Castle Rock News Press 072822

Page 1

Week of July 28, 2022

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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO

A publication of

CastleRockNewsPress.net

VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 15

Castle Rock approves pay hike mid-year Inflation, low wages hurting town’s hiring BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

overdoses that year. That number is a sharp increase from 2020 when there were 69 fentanyl overdoses, accounting for nearly 47% of all overdose deaths, though fentanyl was still the leading drug for overdoses that year. Douglas County saw its biggest spike in fentanyl overdoses in 2020, with nine fentanyl overdose deaths that accounted for 18% of all overdoses that year. Numbers in 2021 were similar with seven fentanyl overdoses, making up 16% of overdoses. It’s left law enforcement and harm reduction advocates at odds over how best to respond to a mounting crisis that took the lives of more than 900 Coloradans last year. And the state’s new law, the Fentanyl Accountability And Prevention Act — which went into effect July 1 — is set to once again test the theories of

Responding to rising inflation and numerous unfilled employee positions at the Town of Castle Rock, the town council approved an additional $1.6 million to increase pay for staff and offer a monthly stipend for entry level positions. On July 19, Castle Rock Town Manager David Corliss told the council the town is having a hard time filling open jobs, particularly entry-level positions, on top of seeing an increase in staff departures. According to the town’s career portal, 48 positions are seeking applicants. “We’re not able to find, in many cases, people to apply or people we can hire and we know that our competitors in the labor market are increasing compensation for their employees as well in response to the inflation,” he said. “One of our main areas of concern is entrylevel positions. When it starts snowing, and I know it’s kind of hard to think about that, will (the town) have enough snowplow drivers?” Corliss said many employees and applicants are drawn to other area employers who have raised wages and can offer better pay, including the county. Douglas County Commissioners recently voted to increase staff wages by 4%, along with

SEE FENTANYL, P6

SEE RAISE, P9

DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian Besser, left, and District Attorney John Kellner speak during a July 6 news conference on two recent PHOTO BY ROBERT TANN large-scale fentanyl seizures in Colorado.

Fentanyl: A growing crisis regionally, nationally Law enforcement, others grapple with solutions BY ROBERT TANN AND MCKENNA HARFORD RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM, MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

From his vantage point as a toxicologist in the emergency departments of UCHealth’s Highlands Ranch and Anschutz locations, Dr. Kennon Heard said fentanyl is easily the most common drug involved in the overdoses he treats. “This is going to be on par with seeing a stroke or a heart attack,” Heard said, estimating overdoses are treated multiple times a week, if not daily. “It’s that common of an event.” Heard sees both people with substance use disorder and, more frequently, people who are occasional

users and often think they are taking a drug other than fentanyl. “The change is probably that we’re seeing a significant number of people … who get something they think is a pharmaceutical product,” he said. Fentanyl’s presence in Denver’s south metro region, and Colorado, has continued to increase over the past five years — but the numbers have skyrocketed since 2020, when the drug overtook methamphetamine as the leading killer in Colorado, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The growing ubiquity of fentanyl in the drug market is also reflected in the increase of overdose deaths in the south metro area from 2015 to 2021, CDPHE data shows. In 2021, Arapahoe County reported 101 fentanyl-specific overdoses, which make APY up 56% of all reported

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