April 10, 2014 Elbert County, Colorado | Volume 119, Issue 10 elbertcountynews.net A publication of POSTAL ADDRESS Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy. Training to aid horse owners Emergency preparedness clinic offered in May By George Lurie glurie@coloradocommunity- media.com During the Hayman Fire in 2002, hundreds of horses along the Front Range had to be evacu- ated. “The horse community from both Douglas and Elbert coun- ties responded almost immedi- ately to the need for volunteers — and supplies — to assist in the massive effort,” said Kyle Fenner, director of Elbert County’s Com- munity and Development Ser- vices Department and a lifelong equine enthusiast. At the time, Fenner was living in Teller County, three miles from where the fire started, and she worked alongside others to pull large animals, including her own, out of the fire’s path. Fenner said that in the after- math of the Hayman Fire, as the community rallied to transport and then care for the displaced animals, “it was evident to Elbert and Douglas county residents who were dealing with the other end of the fire that an organiza- tion of the various horse clubs and horse owners was needed to continue with assisting in disas- ter rescue — as well as to work closely with the county govern- ments to make sure the collective voice of the horse community was heard.” So, Fenner explained, the Douglas-Elbert County Horse Council (DECHC) was formed and in just a few short years, the organization has become an in- valuable resource for area horse owners. On May 12, from 9 a.m. to noon, DECHC will be conduct- ing an emergency preparedness clinic at the Douglas County Fair- grounds in Castle Rock and own- ers of all large animals, including horses, are encouraged to attend. A more recent development happened early last year, Fenner explained, when the Elbert County Volunteer Safety Corps (ECVSC) was set up for the ex- press purpose of assisting in the event of a disaster. Since then, the animal-rescue portion of the ECVSC has joined forces with its counterparts in Douglas County, forming DE- CART (Douglas/Elbert County Animal Response Team). DECART allows the two coun- ties to work together in the event A horse grazes in pastureland adjacent to Elbert County Road 13 on March 26. An emergency preparedness clinic on May 12 will focus on animal evacuations. Photo by George Lurie Firefighting fleet not just a dream Plan would set aside funds to buy or contract planes, choppers By Vic Vela [email protected]One way or another, the state will soon free up money to make a currently unfund- ed state aerial firefighting fleet a reality. The governor’s office and legislative leaders are on board with a spending plan that would set aside $21 million to pur- chase or contract planes and helicopters that are equipped to fight fires. The money was approved through an amendment to the annual state budget that was debated in the Senate on April 3. Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office and lawmakers will have to get creative to find where fleet funding will be secured in the budget. But all sides agree that this will happen this year — much to excitement of the state legislator who has been instru- mental in driving the creation of the Colo- rado Firefighting Air Corps. “Quite frankly, this is the most impor- tant legislation of my life,” said Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction. The funding behind King’s effort comes on the heels of a much-anticipated state fire report that was released last week. The Colorado Division of Fire Preven- tion and Control found that the state lacks resources in key firefighting areas, includ- ing a lack of aerial firefighting capabilities. “Colorado does not have the ability to deliver appropriate aviation resources in a timely fashion to support local suppres- sion response to small fires while they are still small,” states the report, which was au- thored by CDFPC Director Paul Cooke. The report was mandated through last year’s passage of a bill — sponsored by King and Sen. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge — that created the Colorado Firefighting Air Corps, a state-owned firefighting fleet. The “idea” of the fleet became law, but the legislation went unfunded, at least un- til the state could learn more about the fea- sibility of having its own fire fleet. Prior to the release of the fire report, Hickenlooper had been noncommittal on the idea of undertaking the potentially enormous costs that come with operating a state-owned aerial fleet. However, Hick- enlooper had been open to exploring ways of sharing those costs through a multi- state effort. For months, it was uncertain whether Republican state Sen. Steve King and others hosted an open house on March 26 at Centennial Airport that featured a live water drop demonstration of the Martin Marietta C-130 Hercules Next Generation Airtanker, built by Coulson Aviation USA. Photo by Deborah Grigsby Smith/Centennial Airport Committee clears oil, gas study Bill and bill’s price tag expand during talks By Vic Vela [email protected]The potential health impacts of oil and gas operations among Front Range resi- dents will be studied, under a bill that is making its way through the Legislature. But increased costs to the legislation that were added during a recent House committee hearing left the bill sponsor worried that the effort might not get fund- ed. House Bill 1297 would require the state to study the impacts that oil and gas opera- tions may have on a person’s health and quality of life. The three-year study would focus on residents living in Adams, Arapa- hoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld Counties. Those counties include cities that have placed limits on fracking — the mixing of water, sand and chemicals that are blasted deep into the surface to crack porous rock to free up blocked oil and gas. So far, five Colorado cities and more than 100 municipalities across the nation have either placed bans or other limits on the practice. The bill would require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Envi- ronment to review scientific literature re- garding the health impacts of oil and gas operations, and would then conduct a health survey of randomly selected Front Range residents. If the findings warrant further research, a second-tiered part of the study would kick in, which could involve the review of medical records. The final reports would then be pre- sented to Legislators and would be made Capitol Report Horse continues on Page 19 Study continues on Page 19 Fleet continues on Page 19
Transcript
1-Color1
April 10, 2014Elbert County, Colorado | Volume 119, Issue 10
elbertcountynews.net
A publication of
POSTAL ADDRESS
Printed on recycled newsprint.Please recycle this copy.
Training to aid horse owners Emergency preparedness clinic o� ered in May By George Lurie [email protected]
During the Hayman Fire in 2002, hundreds of horses along the Front Range had to be evacu-ated.
“The horse community from both Douglas and Elbert coun-ties responded almost immedi-ately to the need for volunteers — and supplies — to assist in the massive effort,” said Kyle Fenner, director of Elbert County’s Com-munity and Development Ser-vices Department and a lifelong equine enthusiast.
At the time, Fenner was living in Teller County, three miles from
where the fi re started, and she worked alongside others to pull large animals, including her own, out of the fi re’s path.
Fenner said that in the after-math of the Hayman Fire, as the community rallied to transport and then care for the displaced animals, “it was evident to Elbert and Douglas county residents who were dealing with the other end of the fi re that an organiza-tion of the various horse clubs and horse owners was needed to continue with assisting in disas-ter rescue — as well as to work closely with the county govern-ments to make sure the collective voice of the horse community was heard.”
So, Fenner explained, the Douglas-Elbert County Horse Council (DECHC) was formed and in just a few short years, the organization has become an in-valuable resource for area horse
owners.On May 12, from 9 a.m. to
noon, DECHC will be conduct-ing an emergency preparedness clinic at the Douglas County Fair-grounds in Castle Rock and own-ers of all large animals, including horses, are encouraged to attend.
A more recent development happened early last year, Fenner explained, when the Elbert County Volunteer Safety Corps (ECVSC) was set up for the ex-press purpose of assisting in the event of a disaster.
Since then, the animal-rescue portion of the ECVSC has joined forces with its counterparts in Douglas County, forming DE-CART (Douglas/Elbert County Animal Response Team).
DECART allows the two coun-ties to work together in the event
A horse grazes in pastureland adjacent to Elbert County Road 13 on March 26. An emergency preparedness clinic on May 12 will focus on animal evacuations. Photo by George Lurie
Fire� ghting � eet not just a dream Plan would set aside funds to buy or contract planes, choppers By Vic Vela [email protected]
One way or another, the state will soon free up money to make a currently unfund-ed state aerial fi refi ghting fl eet a reality.
The governor’s offi ce and legislative leaders are on board with a spending plan that would set aside $21 million to pur-chase or contract planes and helicopters that are equipped to fi ght fi res.
The money was approved through an
amendment to the annual state budget that was debated in the Senate on April 3.
Gov. John Hickenlooper’s offi ce and lawmakers will have to get creative to fi nd where fl eet funding will be secured in the budget. But all sides agree that this will happen this year — much to excitement of the state legislator who has been instru-mental in driving the creation of the Colo-rado Firefi ghting Air Corps.
“Quite frankly, this is the most impor-tant legislation of my life,” said Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction.
The funding behind King’s effort comes on the heels of a much-anticipated state fi re report that was released last week.
The Colorado Division of Fire Preven-
tion and Control found that the state lacks resources in key fi refi ghting areas, includ-ing a lack of aerial fi refi ghting capabilities.
“Colorado does not have the ability to deliver appropriate aviation resources in a timely fashion to support local suppres-sion response to small fi res while they are still small,” states the report, which was au-thored by CDFPC Director Paul Cooke.
The report was mandated through last year’s passage of a bill — sponsored by King and Sen. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge — that created the Colorado Firefi ghting Air Corps, a state-owned fi refi ghting fl eet.
The “idea” of the fl eet became law, but the legislation went unfunded, at least un-til the state could learn more about the fea-sibility of having its own fi re fl eet.
Prior to the release of the fi re report, Hickenlooper had been noncommittal on the idea of undertaking the potentially enormous costs that come with operating a state-owned aerial fl eet. However, Hick-enlooper had been open to exploring ways of sharing those costs through a multi-state effort.
For months, it was uncertain whether
Republican state Sen. Steve King and others hosted an open house on March 26 at Centennial Airport that featured a live water drop demonstration of the Martin Marietta C-130 Hercules Next Generation Airtanker, built by Coulson Aviation USA. Photo by Deborah Grigsby Smith/Centennial Airport
Committee clears oil, gas study Bill and bill’s price tag expand during talks By Vic Vela [email protected]
The potential health impacts of oil and gas operations among Front Range resi-dents will be studied, under a bill that is making its way through the Legislature.
But increased costs to the legislation that were added during a recent House committee hearing left the bill sponsor worried that the effort might not get fund-ed.
House Bill 1297 would require the state to study the impacts that oil and gas opera-tions may have on a person’s health and quality of life. The three-year study would focus on residents living in Adams, Arapa-hoe, Boulder, Broomfi eld, Larimer and Weld Counties.
Those counties include cities that have placed limits on fracking — the mixing of water, sand and chemicals that are blasted deep into the surface to crack porous rock to free up blocked oil and gas.
So far, fi ve Colorado cities and more than 100 municipalities across the nation have either placed bans or other limits on the practice.
The bill would require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Envi-ronment to review scientifi c literature re-garding the health impacts of oil and gas operations, and would then conduct a health survey of randomly selected Front Range residents.
If the fi ndings warrant further research, a second-tiered part of the study would kick in, which could involve the review of medical records.
The fi nal reports would then be pre-sented to Legislators and would be made
CapitolReport
Horse continues on Page 19
Study continues on Page 19Fleet continues on Page 19
2 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
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Librarians dig in to help communities Is there a term for thousands of librar-
ians gathered in one place? You know, like a pride of lions or an unkindness of ravens, or a school of fi sh.
Well, whatever you might call us, I had the pleasure of attending a gathering of public librarians from around the country at the Public Library Association’s national conference in Indianapolis last month.
I had the honor of being part of a panel presentation on the concept of “Embed-ded Librarianship,” in which librarians take an active role in community develop-ment by serving on boards and advisory committees in their communities and of-fer the research services to help strength-en their communities. The topic was so popular, in fact, that we packed a room full of 230 eager librarians — enough to make this small-town librarian a little bit nervous!
This concept of embedded librarian-ship was fi rst proposed by former Douglas County Libraries director Jamie LaRue, more than a decade ago, based on the idea that the community had questions that needed answering, and yet they were not aware that the library might be best suited to assist them. LaRue asserted that librarians should be connecting with and supporting these community groups, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to do it.
Their fi rst experiment with embedded librarianship began in 2008. They didn’t have a structure or a plan; they simply wanted to be in the community and supporting the community. Since then,
embedded librarianship has grown into a structured program, with clear expecta-tions and goals from both the library and the organization they team up with. Their model has been adopted by libraries across the country.
I was invited to join the panel because our libraries and resources in Elbert County are signifi -cantly smaller than what our neighbors have in Doug-las County, and yet we have been able to suc-cessfully reach out to many organiza-tions in our com-munity, particu-larly in Elizabeth.
On behalf of Elbert County Library District, I have been in-
volved in several regional economic devel-opment activities. I served on the steering committee for the Northeastern Rural Phi-lanthropy Days event for nonprofi ts and
grant-making agencies. I helped pull together a presentation on the as-
sets of the region. The Community Resource Center is the sponsor for the event, and they also publish
the Colorado Grants Guide, an online resource
listing all the foundations and types of projects they fund, which is available for free at our library.
I serve on the Town of
Elizabeth’s Down-town Advisory Commit-tee, which looks at ways to strengthen and revi-talize the downtown area. I use
my library research skills to
help gather and col-
late information the committee uses in its strategic planning. I am involved in the Elizabeth Area Chamber of Commerce, where I share information about resources that the library has to offer to small busi-nesses. I am also collecting resources from a variety of agencies that support the business community and will be posting those resources in a central place on our website.
