Fort Lupton Press 052622

FORT LUPTON PRESS S E RV I N G T H E C O M M U N I T Y S I N C E 19 0 6

VOLUME 119

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ISSUE 20

WEEK OF MAY 26, 2022

W N 25 , 2020 More budget money may, spare FLHS football program

VOLUME 117

EDNESDAY

Board president: ‘We are not currently looking at any budget cuts’

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

More money in the budget could save the Fort Lupton High School football program and other sports in

ISSUE 48

OVEMBER

T H E S E A S O N FBrowne O R said S because HAR I Nextra G of the

the Weld RE-8 School District.

At mid-afternoon May 17, Superintendent Alan Kaylor said there would be an extra $1.9 million in state funding and from oil and gas royalties in the 2022-23 budget. Later in the evening, he presented the update to the Weld RE-8 Board of Education in a closed-door setting.

“That could go to a lot of things — increased teacher salaries,” Kaylor said in the afternoon.

RE-8 board President Susan

funding, the board is not currently looking at any budget cuts, including the football program.

“Money is going to be very tight, though,” Browne said. “With the cost of inflation at a 7% increase, the cost of utilities, as we all are seeing those gas prices increasing, the aging of our buildings and the need to replace and repair mechanical parts such as boilers and roof top units, there is no extra money

Youth in government: Students role play during council meeting Fort Lupton middleschoolers participate in mock meeting

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

laying around. In the future, we may need to look for a bond or mil levy to help offset the costs.”

Fellow board member Cody LeBlanc said it was too early to tell where the extra funds could go, considering the board adopted a budget last year that was $3 million in the hole.

“The Fort Lupton Education Association and the district’s negotiating SEE FUNDING, P3

Colorado native honored for lifetime of work helping communities Katie Shilts named 2022 ‘Champion for Women’ by Women’s Fund of Weld County

Are you brighter than a middle schooler?

Thirteen Fort Lupton Middle School students with the National Junior Honor Society proved they are,

BY BELEN WARD with an opportunity to sit BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM in Fort Lupton City Council member’s seats and conduct Katie Shilts, at age 13, discovered her a mock council meeting May passion for volunteering to help communi17 as part of the organizaties, and by 16, she had joined several local tion’s Youth in Government boards. From there, she was inspired she program. could make a difference, and she dedicated her life’s work to helping others.

Council member David “We all have an idea of Crespin, who was elected what stirs our interests to his post when he was 19, and ignites our passions, called the group of students and I truly believe those “brave.” are there for a reason,” she “This is one way you can said. “They aren’t simply start looking at a career. I for hobbies, but to make know it’s a long way off,” he the world around us a little said. “Working in the public softer and little kinder sector, you can work there.

Members of the Fort Lupton Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society participated Shilts and a little better for each Your voice has power. Stand in a mock council meeting as part of the organization’s Youth in Government program. other.” up for what you believe in.

Students who participated are pictured above and include Jullian Ceretto, Taylor HarEvery year before Thanksgiving, rison, First Gracie United Methodist Church in Fort Lupton and the Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank provide community Shilts was named the 2022 “Champion Make your voice heard. You Stallsworth, Brycen Thomas, Jhannie Chavez and Robert Nick. Fort Lupton members with food boxes.

This will be the program’s 10th consecutive year.

Above, Joe Hubert, left China Garcia and Sue Hubert with Change 4 Change, did a great job.” for Women” by the Women’s Fund of Weld City Council members are pictured in the back row. From left, are: Valerie Blackston, Ward Fort Lupton City Clerk County. council David Crespin, Ward Chris Ceretto, mayor pro-tem; Bruce Fitzgerald, another organization that helps 1with themember; food drive.

See more on2; Page 2.

Ward 3; Carlos Barron, Ward 3; and Claud Hanes, Ward 2. Also pictured are City AdminisPHOTO BY BARB MILES trator Chris Cross and City Clerk Mari Pena.

SEE STUDENTS, P3

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FUNDING FROM PAGE 1

team are still negotiating the trust agreement for next year,” he said.

“Without resolution from negotiations, it is premature to discuss what the additional funding could be used for.”

LeBlanc also cited the nation’s high inflation rate and potential impacts on the district. He also pointed to a discussion earlier this spring about building and facilities needs within RE-8.

“As stated during the meeting, there are nearly $15 million of repairs and renovations that will need to be completed,” LeBlanc said.

“While families struggle after the pandemic and President Biden’s inflation rates are soaring, is it fair to ask the local taxpayers to pass a bond to cover theses costs?”

Browne said middle- and highschool athletic programs came up two years ago as a means to cut the budget “It (the football team) has a long history of unsuccessful seasons,” Browne said. “Many years, we have few players that cause our players to play many positions with no breaks, and the risks of injury are high. We have a high coach turnover. We again have another opening for a head coach.

“Football is an option, as are other sports and other items in the budget, when trying to figure out how to make the budget work and retain

SHILTS FROM PAGE 1

The award recognizes women for their ongoing dedication to the Women’s Fund of Weld County after service on the board is complete. It also honors recipients as ambassadors for the community, the organization, personal and financial investments and representing the organization at functions.

When Shilts received the call about the call, she cried and said she felt honored.

“I am sincerely grateful,” she said.

“This is an amazing group of women who serve on the Women’s Fund of Weld County board, so the compliment is truly in those who bestowed the award. They are hardworking, dedicated, talented women who all

teachers and stay competitive with salaries with surrounding school districts,” he added.

If the school board axes the football program, Title IX requirements won’t come into play.

Title IX is a federal law that protects people from discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that take federal or financial assistance. It applies to sports programs, too. The district has to provide reasonable opportunities for members of each sex in substantial proportion to the number of students in each sex participating in interscholastic sports.

Fort Lupton High School fields two athletic teams for boys, three for girls, three separate programs for both genders and two coed teams.

But the potential removal of one sport does not necessarily equate to removal of another.

Kaylor said Title IX impacts have more to do with participation numbers.

“Adding girls tennis helped us with Title IX,” Kaylor said. “We’re OK, sport to sport, with participation numbers. For football, we range from 50 to 60 kids to about 30 or 40. We’ve had to cancel a few freshman games because those schools’ numbers don’t support a varsity level program.”

Meanwhile, comments continued about the possible end to Fort Lupton’s football program. The Weld RE-8 school board asked for information about the costs and participants for all sports at the high school.

Kaylor plans to present a sports budget for all schools in the district,

participation numbers and revenue streams during the May 26 school board meeting.

On Facebook, Phil and Gina Gutierrez said it wouldn’t surprise them to see the district lose its accreditation, such as what happened to the Adams 14 School District earlier this month.

“Sports is a real life teaching experience for the participants,” said a Facebook post from Phil and Gina Gutierrez. “Sports builds the mind and the body for the participants.

It brings the community together.

If sports are cut, it’s time to look at replacing the people making that decision .... bad enough our children aren’t getting the education from the Fort Lupton school system they deserve.”

Parent Angelina Alarcon advocated for a change in the Bluedevils’ athletic classification. It’s done every two years and is based on a school’s enrollment.

“Maybe we’re in the wrong division. (Class) 3A is stacked. The schools recruit people,” she said. “We spend money on Homyak, but only one person came from Homyak to a Fort Lupton school.”

Some online comments asked the district to leave the sports programs alone and look somewhere else. The music program costs $88,000 per year, as an example.

“The cost of music includes the salary and benefits for a certified teacher, whereas athletic programs are extra duty pay for coaches,” said Jessica Holbrook, the district’s finance and business services director.

make a daily positive impact in their worlds.”

Past “Champion for Women” recipients include Julie Constance, Kristi Thomas and Women’s Fund founding member Betty L. Tointon.

Shilts, a native of Colorado, was born and raised in Fort Collins and now lives in Greeley. Her parents were dedicated to the community, and she said she and her siblings were inspired by them.

“We understood that we were meant to bloom where we are planted,” Shilts said.

Shilts graduated Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, majoring in communications. She reinvented herself several times during her career, working with senior housing, nonprofit management, health care, and now, accounting and finance.

She received her master’s in health care administration and management

from CSU Global in 2016.

Her involvement with the Women’s Fund of Weld County includes starting a fundraiser for the organization in 2015, being named to the board of directors in August 2015 and serving as president from June 2018 to December 2019.

“When the time came to consider being president, I took time to seriously consider the obligation,” Shilts said. “I have home requirements — as we all do — as well as a chronic disease multiple sclerosis, so I have to be mindful of what I take on.”

Her time on the board was significant for Shilts because she said it taught her about so many people and their needs.

“I truly felt this was a worthy use of my time and talents,” she said. “It was sad to leave the board when I termed out last summer, and my year and a half as their president was a time

STUDENTS FROM PAGE 1

Mari Pena planned the event and taught the students how an actual city council meeting operates.

They learned the agenda plans, discussed local issues, and passed policy that benefits the community.

Mayor Pro-Tem Chris Ceretto thanked the youngster and their parents for participating in the exercise.

“Thank you for telling your kids to do this,” he said. “The parents of the kids who showed up, your kids are the ones that are going to be successful.”

Students also toured the water recovery plant to learn how the town’s water is cleaned and stored.

Then they visited the Coyote Creek Golf Course, which is owned by the city. After visiting the places on the agenda, students returned to City Hall to prepare, practice and conduct the council meeting that evening.

City council members watched the students lead the mock council meeting, and when they were done, the real council meeting convened.

“All of these students are amazing leaders and are committed to their education, service to the school and community and are positive role models wherever they go,” said Barb Miles, a teacher at Fort Lupton Middle School.

of challenges and fun I will never forget.”

During Shilts’ time with the Women’s Fund, one of her favorite nonprofits the group supported was Soccer Without Borders.

“This is a great organization that brings together many different cultures and ages and soccer abilities to give girls an outlet after school,” she said. “Hearing about their great work building community, helping their clients adjust to life in the states and the fun they had doing it, was inspiring.”

In the future, Shilts will continue to serve on the board of directors for A Women’s Place and her church. She is currently working on her second master’s degree in finance. She and her husband, Luke, will be doing some traveling this summer along with their dog Tazz.

“Who knows? I may join another board,” she said.

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4 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Man sentenced to 96 years for shooting Fort Lupton police officer STAFF REPORT

GREELEY -- The man who shot a Fort Lupton Police Department sergeant two years ago drew a 96-year prison sentence.

Weld County District Court Judge Vincente Vigil sentenced 21-year-old Matthew Cotter last week after a jury convicted Cotter of ambushing and trying to kill two Fort Lupton police Cotter officers, Sgt. Christopher Pelton, who was shot in the face, and for shooting at Sgt. Jeremy Sagner. The two were injured during a call about an armed man who was trying to contact someone inside a Fort Lupton home.

“I’m very fortunate that this was an attempted-murder case and not a murder case,” Sgt. Pelton said during the sentencing hearing. “The moment that bullet went through my head I wasn’t even there going after the defendant. I was there to protect the scene. If someone was going to get shot that day, I’m glad it was me and not one of my young officers.”

According to a news release, both of Sgt. Pelton’s daughters made statements to the court and said they now suffer from fear and anxiety after their father almost died.

“The victimization doesn’t stop with me,” Pelton explained. “It affects my whole family.”

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during the sentencing hearing. He said the impact from this incident has been felt throughout the department.

“It was not an accident,” Sagner said. “He knew what he was doing. I believe Mr. Cotter is where he needs to be. Anything short of him remaining in custody for the maximum time is detrimental to the public.”

During his sentencing argument, Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia asked the judge to reflect on the seriousness of the crimes.

“How much closer can you get to killing someone?” Pirraglia asked, according to the news release.

“The physical pain is one thing.

But the mental pain, the anxiety, the stress, the trauma. It’s appalling what Sgt. Pelton and his family now have to live the rest of their lives with.”

Pirraglia also read parts of letters from other officers who were at the scene after the shooting. In one letter, a female officer described how horrific the scene was and described that even her wedding ring was stained with blood.

Vigil made some remarks before he announced the sentence.

“This is really a unique situation,” he said, according to the news release. “While I was not there, I saw the videos. I heard the shots, saw the officer fall, heard just the most horrible gurgle that man omitted. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the gurgle of someone dying.

It’s a shock to me that Sgt. Pelton is still alive.

“It’s only by luck that I even have sentence discretion here and that I’m not forced to impose a life without parole sentence today. I cannot send a message to the community that I love and have been a part of my whole life that this was acceptable behavior.”

Fort Lupton Police Sgt. Chris Pelton.

COURTESY OF CITY OF FORT LUPTON

Fort Lupton City Council eyes rec center expansion Mayor thinks effort is going too fast

BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Fort Lupton City Council approved two parts to a proposal to expand the city’s recreation center during a regular meeting May 17.

The first was an eight-member, ad hoc committee to design the expansion. The vote was 6-0. Mayor Zo Stieber abstained for cause. She was participating via Zoom and did not hear the whole presentation.

The second was to hire a firm, Perkins & Will, to collect and present expansion information to voters this November. The cost for the contract won’t be more than $28,000, and the vote was 6-1. Voters will decide whether to pay for the expansion.

The idea for a new recreation center started with community meetings 20 years ago. At that time, recreation center manager Julie Seedorf Holm said three areas community members wanted did not

become part of the present facility.

Two of them were an auxiliary gym and a fitness area.

“The community wanted it all, but we couldn’t afford it,” she told council. “Our memberships are increasing, and we love seeing the people come in and use the center.

But we are so crowded. There are areas where we are at heavy use.”

The plan is to form an eightperson ad hoc committee, including one member from the city’s Culture, Parks, Recreation and Museum Committee, one from the city’s Senior Advisory Committee, two city council members, two city staff members and two members from the general public. Holm said there could be a rec center member survey to gather input on wishes and desires of users.

“It’s an issue of timing at this point,” she told council. “We kept going back to the original drawings and the meetings that took place. We took the things that were cut out but left them in place for a future expansion. It depends on the timing and where we can expand.”

Mayor Stieber, who cast the lone “no” vote to hiring the outside firm

to present information to voters, had no problem with expanding the recreation center. Her issue was the speed.

“We’re trying to do this so quickly,” she said. “It feels like we are rushing to get something done and have it on the ballot this fall. I am not going to be able to support this.”

OT money In other business, council approved a $3,200 supplemental budget request for the city’s facilities and grounds departments. The vote was unanimous.

Human Resources Director Laura Howe said the money will be overtime pay for employees who have to work outside of normal working hours for issues that require a fast response.

“There are special situations that require them to have a quick response,” Howe told council. “They will be paid a two-hour minimum for those situations. It helps pay our employees appropriately for time they spend during their time off.”

Howe also told council it would have to approve funds for this use in 2023 and beyond.

Fort Lupton Press 5

May 26, 2022

Weld County launches survey to assess community needs Residents will be asked about health concerns and other issues such as affordable housing

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

To improve the community’s health, the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment has released its 2022 community health survey.

“This survey is our best tool for

understanding the health concerns and needs of Weld County residents,” said Cindy Kronauge, senior data analyst, in a news release.

Kronauge has led the county’s efforts to collect population-level health data since the survey first launched in 2007.

“We really cannot do this without the generous help of residents,” she said. “We encourage everyone who receives an invitation to please participate.”

WCDPHE conducts the surveys every three years and uses the results to get ideas on how to provide better services to improve the health of its

residents. This year’s survey will include questions about a variety of topics including affordable housing and access to mental health services. Residents of Weld County will receive an invitation by mail, encouraging them to participate.

For those who choose to participate in the survey, responses will be confidential.

According to officials, the county has grown rapidly in the last few years. The number of survey respondents rose to about 17,000 from 10,000 in 2019. The survey was open from early May through mid-June and offered in English and Spanish.

Key findings from the 2019 com-

munity health survey were: • Three out of 10 adults reported experiencing depression, anxiety or other mental health problems.

• About one in three low-income residents reported having unstable housing.

• More than 50% of adult residents have one or more health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.

• The county’s uninsured rate was the lowest it has ever been at 6.5%.

To view data and reports from past surveys, go to https://www.weldgov. com/Government/Departments/ Health-and-Environment/Data-andReports.

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6 Fort Lupton Press

LOCAL

May 26, 2022

VOICES

Recognizing the South Platte’s importance with work

S

o much of our Front Range environment access is owned by a variety of formal governmental agencies.

OUTDOOR Some are by private ownerLIVING ship, others are controlled by community organizations, some by outside absentee private owners, and some are a combination of public/private Ron Hellbusch partnerships.

The results of “joining hands” are typically positive and may not have become a reality if there were not a longstanding and elevated level of

creativity and cooperation.

Parks, lakes, trail systems, open space tracts, and natural features in streams, rivers, and lakes have made Front Range Colorado an attraction for visitors and residents alike. It also offers an opportunity for you and me to be active supporters and volunteers in caring for and assuring our attractive, beaconing environment remains the attraction it is today.

The popular downtown segment of the South Platte River will be the benefactor of volunteer hands-on June 5 when members of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BCHA) in cooperation with Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) take the lead and seek volunteers to join their outdoors members in cleaning up these public river waters.

We who enjoy and support our beautiful Front Range lands and waters can multiply our volunteer participation by bringing our individual local organizations of adults (Rotary, or Kiwanis)) and youth organizations (i.e., Boy Scouts, etc.) into the June 5th South Platte River Cleanup Day. There are limitless reasons to join in this cleanup effort. One of significance is the fact the South Platte River system provides some portion of the domestic water supply for every area of the greater Denver region. Including Denver as well as the outlying suburban communities. Any effort to keep the South Platte River clean benefits Front Range Colorado citizens and businesses.

To take part in the June 5 event contact Brien Webster (406-926-

1908) of BCHA to preregister and then plan to meet at 9 a.m. at the T Denver REI parking lot.

The South Platte River with headwaters originating in the Colorado South Park region provides the runoff for the South Fork branch, while the North Fork headwaters at Kenosha Pass near SH 285 generate the other major source of runoff water for the river as the two forks merge downstream near the Town of Bailey.

There is a lot of South Platte River history. This is an opportunity to start positive support of that history.

Outdoorsman and Westminster resident Ron Hellbusch can be reached at Ron-Hellbusch Comcast.ne

Hot and dry winds licking at winter’s back door

P

onds on a ranch in northwestern Colorado last week were full, a rare treat in recent years for horses that have gathered – GUEST like at a spa. It COLUMN was a good winter there, cold Allen Best and snowy. Now, a ranch owner had begun planning for a fiery summer.

“It’s a hot, dry wind licking at the back door,” says Kathleen Kelley of Meeker. “We can lose everything we’ve gained in just a few days to high temperatures and wind. The ponds have already lost half their volume.”

A poet I know has been singing that James Taylor song but with new lyrics “Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen wind.”

We had the Marshall Fire with its 1,084 homes and other buildings destroyed while Christmas wreaths still hung on doors. Then came April with wildfires on the crispy-dry prairies of southeastern Colorado. Now the spring sky has become sullied by smoke from New Mexico’s latest wildfire, already the state’s second-largest, causing people in Santa Fe to inspect their insurance policies.

In Colorado, the three National Weather Service offices together issued 62 red-flag warnings, in April, the most since record-keeping began in 2006. The previous

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one-month record was 43.

