Canyon Courier 072723

Dippin’ dogs

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e water was ying as freshly washed canines stepped from kiddie pools at the Super Sudsy Dog Wash.

e pampered pooches received a thorough washing and drying on July 22, plus a bandana thanks to volunteers from TallGrass Aveda Day Spa. e dog wash, in its 12th year, is a fundraiser for the Evergreen Animal Protective League, and Ambary Gardens in Kittredge hosted the event.

e volunteer dog washers are serious about putting the pups at ease while getting to work to make them immaculate.

Gail Sharp, the owner of TallGrass, said the spa had three reasons for organizing the event: rst, they love animals, especially dogs; second, they have fun; and third, they raise money for EAPL.

For EAPL, the event makes more people more aware of the organiza-

Je co Planning asks Hilltop Drive developer for a variety of changes

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e ball is now in the developer’s court after Je erson County Planning & Zoning has responded to a proposal to put 47 townhomes on the east end of Hilltop Drive that neighbors have been trying to stop because of safety concerns.

Planning & Zoning has sent the developer, Blueprint Investment Fund, a laundry list of concerns ranging from minor changes to more complex issues. Blueprint has 180 days to respond to the concerns, though it can ask for an extension.

Joseph Libkey Jr., owner of Blueprint Investment Fund, has not responded yet to the Canyon Cou-

SEE HILLTOP, P4

Guinness the 14-month-old heeler mix doesn’t mind getting a bath.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

DOG WASH

tion and helps some animals nd forever homes.

“It is generous of Gail (Sharp) and her team to wash dogs and of Ambary Gardens for hosting us,” said Cathleen Timmons, an EAPL volunteer. “It is wonderful to see the dogs getting so much attention.”

EAPL was started 42 years ago by

area residents who wanted to help pets that did not have homes. It has foster homes for dogs, and cats stay at the cat room at Chow Down in Bergen Park until adopted. EAPL also nds homes for animals from other states.

Charlene Atwater, a longtime EAPL volunteer, brought Cody and Lucy for baths, saying she wants to support EAPL in a variety of ways and to have clean dogs at least for a while.

Terri Risch of Conifer brought 8-year-old Timber, a German shep-

Mount Evans means healing

herd mix, for a bath and socialization. She said Timber has been lonely since he lost his buddy, so she also was looking at the adoptable dogs to see if she could nd Timber a new companion.

Ken Morrow sat outside the Ambary Gardens building with Cyrus, a 12-year-old Shih-tsu mix that he has been fostering for a while now. Morrow said it was good to keep socializing Cyrus and to let him meet people in hopes that he will be adopted soon.

Dana McMahon of Evergreen brought Guinness, a heeler mix, to the dog wash after a hike, noting that the cool water was a great end to the hike.

“ e dog wash was perfect timing,” she added.

Julie Martin of Kittredge was matter of fact about why she brought Ladybug, a 13-year-old golden retriever, to the dog wash.

“She was dirty,” Martin said. “I also wanted to support EAPL because they do good work.”

Charlene Atwater, right, watches volunteers give Cody, an 11-year-old flatcoat retriever, a bath. PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

Ken Morrow, who fosters dogs for the Evergreen Animal Protective League, relaxes with Cyrus, who is available for adoption.

GOOD FOR YOU

A poster created by Ella Anderson, a sophomore at Evergreen High School, has been selected to promote this year’s Evergreen Jazz Festival.

e 20th annual festival is July 28-30 at four venues in Evergreen: the Evergreen Elks Lodge, Evergreen Christian Church, Evergreen Lake House and Troutdale Tavern.

Ella is the daughter of longtime Evergreen resident Kate Anderson and is an avid soccer player.

e nalists in this year’s poster contest are on display at Center for the Arts Evergreen and will be on display at the Evergreen Elks Lodge during the festival. Since 2006, EHS students have created posters in art teacher Andrew Spears’ computer graphics class, and about 40 posters are entered into the contest each year. ey are judged by Evergreen Jazz Festival representatives.

At this year’s jazz festival, some bands that are regulars will be joined by some newcomers, and James Dapogny’s Chicago Jazz Band, which performed at the inaugural festival, returns for this year’s event. Another highlight will be Double 88 during which dueling piano players will perform.

Tickets and more information about the bands and schedule are available at evergreenjazz.org.

Marilyn Saltzman of Conifer has

received the 2023 Communicator of Achievement Award from the National Federation of Press Women, a prestigious award that has been given for 66 years.

e Communicator of Achievement award is the highest honor bestowed by NFPW upon those members who have distinguished themselves within and beyond their eld. e recipient, chosen from nominees selected by state a liates from around the country, is recognized for exceptional achievement in the communications eld, as well as service to NFPW, the a liate organization and the community.

Saltzman, a member of Colorado Press Women, grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and after moving to Colorado in 1970, worked as a stringer and managing editor for the Golden Daily Transcript and as a reporter for the Denver Post. She served as manager of communications services for Je erson County Public Schools from 1982 to 2002, including managing community and internal communications related to the Columbine High School tragedy.

Now an author and the owner of Saltzman Communications, Saltzman is accredited in public relations and holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado-Denver.

She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 from the Colorado chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

McCue Behrhorst of Evergreen received a bachelor of arts degree in May from Hamilton College. A neuroscience major, Behrhorst graduated cum laude with departmental honors in neuroscience and completed a thesis titled “MOXDl/ TBHR a Protein in Search of a Function - e Role of Cell Death.”  e following area students were named to the dean’s list for the spring 2023 semester at the University of Alabama. Students on the dean’s list have a 3.5 or higher GPA.

ey are Casmir Sadowski of Bailey, and Riley Capps, Kaia Cavin and Jordan Crawford, all of Evergreen.

Teagan McDonald of Morrison was named to the president’s list for the spring 2023 semester at the University of Alabama. Students on the president’s list have a 4.0 GPA.

Two Evergreen students were named to the dean’s list for the spring 2023 semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Students on the dean’s list must have a 3.7 or

better GPA. ey are Sammy Smith, a junior journalism major, and Henry Anders Wellensiek, a freshman political science and economics major.

Lute Douglas of Conifer was named to the dean’s list for the spring 2023 semester at Rochester Institute of Technology. Douglas is in the biotechnology and molecular bioscience program.

e following area students have been named to the scholastic honor roll for the spring 2023 semester at Oregon State University. Students on the honor roll have a 3.5 or better GPA. ey are Bailey: freshman Gabrielle Fuentes, business administration; Evergreen: sophomore Kari L. Hoy, political science, and sophomore Sydney Van Der Zee, microbiology; Indian Hills: senior Erica Dietz, agricultural sciences; Morrison: sophomore Carl J. Benton, kinesiology, sophomore Avery J. Myers, environmental sciences, and freshman Abby J. Simmons, oceanography; Pine; junior Chloe H. Petitpas, business administration.

Ian Hamilton of Evergreen received a bachelor of ne arts degree in theater and performance in May from Emerson College.

Isabella Namaksy of Conifer has been named to the Plymouth State University president’s list for the Spring 2023 semester. To be named to the president’s list, a student must achieve a GPA of 3.7 or better.

Ella Anderson COURTESY PHOTO

rier request for information on his next steps.

A few residents along Hilltop Drive attended the July 18 Evergreen Fire/ Rescue board meeting to thank the board and Chief Mike Weege for hearing their concerns about safety and the lack of evacuation routes in case of a wild re or other emergency. About 100 people attended the June board meeting to urge the re department to be more forceful in explaining its concerns with narrow roads and emergency-vehicle access.

“We couldn’t be more happy with the board,” Eric Rothe, one of the leaders of the Hilltop residents, said. “ ere are a lot of roadblocks for the developer.”

He asked the re department’s new re marshal, Kevin Ferry, to strengthen the department’s position with the county regarding its concerns that Hilltop Drive’s width does not meet county standards, making it di cult for emergency equipment to get in when cars are trying to get out.

Weege said if Blueprint responds to all of the concerns, the department will have another opportunity to weigh in on emergency-response issues.

Ferry added that he was spending time getting familiar with the pro-

posed Hilltop development and the community’s concerns.

“I concur with the chief,” he said.

“I will be getting with the (county’s) case manager to have a face-to-face discussion about our concerns to make sure our points are discussed.”

Fire board President Stacey Ballinger told sta that one of the key points the board learned from the Hilltop residents was that the re department needed to be more proactive when looking at issues with new development rather than the community feeling it needed to come to the board.

The proposal Blueprint has proposed building

Hilltop Townhomes at the east end of Hilltop Drive, which is o the Evergreen Parkway frontage road north of Stagecoach Park. e land was zoned for multifamily homes in 1982, so rezoning is not required, which means no public hearings before the Planning Commission and the county commissioners.

Libkey is proposing 1,800- to 2,000-square-foot townhomes with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. ey would be con gured in 10 buildings with three to seven units each, and each townhouse would have a sprinkler system. e price would be between $750,000 and $850,000.

Libkey has said he met with some neighbors about their concerns, and he’s willing to work with them.

“I’m available and my door is open for communication,” he said. “I am happy to eld concerns and questions and give feedback. … We have been trying to be patient and do the right thing.”

Sheri ’s O ce response

Hilltop residents wanted to make sure the re department had seen the Je co Sheri ’s O ce’s response to the proposed development.

Scott Pocsik, commander for the Je co Sheri ’s O ce mountain precinct, wrote in a letter to the county that he had concerns about putting a townhome development in the Wah Keeney Park neighborhood, noting that Hilltop Drive was a narrow twolane road that can’t be widened.