I returned from the library conference with a renewed enthusiasm for the critical role that libraries play in shaping their communities, and grateful to be able to serve the communities of Elbert County in that capacity. I am involved in several key projects that will be unveiled in the com-ing months — and I hope you will be an active participant in shaping our county’s future.
Kari May lives in Elizabeth and is the director of the Elbert County Library District. She can be contacted through the library at [email protected]. Visit the library at www.elbertcountylibrary.org.
Electronic recycling event slated Sta� report
The Elbert County Libraries Foundation
will host an electronics waste collection event at the Elizabeth Library on April 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event will provide the public with an environmentally responsible way to recycle obsolete computer equipment, au-dio/video components, household appli-
ances and televisions.Recycling costs range from $5 for print-
ers and scanners to $10 for monitors and $1 per inch (measured diagonally) for TVs. Net proceeds from recycling fees and cash donations collected during the event will help the foundation support the programs and services of the Elbert County Library District.
MILESTONES Education
Annie Smith, of Elizabeth, was named to the fall 2013 dean’s list at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Shawn Walcott, of Elizabeth, was recognized as a fi rst-year scholar for the fall 2013 semester at the University of Northern Colorado.
Emily Ferguson, Patrick Frawley, Rachel Hagberg, Kayla Jara, Anna Keefe,
Noelle LaPre, Katherine Longwell, Madison Mullen, David Munn, Camaryn Reynolds, Aaron Stoller, Mallory Tyler, Shelby Varra and Jordan Wales, of Parker, were named fi rst-year scholars for the fall 2013 semester at the University of North-ern Colorado.
Brandon Dillman, of Parker, was named to the fall 2013 president’s list at Hardin-Simmons University.
Elbert County News 3 April 10, 2014
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Little help for those with ‘dual diagnoses’Developmental disabilities, mental illnesses leave patients in coldBy Kristin JonesI-News at Rocky Mountain PBS
A raised red oval, a couple of inches in diameter, sits at the top of Alex Mer-edith’s forehead.
It is the physical mark of a besieged mind.
Meredith, who is 29, started bashing himself in the head when he was in his teens. Now, his parents can see it com-ing. A tranquil moment of drawing at the kitchen table cedes to Alex’s high-pitched squeal, his wrists colliding. Once he starts hitting himself, there’s nothing to do but freeze and wait for it to pass.
Meredith was diagnosed with au-tism when he was very young. Later, his parents were told he also displayed symptoms of mental illness — obses-sive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, psy-chosis and depression.
For Carol and John Meredith, Alex’s parents, the search for treatment has brought them to psychiatrists and psy-chologists, to mental health centers and the community-centered boards that serve people with autism and other developmental disabilities. Carol heads The Arc of Arapahoe and Doug-las Counties, an organization that ad-vocates for people with disabilities, and has access to more than the usual range of leads and contacts.
Still, nobody seems to know exactly what to do with Alex.
The Merediths are not alone in their frustration, according to an ongoing study by JFK Partners, a program that does research on developmental dis-abilities at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. For people with the dual diagnoses of developmen-tal disability — which can range from Down syndrome to autism to cerebral palsy — and mental illness, getting treatment means navigating a frag-mented system, the study has found.
Funding quirks have created huge gaps in care. As a result, family mem-bers find themselves alone — and often isolated — in trying to manage complex problems that need profes-sional support.
Lack of help can hurtIn the worst cases, the repercus-
sions across society can be extreme.In a recent interview with The New
Yorker, the father of Newtown school killer Adam Lanza described trying and failing to find adequate treat-ment for his son, whose world slowly shrank to contain only his mother and his video games. Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, considered a mild form of autism, when he was 13. A psychiatrist at Yale’s Child Study Cen-ter later noted symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder as well, and his fa-ther now believes his autism may have masked schizophrenia.
“Asperger’s makes people unusual, but it doesn’t make people like this,” Peter Lanza told The New Yorker.
The number of Coloradans affected isn’t small. Nationally, around one in three people with a developmental disability also has a diagnosis of some form of mental illness, according to a frequently cited study by the National Association of State directors of Devel-opmental Disabilities Services.
That would translate to around 35,000 people in the state with dual di-agnoses, based on common estimates of the prevalence of developmental disabilities.
Many are left without adequate care, and some without any care at all. Expensive visits to the emergency room — which often provide little help except for short-term stabilization — have become a primary line of defense.
Advocates like Meredith are hop-ing that the latest state-commissioned study at CU will lead to a change in the way that people with complex devel-opmental and mental-health diagno-ses are treated. One option would be to model Colorado’s care after a pro-gram that began in New Hampshire and has since been adopted in other states, with the idea of providing crisis intervention and care coordinators for people who needed these services.
But any solutions remain a few years off at best, leaving families in this situation to seek each other out for ideas and support.
Holistic care urgedThe current system in Colorado
“divides people up into their different diagnoses,” says JFK Partners director Cordelia Robinson Rosenberg. “But care has to treat people holistically.”
Most people with both develop-mental disabilities and behavioral health conditions are covered by Med-icaid. But in Colorado, the public in-surance treats the two diagnostic cat-egories under incompatible payment systems - the first as fee-for-service, and the second as managed care.
Carl Clark, who heads the Men-tal Health Center of Denver, says that while health-care providers often try to work together to treat people who fall into both categories, the divide in pay-ment models is explicit.
“Our funding from the state (for Medicaid enrollees) says you do not use this for people with developmental disability,” Clark says.
As a result, mental health centers are often ill-equipped to offer some of the services — such as long-term hous-ing support — that people with devel-opmental disabilities need.
At the same time, the two funding models have left little room to develop specialists who are skilled in diagnos-ing and treating both developmental disabilities — which can include fe-tal alcohol syndrome, a notoriously hard thing to pinpoint — and complex mental illnesses. And even experi-enced psychiatrists may have trouble attributing behaviors to one diagnosis or another.
“Unfortunately,” says Clark, “the science does not divide the brain up as clearly as funding sources do.”
The complexity of who pays for what can have real impacts on treat-ment. Carol Meredith recently discov-ered that a psychologist who was hav-ing some success in treating her son hadn’t been paid since October.
Nobody — including the psycholo-gist herself — could figure out who was responsible for paying her.
Worse, research from the University of Colorado has found that a signifi-cant number of Coloradans are exclud-
ed from treatment entirely, Rosenberg says.
Medicaid establishes an IQ thresh-old for developmental disabilities, ex-cluding people who surpass that bar but who still suffer from severe social or intellectual limitations.
Surveys conducted by JFK Partners found that for every one person who is receiving services for developmental disabilities under Medicaid, Rosenberg says, there’s another person who isn’t being served. That includes people who have unmet mental-health needs.
ER is often only optionMarijo Rymer, who heads The Arc of
Colorado, says parents of children with dual diagnoses call her in frustration after failing to find any help for their children. Too frequently, the only op-tion is the emergency room.
“When their children are hurting themselves, or hurting them, and they don’t know what to do,” says Rymer, “we will advise people to call 911.”
Doing so repeatedly can help build a case for the kind of sustained long-term services that people with dual di-agnoses need.
But encounters with police and emergency rooms can cost patients, hospitals and taxpayers a huge amount of money. And ERs are geared toward crisis management — often the most disruptive way and least effective way to treat someone who needs consistent care.
Valerie Saiz and her husband Rich-ard waited four days and four nights in an emergency room in 2010 — and again in 2011 — in an effort to get treat-ment for their now 16-year-old son. Graham, who has autism and bipolar disorder, had been hitting himself vio-lently. His parents took turns restrain-ing him.
“We noticed that the other kids get-ting admitted to the ER, if they were aggressive to others, they’d restrain them,” said Saiz. “If they were self-abu-sive, we’d have to do it ourselves.”
Each time he was admitted, Gra-ham was discharged without a plan for treatment, says Saiz. The family was forced to craft their own solution, put-ting a helmet and mitts on Graham to protect him from himself, and some-times locking him in his room to pro-tect the rest of the family.
“If we’re locking Graham in his room for safety, I’m sure other people are. Other people just call 911 left and right. People have to do what they can to survive,” Saiz says. “But it shouldn’t be about survival.”
I-News is the public service jour-nalism arm of Rocky Mountain PBS. To read more, go to inewsnetwork.org. Contact Kristin Jones at [email protected].
Alex Meredith, 29, draws as his mother, Carol, observes at the family home recently in Littleton. Meredith was diagnosed with autism when he was very young. He also displayed symptoms of mental illness — obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, psychosis and depression. Seeking treatment for these conditions means navigating a fragmented system with funding quirks and huge gaps in care. Photo by I-NEWS AT ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS
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Test rules out heart attacks in ERBy Marilynn MarchioneAssociated Press
A simple test appears very good at ruling out heart attacks in people who go to emer-gency rooms with chest pain, a big public health issue and a huge worry for patients.
A large study in Sweden found that the blood test plus the usual electrocardiogram of the heartbeat were 99 percent accurate at showing which patients could safely be sent home rather than be admitted for observa-tion and more diagnostics.
Of nearly 9,000 patients judged low risk by the blood test and with normal electro-cardiograms, only 15 went on to suffer a heart attack in the next month, and not a single one died.
“We believe that with this strategy, 20 to 25 percent of admissions to hospitals for chest pain may be avoided,” said Dr. Nadia Bandstein of the Karolinska University Hos-pital in Stockholm.
She helped lead the study, published in the Journal of the American College of
Cardiology and presented recently at the cardiology college’s annual conference in Washington. Chest pain sends more than 15 million people to emergency rooms in the United States and Europe each year, and it usually turns out to be due to anxiety, indi-gestion or other less-serious things than a heart attack. Yet doctors don’t want to miss one — about 2 percent of patients having heart attacks are mistakenly sent home.
People may feel reassured by being ad-mitted to a hospital so doctors can keep an eye on them, but that raises the risk of pick-ing up an infection and having expensive care they’ll have to pay a share of, plus un-necessary tests.
The study included nearly 15,000 people who went to the Karolinska University hos-pital with chest pains over two years. About 8,900 had low scores on a faster, more sen-sitive blood test for troponin, a substance that’s a sign of heart damage. The test has been available in Europe, Asia and Canada for about three years, but it is not yet avail-able in the United States.
Republican women to recognize student writersAwards ceremony for essay contest set for April 10By George [email protected]
The Elbert County Republican Women will recognize the best and the brightest student essayists from around the county at the organization’s “Patriotic Essay Con-test” awards ceremony, to be held at 7 p.m. April 10 at Frontier High School in Eliza-beth.
The topic for this year’s contest for both middle and high school students is “The American Dream and How It Relates to You.”
Karen Shipper, a member of the ECRW, said the “non-political, nonpartisan con-test is designed to encourage students to think and write about the privileges and responsibilities of American citizenship.”
The contest is divided into two divi-sions, Shipper explained — one for sixth- through eighth-graders and another for students from ninth grade through 12th grade.
At the April 10 ceremony, the ECRW will present cash awards for both middle and high school contests.
Students winning first place will receive $100. Runners-up will get $50 and third-place finishers $25.
In addition, the winning high school es-sayist will receive the ECRW’s Mary Rath-bun Memorial Scholarship of $1,000.
The 21 middle school and 25 high school essays submitted for this year’s contest were judged earlier this year and the top 10 finalists in each category are:
High school: Kimberly Peterson and Logan Blakeslee (Elizabeth High School); Connor Wills and Ryan Wills (Kiowa High School); Colten Trent and Menei Spiller (Elbert High School); Hailey Edwards (Simla High School); Ashley Baller (Pon-derosa High School); and Julianna Dotten and Caleb Dotten (home school).
Middle school: Peyton Baldwin, Reilly Blakeslee, Delaney Kretsinger, Megan Frahm and Erin Shiely (Legacy); Sedona Levy, Allison Schieffer and Juan Gomez (Elbert Middle School); and McKenzie Smith and Morris Richardson (Big Sandy Middle School).
The Republican women’s group is invit-ing all students who submitted essays to the awards ceremony to be recognized for taking the time to write a thoughtful essay about “The American Dream.”
Shipper said refreshments will be served and the Republican women would also like to have as many of the contest’s 45 essay writers as possible gather for a group photo.
Those seeking more information about the ceremony can contact Shipper at 719-347-5157.
Area hospitals score high on safety listConsumer Reports weighs multiple factors in ratingsBy Jane [email protected]
Two Douglas County hospitals topped a Consumer Reports list of hospital safety for the Denver metro area.
Lone Tree’s Sky Ridge Medical Center and Parker Adventist were rated first and second among 16 metro-area hospitals, based on five categories related to hospital safety.
