Elbert County News 072723

School safety director honored

Mike Newton is praised for upgrading security

BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Mike Newton, the Elizabeth School District’s director of safety and security, was named Security Director of the Year on July 12 at the Campus Safety Conference in Henderson,

e award is given by the Campus afety organization, the industry leader in coverage and education for facility protection professionals at schools, universities, and healthcare organizations. It publishes Campus Safety magazine in print and maintains a robust online presence. It also conducts conferences for administrators and public-safety o cials, technology directors, risk anagers and security and law cement executives from all ver the world who are looking for olutions to their campus safety, security, emergency management and technology challenges.

Kiowa receives drainage grant

State provides $500,000 to improve infrastructure

BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

e Town of Kiowa received a grant for $500,000 from the Colorado Department of Transportation

TAP Program to start work toward the Kiowa Drainage and Sidewalk Project.

According to its website, the Colorado Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grants federal funds to transportation improvement projects that expand travel choice, strengthen the local economy, improve quality of life and protect the environment.

e $500,000 grant award is only a fth of the $2.5 million requested by the town to help alleviate the drainage issues.

“When we had our severe weather this past winter with all the icing, we had a lot of problems. It was then that we started to seek funding to x the drainage issues,” said

“For a small rural school district to be represented and recognized alongside much larger metro school districts is an amazing feeling. is achievement is for all of Elizabeth and Elizabeth School District,” said Newton in an email correspondence from July 14. “We have accomplished so much over the last two years and achieved numerous milestones that set the bar for school safety standards. Each safety and security director that was nominated has done amazing things for their

Kiowa’s sloping streets cause drainage issues.

PHOTO BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON

districts, so whoever was chosen to win was deserving. I know how much hard work, dedication and determination has been devoted to our students in Elizabeth School

e Elizabeth School District issued a press release on July 13 about Newton’s achievement, citing his background and praising him for his role in upgrading the district’s security, one factor that led him to being named K-12 Security Director

According to the press release, under Newton’s leadership, Elizabeth School District has received roughly $730,000 in school safety grants, resulting in improved radio communication systems, security cameras and other school-hardening upgrades. He is in Elizabeth schools daily to help ensure safety and continually works with local law enforcement and emergency response agencies plan and practice for emergency situations.

With support from the Elizabeth School District’s board and administration, Newton continues to expand the scope of security e orts in schools: In a rst for the district, the 2023-24 school year will see fulltime school resource o cers from the Elizabeth Police Department assigned to Elizabeth High School and Elizabeth Middle School, and new, armed district security sta members will also be assigned to assist at all Elizabeth schools as well as extracurricular activities.

Newton shared his thoughts in a Q&A with the Elbert County News on July 14:

What does this honor mean for you? Is it something you’ve been working toward for a while?

is is a tremendous honor, but it was not achieved on my own. is was a collective team e ort and it ultimately is a direct re ection of the amazing students, sta , and community of the Elizabeth School District. Each day, our team comes to work and school prepared to protect and safeguard our students. is was not something I was actively working towards speci cally winning this award, but I am always actively striving to be the best for our kids.

What are your 2023-2024 goals for the Elizabeth School District? Any upcoming projects?

School safety is a perpetual process that must be continuously evaluated and improved. We have so much ahead of us in the Elizabeth School District and we are just getting started. Just a few of the new safety and security measures for the 2023/2024 school year include the Raptor Alert and the Raptor Emergency Management suite, two full-time school resource o cers (SROs) from the Elizabeth Police Department assigned to Elizabeth High

School and Elizabeth Middle School, new armed districtwide security sta to assist at all Elizabeth schools and extracurricular activities, the SchoolSAFE radio interoperability program linked to rst responder radio systems, and additional professional development focused on threat assessments and pre-attack indicators. We have also applied for numerous school safety grants focused on facility and site hardening. I am hoping to have an answer on these grants within the next few months.

Now that you’ve been named K-12 Security Director of the Year, do you have any sort of obligations to the organization? Speaking engagements? Any duties?

ere is still a lot more to come with this! I will have the opportunity to participate in and lead various webinars focused on school safety. Campus Safety magazine will publish an editorial focused on Elizabeth Schools.

Why is school security so important to you?

School safety has been something I have been passionate about for a long time. I have always had the desire to serve others, which led me to enlist in the Air Force, speci cally Security Forces. While deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Arapahoe High School shooting happened. Having that be so close to home, it was then I wanted to bring this desire and passion of mine back home to protect our most valuable assets: our children. I always felt safe growing up going to school, and I strive each day to make sure each student gets the “home away from home” feeling too while at school. School is the safest place our students can be each day, and it is my job to reassure our parents and community of that. Plus, one of the best parts of my job is interacting with and spending time with students at each of our schools.

To read Newton’s award announcement in Campus Safety magazine, visit tinyurl.com/MikeNewtonCSD

Mike Newton is the Elizabeth School District’s director of safety and security.

Mike Newton, left, director of safety and security for Elizabeth School District, accepts the K-12 Campus Security Director of the Year Award from Robin Hattersley, editor-inchief of Campus Safety magazine, at the annual Campus Safety Conference West in Henderson, Nevada. COURTESY PHOTOS

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with a center turning lane. e town also plans to include bike lanes in the plan. e current parallel street parking will remain.

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Kimberly Boyd, Kiowa town administrator, in a phone interview from July 18. “We will continue seeking funds from other entities to continue toward our goals.”

e Kiowa Drainage and Sidewalk Project will take three to four years to complete, Boyd said. In addition to xing the town’s drainage issues, the project will expand the sidewalks through town, which are currently not ADA compliant. ere is also a plan to reduce the tra c lanes through town from four to two

“ ere’s a lot of safety involved in this project,” said Boyd. “A lot of our sidewalks are only a foot wide. is causes safety issues for kids walking down the street to school.”

e Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority also received a $1 million grant from the Colorado Department of Local A airs to fully fund their Well Redundancy Project. is project will provide the Town of Kiowa with a second water well and new storage tank. Currently the town

Kiowa Town Hall is at 404 Comanche St. The town asked the state for $2.5 million to address infrastructure issues and received a fifth of that amount.

Drainage issues cause a buildup of debris on sidewalks and in front of businesses.

PHOTOS BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON

DRAINAGE

maintains a shallow 66-foot alluvial well.

e town administration plans to continue working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to complete the SRF (State Revolving Fund) funding needed for the full project.

Both of these grants are in addition to the two $25,000 grants the town received through the Colorado Department of Local A airs, one to carry out a rate study for the Kiowa

Water and Wastewater Authority and one to update the Town of Kiowa Comprehensive (Master) Plan.

“We are a very small community out here. You can get lost out here if you don’t stand up and ask for help,” commented Boyd. “Sometimes things get overwhelming and you don’t know where to start. We need to put a lot more work into raising our hands for help.”