On Earth Day, one of those red-flag days, an executive with a utility that delivers electricity to exurban homes in the foothills between Central City and Nederland was fretting about wildfire risks.

“These fires have already started,” said Bryant Robbins. the chief operating officer of United Power, Colorado’s second-largest electrical cooperative. “We usually don’t see them until later in the year. I am highly concerned about our lack of moisture, especially in the foothills west of Arvada, and I’m just worried sick about that.”

Colorado’s electrical utilities, both large and small, have been stepping up their game in recent years. They want to avoid wildfire destroying their infrastructure, but they also have also taken steps to minimize the risks of their wires causing fires, as has happened in several of California’s largest and most deadly blazes.

Most people correlate wildfires and mountainous areas. At the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Rocco Snart directs attention also to fire risks on the eastern plains. He sees the greatest risk until July being east of the Continental Divide, including in the foothills but also the San Luis Valley, Colorado’s reddest area on drought maps. Southwestern Colorado is of slightly

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

less concern.

There is precedent. Major wildfires occurred in the foothills along the fringes of Colorado Springs and west of Fort Collins in 2012 and again in 2013. But the Great Plains have had major fires before, too. It’s just a matter of fewer people living there.

Come summer, the fire risk shifts as lingering snow melts in the high country. Snart predicts fire restrictions this summer.

Expect fireless camps.

Is he apprehensive? He has, he says, “a healthy respect for the environment.”

The Yampa River Valley this week had snow-water equivalent 89% of average. Water managers warned of a water year similar to that of 2020. That snowy winter in Steamboat Springs and Craig was followed by an early spring, then an abnormally hot and dry summer. It was like a busted firstround draft pick, a benchwarmer.

It’s part of a broader trend manifested at Lake Powell, which barely has enough water to produce electricity for consumption in places like Granby and Gunnison, Aspen and Avon. Runoff again this year disappoints.

The Bureau of Reclamation has revised its inflow projections downward to 59% of average.

North of Steamboat, on the Wyoming-Colorado border, rancher Pat O’Toole tells of unrelenting

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winds that have left his family’s three flags—American, Wyoming and Ukrainian—tattered prematurely. On Interstate 80, a place notorious for winds that can knock over trucks, the intensity has picked up, something that O’Toole correlates with the changing climate. “Everybody’s talking about it,” he says of the wind.

O’Toole hopes for more manage- F ment of forests ahead of catastrophic wildfires. “We have to start realizing that we are in a different climate and react to it like it really is and not like it used to be.”

Colorado’s three largest wildfires, as defined by acreage, occurred in 2020. At her ranch near Meeker, Kelley remembers another yet fire, too, one that caused her and her husband to build a more fire-resistant masonry house.

“I glance toward my little town five miles to the east and hope the barrier mitigations they are now planning can soon be implemented effectively,” she says. “By mid-June the temperatures will be in the 90’s and might even push 100. By July I know my beloved country will be nothing more B than brittle fuel.”

B

@

Allen Best publishes Big Pivots, O from which this was extracted. See N more at BigPivots.com.

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May 26, 2022

FRCC students head to final round of national innovation challenge Project entry features floating drone that separates oil from water

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Cristian Madrazo used to work in construction.

“I’m just 22 years old,” Madrazo said. “I lived in Colorado my whole life, so just that average Colorado construction worker.”

Now, he attends Front Range Community College and is headed to Washington, D.C., as a finalist for a national innovation challenge that will be held in June.

The Community College Innovation Challenge, led by the American Association of Community Colleges, has challenged students for the past six years to apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics to find new solutions to real-world problems.

Madrazo attends FRCC and is working toward an associates degree in general engineering for transfer to a four-year college. Prior to that degree, he earned an associates in business.

According to Professor Diane Rhodes, Madrazo’s academic pursuits make him great candidate for the contest, because once the teams come up with a design — the engi-

neering part — they then have to market it to stakeholders to take the idea further — the business part.

Madrazo learned about the challenge through one of his classes taught by Rhodes. In that class, he and Xavier Cotton — the other member of the team — completed a project aimed at cleaning oil spills with two other classmates from California.

Madrazo and Cotton continued with the project outside of class and ended up as one of 12 finalist teams from across the country.

Oily hair The project is called The Orca OilSeparating and Bio-Filtration Vessel and it separates oil from water and then filters that water.

“It’s based on how whales eat,” Rhodes said. “It not only cleans the oceans of the oil spills, which are millions of gallons per year, but the process of cleaning also filters (the water).”

She said when oil is separated from water, the water still isn’t fully clean. That’s where the biofiltration part comes in so the water going back into the ocean is healthy.

The team’s prototype first looked like a giant boat that would trudge through oil spills to separate the oil and filter the water.

Madrazo said experts saw the prototype as unsafe, so the students adapted the design into a floating drone controlled by humans onshore to minimize the risk to operators.

From left, Front Range Community College students Cristian Madrazo and Xavier Cotton and their class teammates from California will be competing in a national COURTESY OF CRISTIAN MADRAZO innovation challenge in June.

The floating drone is 10-feet by 10 feet with ropes that circle the oil to keep it from spreading. Then the drone slowly reels in the rope and skims off the oil from the water.

“It’s a drum made of oleophilic material, and it spins on the surface of the water that we just took

in and that material absorbs the oil,” he said.

Once the majority of the oil is removed, the water is passed through a hair filter that soaks up the rest of the oil. Madrazo said the team SEE INNOVATION, P9

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Fort Lupton Press 9

May 26, 2022

BRIEFS Summer camp registration Sign up for Fort Lupton’s summer camp 2022 is now open. The first session begins Memorial Day weekend and lasts for a month.

Camp is for kindergarteners through fifth-graders. Visit https:// www.fortlupton.org/347/SummerDay-Camp for more information.

Memorial Day at Hillside The City of Fort Lupton’s annual Memorial Day event will be held at 9 a.m. Monday, May 30, at Hillside Cemetery, 13750 Weld County Road 12. The program begins 25 minutes later with a vintage flyover and includes presentation of the colors, a flag-draped walkway and speakers. To volunteer, visit https://www. fortluptonco.gov/FormCenter/ Events-13/Volunteer-Application-87.

Call 720-466-6101 for more information.

July 4 party is July 2 Fort Lupton’s Independence Day celebration is two days early this year, Saturday, July 2, at the city’s recreation center, 203 S. Harrison Ave. The ingredients didn’t change.

There will be food, fireworks, the region’s only Ninja Warrior Course, water slides, a bounce house obstacle course, a bouncy boxing arena, a tractor people mover, face painting, food trucks, shaved ice-cream cones and a live concert.

The fireworks show at Coyote Creek Golf Course, courtesy of the Fort Lupton Fire Department, starts at dusk.

Vendor, volunteer and sponsorship opportunities are available. Call 720928-4071 for more information.

National Night Out Fort Lupton’s observance of National Night Out will be at 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 2, at Koshio Park, 131 McKinley Ave. It’s a chance to meet police officers in an informal setting. It’s also an opportunity to enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers hot from the grill. There will be bounce houses, games and a tug-o-war.

Gummball 5K The fifth annual Gummball Rally will be Saturday, Oct. 1, at Adams County Regional Park, 9755 Henderson Road, Brighton. The 5K walk/ run is in honor of former Adams County sheriff’s deputy Heath Gumm, who died in the line of duty in 2018.

The cost is $30 for racers 13 and older and $10 for 12 and younger.

Those 12 and younger get in free.

Each includes a shirt/swag bag guaranteed with entry by Sept. 14.

Packets will be available for pickup at 4201 E. 72nd Ave. from 3 to 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Proceeds benefit a nonprofit that supports law enforcement and first responders.

INNOVATION FROM PAGE 8

discovered that hair works as a great oil absorber.

Any kind of hair can be used, though he said it’s primarily animal hair. For their small prototype, Cotton used his own hair.

“The great thing about hair is

For more information, email tracykilgore71@gmail.com.

ONGOING Splash pad The city of Fort Lupton is searching for comments about and sponsorships for a new splash pad.

Sponsor funds will be used for the splash park and amenities. Call 303857-6694 Donation time The Fort Lupton Food & Clothing Bank is asking for donations of canned fruits and nuts, varieties of dry pasta and pasta dinners, peanut butter and canned meat such as tuna (including the pouches).

Other potential donations could include chicken, Vienna sausages, spam and salmon. The bank also needs personal items, such as toiletries and baby needs.

Drop off donations at the food and clothing bank’s back door, 421 Denver Ave., weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Call 303-857-1096.

Teen hangout Teens can stop by the Fort Lupton Pubic & School Library Wednesdays to play crafts, video games and hang out with friends after school.

Walk with a doc Platte Valley Medical Center’s cardiac rehab team and Walk With A Doc will host monthly walks with Dr. Christopher Cannon, an interventional cardiologist at Brighton Heart and Vascular Institute.

This is a walking program for everyone interested in taking steps for a healthier lifestyle. After a few minutes to learn about a current health topic from the doctor, spend the rest of the hour enjoying a healthy walk and a fun conversation. It’s a great way to get out, get active and enjoy all the benefits that come from walking.

Blessings in a Bag Fort Lupton’s Backpack Program helps school children in need with a backpack of healthy food. It’s an all-volunteer program and is in need of volunteers. If interested in volunteering or donating, call 303718-4440. Mail donations to Blessings in a Bag, 306 Park Ave., Fort Lupton 80621.

Drop-in child care The Fort Lupton Recreation Center offers drop-in child care from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Call 303-857-4200.

Committee.

Boards/committees’ openings The city of Fort Lupton is looking for volunteers for its historic preservation board, the Fort Lupton Urban Renewal Authority, FLURA business representative (a five-year term), FLURA alternate member (term expires March 5, 2023) and library board trustee (term expires December 2024).

Call Alyssa Knutson at 720-4666128.

Fort Lupton senior lunches Senior lunches are available at noon Mondays at the Fort Lupton Recreation Center, 203 S. Harrison Ave. Sign up by noon the previous Thursday. Call 303-857-4200, ext. 6166.

Coffee group Fort Lupton’s weekly coffee group sessions are at 8 a.m. Wednesdays.

Call 303-857-4200.

Silver Sneakers Silver Sneaker Yoga is available Fridays from 9 to 9:45 a.m. and from 10 to 10:45 a.m. at the Fort Lupton recreation Center, 203 S. Harrison Ave. Water aerobics The city’s water aerobics class meets from 6 to 6:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at thke Fort Lupton Recreation Center, 203 S. Harrison Ave. Call 303-857-4200.

Pen pals Fort Lupton’s senior pen pal program through Twombly Elementary School is looking for participants.

Learn more at: https://www.fortluptonco.gov/950/Senior-Pen-PalProgram Craft classes Monthly craft classes through the Fort Lupton Recreation Center (203 S. Harrison Ave.) are available. Call 303-857-4200, ext. 6166 with questions.

Free short-term radon test kits Weld County residents can receive a free radon test kit (one per household, while supplies last). Test kits can be requested online at www. drhomeair.com/weld, according to a statement.

Call the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment at (970) 400-2226 or visit: www.weldgov.com/go/radon.

Committee openings Fort Lupton has openings for several of its citizen advisory committees. Visit https://www.fortluptonco. gov/966/I-Want-To-Apply-for-a-

Warm Line up and running Community Reach Center is offering a Warm Line (303-280-6602) for those who want to talk to mentalhealth professionals about anxiety, lack of sleep and strained relationships, among other topics. The professionals can facilitate referrals to other programs for assistance.

that it absorbs, you know, multiple times its weight in oil,” he said.

Madrazo could not specify how many times, but he said the prototype used a few grams of hair and the actual device will need tons.

Once the hair is used to soak up the oil, the group plans to let the hair and the oil decompose. Or, they will put it in a landfill, which he sees as not a perfect option, but much better than oil in the ocean.

Brainstorming Madrazo said the team came up with the design by going through the engineering design process.

“That process is if you know your problem, you brainstorm all kinds of ideas, no matter how realistic or unrealistic they are,” he said.

“Then you get to a certain step in the process, where you cancel out ideas that are just not realistic, and then you boil it down to either one really

The line is not for crisis intervention. Those feeling unsafe or suicidal should call Colorado Crisis Services (1-844-493-8255) or text 38255 or visit the Behavioral Urgent Care Center, 2551 W. 84th Ave., Westminster.

Also, the center’s COVID-19 Heroes Program is set up to assist healthcare workers during the pandemic. Those who live or work in Adams County can receive up to six free counseling sessions. Use the Warm Line for support and free counseling.

Brighton’s community intake location is at 1850 E. Egbert St., on the second floor. It’s open from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesdays.

Here’s a list of locations where you can receive a test for COVID-19: Brighton Advanced Urgent Care, 2801 Purcell St. Call 303-659-9700 or visit https://advurgent.com/locations/brighton/ Brighton Salud, 1860 E. Egbert St. Testing is available on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Call 303-6972583 or visit https://www.saludclinic.org/covid-testing Fort Lupton Salud, 1115 Second St. Testing is available on Tuesday and Thursday. Call 303-697-2583 or visit https://www.saludclinic.org/covidtesting Alcoholics Anonymous The Brighton chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous meets at 147 S. Second Place. Meeting times are 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, noon and 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 6 p.m. Thursdays and 9 p.m. Fridays.

Call 303-659-9953 or visit www. brighton1aa.org.

Volunteers needed Qualified Listeners needs volunteers to drive veterans to and from appointments, run errands for veterans who cannot get out, handyman services, help administer veteran and family resource guide inventory in local libraries and veterans to be trained to become qualified listeners.

Visit qualifiedlisteners.org/volunteerapp and fill out the form or call 720-600-0860.

Eagle Express rides Barr Lake State Park will offer virtual rides aboard the Eagle Express. Join Ranger Michelle and her friends as they read a story about our natural world that is sure to entertain your preschooler while teaching them about plants, animals and our planet. Call 303-659-6005.

Storytime Barr Lake State Park’s storytime program goes virtual this year.

Rangers will read stories about the natural world. Call 303-659-6005 with questions. good idea that you had in the process or a combination of all the different ideas.”

Colorado is not near the ocean, so the premise of the project came from his classmates in California. Now, he hopes the design will change the world.

“We were hoping that this inspires some large company to use hair or to use our idea in some way that might be beneficial to society,” Madrazo said.

10 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Farm-fresh fare More than a dozen farmers markets across the Front Range and metro area are opening up

BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

There’s something for everyone at a farmers market, even for a 40-pound reticulated python. Mason Stiegera, pictured, has been bringing the python, Sunny, to the Southwest Plaza Farmers Market for the past two years. Stiegera runs the Littleton-based Righteous Reptile Rescue, which seeks to find new homes for unwanted reptiles and PHOTOS BY ROBERT TANN amphibians.

Sebastian Cil and Veronica Hanalwalt offer the works: golden Spanish rice, fresh lemon, ripe tomatoes and tender chicken.

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It’s that time of the year again.

More than a dozen farmers markets are opening across the Denver metro area, bringing with them a bounty of offerings such as farmfresh produce, handcrafted soaps and even ... giant snakes?

Some markets are already up and running, such as the Saturday market at the Southwest Plaza in Jefferson County or the Sunday market at the Highlands Ranch Town Center.

“It’s a happening thing to do,” said Bodhi Allen, social media manager for Metro Denver Farmers’ Market, the oldest collection of markets in the metro area. “The social aspects are part of the whole thrill of it.”

Formed more than 45 years ago, Metro Denver Farmers’ Market is run by a coalition of longstanding Colorado farms and includes the markets at Southwest Plaza and Highlands Ranch as well as ones in Lakewood, Littleton and Commerce City.

Each market offers more than 30 vendors and sees hundreds of patrons. Allen said the markets’ success hinges on the relationships vendors built with the community.

“People are looking for something fresher than the grocery store,” Allen said. “Over the years, customers build relationships with these farmers and these vendors, and they trust us.”

Alan Mazzotti, owner of Mazzotti’s Farm in Hudson, has been a leader with the Metro Denver Farmers’ Market group for years.

His father was an original founder, Mazzotti said, during a time when the U.S. Department of Agriculture was sponsoring local farmers to push their products through more urban markets.

“I love talking with the people,” Mazzotti said. “I have customers from day one that still come to the market today.”

Mazzotti said he offers “a little bit of everything” from his roughly 80-acre farm. But urged marketgoers to be patient as much of the highly sought-after produce, such as corn and peaches, won’t come into season until later this summer, around July and August.

And while some vendors offer a

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variety of produce from in-state and out, Mazzotti said his items are strictly Colorado grown. That can cause some sacrifices, Mazzotti said, such as having to cut down on corn stock given this year’s already dire drought.

“The water situation is going to be a big problem,” Mazzotti said, though he is hopeful that through his partnership with other farmers there will still be enough to go around at the market.

Allen, the social media manager for Denver Metro, said it’s a reminder that market seasons are often a great unknown.

“We’re at the whim of the elements in terms of how successful the season is,” she said.

Jeremy Becker, co-owner of OLN Markets, offers a variety of produce grown in Colorado as well as outside states, such as Arizona, Texas, California and Washington.

“These are all places we’ve been and met people — we have connections all over,” Becker said.

And it’s not just fruits and vegetables that customers can expect from these markets. Vendors selling artisanal items such as handmade bath products, local wine and decorative plants are also present.

Carol Campbell, whose company Cecolors and Company can be found Sundays at the Highlands Ranch Town Center market, handmakes hundreds of bars of soap each week.

Originally a hobby of her husband’s, soap making is something Campbell fell in love with and has been doing for about 25 years.

Being an artist as well, Campbell’s products, imbued with subtle spectrums of color, are each wrapped in strips of watercolor-painted paper.

“I love the farmers market,” Campbell said. “I get to see my regulars every week, and I also meet new people every week who then become regulars.”

Depending on when patrons choose to visit the market at Southwest Plaza, they may run into a 40-pound reticulated python, the largest snake in the world.

Mason Stiegera, who founded the Littleton-based Righteous Reptile Rescue, will often bring various reptiles and amphibians to the market as the weather becomes warmer. Along with just wanting them to have some fresh air, the reptiles and amphibians are also open to adopt as Stiegera’s rescue center is constantly searching for new homes.

Markets will run until mid- to late fall, with some closing as early as September and others as late as November.

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Fort Lupton Press 11

May 26, 2022

State to create office to investigate cases of murdered, missing Indigenous people

BY TATIANA FLOWERS AND JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado will form an office to bolster the state’s ability to investigate missing and murdered Indigenous people after an intensely negotiated bill passed in the final days of the state’s 2022 legislative session.

Disagreements about how the Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives should be formed and in which existing state agency it should be housed stoked tensions between Gov. Jared Polis, the lawmakers sponsoring the bill and interest groups. The legislation’s fate even appeared to be in doubt at one point.

But after the bill was amended based on some of the governor’s recommendations, Polis told The Colorado Sun he will sign Senate Bill 150 into law.

“We just wanted to make it work, like we do anything,” Polis said.

“Like any bill, it could have been better. But … this helps us investigate these cases, so I’ll be signing.”

