VIOLENT SUMMER IN ASPEN VALLEY

Is It the Meth? Are Race Relations Going Downhill?

ASPEN - An unusual amount of violence has broken the perception of
safety recently in the Roaring Fork Valley, where gunplay and assault
used to seem like the problems of distant cities.

"There's definitely a trend going," said one agent for the federal
Drug Enforcement Agency in the valley. "We've seen an increase in
overall violence. A lot of it doesn't get reported. There are more
domestics, more knives, more guns being picked up. In the valley, we
didn't see that stuff before."

With the shooting of a Glenwood police officer, a wild car chase in
Aspen, a slaying in Glenwood and gunfire in Basalt, the valley seems
to have awoken to a different reality this summer. It is clear,
however, that violent crime in the upper valley has not been anything
like that in towns such as Rifle, Parachute and Glenwood Springs.

"The thing in Basalt is an aberration. I do not believe it is a signal
for the future," said Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis.

Aspen has seen a few unusual incidents, as well as a shooting June 26
at the Basalt 7-Eleven. And, after the recent violence, there has been
speculation about the causes behind it - with some pointing the finger
at an increase in methamphetamine use and others blaming a burgeoning
Latino population.

The agent said the two suspected causes are related, though not in a
way most would think.

He explained that while most meth used to be made in smaller labs, it
is now produced for far less expense in superlabs in Mexico and
trafficked along with cocaine from Colombia. Methamphetamine can cause
extreme paranoia, as well as long sleepless periods that lead to a
breakdown in decision-making and higher tendency toward violence, the
agent said.

"A lot of dealers who used to just have coke now have meth and coke,"
the agent said. "That's why we're seeing more meth up here, because
it's being pushed south-up. The meth is now readily available. When
times get bad, [users] just go with whatever."

The agent said meth-related crime has increased in Aspen, though local
agencies are not seeing anything near the uptick in violence that
downvalley agencies have seen.

"Some of our most difficult cases with the most potential for harm to
people were meth-related," said Deputy District Attorney Gail Nichols.
"We don't get a lot, but we are going to be getting the residuals.
People are coming up here to socialize." The most recent example of a
meth-related incident was that of Phillip Vigil, 27, who allegedly led
police on a five-hour chase through the upper valley while on meth.
Still, Nichols said crime in Aspen is mostly alcohol-related, though
meth sometimes can cause more high-profile crimes. If the Latino
population has something to do with increasing violence, the agent
said, it has to do with Mexican drug cartels and gangs, and not the
average immigrant.

"As far as the violence goes, we're seeing more gang taggings," he
said. "A lot of it could be wannabes, but we're definitely seeing more
organization."

Law enforcement officials in the valley are by and large in agreement
that a burgeoning Latino population cannot be blamed for the violence,
though many said the violence has been detrimental to race relations
here.

"It's getting frightening because people are tense," said Maria
Munday, Pitkin County's Latino-Anglo liaison.

The shooting at the 7-Eleven resulted from an altercation over race
issues, according to police documents. The men police are seeking two
Latino males in the recent shooting of a Glenwood Springs police officer.

Incidents like that aggravate problems just below the surface, Munday
said. And Braudis echoed that by talking of threatening graffiti that
closed Aspen schools in May.

"The perceived tension that was illuminated with the Port-a-Potty
blogs, after deeper inquiry, we realized was not a new reality,"
Braudis said. "This has been going on for many years here."