To learn more about the Town of Kiowa projects, visit townofkiowa. colorado.gov/projects

For more information on the Colorado TAP program, visit codot. gov/programs/planning/grants/tapscal-years-2024-26

Is yard work on your to-do list?

After all the rain, warmer weather is here, and you can drop off any tree limbs, shrubs or brush that you need to dispose of for free every Saturday through October at Douglas County’s Slash-Mulch site. For more information, visit douglas.co.us and search for Slash Mulch.

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FROM PAGE 4

Some sidewalks in the Town of Kiowa are not ADA compliant, including this narrow portion o Highway 86.

The sloping roads are one culprit for the drainage issues on Highway 86 in Kiowa.

PHOTOS BY CHANCY J. GATLIN-ANDERSON

Littleton to host SpaceX rocket booster exhibit

City teams up with DISH and Colorado-based foundation Telluray

BY SHEA VANCE SVANCE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

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

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

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

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

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

Littleton resident Pam Chadbourne raised concern about the project during public comment, questioning SpaceX’s relevance in the community and asking the council why the project is only now being brought to the public’s attention.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

cilors that the placement of the rocket will not signi cantly hinder foot tra c, as there will be a plot of concrete set aside from the path where people can stand and view. ey also said it will have no impact on the South Platte oodplain, and will have minimal impact on the Littles Creek oodplain.

Despite concerns, the plan received general support from councilors.

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

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

Reester and Ergen assured coun-

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

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

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

Colorado poll sees concern about cost of living

Housing a ordability also worries state’s residents

BY PARKER YAMASAKI THE COLORADO SUN

Cost of living and housing a ordability are the top concerns of Coloradans this year, according to a poll released by the Colorado Health Foundation.

In an open-ended question asking participants what they thought the most important issue facing Colorado is right now, 16% answered cost of living and 15% answered housing a ordability. Other issues in the top ve were government and politics, public safety and crime, and homelessness.

About 10% of respondents said that homelessness was their top concern for Colorado, with 79% calling the problem “extremely serious” or “very serious.” e results from the 4th annual survey arrived as Denver’s new mayor, Mike Johnston, declared a state of emergency around homelessness, during his rst full day in o ce. Polling is conducted over one month through phone, email and text invitations, in English and Spanish. is year’s data includes 2,639 respondents across all ages, races and income brackets, with oversamples of Black/ African American, Native American/Indigenous,

Asian American and Pueblo County residents.

One of the cornerstones of CHF is to serve folks with historically less power or privilege, according to Austin Montoya, senior o cer for policy advocacy communications, which is why the foundation takes larger samples of speci c populations. Montoya said that by sampling larger numbers of smaller populations, they are able to more accurately re ect the experiences of those populations. e data is later weighted to re ect Colorado’s population.

Since the poll’s inception in 2020, the biggest drop in respondents’ top concern was, unsurprisingly, COVID-19, which was top of mind for 26% of Coloradans in 2020, compared with 0% in 2023.

e second- and thirdlargest decreases in concern were political division, down 6 percentage points, and jobs and the economy, down 5. In the past year, Colorado’s job openings and unemployment reached

something near equilibrium, so it tracks that anxiety over jobs has fallen since the 2020 polling, when uncertainty was rampant.

Homelessness had the largest increase as a top concern since last year, up 3 percentage points, while crime had the largest increase as a top concern over the past four years, up 8 percentage points. Both issues were a major focus for Denver’s mayoral election this year.  While most concerns associated with costs — such as rising costs of living, cost of housing and jobs — tended to decline in importance as income levels rose, the percentage of respondents most concerned by homelessness was consistent across income levels. e di erence between the lowest and highest income earners concerned with homelessness was only 3 percentage points.

Having a home is one major concern; staying in it is another. At the time of polling, renters were signicantly more worried about

not being able to make rent payments than homeowners were worried about their mortgages — at a rate of 49% compared with 19% of respondents. However, that number may ip as property owners come to terms with their new, exponentially high valuations, which were issued after the Pulse poll was conducted.

Respondents who identied as Native American/ Indigenous showed the most concern over losing their homes, with 49% answering that they were worried in this year’s poll, while the Black/African American respondents had the largest increase in those worried, up 16 percentage points, to 47% from 31% last year.

Almost every household with an income below $150,000 was worried about their children being able to a ord a home in Colorado.

Montoya wants the information gleaned from these polls to help inform policymakers’ priorities. He said the foundation’s primary audience is local lawmakers and legislators.

When presented with a number of policy solutions, respondents thought that the most e ective ways to mitigate housing cost challenges are to reduce property taxes for homeowners with low or xed incomes, and to ensure that landlords cannot raise rents on tenants too quickly.

e biggest divisions around e ective policy solutions were between Repub-

licans and Democrats in the state, with Independents falling squarely between the parties for every proposed solution. e largest differences between what the parties viewed as e ective solutions were requiring developers to build lowincome housing — 86% of Democrats thought this would be an e ective solution, while only 49% of Republicans agreed — and increasing government investments in programs that prevent people from becoming homeless — 87% of Democrats believed in its e ectiveness, while 46% of Republicans agreed.

e takeaway from this year’s data, Montoya said, was that it hasn’t changed much since last year. Montoya believes that Coloradans’ major concerns “skyrocketed” around COVID, and have continued to stay high ever since.

“ e majority of these worries have increased since 2020, but there hasn’t been much of a decline in any of them. ere is really just a plateau,” he said. “And a majority of folks are feeling concerned.”

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.

Eighty-two percent of respondents to the annual Pulse poll said that the cost of housing is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in Colorado. The highest levels of concern came from respondents in the Denver metro region.

PHOTO BY KATHRYN SCOTT

Free schooling for prospective early childhood teachers

Colorado o ers training without cost at community colleges

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Colorado residents interested in early childhood and ve other highdemand careers can get training for free starting this fall at more than a dozen community colleges around the state.

It’s part of a new $40 million state program called Career Advance Colorado that’s intended to mint thousands of workers in shortage areas. Besides early childhood education, the program will cover tuition, course materials, and fees for up to two years of training for students studying education, construction, law enforcement, nursing, and re and forestry.

“All these elds are in need of great folks to ll jobs that are open today and that are critical for our state’s success,” said Gov. Jared Polis in a recorded announcement about Career Advance.

e program is open to new students and those currently enrolled in one of the six target areas. For

those already enrolled, the state will pay for their remaining coursework.

e o er of free training for prospective early childhood employees comes amid an ongoing shortage of child care and preschool teachers that’s led to shuttered classrooms at some centers. e need for quali ed sta has become even more pressing as Colorado prepares to launch a major expansion of tuition-free preschool in August. More than 31,000 4-year-olds are expected to participate.

Career Advance is the latest e ort by state policymakers to beef up the anemic pipeline of early childhood teachers. In recent years, the state used COVID stimulus money to pay for two introductory early childhood classes for hundreds of college students. It also o ered scholarship and apprenticeship programs for students seeking early childhood credentials.