Sky Ridge scored 66 of a possible 100 points, and Parker Adventist, 65. Each of the five categories included 20 possible points relating to infections, readmissions, patient communications, necessary pro-cedures and mortality.
“We are thrilled,” Sky Ridge CEO Mau-reen Tarrant said. “This particular recogni-tion by Consumer Reports is a gold star. All of us consider Consumer Reports the go-to place for being rigorous in your analy-sis and determination of providing guest services and products. To be added to that list for such an important service — hospi-tal care — just makes us all tremendously proud.
“We’re very proud to have achieved this within about 10 years of opening.”
So is Parker Adventist, which opened just six months after Sky Ridge in early 2004.
“This ranking really supports our belief that here at Parker Adventist we deliver some of the highest-quality medical care in the metro area,” said hospital spokes-woman Rachel Robinson. “Quality and pa-tient safety is a top priority for us.”
Among agencies that provide health-care ratings, Tarrant said Consumer Re-ports is the most comprehensive.
“It not only includes traditionally pub-licly reported statistics such as infection rates, but it even looks at about four differ-ent categories of performance,” she said. “Those include patient satisfaction and ev-idence-based medicine protocols, such as how much radiation you get when you get CAT scans at Sky Ridge. Those four catego-ries are really very, very comprehensive.”
Consumer Reports’ mortality ratings are based on how likely patients are to die within 30 days of hospital admittance for a heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia. It also considers how often surgery patients with treatable complications die during their stay.
The data is based on patients aged 65 and older.
Parker Adventist Hospital was second on a Consumer Reports’ list of safest Denver-area hospitals. File photo
Enough barking might be worse than a bite
For the umpteenth time the house next door has been rented. Like most of the others, the move-in was so discreet that I didn’t even see it. I don’t know how many are living there now, genders or what they look like.
I think ownership of a big dog that barks incessantly is required for oc-cupancy. I always hope that my newest neighbors might just have two or three neon tetras, but it’s always the Hound of the Baskervilles.
I know, I know: It could be worse. It could be a crack house or a party house. It’s never that. But there is almost always the torture of compromised days and nights by a spectral beast constantly BARKING loudly.
I am not talking about five or 10 min-utes at a time. The current canine can go on for hours. To give you an idea, he or she gave me the idea for this column when it broke into my nap two hours ago, and is still going strong.
Why don’t I mention something to the owners? I have tried that in the past. The next step is to file a complaint. That’s Section 1.05 (1) (h) under Douglas County Resolution R-998-100. That can become a Class 2 petty offense, and it sets up the possibility of resolution or a really bad relationship with the neighbor forever after — or even retaliation.
One wishes that responsible dog ownership would never come close to reaching that point, but obviously it does if there is a seven-step warning process. That is Section 1.05 (2).
The Douglas County website pages on pet ownership responsibilities are excellent and thorough, but who would
ever read them, until after the filing of a complaint?
Another reason I won’t complain — yet — is that these owners, like all of the oth-ers, will be gone in a year or a year and a half. As I said: Umpteen. If someone were to buy the house and look like they would stick around for a while, I would commu-nicate something to them.
I built the backyard fence 20 years ago. All that separates Smitty from Baskerville are some aged wooden pickets. If I had the money, I’d replace the whole thing. That’s always one of life’s biggest words: “If.”
The good news is that Smitty rarely goes out there. His unwillingness to go outside if it is even slightly too warm or too cool is astounding. He completely refuses snow. Also rain and fog and certain mists.
I think it would be nifty if everyone received a copy of pet ownership respon-sibilities the day they unpacked. I’m not going to do it. Chances are it wouldn’t do any good. As I have said before, some people own dogs who shouldn’t be al-lowed to own a houseplant.
I watched a great Hitchcock film, “Rear
The truth probably isn’t in the middleSo the other day I found myself in the
middle of a situation. I was a third party to two other people debating and even arguing over an event that had taken place. They both viewed and experienced the circumstances differently and at this point had become quite agitated with one another.
When they asked me my opinion and who I thought was right, my first instinct was to run as fast I could away from the situation. Although that was probably the right move, it was almost impossible based on where we were at the moment. And then my over-developed sense of obligation kicked in anyway and I tried to mediate as best I could. I went to my “go-to” line in these situations and said some-thing like, “It sounds like you both have a strong opinion about what happened and the truth can probably be found some-where in the middle.”
Is that a cop-out or what? So much for my “go-to” line.
If truth is really truth, how can it be found in the middle? Are we compromis-
ing truth for political correctness and making sure we smooth over feelings for all parties involved, making sure everyone in the situation is OK? And if so, is there anything really wrong with that approach? Unfortunately I think there is — it’s called avoiding the truth.
Now there are some people who are extremely direct and never have an issue with speaking their mind or telling others exactly how they feel and how they per-ceive things. This doesn’t mean they are right or even necessarily telling the truth, it just means that they are direct. These folks typically live by a saying, “Seldom
right, but never in doubt.”The other extreme is people who will
not utter a word; they will stand by and passively watch or listen as someone spins a story or even tells an outright lie. They know it’s wrong but they would prefer to keep quiet instead of risking the wrath of the other person or just take the position of going along to get along.
I am not sure about you, but no matter how much it might hurt, and it has hurt when it has happened to me … I would rather someone be honest, even brutally honest with me and tell me what I need to hear, not just want I want to hear. I want them to tell me the truth or call me out when they feel I am not telling the truth. And here’s what I have personally experi-enced in each situation: When the truth is actually revealed, regardless of how pain-ful it might be, everything becomes better much faster for all parties. There may have been initial hurts and disappointments, but truth is truth and no one has to con-tinue a lie or perpetuate a story that could cause drama or future problems.
There is a Proverb that reads, “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.” There is so much truth in that one simple Proverb. It is so frustrating for everyone involved when we search for the truth in conflicting agendas and personalities. Drama gives way to truth and we find our-selves back in the vicious cycle of political correctness and making sure everyone feels good.
Maybe it’s more like the epic line by Jack Nicholson in the movie “A Few Good Men” when he shouts from the witness stand, “You can’t handle the truth!”
How about you, is the truth found somewhere in the middle? Is an honest answer like a kiss on the lips? Can you handle the truth? I would love to hear all about it at [email protected], and when we learn to live in the truth it really will be a better than good week.
Michael Norton is a resident of Highlands Ranch, the former president of the Zig Ziglar Corporation and the CEO/founder of www.candogo.com.
6 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
6-OPINION
opinions / yours and ours
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Nothing beats a week of gray skies and stuffy suits in Washington like a sunny day in Colorado’s high country.
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to strap on some snowshoes for a short hike on Berthoud Pass with local water manag-ers and staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They were taking a manual reading of the state’s snowpack and checking the automatic SNOTEL mea-surement device. Undersecretary Robert Bonnie, the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture’s top environmental and natural re-source official, and the man who oversees NRCS, also came along.
These snowpack measurement sys-tems, some that date back to the 1900s, are a critical part of the Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting program that Colorado water officials rely on to antici-pate river flows in the spring when the snow melts and calculate how much water will run off into rivers and reservoirs. Our state’s farmers and ranchers depend on these forecasts to decide how much and what type of crops to plant, while metro-politan leaders use the data to decide how best to meet their needs in the coming years and to prepare for potential flood-ing.
Beyond Colorado, these measurements
are important for states downstream that depend on our watersheds. Colorado con-tains nine major watersheds, each with its own snowfall patterns and obligations to other states. While some of these water sources may be at 100 percent, in other regions the levels may be less than half of the normal supply. Many of the state’s water rights agreements are predicated on the level of snowpack making the accu-racy of these measurements particularly important.
Recently, however, funding for the Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecast-ing Program was threatened by budget cuts and sequestration.
Colorado communities from across the state shared their strong concerns that
Funeral HomesVisit: www.memoriams.comcutting funding to this program would
damage the accuracy of the measure-ments and reduce the effectiveness of this vital planning tool. In response to these concerns, we joined forces with Colo-rado’s water community, Sen. Mark Udall, and Congressman Scott Tipton to urge the NRCS to reconsider the cuts. After working with local communities, water managers, and the NRCS, we secured funding for the program for this winter. In addition, we secured funding in congress for the next fi scal year.
We are not out of the woods yet though.
While we provided much-needed breath-ing room in the short-term, we must con-tinue to work to explore options to ensure the program’s long-term sustainability.
Water is one of our state’s most valu-able resources. In the face of unending drought in southern Colorado, historic levels of fl ooding on the Front Range and signifi cant population growth, the accu-racy of these measurements is increasingly critical. Today’s snowpack is tomorrow’s water, and it is vital to our state’s future that we work together to ensure that our farmers, city leaders, and water manag-ers have the tools they need to accurately forecast how much of this precious re-source they’ll have each and every season.
Democrat Michael Bennet has represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate since 2009.
Continued from Page 6
Bennet
Window,” the other night. Maybe you know the story. Jimmy Stewart is stuck in a wheelchair with a cast on his broken leg, and spends the entire fi lm watching and listening to what goes on from his third-fl oor courtyard apartment.
There are sounds coming at him con-stantly. All of the windows in the courtyard are open, because it’s a hot, humid sum-
mer. I would lose my mind.One of the things I value more than
anything else is being the maker of all of the sounds that I hear in my home. With one exception. I like to hear airplanes fl y-ing overhead once or twice in the middle of the night. I try to imagine who is fl ying and where to and why.
A dog’s incessant barking is more like dripping water, only much louder.
Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at [email protected].
Continued from Page 6
Smith
Colorado weighs ban on tra� c cameras By Ivan Moreno Associated Press
A proposal to ban red-light and speed-ing cameras in Colorado is back at the Cap-itol, and the bill sponsor says he has more support than when he pitched the idea two years ago.
The bill from Greeley Republican Sen. Scott Renfroe would forbid cities and towns from using the automated traffi c en-forcement devices. He introduced it April 4.
The measure is identical to what Ren-froe sponsored in 2012. The Colorado Mu-nicipal League opposed that bill, saying it should be up to cities and towns to decide the matter on their own.
Renfroe argues the cameras are used to
make money, not to improve public safety.“I mean, it’s exponential the amount of
revenue that is brought in, and our inter-sections should be about safety and not about a revenue generator,” he said.
Two years ago, Renfroe’s proposal was defeated quickly at its fi rst committee. But it has more bipartisan support this year, in-cluding the backing of Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, who will spon-sor the bill in that chamber if it passes the Senate.
Renfroe said he’s concerned that with automated cameras, “the accused isn’t confronted by their accuser, and that’s a huge problem.” He also argues there are other ways to improve safety at intersec-tions, including modifying traffi c signals so yellow lights last longer.
Man found guilty in mortgage-lending scheme Peter Capra, of Littleton, to be sentenced May 30 Sta� Report
A federal grand jury found a man guilty
for his role in a scheme that defrauded mortgage lenders on more than 30 real es-tate purchases in Parker.
Peter Capra, 56, was indicted in April 2012 for a ruse that prosecutors say net-ted $11 million over three years. Following an eight-day trial in U.S. District Court, a grand jury found Capra guilty of 14 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and 10 counts of money laundering. He was found not guilty of one count of obstruc-tion of justice.
Capra, of Littleton, will be sentenced May 30. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each of the wire fraud counts.
Capra, president of Golden Design Group, Inc., was arrested in connection with applications for residential mortgage loans and related documents associated with real estate purchases including, but not limited to, 33 properties in Parker.
From January 2005 through July 2008, Capra, along with others, structured trans-
actions involving GDG homes to allow buyers to receive substantial amounts of the lenders’ money at the time of closing without the knowledge of the lenders. He also sold a large volume of homes to other-wise unwilling or unqualifi ed buyers.
Loan applications for the buyers were submitted through several different mort-gage brokers that assisted with providing, or at least failing to question the accuracy of, false information submitted in connec-tion with the applications, including mate-rially false and fraudulent representations about the buyers’ income, liabilities, source of down payment, and intent to occupy the properties as their primary residences.
At closing, funds ranging from $85,000 to over $200,000 were distributed to the buyers in ways that prevented the lenders from discovering that these funds were ac-tually going to the buyers; these funds were not disclosed in the HUD-1 closing state-ments or were disguised in those state-ments.
At sentencing, the judge will also con-sider entering an order of asset forfeiture, including all property constituting or de-rived from proceeds traceable to the com-mission of the offense, or a money judg-ment equal to the total proceeds taken.
Gun lawsuit trial begins Judge’s ruling could impact recently-enacted laws By Vic Vela [email protected]
Colorado’s new gun laws are “burden-some” and “a symbolic gesture that does not improve public safety,” a lawyer said on the fi rst day of testimony of a trial that takes on the legislation passed in 2013.
But a state’s attorney said that the laws do nothing to take away guns from law-abiding citizens and that the motivation behind the legislation is to curb mass shootings like the ones that occurred at Columbine High School and from inside an Aurora movie theater.
