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In a 6-1 ruling, the Pennsylvania high court ruled that Cosby should not have faced charges after an agreement with a former prosecutor was made in 2005.
In 2015, charges were fi led by District Attorney Kevin Steele, charging Cosby with the sexual assault. During the trial, Steele used statements made by Cosby in a civil deposition the actor made under the assumption he was immune from criminal charges.
Thomas said that in her opinion, Steele was trying to “right a wrong” made by former prosecutors not taking any action. Now, she fears what she sees as the precedent the ruling could set in future cases involving people accused of rape and sexual assault.
According to court records, during the 2018 trial, Thomas was the fi rst to testify against Cosby. With more than 50 women accusing the actor of sexual assault and misconduct, fi ve women were allowed to testify during his trial as “prior bad acts witnesses.”
In her trial testimony, Thomas accused Cosby of assaulting her in 1984 at his ranch when she was 24 years old and an aspriring actress. Thomas testifi ed that she had gone to Cosby’s Pennsylvania home for acting lessons. She testifi ed that after taking a drink of wine, she blacked out and only remembered the next four days in “snapshots,” suspecting the actor drugged her.
Now, Thomas said she does not want to focus on the incident, or on Cosby. Rather, she said it is time to change laws to make sure victims do not face what she, Constand and dozens of others have dealt with in what she called the Cosby “fi asco.”
“I feel strongly that the storyline should no longer be about Mr. C,” she said. “He has been given this spotlight and we need to shut it down. We need to talk about where we go from here.”
Thomas said Colorado makes her proud as changes continue to be made to help victims of sexual assault and rape. Thomas, who describes herself as a victims’ advocate, said police departments are getting more training to be more sensitive in taking statements from women and men when they fi rst come to report a sex crime.
“The big battle right now is getting victims to summon up the courage to come forward and report it,” Thomas said. “It takes a lot just to come forward. Law
Heidi Thomas, of Castle Rock, was the fi rst alleged victim to testify in the 2018 Bill Cosby trial.
PHOTOS BY THELMA GRIMES
Evidence of how Heidi Thomas has used music to heal can be seen throughout her music room at her Castle Rock home.
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enforcement is getting the training to handle these cases better than they have before.”
Thomas, 61, said she did not come forward when the alleged incident with Cosby happened to her. She said coming forward 30 years later was only to stand behind Constand.
Thomas said she has never fi led a civil suit against the actor once known as “America’s Dad,” adding that coming forward and testifying has never been about his money.
“It was an honor to testify,” Thomas said. “It was the most empowering thing ever. It was about 15 minutes into my testimony before the reality of (Cosby) sitting there hit me. He was not saying anything because it was my turn.”
At the state level, Thomas calls herself a “quiet advocate” as she works with Colorado lawmakers to remove barriers created by statute of limitations laws.
Thomas said change takes time, but bills passing through the Colorado legislature have been a step in the right direction.
Bipartisan Senate Bill 73, recently signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, allows survivors of sexual assault to bring a lawsuit against their abuser at any time. The bill is aimed at child-sex victims. Before Polis signed SB 73, victims only had six years after they turned 18 to fi le a civil suit.
“Sexual crimes create a level of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),” Thomas said. “With that kind of trauma, no one can pick an arbitrary amount of time to say that’s when someone should be over it.”
In 2016, Thomas said she played a key role in getting House Bill 1072 signed into Colorado law. The law changed the statute of limitations for people to be charged with rape or sexual assault from 10 years to 20.
Thomas said she will continue to be an advocate for eliminating a statute of limitations on all sex
to handle these cases better than they have before.” forward when the alleged incident with Cosby happened to her. She said coming forward 30 years later was only to stand behind Constand. a civil suit against the actor once known as “America’s Dad,” adding that coming forward and testifying crimes completely.
In her personal time, Thomas said, she works to help others through music. She says music got her and other victims through her dark days. Now, as a music teacher, she works to help others use music to heal.
Thomas said she is currently working on a book, developing a podcast and participated in the documentary, “Erased,” focusing on how drugs are being used to get away with sex crimes in America.
Heidi Thomas said she overcame the trauma that she testifi ed she experienced in her
20s through music. PHOTO BY THELMA GRIMES
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Some districts have already said they won’t mandate face coverings in the fall
BY ERICA MELTZER CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Colorado students, teachers, and school staff who are vaccinated won’t have to wear masks at school and won’t have to quarantine after COVID exposure, state health officials said in new guidance released for the 2021-22 school year.
