From The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction):  The Daily Sentinel on Tuesday asked a federal court in Denver to unseal records relating to the continuing investigation of officials at Grand Junction Regional Airport.

“The public knows only a few scattered details of this case, which began more than one year ago,” says the motion. “The people of Mesa County, Colorado, are justifiably interested to know the basis for the United States Government’s actions …”

The newspaper’s motion to open the entire court record of the case is to be heard Thursday in a hearing on a matter that remains under seal.

“When you avail yourself of the judicial system in this country, you do so subject to public scrutiny,” Daily Sentinel Publisher Jay Seaton said. “This investigation has been going on for over a year and yet the entire court file remains sealed — unlawfully, in our view. It’s our duty to fight for the public’s right to inspect judicial records so the public can have some idea about what its government is up to here.”

All of the documents relating to the investigation, which came to the fore with a raid of the airport offices on Nov. 6, 2013, remain under seal, but elements of the case have become public, including the seizure of pickup trucks belonging to former airport officials Rex Tippetts and Denny Granum, and to a man affiliated with a company that did business with the airport, Travis Vallin, a former head of the Colorado Aeronautics Board. Vallin joined the firm Jviation in 2010 and became a principal in the company two years later.

The pickup seized from Tippetts was returned later to him, but the vehicles seized from Granum and Vallin remain in federal possession.

No arrests have been made in connection with the investigation, which officials have said is continuing.

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