Slideshow: A town rebuilds, but is never the same, after tornado

Barry Gutierrez / for NBC News

Limon librarian Lucille Reimer holds a historical photograph of the town bank destroyed by a 1990 tornado. The building was reborn as a library. See images of the town then and now.

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One generation after a 206-mph tornado pulverized and vacuumed away most of the historic downtown and damaged one-third of the homes in Limon, Colo., librarian Lucille Reimer has a small hitch in her voice when she describes the initial dawn after the storm, the first day of revival.

“The most amazing site. The sun was coming up. People were just starting to move around. And I saw them — hundreds of police cars, all coming in to help,” recalled Reimer, who was a reporter for the local newspaper, The Limon Leader, when a June 6, 1990 twister nearly scraped away the little village of about 2,000 people in eastern Colorado, injuring 17 people, displacing hundreds, yet killing none. "Seeing all those flashing lights arriving, well, it still gives me shivers." 

Over the past 23 years, Limon has reinvented its look, retained much of its population and reclaimed its status as a stout plains anchor where stranded travelers find friendly shelter when white-out blizzards close the nearby interstate highway. The town has returned to its reputation as a plucky refuge after enduring a short spell as a place in desperate need of extra hands.   

The same ragged roadmap — reconstruction and resurrection — has been followed repeatedly in towns slashed or decimated by house-chewing tornadoes. They’re still rebuilding in Joplin, Mo., where on Wednesday residents paused in silence to mark the second anniversary of the twister that claimed 161 people. And they’re mourning again in Moore, Okla., which lost 36 people in a 1999 twister and where searchers this week combed the carnage from Monday’s tornado that took another 24 lives. 

Looking back, some parallels can be seen when comparing the early renaissance of Limon and the ongoing recovery in Joplin. One year after the catastrophic storm struck Joplin, officials there had erected a new hospital to replace a destroyed medical center. Thirteen months after the Limon tornado, workers had built a new town hall and a new fire station. 

But there are difficult contrasts as well. Joplin received $1 billion in federal aid to help reassemble. Limon — which sustained $25 million in damage — did not receive a similar federal disaster designation despite its near destruction. Why?

"Nobody got killed," said Joe Kiely, Limon's assistant town manager. After the storm, he drove to Limon from his home in Fort Morgan, Colo., 80 miles to the north, to volunteer in the cleanup for one weekend. He stayed for three weeks and later was offered the job of Limon's recovery director. "We used primarily state money, insurance dollars, and donations from the public." 

The big rebuild
More than two decades later, much of Limon barely resembles its pre-storm form. Small trees, planted along the downtown sidewalks during the early 1990s, now are fully mature and starting to leaf out for summer. Limon’s new town hall was constructed with a modern flair. In all, some 350 building permits were pulled there in the months after the big winds. 

Barry Gutierrez / for NBC News

Joe Kiely, 60, stands in front of the new town hall that replaced the old one destroyed in the 1990 tornado in Limon, Colo.

At his town hall office, Limon town manager Dave Stone scans an old photo of the four-block downtown sector taken before the twister. He counts nine buildings that today are gone, including a bank, two restaurants, the local newspaper's former office, a corner gas station, a vintage hotel, the fire station — and the old town hall.

"The downtown area is drastically different," said Stone, who grew up there. Leaving after the tornado, he adds, "never crossed my mind." 

"I wanted to make sure that town did sustain itself," Stone said. "I don’t know that anybody picked up and left town. Essentially, they stayed here and worked together to reconstruct the community." 

Like any town, Limon has had its comings and goings, its births and deaths during in the past 23 years. But U.S. Census figures back Stone's point: In 1990, there were 1,831 residents; in 2010 there were 1,880. 

While memories of an eerie aftermath remain thick for many folks — the brick rubble, the contorted metal sheets sheered from dozens of mobile homes, the odd chill that filled the darkness after the super cell passed — it is the warmth of what followed that locals prefer to recount.