“In response to these events, Colorado’s elected representatives made a policy deci-sion to pass two pieces of legislation that appropriately balances the state’s public safety concerns with the respect of the Sec-ond Amendment rights of citizens,” said
Deputy Attorney General Matthew Grove.The lawyers’ arguments opened a two-
week trial over a lawsuit fi led against the state and Democratic Gov. John Hicken-looper that alleges that two recently en-acted gun laws violate gun owners’ Second Amendment right to bear arms.
At question are laws that expand back-ground checks on gun sales in Colorado and limit the number of rounds that an ammunition magazine can hold to 15.
The lawsuit is being brought by gun rights groups and is being heard in a Den-ver U.S. District Court by Judge Marcia Kreiger.
A successful effort by the plaintiffs could put the new laws — which were signed by Hickenlooper last year — in jeopardy.
Debate on the bills last year caused highly-charged partisan rancor at the Capitol between Democrats who backed the efforts and Republicans who uniformly voted against them. The bills also led to last year’s recall elections, where three Demo-cratic lawmakers either lost or resigned their seats.
The new background checks law ex-pands a previous statute that requires gun shops to conduct a criminal history prior to the sale of any fi rearm. The updated law expands that to all sales and transfers, re-gardless of where or how they occur.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Richard Westfall ar-gued that the new background checks law is unreasonable and unenforceable. He took particular issue with a part of the law that prohibits the transfer of guns among friends and family members, without hav-ing background checks conducted.
“There is no justifi cation for such a burden, particularly because this statute doesn’t even work,” Westfall said.
Westfall also took on the magazine limit ban, which bans new sales and transfers of high-capacity ammunition magazines. The law does not apply to existing maga-zines that may already be in a person’s pos-session.
Westfall argued that the law is unen-forceable because “tens of millions of mag-azines over 15 rounds exist.” He also said the Legislature was “moved by high-profi le
mass shootings” and that the laws are “a symbolic gesture that do not improve pub-lic safety.”
“The question is whether the magazine ban will have any positive impact on pub-lic safety at any level,” he said.
But Grove pushed back against those arguments. He contends that expanding background checks to all potential gun buyers “makes it more diffi cult for a pro-hibited person from acquiring fi rearms.”
In defending the new magazine limit, Grove said that restricting the number of rounds that a killer can hold limits the damage that he or she can infl ict.
“Reloading creates a crucial window of opportunity for a victim to escape or to dis-arm a gunman,” Grove said.
And Grove said that the laws are not aimed at limiting the possession of guns by a law-abiding citizen.
“It does not take these items away from people who already own them. It does not restrict their lawful use. It does not limit the choices of fi rearms Coloradans can carry,” Grove said.
8 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
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Ex-DougCo school board president seeks Regents seat Carson would take 6th District seat held by recently elected DougCo board member By Jane Reuter [email protected]
Former Douglas County School Board president John Carson is running for a spot on the University of Colorado-Boulder board of regents during the November 2014 election.
Carson would essentially trade seats in 2015 with sitting District 6 CU-Regent Jim Geddes, recently elected to the Douglas County School board. Geddes does not in-tend to seek another term on the CU board.
The Highlands Ranch Republican served on the school board for eight years, the last four as its president. He left his term-limited seat in November. Kevin Larsen has since been appointed presi-dent.
Carson also is a graduate of CU, with degrees in law and political science.
“The University of Colorado has always been a great love of mine,” he said, “and I want to work to continue to prove it.”
Aurora Democrat Naquetta Ricks and Fort Lupton Republican Paul Schauer also have fi led their intent to seek the District 6 seat with the Colorado Secretary of State.
Carson cited rising tuition as his top concern. The CU-Regents voted March 21 to raise tuition 3.3 percent for the coming academic year.
“The cost for an in-state student at CU is close to $30,000 a year, if you count room
and board and tuition,” he said. “It’s gone up 50 percent in the last six years. Middle-class kids are faced with having a tremen-dous debt burden if they go to college and don’t come from a wealthy household.
“I think we need to take a look at the budget situation at the university, and
make sure we get the uni-versity on a budget that refl ects middle class fami-lies and their priorities.”
Carson and Geddes, a surgeon and Sedalia resi-dent, both want to ensure students at the tradition-ally liberal college are ex-posed to a variety of politi-cal viewpoints.
“I want to make sure the university of-fers a good, balanced education, and a lot of intellectual diversity,” Carson said.
Geddes, elected to the DCSD board in November 2013, said Carson has his sup-port.
“He is a strong conservative,” he said. “He shares my concerns about the cost of higher education, and that the quality of education at CU and similar universities would be greatly enhanced if we could have more intellectual diversity of our fac-ulty.”
While on the DSCD board, Carson par-ticipated in and oversaw the introduction of many of the district’s education-reform policies, including the voucher, or Choice Scholarship, program, teacher pay-for-performance and the end of the long-standing agreement with the teachers’ union. He also helped implement budget changes designed to build up the district’s fi nancial reserves.
Carson
Committee rejects audit for health insurance exchange e� ort Exchange has already cleared four independent e� orts By Vic Vela [email protected]
A bill that would have allowed for Col-orado’s health insurance marketplace to face a state audit died on a party-line vote in a Democrat-controlled Senate commit-tee on March 26.
The bill had received overwhelm-ing bipartisan support in the House, but the Senate Health and Human Services Com-mittee rejected the legislation, with Democrats arguing that Connect for Health Colorado is already being scrutinized by indepen-dent auditors as well as the federal govern-ment.
“I’m worried that we’re... throwing more government at them when they have al-ready hired private people to look at their performance,” said Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, the committee chairwoman.
Connect for Health Colorado is the state’s health insurance marketplace for Coloradans who wish to shop for insurance opportunities that were made possible through the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare.
Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Leg-islative Audit Committee recommended on a 7-1 vote to grant the state auditor the ability to conduct a full performance audit of the health benefi t exchange.
The health exchange has received sev-eral millions of dollars in grant funding and Republican bill sponsors told the com-mittee that it would be a good idea to make sure the money is being used correctly.
“One hundred and seventy-seven mil-lion dollars in federal grants is a lot of money and I think it’s prudent for Colorado to empower our state auditor to perform a performance audit,” Sen. David Balmer, R-Centennial, told the committee.
State Auditor Dianne Ray testifi ed that any time a new program operates with a large amount of money behind it and it uses that money in a short period of time, it’s a good idea to examine its practices.
Right now, Ray said her offi ce is limited in the type of an audit it can conduct on the Colorado Health Network. For example, her offi ce would be unable to look at things like information technology issues and whether Connect for Health’s enrollment projections are “reasonable.”
“We can’t look at anything outside of just the moneys,” she said.
But Connect for Health Colorado CEO Patty Fontneau said the exchange has had four “clean” independent audits already. She also told the committee that the In-ternal Revenue Service has done a review of the exchange and that the benefi t mar-ketplace also reports to the federal govern-ment on a monthly basis.
Sen. Jeanne Nicholson, D-Black Hawk, said it would be premature for the state to launch an audit of a new program, es-pecially since auditors wouldn’t have any “best practice” measures for which to pro-vide a comparison.
“I think that they already have a num-ber of audits that have demonstrated their performances have been far better than most of the health exchanges in the other states,” Nicholson said.
Democratic Sens. Linda Newell of Little-ton and John Kefalas of Fort Collins joined Nicholson and Aguilar in voting against the bill. Republican Sens. Owen Hill of Colora-do Springs, Larry Crowder of Alamosa and Kevin Lundberg of Berthoud all voted no.
Republicans insisted that the legislation wasn’t a commentary on the Affordable Care Act, which their party has adamantly opposed, both here and nationally.
“It’s important to separate the oranges from the apples,” said Sen. Kevin Lund-berg, R-Berthoud, a committee member. “This is not a statement for or against the exchange or for or against the national Obamacare program.”
However, after the vote, Lundberg blast-ed Democrats on the committee for killing the legislation, “in an attempt to cover up the failures of ObamaCare.”
Legal pot hasn’t stopped black market Colorado is in a transition period when it comes to marijuana By Sadie Gurman Associated Press
A 25-year-old is shot dead trying to sell marijuana the old-fashioned, illegal way. Two men from Texas set up a warehouse to grow more than they would ever need. And three people buying pot in a grocery store parking lot are robbed at gunpoint.
While no one expected the state’s fi rst-in-the-nation recreational sales would eliminate the need for dangerous under-ground sales overnight, the violence has raised concerns among police, prosecutors and pot advocates that a black market for marijuana is alive and well in Colorado.
“It has done nothing more than en-hance the opportunity for the black mar-ket,” said Lt. Mark Comte, of the Colorado Springs police vice and narcotics unit. “If you can get it tax-free on the corner, you’re going to get it on the corner.”
It’s diffi cult to measure whether there has been an increase in pot-related crimes beyond anecdotal reports because no one at either the federal or state levels is keep-ing track of the numbers of killings, rob-beries and other crimes linked directly to marijuana.
Pot advocates say the state is in a transi-tion period, and while pot-related crimes will continue, they will begin to decline as more stores open and prices of legal mari-juana decline.
“It’s just a transition period,” activist Brian Vicente said. “Marijuana was illegal for the last 80 years in our state, and there are some remnants of that still around. Certainly, much like alcohol, over time
these underground dealers will fade away.”Sales are due to begin in June in Wash-
ington, where authorities will be watching for similar cases.
“There’s going to be a black market here,” said Cmdr. Pat Slack of the Snohom-ish Regional Drug/Gang Task Force, which covers an area outside Seattle. “There will be drug rip-offs and drug debts that haven’t been paid. All of that is going to stay.”
Under Colorado’s voter-approved law, it is legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. Authorities are concerned that means illegal dealers and buyers believe they can avoid prosecution. These dealers and their customers also tend to be targets, if robbers know they are fl ush with cash.
Arapahoe County, outside Denver, has seen “a growing number of drug rips and outright burglaries and robberies of peo-ple who have large amounts of marijuana or cash on them,” said District Attorney George Brauchler.
His district has seen at least three homi-cides linked to pot in recent months and a rising number of robberies and home inva-sions.
Among them was a February case in which a 17-year-old boy said he acciden-tally shot and killed his girlfriend while robbing a man who had come to purchase weed.
Elsewhere, prosecutors say, Nathaniel Tallman, 25, was killed during a January drug deal when he was robbed and shot, and his body dumped in Wyoming.
The next month, a dealer mugged three people who were trying to buy marijuana from him in a Denver grocery store park-ing lot.
Such deals are the exception, said Vi-cente. The “average customer” prefers to buy in a well-lit, regulated store, he said, citing the roughly $2 million Colorado made in marijuana taxes in January alone.
Whether dangerous or not, it can still be cheaper to buy pot from a drug dealer.
Voters who approved recreational sales
in Colorado also agreed to a 12.9 percent state sales tax and a 15 percent excise tax on it. Local jurisdictions can also add their own taxes. Medical marijuana is taxed, too, but at a much lower rate — a 2.9 percent sales tax.
Those taxes mean an ounce of pot can go for $400 or more at a state-sanctioned store, depending on quality and potency. An ounce on the street can run between $200 and $280, depending on how much a dealer wants to profi t, Comte said.
Underground dealers also are not bur-dened by complex regulations and licens-es.
“Those barriers to entry already cre-ate the potential for the black market, and then you add these taxes on top of it, and it makes it impossible to get rid of,” said Denver attorney Robert Corry, who helped write the pot legalization measure but op-posed the taxes.
Corry, who has long represented mari-juana dealers facing criminal charges, said his clientele has hardly diminished.
Comte’s unit recently searched a ware-house where two men from Texas were growing “so much more than they could ever need,” he said. Detectives charged them with possession of pot with intent to distribute.
If some Colorado drug dealers have lost
business to legal retailers, some also have made up for it by transporting weed to other states.
A Lakewood man was arrested in March after postal inspectors intercepted a pack-age he was mailing containing a pound of pot. Drug task force offi cers who later searched his home found scores of gallon-sized bags of marijuana and 76 plants.
Marijuana cases can be hard to pros-ecute and are not cost-effective, so police often prefer to focus attention on drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, Comte said.
One result, he said, is the feeling among illegal dealers that because retail sales are legal, authorities are looking the other way.
Mark Kleiman, a public policy professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is helping Washington set up its legal marijuana industry, said the black market’s survival has less to do with taxes than with a shortage of legal stores.
Colorado has more than 160 state-li-censed stores, but they remain concentrat-ed in the Denver area. Many towns don’t have any.
“When there are more stores and more products in the stores and prices settle down, then we’ll see,” Kleiman said. “I would be very surprised if the illicit market can compete at all.”
‘Marijuana was illegal for the last 80 years in our state, and there are some remnants of that still around.