The new Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives will be housed in the Colorado Department of Public Safety. It will serve as a liaison between the department and the Indigenous community, with the aid of a board composed of tribal representatives, law enforcement and social services workers.

The creation of the office, and the cost to build the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s capacity to work on cases of missing or murdered Indigenous people, is about $500,000.

The measure will also require any law enforcement agency that receives a report of a missing Indigenous person notify the Colorado Bureau of Investigation within eight hours of receiving a report of a missing adult or two hours of receiving a report of a missing child.

Denver ranks 7th in the nation, among U.S. cities, with the highest number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls that are not included in law enforcement records, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.

The Colorado Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force, an informal group of native women who helped create Senate Bill 150, found more than 50 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Colorado.

Fifteen other states have taken legislative action to address the problem, according to a fact sheet written by the task force. In late February, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed similar legislation aimed at improving coordination between law enforcement agencies investigating cases of missing and murdered native women. The bill creates a new position in the state attorney general’s office to focus on those cases and increases data collection and education while also providing grant funding to improve reporting of missing persons cases.

“There’s a lot of work to do and this bill will hopefully go a long way into rectifying that and hopefully even bring some of our relatives

Participants conclude the Four Corners Prayer Run on Feb. 27 in Bluff, Utah. Runners and walkers, many of Native descent participated in a relay-style run measuring a total of 232 miles through four states. The Prayer Run was organized to spread awareness of PHOTO BY OLIVIA SUN/THE COLORADO SUN VIA REPORT FOR AMERICA Indigenous women, men and elderly who face violence or go missing.

home,” said Gina Lopez, a Native American woman, who is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, and a part of the task force that pushed for the Colorado bill.

The bill is important because, for too long, Indigenous people have gone lost, missing or murdered without any investigation or acknowledgement, said State Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill.

Comprehensive data about missing and murdered Indigenous people is sparse and it is collected in different ways by different agencies.

Getting better data is part of the reason the new office is so important, Lopez said. The bill requires new data-collection and requires that law enforcement officers receive training about missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“We need to establish an office that is going to be be responsible for capturing this information because the truth of the matter is we don’t know the scope of what the impact is of missing and murdered here in Colorado,” she said.

But the measure’s passage was far from guaranteed.

In a letter to the bill’s sponsors in mid-April, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera and Stan Hilkey, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, said the Polis administration had concerns about creating the new office within the Department of Public Safety. The bill creates a broad scope of work with expectations that are beyond the current mission of the Department of Public Safety, the letter said. The document encouraged the bill’s sponsors to work with Primavera’s office to identify ways to instead engage the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs on the issue, which is “better suited,” the letter says.

“We are unable to support SB22150 as currently written,” the letter said. “However, our objectives are aligned, we are committed to seeking justice for MMIR (missing and

murdered Indigenous relatives), and we are eager to work with you and your stakeholders to accomplish these goals.”

Herod said that an amendment to the bill adopted on the second to last day of the 2022 legislative session eased the Polis administration’s concerns. Most of the measure remained substantially intact, though the Department of Public Safety will now be able to determine how much staffing it needs for the office instead of being directed to hiring a certain number of employees.

“It’s very, very similar to what we first wrote,” said Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Wheat Ridge Democrat and another prime sponsor of the bill, “which I think shows that the community stuck to their ground and moved the governor.”

State Rep. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, also was a prime sponsor of the measure.

The hope is that the final product, which passed with limited oppo-

sition, will aid people like Willa Whiteskunk, whose son went missing in July of 2000, when he was 21.

Whiteskunk, whose brother was also murdered, said the last time she saw her son Odell J. Vest, was in their home in Towaoc, the capital of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in southwest Colorado.

“I just wait, I wait, I wait, I wait,” Whiteskunk said earlier this month.

“I live my life day by day.”

She has heard from investigators only a couple of times since Vest disappeared. They say the same things when they contact her, she said. “We’re still looking, we’re still searching.”

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

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12 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

This Littleton detox center feels like a relaxing hotel Is this the way out of the fentanyl crisis?

BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN

Each private room has a queen bed covered in a plush, gray comforter, plus a flat-screen TV and a remote control to browse Netflix and Hulu. For lunch and dinner, restaurant menus circulate and meals arrive via Uber Eats.

Guests can log into their jobs from their rooms or read a book beside a window looking into a grassy courtyard. In the group kitchen, there is popcorn, frozen fruit for smoothies and a Keurig coffee machine.

But this welcoming space isn’t a hotel.

It’s a $1,950-per-night detox center tucked into a discreet medical office building in Littleton where clients who can afford it are coming clean off fentanyl, or whatever drug they are ready to rid from their system. The clinic is increasingly treating fentanyl addiction as the counterfeit drug epidemic assaults Colorado. More than 900 people died of fentanyl overdoses in 2021 in this state, at least four times as many as three years ago, according to the state health department.

Gallus Medical Detox has the feel of a spa, though in the middle of the center, nurses work in a glass-enclosed control area where they monitor patients’ bloodoxygen levels and heart rates via multiple, beeping screens. The setup — a medical facility that is a step down from an emergency department but a step up from a nonmedical rehab center — is among the latest treatment options for people addicted to opioids.

Gallus began in Scottsdale, Arizona, then expanded to Las Vegas, Nevada, and Littleton. It just opened two more clinics, in Dallas and San Antonio.

At Gallus, nurses can pump nausea medication, the anxiety medicine lorazepam, antibiotics,

Bee Humphries is a registered nurse at the Gallus Medical Detox Center in Littleton.

pain medication and vitamins into patients’ bodies intravenously to ease the misery of detox.

They also can give medications through injections. And nurses — all with experience in critical care — can begin an “accelerated micro dosing protocol” by giving fentanyl-addicted patients underthe-tongue doses of suboxone, a drug that stops cravings by blocking the brain’s opioid receptors.

Because the doses are so small, fentanyl-addicted patients don’t have to suffer through withdrawals before they begin suboxone.

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Detoxing from fentanyl takes about seven days, and most patients leave Gallus on no drugs — including suboxone, said Shannon Weir, the company’s director of clinical education.

This is what makes the detox approach controversial — patients who relapse after detox have a much higher risk of overdosing and dying than patients who take medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction. The most common, and proven, way to get off fentanyl or heroin is to get on a prescription for suboxone, a daily pill, or methadone, a daily cup of pink liquid dispensed at a clinic.

Suboxone and methadone act on the opioid receptors in the brain, the same receptors activated by heroin, morphine and other opioids.

Patients who have just detoxed have no tolerance for their drug of choice, so any relapse is risky.

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Medicaid, the government insurance program for low-income people, will cover the cost of outpatient treatment for suboxone or methadone. Medicaid isn’t accepted at Gallus, which requires patients to pay up front and then reimburses them if their private insurance company ends up covering the treatment. In some cases, patients can receive scholarships from foundations to pay for the detox.

The fentanyl detox process typically takes more than twice as long as alcohol detox because the synthetic opioid is stored in fat tissue and released over time.

“It’s long and it’s also very miserable,” Weir said. “We’re definitely behind as a nation in having enough places for people to treat this disorder. It’s also treating them well and helping them through the detox. They keep using because the detox is so SEE FENTANYL, P13

TURN TO THE COLORADO SUN FOR NEWS ACROSS THE STATE The Colorado Sun is a journalistowned, award-winning news outlet that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself.

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

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

from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education.

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

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

Fort Lupton Press 13

May 26, 2022

FENTANYL FROM PAGE 12

awful. They’re afraid of that.”

The company uses a “proprietary” protocol to treat addiction that was developed by its founder, Dr. Patrick Gallus. The key is in how they regulate patients’ symptoms around the clock, bringing them comfort faster because medications delivered intravenously or by injection work faster. Nurses can see each patient in their room through a video monitor, and staff lead optional yoga and meditation sessions, and encourage patients to write in journals or select a blank card and envelope from the basket in the living room and write to a friend or relative.

There are no structured therapy sessions like those in a rehab facility because patients cycle out quickly, only staying at Gallus for as long as it takes for the medical detox to work — typically from two to eight days. The office’s clinical director, a licensed clinical social worker, talks with each patient daily, including about their treatment goals and the dangers of relapsing when their bodies have been detoxed and have no tolerance.

Success is measured by how many patients leave Gallus and enter a rehab program, whether that’s a sober-living house, residential treatment or an outpatient therapy plan. Companywide, 87% go directly to an aftercare program, a gigantic improvement over the 25% of patients who enter treatment after detoxing in a hospital, according to Gallus’ research.

“I’m super proud of what we do, because we do it like nobody else,” said Bee Humphries, a registered nurse who has worked in the industry for 32 years and now works at the Gallus clinic in Littleton. “We do have a unique program that doesn’t lead them to where they’re leaving on medication.”

So far this year, half of opioid patients in the Littleton clinic are addicted to fentanyl, which is found in counterfeit pills, heroin, cocaine and other street drugs.

The other half are addicted to prescription opioids.

The prevalence of fentanyl is even higher at Gallus’ Arizona clinic, where 80% of opioid patients are addicted to fentanyl.

The company attributes the higher rate to the fact that the opioid crisis, and the wave of fentanyl, hit Arizona before Colorado.

The seven-bedroom Colorado office also sees a lot of alcohol addiction and is noticing an increase in the number of patients trying to quit benzodiazepines, so-called “benzos,” including the prescription antidepressants Xanax.

Bee Humphries, a registered nurse at the Gallus Medical Detox Center in Littleton. “[Patients] can be inebriated, intoxicated on drugs, and we’re capable of helping them through that process,” Humphries said. “We can keep them safe.” (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America) “We do kratom. We do alcohol,”

‘To me as a nurse, the most dangerous thing we deal with is alcohol, something you can buy over the counter and is a very dangerous physical detox.’

Bee Humphries, registered nurse

said Humphries as she listened to George Strait and kept her eyes on two patients’ vitals on her computer screens. “We do meth.

We do cocaine, bath salts, whatever.

“To me as a nurse, the most dangerous thing we deal with is alcohol, something you can buy over the counter and is a very dangerous physical detox,” she said. “People don’t understand the magnitude of what the first three days of alcohol detox can look like.”

Upon check-in, each patient gets a drug test, from a urine sample, and a breathalyzer test, as well as an IV for fluids. Some patients are untruthful — or just wrong — about what’s in their system.

They say they take benzos, but fentanyl shows up in the drug test, probably because counterfeit Xanax sold online and on the streets are made with fentanyl.

It doesn’t matter if patients just injected heroin or downed vodka in their car. “They can be inebriated, intoxicated on drugs, and we’re capable of helping them through that process,” Humphries said. “We can keep them safe.”

“A risky approach” A few miles north of the Littleton clinic, which can detox only six or seven people at a time, hundreds of people dealing with fentanyl addiction are getting help through Denver Health. They line up daily for cups of pink methadone, sometimes walking over from a homeless shelter, or they have recurring appointments to pick up prescriptions for suboxone at one of the hospital’s outpatient clinics.

Dr. Josh Blum, a Denver Health addiction medicine physician, called the detox medical center a great option for some, but cautioned against the risk of overdose after detoxing from opioids.

Patients who use again after detoxing are much more likely to die, he said, pointing toward a study that showed people who detoxed in jail were 120 times more likely to overdose after release.

“You may be doing great but your first relapse may be the one that kills you because you have no tolerance,” he said.

Addiction treatment doctors are still battling the public sentiment that taking suboxone or methadone is “just trading one drug for another,” Blum said. The drugs are “maintenance medicine” to treat a disease, the same as

insulin treats diabetes, and people don’t say a diabetic is “addicted to insulin,” he said.

Still, some people want to get off of all substances, in some cases because they work as pilots or doctors and don’t want any drugs in their system.

“It’s not wrong,” Blum said.

“We just know the evidence really doesn’t support that approach.

It’s a risky approach because it demands perfection.”

The way out of the opioid epidemic, for most people, isn’t through medical detox, he said.

Instead, state and officials should loosen the stringent regulations and paperwork requirements for prescribing suboxone and dispensing methadone, Blum said.

For one thing, patients should have an easier time getting prescriptions to take home, rather than coming daily for their doses of methadone, which the federal government requires must be “dispensed” by a nurse on site, not prescribed.

Colorado also needs more residential treatment centers and sober-living homes, he said.

Fentanyl is nearly the only opioid Blum sees these days at his outpatient clinic, where he takes on a new fentanyl-addicted patient almost every day. And patients almost always know they are using fentanyl, compared to a year or so ago when they often didn’t realize that their heroin or counterfeit pills contained the synthetic opioid.

Also new, Blum said, is that most people are smoking it rather than injecting it. The most common method of using fentanyl is heating it and inhaling the vapors, he said.

Blum’s patients sometimes come to the clinic after a night in the emergency department because of an overdose that was reversed with the antidote, naloxone, or an infection at an injection site. The hospital’s 24/7 counseling team directs patients with an opioid addiction to Blum’s clinic.

The risk of overdose after detox is why Eve Sandler, the clinical director of the Littleton Gallus clinic, works so hard to get patients into a treatment program before they leave. Her goal is usually a residential program, though some patients choose outpatient care.

“Detox is amazing for the physical stabilization and the medical component, but it does nothing in terms of changing the environment they’re going back to,” Sandler said. “Every day that they’re here, I do some brief psychodynamic therapy and motivational interviewing to try to get them more engaged in what that looks like.”

It’s always up to the patient, who is often swayed not just by Sandler but by the family member who brought them to the detox center. Sometimes Sandler gets a heads-up from a relative or an interventionist that an intervention is about to take place. That way, the family and friends holding the intervention can tell the person they already have a private room waiting and a nursing team to ease the pain of withdrawal.

Gallus calls it “dignity in healing.”

“We don’t want people to be suffering and we don’t want them to feel that kind of institutionalized feeling that a lot of facilities have,” Sandler said. “Detoxing is hard. We want to be comfortable.”

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

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14 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Colorado milk bank sees uptick in donations Formula shortage continues nationwide

BY MEGAN VERLEE COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

Coloradans gathered at the State Capitol May 3 in support of safe, accessible and COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS legal abortions.

Anticipating an end to ‘Roe,’ Doula Project spreads the word about safe, legal abortions

BY DANA KNOWLES ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Confidence Omenai knows what it feels like to experience the loneliness and isolation resulting from childhood trauma. At 13 years old, she was raped, became pregnant and didn’t have supportive environment at home.

“I had no idea what I was doing or if I was making the right choice, and there was no one there who loved me or cared,” she said. “That was the worst possible scenario to be in to have to make that choice.”

Omenai ended up having an abortion when she was 17 weeks into her pregnancy. The months that followed were some of the most stressful of her life.

“It was my freshman year of high school and I was giving a presentation and both of my breasts were leaking and my teacher had to tap me on the shoulder to let me know,” Omenai said. “I was so confused because no one told me that

after — because I was 17 weeks — no one said that afterwards my body would respond as if I delivered a child.”

Her personal experience is the main reason she joined the board of directors for the Colorado Doula Project, a nonprofit that helps guide people from all over the country to safe abortion access in the state of Colorado.

“We provide abortion transportation to and from procedures, when there is financial assistance needed with procedures, and food and lodging for when people are here in Colorado to receive those services and medical support,” Omenai explained. “Most of the people we serve are people of color.”

The organization also helps provide support for people after abortions.

“There are nuances that women need to know. When you’re nonbinary there are things you need to

The nationwide infant formula shortage has caused an increase in families seeking to purchase donated milk in Colorado according to Mother’s Milk Bank, an Arvadabased nonprofit that collects and distributes donated breast milk.

However, the group has also seen an increase in women donating milk, and they’re looking for more volunteers.

“We started to say, ‘Don’t forget donated milk as a resource,’” said Jodye Whitesell, communications director for Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation, which operates the bank. In response, they’ve seen “a pretty big spike in phone calls for donations.”

Mother’s Milk Bank is one of the largest of the 32 non-profit milk banks in North America and distributes across Colorado, as well as to numerous other states. The vast majority of its supplies go to neonatal ICUs, but it also serves around 30 to 40 outpatient families a week, according to Whitesell.

Colorado’s Department of Human Services is partnering with the bank to encourage donations of both milk and money to help cover the processing fee for lower-income families.

The state is also warning parents of the dangers of diluting formula or trying to make their own at home, and providing resources for places

families in the WIC program may be able to turn to if they can’t find formula on store shelves.

Oversight hearing on the cause of the shortage Senior executives with the three biggest formula makers — Abbott Nutrition, Gerber Products Company, and Reckitt — will appear before a Congressional oversight committee chaired by Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette to answer questions about the shortage.

“There’s no excuse for what’s happening all across this country right now,” said DeGette in a statement announcing the hearing. “We want to know from the witnesses we hear from next week exactly what happened and how it happened; but more importantly we want to know what needs to be done to get more infant formula on the shelves as quick as possible.”

The panel will also hear from top officials at the FDA. The Food and Drug Administration recently announced it will streamline the process for overseas makers of formula to import their products, if they meet U.S. safety and nutritional standards.

The Biden Administration is also trying to increase domestic supply and has reached a deal to reopen a shuttered Michigan plant whose closure precipitated the acute shortage. However, it will take more than a month before formula from the factory reaches store shelves.

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

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Fort Lupton Press 15

May 26, 2022

One man’s message about cannabis-induced psychosis Attempt to address other issues led to terrifying time

BY DANA KNOWLES, JEREMY MOORE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Five years ago, Ethan Andrew had what he describes as the most terrifying experience of his life.

“I had what’s called cannabis-induced psychosis. It’s a break from reality after ingesting too much high-potency marijuana. I was having schizophrenialike symptoms, like seeing things and hearing things weren’t there. I was super paranoid that people were following me,” said Andrew, who started using cannabis because he thought it would help with his anxiety, depression and obsessivecompulsive disorder.

He said it took two months for the symptoms of psychosis to pass. But for Andrew, not knowing the difference between his dreams and reality was the worst part of what he went through.

“I had a dream that my friends and I went hiking and the next day I’d hang out with them and be like, ‘Guys, wasn’t that so fun?’

And they’d be like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was such a surreal experience when you’re awake,

Ethan Andrew, 23, talks to Rocky Mountain PBS about experiencing cannabis-induced psychosis.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

you don’t know if you’re actually dreaming,” Andrew described.

He started smoking cannabis when he was 16, and the symptoms of cannabisinduced psychosis started when Andrew was 18, after several months of smoking what he called high-potency marijuana every day.

“For comparison, when our parents were growing up, cannabis maxed out at like 5 to 10 percent THC,

and now just the flower at the dispensary you can’t find anything lower than 20 to 30 percent,” Andrew said.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces the “high” a person feels after consumption. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says the amount of THC in today’s marijuana is three times higher than what it was before 1995. Ac-

cording to studies compiled by the National Institutes of Health, smoking marijuana with high concentrations of THC can increase a person’s risk of experiencing psychosis.

“You just typically think more THC means a better high, you don’t think, well, what is this chemical I’m putting in my body? What is this chemical doing to my developing brain? You don’t have those questions when

you’re a stoner,” Andrew said.

