News

• Man Arrested for Failure to Register as Sex Offender
• The Impetus of Dance in Unlikely Spaces

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Man Arrested for Failure to Register as Sex Offender

The Telluride Marshal’s Department arrested Miles Warinner on Thursday, May 21, for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender in Telluride.

“He is a convicted sex offender with a lifetime registrant. We were advised that he was going by an alias here in the community of Miles Warner, spelled slightly different,” said Telluride Chief Marshal Josh Comte.

According to Comte, through their investigation, marshal deputies discovered that Warinner had been living and working in the region without registering as a sex offender and changed his name to avoid detection from law enforcement.

Comte said Warinner was convicted of attempted sexual assault of a minor in Colorado, but was registered as a sex offender in Arizona despite living in Telluride for at least a year. Comte said he believes Warinner failed to register in an attempt to start over.

“Obviously with the crime he was convicted of, and having the lifetime registrant as a sex offender, he doesn’t get that right. He doesn’t get the opportunity to start over,” Comte said. “That is part of the rules that were placed upon him, that he agreed to. He doesn’t get to come to our community and start fresh, while his victim still lives with the trauma that he inflicted years ago.”

Chief Comte noted the marshal’s department has no reason to believe there are any victims within the community.

“The arrest was simply for him failing to register as a sex offender here,” Comte said. “It’s still extremely significant in my mind that he came to Telluride, felt that he had the ability to start over — changing his name, trying to work within our community, not letting on his past history. To me that’s extremely concerning. He knows the rules. He knows what he’s supposed to do and to intentionally try to avoid that.”

Comte said failure to register as a sex offender is a felony level 6 offense.

“There is potential for jail time on that,” Comte said. “I don’t want to speculate as to what’s going to happen in the judicial system. He’ll have his day in court and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Chief Comte encouraged the community to reach out to resources if they need support and to call the marshal’s department if they have additional information.

“We know events like these, whether if someone is involved with this person or not, can be triggering for a handful reasons,” Comte said. “If there is concern about this individual that we arrested being around or being involved with anybody please give our office a call. This is not a closed case. This aspect, the failure to register, is, but if additional information comes to light, we will absolutely investigate that.”

The Telluride Marshal’s Department is available at (970) 728-3818.

The San Miguel Resource Center has a 24-hour helpline available at (970) 728-5660.

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The Impetus of Dance in Unlikely Spaces

During the 2025 spring offseason, local artist Kelli Fox was roaming around town, collecting friends in search of a place to play four square. They ended up at the Town Park skate park.

“We just started running around like little kids in the skate park because no one was there,” Fox said. “James Van Hooser, we love him, said, ‘Kelli you should do a piece in here,’ and I said, ‘that is a wonderful idea.’”

Fox texted collaborator Kelsey Trottier, executive director of the Telluride Dance Collective, who was immediately on board. They applied for a grant from Telluride Arts, and just over a year later Fox and Trottier are bringing the idea to life with a site-specific dance performance called “Impetus.”

“Impetus” took a community of collaborators, including Telluride Arts, Telluride Dance Collective, the Palm, Telluride Theatre, the Town of Telluride and the Telluride Skate Community.

The performance will take place at the skate park in Town Park on Friday, May 29, starting at 7:30 p.m. The performance is roughly 30 minutes and is free and open to the community.

Fox stopped by KOTO to share more about the project.

Story beings at 3:23.

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CDOT Construction at Society Turn Roundabout

The Colorado Department of Transportation is conducting guardrail repair operations at the Society Turn Roundabout through the beginning of next week.

Drivers will encounter reduced lanes at the roundabout and should plan for congestion and brief delays.

Work will take place May 27 through June 1, with weekday work scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In addition to the work this week, CDOT will conduct shoulder work, pavement widening and fresh paint striping just west of the Society Turn Roundabout through September. Motorists can expect brief delays of up to five minutes.

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Preparing for Wildfire

With a warm, dry winter behind us, San Miguel County and the region are preparing for a major fire season.

