Immigration Attorneys Concerned about “Notarios”
In the wake of President Obama’s Executive Action on immigration, one law firm in Glenwood Springs is putting out a warning. They’re afraid unauthorized consultants, or notarios, will take advantage of people wanting to apply for temporary legal status.
Even though President Obama announced plans to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program and shield parents of U.S. citizens from being deported. Many of these programs won’t go into place for several weeks.
That’s why Glenwood Springs immigration lawyer Jennifer Smith started warning her clients about so-called notarios, those who practice law without a license.
“Because there is a massive amount of people who will be eligible for these programs, there is a small gap in that not every private attorney is ready to jump in. So there will be other people who are not licensed attorneys who don’t have the best intentions in mind who may try to come in and fill that gap.”
She says many times notarios give people misleading or bad information. To clear up confusion her office will offer advice at no charge on December 5th. Marci Krivonen, Aspen Public Radio news.
Many of those applying for deferred action will likely be on the Western Slope, where there’s the largest concentration of immigrants in the state. According to an analysis from Rocky Mountain PBS, Eagle County has the highest number of immigrants. And, ski country counties tend to rank high.
Aspen Community Dinner
The organizers of the annual “Farm to Table Community Meal” in Aspen expect about 1,000 people to attend.
The free community meal is held just before Thanksgiving every year at the Aspen High School commons. The non-profit “Aspen Tree” organizes the all-organic meal and works to get all of the ingredients from local sources.
Eden Vardy is the Executive Director of Aspen Tree. He says the meal brings together all of the demographics of Aspen.
“The fun thing about the meal for me is that we’ll have folks there who can actually really use a meal and are grateful for it. And they’ll be sitting next to folks who come from a much more affluent background.”
The meal starts at 5 o’clock Tuesday.
Cottonwood Pass is Closed
I-70 is now the only official way to and from the Roaring Fork Valley to Eagle and Vail.
The Eagle County Road and Bridge Department announced this afternoon that Cottonwood Pass has closed for the winter season.
Cannabis Grand Cru Vendor Under Investigation?
A recent event in Aspen centered on marijuana is under investigation by the state’s Department of Revenue. The Aspen Daily News reports the Cannabis Grand Cru event was visited by two agents from the agency. When the paper asked why… it was told an active investigation is underway and would not elaborate. At issue might be a vendor at the event who offered a vapor stick of marijuana to a plain-clothes state agent. An official for the California company that ran the booth says the item in question was not an offering from the company but a personal item that vendor handed over following multiple requests. A local law enforcement officer who was at the event says he doesn’t find the company’s story convincing. At the same time, the company official says he believes it was entrapment and they were targeted because they are not locals.
State to Invest in Medical Pot Studies
Colorado wants to know whether medical marijuana could help combat PTSD, Parkinson’s disease, or a range of other maladies. The state’s health board will decide whether to spend millions of dollars in medical marijuana cash on eight studies. The money comes from application fees for medicinal pot shops. Research proposals include reviewing the effects of pot on chronic pain and certain kinds of epilepsy in kids. Most of the study ideas are from researchers with the University of Colorado’s Medical school, in Denver. There’s ten million dollars on the line, set aside by state law for objective scientific research. It’s possible all the proposals on the table could get funded. The State Health Board will decide in mid-December
