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Week of July 28, 2022
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
EnglewoodHerald.net
VOLUME 102 | ISSUE 24
More money flows in for creation of homeless navigation center Regional leaders hope for staffing and initial outreach to start BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
More than $100,000 has been recently awarded to an Arapahoe County nonprofit seeking to support
the creation of a navigation center to centralize resources for people experiencing homelessness in the region. Chaired by former Littleton mayor Susan Thornton, the South Metro Community Foundation announced recently it has received $50,000 from the Daniels Fund — a philanthropic foundation in Denver — as well as $50,000 from Centura Health and $5,000 from the Littleton Rotary Foundation.
It also received $1,500 from the Rotary Club of Englewood and $2,500 from Sheridan Rising Together for Equity. That is in addition to $300,000 approved by Arapahoe County commissioners in March to be used for the navigation center over the next three years. The county had previously approved $10,000 for the project. In total, more than $400,000 has been allocated to the project. The money secured so far could be
enough to hire two full-time center employees by the end of this year or early next, Thornton said, though that is still contingent on funding. “Our goal has been to raise enough staffing for the first three years, so we’re getting close,” Thornton said, adding that staff costs are estimated to be about $220,000 for the center’s first year with a 10% increase over the next SEE HOMELESS, P9
Woman found safe by Englewood police after witness reported kidnapping Police report ‘no known threat to the community’ BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
substance use disorder and, more frequently, people who are occasional users and often think they are taking a drug other than fentanyl. “The change is probably that we’re seeing a significant number of people … who get something they think is a pharmaceutical product,” he said.
The Englewood Police Department said July 18 that no kidnapping occurred after a resident said she saw a woman in a car who may have been in danger July 12. “It is believed that the female and the driver of the vehicle knew each other, and therefore it was not a random incident. There is no known threat to the community in relation to this,” said Investigator Scot Allen. The response came after Englewood resident Heather Martin said she saw a woman who appeared to be trapped in a car near Eastman Avenue and Grant Street on the morning of July 12. Martin said she was in her car at the corner of East Eastman and South Grant at 11:55 a.m. when she saw the vehicle — a fourdoor sedan — driving east on Eastman.
SEE FENTANYL, P6
SEE KIDNAPPING, P15
DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian Besser, left, and District Attorney John Kellner speak during a July 6 news conference on PHOTO BY ROBERT TANN two recent large-scale fentanyl seizures in Colorado.
Fentanyl: A growing crisis regionally, nationally Law enforcement, others grapple with solutions BY ROBERT TANN AND MCKENNA HARFORD RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM, MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
From his vantage point as a toxicologist in the emergency departments of UCHealth’s
Highlands Ranch and Anschutz locations, Dr. Kennon Heard said fentanyl is easily the most common drug involved in the overdoses he treats. “This is going to be on par with seeing a stroke or a heart attack,” Heard said, estimating overdoses are treated multiple times a week, if not daily. “It’s that common of an event.” Heard sees both people with
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19
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