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Alcohol ban is tested in Orchard City vote

By Ellen Miller, Special to the News

November 2, 2005

A measure that would have eased enforcement of marijuana laws in the ski resort town of Telluride crashed in a close vote.

Voters rejected 332-308 a proposal to make busting someone for possession of marijuana the town marshal's "lowest law enforcement priority."

Advertisement Supporters felt they could have done better a little later in the season.

"This is early November and it's a ghost town until the ski area hires," said Question 200 supporter Brian Vincente. "We lost by a hair, so I think it bodes well for the future of the reform of drug policy."

The fate of a measure to loosen an alcohol ordinance in Colorado's only dry town was less clear.

In Orchard City, 1,694 eligible voters had the chance to mail in their ballots determining whether a winery should continue to operate. Delta County election officials were verifying signatures on ballots and did not release any results from early counting.

There was minimal public debate in either Western Colorado community during the run-up to the election. Other local issues such as town councils and school boards took higher priority among Telluride's 1,197 eligible voters.

Opponents said town officials took oaths to uphold the laws of the state and that the issue belongs with the legislature.

In Orchard City, Mayor Tom Huerkamp said he had discovered a 1966 election declared the town dry except for 3.2 percent alcohol beer, so the ordinance would have to be amended to allow a 5-year-old winery to continue to operate.

But Jim Durr, owner of the Surface Creek Winery, ignored the letter, saying no record of the ordinance exists. He said he obtained all the licenses he needs through the state's Liquor Enforcement Division and would continue selling wine, whatever the vote.

"If it goes down, the next step is up to them," he said.

Copyright: 2005 Rocky Mountain News