“ is roadway and particularly the location of the development does not have adequate access for re apparatus and emergency response vehicles in the event of a critical event, such as a wildland re,” Pocsik wrote. “Additionally, there is not an adequately secondary access route for this development. ese issues create a public-safety risk in the event of a need to evacuate the current homes as well as an additional 47 townhomes, while trying to allow access to re apparatus and emergency responders.”

In the event of a wild re, the Je co Sheri ’s O ce is responsible for evacuations.

In its letter to the county, Evergreen Fire asked for more details on plans to widen the private portion of the road, which is east of Fir Drive, and noted the public part of the road is narrow, too.

e county-maintained portion of Hilltop Drive is about 17 feet wide while the private portion is between 13 feet and 17 feet wide, residents say. According to Je erson County standards, in general, a road should be 20 feet wide with two-foot-wide shoulders on each side.

e county said in a letter to Je co Planning & Zoning that it does not plan to widen the public portion of Hilltop Drive.

Other issues

Among the issues delineated in the response letter are:

• Je co Planning & Zoning is asking for documentation from Blueprint that it has easements from 11 of the property owners along the private section of the road, so it can widen the road to county standards. Blueprint Investment Fund says it has those easements, thanks to a lawsuit, to widen the road, and it has agreed to put sprinkler systems into each townhouse.

• e letter discusses the concern about only one access road to the property.

“ e number of lots on Hilltop Drive with a single access point after Fir Drive exceeds the allowed units/ lots with single access,” the letter states. “As mentioned in the PreApplication response … a secondary access is required to add the proposed 47 units.”

Libkey told the Courier he tried to get an easement from property owners south of the property to create a second permanent access onto Chestnut Drive, but property owners were not willing to accommodate his request. He said he was willing to create an emergency-only access lane if he could get an easement.

• e letter asks for a southbound left-turn lane from Hilltop Drive to the frontage road that leads to Evergreen Parkway.

According to a tra c study provided to Je co by a consultant for Blueprint, Hilltop Townhomes is expected to generate about 346 weekday daily trips, and the consultant believed the tra c “will be successfully incorporated into the existing and future roadway network.”

Je erson County Planning & Zoning has asked the developer proposing to build 47 townhomes on Hilltop Drive in Evergreen for more information, and other county o ces have expressed concerns about the project. PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

Enthusiasts show support for a new skate park in Evergreen

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Skateboarding enthusiasts of all ages are showing their support for a new skate park in Evergreen.

Nearly 100 skaters — the term for those who ride skateboards — and their families attended an event on July 19 at the Evergreen Park & Recreation District’s skate park at the Wulf Recreation Center. ey used stickers to “vote” for their preferred location and their preferred obstacles if a new skate park is built.

e atmosphere was upbeat as skaters pulled out their skateboards to use the park, ate pizza and talked about what a new skate park would mean to them.

“I can’t believe all of you are here,” said Matt Buzas, who along with his family has created the Evergreen Skatepark Coalition. “We really appreciate that you are giving feedback for this project.”

Buzas said getting a new skate park in Evergreen had three phases: the rst is to create community support and to get rec district board support; the second is to determine a location, design the skatepark and nd funding; the third is to construct the facility and use it.

Skaters showed their support for obstacles they would like to see in a new skatepark.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

SEE SKATE PARK, P6

SKATE PARK

Buzas said the skaters could help by spreading the word about the Evergreen Skatepark Coalition on social media, among friends and anyone, and they really would be needed when fundraising starts.

e skaters’ No. 1 choice for a skate park was at Buchanan Park, with Stagecoach Park, Marshdale Park and Wulf Park coming in second, third and fourth respectively. ey

wanted to see a backyard pool/bowl, mini bowl, mini ramp and a manual pad/ledge/ atbar combination.

Buzas told the EPRD board on June 27 that a skate park could cost up to $750,000 for design and construction, and it would be the size of about two tennis courts. He said the skate park could be built in such a way that BMX bikes, scooters, inline skaters and more could use it.

“Skate parks help the entire community, not just skaters,” Buzas said, noting that putting skate parks near other recreation facilities makes youth feel accepted. He said it could

be constructed in a way that it was aesthetically pleasing and quiet.

“If we get the Evergreen Park & Recreation District board’s support, we can start getting funding,” he told the crowd.

Liz Cohen, EPRD’s grants and strategy manager, said any grant effort needs seed money to get funding, something the coalition could help with.

“I see the support right here,” she told the group. “We appreciate the speci c feedback. It means so much that you are here.”

EPRD board member Betsy Hays

said the board was in the middle of creating a strategic plan, guring out what could be done for the entire community with limited funding. She was pleased with the turnout.

“ is is awesome having everybody here,” she added.

WANT MORE INFORMATION?

To keep up to date on the Evergreen Skatepark Coalition, visit skateevergreen.com.

Some skaters and families pose for a photo at an event sponsored by the Evergreen Skatepark Coalition to show support for a new skate park.

Those at the skate park event showed their support for new locations by placing stickers on a board. Pink stickers showed their first choice, orange their second choice and green their third choice.

PHOTOS BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

Matt Buzas, the organizer of the Evergreen Skatepark Coalition, thanks the crowd for attending the event, asking them to share the e ort to get a new skate park in Evergreen with others to gain more support.

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

New building in the works for downtown Evergreen Downtown Evergreen may get a new building thanks to the RossLewis Trust.

e trust plans to put a building in place of the pocket park and what is known as the neighboring Limestone Building that was damaged in a re in December, according to Je Bradley with the Ross-Lewis Trust.

e building damaged by re had housed Seasonally Yours and Sweetwater Boutique.

He said the property needs to be rezoned rst because under Je erson County’s current Commercial-1 zoning for the properties, a new building cannot be built at this site due to the constraints of setbacks, landscaping requirements and parking standards.

A letter to Je co Planning & Zoning said the new planned-development zoning would be based on commercial-1 zoning requirements. Bradley said he expects the new building will be one story high.

e building that had stood where the pocket park is now — known as the old Evergreen Crafters building — was razed in 2016.

e next step will be to conduct a community meeting to explain the

plan, Bradley said. He expected that meeting to be held in August, and he plans to have renderings of the new building available for the community to see.

EFR gets award for helping cardiac patients

Evergreen Fire/Rescue has earned the American Heart Association’s

Mission: Lifeline Gold Award for its emergency medical services. is is the second time EFR has received the award since the program started in 2014.  is award means that EFR’s paramedics meet national standards for the care for patients complaining of chest pain, said Dave Montesi, EFR’s EMS division chief. e standards

include the time it takes between being dispatched to a call and when paramedics apply heart monitors, contacting the hospital where the patient is being transported and arriving at the hospital.

Montesi told the Evergreen Fire board on July 18 that receiving the award is good for the department, and the end result is better care for cardiac patients.

“With the time it takes to get to the hospital,” Montesi noted, “it makes meeting the standards for the drive time that much more di cult. is is exceptional work by paramedics and

Board member John Putt added that meeting the American Heart Association’s standards means paramedics are administering aid while the ambulance is traveling down mountain roads, which is no easy feat.

Three events on tap July 28-30

July 28-30 is one of the busiest weekends of the summer for the foothills.

No matter whether you like art or music, there’s something for everyone that weekend.

• e 20th annual Evergreen Jazz Festival is July 28-30 at di erent venues around Evergreen. Tickets are available for individual days or

The Ross-Lewis Trust wants to rezone the property that used to house Sweetwater Boutique and Seasonally Yours plus the nextdoor pocket park to construct a new building. COURTESY PHOTO

SEE NEWS BRIEFS, P10

Bringing awareness to the dedication of Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice sta

10,880. That’s the number of miles clinicians drove last year for Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice to see their patients. 310,800 miles. And Mount Evans wasn’t reimbursed for a penny of it.

3

I was on the board there for 12 years but only learned about this uncompensated cost at a meeting this month for former board members like me.

ese clinicians drive from the eastern edge of the foothills to the Continental Divide. at means all of Clear Creek County, all of Gilpin County, Park County clear out to Kenosha Pass, and the mountain parts of Je co, including not just Evergreen and Conifer but also Golden and Morrison.

For the almost 60 who work in the eld — nurses and therapists, social workers, certi ed nursing assistants and chaplains — that’s a lot of driving. So let me give you that gure again: 310,800 miles. It’s important because while Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies pay a portion of the hospice and home health services that Mount Evans’s sta provide wherever patients live, they don’t compensate Mount Evans for what it takes to get there.

It’s not cheap. Like many commercial companies, Mount Evans pays the rate the IRS decrees, which for a

GUEST COLUMN

while was 53.5-cents per mile but last year went up to 62.5-cents. Do the math and you see what it cost in 2022: more than $192,000. All of it has to be covered by supporters’ donations.

e cost wasn’t always so high, because neither the patient load nor the cost of reaching patients was always so big. When Mount Evans was founded more than 40 years ago, it helped 15 hospice patients in its rst year. I went on the Mount Evans board in 2005 and at that point, the count had risen to 628 patients a year. When I was done 12 years later, it was over 900. Now that number has skyrocketed to more than 1,200. Maybe a more telling fact is that those 1,200+ patients last year had more than 25,000 visits in their homes. For the clinicians, that meant almost 9,000 hours of just driving. Like the legendary postman, neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stops these clinicians from their appointed rounds.

One therapist, Isabelle Comina, tells the story of a Friday afternoon when saw a patient in Idaho Springs, then headed west for her nal stop

of the day, a 4 p.m. appointment with a patient in Georgetown. But suddenly, when Isabelle was only about twenty cars short of an offramp that would get her to the frontage road, the tra c stopped cold. e way she put it is, “Not able to go forward, not able to go back, not able to go to the bathroom.” She nally reached her patient at 7 p.m.

A registered nurse named Teri McLaughlin lives in Blackhawk but in the middle of one night during a snowstorm, as the nurse on call, her phone rang telling her that a hospice patient in Bailey was in the last stage of death. She got in her car at 1 a.m. and got there at 4 a.m.