Certainly, much like alcohol, over time these underground dealers will fade away.’
— Brian Vicente, activist
10 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
10-Color
Easter WorshipEaster Worship
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church8817 S. Broadway Highlands Ranch 80129 303-791-0659
www.stlukeshr.com
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church
APRIL 12: 10:00am-noon EASTER FUN DAYAPRIL 13: 8:00, 9:30,11:00am PALM SUNDAY SERVICES
APRIL 17: 7:00pm MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE OF COMMUNION
APRIL 18: 7:00pm GOOD FRIDAY TENEBRAE featuring Karl Jenkins’“Requiem”
APRIL 20: EASTER SERVICES 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00am
Located at DCS Montessori School311 Castle Pines ParkwayCastle Pines, CO 80108
Easter Saturday, April 195pm Easter Worship with Carillon Ringers
Easter Sunday, April 20 7:30am & 8:30am Celebration Choir
10:00am & 11:30am Crossroads Band
Easter Services, April 206:00 am – Shea Stadium, Highlands Ranch
7:45 / 9:00 / 10:30 am – Sanctuary10:20 am – St. Andrew Wildflower
Hymn mash ups, spoken word and a different way to experience the Easter story for the entire family.
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
www.st-andrew-umc.com9203 S University Blvd. / Highlands Ranch 80126
If you think of Jesus as
one of those stained-glass saints
– think again. He surprised, shocked and challenged those
who abused power, and opened doors to those who had been excluded.
He not only turned the tables, he turned over tables.
If you are ready to experience an UNEXPECTED Jesus who
split calendars in half, then don’t miss Easter Sunday.
S E R V I C E SEaster Worship
S E R V I C E SEaster WorshipEaster WorshipEaster WorshipEaster Worship
S E R V I C E SEaster WorshipEaster WorshipEaster Worship
Elbert County News 11 April 10, 2014
11-Color
Easter WorshipEaster WorshipS E R V I C E S
Easter WorshipS E R V I C E S
Easter WorshipEaster WorshipEaster WorshipEaster WorshipS E R V I C E S
Easter WorshipEaster WorshipEaster Worship
God’s Grace Community ChurchEaster Celebration
April 20, 2014
9:00 & 10:30 a.m.Rock Canyon High School • 5810 McArthur Ranch Rd
Highlands Ranch 80124 • 303.790.1084David J. Jensen, Lead Pastor
www.GodsGraceCC.com
Maundy - Thursday Service4/17 @ 7pm
2121 Dad Clark Drive in Highlands Ranch(southwest of C-470 & University Blvd.)
And...Sunday 5/4 @ 9am
As seen on NBC’s “The Voice”
Sunday Easter Service4/20 @ 9am
...plus Children’s EasterEgg Hunt Following!
(720) 259-2390www.HFCdenver.org(southwest of C-470 & University Blvd.)
April 18thGood Friday Service: 7PM
April 20th Sunday Resurrection Services:
8:30AM & 10:45AMBrunch 10:00AM
4391 E Mainstreet, Parker, CO 80134 Church Office – (303) 841-3836
Where people are excited about God’s Word.
www.parkerbiblechurch.org
7051 East Parker Hills Ct. • Parker, CO • 303-841-3739 www.joylutheran-parker.org • Joyful Mission Preschool 303-841-3770
Holy Week Schedule:Palm Sunday, April 13th
9:30 AM - Choir Cantata followed by Youth Pancake Breakfast
Maundy Thursday, April 17th7 PM Worship
Good Friday, April 18th7 PM Worship
Holy Saturday, April 19th5:30 PM Easter Vigil
Easter Sunday, April 20th8 & 10:30 AM Worship
9:15 AM Easter Egg Hunt* Nursery available*
He Is Risen!
Abiding Word Lutheran Church8391 S. Burnley Ct., Highlands Ranch, CO
303-791-3315 • awlc.org
EASTER WORSHIP8 and 10:30 am
FREE Easter Breakfast9:15 – 10:30 a.m.
Spurlock gets sheriff’s-race nod in DougCoOther hopefuls unhappy with system at General AssemblyBy Ryan [email protected]
Douglas County Undersheriff Tony Spurlock doubled the number of votes gar-nered by both of his opponents at the Re-publican General Assembly and will now run uncontested for the office of sheriff on the party’s primary ballot come June.
After that, Spurlock will face off against Libertarian Brock McCoy in November for the right to take over for term-limited Sheriff David Weaver. No Democrat has announced a candidacy for sheriff at this time.
Receiving 233 votes from delegates, the undersheriff picked up 50.4 percent of the vote at the March 22 assembly, while Coro-ner Lora Thomas earned 24.8 percent and Castle Rock Police Cmdr. John Anderson wound up with 24.6 percent.
For candidates to make it on to the Re-publican primary ballot they must receive 30 percent of the vote at the general as-sembly. If they do not reach that amount, but finish with more than 10 percent, they had nine days to gather signatures equat-ing to 20 percent of the total number of votes in the Republican primary during the last sheriff’s election — which in this case meant 5,040 valid signatures by registered Republican voters in Douglas County.
Neither Thomas nor Anderson chose to go through with the petition process.
“I think the message from the delegates is that the citizens of Douglas County are appreciative of the efforts of the sheriff’s office, they are happy with my vision and mission for the future, and they are happy with what I have been doing as the under-sheriff,” Spurlock said.
“I am very happy, humbled and proud to be representing the Republican Party. It is a daunting and humbling task to run for office. I really appreciate everything the delegates and alternates did and I’m very pleased for the way it turned out.”
Thomas and Anderson both expressed
disappointment with the caucus process, and the fact that Colorado is among the minority of states that still adheres to it. Both also agreed the process is not neces-sarily a representative one as intended.
“The caucus system is designed to work for the political machines and I am not a political machine,” said Anderson, lament-ing that there was neither time nor money to pull together enough signatures before the deadline. “Twenty votes kept me off the ballot. I’m just disappointed that 460 peo-ple can decide how hundreds of thousands of people would vote. I don’t think it’s right.
“You go in believing in the system, and there are people that give you thousands of dollars to support you and knowing what I know now, I feel they were ripped off.”
Thomas pointed to the fact that in 2010, she narrowly lost to Carter Lord in the race for coroner at the assembly, losing 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent with 417 delegates voting. She then went on to carry 94 per-cent of the precincts at the Republican pri-mary, winning by a margin of 21.6 percent with more than 26,000 votes cast.
She said those same delegates that gave
“Tony Spurlock a free ride” are “out of step with most Republican voters” and what happened in 2010 demonstrates that.
“Why did 50 percent of the Repub-lican party bosses at the assembly vote for someone other than Tony Spurlock? They recognized the need for new leader-ship and fresh ideas,” she said. “The calls that I’ve received this week indicate that Douglas County Republican voters aren’t pleased with this arrangement.”
Anderson said he doesn’t know how to change it, but that he plans to educate more people about the process and that change needs to come at the state level, and he hopes it will.
“There are a lot of people that are un-happy that they were denied the ability to vote,” he said. “Their voices don’t get to be heard.”
Douglas County Republican chairman Craig Steiner said that he personally likes the process and that it is “open to any Re-publican who decides to show up and cau-cus,” and that they alone have the ability to “determine the outcome.”
What's happening near you? Want to know what news is happening in your area and the areas around you? Visit our website at ColoradoCommunityMedia.com.
12-LIFE-Color
South Metrolife12 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
Cellist, ensemble coming to area
Cellist Silver Ainomae and colleagues from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra will perform at 2 p.m. April 12 at the High-lands Ranch High School Auditorium, 9375 Cresthill Lane. The group will per-form Mozart’s famous “Clarinet Quintet” and Brahms’ “Sextet.” Tickets cost $10. Available from orchestra director Ryan Woodworth: [email protected] (or at the door).
Lamb Spring revisitedThe Lamb Spring Archaeological Pre-
serve in Douglas County is Jack Warner’s topic when he speaks to the Highlands Ranch Historical Society at 7 p.m. April 21 at Southridge Recreation Center, 4800 McArthur Road, Highlands Ranch. He will address how the nearby site fits into local history. Replica stone tool artifacts will be available. Warner is president of the Colo-rado Archaeological Society. Admission is free, although a $1 donation from non-members is appreciated. Highlandsranch-historicalsociety.org.
Presents from the pastAt 1 p.m. April 15, seven members of the
Columbine Genealogical and Historical Society will share the end product of their stories: ebooks, magazine stories, news-letters, books, etc. Guests are welcome at society meetings, held at Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, 6400 S. University Blvd., Centennial. See: ColumbineGenealogy.com.
Ring those handbellsThe Castle Rock Community Handbell
Choir will perform a free concert at 1:30 p.m. April 19 at Tattered Cover Book Store in Highlands Ranch, 9315 Dorchester St. 303-470-7050.
Writers FestivalThe Arapahoe Community College
Writers Festival will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 19 in the Half Moon (Room M1800.) Awards, readings, workshops, lunch, and more. Information: Respond to Dr. Kathryn Winograd, [email protected]. Speakers: Jill Chrisman, Leslie Ullman, Judith Briles, Bill Trem-blay, Seth Brady Tucker. Fee: $45 non-ACC students for two workshops; $25 for one workshop; $20 ACC students (lunch in-cluded.) Reserve by April 16: ACC Writers Studio Literary Festival; c/o Dr. Kathryn Winograd; Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Division; Campus Box 27, 5900 Santa Fe Drive, P.O. Box 9002, Littleton, CO 80160-9002. Include check and names of workshops you want.
Ladies, get your braceletsOn May 1 from 4 to 8 p.m. the side-
walks in downtown Littleton will be filled with happy women and girls, celebrating the annual Ladies Only Sample Tour with free giveaways and snacks. But in order to participate, one must have a bracelet and map, to be purchased at 8:30 a.m. (num-bers will be handed out at 8 a.m.) on April 14, for $12.50, at Town Hall Arts Center, 1450 W. Main Street in downtown Littleton. (They tend to sell out quickly.) Arvada and Golden will also be holding similar events, but bracelets are not interchangeable.
Fiber feverThe Littleton Museum’s annual Fiber
Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April
Denver gets visit from Phantom fanSoprano will perform in South Broadway venueBy Sonya [email protected]
Michelle Gliottoni-Rodriguez has ap-peared in Colorado previously, in Golden, but this season she will visit south Denver with her operatic voice and literary conver-sation.
She will perform selections from Quilter, Gounod, Faure and other classic favorites at 7:30 p.m. April 26 at the Broadway Mu-sic School Hall, 1940 S. Broadway. Pianist Susan Olenwine of Boulder will be accom-panist.
Billed as “Phantom’s Soprano and Au-thor,” the Chicago-based singer plans to talk about her writing career and have some of her titles available for sale. She wrote more than 70 short, novel-length and published stories about the Phantom of the Opera — each distinctive. Titles include: “The Opera Ghost Unraveled”; “Manifes-tations of a Phantom’s Soul: a Collection
of Phantom Stories Volumes I and II”; as well as five novels that are not Phantom-themed. All are available on her Amazon listing.
She studied music at St. Xavier Univer-sity in Chicago and has performed in “Suor Angelica,” “Die Fledermaus,” “Marriage of Figaro,” “The Mikado,” “The Magic Flute,” “La Traviata” and more — in Europe and the U.S.
She and her husband are raising three young children, including one with the special needs of autism, and she credits her husband’s support as well as the joy she finds in writing, during the wee small hours of the night, for renewing the energy she needs each day to pursue her multiple paths.
Chicago-based soprano Michelle Gliottoni-Rodriguez billed as “Phantom’s Soprano and Author,” will appear in recital on April 26 at the Broadway School of Music Hall. Courtesy photo
if you goMichelle Gliottoni-Rodriguez will perform at 7:30 p.m.
on April 26 at the Broadway Music School Hall, 1940 S. Broadway, Denver. Her recital will be followed with a book sale-signing. Recital tickets: $8, phantomssopra-no.brownpapertickets.com or 1-800-838-3006.
For the last two months, The Wildlife Experience has been home to 19 varieties of live turtles, crocodilians, lizards and snakes from around the world. The exhibit explores common myths and fosters a basic understanding of how reptiles fit into the history of life and the fabric of native environments. The exhibit, which ended April 6, was produced and toured by Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland.
Photos by Chris MiChlewiCzRachel Rathmell, a caretaker for Clyde Peelings Reptiland, holds “Rico Suave,” a bearded dragon that stars in “Reptiles: The Beautiful & The Deadly” at The Wildlife Experience.
An Asian cobra stirs inside an enclosure at the ‘Reptiles: The Beautiful & The Deadly’ exhibit at The Wildlife Experience April 3. Asian cobras, which live in Indonesia, lack melanin, giving them whitish-yellow coloring.