Masks are recommended — but not required — for people who are not vaccinated, which currently includes all children under 12. School districts could choose to set stricter policies.
The recommendation matches school guidance released earlier this month by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Masking is an especially critical strategy when a community is at higher risk of transmission,” state health officials wrote. “Schools should create an accepting environment for parents and students who choose to use masks even when they are not required.”
Some Colorado school districts have already announced they won’t require masks next year, while in others, officials said they were weighing their options and waiting for state guidance. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that everyone continue to wear masks in school settings to create more layers of protection.
Particularly significant for school operations, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment no longer recommends that people who are exposed to COVID in a routine classroom setting quarantine at all — provided they weren’t engaged in a higher risk activity like singing or contact sports and that their community has high vaccination rates and low community transmission.
For much of last school year, classroom quarantines frequently disrupted in-person learning, leading some superintendents to call for the state to end the practice. In describing the shift, state public health officials said it’s important to keep children safe and healthy, but children’s well-being extends beyond the risk of COVID.
“We want to make sure that schools remain a safe place, and this plan outlines ways to reduce potential transmission of COVID-19 in the school setting, while facilitating inperson learning,” CDPHE executive director Jill Hunsaker Ryan said in a press release announcing the new guidance.
The state guidance, released July 20, calls for different approaches in communities with high vaccination rates and low community transmission and those with low vaccination rates and high community transmission. COVID and vaccination rates vary significantly around the state. Mesa County, in particular, with vaccination rates around 42%, has become a hotspot for the Delta variant, and cases have strained hospital capacity there.
But the guidance is just that — recommendations — and school districts and local public health agencies have the authority to set policy.
“This guidance strongly recommends local leaders and school leaders take a layered approach to prevention,” health officials wrote, including ventilation, staying home when sick, and frequent hand-washing. “Communities with higher rates of transmission and low vaccination rates should continue to take heightened COVID-19 precautions. Local public health still has the authority to enforce local public
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Trapped in the platitude escalation cycle
QUIET DESPERATION
Craig Marshall Smith
Some of you might remember radio broadcaster Paul Harvey. He always ended his daily program with two words.
“Good day.”
Hippies turned that into “Have a nice day.”
Then “Have a good day” came along.
Then “Have a good rest of the day.”
And now, as I live and breathe, “Have a great rest of the day” was wished upon me at a hardware store by a young woman who said the same thing to the customer ahead of me and the one that followed me.
I felt special knowing she had composed that thought just for the three of us.
Whatever happened to “Thank you”?
“Have a great rest of the day,” if examined, broken down, analyzed, borders on a command and practically chokes on its own hyperbole.
Waiting around the bend is “Have a mind-blowing rest of the day,” and “Have an out-of-this-world rest of the day.”
I thought about asking the young woman if she was referring to my afternoon nap, but decided she wouldn’t get it.
In other words, my “rest” of the day.
We do like to exaggerate, don’t we?
For a while, I was receiving emails from someone who ended every sentence with at least three exclamation marks.
When I informed her that I couldn’t take it any longer, well, she replied with three words and thirty exclamation marks.
The recent All-Star baseball game in Denver was a bore, but the hoopla that went on before, during and after it made up for a sport that, sadly, has become a stranger to me.
It’s all home runs and strikeouts.
The Dodgers hit eight home runs in a game against the Diamondbacks. That’s Little League stuff.
Subtlety is a lost art.
Art is a lost art.
Look for the grand opening of Meow Wolf in downtown Denver. It’s “interactive art for all ages.”
We used to call those “fun houses” at the circus.
Interactive means the art doesn’t just stay there on the wall and mind its own business like a Picasso or a Rembrandt.
It jumps around or jumps at you and makes your head spin.
Just what I’m looking for.
Let’s get back to “Have a great rest of the day.”
I’d settled for ten great minutes.
Modern life doesn’t allow (me) to have up to twelve hours that are unbroken by an interruption, annoyance, nuisance or exasperation.
Ten days after the Fourth, some of my beloved neighbors were still shooting off fi reworks.
Maybe if I were in a home with Harry next to a lake with the regional birds fi lling the air with song, I might have a great rest of the day.