The launch of the big rebuild seemed to be signaled by that incoming parade of squad cars witnessed by Lucille Reimer. They came from Colorado cities and little burgs to the west, south and east. They followed the twister’s precise path, right down Main Street, where many of the town's businesses, about 80 percent of the local commerce, were ruined or heavily impacted.

'Not one homeless person'
With security re-established by visiting cops, food became the next necessity. The twister hit just after 8 p.m. on a Wednesday. Normally, trucks pulled in on Thursdays to replenish the local grocery’s shelves. A grocery store in the neighboring town of Hugo, Colo., offered to let those same rigs offload their perishables in its backrooms there so that Limon’s hungry residents could drive over to restock their pantries.

But restoring city services — including hooking up utilities and finding temporary headquarters for the police department, ambulance service, government offices and the post office — quickly became priority number one. Simultaneously, anyone with a spare bedroom took in some of the hundreds of people who had lost their homes. In all, 228 of Limon's 750 dwellings were damaged. 

“On Monday morning, when FEMA came to town, there was not one single homeless person,” Reimer said. “Because people took care of their own.”

Some merchants had extra, empty commercial space located away from the ravaged town core, and they offered their storefronts or unused locales to friends and colleagues whose businesses had been blown away, Reimer said. 

Soon, the Army National Guard thundered in to knock down rickety buildings then shovel up and haul away the massive stacks of debris. Before winter 1990, Limon was free of loose bricks, splinters and metal shards.   

'All kinds of progress'
Compare that to Joplin, Mo., where the 2011 tornado took out 553 businesses in a town of about 50,000 people. One year after that storm, 446 of those businesses had re-opened. Today, road signs ripped from the ground have been replaced. Three new schools are being constructed.

"We've made all kinds of progress, just phenomenal progress. I've never seen anything move so fast in my life: new buildings where the old buildings used to be, and businesses, homes, apartments where the old ones all used to be," said Aaron Miller, who owns Midwest Storm Shelters, a local company that constructs residential tornado shelters and safe rooms. His crew has installed at least 600 such units in Joplin since the devastating storm. 

"But there's still empty lots. Being a lifetime resident, I can say it's not the same. It doesn't look the same. Besides the buildings being different, the trees are gone. Joplin was just beautiful for its big trees (before 2011). Now, you might pull up to what used to be a nice shady intersection that had trees growing over the road, and there's just a street light there."

Joe Raedle / Getty Images file

The top photo of this composite image shows family members salvaging what they can from a home after it was destroyed when a massive tornado struck on May 22, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. The bottom photo was taken one year after the tornado, and shows the destroyed buildings and rubble have been removed and new homes have been built.

Unlike Limon, Joplin sustained mass casualties. And those missing friends and family members cast a personal shadow over Joplin that may take generations to fade, that no physical rebuilding boom can begin to pave over or replace. 

"We've put storm shelters in for people who have lost family members. We'll put a storm shelter in, now and then, for somebody that has lifetime scars, where you can tell they were in the tornado — scars on their arms, their legs, even their face. They'll tell you: We were in the tornado," Miller said. "We've had a catastrophic loss of life." 

'A new sense of pride'
Limon’s full re-emergence took about five years, estimates Reimer, now the head librarian and treasurer of the chamber of commerce. 

Local contractors who for years had doggedly competed, trying to outbid and out-hustle each other for jobs, began working side by side to ensure the fastest possible restoration, including resurrecting Limon's grocery store. The overriding spirit on the ground, Reimer said, was marked by "looking out for one another." 

“It all just gave our community a new sense of pride to kind of change an old town to a new look, a perk up,” she said. "Small towns just take care of themselves like that. But we also had a lot of generous help.

“Limon always had a reputation of being there when people needed us — whenever they closed the highway (Interstate 70) during the blizzards, when the wind is blowing and people have nowhere else to go. So people here just take them in. It’s what we do," she said. "But after the tornado, they came in and they took care of us.”

