Denver Herald 033023

Armed police are temporarily headed back to DPS high schools

Polis targets local land use in bid to make housing less costly

BY JESSE PAUL AND ELLIOTT WENZLER THE COLORADO SUN

Fast-growing, housing-strapped Colorado communities would be barred from limiting construction of duplexes, triplexes and add-on housing units under a marquee measure unveiled in March by Gov. Jared Polis and Democratic state lawmakers aimed at addressing the state’s housing crisis by increasing residential density.

DPS board approved the return of o cers following shooting at East High school

BY KYLE HARRIS AND DESIREE MATHURIN DENVERITE

In 2019, Denver Public Schools safety o cials handcu ed a 7-yearold at a Green Valley Ranch elementary school. Police pointed a gun at a teacher during a search at Rise Up Community School in 2018, prompting students to stop attending class

as they didn’t feel safe.

Tools like metal detectors gave o cers the chance to search a student’s belongings and catch them for small infractions that sometimes led to arrests or worse.

Black and Latino children were statistically the most likely to face consequences, ranging from tickets to arrests, and so justice-minded parents and advocates successfully pushed to remove those o cers from schools in 2020, arguing that police were not actually keeping kids safe in the classroom.

But after March 22, when a 17-year-old East High School stu-

dent, who had a previous weapons charge and had been expelled from Cherry Creek’s Overland High, shot two deans at East High School and later killed himself, parents, students and educators are asking how o cials can keep them safe while at school.

Some want armed o cers and other strict security measures back in school hallways. Others, who remember why o cers were removed in the rst place, think putting them back in classrooms would be short-sighted and won’t solve the

e land-use bill would also block limits on how many unrelated people can live in the same home and prevent Colorado’s largest cities from restricting what kind of housing can be built near transit stops. A separate measure, meanwhile, would ban municipalities from imposing new growth caps and eliminate existing ones.

e land-use proposal would apply di erently throughout the state depending on population size and housing needs, with the biggest impacts on Colorado’s most populous cities — Denver, Aurora, Boulder, Lakewood, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction — but also rules for rural communities and resort towns, which have faced their own unique housing struggles.

“ is is an a ordability crisis

The iconic “E” outside Denver East High School on March 22 adorns flowers and a “#11” painted on the surface in commemoration of Luis Garcia, who was shot outside the school in late February. Two school sta ers were injured in a shooting at the school on March 22.

greater issue at hand.

Still, on March 23, the Denver School Board moved forward and unanimously agreed to allow as many as two armed police o cers at high schools across the city in light of the shooting. Board members tasked DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero to work with Mayor Michael Hancock to provide external funding for the o cers, as well as mental health professionals.

“Is it the x? We do not know,” Marrero said. “We know that going back to extremes isn’t the solution, but this is the right way forward.”

e move kicks o what is sure to become a heated debate over the next few months about how to keep students safe in Denver classrooms — and what those plans will actually include, like armed o cers, metal detectors and mental health resources.

East High has experienced multiple occurrences of gun violence this school year

In February, 16-year-old Luis Garcia was shot outside the school. He died from his wounds in early March, which led to student protests calling for gun safety legislation from lawmakers. ey did so again on March 23.

Fears remain high that students are simply not safe, and the latest debate over school resource o cers shows a clear split on whether armed o cers are the solution or another problem.

e removal of o cers was not a decision made lightly, but it was one many saw as necessary to keep kids from negative police interactions after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

e concern for many reformminded parents and advocates is that the return of o cers will lead to more of what was seen in the past.

Between 2014 and 2019, in-school o cers had ticketed and arrested more than 4,500 students. Of those, 80% were Black and Latino, according to data from Padres y Jovenes, a group that spent decades trying to

get cops out of schools and reform disciplinary practices.

e statistics from the activist group were damning evidence that the Denver Public School system was mired in systemic racism and criminalizing students of color.

“When people talk about SROs and police, I get it,” said Tran NguyenWills, an East High parent. “For me, it is a sense of safety, but it’s also just a Band-Aid … We took out the SROs and police, but we never put something else in place … ere are things we could have done to replace that false sense of security we have

with police and SROs. We saw what happened in Uvalde, where they had SROs and they had militarized police and children still died.”

Some argue that interactions with o cers in schools funneled Black and Brown youth through the school-toprison pipeline or led to negative interactions with police

“I look at some former students

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero, right, sits on a DPS Board of Education special session on violence and safety on March 23. KEVIN J. BEATY/DENVERITE

‘Is it the fix? We do not know. We know that going back to extremes isn’t the solution, but this is the right way forward.’

Alex Marrero, DPS Superintendent

SEE DPS, P3

who are incarcerated, and you can see where the pipeline to jail began,” said Manuel Aragon, a parent of Denver Public Schools children who worked in the school district for 11 years. “It began with truancy tickets or these things that were overly policed because we live in a society that heavily polices Black and Brown bodies, and for the optics of safety rather than for actual safety.”

In the summer of 2020, Denver was engulfed in protests against the murder of George Floyd and other high-profile cases of law enforcement killings of unarmed Black people. For many, trust in all law enforcement had been broken. Police — even school resource officers who had been beloved in certain schools — were widely viewed as dangerous. Parents, students and advocates alike made it clear: Get the cops out of the schools before they kill someone.

The Denver Public School Board read the research. The members listened to the advocates and families who experienced police in schools criminalizing their children. In 2020, the school board decided to cut its contract with the Denver Police Department.

“Part of the reasoning for this decision is the belief that the close proximity of law enforcement to students on campuses directly contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline,” the district posted online. “Studies show that Black and Brown students arrested for minor school infractions are more likely to end up in the adult criminal system, entrenching the school-to-prison pipeline.

“Our commitment to student safety has not changed,” the Board wrote. “There is nothing more important than all of our students feeling safe, cared for and protected in our schools. Our students need to trust the adults who are on our campuses with them. As we make this gradual transition, we will work closely with school leaders, staff, parents/families and students in the coming weeks to understand and prioritize their needs to ensure the safety of students, staff and communities.”

After the March 22 shooting, East students rallied at the Capitol again, begging for gun reform. Meanwhile, the DPS board was at work in a closed meeting planning to bring armed officers back into high schools.

niques, policing in a school environment, knowledgeable of the school community they intend to serve and skilled in community policing.”

During this time, board members have tasked Marrero with creating a “systemic Long-term Safety Operational plan” that engages with community members. The board also requests that Marrero provide monthly data updates on ticketing and arrests, and that he ensures school staff aren’t using the officers for disciplinary issues. His deadline for the safety plan is June 30.

Marrero put the blame for recent violence on himself and the school board and said they had failed the 17-year-old shooting suspect.

“These events should not have happened on my watch or on this Board’s watch,” he wrote in a memo to the board, after the shooting.

Aragon, Nguyen-Wills and former DPS teacher Tim Hernandez believe Marrero and the board are having a “knee-jerk reaction” to the shootings. Instead of armed officers, they believe the school should invest in more mental health resources.

“Throwing resources into a system that exists to scare students out of violence is not going to do anything for us,” Hernandez said. “I don’t believe that we scare violence out of community. I think we have to invest it out, and I think that we invest it out through mental health support and school culture.”

But in the immediate aftermath of the East High shooting, parents picking up their kids swarmed Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas, Mayor Michael Hancock and Marrero as they gave remarks to the press.

“Leaders, stand up,” a parent yelled.

“Do something about it,” another demanded.

“There will be two officers in the school for the remainder of the school year,” Thomas said.

“That’s not enough,” multiple parents yelled, with some clamoring for armed police to return to the hallways.

“They need to do better policing in the city — more especially at the schools, the high schools, because the kids are getting hold of guns, and the violence needs to stop,” said Kawala Selli, the parent of a first-year student at East. “The only way that can be stopped is when we have better policing in the city.”

Xóchitl Gaytán,

DPS board President

Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson and Board Member Carrie Olsen read off a memorandum detailing their plan for the rest of the school year.

Two armed officers and two mental health professionals will be at all DPS high schools until June 30.

The board is requiring that the officers be trained “in the use of firearms, de-escalation tech -

Board members are expecting Marrero to engage with community members to decide a long term solution for students’ safety, but parent Nguyen-Wills doubts DPS will actually follow through.

She said the temporary decision itself wasn’t discussed with parents and that’s typical of DPS.

“They’re not asking us anything. I get emails and they’re just like this is what we’re doing. Too bad,” Nguyen-Wills said.

“I’m literally a legacy parent. I have dealt with this for so long,

Denver schools are bringing back police. Other places in the U.S. already have.

BY KALYN BELSHA, CHALKBEAT

When a Denver teen shot and injured two school administrators on March 22, it marked the third time this year that gun violence had rocked East High, the city’s largest high school.

For the school’s superintendent, it signaled the need for a dramatic shift in district policy: the return of police at comprehensive high schools for the remainder of the school year.

“I can no longer stand on the sidelines,” Alex Marrero wrote in a letter to the school board, which voted in 2020 to remove police from schools. The city’s mayor quickly backed the decision, and even a local group long opposed to police in schools acknowledged that acts of violence “force hard conversations.” On March 23, the school board agreed to temporarily lift its ban on school police.

The turnabout in Denver echoes recent decisions to bring back school police by a few other districts across the U.S. In some cases, as in Denver, these debates are coming to a head after a shooting or other act of violence on campus erodes support.

Many other districts have stayed the course. But with more com -

munities nationwide facing upticks in gun violence, and in a moment with far less political attention being paid to racism and policing,it remains unclear if changes elsewhere will be walked back.

“It makes sense that communities are really struggling following incidents like this — they are traumatic and scary,” said Katherine Dunn of The Advancement Project, a nonprofit that has advocated for the removal of police from schools. Bringing back police can be a quick, visible way for school leaders to demonstrate they are being reactive in a moment of crisis. “Every time this happens,” she said, policing is “the one thing that we know to go back to and try again.”

School leaders, families, students, and community groups have long wrestled with what role police should play in schools.

School shootings have prompted schools to add guards and police in an effort to stop future violence, though their track record is mixed. By 2019, just over half of U.S. schools had at least one armed officer present, according to a federal survey. But having police in school has also been shown to increase arrests and suspensions, with Black students most likely to be arrested at school and less likely

to feel safer when police were around.

According to a tracker compiled by Education Week, at least 50 school districts eliminated school police or significantly reduced their school policing budgets from May 2020 through June 2022, following the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing racial justice protests of 2020.