But here in the trenches it’s a project just getting to that hardware store and back without witnessing a near accident or being involved in one.
As I have said before, there’s a major intersection near me where you can always pick up some spare automobile parts.
Henry David Thoreau spent two years, two months, and two days at Walden Pond in a 15-by-10-foot cabin he built for himself.
Good for him. But he was eaten up by mosquitoes and was constipated half the time.
Harry just walked into the offi ce with a familiar look on his face. It’s time for our rest of the day.
Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@ comcast.net.
Michael Norton
Anyone else but me
“ You will make a lousy anybody else, but you will be the best ‘you’ in existence.” — Zig Ziglar
Many of us daydream or fantasize about being someone else. Did you ever look at someone else’s life and wish that you could have their physique, home, money, car or job? I think at some point in life, maybe we have all entertained thoughts about being someone different or having something that we did not already own.
Some of us may have only had a fl eeting moment of daydreaming or fantasizing about this. Others of us may spend way too much time coveting what others have. A few of us may even become consumed with an imaginary life lived as someone else. We drift away, wanting to be anyone else but ourselves, or trade what we have for what other people have.
When I was a kid, we vacationed at the Jersey Shore. It was typically in a very small bungalow with lots of other family members and friends popping in and out during the week. It was cramped, usually just one bathroom, and people sleeping on every bed, couch, cot and surface area of the tiny house. I look back on those weeks with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins and remember them as some of the best vacations of my life. But at the time, I also remember wishing I could be going on the vacations that my friends were going on. Even if they came to the same area, they were staying at a much bigger home or nice hotel.
Did I mention that they had air conditioning in those nicer homes and hotel rooms? Yes, not only did I want to be my friends, but I wanted their air conditioning too. I think “Thou shalt not covet your friend’s air conditioning” may even be a commandment. Still, looking back on it today, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.
The quote by Zig Ziglar that started this column is something that I learned from him many years ago. And it helped me to really focus on being the best “me” in existence. It helped me to measure success on my own terms, not defi ned or measured by others. If I didn’t like who I was, where I was, or what I was doing, I learned that I didn’t have to sit back and wish I could be someone else or have what others have, I could change who I was and what I was doing and go out and earn what it was that I wanted.
Another lesson I learned that has really helped me and that I have shared with others is this: Instead of looking on in envy or jealousy when someone in our family or circle of friends has just met with success or seems to be doing better than we are, try congratulating them, sharing in their joy and excitement. Even if it is a perfect stranger who just won the lottery, we can allow our hearts to be happy for them, truly happy.
The thing is this: Sometimes what we see on the outside is not what is really happening on the inside. The people we fantasize about being may have more troubles and heartache going on in their life than we can see. The possessions they have may come with extraordinary debt. So, before we look to be someone else, or have what they have, the better move is to appreciate who we are and what we have already. And if change is needed, we can go work on what it is that we need to change.
We all have a choice to make. We can change and grow, breaking the status quo if we are unhappy. Or we can simply choose to continue as-is, wishing we were anyone else but ourselves, and do nothing. I would love to hear your best “you” in existence story at mnorton@tramazing.com, and when you realize that you are the best “you” in existence, it really will be a better than good year.
Michael Norton is the grateful CEO of Tramazing.com, a personal and professional coach, and a consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator to businesses of all sizes.