Reed Brandenburg, a physical therapist, usually works the I-70 corridor and had to reach a patient on a road near St. Mary’s Glacier that even the locals said he shouldn’t even attempt to use after a snowstorm. But he had to get there, so he parked at the bottom of a hill and snowshoed in the better part of a mile with his supplies — all the paraphernalia the rest of us would see in a PT’s o ce — on his back.

ese Mount Evans clinicians drive the worst roads in the four counties they serve. ey navigate the notorious Oh-My-God Road.

ey climb steep twisty dirt driveways that have turned to ice. Some days they have to put on crampons

Lessons from the masters

During a conversation with a couple of friends and colleagues in the personal and professional development industry, we found our way into the topic of how we got started in the business and who some the early heroes were who inspired and motivated us to be better.

As we thought about those legendary speakers and authors, we also talked about how their teachings have withstood the test of time.

WINNING WORDS

Although they all began their own journey many decades ago, the principles that each one built their body of work upon are all still relevant today.

e greatest compliment paid to them is that we can nd iterations of their work in the pub-

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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

lished books, blogs and columns of today’s thought leaders.

Although we agreed on a few names, each of us had our top three or four. For me, the authors and experts who had a signi cant impact on my success included Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Denis Waitley and David Sandler.

Looking at Zig Ziglar’s career, many will refer to him as the master motivator, or remember him as the salesman’s salesman. With

KRISTEN FIORE West Metro Editor kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

DEB HURLEY BROBST Community Editor dbrobst@coloradocommunitymedia.com

to make it up the last hundred yards. ey go where they’re needed no matter where they live, no matter where they are, no matter what time of day or night, no matter what the weather.

And they go where there’s no cell service, which mainly means the outer reaches of Gilpin and Park Counties. Because they have to be kept apprised when they’re on their way about any changes in a critical patient’s condition, and because they have to keep Mount Evans apprised if they have a mishap like sliding into a ditch, which has happened, there is an administrator on call 24/7 who they call when they know they’re about to lose cell service, and when they get it back. ey can’t do any of this if they don’t drive to where the patients are. at’s part of the reason Mount Evans fundraises: https://mtevans.org/ support-mount-evans/donate/. No one else pays for those 310,880 miles its clinicians travel. It has to pay every penny itself.

Greg Dobbs is a three-time Emmy Award winner who worked as a political and foreign correspondent for two television networks. He also wrote weekly columns for the Rocky Mountain News, then e Denver Post. Dobbs and his family have lived in Evergreen for 37 years.

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more than 30 books to his name, Zig taught us all so much about life, not just sales, leadership, or business, his teachings went far beyond those topics. Zig was all about building up the person as his mission was to help as many people as possible with their personal, professional and spiritual lives so that he could have a positive impact on the world. I thank Zig for all that he taught me

SEE NORTON, P9

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.

Michael Norton

Greg Dobbs

are.

Government cannot do everything. at sentence is a popular truism on the political right. It is correct for a very practical reason. e government does not have an endless supply of money. Money for government projects does eventually dry up once those funds are exhausted. Budgets have limits. Of course, there are some who would like for the government to do more with more money from the public. But if taxes are raised to sky-high levels, then some will feel disincentivized to earn money. at ultimately serves no end because tax revenues would then dry up. Tax money does not grow on trees, it is generated by the work and sweat that citizens toil under to provide for themselves.

When I started to write this series of opinion pieces on the budget I did it with the intention of sharing something that Je erson County and

https://mtevans.org/ 310,880 lived

and for being an incredible role model of consistency, guiding me to being a “meaningful speci c,” instead of a “wandering generality.” If you haven’t read “See You at the Top” I highly recommend it. As a student of Tom Hopkins and having read every book he has written and having attended dozens of his seminars, I credit Tom with helping me become a top performer throughout my career. Even in leadership roles, his teachings were so impactful. In sales, we hear the word “no” a whole lot more often than we hear “yes.” Tom Hopkin’s Champion Creed instilled in me the speci c mindset I needed to push through the losses and bad days and work towards the overwhelmingly successful days. e Champion Creed says this, “I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed. And the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep trying.” If you are in sales, Tom’s book “How to Master the Art of Selling” is a must-read. Back in 1999 I had the opportunity to meet Denis Waitley in person. From that day on we enjoyed both a personal and professional relationship. Denis taught me so much about the attitude of winning and de ning success. He was a terri c encourager, and I would leave every conversation with him having

Colorado does that has a large impact on your lives as citizens. I could have written much more than I have. Zerobased budgeting is a particular pet peeve of mine because it forces unnecessary and unwarranted governmental expenditures to occur because revenues and expenditures must always be equal. I wanted to share how unfunded mandates from both the federal and state government crowd out the budgetary choices that should only belong to our elected ofcials here in Je erson County and Colorado.

I am on the political right. I think the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) is a good thing. I believe that gov-

learned so much more each time. His book and program, “ e Psychology of Winning,” and now “ e New Psychology of Winning,” will inspire you and teach you how to create your own blueprint for success.

Last, and certainly not least, David Sandler was so far ahead of his time with his revolutionary sales process. David’s approach is a simple one, disarming honesty. He developed a sales process that favored the buyer and the seller so that the interaction was based on both parties being willing to have an open and honest adult-toadult truth-based conversation. No manipulation, just a conversation where there is no mysti cation about what is happening or what will happen next. His book, “You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar,” will change the way you sell. ere have been so many others who have shaped my career and the careers of millions of others, and I thank them all for their impact on my personal and professional life. Who are some of your favorite authors and experts? I would love to hear all about them at gotonorton@gmail. com, and when we can learn and apply the wisdom of those who are willing to teach us, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

ernment should restrain its spending and think about what it spends seriously and with deliberation. I am not someone who thinks that those on the lower rungs of America’s economic ladder should be left in benign neglect. Government does indeed take care of the less fortunate in our society but they cannot do a perfect job of it. Private charity then steps up to augment where government assistance leaves o . ose who contribute towards the many wonderful and varied private charities within our state contribute their money in the hopes of assisting Colorado’s less fortunate. ose charities and donors deserve a hearty thank you from all of us because they make the lives of the less fortunate in Colorado better. In fact, what they do is keep budgets from becoming larger than they already currently are. May it always be so that generosity is extended by good

Money doesn’t grow on trees OBITUARIES

individuals that desire to reach areas and serve needs that the government cannot.

Budgets are ultimately a series of choices made by the government of a locale as to how to spend tax revenue. e inputs into how a budget is crafted are ultimately more complex than many realize. Writing about the state budget matters in the further education of the general public and how both they and elected o cials handle the budgetary choices made in both the state and county level. I encourage you to question your state legislators about how they vote on the long bill. You should attend hearings about budget concerns that a ect you and those whom you know personally. Most importantly, take the time to tell others in Jefferson County and Colorado about what you have learned.

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

RUPPEL

Phyllis

May 27, 1931 - July 12, 2023

Phyllis “Phyl” Ruppel of Twin Bridges, Montana, died at home on July 12, 2023 of natural causes. Phyl was born in Highland Park, Illinois, May 27, 1931, to Arvid and Ouida Tanner. She was married to Edward ompson Ruppel in 1956. ey had been married 58 years when Ed passed away

in 2014. Phyl is survived by their 4 children and spouses, 9 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. Complete obituary is available at https://www.kandlmortuaries.com/ obituaries/obituary-listings?page=1

Ronald Robert Way

March 5, 1952 - July 13, 2023

Ronald Robert Way was born on March 5, 1952 to Forrest and Margaret Way. He grew up on his family farm in Nemaha, IA with his three sisters –Connie, Donnie and Peggy. He played in the Nature Sons band and enjoyed riding his horse while playing “Scarecrow”. He was the rst from his family to put himself through college, going on to graduate from law school in 1977.

He left the corn elds of Iowa for the Colorado mountains, what his dad had called “God’s country.” After a few attempts to nd a dance partner one night in 1981, the love of his life and wife to be, Teresa Waite said yes.

In 1982, she “dropped the i, added a y and forgot the rest” of her last name. ey had two daughters, Jamie and Crista Way.

In 1993, his wish to move to the mountains came true when the Way family bought a home in Pine, CO. ere, he raised his family and built his law practice. He later watched his four grandkids, Ryker, Ellie, Cici and Vera, run around the same house.

Ron lived his life to the fullest, “counting it all joy.” His light is carried forward by his wife, two daughters, three sisters, two son-inlaws, four grandchildren, two nieces and two nephews.

“Phyl” (Tanner) Ruppel

WAY

JOE WEBB Columnist

BY STAVROS KORONEOS

Enemy Mine

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CONIFER – His quiet morning harshed by the rip and racket of a chainsaw, Walter stepped outside on the morning of June 27 to nd his next-door neighbor and leastfavorite person, Jack, cutting up an aspen tree on Walter’s property. Jack told Walter that the tree had “blown down” into Walter’s yard and he was courteously cutting it up for him. Walter was pretty sure that Jack “cut down” the aspen as part of ongoing re mitigation activities, and that the tree had come perilously close to falling on his garage. e neighbors “bantered” for a bit, after which Jack called JCSO saying Walter had just threatened “to shoot me.” Contacted by deputies, Walter admitted to strong language, but denied threats of violence. In the end, deputies could nd no evidence of a crime and advised both men to keep a peaceful distance. Walter assured deputies that there would be no further friction between them, as he was in the process of selling his house and moving out of state “so I never have to deal with (Jack) again.”

