on Saturday morning.

Several four-legged participants resorted to walking on hind legs in their enthusiasm to hurry along their slower owners.

For the past two years, runners and walkers have gathered at Charlie’s Place, the Clear Creek/Gilpin County Animal Shelter in Dumont, to raise funds for the shelter and share their enthusiasm for all things canine.