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November 4, 2021
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
EnglewoodHerald.net
VOLUME 101 | ISSUE 38
Don’t count out Tri-County Health yet, leaders say Health chief, Adams Co. officials see collaboration possibility past 2022 BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
In a September 2020 file photo, a man dismantles a canopy during a sweep of a homeless camp along the South Platte River. PHOTO BY DAVID GILBERT
As homeless camps expand, tension builds Littleton, Englewood, Sheridan adopt action plan BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN
Cyclists and joggers along the South Platte River Trail in Littleton call police on a regular basis these
days to report homeless campers. Residents also notify authorities when someone is sleeping on a sidewalk outside a storefront. And then, while officers are responding to those reports of unauthorized camping or trespassing, other Littleton residents call the police department to complain that officers are harassing the homeless. The tension is rising as Denver’s homelessness crisis creeps beyond the city and into surrounding
towns. There is no permanent homeless shelter in Littleton, Sheridan or Englewood, only motel voucher programs and a network of churches that provide warm beds on winter nights. There isn’t a day shelter in Littleton where people could get a hot meal, take a shower and sign up for job training or housing vouchers. SEE HOMELESS, P20
Victim named in 1988 Sheridan homicide Akram Bada’an was not identified until 33 years after unsolved slaying BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Sheridan police, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the 18th Judicial District At-
torney’s Office, have identified the victim of a 33-year-old homicide case. Akram Bada’an was believed to have been murdered at the age of 36 on Aug. 27, 1988, police said during a press briefing Oct. 27. His body was found in the 2800 block of West Oxford Avenue. Police had previously referred to the victim only as John Doe. “The most important thing in this case, aside from giving the
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 22
victim justice, is giving the victim his name back,” said Bryan Penry, detective for the Sheridan police, who said identifying Bada’an was the “first step of many’’ in solving the case. With advances in DNA analysis, authorities were able to use genetic genealogy to trace Bada’an’s family back to Israel, who they said have been notified. SEE COLD CASE, P3
The formal bonds that hold the public-health partnership among Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties together may be loosening, but the complete demise of the TriCounty Health Department, which has served them for decades, may be less certain to happen than it has appeared. “My best-case scenario is, after a couple months, Adams County works with us and figures out they can provide what they want in terms of local control and (for their residents) in a two-county infrastructure,” John Douglas, executive director of Tri-County Health Department, told Colorado Community Media in an interview, expressing hope that Adams and Arapahoe could still work together. He also envisioned a future where Arapahoe County partners with TriCounty “as some kind of independent entity” that Arapahoe might contract with — or even that Greenwood Village-based Tri-County gets “evolved” into a department of Arapahoe County. He said he hopes that whatever Tri-County becomes could also work with Adams and Douglas counties at least in a transitional role to provide services and help them plan for what their evolution to new health agencies might look like. SEE TRI-COUNTY, P4
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