Related:

Full coverage of the Oklahoma tornado tragedy on NBCNews.com

While Oklahoma staggers, Joplin marks 2 years after its own tornado

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is under fire for his decision to block the execution of man convicted of massacring four people at a Chuck E. Cheese in Aurora, Colo., two decades ago.

The Democrat has vowed not to sign a death warrant for Nathan Dunlap as long as he's in office, even though he declined to back an outright repeal of capital punishment two months ago.

Hickenlooper's decision on Dunlap — a day before lawyers for Aurora movie-theater massacre suspect James Holmes were due in court to challenge the death-penalty statute — infuriated some victims' relatives and law-enforcement officials.

"He should die," former Aurora Police Officer Dan Jones, who was the first to arrive at Chuck E. Cheese the night of Dec. 14, 1993, told NBC station KUSA.

"What he did was horrific. And now 20 years later...the governor passes the buck."

Bob Crowell, whose 19-year-old daughter Sylvia was one of those killed, called Hickenlooper a "chicken governor."

"We've waited an awful long time," Crowell said after a heated conference call with the governor on Wednesday. "It's a little like carrying a knife in my back. Today, that night was severely twisted."

Colorado has had the death penalty since 1977, although only one person has been put to death since then and there are just three on Death Row.

Helen H. Richardson / AP

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says he will block the execution of convicted Chuck E. Cheese massacre killer Nathan Dunlap for as long as he is in office.

Dunlap, who ambushed the restaurant workers after he was fired, was scheduled for an Aug. 18 execution. Hickenlooper signed an executive order that will remain in effect at least until his first term ends in 2015.

The governor is running for re-election, and his critics accused him of trying to have it both ways on the divisive death penalty issue.

"It's not a perfect decision and I recognize that," he told KUSA. "But I think the reasons we are doing it this way override that lack of closure [for the victims' families]."

Hickenlooper said he did not support a bill to repeal capital punishment earlier in the year because he did not want to force that decision on his constituents.

At the same time, he said, he could not in good conscience let Dunlap be put to death when studies show execution is not a deterrent to crime and is often applied inconsistently.

“It’s hard to defend the death penalty," he said.

Dunlap's lawyers had asked Hickenlooper to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole, but he declined to do that, leaving open the possibility for his successor to overturn the executive order and send the 39-year-old to the death chamber.

Araphoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said Hickenlooper's move would please few people.

"One person will go to bed with smile on his face and that's Nathan Dunlap," Brauchler said.

Brauchler is seeking the death penalty for the man accused in Aurora's bloodiest crime, the murder of 12 people at a midnight "Batman" screening last July.

James Holmes' lawyers will be in court Thursday to challenge the capital punishment statue on the grounds that it makes an insanity plea untenable.

They said that certain conditions Holmes must accept to mount an insanity defense would hamper their ability to argue he should be spared death during the sentencing phase if he's convicted.

This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 9:01 AM EDT

Sheriffs in Colorado filed a federal lawsuit Friday ahead of the implementation of new state gun laws that broaden background checks and limit the size of ammunition magazines, saying that the bills would be nearly impossible to enforce.

The laws "severely restrict citizens' rights to own, use, manufacture, sell, or transfer firearms and firearms accessories," the sheriffs said in their complaint in the U.S. district court.

"This is a bipartisan effort," said Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. "These are Democratic sheriffs and Republican sheriffs who came together."

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, magazine-maker Magpul Industries, and the Colorado State Shooting Association were among other groups that filed suit alongside sheriffs against the laws, which are set to take effect June 1.

Scarred by some of the deadliest incidents of gun violence in American history, including last year's Aurora movie theater shooting and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, the state's gun control bills gained national attention as various states and the federal government debated new gun restrictions.

The sheriffs said in the filing that their ability to enforce the laws, particularly the ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, will be constrained by other concerns.

