Colorado casino town in uproar

CRIPPLE CREEK - Gambling has been good to this old mining town, with casinos like the Brass Ass and the Midnight Rose funneling millions of dollars in taxes into local coffers.

But a proposal to steer some of the wealth to tourism has created an uproar from the Bennett Avenue gambling halls to Silver Street: Mayor Ed Libby, who fears gambling may some day run dry in Cripple Creek, is facing a Nov. 1 recall vote after pushing a proposal to build a $1 million tourism center.

"We have seen 24 establishments go out of business over the last seven years that were not associated with gaming," said Libby, a local businessman who moved here from California in 1996.

Kip Petersen, administrator for the town of 1,000 people, situated at 9,500 feet, said the lost business puts Cripple Creek in a precarious position. He said competition for gambling dollars is growing as more states legalize it.

"We need to do something other than gaming," Petersen said. "Gaming will not sustain us in the long term."

In a way, gambling has always been the core of Cripple Creek. Bob Womack struck gold here in the early 1890s, prompting a rush of prospectors to the hills west of Pikes Peak. The town grew to more than 25,000 people, boasting trolley service and five daily newspapers. The streets of neighboring Victor were literally paved with gold (low-grade ore was used).

After the turn of the last century, mines opened and closed depending on the price of gold, but by the end of World War II all but a handful were shuttered. Only summer tourism kept Cripple Creek from becoming little more than a ghost town.

Colorado voters approved limited-stakes gambling in 1990 in Cripple Creek and two other old mining towns, Black Hawk and Central City, both west of Denver. It has meant tens of millions in taxes and this year, two-thirds of Cripple Creek's nearly $12 million budget came from gambling.

Libby and the town council want to build a Heritage Center to draw more tourists interested in historic places. Experts say these tourists tend to stay longer and spend more money than others.

Supporters point to a narrow gauge railway that takes tourists on a 45-minute ride, tours of the old Mollie Kathleen Mine, a museum dedicated to a former brothel, and melodramas at the Butte Theater. The center would be set up on the outskirts of town, with the goal of persuading visitors to spend several nights and visit Pikes Peak, the Royal Gorge, Breckenridge, Florissant Fossil Beds and other nearby attractions.

Bridges withdraws from governor's race

DENVER - Wealthy Democrat Rutt Bridges withdrew from the 2006 Colorado governor's race on Thursday, saying he did not "have the skills or the stomach to be an effective politician."

"My passion has always been public policy, not politics," said Bridges, who runs a think tank in the Denver area.

Bridges' Democratic opponent, Bill Ritter, said Bridges called to tell him he was dropping out.

Joelle Martinez, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said the party is shopping for another candidate to run against Ritter.

No link between quakes, drilling

DENVER - Roy Johnson has heard the speculation before, that coal-bed methane drilling might be responsible for earthquakes in the Raton Basin along the New Mexico-Colorado line.

The New Mexico Oil Conservation Division inspector dismisses such talk.

Researchers don't have solid proof that drilling is responsible for an earthquake swarm in the area in 2001 or the magnitude-5 quake Wednesday that struck 23 miles west of Raton, N.M., and felt nearly 40 miles away in parts of southern Colorado.

To extract methane from coal bed seams, companies blast high-pressure fluids into the ground. In Colorado, companies must return excess water to the ground. The fluid injection in effect lubricates faults, making them more likely to slip and cause quakes.

The 2001 swarm included 12 earthquakes in a one-month span. It happened near 10 wells where companies had injected water into the ground, but the U.S. Geological Survey did not find a firm link between drilling and the quakes. In fact, quake activity subsided as drilling continued, a USGS report said.