Now, Andrew is 23 and his life is a stable one. He hasn’t smoked in five years.

“I was so scared of getting schizophrenia or having that be ongoing and never going away that I had no temptations to go back to smoking weed at all,” he said.

These days, Andrew has a job he enjoys, a girlfriend and he is starting school in the fall to obtain his associate degree from the Community College of Denver. Regular therapy and exercise help manage his anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“Recovery is possible. You can heal. You’ve gotta want to do it. Initially after the first few months of psychosis the first thing I noticed was my memory was getting better, my thoughts were less foggy and I went back to school and went from getting a 1.2 (grade point average) to a 4.0,” Andrew said. “So in a way psychosis was a wake-up experience for me.”

This story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonprofit public broadcaster providing community stories across Colorado over the air and online. Used by permission.

For more, and to support Rocky Mountain PBS, visit rmpbs.org.

Hanging Lake to reopen after a year-long closure

BY MATT BLOOK COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

Hikers will get the green light to return to the beloved Hanging Lake natural area starting June 25, forest officials recently announced.

The area has been closed to the public since last July, when mudslides in the Grizzly Creek Fire burn scar washed away several bridges along the lake’s main access trail.

Hanging Lake itself was spared, but the trail damage made it impossible to access safely.

“We’ve made speedy progress on repair work,” said Leanne Valdhius, a district ranger for the White River National Forest. “There’s a lot of emotion and excitement around this for a lot of people.”

Permits went on sale on May 23.

Visitors must purchase one of the $12 passes on the city of Glenwood Springs’ website before making the trek.

Roughly 600 timed-entry passes will be available each day. The city will not bring back its shuttle service to the trailhead due to safety concerns, so visitors will need to drive or bike to the trailhead themselves, said Lisa Langer, vice president of marketing for Visit Glenwood Springs.

SEE LAKE, P32

Workers put the finishing touches on a new bridge along the trail to Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon on May 18. PHOTO BY MATT BLOOM/CPR NEWS

16 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Colorado identifies 5 cases of a mystery hepatitis in children No deaths reported yet from rare disease

BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado has reported its first cases of severe hepatitis of unknown cause in kids, adding to a growing number of cases nationally being investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of May 10, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had reported five potential instances to the CDC. All met the CDC’s broad definition for cases — mainly that they occurred in kids ages 10 or younger and that doctors didn’t know what caused them. None of the five kids in Colorado died or required liver transplants as a result of their illnesses, though four were hospitalized. CDPHE says all five children either recovered or are in the process of recovering.

One case dates to December and was reported to the CDC last month.

The other four cases were reported to the CDC over the past couple of weeks.

Several of the kids were treated at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dr. Sam Dominguez, an infectious disease expert at the hospital, said not all of the kids have been severely ill but were instead sometimes admitted to keep their condition from worsening.

He said, despite the concern

around the cases, they remain rare.

“I think there are lots of unanswered questions, and we’re still in the infancy of learning what’s going on here,” he said.

Only one of the children in Colorado tested positive for adenovirus, a common virus that is at the center of the leading hypothesis for what is causing the new cases of mystery hepatitis.

Beware of jaundice Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, and it can have many causes. The best known causes are viral — Hepatitis A, B and C — but medications and other health conditions can also cause it.

The CDC said earlier this month that it had identified 109 potential cases across the country — the first ones having been seen in Alabama last fall. There have been five reported deaths nationwide, and 14 kids have required a liver transplant. Many of the stricken children require hospitalization and suffer from jaundice.

Dominguez said the kids in Colorado were usually brought in for jaundice — parents noticed their skin or eyes turning yellow. Some had previously had an illness with fever and diarrhea, but not all.

In a briefing with reporters, Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious diseases, said the number of cases identified so far is not above baseline levels, but disease investigators are watching closely because of how many of the cases

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have occurred in previously healthy children.

“Although rare, children can have serious hepatitis, and it’s not uncommon for the cause to be unknown,” Butler said.

Zooming in on adenovirus A number of kids stricken with the mystery hepatitis, both in the United States and in the United Kingdom, have tested positive for a type of adenovirus known as adenovirus 41. Unlike most adenoviruses, which are respiratory bugs, adenovirus 41 attacks the digestive system.

It has been known to cause hepatitis in kids who are immunocompromised, but it has not previously been known to cause hepatitis in kids with no known underlying health conditions, Butler said.

That’s just one of the mysteries surrounding the new cases. There’s no indication that adenovirus cases are surging, Butler said, though he acknowledged that the U.S. lacks the kind of robust case-tracking system that it has for COVID or even the flu.

Scientists are hoping to genetically sequence the adenovirus found in kids with hepatitis to see if it has picked up a significant mutation — but they’ve been having trouble doing so because the viral loads are so low when the kids are diagnosed.

Butler said that may point to an immune response to the adenovirus infections as being the real cause.

COVID vaccines not to blame Researchers are also trying to learn more about whether previous COVID-19 infections played a role, though, in a case study of nine kids from Alabama that the CDC released last week, none of the children had known prior COVID infections.

One thing Butler said is certain:

COVID-19 vaccines almost certainly are not causing the cases. That’s because most of the children affected — “the vast majority,” Butler said — are too young to be vaccinated.

“COVID-19 vaccination is not the cause,” Butler said flatly.

So researchers continue to seek answers. Is there an environmental cause or maybe another, undiagnosed infection? Is it related to a medication? Is it something that happens every year but doctors — especially vigilant during a pandemic — are only just now picking up on?

“This is an evolving situation, and we’re casting a wide net to help broaden our understanding,” he said.

CDPHE, meanwhile, is also stepping up its tracking. Ordinarily, noninfectious cases of hepatitis are not things that doctors have to report to the state. But the agency last month sent out an alert to health care providers asking them to tell the state about any cases of pediatric hepatitis with an unknown cause.

Dominguez, the Children’s doctor, said parents will want to bring their kids in for medical help if they notice any yellowing of the skin or eyes or if their children have had an ongoing fever with diarrhea.

While worth being aware of, Dominguez said parents can take comfort in one thing.

“It’s still a relatively rare disease,” he said. “I think that’s the good news.”

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

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Fort Lupton Press 17

May 26, 2022

Colorado Community Media asks members of the Class of 2022 about what they have learned and their plans for the future.

Their responses are diverse and inspiring. Please take time to read what they have to say.

Let’s celebrate the Class of 2022 and wish them great success in the future!

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Congratulations Class of 2022 This could be the start of something BIG

18 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Congratulations Alondra Amador

Alex Kyle

Brighton High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I am 16 years old and I enjoy playing soccer and spending time with my family and especially my friends. I am graduating high school a year early at 16. I just got accepted to Regis University in hopes of becoming a registered nurse. Right now, I am getting certified as a nurse assistant! I am very big on helping my community and volunteer anytime I can at my church. Although I work very hard in school (having a 4.0 GPA all three years), I also like being a teenager and going out with my friends and having fun.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“It was seeing a peer and friend of mine never give up and work even hard to get good grades and achieve her high school goals. This experience taught me that I should never give up even when things get very hard.

This impacted me as a person and taught me that when you do work harder it pays off. This has changed my outlook on life on a positive note, pushing myself to

Horizon High School

work hard, in order to achieve my goals in not only high school but life as swell.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory from high school actually happened this month. It was when I told all my teachers I had been accepted to Regis. It made me so happy to see how excited and proud my teachers were of me. I was so grateful to them as well because without their mentorship or help I wouldn’t have gotten far. In addition to this when I told my friends the news they were all so happy and supportive of me. It really made my whole high school experience worth i— to see it finally paid off !”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“They are very determined, devoted, and ambitious. I’ve seen so many of my classmates work very hard to get accepted to colleges and to finish high school. So many are devoted in our school and my class is very good at showing school spirit. Lastly, they all show ambition in following their passions and dreams.”

Tell us a little bit about yourself “For four years, I played on the Unified basketball and bowling teams. During my senior year, I sang the National Anthem at two of the Unified basketball games.

I’ve participated in a few different clubs. One is called Link, which is a club about showing freshmen around the school and connecting with others. Another club I joined this year was called the National Honor Society (NHS).

For NHS, we did community service for different organizations in our community.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“One personal experience that significantly impacted me happened one day during my sophomore year. Somebody shot off fireworks in one of the bathrooms. It was very loud and I thought it sounded like a gun. I was in the elevator with my PARA, Miss Amanda when it happened.

This incident scared me.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory from high school is when I went to

prom my Senior year with my friends and had a good time.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“The defining qualities of my graduating class was perseverance while going through the COVID-19 pandemic. We spent over one third of our high school career learning remotely and had to be present and remain engaged throughout the entire time.”

Peyton Newham Legacy High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I am a student government representative.

I also played basketball for all four years of high school. I plan on attending Colorado State University to pursue exercise science with a sports medicine concentration. I hope to become an athletic trainer for a collegiate or pro team.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

About a week and a half before the first quarantine hit during my sophomore year, I moved across the country to Wisconsin. I didn’t meet my first friend until we went in person at the beginning of my junior year.

This experience changed the way I appreciated small things in my life because I was missing my everyday life of pre-COVID and lived over 1,000 miles away from anyone that I knew personally. I was more appreciative of things like hanging out with friends because I knew what it felt like to miss all of that for over six months.

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“I had established a friendship with a new group in my new home. Although they were good to me, I always felt a little out of place as they had all been friends since childhood and I was the new guy. It was my birthday, and I didn’t plan on doing anything, but one of the friends had other plans. She invited me over and surprised me with a cake, a gift, and all of the rest of the friends in the group. This was special because it was when I truly felt like I was part of the group.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“The Class of 2022, in my opinion, should be remembered as resilient. After getting a taste of high school for freshman and most of sophomore year, just to be isolated from everything we knew for a year, my class has been through a lot. Those sophomore/junior years are when students start to figure out who they are as people, and how they want to present themselves to others. So, to not have that crucial period face to face with our peers, and still be as great as we are, the only word that comes to mind is resilient.”

Fort Lupton Press 19

May 26, 2022

Congratulations Breanna Wu Horizon High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I am currently a part of the National Honor Society at Horizon and National Technical Honor Society and HOSA at Future Forward Bollman. When I am not volunteering or working, I dedicate my time to visiting Buddhist temples with my Mom, editing videos and skateboarding like a knock-off Tony Hawk. After graduation, I plan to become a pyrotechnic engineer for Disney Parks or film production.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“In February of my senior year, CU Boulder hosted an evening with Simu Liu and I was able to get tickets before they sold out.

Among the things he talked about (his new book, relationship advice, etc.), he discussed his experience of being Asian Canadian and the impact of being Shang-Chi. In those moments, I felt so seen and understood as an Asian living in the western world. I walked out that night knowing two things: (1) his favorite boba drink and (2) I would start

living life for myself and not conform to the traditional expectations imposed on me.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“Someone once told me freshman year that my biology teacher brought their pet snake to school. I shrugged it off as nonsense until I came into class and saw a 4-foot snake coiled around my biology teacher’s forearm.

It felt surreal watching my teacher unfazed while my classmates were mostly tense and nervous. I will never forget that day as it was the first and (probably) the last time I would be inches away from an actual snake.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“We are “Young, Wild, & Free” like Snoop Dogg’s, Wiz Khalifa’s, and Bruno Mars’ hit song, “Mac & Devin Go to High School”.

Obviously, we’re young because most of us do not have adult responsibilities to tend to.

We’re wild because we manage to break and excel beyond the various barriers placed on us. We’re free as we found ways to cultivate our own identities and be true to ourselves despite the pressures of the pandemic.”

Codi Ortiz Legacy High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I play water polo and swim, and I have been doing so for a long time. I’m also a part of NHS and Spanish NHS at my school because I love giving back to my community, particularly in the form of donating blood or platelets.

After graduation, I will be attending the University of California Santa Barbara, where I will study chemistry on the premed track.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“The summer before my freshman year, one of my best friends was shot and killed. Preceding my high school journey, this experience foretold what I would learn. In high school, I became more aware of my world.

I learned that my little bubble could no longer protect me and that it was the time in which I, as a young adult, should begin to use my voice. What happened to my friend is a reminder of everything wrong with this world. Yet, he is also a reminder that my generation will be, and has to be, the one to make a change.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory from high

school is going to the football games. The student section was a place where all of my classmates could come together. No matter what personal differences we had, it all went away when the time came to cheer on our team. We show the most amount of spirit and pride for our school during these games, and we always make the opposing school seem very quiet when we’re playing against them. Seeing and being a part of this comradery was the best possible feeling.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“My class is the definition of resilience.

We have gone through some of the hardest times the world has recently faced, all while dealing with the pressures of high school. We’ve adjusted to severe changes in our lives on such short and unexpected notice, yet we have come out on the other side so much stronger.

Whether or not COVID made us more resilient or simply highlighted this trait in us, I know that the people in my class can overcome anything. Because of this, you can count on us making our mark.”

Logan Flanagan Brighton High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I have involved myself in several organizations throughout my high school career, including DECA, drama, Technology Student Organization, and the Brighton Youth Commission. I plan to attend Metropolitan State University of Denver to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business management.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“Attending my first DECA State Leadership Conference was such an impactful experience that changed my outlook on life. Before this, I had no idea that I would want to go into business or even that I could feel confident in a competitive setting.

Being surrounded by so many other professional teenagers who felt passionate about busi-

ness made me certain that I wanted to pursue business.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory from high school was every time I was on stage. I have become so close with everyone in BHS drama, and it has meant so much to be a part of this organization.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“The defining qualities of my graduating class include loyalty, determination, and a little bit of rebellion.”

20 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Congratulations Larissa Steiner Horizon High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I am the SOAR honors program commissioner, National Honor Society vice president, LINK crew commissioner and am a member of Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica and Science National Honor Society. I also was on my school’s cross country team all four years of high school.

Outside of school, I am a competitive dancer and volunteer at North Suburban Medical Center. After graduation, I will be attending Northeastern University in Boston majoring in health sciences on the pre-med route.

I hope to eventually attend medical school to become a pediatrician.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“When I got the opportunity to attend the DECA state competition in Colorado Springs. It was amazing to meet so many other passionate and hardworking high school students.

Although I do not want to pursue a career in business, I learned invaluable lessons about communication and how to work in the real-life professional world. Outside of the academic portion of the weekend, it was so fun to have the independence to stay with my friends in a hotel for the weekend and to bond with all of the other DECA students from my school.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“I joined the Cross country team on a whim, not expecting to find the community I did. My teammates always supported me and cheered me on even when my times were slow or I did not feel up to running. I felt like we all belonged on the team and had something to contribute outside our running ability. This experience changed my vision of what is important. I realized how I treat other people, the encouragement I give, and supportive relationships are so much bigger than a time on a piece of paper or a trophy.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“The graduating class of 2022 is resilient, flexible, accepting, and perseverant. We only had one “normal” year of high school before we experienced a variety of interruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. I watched as both myself and my classmates continued to learn and work toward their goals, even when it was difficult to adapt to the new learning models and changes the pandemic brought. With the willingness to adapt and our perseverance, we were able to make it through four unpredictable years. This also brought a sense of unity and acceptance amongst my peers unseen before in previous classes.”

Gael Hernandez Legacy High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I played boys soccer.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“Playing high school soccer” What is your favorite memory from high school?

“The memories and friends I was able to make through soccer and the classroom” What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“Determined. After the pandemic it was a rough time for all of us and for us to overcome that and be able to graduate says a lot.”

Marlo Weber Legacy High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I am the current Student Body President at Legacy High School and I’ve been a part of student government since sophomore year. I played volleyball for Legacy every year and started on varsity this past season. I also joined Legacy’s National Honor Society as an upperclassman. Four years of Legacy 2000, a STEM program at Legacy, strengthened my passion for research and inquiry throughout high school and catalyzed my excitement for public speaking. Beyond academics and extracurriculars, I love running and crocheting.

In the fall I’ll be attending Purdue University as an Honors College student studying psychology.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“Last semester I completed an internship with the secondary school psychologist Erin Jones at Stargate Charter School. Meeting with students, observing cognitive testing, reviewing learning plans and attending administrative meetings not only solidified my passion for psychology but also introduced me to a branch of this field that incorporates my love of working with kids.

I’m thankful for an outlet to learn from professionals in my desired field because my curiosity for psychological sciences has only been heightened by this experience. I’m excited to go to college next year and study psychology, emboldened

by my learning from Stargate.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“This year student government traveled to Estes Park for our annual retreat at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies and this experience immediately became a favorite high school memory for me. I loved strengthening our StuGo community by spending time together outside of school. There was a carefree youthfulness in our playground games, bus karaoke, family-style dinners and late-night dance battles. I cherished the time we had to reflect on our successes and failures throughout the year, and I left retreat feeling deeply connected to the friends I’ve had the pleasure of working with during senior year.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“Legacy’s graduating class of 2022 is flexible, persistent and involved. After a few semesters of abnormal classes, clubs, and sports, senior year provided our graduating class with the opportunity to become fully immersed in the quintessential high school experiences we missed the previous year. We saw more students dressing up for spirit weeks, higher attendance at sporting events, and individuals reestablishing their club’s presence within Legacy. Overcoming adversity in academics and extracurriculars made our return to “normal” far more rewarding and enhanced the definition of a typical senior year.”

Fort Lupton Press 21

May 26, 2022

Congratulations Ryan Nun

Katherine Prado

Legacy High School

Thornton High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I play soccer for Legacy High School as a varsity captain, as well as at Real Colorado Edge. I am also a member of the Broomfield Teen Council. Additionally I am a peer leader of “Sources of Strength,” a club at school that advocates for student mental health. After graduation I plan to go to college for a history degree in intent to become a high school history teacher.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“During my sophomore year of high school I felt really isolated and my performance in school and on the soccer field began to decline. Through the help of a teacher, however, I began to pick myself up and become me again. With this experience I decided I wanted to be a teacher to help students who were in a situation like mine get out of it and be themselves.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“The whole high school season where we (and myself) broke numerous school records and had a lot of fun together.

Specifically, beating Broomfield this season in double overtime to advance to the semifinals of the state high school tournament.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

I believe that COVID shaped our defining qualities into perseverance and community. Three unorthodox years caused my class to work through hard conditions. We still had tests and work to do even if we weren’t allowed to leave our house or see each other.

The quality of community came this year when we finally realized that we could go back to games and see each other in school again. Stands were packed at volleyball, soccer and basketball games. I think the support from the school we hadn’t seen in a while really contributed to all our sports success this year.

Larysa Reynolds North Valley School for Young Adults Tell us a little bit about yourself “I am a 2022 graduate, and I am part of the Student Council. I am hardworking because I am working a job, doing school and helping taking care of my family.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“A toxic group of girls bullied me and now, I have trust issues and my body prepares to get hurt before we even really meet.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory would be all of my senior year. I met so many nice, cool, mature people and even met two of my best friends Sam and Lyric.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“My graduating class is mature, hardworking, helpful and very respectful to everyone. My graduating class is very focused and will help others to stay focused on that same thing, which is our diploma.”

