A TASTE OF SUMMER
June 23, 2016 VO LUM E 1 2 | IS S U E 4
From the treats to the music, ice cream trucks are an iconic part of the season PAGE 12.
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Two men stabbed trying to help woman Police say the men intervened in a domestic violence attack in Olde Town By Crystal Anderson canderson@coloradocommunitymedia.com
A botany fan his whole life, Eldon Laidig, has outlined the walls of his Coors Street home with an array of colors, flowers, plants and vegetables. His house is one out of seven stops on the 6th-annual Arvada Historical Society Garden Tour. Photo by Crystal Anderson
A blossom of history Sixth-annual garden tour touches on city’s history, beauty and growth
By Crystal Anderson canderson@coloradocommunitymedia.com A little bit of history is growing in the backyards of seven Arvada homes. A former horse pasture. A bomb shelter. The original Falk farmhouse. These are three examples of historic elements in Arvada that now
have thriving gardens blossoming around them. And they’re all on the Arvada Historical Society’s sixthannual garden tour, June 25. “It’s such a cool little house with such a great history,” said Harriet Hargrave, owner of the 1950s house at 5767 Falk St in Olde Town Arvada. “It was a mess when we got here — but it was exactly what it is now in my head — and now that I’m retired, I can enjoy it.” The home, a yellow and white trimmed brick farm house with an English-style cottage garden is the first stop on the tour. Inspired by her heartland, England, Hargrave’s gar-
den is a mélange of plants, grasses and pastel-colored flowers, like pink David Austin roses — which have the full scent — and lavender-colored Iris. This garden, she said, has a peaceful elegance to it, something she likes to be in and enjoy — and so do her cats. “I like the work,” she said as a gray short-haired cat trots by to play in the garden. “It’s like quilting, I like the finishing part — and to dig in the dirt and get my hands dirty.” Beginning at 9 a.m. gardeners from across Arvada and the metro Garden continues on Page 5
Two men were stabbed June 15 while intervening in a domestic violence attack in Arvada’s Olde Town west parking lot. Jonathan Vondran, 27, and Joshua Wright, 36, are now at home recovering. Vongran and Wright were in Olde Town just after 1 a.m., when they saw a man involved in a domestic violence situation with a 19-year-old woman and tried to help her, Arvada police spokeswoman Jill McGranahan said. Police did not release the woman’s name, citing the ongoing investigation. During the ensuing struggle, Vondran and Wright were stabbed by a 19-inch machete, police said. They were transported to Lutheran Hospital. Vondran underwent surgery and received 19 stitches for an 18-inch wound in his stomach, according to a Facebook post by his father, Robert. Wright received lacerations to his face. The same Facebook post said the two men were resting at home. “These two saved her life,” Vondran’s father wrote about his son and Wright. “I’m proud of these two men; they reacted appropriately, unselfishly, to the cries of another human being.” Police arrested the man, Daniel Pauley, 34,and charged him with first- and second-degree assault and domestic violence. Additional domestic violence charges are possible. He was transported to the Jefferson County Jail. Family members who contacted Pauley The Arvada Press said Pauley wasn’t an angry person, hadn’t shown violent tendencies, and was not the aggressor in the domestic violence situation. Kevin Ktizman, Pauley’s brother-in-law said his brother and girlfriend were happy. He added: “They seemed okay as a couple; they never really got into physical altercations like that.”
Public comment wanted on proposed shooting range Community meeting June 28 Staff report Jefferson County residents are invited to attend a community meeting on a proposed public outdoor shooting range in Jefferson County, 6-8 p.m. June 28, at Ralston Valley High School, 13355 W. 80th Ave., in Arvada. The planned location for the shooting range is just east of State Highway 93 and
south of 82nd Avenue on land owned by the City of Arvada. The shooting range would be roughly six acres on the far northwest corner of a 1,600-acre property that is currently primarily undeveloped. The closest residential area part of the City of Arvada is about 1.3 miles away, unincorporated Jefferson County residents are about a quarter of a mile away from the proposed area, said Tom Hoby, director of Jeffco Open Space. The county is proposing the gun range,
with the intent of using a public/private partnership to develop and operate it. The shooting range would be used for target practice only, and would allow rifles and pistols — no shotguns, Hoby said. For some county residents, a public outdoor shooting range is desired, but there are concerns, Hoby said. The main concern, he said, is noise. The final report from a recent noise study conducted on the proposed site will be presented at the meeting.
Other concerns include how it would affect property values, impacts on wildlife and how environmental issues — such as contaminants — will be addressed. Public comment will be accepted at the meeting. Each person will have up to two minutes to speak. Attendees may sign up online to be placed on a list to speak. To learn more about the proposed shooting range or to be placed on the speaker list, visit www.jeffco.us/bcc/boardprograms/shooting-range.
School board alters grade configuration, saves schools Details emerge in possible request for more money from voters By Crystal Anderson canderson@coloradocommunitymedia.com Smaller school communities in the Jefferson County School District got a reprieve June 14, as the Board of Education directed staff to remove all school
closures from the Facilities Master Plan before approving it last week. “I feel relief that the board doesn’t want to close our school,” said Janace Fischer, principal at Pleasant View Elementary School in Golden, which was one of five on the plan’s closure list. “But
at the end of the day, we still know that we don’t have enough finances to meet all the needs of our students in the district.” The board approved the plan on June 16 after reviewing each articulation area in the district and its corresponding changes. Over the next five to six years, the district will build seven new schools, renovate or add to 23 schools, perform maintenance, address past facilities
bond promises and/or create additional facilities at the district’s remaining 124 schools. The board also approved the reconfiguration of K-6 elementary schools into a sixth-to-eighth-grade middle school model. That reconfiguration was met with unanimous support and will be instituted Schools continues on Page 22