In Colorado, where the median preschool teacher wage is around $15.25 an hour, it’s hard to make a living in the early childhood eld. e cost of college classes or student loan debt makes the barrier to entry even higher.

State o cials and advocates recently have taken tentative steps towards addressing the eld’s abysmal pay. As part of an e ort to pay

preschool teachers a living wage, the state pays a higher per-student rate in the new universal preschool program than it pays public schools for each K-12 student. In addition, the state recently unveiled a report recommending a series of statewide early childhood salary scales that would signi cantly boost pay. For example, the suggested rate would be at least $22 an hour for early

childhood teachers in metro Denver and some mountain communities. e salary scales are not binding for preschool and child care providers, but show what workers in di erent regions would need to earn to make a living wage.

Chalkbeat is a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.

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A new Colorado program will cover the cost of community college for students seeking early childhood credentials.

PHOTO BY ANDREA MORALES FOR CHALKBEAT

‘Being Human’ exhibit on display

Local painter Valorie Snyder is juror for Depot show

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Littleton Fine Arts Guild members called on skilled local painter Valorie Snyder to be juror for the new exhibit, “Being Human,” which is open through Aug. 5 at the Depot Art Gallery, 2069 W. Powers Ave. in downtown Littleton.

“Connections,” a mixed media painting by S. Williams, was Snyder’s choice for Best of Show. “ e painting is a winner on several levels: the use of light, contrast, the illusion of depth and perspective. e use of subtle colors in the background support, but don’t compete with, the people in the foreground. e red and white notes in the foreground lead your eye through the seemingly random clusters of people … on the bus ... one solitary gure in black. Is everyone (wearing masks?) I can’t quite tell … is painting is masterfully done, weaving a story as the viewer is drawn in.”

Fine Arts Guild members meet and plan a yearlong list of exhibits for the Depot and for the Stanton Gallery at Town Hall Arts Center. ey also exhibit works at several local venues, with a particular member overseeing each location and others helping with hanging each show. Next at the Depot will be the Best of Colorado, opening on Aug. 8 and running through Sept. 10. It is open to nonmembers and is an annual Western Welcome Week event.

Also featured this summer will be a Bega Park Art Show on Aug. 12, with many members setting up tents and exhibiting art outside under the

green trees. (A most pleasant way for art lovers to spend a day!)

“Well Aged” by Brian Ser is Snyder’s choice for second place in the “Being Human” exhibit. She noted that “watercolor is a particularly di cult medium for portraiture. e clothing is loosely rendered with soft colors that set o the details in this man’s face and dress ... Where is he from? What is the story of his life? We are given clues, but left to wonder ...” ird place was awarded to “ e Spell,” in soft pastels by Stacy Roberts. “Movement is the compositional tool that drew me into this piece,” Snyder said. “Primarily a complementary color scheme, this painting is a colorful mix of blues and oranges, with added colors to keep it interesting ...”

Best use of the theme, “Being Human: e Human Condition” is created of leather, berglass and metal by Pam Schmidt. Snyder advises the viewer to “look closely to read the text that is written around the gure. is sculpture summarizes the theme of the show.”

Honorable Mentions were awarded to four artists: “Little Stinker” by Teresa Malone is “an engaging classic portrait in oils”; “Faith and Hope,” glass by Sally Vander Camp; “Being of One Mind,” photograph by Carl Paulson; and “Meditation,” a digital print by Jacqueline Shuler.

e bright red Depot Art Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays , with lots of free parking, free admission and more art in an old caboose placed next to it. Volunteer Fine Arts Guild members operate this charming gallery and are happy to talk about the artwork on display-and to help with sales!

What could be better than an original work of art for a recent graduate or a soon to be married friend?

One wall at Depot Art Gallery, with the “Being Human” exhibit.

PHOTO BY PEGGY DIETZ

Thu 8/03

Sat 8/05

Denver Broncos

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Centura Health Training Center, 13655 E. Broncos Pkwy., Englewood

Lions on the Links Golf Tournament (LHS Athletics Fundraiser Event) @ 1pm / $175

Arrowhead Golf Course, 10850

Sundown Trail, Littleton. mtoner@ lps.k12.co.us

Cooking with Elle @ 3pm

Aug 3rd - Aug 31st

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

Madeline Hawthorne Music: Bands in the Beer Garden @ Breckenridge Brewery

Littleton @ 3pm

Breckenridge Brewery, 2920 Brewery Ln, Littleton

Douglas County Bulls, Broncs and Bares - Rough Stock PRCA Rodeo

@ 6pm / $5-$30

Douglas County Fairgrounds, 500 Fairgrounds Dr, Castle Rock

Fri 8/04

Vamonos Pest/Mobro:

Vamonos Pest plays Brewabil‐ity to celebrate Englewood

H.S. Class of 1983 Reunion @ 4:30pm

Brewability Lab, 3445 S Broadway, Englewood

Visible Planets @ 6pm

Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver

6 Million Dollar Band: Private Event @ 6:30pm

The King Stan Band in Paradise

@ 6pm Paradise Tavern, 9239 Park Mead‐ows Dr, Lone Tree

Cherry Hills Village Community Develop‐ment, 2450 E Quincy Ave, Englewood

Sean Kelly Of The Samples: TBA @ 7pm TBA, Parker

Tunisia: The Canyons Concert @ 5:30pm

The Canyons (Info Center), 1415 Westbridge Dr, Castle Pines

Sun 8/06

Korey Foss: Rock Candy Sunday Funday @ 12pm Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia

Uncle Kracker @ 5:30pm

Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Greenwood Village

Wed 8/09

Deb Seymour Music: House Concert- Littleton, CO @ 1pm

House Concert - Littleton, CO, Lit‐tleton

DJ Rockstar Aaron: Forbidden

Bingo - Tailgate Tavern & Grill @ 7pm

Tailgate Tavern & Grill, 19552 Mainstreet, Parker

Mon 8/07

Advanced Double-Handed Sailing Camp | Week 10 @ 8am / $467

Aug 7th - Aug 11th

Cherry Creek Reservoir, 4800 S Dayton St, Greenwood Village. 303-757-7718

ZZ Top @ 5:30pm

Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Greenwood Village

Anne Luna: The Hard Road Trio in Highlands Ranch @ 3pm House Concert, Highlands Ranch

Ladies Night @ 5pm / $10

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Thu 8/10

Chris Janson with special guest Shane Pro�tt @ 6pm / $50-$70

The Amphitheater at Philip S. Miller Park, 1375 W Plum Creek Pkwy, Castle Rock

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Sure — insurance will pay

As the rainy season appears to be nally ending this year, the stories of home damage and insurance battles are becoming more frequent in my conversations.

I am a mother, which means I spend some mornings at the pool where my kids practice. I spend multiple days per week at South Suburban facilities while my son takes the ice. Why does this fact matter? Well, mothers talk, and they talk a lot.

