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Forest Service Investigator Believes Barton Lied About Letter. The lead U.S. Forest Service investigator looking into the cause of Colorado's largest wildfire testified Tuesday that she doesn't believe a burning letter sparked the fire. Agent Kimberly Jones was testifying in a Denver federal civil case where five insurance companies and several property owners are suing the federal government for more than $7 million because a Forest Service employee was responsible. That employee, Terry Barton, was convicted of starting the 2002 Hayman wildfire and spent nearly six years in a federal prison. When Jones testified that she didn't believe there ever...

Terry Lynn Barton has been released from prison after serving a six-year term for starting the worst wildfire in Colorado's recorded history. Barton, 44, pleaded guilty to arson charges stemming from the 2002 Hayman Fire, which blackened 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate. She was a fire spotter for the U.S. Forest Service at the time

Barton Gets 15 Years Probation, Community Service. A woman who admitted to starting the Hayman Fire will not do any time in Colorado for sparking the largest wildfire in the state's history... "I feel good. It's done," Terry Barton said, looking relaxed at the hearing. Barton is currently serving a six-year sentence in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas and will be released in June. The state wanted her to also serve time in state prison, but Barton's original state sentence of 12 years in prison was overturned by the Colorado Appeals Court. "Your honor, I'm not asking for...

A small band of archers has been shooting bows and arrows for 37 years on a range in the Pike National Forest north of Deckers, paying the U.S. Forest Service about $450 a year for a permit. This year it will all end because the Forest Service presented the Columbine Bowmen with a bill for $23,000 for the one-year permit, said club president Tom Younger. The same fate faces the 180 or so members of the Buffalo Creek Gun Club, who shoot targets in the Pike forest near Bailey. The club's annual permit fee of $150 over the past 40...

<p>Tashala Hayman (top) sent poisoned pop to Sen. Ted Kennedy (bottom) and was about to send an adulterated Coke to Britain's Prince William (center) when she was nabbed, cops say.</p> <p>August 24, 2002 -- A 22-year-old Montana woman has been charged with mailing poisoned soft drinks to Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy as well as preparing a second deadly Coke-tail for Britain's Prince William.</p>

Four Dead in Colo. Wildfires CrashBy Associated Press June 21, 2002, 11:52 PM EDT PARACHUTE, Colo. -- A van carrying fire personnel to a wildfire southwest of Denver crashed Friday night, killing four passengers, a state trooper said. Colorado State Patrol spokesman Don Moseman said the van was from La Grande, Ore., and was carrying 11 people. It was part of a convoy of eight vehicles traveling along Interstate 70 en route near Parachute to the 137,000-acre blaze. "We had a lot of distraught people out there," Moseman said. "Of course in a convoy, some of their group saw it...

It has been less than 48 hours since we learned that U.S. Forest Service employee Terry Barton intentionally started a forest conflagration which has burned more than 100,000 acres of precious forest land in the pristine Rockies. Known as the Hayman Fire, it has already cost an estimated 52 million dollars and is just 25% contained. But the vindication of this female arsonist has already begun. She is not only being portrayed as merely a caring person who made an unfortunate mistake, but as of this morning (June 18) The Denver Post, under the headline "Forest Job Sustained Barton As...