Fast and Furious

SOUTH JEFFCO – White Ford Pickup was preparing to exit eastbound C-470 when Silver In niti zoomed up from behind and stole the pickup’s leading position on the o -ramp. Adding insult to injury, In niti then stopped well short of the Quincy Avenue stop sign and sat there for “an extended amount of time”, further aggravating Ford. At last, In niti roared ahead toward Belleview Avenue and continued roaring straight through the roundabout “at a high rate of speed” before racing eastbound on Belleview with Ford in hot pursuit. Pulling even with In niti, Ford opened his window and yelled “Why don’t we pull over?” In niti made a counterproposal. “Why don’t I pull out my nine and shoot you?” Ford decided to stop chasing In niti in favor of driving to the nearby supermarket and summoning JCSO deputies. Ford told o cers that In niti’s comment was uncalled-for and needlessly provocative. Deputies told

NEWS BRIEFS

for the entire weekend. For those who want a free taste of jazz music, Capt. John Roven will perform from noon-2 p.m. Friday, July 28, at the Evergreen Elks Lodge, providing a history of jazz. For more information on the bands, schedule, venues and tickets, visit evergreenjazz.org.

• e annual Elevation Celebration street fair along Sutton Road in Conifer is July 29-30, and the week-

Ford that chasing In niti along busy boulevards and hurling high-speed taunts wouldn’t win him any citizenship awards, either. Ford closed his mouth and deputies closed the case.

The Exorcist

EL RANCHO – It was mid-afternoon when concerned citizens heard Paris “screaming for help” and called JCSO to report that Paris and Lindsay were scrapping on the patio of Paris’s apartment.” Deputies quickly determined that both women were pretty well ripped on demon rum, and that they’d done a creditable job wrecking Paris’s patio. e way Paris told it, she’d invited Lindsay over for shots, and after a few of them Lindsay decided to demonstrate for Paris her ability to “bend her arms in an unnatural way.” Paris had interpreted that talent as “demon possession” and attempted to “bless the demon” out of Lindsay. Not as grateful as Paris might have expected, Lindsay “kicked” her hostess “in the face,” tore her screen door o of its track and disarticulated her glass-topped patio table. e way Lindsay told it, she didn’t recall any of the events Paris described, wasn’t sure which apartment was hers, and possessed no identi cation but several names. O cers cited her most likely identity with harassment and let her deal with her demons in detox.

Big Night EVERGREEN – It was a busy Saturday at the lakeside bistro when a festive 8-top walked in and asked to use the bathroom. Informed that the sanitary facilities were for the comfort of diners only, the group’s self-appointed spokesman informed the Employee that he’s “dined here several times” and asked that they be seated immediately. Informed that the dining room was booked up, Spokesman invited Employee to “get outside right now” for a little lesson in customer relations, or “I’ll swing on you right now.” Hearing the brewing hullabaloo, the manager hustled over and o ered to nd room for the problematic party. Feeling underappreciated, Spokesman declined in somewhat unappetizing terms.

SEE SHERIFF’S CALLS, P17

end starts with a 5K that bene ts Conifer High School’s Uni ed Boosters. e street fair is highlighted by music stages, food, artisan booths and more. Elk Creek Fire will have a community fair as part of the event. ElCel as it is called runs from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. both days.

• e annual Summerfest arts festival will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. July 29-30 at the Buchanan Park elds with artisan booths, live music and food trucks. e $5 admission fee helps fund Center for the Arts Evergreen programs. For more information, visit evergreenarts.org.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

In response to the article “Residents trying to stop townhome development in Evergreen”

Regarding the proposed Wah Keeney development in Evergreen, consider a larger scope than just Hilltop Drive; consider greater Evergreen and the surrounding areas. We’re sort of trapped in here, if not by throttled down passageways, then by truncated sideroads. Ever wonder if we get a wild re here in Evergreen how we’re going to get out? I mean, what if a re came through Elk Meadow towards Hiwan Estates, Wah Keeney Park, El Pinal (where I live) and Hiwan Hills? e prevailing winds go across Elk Meadow southeast toward all these neighborhoods. Chestnut/Roan, Hilltop, Stagecoach, and Lewis Ridge all dead-end in that direction (east/southeast), so we might be forced to go through downtown Evergreen or Meadow Drive, all two-lane roads that can jam up at the sight of an elk fawn.

Yes, I am being sel sh about my worry that Chestnut/Roan could become a secondary access (or the primary)road for this development. I had a look at the adjacent land to the site and realized there are a few homes there, that if sold, the land could be used as a traverse to El Pinal. is makes the development and nearby homes safer only in that context, it does nothing to address the larger threat of a runaway wild re. Handily for the developer, the development itself could compel the current homeowners to sell (to the

developer!) due to the fact their quality of life will change because of the building activity and subsequent tra c.

We already have plenty of tra c on Chestnut, and some of the drivers can’t read speed limit signs (FYI - I would have to move heaven and earth to get some speed bumps in, per Je co process).

So, some tucked-away high-density housing is added, exacerbating a situation that pre-exists. Another forty-seven homes with a hundred more people riding in 47+ cars vying, all at once, to get out during an evacuation, along with thousands of other residents. Maybe it will be ne, says the developer and revenue-focused Je co o ciants.

Now that I have had my nay-say and fully gone NIMBY, can I redeem myself by suggesting an alternative? Use part of Dedisse Park (thanks, Denver!) and the golf course to create a bypass from 74 southwest to 73 (just joking, litigious-capable Bear Creek residents who are allies).

Seriously, keep the high-density housing con ned to El Rancho and Bergen Park, and let’s stop trying to usurp the things that make Evergreen special and make it the envy of atlanders — privacy, rampant wildlife and quiet.

I mean, if we can’t have a dog park…https://youtu.be/FnALUqxHouk Geo rey Erdahl, Evergreen

EPRD board envisions projects a property-tax extension would buy

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Evergreen Park & Recreation District wants to check a lot of items o its maintenance to-do list plus make improvements to indoor and outdoor facilities if voters agree to extend an existing property tax after 2025.

e rec district board during a work session on July 13 agreed that

it wanted to ask for the extension on the November ballot. e board must vote by Sept. 8 to o cially put the question and the ballot language on the ballot.

If voters approve the property-tax extension, the rec district would receive about $1.4 million a year. e property tax that will be paid o in 2025 was a bond request approved in 2005 for money to buy land adjacent to Buchanan Park, so the

district wouldn’t lose it to development.

e board plans to delay asking voters for additional money for new projects until 2024 or later to allow more time to esh out the projects and to wait as property assessments have increased substantially this year.

Board members agree that getting community support for the proposals once they are nalized will be

instrumental when asking voters to extend the existing property taxes or to ask for a future bond.

“We need to have a combination of both projects that are visible to the public such as improving trails, repaving something or establishing areas for pickleball at Marshdale Park,” board President Peter Eggers said of the list of projects that could

SEE EPRD, P14

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selection. ese moments never fail to make her smile.

“It brings me just a ton of joy to see people enjoying it and enjoying the space,” Monson said. “I think it’s also enriched my kids’ love and appreciation for literature because they get so excited about nishing a book and passing it on.”

Monson built her library in 2017 and registered it with Little Free Library, a Minnesota-based nonpro t that aims to increase access to literature by providing blueprints and guides to build community libraries, as well as mapping registered libraries across the country.

Hundreds of little free libraries have popped up across the Denver metro area as their popularity proliferates. Monson said she was inspired to build her library after visiting others with her 11-year-old twins Tommy and Luci, who are avid readers.

“I really believe in the importance of building community and connection for wellness, so I thought it was a great way to build community shortly after we moved to Golden,” she said. “So it was their love of reading and my want to build community that made it happen.”

Since the library is on a bike and walking path, it’s not accessible by car, so Monson took advantage of the unique environment by adding a bench, a slide and fairy gardens around the library to make it an inviting spot for visitors.

BUILDING BOOKISH COMMUNITIES

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

LOCAL

One of the more recent little free libraries in the metro area is the one at Castle View High School, which was built as a memorial to student Brooke Adams, who died in April. Adams loved to read, so her school book club worked with others to build the library in her honor.

Golden resident Sam Monson poses with her little free library on the Tucker Gulch Trail. Monson said the library has brought joy to her and those who visit.

COURTESY SAM MONSON

SEE FREE LIBRARY, P13

FROM TOP PHOTO:

FREE LIBRARY

“We wanted to create a space for people to pause and enjoy the green belt that we’re on and the bike path is on,” she said. “Especially through covid, it was a way that I felt like we could put wellness out in the world with something as healthy as reading that creates a mindful, peaceful experience, but also gets them outside and active.”

Monson said the library quickly became self-sustaining once it opened and has since become a xture in the community.

“People often comment to thank us or leave notes,” she said. “It’s like an identity of our family, which we love.”

On top of being a way to build community, little free libraries improve access to literature. Unite for Literacy, a publishing company that tracks book deserts, estimates only a third of Colorado homes have more than 100 books.

Amber DeBerry, Director of Community Engagement for Douglas County Libraries, said improving access to reading materials, whether that’s books, magazines, journals or comics, is important because reading bene ts everyone.

“If you have access to books prior to the age of ve, your success rates in school drastically increase,” DeBerry said. “For people who don’t have the opportunity or ability to purchase books, libraries are an incredible community asset.”

In Dianne Shantz’s neighborhood in Adams County, she noticed there weren’t nearly as many little free libraries as more a uent areas of Denver, so Shantz built one in 2021.

Shantz used a thrifted co ee table and an old kitchen counter with a repurposed replace door to create a weatherproof library and food pantry near her community’s shared mailbox, which provides steady foot tra c.

“I’m proud to say (the library) is self-sustaining because it shows that there was a need there, and that’s true of the pantry too,” she said.

Shantz said she enjoys having opportunities to share her love of reading and tries to stock the library with books she knows her visitors will read.

