Steamboat Pilot & Today

FELDMANN CASE DELAYED AGAINThe special prosecutor investigating former 14th Judicial District Attorney Charles Feldmann has been taken off the case, further delaying an already lengthy inquiry.

Fifth Judicial District Attorney Michael Goodbee, instead of Rob Wheeler, will decide whether Feldmann used an expense fund inappropriately while Feldmann was a prosecutor for the District Attorney's Office in Steamboat Springs.

Wheeler, who worked out of Goodbee's Georgetown office, was placed on administrative leave in December for confirming information to his girlfriend embattled Georgetown Mayor Koleen Brooks, a controversial former stripper who is the target of an unrelated investigation.

"It wasn't criminal," Goodbee said of Wheeler's actions. "But it was clearly inappropriate."

Feldmann is working for a Steamboat Springs law firm.

WEST END VILLAGE GETS NEW HOPEWest End Village, the city's first deed-restricted affordable housing project, is under contract and could be sold within the month.

Connell Resources has scheduled a closing date of Jan. 15 to purchase the 30-acre parcel off Downhill Drive.

Half of the homes in the project as many as 83 are to be set aside for affordable housing. The company is now doing due diligence to review development plans and other factors before deciding whether to close.

The company can choose not to complete the deal, but this first step has given some a renewed sense of hope that the project might become a reality this year.

OFFICERS BUSY ON NEW YEAR'S EVEDrunken drivers might have gotten an easy break over New Year's Eve in Steamboat Springs.

With 27 calls between the hours of 4:30 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Steamboat Springs Police Department was responding to calls, not patrolling the streets for intoxicated drivers.

"New Year's is where (the police department) tries to do a lot of DUI enforcement, but we were so busy with call responses that we didn't have the time to do as much enforcement as we would have liked," Steamboat police officer Nick Bosic said Tuesday.