1-Color
January 23, 2014 Elbert County, Colorado | Volume 118, Issue 52 A publication of
elbertcountynews.net
Man gets 26 years in baby’s death Richard Dolin sentenced for killing infant daughter By George Lurie
glurie @coloradocommunitymedia.com Former Elizabeth resident Richard Dolin was sentenced to 26 years in prison after admitting that he was responsible for the death of his 4-month-old daughter Marlayna, who died in 2012 from traumatic brain injuries after languishing in a medically induced coma for 17 days. Dolin, 27, was sentenced by Judge Jeffrey Holmes at a Jan. 14 hearing in Kiowa, where more than
40 family members and friends of the young victim packed the courtroom, including the girl’s mother Jaime, who pleaded with the judge to give the defendant the maximum allowable sentence of 32 years. “Even the maximum sentence is not justice enough for my sweet daughter,” Jaime Dolin said. “Every day my son asks me about his baby sissy and it breaks my heart to have to tell him she is in heaven.” In November of 2013, Richard Dolin accepted a plea bargain agreement from the District Attorney’s office in which he pleaded guilty to “reckless child abuse resulting in death.” Dolin was dressed in orange and white striped Elbert County jail prison garb, his hair and beard closely cropped. Throughout the
two-hour hearing, the 6-foot-5 defendant sobbed quietly, glancing occasionally over his shoulder at his former family members. Dolin His attorney, Emily Wickham, argued that Dolin had an IQ of 72 and had come from a home where he was abused by a crack-addicted father who is currently in prison himself. “Mr. Dolin has taken responsibility for what he did,” said Wickham, who asked the judge to give her client 10 years in prison, the minimum allowable sentence Dolin continues on Page 7
Family members and supporters of 4-month-old victim Marlayna Dolin gather to pray before the Jan. 14 sentencing hearing of Richard Dolin, who pleaded guilty to reckless child abuse resulting in death and was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Photo by George Lurie
AT THE COW WASH
Voting precincts to change Clerk and recorder’s office to finish new map by early February By George Lurie
glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com
A young man and woman work together to wash a cow as they begin to prepare the animal for judging at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The show opened Jan. 11 and livestock judging, shows and sales, as well as entertainment and special events like rodeos and horse shows, have been going on every day since and will continue until the stock show closes Jan. 26. Photo by Tom Munds
Schlegel: 2012 audit almost finished Commissioners expecting to approve final report this month By George Lurie
glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com An outside accounting firm is expected to complete a long overdue audit of the county’s 2012 budget within the next few weeks, according to Elbert County Com-
missioner Kurt Schlegel. In November 2013, after the county missed multiple deadlines to submit the state-mandated document, the Office of the State Auditor froze more than $102,000 in county tax revenues and ordered Elbert County Treasurer Rick Pettitt to “hold all funds generated pursuant to the taxing authority … until you are notified in writing by this office.” BOCC Chair Robert Rowland called the
POSTAL ADDRESS
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.
situation “embarrassing” and blamed the snafu on the county’s former finance director Stan Wilmer, who was fired in October 2013. The decision to bring in an outside contractor to finish the audit has already cost the county nearly $90,000, Schlegel said at a Jan. 14 BOCC study session. And “unanticipated issues” have caused the cost of the audit to balloon, he explained. The state’s Department of Local Affairs can freeze repayment to counties of property taxes — the county’s main source of revenue — if the county does not comply with state-mandated deadlines for filing annual financial statements. Pettitt said that once the audit is complete and reviewed by the BOCC, it will be forwarded to the state, after which he expects the county’s tax revenues will be unfrozen. Audit continues on Page 7
Elbert County’s electoral precincts are shifting geographically in 2014 — and decreasing from 18 to 15, according to Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder. “The voting precincts in the town of Elizabeth will basically remain the same but everybody else will be in a new precinct,” said Schroeder, who is in the process of updating and finalizing the county’s new precinct map. “We will be finished by Feb. 3, in time to comply with state requirements,” Schroeder said. “According to state election law, we can’t make any changes for the year after that date.” Schroeder, who has been with the county for less than a year, replaced former Clerk and Recorder Diana Hartsough, who resigned in July 2013, citing “health issues.” Before Schroeder was appointed to his position in September 2013, the county’s Democrat and Republican chairmen had been working with the county’s mapper, Bart Chambers in the Assessor’s Office, to start the process of redrawing the voting precincts. “There were two objectives,” said Schroeder. “With the new commissioner district lines approved last spring, we had overlapping precincts between commissioner districts. So we had to eliminate that. Plus there was a desire by the party chairs to go from 18 to 15 precincts.” “So we balanced out the precincts. Now there are five precincts per commissioner district,” Schroeder added. “So we are now as balanced as we can be.” After Feb. 1, county residents can contact the election office or go online with the Secretary of State’s office. “Where their voter record,” Schroeder said, “will reflect their new precinct.” “We’ll post a link on the county’s election site to the Secretary of State’s office,” said Schroeder, who also encouraged voters to stop by his office in the courthouse in Kiowa. “I have an updated map if people want to take a look.”