“Being new to the neighborhood, it’s given me a chance to meet my neighbors,” she said. “A lot of Hispanic people live in the area, so I try to include Spanish books. One lady likes Danielle Steel, so I put those in when I can.”

For Kate Garland, a graduate of Castle View High School in Castle Rock, building a little free library was a way to memorialize her friend and fellow student Brooke Adams, who died in April.

Garland met Adams through the school book club she started and they bonded over reading.

“Brooke and I both loved the ‘ e Summer I Turned Pretty’ series by Jenny Han and somebody donated the entire set so we made sure that those were in there,” Garland said. “Some of Brooke’s other friends also picked booked they thought she would like.”

When Adams died, Garland worked with Adams’ family, school o cials, the school’s Technology Students Association and book club members to build the library and host a book drive to ll it. Materials for the library were donated by the local Ace Hardware and community members donated more than 1,000 books during the drive.

“ e community support around it and the continuing book donations have been really rewarding for me and the book club and the TSA members who helped,” she said.

As Garland heads to Arapahoe Community College, the stewardship of the library will pass on to other students in the book club.

“We wanted to make sure it would keep going, even after I’m gone,” she said.

To nd these little free libraries and more, go to littlefreelibrary.org.

At Dianne Schantz’s library in Adams County, she added a free pantry to help serve her community’s needs. Schantz said both the library and pantry are self-sustaining. COURTESY DIANNE SCHANTZ

Evergreen Parks and Recreation have really raised the level of their o erings with new sta at the helm. Have you enjoyed the free concerts at both the lake house and Buchanan ball elds? How about the new sand volleyball court? Or the free disc golf course? If you are not paying attention, let me point out that there is a lot happening with the programming from Evergreen Parks and Recreation. There are new classes inside the two recreation centers as well as outdoors at the lake house. They have also added events and programs speci c to the senior citizens in our community to try to ll the gap left when the Seniors Resource Center pulled out. Don’t miss the family movie nights in the park with two of those combined with the opportunity to camp out in the park with your family.

If you have not yet checked out all that they have going on, I recommend you visit their website.

be used with tax-extension funds. “We need to have highly visible improvements in addition to getting behind-the-scenes work done.”

No decisions have been made on what projects would be included if the district asks voters for a property-tax extension, though board members agreed that making any improvements should go to both indoor and outdoor areas to bene t everyone in the district.

Considering priorities

As board members looked at what it called Step 1 priorities — those that could be paid for in the next ve to 10 years with the property-tax extension — they discussed making sure that deferred maintenance at parks and buildings would take place, which was a top priority among residents in a survey the rec district conducted.

An amenity that board members believe could be paid from the property-tax extension is what has been called the Buchanan “beach,” adding in atables to the lower Buchanan pond, and creating a trail around the upper pond, adding a dock and other shing amenities.

ey said they would consider property acquisition in the Step 1 priorities if the right property became available at a fair price.

Community survey results said the community wanted the rec district to consider buying property for an o -leash dog park or additional hiking areas.

ey also discussed whether it would make sense to make some improvements to Wulf Recreation Center. For example, the conference rooms on the rst oor behind the registration area could be recon gured and used for other purposes.

Step 2 priorities would be large projects such as adding an aquatics center to the Buchanan Recreation Center or fully remodeling the Wulf Recreation Center. ose types of projects would need to come from money in an additional property-tax request.

e board’s discussion for Step 1 and Step 2 priorities will be provided to BerryDunn, the consulting rm helping the district with its strategic plan. e board hopes to get a draft of the plan in August.

Executive Director Cory Vander Veen suggested that the board also consider cost savings with improvements. For example, if the district built a permanent stage at Buchanan Fields, it would save money that it now spends to hire a company to erect and tear down the stage.

Board members said if the tax extension passed in November, the district could look at its budget and improvement projects di erently since they would know the money was coming, so work could start sooner.

The Evergreen Park & Recreation District board plans to ask voters to continue a property-tax extension, and that could mean some improvements to the Wulf Recreation Center.

PHOTO BY DEB HURLEY BROBST

FROM PAGE 11

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.

THURSDAY

Mad Hatters fundraiser: Evergreen Animal Protective League’s Mad Hatters fundraiser will be from 4-9 p.m. July 27 at Cactus Jack’s. For more information, visit eapl.org.

THURSDAY - SATURDAY

“Footloose the Musical”: Stagedoor eater will perform “Footloose the Musical” directed by Jo Gerlick July 28-Aug. 6 at the theater, 25797 Conifer Road, Conifer. Performances are at 7 p.m. July  28-29 and Aug. 4-6, and at 2 p.m. July  30 and Aug. 6. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors, educators and students. For more information and tickets, visit stagedoortheatre.org.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

Evergreen Jazz Festival: e Evergreen Jazz Festival will be July 28-30 at several venues in Evergreen with bands from around the country playing swing, blues, Dixieland and more. For information on bands, performances and tickets, visit EvergreenJazz.org.

SATURDAY

Cars and Co ee: Cars and Coffee, a show for car enthusiasts, will be from 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays until Aug. 26 in front of Olde’s Garage on Evergreen Parkway. ere’s no registration fee. Bring your classic car or stop in to check out the vehicles. Free co ee and doughnuts. Donations bene t Mount Evans Hospice.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

Summerfest: Center for the Arts

Evergreen’s 43rd annual Summerfest will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. July 29-30 at the Buchanan Park elds. Admission is $5, payable at the door. Visit artist and artisan booths, while listening to live music and visiting food trucks. For more information, visit evergreenarts.org.

Elevation Celebration: Conifer’s Elevation Celebration will be from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. July 29-30 along Sutton Road. Music, vendors, family activities and more highlight this street fair. For more information, visit elevationcelebration.goconifer. com.

WEDNESDAY

e Evergreen Area Republican

Club: e Evergreen Area Republican Club will meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Evergreen Fire/Rescue Administration Building, 1802 Bergen Parkway. e speaker will be Antonette Smith, deputy state director of Americans for Prosperity. Visit evergreenarearepublicanclub.org for

more information.

UPCOMING

Classic movie night: Center Stage is hosting monthly classic movie nights with acclaimed lms from the silent era to the golden age of cinema. It will show “A Dog’s Life” (1918) starring Charlie Chaplin and “Sherlock, Jr.” (1924) starring Buster Keaton at 6:30 p.m. ursday, Aug. 3, at the theater, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen. Single tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for students. For more information and tickets, visit ovationwest.org.

Free legal clinic: A free legal clinic for people with no attorney will be from 2 to 5 p.m. ursday, Aug. 3. Volunteer attorneys will answer questions, help ll out forms, and explain the process and procedure for all areas of civil litigation. Preregistration for individual 15-minute appointments is available by calling 303-235-5275.

Dam Ducky Derby: Downtown Evergreen’s Dam Ducky Derby will be from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, with the duck drop at 1 p.m. First place duck gets $1,500, second place $1,000 and third place $500. Purchase ducks at downtown businesses and get more information or purchase ducks online at downtownevergreen.com/events/damducky-derby.

285 TechConnect Radio Club: e 285 TechConnect Radio Club for ham radio enthusiasts interested in its technical aspects, will hold its monthly meeting from 10 a.m. - noon Saturday, Aug. 5, at e Bridge Church at Bear Creek, 3101 S. Kipling St. in Lakewood. For more information, visit https://na0tc.org/.

Evergreen Town Race: e Evergreen Town Race will be Aug. 6 in downtown Evergreen. Register for the 5K at Big R and register for the 10K near the Xcel building on Evergreen Parkway. e race is a fundraiser for the Alpine Rescue Team. Both the 5K and 10K courses wind gradually down Upper Bear Creek, with a nish near Evergreen Lake. For more information and to register, visit www.evergreentownrace. org/.

EPRD summer concert series: e Evergreen Park & Recreation district has one concert remaining starting at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 9: Cass Clayton Band at Buchanan Park elds.

“Spirited Flight”: Shadow Mountain Gallery in downtown Evergreen next to Java Groove will host “Spirited Flight” with ight-related art until Aug. 12. e show features birds, insects and other ying creatures. e gallery is open daily from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, visit www.shadowmountaingallery. com.

Grass on the Gulch: Grass on the Gulch Bluegrass Music Festival will be Aug. 11-13 at 28625 Kennedy Gulch Road in Conifer. For more information, visit grassonthegulch. com.

Moonlight Soiree: e Moonlight Soiree sponsored by Mount Evans Home Health Care and Hospice will start at 5:30 p.m. ursday, Aug. 17, at the Evergreen Lake House. Black tie is optional. Tickets are $350 or $4,000 for a patron table seating eight. For more information and tickets, visit mtevans.org/supportmount-evans/moonlightsoiree.

ConiferFest: ConiferFest music festival will be from 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Aug. 12 in the open space adjacent to Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer. Tickets are $10 at the gate, and food from food trucks, and beer, wine and margaritas are an additional cost. Parking is free. For more information, visit coniferfest.com.

Corn Hole Tournament: e third annual Toss for a Cause Corn Hole Tournament will be from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at the Buchanan ball elds. Up to 64 teams can be entered in the tournament. Proceeds bene t area kids’ programs.

Kids Triathlon: e Kids Triathlon for children 5- to 10-years old starts at 9 a.m. Aug. 13 at the Buchanan Park Recreation Center. Children swim in the Buchanan Park pool, ride their bike and run around the Buchanan ponds. Cost is $35. For more information and to register,

Indian Hills Centennial Celebration: e Indian Hills Centennial Celebration will be Aug. 18-20. On Friday, starting at 6 p.m., there will be a movie and live music at Arrowhead Park with food for sale. From noon-4 p.m. Saturday will be the community center open house with local history speakers, a building

plaque dedication and a time capsule sealing. From 2-6 p.m. Sunday, will be a barbecue at the community center.