Denver was one of several school districts that removed or scaled back the presence of school police during that period. The district canceled its contract with the city’s police department and officers were removed from schools by June 2021.

Eight districts ended up bringing back school police, EdWeek found, at least three of which reversed course in response to shootings or the presence of weapons at or near schools.

These debates are often complicated and play out differently depending on the community.

Some in Denver were questioning whether the school district should revisit its relationship with the police even before the tragedy.

In Portland, Oregon, where the school district removed police from schools in 2020, the mayor said in December that talks were in the works to possibly bring officers back after students were shot outside two different high schools.

Montgomery County schools in Maryland brought back police following a shooting at a high school in January 2022 that injured a student.

And Alexandria City schools in Virginia temporarily reinstated police following several student fights and an incident in which a student had a handgun outside the city’s high school. The debate continued after a student was stabbed to death outside the same school. In January, an advisory group ultimately recommended that the district keep police in schools, in part to show families the district was taking those violent incidents seriously.

In those cases, police returned with some new requirements in place. Montgomery County, for example, limited which incidents

police could get involved in, while Alexandria is poised to require that school police receive de-escalation training.

Elsewhere, changes have stuck. In Los Angeles, the district cut its policing budget by more than a third and reinvested that money into an initiative to boost Black student achievement. That includes hiring hundreds of new social workers, counselors, and other staff for schools that enroll large percentages of Black students. Some students have reported feeling more relaxed seeing those mental health staffers on campus instead of police.

“I feel like a big part of their purpose is to help you feel comfortable in your skin,” one 16-year-old student told Capital B.

Still, conversations about the future of school police are ongoing in lots of places. In Washington D.C., where the city has been shrinking its school police force, the mayor tried and failed to reverse the measure last year and is set to try again. In Chicago, decisions are being made at the school level, and 40 schools will decide whether to continue having police on campus in the next few months.

In Denver, the board suspended its policy prohibiting police in schools through the end of June. It also directed the superintendent to engage with students, families, and teachers, and to seek funding for additional mental health staff.

Dunn says while many schools have experimented with removing police, they have a longer way to go to figure out how to staff and fund alternatives to police.

“The systems transformation that is required to actually have schools be safe places — I don’t really see that happening,” she said.

Sarah Darville contributed reporting.

Kalyn Belsha is a national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat. org.

This story is from Chalkbeat Colorado, a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Used by permission. For more, and to support Chalkbeat, visit co.chalkbeat.org.

some space for thoughtful community dialogue,” Aragon said.

FROM PAGE 3

and I’ve never been communicated to in a way where I felt like I was being heard or seen.”

DPS called for a Mental Health Day on March 24.

Aragon said DPS should have utilized the time-off to thoroughly think about the effects of adding armed officers back into schools.

“There’s an opportunity for (Marrero) as a leader to … hold

“That’s been one of the constant refrains and constant issues with him is that opportunities where the community has asked and could benefit from thoughtful community dialogue, the community kind of gets steamrolled and the decisions can feel authoritarian.”

This story is from Denverite, a nonprofit Denver news source affiliated with CPR News. Used by permission. For more, and to support Denverite, visit denverite.com.

Why so many Colorado cars have expired license plates

Situation is widespread

BY PAOLO ZIALCITA COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

eodore Shille was driving home from the grocery store when he noticed something. During the short trip, he passed three cars that had expired temporary license plates or no plates at all.

It wasn’t the rst time he had seen this near his Denver home; a few days before he wrote in to CPR News and asked, “what’s the deal with all the cars driving around without a license plate, or with an expired temporary plate?”

It’s a question that regularly appears on a local Reddit message board.

And it’s something this reporter has seen, as well. When I started looking into this story, I stood at a busy intersection in Westminster near the entrance to U.S. 36 on a Sunday morning to count the number of cars I saw with expired temporary license plates or no plates. Within 10 minutes, I saw 10 cars.

Why are there so many cars on Colorado roads with expired plates?

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, before vaccines were readily available, county Department of Motor Vehicle o ces were closed frequently and experienced supply chain issues for materials needed to make the plates. Could that still be a ecting permanent

license plate turnaround times? Are drivers lax in getting their plates updated, or is something else happening?

According to Adam Wilms, director of vehicle services at the state DMV, that early pandemic slowdown has come and gone.

“You’ll see appointments ranging from same day to, I would say, a max of three or four days out,” he said. But that only covers one aspect of the process to acquire permanent plates. It really begins once someone purchases a vehicle from a dealership.

After all the forms are signed, the dealer has 30 days to forward

the title paperwork to your county DMV o ce for processing. Jessica Ramirez, who manages titles for GoJo Auto in Denver, said this part usually goes smoothly for her, but there are exceptions.

“Every deal’s di erent. I have three right now that aren’t good,” Ramirez said. “Sometimes it’s a trade-in and we pay out the lien and the bank doesn’t send us the title. Or it gets lost in the mail, so I have to wait for a lien release and then get a duplicate title. ere’s lots of things that could delay it.”

e county DMV has 30 days after it receives the title to process the paperwork and send the buyer a “Title

Complete Notice” via mail. Ramirez said she heard from the people she sends paperwork to that there are potential slowdowns there, as well.

Derek Kuhn, a spokesperson for the state DMV, said that all Colorado counties should be caught up on title processing by now, except for one.

“Our team con rmed that Denver County DMV is running behind on processing title paperwork, but we

Tra c on intersate 25 in Denver

COURTESY OF CPR NEWS

‘Our team confirmed that Denver County DMV is running behind on processing title paperwork, but we believe they should be caught up in a couple of weeks.’

Derek Kuhn, spokesperson for the state DMV

around housing in our state,” Gov. Jared Polis told e Colorado Sun. “Absent action, it’s only going to get worse. We absolutely want to move our state in a way where homeownership and rent are more a ordable, and this will help get that done.”

Polis said the bills — one of which is expected to be more than 100 pages long — represent the most ambitious land-use policy changes in Colorado in about 40 years. e policy changes will take years to go into e ect, but the governor said if the state doesn’t act, Colorado could start to look like California, where homes are even less a ordable, and tra c is worse.

“We want to make sure we get ahead of the curve,” he said.

Local government leaders have been wary of the proposals, previewed in the governor’s State of the State address in January, because of how it would restrict their power to create and enforce housing policies.

“Respectfully, get o our lawn,” Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, said at a gathering of local o cials in February when describing negotiations on the legislation with Polis’ o ce.

e organization’s board voted to oppose the land-use bill last week, Bommer said. “CML opposes this sweeping and breathtaking attempt to centralize local land use and zoning policy in the state Capitol, while doing nothing to guarantee a ordability,” Bommer said in a written statement, also calling the measure a

“breathtaking power grab.”

e only Colorado mayor who spoke in support of the bill at a Capitol news conference on March 22 rolling out the legislation was Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett. “ ere’s still some work to be done and I’m sure there’ll be changes hashed out,” he said. “But there is so much at value here.”

e bills are also expected to meet erce pushback from the few Republicans in the legislature, who are in the minority in the House and Senate and have little say over which measures pass or fail.

e measures have been the talk of the Capitol since the 2023 legisla-

A Denver-born, dedicated public servant of nearly 20 years with a proven track record of delivering for Denver residents. Through innovative policies, fiscally responsible decision making, and collaborative problem solving, we will make our city…

GREENER

Increase and diversify public transit options

Prioritize climate change mitigation and promote green jobs

MORE AFFORDABLE

Revise zoning to increase housing supply

Reduce the cost of childcare

MORE PROSPEROUS

Streamline permitting and licensing

Invest in the creative economy and minorityowned businesses

SAFER

Expand alternative interventions to policing

Decrease gang activity with youth engagement programs

My Promise to You

that doesn’t make sense.”

An unanswered question is whether developers will take advantage of the bill, should it pass.

“I think that people are anxious to provide housing,” said J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, which supports the bill. “I don’t think it really is a capital problem in Colorado. It is regulatory and environment. I think the capital will ow because the demand is there.”

e legislation is slated to be formally introduced this week. e measures were described in detail to e Sun by their sponsors and the governor.

e requirements will vary for different parts of the state depending on which of ve categories they fall into based on their population and housing needs. Here’s how the requirements would break down:

Learn More!

tive session began in January, but the details of what’s in the legislation have been under wraps until now. Democrats will have less than two months to pass the bills through the House and Senate before the lawmaking term ends in early May.

e governor’s o ce says the landuse bill was drafted after more than 120 meetings with housing and business experts and local o cials and through research on similar policies passed in other states. Oregon, for instance, passed a law in 2019 requiring cities with a population greater than 1,000 to allow duplexes, while cities with more than 25,000 people must allow townhomes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.

Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat who will be one of the prime sponsors of the land-use bill, said the measure is supposed to prevent some Colorado communities erecting barriers to development while their neighbors sprawl out of control, which can cause gentri cation and water issues.

“We have to do this at the state level because local political pressures are such that it hasn’t been hasn’t been done until now,” Woodrow said.

e measure reshaping land use in Colorado would apply only to municipalities, not counties. e governor’s o ce and the bills’ sponsors believe they can impose policy restrictions on cities and towns because housing is an issue of statewide concern, a position that could be tested in court.

“Research has shown that increasing housing supply, like building units like duplexes and townhomes, can increase a ordability,” Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat and a lead sponsor of the bill, said at a news conference as the bill was unveiled. “Yet these types of housing are often prohibited in many of the communities that need them the most. And

Tier 1, with cities that include: Arvada, Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Broom eld, Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Columbine Valley, Commerce City, Denver, Edgewater, Englewood, Erie, Federal Heights, Glendale, Golden, Greenwood Village, Lafayette, Lakewood, Littleton, Lochbuie, Lone Tree, Longmont, Louisville, Northglenn, Parker, Sheridan, Superior, ornton, Westminster and Wheat Ridge.

Outside of the Denver metro area, Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, Colorado Springs, Fountain, Grand Junction and Pueblo would also be considered Tier 1 cities.

Cities in this category have a population of at least 1,000 and are in a metropolitan planning organization — such as the Denver Regional Council of Governments — with a population greater than 1 million and in a Census Urbanized Area with a population greater than 75,000. Cities with a population greater than 25,000 and in a metropolitan planning organization with a population less than 1 million would also fall into this category.

