Canyon Courier 032323

EPRD ready to ask residents what they think

Postcards with links to a survey should be mailed next week

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A survey about the Evergreen Park & Recreation District is coming to residents’ mailboxes.

More speci cally, the postcard is coming.

e postcard is key to answering the survey that will help guide the EPRD board’s decisions as it plans for the next three to ve years. e postcard, which is being mailed to all 9,000 households in the rec district, will have an individual code that must be used to access the online survey, and the survey can only be answered by one person per household.

ose who don’t want to or can’t take the survey online can bring the postcard to either the Wulf or Buchanan Park rec centers to get a paper copy.

e postcards should be mailed by March 24, and people will have 10 days to answer the survey, which should take 15-20 minutes. Board people answer the survey as possible what the community wants from its

Evergreen man performs world-record feat

Monty Estis will be in Guinness list for gymnastics skill

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

If you’re going to set a Guinness World Record, you might as well accomplish the feat not once, but twice.

at’s exactly what Monty Estis of Evergreen did on March 14 when he set the record for the oldest man — he’s 65 — performing a planche on the gymnastic rings. A planche is a skill that is one level more di cult than the iron cross during which the gymnast holds his body horizontally with straight arms.

Estis is an avid athlete, participat-

"Peacecomesfromwithin.Donotseekitwithout."

~Buddha

recreation district.

For those who live outside the district or a second person in the household, there’s a path to take the survey for you, too: A link will be available on the EPRD website to access the survey.

e di erence is that responses from those with postcards — those living and paying property taxes in the district — will be tallied di er-

EFR unveils re-imagined plans to attack wildfire mitigation

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Evergreen Fire/Rescue’s wildland re team has moved forward since the department’s community ambassadors asked 16 months ago whether wild re prevention and mitigation were priorities for the department.

At a re board meeting on March 15, members of the department’s wildland team outlined the multipronged approach to both educating the community and performing the

SEE WILDFIRE, P5

Monty Estis of Evergreen performs a planche, holding it for at least two seconds to be put into the Guinness World Records as the oldest person to perform the skill. Estis is 65.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

Dear Davis Schilken,

My wife and I have been working our whole lives and have finally decided it is time to settle down and retire. However, we recently saw there were changes with the tax code in what is called “Secure Act 2.0.” Wasn’t the Secure Act just passed in 2019? How will this impact our retirement, if at all?

Sincerely,

Sam Saver

Hi Sam –

This is a great question! The Secure Act 2.0 was recently passed in December of 2022. The passing of this act should have little, to know effect on your retirement plans. In fact, it clarified a few things from the original Secure Act and made retirement a little bit more flexible. Here are just a few of those changes:

• RBD changed from age 72, to age 73 between 2023 and 2032, and age 75 in 2033;

• 529 Education Plan to Roth IRA rollovers (with some exceptions);

• Reduction on the Excise tax for a failed RMD penalty to 25% (down from 50%);

• Clarification on who qualifies as an Eligible Designated Beneficiary;

• Which Eligible Designated Beneficiaries are still subject to the 10 year withdraw rule;

• Changes to ROTH IRA contributions;

• Clearer definitions to Disabled and Chronically Ill beneficiaries

As always, there is no real way of knowing how these changes to the tax code may (or may not) change your Estate Plans. The best way to know how this will truly impact your plan is to sit down with your attorney and discuss with them personally.

Don’t let these changes negatively affect your Estate Plans. Let’s make sure we all remain on the same page. With a properly established and funded Estate Plan, we can ensure that you have the ability to give what you want, to whom you want, when you want, the way you want. During that process we can help you save money on every court cost, legal fee, professional fee, and tax fee legally possible.

Estate planning is never about how much you have, but how much you care about what you have.

Contact the Davis Schilken, PC team with any of your Estate Planning needs (303) 670-9855. We offer no obligation in person or virtual meetings. We make estate planning simple!

Visit our comprehensive website for more tools

www.dslawcolorado.com

FROM PAGE 1

ently than the responses of others.

e EPRD board hopes to meet in early May to discuss the survey results. at date has not been set, and the meeting will be open to the public.

Board members on March 14 went through the fourth draft of the survey, making minor changes as they went through the 25 questions. ey emphasized that even though each household will have a separate code to answer the survey, names will not be associated with the answers.

e board will get data on general responses.

ose who take the survey and provide their name and email address will be entered into a separate random drawing. ree participants

will have their choice of a 10-punch card to use at the rec centers, a 10-punch ice-skating pass or a 10-punch boating pass.

EPRD board members and sta have spent many hours in the last month honing the survey questions to get the information they believe will help them decide what programs and facilities the community wants.

Ultimately, the board will decide what projects it wants to complete in the next three to ve years, what it can a ord and when it might be able to partner with other entities to provide services. High on the list is tackling some of the deferred maintenance at its current facilities.

e board also will decide whether to ask voters for more money in November. It must decide by July 30, which is the date it must inform Je erson County that it wants to put something on the ballot.

your

The Evergreen Park & Recreation District survey to gauge community wants is set to be released this week as the district board decides what to put in its five-year strategic plan. High on the list is maintenance of the Wulf Recreation Center.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

RECORD

ing in a variety of sports from pickleball, tennis and volleyball to skiing, kayaking and paddleboarding. On top of that, he’s a gymnast and was on the team both in high school and college. So when he moved to Evergreen in 2012, he wanted to get back on the rings, his chosen apparatus, to improve his skills.

He was happy Wulf Recreation Center allows adults to use the apparatus, and he has been training since

then. But what is training without a goal?

Estis, who also serves on the Evergreen Park & Recreation District’s board of directors, contacted Guinness World Records to see if it would consider adding the category for the record for the oldest man performing a planche, and Guinness said yes.

To meet the Guinness requirements, Estis had to nd an Fédération Internationale de Gymnastiqueregulation gymnastics studio with certi ed judges to chronicle his feat. He found Golden Gymnastics in Lakewood and owner Steve Artemis,

who is certi ed.

On March 14, Estis took the challenge, wearing a College of William & Mary T-shirt to honor his alma mater’s gymnastics team. He also honored William & Mary coach Cli Gauthier, a University of Denver graduate who began coaching gymnastics 50 years ago. Estis wore the hand grips he used in college, and still has his original gym bag and varsity jacket.

With his sons Brad and Ian, partner Kathy Fasold, and Molly Weber, gymnastics team coordinator at the Wulf Recreation Center, watching, Estis performed the planche for

three seconds, a second longer than necessary. After he was through, there was some concern that the video camera used to chronicle the feat didn’t work, so, naturally, Estis did the planche again.

Fasold said reaching the goal was good for Estis, and she hoped he didn’t get injured performing the skill.

Artemis said this was the rst time a Guinness World Record was set at Golden Gymnastics. As a judge, he said he was looking to make sure Estis had control while performing the skill. And he did.

Molly Weber, gymnastics team coordinator at the Wulf Recreation Center, right, shows her joy that Monty Estis, center, completed the planche on the rings to be in the Guinness World Records. Estis’ son Brad was on hand for the event.

Steve Artemis, owner of Golden Gymnastics, steadies Monty Estis on the rings before Estis performs a planche. Estis, a member of the Evergreen Park & Receation District board, was looking for a goal as he trained in gymnastics. Monty Estis, left, and Steve Artemis, owner of Golden Gymnastics, discuss the di culty of Estis’ feat.

work that helps prepare the area in case there’s a wild re.

“We have used community concerns as a road map to our approach to wild re preparedness,” Jess Moore, wildland project coordinator, told the re board and some of the community ambassadors. She said the department needed the roadmap rst, so it could take a systematic approach to preparing for wild re.

“If (someone on the team) leaves, then the processes are in place, so the next person knows how to continue the program,” Moore said. “It isn’t about the individual.”

Community ambassadors are volunteers who work with the re department to educate and promote mitigation on homeowners’ properties and home hardening to try to prevent homes from catching re. Community ambassadors serve plan units that were identi ed in the department’s Community Wild re Protection Plan. From the CWPP come the Community Wild re Protection Implementation Plans or CWPIPs.

Moore said threats to EFR’s program are people believing that preparing for wild re will be solved quickly and there is only one way forward.

“ is is our community problem,” Moore said. “ ere are many ways we are going to chip away at this massive problem.”

EFR has divided the wild re prevention tasks into two areas: Moore is responsible for education and planning, while Matt White, re and fuels coordinator, is responsible for operations.

In October 2021, Cindy Latham, representing 39 people community ambassadors, told the re board they have seen little progress on the recommendations to be prepared in case of a catastrophic wild re, especially concerning since the foothills are at the top of the list in the country for the threat of catastrophic wild re.

She asked that EFR’s slash chipping crew be dedicated solely to that work rather than being detailed to res in other places, that the department perform 1,000 home re-risk assessments per year, that obtaining grants to help pay for wild re mitigation, especially along evacuation routes, become a priority, and that meetings between EFR wildland re personnel and the community lead-

Education, planning

Moore said one of the re department’s strengths was its community involvement, and the department has the obligation to educate and enable the community ambassadors so they can do their jobs.

“ e ambassadors are fully available and willing to help us get the work done,” Moore said.

When Moore started with EFR in October 2021, it had 13 active community ambassadors; now there is activity in all but one of the 26 plan units. Moore has created processes to give ambassadors a playbook to engage with neighbors and educate them about the mitigation work that needs to be done.

e department also has spent the last 16 months creating data tracking, so it can better direct resources.

“ e problem is heavy,” Moore said. “Everyone who comes into the re service does it because they want to do the right thing. It is a passion. We are helpers. When we are presented with a big problem, we dive in and try to x it, but if we don’t have the infrastructure or pro-

In 2022, the department did more than 450 defensible-space inspections and chipped slash at more than 140 homes. With a grant to hire another mitigation specialist, Moore said she hopes the department can perform more than 1,000 inspections in 2023.

In addition, EFR is working with a variety of other groups to ensure that wild re mitigation is being done on a broader scope.

Operations

e EFR fuels crew works each year on strategic projects to help remove hazardous fuels, and this work is a tool, not the solution to prepare for wild re, White said. e district plans to do more slash-pile burning in winter 2024 to help get rid of slash.

“ e crew will go on assignments to assist other agencies with their wild re and other emergencies, so our folks continue to build quali cations and experience,” White said. e fuels crew now is taking on projects that make sense for what the crew can accomplish and what it is best at, and with projects that

and CWPIPs, White said.

“We were taking on projects that were too big for our crew to handle, so we overpromised and underdelivered,” he said. “Moving forward, we are trying to do a better job of charging a more appropriate rate, being more conservative with time estimates to compete projects, and taking on more realistic projects to maximize the fuels crew’s e ectiveness.”

e re district charges other organizations such as Je co Open Space and Denver Mountain Parks for doing mitigation work.

e chipping program will create a more organized method to chip slash, moving from one area of the district to the next rather than a piecemeal approach, so more chipping will be completed each year, White said.

Moore said the October 2021 meeting was a wakeup call to the district, and while sta wanted to immediately jump in and start helping, “we had to spend a year to get our arms around it … and we are going to chip away at this massive problem.”

and Peg Hayslett from our

for

Evergreen Fire/Rescue has made progress on its wildfire mitigation plans.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

A flavor for every chocolate sweet tooth

Blue Spruce Chocolates in Kittredge creates handcrafted treats

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

While chocolate makes most people happy, it takes on a larger happiness dimension for Mark Joyce.

Joyce has opened Blue Spruce Chocolates in the Adobe Creek Center in Kittredge, and this isn’t your average chocolate shop. Joyce sells chocolate from bean to bar, which means he imports the cacao beans and works his magic to create the chocolate.

e results are handcrafted white, milk and dark chocolates, and Keto-friendly and vegan chocolates of a quality not found in an average grocery store.

It takes 84 hours from start to nish for one batch, and since Joyce opened his store, he’s been using every hour to make his bar-chocolate creations. Half of his building is the kitchen while the other half is the retail store.

Joyce, Blue Spruce Chocolates’ president and alchemist, is proud that his white caramel chocolate with roasted hazelnuts took gold in the 2023 international Craft Chocolate Challenge hosted by the Chocolat Inn and Café in Kentucky. Blue Spruce Chocolates also took the overall silver in the competition with about 30 chocolatiers who make

WANT TO GO?

Blue Spruce Chocolates is located at 26290 Highway 74, Unit 5, in Kittredge. It is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BlueSpruceChocolates.

bean-to-bar chocolate. e medals hang in the retail store.

Ironically, although his life has become all about chocolate, he doesn’t eat much of it.

“I’m not a sweets guy,” Joyce said.

“I appreciate the avors, and most of my chocolate eating is tasting.”

A path to chocolate

How does someone living in Kittredge suddenly decide to make chocolate? Joyce was exposed to the art of chocolate making on a trip to Belize.

“It was pretty impressive,” he said.

“ e chocolate tasted di erent.”

So ve years ago, Joyce decided to give chocolate-making a try as a hobby, and as it became more of a passion, he began doing it professionally three years ago.

Chocolate was a new endeavor for the retiree as he has learned what it takes to maintain health-department standards for the kitchen plus the nuances of chocolate avors. Chocolate making is both a science and an art.