Tell us a little bit about yourself “After graduation I plan on finishing my certifications and then, God willing, beginning my career as a firefighter. Currently, I am an intern with the City of Westminster at the fire department.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“A personal experience would be during my firefighting class, experiencing difficulties like claustrophobia, fear of heights, etc. and being helped by my crew mates. This changed my perspective in helping others and serving others. It taught me to always accept help and give the same help to others

when they are in need. It also taught me the value of selflessness, which is needed in the job and in life.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory of high school is joining my firefighting class and doing live fire training with my class. It was a scary yet amazing experience.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“The defining qualities of my graduating class are outgoing, unique and willing to try new things because I’ve seen students willing to go out of state for sports and compete in things that are out of their comfort zones, and I’ve seen the growth from freshman year to senior year.”

22 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Congratulations Natilie Carlson

Mario Herrera

Thornton High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I really only participated in softball at Thornton High School and spent the rest of my time working on my academics. I also took a couple years of engineering over at Bollman, which I really liked.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“What changed my outlook on life was probably all of 2020. That year really made me stop and think about the little things that I took for granted, like seeing and talking to people face to face. I also watched my brother, a Class of 2020 graduate, miss out of his final senior moments, and it just made me want to cherish my senior moments even more.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“This is a really hard question to answer, because

Northglenn High School

so much has happened in my four years of high school. If I had to choose, I think I would pick prom. It was really fun to see everyone dressed up and without masks. It was also a lot of fun going with my friends.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“I think that the defining qualities of my graduating class would have to be resilient and strong.

We, as a class, have experienced more ups and downs I think than anyone else and we had to be resilient and strong mentally to get through it all. We were sophomores who were sent home for an extended spring break, which turned into a year of playing on computers, and now we are graduating and going all different ways.

So I really do think that resilient and strong are traits that define the Class of 2022.”

Tell us a little bit about yourself “I played football for three years of my high school career, and also did band my freshman, sophomore and junior years. I was a part of the weightlifting club during my sophomore year but that was short lived due to the COVID situation that spread like crazy. After graduation I plan to work over the summer, shadowing a construction site manager and observing how things are done and then I plan to attend the University of Colorado Denver to major in construction engineering and management from the fall of 2022 to May 2026.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“The whole COVID experience during my junior year. During these times I decided to better myself and strive for better. I started taking the gym seriously, started becoming more of a scholar and also started working a full-time job, all at the same time. I finished the junior year with a 4.0 GPA and then finished my first semester of senior year with a GPA of 4.3.

Thanks to the COVID situation, I managed to improve my time management and disciplined myself to be able to achieve what I did”.

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“My favorite memory from high school was winning our

Melanie Gamboa Northglenn High School

Tell us a little bit about yourself “The beginning of senior year I tried out for the powderpuff team. It was a great experience altogether, and it brought me closer to a lot of people. I was always very competitive growing up so being in an active team where I can feel happy about winning and being sore after practices was the best feeling. After graduation I plan to achieve my bachelor’s and pursue the medical field. I’d love to get a job as well to have some type of responsibility.”

Describe a personal experience that you encountered during high school that significantly impacted you as a person or changed your outlook on life.

“Throughout my whole time in high school I was depicted as very shy and never raised my hand as I thought people didn’t care enough to hear me talk. It wasn’t until I met a group of people that really helped me feel welcome with sharing my opinion. These people have become my family in this community and have made me spring out of

my shell.”

What is your favorite memory from high school?

“I’ve made many memories here in this school.

My most memorable memory would have to be this senior year when I joined my powderpuff team. It was competitive, but at most, it was the most fun I ever had. Being a part of a community that was so supportive and being in a team was amazing. My best friend also joined the team with me, and we would jump in joy when we got a point.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“My graduation class has always been seen as resilient. We missed a lot of our sophomore year and our whole junior year but this senior year we have made the most of it and created memories within our community as we come together one last time ‘til we all go our separate ways.”

rivalry game against Thornton High School in football. The team unfortunately lost two years ago in a tight game where THS was victorious and we snapped a 14-game losing streak. Our team didn’t take this lightly so when we got the opportunity to have our opening game against them this past season, we took advantage and beat them 30-6 to take back our I-25 trophy. I will never forget hearing the final whistle as the crowd roared and I carried the trophy with teammates rallying around.”

What are the defining qualities of your graduating class and why?

“The Class of 2022 shows lots of untapped potential. When I look at my peers, I see people that are on the brink of greatness. I see people that with time will do something in their lives that can take them far. All we have to do is take that leap of faith and go with the flow, the rest will come in on its own with a little bit of hard work and determination.”

Fort Lupton Press 23

May 26, 2022

Photographs from Carey Candrian’s “Eye to Eye” exhibition.

COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

‘Eye to Eye’ photography exhibit centers the voices of older LGBTQ+ women

BY BRIAN WILLIE, VICTORIA CARODINE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

For many, coming out is arguably one of the scariest moments in a person’s life. And for some, the difficulties worsen with age — 66% of older LGBTQ+ adults fear experiencing insufficient support, and 75% of the 2.4 million LGBTQ+ adults 65 years or older in the United States will go back into the closet when they enter assisted living or senior living communities.

Carey Candrian, an associate professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, wants to humanize these statistics and bring faces to the issue. Her exhibition, “Eye to Eye: Portraits of Pride, Strength, Beauty” at the Anschutz Medical Campus, aims to destigmatize the LGBTQ community through photographs.

“The goal of this project is to actually see these women, see their faces and realize they’re not that scary and in hopes of really helping people; just connect human to human, person to person,” Candrian told Rocky Mountain PBS. In 2020, Candrian, who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, began

interviewing and photographing LGBTQ women ages 59-85 to better understand their health disparities in palliative care, hospice, OB/ GYN care and assisted living.

This project is part of her ongoing professional research, which is published in places like The Journal of Women and Aging, The Gerontologist and The Journal of Palliative Medicine.

“Personally, this is a community that I am part of and I have experienced some of those effects …

I want to do something about it,” she explained. “And I think from a professional reason, this is also my career.”

The result of her project is a series of portrait photographs, all taken by Candrian, accompanied by quotes from almost three dozen women sharing their fears, experiences and reflections.

Underneath a photograph of Jude, an 80-year-old geologist, said, “I denied myself for 40 years. Next 40 I became who I am. Now I have a life to live.”

Another reads: “We have been totally open. If we act like we’re halfway ashamed of it, then people are not going to accept it wholeheartedly,” Gillian, 78.

“They haven’t wanted to remain silent but these photos, I think, are a way of giving them voice and even louder voice,” explained Candrian. “I think the voices that these pictures give them is that ‘we have a life worth living.’ According to her, these women took a risk to break their silence and show up as their true selves.

“The photos have helped me take it to another level to really be able to make sense of this,” said Candrian. “And I think that’s been the biggest thing is that research is so important, the science is so important in it, but we lose the individual behind it.”

Candrian believes that while conditions have improved overall, hurtful stigmas and assumptions about the LGBTQ community hinders older LGBTQ people from getting proper care and humanity as they age — a practice that is not only unfair, but extremely damaging. And often, it’s easy to forget the person behind the statistics.

“We know that there are actually concrete health effects on older LGBT communities like heart disease, certain cancers, anxiety, even suicide,” Candrian explained.

“So we know these things exist and

they’re not getting much better … We have good research to show that these disparities exist. But we aren’t doing a lot to actually do something about it.”

And Candrian hopes her photographs will leave a positive, lasting impact on the people who see them, and change the conversations about the aging LGBTQ community.

“These are very good people who want the same things as you want, as other people want. They want to love. They want to be loved,” Candrian said. “ And why I think we continue to make it so difficult for people to be able to be who they are is not right. And I think my hope is that when they see these pictures, they realize it’s their friends, it’s their family members, it’s their colleagues, it’s their neighbors.”

“Eye to Eye” is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonprofit public broadcaster providing community stories across Colorado over the air and online.

Used by permission. For more, and to support Rocky Mountain PBS, visit rmpbs.org.

24 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

5 good ways legislature affected your wallet

Colorado property taxes won’t rise as much as expected

BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

From reducing Coloradans’ property tax increases to delaying a new gas fee, the Colorado legislature passed several bills this year that will directly affect your wallet.

The legislation was aimed at trying to ease rising consumer-cost pressures. While there are a lot of political machinations around the savings, we’re just going to break down what the changes mean for you. (If you want to read about the machinations, you can do so here.)

Here are the measures we at The Colorado Sun think you need to know about: Property taxes won’t go up as much in 2023, 2024 It’s no secret that property values in Colorado are soaring. And that means property tax bills are increasing, too.

The Colorado legislature passed Senate Bill 238 this year to try to ease the tab by reducing the property tax burden on residential and commercial property owners by $700 million over the 2023 and 2024 tax years. The measure was signed into law May 16 by Gov. Jared Polis.

Here’s how the relief will work: • The residential assessment rate used to calculate how much a residential homeowner owes in property taxes in 2023 is reduced to 6.765% from 7.15%. Additionally, the first $15,000 in taxable value of a residential property is waived as long as doing so doesn’t cause the assessed property value to fall below $1,000.

• For commercial properties, the assessment rate in 2023 is reduced to 27.9% from 29%. Additionally, the first $30,000 in taxable value of a commercial property is waived as long as doing so doesn’t cause the assessed property value to fall below $1,000.

Are you confused about how this will affect your property tax bill?

That’s OK. We’re here to help.

Assessment rates are important because they are used to calculate how much someone owes in taxes.

The rate is multiplied by a home’s assessed value, which is determined by a county assessor. What a property owner pays is then determined by the mill levy rate. A mill is a $1 payment on every $1,000 of assessed value.

The 2023 reduction will mean that a residential property owner who owns a home with an assessed value of $300,000 in an area with a mill levy of 100 will pay $1,963 versus $2,145.

In 2024, the rates will go up slightly. For single-family residential property owners, the assessment rate will be approximately 6.95%, down from 7.15%. For multifamily residential property, the rate will be 6.8%.

Property taxes were kept down in the 2022 legislature.

For those who own commercial property used for agriculture and to produce renewable energy, the 2024 assessment rate will be 26.4%, down from 29%.

The 2024 rates match a reduction approved for the 2021 and 2022 tax years under a measure passed by the legislature in 2021.

Finally, the legislature extended a change allowing senior citizens to defer all of the increases in their property taxes until they sell their homes while allowing everyone else to defer any increases over 4%.

Another measure passed this year, House Bill 1416, that Polis also signed into law May 16 requires county assessors to include an estimate of the property taxes each property owner owes when mailing out notices of property valuation changes. The notices also must include an alert to property owners about the June 8 deadline to file an assessment appeal.Big TABOR refund checks are coming Individual Colorado taxpayers will be mailed a check of at least $500 while joint filers will get at least $1,000. People who filed their tax returns on time will get the checks in late August or early September, while those with extensions will get their checks sometime later.

Where is this money coming from? An estimated $2 billion in tax revenue collected by the state this fiscal year, which ends June 30, in excess of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights cap on government growth and spending, which is calculated based on inflation and population growth.

The money had to be refunded regardless, but Senate Bill 233, passed by the legislature this year, moved up the timeline and aimed to make the refunds more equitable by increasing the amount of money lower-income earners

would get while decreasing the amount higher-income earners would receive.

Colorado taxpayers could get even larger refund checks if tax revenue in May and June is above what’s projected by nonpartisan legislative staff and economists in the governor’s office.

Additionally, Coloradans will also get an income tax rate cut to 4.5% from 4.55% because of the TABOR excess.

Gasoline fees won’t start until April 2023 Colorado motorists were set to be charged a new, 2-cent-per-gallon fee on gasoline starting in July under a bill passed by the legislature in 2021 intended to raise money for transportation projects. But lawmakers this year passed House Bill 1351, which was signed into law May 16 by Polis, delaying the start of the fee until April 2023.

The legislature is spending about $45 million from its general fund to backfill the lost revenue.

“It’s official!” Polis said after signing the bill into law. “No new fees on gas!”

Fact check: There will be new fees on gasoline, just not until April 1, 2023. And those fees, by the way, are permanent and will rise to 8 cents per gallon starting on July 1 and could go up in subsequent years based on inflation.

Business tax and fee breaks Polis signed three bills into law May 16 that will reduce businesses’ costs.

Senate Bill 6 will let small businesses with less than $100,000 in taxable sales per sales tax filing period — which is typically each month — keep 5.3% of the sales tax they owe the state, up from 4%.

The relief lasts one year and is forecast to total about $5 million.

Senate Bill 124 lets S corporations and partnerships — known

SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE

as pass-through businesses — retroactively pay their state income taxes dating back to 2018 through their businesses rather than through their owners.

The bill lets the owners avoid a temporary federal $10,000 cap on federal income tax deductions for individual income taxpayers. That cap doesn’t exist, however, for C corporations, meaning that Senate Bill 124 will let those businesses take a larger deduction.

House Bill 1001 temporarily reduces business filing fees in Colorado owed to the Secretary of State’s Office to $1 from a range of $10 to $50. The fees are typically charged for annual business registration renewal, new trade name registrations and renewals and updates to business information.

The legislature is spending $16.7 million from its general fund to replace the lost revenue.

The cost of getting, renewing a driver’s license will remain flat — for now Renewing your driver’s license in the near future? You’ll save about $2 under House Bill 1004, which Polis signed into law and allocates nearly $4 million to the Division of Motor Vehicles to prevent a fee increase.

The current cost to get or renew a driver’s license is $30.87, and the DMV was expected to increase the fee in the coming years to cover its rising costs.

Like the gas fee, however, don’t expect the break to last forever.

The relief is only set to last two years.

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

Fort Lupton Press 25

May 26, 2022

Afghan student in Colorado outsmarts his school bullies

BY KAREEM EL DAMANHOURY ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

When newborn Fawad Ahmadzai was crying his fi rst cry at a Kabul hospital in October 2002, his parents struggled to picture the future of their fi rst kid as the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was just entering into its second year. Twenty years later, Fawad is wrapping up his freshman year at CU Boulder on a full ride scholarship. But it was far from an easy ride.

At age 7, Fawad moved with his family from Afghanistan to Thornton, Colorado. His parents sacrificed the life they had built and careers they had in their home country in hopes of a better future for their children, who barely knew English at fi rst. “We were in low-level ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, struggling even in those classes,” Fawad chuckles as he remembers his early days in Colorado. The language barrier made it hard for him to fit in and make friends.

What kept him going, however, was the goal he had set for himself: to make his parents proud. By seventh grade, Fawad was not only fluent in English, but he was also taking honor classes and preparing to join a gifted school that really tested his resolve.

Different shades of bullying Going to school with gifted students who were taking collegelevel classes, acing standardized exams, and winning national chess championships shook Fawad’s selfconfidence.

“I was like, ‘I’m nothing,’” he said. “I thought I had accomplished something really big, but when I came to this school, I was like, ‘no way.’”

It was during this phase that Fawad faced bullying, like many other students his age. One out of every five students nationwide reports being bullied, according to the government resource stopbullying.org. The rate is even higher among immigrant youth like Fawad.

Struggling with intellectual bullying, which typically involves belittling peers based on the level of education and qualifications, Fawad became too shy to present in front of class or even speak to avoid the mocking of his fellow students.

He vividly remembers a day when he tried to break his silence during a class discussion, only to regret it later.

“I thought you were shy, but I guess you are really stupid” Fawad uttered the words his classmate told him with a painful smile. “I remember exactly what she said because it really hurt me.”

Fawad also faced physical bullying numerous times. At one point, a peer shoved him and slapped his arm during a basketball game for no apparent reason. “I couldn’t do anything about it,” he recalls. “He was taller, he was stronger.”

But perhaps the most painful form of bullying Fawad encountered was on social media. His peers created a Messenger group chat to make fun of him, before shortly adding him to the group to

Fawad Ahmadzai visiting his high school’s soccer pitch, where he used to train with the varsity team.

read their hurtful comments about his English and being different.

Although reporting cyberbullying is a key prevention tactic, Fawad did not open up to anybody about it. He was also worried it would overburden his parents, so he kept it all for himself. In doing so, he became very lonely, and depression took over.

On the verge of suicide As the bullying intensified, Fawad considered taking his own life. He locked himself up in his room and googled the least painful ways to commit suicide. As the tears were rolling down his eyes, he was almost settled on doing it in the basement when no one was home.

“I had these waves of outbursts, outbursts of just crying, crying, and crying,” said Fawad. “The source of all those tears were the years of bullying, the years of not being enough, being belittled.”

But the thought of his parents coming home to find their elder son dead had the power to call off his plans. Fawad is not alone when it comes to suicide ideation. Almost 20% of high school students have considered taking their own lives, and bully victims are two to nine times more likely to do so.

After overcoming his suicidal thoughts, Fawad had another battle to fight against bullying. He decided he would no longer allow others to define who he is.

When some tried during ninth and tenth grade to push his boundaries, Fawad stood up to them.

Soon, his peers realized he was a different person who wouldn’t take it anymore.

By shifting his perspective, Fawad’s experience with bullying that had once pushed him to the verge of suicide was now serving as a catalyst for success.

“I could use that as just fuel,” said Fawad. “When it becomes really difficult and challenging, I just recollect everything those people told me, and I use it as fuel to push me forward.”

Outsmarting the bullies Once Fawad overcame bullying, he turned into a shining star at school and beyond. About a year after contemplating suicide in his room, Fawad ranked fi rst in ninth grade at the gifted school.

He made it to varsity soccer and set multiple of his school’s records in fitness. Fawad also joined a few clubs, which boosted his confidence further.

Realizing that others in his local

COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

community may be going through similar challenges with bullying and adapting to the culture, he became active in Muslim Youth for Positive Change, a local NGO striving to empower Muslim and immigrant youth. In his role as a youth impact leader in the organization, he introduced The Pathways to Success Program to help youth with career exploration and college applications, among other things.

Graduating with a 4.0 GPA, Fawad got accepted into all three Colorado schools he had applied to and was awarded the Daniels Scholarship. He is now a Business major at CU Boulder pursuing his own pathway to success.

But he is very keen on the success of others too, including his younger siblings, youth in the local community, and others who may be facing similar challenges.

“If I could still do it despite all these hardships,” Fawad says.

“Imagine how many other people can be inspired.”

This story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonprofit public broadcaster providing community stories across Colorado over the air and online.

Used by permission. For more, and to support Rocky Mountain PBS, visit rmpbs.org.

26 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

C R O S SWO R D P U Z Z L E

© 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.

Solution

TRIVIA 1. GEOGRAPHY: Which country in Africa is the largest in land area?

2. MUSIC: What was the original name of the punk rock band Green Day? 3. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Which president formally declared the executive mansion to be the White House?

4. ART: In which major city would you find the Tate Modern museum?

10. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is an ibex?

Answers 1. Algeria 2. Sweet Children 3. Theodore Roosevelt 4. London, England

5. MYTHOLOGY: What is the name of the Greek goddess of revenge?

5. Nemesis

6. U.S. STATES: Which state is the only one that doesn’t have a mandatory seat belt law?

7. White Russian

6. New Hampshire

7. MOVIES: What is the Dude’s favorite drink in “The Big Lebowski”?

8. Egg white

8. FOOD & DRINK: What is albumen?

10. A wild goat

9. MEDICAL: What is a more common name for a transient ischemic attack?

9. Mini-stroke

(c) 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.