Tier 1 cities would be most a ected by the land-use bill. ey would be prohibited from restricting duplexes, triplexes and multiplexes up to six units, as well as accessory-dwelling units, sometimes referred to as ADUs or granny ats. ey would also be prohibited from requiring parking tied to those kinds of housing.

ADUs are habitable structures that are on the same property as a house but a separate building, such as an apartment over a garage. Many municipalities across the state restrict where and how they can be built.

Tier 1 cities would also have to allow the construction of multifamily housing near transit centers, which are de ned as the half-mile area around xed-rail stations.Cities wouldn’t be allowed to require new, o -street parking for multifamily homes built

As your City Councillor, I will roll up my sleeves and continue to fight for you, your family, and our city. I humby ask for your vote to be one of your two choices for Denver City Council At-Large.

Workers frame townhomes in Littleton.

DAVID GILBERT

in transit corridors, though developers could provide any amount of parking they feel is needed.

Tier 1 cities would also be subject to development guidelines aimed at promoting housing density and walkable communities around so-called key transit corridors, which are dened as areas within a quarter mile of bus-rapid-transit and high-frequency bus routes.

Finally, Tier 1 cities will also be required to complete a housing needs plan based on a state housing needs assessment, as well as participate in long-term planning to stop sprawl and address environmental concerns, like greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and limited water.

Tier 1 cities have the option of meeting minimum land-use requirements set by the state, which the governor’s o ce refers to as the “ exible option.” If not, they would be forced to adopt a state-developed land-use code.

e state code would be created by Colorado Department of Local A airs regulators at a later date.

Tier 1 cities would have to submit codes compliant with the bill to the state by December 2024. Any Tier 1 cities that don’t meet the minimum standards under the legislation’s so-called “ exible option” would be forced to operate under the model land-use code starting in December 2025.

Tier 2 is next, which includes Dacono, Fort Lupton, Firestone, Frederick, Evans, Berthoud, Johnstown,

Timnath, Eaton, Miliken, Severance and Monument.

ey are de ned as cities in a metropolitan planning organization that have a population of between 5,000 and 25,000 and in a county with a population greater than 250,000.

Tier 2 cities would be prohibited from restricting accessory-dwelling units and parking associated with ADUs, though they would be able to block duplexes, triplexes and multiplexes. ey would also be exempt from provisions around transit centers and corridors.

cities that don’t meet the minimum standards under the legislation’s so-called “ exible option” would be forced to operate under the model land-use code starting in December

Another category is dubbed, Rural Resort Job Centers. is category includes Aspen, Avon, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Dillon, Durango, Frisco, Glenwood Springs, Mountain Village, Silverthorne, Snowmass Village, Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Vail and Winter Park.

Rural resort job centers are de ned as municipalities that have a population of at least 1,000 and at least 1,200 jobs and are outside of a metropolitan planning organization. ey also have regional transit service with at least 20 trips per day.

is category is intended to prompt local governments to work with their surrounding region to address housing shortfalls. e communities would be required to allow ADUs but then have to develop a regional housing needs plan to identify where zoning should happen for duplexes, triplexes and other multiplexes. e communities would also have to work together to boost transit corridors and housing surrounding them.

of housing policies while maintaining some of their own design standards or be forced to adopt a model land-use code that will be created by the state. e speci cs on those two options are not laid out in the bill and would be determined later by state regulators.

“ e goals aren’t as stringent as the (ones for) urban municipalities,” said Moreno.

Rural resort job centers would have to submit land-use codes compliant with the bill to the state by December 2026. Any rural resort job centers that don’t meet the minimum standards under the bill’s exible option would have to operate under the state’s model land-us code starting in June 2027.

Yet another category is called NonUrban Municipalities. Any municipality with a population greater than 5,000 falls into this category — as long as it’s not in another category — including Alamosa, Brush, Cañon City, Carbondale, Cortez, Craig, Eagle, Fort Morgan, Gunnison, La Junta, Lamar, Montrose, Ri e, Sterling, Trinidad and Wellington. Non-urban municipalities would be prohibited from restricting accessory-dwelling units but won’t have requirements around duplexes, triplexes and other multiplexes or transit-oriented development. ey also won’t need to prepare a housing needs plan.

ey would, however, still be required to conduct housing needs assessments and create the same type of long-term housing and sprawl and environmental plans.

“ ere’s often a dynamic in rural areas where people may live in one community but work in another, and because of that the additional exibility is that they can reach agreements with their partner communities to have a more regional approach to some of the goals that are in the bill,” Moreno said.

Tier 2 cities would have to submit codes compliant with the bill to the state by December 2024. Any Tier 1

Like Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, rural resort job centers would have the ability to choose between a minimum level

is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media. (855)

A view of Lone Tree homes from Blu s Regional Park and Trail. PHOTO BY TAYLER SHAW

`Biodiversity keeps the world in check’

versity and natural ecosystems. At the gardens’ Chat eld Farms location in Littleton, there has been a restoration of the creek and “re-wildling” of the area, in addition to a focus on regenerative agriculture.

BY ELICIA HESSELGRAVE SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Dr. Jennifer Neale believes biodiversity “keeps the world turning, keeps our water and air clean and provides a healthy ecosystem.”

“Ecosystems are healthier when they have more species in them,” said Neale, who serves as the director of research and conservation for the Denver Botanic Gardens. “ is biodiversity keeps the world in check.”

Biodiversity is seen when all kingdoms of life are broadly represented by having a variety of species from lots of di erent types of organisms including plants, insects, birds, animals, fungi and bacteria.

“If all (conservation) groups stopped what they are doing, we would see small, slow changes like erosion and toxins along canal systems,” Neale said. “It’ll become gross, polluted and stinky. Fewer plants would grow in these areas because it isn’t being promoted to be healthy.”

e e ect of biodiversity conservation could take years to see noticeable impact, which is why the conservation work now is for future generations.

“ ere are massive extinction events going on,” Neale said. “We may not see it in our lifetime, but hopefully

we’re doing good for the future.”

Working to conserve biodiversity in Colorado

e Denver Botanic Gardens has been doing extensive work to conserve local biodiversity since the 1980s. To start, it has been studying and conserving rare plants in Colorado for more than 40 years.

One e ort is collecting native seeds, and the horticulture team has practiced growing them in case they need to be put back in the wild due to extinction.

But the gardens’ expansive conservation e orts go beyond the limits of

MEDICAID CLIFF SURVIVING THE

the gardens proper. In fact, most of the conservation work is o site.

By documenting plants broadly across the southern Rockies to the Denver metro area, the gardens can determine how healthy a landscape is based on biodiversity in the area. e gardens’ teams conduct an annual census of a few rare species for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so these entities can make informed decisions based on scienti c data of how their management is impacting these species.

e Denver Botanic Gardens has discovered that local biodiversity has varied, with some areas seeing greater or less biodiversity over time.

“A lot has to do with urbanization, so it is important to protect greenways which allow for wildlife and plants to thrive,” said Neale. “A healthy ecosystem is one that does not require human intervention in order to continue.”

A regional conservation program at the Denver Botanic Gardens assesses existing protected areas and the need for action to create wildlife corridors. is program measures areas that are already protected and determines where more wildlife protections are needed to provide a cohesive habitat for wildlife, allowing animals to travel through urban areas without having to interact with people.

e horticulture team at the Denver Botanic Gardens has worked with local municipalities to design sustainable landscapes to support biodiversity. In Lakewood, for example, publicly- owned medians were landscaped using native plants with low water requirements.

e Denver Botanic Gardens even participates in sustainable agriculture by blending agriculture with biodi-

Biodiversity on a global scale

In December, Neale went to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to attend a global conference with a focus on biodiversity. At this conference, called the United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties, various groups had speci c topics where they discussed measurements that will dene milestones and determine when targets and goals have been reached. At this conference, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was nalized, which establishes goals to conserve as much biodiversity as possible. is framework is set up so that all participating countries, regardless of wealth, will have guidelines and resources to support healthy biodiversity. While the U.S. is not an o cial signatory on the GBF, there is plenty that people can do locally to promote biodiversity.

What local residents can do to support Denver’s biodiversity

Biodiversity is seen in Denver’s urban areas. Various trees, birds and reptiles can be found along greenways, open spaces and areas that have been left untouched or abandoned. e High Line Canal is the most commonly used urban greenway in Denver and runs 71 miles from Highlands Ranch to Denver International Airport. According to Neale, the canal includes multiple ecosystems as it spans from a higher elevation to short grass prairie. Denver Botanic Gardens has documented a couple hundred plant species along the Highline Canal.

Plant native plants

“Nonnative plants can have a positive e ect in an ecosystem, but they don’t have as strong of a relationship with the local ecosystem as native plants do,” said Neale.

Nonnative plants have zero connection to the local area’s birds, butteries, ladybugs, bees and other insects because they have not evolved in the same location. According to Neale, plants from di erent areas that are not local to Colorado don’t support the local food chain because they are unfamiliar. Additionally, bees don’t pollinate nonnative plants.

Although native plants are the preferred choice, it is still more important to have a diverse landscape, even if nonnative plants are the only option.

Presented by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Colorado

Sue Janssen of Centennial has transformed her Centennial property to support local biodiversity. Here, native bu alograss has replaced the original bluegrass lawn. COURTESY PHOTO

Denver Botanic Gardens is passionate about biodiversity in Colorado

“A dense array of organisms is the highest priority,” Neale said.

Don’t plant invasive plants

Many invasive plants were brought from Asia and other areas as ornamental plants. Once removed from predators, the plants are able to thrive and take over.

“ ings that go unchecked can be really harmful,” said Neale.

Neale points to the treeline around Grand Lake in Granby.

“ e impact of the mountain pine beetle has been particularly astounding,” Neale said.

Being a Colorado native, Neale has noticed the treeline turn gray due to beetle kill, resulting in dead - potentially re prone - pine trees.

Neale suggests purchasing plants from local garden centers with sta knowledgeable about Coloradospeci c plants that will support local biodiversity.

Take pictures, not things

While enjoying nature, in addition to “leave no trace,” it’s just as important to leave wildlife in nature. When people pick owers or take things home as a souvenir, not only is there less left for others to enjoy, there is an impact on wildlife.

“ ese small acts have long-term impacts on the system,” said Neale.

Taking a rock may seem harmless, but rocks are shelters and habitats to worms and insects. Flowers are where seeds are stored. Every time someone picks a ower, fewer seeds are left to disperse in that area, resulting in less

wild ower reproduction.