“I’m not trying to compete with

SEE CHOCOLATE, P7

America’s Lowest Nicotine Cigarettes

Helping break the cycle of nicotine

Mark Joyce stands in the retail area of Blue Spruce Chocolates where samples are available to customers.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

CHOCOLATE

the grocery store chains,” he said. “I’m making a quality, handcrafted product.”

Joyce’s wife, Yuri Weydling, who is the director of avor development and community relations for the business, has taste buds attune to the di erent avors of chocolate. “She has gained an appreciation of the subtleties of chocolate,” he explained.

He said while they like dark chocolate, the white caramel chocolate has “a wonderfully unique taste.”

One of the chocolates that Joyce produces is called “Stuart’s Smile,” named after Joyce’s neighbor and friend Stuart Collins. Collins said he’s not a big dark chocolate fan, so when Joyce created a chocolate that mixes dark and light, Collins

smiled.

“His chocolates are quite avorful,” Collins said. “It started o as a very fun hobby. He’s the type of person who always needs to be busy, and this ful lls his need to always be challenging himself.”

Both Collins and Joyce envision the shop becoming a place for people to hang out with a cup of co ee or tea and a bit of chocolate. e chocolate shop is near Bear Creek, so Joyce wants to have tables outside for people to stop by in warmer weather and enjoy his creations.

“I look forward to (the shop) being another social center, where we can have a cup of co ee and a bit of chocolate,” Collins said. “It will be a good place to be with people and chit-chat. Post-pandemic, I think we need that.”

High-quality ingredients

“ e rst step is choosing the

right beans,” he said.

Joyce’s cacao beans come primarily from Ecuador, with some beans from Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru mixed in. He especially likes the beans that the indigenous peoples harvest from wild trees because they provide complex avors. e beans arrive fermented and dried.

Once in Kittredge, the beans are sorted and roasted. Joyce uses two roasters that look like toaster ovens. Once roasted, the beans are cracked, winnowed and ground.

e grinding takes 72 hours and is done in something that looks like a crockpot with granite stones that create smoothness. en the chocolate is tempered and molded.

“Chocolate is critically temperature dependent,” he noted.

Joyce is proud that his chocolate has only four ingredients – ve if he adds hazelnuts – and he uses the nest ingredients: beet sugar from the Netherlands and Madagascar

vanilla. e milk powder is important because it can change the taste and the chocolate’s fat content.

“I spend about half my time looking for sources for ingredients,” he said, adding that he’d like to use a more local beet-sugar company. “It’s all about mixing and matching the ingredients.”

A new profession

He said the community has been generous and supportive as he prepared to open his shop, helping him obtain the shelving and furniture. Joyce also hopes to o er chocolate-making classes, and he’s talking with area businesses about co ee-chocolate and wine-chocolate pairing events.

“I’ve always been a foodie, but I never thought I’d be making chocolate,” Joyce said. “Given this is our rst food business, I’m learning things every day. I just really love it.”

Mark Joyce, the president and alchemist at Blue Spruce Chocolates in Kittredge, shows the cacao beans he imports from South America to make chocolate.

PHOTOS BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

Mark Joyce with Blue Spruce Chocolates talks about making chocolate. To the left is the roaster he uses to roast the cacao beans.

Blue Spruce Chocolates won two awards in the Craft Chocolate Challenge hosted by the Chocolat Inn and Café in Kentucky.

Chocolate is created after 72 hours of grinding in a machine about the size of a crockpot.

More housing options can help small businesses succeed and Colorado’s economy thrive

As housing prices and cost of rent continues to soar throughout Colorado, so does the strain on our small businesses. e consequences of the housing crisis we nd ourselves in ripples throughout communities across Colorado: hurting families, businesses and our economy.

I’ve lived and worked in Je erson County for the last 25 years as the CEO of a manufacturing small business and I’ve experienced rsthand the rami cations of the housing crisis. While Je co is a beautiful place to live with local shops and scenic views, its housing expenses have risen to be 62% higher than the national average and the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $2,171 – making it hard for my employees to live in the same community where they work.

e lack of a ordable options places a heavy burden on my employees. Like many Colorado workers on

The scal year for Colorado state government begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 of the following year. Like any other large entity, the agencies of our state government work year round on the budget for the following year. It is important to understand some basics about the state budget before examining it in depth.

Ultimately the Governor of Colorado presents a budget to the legislature for its approval or rejection. e budget bill known as “ e Long Bill” is the result of year round planning by di erent state agencies, the Governor and those who assist him. e O ce of State Planning and Budgeting assists the Governor with planning his budget and making various spending recommendations to the legislature much like the O ce of Management and Budget assists the president.

Once the legislature has debated the “Long Bill” both houses will vote on that bill and send it to the governor for his signature or veto. e

A publication of

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GUEST COLUMN

nearly impossible to keep up with the cost of housing, and adjusting salaries to accommodate unreasonably high costs of living is unsustainable and unfair to small business owners.

Liz Geisleman

the front range, my employees have to commute about an hour each way to get to work. Not only does that daily commute increase tra c on the highways during rush hour, it also forces my employees to absorb additional costs that hurt their ability to provide for themselves and their families. Our employees that live a distance from our headquarters and rely on child care are put in a difcult position.

A long commute is just one example among many of how the lack of a ordable options hurts my small business. I’ve adapted to the needs of my employees by making their work schedules more exible, but there’s a limit to how much my small business can bear. It’s become

Other businesses in the manufacturing industry based in Golden have encountered similar problems and many have explored moving out of Colorado to reduce their overhead costs. If costs of living don’t come down, this could eventually trickle down to small businesses and incentivize them to leave in order to save money, hurting Colorado’s economy.

Small businesses make up about 80% of Colorado’s economy, and losing small businesses because of high costs of living will have lasting consequences for decades to come. If we continue moving in this direction, communities will lose vital subsects of professions and families will end up decentralized.

Understanding the Long Bill

JOE WEBB

Governor can sign or veto the whole bill. He can also veto various line item expenditures within the bill like the Governors from many other states. is is an ability the President does not have with the budget of the federal government.

e legislature has a signi cant input into the budget through the Joint Budget Committee. e Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado General Assembly is composed of six members currently, three Senators and three Representatives. Currently, it consists of two Democrats from the State Senate and one Republican. e House of Representatives also have two Democrats and one Republican on it. It is chaired by Jeffco’s own Sen. Rachel Zenzinger of Arvada. e vice chair is Rep. Shannon Bird from Adams County. e purpose of the Joint Budget Com-

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

DONNA REARDON Marketing Consultant dreardon@coloradocommunitymedia.com

mittee is “studying the management, operations, programs and scal needs” of the Colorado state government. eir role is very important. In fact, at one time, it was said that the Chairman of the Joint Budget Committee was the second most powerful person in state government with only the Governor exercising more power. e Joint Budget Committee holds hearings and discussions on the state budget throughout the year even when the legislature is out of session. e committees work is that important because of all sorts of entities and individuals ought to have some input regarding government expenditures.

A wonderful feature of the internet and government transparency is that documents and explanations about di erent features of the state budget are online for perusal by the public. e narrative of the Long Bill provides an excellent example of what you can discover online. It provides year over year changes in appropriations (spending) in various subject areas. One area, Early Child-

KRISTEN FIORE West Metro Editor kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

DEB HURLEY BROBST Community Editor dbrobst@coloradocommunitymedia.com

RUTH DANIELS Classified Sales rdaniels@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Je erson County has been slow to react to the housing crisis despite housing many manufacturing businesses like mine, and it’s time for the state to work with communities across Colorado to create more affordable housing options. is problem has become too big for counties and cities to do this alone – and we need to solve the housing crisis now.

To address these challenges, we need to create more di erent types of housing that will help create more options for low- and moderateincome families. Solving the housing crisis should be Colorado’s top priority to help small businesses bounce back. By working together and investing in more housing options, we can create a more vibrant and sustainable community for all Coloradans.

Liz Geisleman is the CEO of Rocky Mountain Reagents in Golden and the former Board Chair of the West Metro Chamber and Je Co EDC.

hood, received an 1,841% increase in spending for FY2022. is, of course, is due to Gov. Polis’ initiative to establish universal pre-K education within the state of Colorado. at initiative is above and beyond the constitutional requirement that Colorado must provide K-12 education. Reading these documents, which can be found through any internet search, can be enlightening. e governor’s initiative re: early childhood education is but one part of the state budget even though an entire new department was created to oversee it.

My intent is to examine the budget in more detail. Future articles will include information from state agency heads about their annual budget work, interviews with current and former JBC members, as well as an analysis of what makes up the budget on both the revenue and expenditure side.

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Courier.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.

Joe Webb is the former chairman of the Je co Republican party.

Columnist

Everybody hates Hamlet at Miners Alley

To be or not to be… bored by the ramblings of a certain prince of Denmark is a question one need not face when going to see the hilarious new entry in Miners Alley Playhouse’s season, “I Hate Hamlet.”

e real question is whether you can relate to an someone struggling with feeling like a failure and searching for the brief moments when things just seem to gel. Which really could be anybody.

“What drew me to this produc-

BOETTCHER

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Clarke Reader

Anthony Boettcher

December 15, 1962 - March 12, 2023

Anthony Jerome Boettcher, 60, of Colorado Springs, was preceded in death by his parents, Jerome and Nadine, and his brother, Blase (Kathy). He leaves behind six siblings: Mary Boettcher, Teresa Dalbec (Charlie), Elizabeth Galbraith (late Brian), Margaret Smith (late C. Jay), Cecelia Sallee (Scott) and Gloria Horne. Anthony was a youth and club swimming coach for 30 years, including 15 years with the Evergreen

tion is how honest it is. It’s hilarious and big, but it also has so much heart,” wrote John Hauser, who plays the show’s lead, in an email interview. “So many artists deal with the same things that Andrew goes through, feelings of inadequacy, imposter syndrome, but also

Hurricanes and Evergreen High School. He left Evergreen High in 2005 as the all-time winningest men’s swimming coach in Je erson County history. For the last 13 seasons, he served as the associate head coach of the men’s swimming team at the Air Force Academy. Celebration of Life: April 5, 1 p.m., Air Force Academy Community Chapel, 5134 Cathedral Drive, Suite 100, USAF Academy, CO 80840.

March 13, 1963 - March 13, 2023

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our daughter, sister, aunt, and fur baby mom Frances Maria Sinel of Woodland Park, Colorado. She passed peacefully on March 13, 2023, her 60th birthday. Maria loved that she was born on the 13th and now this day is forever hers.

Maria experienced a fabulous and glorious life that ended much too soon. She was never afraid to show her goofy, happy, carefree side and we loved her for that.

Maria will be missed tremendously. She leaves behind her parents, Julia and Donald Sinel; sisters Teresa (Gordon), Donna (Will), Rena, and Patricia (Bob); her nephews Adam, Jake, Joey and Mike; her nieces Margaret and Rachael; her grand nieces and nephews Callie, Stella, Hunter, Reagan, Ryan, and Julia; and her beloved pups Reid and Maisie. We’ll see you down the road apiece, Mergs! ♥

In lieu of owers, please donate to your animal rescue/shelter of choice.

2023

Peter K. Link, a longtime resident of Evergreen, Colorado, passed away on February 13, 2023 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 92.

Peter was born on November 7, 1930 in Batavia, Java, Indonesia, son of Walter K. Link and Miriam (Wollaeger) Wilcox. As Peter’s father, a petroleum geologist, traveled the globe for work, Peter spent his early years in Java, Costa Rica, and Cuba. Pursuing petroleum geology himself, Peter received his B.S. degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953 and his M.S. degree in geology in 1955. He was a rst lieutenant in the United States Army in Korea, 1955-1957. Peter and Marilynn Engel married in 1957. e coupled moved to Tripoli, Libya, and Peter performed four years of geological eld work in the Sahara, an experience that had a profound e ect on him. After a brief period in Ardmore, Oklahoma, Peter completed his Ph.D in geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1965. He then worked for ARCO as a research structural geologist in Dallas (1965-1970) and then at AMOCO research center in Tulsa (1970-1973) before beginning a consulting career. From 1979 to his retirement in 2001, Peter was a lecturer for Oil and Gas Consultants International (OGCI), which o ers a variety of short courses for petroleum industry workers around the world. Peter also taught at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tulsa, and was the author of the textbook, “Basic Petroleum Geology”. His career took him to over to over 115 countries, a fact he brought to the attention of those around him on a regular basis.

Peter and Marilynn had two children, Hillary and Bennett, and divorced in 1987. Peter and Lucille Bonebrake were married in 1990. Peter and Lucille moved to Evergreen together where Peter remained for the rest of his life, regularly proclaiming that he never wanted to live anywhere else.

Peter enjoyed travel, photography, music (especially dixieland jazz), and languages. Other hobbies he had during his life included y shing, skiing, hiking, golf, basketball, tennis, softball, choir, and, very brie y during the 1970’s, disco dancing. Peter did volunteer eld guiding and mentoring to school children in Evergreen. He was an accomplished personal pilot with twin-engine and instrument ratings. A self-declared curmudgeon, he was always happy to play Devil’s advocate.

Peter is survived by his wife Lucille of Evergreen, his brother Andy of Houston, his son Bennett and daughter-in-law Carla of Livingston, Montana, three stepsons, and numerous nephews and nieces. Rather than gifts or owers, please send donations to the Alzheimer’s Association.

those feelings of being in the moment and owning a role, even if only for a brief moment.”