"The Sheriffs have limited resources and limited public funds to spend on investigations," they said in the court documents. "They cannot expend those resources to conduct investigations that would be necessary to monitor compliance with the new magazine restrictions. No documentation has ever been required for the retail or private purchase of magazines, making it a practical impossibility for the Sheriffs to determine whether one of the many magazines already in existence was obtained after the effective date."

The sheriffs also said that Coloradans would find it difficult to comply with expanded background check regulations that would require transfers between individuals to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer. That's because many licensed firearms dealers in the state "are unwilling to conduct the transfer under such conditions," they argued.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers released a statement on Friday saying that his office would pursue court rulings on the gun legislation “as expeditiously as possible.”

“Colorado citizens, and law-abiding gun owners in particular, deserve such clarification,” Suthers said in the statement.

The state has 64 sheriffs, said Chris Olson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. The lawsuit is being brought forth “by individual sheriffs” and his organization is not a party to the suit, he said.

At least one lawman has said that deciding which laws are constitutional should stay out of the hands of Colorado’s sheriffs.

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, whose county includes the Aurora movie theater where 12 people were killed last year, released a statement in January pushing back against sheriffs who said they would not enforce new gun laws.

“Public safety professionals serving in the executive branch do not have the constitutional authority, responsibility, and in most case, the credentials to determine the constitutionality of any issue,” Robinson said in the statement. “Law enforcement officials should leave it to the courts to decide whether a law is constitutional or not.”

Robinson identified himself as a supporter of Second Amendment rights in the statement, and said he would like to see better mental health services and stricter penalties for people who commit gun crimes.

Related:

• Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper signs landmark gun-control bills
• Colorado sheriff blasts colleagues over refusal to enforce gun laws
• After Newtown, states slow to embrace new gun laws

The judge who will hear the capital murder case against accused Colorado theater gunman James Holmes said Thursday he will hold a hearing on the constitutionality of Colorado's insanity defense law in death penalty cases.

Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. ruled that he will consider a defense motion that argues the statute is unconstitutional because it prevents  Holmes from calling his own mental-health experts at sentencing if he refuses to cooperate with court-appointed psychiatrists.

This decision comes just three days after Holmes' lawyers said they wanted to change his not guilty plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Holmes appeared in court Monday with a thick, brown beard. He sat wordlessly and stared straight ahead as his attorney, Daniel King, told the judge that the defense has a mental illness diagnosis for the 25-year-old former medical student at University of Colorado-Denver.

Prosecutors said last month that they would seek the death penalty for Holmes.

Earlier in the case, defenders had asked then-presiding Judge William Sylvester to declare Colorado's insanity defense law unconstitutional because it compels a defendant to work with court-appointed psychiatrists, which may violate one's right against self-incrimination. Prosecutors objected to these claims.

But Samour, who was assigned the case last month, ordered both sides to present arguments on the issue at a hearing next week.

Court documents read:

"The Court orders the parties to confer... on the defendant's contention that [the insanity defense law] is unconstitutional to the extent it prevents him from calling any psychiatrist or other expert witness to provide evidence of his mental condition at the sentencing hearing if he fails to cooperate with psychiatrists and other personnel conducting the Court-ordered sanity examination."

Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded on July 20, 2012, at a midnight showing of the movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Holmes has been charged with 166 counts of murder, attempted murder, and other offenses in connection with the massacre.

Related:

Accused Aurora theater shooter requests plea change

Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

Karl Gehring / The Denver Post

Twelve people were killed and 58 injured when a gunman opened fire during the premiere of a Batman movie.

Launch slideshow

A newly released document describes gridlock and confusion after the massacre at a Colorado movie theater last summer — bleeding victims swarming emergency vehicles and a traffic jam caused by a crush of police, firefighters and paramedics.

The response was complicated by initial reports of two bombs in the theater and even by a nearby street-paving operation, according to the document, a review by the Aurora, Colo., fire department published Wednesday by The Denver Post.