Instead of taking objects from nature, Neale suggests to take pictures and actively engage and contribute to science by using the iNaturalist app. Uploading wildlife pictures to the app can help the user identify plants, while making a record of the species. is provides a crowd-sourcing way of tracking global biodiversity and there have even been some new scienti c discoveries made via the app, said Neale.

Get involved

A hands-on way to help local biodiversity is to participate in programs like the Denver EcoFlora project, which encourages participants to pay attention to their environment, learn species names and contribute

to the documentation of biodiversity. In April, a three-day global contest called the City Nature Challenge will take place. is will challenge people in cities across the globe to document the most species. As part of the event, people can join in on hikes and “bioblitzes” hosted by the Denver Botanic Gardens.

`Give your yard over to nature’

Another way to get involved in biodiversity conservation is to become a volunteer at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Sue Janssen of Centennial was an aerospace engineer and wanted to keep the science side of her brain active after retiring, she said. So in 2016, she became a weekly volunteer. As a volunteer, Janssen does

some eld work but primarily helps in the herbarium, supporting botanists by collecting and processing plant specimens.

e knowledge Janssen has gained from volunteering has helped her have a better understanding of how to manage her own land. With time, her property has become a sanctuary for local wildlife and an environment that supports local biodiversity.

“Give your yard over to nature,” Janssen said. “Nurture it and change the world.”

is is something Janssen learned from Doug Tallamay’s book, “Bringing Nature Home.”

It is too expensive to regularly irrigate the two-acre property, so Janssen and her husband removed the bluegrass lawn and replaced it with bu alograss, which is a native grass. Now they only have to mow their yard twice a year. ey also planted an orchard of apple, peach, plum and cherry trees, as well as wild owers and other native grasses.

e property has become home to many wildlife species including various birds, raccoons, muskrats, foxes, coyotes, deer and bunnies. Since changing the landscape, Janssen has noticed an increase in birds, which is directly related to a higher accessibility of food: fruit growing on trees and insects from host plants with visiting moths and butter ies, for example. Janssen has even seen new plants growing, including a clump of native bluestem grass.

Janssen encourages others to join in her quest to support local biodiversity.

“If everyone planted one native plant in their yard, it could transform the city.”

Sue Janssen examines a native fern specimen. Janssen has been a weekly volunteer at the Denver Botanic Gardens since 2016 and primarily helps in the herbarium .

End of COVID emergency to usher in health system change

White House sets May cuto

BY RACHANA PRADHAN KAISER HEALTH NEWS

e Biden administration’s decision to end the COVID-19 public health emergency in May will institute sweeping changes across the health care system that go far beyond many people having to pay more for COVID tests.

In response to the pandemic, the federal government in 2020 suspended many of its rules on how care is delivered. at transformed essentially every corner of American health care — from hospitals and nursing homes to public health and treatment for people recovering from addiction.

Now, as the government prepares to reverse some of those steps, here’s a glimpse at ways patients will be affected:

e end of the emergency means nursing homes will have to meet higher standards for training workers.

Advocates for nursing home residents are eager to see the old, tougher training requirements reinstated, but the industry says that move could worsen sta ng shortages plaguing facilities nationwide.

In the early days of the pandemic, to help nursing homes function under the virus’s onslaught, the federal government relaxed training require-

ments. e Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services instituted a national policy saying nursing homes needn’t follow regulations requiring nurse aides to undergo at least 75 hours of state-approved training. Normally, a nursing home couldn’t employ aides for more than four months unless they met those requirements.

Last year, CMS decided the relaxed training rules would no longer apply nationwide, but states and facilities could ask for permission to be held to the lower standards. As of March, 17 states had such exemptions, according to CMS — Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington — as did 356 individual nursing homes in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.

Nurse aides often provide the most direct and labor-intensive care for residents, including bathing and other hygiene-related tasks, feeding, monitoring vital signs, and keeping rooms clean. Research has shown that nursing homes with sta ng instability maintain a lower quality of care.

Advocates for nursing home residents are pleased the training exceptions will end but fear that the quality of care could nevertheless

deteriorate. at’s because CMS has signaled that, after the looser standards expire, some of the hours that nurse aides logged during the pandemic could count toward their 75 hours of required training. On-the-job experience, however, is not necessarily a sound substitute for the training workers missed, advocates argue.

Adequate training of aides is crucial so “they know what they’re doing before they provide care, for their own good as well as for the residents,” said Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

e American Health Care Association, the largest nursing home lobbying group, released a December survey  nding that roughly 4 in 5 facilities were dealing with moderate to high levels of sta shortages.

A looming rollback of broader access to buprenorphine, an important medication for people in recovery from opioid addiction, is alarming patients and doctors.

During the public health emergency, the Drug Enforcement Administration said providers could prescribe certain controlled substances virtually or over the phone without rst conducting an in-person medical evaluation. One of those drugs, buprenorphine, is an opioid that can prevent debilitating withdrawal symptoms for people trying to recover from addiction to other opioids. Research has shown using it more than halves the risk of overdose.

Amid a national epidemic of opioid addiction, if the expanded policy for buprenorphine ends, “thousands of people are going to die,” said Ryan Hampton, an activist who is in recovery.

e DEA in late February proposed regulations that would partly roll back the prescribing of controlled substances through telemedicine. A clinician could use telemedicine to order an initial 30-day supply of medications such as buprenorphine, Ambien, Valium, and Xanax, but patients would need an in-person evaluation to get a re ll.

For another group of drugs, including Adderall, Ritalin, and oxycodone, the DEA proposal would institute tighter controls. Patients seeking those medications would need to see a doctor in person for an initial prescription.

David Herzberg, a historian of drugs at the University at Bu alo, said the DEA’s approach re ects a fundamental challenge in developing drug policy: meeting the needs of people who rely on a drug that can be abused without making that drug too readily available to others.

e DEA, he added, is “clearly seriously wrestling with this problem.”

During the pandemic, CMS has tried to limit problems that could arise if there weren’t enough health care workers to treat patients — especially before there were COVID vaccines when workers were at greater risk of getting sick.

For example, CMS allowed hospitals to make broader use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants when caring for Medicare patients. And new physicians not yet credentialed to work at a particular hospital — for example, because governing bodies

lacked time to conduct their reviews — could nonetheless practice there.

Other changes during the public health emergency were meant to shore up hospital capacity. Critical access hospitals, small hospitals located in rural areas, didn’t have to comply with federal rules for Medicare stating they were limited to 25 inpatient beds and patients’ stays could not exceed 96 hours, on average.

Once the emergency ends, those exceptions will disappear.

Hospitals are trying to persuade federal o cials to maintain multiple COVID-era policies beyond the emergency or work with Congress to change the law.

e way state and local public health departments monitor the spread of disease will change after the emergency ends, because the Department of Health and Human Services won’t be able to require labs to report COVID testing data.

Without a uniform, federal requirement, how states and counties track the spread of the coronavirus will vary. In addition, though hospitals will still provide COVID data to the federal government, they may do so less frequently.

Public health departments are still getting their arms around the scope of the changes, said Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.

In some ways, the end of the emergency provides public health o cials an opportunity to rethink COVID surveillance. Compared with the pandemic’s early days, when at-home tests were unavailable and people relied heavily on labs to determine whether they were infected, testing data from labs now reveals less about how the virus is spreading.

Public health o cials don’t think “getting all test results from all lab tests is potentially the right strategy anymore,” Hamilton said. Flu surveillance provides a potential alternative model: For in uenza, public health departments seek test results from a sampling of labs.

“We’re still trying to work out what’s the best, consistent strategy. And I don’t think we have that yet,” Hamilton said.

Kaiser Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues.

Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at Kaiser Family Foundation. KFF is an endowed nonpro t organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

COVID is still present as health o cials look at next steps. SHUTTERSTOCK

Thu 4/06

Cooking with Elle @ 3pm

Apr 6th - Apr 27th

Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

Tue 4/11

Casino - Bally's @ 12:45pm

Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

Colony House @ 6pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

Little Image @ 6pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Phat Daddy @ 7pm

Q's Pub and Grill, 10133 W Chat‐�eld Ave, Littleton

Wendy Clark Band: Wendy Clark at The Englewood @ 7pm

The Englewood Tavern, 4386 S Broadway, Englewood

A Flock of Seagulls & Strangelove-The DEPECHE

MODE Experience at Parker Arts PACE Center @ 6:30pm

Parker Arts, Culture & Events Cen‐ter, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker

Anavrin's Day: Tailgate Tavern Main Stage @ 7:30pm

Tailgate Tavern & Grill, 19552 Mainstreet, Parker

Tony Medina Music: The Open Mic at The Alley @ 5:30pm

The Alley, 2420 W Main St, Little‐ton

Wed 4/12

Ladies Night @ 5pm / $10

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

DJ Rockstar Aaron: Forbidden Bingo at 'Bout Time Pub & Grub @ 7pm Bout Time Pub & Grub, 3580 S Platte River Dr A, Sheridan

Thu 4/13

Teague Starbuck @ 5pm Modern Brew - Kitchen, Coffee, Bar, 8221 S Holly St, Centennial

WHL U.S. Development

Combine: Denver - GOALIE @ 11pm / $399

Apr 6th - Apr 9th

South Suburban Family Sports Center, 6901 South Peoria St, Centennial. 888-844-6611 ext. 3354

Diego Figueiredo

@ 11pm

Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S Allison Pkwy, Lakewood

Flag Football:Adult FREE AGENTSThurs-Coed Female-Spring 23 @ 11:30pm

Apr 6th - Jun 22nd

Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr, Parker

Fri 4/07

Quilting- Beginner @ 2pm Apr 7th - Jun 16th

Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

Anavrin's Day: Tailgate Tavern

Main Stage @ 7:30pm

Tailgate Tavern & Grill, 19552 Mainstreet, Parker

Sat 4/08

Boogie T @ 10:30pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

Sun 4/09

Colorado Country Dance Social @ 6pm / $10

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Bunny Trails at Belmar @ 10am / Free

Belmar, 7337 West Alaska Drive, Lakewood. janet@see-janetwork.com, 303-815-3504

Science: The Ancient Norse (612yrs) @ 2:30pm

PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker

Love and Theft live w/ Woodland Park @ 6pm Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia

Dave Mensch - Tailgate Tavern - Parker, CO @ 11am

Tailgate Tavern & Grill, 19552 Mainstreet, Parker

Brad Williams @ 6:30pm

Comedy Works South, 5345 Land‐mark Pl, Greenwood Village Music City Hit-Makers; From Nashville with Strings @ 6:30pm

Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St, Lone Tree

powered by

Support for SROs

EDITOR’S COLUMN

Over the last few years, the idea of defunding the police was tied to the idea that we would have better outcomes with depleted law enforcement resources. While I am continually in support of more training, continued discussions when an incident happens and departments evolving for the better with education — I was never on the defund any local law enforcement messaging.