In my conversations lately, a lot of them either start or end with what is happening with insurance companies. One mom told a story of $40,000 in damage due to their basement ooding. Well, while the insurance company agreed to take care of the hail damage – they refused to pay for the basement. After all, they did not speci cally get ood insurance. Another family in Parker are truly going through hell this year. Children sleeping on the oor, basement and walls destroyed. ey had ood insurance, but the company let them know they did not have seepage insurance. Really? Would you like to explain to me how the oods did not cause the seepage?

Another case with a car — insurance will pay for the damage on the top of the car but not the windshield. Really? at makes me feel safer being on the road with her now. While the top of the car is great — the cracks in her windshield might pose some safety problems for, you know, seeing.

I understand insurance is a business, but should it constantly feel like a scam? We pay month after month, year after year. Should we constantly be told no when we nally need to turn to the system that is supposed to be there to protect us?

Laws protect insurance companies — yet, we as citizens, are required by law to pay them. en, something unexpected happens and we nd out we did not actually get the right policy. Well, how was I supposed to know I needed seepage and ood insurance?

When we get our policies, most of us are people who, with good faith, think we are being told exactly what we need to have and our agents are protecting us. We do not have college degrees in knowing the loopholes, lingo and rules. We just get what we are told is best and hope that if something happens — they pay.

It took actual legal action for us to get our roof xed last year. Really? Our roof where the leaking stains were obvious did not meet criteria for insurance?

Citizens are tired and angry for a variety of reasons. We feel like we are cheated when we buy groceries and wonder how we spent $100 of stu that didn’t ll two bags. We feel cheated in paying taxes and we feel cheated when we actually need to use our insurance and are told no.

Feeling cheated regularly creates a lot of distrust and tired citizens.

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

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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

Handling the turbulence of life

With over 2 million miles own, I have experienced a lot of turbulence during those ights. Last month my wife and I were on a ight and for the most part it was a fairly smooth ight. However, during our descent the plane was violently rocked and had we not had our seatbelts on, we would have been tossed from our seats. In all my years of ying that was de nitely the toughest turbulence that I had ever experienced.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to sit next to many captains and pilots. As we would y through the turbulence, they would provide calming assurances that the planes are built to handle the turbulence and the pilots are trained to y us through safely. at has given me such great comfort over the years, a comfort that I tried passing along to some of the nervous yers I have had sitting next to me.

On one such ight as we were ying from

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Denver to Albuquerque, the turbulence was bad the entire ight as the pilot couldn’t nd an altitude where the air was smooth. e woman sitting next to me literally squeezed my forearm the entire ight, and I had never met her before. I didn’t mind and tried to assure her of the safety by sharing the stories pilots have shared with me, but she still held on for dear life. Just last week I was ying on a Dreamliner, a massive airplane and super comfortable. e ight was full, and as we went through our ascent, the plane hit a pocket of turbulence and gave us a fairly good bounce up and down. ere were a few quick screams and gasps, but there was another sound I heard, children laughing. e plane went through a little more bumpiness before nding smoother air and with each bump and drop of the plane, the children continued to squeal as if they were on an amusement park ride. I believe their laughter and relaxed attitude served to calm the nerves of others who didn’t nd the turbulence so amusing.

Life is full of turbulence, isn’t it? It just seems

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Thelma Grimes

Mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus found

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Environmental health experts have detected West Nile virus in mosquitoes near the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds, marking the rst known presence of the virus in the county this year.

is spring and summer, which have brought record-high levels of rainfall to much of the metro area, have also created prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

e Arapahoe County Public Health Department discovered the mosquitoes carrying the virus through their mosquito surveillance program, which uses traps to capture the insects for testing at a state laboratory. ey use this method to identify pools, or groups of mosquitoes, that are carrying the virus.

e department has three collection sites in the county: at the fairgrounds, near Arapahoe and Parker Road and near Heritage High School.

“It’s not uncommon for positive pools (of mosquitoes) to occur every year,” said Vanessa Fiene, environmental health supervisor at the public health department. “Given that we have identi ed a positive pool in the county, it’s not unlikely that we would see other positive pools in the county as well.”

In 2022, Colorado led the nation in West Nile virus, with a con rmed 206 positive cases and 20 related deaths, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. In 2021, Colorado ranked second, falling behind Ari-

NORTON

FROM PAGE 12

that every single day we are at odds with one another over something. e turbulence of politics, of cancel culture, of societal pressures, and just overall discontent and disagreements brewing everywhere. Sometimes the turbulence is frightening as it escalates and becomes erce. And sometimes the turbulence is slight, but still enough to cause us some fear, worry, and doubt.

It has been said that our character isn’t de ned by what happens to us, it is de ned by how we handle what happens to us. e turbulence happening in the world doesn’t de ne who we are, how we respond to the turbulence is a much better barometer of who we are. Sometimes we have to just buckle up, fastening our seatbelts and riding out the turbulence as it will eventually smooth out. Other times we may need to hold onto one another, supporting and encouraging each other as we ght our way through the turbulence. And then maybe we can look at the silliest things that feel like tur-

zona.

As of July 11, the state health department had zero identi ed human cases of West Nile virus so far this year.

What is West Nile virus?

In humans, the virus can range from being asymptomatic to deadly.

“It really is dependent on the person, you know, it depends on essentially their health,” Fiene said. Most people are asymptomatic when they are infected with the virus. According to the county’s website, one in ve people develop a fever, body aches, a headache, skin rashes and/or swollen lymph nodes.

Less than 1% of people will develop severe symptoms that a ect the nervous system. ese may include a high fever, tremors, neck sti ness, muscle weakness, confusion and disorientation, a coma, paralysis and potentially death.

“ e risk is extremely small, but to some people, it could be extremely dangerous,” Fiene said.

If a person thinks they may have the virus, Fiene said they should seek medical care. ere are no speci c treatments for the illness and no vaccines, but medical support can help relieve symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prevention

Experts say the best way to protect oneself from the virus is to prevent situations that could lead to bites.

“(Residents) need to protect themselves, especially at the times of dawn and dusk” Fiene said. “If you have to go outside at that time, mak-

bulence and like the children on the airplane, laugh our way through it.

ere are plenty of real-world problems that we face as a society, and we should pay attention to those and become as informed as possible, focusing on the facts instead of opinions and rants of others. It just seems like there is much more noise and turbulence around the silliest and smallest things that get us so worked up. For me, in these situations, my go-to response is laughter, as it really keeps me focused on the more important things in life.

How do you handle the turbulence? Do you buckle up and ride it out? Do you hold on to others? Or do you decide that the best response is to smile and laugh it o ? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we can decide to respond instead of react to all that the world has to throw at us, it really will be a better than good life.

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

ing sure you wear long clothing, long pants, long sleeve shirts. And, again, wearing DEET-containing insect repellent.”

Dylan Garrison, environmental health manager at Arapahoe County Public Health, added that it can also be bene cial to eliminate spaces where mosquitoes would like to breed. Some of these areas could include standing water in areas like puddles, gutters, owerpots, tires, pool covers, boats and tarps.