“I Hate Hamlet” runs at Miners Alley, 1224 Washington Ave., from Friday, March 31 through Sunday, April 23. Performances are at 7:30 p.m., ursday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

e show tells the story of Andrew Rally (Hauser), a daytime television actor whose show has recently been canceled. He is cast in a production of Shakespeare in the Park as Hamlet

but isn’t sure he can pull the character o , but when he is visited by the ghost of former Hamlet performer John Barrymore, things get a little more complicated.

“It is really a quirky, witty script that moves along nicely,” said director Rory Pierce. “In addition to how funny and smart it is, there’s a swashbuckling sword ght and just enough Shakespeare to whet your appetite, but not enough to put you

SEE READER, P19

OBITUARIES

KUBERSKI

Anna Pauline (Fron) Kuberski

November 9, 1919 -March 11, 2023

Anna Pauline Kuberski, 103, of Phoenix, AZ, passed away peacefully, Saturday, March 11, 2023 at her home.

Visitation will be 2-4pm, Saturday March 25, 2023 at Ra erty Funeral Home, 2111-1st St A, Moline. Burial will be at St. Mary’s Cemetery, East Moline. In lieu of owers, memorials may be made to a charity of your choice.

Anna was born November 9, 1919 in East Moline, the daughter of Kazmir and Jennie (Wichrowski) Fron. She married omas Anthony Kuberski on August 31, 1940 in Moline. He preceded her in death in 2006.

Anna was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and our Granny Annie. Anna was a faithful member of Holy Trinity Church in Rock Island, Christ the King in Evergreen, Colorado, and her Catholic community at the Beatitudes. Anna was a lifetime Cor Marie member of the Knights of Columbus. How very di cult it is to sum

up more than a hundred years of a wonderful, well-lived life of arts, crafts, travel, ower gardening, sewing and being there for her family.

Survivors include her children, Cecelia Moorhead, Denver, CO, Eulalia Golden, Gig Harbor, WA; daughterin-law, Janice Kuberski, Phoenix, AZ; grandchildren, Angela (Douglas), Amy, Peter (Donna), Sarah, Norman, Jennifer (Ryan), and omas; great-grandchildren, Austen, Bryan, Shea, Bradley, Aidan, Erin, Megan, Jacob, and Tyler; great-great-grandchildren, Austen, Bryan (Kayla), Shea, Bradley, Allison, Aidan, Erin, Megan, George, Abigail, Jacob, Tyler, Cruz, Jase, Weston, and Haven; sister-in-law, Irene Carton; and her great wealth of nephews, nieces, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her son, Dr. Tim Kuberski.

Condolences may be left at www.Ra ertyFunerals.com

- March 11, 2023

James L Benson (Jim) of Evergreen, CO passed away in his home on March 11th.

Jim was born to DuWayne and Dorothy Benson and grew up in Spooner, WI. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a degree in accounting. He married Carol Brooks of Milwaukee, WI in July of 1964 and they settled in the St. Paul, MN area where he worked for 3M.

After growing up practically outdoors, his love of camping and the mountains moved his family to Lakewood, CO in 1973. His entrepreneurial spirit took over. He owned a liquor store, was a building contractor, had a wood-crafting business, sold church bonds and nally owned Good Nature Builders. e family moved to Evergreen, CO in 1978 where he designed and built several homes. e art of designing and building was his passion as well as spending time in his beloved mountains. Whether it was skiing Milts Face (Vail, CO) top to bottom, hiking, wind sur ng, kayaking or camping, he loved everything Colorado o ered. Being of a cottage mind-set he went about locating 3 di erent cabins over the years in which the family spent much quality time.

In 1987, Jim and his friend Gordon Wyant, started Evergreen Christian Outreach in a small building on the Trans guration

Episcopal Church Campus putting in shelves to hold food and clothing. All the churches in Evergreen were invited to participate and most did. ey o ced there to man the process for the rst year and then a generous donation from a member of their church, Evergreen Fellowship, enabled them to hire a manager. From then on the Outreach (EChO) grew to the size and in uence it is today. Jim served on the board for many years. He later served not he board for e Rock House in Idaho Springs and went on several missionary trips to Guatemala.

He enjoyed traipsing around Colorado to watch his son, Troy, compete in mogul events, visiting Lake Powell, Utah every summer and spending time in Europe (especially Italy) and exploring Chile. e best trip was to Norway in 1994 to watch Troy compete in the Olympics.

He is survived by his wife, Carol of 58 1/2 years, his daughter Jill Flanagan (Brian) and son Troy, as well as his sister, Judy Rodine (Bob), his wife’s brothers, John and Jerry Brooks, their spouses and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Jim’s life will be held in June. In lieu of owers the family requests donations to be made to Evergreen Christian Outreach.

SINEL

Frances Maria Sinel

BENSON Jim L Benson April 11, 1941

LINK Peter Link November 7, 1930 - February 13,

Chronicle of an abandoned oil and gas well — one of millions

Even from a distance it’s clear that an oil and gas well called “State Senate #2” in New Mexico has seen better days. e pumpjack sits idle, tumbleweeds surround the once-moving parts and the earth smells of crude saturating the soil.

According to state records, this well last produced oil in 2007, and even then it was at a rate of about 25 to 50 barrels per year. ough the state inexplicably lists the well’s status as “active,” it’s not. And the listed owner is a company that no longer exists in any solvent form.

In other words, State Senate #2 meets the criteria for an “orphaned” oil and gas well. It’s just one of more than a million such wells nationwide, which are a growing environmental threat resulting from decades of policy failure by state and federal regulators.

“Orphaned” is an inaccurate term.

e parent companies that originally drilled and pro ted from these wells mostly didn’t die—they ed. Once the wells stopped making money, they were sold to smaller, less solvent companies that then vanished into a haze of bankruptcy. e unplugged wells were left to ooze methane and other nasty stu with no one around to clean it up.

It’s abandonment, plain and

WRITERS ON THE RANGE

simple.

e State Senate #2, for example, was originally drilled by Standard Oil Co. of Texas — yes, that Standard Oil — back in 1960, but the hole was dry, so workers plugged it and moved on. Two decades later, Raymond E. Sitta, Jr., took over the lease and applied for a permit to reopen the well. When oil came bubbling out, he named it State Senate #2.

After Sitta died in 2008, his estate sold the well to BIYA Operators, a local mom and pop company, which sold it in 2014 to Colorado-based Diversi ed Resources.

ree years later, Diversi ed led for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and abandoned its interest in all the mineral leases in the Horseshoe Gallup eld.

at’s how State Senate #2, along with some four-dozen other wells and a leaky pipeline network, became wards of the state.

It’s a common story. e Horseshoe Gallup eld is rife with such stories. Another group of wells down the road changed hands several times before being acquired

Community involvement plan interviews for the Clear Creek Superfund Site

Gilpin and Clear Creek County, Colorado

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the EPA are updating the Clear Creek Superfund Site’s Community Involvement Plan. A community involvement plan is a site-specific strategy to determine the best way to facilitate two-way communication between the agencies and the community throughout the Superfund cleanup process.

We are inviting community members and stakeholders to take part in interviews in March 2023 to help guide the plan. You can sign up for an interview at bit.ly/40K0rC1 or by contacting Shannon Bauman at shannon.bauman@state.co.us or 303.692.3421. We are offering virtual and in-person interviews as well as Spanish interpretation upon request. Interview responses will be pooled and not attributed to individuals.

Site background:

The Clear Creek Superfund Site was listed on the National Priorities List in 1983, making it a Superfund site. The Study Area encompasses the approximately 400 square mile Clear Creek watershed. The area has been impacted by heavy metals from historic mining operations, including impacts to aquatic life and potentially human health. Cleanup to date has been focused primarily on addressing the impacts to surface water and includes: treatment of point-source discharges and contaminated water; waste pile stabilization, capping, off-site disposal and diversion of run-on water; development of a repository to consolidate and manage mine waste rock and tailings; andother activities. Cleanup activities and investigations at the site are ongoing.

Site information is available at: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/central-city-clear-creek.

by Chuza Oil, owned by the Dallas producer of a reality television show called Cheaters. Now Chuza is bankrupt, and its wells and assorted other detritus are a methane-oozing mess.

e pattern repeats across New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Wyoming has at least 1,500 “orphaned” wells.

In theory, the companies took care of the cleanup tab as a condition of their drilling permit. In reality, the required bond amounts don’t get close to covering the costs. e Bureau of Land Management, for example, requires an operator to put up just $10,000 per individual well. Bigger operators can take out a single, $150,000 blanket bond that covers all of their wells — whether it’s ve or 500 — on public lands nationwide.

Yet the average cost to plug and reclaim a single oil and gas well, according to a 2021study, is a whopping $76,000, with costs for deeper wells shooting up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. at would add up to a $3.8 million cleanup bill for Chuza Oil’s 50 wells in the Horseshoe Gallup eld.

Court records show the company’s reclamation bonds with the Navajo Nation and federal government add up to less than $130,000, or about

$2,500 per well. at means federal taxpayers — you and me — are on the hook for the remaining $3.7 million and change. And that’s just for one company’s wells in one location.

Equally maddening is that the regulators must have seen the warning signs but didn’t — or couldn’t — act to make the responsible parties take responsibility while they were still somewhat solvent.

e 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized $4.7 billion in federal funds for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells. On the one hand, it’s necessary to end this massive threat to the climate, the environment and public health.  But the truth is that it’s also a corporate bailout.

e antiquated federal royalty rate of 12.5% must be jacked up considerably — 25%, anyone? — to bring it in line with what states charge. A portion of the royalty should also go into a reclamation fund so that corporate owners pay to clean up the messes they leave.

Jonathan ompson is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonpro t dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is the editor of the Land Desk and a longtime Western journalist.

Jonathan Thompson

Hello Je erson County, Every tax year I receive a few calls from taxpayers asking the County Treasurer to lower or waive their property taxes for various reasons.

e County Treasurer’s O ce does not have the legal authority to lower property taxes or waive property taxes per state law.

e Treasurer’s O ce and the state of Colorado do have programs available for seniors or people with disabilities. More information is available on these programs at the following link: https://www.je co. us/2416/Help-for-Seniors-Peoplewith-Disabilitie

If you believe your property has been incorrectly valued or classi ed, you may can also le an appeal with the County Assessor. For information on this process, please view this link: https://www.je co.us/431/Appeals

From the Treasurer

JEFFCO TREASURER

Jerry DiTullio

e TABOR Value of Temporary Mill Levy Adjustment report for 2023 has been posted on the Je Co Treasurer’s web page. is easy-to-read report is crystal clear on the impacts of the TABOR revenue cap on the County’s budget and the ability to provide services/ projects for County residents and businesses.

For example, in 2023 the County will not legally collect $5.1 million in revenue that could be used for a variety of services and projects in Jefferson County.

See Link: https://www.je co.us/ DocumentCenter/View/37784/TA-

BOR-Value-of-Temporary-Mill-LevyAdjustment-2019-2023-PDF

What is TABOR? See Link: https:// www.je co.us/3994/What-is-TABOR

Considering Consolidation: A Plan To Ensure A Safe, Sustainable Future

The Elk Creek, Inter-Canyon, and North Fork fire districts serve over 400 square miles in some of the highest-risk wildfire areas in the state, but right now none of our districts have the personnel and equipment to cover a large-scale structure or wildland fire alone.

The three districts are exploring consolidation and a property tax increase to improve service and create a new unified fire protection district.

Join us at an upcoming community open house to learn more about consolidation and what these potential new funds would be dedicated towards.

County Rd 126

Creek, CO 80425

May 20 3pm–5pm

MAY OPEN HOUSES:

Rd 126

Creek, CO 80425

Elk Creek Station #1 11993 Blackfoot Road Conifer, CO 80433

Inter-Canyon Station #3 8445 Hwy 85 Morrison, CO 80465

You do not have to go to your specific district’s open house. If there is a date in a neighboring district that works better for you, we invite you to attend.

Learn more, submit questions, and sign up for updates at:

Jerry DiTullio, Je Co Treasurer 303-271-8337 www.je co.us/Treasurer

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Type in “restaurant” on Google Maps and set the lter to “open 24 hours.” You’ll be hard-pressed to nd any local restaurants serving up food to the night owls, late workers and early risers.

Unless you’re seeking around-the-clock Mexican food.

“We’re open 24 hours, and it’s something fresh, you know?” said Govanny Alvarado, a member of the family who runs Alvarado’s Mexican Fast Food. Compared to other restaurants, “you can taste the di erence,” Alvarado said.

e new Englewood spot that opened in August adds to a small but mighty list of Mexican joints that o er all-day, all-night service in the Denver metro area — a type of restaurant that’s becoming more di cult to nd since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

“Most people like us, you know, we’re always looking for a late-night snack,” said Alvarado, 21, adding that his family “understands the struggle” to nd restaurants that are open late.

His family members, longtime workers in the Mexican fast-food industry, gained experience at his uncle’s restaurant in Arizona. ey later started working for Taco Star and Tacos Rapidos, two chains with 24-hour locations in the metro area, Alvarado said.

“And Taco Star, the one in ornton here, that’s where my dad worked, and that’s where I started as well when I was young,” Alvarado said of the location near 84th Avenue and Washington Street.