In all the calls for defunding police, an area that likely got caught up unfairly in the discussions was school resource o cers. In 2020, local news reports called for removing SROs in light of a national anger at law enforcement in some Denver metro schools.

Here we are years later and regular crime at a Denver metro high school has gotten so bad that even students at East High School staged a protest to ask for better.

As discussions continued, several have now admitted that the idea of SROs doing more harm than good was a bit misguided.

Before becoming a parent, I worked with SROs in Arizona on a regular basis. I loved working with these o cers. I loved seeing them work with students. ey truly cared about a student having a bad day. ey understand the need to communicate and spend extra time with students who are obviously going through a rough time.

For other students who may have taken rst in a track meet or won the spelling bee — these SROs are some of the biggest cheerleaders in the school.

I loved how receptive these students are to the SROs. ey serve as security, counselor, mentor and friend. ey can spot a student who may be posing a threat to the school based on changed behavior and habits.

Now, I am a parent. As a parent, knowing what I know from my days as a journalist doing a “ride-along” with police, I would never push to take SROs out of schools.

ese men and women are some of the best members of our communities. ey likely have more knowledge of what is happening with students in our schools because they are trained to do so. I do not think I have ever met an SRO who does not like their job. ey are good at their jobs because they love their jobs.

When I see an SRO at a local school, I never think of unneeded authority. I automatically think my kids are likely getting great mentorship from an adult who is trained to protect them and advocate for them.

I believe all of our local school districts should look to bring in more SROs, and frankly, given the state of mental health with our children, especially here in Colorado, another set of eyes, an extra advocate for our children can only be a positive thing.

I hate that negative publicity has hurt these people who are great additions to our education system and I hope, given some recent discussions, they get back on track and in full force in schools.

Just to give a shout out to other community aspects of our local law enforcement — In Douglas County I have taken a class in how to survive in case of a mass shooting. Brian McKnight, prevention specialist/community resources, taught me to sit a certain way in a building. I look around for exits, I look for weapons — I look at how I will survive. ese programs are unfortunately welcome and needed.

I did a ride-along with the Community Response Team in Douglas County. In watching Deputy Zach Zepeski in one day – I was amazed at the di erence he and his team makes in the daily lives of our citizens.

Law enforcement is not just about writing tickets and drawing a gun. From citizen academies, training sessions and community support — I say don’t be so quick to put them down, and instead experience and be a part of the good they o er.

elma Grimes is the south metro editor for Colorado Community Media.

Since

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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

THELMA GRIMES South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Adding value through relatable life experiences

Robin was one of the newest and youngest members of the team attending the training session. As the facilitator shared ideas, strategies and tactics for dealing with the various situations that the team may encounter, she found herself really leaning in to try and absorb and retain as much as she possibly could. It was harder for her because other than a few part-time jobs and her education experiences, Robin could only image some of the scenarios as they were being

Sean was in the same training session, and although new to the company, he had many years of experience in the industry. Since he had been in the industry for so many years, he had a lot of knowledge that others in the training class had lacked. Sean also brought with him so many relatable life and work experiences, making it easy to connect the concepts being taught to his job function.

During an exercise the facilitator paired the newest person with the most experienced person to go through the exercises together during the training. at meant that Robin, the new college graduate, was partnered with Sean, the most tenured person in the training. Initially both Robin and Sean felt uncomfortable about the pairing. Sean believed he would learn nothing from someone so young and inexperienced and that

CHRISTY STEADMAN Editor csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

he would have to do most of the work. Robin was intimidated at rst and just wished that she would have been paired with someone closer to her own age. By the end of the training Robin and Sean were working and collaborating so well. At the end of the day the facilitator asked for lessons learned from the training. Robin shared that although Sean was much more experienced, that his willingness to share information and connect real-world stories to the exercises helped her to connect the dots better to the concepts being taught. And Sean shared that although he believed that his young counterpart could ever teach, “ is old dog any new tricks,” that Robin’s natural curiosity taught him that he certainly did not know it all and it reminded him of the need to be more curious himself.

I don’t know about you but I get to experience this very thing every day. Our own team is made up of some very young, incredibly bright, extremely driven, and curious team members. We are also blessed with, let’s just say, a little more gray than the rest of the team and lots of lessons learned over the years. And we have others on the team somewhere along their own career and life journey that bring so much to the team in the way of critical thinking, wonderful experience, and knowledge.

What makes our team meetings work so well is that those of us who have been around for a while appreciate the new thinking and insights that those just coming into the business are bringing to

SEE NORTON, P13

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Herald-Dispatch. We welcome letters to the editor. Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.

Denver Herald-Dispatch (ISSN 1542-5797)(USPS 241-760) A legal newspaper of general

Thelma Grimes

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Let’s vote green: No on 2O Welcome to Colorful Colorado. People visit and move to Colorado envisioning bountiful nature and green space. Denver, the “Queen City of the Rockies,” was once considered the “city in a park” because of its tree-lined streets and its large parks. I cannot say that I recognize that Denver anymore. e concrete-covered built environment has grown exponentially, and the tree canopy and parks necessary to maintain the title of “city in a park” have not kept pace.

Denver has 6% designated green space. is amount of green space is behind even that of our largest cities, which have an average of 1525%. Even dense New York City has set aside 14%.

How can this small amount of green space be considered adequate for our health and quality of life? It is critical that we preserve the little bit of unpaved green space we have left.

is includes Park Hill Golf Course, which will be voted on this April 4.

e conservation easement on the property prohibits development forever on the full 155 acres. Once one parcel of land protected as open space or park land is rezoned, other green spaces become fair

NORTON

each situation or opportunity. And I watch in awe as the seasoned veterans share their wisdom through role plays the new thinking and insights that those just coming into the business are bringing to each situation or opportunity. And I watch in awe as the seasoned veterans share their wisdom through role plays and pressure testing ideas while the younger team members really pay attention. We are all learning from one another regardless of age or experience.

When we do not know what we

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules:

• Email your letter to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com. Do not send via postal mail. Put the words “letter to the editor” in the email subject line.

• Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Wednesday in order to have it considered for publication in the following week’s newspaper.

• Letters must be no longer than 400 words.

• Letters should be exclusively submitted to Colorado Community Media and should not submitted to other outlets or previously posted on websites or social media. Submitted letters become the property of CCM and should not be republished elsewhere.

• Letters advocating for a political candidate should focus on that candidate’s qualifications for o ce. We cannot publish letters that contain unverified negative information about a candidate’s opponent. Letters advocating for or against a political candidate or ballot issue will not be published within 12 days of an election.

game. So, what happens to the park down the street the next time a developer eyes it?

It is true that Denver needs affordable housing — just not on protected green space. If the city felt affordable housing was so important, why did it not intervene to prevent citizens from being displaced from their a ordable homes? e city did not regulate and prevent large real estate companies, developers and investors from buying out citizens’ homes in order to resell them for double or triple the price.

Now that we have displaced many who lived in a ordable homes, we are using the sympathy card to allow the taking of open space allegedly on their behalf. Sadly, that housing will be of a far lesser size and quality than the original housing from which citizens moved.

e new and denser housing and reduced open space will mean adding more heat and pollution to an area that su ers more than any other part of the city from these problems. Denver’s air quality was considered the worst in the world in 2021 and its ozone status is currently classi ed as “severe” by the Environmental Protection Agency. ere are alternative locations for housing. ere are few for green space.

do not know, it’s a best practice to stop pretending to be a no-it-all. And that’s something I will also brag on my team about, no one is afraid to ask for help. Our team culture is to be there for one another and help in any way that we can, respecting that everyone on the team brings relatable life experiences regardless of age. It’s about who they are and what they bring that matters most. How about you and your team? Is everyone valued and respected for what they bring to the opportunities and meetings? Is everyone learning to be more curious and instead of telling, asking better questions? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when

Please Vote No on 2O and uphold the conservation easement on the former Park Hill Golf Course.

Alexandra Lansing, Denver

2O will bring a ordable homes to Park Hill is April 4, if Denver votes yes on Ballot Measure 2O, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver and Elevation Community Land Trust will have a rare opportunity to build over 300 a ordable for-sale homes in the Park Hill neighborhood.

ese homes will provide stable, permanent homeownership for families — homes where their children will grow up, where they will share meals and great memories, and where they will build roots and generational wealth.

Westside Investment Partners has agreed to donate 7.8 acres of the former Park Hill Golf Course land to our two nonpro ts to build these homes. e land will go into a land trust, making these homes permanently a ordable for residents. We’ve seen other publications value the worth of the easement exclusively on the land, applying a value of $3.5M per acre. If an equivalent standard is applied, the value of the land to our organizations is approximately $26,000,000 — a substantial

we can openly talk about, share, and learn from one another’s life experiences, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a

contribution that we as a ordable housing developers recognize as transformational.

When we consider the power of a ordable homeownership, we think of families like Arthur and Gianna — natives of north Denver whose rental house has aging xtures and old windows that let in the elements year-round. Gianna says that stability is what excites her most about moving into their new Habitat home this spring. “It’s the little things I look forward to,” she says. “Cooking for my mom. Hosting friends and family. Seeing my kids grow up with plenty of space.”

Owning an a ordable home has immediate bene ts for families like Arthur and Gianna — and it also has ripple e ects for generations. is is the power of what we do every day at Habitat and Elevation — and this is what we have the opportunity to build with ballot measure 2O.

A vote against 2O does not ensure that a ordable housing can be built somewhere else in Park Hill. We can be certain, however, that an affordable housing project of this size may never happen again in Denver.

Heather La erty is the CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. Stefka Fanchi is CEO of Elevation Community Land Trust.

personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

• Publication of any given letter is at our discretion. Letters are published as space is available.

• We will edit letters for clarity, grammar, punctuation and length and write headlines (titles) for letters at our discretion.

• Please don’t send us more than one letter per month. First priority for publication will be given to writers who have not submitted letters to us recently.

• Submit your letter in a Word document or in the body of an email. No PDFs or Google Docs, please.