“If you have tall grass or shrub areas or a bunch of bushes, it can be conducive to providing a place for them to hang out -- so keeping that trimmed and clean is always good idea,” he said.

If considering chemical treatment options for these areas, Garrison and Fiene said it is important to do so properly in order to not cause

greater harm to other wildlife.

County actions

e county is undertaking mitigation e orts where the infected mosquitoes were found, including insecticides and extensive mowing.

Along with its surveillance and mitigation e orts, Garrison said the county is working hard to educate and inform the community of the precautions they should take.

“ is is largely about individual responsibility and what can you do as an individual to help prevent being bitten in the rst place,” he said. “ e more you know, the more you’re able to prevent the bite, and that’s the idea.

Boulder, Delta, Larimer and Weld counties also have mosquitoes con rmed to be carrying the virus, according to Arapahoe County.

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

They proudly call themselves the B.O.B. from the 303, bringing the Big Easy up to high altitudes with their soul-gripping blend of music stylings with New Orleans jazz.

Known for its vibrant nightlife and colorful buildings is the French Quarter. e French Quarter is the heart of New Orleans, and jazz is its heartbeat.

Breathing life into Bourbon Street are the sounds of brass instruments and drums continuously owing out of numerous jazz clubs. With just a trumpet, clarinet, berry sax, alto sax, trombone, snare, bass drum and tuba, the Brothers of Brass are bringing that one and only soulful heartbeat to Colorado.

“It’s a cultural tradition that most of the country doesn’t have,” said Armando Lopez, a member of the Brothers of Brass.

e group’s repertoire is a simmering mix of slow and angsty tunes and fast-paced tempos with a kick of familiar melodies. e Brothers of Brass blend of other genres like R&B, hip hop and psychedelic jam rock into each set.

A day after a tornado hit Highlands Ranch in late June, the Brothers of Brass dished out a much-needed evening of fun for the community. Soon, everyone went from clapping

to full-out dancing, allowing concertgoers a chance to relax.

“It was nice to see so many kids, like, actually getting up out of their seats and the older people getting up and dancing and enjoying the music,” said Khalil Simon, who is originally from New Orleans. “It’s not so often that we get to play like New Orleans brass music for a crowd like this and appreciate it, that’s pretty unique.”

Not only did the band members interact with one another on stage throughout the night, they got the crowd involved by singing along and repeating after them. Although it was an outdoor concert, there was no excuse for the crowd not being loud enough.

Among some crowd favorites were “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr., and “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. And of course, they couldn’t call themselves a brass band without playing the beloved spiritual hymn “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

In true New Orleans fashion, each band member was called out to do a solo, each one emoting a di erent feeling.

As the music continued and the sun began to set, the crowd let the good times roll as more children and adults came to the front of the stage, dancing as if it were Mardi Gras.

Just when the sun went behind the buildings, the Brothers of Brass were kind enough to strap on their instruments for an encore, playing “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.

e strong, powerful notes of brass instruments and the beautiful harmo-

The Brothers of Brass playing at Civic Green Park in Highlands Ranch.

PHOTO BY HALEY LENA

BRASS

nizing of the members’ voices encapsulated the feeling of the Crescent City.

“ ey say a lot with very little,” said Lopez. “When you play the horn, there’s a lot of emotional information in your tone quality — you can literally play one note and instantly captivate somebody and that is not always taught.”

When two street performers collide

Just like their voices, the members of the Brother of Brass is a blended group.

On the streets of Atlanta, Georgia in 2014, Simon and a couple of his friends were busking — playing music on a public street for voluntary donations.

When the groups of friends rst started playing, they were sharing horns until they had saved up enough money to get horns for each member. ey called themselves the Brothers of Brass.

e group quickly learned that busking at event egresses was a better way of making money, so they began playing with baseball egresses but expanded to playing outside of concerts and events that drew large crowds.

When baseball season came to a close, the group decided to travel across the country in search of other venues to perform.

Lopez continued to share his love for music after moving to Denver from Los Angeles. Having received a music education in jazz, Lopez brought that in uence into street music.

Once in Denver, Lopez played the saxophone on 16th Street Mall and, in 2013, Jake Herman joined in on drums and a small funk and jazz band ensemble was formed called Nimbus.

e group busked on 16th Street Mall, Boulder’s Pearl St. Mall and at e Denver Arts District’s rst Friday Art Walk, often including a rotating lineup of local musicians to play with them.

On a random day in April 2015, Lopez heard the deep bass of a tuba while playing on 16th Street Mall. He followed the sound to nd Simon playing the tuba. e two groups ended up playing together at the nearby Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

“ ey showed us a new way of playing,” said Lopez.

Until Simon moved to Denver in 2016, the two groups continued to collaborate whenever the Brothers of Brass were in Denver, eventually transforming into a full sized

brass-band and bringing the New Orleans culture to Colorado.

“You don’t really see a lot of actual brassbands outside of only there (New Orleans),” said Simon. “So I gured I’d bring it here and to see people receiving it so well, it feels so good.”

Social justice through music

With aspirations to become a nonpro t organization, the Brothers of Brass began the Black Brass Initiative a few years ago, calling it a “de facto” cultural exchange program between the deep south and the Denver metro area.

e inspiration of the initiative goes back to when Simon began to travel while busking the streets. e initiative is responsible for the housing, transportation and food of black musicians from Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.

“It’s nice to spread that culture here in Colorado, it’s kind of why I moved here, cause eventually places like New Orleans are not gonna exist anymore due to climate change and that’s where all this stu [music] came from and it’s mostly only there right now,” said Simon.

e band has been using the wealth generated by performing to reinvest in the black

communities in the south, where these musical traditions originated.

As stated on their website: “ e hope is that bringing gems of this culture to e Colorado Front Range will create a pipeline for cultural and educational enrichment for both the people of Colorado and the lineage of these musicians.”

Looking toward the future

From performing at a Mardi Gras party at Meow Wolf to playing the Red Rocks Amphitheater, the Brothers of Brass have no intention of slowing down.

For the rest of the summer, the Brothers of Brass will be playing at various locations throughout the metro area, including Cly ord Still Museum’s Lawn Concert, History Colorado Museum and the Bluebird eater.  ey can also be heard on the streets of Denver as they liven up the crowds.

e band will be releasing an upcoming album and can be followed on social media.

“By making this music, I’ve gotten farther and seen more of the world and people than doing anything else,” Simon said.

Armando Lopez, in the middle, playing two instruments.

The B.O.B. from the 303 bucket was out to collect voluntary donations.

PHOTOS BY HALEY LENA

Khalil Simon playing the sousaphone in the middle while other members sing.

Emerald ash borer requires homeowner action, but not panic

Insect found in Arapahoe County

BY SHEA VANCE SVANCE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With emerald ash borer—an invasive, tree-killing insect—now in Arapahoe County, experts are advising people with ash trees to take action sooner rather than later.