Barbed wire removal: Wild Aware is sponsoring volunteer barbed wire removal days at DeDisse Park from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 19. For more information, visit wildaware.org.

Boogie at the Ranch: Boogie at the Ranch will be from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Aug. 19 at the Nelson ranch. Proceeds bene t the Mountain Resource Center. For more information and tickets, visit boogieatthebarn. com.

ESA fundraiser: Evergreen Sustainability Alliance is hosting a fundraiser from 4 p.m. until close Aug. 24 at the Evergreen Bread and Cocktail Lounge. Ten percent of proceeds from that evening will be donated to support programs run by ESA. For more information, call 720-5360069.

Evergreen Fine Arts Festival: e Evergreen Fine Arts Festival will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 25-26 at the Buchanan Fields. is juried ne art show also has children’s activities, live music, food and drink, and free shuttle service.

Mountain Community Barefoot Mile: e Mountain Community Barefoot Mile will be Aug. 26 at the Marshdale elds. Registration opens at 9 a.m., with the walk starting at 10 a.m. Proceeds raised go to JOY

International, which helps rescue children from child slavery. For more information, www.joy.org/ barefoot-mile-events.

options from which to choose. For more information, call Mary at 720673-4369 or email mary@evergreenchristianoutreach.org.

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 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.

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.

ONGOING

Adult grief support group: Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice is o ering a seven-week in-person adult grief support group. e next group starts June 1 and runs every ursday through July 20, with no session on July 6. e group will meet from 2-3 p.m. at the Mount Evans o ce, 3081 Bergen Peak Road, Evergreen. Reservations are required. Call 303-674-6400 to sign up.

Blue Spruce Habitat volunteers needed: Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers. A variety of opportunities and exible schedules are available on new construction sites as well as for exterior minor home repairs. No previous construction experience needed. Contact volunteer@bluesprucehabitat.org for information.

EChO needs volunteers: e Evergreen Christian Outreach ReSale Store and food pantry need volunteers. Proceeds from the EChO ReSale Store support the food pantry and programs and services provided by EChO. ere are many volunteer

Hiwan Museum summer hours: Hiwan Museum is open for tours from noon-4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Outdoor self-guided tours are available at any time. Large groups are encouraged to call 720-497-7653 to make arrangements.

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 Wednesdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and the second Saturday of each month 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.

Sensitive Collection: Resilience1220 o ers a monthly workshop for highly sensitive people to

Caregiver support group: Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice o ers a monthly group 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. 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.

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.

SHERIFF’S CALLS

Deputies alerted to the situation tried to hand Spokesman a citation for disorderly conduct, and when he refused to accept it they secured the ticket under his windshield wiper. Ornery to the bitter end, Spokesman “crumpled up” the citation and began “wiping his backside with it.” Spokesman further asserted that he “makes more money” than JCSO deputies, and then asked them for a “mustache ride.” O cers “respectfully declined” that request and hung chilly until the disa ected diners departed.

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, including the writer’s name, which is a pseudonym. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty.

Littleton to host SpaceX rocket booster exhibit

City teams up with DISH and Colorado-based foundation Telluray

BY SHEA VANCE SVANCE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In an e ort to boost tourism, Littleton will this fall display a 146-foot-tall SpaceX Falcon 9 rststage rocket booster. e free attraction, which would be the third of its kind in the country, can be seen on the DISH Network corporate o ce campus on Bowles and Santa Fe.

Cantey Ergen, co-founder of DISH, said that the company aims to “bring aerospace technology to the community.”

Littleton’s city council recently heard about the plan during a presentation at a July 18 council meeting. e booster is expected to be delivered by SpaceX — the wellknown spacecraft manufacturer founded by business mogul Elon Musk — in September.

Littleton Public Works and Utilities Director Keith Reester told members of the city council about the roles and responsibilities shared between the city, DISH, and the Telluray Foundation, which is funding the

project.

e DISH location has a “great deal of regulatory interaction,” with approval required from seven separate entities which all own, maintain, or manage part of the land being used for the project, Reester said.

Littleton resident Pam Chadbourne raised concern about the project during public comment, questioning SpaceX’s relevance in the community and asking the council why the project is only now being brought to the public’s attention. Reester told the council that a high volume of regulatory requirements

Henderson is Hiring and Investing in Colorado!

Henderson has operated in Colorado since 1976 and is investing nearly $150 million into our operations to enable future production. We are committed to our employees and our community and are currently hiring new employees to join our 360 strong! Further, the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, recently announced more than $300,000 to Henderson Operations Social Investment Grant recipients in 2022. Learn more about the recipients below:

• Clear Creek County: Clear Creek County Health and Wellness Center – $100,000 (second payment of a $500,000 commitment) This will support the building and launch of the first collaborative care center in Clear Creek County.

•Clear Creek County: DLD Sub-Area Planning Grant – $60,000 Funding supports a planning process to strategically identify enhanced community, land use and infrastructure proposals to provide new sustainable revenue streams and improved services.

•Clear Creek County School District: Career-Connected Learning Project – $10,000 When combined with a $10,000 match of Henderson employee donations through Mile High United Way, it will support increasing opportunities for students to engage in career-connected experiential learning.

•Grand County Rural Health Network: Grand County Multisector Resource Hub – $25,000 Funding will support a collaborative planning process around the development of a multisector resource hub that would provide a one-stop resource for marginalized community members of Grand County.

•Grand County Search and Rescue: Mission Control Vehicle – $46,000 The vehicle will replace an inoperable multipurpose avalanche response, complex mission and command truck for Grand County.

•Middle Park Medical Foundation: Kremmling Wellness Center Gym – $75,000 Funding supports the development of a modern community recreation space with a goal of improving the overall health of the community by creating more opportunities to engage in recreational activities.

Congratulations to the recipients!

Since 2012, more than $1.6 million has been invested through the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation in Clear Creek and Grand counties. The funds have been awarded to programs and projects that build community resilience and capacity.

and for more information on community investment grants visit FreeportInMyCommunity.com

SEE ROCKET, P20

Transportation o cials get stricter about express lane penalties

BY CHRIS KOEBERL CKOEBERL@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Colorado Department of Transportation is getting serious about enforcing penalties for Interstate 70 mountain express lanes, and Idaho Springs is the early focus. Enforcement will focus on the

interstate’s Mountain Express Lanes between Idaho Springs and U.S. 40. Soon, though, serious penalties will be a reality everywhere, according to state o cials.

“Starting Friday, July 21, motorists who drive unsafely in the Express Lanes on the I-70 Mountain Corridor will be issued nes known as

civil assessment penalties,” a press release stated.

For the past month, drivers have received mailed warnings for violations such as using the Express Lanes when they’re closed, weaving across the solid yellow lines and driving in lanes with oversized vehicles.

As of July 21, the warnings will cease, and drivers will be mailed nes starting at $75 and increasing to $150 if not paid within 20 days of issuance, the statement said. More than 5,000 warnings have already been issued to drivers, according to CDOT.

Jeco’s new “I Voted” sticker a reminder to prepare for election season

BY JO DAVIS JDAVIS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Je erson County has a new sticker to show that you’ve done your civic duty. e new “I Voted” sticker design is out, and it re ects Je co’s beautiful sunsets over the foothills and features the classic “I Voted” slogan in both English and Spanish.

Everyone will have access to the sticker, even those who voted by mail. e sticker will be included inside each ballot mailed in Je co in October for the Nov. 7 elections.

According to Je co Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez, the sticker holds a few di erent symbols of the county’s progress.

“ e ‘I Voted’ sticker has always been a symbol of hope and excitement about using our voice to e ect political change,” Gonzalez said. “I’m excited to have some Je co-speci c air in this year’s sticker and to feature both English and Spanish text, which is more inclusive — just like Je co aims to be.”

e sticker design release is a sign that voting season is approaching. Here’s some information from Gon-

“I’m excited to have some Je co-specific flair in this year’s sticker and to feature both English and Spanish text, which is more inclusive—just like Je co aims to be,” said Amanda Gonzalez, Je co Clerk and Recorder, about the new sticker.

zalez and the clerk’s o ce that you should know.

Ballot box and voting locations are live. Je erson County’s website now has an updated map of the places where you can cast your ballot. Je co has 40 drop boxes available throughout the county and they open

Oct. 16. e boxes are open 24 hours a day through 7 p.m. election night.

ere are six voter service and polling center locations in Je co. Five of them open Oct. 30 and the one at the Colorado School of Mines opens on November 6. In addition to casting a vote, you can drop o a ballot, replace a ballot, register to vote, update your registration and even nd an ADA-accessible voting machine. Find more information, a service and polling location or your ballot box online.

Je co still needs election judges.

e Clerk and Recorder’s O ce is still seeking election judges for the November elections. ey encourage every Je co resident age 16 and over who is also registered to vote to apply. It’s a paid job that would make an interesting resume builder for young people.

You can nd more information about the position and the application on the Je erson County Elections webpage.

Sign up for Ballot Trax now. You can sign up for BallotTrax, the mail ballot locator and noti cation system now for the November election.

e system will send messages by email, phone or text about your ballot —when it’s mailed and when you should receive it.

BallotTrax does not update your voter registration. You must do that at GoVoteColorado.gov.  Sign up to track your ballot now, before the bustle of the voting season (and for parents, back-to-school season). Sign up for BallotTrax on the Je co Elections webpage.

Read up on voting security and more. Je erson County o ers a look at the security and safeguards taken to ensure that your ballot is protected. ere are infographics, videos, and more.

e county also created a list of key dates for election season. For example, the military and overseas ballots will be mailed on September 23. ey update the information regularly, so check back if you are interested in pre-election equipment testing dates, or post-election audit dates.

