Tuesday 75¢ March 9, 2010 ■ Grand Junction, Colorado GJSentinel.com Your community newspaper since 1893 ALSO INSIDE YOGA HELPS WAR VETERANS DEAL WITH UNSEEN MASTER MUSHERS LANCE MACKEY COMPETES FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT IDITAROD WIN SCARS 7A IN TREK ACROSS ALASKAN TUNDRA SPORTS 1B Gunshot Rockslide in Glenwood Canyon shuts down interstate Interstate 70 remained closed in both directions Monday evening after boulders fell on the roadway about midnight Sunday. Craig 40 Steamboat Springs Rabbit Ears Pass 25 to head Oak Creek Meeker Kremmling 131 40 9 Winter Berthoud Park 76 13 Pass Glenwood Wolcott Springs Vail Idaho 70 Eagle Dillon Springs Denver Rifle Vail Pass Rockslide kills man 70 25 miles area Grand Junction Alternate routes east from Grand Junction ROBERT GARCÍA/The GARCÍA/Th A DDaily il Sentinel S ti l 20 boulders rip Neighbor intervened in dispute through I-70; between couple, affidavit says no one hurt in By PAUL SHOCKLEY Paul.Shockley@gjsentinel.com that he’d been drinking, midnight slide A Grand Junction man ac- cused of killing his neighbor told police he shot the man in McCle- land refused to the head after the neighbor had submit to By DENNIS WEBB intervened in an argument be- Dennis.Webb@gjsentinel.com breath or tween him and his wife, accord- blood tests State highway crews cast fre- ing to an arrest affidavit. for alcohol quent and wary glances toward Robert JW McCleland, 31, ROBERT in his sys- the cliff above them Monday as 2541 Texas Ave., told arresting McCLELAND tem, the Grand Junction police officers they scrambled to clear a jumble he had drunk about four beers In Mesa County Jail affidavit of fallen boulders that closed in several hours before he and on $1 million bond said. Witness- a major interstate highway through Glenwood Canyon. his common-law wife argued es told Despite a gaping hole in the Sunday night. The Daily pavement and other damage The neighbor, 27-year-old Sentinel they heard a gunshot, caused by the rockfall, it’s the Andrew Boxa, walked over to then after several minutes, threat of more boulders tum- McCleland’s home to “try and three to four more shots. bling from the canyon wall calm him down,” the affidavit McCleland’s wife was among that may determine whether said McCleland told officers. the first witnesses greeting ar- Interstate 70 can be reopened McCleland and Boxa argued riving officers, yelling, “He shot later today. on the front porch, but Boxa him.” Officers initially were Colorado Department of never entered McCleland’s called to McCleland’s home at Transportation spokeswoman home, the affidavit said. The 8:55 p.m. on a reported verbal Stacey Stegman said one rock two residences are across Texas disturbance. in particular that looks in Avenue from one another. When they arrived and a photograph to be about 20 McCleland told police he ordered, with guns drawn, times as large as the geologist went back to his bedroom and McCleland to drop the weapon, who was inspecting it has frac- retrieved a Glock .40-caliber he removed the magazine from tures around it and needs to be pistol, returned and pointed the gun and placed both on the brought down. the weapon at Boxa, the affida- front porch, the affidavit said. “In a perfect world,” it will be vit said. “I think he realized pretty dealt with today and one-lane McCleland said he repeatedly quickly this wasn’t a bad travel each direction through told Boxa to “get the (expletive) dream,” said a man who lives the canyon will be allowed by away” and that Boxa retreated near McCleland, speaking on the day’s end, Stegman said. just a few feet but remained the condition he not be named. She said she’s pretty hopeful “confrontational,” the affidavit McCleland and his wife have that can occur. said. two young girls, one weeks old Meanwhile, I-70 is closed for McCleland told officers he and another just more than a 17 miles between Glenwood didn’t believe Boxa was armed. year old, who were home when Springs and Dotsero and motor- McCleland said he fired a shot the shooting occurred and were ists are being forced to make a into his front yard, in front of later taken to stay with their detour of at least 200 miles of Boxa, then fired again, wound- grandparents, the neighbor hours incorporating U.S. High- ing Boxa in the leg. said. way 40 and passing through “McCleland said by this Loud verbal spats between Steamboat Springs. time they were standing in the the couple were fairly