Almost as many victims were taken to the hospital by police as by ambulances, and police had to drive some victims up a grassy hill behind the theater to get them help, the newspaper reported.

“There’s always lessons to be learned and lessons to be shared,” Aurora Fire Chief Mike Garcia told the newspaper. “I’m so proud of the response of our firefighters.”

Twelve people were killed and 58 injured on July 20, 2012, when a gunman stormed the midnight release of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for James Holmes, for whom a judge has entered a not-guilty plea.

Barry Gutierrez / AP file

Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members outside a high school where he had been searching for his son, Alex Sullivan, who was killed when a gunman opened fire in a Colorado movie theater last summer.

The fire report does not assign blame or even establish missteps in the emergency response. Instead, it describes the terrified disorder that gripped the Century 16 theater complex and its surroundings in the first hour after the shootings:

• Paving on South Sable Boulevard, the main road closest to the theater, cut traffic to one lane, and parking lots outside the theater were packed because it was opening night for an expected blockbuster film.
• 1,400 frantic moviegoers ran from the theater into the parking lot. “I encountered hundreds of people running and screaming for help,” one member of Aurora fire Battalion 1 said. “Many people appeared wounded. Others were just running.”
• The theater itself had only two entry points, and while the first fire engine to arrive used one of them, police quickly blocked both.
• Because of reports that someone was shooting, moviegoers got as far away as they could, and patients wound up in eight places, including a Dillard’s parking lot, some almost 2,000 feet away.

One lieutenant from Aurora fire’s Tower 8 who worked the Dillard’s scene told the review: “Several people were unsure if they had been shot since they were in shock and covered in blood.”

The Aurora police chief and other city officials declined to discuss the shooting, citing a court-imposed gag order. An outside review of the response is on hold because prosecutors worry it could impede their case against Holmes, the newspaper said.

Aurora police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday from NBC News. An Aurora fire spokeswoman declined comment to NBC News.

This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 9:57 AM EDT

Brennan Linsley / AP

Just after midnight, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock performs a civil union vows ceremony for Sonja Semion, center, and her partner Courtney Law at the Webb Municipal Building.

The first gay couple granted a civil union in Colorado said their vows before hundreds of people early Wednesday morning at a downtown Denver municipal building, where eager couples and members of the public gathered to celebrate the first legal unions.

The new law legalizing civil unions took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and both Denver and Boulder began issuing licenses immediately. 

Fran and Anna Simon were the first to receive a civil union certificate. Wearing the white wedding dresses they wore at their commitment ceremony seven years ago and joined by their five-year-old son Jeremy, Fran and Anna received their license from a clerk at 12:02 a.m., following an expectant countdown to midnight led by other couples. Minutes later they were joined in a ceremony officiated by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

"Our commitment doesn't change, but we will have a burden lifted off our shoulders," Anna Simon said. "Loving and committed couples need legal protections."

The statewide advocacy group One Colorado hosted the festivities, and the Denver clerk's office remained open until 3 a.m. to issue civil union licenses to couples eager to take advantage of their rights under the new law.

Couples were ushered into the clerk's office in small groups, where they filled out paperwork and received their certificate, a moment that for many came with a quick kiss, a squeeze of hands or a few tears.

Signed certificates in hand, couples were then joined in official ceremonies performed before supporters and other couples in the atrium of the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette joined Hancock and local judges and magistrates in officiating civil union ceremonies. DeGette, a long-time supporter of gay rights, said she earned her clergy status online specifically to participate in Wednesday morning's festivities.

"Members of the GLBT community are the same as everyone else — they want loving, permanent relationships," she said.

Hancock said he was honored to be part of the landmark event.

"I've been a part of the effort to legalize civil unions in Colorado now for several years. I feel a tremendous amount of pride for the people of Denver to work with their legislators to finally pass this piece of legislation to allow people to love and live as they so choose," he said. 