Next week, the Wilkinson Public Library is partnering with San Miguel County Emergency Management, the West Region Wildfire Council and the Telluride Fire Protection District for a conversation on how to prepare for wildfire and what to do if one arrives.

It is important for everyone to have a go-bag ready for the possibility of an evacuation. That includes clothing and shoes, food and water, and a list of valuable or sentimental items so they can be grabbed quickly. Items such as photos, passports and birth certificates should also be included.

The wildfire preparedness conversation will take place Monday, June 1, at 1:30 p.m. at the Wilkinson Public Library.

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Federal Money Comes to Colorado River

Forty million dollars in federal funding is coming to the Colorado River to purchase one of the oldest water rights in Colorado.

That comes after the Trump administration froze the funds for more than a year and a half because they were part of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.

The Shoshone water rights are currently owned by Xcel Energy and are tied to a hydroelectric plant in Glenwood Canyon.

Because the rights are so senior, water must continue to flow to the Western Slope from upstream users in order to meet the allotment.

Republican Jeff Hurd, who represents much of western and southern Colorado, said the work to get the funds released was a collaborative effort between him and Colorado lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

He said his role involved communicating directly with the White House.

“I mentioned this issue specifically to President Trump, actually spelled out Shoshone for him, uh, when, when he and I spoke, uh, telling him this is my top priority for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, working with the Secretary of the Interior directly, working with the Bureau of Reclamation, talking about this,” Hurd said.

The Colorado River District, which is spearheading the purchase, has secured commitments from Western Slope cities and counties that will go toward the $99 million price tag.

The transaction also will need approval from Colorado’s water court before it is finalized.

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Lawmakers Debate Roadless Rule

Last week, lawmakers on the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands debated legislation that would repeal the Roadless Rule, sponsored by Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman.

The 2001 rule bans building roads in certain areas of national forests to preserve intact, undeveloped landscapes and to keep the agency’s resources focused on managing forests rather than maintaining infrastructure.

As Caroline Llanes reports for Rocky Mountain Community Radio, the debate was mostly split along party lines, with Democrats pointing to the watershed health and biodiversity benefits of roadless areas and Republicans discussing wildfire risks.

At times, both parties even cited the same research.

“Our prediction that the Roadless Rule would devastate large swaths of the Interior West have in fact been confirmed by a 2021 Johnston study that shows that roadless areas burned at disproportionately higher rates, despite being cooler and moister,” Hageman said.

But Maxine Dexter, an Oregon Democrat, pointed out that the foundational finding of the Oregon State University study was more complex than Hageman claimed.

“Roadless national forests in the American West burn more often and a slightly higher severity than national forests with roads, but the end result for the roadless forest is greater fire resilience, and I think that’s something we all want,” Dexter said.

In addition to the legislation, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is also spearheading an agency-level effort to rescind the rule.

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Tax Credit Incentivizes Film Production in Colorado

Two years ago, Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1358, which expands a tax incentive credit for film, TV and commercial productions that shoot in Colorado.

Aspen Public Radio’s Regan Mertz reports for Rocky Mountain Community Radio this fall, the Roaring Fork Valley will host its first film using these credits.

Carbondale local Patrick Keleher’s film, “Frick!,” will begin filming in the Roaring Fork Valley this fall.

The budget was originally $1.6 million.

Keleher cut it down to $300,000 and plans to use the tax credits to subsidize it.

He said it was important to him to film in the Roaring Fork Valley.

“It’s a tip of the hat to how I was raised, going to Roaring Fork High School, and in my experiences there,” Keleher said. “But you know, as we’ve been moving through preproduction, there’s been talks of Oregon and Kentucky and Washington, and eventually I just said I can’t shoot this anywhere other than my hometown.”

Before shooting begins in August, he still has to finalize a cast, figure out lodging, set up meals and nail down shooting locations, like Roaring Fork High School, the base of Mount Sopris or Carbondale’s Main Street.