“ ere’s no need for people to panic because they’ve got a little bit of time, but they should start thinking about that now if they haven’t already,” said Lisa Mason, horticulturist and entomologist at the Colorado State University Extension o ce in Arapahoe County.

e species targets ash trees, which make up roughly 15 percent of the urban canopy — the surface area shaded by trees — in Arapahoe County.

An infestation in northeast Littleton was identi ed on June 20 by South Suburban Parks and Recreation District sta . According to South Suburban, the exact location was within the open space area next to the Big Dry Creek East Trailhead, near the Broadway and Littleton Boulevard intersection.

Mary Danser, the Littleton city forester, said once the emerald

ash borer invades an ash tree, it is essentially an “immediate death sentence” for the tree.

“You see the decline, and that means it’s too late to save the tree,” Danser said. “ at’s the reason it’s a big deal, or a bigger deal than other pests, because of its e cacy in killing the trees.”

Emerald ash borer — or EAB — was found in Boulder in 2013, having been brought to Colorado from Michigan. Since then, it has mostly stayed north of Denver.

e reason for the jump down to Littleton is likely the transport of rewood across the city, Mason said.

Mason advises that residents in and around northeast Littleton start treatment or removal now, but said that most of the county still has time.

“ ere’s a lot of great replacement tree options, and we’re happy to help people gure out the replacement trees that work well for them,” Mason said.

To treat or to remove?

Now that the pest has made its way south of Denver, it will eventually affect all ash trees in Arapahoe County, slowly spreading over the course of the coming years. Untreated ash

trees will die.

“Anyone with an ash tree will eventually have to make a nancial decision, whether they treat the tree with insecticides, or whether they have the tree removed,” Mason said. “ ey don’t have to make that decision right away.”

Removal can be pricey up-front, but treatment may cost more in the long run. Some options require treatments every three years, and others can be as often as twice a year. e removal of one or multiple trees from a property, however, can decrease the value of the property, and all these factors should be considered when deciding whether to treat or remove, Danser said. e cost of each option can vary depending on the tree and the business being consulted.

Because of the increased di culty of removal after an infestation, it will cost homeowners less to remove their ash trees ahead of time rather than wait for EAB to reach their area, according to Mason.

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The emerald ash borer takes years to kill a tree, and infestations are di cult to detect before it is too late. SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE

If a resident opts to treat their ash trees, the best way to go about it is to hire a licensed arborist, according to Danser. She said some stores and nurseries sell certain chemicals that can work, but are diluted, making them less e ective. e highly e ective forms of treatment are only available through licensed applicators, who also know how to apply them correctly.

Although it is possible to treat a tree after it has been infested, according to Mason, that treatment must be hasty. e best way to save an ash tree from EAB is to treat it before the insect invades.

A resident may also opt to remove their ash tree, which is the better course of action for less healthy trees, Mason said.

“If a tree is not healthy, it is probably not a good candidate for treatments, because the insecticides are systemic, which means the root system needs to be able to uptake the insecticide and spread it throughout the tree,” Mason said. “An unhealthy ash tree just simply would not be able to do that.”

Homeowners may choose to remove their ash trees, even if they’re healthy, depending on the value to the homeowner and homeowners associations.

Although Danser recognizes the

nancial di erences between the options, she highly advises against removing a tree that is healthy and in a sustainable location (not growing under a power line).

“I would only recommend removals for undesirable ash trees,” she said. “If your tree is healthy and you are able, chemical treating your ash is the best thing to do to save your own tree, contribute to the greater urban canopy in your neighborhood, and ght against the EAB.”

What’s the big deal?

Without treatment or removal, an a ected ash tree will die, increasing the risk of falling trees, which can be hazardous to personal safety and property.

“Dead trees in an urban homeowner setting can be a dangerous thing,” Mason said.

e impact on the urban canopy also poses a threat to the community bene ts currently provided by ash trees, according to the Arapahoe County website.

“Healthy ash trees play an essential role in urban tree canopy health; they slow down stormwater runo , provide much-needed shade and greenery, and help mitigate climate change by storing sequestered carbon,” the webpage reads.

Littleton’s action plan

Littleton has a plan prepared, which Danser put together last year “knowing that [EAB] was coming,

not expecting for it to come this quickly,” she said. “We thought we had more time.”

e city has chosen roughly one third of its healthiest ash trees to treat with insecticides, and is in the process of removing and replacing its least healthy trees. Danser said that it’s important to get ahead of tree removal and not wait until EAB invades, as the removal then becomes dangerous and complicated due to infested wood being “incredibly structurally unsound.”

As for ash trees on residential properties, Danser is in the process of applying for a grant which would allow Littleton to subsidize tree removal or treatment. A survey currently live on the Littleton forestry website is collecting resident responses to gauge the need for such a program.

Although EAB has not been detected by nearby cities, several localities near Littleton have made action plans in preparation for the pest’s arrival.

Surrounding areas

Like Littleton, Englewood completed an EAB management plan last year, and has been treating eligible trees and designating others for removal. Englewood already has a subsidy program in place for chemical treatment and removal, o ering to cover 25 percent—up to $500—of the cost to the homeowner.

Lone Tree has been planning for

the arrival of EAB and will look to treat eligible ash trees that are in optimal health.

Only one percent of Parker’s urban canopy is composed of ash trees, so as of now, the town is not treating for EAB prevention and is not planning on preemptively removing trees, but is monitoring for issues.

Centennial is also monitoring for EAB at City facilities, but has not been conducting preemptive treatment.

What to look for

“ e best thing to do right now is determine if an ash tree is on your property,” Lone Tree City Forester Sam Waggener wrote in a statement to Colorado Community Media.  According to the Colorado State Forest Service website, homeowners can look for compound leaves with ve to nine lea ets, diamondshaped bark ridges on mature trees, and lea ets, buds and branches growing directly opposite from one another.

Although EAB is di cult to detect in a tree and can go years without being noticed, Mason said that homeowners with ash trees on their property can look for D-shaped exit holes, shrinking leaf size, and heavy woodpecker activity.

If a homeowner thinks they have an infestation, Mason advises that they get in contact with a local CSU Extension o ce, which can help with identi cation and next steps.

How Coloradans can save water at home

BY SHANNON MULLANE THE COLORADO SUN

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

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

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

e average American family uses

more than 300 gallons of water per day at home, and about 70% of that use is indoors. In the arid West, states have some of the highest per capita residential water use because of landscape irrigation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

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

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

uses like toilets, faucets, laundry machines and showers.

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

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

Home water use falls primarily into two categories: indoor and outdoor.

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

Indoors, Colorado residents use about 60 gallons per capita each day. at leaves them with plenty of op-

portunities for conservation — and accidental waste.

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

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

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

“We’re now in a world where feet matter in Lake Powell. Drops of water matter because we’re on a knife’s edge. When you’re in that tight of a spot, every single water use matters.

When it comes to water e ciency at home, the temperature, duration and appliances in a shower can all impact water savings.