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A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225, Englewood, CO 80110. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO and additional mailing o ces. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: Elbert County News, 750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225, Englewood, CO 80110
Pickleball’s on an upswing
Participation spiked during pandemic year
BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When pickleball started becoming popular, it was a sport that helped aging adults get some exercise by combining aspects of tennis, badminton and table tennis onto one court. Today, the sport remains popular two months, and two days at Walden Pond among seniors, but the secret is out about how much fun the game is, and younger generations want a taste. According to the Sport and Fitness Industry Association, pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the nation, with participation increasing a little over 21% in 2020 as Americans searched for ways to stay active during the pandemic. In 2019, participation in the sport grew by 7%. Evidence of the growing popularity of pickleball is not hard to fi nd throughout the Denver metro area. A new court is being installed on the east side of Centennial in Piney Creek. In Castle Rock, the new Cobblestone Park project will include six additional pickleball courts. Luke Ruter, recreation coordinator for the Highlands Ranch Metro District, said one of the biggest challenges as pickleball grows in popularity is keeping up with demand. “It really is a great sport for all ages,” he said. “It is also such a social sport where friendships grow and connections are made.” In Highlands Ranch, on any given day, the distinct popping sound of paddle hitting ball can be heard as players of all ages battle it out. While taking a break during one of the hottest days of summer, 19-year-old Heidi Haze said she is considered a newbie to pickleball. “I started playing with a friend,” she said. “It looked cool and defi nitely has a lot more college kids playing. I have to say, the seniors have a lot to teach us. They are way better. It is like golf. It is easy to play, but hard to get good at.” Will Harris of Littleton said he saw people playing at local courts and became interested. Now, he is a regular who is open to learning the tricks of the trade from older players. Harris said he has learned a lot from Joe Billera, whom he calls his “pickleball grandpa.” “I love the community connection I have gained by playing up here,” Harris said. “It is because of pickleball that I got a job. I would say I am a decent player, but there is always room for improvement. I just try to hold my own against the longtime players.” Billera said he plays every day because he enjoys the game, comparing the necessary skill set to playing chess with a lot of motion. The Apex Sports and Recreation Centers have worked over the years to help meet the demand of the growing sport. Headquartered in Arvada, the Apex Park and Recreation District has 24 courts throughout the area.
Katie Groke, marketing and communications director for Apex, said the courts are full and there is a “growing appetite” for the sport.
“Arvada has kind of become a pickleball hub because we have so many courts and draw residents from all over the region,” Groke said. “It has really become a wildly popular sport for all ages.”
Brad Stafford, athletics manager for South Suburban Parks and Recreation, said as younger players take up the sport, they are adding more tournaments and classes. The classes are always at maximum capacity, he said, while noting that the problem is getting qualifi ed instructors.
“This is such a specialized sport with certain rules that it is hard to fi nd people to teach it,” he said.
In 2019, Stafford said, classes had about 80 participants. After last year, classes and programs have more than 200.
“The secret is out on this sport,” Stafford said. “It’s a sport you can
Michael Beisheim returns a serve at a Front Range pickleball court.
PHOTOS BY THELMA GRIMES
Heidi Haze, 19, makes the most of one of her fi rst lessons in pickleball.
OBITUARIES
GRIGGS
Jeanette Martha Griggs
7/9/1940 - 7/5/2021
Jeanette Martha (de Vries) Griggs, 80, passed away at her home on Tuesday, July 5th, 2021 after a valiant battle with cancer.
Jeanette, lovingly known as Jan, was born on July 9th, 1940 on her family’s farm in Ada, Minnesota.
She was the rst of three children born to Peter and Eleanor (Benesh) de Vries. Jan and her family developed strong bonds working together on the family farm. e grit, resilience, humility, and devotion she showed so many people during her lifetime became forged during her childhood.
Jan was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Alvin Griggs.
An educator and social servant for over 50 years, Jan was highly respected by her peers, students, and community at large.
She was a calm and strong leader, serving as the President of the Teachers Association in Elizabeth, Colorado. She also was a technology and science delegate representing the school district on multiple occasions. She established and ran rocket clubs for over 30 years, taking students several times to Cape Canaveral. Counted among her students are multiple business owners, medical professionals, educators, and people who serve others. It was very common for past students to maintain close ties with her over the years.
She was a lifelong supporter of the Elizabeth community, serving as a deacon for her Elizabeth Presbyterian Church, and continuing to frequent Elizabeth businesses after moving to Parker. In her early years as a high school and college student at Moorhead University in Minnesota, she was a Girl’s State representative and participant in several beauty contests.
A caring family member, she was a consistent source of acceptance, humor, wisdom, and strength for everyone. As a result, she was the bedrock upon which many family successes were achieved. She also counted many of her friends and neighbors as additional family.
She loved animals. As a child she participated in and won 4-H competitions. Later in life she raised and showed both dogs and quarter horses. A passionate supporter of animals, she adopted 5 dogs and two cats. Her last adopted dog, Buddy, was very close to her heart.
Jan is survived by her brother Dr. Gordon de Vries (wife Mary) residing in Brainerd, Minnesota; sister Colleen de Vries, son Clark Griggs, granddaughter Lauren Griggs, and grandson Dain Griggs, all residing in Parker, Colorado.
Jeanette’s family, friends, church members, and neighbors will miss her vitality, smiles, hugs, wit, and constant love and support.