A frilled leaf-tail gecko hangs out on the glass of its cage at The Wildlife Experience.
Creepy crawlies invade
Sonya continues on Page 13
Elbert County News 13 April 10, 2014
13-Color
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Colorado Symphony cellist Silver Ainomae and Ensemble will perform at Highlands Ranch High School on April 12. Courtesy photo
12 on the museum grounds, 6028 S. Gallup St., Littleton. The Navajo-Churro sheep will be sheared, with demonstrations of skirt-ing, washing, dyeing, carding and spin-ning. Also present: alpacas, Paco-vicunas, Angora rabbits and goats. Demonstrations by working sheepdogs will take place in the pasture. 303-795-3950. Admission is free.
Opera on tapOpera fans will enjoy Lamont School
of Music’s production of “Don Giovanni” from April 17 to 20. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Newman Center, University of Denver, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. Re-served seating: $11 to $30; 303-871-7729; NewmanTix.com. Complimentary parking — enter from Wesley.
Comedy magicianAustralian comedy magician Tom Ellis
will appear in a family show from 7:30 to 9 p.m. April 18 at Theatre of Dreams Arts and Event Center, 735 Park St., Castle Rock. Tickets: $25, 303-660-6799.
Continued from Page 12
Sonya
Nature music springs to life Nadya Hill featured in PACE Center show By Sonya Ellingboe [email protected]
“In Nature’s Realm” is the theme of the Parker Symphony’s April 19 concert at the PACE Center, and the orchestra’s young concert mistress, Nadya Hill, will be fea-tured in a performance of Vaughan-Wil-liams’ lyrical “Lark Ascending.”
Hill has been performing since she was 4 years old.
The daughter of two professional musi-cians, she lives in Littleton and is also a vo-calist, a fi nalist in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild’s competition in 2013 and 2014.
She earned degrees in violin perfor-mance and voice performance from the University of Michigan, summa cum laude.
She taught English in public schools in Rome for a year after graduation and found the notice of a concert master opening with the Parker Symphony soon after she returned to Colorado.
In the lifestyle of many young artists, she juggles a varied schedule — teaching violin classes in two Denver schools and working as assistant to the executive director of the Colorado Youth Symphony in addition to her spot with the Parker Symphony.
She occasionally performs with Bill Hill and Friends, a Grammy-nominated jazz group led by her father, Bill Hill, tympanist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has appeared at Cherokee Ranch and Castle in Douglas County.
Hill has solo spots scheduled with other area orchestras, and is also a visual artist. She is comfortable with a range of styles from jazz to ethnically infl uenced music to classical.
In an interview with Cheryl Poules, president of the Parker Symphony, she writes about loving to have her violin as an outlet to express herself “in ways that would be impossible otherwise.”
She says of “Lark Ascending”: “The fi rst
time I heard this piece, I was probably 15 years old and probably heard it on the ra-dio. I was hooked the moment it started and just couldn’t believe something so beauti-ful truly existed ….” She quickly bought a CD and listened for hours. “There’s some-thing about the simplicity and spacious-ness of Vaughan-Williams’ writing that is both unusual and entrancing.”
Violinist Rene Knetsch is director of the Parker Symphony. The balance of the or-chestra’s program for the April 19 concert includes: Vaughan-Williams’ “Overture to the Wasps,” depicting miniature aerial acrobatics; Mendelssohn’s “Fingel’s Cave Overture,” about springtime in Scotland; and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.”
Nadya Hill, Parker Symphony’s Concert Mistress, will be featured in the orchestra’s April 19 concert at the PACE Center. Courtesy photo
IF YOU GO The Parker Symphony will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 19
at the PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Ave., Parker. Tickets: $15/$20, https://pacecenteronline.ticketforce.com/, 303-805-6800.
EXTRA! EXTRA!Have a news or business story idea? We'd love to read all about it. To send us your
news and business press releases please visit elbertcountynews.net, click on the Press
Releases tab and follow easy instructions to make submissions.
14 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
14
High temps alas, and finally no class. Skaters, bikers and scooter enthusiasts flocked to Metzler Ranch Community Park March 27 to enjoy some Spring Break free time and fill their hours with sunshine instead of fluorescent bulbs, iPads and books. The park was a hot spot all week long as kids of all ages hit the bowls morning, afternoon and night.
Photos by Ryan boldRey
Aspen View Academy kindergartner Davis May focuses on his landing after catching some air March 27 at the Metzler Ranch skate park in Castle Rock. Davis, 6, along with a slew of others enjoyed being at the park instead of inside a classroom, and flocked to the park all week during spring break.
Douglas County High School freshman Cole Adams catches some air at the Metzler Ranch skate park in Castle Rock on March 27.
Flagstone Elementary School first-grader Emerson Dawson takes advantage of spring break and rides at the Metzler Ranch skate park.
Shredding up the break
Elbert County News 15 April 10, 2014
15
OF GAMESGALLERYc r o s s w o r d • s u d o k u
& w e e k l y h o r o s c o p e
GALLERY OF GAMESc r o s s w o r d • s u d o k u & w e e k l y h o r o s c o p e
SALOME’S STARSFOR THE WEEK OF ApRil 7, 2014
ARIES (Mar 21 to Apr 19) A suggestion from a col-league on how to work out a problem might not sit too well with you. But before you suspect his or her motives, why not just accept it as a friendly gesture?
TAURUS (Apr 20 to May 20) An associate might seek your counsel on a workplace dispute with an-other co-worker. listen to what she or he has to say, but withhold advice until you’ve heard the other side of the story.
GEMINI (May 21 to Jun 20) Use your Twin gifts for creativity and practicality to score points in landing an opportunity that could open doors to a new career. Someone returns after a long absence.
CANCER (Jun 21 to Jul 22) Although things are pret-ty hectic through much of the week, some quiet time with loved ones helps restore balance. An unexpected visitor brings welcome news about a mutual friend.
LEO (Jul 23 to Aug 22) Getting used to change isn’t always easy for the Big Cat. But make the adjustments gradually, and soon you’ll hardly remember when things were any different from how they are now.
VIRGO (Aug 23 to Sept 22) Continue to stay the course you’ve chosen, and avoid distractions that could throw you off track. Some knowledgeable folks are happy to provide guidance if you need it.
LIBRA (Sept 23 to Oct 22) Although you earned plaudits from most co-workers for your recent stand on a workplace situation, you also raised the envy quo-tient among others. Tread carefully for now.
SCORPIO (Oct 23 to Nov 21) You feel more positive about that delayed project, and you’re ready to pick it up on a moment’s notice. However, you might need to re-motivate those who have since lost interest.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 to Dec 21) Some welcome news should be coming your way. in the meantime, use that Sagittarius charm to persuade some still-reluctant colleagues that your ideas have merit.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 to Jan 19) Don’t wait for a misunderstanding to work itself out. instead, ask for a chance to explain the circumstances before those bruised feelings lead to an irreversible break.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 to Feb 18) A physical problem should be checked out in order to avoid it going from just being a nuisance to something more serious. Your social life takes an unexpected but not unwelcome turn.
PISCES (Feb 19 to Mar 20) Yours might be the wis-est sign in the Zodiac. But you still could benefit from the wisdom of a close friend who has suggestions on how to handle a perplexing personal problem.
BORN THIS WEEK: Your passion for doing the right thing inspires others to follow your well-trodden path toward justice.
Lone Tree audience the Twain shall meet‘Big River’ brings American classic novel to local stageBy Sonya [email protected]
“Big River: The Adventures of Huckleber-ry Finn” will bring Mark Twain’s American classic novel to the stage at Lone Tree Arts Center from April 24 to May 4. The musical, with book by William Hauptman, music and lyrics by Roger Miller, celebrates a tale that is part of our national fabric.
With the recent publication of Mark Twain’s two-volume autobiography, there is renewed appreciation for this author who was known around the world in his day.
This year marks the 130th anniversary of Twain’s coming-of-age story of a rebel-lious teenager. Director Randal Myler will stage this production with music direction by Dan Wheetman and choreography by Candy Brown.
The two directors, who have staged a number of musical productions at the Denver Center Theatre in the past, brought “Hank Williams: Lost Highway” to Lone Tree last spring. The original production of “Big
River” was in 1985-87 in New York, followed by a uniquely cast revival with deaf and hard-of-hearing actors in 2003.
The story follows Huck as he tires of be-ing told how to behave and runs away down the river with runaway slave Jim, develop-ing an unusual friendship as they interact with assorted characters en route.
Myler’s version incorporates a storytell-ing troupe traveling down the river, a rag-tag group playing multiple musical instru-ments as they stop and share stories.
Mack Shirilla leads the cast as Huck, in a role he recently played in Dallas, while familiar Denver actor Harvy Blanks plays Jim. The pair meets numerous challenges as they pass along the Big Muddy, meeting an
odd assortment of characters.Also in the cast: Felicia Fields, Matt La-
Fontaine, Lia Menaker, Kathy Brady, Mark
Rubald, Randy Moore, Heather Lacy, Erik Sandvold, Rob Costigan, Zachary Alan, Burke Walton and Sarah Grover.
Harvey Blanks, a familiar face in Denver theater, will perform the role of Jim, friend to Huckleberry Finn in “Big River: the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” when it plays at the Lone Tree Arts Center from April 24 to May 4. Courtesy photo
if you go“Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
plays April 24 to May 4 at Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St., Lone Tree. Performances: 7:30 p.m. April 24, April 30, May 1; 8 p.m. April 26-27, May 2-3; 1:30 p.m. matinee April 26-27, April 30 (special Senior Performance), May 4. Tickets: $29-$48 (all tickets sub-ject to a $3 fee), 720-509-1000 Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and LoneTreeArtsCenter.org.
Editor’s notE: Calendar submissions must be received by noon Wednesday for publication the following week. Send listings to [email protected]. No attachments, please. Listings are free and run on a space-available basis.
through April 11
survEy thE Elizabeth Area Chamber of Commerce, in support of The Elbert County Business Alliance, is requesting your input on a survey. We are asking area businesses about training needs required to help businesses succeed. Complete the survey https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1d3t1-4lvidxVjS-RbTKq0rLqAS79XfOz5oFPpfVM4ZYI/viewform. It should take about 5 minutes. Also, feel free to share this link with your fel-low business owners. Entries are being taken through April 11.
April 12
ElEctronics rEcycling The Elbert County Libraries Foundation will host an electronics waste collection event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 12 at the Elizabeth Library, 651 W. Beverly St. Computer equipment, audio/video compo-nents, household appliances and televisions may be recycled. Proceeds from recycling fees and cash donations will support the programs and services of the Elbert County Library District. All items collected will be recycles by Blue Star Recyclers. Go to www.bluestarrecyclers.com.
April 14-18
librAry wEEk The Elbert County Library District celebrates National Library Week from April 14-18. Any time you use
your card during this week, you can have a chance to spin for a prize. For information about any of the programs or services listed, call 303-646-3416.
April 19
9hEAlth FAir The Elizabeth Lions Club is coordinating the Elizabeth 9Health Fair, from 7 a.m. to noon April 19 at Elizabeth Middle School. Participants can register online at www.9healthfair.org/register. If you register online, bring your 2-page computer printout with you to the fair. Visit www.9healthfair.org, contact Terry Clayton at 303-646-3772, or e-mail at [email protected]. You can also visit www.ElizabethLionsClub.org to see the most detailed and up-to-date information on the Elizabeth 9Health Fair.
April 25
businEss AFtEr hours The Elizabeth Chamber of Com-merce will have its business after hours, hosted by HeadsUp Colorado and the Elizabeth Area Chamber of Commerce, is from 5-8 p.m. April 25, at Casey Jones Pavilion, Elizabeth.
April 26-27
homE And garden show The Tri-Lakes Women’s Club will have its 38th annual Pine Forest Antiques, Home Décor & Gar-den Show and Sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 26, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 27 at Lewis Palmer High School, 1300 Higby Road, Monument. Admission is $6, and proceeds benefit qualified nonprofit and public service organizations and public schools in the Tri-Lakes Area. Go to www.TLWC.net for details.
things to do
16 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
16
NoticesNoticesNoticesTo advertise your public notices call 303-566-4100
NoticesNoticesNoticesNoticesNoticesName Changes
PUBLIC NOTICE
Public Notice of Petitionfor Change of Name
Public notice is given on November 6,2013 that a Petition for a Change of Nameof an adult has been filed with the ElbertCounty Combined Court.
