Thursday, June 10, 2004
Today's edition of the Sky-Hi News, Granby, Colorado's local newspaper, features some in-depth coverage of the bulldozer rampage, Marvin Heemeyer's history with the town and personal accounts from friends and acquaintances. Also in this issue, a startling cover photo (above, near intersection of Agate and 3rd) taken from the paper's offices by Patrick Brower - one of the people on Heemeyer's "hit list" - moments before the bulldozer plowed into the structure, destroying it.
Marvin Heemeyer, who owned a home nestled among trees on Woodpecker Hill, befriended many, yet harbored enemies. He frequently dined at the Chuckhole Café for breakfasts and adventured on local terrain with a group of snowmobile enthusiasts every Thursday, reliably meeting up with his group for après-ride food and drinks.From the June 10th article "Grand Lakers remember Heemeyer as a neighbor," by Tonya Bina. By the way, I Googled the phone number on the sign in the photo, and the name of the restaurant is - get this - Mad Munchies.
Up until a year ago, Lori Crane owned the local Polaris snowmobile shop downhill from Heemeyer's home. She said Marv was in her store almost every winter day at 7:30 a.m. sharp. He just wanted to talk, she said. He mostly chatted about snowmobiling. Heemeyer was an extreme snowmobile rider who was in it for the adrenaline, always jumping and taking chances. "He was really confident, a really nice guy," she said, "I'd heard he had a temper, but I never saw it."
Heemeyer sometimes talked to her about his tangle with the concrete plant in Granby. Even after his defeat, she recognized it went on and on, "he just couldn't let it go," she said.
"Months ago, he told me he bought a bulldozer," Crane confided, "I joked with him and said 'well that won't go very fast, what are you going to do with a bulldozer?' 'I'm just going to tinker with it,'" he simply responded."
For years, Crane had been witness to Heemeyer's pursuit of high-speed snowmobiling. Each year she had sold him a new snowmobile, better and faster than the one before. A bulldozer seemed out of sorts for this man. "I don't think he told anybody about what he was doing," Crane guessed.
Perhaps he didn't.
Those who knew him say he was a nice guy who was pushed over the edge; he experienced the death of his father recently, an alleged cancer diagnosis reported two years ago, a fire that destroyed his shed and prized snowmobile last winter, and the split from a long-time girlfriend approximately one year ago. The woman...declined from commenting. "It has been a harrowing time," she said, "I'd rather not talk."