4-COLOR
4 Lakewood Sentinel
February 14, 2013
Gun Control: Resolution passes by a 2-1 vote Gun Control continued from Page 1
agenda. “I feel our constitutional rights, our personal liberties are on the verge of being eroded,” Rosier said as he introduced the resolution. District 2 Commissioner Casey Tighe presented his own version of the resolution at the meeting that instead asked legislators “to continue to work at finding reasonable solutions to reduce gun violence and advance public safety while supporting the Second Amendment.” “I felt the (Rosier) resolution indicated that we would support not having debate, and I think this is a conversation that we need to have,” Tighe said. “In no way did I intend that
sentence to mean no discussion,” Rosier said, before mentioning how President Obama’s own children enjoyed armed security, while supporting gun control laws. District 1 Commissioner Faye Griffin said she wanted to “mark out bits on one which I think should be added to the other,” adding that she appreciated Tighe’s attempt to come up with wording that would encourage dialogue. However, she later made the motion to accept Rosier’s version without any changes, which passed 2-1. In explaining her change of mind, Griffin said that in part it was the difficulty in defining what the “reasonable solutions” recommended by Tighe’s resolution would entail.
JEFFCO NEWS IN A HURRY Good News nominees sought
The Good News Steering Committee is inviting nominations from the community on behalf of groups or individuals who have made a positive impact in the community. Twelve honorees will be selected and honored at the 2013 Good News Breakfast. This year’s Good News Breakfast theme will be “Spiritual Values: Inspiring Stories that Enrich our Communities.” The event will be 7 a.m. Tuesday, April 16, at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds,
15200 W. 6th Ave. in Golden. Anyone in Jefferson County can nominate a person or a group. Nominations must be submitted by Thursday, Feb. 28. To be considered, the nominee(s) must have made a positive impact in Jefferson County and meet one or more of the following criteria: The person’s(s) actions were fueled by an inner spark to make a difference and demonstrated compassion, tolerance, responsibility, and a concern for others; they helped to unite, heal, and/or inspire others to build stronger communities; and/ or Created bridges among people of different perspectives and views. Nominations available at www. goodnewsjeffco.org. Completed nomination forms may also be mailed to: Good News Celebration, c/o Lesa Moseley, Jefferson Center for Mental Health, 4851 Independence Street, Suite 200, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033, or email lesam@ jcmh.org. For more information about nominations, contact Jeanne Oliver, 303-432-5174 or jeanne@ jcmh.org.
Open Space volunteer open house
Discover how you can protect and promote the great outdoors and heritage of Jefferson County at the annual Jefferson County Open Space (JCOS) Volunteer Recruitment Open House from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at Lookout Mountain Nature Center. “When you volunteer for Jefferson County Open Space, you encounter the best of all worlds,” said Teddy Newman, 2012 Volunteer of the Year. “The public is very appreciative of your knowledge andservice. And the other volunteers become like family.” Volunteers are needed to monitor birds, frogs and flora throughout the county, as well as to serve as museum tour guides, park hosts, trail inspectors and trail builders. For more information, go to the JCOS Volunteer webpage of jeffco.us/parks or call Volunteer Services Administrator Jana Johns, 303 271 5925.
MOUNTAIN PEAK HEARING Better hearing starts right here.
Jefferson County Sheriff ’s Deputy Garrett Kelley stands in front of Chatfield High School, where he serves as a school resourceofficer. Due to department cut backs, the Sheriff ’s Office is in no position to expand the program, in spite of calls for increased security at schools. Photo by Glenn Wallace
Police deal with cuts Vacant positions, cancelled community programs result By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com Editor’s note - This story is part two in a threepart series, looking at how $3.1 million in reductions to Jefferson County’s 2013 operating budget impacts the programs and people involved. Jefferson County’s biggest department — the $90.6 million Sheriff’s Department — was handed an equally big $500,000 operating budget cut, as part of the shrinking 2013 county budget. Sheriff Ted Mink said that big budget goes toward a big job, including the running of the county jail, courtroom security for the First Judicial District, security for presidential candidates and all fire marshal duties for unincorporated county land. According to Mink, after paying for all the “have-tos,” and adjusting his department to absorb the halfmillion dollar reduction, there is not a lot of room left over for the “want-tos.” Those “wants” are getting larger all the time, too. “The big ticket item right now is school resource officers,” Mink said. The SRO program takes a deputy from patrol duty and stations them at a “home school,” where they spend the bulk of their day. Following recent mass shootings, including the one at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, Mink said there have been calls to station SROs at every elementary school. Wayne Holverson, the patrol sergeant in charge of the SRO program, said he has 10 officers to spread between the 56 schools in unincorporated Jefferson County, with all five high schools supplied with an SRO, and with other officers spread between the middle schools. “To put a deputy in all 32 (elementary schools) would be about $3.58 million,” Holverson said. At a time when the department is looking at having to cut back on patrol assignments in general, Mink said he has had to look at reducing the SRO program, instead of increasing it by millions. Chatfield High School SRO Garrett Kelley and Holverson said the benefits of the SRO program extend far beyond simply being “armed security.” “We do teach a lot. Since the Jessica Ridgeway case, we’ve developed a stranger danger program that we do for every elementary student” Holver-
son said. He added that several deputies also teach special curriculum programs on sexting and bullying, particularly for middle schools. The SRO for Dakota Ridge High School has been a part of the faculty for 14 years now. “If I tried to move (the SRO) out of there, it would be an absolute uprising,” Holverson said. Kelley, in his first month as an SRO at the 2,000-student school, said administrators seemed to appreciate having an immediate response from law enforcement. “It’s personally fulfilling, too, being able to council students on things on occasion, like `What do I do about this parking ticket,’ or `How do I handle this situation,” Kelley said. Holverson said that any scaling back of the SRO program would likely have hidden costs that would blunt any cost savings. Especially at the larger high schools, he said, SROs end up handling a large volume of reports for thefts, harassment, sexting, ect. He said that workload would end up taking a patrol officer off his or her beat. Other programs, that Mink said benefits the community, are also facing elimination, depending on the Sheriff Department’s budget situation: the Reserve Peace Officer Academy Program, Citizens Academy and other volunteer and community outreach events. “Beyond the core mission, everything else gets the cost to benefit examination,” Mink said. Then there is the general pay for the department. “We haven’t had a salary increase in about five years,” Mink said. And when asked if that has had a detrimental impact on department morale, he doesn’t hesitate to say, “Oh definitely!” The department’s salaries, now in the bottom 30th percentile for metro area law enforcement agencies, have led to a climbing turnover rate, now up to 7 percent. As those positions come open, Mink said he will be keeping them vacant longer. Up to 25 positions will sit open this year, as the department tries to cut down on personnel costs, which makes up three-fourths of the department’s total expenses. Mink said his department was working on cost savings, and on reducing expenses, and that it was possible that the department could get through the year without eliminating any programs. “But one big event, like the Lower North Fork Fire, and it blows all of our projections out of the water,” he said.
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