I thought this story was semi-amusing .... LoL ...a pot smoking stripper as mayor.I think I'm in love Thursday, February 28, 2002 - GEORGETOWN - Koleen Brooks, the mayor of Georgetown, is an occasional pot smoker, she says. She made the admission while explaining that she feared that someone may have planted incriminating evidence in her house. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has been investigating her report that she was attacked near her home Feb. 16. She believes that the CBI has actually been building a case against her to show that she made up the attack, she said. Authorities are expected to announce today what action they will take in the case. Brooks told The Denver Post this week that her political adversaries in Georgetown had been plotting against her, that the plot may have included the attack that she reported, and that she believed the CBI was in "cahoots" with her adversaries, who she said include local police. "I am not a drug user," she said. "I smoke pot. I take one puff once in a great while. If there's anything else there, it's because they put it there, and they're waiting for a felony, so I cannot run for re-election. This is what they've been working on from the very beginning." She also told reporter Ward Lucas of 9News that she smoked pot 15 minutes before an interview with him this week, according to the station. Although many in Georgetown hadn't learned of the latest revelation Wednesday night, Georgetown Selectman Edwin Tomasi said he thought it was just the latest bit of salaciousness from the media - too much has been made, for example, of Brooks' past as a stripper in a Denver nightclub, he said. Still, he said that it wasn't appropriate for a public official to do drugs. "If the citizens or the younger citizens are looking to either the mayor or any of the councilmen as leaders, as people who are setting an example for them, then I think it's a bad idea," he said. "I do think that elected officials need to set an example for the public." But others in town said they didn't think Brooks' admission was germane to the political debate over Brooks. The mayor, who has been criticized for being an imperious and counterproductive influence on town government, faces a recall election April 2, as does every one of the town's five selectmen save Tomasi. "I don't think mar1juana is the issue here," said resident Norman Franck. "To me, whether she smokes or not is irrelevant." But Tomasi said he thought the revelation could make Brooks' attempt to survive recall that much more difficult. "I would be inclined, probably, to not vote for someone that I knew smoked pot," he said. Brooks' revelation came just as authorities were getting ready to announce what they intended to do about her reported attack. That announcement is expected to be made this morning, said Assistant District Attorney Karen Romeo. "There are three options," Romeo said Wednesday. "We will consider charging the mayor, we will consider charging her attacker, and we will consider charging nobody. The decision will be made public tomorrow." She refused to say whether an assault suspect exists. If it's Brooks whose name appears in an arrest affidavit today, she could face felony charges of tampering with evidence and influencing a public servant, and a misdemeanor charge of false reporting, Romeo said. Whatever happens, the decision will be big news in Georgetown, where gossip about what many call "the alleged assault" has been dominating conversation lately. "How can it not be, when the first thing you're asked by people who haven't been here before is, "Where do I go to see the mayor's (breasts)?' " asked Cheryl Heinmann, a Silver Plume resident who owns the Well Read Bean in Georgetown with her husband, Harry. The reference was to a reported incident in a bar in which Brooks allegedly bared her breasts. "This is a small town, so it's affecting people. We're in the news." "If there was an attack, it certainly wasn't political," said Wendy Anderson, whose family has owned the Kneisel & Anderson general store on Sixth Street since 1883. "What's really the sad thing is, if she was attacked, that so few people believe her." Among those who do believe Brooks is her sister, Kristi Jorgensen, Jorgensen said. "I believe her totally," she said. "I know my sister, and I know she was scared to death. If they can't find somebody who did it, they shouldn't be blaming her."