Stay connected to the Je co elections processes, dates and more by checking out the county Elections webpage.

PHOTO COURTESY JEFFCO CLERK AND RECORDER

Je erson County kicks o two-year update of five plans and regulations

BY TEDDY JACOBSEN TJACOBSEN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Je erson County o cials are looking to shake things up over the next two years.

A long list of county plans will be reevaluated and potentially updated. Everything from wild re evacuation to transportation policies are on the table in what’s dubbed “Together Je co.”

e county’s Comprehensive Master Plan, Community Wild re Protection Plan, Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan’s Evacuation Annex, Transportation Master Plans and Land Use Code are among the plans that could be updated.

e goal of this project, announced in July, is to redesign land use, plan for evacuations and to align transportation policies with goals, according to the county’s website. County representatives said the process should provide a cohesive vision for the future of the county

ROCKET

were “why the project has taken a little while,” and that the city wanted to get approval from all involved parties before moving forward. DISH rst approached the city with the idea in 2021.

All seven agencies — Littleton, DISH, the State of Colorado, the Mile High Flood District, the Army Corps of Engineers, South Suburban Parks and Recreation District, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration — have completed regulatory review and approval, according to the presentation.

e proximity to the South Platte River and nearby drainage ways implicates more agencies than might be required at a di erent location.

41Years

and identify priorities for addressing growth, regulations and services.

“One of our goals is to help streamline our process and become more e cient as we work together to help articulate our community vision for Je erson County,” Je erson County Development and Transportation Director Abel Montoya said in a recent press release.

e county is currently evaluating plans, reviewing existing conditions and developing a process to include the public in its decision-making. is phase is anticipated to conclude in August of this year, according to the county’s website.

e following phases involve multiple stages of drafting the plans and regulations. e county anticipates this process to be completed by July 2024.

Public review of the land use code is expected for December of 2024 and public hearings in early 2025.

e county anticipates the project to take 18 to 24 months with adoption of the other four plans planned

for October of 2024.

Residents can get involved with the drafting process through public workshops, surveys and open houses over the next two years by

costs after the initial assembly is complete.

e 146-foot rocket booster — almost half the length of a football eld — will sit horizontal on the western end of the DISH campus, spanning the Littles Creek Trail. It will be on supports that keep the booster about 10 feet o the ground.

Councilors Patrick Driscoll, Kelly Milliman, Stephen Barr and Jerry Valdes raised concerns regarding the location, particularly the impact it would have on foot and bike tra c on the Mary Carter Greenway.

of concrete set aside from the path where people can stand and view.

ey also said it will have no impact on the South Platte oodplain, and will have minimal impact on the Littles Creek oodplain.

Despite concerns, the plan received general support from councilors.

Milliman said that, aside from the economic and tourism bene ts, the educational advantages will serve the community well.

“ e timing on this project has shifted a number of times,” said City Manager Jim Becklenberg.

e Telluray Foundation is providing a $2.4-million grant to complete the project, but DISH will be responsible for upkeep and maintenance

Ergen said that DISH landed on the location because it was “o the beaten path,” referring to Bowles and Santa Fe tra c, while still being accessible to locals.

Reester and Ergen assured councilors that the placement of the rocket will not signi cantly hinder foot tra c, as there will be a plot

“To get these kids interested in engineering, I am truly so excited about all of this,” Milliman said during the discussion period following the presentation.

Reester also sees the exhibition as an opportunity to boost use of public transportation, as it may be di cult to nd parking near the DISH campus.

Protective League

Houdini & Harriet. The original owner left several cats behind when she moved out. These really nice cats have been con ned to one

Je erson County plans to be reevaluated in what is dubbed Together Je co. IMAGE COURTESY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.

A Falcon 9 sits on display at Space Center Houston. SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE

How Coloradans can save water at home

Experts share tips, insight into water-saving strategies

BY SHANNON MULLANE THE COLORADO SUN

OK, Coloradans, let’s clear the shampoo out of our eyes: Your shower water is likely connected to the Colorado River water supply crisis. But can you really help by conserving water at home?

In recent years, two decades of drought and prolonged overuse have brought the Colorado River Basin’s largest storage reservoirs to the brink of collapse. e crisis is reaching Coloradans’ lives in the form of summer lawn watering restrictions, higher utility bills and even a shortage of Sriracha. Some cities have bought agricultural water rights for more municipal water, and people with junior water rights often have their water supply cut in dry years.  Water experts say Colorado residents can help with the crisis, and they have plenty of tips to help the conservation-minded Coloradan start saving water at home. One drawback: In many cases, there’s no guarantee that in-home savings help re ll the system’s struggling reservoirs.

“It’s like, OK great, our city is now saving 10% of what it was using,” said Gregor MacGregor, a water law expert at the University of Colorado. “ e question is, what is your city going to do with that 10%? Are they going to leave it in the Colorado River Basin? Are they going to leave it in a reservoir for drought conditions? Or are they simply going to divide that savings out to build more and then use that savings on new development?”

e average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home, and about 70% of that

use is indoors. In the arid West, states have some of the highest per capita residential water use because of landscape irrigation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In Colorado, water users run through 5.43 million acre-feet of water per year. One acre-foot supports two families of four to ve people for one year.

Of that, 90%, or about 4.8 million acre-feet, is used by the agriculture industry. About 380,000 acre-feet is used in cities and towns, and of that, only about 46% goes to indoor water uses like toilets, faucets, laundry machines and showers.

at means that the impact of inhome water conservation is going to be limited in the grand scheme of water use in the Colorado River Basin, where the amount of water stored in reservoirs like Lake Powell and Lake Mead has declined dramatically.

“While the bulk of that water to help prevent Lake Powell from collapsing will come from agriculture, cities need to do their part,” said John Berggren, senior regional water policy analyst for Western Resource Advocates. “Municipalities’ water use matters. It’s small … but it matters.”

Home water use falls primar-

ily into two categories: indoor and outdoor.

In Colorado, residents tend to use more water outdoors watering their lawns and gardens. at’s led to the rise of water-wise landscaping e orts, like those currently being showcased at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Indoors, Colorado residents use about 60 gallons per capita each day. at leaves them with plenty of opportunities for conservation — and accidental waste.

In 2016, toilets were the main culprits of water use in homes nationwide, using 24% of household water, followed by showers, 20%; faucets, 19%; and washing machines, 17%, according to the EPA.

Americans use more than 1 trillion gallons of water each year just for showering. e average shower is eight minutes, which means it uses more than 16 gallons of water at 2.1 gallons per minute.

Letting your faucet run for ve minutes while washing dishes can waste 10 gallons of water. Each year, household leaks waste nearly 900 billion gallons of water nationwide, which is enough to supply water to 11 million homes. And about 50% of the water used outside is lost because of wind, evaporation and runo from ine cient irrigation

systems, according to the EPA.

“We’re now in a world where feet matter in Lake Powell. Drops of water matter because we’re on a knife’s edge. When you’re in that tight of a spot, every single water use matters. No matter how small,” Berggren said. ere are a few simple ways to cut back on water use at home, including some Colorado-speci c programs.

Yes, taking shorter showers can decrease water use and cut back on your water bill. e EPA says that, if all 300 million people in the U.S. reduced their shower time by one minute each time, the country could save 170 billion gallons each year.

Turning o the tap while brushing your teeth can save 8 gallons of water per day, and only running the dishwasher when it’s full can save the average family about 320 gallons of water per year, according to the EPA.

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WATER

But Berggren says rather than changing habits — which we all know can have a hit-or-miss success rate — he’d start with making purchases, like a more e cient shower xture.

e EPA says households can boost their water e ciency by 20% when residents switch to products with WaterSense labels. And a shower that lasts for ve minutes using a low- ow showerhead uses 12 gallons of water, according to a 2014 Colorado State University water use fact sheet.

Similar savings are possible with toilets: ose made before 1993 use 3.5 to 8 gallons per ush, while high e ciency toilets made after 1993 use 1.6 gallons per ush or less. at means a family of four can save 14,000 to 25,000 gallons per year by switching to more e cient toilets. ( e date of manufacture of most toilets is on the underside of the tank lid.)

Updating your washing machine can also make a big di erence. Conventional, top-loading washing machines use 35 to 50 gallons per load. Newer front-loading machines use 18 to 20 gallons per load, according to CSU.

For those who have updated their appliances and are careful about water use around the house, there’s

a way to take at-home e ciency a step further: grey water reuse.

ese systems capture grey water — the runo from showers, bathroom sinks and laundry machines — and then use it for other purposes, like watering ornamental plants outside or ushing toilets, at the same location. is water can contain dirt, oil, greases, lint and possibly human pathogens, so don’t use it to drink or water your vegetables, experts say.

Laundry-to-landscape systems installed by homeowners, which capture washing machine water for outdoor irrigation, can cost as little as $350, said Jon Novick, the environmental administrator for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

Whole house systems pipe water from showers and bathroom sinks through a treatment process and then send it to toilets to provide water for ushing. e system alone can cost $6,000 to $8,000, not including installation costs, so they’re more feasible for new houses or developments with multiple units, Novick said. ey’re often cost prohibitive for existing homes.

ese systems also come with a catch: Local governments need water rights that allow for reuse, which limits the adoption of grey water programs, and new installations are only legal if the local government has o cially approved grey water reuse. People with pre-existing systems should check with their local

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programs to see if their system can be grandfathered in.

As of July, six local governments have approved grey water reuse, including the city and county of Denver, Pitkin County, Fort Collins, Grand Junction and Golden. ose who draw water from wells will need to check their permits. Exempt well permits, for example, do not allow reuse of indoor water for outdoor irrigation.

If a grey water system saves 25 gallons per day and is installed in 500,000 homes, it could save 14,000 acre-feet per year. at’s enough water to supply 28,000 homes, Novick said.