Crossword Solution

Fort Lupton Press 27

May 26, 2022

www.ColoradoCommunityMedia.com/Notices

PUBLIC NOTICES

legals2@coloradocommunitymedia.com legals2@coloradocommunitymedia.com

303-566-4123 Public Public Notices Notices call call 303-566-4123 Date of Notice: May 4, 2022 NOTICE OF CHANGE IN TARIFFS ON LESS THAN 30-DAYS’ NOTICE Atmos Energy Corporation (“Atmos Energy”) 1555 Blake Street Denver, Colorado 80202 You are hereby notified that Atmos Energy has filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission of the State of Colorado (“PUC”), in compliance with the Public Utilities Law, an application for Class of Service by Division

permission to file certain changes in tariffs, affecting all residential, commercial, interruptible and other consumers in its Colorado divisions to become effective June 1, 2022, if the application is granted by the PUC. The purpose for this filing is to change rates by revising the Company’s existing gas cost adjustment tariff to reflect changes in the rates charged Atmos Energy by its suppliers for natural gas purchases. The present and proposed natural gas rates are as follows:

Present Rates Total Volumetric

Proposed Rates1 Total Volumetric

Percentage Change

North Colorado* Residential

$0.94725

$1.27312

34%

Small Commercial, Commercial

0.82040

1.14627

40%

Irrigation

0.73618

1.06205

44%

Transportation

0.15568

0.15700

1%

Average Monthly Bill

Projected Average Monthly Bill

Percentage Change

North Colorado* Residential

$71.03

$91.23

28%

Small Commercial, Commercial

340.93

464.44

36%

Irrigation

291.93

400.77

37%

Prior Year’s Peak Month Bill

Projected Peak Month Bill

Percentage Change

North Colorado* Residential

$135.44

$177.81

31%

Small Commercial, Commercial

669.91

924.09

38%

Irrigation

1,459.57

1,861.05

28%

*Notification Published in our North Rate Area Newspaper The proposed and present rates and tariffs are available for examination at the business office of Atmos Energy Corporation located at 1555 Blake Street, Suite 400, Denver, Colorado, or at the Public Utilities Commission at 1560 Broadway, Suite 250, Denver, Colorado, 80202.

Anyone who desires may either file written objection or seek to intervene as a party in this filing. If you only wish to object to the proposed action, you may file a written objection with the Commission. The filing of a written objection by itself will not allow you to participate as a party in any proceeding on the proposed action. If you wish to participate as a party in this matter, you must file written intervention documents under the Commission’s rules.

City of Ft. Lupton Public Notice CITY OF FORT LUPTON 5/04/22-5/17/22 EXPENDITURES V

e

n

d

o

r

P a y -

05/06/2022 71533 ADAMS COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS 287.18 05/06/2022 71534 COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 305.97 05/06/2022 71535 FAMILY SUPPORT REGISTRY 25.84 05/10/2022 71536 AMAZON.COM 27.51 05/10/2022 71537 ANTHONY GOMEZ 200.00 05/10/2022 71538 AVITUS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES 110.50 05/10/2022 71539 BG’S JAPANESE DESIGNS 240.00 05/10/2022 71540 CEM SALES & SERVICE INC 845.00 05/10/2022 71541 CINTAS FIRST AID & SAFETY 183.80 05/10/2022 71542 C I T Y O F F O R T L U P TON 22.00 05/10/2022 UTIL 15713.69 05/10/2022 05/10/2022

Legal Notice No. FLP623 First Publication: May 19, 2022 Last Publication: May 26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press 05/10/2022 71549 COMCAST CABLE COMM, LLC 438.57 05/10/2022 71550 C O O K S INTERIORS

Legals

Payment Number Name Date ment Amount

Anyone who desires to file written objection or written intervention documents to the proposed action shall file them with the PUC, 1560 Broadway, Suite 250, Denver, Colorado, 80202 at least one day before the proposed effective date.

Members of the public may attend any hearing and may make a statement under oath about the proposed change whether or not a written objection or request to intervene has been filed.

Atmos Energy Corporation Colorado-Kansas Division By: Kathleen R. Ocanas Vice President, Rates & Regulatory

71543 C I T Y O F F T L U P TO N INVOICE

71544 **Void** 0.00 71545 CLIFTONLARSONALLEN LLP 21000.00 05/10/2022 71546 COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA 126.88 05/10/2022 71547 COLORADO DEPT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT 7081.00 05/10/2022 71548 COLORADO DEPT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT 4514.00

1469.38 05/10/2022 71551 DHM DESIGN CORPORATION 2750.13 05/10/2022 71552 DIG DEEP RESEARCH, LLC 5000.00 05/10/2022 71553 FERTECH INDUSTRIES LLC 294.25 05/10/2022 71554 HAYES POZNANOVIC KORVER, LLC 5767.50 05/10/2022 71555 ID EDGE INC 358.00 05/10/2022 71556 IDENTOGO 54.50 05/10/2022 71557 IDENTOGO 54.50 05/10/2022 71558 IDENTOGO 54.50 05/10/2022 71559 INTERMOUNTAIN C O N T R O L S N I C H O L S - G I VEN 1429.00 05/10/2022 71560 MAXINE BROOKS 266.00 05/10/2022 71561 M I C H E L L E D O M I N GUEZ 100.00 05/10/2022 71562 M U R R A Y S M I T H INC 2992.50 05/10/2022 71563 NICOLE KOIS 510.00 05/10/2022 71564 OFFICE DEPOT 793.48 05/10/2022 71565 QUADIENT FINANCE USA INC 283.00 05/10/2022 71566 SHI INTERNATIONAL CORP 894.00 05/10/2022 71567 SOUTH ADAMS COUNTY W AT E R & S A N I TAT I O N D I S TRICT 3675.00 05/10/2022 71568 STERICYCLE 63.89 05/10/2022 71569 SYNERGETIC STAFFING LLC 1432.56 05/10/2022 71570 TAIT & ASSOCIATES, INC. 39083.00 05/10/2022 71571 TARA ELIASON 100.00 05/10/2022 71572 TIM GRIESBACH 20.00 05/10/2022 71573 TOTAL REMODEL CONTRACTOR 2559.97 05/10/2022 71574 T Y L E R T E C H N O L O GIES

971.54 05/10/2022 71575 UNITED SITE SERVICES 576.70 05/10/2022 71576 UTILITY NOTIFICATION CENTER 461.50 05/10/2022 71577 VERIZON WIRELESS SVCS LLC 4429.38 05/10/2022 71578 WASTE CONNECTIONS OF COLO, INC 191.88 05/10/2022 71579 WELD COUNTY ACCTG DEPART 7651.92 05/10/2022 71580 WHITE BEAR ANKELE TANAKA & WALDRON 1522.13 05/17/2022 71581 A A A A U T O P A R T S INC 1004.59 05/17/2022 71582 ADAMSON POLICE PRODUCTS 1156.45 05/17/2022 71583 AGFINITY 482.50 05/17/2022 71584 AMAZON.COM 118.96 05/17/2022 71585 A U S M U S L A W F I R M PC 1800.00 05/17/2022 71586 BADGER METER 145.68 05/17/2022 71587 B A N K O F C O L O R A DO 151.33 05/17/2022 71588 B R I T T A N Y ENGLISH 329.54 05/17/2022 71589 COLORADO ANALYTICAL LAB 96.00 05/17/2022 71590 COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA 535.40 05/17/2022 71591 C O M C A S T BUSINESS 2177.78 05/17/2022 71592 COMCAST CABLE COMM, LLC 140.69 05/17/2022 71593 C O R E & M A I N L P 05/17/2022 71594 D X P INC

6081.46 ENTERPRISES

168.76 05/17/2022 71595 E-470 PUBLIC HIGHWAY AUTHORITY 17.55 05/17/2022 71596 ERGOMED 600.00 05/17/2022 71597 ERICA ARELLANO 280.00 05/17/2022 71598 EWING IRRIGATION PRODUCTS INC 717.20 05/17/2022 71599 FRP APPAREL 1265.30 05/17/2022 71600 K & K LASER CREATIONS LLC 336.63 05/17/2022 71601 KINSCO, LLC 376.97 05/17/2022 71602 KONE INC 140.80 05/17/2022 71603 NEOGOV 286.12 05/17/2022 71604 NICOLE CASTNER 65.00 05/17/2022 71605 OFFICE DEPOT 36.53 05/17/2022 71606 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT INT 123747.00 05/17/2022 71607 O ’ R E I L L Y AUTO PARTS 588.19 05/17/2022 71608 P R O C O D E I N C 17890.86 05/17/2022 71609 QUADIENT LEASING USA INC 433.59 05/17/2022 71610 R & L TIRES 40.67 05/17/2022 71611 R & M SERVICES 288.12 05/17/2022 71612 REXEL 368.98 05/17/2022 71613 SAFETY AND CONSTRUCTION 140.00 05/17/2022 71614 THE STEVE MANSHEL BAND, LLC 125.00 05/17/2022 71615 TIRES TO GREEN RECYCLING COLORADO LLC 1045.00 05/17/2022 71616 TODD HODGES DESIGN, LLC 10475.00 05/17/2022 71617 T R U D I L I G E N C E LLC 380.26 05/17/2022 71618 T Y L E R T E C H N O L O GIES 51104.88 05/17/2022 71619 UNITED POWER 32656.50 05/17/2022 71620 **Void** 0.00 05/17/2022 71621 **Void** 0.00 05/17/2022 71622 UNITED SITE SERVICES 343.48 05/17/2022 71623 WAGNER EQUIPMENT CO. 2643.49 05/17/2022 71624 WHITESIDE’S BOOTS 325.00 AND CLOTHING 05/17/2022 71625 WILLIAMS AND WEISS CONSULTING 5270.00 05/17/2022 71626 X C E L E N E R GYGAS 1328.13 05/13/2022 71627 HIGH PLAINS E N G I N E E R I N G & C O N S U LT I N G , LLC 3150.00 05/06/2022 DFT0001941 BANK OF COLORADO 5837.87 05/06/2022 DFT0001942 BANK OF COLORADO 675.83 05/06/2022 DFT0001943 V A L I C _ 1 34053.62 05/06/2022 DFT0001944 I R S 56893.27 05/06/2022 DFT0001945 CO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 10672.00 05/09/2022 DFT0001946 VALIC_1 74.10 05/09/2022 DFT0001947 IRS 158.41 05/09/2022 DFT0001948 CO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 29.00 5/6/2022 EFT N a t i o n a l B e n e f i t S e r v i c es 2338.00

5/13/2022 EFT 5/17/2022EFT es 5/4/2022 EFT 5/11/2022 EFT 5/17/2022 EFT 4/11/2022 EFT 4/11/2022 EFT 5/9/2022 EFT

National Benefit Services 227.69 National Benefit Servic368.75 Simplifile 80.50 Simplifile 95.50 Simplifile 15.25 Clover App Mrkt Clover App Mrkt PSN Invoice

15.00 15.00 2,110.60

Legal Notice No. FLP638 First Publication: May 26, 2022 Last Publication: May 26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press Public Notice ORDINANCE NO. 2022-1143 INTRODUCED BY: BRUCE FITZGERALD AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO REPEALING FORT LUPTON MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 9 – OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT, CHAPTER 16 – ZONING, AND CHAPTER 17 – SUBDIVISIONS, AND ADOPTING BY REFERENCE A NEW CHAPTER 16 – FORT LUPTON DEVELOPMENT CODE, AND ADOPTION OF THE CORRESPONDING OFFICIAL ZONING MAP. WHEREAS, C.R.S. 31-16-201, et. seq., allows any municipality to enact any ordinance which adopts any code by reference in whole or in part, and such primary code thus adopted may in turn adopt by reference, in whole or in part, any secondary codes duly described.

WHEREAS, notice of the public hearing was published twice in the Fort Lupton Press, April 28, 2022 and May 5, 2022; and WHEREAS, the Fort Lupton Comprehensive Plan, known as Picture Fort Lupton (“Comp Plan”), was adopted on June 18, 2018; WHEREAS, the Comp Plan identified an update to the zoning code in accordance with the Land Use Plan as a top priority implementation item; WHEREAS, in 2019, the City of Fort Lupton began the process of updating its Municipal Code chapters related to land use development, including Chapter 9 – Oil and Gas Exploration and Development, Chapter 16 – Zoning, and Chapter 17 – Subdivisions in order to amend and consolidate them into one chapter, known as Chapter 16 – Fort Lupton Development Code (the “Development Code”); WHEREAS, The City also began a concurrent update to amend the Official Zoning Map in order to correspond to the Development Code; WHEREAS, on March 24, 2022, the Planning Commission of the City of Fort Lupton, Colorado, held a public hearing and unanimously recommended adoption of the Development Code Update and corresponding Official Zoning Map with conditions; and WHEREAS, the City Council considered the significance and scope of the proposed regulations on the City of Fort Lupton and finds in fact that the Development Code implements the goals of the Comp Plan.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO: Section 1 REPEAL OF EXISTING CODES. Chapters 9, 16, and 17 of the Fort Lupton Municipal Code are hereby repealed in their entirety; and Section 2 ENACTMENT. Fort Lupton Municipal Code Chapter 16 – Fort Lupton Development Code as website-linked and referenced in Exhibit A, as attached hereto and fully incorporated herein by reference, is hereby enacted in full, with the recommended changes in Exhibit C incorporated.

Section 3 OFFICIAL ZONING MAP. The Official Zoning Map, as shown in Exhibit B, as hereto and fully incorporated herein by this reference, is hereby adopted in full effect.

subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining sections of the ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed the ordinance including each part, section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that one or more parts, sections, subsections, sentence, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.

Section 6 REPEALER. All ordinances or resolutions, or parts thereof, in conflict with this ordinance or any part hereof are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency or conflict. The repeal or modification of any provision of any prior ordinance by this ordinance shall not release, extinguish, alter, modify or change in whole or in part, any penalty, forfeiture or liability, either civil or criminal, which shall have been incurred under such provision, and each provision shall be treated and held as still remaining force for the purpose of sustaining any judgment, decree or order which can be rendered, entered or made such actions, suits, proceedings or prosecutions.

INTRODUCED, READ, AND PASSED ON FIRST READING, AND ORDERED PUBLISHED this 17th day of May 2022.

PUBLISHED in the Fort Lupton Press the 26th day of May 2022.

FINALLY READ BY TITLE ONLY, PASSED AND ORDERED FINALLY PUBLISHED by title only this __ day of _ 2022.

PUBLISHED in the Fort Lupton Press the __ day of __ 2022.

EFFECTIVE (after publication) the __ day of __ 2022.

City of Fort Lupton, Colorado ______________ Zo Stieber, Mayor

Attest: ____________________ Maricela Peña, City Clerk

Approved as to form ______________________ Andy Ausmus, City Attorney Legal Notice No. FLP1636 First Publication: May 26, 2022 Last Publication: May 26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Misc. Private Legals Public Notice

The Lupton Meadows Ditch Company a Colorado Corporation has been notified and an official Demand made for the issue of a replacement stock certificate for the following original certificate. Certificate# 667 for ten shares issued Johnson and Smith LLP. Should anyone feel that they have a right or claim of interest or ownership of said Certificate an official notice and claim shall be made with the Company Secretary, Howard Cantrell, 11016 CR 23, Ft Lupton CO 80621. Such notice shall be made within 30 days of the last publication of this notice which shall be on May 26, 2022. If no Claims have been received by the end of the 30 day period other than by the filer of the original notification, the Company shall issue a replacement certificate and any and all rights under the original certificate shall immediately cease and there can be no further assertions or claims made against the Company with regards to the original certificate. This is in accordance with CRS 7-42-114 to 7-42-117.

Legal Notice No. FLP607 First Publication: April 28, 2022 Last Publication: May 26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF WELD STATE OF COLORADO 901 9th Ave Greeley, CO 80631

Section 4 CONDITIONS. This Ordinance is subject to the following conditions:

In the Interest of: Allison Salas Arreola, Respondent

1. The Planning Director may approve minor changes to the Development Code and the amended Official Zoning Map that do not change the character or intent as approved by this Ordinance.

Attorneys for Petitioner: Aaron L. Evans, #27270 Timothy D. Bounds, #44180 Andrew Rogers, #52188 Evans Case, LLP 1660 South Albion Street, Suite 1100 Denver, Colorado 80222 Phone Number: (303) 757-8300 E-mail: Evans@evanscase.com; Bounds@evanscase.com Rogers@evanscase.com Case Number: 2022PR030228

2. Within six months of the Development Code going into effect, revisions to Chapter 16 – Fort Lupton Development Code, and the amended Official Zoning Map that may change the character or intent as approved by this Ordinance shall be considered by City staff, Planning Commission, and City Council to address issues identified during its implementation, and subsequent changes shall be considered periodically following the initial implementation revisions.

3. The recommended changes identified in the Adoption Draft Addendum, attached as Exhibit C, which includes changes recommended by City staff, as well as the recommendations of Planning Commission, shall be made to the Development Code as set forth in Exhibit A. Section 5 SEVERABILITY. If any part, section,

NOTICE OF HEARING BY PUBLICATION PURSUANT TO §15-10-401, C.R.S. To: Jose Leobardo Salas Alaniz Last Known Address: Unknown

A hearing on the Petition for Approval of Settlement of Claims Pursuant to Rule 62 of the Colorado Rules of Probate Procedure for the above respondent. The Petition filed request Court approval of

Fort Lupton Press May 26, 2022 * 1

28 Fort Lupton Press

May 26, 2022

Public Notices the settlement and the net settlement funds will be deposited to a restricted account for the benefit of the respondent.

A hearing will be held at the following time and location or at a later date to which the hearing may be continued: Date: July 13, 2022 Time: 1:30 pm Division: 1 Via Webex Legal Notice No. FLP635 First Publication: May 26, 2022 Last Publication: June 9, 2022 Publisher:Fort Lupton Press Public Notice The Lupton Meadows Ditch Company a Colorado Corporation has been notified and an official Demand made for the issue of a replacement stock certificate for the following original certificate.

Certificate# 654 for seventy-nine shares issued to Public Trustee for the Farm Credit Bank, lien holder and Johnson and Smith LLP equity owners. Should anyone feel that they have a right or claim of interest or ownership of said Certificate an official notice and claim shall be made with the Company Secretary, Howard Cantrell, 11016 CR 23, Ft Lupton CO 80621. Such notice shall be made within 30 days of the last publication of this notice which shall be on May26, 2022 . If no Claims have been received by the end of the 30 day period other than by the filer of the original notification, the Company shall issue a replacement certificate and any and all rights under the original certificate shall immediately cease and there can be no further assertions or claims made against the Company with regards to the original certificate. This is in accordance with CRS 7-42114 to 7-42-117.