The Petition requests that the name ofBryon Daniel Baros be changed toBryon Daniel Bills.Case No.: 2013 C 50
Cheryl A. Layne, Clerk of CourtBy: Jafeen Jenkins, Deputy ClerkRedated: March 14, 2014
Legal Notice No: 927925First Publication: March 27, 2014Last Publication: April 10, 2014Publisher: Elbert County News
Government Legals PUBLIC NOTICE
NOTICE OF ELECTIONPOLLING PLACE
1-13.5-502(6), C.R.S.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, and, par-ticularly, to the electors of the ElizabethFire Protection District of Elbert County,Colorado:
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that anelection will be held on the 6th day ofMay, 2014, between the hours of 7:00a.m. and 7:00 p.m. The Board of Direct-ors of the District has designated thefollowing polling place:Station #271 155 W. Kiowa Ave.,Elizabeth, Co. 80107,
At said election, the electors of the Dis-trict shall vote for Directors to serve thefollowing terms of office on the Board ofDirectors of the District:
The names of persons nominated asDirector for a Four-Year TermRick L. YoungWilliam M. GraeffWrite-In Candidate ____________
NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that an eli-gible elector of said district for the pur-pose of said election is a person re-gistered to vote pursuant to the "ColoradoUniform Election Code of 1992;" and whois a resident of the District, or who, orwhose spouse or civil union partner, ownstaxable real or personal property withinthe District, whether said person resideswithin the District or not, or a person whois obligated to pay taxes under a contractto purchase taxable property within theDistrict shall be considered an owner oftaxable property for the purpose of qualify-ing as an eligible elector.
NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that applic-ations for and return of absentee voterballots may be filed with, and replace-ment ballots may be received from: GayKriz, Designated Election Official of theElizabeth Fire Protection District at: 155W. Kiowa Avenue, Elizabeth, Colorado80107 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and5:00 p.m., until the close of business onthe Friday immediately preceding the reg-ular election (May 6, 2014)
Elizabeth Fire Protection DistrictGay Kriz Designated Election Official
Legal Notice No.: 927928First Publication: April 10, 2014Last Publication: April 10, 2014Publisher: The Elbert County News
Without public notices,the government wouldn’thave to say anything else.Public notices are a community’s windowinto the government. From zoningregulations to local budgets, governmentshave used local newspapers to informcitizens of its actions as an essential partof your right to know.You knowwhere tolook, when to look and what to look for tobe involved as a citizen. Local newspapersprovide you with the information youneed to get involved.
Advertise: 303-566-4100OurColoradoClassifieds.com
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Pay is on a per-assignment basis, but we are looking for someone who can become a regular contributor to the Elbert County News.
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‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ to tour North AmericaJuly 29 stop in Denver included for rock operaBy Mark KennedyAssociated Press
The 1970s rock opera “Jesus Christ Su-perstar” is being resurrected for a North American arena rock tour this summer, led by a former boy band member, an R&B si-ren and a punk icon.
The musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice about the last days of Jesus will start a 54-city tour in New Or-leans on June 9.
It will star punk legend John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon as King Herod, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child as Mary Mag-dalene, Brandon Boyd of Incubus as Judas and JC Chasez of ‘N Sync as Pontius Pilate. Ben Forster, the winner of the U.K.’s prime-time contest show “Superstar,” will play the
son of God.“I’m looking forward to the experience,”
said Chasez. “This is honestly my first the-ater experience so I’m being thrown into the fire a bit. But I’m excited because the fact that we’re doing something that feels pretty unique.”
The tour will start at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and include stops in Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, Phoenix, Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver, New York City, Boston and ends in Philadelphia on Aug. 16. It will be at the Pepsi Center on July 29.
The guitar- and keyboard-driven musi-cal, which debuted on Broadway in 1971, includes such songs as “What’s the Buzz?” ‘’Superstar,” ‘’Everything’s Alright” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” The show will have four video cameras broadcasting the show onto screens and use the latest in lighting and sound technology.
“Superstar” was first introduced as an album before being staged in theaters on Broadway and London. “There’s always
been for me, something a little bit con-straining about it in a theater,” said Lloyd Webber. “We wrote it as a rock album and not as a stage show.”
In 2012, producer Michael Cohl said he saw a concert version of “Superstar” in London and was blown away. That show toured the UK and Australia before jump-ing to North America. Ticket prices in America will be between $29 and $125.
Cohl, who was a lead producer on the ill-fated, aerial-effects laden “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” declined to talk too much about the financing, but said the new show’s total costs are in the “eight fig-ures” and needs to pull in “several hundred thousand dollars” each night to keep it on the road. “It’s a particular pleasure for me to get to work on this show — particularly because there’s no flying,” Cohl joked.
The original production earned five Tony Award nominations, including one for Ben Vereen, who played Judas. A film version was released in 1973 and the last
Broadway revival was staged in 2012 under the direction of Des McAnuff.
The musical dramatizes Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the unrest caused by his preaching and popularity, his betrayal by Judas, the trial before Pontius Pilate and his ultimate crucifixion. It marked an early collaboration between Lloyd Webber and Rice, who also created “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Evita.”
At a press conference last week an-nouncing the tour, Williams, Forster and Boyd sang a few songs and Lydon, formerly of the Sex Pistols, threw out bananas to the media, using expletives with ease. Chasez said the cast — with backgrounds from punk to pop — would bring their different performance styles and create something special.
“It sounds crazy and wonderful at the same time,” he said.
Dance party targets 55-and-over crowdFormer party planner wants to ‘spice things up’By Chris [email protected]
Being single in Parker is no easy task. It can be even more difficult for the 55-and-up demographic.
Many of the events that allow singles to mingle and get to know one another tend to be in Denver. That’s why Parker resident Marty Pickert is taking it upon herself to “spice things up.” She has scheduled two dance parties in April at Takoda Tavern, a popular watering hole on the southeast corner of South Parker Road and Hess Road.
“I decided that it’s really boring (in Park-er) for dance people,” she said. “We need to
do something to have some fun.”Pickert, who ran an event-planning
business called “Parties by Marty” up un-til three years ago, said there are no places for older people to dance, so she has built
a music playlist that fea-tures everything from rock `n’ roll and country to disco and slow ballads.
Pickert and her group of girlfriends go to the Tailgate Tavern in downtown Parker to line dance to country bands on Thursday nights. But there is often one thing missing: a few good men.
“There are tons of neat women who are widowed and divorced — tons,” she said. “We’re trying to find the guys.”
Pickert, who turns 71 this month, is employing a clever tactic to spark conver-
sations, particularly because “people are shy,” regardless of their age and level of experience. Each lady who attends will be given a tag bearing the name of a classic song; every gentleman will get a tag with the name of a musical artist. The idea is to match the song name with the band that recorded it to bring people together.
“They might think it’s corny, but it gets people in the spirit,” she said.
It’s not the first time Pickert has tried to improve things for residents 55 and older. She is actively working on a plan to estab-lish senior cohousing in Parker.
The “Singles 55+ Networking and Dance” parties are from 4-8 p.m. April 13 and April 27 at Takoda Tavern, 12311 Pine Bluffs Way. Admission is free and there is no requirement to RSVP. Call 303-649-9125 for more information.
Pickert
‘There are tons of neat women who are widowed and divorced — tons. We’re trying to find the guys.’
— Marty Pickert, party organizer
17-SPORTS
ElbertSPORTS Elbert County News 17
April 10, 2014
Cardinals move to 7-1 on diamondStrong hitting, solid pitching aid Elizabeth in first halfBy Scott StockerSpecial to Colorado Community Media
So far, so good.Elizabeth hit the midway mark of its
baseball season this past week, and thanks to victories over Englewood and Stratton, the Cardinals now stand at 7-1.
Coached by Doug Severinsen, Elizabeth defeated visiting Englewood, 13-2, on April 2, then hit the road and topped Strasburg, 11-0, April 5.
Tyler Erzen and Chase Nicholas each collected five hits over the course of the two games. Nicholas is hitting a solid .500 on the season while Erzen sits at .480. Brandon Severinsen leads the team, hitting .538 for the Cardinals.
Weston Haber and Stuart Eurich also helped the cause last each week, as both players had a total of four hits.
Elizabeth jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the first two innings against Englewood, and added three more runs in the fourth, before closing the game out in six innings. Pitcher Sean Herr picked up his third vic-tory of the season, only walking two batters while striking out eight.
The action on the mound only got bet-ter against Stratton as Zach Pedrick, now 2-0, only allowed two hits and walked one. The Cardinals, with 12 hits in the game, had the situation well under their wings as they accounted for seven runs in the first three innings.
While upping his batting average, Sev-erinsen has fostered a .613 on base per-centage, knocking in 11 runs, with the help of a pair of homeruns. He also has six stolen bases. Haber has been hitting .474, which has also helped Elizabeth hit .397 as a team.
Elizabeth hosted Mitchell, April 7, and Skyview, April 9, then travels to Skyview, April 11.
Elbert goes 1-1Under Chris Williams, Elbert improved
to 4-0 with a 9-6 victory against Evangeli-cal Christian. But the Bulldogs lost their first game of the season, April 5, when they were beaten by Stratton, 12-2.
Cody Rosberg had three hits in four at-bats, with two runs against ECA, upping his team-leading batting average to .632. The Bulldogs have two other hitters over .400 — Jacob Miller, .467, and Colton Mus-son, .400. Musson came through with a pair of hits, including a double, and twoR-BI against ECA.
On the mound, Brett Meredith has a 2-1 record and Rosberg is 2-0.
Yet Elbert ran into trouble against un-beaten Stratton (5-0). Rosberg and Miller each had a pair of hits with Logan Pumeroy getting the only other hit. Miller accounted for both runs batted in while Meredith was given his first loss.
Elbert plays its next game at Cripple Creek, April 10.
Kiowa and Simla set to face offKiowa had a tough time at the plate
against Limon pitcher, Gavin Liggett, as the Indians fell to 2-2 on the season, los-ing 6-3.
Kiowa scored all three of its runs in the sixth inning, but Liggett was unstoppable in the early going. Overall he only gave up four hits, walked three and struck out 16.
Kiowa played at Simla, April 8, in a dou-ble-header, then plays another double-header at Peyton, April 12.
Steven Mizak and Caleb Smith have been leading Kiowa in hitting, each batting .538. Jake Jacobs is hitting .455 and Mar-shall Deering is checking in at .333.
There is little doubt Kiowa could have its problems against Peyton. Peyton de-feated Simla, 14-1, and 14-4, on April 5. In the process the Cubs fell to 0-4. Simla played at Stratton, April 7, and will also play at Pikes Peak Christian, April 10.
Peyton has been dynamic this season. In their first seven games, the Panthers have scored 103 runs while only giving up 16.
Ready to rock ‘n’ rollTeam features unique names, serious athletesBy Jim [email protected]
Part of the lore and culture of roller der-by stems from the nicknames used by the skaters.
Teammates seldom use given names when addressing each other and instead call each other by their derby names, which are earned after learning the sport and passing basic skills tests.
Douglas County has its own women’s flat track roller derby team, the Castle Rock `n’ Rollers, which has bouts scheduled this year at the Douglas County Events Center and the Parker Fieldhouse.
Some of the derby names of the Rock `n’ Rollers include Awesomesauce, Anesta TizHer, DebT Collector, Evie Rider, Fran-Tik, Boozy McBruisy, Stolie Roller, Skatie Golucky, Lickety Splat, Freudian Slipknot and Wicked Bliss.
No two derby names in the world are the same but some might be similar. There is an international registry of names. Skating officials, non-skating officials, announcers and even derby volunteers participate in the roller derby name custom.
Skaters often name themselves but teammates, friends and families help to invent a creative name. Some derby names can be somewhat controversial.
In the 1950s and 1960s the National Roller Derby League was popular and several networks would telecast bouts. However the sport became tarnished and regarded as an entertainment vehicle with theatrical elements.
Roller derby, with hopes of becoming a professional or Olympic sport, has started to regain its popularity, and there is a move to legitimize the sport.
“A lot of our roller derby names are pretty tame,” said Awesomesauce (Mandy Erwin). “There are some that have curse words or a play on words that are not ap-propriate for family TV. The people that really want this to become a professional sport, an Olympic sport, want their own names because they’ve worked hard to be there.
“But the roller derby name tradition is sort of neat too. So a lot of people are on the fence. It is highly debated in the derby
community. I respect the right for people to use whatever names they want but they also have to respect the fact that not every-body is going to want to hear their names. Some of the best teams in the country didn’t wait for discussion, they came out at the nationals with their own names.”
Evie Rider (Eve Crenshaw) and Fran-Tik (Francey Garbett) are the team captains for the Castle Rock `n’ Rollers.
“Names are earned and girls work hard to earn those names,” explained Evie Rider who makes her living as a gardener. “It’s sort of fun to have this alter ego away from my real life.
“A lot of times people make the connec-tion of who I am and find out what I do for a living and that I’m a captain for a roller derby team as well, so it’s OK that I’m not using my real name. I feel like part of roller derby is your derby name.”