PHOTO BY HUGH CAREY THE COLORADO SUN

Experts share tips, insight into water-saving strategies

No matter how small,” Berggren said. ere are a few simple ways to cut back on water use at home, including some Colorado-speci c programs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

For those who have updated their appliances and are careful about water use around the house, there’s a way to take at-home e ciency a step further: grey water reuse.

ese systems capture grey water — the runo from showers, bathroom sinks and laundry machines — and then use it for other purposes, like watering ornamental plants outside or ushing toilets, at the same

location. is water can contain dirt, oil, greases, lint and possibly human pathogens, so don’t use it to drink or water your vegetables, experts say.

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

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

These systems also come with a catch: Local governments need water rights that allow for reuse, which limits the adoption of grey water programs, and new installations are only legal if the local government has officially approved grey water reuse. People with preexisting systems should check with their local programs to see if their system can be grandfathered in.

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

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

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

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

Water pulled from the Colorado River Basin on the Western Slope never returns to the basin. Front Range residents could use less water

in the hope that more water could stay on the Western Slope, but there are no incentives for Front Range water providers to give up such a valuable resource because of water savings, said MacGregor, the water law expert at CU.

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

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

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

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

But there’s no guarantee that the water will reach the Colorado River’s

main storage reservoirs, like Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border. at would require complicated, interstate legal and administrative procedures — an option being explored by Colorado.

Experts are adamant: Residents should still try to use water e ciently at home.

If Colorado residents are more efcient in their water use, then cities and towns could pull less water from rivers and streams on the front end, which leaves water in the stream for others. Landscapes could be better able to withstand wet and dry years with the addition of native plants. Treatment plants spend less money on treating water before releasing it, which could help with water bills, experts say.

“ is isn’t a situation that there’s going to be one thing that’s going to solve the problem. It’s more of a case of incremental change, so every little bit helps,” Novick said. “If you’re saving a gallon of water by taking a shorter shower, or two gallons of water — if everyone were to do that … all of that would add up. We have to think of this more holistically.”

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.

People with hypoxia brave high elevations

BY DAN ENGLAND THE COLORADO SUN

Chantelle Shoaee will have a question for you if you decide to visit her: “What kind of car do you drive?”

Unless you’re one of her buds, perhaps one of her Hypoxic Hikers, the reason she’s asking may shock you. Rough mountain roads, the kind that ummox those who don’t drive Subarus — and yes, there are a few — lead to the little base camp where she lives and runs Always Choose Adventures.

Shoaee lives at 10,000 feet in a rural spot above Idaho Springs. She also has hypoxia, a condition de ned by low levels of oxygen in the body.

Doctors tell hypoxic patients to move out of Colorado. At Denver’s elevation, around 5,280 feet, there’s 20% less oxygen than at sea level. Whenever she’s walking around, Shoaee receives oxygen through a tube in her nose, called a cannula. She punctuates her sentences with pu s from her tank that sound like a gasp.

Oxygen is as much of a treasure to her as the gold from the long-closed mine on her land. And yet, she lives at twice the elevation of Denver, a space so devoid of O2 that most atlanders have trouble sleeping.

It seems like a mismatch, like a penguin wobbling through a desert. And yet, Shoaee climbs 14ers at speeds that would smoke a weekend peakbagger.

She wears a backpack comfortably and even helped design a pack being developed by Osprey, a Cortezbased gear company that specializes in hydration bladder vests and packs for bikers, hikers and ultrarunners.

Shoaee’s pack ts oxygen tanks.

e innovation could be a boon for hikers tethered to a cannula: Most of them are anchored to heavy oxygen tanks or concentrators.

Shoaee loves the mountains, elevation be damned, and her strong body, balanced by a pair of powerful thighs, shakes with good-natured laughter when someone asks why the hell she lives so high.

“Look around,” she answers.

She doesn’t care that she lives in a small trailer, or that the property needs a lot of work, or that the roads that lead to it could overturn a Jeep. She’s immensely proud of where she lives, even though she knows, one day, she will have to leave.

Until then, Shoaee wants to run her organization, Always Choose Adventures, which helps people of all ages, backgrounds and, most importantly, physical abilities, experience the outdoors. She and her Hypoxic Homies, a group of hikers like her, all acknowledge their limitations the condition puts on them, but they don’t want to be limited by any kind of assumptions about their ability, or medical insurance, or misdiagnoses.

ere are more than you might think: Shoaee puts severe limits on the money she makes so she can stay on Medicaid, which pays for her portable oxygen. Her place was a ordable because it was in poor condition, and because she sold her townhome, buoyed by the skyrocketing market. Quite frankly, it looks like a bargain, even if the land around it looks priceless.

“I live in poverty,” she says, “so I can breathe.”

On doctor’s orders, Shoaee’s parents kept her inside when she was

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HYPOXIA

a kid. She was born with tracheoesophageal stula, an abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea, and low-functioning lungs.

She felt a void that wasn’t lled until she founded Always Choose Adventures and sought treatment with National Jewish Hospital, where doctors told her her birth defects were never addressed properly: Her trachea collapses up to 90% of the time. ey put her on oxygen to use while adventuring and it’s made all the di erence.

She’s still hypoxic, but she believes many other Coloradans are, too, and don’t realize it. We all need oxygen, and without enough of it, we get confused, restless and anxious, and have bluish skin, a rapid heart rate and di culty breathing.

Breathing problems can cause hypoxia, but it isn’t limited to them. Shoaee tells story after story of visitors who come from sea level and don’t feel right. Colorado’s thin air isn’t kind to those who are accustomed to drawing in gluttonous gulps of oxygen with every breath.

Just the other day, she checked the

oxygen levels of a visitor by using a nger sensor.

“She was hypoxic as f---,” Shoaee said, using one of her favorite phrases.

Many others with asthma struggle here, Shoaee said, and even those seemingly in good health may wonder why they’re anxious all the time and don’t sleep well. ey’re probably hypoxic, Shoaee said. Colorado is a hard place to live.

e condition is more common now after the pandemic. One of Shoaee’s best friends, one of her Hypoxic Homies, is Audra Lilly, who works as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She was diagnosed with lupus in 2015 when she was living in Dallas. Exercise helped lube her joints: e more she did it, the better she felt. She moved to Littleton to be in a place where she could do outdoor activities all the time. She took up trail running and felt better than she had in years.

“I needed a place where I could be outdoors all the time and live a healthy lifestyle,” Lilly said. “Dallas wasn’t that.”

But her job left her susceptible to the pandemic, and sure enough, she got COVID-19 in November 2020. It ravaged her body, forcing her into the hospital for weeks. At one point, doctors asked her if life support was

OK. She refused, preferring to battle it on her own, as she did with lupus. Lupus can be as mean as COVID: Her joints sti ened in her hospital bed, so she dragged her huge oxygen tank behind her and walked around her room.

She now uses oxygen to hike and run, though not as much as she used to. She met Shoaee in a hypoxia support group on Facebook.