Legal Notice No. FLP608 First Publication: April 28, 2022 Last Publication: May26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Water Court Public Notice DISTRICT COURT, WATER DIVISION 1, COLORADO APRIL 2022 WATER RESUME PUBLICATION TO: ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN WATER APPLICATIONS IN WATER DIV. 1 Pursuant to C.R.S. 37-92-302, you are notified that the following is a resume of all water right applications and certain amendments filed in the Office of the Water Clerk during the month of APRIL 2022 for each County affected.

2022CW3058 (07CW298) THE CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO, acting by and through its Utility Enterprise, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Suite 3600, Aurora, CO 80012, 303-739-7370.

Please direct all pleadings to: John M. Dingess, Austin Hamre, Teri L. Petitt, Hamre, Rodriguez, Ostrander & Dingess, P.C., 3600 South Yosemite Street, Suite 500, Denver, Colorado 80237, 303779-0200. APPLICATION TO MAKE CONDITIONAL WATER RIGHTS ABSOLUTE, FOR A FINDING OF REASONABLE DILIGENCE, AND TO CONTINUE CONDITIONAL WATER RIGHTS IN ADAMS, ARAPAHOE, DENVER, DOUGLAS, JEFFERSON, AND WELD COUNTIES. 2.

NAMES OF STRUCTURES. (See Exhibit A attached hereto) 2.1. Cherry Creek Reservoir: The reservoir outlet works are located on Cherry Creek in the NW 1/4 NE 1/4 of Section 2, T5S, R67W, 6th P.M. The approximate latitude of this point is 39° 39’ 08” N. and the approximate longitude is 104° 51’ 20” W. The UTM Zone 13, NAD83 (meters) coordinate for this structure are 512,501.1 East and 4,388,988.6 North. 2.2. Strontia Springs Dam and Reservoir and the Diversion System (“Strontia”): Strontia is constructed on the South Platte River in Douglas County, with east-end of dam (right) abutment located at a point from whence the NW corner of Section 21, T7S, R69W, 6th P.M. bears North 52° West a distance of 1,300 feet. The approximate (right) abutment latitude is 39° 25’ 56” N and approximate longitude 105° 07’ 31” W. The UTM Zone 13, NAD83 (meters) coordinate for this structure are 489,208.6 East and 4,364,749.1 North. 2.3. Aurora-Walker Reservoir Outlet: The outlet of the Aurora-Walker Reservoir is, or will be located on the west bank of the South Platte River in the W 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of Section 31, T1N, R66W of the 6th P.M., Weld County, Colorado.

The UTM Zone 13, NAD83 (meters) coordinate for this structure are 514,922.5 East and 4,428,619.8 North. 2.4. Aurora-Everist Reservoir Outlet: The outlet of the Aurora-Everist Reservoir is, or will be located on the west bank of the South Platte River in the W 1/2, NE 1/4 of Section 30, T2N, R66W of the 6th P.M., Weld County, Colorado.

The UTM Zone 13, NAD83 (meters) coordinate for this structure are 515,692.3 East and 4,440,285.2 North. 3. DESCRIPTION OF CONDITIONAL WATER RIGHTS. 3.1. Original Decree: Water Division 1, Case No. 07CW298. 3.2. Date of Original Decree: April 28, 2016. 3.3 Dates of Subsequent Decrees: None. 3.4. Conditional Appropriative Rights of Exchange: 3.4.1. AuroraWalker Reservoir Exchange. Aurora will operate exchanges between the following exchange-from and exchange-to points at the flow rates indicated.

3.4.1.1. Exchange-from Points. The following points constitute the “exchange from” points for use by Aurora for the exchanges: 3.4.1.1.1.

Aurora-Walker Reservoir, the outlet for which is described in paragraph 2.3. above. 3.4.1.2.

Exchange-to Points. The following points constitute the “exchange to” points for use by Aurora for the exchanges: 3.4.1.2.1. Cherry Creek Reservoir, the outlet for which is described in paragraph 2.1., above, in the amount of 25 c.f.s., conditional.

3.4.1.2.2. Strontia Springs Dam and Reservoir and the Diversion System, which is described in paragraph 2.2., above, in the amount of 50 c.f.s., conditional. 3.4.2. Aurora-Everist Reservoir Exchange.

Aurora will operate exchanges between the following exchange-from and exchange-to points at the flow rates indicated. 3.4.2.1. Exchangefrom Points. The following points constitute the “exchange from” points for use by Aurora for the exchanges: 3.4.2.1.1. Aurora-Everist Reservoir, the outlet for which is described in paragraph 2.4. above. 3.4.2.2. Exchange-to Points. The following points constitute the “exchange to” points for use

by Aurora for the exchanges: 3.4.2.2.1. Cherry

Creek Reservoir, the outlet for which is described in paragraph 2.1., above, in the amount of 25 c.f.s., conditional. 3.4.2.2.2. Strontia Springs Dam and Reservoir and the Diversion System, which is described in paragraph 2.2., above, in the amount of 150 c.f.s., conditional. 3.4.3. Source: South Platte River and Cherry Creek. 3.4.4. Date of Appropriation of Exchange: December 17, 2007.

3.4.5. Exchange Amounts: The following table summarizes the exchanges described above.

Exchange From Points

Exchange To Points

Cherry Creek Strontia Springs Reservoir Reservoir Aurora-Walker 25 c.f.s. 50 c.f.s.

Reservoir Aurora-Everist 25 c.f.s. 150 f.s.

Reservoir 3.4.5.1. Maximum Exchange Rates. The cumulative rate of exchange of any combination of exchanges decreed herein shall not exceed 200 c.f.s. in the South Platte River, and 25 c.f.s. in Cherry Creek, where individual exchanges overlap.

3.4.5.2. Exchange Volumetric Limits. The exchange volumetric limits for the appropriative rights of exchange decreed herein are as follows: 3.4.5.2.1. The maximum annual volumetric limit that can be exchanged from Aurora-Walker Reservoir and Aurora-Everist Reservoirs into Strontia Springs, in aggregate, is 12,800 acre-feet.

3.4.5.2.2. Diversions by exchange from AuroraWalker Reservoir and Aurora-Everist Reservoirs into Strontia Springs, in aggregate, during any 20-year period shall not exceed 102,000 acre-feet (i.e., an average of 5,100 acre-feet per year on a 20-year rolling average basis). 3.4.5.2.3. The maximum annual volumetric limit that can be exchanged from Aurora-Walker Reservoir and Aurora-Everist Reservoirs into Cherry Creek Reservoir, in aggregate, is 5,200 acre-feet. 3.4.5.2.4. Diversions by exchange from Aurora-Walker Reservoir and Aurora-Everist Reservoirs into Cherry Creek Reservoir, in aggregate, during any 20-year period shall not exceed 40,000 acre-feet (i.e., an average of 2,000 acre-feet per year on a 20-year rolling average basis). 3.4.6. Sources of Substitute Supply: Aurora’s substitute supply of water shall be of a quality and continuity to meet the requirements of use to which the senior appropriation has normally been put. The sources of substitute supply are either reusable effluent or fully consumable first use water as described below, which has been stored in Aurora-Walker Reservoir or AuroraEverist Reservoir. Such sources of substitute supply are delivered downstream of the proposed Exchange To Points, and may be used for exchange purposes to the claimed Exchange To Points only after such substitute supplies are first delivered to the South Platte River from the Aurora-Walker Reservoir and/or Aurora-Everist Reservoir at their respective outlets to the South Platte River. The sources of substitute supply are Aurora’s reusable supplies from the Colorado River Basin, Arkansas River Basin, South Platte River Basin Water, and Denver Basin Aquifer Ground Water, and Aurora’s contract effluent, Prairie Waters Project supplies, and Lawn Irrigation Return Flows as described in detail in the Original Decree in Case No. 07CW298 and in Exhibit B attached hereto. 3.4.7. Uses: The water diverted by exchange pursuant to the conditional appropriative rights of exchange confirmed by the Original Decree shall be used only for the uses authorized by the underlying decrees and/or change decrees for the sources of substitute supply described above for the particular sources of substitute supply used in the exchange at the time the water is diverted by exchange. 3.4.8. Place of Use: The location of use of water diverted by exchange pursuant to the conditional appropriative rights of exchange confirmed by the Original Decree shall be the place of use authorized by the underlying decrees and/or change decrees for the sources of substitute supply described above for the particular sources of substitute supply used in the exchange at the time the water is diverted by exchange. 4. The exchanges described herein are features or parts of a unified extensive system for gathering, treatment and distribution of water operated by Aurora. The operation of this exchange is not only dependent upon Aurora’s demand and the stream exchange potential available but is also affected by the yield of other water rights and exchanges currently operated by Aurora. The existence of these other water rights and exchanges is necessary in order to allow Aurora to plan for growth and maintain flexibility and reliability in its water supply system. “When a project of integrated system is comprised of several features, work on one feature of the project or system shall be considered in finding that reasonable diligence has been shown in the development of water rights for all features of the entire project or system.” C.R.S. § 37-92-301(4)(b). 5. DETAILED OUTLINE OF WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TOWARD COMPLETION OR FOR COMPLETION OF THE APPROPRIATIONS AND APPLICATION OF WATER TO A BENEFICIAL USE AS CONDITIONALLY DECREED. The water rights that are the subject of this application are part of Aurora’s trans-basin municipal water supply system that is an integrated system of water rights and structures under C.R.S. § 37-92-301(4)(b). During the diligence period Aurora performed the following work and made the following expenditures toward completion of the appropriations and application of the water rights decreed in the Original Decree to beneficial use (expenditure numbers are rounded to the nearest $1,000). 5.1. Project Specific Efforts. During the diligence period, Aurora has done at least the following project specific work toward completion of the appropriations and application of the conditional water rights decreed in Case No. 07CW298 to beneficial use: 5.1.1. During the subject diligence period, Aurora spent $5,606,000 between the Everist and Walker complexes which included the final purchase of the Everist No.1 and Everist No.2 reservoirs, installation of telemetry and monitoring equipment at Everist and Walker, demolition of structures adjacent to the Everist facility. Private land adjacent to the Walker complex was purchased and the inlet pipeline was inspected at Walker. 5.1.2. Legal Activities. During the subject diligence period, Aurora spent in excess of $1,200.00 on legal activities directly related to the subject conditional rights of exchange. 5.2. System-wide Efforts. During the diligence period, Aurora has accomplished at least the following systemwide efforts that will be used to operate or benefit the conditional rights. 5.2.1. South Platte River Basin. Aurora made the following diligent efforts with regard its water supply system com-

ponents in the South Platte River Basin which are necessary for continuation of its reusable supplies from the South Platte River Basin which are the source of the water for the exchanges sought herein. 5.2.1.1. Spinney Mountain Reservoir.

Aurora expended substantial sums for facility upgrades during the diligence period, including internal outlet works inspections, applications of protective coatings on outlet pipes, assessment, design and extension of the storm drainage systems below the dam, installation of filter trench drains, measurement devices, and installation of heater jackets over valve operators. 5.2.1.2.

Metro Wastewater Reclamation District Charges.

Aurora expended approximately $169,308,000 during this diligence period for fees for wastewater treatment of its water at the Metro Wastewater Reclamation facility. Such treatment is necessary for reuse of the water that is the subject of the exchanges herein within the South Platte River Basin and to comply with water reuse requirements. 5.2.1.3. Sand Creek Water Reuse Plant Improvements. Aurora operates the Sand Creek Water Reuse Plant, a 5-million-gallon per day facility, which provides treated water used for irrigation throughout the City and for discharge into Sand Creek for use as a replacement source for the exchanges herein. Aurora expended approximately $12,074,000 for improvements to and operating costs for the Sand Creek plant during the diligence period. This work is necessary for reuse within the South Platte River Basin of the water that is the subject of the exchanges herein and also to comply with water reuse requirements.

5.2.1.4. Griswold Water Treatment Plant Renovations. This facility treats a portion of the raw water exchanged under the Original Decree before it is delivered to Aurora’s customers. Approximately $31,348,000 was spent by Aurora for improvements to this facility necessary to accommodate the water that is the subject of the exchanges herein. This includes expenditures directly by Aurora for renovation of the facility. 5.2.1.5.

Wemlinger Water Treatment Plant Expansion.

Aurora spent approximately $41,293,000 for expansion of the Wemlinger Water Treatment Plant.

This facility treats a portion of the raw water exchanged under the Original Decree before it is delivered to Aurora’s customers. 5.2.1.6. Improvements to Extend and Improve Water Service in and to Aurora. At least $50,290,000 was spent

by Aurora for extension and upgrade of its water transmission system necessary to deliver the water that is the subject of the exchange herein to Aurora’s customers. 5.2.1.7. Automated Meter Reading System. Aurora spent approximately $6,052,000 for updates to its automated utility reading system. This is needed for efficient operation of Aurora’s water supply and delivery system, including use of the water that is the subject of the exchange herein. 5.2.1.8. Improvements to Sanitary Sewer System. Up to $57,462,000 was spent by Aurora for extension and upgrade of its sanitary sewer system necessary for wastewater treatment and reuse within the South Platte River Basin of the water that is the subject of the exchange herein. 5.2.1.9.

Prairie Waters Project. The Prairie Waters Project is a large comprehensive water supply, storage and treatment project in which return flows to the South Platte River from Aurora’s water sources, including the water that is the subject of the exchange herein, may be rediverted for subsequent reuse. To facilitate this project Aurora obtained various decrees in Case Nos. 06CW104, 03CW414, and 03CW415, Water Division 1. This project allows further reuse of much of the water decreed to Aurora. During the diligence period, Aurora obtained a decree in Case No. 15CW3064, finding reasonable diligence for the water rights originally decreed in Case No. 06CW104 (decreed December 1, 2017). On November 23, 2021 in Case No. 21CW3006 Aurora obtained a decree finding reasonable diligence for the Aurora-Everist No. 2 water rights originally decreed in Case No. 03CW414. On November 4, 2020, Aurora was granted a decree in Case No. 20CW3058 for findings of reasonable diligence for conditional storage rights for the Aquifer Recharge and Recovery Facility B (ARR-B) and the Tucson South Reservoir, originally decreed in Case No. 03CW414. On March 27, 2021, Aurora filed an application in Case No. 21CW3028 seeking diligence on the conditional rights originally decreed in 03CW415. On May 28, 2021 in Case No. 21CW3077 Aurora filed an application for a finding of diligence for the PWP InFill Wells originally decreed in Case No. 13CW3042, Water Division 1. Aurora has expended at least $4,081,000 on several elements of the Prairie Waters Project during this diligence period. 5.2.1.10. Lawn Irrigation Return Flows (LIRFs) Credits. Aurora obtained a decree in Case No. 02CW341, Water Division 1, on September 25, 2008, quantifying LIRFs from its municipal system (and subsequent requantifications as required by the Decree in 02CW341), generated as a result of use of transmountain water rights, fully consumable in-basin water rights, decreed and permitted non-tributary sources and any other fully consumable water available to Aurora. Aurora also installed seventeen new monitoring wells and expends manpower to monitor these wells every three months.

Water that is transported under the exchanges herein and used in Aurora’s service area can be reused under the decree in Case No. 02CW341.

On April 15, 2018 the Court granted an Aurora motion to approve revised deep percolation percentages, revised unit response factors, and revised accounting forms. During this diligence period, Aurora has expended significant sums for engineering and legal costs required to requantify the LIRFs adjudicated in Case No. 02CW341 available for reuse. 5.2.1.11. Rampart Reservoir and Delivery System. Approximately $13,588,000 was spent by Aurora during this diligence period for improvements to the Rampart Reservoir delivery system. This reservoir is used to store the water that is the subject of the exchanges herein before it is transported through parallel 54” and 40” pipelines to Aurora. Rampart Reservoir is important for regulation of the flow through these parallel pipelines. 5.2.1.12. Binney Water Purification Facility. This state-of-the-art water purification and recycling plant owned and operated by Aurora treats water for use throughout the City. Approximately $13,489,000 was spent by Aurora during the diligence period for improvements to this facility. 5.2.1.13. Aurora Know Your Flow Program. During the diligence period, Aurora Water Conservation developed its voluntary Know Your Flow Program designed to help customers understand how efficiently they are using water.

Through the program, Aurora Water Conservation estimates what a customer’s water use could be for a given billing cycle if the customer were using water efficiently. The customer receives a

monthly e-mail from Aurora Water Conservation showing the property’s actual water use versus the customized recommended indoor and outdoor water use. Customers also receive weekly watering recommendations and tips during the irrigation season. The Know Your Flow Program was designed by Aurora to encourage more efficient use of the water that is the subject of this application.

5.2.2. Arkansas River Basin. Aurora made the following diligent efforts with regard to maintaining and enlarging its water supply system components in the Arkansas River Basin which are necessary for continuation of its reuseable supplies from the Arkansas River Basin and are the source of the water for the exchanges sought herein. 5.2.2.1.

Payment for purchase and lease of Rocky Ford Ditch shares. During this diligence period, Aurora spent approximately $796,000 for repayment of bonds and payments to note sellers, including principal and interest, that were issued or refunded for the purchase of original Rocky Ford Ditch shares changed in Case No. 83CW18, Water Division 2. 5.2.2.2. Otero IGA. Aurora and Otero County entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement on February 22, 1994, and amended that Agreement on October 29, 2001 under which Amendment Aurora agreed to make annual payments to Otero County concerning the Rocky Ford Ditch shares that are the source for the subject conditional water right. During this diligence period, Aurora made payments of approximately $267,000. 5.2.2.3. Pueblo Reservoir Storage.

During this diligence period, Aurora paid the Bureau of Reclamation approximately $7,185,000 for storage use of Pueblo Reservoir, as well as for consultants and legal fees for the long-term storage contract. 5.2.2.4. Assessments Paid for Use of Twin Lakes, Lake Henry/Lake Meredith, Rocky Ford Ditch. During this diligence period, Aurora paid the following in annual assessments: approximately $492,000 for Twin Lakes Company (necessary for storage); at least $810,000 for the Colorado Canal/Lake Henry/Lake Meredith (necessary for storage); and approximately $1,449,000 for the Rocky Ford Ditch for the shares attributable to the Subject Rocky Ford Ditch Water Right.

5.2.2.5. Intergovernmental Agreement with SECWCD. On October 3, 2003, Aurora entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (“SECWCD”), replacing an agreement between the parties dated December 7, 2001. Under this new IGA, Aurora and SECWCD agreed to support proposed federal legislation relating to the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to include, among other things, re-operations of the existing water storage facilities, studies for enlargements to Pueblo and Turquoise Reservoirs, and confirming the authority of the Bureau of Reclamation to enter into contracts with Aurora for use of the facilities including long-term contracts. Aurora’s ability to use Fryingpan-Arkansas facilities is expanded under this IGA and Aurora is obligated to make certain payments to SECWCD in consideration for the expanded use. Under this IGA, SECWCD also agreed not to oppose Aurora’s attempts to contract with the Bureau of Reclamation for use of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project facilities, to facilitate delivery of Aurora’s water, and to settle opposition to each other’s water court applications. During this diligence period, Aurora made payments of approximately $913,000 to SECWCD under this IGA. 5.2.2.6. Intergovernmental Agreement with LAVWCD. Pursuant to an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservation District (“LAVWCD”), Aurora paid approximately $1,000,000 to LAVWCD for the identification and implementation of infrastructure improvements, research, and investigations designed to assist in the permitting or implementation of water leasing programs in the Lower Arkansas Valley, as well as remediation and restoration efforts in the Fountain Creek Corridor. 5.2.2.7.

