Washington and the West

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., center, pushes immigration reform along with (from left) Sens. Arlen Specter, Joseph Leiberman and Edward Kennedy. (AP)

The debate over the nation’s borders is approaching a possible vote. Washington and the West brings you The Denver Post’s coverage of the immigration issue, including Ken Salazar’s push for a pathway to immigrant citizenship, Utah’s surprisingly friendly attitude toward illegals, the flood of undocumenteds from terror-watch countries and Colorado’s status as a crossroads for immigrants headed elsewhere.

W&W also has Electa Draper’s report on questions over the Forest Service’s approval of a huge mountain development in Colorado, Anne C. Mulkern’s look at Colorado’s lack of clout in Congress and Mike Soraghan’s exit interview with Gale Norton. We also report on the 2006 campaign front.

What’s your opinion? Offer your comments inside each posting.

By Mike Soraghan

Mountain goats cavort on Mount Evans west of Denver. The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to sell parcels of its land on the mountain’s flanks. Post file

Washington — For years, selling off some of the U.S. government’s vast land holdings has been a goal of many Western conservatives. But now it’s become the third rail of the region’s politics: touch it and you’ll get burned.

Consider the reaction to the Bush administration’s proposal this year to sell off hundreds of thousands of acres of national forests and other public lands: Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., declared the plan “dead on arrival.� It was quickly rejected by the public and disowned by Republicans in Congress.

Now, the selloff proposal — while it remains alive — has been pushed into the shadows. Even President Bush’s new Interior secretary has spoken out against a key aspect of the plan.

“Among congressional Republicans, there’s a recognition that this can’t be done. But the administration seems stuck with its proposal,â€? said Daniel Kemmis, senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana. Read the rest of this entry »

By Karen E. Crummy

Fed up with the current state of national politics, a bipartisan, independent political organization named Unity08 launched nationwide Tuesday, vowing to offer voters an alternative ticket in the next presidential race.

The group said it intends to offer a split ticket, with one Democrat and one Republican or an independent. Unity08 named Denver as its headquarters, citing the number of moderate voters in Colorado and the fact that many political observers consider it a “purple,” or swing, state. Read the rest of this entry »

By John Aloysius Farrell and Mike Soraghan

A video provided by the Hamourabi human rights group shows covered bodies, which Hamourabi says are of a family shot dead in their home in Haditha, in western Anbar province, Iraq, in November. Reuters

Washington — An attorney for one of three Marine officers relieved of duty following reports of the shooting deaths of two dozen civilians in Iraq by members of their batallion says his client is not a target of the military investigations into the incident.

Capt. James Kimber, the attorney’s client, was one of three officers from the 3rd Batallion, 1st Marine Regiment who was relieved of his command in April for what the Marine Corps said was a “lack of confidenceâ€? in their leadership abilities.

Another was his superior, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chesanni, the battalion commander, from the northwest Colorado town of Rangely. Read the rest of this entry »

By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington — Focus on the Family Action today used newspaper ads to attack Sen. Ken Salazar and 15 other lawmakers who don’t support a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The Colorado Springs conservative group’s ads target at least one senator in each of 13 states. Read the rest of this entry »

By David Olinger

La Junta – In a federally protected grassland, paleontologist Bruce Schumacher worries about the future of a hillside where he is unearthing bones of the largest dinosaur species that ever lived.

To the west, 83-year-old rancher Edith Hall wonders if Army tank tracks will run across the Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts behind her barn.

Two hours south, down a dirt road to an isolated town, parents in Trinchera fear the end of their 55-student school.

They all occupy what Fort Carson calls a “potential area of interest” for expanded military maneuvers - more than 1 million acres in parts of three counties. Read the rest of this entry »

By Nancy Lofholm

Grand Junction - In a scramble reminiscent of the oil-shale boom a quarter century ago, would-be shale developers are promoting plans to bake, microwave, gasify and dig up the rock-locked oil under western Colorado and parts of Utah and Wyoming.

Members of the Senate Energy Committee are coming west today and Thursday to look at some of those efforts. A hearing Thursday in Grand Junction will examine the potential impacts of development of a resource that has stymied energy experts for a century and devastated western Colorado once before. Read the rest of this entry »

By John Ingold

Boulder - A group of anti-war activists is pushing the City Council to become the first in the state to pass a resolution urging U.S. troops be brought home from Iraq. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jeffrey Leib

Al Myers, left, assistant federal security director for screening at DIA, and Patrick Ahlstrom, the airport’s federal security director, stand at a new machine that tests for explosives residue. Special to The Post

Be prepared to hold on to your skirts.

Federal officials have installed explosives trace detection machines at Denver International Airport to enhance security.

The machines work by blowing puffs of air over travelers while they stand in the portal. Read the rest of this entry »

By Mike Soraghan

Rocky Mountain National Park. Post / Mark Harden

Washington — As families head to their national parks this summer, they’ll be paying more and getting less from a Park Service that has been squeezed by flat budgets and rising costs.

Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park raised its visitor fee by $5 in 2005 and has closed one of its visitor centers, in part because of budget cuts. And the park is offering fewer educational services, like nature tours, than in past years.

A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found similar cuts in law enforcement, educational programs and visitor services in many of the nation’s biggest and best-known parks. Read the rest of this entry »

By Joey Bunch

Rangely - National attention is a stranger in these parts, so word that a hometown soldier was relieved of duty amid an investigation into an Iraqi massacre raced through town over the weekend.

“I can’t make myself believe he had anything to do with it,” Martha Wayne said Sunday morning. “Stuff like this makes the war seem a lot closer to here.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Kirk Mitchell, John Aloysius Farrell, Mike Soraghan and Joey Bunch

The Colorado Marine officer relieved of command after his unit was implicated in the deaths of as many as 24 Iraqi civilians in November is not necessarily suspected of participating directly in the killings, people familiar with the situation said.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, 42, a highly decorated officer who grew up in the northwestern Colorado town of Rangely and served in the Gulf War and Panama invasion, was relieved of command of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment, along with two of his commanders, on April 7 for what the military called “lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq.”

No mention was made of the Nov. 19 killings of civilians in the western Iraqi town of Hadithah.

Military, congressional and human rights officials cautioned that the officers’ discipline may not be directly related to the killings, but they did note that a separate investigation is underway into how the incident was reported up the chain of command. Read the rest of this entry »

Washington — In 1783, a mob of Revolutionary War soldiers, demanding back pay, marched on Philadelphia and laid siege to the Continental Congress.

Fearful members of Congress, knowing full well the considerable martial skills and rebellious zeal of the troops, urged Pennsylvania authorities to call out the state militia.

But the Pennsylvanians sided with the soldiers, and Congress ignominiously fled to New Jersey.

And that is why — you can look it up — the 550,000 citizens of the District of Columbia have no vote in Congress. Read the rest of this entry »

By Mike Soraghan

Washington — Federal officials say they there’s no reason to hold up work on a U.S. Forest Service permit for a huge resort development at Wolf Creek ski area in southwest Colorado, despite a request by Sen. Ken Salazar that they do so. Read the rest of this entry »

By Mike Soraghan

Washington — Dirk Kempthorne was sworn in as Interior secretary Friday, replacing Coloradan Gale Norton after overcoming limited Democratic opposition to his confirmation in the Senate.

Kempthorne, who has made it clear he wants to re-tool the Endangered Species Act, was confirmed on a voice vote Friday after an 85-8 procedural vote. Read the rest of this entry »