com- Highway officials say about street in front of his house but mon, he said. “They sometimes 20 boulders fell onto about 100 Boxa still would not leave,” the would lead outside.” yards of the interstate a little af- DENNIS WEBB/The Daily Sentinel affidavit said. Officers were called to the ter midnight Monday just west A GAPING HOLE in Interstate 70 just west of Hanging Lake Tunnel in Glenwood Canyon is part of the damage The affidavit said McCleland home on a report of verbal admitted taking aim at Boxa’s from an early morning rockslide Monday. A threat of more boulders tumbling from the canyon wall worries state head and firing once. See CRISIS, page 6A ® highway crews. Although he told officers See NEIGHBOR, page 6A ® Artifact cases to proceed Acceleration test rigged, Toyota says despite death of source By THE DETROIT NEWS notorious, staged crash shown years ago on the TV show “Dateline” in a story about By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Toyota Motor Corp. pushed back against faulty gas tanks exploding on impact. SALT LAKE CITY — Federal conference at federal court in its critics Monday, producing engineers But Gilbert’s testimony stoked concerns prosecutors in Utah said Mon- Salt Lake City. who said a widely publicized experiment by that Toyota may not have found all the day that despite the death of an Defense attorneys indicated a professor claiming to show unintended ac- causes of unintended acceleration. undercover informant they’ll they’ll ask federal judges to celeration in Toyota vehicles was rigged. Toyota’s move to challenge Gilbert sig- move ahead with cases against limit what kind of evidence The engineers said professor David Gil- naled an aggressive effort by the Japanese more than 20 people charged can be presented at trial when bert of Southern Illinois University had automaker to limit the damage from its big after a long-running artifacts it comes to Ted Gardiner, a rewired the circuitry in a way that would recalls — and persistent concerns about the looting investigation. Utah businessman who worked cause uncontrolled acceleration not only causes. The operative’s death may with the FBI and the Bureau in Toyota vehicles but in all the cars they Chris Gerdes, a professor of mechanical prompt prosecutors to change of Land Management for two tested. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS engineering at Stanford University, said he their strategy at trial, but the years. He secretly recorded “Any circuit can be taken and re-engi- spoke with Gilbert, who confirmed that he neered and rewired to perform what it is AN EXAMPLE of a pedal with modifications had stripped insulation from wires connect- setback isn’t enough for them deals for American Indian arti- to scrap the cases, said acting facts in the Four Corners area. you want it to do,” said Matthew Schwall, an performed by a Southern Illinois University ing the pedal to the throttle and connected U.S. Attorney for Utah Carlie Gardiner provided hundreds engineer at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Expo- professor, shown during a live webcast Monday wires that were normally too far apart to Christensen. She declined to of hours of footage for investi- nent, a firm retained by Toyota to examine at Toyota Headquarters in Torrance, Calif. touch in his experiment. provide more details. gators that are central to pros- its vehicles. “Dr. Gilbert’s demonstration is not “We think we have enough ecutors’ cases. He died from a Gilbert created a stir on Feb. 23 when he system — an assertion he had made on an evidence of a design flaw or a safety risk,” evidence to move ahead with self-inflicted gunshot wound told a U.S. House committee holding hear- ABC News television program. the case,” Christensen said March 1 in what police called ings on Toyota’s recalls that he had discov- Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., raised doubts Monday morning after a status an apparent suicide. ered an electronic flaw in the acceleration about Gilbert’s experiment, alluding to a See RIGGED, page 6A ® 37˚ 8 A.M. 46˚ NOON 44˚ 5 P.M. COMPLETE FORECAST ON 2A Comics/Horoscopes.................6B Commentary..............................4A Classifieds ..................................7B Health & Wellness......................7A Obituaries/Death notices ........5B Sports ........................................1B Subscriptions: 800-332-5833 Vol. 117 Main line: 970-242-5050 No. 110