• Include your full name, address and phone number. We will publish only your name and city or town of residence, but all of the information requested is needed for us to verify you are who you say you are.

• Letters will be considered only from people living in Colorado Community Media’s circulation area in Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Je erson and Weld counties.

• Do not use all caps, italics or bold text.

• Keep it polite: No name calling or “mudslinging.”

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Familiar places see challenges

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

LATE-NIGHT

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

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

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

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

LATE-NIGHT SPOTS

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

• Alvarado’s Mexican Fast Food

4901 S. Broadway in Englewood, a couple blocks north of Belleview Avenue Open 24/7 720-664-9260

• Tamale Kitchen

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

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

• Taco Star

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

day night, according to the diner’s webpage.

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

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

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

‘All walks of life’

Bishop, the owner of the north-

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

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

“ ere’s still 11 p.m. (movie) showings, so people going home at 1 or 2. We get a lot of nightshift workers, people who are going to work at 4 in the morning, a lot of construction workers bringing burritos to their coworkers,” Bishop said. “It’s a little mixed — people of all walks of life going out for entertainment, getting o of work late. Just a variety of di erent people out and about.”

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

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

Open 24/7 303-288-9228 for Thornton location

• Tacos Los Compas

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

Open 24/7 720-328-0299

• Tacos Rapidos

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

Open 24/7

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

• Pete’s Kitchen

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

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

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

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

PHOTOS BY ELLIS ARNOLD

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

Engineer tells Nebraska Colorado has right to South Platte River flow

BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado’s state water engineer has a message for the Nebraska o cials doubling down on their commitment to a $567 million canal across the border:

You can build it, but the water may not come.

Colorado state engineer Kevin Rein acknowledges a historic compact gives Nebraska the right to build the canal at the South Platte River west of Julesburg. But in a ve-page response to Nebraska’s rst o cial evaluation of the plan, tacking closely to the direction set by Colorado’s attorney general, Rein says the actual water Nebraska is counting on may never show up.

e Nebraska report by an engineering rm makes multiple assumptions that Colorado disputes, in particular whether the water will be “physically available, or whether it’s legally available at the time when it’s physically available,” Rein said in an interview.

e Nebraska study “does not adequately consider future development” by Colorado of water in the upper section of the South Platte, a stretch running back from Washington County all the way up through Greeley, Boulder County and Denver, Rein’s letter says. e compact

doesn’t give Nebraska any say over how much upper section water Colorado can use from the South Platte or how much water must be available at a key river gauge at Balzac, a ghost town near Brush.

Other failings of the study, Rein adds, include relying on lower section ows of irrigation water returning to the river that Nebraska

doesn’t have a right to; not accounting for diversion rights at Julesburg Reservoir; and ignoring that the canal would be iced over and unable to deliver water across the border during some of the time Nebraska has a right to take it, from October to April.

Nevertheless, Nebraska is itching to start.

Nebraska is in talks to option or buy up land around Julesburg and to the west for canal construction, Rein said. Grassed-over scars of Nebraska’s un nished attempt at a Perkins Canal in the late 1800s are visible across northeastern Colorado.

Colorado takes pains in its o cial response to say it has always honored a 1923 compact with Nebraska on how the South Platte operates, and always will. e letter, with extensive input from the Colorado Attorney General’s O ce, is not meant to be a hard “no,” Rein said.

e engineering formulas and legalese are meant to say, “ ere may be things that you didn’t consider, that will reduce the amount of water you’ll be able to yield,” Rein said.

Nebraska surprised Colorado and Western water watchers in early 2022 with a revival of the ancient Perkins County Canal plan. (Perkins County is on the Nebraska side of the border, though the canal may or may not actually run through it.)

Nebraska’s governor warned Colorado had plans to use up all available South Platte River water before it left the state just northeast of Julesburg, and that the only way for Nebraska to secure its rights was a $500 million canal allowed in the compact.

Nebraska needs the water for its agriculture-based economy and for recreation, state o cials said. e state’s legislature quickly agreed, and voted to launch engineering studies and start setting aside money for eventual construction.

A year ago, Rein and the o ce of Gov. Jared Polis said they hadn’t heard many details of the canal plan directly from Nebraska engineers.

e Nebraska consultants’ report was delivered to the state legislature

in late December.

“Nebraska stands to lose the water supply that provides bene ts to its residents if it does not build the project,” the study concludes. If begun in earnest in 2023, the report estimates, the canal could be owing by 2033.

At the 500 cubic feet per second rate the canal has a compact-codied right to draw from the Colorado side of the South Platte, the project would deliver about 78,400 acrefeet to Nebraska in an average year for irrigation and storage, the study says. By comparison, Denver Water’s Dillon Reservoir in Summit County can hold 257,000 acre-feet of water. (An acre-foot provides a foot of irrigation water to one acre for a season or supplies two to four typical city households for a year.)

If expected Colorado river development projects take away 50% of the current remaining supply in the South Platte, the study adds, the canal could still deliver 69,900 acre-feet to Nebraska each year. e water could support 1.6 million irrigated acres in Nebraska and bolster municipal supply to faster-growing eastern cities such as Omaha and Lincoln.

Total economic bene ts from the project would range from $698 million to $754 million, an enticing payo for the $567 million project cost, the study adds.

Part of the study’s optimism about how much Colorado water it can get stem from a disagreement over the extent of climate change. Colorado forecasters and engineers predict continuing heavy impacts on the South Platte Basin from an ongoing drought and temperature and snowpack pressures. Nebraska studies “ nd more moderate temperature changes and even stabilized precipitation patterns” for the lower section of the river, the Nebraska report said.  Nebraska’s Deputy Director of Natural Resources Jesse Bradley said the Colorado state engineer’s letter fails to account for the fact that the Nebraska supply study “used a conservative approach.” Bradley’s email attached a photo from near Julesburg showing strong river ow on March 14.

“Even assuming that ows entering the lower section are zero, there will still be signi cant ows available for the canal,” Bradley wrote. Bradley said his photo showed South Platte River ow at the state line near Julesburg was 260 cubic feet per second on a day Nebraska would have the right to divert, even though ows were near zero at the gauge dividing the river’s upper section from the lower section.

“In addition, this does not account for the many junior Colorado recharge projects in the lower section that are currently diverting, but would be curtailed to meet Nebraska’s demand,” he added.

“We have not had the opportunity to discuss the letter with Kevin (Rein) and hope to do so in the future,” Bradley said.

e Colorado response letter on

Jordan Harman is gathering the macroinvertebrate from the South Platte River for testing the water quality.

PHOTO BY BELEN WARD

‘Carousel’ wrapping up its run

Rodgers and Hart’s “Carousel” is presented by Performance Now eater Company through April 2 at Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway. Performances: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

ink: “If I Loved You,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” ... 303-987-7845, Lakewood.org/ LCCPresents.

Englewood concert

Cellist Silver Ainomae will return to Hampden Hall in the Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway, at 2 p.m. on April 8 for an Englewood Arts Presents concert in the “Chamber Music

SOUTH PLATTE

future water supply does not include an extensive environmental analysis of the canal’s impacts. But previous studies have warned canal engineers may never overcome the South Platte flow requirements of the Endangered Species Act. The Nebraska report says the canal may actually improve conditions satisfying a 2006 interstate pact to support South Platte wetlands wildlife, but doesn’t explain how taking more water out before the Nebraska border would achieve that end.

Nebraska officials have said in some conversations they feel a canal could be completed within four years, said Joel Schneekloth, a regional water resource specialist at Colorado State University. But the likely litigation over EPA environmental impact rules alone could drag on for years, Schneekloth added.

Nonprofits and water agencies along both the North and South extensions of the Platte River, and the mainstem after they meet 90 miles east of Julesburg, have

fought for decades over providing enough water and habitat for whooping cranes. Northern Water in Colorado started planning the two-reservoir Northern Integrated Supply Project in the early 2000s, and only in late 2022 received its

final federal permit, Schneekloth said. That project faces still more opposition lawsuits.

South Platte River environmental issues will “come into play, and that’s going to be an issue that will be adjudicated,” he said.

In prepared remarks at a January water congress, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser listed many reasons why the Nebraska canal is “Stated simply . . . both unwise and unlikely.”

Schneekloth, as well as water experts on the Nebraska side of the border, agree with the Colorado engineer’s pointed questions about where exactly Nebraska can find the water to fill the canal.

With low off-season flow and all the senior water rights diversions

of the Masters” series. englewoodarts. org or ebertoluzzi@hotmail.com.

Colorado Wind Ensemble

Colorado Wind Ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. on May 5 at the King Center on the Auraria Campus, 855 Lawrence Way. With special guest trombonists Dr. Jonathan Whitaker from the University of Alabama and Dr. Peter Ellefson from Indiana University. e CWE has openings for bassoon and percussion. See website for audition information: coloradowindensemble.org.

Zikr Dance

e Zikr Dance Ensemble is touring with “Mysteries, Rites and Revelations” and the premiere of “Mobile.” Performances locally: April 2 — Lone Tree Arts Center; April 11 — High-

allowed above the Nebraska canal spot, Schneekloth said, “we’re starting out with basically a dry river at that point.”

While the Nebraska legislature moves forward, they’re hearing from local academics who are similarly skeptical.

“There are a lot of senior users in the basin who would basically be able to take the water, so I’m not even sure legally if this canal would really be able to appropriate water out of the South Platte,” an appropriations committee heard in 2022 from Anthony Schutz, a University of Nebraska associate law professor, according to Nebraska public radio.

Nebraska officials said in their response email to The Colorado Sun that they have “discussed alternatives” to the canal with Colorado that would allow their state to divert South Platte water in a different location that would reduce any impact to Colorado landowners.

“That alternative was dismissed by Colorado, as they indicated they would not recognize Nebraska Compact rights unless the diversion is located” southwest of Julesburg and the tiny hamlet of Ovid.

As for Nebraska shrinking from the implications of the Colorado engineer’s hydrology-questioning letter, Schneekloth is not expecting surrender.

“They’re dead serious about this,” he said.

This story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com.

e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

The cast of “Carousel.”

COURTESY OF RDGPHOTOGRAPHY

SONYA’S SAMPLER

SEE CAROUSEL, P19

lands Ranch Southridge Recreation Center; April 14-15 — Lakewood Cultural Center. See zikrdance.com.

