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Jim Blanning seemed friendly, but led a troubled life

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 1, 2009 at 6:02 p.m.
Updated January 1, 2009 at 6:02 p.m.

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For seven years Jim Blanning came and went quietly, climbing the green carpeted stairs to his third-floor Denver apartment with a bundle of morning newspapers under his arms that he would distribute to his neighbors.

Thursday morning inside the entryway to the Rhapsody Apartments, 1590 Wolff St. near Sloan's Lake, the papers lay willy-nilly in a pile against the wall. And Bill Sanders stood, shocked and subdued at the thought that Blanning, the man who lived next door to him and brought him his paper each morning, was at the center of a bizarre bank robbery turned bomb scare turned suicide that gripped Aspen and ended New Year's Eve festivities in the ritzy ski town.

"That is just incredible," Sanders said as he tried to absorb the news that Blanning, his quiet neighbor who parked his green Jeep Cherokee out back, was dead by his own hand after planting four bombs in Aspen, two inside banks.

"That's unbelievable," Sanders said, "for someone to live here — why would he go to Aspen to rob a bank?"

Blanning, 72, was friendly, Sanders said, and never gave Janice Jackson, the apartment manager, any trouble.

"No problems at all — not at all," Jackson said Thursday. "I'm shocked and in a daze. I just can't believe it."

But there was another side to Blanning, one that his family and longtime friends — and various Aspen officials — had seen for years.

"It finally caught up with him, I guess," said his younger brother, Bill Blanning. "He's been kind of threatening for a while. It didn't surprise me too much."

James Chester Blanning Jr. was the son of a West Point graduate and the oldest of three boys. His father was captured on Bataan by the Japanese, held captive for four years, and ultimately died on a prison ship in the waning days of World War II.

His mother, Virginia "Sistie" Blanning, brought Jim and his younger brothers, Bill and Dick, to Aspen after the war ended. For a time, the young widow and her sons lived in the Hotel Jerome.

Mary Eshbaugh Hayes, a writer for the Aspen Times, covered Jim Blanning and his classmates on the high school ski team.

"I taught them in Sunday school, and I covered them for the paper," Hayes said. "He was just a very likable kid."

Jim Blanning graduated from Aspen High in 1954, and did a four-year stint in the Air Force, his brother said. After the military, he returned to Aspen, where he drove a truck for a time for Hayes' husband. Hayes recalls firing him because he was unreliable.

But he did not live a tranquil life. He married and divorced four times, and his son and daughter ultimately were raised by a step-father and had little to do with him over the years.

In the early 1990s, Jim Blanning began battling with various Pitkin County officials over land deals tied to a series of ancient mining deeds that he asserted were up for grabs and, ultimately, claimed for himself.

Then, in 1994, came an incident that would be long remembered in Aspen.

Blanning, embittered by his clashes with the county and the suicide death of a friend, climbed onto the roof of the historic Pitkin County Courthouse, tied a noose around his neck, and threatened to jump. For eight hours, he held authorities at bay in a spectacle that saw reporters climbing out of attic windows to talk to him.

"One way over the edge or one way walking," he told a local radio reporter before, ultimately, surrendering without hurting himself.

Jim Blanning was not charged with a crime in that incident. But in 1996, his mining claims and land deals led to a series of criminal charges — racketeering, organized crime, fraud and larceny — and a 14-year prison sentence.

Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, said that Blanning entered the prison system on Sept. 13, 1996, and was moved to a community corrections program on Feb. 1, 2001. He was formally paroled on Oct. 18, 2005.

During his time in the prison system, he was never disciplined, Sanguinetti said.

Once out of prison, he moved into Apartment 307 in the complex a block off of Colfax. There, other residents said hello in the halls, but they didn't pry — and he didn't offer to fill in the blanks of his life.

"We never really had a conversation about who he was, what he did for a living," said Sanders, whose apartment was next to Blanning's.