But the counties that have approved grey water ordinances have seen little uptake. As of June, Denver had approved 30 systems; Castle Rock, 29 systems; and Pitkin County, zero, according to each county’s program manager.

Whether water e ciency measures translate into conservation in the Colorado River Basin depends on factors ranging from where a resident lives to local water management decisions.

Water pulled from the Colorado River Basin on the Western Slope never returns to the basin. Front Range residents could use less water in the hope that more water could stay on the Western Slope, but there are no incentives for Front Range water providers to give up such a valuable resource because of water savings, said MacGregor, the water

law expert at CU.

“Anyone who pockets (water) savings can make a ton of money by selling those savings to another water user,” he said. “ e question is, what is the mechanism for leaving water on the Western Slope through conservation?”

Even if a water e ciency program is enormously successful, cities and towns can still choose to use their water savings toward building new developments, rather than leaving them in reservoirs.

“ is is the really frustrating part of what’s happened in a lot of areas. It’s like, you look at it, and e ciency has increased per capita, use has decreased over time, but we’re still susceptible to drought,” MacGregor said. “It’s because we’re not actually banking those savings.”

If at-home water e ciency measures are adopted widely, and the unused water is conserved for the future, those savings can help storage at local reservoirs and even help meet environmental and ecological needs by keeping more water in streams. It could even be used by downstream water rights holders who might have their supply cut o earlier in a dry year.

But there’s no guarantee that the water will reach the Colorado River’s main storage reservoirs, like Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border. at would require complicated, interstate legal and administrative procedures — an option being explored by Colorado.

Why blind historian Peggy Chong tells the stories of the blind

BY TEDDY JACOBSEN TJACOBSEN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

It only takes an introduction and a few minutes of talking with historian Peggy Chong to learn something new.

Chong, also known as e Blind History Lady, can easily rattle o countless names and stories of blind people throughout history. For instance, you may know Stevie Wonder but you probably don’t know Gov. Elias Ammons. Chong has researched the stories of the blind for over three decades. She excitedly shares their biographies with anyone willing to listen, primarily through a monthly email list.

“People often nd the stories hard to believe, that there’s something special about these blind people,” Chong said. “If you read on, you do nd that there was something special about them because they just never quit.”

Chong, who lives in Aurora, was born blind into a family that understood her struggles. ree of her four sisters and her mother were also born blind. Chong said the support and connection she received from her family is rare for the majority of blind people.

“Everything you do feels like you’re reinventing the wheel,” Chong said. “And you may not have a community

around you to help you not feel that way.”

Almost 8% of the U.S. population are visually impaired in some way, according to Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.

Just over 4 million Americans aged 16 to 64 have a visual disability and another 3 million people 65-yearsold and older have one, according to the National Federation of the Blind.  Chong said most people go blind later in life due to health issues or injuries. She said it is easy for people to lose faith in their abilities because of a stigma about what blind people can do.

“Too often we’re told that a blind person can’t do that, but blind people throughout the years have accomplished so much in their work,” Chong said. e main stories she tells involve the jobs and work that blind people have had over the years.

Over 70% of potentially employable adults with a visual disability in the United States do not have full-time jobs, according to Cornell University’s U.S. Disability Statistics. Chong said sharing stories of blind people inspires people today to work the jobs that they want to do, in spite of the adversary.

For example, Chong said most Coloradans don’t know the state had a blind governor. Elias

Ammons

was the 19th governor of the state, serving from 1913 to 1915. Although he had some vision, Chong said, it was not enough to read or recognize people across the room.

“ e irony of some of the discrimination is unbelievable when you nd out what these blind people accomplished later in their lives,” she said.

Chong moved to the state ve

years ago, where she almost immediately started searching through records in the Colorado Center for the Blind basement. She said she discovered records dating back more than 100 years.

She led the e ort to digitize and transcribe the pages for blind people to read through optical character

Peggy Chong with the Jacob Bolotin Award at the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind in Houston, Texas earlier this month. COURTESY PHOTO

SEE HISTORIAN, P24

recognition, which is a system that scans printed text so it can be spoken in synthetic speech or saved to a computer le.

e project started four years ago, and Chong said she is almost done putting the les on the Colorado Virtual Library website.

President of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Jessica Beecham said Chong’s work is vital

for showing other blind people their rich history is out there and worth sharing.

“As a blind person, I never knew our history,” Beecham said in a press release. “I thought we as blind people were always the rst to do or try anything. at is so lonely. But, through her research, I, and thousands more are learning that we have broad shoulders of our blind ancestors to stand on, inspiring us to climb higher and reach farther.”

Chong won the Jacob Bolotin Award at the annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind

in Houston, Texas earlier this month. e award comes with $5,000 to help her advance her research into the history of the blind of the United States.

e Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards honor individuals and organizations that are a positive force in the lives of blind people. e namesake of the award, Bolotin (1888-1924), is hailed as the world’s rst physician who was blind from birth.

Each year the National Federation of the blind presents the awards at its annual convention. is is the second time she received this award

for her work, the rst coming in 2018.

Her new project will take her to the Library of Congress archives in Washington D.C. where she will research and tell the history of an awards program through the Harmon Foundation from 1928-1932.

“ is award means a lot to me,” Chong stated. “It represents the validation by my peers that my work to uncover the lost history of our blind ancestors is important.”

To join Chong’s monthly email list, send an email to theblindhistorylady@gmail.com.

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 7:30pm, Zoom options available 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, MOPS, Cub/Boy Scouts.

ROCKLAND COMMUNITY CHURCH

“Connecting all generations to Jesus”

Please check our website, www.Rockland.church, for updated service times ¼ mile north of I-70 at exit 254 17 S Mt. Vernon Country Club Rd., Golden, CO 80401 303-526-0668

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF EVERGREEN

Rev. Sarah Clark • 303.674.4810 • www.evergreenumc.org

3757 Ponderosa Dr. across Hwy 74 from Safeway in Evergreen

Join us in person

1. THEATER: Which group composed the rock opera “Tommy”?

2. GEOGRAPHY: In which country is Mount Everest located?

3. LITERATURE: Which novel contains the line, “Big Brother is watching you”?

4. HISTORY: Who was the second president of the United States?

5. WEATHER: What is a cloud shaped like a ying saucer called?

6. TELEVISION: Which TV comedy features a character named Opie Taylor?

7. MOVIES: What is the name of Argus Filch’s cat in the “Harry Potter” series?

8. MATH: What is the only even prime number?

9. MEDICAL: What is the common name for the ailment called dysphonia?

10. ANIMAL KINGDOM: How many stages are in a butter y’s life cycle?

Answers

1. e Who.

2. Nepal.

3. “1984” by George Orwell.

4. John Adams.

5. A lenticular cloud.

6. “ e Andy Gri th Show.”

7. Mrs. Norris.

8. Two.

9. Hoarseness.

10. Four (egg, larva, pupa and adult).

(c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.

Answers

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Public Notice

Public Notices

Legals

City and County

Public Notice

TOWN OF MORRISON, COLORADO BOARD OF TRUSTEES

ORDINANCE NO. 535

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE

NO. 525, WHICH APPROVED THE LEASE OF TOWN-OWNED REAL PROPERTY, TO EXTEND THE LEASE’S DUE DILIGENCE PERIOD TO SEPTEMBER 14, 2023, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY

The foregoing Ordinance was, on the 18th day of July, 2023, ordered to be published by title only

and penalty provision, if any, and to be posted in full within the Town and on the Town’s website by the Board of Trustees of the Town of Morrison, Colorado. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately.

The full text of this of this Ordinance is available in electronic form on the Town’s website, www.town.morrison.co.us; copies of this Ordinance are also available in printed form from the Office of the Town Clerk at 321 Colorado Highway 8, Morrison, Colorado 80465.

Ariana Neverdahl, Town Clerk

Legal Notice No. CC1301

First Publication: July 27, 2023

Last Publication: July 27, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier Misc. Private Legals

PUBLIC NOTICE

CORPORATE STRUCTURE REORGANIZATION OF INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTH, SCL HEALTH, SCL HEALTH – FRONT RANGE, INC., AND INTEGRITY HEALTH

Intermountain Health hereby gives public notice of its proposed corporate structure reorganization of Intermountain Health, SCL Health, SCL Health - Front Range, Inc., and Integrity Health, which aims to align the Intermountain Health system further to better provide high-quality, accessible, and affordable healthcare to more patients and communities. As part of the reorganization, SCL Health’s longstanding affiliate Integrity Health, which includes Platte Valley Medical Center, would be integrated as a secular division of the Intermountain Health system. Additionally, SCL Health - Front Range, Inc., which includes Lutheran Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center, would be reorganized under the same secular division of the Intermountain

Health system alongside Platte Valley Medical Center. The reorganization is intended to further the Intermountain Health system’s commitment to helping people live the healthiest lives possible and exceed their expectations for health. The parties further believe the reorganization will only enhance their ability to deliver clinical excellence, provide value-based care that improves lives, and continue to support and improve health in all communities, including rural and underserved ones, through value-based care, effective clinical integration, and innovative approaches.

Legal Notice No. CC 1302

First Publication: July 27, 2023

Last Publication: July 27, 2023

Publisher: Canyon Courier

Name Changes

PUBLIC NOTICE

Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

Public notice is given on July 7, 2023, that a Petition for a Change of Name of a Minor Child has been filed with the Jefferson County Court.

The Petition requests that the name of Wyatt Wyann Grummons-Joy be changed to Wyatt Wynn Grummons Case No.: 23C915

/s/ Stephanee Kemprowski. Clerk of Court / Deputy Clerk

Legal Notice No. CC 1299

Publication: July 27, 2023

Publication: July 27, 2023

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