When his family members had the chance to start their own restaurant about six years ago, they opened Tacos Los Compas — another 24-hour eatery, near downtown Denver and the Auraria Campus.

“Most of the people that I’ve known or talked to customer-wise, they’re all from Arizona or California, and they all say they miss that taste of authentic Mexican food,” Alvarado said.

Carrying on authentic recipes is part of the job as well for Tamale Kitchen, a longstanding family business with locations around the metro area.

What makes the restaurant unique is “the green chile, the New Mexico-style red chile, the tamale avors, just the avors in general of just old grandma recipe — the beans, the rice, everything’s grandma’s recipes,” said Jose Bishop, owner of the Westminster and Northglenn locations.

e restaurant grew out of an e ort to sell tamales door to door in 1980, and the rst Tamale Kitchen opened in Lakewood in 1981, according to its website.

Its Northglenn location at 104th Avenue and Huron Street stays open around the clock on the weekends, running from 5 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. Sunday.

e business has expanded to eight locations, stretching from Adams County all the way to Highlands Ranch, and some are franchises run by people outside the family, Bishop said.

Familiar places see challenges

Alvarado noted that after the COVID-19 pandemic shook up the

LATE-NIGHT

economy, it’s di cult to nd 24hour restaurants.

Staples of late-night food in Denver permanently closed amid the pandemic, including the Denver Diner o Speer Boulevard and Colfax Avenue and, to the south, the Breakfast King at Santa Fe Drive and Mississippi Avenue. Both had been open 24/7.

Tom’s Diner, also on Colfax Avenue near downtown, shut down in March 2020 during the pandemic’s early days. It reopened in 2022 as a bar and lounge called Tom’s Starlight, no longer open 24/7.

Pete’s Kitchen, located on Colfax in central Denver, remains open 24 hours Friday and Satur-

LATENIGHT SPOTS

Looking for a late-night meal? Here are some local restaurants that o er 24-hour service on at least some days each week.

• Alvarado’s Mexican Fast Food

4901 S. Broadway in Englewood, a couple blocks north of Belleview Avenue

Open 24/7 720-664-9260

• Tamale Kitchen

1030 W. 104th Ave. in Northglenn, a short drive west of Interstate 25, at Huron Street

Open 5 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. Sunday; 5 a.m.-10 p.m. on other days; other locations in the metro area, including in Highlands Ranch, have di erent hours 720-379-7825

• Taco Star

503 E. 84th Ave. in Thornton, a short drive east of I-25

day night, according to the diner’s webpage.

Other than that, though, 24hour options in the metro area tend to be con ned to chains that aren’t local, such as IHOP, Denny’s, McDonald’s or Wa e House.

e trend of restaurant headwinds during the pandemic applies to the entire industry, not just 24-hour restaurants, said Denise Mickelsen, a spokesperson for the Colorado Restaurant Association.

“Operations are proving increasingly di cult in the face of the ongoing labor shortage and soaring costs, causing restaurant owners and operators to make changes that include decreasing operating hours,” Mickelsen said.

‘All walks of life’

Bishop, the owner of the north-

ern Tamale Kitchen locations, has felt the challenges himself. His Westminster location used to o er some 24-hour service like the Northglenn spot, but sta ng issues led to shortened hours starting around spring 2020, he said.

ough they can be tough to operate, Bishop, 38, said 24hour restaurants serve di erent parts of a community.

“ ere’s still 11 p.m. (movie) showings, so people going home at 1 or 2. We get a lot of nightshift workers, people who are going to work at 4 in the morning, a lot of construction workers bringing burritos to their coworkers,” Bishop said.

“It’s a little mixed — people of all walks of life going out for entertainment, getting o of work late. Just a variety of di erent people out and about.”

1050 W. 104th Ave. # 8 in Northglenn, near Huron Street

1760 S. Havana St. in Aurora, a short drive north of Parker Road

Open 24/7

303-288-9228 for Thornton location

• Tacos Los Compas

1385 N. Santa Fe Drive in Denver, about a block south of Colfax Avenue

Open 24/7

720-328-0299

• Tacos Rapidos

2800 W. Evans Ave. in Denver, o Federal Boulevard

Open 24/7

Other locations nearby; hours di er 303-935-0453 for Evans location

• Pete’s Kitchen

1962 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver, about 1 mile east of Broadway

Open “24 hours Friday and Saturday night,” according to the restaurant’s website 303-321-3139

A sign is lit up at Alvarado’s Mexican Fast Food, one of several Mexican restaurants open 24/7 in the Denver metro area.

The sign at the Tamale Kitchen location in Westminster. The Northglenn location stays open around the clock on the weekends.

PHOTOS BY ELLIS ARNOLD

Alvarado’s Mexican Fast Food, seen here in January, recently opened in Englewood.

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Fundraising for EHS bleachers

Evergreen High School wants to install new bleachers at its main sports eld, and it hopes the community will help.

e booster clubs of the teams and groups that regularly use the eld — football, soccer, lacrosse, track, poms, cheerleaders and marching band — want to raise $325,000 for bleachers, site preparation and installation on the south side of the eld. e goal is to have bleachers installed by fall 2024.

e current bleachers seat 200 and are on the west end of the eld, making it di cult for viewers to see an entire game. Instead, most people stand around the track to watch games.

e new stands will seat 800 and be elevated above the track with spacing and a ramp system to meet ADA requirements.

New lighting was installed at the eld in 2020. e improvements will help the school have more night games and host playo games without having to go down the hill.

Je erson County and the school district already have approved the bleachers’ plans.

For more information or to donate, visit ehshome eld.com.

Website on fire department consolidation

e three re departments on the 285 corridor interested in consolidating have created a website with

information about the proposal.

e website is a one-stop shop with information about challenges the North Fork, Elk Creek and Inter-Canyon re departments face, options, property tax increases, and what consolidation means for the districts and residents. e three re districts have paid a consultant to create an education campaign that includes a website.

e website also announces several community meetings for the public to learn more about the consolidation e ort.

ey are:

• 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at North Fork Station 1, 19384 County Road 126, Bu alo Creek;

• 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at Elk Creek Station 1, 11993 Blackfoot Road, Conifer;

• 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Inter-Canyon Station 3, 8445 U.S. 285, Morrison;

• 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at North Fork Station 1, 19384 County Road 126, Bu alo Creek;

• 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at Elk Creek Station 1, 11993 Blackfoot Road, Conifer;

• 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at Inter-Canyon Station 3, 8445 U.S. 285, Morrison.

If the three re departments decide to move forward with consolidation, their boards will put a consolidation question and a question to increase property taxes on the November ballot. ey must decide by Sept. 8 to put the question on the ballot, and voters in all three departments must agree to both questions for the consolidation to occur.

For more information about the proposed consolidation and information about the community meetings, visit mountain reresources. com.

Foothills Home Show April 1-2

It’s time for the Foothills Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show April 1-2.

It’s free to attend the show at Evergreen High School, though Evergreen and Conifer Rotary will accept nonperishable food items for Evergreen Christian Outreach. Net proceeds are donated to area

nonpro ts, and the Rotary clubs have distributed more than $300,000 since the rst show in 2005.

Attendees can walk through the halls of EHS to visit with more than 100 vendors of home improvement, garden, landscaping, ne art, leisure, health and cooking items. In addition, artisans and nonpro ts will have booths.

e show runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. For details and a list of sponsors and vendors, visit foothillshomeshow.com.

The booster clubs at Evergreen High School are fundraising to purchase and install bleachers at the school’s athletic stadium.

COURTESY PHOTO

West Je Elementary’s Night of the Arts combines student, professional art

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Students got to see their art on display with professional art at West Je erson Elementary School’s Night of the Arts.

Families roamed around the school March 10 as they looked at the work of professional artists and students in every grade thanks to a $10,000 Science and Cultural Facilities District Collaborative Grant the school received. Classes at each grade also performed a musical number to round out the evening.

e grant has paid for students to take eld trips to a variety of places to get inspiration about art such as the Denver Zoo and the Butter y Pavilion. It also paid for the Cherry Arts Mobile Art Gallery to install a professional art show throughout the school, which will be on display until March 27.

“ is is an awesome event,” said principal Wendy Woodland as she prepared to watch the rst graders perform a song. “It’s really meant to merge professional and student art.”

She said Night of the Arts was a staple at West Je Elementary several years ago, but sta changes and the pandemic put the event on a hiatus until this year.

Fifth grader Haley Boocher drew a picture of a planet that hung in a display case in the main hallway. She was excited to play the xylophone in the musical performance portion of the evening.

Parents Linda and Randy Boocher were proud that their daughter’s artwork was displayed at the school.

Fourth grader Max Best drew a cartoon interpretation of a fox, his favorite animal.

“I really like nature,” Max explained. “I like it being green, and then you see something orange.”

His mom, Lisa Best, said she liked that the professional art show allowed students to be exposed to a variety of artwork.

Fourth grader Elise Bohn looked at the student artwork in the hallway with her mom, Melissa Bohn. Elise said the event was fun because she could see her friends and other people’s artwork.

Melissa Bohn added that she enjoyed seeing the di erent mediums and styles, calling them inspiring and great for kids.

Music teacher Samantha Shall said that while the focus of Night of the Arts was artwork, the music added another dimension. e kindergartners and rst graders sang songs, third and fth graders played barred instruments such as xylophones,

and fourth graders played recorders.

Shall said the event was a chance for students to showcase the instruments they learn to play in music class.

Fifth grader Marin Loveday said she plays percussion in the school band, especially the xylophone, while dad Brendon Loveday said he loved watching the students per-

form.

Art teacher Kelly Munro said the grant helped the school bring arts programs to the school that it normally wouldn’t have.

“It’s been great,” she said. “To see the joy on their faces makes it worth it.”

Melissa Bohn and her daughter, fourth grader Elise Bohn, look inside a blow-up Venus flytrap that was part of the professional art show at West Je Elementary School.

PHOTOS BY DEB HURLEY BROBST Fifth grader Haley Boocher drew a picture of a planet.

Low speed chase

CONIFER – Mom and Dad knew that Daughter smoked a little weed now and then, but when Daughter absently left her backpack in the garage, and Mom found two little plastic bags of “white powder” tucked into a side pocket, they decided to draw the, er, line. Daughter was furious that Mom had violated the sanctity of her backpack, of course, and was positively foaming to nd out they’d ushed her stash down the commode, but she atly refused to identify the white powder and, when pressed, stormed out of the house and took o down the street on foot.

Mom and Dad called JCSO, asking only that o cers return Daughter to their keeping — which was easy enough since she’d only made it about a hundred yards in more than 20 minutes of trying — and advise them regarding Je co drug intervention resources. Deputies gave them the 411 and 86ed the case.

Not with a bang...

EVERGREEN – In what can only be called a spectacular waste of spec-

tacle, a woman stopped by the JCSO mountain substation on the afternoon of Feb. 17 to drop o “a pile of assorted boxes and tubs” containing “an assortment of recrackers, bottle rockets and mortars.” Her late husband spent “15 to 20 years” collecting the combustible cache, she explained to deputies, but with his passing she didn’t feel like supervising the scintillant stockpile solo. eir duty sad but clear, o cer accepted the glorious agglomeration, and within the black depths of the JCSO incinerator ignited, the most fabulous reworks display that nobody ever saw.

Ex-posed

EVERGREEN – Boyfriend and Girlfriend were celebrating their eternal commitment to each other by drinking a lot. When Girlfriend took a moment to freshen up, Boyfriend decided to celebrate the bonds of absolute trust and honesty that bound them together by snooping through her cell phone and turning up a big stack of steaming texts she’d been exchanging with her ex.

Boyfriend ordered Girlfriend from his house, and his life, forthwith. Girlfriend threatened to drive away from their timeless union. Boyfriend called 911 to inform JCSO of Girlfriend’s threat. Arriving deputies found Girlfriend outside, drunk but on foot. Girlfriend said she wasn’t really planning to drive drunk, but said she couldn’t nd anybody free to come and lift her out of the ashes of a love that was. While o cers couldn’t mend a shattered relationship, or make whole two hearts cruelly broken, they could, and did, give Girlfriend a ride to the nearest hotel.

Dinner theater

EVERGREEN – e 911 call came in at precisely 8:26 p.m., but the caller disconnected without a word. Per policy, the dispatcher called the number back. It was answered immediately, and just as quickly disconnected again, but not before the dispatcher heard “screaming in the background.” An o cer sent to investigate quickly made acquaintance with Lucy and Desi, newly-

weds of three months for whom the honeymoon was well and truly over. Desi told deputies he and his lovely bride had no sooner sat down to supper when Lucy started “arguing” with him. “Don’t yell,” Desi told Lucy, which only made her want to “argue some more.” Suspecting that Lucy’s liking for liquor was behind her antagonistic table etiquette, Desi began calmly pouring out all of the hooch in the house, which is when Lucy began screaming and dialing. “She just gets her feelings hurt and calls you guys,” Desi explained. When Lucy more or less con rmed the details of Desi’s declamation, deputies called it quits and left the lovebirds alone in their non-alcoholic nest.

Sheri ’s Calls is intended as a humorous take on some of the incident call records of the Je erson County Sheri ’s O ce for the mountain communities. Names and identifying details have been changed. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty.

Students to take computer-based SAT next year

pandemic. e state must wait 10 days before the contract becomes ofcial, according to a news release.