College gallery

Colorado Gallery of the Arts at Arapahoe Community College, 5900 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, is holding an Artist Invitational through May 5: Works by Andrea Gordon, Cindy Young, Amber Seegmiller, Jodee Sweets, Anthony Snyder, Sisel Lan, Mary Murphy, Nicole Hartman, Z.A. Handler, Amy Mower. Gallery hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; ursdays until 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 8, noon to 3 p.m.

Miners Alley

“I Hate Hamlet” by Paul Rudnick plays through April 23 at Miners Alley Playhouse, 1224 Washington Ave., Golden. Directed by Rory Pierce. Tickets: $44 to $56. Performances: 7:30 p.m. ursday, Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. MinersAlley.com.

For the ladies

Mark your calendar: LOST (Ladies Only Sample Tour) in Littleton on May 18. More later. See ladiesonlysampletour.com.

Curious Theatre

“Amerikin” by Chisa Hutchinson plays at Curious eatre, 1080 Acoma St., Denver through April 15. Directed by Jada Suzanne Dixon. 303-6230524, curioustheatre.org.

Creativity summit

Colorado Creative Industries Summit for 2023 will draw more than 300 Colorado creatives from more than 65 cities and towns to Crested

Butte this summer for two days to be announced soon. Contact Colorado Creative Industries. Early bird pricing through March. Dates to be rmed up very soon. See oedit.colorado. gov/colorado-creative-industriessummit.

ACC benefit

Mark the calendar again! Arapahoe Community College will hold its “Wine, Art and Design” bene t in Littleton, at ACC Art and Design Center, 24oo W. Alamo Ave., from 6:30 to 9 p.m. See arapahoe.edu/foundationevents.

Lone Tree

Tunes on the Terrace at Lone Tree Arts Center has ticket packages available for June 23: Six One Five Collective; July 7: e Hot Lunch Band; July 21, 8 p.m.: Pink Martini, featuring China Forbes; August 4: Face Vocal Band. All performances will take place. If moved to the Main Stage, patrons will be noti ed via email on the day of the performance. All outdoor seats have a corresponding seat in the Main Stage theater in case of inclement weather. No cancellations within 72 hours of the performance. See lonetreeartscenter.org.

Curtis Center

Curtis Center for the Arts, 2349 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village, continues with Month of Photography through May 6. Works by Ben Cooper and Jaime Belkind-Gerson are exhibited. Open Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Arvada Center

“Damn Yankees” will play at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., from April 7 through May 7. Tickets start at $53. 720-898-7200, arvadacenter.org.

TURN TO THE COLORADO SUN FOR NEWS ACROSS THE STATE

The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself.

In this way, The Sun contributes to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado.

The Sun, launched in 2018, is committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. It covers everything

from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education.

Now, The Colorado Sun co-owns this and other Colorado Community Media newspapers as a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy. The Sun is CCM’s partner for statewide news.

For Colorado Sun stories, opinions and more, and to support The Sun’s misssion as a member or subscriber, visit coloradosun.com.

Market Place

Classifieds

Misc. Notices

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

Merchandise

Miscellaneous

Safe Step. North America’s #1 Walk-in tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-the-line installation and service.

Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time!

Financing available. 1-855-4171306

MobileHelp, America’s premier mobile medical alert system. Whether you’re home or away. For safety & peace of mind. No long term contracts! Free brochure! 1-888489-3936

Become a published author. We want to read your book! Dorrance Publishing trusted since 1920. Consultation, production, promotion & distribution. Call for free author`s guide 1-877-729-4998 or visit dorranceinfo.com/ads

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

Free high speed internet if qualified. Govt. pgm for recipients of select pgms incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet. Android tablet free w/one-time $20 copay. Free shipping. Call Maxsip Telecom!

1-833-758-3892

Inflation is at 40 year highs

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

1-877-592-3616

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

Switch and save up to $250/yr on talk, text & data. No contract or hidden fees. Unlimited talk & text with flexible data plans. Premium nationwide coverage. 100% U.S. based customer service. Limited time get $50 off any new account. Use code GIFT50.

1-855-903-3048

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

Service

enforced by garnishment or seizure of property.

5)

Legals

NOTICE IS HEREBY

by the Denver Rock

Metropolitan District, City and County of Denver, Colorado, that at or after the close of business on the sixty-third day before the election to be conducted on May 2, 2023, there were not more candidates for director than offices to be filled, including candidates filing affidavits of intent to be write-in candidates; therefore, the election was canceled pursuant to Section 1-13.5-513,

Dated this 6th day of March, 2023.

Gray & Associates, L.L.P.

Attorneys for Plaintiff

By: William N. Foshag

State Bar No. 1020417

Case No. 22-CV-008196

16345 West Glendale Drive New Berlin, WI 53151-2841 (414) 224-1987

Gray & Associates, L.L.P. is attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. If you have previously received a discharge in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, this communication should not be construed as an attempt to hold you personally liable for the debt.

Legal Notice No. 82122

First Publication: March 16, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Misc. Private Legals

PUBLIC NOTICE

Date: March 30, 2023

6) 1998 Coachman motorhome A24331

7) 1995 Fleetwood motorhome A16147

Legal Notice No. 82137

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Notice to Creditors

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of BENITO A. RUYBAL, aka BENITO ANTONIO RUYBAL, aka BENITO RUYBAL, aka ANTONIO RUYBAL, aka TONY RUYBAL, Deceased Case No.: 2023PR30223

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 17, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Stuart J. Ruybal, Personal Representative 1245 S. Simms St. Lakewood, CO 80232

Kristie Buckley, Personal Representative c/o Wade Ash, LLC 5251 DTC Parkway, Suite 825 Denver, CO 80111

Legal Notice No. 82147

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of STANLEY RAVINE, ALSO KNOWN AS STAN RAVINE, Deceased Case Number: 23PR30216

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 31, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Blake Pilgreen, also known as Warren Blake Pilgreen Personal Representative 17058 E. Carr Avenue Parker, CO 80134

Legal Notice No. 82139

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

formerly known as Tricia Haynes Foltz 434 Elm Street Denver, CO 80220

Legal Notice No. 82132

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: April 6, 2023 Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS:

Estate of Samuel M. Webb, aka Samuel Webb, Jr., aka Samuel McHugh Webb, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31667

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 30, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Samuel M. Webb, Personal Representative c/o Patrick J. Tobin, Attorney at Law 12650 West 64th Avenue, Unit E, # 258 Arvada, CO 80004

Legal Notice No. 82150

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

4725 South Monaco Street, Suite 360 Denver, Colorado 80237

Telephone: 303-292-9100

Email: APogue@ISP-Law.com

Legal Notice No. 82145

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Summons and Sheriff Sale

Holders of first mortgages (as shown on the recorded deeds of trust or assignments in Denver County, Colorado records) on Units in the 888 Condominium community are hereby advised of a proposed Limited Amendment to the Condominium Declaration of 888 Condominiums (the original of which was recorded September 1, 1978, at Reception No. 1978008712, Denver County Clerk and Recorder). This notice has been sent by certified mail to first mortgagees along with a consent form and a copy of the proposed amendment. A copy of the amendment and consent form can be obtained by contacting Candyce D. Cavanagh, Orten Cavanagh Holmes & Hunt, LLC, 1445 Market St., Suite 350 Denver, CO 80202. (720) 221-9780.

Legal Notice No. 82143

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 6, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

SYNOPSIS OF ANNUAL STATEMENT FOR PUBLICATION

Required pursuant to §10-3-109(1), C.R.S FOR YEAR 2022

FAILURE TO FILE THIS FORM BY MARCH 1 WILL RESULT IN PENALTIES PURSUANT TO §10-3-109(3), C.R.S.:

Legal Notice No. 82120

First Publication: March 16, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Wilma E. Godfrey, also known as Wilma Elizabeth Godfrey, and Wilma Godfrey, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31595

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 31, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Douglas Dixon, CPA, LLC

Person Giving Notice P.O. Box 704

Larkspur, Colorado 80118

Legal Notice No. 82138

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Clarence L. Contreraz, AKA Clarence Lory Contreraz, Deceased Case Number: 2023PR30312

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before August 10, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Julian A. Contreraz, Personal Representative 5813 Owens Street Arvada, CO 80004

Legal Notice No. 82153

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Paula Victoria Rollins, a/k/a Paula V. Rollins, a/k/a Paula Rollins, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31671

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 31, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

/s/ Stephanie T. Schrab – original signature on file

Stephanie T. Schrab, Esq., #54039 o/b/o Jerie Rollins, PR of the Estate of Paula V. Rollins Solem, Woodward & McKinley, P.C. 750 West Hampden Ave., Suite 505 Englewood, CO 80110

Legal Notice No. 82124

First Publication: March 16, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Denver, CO 80218-2776

Jane Doe Mazur 1133 N Clarkson St, Denver, CO 80218-2776

Blatz Condominium Association, Inc. c/o Ogden & Company, Inc.,

Registered Agent 1665 N Water St Milwaukee, WI 53202-2061

Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Court 901 N 9th St Ste 101 Milwaukee, WI 53233-1425

The United States of America c/o US Attorney 517 East Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53202 & c/o US Attorney General 950 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Rm B-103 Washington, DC 20530-0001

Defendants.

PUBLICATION SUMMONS Case No. 22-CV-008196

The Honorable Gwendolyn G. Connolly

Case Code 30404 (Foreclosure of Mortgage)

The amount claimed exceeds $10,000.00

THE STATE OF WISCONSIN

To each person named above as a defendant:

You are hereby notified that the plaintiff named above has filed a lawsuit or other legal action against you.

Within 40 days after March 23, 2023 you must respond with a written demand for a copy of the complaint. The demand must be sent or delivered to the court, whose address is 901 N. Ninth Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233-1425 and to Gray & Associates, L.L.P., plaintiff's attorney, whose address is 16345 West Glendale Drive, New Berlin, WI 53151-2841. You may have an attorney help or represent you.

If you do not demand a copy of the complaint within 40 days, the court may grant judgment against you for the award of money or other legal action requested in the complaint, and you may lose your right to object to anything that is or may be incorrect in the complaint. A judgment may be enforced as provided by law. A judgment awarding money may become a lien against any real estate you own now or in the future, and may also be

If any annual report or statement from any entity regulated by the Division of Insurance is not filed by the date specified by law or by rules and regulations of the commissioner, the commissioner may assess a penalty of up to one hundred dollars per day for each day after the date an annual statement or report is due from any such entity.