“When I asked for advice on hiking and running, people would tell me not to do it, especially doctors,” Lilly, 41, said, “but Chantelle was like, ‘I’ll go with you!’”

Yes, Lilly sees the irony in moving to a state because of health problems and now may need to leave it one day because of health problems. But she is determined to stay as long as she can.

“Honestly, when I put my oxygen in, it goes away,” Lilly said. “I’m getting back to where I was before this happened.”

Doctors at rst diagnosed Lilly with anxiety. It’s a common misdiagnosis among those with hypoxia, and an understandable one, given that the two are connected: Not being able to breathe causes anxiety. Anxiety can also cause breathing problems such as hyperventilation.  at’s a problem because doctors have to write a prescription for

oxygen, said Mike Goldblatt, 67, of Evergreen. Goldblatt is hypoxic and doctors don’t know why. He was an arborist and guided y- shing trips and hikes. He also coaches and chases around his grandkids and plays golf and music in a band. Evergreen is at 7,400 feet and Goldblatt has no desire to move. Oxygen, which he uses when he’s active, makes his life far more normal than it would be otherwise.

“It feels a lot better,” Goldblatt said.

“We are staying active,” Goldblatt said, referring to the hypoxic hiking group, “but 90% or more pulling oxygen aren’t. ey don’t realize they can get out.”

Insurance, he said, tends to restrict patients from portable tanks or limit them to a few per month, unless they ght. Medicaid doesn’t do this, at least for Shoaee, which is why she restricts her lifestyle to stay on it.

“Safety is what they call it,” Goldblatt said, “but it comes down to money.”

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.

Legals

City and County

PUBLIC NOTICE

CHILD FIND

East Central BOCES and/or its member districts would like to locate all 3 through 21 year olds, who may have a disability.

The Colorado Department of Education maintains a comprehensive child identification system consistent with Part B of IDEA and ensures that each Local Education Agency (LEA), in collaboration with a variety of community resources, assumes the leadership role in establishing and maintaining a process in their community for the purpose of locating, identifying and evaluating all children, 3 through 21 years, who may have a disability and may be eligible for special education services under Part B of IDEA.

If you have any concerns about your child’s growth in -

Speech/Language Development Learning

• Vision and/or Hearing

• Social and/or Emotional Development

• Physical Motor Development

Ages 3 through 5 year-old concerns should be directed to the following:

Cheyenne County (Cheyenne Wells and Kit Carson Schools)

• Lincoln County (Genoa-Hugo School)

• Yuma County (Idalia & Liberty Schools)

• Kit Carson County (Bethune, Stratton, Arriba-Flagler & Hi-Plains Schools)

• Arapahoe County (Byers, Deer Trail, Strasburg & Bennett Schools)

•Washington County (Arickaree & Woodlin Schools)

•Adams County (Bennett, Strasburg, Byers and Deer Trail Schools)

•Lincoln County (Limon & Karval Schools)

•Elbert County (Agate & Kiowa Schools)

•Kit Carson County (Burlington Schools)

Please contact: Stacey Brown, Child Find Coordinator - (719) 775-2342, ext. 133

All 5 through 21 year-old concerns should be directed to the local school district administrator, special education teacher, East Central BOCES (719) 775-2342, ext. 101

The East Central BOCES member schools are: Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, Deer Trail, Agate, Woodlin, Arickaree, Limon, Genoa-Hugo, Karval, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Cheyenne Wells, ArribaFlagler, Hi-Plains, Stratton, Bethune, Burlington, Liberty, and Idalia.

References: IDEA, Part B, Section 300.125

ECEA CCR 301-8 2220-R-4.01-4.04(4)

East Central BOCES Comprehensive Plan Section III Process of Identifying

Legal Notice No. 25025

First Publication: July 27, 2023

Last Publication: July 27, 2023

Publisher: Elbert County News

OPERATIONS IN THE WILDCAT FIELD, ELBERT COUNTY, COLORADO )

CAUSE NO. 1

DOCKET NO. 230600205

TYPE: VARIANCE

NOTICE OF HEARING

GMT Exploration Company, LLC (Operator No. 10243) (“Applicant”), filed an Application for a Rule 502.a Variance from Rule 1004.a and 1004.d Reclamation requirements for the MarbleRedstone Pad (Location ID 479197) located in the below-described lands (the “Application Lands”). This Notice was sent to you because the Applicant believes you may be an interested party in the Application Lands.

APPLICATION LANDS

Township 6 South, Range 65 West, 6th P.M.

Section 24: NE¼SW¼

DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION OF HEARING (Subject to change)

The Commission will hold a hearing on the above referenced docket number at the following date, time, and location:

Date:September 27, 2023

Time:9:00 a.m.

Place:Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission

The Chancery Building 1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 801 Denver, CO 80203

PETITIONS

DEADLINE FOR PETITIONS BY AFFECTED PERSONS: August 28, 2023

Any interested party who wishes to participate formally must file a written petition with the Commission no later than the deadline provided above. Please see Commission Rule 507 at https://ecmc. state.co.us/#/home, under “Regulation,” then se-

lect “Rules.” Please note that, under Commission Rule 510.l, the deadline for petitions may only be continued for good cause, even if the hearing is continued beyond the date that is stated above.

Pursuant to Commission Rule 507, if you do not file a proper petition, the Hearing Officer will not know that you wish to formally participate in this matter and the date and time of the hearing may change without additional notice to you. Parties wishing to file a petition must register online at https://oitco.hylandcloud.com/DNRCOGExternalAccess/Account/Login.aspx and select “Request Access to Site.” Please refer to our “eFiling Users Guidebook” at https://ecmc.state.co.us/documents/reg/Hearings/ External_Efiling_System_Handbook_December_2021_Final.pdf for more information. Under Commission Rule 508, if no petition is filed, the Application may be approved administratively without a formal hearing.

Any Affected Person who files a petition must be able to participate in a prehearing conference during the week of August 28, 2023, if a prehearing conference is requested by the Applicant or by any person who has filed a petition.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For more information, you may review the Application, which was sent to you with this Notice. You may also contact the Applicant at the phone number or email address listed below.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if any party requires special accommodations as a result of a disability for this hearing, please contact Margaret Humecki at Cogcc. Hearings_Unit@state.co.us, prior to the hearing and arrangements will be made.

ENERGY AND CARBON MANAGEMENT COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO

By: Mimi C. Larsen, Secretary

Dated: July 17, 2023

GMT Exploration Company, LLC

c/o Jamie L. Jost Kelsey H. Wasylenky Jost Energy Law, P.C. Attorneys for Applicant 3511 Ringsby Court, Unit 103 Denver, Colorado 80216 (720) 446-5620 Jjost@jostenergylaw.com

Kwasylenky@jostenergylaw.com

Legal Notice No. 25026

First Publication: July 27, 2023

Last Publication: July 27, 2023

Publisher: Elbert County News

Notice to Creditors

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of William Dale Nelson, a/k/a William D. Nelson, Deceased

Case Number: 2023PR30029

All persons having claims against the above named