BY JASON GONZALES CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Colorado high school students will continue to take the SAT and PSAT as the state’s way of measuring school and district academic performance, but they’ll switch to the computerized version in spring 2024.

A committee of teachers and school administrators recommended the College Board’s online suite of tests to replace its paper version, according to the Colorado Department of Education. e new computerized test was piloted by the College Board in 2021, and the

organization said in a news release last year that it’s “easier to give, and more relevant.”

State law requires the state education department to take competitive bids every ve years for a statewide assessment. e selection, however, was delayed a year because of the

Colorado public colleges and universities no longer require a collegelevel exam like the SAT or ACT for acceptance, part of a growing “test optional” movement nationwide. However, many colleges and universities still ask for test scores as part of their application, and even students applying to test-optional schools can submit their scores to show their quali cations.

Colorado began using the PSAT and SAT to measure students’ math and English abilities in 2017, part of a compromise to reduce the overall number of tests students take in school. At the time, Colorado was the epicenter of an opt-out movement protesting a heavy testing burden, and many parents excused their students from taking standardized tests.

e idea was to use a test high school students would want to take anyway because it would help with their college and scholarship applications. Ninth and 10th graders take the PSAT and high school juniors take the SAT in the spring. Colorado uses the test results along with graduation rates and other factors to rate the performance of schools and districts. SAT scores also are one way students can show they meet graduation requirements for basic competency in math and language arts.

While Colorado high school students use the college readiness exams, K-8 students use the Colorado Measure of Academic Success, or CMAS, to test math, English, and science understanding. is story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters

Colorado high school students will no longer take the paper version of the PSAT and SAT. SHUTTERSTOCK

Many universities still ask for test scores as part of application process

We’d like to know about events or activities of interest to the community. Visit www.canyoncourier.com/calendar/ and post your event online for free. Email dbrobst@coloradocommunitymedia.com to get items in the print version of the paper. Items will appear in print on a space-available basis.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

“Chapter Two:” Evergreen Players will perform “Chapter Two” by Neil Simon through March 26. Friday and Saturday are at 7 p.m. and Sunday matinee performances are at 2 p.m. Shows are at Evergreen Players Black Box eatre, 27886 Meadow Drive, Unit B, Evergreen. Tickets are $30 and may be purchased online at www.evergreenplayers.org or by calling 720-515-1528.

SUNDAY

Shadow Mountain Legacy: e Conifer Historical Society is sponsoring a program called e Shadow Mountain Legacy at 2 p.m. March 26 at the Little White Schoolhouse, 26951 Barkley Road in Conifer. Tickets are $10-$12 and may be purchased at ConiferHistoricalSociety. org/tickets.

e Kids Are Back art show: Shadow Mountain Gallery will again display artwork by local elementary school children. “ e Kids Are Back!” e display is in recognition of National Youth Art Month and includes artwork from six schools: Wilmot, Marshdale, King-Murphy, e Bergens and Parmalee. e show will run through March 26.

Shadow Mountain Gallery is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in downtown Evergreen between Java Groove and Beau Jo’s.

MONDAY

Coexisting with Black Bears: Wild Aware will present a webinar called Coexisting with Black Bears from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, March 27. Learn to bear-proof your home and property to help keep bears alive and wild. Brenda Lee, founder and president of the Colorado Bear Coalition, will share the organization’s work to build a statewide e ort to mitigate human-bear con icts. It will be followed by a panel discussion in bear awareness. To register, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/ coexisting-with-bears-registration-563538848867.

UPCOMING

TallGrass food drive: TallGrass Spa is hosting its third annual Food is Love drive to bene t the food pantry at Mountain Resource Center in Conifer. Donations are being collected at TallGrass during business hours through March 31 at 997 Upper Bear Creek Road in Evergreen. Donors bringing food items will be entered to win a basket of spa products and can have their photos taken with the Food is Love mascot, Ava the SpAvocado.

Art of the Egg: Voting for the 15th annual Art of the Egg decorating contest sponsored by Go Paint! is through March 31. Age groups are up to 8 years old, 9-13 and 14 and older. Winners will be noti ed April

1. First place receives $25, second place $20, third place $15.

Evergreen Audubon Explore More: Registration is now open for Evergreen Audubon’s Explore More after-school programs starting the last week of March at Marshdale and Wilmot elementary schools and Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen. ese programs are for kids who love being outdoors and learning about nature and science. For more information and to register, visit www.EvergreenAudubon. org and click on Events.

Snowshoe hike: Explore the beauty of Colorado’s winter wonderland on a guided snowshoe hike in Georgetown. Kimberly Knox of Georgetown Outdoor Discovery and Evergreen Audubon’s Emma Vasicek will lead the hike on April 1. For more information and to register, visit www.evergreenaudubon. org/events/snowshoe-hike-withgeorgetown-outdoor-discoveryjanuary-2023.

Foothills Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show: Foothills Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show will be April 1-2 at Evergreen High School. e show, sponsored by Evergreen and Conifer

Rotary, will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. ere is no entry fee, though bringing two nonperishable food items for Evergreen Christian Outreach is encouraged. Net proceeds are distributed as grants for charitable causes through the Evergreen and Conifer Rotary Foundations. For more information, visit foothillshomeshow.com.

DriveSafe scholarship: DriveSafe is o ering a scholarship for students who are graduating from high school, or attending college or trade school. To apply, students must ll out an application form and write an essay or create a video answering the question: “How has learning to drive helped you in ways you didn’t expect?” Entries must be submitted by April 2, and winners will be announced on May 1.

Fire department consolidation community meetings:  e three 285 Corridor re departments — Elk Creek, Inter-Canyon and North Fork — deciding whether to consolidate will host community meetings for the public. e meetings will be 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at North Fork Station 1, 19384 County Road 126, Bu alo Creek; 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at Elk Creek Station 1, 11993 Blackfoot Road, Conifer; 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Inter-Canyon Station 3, 8445 U.S. 285, Morrison; 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at North Fork Station 1, 19384 County Road 126, Bu alo Creek; 3-5 p.m.

e Arvada Center recently announced its upcoming slate of theater productions, unveiling ve shows that will be put on by the theater company during the 2023-2024 season.

Season tickets went on sale on March 13, while individual tickets will go on sale on July 1. Tickets for three-to-four shows are also available.

Last year, the Arvada Center put on six productions, but scaled back this year in an e ort to support the stage’s sta , according to Colorado Public Radio. e following ve shows will come to the Arvada Center stage over the next 18 months.

A REVERSE

“The

Project,” “Cinderella,” “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” and more coming to Arvada

ARVADA CENTER

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

When: Sept. 8 to Oct. 8

What: A jukebox musical based on the life and career of Carole King, who grew up a shy Jewish girl from Manhattan and later became one of the most renowned singersongwriters in the world. e Tony and Grammy winning musical biopic features hits like “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Up on the Roof,” and “So Far Away.”

The Laramie Project

When: Sept. 29 to Nov. 5

What: “ e Laramie Project” explores the reaction to the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998 by culling together interviews from over 60 real-life characters representing their reactions to the crime. e production tackles the prejudice, hatred and compassion brought to light by Shepard’s death.

Cinderella

READER

FROM PAGE 9

asleep.”

While the show does have some inside jokes and references that fans of e Bard will no doubt enjoy, Pierce said knowledge of the playwright’s canon isn’t a prerequisite to having a good time at the show.

“If audiences go away in a better mood than they arrived in and had an evening of fun and laughter, that’s what we’re aiming for,” Pierce said. “We also hope that they’ll have a slightly better appreciation of the work that goes into performing and a greater appreciation of the theater.”

While there are laughs aplenty, as is always the case with a Miners Alley production, everyone has their sights rmly set on the humanity of the story being told.

“ is show is unique in the way that it can be so wild and over the top, but also so genuine and honest at the same time,” Hauser wrote. “I hope audiences leave with a smile on their face.”

For information and tickets, visit https://minersalley.com/i-hatehamlet/.

Immersive yourself in the power of art and jazz

e Lumonics Gallery, 800 E. 73 Ave., Unit 11, in Denver, is blending its signature approach to artistic light shows with jazz at two Immersive Jazz-Art performances, both held from 7 to 9:30 p.m. e rst is Friday, March 24 and the second is Friday, March 31.

e two events will feature a blend of art, lm and live, improvisational jazz accompanied by the Lumonics light sculptures/video. According to provided information, Janine Santana, a jazz musician and radio personality, will be hosting the series and selecting an accompanying jazz lm.

For more information, visit www.

When: Nov. 24 to Dec. 31

What: Just in time for the holidays, Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” will bring cheer to Arvada residents this winter. e contemporary take on the classic fairytale has won the hearts of theater lovers for decades.

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812

When: Feb. 16 to March 31, 2024

What: Nominated for 12 Tony’s when it premiered in 2012, “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” tells the story of a young girl — Natasha — who arrives in Moscow longing for her ancé and Pierre, a man having an existential crisis intent on saving Natasha’s reputation.

Noises O

When: March 22 to May 5, 2024

What: A meta look at the inner workings of theater production, this play-within-a-play is a highenergy laugh-fest that’s sure to leave theater lovers and casual fans satis ed. “Noises O ” imagines a scenario in which everything that could go wrong with a stage production does, to hilarious e ect.

lumonics.net/jazz.

Learn about cumbia with Ciudad Reina and RedLine

Ciudad Reina and RedLine Contemporary Art Center have teamed up to present Una Historia de la Cumbia, an evening that celebrates all things cumbian - history, dance, music and more.

e event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 24, at the RedLine Contemporary Art Center, 2350 Arapahoe St. in Denver. Cumbia is a kind of genre and music that was started in Colombia and has spread all over the Americas.

According to provided information, attendees will get to hear from KUVO’s Super Sonido host La Molly and El Jaguar, who will provide some historical context for cumbia, followed by a dance class led by Magally Rizo Luna. e evening wraps up with a cumbia party.

Get more information at www. redlineart.org/upcoming-events/ una-historia-de-la-cumbia.

Clarke’s Concert of the Week — The Wonder Years at Summit Music Hall

Hearing the name e Wonder Years probably makes most people think of the golden years of their youth (or a late 1980s sitcom about the golden years of youth). Pennsylvania’s band of the same name can certainly pull at the heartstrings, but the indie rock favorites accomplish this by blending aching and searching lyricism with emo-indebted rocky stylings.

In support of 2022’s “ e Hum Goes on Forever,” they’ll be stopping by Summit Music Hall, 1902 Blake St. in Denver, at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28. Joining them are the wonderful alt-rock group Hot Mulligan. Get a ticket at www.livenation. com.

Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.

State warns of avian flu surge amid migration

commercial farms are impacted, it takes months and millions of dollars to recover from a mass death event.

From avian u to zoning permits, here’s what you need to know about raising backyard chickens

BY PAOLO ZIALCITA COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

Highly pathogenic avian in uenza, the disease spreading among wild and domestic bird populations nationwide, is expected to have a surge in cases as the migratory season begins in Colorado.

It’s been nearly a year since the rst outbreak in Colorado, and while cases have slowed, Colorado state veterinarian Maggie Baldwin said the risk will go up as more ocks of birds pass through.

“[ ese wild birds] are bringing more virus, they’re shedding more virus in the environment, and we’re likely gonna see more spillover of that virus into our domestic poultry operations on both the commercial and the backyard side,” Baldwin said.

So far, about 6.4 million chickens have either been killed by the virus or put down to prevent outbreaks within a ock. Hundreds of wild birds, mostly geese and ducks, have also been killed by the virus. Death is all but guaranteed for birds that contract it, and symptoms include sudden fatigue, decreased egg production, and nasal discharge.

e avian u has recently been linked to deaths in mammals that

consumed infected birds.

e nationwide outbreak has driven up egg prices across the country. According to federal data, a dozen eggs cost an average of $4.83 as of January 2023, up from the average of $1.93 recorded a year prior.

“What we can likely expect is across the nation, we’re going to see another increase in cases this spring, and that’s really what led to

1-877-328-1512

Baldwin, along with experts from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Colorado State University, will host a webinar next week to share more information about the avian u and how to keep ocks safe this spring.

Avian u cases among humans are extremely rare, and they usually occur only when people are heavily exposed to infected poultry.

e federal government is discussing the possibility for a large-scale avian u vaccination program for poultry, and e New York Times reports a potential vaccine is already being tested.

“ e USDA is really the rst step in getting that approval process started because, if you vaccinate, there are potential trade implications,” Baldwin said.

In the meantime, agriculture o cials and veterinarians are still searching for other solutions.

consumer impacts was when we had a lot of our commercial egg laying populations impacted around the same time,” Baldwin said.

With the length of the outbreak hitting “unprecedented” levels, Baldwin acknowledges that fatigue may be setting in for commercial and domestic owners. However, she urges owners to keep up their biosecurity measures. When big,

ere’s “no clear end in sight” for this avian u outbreak, Baldwin said. With no treatment available and the uncontrollable nature of bird migration coming back into play, it appears this strain of avian u is here to stay.

is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.

Great horned owls are kept in the hospital area of the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program in Fort Collins. The program rehabilitates around 300 birds a year, 78% being treatable cases that can be returned to the wild. PHOTO BY OLIVIA SUN; THE COLORADO SUN VIA REPORT FOR AMERICA

As flocks head north, increase in virus shedding will heighten risk

Saturday, May 13, at Elk Creek Station 1, 11993 Blackfoot Road, Conifer; and 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at Inter-Canyon Station 3, 8445 U.S. 285, Morrison.

