A weekly dive into the pages of Colorado Politics’ predecessor, The Colorado Statesman, which started in 1898:

Forty Years Ago This Week: In an unusual development, Gov. Dick Lamm seemingly hopped into a time machine and thrust himself back into the state’s history books – all the way back to 1874, in fact. He delighted a gathering of reporters — tickled by the governor’s departure from the usual conversation about state budget and policy — that Colorado’s alleged infamous cannibal Alfred Packer had “received his just desserts” and would not receive an unconditional gubernatorial pardon from his office.

Packer, one of Colorado’s most well-known historical criminals, had confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874 after he and five others had attempted to cross the San Juan Mountains. At his sentencing, District Court Judge Melville Gerry famously told Packer, “There were seven Democrats in Hinsdale County, and you ate five of them.”

Lamm stated emphatically that politics and partisan quarrels had nothing to do with his decision to deny a pardon.

In a memo published after the press conference, Lamm said, “In this partisan gall, Mr. Packer has bit off more than he could chew. If I excused him at this late date, my Democratic friends would have a piece of my hide.”

Lamm had not succumbed to a bout of historical whimsy. He was explaining his decision to Evan F. Kushner, a retired Colorado judge who’d sought the pardon.

Kushner said in a statement, “Colorado has taken its pardon process very seriously. In all our history, only two posthumous pardons have been granted. I believe the issue of Mr. Packer’s guilt or innocence is far from resolved.”

Twenty Years Ago: The Senate Health, Environment, Children and Families Committee unanimously approved “Candace’s Law” (House Bill 01-1328), legislation that had been introduced by Rep. Debbie Stafford, D-Aurora, to ban ‘rebirthing therapy’ in Colorado.

The bill was named after 10-year-old Candace Newmaker who died during a therapy session given by Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder in April 2000. Newmaker suffocated during a 70 minute rebirthing session.

Rebirthing “therapy,” a new age practice developed in the 1960s involving a specific kind of breathing, was not recognized by major psychology or psychiatry groups. On April 17, 2001, Gov. Bill Owens signed the bill into law.

Fifteen Years Ago: Allison H. Eid was sworn in as chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court to fill a vacancy created by Rebecca Love Kourlis’ retirement.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas introduced Eid who had clerked for him in 1993.

“Allison is very bright, if not brilliant, contentious, an excellent writer, and intellectually honest. She brings a very substantial supply of common sense,” Justice Thomas said. “I would love to have a colleague like her.”

Eid likened the swearing-in ceremony to her own funeral except for the major difference that she was alive to hear “… all the nice things said about me.”

Gov. Bill Owens asserted repeatedly throughout the appointment process that he wanted a conservative justice who was a “strict constructionist.”

In addition to her work for Thomas who was widely considered one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most conservative members, Eid also worked for 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry E. Smith, a Reagan-nominated Republican.

Most recent to her appointment, Eid had been a constitutional and tort law professor at the University of Colorado and had written numerous papers on tort reform and federalism.

In other news, Andy Gold, Democratic candidate for House District 57, expressed his dismay at the firing of two Colorado teacher’s for what their district claimed had been “inappropriate” classroom discussions.

“I want to remind the people of an act passed last year, Senate Bill 05-085, which declared ‘faculty at Colorado’s schools should be free to express ideas that challenge popular opinion in the course of critical examination without fear of retribution by those who might consider those ideas heretical,’” Gold wrote to The Colorado Statesman.

Gold wrote that the House Education Committee had passed the bill by a single vote with most Republicans voting no, including Al White, R-Winter Park, whom Gold was challenging.

“It is hard to imagine a society so unsure of its own beliefs that even its discussion is forbidden,” Gold wrote.

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Colorado Springs Gazette.