Three years ago, Hayes — who still writes the "Around Aspen" society column — was in Denver with her husband when they stopped at a convenience store.

"We were in a 7-Eleven and here came Jim," she said.

He wore an ankle monitor, but he seemed well, she said.

Privately, he struggled.

Bill Blanning said his brother constantly asked for money, and Jackson, the apartment manager, said he did not pay his rent in December. He had been unable to pay the rent last July, she said, but he came up with it a few weeks later, and she figured he'd do it again.

On Christmas Eve, Bill Blanning stopped to visit his brother.

"He said all these people owed him money and he couldn't get any money out of them. He was pretty depressed. I gave him some money."

During the conversation, Bill realized his brother's mental state was deteriorating.

"He was carrying on about how there was going to be riots in the streets and people killing each other and stuff," Blanning said. "I could see it coming."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments

  • January 1, 2009

    6:20 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    leavemealone writes:

    I bet he had for Obama/Biden sticker on his bumper!

  • January 1, 2009

    7:38 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tttriplettt writes:

    Judgement is so easy when it is someone else. Walking a few miles in another person's shoes might make judgement a little less acceptable, and compassion a little more the norm. Of course what he did was wrong. But reading about his life, well it seemed tragic from childhood on. What a horrible end, may he find peace and rest in the afterlife. His choice of politics should not enter into this conversation. Condolences to his family and the few friends he had.

  • January 1, 2009

    8:12 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    happymike44 writes:

    This is the sad comment on how this could be any one of us.
    He was simply overwhelmed by the situation life dealt him.
    Who knows why he finally just stepped off the deep end of the pool.
    This is someone who deserves our prayers and sympathy.

  • January 1, 2009

    8:43 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    fifty writes:

    Jim Blanning's father died at the hands of the enemy in WWII when Jim was nine years old. Jim would spend his life reliving this overwhelming and unconscious theme. He battled through four marriages. His biggest enemy was the Town of Aspen and like his father, he was going to die at the hands of the enemy. Jim's dad was held captive for four years and Jim was held captive for four years in prison by the State of Colorado. He was also held on parole for four years. Toward the end, his unconscious theme came to the forefront as he talked about riots in the street and people killing each other. His merged this theme with his need for money and thus the bomb threats, bank robbery and death.

    This is a picture of person who was victimized by a traumatic event as a child and it took over his life. Had this person had the opportunity to deal with the trauma of the loss of his father, he could have led a well-adjusted life.

  • January 1, 2009

    8:49 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    WestminsterJ writes:

    LMA- God, you're a partisan jerk.

  • January 1, 2009

    9:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    breezzee writes:

    This story is very sad. My condolences to his family.

  • January 2, 2009

    11:11 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jjez writes:

    Fifty--lots of children lost fathers in lots of wars. That's no excuse. If everyone who lost a father at age 9 acted like this guy, this world would be chaos! He made decisions throughout his life that led him to be in prison for 4 years and on parole for 4 years, but they had nothing to do with the fact that his father was a POW for 4 years. His two brothers aren't involved in cheating people nor have they planted bombs anywhere, so losing a father clearly isn't a mitigating factor here. This person was clearly dealing with issues all of his life, but never took the responsibility to get help for them. Rather, he blamed everyone else for his failed schemes and clearly wanted to take as many people with him as possible when he went. Luckily for the people in Aspen that night, he was just plain stupid. And luckily for the taxpayers of this state, he killed himself. No cost of trial and incarceration for this idiot. My condolences to his family, however, for their loss.

  • January 3, 2009

    1:27 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    breezzee writes:

    jjez - there is no question that jim made mistakes. but his punishment was beyond what it should have been and he never recovered. his case is an example of how flawed our system is. his story will unfold. don't be so quick to judge.

  • January 3, 2009

    1:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    breezzee writes:

    one more thing jjez. at what point do you think you would go over the edge?