Je co Foothills Town Hall focusing on reducing wild re risk will from 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 8, at the Evergreen Fire/Rescue Administration Building, 1802 Bergen Parkway. Area experts will discuss what can be done to prepare for wild re. e event is free.

Evergreen chamber mixer: e Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly mixer will be from 5-7 p.m. April 13 at Flow eory CoWorks & Best Custom Homes, 3540 Evergreen Parkway. For more information and to register, visit evergreenchamber.org.

Resilience1220 o ce next to the Buchanan Park Recreation Center. e group’s rst book is “Hell Followed With Us.” For more information and to register, visit R1220.org.

Hiwan Museum winter hours: Hiwan Museum has shortened winter hours for tours, open ursday and Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and weekends from noon to 4:30 p.m. Private tours of large groups may be accommodated when the museum is closed by calling Erica Duvic at Hiwan Museum at 720-4977653.

Sensitive Collection: Resilience1220 o ers a monthly workshop for highly sensitive people to help them live healthy and empowered lives from 3:30-4:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month via Zoom. Visit R1220.org for more information.

Evergreen chamber breakfast: e Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly member breakfast will be 7:30-9 a.m. Wednesday, April 5, at Troutdale Tavern. For more information and to register, visit evergreenchamber.org.

Conifer chamber awards banquet: e Conifer Area Chamber of Commerce will host its awards banquet from 5-8 p.m. ursday, April 20, at Beaver Ranch. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit goconifer.com.

Sips for Scholarships: Bootstraps Inc. will host Sips for Scholarships from 6:30-9 p.m. ursday, April 20, at Twin Forks Tavern, 19423 N. Turkey Creek Road. Tickets are $75 and available at bootstrapsinc.org.

Community Bible Study: Several community Bible study groups are available — women (in person and online), co-ed young adults, school age, preschool & babies. is year’s study covers six books of the Bible: Philemon 1, 2, 3, John, Jude and Revelation. In-person classes are ursday morning at Rockland Community Church in Genesee, Tuesday night at Bergan Park Church in Evergreen and Wednesday morning at Conifer Community Church in Conifer. More information is available at cbsclass. org/evergreengolden.

Caregiver support groups: Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice o ers two monthly groups to provide emotional support services for caregivers helping ill, disabled or elderly loved ones. An in-person support group meets every third Monday from 4-6 p.m. at 3081 Bergen Peak Road, Evergreen, and a virtual support group meets every rst Tuesday from 10 a.m.-noon via Zoom. Call 303-674-6400 to learn how to connect to the group virtual call. For more information visit mtevans.org/ services/emotional-support/.

Parkinson’s disease support group: A Parkinson’s disease support group meets the rst Friday of the month from 1-3 p.m. at Evergreen Christian Church, 27772 Iris Drive, Evergreen. For more information, email esears@parkinsonrockies.org.

A look at Je co’s Climate Action Plan: Evergreen Sustainability Alliance is hosting the community’s rst look at Je erson County’s recently adopted Climate Action Plan along with information on incentives to help create more eco-friendly, low emissions households or businesses.  e event will be from 6-7:30 p.m. ursday, April 6, at the Wulf Recreation Center. Space is limited. Register at www.sustainevergreen.org.

Free legal clinic: A free legal clinic for people with no attorney will be from 2 to 5 p.m. ursday, April 6. By telephone or video, volunteer attorneys will answer questions, help ll out forms, and explain the process and procedure for all areas of civil litigation. Pre-registration for individual 15-minute appointments is available by calling 303-235-5275 or visiting https://tinyurl.com/ ykzs2ej7.

Je co Foothills Town Hall: A

World Tai Chi Day: World Tai Chi Day will be celebrated at 10 a.m. April 29 at the Buchanan Park Recreation Center pool.

Rockies Springtime art show: Shadow Mountain Gallery will display artists’ renditions of springtime in a wide range of media through April 29. One-of-a-kind artwork will be priced for every budget. Shadow Mountain Gallery is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in downtown Evergreen between Java Groove and Beau Jo’s.

ONGOING

Mountain Area Democrats: Mountain Area Democrats meet the fourth Saturday of each month at 9 a.m. through April at United Methodist Church of Evergreen, 3757 Ponderosa Drive, Evergreen. For more information, email MountainAreaDems@gmail. com.

LGBTQ+ teen book club: Resilience1220 is o ering a LGBTQ+ teen book club that meets from 4-6 p.m. the fourth Monday at the

ESA EverGREEN Re ll Station: EverGREEN Re ll Station (re ll your laundry detergent, lotions, soaps and more. We have many sustainable products available).  e Re ll Station is open Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 1-4 p.m. It is located upstairs in the Habitat Restore in Bergen Park, 1232 Bergen Parkway.

Support After Suicide Loss: Heartbeat and Resilience1220 o er Support After Suicide Loss from 5:30-7 p.m. the fourth ursday of the month for ages 14 and older. Join in-person or online. Suggest donation is $15. For location, visit R1220. org.

History Happy Hour: e Evergreen Mountain Area Historical Society will host a History Happy Hour from 4:30-6:30 p.m. the second Friday of each month at Hiwan Museum. Join us in a round table discussion on any and all aspects of history with topics driven by the attendees.

Mountain Foothills Rotary meetings: Mountain Foothills Rotary meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays both in person at Mount Vernon Canyon Club at 24933 Club House Circle, Genesee, and via Zoom. Join the Zoom meeting at https://us02web. zoom.us/j/81389224272, meeting ID 813 8922 4272, phone 346-248-7799.

Beyond the Rainbow: Resilience1220 o ers Beyond the Rainbow, which is two support groups that meet from 7-8:30 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month. One is a safe group for those 12-20 and the other is group for parents and caregivers wanting support for raising an LGBTQ child. To RSVP, contact Lior Alon at lior@wisetreewellness.com.

Blame Utah for state’s air pollution

The EPA does

BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN

ere’s a new strategy in Colorado’s ght against dangerous ozone air pollution: Blame Utah.

Coal- red power plants and oil and gas drilling in northeastern Utah are responsible for ozone drifting to the east into Colorado’s nine-county nonattainment zone for the pollutant, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

e amount of ozone that Utah is pumping toward Colorado violates the federal “good neighbor” rules of the Clean Air Act, which have been used in the past to force Eastern states to clean up coal plants to help downwind states. e EPA rejected Utah’s State Implementation Plan (SIP) for cutting ozone in February and told the state to prepare more cuts, including adding expensive scrubbing equipment to a handful of coal power plants in Utah and Wyoming.

Utah’s legislature agreed something needed to be done and set aside $2 million — for legal fees to sue the EPA and avoid the extra cleanup.

“Utah is not being a good neighbor,” said Robert Ukeiley, Colorado senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonpro t that

CLEAN AIR

works extensively on air pollution issues and the Clean Air Act.

e neighbors, in the form of the Utah Attorney General’s o ce, declined comment, citing the lawsuit Utah led in February to block the EPA’s bad neighbor declaration. In voting to fund the lawsuit, Utah lawmakers argued the EPA ruling would force closures of vital power plants, though environmental groups say e ective control equipment can greatly reduce the pollutants.

Colorado environmental groups want the Colorado state government to intervene with the EPA in favor of the Utah restrictions. Backing up the EPA should be part of Colorado’s overall ozone ght, which they say should also include tougher restrictions at home on Front Range oil and gas drilling and transportation emissions. It’s the equivalent of free money in the di cult battle to reduce ozone, which had been declining but then leveled o and began rising again in recent years.

“ ere’s an opportunity for Colorado to join in a lawsuit to help reduce pollution, but the Polis administration has decided not to,” Ukeiley said.

Colorado regulators said in a statement they are monitoring the good neighbor case against Utah.

“We have not joined EPA good

neighbor suits in the past,” according to a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson. “We are laser focused on continuing the work to protect clean air in Colorado for all.”

It’s too bad, Ukeiley added. States on the East Coast join such lawsuits frequently in order to bolster the case against their ill-behaving neighbor states.

“But Colorado never does that,” he said.

e EPA’s proposed restrictions on Utah, which the agency says would take e ect in mid-March, are part of a sweeping e ort to declare “good neighbor” sanctions for 26 states under the Clean Air Act. e EPA reduced the ceiling on cities’ ozone allowances in 2015 to 70 parts per billion, with some scientists arguing the limits should be far lower to protect human health.

An EPA fact sheet accompanying the good neighbor proposal says it will cut ozone-contributing nitrogen oxide by 29% from power generation across those states, saving lives, reducing asthma and preventing other respiratory illnesses. By 2026, the EPA says, the rules would eliminate up to 1,000 premature deaths, 2,400 hospital and emergency room visits and 1.3 million cases of asthma symptoms.

e EPA’s justi cation for the new good neighbor rulings, published in the Federal Register, says the agency’s well-established monitoring methods show Utah contribut-

ing more than the 1% threshold of regulated substances to other states. “Its highest-level contribution is 1.29 parts per billion to Douglas County, Colorado,” the EPA said. at number appears small, but the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission and the Regional Air Quality Council spend countless hours discussing strategies and policies to potentially shave a part or two per billion o summer ozone levels in the Front Range nonattainment area. Readings in recent summers have spiked above 80 ppb at some monitors.

Some recent policy e orts have focused on reducing ozone-causing emissions from small engine lawn and garden equipment, which state o cials estimate contribute about 2.5 ppb to daily summer ozone. e Colorado oil and gas industry, seeking to head o further regulation, has pointed to the same state emissions list that attributes more than half of daily ozone to “background” sources, including naturally occurring ozone and precursors blown in from out of state, including the West Coast and Asia.

One of the EPA’s proposed solutions to ozone problems in other states has been a “cap and trade” program, where a state in violation of good neighbor policies must set an overall limit on emissions such as nitrogen oxide. Companies including power generators then decide what is the most e cient way for them to reach those lim-

its, whether buying and installing scrubbing equipment or acquiring credits from other companies that are below their limits.

Environmental groups call the good neighbor rules some of the most e ective tools the EPA has to combat ozone, and note that the 2023 EPA proposal for cap and trade adds in new sources to control. ose include engines used in pumping natural gas through pipelines, cement kilns, paper mills and oil and gas re neries.

“ ose rules have saved thousands or tens of thousands of lives by reducing air pollution,” Ukeiley said.

If there’s any remaining good news for Colorado out of the EPA actions, it’s that Colorado is not among the 26 states the agency has declared to be a bad neighbor to someone else. You’re welcome, Kansas.

But Coloradans shouldn’t get smug, Ukeiley said, as long as the state fails to contain its own ozone problem.

“ e EPA has not found us to be an upwind state,” he said. “We disagree with that.” is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Bill would encourage CPR training in high schools

Critics call proposal in Colorado legislature a ‘feel-good’ measure

BY HELEN SANTORO KAISER HEALTH NEWS

A bill advancing in the Colorado legislature would encourage schools to begin teaching students lifesaving skills before graduation, but critics contend it’s little more than a “feel-good” measure devoid of vital requirements and funding.

Colorado is one of 10 states where laws don’t mandate CPR training for high school students, according to the American Heart Association. In February, the Colorado House passed a bipartisan bill  to add training for CPR and how to use an automated external de brillator, or AED, to the Colorado Department of Education’s comprehensive health education high school curriculum.

But the proposal stops short of requiring public high schools to adopt the revised curriculum, or subsidizing the e ort. Instead, they would be strongly encouraged to implement the training on their own.

“ e bill is a noble e ort and is something that needs to be done,” said Lynn Blake, vice chair of the Eagle County Paramedic Services board. “However, it’s a feel-good law until mandates and dollars accompany it.”

In 2021, Colorado reported 3,727

cases of cardiac arrest — in which the heart abruptly stops beating — to the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival, or CARES, which tracks incidents occurring outside hospitals. is number is likely an underestimate, as the data was collected from less than 80% of the population. Last summer, Colorado became the rst state to establish an o ce within its state health department dedicated to collecting data on cardiac arrest incidents and nding ways to increase survival rates.

Nearly 90% of cardiac arrests experienced outside of a hospital are fatal, according to CARES. CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival if performed immediately after the heart stops beating.

So, the more bystanders who know how to administer CPR, the better, said Blake, who was 27 when she was stricken by cardiac arrest. A woman nearby performed CPR on her, and a few minutes later, paramedics arrived and shocked Blake three times with an AED, which saved her life. A 2022 study by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that states that require CPR training in schools have higher rates of CPR being performed by bystanders, thus improving survival rates.

“We have a huge need for people to learn to act quickly in emergency situations,” said state Sen. Janice Marchman, a Democrat sponsoring the bill. “ at’s why it would be great to train high school students

not just to do CPR, but also to use the AED machines.”

e bill encourages each public school to adopt a curriculum that includes “hands-on” training on performing CPR and using a de brillator. However, the proposal doesn’t allocate money to school districts to support the training, according to the bill’s scal note. A single CPR manikin and AED trainer together cost around $600, according to the American Red Cross store. School districts might be eligible to apply for a comprehensive health education grant funded by the state education department, to help pay for lessons, Marchman said.

e bill also stops short of making CPR training a graduation requirement for public high schools, leaving Colorado an outlier while 40 other states plus Washington, D.C., command it. Alabama has mandated CPR training for high school graduation since fall 1983 and Iowa has done the same since 2009.