Corporate Name: ACE Life Insurance Company NAIC Number: 60348 Address: 10 Exchange Place, 13th Floor Jersey City, NJ 07302

Assets: $ 36,543,884

Liabilities: $ 28,154,119

Capital and Surplus/Policyholder Surplus: $8,322,709

DIVISION OF INSURANCE CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORITY

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the ACE Life Insurance Company, organized under the laws of Connecticut, subject to its Articles of Incorporation or other fundamental organizational documents and in consideration of its compliance with the laws of Colorado, is hereby licensed to transact business as a Life insurance company, as provided by the Insurance Laws of Colorado, as amended, so long as the insurer continues to conform to the authority granted by its Certificate and its corporate articles, or its Certificate is otherwise revoked, canceled or suspended.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the official seal of my office to be affixed at the City and County of Denver this first day of March 2023. Michael

Estate of David Ellis Kirkpatrick, A/K/A Dave Kirkpatrick, A/K/A David E. Kirkpatrick, Deceased Case Number: 2023PR30269

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 31, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Daniel Owen Kirkpatrick Personal Representation 6083 South Fairfield Street Littleton, CO 80120

Legal Notice No.82151

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Richard W. Burton, Deceased Case Number: 23PR11

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 31, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

David Burton: Personal Representative 1252 Jackson St. Denver CO 80206

Legal Notice No. 82146

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of SCOTT WAYNE CLEVELAND, JR., a/k/a SCOTT W. CLEVELAND, JR., a/k/a SCOTT CLEVELAND, JR., a/k/a SCOTT CLEVELAND, Deceased Case Number 2023PR30229

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 30, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Notice to Creditors In the matter of the Estate of Elaine J. Rains aka Elaine J. Buerkens Rains, Deceased. Case No. 2023PR72

Per § 15-12-801, C.R.S. Notice by Publication, All persons having claims against the above-named Estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 23rd, 2023, or the claim may be forever barred.

Lyle R Buerkens, Co-Personal Representative c/o 7925 W. Layton Ave, #416, Littleton, CO 80123

Legal Notice No. 82134

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: April 6, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of David Charles Melena, also known as David C. Melena, also known as David Melena, Deceased Case Number 2023PR30255

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 23, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

James A Melena, Personal Representative 801 Essex Drive Loveland CO 80538

Legal Notice No. 82131

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: April 6, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Notice NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of PATRICIA T. HAYNES, ALSO KNOWN AS PATRICIA HAYNES, AND PATRICIA THOMAS HAYNES, Deceased Case Number: 23 PR 30147

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the PROBATE COURT OF CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, COLORADO, on or before July 28, 2023 or the claims may be forever barred.

C. Tricia Foltz,

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice Denver Probate Court Denver County, Colorado 1437 Bannock St. #230 Denver, CO 80202

In the Matter of the Estate of: Mary Lee Fowler, aka Mary L. Fowler, Mary Fowler and ML Fowler

Attorney: Kristi Radosevich, Karnopp, Radosevich & Preston, LLC PO Box 2708, Elizabeth, CO 80107

Phone Number: 303.646.2763

E-mail: kristirad.law@gmail.com

Attv. Req_ #: 34335

Case Number: 23PR030365

NOTICE OF HEARING BY PUBLICATION PURSUANT TO§ 15-10-401, C.R.S.

To: Mark Fowler

Last Known Address, if any: none

A hearing on Petition for Formal Probate of Will and Formal Appointment of Personal Representative (title of pleading) for Probate of Mary Lee Fowler's estate and appointment of Robin Dennis as Personal Representative of the estate, will be held at the following time and location or at a later date to which the hearing may be continued:

Date: April 27, 2023

Time: 8:00 am Courtroom or Division: 230

Address: 1437 Bannock St. #230, Denver. CO 80202

The hearing will take approximately 30 minutes.

Set as Hearing WITHOUT Appearance.

Legal Notice No. 82141

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Russell R Noe, deceased Case Number: 2023PR63

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to District Court of Denver County, Colorado on or before July 30, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Trisha J. Cochenour Personal Representative 15738 Willamette St Forest Lake, Minnesota 55025

Legal Notice No. 82149

First publication: March 30, 2023

Last publication: April 13, 2023

EXPIRED

believe they should be caught up in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Department spokesperson Courtney Meihls said the Denver County DMV wait time is currently 30 days: “Denver is experiencing a backlog due to sta ng issues, and because our branches operate di erently than other [motor vehicle] branches throughout the state.”

If drivers don’t receive their permanent plates within by the time the temporary plates expire, Meihls continued, the DMV branches will provide extended temporary plates.

After the local DMV mails that Title Complete Notice, the process to get permanent plates varies by county. In Denver County, for example, buyers can either register their vehicle over the phone or visit a branch o ce. Buyers may be required to bring documentation, like proof of ownership and insurance, into their local DMV o ce.

All that’s left to do is pay for registration fees, which can vary depending on the age, weight and value of the vehicle. Fees can amount in the low hundreds, while some vehicles may garner a nal fee of well over $1,000. Fees help pay for vital infrastructure across the state.

“What most people don’t realize is that a signi cant portion of [registration fees] goes to the county, so that pays a lot of your county taxes,” Wilms said. “In addition to that, it’s your road and bridge taxes and fees. A lot of the money goes to the highway user tax fund and funds the

repairs and the creation of our roads and bridges throughout Colorado.”  e road to obtaining permanent plates should take 60 days, at most. But for Kyle Spence, it took six months.

“As soon as I actually purchased the car and left with it, that’s when everything started falling to pieces,” Spence said.

When his rst set of temporary tags expired in November, he called his dealership, a national chain, in orton which told him they hadn’t submitted any documents to the state.

“ ey never really gave me a reason for it,” he said.

By January, Spence’s second set of temporary tags were due to expire, and he hadn’t received the Title Complete Notice from the DMV. So, he took matters into his own hands.

“ ere’s a way that you can look up your VIN number of your vehicle, [and] whether or not you have a title number,” he said. Spence took the title number to the tax collector’s o ce without his Title Complete Notice and eventually got his permanent plate. He acknowledged, however, that persuading the o ce to go through the process without the notice was di cult.

For Kate McElhaney, the road to permanent plates has been similarly rocky. In November, she bought an electric vehicle and by February, she was still waiting to obtain permanent plates.

“I don’t know where the holdup is. Is it with the dealership? Is it with the DMV? I’m not really sure,” she said.

Neither her dealership nor the DMV have answered her questions. And with the tax deadline quickly approaching, she isn’t sure how to le

Public Notices

Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of KEVIN MICHAEL HARTMANN, also known as KEVIN M. HARTMANN, and KEVIN HARTMANN, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31594

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 30, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Laura Moore Attorney to the Personal Representative Warren, Carlson & Moore, LLP PO Box610 Niwot, CO 80544-0610

Legal Notice No. 82148

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: April 13, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Perry Cushman Peine, a/k/a Perry C. Peine, a/k/a Perry Peine, Deceased Case Number :2023PR30191

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 17, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Lisa Compton, Personal Representative C/O ROBINSON BAILEY PC 7100 E. Belleview Ave., Suite 101 Greenwood Village, CO 80111

Legal Notice No. 82125

First Publication: March 16, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of JAMES D. MONTGOMERY, a/k/a JAMES DOUGLAS MONTGOMERY, a/k/a JAMES MONTGOMERY, Deceased Case Number: 2023PR030274

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 23, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred. Tangie I. Montgomery,

to get the state’s electric vehicle tax credit.

“If I don’t get my car registered until after April 15, what does that mean?” she asked. “Do I just surrender my tax credit or can I go for it in this calendar year? I don’t know and I can’t really nd any information on that.”

But what about people driving around with long-expired temporary plates, or cars with no plates?

Until recently, Colorado only penalized people with expired vehicle registration. But earlier this month, a new law went into e ect that aims to reduce the number of cars with expired temporary license plates by introducing new nes to people late with the registration of their temporary plates, as well as permanent ones.

In response to the DMV’s renewed hard stance on all unregistered vehicles, some state law enforcement agencies said they would take more consistent action against cars with expired plates or no plates.

Colorado State Patrol, the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce, and other police departments recently said they will begin pulling over people for unregistered vehicles.

e Denver Police Department, however, signaled that unregistered vehicles are low on their priority list.

“Consistent with our commitment to Vision Zero, Denver Police O cers generally focus on safety violations when conducting tra c enforcement. When they are not responding to reports of crime, o cers are encouraged to engage in proactive e orts, to include enforcing tra c and parking violations,” DPD said in a statement.

Police departments aren’t the only

entity with the authority to enforce registration laws. In Denver, a division of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure handles parking violations and citations around the city.

at division — the Right of Way Enforcement — issued about 92,000 citations in 2022 to cars breaking municipal code 54-62, which prohibits having either an expired license plate or no front license plate. at’s about 7,000 more citations than were issued in 2019.

John LeDrew has received several of those tickets.

About a year ago, he began leasing a plug-in hybrid and has been driving with expired temporary license plates since they rst expired. He wasn’t told by his dealership or the DMV that he could obtain more temporary license plates.

“I did the calculation, the fees were like $600. I went [to the DMV] to register and get those tags, but it turned out to be closer to $1,400,” LeDrew said. “I couldn’t a ord that at the time. So, I asked what my options were and he said, ‘you just drive around with expired tags.’ I said, ‘alright, cool.’ And I just left.”

LeDrew has been trying to save up to a ord his permanent plates, but owning a small business and having a commission-based salary makes his nances di cult to predict. He believes he’s close, but more tickets could set him back.

“It’s just one of the constant battles we have to manage,” he said.

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

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 23, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 25, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before July 31, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Bradley L. Pare Co-Personal Representative 6836 S. Bellaire Way Centennial, Colorado 80122

Douglas S. Pare

Co-Personal Representative P.O. Box 4797 Breckenridge, Colorado 80424

If

appear at the hearing

Date: March 10, 2023

Legal Notice No.: 82130

First Publication: March 23, 2023

Last Publication: April 6, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Children Services

(Adoption/Guardian/Other)

Public Notice

To: Jesse Florez & Dionne Florez

I will be going to the Denver courts to renew my guardianship for Dakota Florez. The guardianship

I had at Jefferson county. The case is closed.

I'm going to renew it in Denver county. Tamara Casillas

Legal Notice No. 82144

First Publication: March 30, 2023

Last Publication: March 30, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch **