Mountain Town News
By Allen Best
Some sexual liaisons illegal
BASALT, Colo. – Where does the line fall in sexual relations between adults and minors? In the case of the football coach from Penn State, things clearly were wrong.
And they were also clearly wrong, in the eyes of the law, in the case of a 25-year-old basketball coach and health instructor at Roaring Fork High School. The teacher, a 2004 alumnus of the school and star basketball player, was accused of having sex with a student who was 17 when the consensual relationship began.
The coach, who is female, is being charged with sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, with a pattern of abuse. In a similar case, a 30-year-old wrestling coach and social studies teacher at another high school in Colorado was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison after having had sex with a 17-year-old female student three times.
The Aspen Times explains that under Colorado law, an 18-year-old can have a consensual sexual relationship with an older adult, even a teacher. That would violate the policy of most schools, but it’s not against the law. A 17-year-old can also have sexual relations with an adult of any age. What’s illegal is for an adult in a position of trust to have sex with anybody under his or her supervision when they’re 17 or younger.
Ski area beacons a no-no
WHITEFISH, Mont. – What constitutes advertising and what is educational?
At Whitefish, the ski area wanted to erect two flashing beacons on the side of a local microbrewery. One beacon would indicate fresh powder on the ski hill, and the other would indicate an inversion, leaving the town in fog but with clear skies up on the mountain. Both, of course, would indicate it’s time to hie to the slopes, if at all possible.
Because it’s essentially a commercial message, reports the Whitefish Pilot, the signs violate the city’s sign code. One option, reported the city attorney, is to put the same beacons on a city-owned building. As such, the beacons would then be considered information that benefits the public. The resort seems uninterested in that.
Houses keep getting bigger
PARK CITY, Utah – It would seem that houses are continuing to get bigger at Park City. The city is big enough to have both the old miners’ houses, which are mostly small, and the mansions of Deer Valley.
Yet based simply on averages, houses are getting bigger: a 35 percent increase since 1990. As of 2010, the average new home was 6,824 square feet.
The Park Record explains that the larger houses typically are built on large lots and by people who think they need a mansion for all their kids and grandchildren on Christmas Day.
But both real estate agents and an architect tell the newspaper that there’s now a slight downward trend in house size, owing partly to utility bills.
Biz boost hoped from new name
BOZEMAN, Mont. – The airport just west of Bozeman now has a tuxedo name. Instead of plain-old Gallatin Field, reflecting the valley where it is located, the new name is the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.
The new name comes on the heels of a $40 million upgrade in the terminal, which will allow the airport to accommodate 1.5 million people arriving and departing each year. Last year, the airport handled 400,000 passengers, a record.
By adding the name “international,” directors think they may be able to attract more visitors from foreign countries. They aim to make the airport the first choice for visitors to Yellowstone National Park, which is 90 minutes away. Airport director Brian Sprenger says the simple name change should increase business by 5 to 10 percent.
Passenger volume has grown by 19 percent since 2005. The airport serves as a link to Big Sky, Yellowstone Club and other ski areas about an hour away, as well as the closer-in Bridger Bowl.
The airport has direct flights to 14 metropolitan markets across the country, and is adding a direct flight this summer to New York City. The flight, costs United Airlines $68,000 per trip, and is being subsidized with a $950,000 federal grant and by $688,000 from resorts at Big Sky and the Bozeman chamber of commerce.