All Colorado public schools are bound by the state’s comprehensive health academic standards, so it’s likely that most schools would abide by the change without making it a graduation requirement, Marchman said.

Colorado Senate Republicans are con dent schools will be eager to equip students and teachers with these lifesaving skills, caucus spokesperson Joshua Bly said.

e Colorado Department of Education’s role is to implement policy,

not speculate on why CPR and AED training is not mandated in high schools, department spokesperson Erica Grasmick said. is isn’t the rst time Colorado lawmakers have sought CPR training in high schools. A 2012 bill pushed by the American Heart Association tried to mandate CPR and AED training for high schoolers. But the Colorado Association of School Executives opposed the legislation, as its members argued that school districts should be able to “decide what is important at a local level” as they are “tasked with the di cult job of balancing budgets.”

Not mandating CPR and AED training in high schools is a signicant loss, said Blake. “If I was the author of the bill, I would require that all students and administrators, teachers, coaches — anyone who is involved with any kind of education — to be trained in CPR,” she said.

Still, Blake sees this bill as a step in the right direction. “Stakeholders are eager to return to the Capitol in coming sessions with an even more robust bill, including CPR and de brillator requirements and funding,” she said.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonpro t organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

WORSHIP DIRECTORY

ASCENT CHURCH

“Real people pursuing a real God”

All are Welcome Sundays at 10am

In-person or Online www.ascentchurch.co

29823 Troutdale Scenic Drive, Evergreen

BERGEN PARK CHURCH

Bergen Park Church is a group of regular people who strive to improve ourselves and our community by studying the Bible and sharing our lives with each other.

On Sunday mornings you can expect contemporary live music, Children’s Ministry that seeks to love and care for your kids, teaching from the Bible, and a community of real people who are imperfect, but seek to honor God in their lives. We hope to welcome you soon to either our 9:30AM or 11:00AM Sunday service.

Search Bergen Park Church on YouTube for Livestream service at 9:30am 31919 Rocky Village Dr. 303-674-5484 info@bergenparkchurch.org / www.BergenParkChurch.org

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH SERVICES

28244 Harebell Lane

Sunday Service & Sunday School 10am

Wednesday Evening ZOOM Meeting 7:30pm

Contact: clerk@christianscienceevergreen.com for ZOOM link Reading Room 4602 Pletner Lane, Unit 2E, Evergreen

OPEN TUE-SAT 12PM - 3PM

CHURCH OF THE CROSS

Please join us for Sunday worship at 28253 Meadow Drive, Evergreen or visit www.churchotc.com

8:30am Traditional Service

10:30am Contemporary Service

Communion is served every Sunday at both services. All are welcome! Visit our website at www.churchotc.com for info on church activities. 28253 Meadow Drive, Evergreen • 303-674-4130 • o ce@churchotc.com

CHURCH OF THE HILLS PRESBYTERIAN (USA)

Serving the mountain community from the heart of Evergreen

Worship 10:00 a.m.

Reverend Richard Aylor

O ce Hours: Tu-Thur 9:00 - 4:00; Fri 9:00 - noon Bu alo Park Road and Hwy 73 www.churchofthehills.com

CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION EPISCOPAL

In-Church: Sunday Communion Quiet Service 8:00 am & with Music 10:15 am 10:15 am only Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86017266569

In-Meadow: 2nd Sunday of the month at 9:30 a.m.

--June through September— 27640 Highway 74 – ¼ mile east of downtown Evergreen at the Historic Bell Tower www.transfigurationevergreen.org

CONGREGATION BETH EVERGREEN (SYNAGOGUE)

Reconstructionist Synagogue

Rabbi Jamie Arnold

www.BethEvergreen.org / (303) 670-4294 2981 Bergen Peak Drive (behind Life Care)

CONIFER CHURCH OF CHRIST

“Doing Bible Things in Bible Ways”

11825 U.S. Hwy. 285, Conifer, CO 80433

Sun: 9:00a.m. Bible Study-10:00a.m. Worship; Wed: Bible Study 7:00p.m.

EVERGREEN CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)

27772 Iris Drive, Evergreen - 303-674-3413

www.EvergreenChristianChurch.org - eccdoc01@gmail.com

Sunday Worship 10:00 a.m., with communion every Sunday

We are an inclusive faith community and welcome you to join us in our new ministry journey.

DEER PARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Pastor Joyce Snapp, Sunday Worship 10 AM

Located one mile west of Pine Junction just o Rt. 285 966 Rim Rock Road, Bailey (303) 838-6759

All are welcome to our open/inclusive congregation!

EVERGREEN LUTHERAN CHURCH

5980 Highway 73 + 303-674-4654

Rev. Terry Schjang

Join us for Virtual Worship on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EvergreenLutheranChurch

Sunday Worship uploaded by 10am. www.evergreenlutheran.org + All Are Welcome!

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY CHURCH – EPC

1036 El Rancho Rd, Evergreen – (303) 526-9287 www.lomcc.org – o ce@lomcc.org

Sunday Worship 10:00 a.m., with communion every Sunday “Real Church In An UnReal World”

A community empowered by the Holy Spirit which seeks authentic relationships with God and others to share the good news of Jesus with Evergreen, the Front Range and the world. Come as you are, all are welcome!

MOUNTAIN REVIVAL CHURCH

“Baptizing the Mountains in Jesus Name”

Sundays 11:00 am & Wednesdays 7:00 pm

Location: Aspen Park Community Center 26215 Sutton Road, Conifer, CO 80433

(Additional parking at the Park & Ride next to Big O Tires) 720-770-0380 Call, Text, or Just Drop In www.mountainrevival.org

PLATTE CANYON COMMUNITY CHURCH

Located: 4954 County Road 64 in Bailey. O ce hours MWF 8am-1pm 303-838-4409, Worship & Children’s Church at 10am

Small group studies for all ages at 9am

Transitional Pastor: Mark Chadwick Youth Pastor: Jay Vonesh

Other activities: Youth groups, Men’s/Women’s ministries, Bible studies, VBS,

ELZZ

1. AD SLOGANS: What company advertises its clothing with the ad slogan, “Quality never goes out of style”?

2. SCIENCE: What is the tallest grass in the world?

3. MOVIES: What is the name of the camp in “Friday the 13th”?

4. GEOGRAPHY: What is the term when two water streams join to form a larger stream?

5. INVENTIONS: What is Tim Berners-Lee credited with inventing?

6. ANATOMY: Where are the quadriceps located?

7. LITERATURE: Which poet wrote a six-volume biography of President Lincoln?

8. TELEVISION: Timothy Lovejoy is a minister on which animated TV series?

9. ANIMAL KINGDOM: Yaks are native to which region?

10. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Before he was elected president, which of the founding fathers attended the coronation of Napoleon at Notre Dame Cathedral?

Answers

1. Levi’s.

2. Bamboo.

3. Camp Crystal Lake.

4. Con uence.

5. World Wide Web.

6. ighs.

7. Carl Sandburg.

8. “ e Simpsons.”

9. Tibet, China.

10. James Monroe and his wife Elizabeth.

(c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.

NOW HERE’S A TIP

* e way some items are packaged these days, you need to be Houdini to get into them. When you’re dealing with blister packs -- items sealed inside a hard plastic wrapper that looks to be heat crimped on the outsides -- try your can opener. You can run it around the edge of stubborn plastic packages, enough to get the item out. It’s more secure than a carpet knife or razor.

* Want to be able to tell at a glance which key belongs to the front door, the shed, your grandma’s house, etc.? Raid your (or your wife’s or daughter’s) stash of nail polish to paint the tops of keys to color code them.

* “Styrofoam trays that come with meat or in the produce area are very handy helpers for lots of little jobs. If yours are clean and unmarred, wash with hot, soapy water, rinse and dry for later. ey are perfect for sending a friend home with leftovers, as you can cover the meal with plastic wrap. ere is then no need to return a plate.” -- D. in

Indiana

* For a deck of playing cards that has gotten sticky, put it in a bag (paper or plastic) and add a bit of baby powder. Shake vigorously. Take the cards out and shu e to get o the extra powder. ey are likely good as new.

* “Tidy loosely folded electric cords by storing them in cardboard tubes. e tubes can be cut to t from a paper towel roll, or you can use a smaller, toilet-paper roll. Even long cords can be stored together in a gift-wrap core. Do not over ll a tube, nor wind any electrical cord too tightly.”

-- O.R. in Nevada

* If you have a juice spill on clothing, try club soda to remove it when the stain is fresh.

Send your tips to Now Here’s a Tip, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803.

(c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.

CLASSIFIEDS

Career Opportunites

Are you seeking more than a paycheck on your new adventure?

The Town of Georgetown wants to bring to your attention 2 positions that we currently have open here in Georgetown.

GEORGETOWN - UTILITY WORKER

Seasonal summer position (mid. May thru August, possible extension). Skills and knowledge desired in equipment operation and maintenance, excavation, water/wastewater plant, line and manhole maintenance, and general repair. With a focus on Hydrant Flushing and Sewer Line Jetting. Wage rate is $20.00 per hour to start.

GEORGETOWN – MARKETING & EVENTS COORDINATOR

Full-Time Town Employee position. $45,000 + bene ts, after 3 months’ probation period possible salary increase.

Full job description and application form are available at Town Hall, 404 6th Street, Georgetown and online at www.townofgeorgetown.us/ employment.htm. For more information call 303-569-2555 extension 3. Application deadline is 5:00 p.m. Friday April 21, 2023

Career Opportunites

Merchandise

Health & Beauty

DENTAL INSURANCEPhysicians Mutual Insurance Company. Covers 350 procedures. Real insurancenot a discount plan. Get your free dental info kit! 1-855-526-1060 www.dental50plus.com/58 #6258.

VIAGRA and CIALIS USERS! 50 Generic Pills SPECIAL $99.00 100% guaranteed. 24/7 CALL NOW!

888-445-5928 Hablamos Espanol Medical

Attention oxygen therapy users!

Inogen One G4 is capable of full 24/7 oxygen delivery. Only 2.8 pounds. Free info kit. Call 877-929-9587

Miscellaneous

!!OLD GUITARS WANTED!!

GIBSON, FENDER, MARTIN, etc. 1930’s to 1980’s. TOP DOLLAR PAID.

CALL TOLL FREE 1-866-433-8277

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 855-761-1725

FTE/PTE CUSTODIAL POSITIONS AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA!

$17.73 per hour

Set work hours Monday-Friday

PERA Retirement Benefits for FTE

Earn Vacation, personal and sick leave

For more information, call 303-982-2352

To apply, visit www.jeffcopublicschools.org, then click “Jobs at Jeffco”

To advertise your business, call Ruth at 303-566-4113

Careers

Help Wanted CONSTRUCTION HELP

Carpenters, Tradesman, Handyman & Laborers to work in mini-modular shop in Dumont.

Laborers $15-18/hr. Semi-Skilled $20-$25/hr. Skilled $25-$30/hr. Flexible hours. Architectural Prefab Lab, email mcaistor@gmail.com or call Mike 303-567-0100

General Dentistry Practice in Conifer is seeking experienced (2+ yrs) chair-side dental assistant. 2-4 days per week, no weekends. We focus on individual, quality care. The perfect candidate must have great people and dental skills. Pay based on exp. E-mail resume: admin@ coniferdentalgroup.com. No phone calls please.

Camp Coordinator

Evergreen, CO

March-June 16, 2023

Inspire young minds with history and hands-on learning at Hiwan Museum! The Evergreen Mountain Area Historical Society is seeking a camp coordinator for Discovery Days, a long-loved day camp. The coordinator is responsible for planning activities and managing day-to-day aspects of camp.

Planning is March-May; camp dates will be June 6-9 and 13-16. The coordinator’s hours during camp are 8:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. This temporary, seasonal, contract position pays $1,500 for anticipated 80-100 hours of work.

Applicants should have prior experience in childhood education, crafts, and/or history, and be reliable, organized, and flexible.

To apply, contact Jennee Hancock at jhancock@jeffco.us

Help Wanted

Green Seen

Property Maintenance

P/T maintenance person, exible hours. Duties include servicing P/U trucks & small repairs on P/U trucks, ie changing brakes, alternators etc. Servicing small equipment & cleaning carburetors on small equipment. Welding not a must but helpful. More jobs of di erent sorts if you want them.

720-840-7111

Clear Creek County is hiring with new higher pay rates! Apply at: 403 Argentine Street in Georgetown.