Elsewhere in Colorado, the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder remained open until 2 a.m. to offer licenses, while other counties waited until after daybreak to start issuing civil union licenses. El Paso County will begin issuing them at 8 a.m. without any fanfare while some Pueblo County officials and advocates plan an 11 a.m. rally on the steps of the county courthouse followed by a mass civil union ceremony.

Colorado is the eighth state to have civil unions or similar laws. Nine states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill in March, marking the culmination of a dramatic shift in Colorado, where in 1992 voters approved a ban on discrimination protection for gays and in 2006 made gay marriage illegal under the state constitution.

But for many gay couples and gay rights advocates, the fight is not over.

Anna and Fran Simon, for example, who testified numerous times in favor of the civil union legislation, say they hope to get the chance to wear their wedding dresses one more time.

"Like most people growing up, you have a dream of falling in love and getting married, not getting a civil union," Anna Simon said.

Colorado's civil unions law allows unmarried couples, both gay and heterosexual, the ability to form civil unions and get rights similar to those of married couples. They include transferring property, making medical decisions, adopting children and qualifying for health insurance and survivor benefits. 

Related:

13 key moments in the Supreme Court argument over gay marriage

Supreme Court likely to advance gay marriage but stop short of sweeping ruling

A blast of cold air being dragged southward by a dip in the jet stream dumped snow in the Rockies, Plains and parts of the Midwest on Wednesday in a snowfall that meteorologists said could be “historic” for this time of year.

Up to 18 inches of snow is forecast for the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, where heavy snow started falling Tuesday. Several inches could also fall by the end of the week in a band from Texas to Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.

Some portions of the Plains and upper Midwest regions, including Wisconsin and sections of Minnesota, could see a flurry of wet snow on Wednesday night into Thursday, Weather.com reported. A light early May dusting may even be seen as far south as the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.

Cheyenne, Wyo., had already received more than 6 inches of snow early Wednesday morning, Weather.com reported.

The National Weather Service reported winter storm warnings were in effect for portions of north-central Colorado, southern Wyoming and southern Minnesota.

AP

Snow clings to flowers in Denver on Wednesday. As much as a foot of snow is forecast for some areas of Colorado.

With the jet stream bowing to the south, cold air is being sucked deep into the country, bringing temperature changes that may seem downright cruel to many, according to meteorologists at Weather.com.

Amarillo, Texas, is the perfect example. On Tuesday it hit a high of 97 degrees.

“By tomorrow morning we have … Amarillo at 30 and probably snowing,” Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said. “So in Amarillo we’re projecting a 67-degree drop from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday morning – so summer to winter.”

Minneapolis, Kansas City and Des Moines, Iowa, have been basking in the 70s and 80s. They’ll be lucky to see 40 through the end of the week, weather.com said. And Chicago just had its first 80-degree day of the season. It should have another on Wednesday before highs drop to the 50s and low 60s through the weekend.

The heaviest snowfall will be along the Front Range of the Rockies, with an area from central Colorado to southeastern Wyoming under winter storm warnings that call for up to 20 inches of fresh snow through Wednesday night. Just to the east, cities in the foothills, including Denver, could see five to eight inches of accumulation during the period, and roads could become icy and snow-packed, the weather service said.

Further east, where the cold air meets the warm, severe thunderstorms are likely Wednesday in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, according to weather.com, which adds that the threat diminishes Thursday, with “marginally severe” storms possible in parts of Texas and southern Louisiana.

Travel disruptions could come with the worst parts of the storm, with Interstates 25 and 80 between Wyoming and Colorado in line for possible snow and ice, Roth said. But as of Wednesday morning, FlightAware.com listed only 16 canceled flights in the region, all at Denver International Airport.

“That will probably go up during the day,” Roth said.

While the storm may set some snow records, May is often a fickle month. Heavy snow is fairly rare, but temperatures in different parts of North America can range radically, Roth said.

