GEORGETOWN MAYOR ADMITS TO SMOKING POT

GEORGETOWN - Koleen Brooks, the mayor of Georgetown, is an occasional pot
smoker, she says.

Residents of Georgetown are divided over whether Mayor Koleen Brooks is
telling the truth about an assault she reported on Feb. 16. Authorities are
expected to release the results of their investigation today.

She made the admission while explaining that she feared that someone may
have planted incriminating evidence in her house. The Colorado Bureau of
Investigation has been investigating her report that she was attacked near
her home Feb. 16. She believes that the CBI has actually been building a
case against her to show that she made up the attack, she said.

Authorities are expected to announce today what action they will take in
the case.

Brooks told The Denver Post this week that her political adversaries in
Georgetown had been plotting against her, that the plot may have included
the attack that she reported, and that she believed the CBI was in
"cahoots" with her adversaries, who she said include local police.

"I am not a drug user," she said. "I smoke pot. I take one puff once in a
great while. If there's anything else there, it's because they put it
there, and they're waiting for a felony, so I cannot run for re-election.
This is what they've been working on from the very beginning."

She also told reporter Ward Lucas of 9News that she smoked pot 15 minutes
before an interview with him this week, according to the station.

Although many in Georgetown hadn't learned of the latest revelation
Wednesday night, Georgetown Selectman Edwin Tomasi said he thought it was
just the latest bit of salaciousness from the media - too much has been
made, for example, of Brooks' past as a stripper in a Denver nightclub, he
said.

Still, he said that it wasn't appropriate for a public official to do drugs.

"If the citizens or the younger citizens are looking to either the mayor or
any of the councilmen as leaders, as people who are setting an example for
them, then I think it's a bad idea," he said. "I do think that elected
officials need to set an example for the public."

But others in town said they didn't think Brooks' admission was germane to
the political debate over Brooks. The mayor, who has been criticized for
being an imperious and counterproductive influence on town government,
faces a recall election April 2, as does every one of the town's five
selectmen save Tomasi.

"I don't think marijuana is the issue here," said resident Norman Franck.
"To me, whether she smokes or not is irrelevant."

But Tomasi said he thought the revelation could make Brooks' attempt to
survive recall that much more difficult.

"I would be inclined, probably, to not vote for someone that I knew smoked
pot," he said.

Brooks' revelation came just as authorities were getting ready to announce
what they intended to do about her reported attack.

That announcement is expected to be made this morning, said Assistant
District Attorney Karen Romeo.

"There are three options," Romeo said Wednesday. "We will consider charging
the mayor, we will consider charging her attacker, and we will consider
charging nobody. The decision will be made public tomorrow."

She refused to say whether an assault suspect exists. If it's Brooks whose
name appears in an arrest affidavit today, she could face felony charges of
tampering with evidence and influencing a public servant, and a misdemeanor
charge of false reporting, Romeo said.

Whatever happens, the decision will be big news in Georgetown, where gossip
about what many call "the alleged assault" has been dominating conversation
lately.

"How can it not be, when the first thing you're asked by people who haven't
been here before is, "Where do I go to see the mayor's (breasts)?' " asked
Cheryl Heinmann, a Silver Plume resident who owns the Well Read Bean in
Georgetown with her husband, Harry. The reference was to a reported
incident in a bar in which Brooks allegedly bared her breasts. "This is a
small town, so it's affecting people. We're in the news."

"If there was an attack, it certainly wasn't political," said Wendy
Anderson, whose family has owned the Kneisel & Anderson general store on
Sixth Street since 1883. "What's really the sad thing is, if she was
attacked, that so few people believe her."

Among those who do believe Brooks is her sister, Kristi Jorgensen,
Jorgensen said.

"I believe her totally," she said. "I know my sister, and I know she was
scared to death. If they can't find somebody who did it, they shouldn't be
blaming her."