Inflation is at 40 year highs Interest rates are way up. Credit Cards. Medical Bills. Car Loans. Do you have $10k or more in debt? Call National Debt Relief to find out how to pay off your debt for significantly less than what you owe! Free quote: 1-877-592-3616

HughesNet– Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live. 25 Mbps just $59.99/mo! Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation. Call 866-499-0141

Prepare for power outages today with a GENERAC home standby generator $0 Down + Low Monthly Pmt Request a free Quote. Call before the next power outage: 1-855-948-6176

DIRECTV Stream - Carries the most local MLB Games! Choice Package $89.99/mo for 12 mos Stream on 20 devices at once. HBO Max included for 3 mos (w/Choice Package or higher.) No contract or hidden fees! Some restrictions apply. Call IVS 1-866-859-0405

Market Place

Classifieds

Misc. Notices

1 bicycle, wheelchair, new poker table , paper shredder and shop vacuum. All for $350 or best offer. Will sell single items as well. Call 720-465-9022

Switch and save up to $250/yr on talk, text & data. No contract or hidden fees. Unlimited talk & text with flexible data plans. Premium nationwide coverage. 100% U.S. based customer service. Limited time get $50 off any new account. Use code GIFT50. 1-855-903-3048 Free high speed internet if qualified. Govt. pgm for recipients of select pgms incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet. Android tablet free w/one-time $20 copay. Free shipping. Call Maxsip Telecom! 1-833-758-3892

DISH TV $64.99 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR included, Free Voice remote. Some Restrictions apply. Promo Expires 1/31/24. 1-866-479-1516.

Caring for an aging loved one?

Wondering about options like seniorliving communities and in-home care? Caring.com’s Family Advisors help take the guesswork out of senior care for your family. Free, noobligation consult: 1-855-759-1407

Donate Your Car to Veterans

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Eliminate gutter cleaning forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debrisblocking gutter protection. Schedule free LeafFilter estimate today. 20% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-833-6101936

MobileHelp, America’s premier mobile medical alert system.

Whether you’re home or away. For safety & peace of mind. No long term contracts! Free brochure! 1-888489-3936

Unlimited wireless 4G LTE or 5G internet. Only $50/month. 15-day trial. No contract. Includes hardware. Fast & reliable. 888-996-6799. https://broadbandq.com

The Generac PWRcell solar plus battery storage system. Save money, reduce reliance on grid, prepare for outages & power your home. Full installation services. $0 down financing option. Request free no obligation quote. 1-877-539-0299

Are you a pet owner? Do you want to get up to 100% back on vet bills? Physicians Mutual Insur-ance Company has pet coverage that can help! Call 1-844-774-0206 to get a free quote or visit insurebarkmeow. com/ads

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Public Notices

Social media apps o er route for illegal drug sales

State AG issues report

BY OLIVIA PRENTZEL THE COLORADO SUN

How easy is it to nd illegal drugs on social media apps? Nearly as convenient as calling an Uber or ordering a pizza, the Colorado Attorney General’s O ce said in a report released March 8.

Access to illegal drugs is “staggering” on social media apps, the report found, and has contributed to the surging number fentanyl overdoses, which has become the leading cause of preventable death for adults under 45, outpacing suicide, gun violence and car accidents.

e 182-page report outlined the ways in which drug dealers use aggressive marketing tactics to sell illegal drugs online, often targeting younger customers, and urged social media platforms and state legislators to enforce new policies to crack down on the sales.

e report, which the attorney general’s o ce is calling rst of its kind, was written under a state law passed in 2022 that requires the Colorado Department of Law to study how the internet and social media platforms are used for the sale and distribution of fentanyl and other counterfeit prescription drugs.

With the rise of social media apps, their convenience and lack of regu-

lation, platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and WhatsApp, have become a major vehicle for drug sales, the report said.

“Where once a teen might have had to seek out a street dealer, hassle friends, or learn to navigate the dark web to access illicit drugs, young people can now locate drug dealers using their smartphones — with the relative ease of ordering food delivery or calling a ride-share service,” Weiser wrote in the report. O cials spoke with former drug users and sellers and families of overdose victims for the report.

In 2021, at least 1,881 Coloradans died of a drug overdose and roughly half of those people died of fentanyl, according to state data. Many of those people are taking fentanyl without realizing it, as the cheap synthetic opioid is cut into other drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

As many as six in 10 counterfeit prescription pills contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, the report said.

It didn’t quantify exactly how large the online illicit drug market has become, citing limited access to the social media platforms’ data. But research suggests that drug dealers and buyers turn to the internet and social media platforms “as a primary vehicle for drug transactions.”

A search for “Denver” and “Boul-

Public Notices

Legals

Metropolitan Districts

Public Notice

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF REGULAR ELECTION BY THE DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL

§§ 1-11-103(3), 1-13.5-513, C.R.S.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Belleview Village Metropolitan District, Jefferson County, Colorado, that at or after the close of business on the sixty-third day before the election to be conducted on May 2, 2023, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election was canceled pursuant to Section 1-13.5-513, C.R.S., and the following candidates were declared elected by acclamation:

Eric Kubly: Four (4) year term

VACANT: Four (4) year term

VACANT: Four (4) year term

VACANT: Two (2) year term

VACANT: Two (2) year term

By: /s/ Alexandra L. Moore

Designated Election Official Belleview Village Metropolitan District

Legal Notice No. CC1177

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: March 23, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier

Public Notice

NOTICE OF CANCELATION OF ELECTION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Plains Metropolitan District, Jefferson County, Colorado, that at the close of business on the sixty-third day before the election, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election to be held on May 2, 2023 is hereby canceled pursuant to section 1-13.5-513 (1), C.R.S.

The following candidates are hereby declared elected:

Joe Pickard: 2 Year Term Until May 2025

Kathryn L. Christensen: 4 Year Term

Until May 2027

Steven Langer: 4 Year Term Until May 2027

Richard Scott Burrows: 4 Year Term

Until May 2027

/s/ Sue Blair

Designated Election Official

Contact Person for the District: Sue Blair, Designated Election Official

der” on the Kik messaging app returned dozens of results for groups dedicated to selling and buying drugs that were open to the public, the report showed.

“Connecting with a local dealer took mere minutes,” the report said.

Dealers advertise drugs using slang, emojis, QR codes and disappearing messages that help reach customers while evading content moderation tools on the social media platforms, the report said. Often drug sellers are active on multiple social media platforms — advertising their products on Instagram, but listing their WhatApps or Snapchat handles for inquiries — which makes it harder for law enforcement to crack down on the sales.

Sellers can create new pro les as soon as one is suspended or removed, creating a frustrating “whack-a-mole” e ect for local law enforcement, the report said.

A lot of social media companies, including Meta, TikTok and Snapchat, have policies that ban advertising, buying or selling drugs and some have made e orts to work with law enforcement to address the issue.

But the report said the companies’ responses to drug activity on their platforms have been “uneven in their application and limited in effectiveness.”

Weiser urged social media com-

Community Resource Services 7995 E. Prentice Avenue, Suite 103E Greenwood Village, CO 80111 303.381.4960 (voice) 303. 381.4961 (fax) sblair@crsofcolorado.com

Paul Lefever: 4 Year Term May 2027

/s/

panies to adopt strong, uniform practices to prevent and respond to illegal drug sales. He also called for a federal agency to oversee social media platforms and legislation that would give the federal government more access to their data.

Hank Dempsey, the head of state public policy for Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., called Weiser’s report a “must-read report” for anyone working to combat the fentanyl crisis. He said he appreciated working with the attorney general’s o ce “to contribute by sharing our insights and e orts to aggressively combat drug activity on our platform, including our policies that take a zero tolerance approach to this abuse.”

In an email, Meta spokeswoman Jeanne Moran said “content that attempts to buy, sell or trade drugs is not allowed on Facebook or Instagram, regardless of state or country law.” e company is “working hard” to keep drug sales o the platforms and users that post content that violates its policies could have their account removed.

is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Road with 850 and Brook Forest Drive includes 240 feet of replacement.

BIDDER shall demonstrate his qualifications by submitting evidence to the OWNER such as financial data, previous experience, authority to conduct business in the jurisdiction where the project is located, and other requirements as may be specified in the Contract Documents or requested after bids are received.

As its best interests may appear, the OWNER reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive any formalities or informalities in the BID(s).

hereby given that on the 11th day of April 2023

final settlement will be made by the County of Jefferson, State of Colorado to: ALPINE ROOFING CO INC. 4780 YORK ST DENVER, CO 80216 hereinafter called the “Contractor”, for and on account of the contract for the Wheat Ridge Head Start Emergency Roof Replacement project in Jefferson County, CO.

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF REGULAR ELECTION BY THE DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Dakota Ridge Metropolitan District, Jefferson County, Colorado, that at the close of business on the sixty-third day before the election there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election to be held on May 2, 2023, is hereby canceled pursuant to Section 1-13.5-513, C.R.S.

The following candidates are declared elected:

Chelsey Green: until the second regular election (May 4, 2027)

Vacant: until the second regular election (May 4, 2027)

Vacant: until the second regular election (May 6, 2025) Vacant: until the next regular election (May 6, 2025)

DATED: February 28, 2023

/s/ Lisa Jacoby

Designated Election Official for the Dakota Ridge Metropolitan District c/o McGeady Becher P.C. 450 E. 17th Avenue, Suite 400 Denver, Colorado 80203-1254 Phone: 303-592-4380

Legal Notice No. CC 1179

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: March 23, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier Public Notice

NOTICE OF CANCELATION OF ELECTION

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN by the Bowles Metropolitan District, Denver County, Colorado, that at the close of business on the sixty-third day before the election, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election to be held on May 2, 2023 is hereby canceled pursuant to section 1-13.5-513 (1), C.R.S. . The following candidates are hereby declared elected:

23, 2023

Publication: March 23, 2023

Canyon Courier Bids and Settlements

Public Notice

Evergreen Park & Recreation District (EPRD) invites qualified companies ("Respondents") to submit their proposals for the new copier lease project to include the removal of all existing copier machines and then the installation and training for the new copiers at the Buchanan Park Recreation Center, Wulf Recreation Center, Evergreen Lake House and the Administrative Office.

A copy of the full RFP can be found on EPRD's website, wwwevergreenrecreation.com. An electronic or hard copy form of the complete proposal shall be provided to EPRD by Monday, April 24 no later than 10am. Submittals may be sent via mail, hand delivery, or email to EPRD: Attn: Bob Schmitz, 1521 Bergen Parkway, Evergreen, CO 80439, bschmitz@eprd.co.

Legal Notice No. CC1167

First Publication: March 16, 2023

Last Publication: March 23, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier

Notice

The BIDDER is required to purchase or register to receive a copy of the CONTRACT DOCUMENTS.

Drawings, specifications, and other Bidding Documents may also be obtained online at www. questcdn.com. If you do not have a free membership, you may sign up for one to gain access to documents. The 2023 Brook Forest Waterline Replacement is available online for a cost of $20 via QuestCDN.

Hard copy BID sets are available between 9:00

A.M. and 4:00 P.M. Monday through Friday at the office of the ENGINEER, EVstudio, 4602 Plettner Lane, 4D, Evergreen, CO 80439 starting on March 15th , 2023 until April 6th 2023 for a cost of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per set (not refundable) to be paid in cash or by company check at the time of receipt. Email or call hard copy request 1 day prior to pick-up by emailing or calling Mr. Welch.

Sealed BID(s) for the above-referenced PROJECT shall be in an opaque envelope upon which shall be plainly marked “BID ON BROOK FOREST WATER MAIN REPLACEMENT” and the name of the bidder. Bids will be received at the office of the ENGINEER, EVstudio, 4602 Plettner Lane, 4D, Evergreen, CO 80439 and publicly opened and read aloud at 3:30 P.M. on Thursday, April 6th , 2023. Any BID(s) received after the abovespecified time and date will not be considered. Fax and e-mail BID(s) will not be accepted. BID(s) shall be accompanied by a cashiers check, bidder’s bod, or certified check payable to Brook Forest Water District for not less than five percent of the amount of such bid including add-alternates with certified copy of the power of attorney.

An optional pre-bid meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 29th at the office of the Engineer.

For additional information contact:

Brian Welch, P.E. at EVstudio 303-670-7242 x50

The project is located at Brook Forest Water District approximately 5 miles Southwest of Evergreen, Colorado.

In general, this project consists of abandoning in place approximately 2057 feet of existing 4-inch ductile iron water line and appurtenances, replacing it with new 6-inch ductile iron water line, bends, and valves, reconnecting limited services, testing, and disinfection. Connection will be made to existing ductile iron water lines at each end of the new 6-inch ductile iron water line. This project will consist of three phases; Timber Trail, Brook Forest Road and Brook Forest Drive. Timber Trail includes 967 feet of replacement, Brook Forest

Brian.welch@evstudio.com

Legal Notice No. CC1169

First Publication: March 16, 2023

Last Publication: March 23, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier Public Notice

Pursuant to C.R.S. Section 38-26-107, notice is

1. Any person, co-partnership, association or corporation who has an unpaid claim against the said project, for or on account of the furnishing of labor, materials, team hire, sustenance, provisions, provender or other supplies used or consumed by such Contractor or any of said work, may at any time up to and including said time of such final settlement, file a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim.

2. All such claims shall be filed with Heather Frizzell, Director of Finance Jefferson County Colorado, 100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden CO 80419-4560.

3.Failure on the part of a creditor to file such statement prior to such final settlement will relieve the County of Jefferson, State of Colorado, from any and all liability for such claim. County of Jefferson, State of Colorado Andy Kerr, Chairman Board of County Commissioners

Legal Notice No. CC 1178

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier

Notice to Creditors

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of JEANNETTE E. KROGMAN, a/k/a JEANNETTE ELIZABETH KROGMAN, a/k/a JEANNETTE KROGMAN , Deceased

Case Number: 23PR151

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them