Montreal, Quebec, and Ottawa, Ontario, for example, will be 30 to 40 degrees warmer on Thursday than normally toasty Oklahoma City, he said.

Cheyenne, Wyo., which hit 70 degrees Tuesday afternoon, was on the verge Wednesday of breaking its May snowfall record of 14 inches, Roth said.

“Cheyenne had eight inches as of midnight their time, and it’s been snowing steadily since that,” he said. “We think they’re going to end up with a good 12 to 18. … Welcome to May, right?”

NBC News’ Matthew DeLuca contributed to this report.

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Related:

Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 6:00 AM EDT

Jim Rydbom / Greeley Tribune via AP

A billboard on U.S. 85 and 18th Street in Greeley, Colo., has residents upset on how the political billboard is depicting Native American.

Two billboards that attempt to make the case for gun rights are being called disrespectful by some residents of a northern Colorado town. 

The black and white billboards, which are placed beside busy roadways in Greeley, Colo., feature three men dressed in traditional Native American attire with the words "Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you."  The person in the front of the photo is holding a rifle.

Matt Wells, and accountant with Lamar Advertising in Denver, told the Associated Press that a group of local residents who wish to remain anonymous purchased the space.

"I think it's a little bit extreme, of course, but I think people are really worried about their gun rights and what liberties are going to be taken away," Wells told the Greeley Tribune.

He refused to disclose how much the ads cost, but said they are only appearing around Greeley. He also said he has not personally received any complaints so far.

But Irene Vernon, a Colorado State University professor and chairwoman of the ethnic studies department, told the Associated Press that the plight of Native Americans history with the U.S. is much more complicated than whether or not American Indians were armed.

"It wasn't just about our guns," said Vernon, herself a Native American. 

Others who saw the billboard criticized it for politicizing or making light of the United States broken promised to Native Americans that date back to the country's founding.

The story also lit up the Denver Post's comments section, with a strong amount of comments supporting the billboards.

"I am a Navajo Indian and I am not offended by the billboard. The billboard merely points out broken promises by the U.S. government," said one comment.

Others critiqued the ad's message, citing that the current debate about guns is not over whether or not existing gun owners need to turn their firearms in, but how to regulate how they are bought and sold.

"If you feel you are putting out a strong message about gun control, why use a Native American image to make your gun-rights argument and then dastardly ask to remain anonymous?" another comment said.

The Evans Firm

Attorney Michael D. Evans and client Brandon Coats, who was fired from his job at Dish Network in 2010 for smoking medical marijuana off the clock.

Coloradans may be able to legally smoke pot now — but lighting up a joint, even off the clock, can still get you fired.

Although Centennial State voters approved a measure last fall to legalize marijuana use, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that employees can still be fired for testing positive for the drug -- even if they never show up to work impaired.

A divided panel of judges decided that because marijuana use is illegal under federal law, employees are not protected from being terminated for using it.

The case centered on Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic medical-marijuana patient who was fired in 2010 from his job as a telephone operator for Dish Network after testing positive for the drug. Lawyers for Coats argued he was protected under a Colorado law that states it is illegal for workers to be terminated for participating in lawful activities off the clock.

But a trial court dismissed the claim in 2011, siding with Dish Network that medical marijuana use isn't a "lawful activity" covered by the termination law.

Now, even though the law has changed, the outcome for Coats has not. In its ruling, the Colorado Court of Appeals sought to define the word "lawful," ultimately concluding that for something to be lawful it "must be permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law."

Coats' attorney Michael Evans said the ruling is a major blow to Coloradans who use marijuana for medicinal purposes. 
"This case not only impacts Mr. Coats, but also some 127,816 medical-marijuana patient-employees in Colorado who could be summarily terminated even if they are in legal compliance with Colorado state law," he said in a statement.

Evans plans to appeal the ruling and said he believes the three-judge panel ultimately reached its decision out of a reluctance to issue a groundbreaking reversal that could have a far-reaching impact as Colorado establishes how to govern its new drug laws.
"What they did was the conservative thing, the safe thing to do," Evans said of the ruling.