Agreements for Use of the Holbrook System Facilities. On March 1, 2005, Aurora entered into two agreements pertaining to the use of the diversion, conveyance and storage facilities of the Holbrook Mutual Irrigating Company (“Holbrook”).

Aurora and Holbrook extended this agreement on February 2, 2010. These agreements implement a program to recapture and store yield from foregone diversions of senior water rights. Aurora completed structural modifications to the Holbrook system facilities and filed a Substitute Water Supply Plan necessary to implement the program. An Amended Agreement was entered into on April 21, 2016. Further, Aurora initiated a study to examine enlargement of the Holbrook Reservoir to further facilitate operations. During this diligence period, Aurora made payments of approximately $401,000 to Holbrook under this agreement. 5.2.2.8. Recovery of Yield (“ROY”). On August 17, 2016, Aurora, along with Colorado Springs, the Pueblo Board of Water Works, the City of Fountain, and the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, obtained a decree in WD-2, Case No. 06CW120 adjudicating exchanges necessary as a result of the 2004 Regional Intergovernmental Agreement (“IGA”) between the various water providers and the City of Pueblo, whereby the water providers agreed to allow certain of their senior flows to pass through Pueblo’s RICD reaches on the condition those flows could be removed downstream and exchanged back upstream. In addition, the ROY participants, including Aurora, have made significant efforts to secure the Arkansas Gravel Pit Reservoir (“AGPR”) or a comparable facility. Aurora entered into a purchase Option Agreement with LaFarge West, Inc. in 2003 for development of the LaFarge Rich Pit for use

by Aurora as the AGPR storage facility upon completion of gravel mining/mineral extraction by LaFarge. This Agreement has been extended several times. The ROY participants have also made efforts to investigate and negotiate alternative storage facilities for the AGPR. Recent negotiations include with Stonewall Springs Ranch, Southwest Sod Farms, and the Pueblo Board of Waterworks. Aurora has expended approximately $22,000 on these efforts during the diligence period. 5.2.2.9. Revegetation. Aurora has expended approximately $1,955,000 during this diligence period for revegetation, including expenditures for expert revegetation classifications and reports, actual revegetation and weed control costs, as well as farm equipment purchases, office overhead and personnel costs, under Case No. 83CW18. Aurora also expended additional sums for revegetation and continued farming of historically irrigated lands pursuant to the decree in Case No. 99CW169(A). On June 3, 2014, Aurora entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with Otero County to clarify between the parties certain terms contained in the 99CW169(A) decree regarding revegetation. 5.2.3. Colorado River Basin.

Aurora made the following diligent efforts with regard to its water supply system components in

the Colorado River Basin that are necessary for continuation of its reusable supplies from the Colorado River Basin and are the source of the water for the exchanges sought herein. 5.2.3.1.

Homestake Project. Once water is transported over the Continental Divide through the Otero Pump Station and Homestake Pipeline, Aurora transports its share to Spinney Mountain Reservoir in the South Platte Basin. Aurora has spent approximately $20,374,000 toward further development of the Homestake Project’s conditional water rights. 5.2.3.2. During this diligence period, Aurora prosecuted Case No. 16CW3022, Water Division 5. On September 17, 2017, the Division 5 Water Court entered a decree confirming diligence and continuing in effect the conditional water rights originally decreed in Case 88CW449, which comprise part of the Homestake Project. 5.2.3.3.

During this diligence period, Aurora prosecuted Case No. 16CW3131, Water Division 5. On June 18, 2017, the Division 5 Water Court entered a decree confirming diligence and continuing in effect the conditional water rights originally decreed in Case 98CW270, which comprise part of the Homestake Project. 5.2.3.4. During this diligence period, Aurora prosecuted Case No. 17CW3064, Water Division 5. On June 10, 2018, the Division 5 Water Court entered a decree confirming diligence and continuing in effect the conditional water rights originally decreed in Case 95CW272A, which comprise part of the Homestake Project.

5.2.3.5. During this diligence period, Aurora assisted in the filing of an application and litigation of Case No. 20CW3024, Water Division 5, seeking a decree making conditional water rights absolute in part, confirming diligence and continuing in effect the remainder of the conditional water rights originally decreed in Case CA1193, which comprise part of the Homestake Project. 5.2.3.6.

During this diligence period, Aurora entered into an Agreement and Intergovernmental Agreement with Colorado River Water Conservation District, Basalt Water Conservancy District, Board of County Commissioners of Eagle County, Board of County Commissioners of Pitkin County, Grand Valley Water Users Association, Orchard Mesa Irrigation District, and the Ute Water Conservancy District, effective date August 1, 2018 (the “Settlement Agreement”). Inter alia, the Settlement Agreement addressed resolution of 09CW142, Water Division 2, amongst certain parties thereto, and is filed in the Court’s file for Case No. 09CW142. As contemplated and limited by the terms of the Settlement Agreement, Aurora filed an application in Case No. 19CW3159, Water Division 5, seeking judicial determination of appropriative rights of exchange by which 900 acre feet of water of the Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Company (“Twin Lakes”), available to Aurora via its share ownership and over which Aurora has maintained dominion and control in any one year will be moved as follows. Water from Grizzly Reservoir will be placed into Lincoln Gulch, a tributary of Lincoln Creek, or bypassed from the Twin Lakes system’s Roaring Fork River basin facilities into other tributaries of the Roaring Fork River, and then exchanged from the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Fryingpan Rivers upstream on the Fryingpan River to Ruedi Reservoir and an additional exchange, as a component subset of the 900 acre feet, up to 450 acre feet in any one year from Ruedi Reservoir upstream to Ivanhoe Reservoir located upon Ivanhoe Creek for subsequent movement into Water Division 2.

5.3. Non-Basin Specific Efforts. 5.3.1. Study of Aurora’s Water Needs. Aurora spent approximately $2,500,000 towards its Integrated Water Master Plan to assist in determining the City’s future water needs and developing a plan to meet those needs. This study will increase the overall efficiency of Aurora’s operations. 5.3.2. Aurora Raw Water System Model. Aurora spent additional sums for consultant fees to develop and support a computer model of Aurora’s raw water system. These costs are in addition to the modeling efforts included in the engineering and planning studies identified in paragraph 5.3.1, above. 5.3.3.

Protection Efforts. Aurora spent approximately $313,000 for legal services for participation in Water Division 1 cases to protect the rights and interests of Aurora with regard to its water supply system, including the subject groundwater and exchange rights. 5.4. Other. Aurora reserves the right to identify additional relevant efforts that may be later discovered or to make upward adjustments to amounts expended on certain projects.

Aurora has an extensive water rights portfolio, an extensive and complex water supply, collection, treatment and reuse system, and an extensive number of agreements, contracts, leases, etc. related to its facilities and the use, reuse and storage of its water rights. It is involved in many legal actions related to the collection, treatment, reuse and protection of its water rights. Further, the management, protection, and operation of the water rights and the facilities system involve numerous City of Aurora departments and staff members throughout the state. Aurora made diligent efforts with regard to this application to determine and quantify all efforts made by the City toward completion of the appropriations and application of the water rights decreed in Case No. 07CW298 to beneficial use. However, it is reasonably possible that relevant efforts or expenditures may have been overlooked or need further upward adjustment. 6. CLAIM TO MAKE ABSOLUTE. Applicant has made the following portions of the subject conditional rights absolute (see Exhibit C attached hereto): 6.1. Aurora-Everist Reservoir to Cherry Creek Reservoir Exchange. 6.1.1. Date Water Applied to Beneficial Use: November 14, 2019 to November 19, 2019. 6.1.2. Amount: 8.397 c.f.s. 6.1.3. Uses: See paragraph 3.4.7., above.

6.1.4. Description of place of use where water was applied to beneficial use: See paragraph 3.4.8., above. 7. Names and addresses of owners or reputed owners of the land upon which any new diversion or storage structure or modification to any existing diversion or storage structure or existing storage pool is or will be constructed or upon which water is or will be stored: 7.1. AuroraWalker is owned by the City of Aurora. The outlet works for Aurora-Walker is located on lands owned

by Carl F. Eiberger, 303 S. Broadway, Unit B-200, Denver, CO 80209; Aggregate Industries WCRInc., a Colorado corporation, 1687 Cole Boulevard, Suite 300, Golden, CO 80401. Aurora has an easement that allows the construction of the outlet works under the Aggregate Industries WCRInc. and Eiberger lands. 7.2. Aurora-Everist Reservoir and the land underlying the outlet works are owed by the Gomer Hill Living Trust, Dated May 25, 2000, for the benefit of Gomer Hill, the Julane M. Hill Living Trust, Dated May 25, 2000, for the benefit of Julane M. Hill whose addresses are 12526 WCR 18, Ft. Lupton, CO 80621; L.G. Everist, Inc., an Iowa Corporation, whose ad-

Fort Lupton Press May 26, 2022 * 2

Fort Lupton Press 29

May 26, 2022

1 million Colorado buildings are threatened by wildfire Risk is higher in suburban counties, according to foundation’s analysis

BY MARK JAFFE THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado faces the largest increase in homes and businesses threatened by wildfire of any state in the nation with nearly 1 million properties — two-fifths of all those in the state — already facing some risk, according to a new analysis.

The First Street Foundation wildfire risk modeling ranked Colorado No. 7 in the country for structures facing wildfire threats. The foundation also created an online tool — riskfactor.com — that enables homeowners to plug in an address and find the fire risk for their properties.

Over the next 30 years, the model projects that an additional 447,000 homes, businesses, schools and other public buildings in the state will face an increased risk from wildfire — a 19% increase from today. Alabama had the next largest increase in risk, 14.6%.

The area with the greatest wildfire property risk is not Colorado’s forested region, but the Front Range’s growing suburban plains counties — El Paso, Douglas and Larimer, according to the analysis.

“If you think about it, that’s where the people are and where there are people there is more risk of someone starting a fire,” said Chad Hoffman, director of the Western Forest Fire Research Center at Colorado State University.

Hoffman was not involved in the foundation’s analysis.

That is also where most of the homes and businesses are located — potential fuel for a fast-moving fire, Hoffman said.

The archetype for future fire risk could be the Marshall fire, a one-day, grass-fed, wind-whipped wildfire on Dec. 30 that destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County.

“Those kinds of fires are clearly becoming more common,” Hoffman said. “These single-day burning periods create a problem.”

While much of the focus has been

A plane drops fire retardant on the Chatridge 2 wildfire in Douglas County in 2020.

on the large-scale, intense forest fires that burn for weeks or more, a study by Hoffman and colleagues found that 70% of cumulative area burned in the Western U.S. between 2002 and 2020 were the result of the large, single-day fires.

The First Street analysis looked at the marginal risk of wildfire, with minor risk being less than a 1% chance of being in a wildfire over the next 30 years to extreme risk, defined as a greater than a 26% chance. Annual risk assessment started a 0.03% increased risk for any given year.

In El Paso and Douglas counties, more than 80% of the homes and business properties face a minor risk of being in a wildfire this year — 32,000 and 4,000 properties respectively. In El Paso County, 32,100 properties also face a moderate risk of fire — equal to a 6% chance.

Larimer County ranked third

with a little more than half of homes, businesses and public buildings — 82,000 properties — at minor risk and 4,000 facing moderate risk.

The county facing the greatest increased risk from wildfire is Broomfield, where over 30 years, properties that face some additional fire hazard risk rises 48% to 20,400 — equal to more than threequarters of all the county’s homes, and business and public buildings.

The foundation’s model incorporates data on formation of fuels, wildfire weather and wildfire behavior from agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The First Street Foundation is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based nonprofit research and technology group focused on defining climate risk in the U.S. Across the country there were

PHOTO BY TIM TONGE

49.4 million properties with at least minor wildfire risk, led by California, Texas and Florida. There were 4.2 million properties facing severe or extreme risk from fire.

“Enhanced understanding of the specific nature and location of wildfire risk enables communities to more effectively lobby for funding for fuel treatments, prescribed burns and other wildfire risk mitigation strategies that may be used to reduce risk to houses, business and communities,” the foundation said in a statement.

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

Public Notices dresses are 7321 East 88th Avenue, Suite 200, Henderson, CO 80604 and 350 S. Main Ave, #400, Sioux Falls, SD 57104. Aurora has an easement that allows the construction of the reservoir and outlet works under these lands. 7.3. Strontia Springs Dam and Reservoir and the Diversion System is owned by the City and County of Denver, acting by and through its Board of Water Commissioners, 1600 West 12th Avenue, Denver, CO 80204-3412. Land underlying the facility is owned by the Bureau of Land Management, 2850 Youngfield Street, Lakewood, CO 80215-7076.

The Applicant has a right by contract to use the facility. This application consists of 16 pages plus an additional 11 pages of Exhibits.

THE WATER RIGHTS CLAIMED BY THESE APPLICATIONS MAY AFFECT IN PRIORITY ANY WATER RIGHTS CLAIMED OR HERETOFORE ADJUDICATED WITHIN THIS DIVISION AND OWNERS OF AFFECTED RIGHTS MUST APPEAR TO OBJECT WITHIN THE TIME PROVIDED BY STATUTE OR BE FOREVER BARRED. YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that any party who wishes to oppose an application, or an amended application, may file with the Water Clerk, P. O. Box 2038, Greeley, CO 80632, a verified Statement

of Opposition, setting forth facts as to why the application should not be granted, or why it should be granted only in part or on certain conditions. Such Statement of Opposition must be filed by the last day of JUNE 30, 2022 (forms available on www. courts.state.co.us or in the Clerk’s office), and must be filed as an Original and include $192.00 filing fee. A copy of each Statement of Opposition must also be served upon the Applicant or Applicant’s Attorney and an affidavit or certificate of such service of mailing shall be filed with the Water Clerk.

Legal Notice No. FLP630 First Publication: May 26, 2022 Last Publication: May 26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Notice to Creditors Public Notice Notice To Creditors Estate of Darwin Dean Derr, Deceased Case Number 2022PR30247

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to District Court of Weld County, Colorado on or before September 19, 2022, or the claims may be forever barred.

Douglas Derr Personal Representative 699 N. 1 st Avenue Greeley, Colorado 80631 Legal Notice No. FLP627 First Publication: May 19, 2022 Last Publication: June 2, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of Curtis Gall, deceased Case Number: 2022PR141 All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to District Court of Weld County, Colorado on or before September 26, 2022, or the claims may be forever barred.

Vicki Taylor

Personal Representative 40 Taos Ct Red Feather Lakes, Colorado 80545

By: Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. FLP628 First Publication: May 19, 2022 Last Publication: June 2, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

Legal Notice No. FLP637 First publication: May 26, 2022 Last publication: June 09, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name

Name Changes

Public notice is given on May 3, 2022 that a Petition for a Change of Name of an Adult has been filed with the Weld County Court.

PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice of Petition for Change of Name Case No.: 22C397 Public notice is given on May 4, 2022 that a Petition for a Change of Name of an Adult has been filed with the Weld County Court.

The petition requests that the name of De Ann Evette Sandoval be changed to DeAnn Evette Sandoval Rachael Erickson

The petition requests that the name of Katie Joyce Shields be changed to Katie Joyce Salcines Case No.: 22C388 Rachael Erickson By: Deputy Clerk Legal Notice No. FLP626 First Publication: May 12, 2022 Last Publication: May 26, 2022 Publisher: Fort Lupton Press

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ABORTION FROM PAGE 14

be prepared for when you don’t navigate the world in a cis [gendered] way,” Omenai said. “There are ways to protect yourself that should be loving and comforting and gentle.”

After Politico published a leaked draft opinion from the United States Supreme Court that showed the court’s conservative justices are prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade, Omenai wants to get the word out about the Colorado Doula Project.

“We are constantly saying, ‘If you need help, we know where the [abortion] bans are.’ We are making phone calls, calling our friends, and posting all over social media. We are using every platform and every method at our disposal to get the word out,” she says.

The draft opinion obtained by Politico would not make abortion illegal nationwide, but by overturning Roe the court would be allowing states to dramatically restrict, or outright ban, access to abortions.

This would not be the case in Colorado, where Democratic lawmakers recently passed a law codify-

LAKE FROM PAGE 15

“Because of the potential for bad weather, we’d prefer to have people here with their cars and be able to get them off the trail rather than wait for a shuttle bus,” she said. “When we get a lot of growth through the burn scar, we’ll start the shuttle again.”

A guard will be stationed at the trailhead’s parking lot entrance, and visitors without permits will be turned away, Langer said. Forest officials may institute periodic safety closures during rainstorms.

Hikers familiar with the terrain should expect to see new bridges and stepping stones along the steep, 1-mile route to the lake. Large piles of rocks and debris from mudslides are visible from the main path.

Other than that, the famous waterfalls and vegetation surrounding Hanging Lake remain fully intact,

ing abortion access in the state.

As Kaiser Health News recently reported, Colorado is one of the few states without any restrictions on when in pregnancy an abortion can occur and is one of the few states in the region without a mandatory waiting period of up to 72 hours after required abortion counseling.

Omenai feels that no matter what, no one should have to go through it alone.

“A lot of people don’t discuss that sometimes you need grief counseling. Some people experience grief, and some don’t. Even when you’re

forest officials say.

The flash flood and mudslide that shut down Hanging Lake’s trail also mangled part of Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon, trapping more than a hundred motorists at one point and causing more than $100 million in damage. Preparations for future slides are still underway.

Forest officials had to cancel roughly 15,000 hiking reservations to Hanging Lake following the slide. Restoration work is moving along partially thanks to a public fund started by The National Forest Foundation, a federal entity responsible for funding trail projects.

Great Outdoors Colorado recently awarded a $2.8 million grant of its own to support the rebuild.

Workers put the finishing touches on one of the new wooden bridges lining the path on Wednesday. Each bridge is designed to withstand moderate mud flows that may come through the area again, said Joe Murphy, a builder with Summit to Sea, the main contractor

perfectly happy with your choice and the choice was right for you, you might still experience grief and you might need to know how to handle that,” Omenai said.

She says the Colorado Doula Project will continue to fight to ensure access to safe abortions, especially for the most vulnerable.

This story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonprofit public broadcaster providing community stories across Colorado over the air and online.

Used by permission. For more, and to support Rocky Mountain PBS, visit rmpbs.org.

hired to do trail repairs.

“We’re shooting for this to last decades and decades,” Murphy said.

“This is a really special place and we want it to be in great shape.”

Local and federal government agencies have spent more than $150,000 to get the trail into usable shape for this summer. Other work includes re-grading some of the steep inclines along the trail and removing loose boulders and rocks near the main walkway.

Design plans for a new, permanent trail are still in the preliminary stages, said Jamie Werner, stewardship coordinator with the National Forest Foundation.

“The long-term plan is going to take roughly 3 years to complete,” Werner said. “We want to make this trail as sturdy and stable as possible.”

A

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

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