Most of the team’s skaters live in Castle Rock, Parker, and Highlands Ranch with a few coming from Colorado Springs, Kiowa and Littleton.
There is an assortment of day-time oc-cupations for the skaters on the team that includes homemakers, a fitness instructor and others who work in counseling, school districts, police departments, debt collec-tions and human resources.
“We do have a good mix,” said Awe-somesauce. “The media used to play the news angle of roller derby by night and CEO by day. But we feel like we’ve kind of got past that because we’re athletes. One thing we all have in common is the love for the sport.”
The Castle Rock `n’ Rollers practice twice a week and have nine bouts on the schedule with a possible 10th, if a makeup date can be arranged.
Skaters pay $40 monthly dues to help cover the cost for the practice facility plus standard equipment like a medical kit and tape to set up the track. Rental cost of the venues for bouts is covered by ticket sales.
“It takes a serious commitment from the women,” pointed out Awesomesauce. “It’s hard when this is your part-time hob-by. It’s something that smaller teams like ours sometimes struggle with. We practice twice a week but some teams practice four or five times a week.
“It’s a huge commitment when you have a day job that pays your bills. So far nobody is paid to do roller derby. All of us are volunteers, including the referees and officials. It is a year-round sport.”
Roller derby is also a physical sport
aside from the usual bumps and bruises re-ceived in practice and bouts.
“It can be a rough sport,” said Awe-somesauce. “It is a contact sport… The equipment has stepped up to be concus-sion proof. We take safety seriously.
“We go by doctors’ orders. We have a training committee and a board of direc-tors on our team and most teams do have set policies. We have a process for coming back. You have to have notes from your doctor that you have been cleared to skate.”
Castle Rock ‘n’ Rollers captains Fran-Tek (Francey Garbett) and Evie Rider (Eve Crenshaw). Photo by Jim Benton
2014 sCheduleFeb. 22 - Ark Valley High Rollers 338, Castle Rock ̀ n’ Roll-
ers 68April 19 - at Salt Creek Roller Girls, Casper, Wyo.May 17 - vs. Grand Junction Roller Girls at Douglas County
Events CenterJune 7 - vs. Happy Valley Derby Darlins at Douglas County
Events Center July 12 - vs. 10th Mountain Roller Dolls at
Parker Fieldhouse
Sept. 13 - vs. Junction City Roller Dolls, TBA
Sept. 27 - at Slaughterhouse Derby Girls, Greeley, Co.
Oct. 12 - vs. Gunz ̀ n’ Hoses at Douglas County Events Center
Nov. 15 - vs. Fall Down Mix Up 2014 at Douglas County
Events Center
18 Elbert County News April 10, 2014
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Railroad history event scheduled Two-day symposium features speakers and displays By Tom Munds [email protected]
The schedule calls for discussions and displays about trains and the impact of railroads on the area’s history during the two-day symposium hosted by the Rocky Mountain Railroad Heritage Society.
Some of the subjects being addressed by featured speakers include moving troops by train from Fort Logan to Wounded Knee in the 1890s, the history of the laundry train and a report on the model railroad in Greeley that is the largest in the coun-try. The event also will include displays of railroad memorabilia and a silent auction.
The symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 12 and 13 at Hampden Hall which is located on the second fl oor of the Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway. Tickets are $20 per day or $25 for the two-day event and can be purchased at the door.
Larry Noland said he just learned about the symposium and plans to attend. The Littleton man said he has read a lot about
Colorado railroad history and wants to learn more. He said his reading includes works by some of the symposium speak-ers so he wants to listen to their comments about the area’s rich railroad history.
Society President Jim Jordan said the organization was established on June 19, 2013 right after Englewood sold its train depot.
“We wanted to help save and restore the Englewood Depot but that didn’t happen,” he said. “So, we established the society to do all we can to help preserve and restore historic railroad buildings and equipment in the future.”
He said there are about 125 members of the society who are enthusiastic about all different aspects of railroading and rail-roading history.
“The focus of the symposium is the history of railroads in Colorado and the impact railroads had on the history of the state and surrounding area,” Jordan said.
He said in the society’s short history it has become a clearing house for individu-als or organizations looking for railroad supplies or equipment. He said, for exam-ple, a Colorado Springs group sought rail-road ties and the society was able to locate them and have them donated.
In addition, he said the society has been
contacted railroad history organizations in several surrounding states for information and cooperation with their projects.
“We also have fi ve communities that
have asked us to help save and preserve their railroad depots,” Jordan said. “Right now, the depot most endangered is the once in the city of Craig.”
Saving historic railroad buildings and equipment like this engine and cars at the Colorado Railroad Museum is the focus of the Rocky Mountain Railroad Heritage Society. The society is holding a symposium on railroad history April 12 and 13. Courtesy photo
Exciting lineup on their mark for Pikes Peak Hill Climb Broadmoor is the newly named sponsor of prestigious race By Danny Summers [email protected]
French race car driver Romain Dumas will return to the newly-named Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which takes place June 29 on “America’s Moun-tain.”
Dumas, winner of the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans classic, was named the Pikes Peak Rookie of the Year in 2012 when he cap-tured the Pikes Peak Open Division with a blazing speed of 9 minutes, 46.181 seconds. He drove his Porsche GT3R in his debut in the fi rst edition of the race on a fully-paved course.
His 2012 time ranks sixth on the all-time list of winners on the Peak, which began in 1916.
Japan’s Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima will return to return to the Hill Climb for the 22nd
year. He was the fi rst driver to crack the elu-sive 10-minute mark when he won the Un-limited Division for the sixth straight time with the record 9:51.278 in 2011.
Tajima’s amazing feat occurred the last year part of the course was on gravel. Ta-jima was denied another triumph in 2012 when he dropped out of the race because of a mechanical failure. He came back last year and cracked the 10-minute barrier in an electric car.
Sebastien Loeb of France set the all-time record in 2013 when he raced up the moun-tain in 8:13.878.
Dumas will be behind the wheel of a Norma M20 with Honda Power in the load-ed Unlimited Division. The development of the auto prototype began this year with the goal of a new record, just as Loeb’s team did last year in the production of the 2013 Peu-geot 208 T16 Pikes Peak model that powered Loeb. The Frenchman negotiated the 12.42 miles and 156 corners of the mountain at an average speed of 87.47 mph.
Loeb will not be back to make another attempt when a fi eld of 152 automobiles and motorcycles tackle Pikes Peak, but
there are plenty of well-known competitors signed up to date for the 92nd time.
Coming back for an amazing 40th time to race is the veteran Randy Schranz of Colorado Springs, who won the Pikes Peak Open Division last summer with a time of 11:21.410. He entered the event for the fi rst time in 1972 and is entered this year in the Pikes Peak Challenge Division (Pikes Peak Open) along with his son, Layne, another veteran of the race.
Other Hill Climb veterans and champi-ons registered for this year’s edition include Woodland Park’s Clint Vahsholtz, Paul Dal-lenbach (Basalt) and Spencer Steele (Den-ver).
The motorcycle fi eld includes Wood-land Park’s Codie Vahsholtz (Clint’s son), 15-year-old Brandon Tubbs (Farmington, New Mexico), Jeff Clark (Los Angeles) and Jeff Grace (Colorado Springs).
Speedweek kicks off with the fabulous Pikes Peak International Auto Show June 20-22 at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center.
The annual Race Tech Inspection, which is open to the public, takes place on June 23
at the World Arena. There is no admission and it is free of charge.
Practices and qualifying begins the next morning and will be open to the public. Practice dates are June 24-27. Race Day tickets will not allow fans to view practice sessions with specifi c restrictions. To attend practice fans must purchase an online tick-et for each specifi c practice day. Tickets are available online for $25 per person per day or fans can purchase an individual week pass for $120.
Fan Fest is June 27 from 5 to 10 p.m. in downtown Colorado Springs. This event is free and typically features a large Budweiser beer garden, a chili cook-off, motorcycle jumpers as well as other live entertainment. More than 35,000 are expected to attend.
In addition, the PPIHC mobile museum will be on-site and exclusive PPIHC mer-chandise will be available for purchase.
Tickets for the Hill Climb are available online now at www.ppihc.com along with a wealth of information on the event itself, from the history of the race to all-time win-ners and records.
Elbert County News 19 April 10, 2014
19-Color
of an emergency situation, using DECHC volunteers to support large animal needs.
Just months after DECART’s formation, the Black Forest Fire sparked into an in-
ferno and the rescue team was mobilized.Fenner said DECHC, through board
members Fred Werhli, coordinated and made calls to DECART volunteers, who ef-ficiently and safely handled over 500 large animals evacuated to the Elbert County Fairgrounds.
According to its website, DECHC’s four-fold mission is:
To provide an association for persons having a common interest in the promo-tion and improvement of the horse indus-try in Douglas and Elbert counties.
To provide disaster and emergency-related horse rescue management and re-lated education.
To educate and report to the horse com-munity on horse-related issues regarding
land use, taxes and legislation at a county level.
To support trail development, safety, and open space, and to educate the horse community on these issues.
For more info about DECHC or the May 12 evacuation preparedness clinic, please contact Jewel Beach at: [email protected].
Continued from Page 1
Horse
available through the CDPHE’s website.Rep. Joann Ginal, D-Fort Collins, told
the House Health, Insurance, and Environ-ment Committee on April 1 that she is not “targeting” oil and gas companies. Ginal acknowledged that those companies pro-vide economic benefits to the state.
“But health is a quality of life issue, as is jobs, as is our energy jobs and education,” she said. “And fear is driving communities to enact bans and moratoriums and fear should not be the motivation in this case.”
The committee’s vote to move forward with the study fell on party lines. Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial, said that communities are already working together to deal with fracking without the state’s in-volvement.
Swalm cited an agreement between Arapahoe County and the oil and gas in-dustry, which would allow companies to expedite fracking applications if they ex-ceed state standards.
“Arapahoe County has come to a good understanding of how to address this ap-proach,” Swalm said. “The elected officials out there worked hard to come to that.”
Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands
Ranch, said he didn’t want to see a state-sponsored study that he thinks would slant toward the viewpoint of fracking op-ponents. McNulty said that the oil and gas industry is already being watched in a way that protects the public.
“A well-regulated industry does not pose public health threats to our citizens,” he said.
The bill passed the committee, but came out of it more expensive than when it arrived.
The original bill would have focused only on the oil and gas-related health im-pacts to those who live in the counties of Adams, Boulder, Larimer and Weld. How-ever, against Ginal’s wishes, the committee amended the study to include Arapahoe County and the City and County of Broom-field.
That expects to add an additional $200,000 to the legislation, bringing the bill’s cost to about $700,000.
Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge said she was concerned that the added cost could be “a game changer” when it goes before the House Appropriations Commit-tee for funding consideration.
“I am supporting the bill, but I am con-cerned about adding the extra cost,” Scha-fer said. “My county and other counties care very much about this issue, but let’s start with a small, controlled study and, in a future year, we can expand on it.”
Continued from Page 1
Studythe fleet would ever become a reality. That all changed after Cooke released his 103-page fire report on March 28.
Cooke presented the report’s finding to a special legislative committee on April 3. He told lawmakers that Colorado com-petes with other states for federal resourc-es to fight fires, and that the state doesn’t have the proper amount of tools needed to combat early or late-season wildfires.
Cooke also said Colorado currently has just two, single-engine air tankers available to deal with the entire state’s firefighting needs.
“The state, in terms of being able to help to bring overwhelming force to a wildfire, that’s not the case ...” he said.
Cooke’s report recommended that the state acquire $33 million worth of firefight-ing aircraft and other technology.
But Cooke later told the governor’s of-fice that it should hold off on acquiring two large, fixed-wing air tankers — as his report recommended — because precipitation from this winter’s weather makes it diffi-cult to determine when those large tankers would even be needed this year. That cuts the price tag by $12 million.
So the state plans to move forward with the purchase of two multi-mission fixed-wing planes and will contract for the use of four Type III rotor-wing planes and four single-engine air tankers.
The state will also spend $100,000 to set up a wildfire information management system, which will provide real-time fire information within the statewide fire com-munications system.
The rest of the $21 million will be spent on airport fees, equipment and other re-lated expenses.
The Senate set aside the fleet money for this year’s budget in a placeholder fund-ing area, until it is moved to another area within the budget.
Henry Sobanet, the state’s budget di-rector, said that the funding is expected to come from the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights reserves and through the delaying of paying back certain cash funds.
“I think we’ll get the funding from the exact places where we want to see it come from,” Sobanet said.
Alan Salazar, Hickenlooper’s chief strat-egist, said the governor’s office believes this is a large investment worth undertaking.
“We don’t throw $20 million around lightly,” Salazar said. “But in the context of the potential costs of the fire and getting ahead of it, the consensus ... is that this is a wise new position for the state to take.”
Continued from Page 1
Fleet
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