The court acknowledged that Dish Network never accused Coats of being impaired while on the job. Lawyers for the former employee said he received satisfactory performance reviews all three years he worked at the company. 

But Dish Network ultimately has the right to fire marijuana smokers regardless of whether they were good employees, the court ruled. "While we agree that the general purpose of (the Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute) is to keep an employer's proverbial nose out of an employee's off-site off-hours business ... we can find no legislative intent to extend employment protection to those engaged in activities that violate federal law," Court of Appeals Chief Judge Janice Davidson wrote in the opinion.

Judge John Webb dissented in the 2-1 vote, disagreeing with the majority's conclusion on the definition of lawful. 

If the federal government had issue with various states' versions of lawful off-duty activities statutes, it could have passed a federal law by now, Webb argued.

"[Congress] could have resolved that problem with legislation empowering employers to discharge employees who have engaged in conduct that violated any federal law. To date, Congress has not done so. Recognition that protecting employees from discharge based on their off-duty conduct is primarily a matter of state concern favors measuring 'lawful' based on state law," he wrote in his dissent.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013.

Denver police on Monday interviewed but did not arrest a person of interest in connection with a shooting that wounded two people at a weekend marijuana rally.

Police called on the public to help identify a man in a YouTube video that was believed to have assisted the primary suspect after the shooting.

Denver police tweeted out a link to the video, asking the public to help identify the man wearing a brown and white checkered shirt casually walking away from the scene as the crowd quickly disperses. 

A spokesperson for the Denver police told the Associated Press the man came to authorities voluntarily and spoke with detectives. 

"He gave us some information, and we're moving forward with our investigation," spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

Tens of thousands of descended on Civic Center Park in downtown Denver to for the marijuana celebration held on April 20, or "4/20," a number that has come to be code for the drug's use.

The rally was one of many weed-related celebrations taking place throughout the state that voted to legalize the drug for recreational use last fall.

A man and a woman were both shot in the leg during Saturday's Denver rally, with both suffering non-life threatening injuries, according to police. Another person was grazed by a bullet and walked to a nearby hospital.

Authorities have turned to the public to assist in the investigation. Denver Police quickly utilized social media to ask the public for any pictures, videos or witnesses that may help finding the suspected shooting.

Police are looking for a man who was wearing a blue hat, gray sweatshirt and black pants at the rally. Denver's police gang unit is in heading up the investigation, though the Associated Press reported it is unclear if the shooting was determined to be gang related.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Snow falls near the spot where five members of a backcountry snowboarder group were found dead after they were trapped by an avalanche on Loveland Pass, Colo., Saturday, April 20, 2013.

Authorities on Sunday released the names of five backcountry snowboarders killed in a deadly Colorado avalanche a day earlier.

Killed in the slide near Loveland Pass, about 60 miles west of Denver, were Ian Lanphere, 36; Rick Gaukel, 33; Chris Peters, 31; Joe Timlin, 32; and Ryan Novack, 33, Denver NBC-affiliate KUSA reported. All of the men were Colorado residents.

A sixth member of the group was buried in the snow, but was able to dig himself out and call for help.

"If he hadn't gotten out, if he would've been buried too, it's hard telling when we might've found out," Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger told KUSA.

Investigators said the snowboarders were hiking up a drainage area called Sheep Creek when they may have instigated the avalanche, which was about 650 feet wide, more than 1,000 feet long and eight feet deep.

"It appears that they triggered the avalanche low down on the slope much like pulling a log out from the bottom of a wood pile," Dale Atkins, a member of the area's Alpine Rescue Team, told KUSA.  "It caused the avalanche and quite a large one to crash down on top of them."

Saturday's avalanche was deadliest in Colorado since 1962, when seven people were killed near Twin Lakes, KUSA said. The area where the slide occurred Saturday has received nearly four feet of new snow in recent days.